Chapter 17

We had to wake up way earlier than we usually did at the academy because we actually had to get to the academy, upon our arrival Jason and Jeanne approached us wondering what had happened, we couldn't tell them had to stay at a hotel because we were running from my parents, so Aldahir had the brilliant idea of saying something along the lines of "we wanted some time alone" they both understood that to mean we wanted to have sex - which we didn't - and of course, they were breathing down our necks for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, we weren't exactly paying that much attention to what was happening during training that day, Aldahir and I were far more preoccupied thinking were to get rings that wouldn't cost us our entire salary, where we could get married with such short notice and who we could ask to be our witnesses.

The place for the wedding, or the place were a layer would legally marry us and allow us to change our last names, was solved fairly quickly after a short conversation between Aldahir and one of the officers, who told him about a nice little place literally down the road where they had cancellations for weddings pretty often.

Aldahir used his lunch time to run down there and ask if by any chance they had a place for later that night, at around eight or nine, they had an open spot and a layer available so Aldahir secured the spot for us and returned to the academy as happy as a kid during Christmas.

-We have a place at eight thirty, usually each ceremony takes about twenty or thirty minutes - explained Aldahir with a huge smile in his face

-Perfect, that means we have about three hours to find our rings - I said laughing softly

I had imagined myself getting married, even before Izan died, I thought I would marry someone - anyone - from the pack and we would have this gigantic wedding and celebration with everyone from the pack attending, bringing me and whoever I would marry gifts of all kinds, I pictured myself in a beautiful, big, white dress with an elaborate hair style and decorated shoes and veil. Weddings had always been a motive of celebrating and great happiness for the pack, and mine would be no different.

When I realized I would have to marry someone I wasn't actually in love with, the excitement I had wore off a bit, I still allowed myself to day dream about how I would make the best out of a terrible situation, I focused on how I would want the place to be decorated, the colour of the flowers, the colour of the dress I would have asked my mother and Arden to wear, my makeup and much more.

I even allowed myself to fantasize about marrying Aldahir on one occasion, I made everything perfect, all the flower arrangements were white and blue, my dress was actually the one Arden wore for her wedding and everyone from the pack was there, celebrating and welcoming the union of a pure blood wolf and a third class citizen one, it was beyond perfect; which is why I knew it would never happen and why I kept my expectations as low as I could for our actual wedding.

-Three hours is a lot to just pick out our rings - said Aldahir through a mouthful of food

Which earned him a death glance so we quickly swallow and then spoke again.

-All I'm saying is... Maybe we should get something for us to wear too, we can return it later if we want but I want to look and feel nice

-For what? - Asked Jason showing up next to me and then sitting next to Aldahir

Aldahir and I exchanged a look and I swear I saw a light going on inside his brain.

-Where's your sister? - Asked Aldahir to Jason

-Right here - said Jeanne sitting next to me and smiling

-Long story short - said Aldahir looking at me - I proposed to Dhalia last night and I just ran to the place down the road to reserve a spot for us later tonight

Jason and Jeanne looked at each other and then started congratulating both of us.

-That is amazing - said Jason

-Thank you - I said smiling

-And we were wondering if you could possibly be our witnesses, please? We know is really short notice but... - Said Aldahir

-Say no more - said Jeanne cutting him off - I would be honor

-Same here, we might not have known each other for that long but we like you both - added Jason

Aldahir smiled, action I copied and immediately Jeanne turned to me asking if a had a dress, if I needed to go shopping and before I knew it I had agreed to use one of her dresses, she was beyond happy for that so she ran to the dormitories to call her father and ask him to please, bring the dress down to the academy.

The rest of the day went by really quickly and before we noticed it, five in the afternoon had rolled around, Jeanne grabbed me and we went to the bathroom so I could try on her dress, unsurprisingly the dress fit me a little too loose, but Jeanne took a pencil to make some marks so she could take it to a friend of hers that would fix it and make it fit me better, I offered to pay for it but Jeanne forced me to put away my money and declared I could consider the dress as her wedding gift, I found her gesture incredibly sweet and after thanking her I ran out of the academy to find Aldahir.

-How was the dress? – He asked me

-Is cute, is a very simple lace light blue dress, I actually liked it – I answered smiling

-Seems nice, I’m sorry is not white though – said Aldahir pulling a face

-It doesn’t really matter… Do you have a suit?

-Yes, Jason rented one for me

-Great, now we need to get our rings

Aldahir nodded and smiled to then grab my hand, kiss the back of it and place my headphones firmly on my head right before walking into a mall. We didn’t really have all the time in the world so we walked into the first jewelry store we saw and walked outside right away because everything was as expensive as you could imagine. We went into another jewelry store and started looking around realizing we might be able to find the rings there, nothing in there were luxury items, obviously nothing was made of gold of silver but the things were really pretty.

The girl working there helped us look around the different ring designs they had and we ended up getting a cute matching set made of stainless steel with some detailing in blue, we asked to have the rings engraved with each other’s names and the date. After the girl finished engraving them, she handed us the rings in a black box and congratulated us, we thanked her and literally ran back to the academy to get ready.

When we arrived Jason and Jeanne welcomed us with a smile, Aldahir went with Jason and I went with Jeanne. She proudly showed me the dress, which had been fixed and she asked me to try it again, this time it fit a lot better, it wasn’t super tight – which I liked – and the skirt had been shorten so I wasn’t dragging it around on the floor.

-It looks beautiful, honestly, I’m so glad you’re going to use it, it was rotting in the back of my closet – said Jeanne laughing

-Thank you – I said smiling
Jeanne smiled again and after helping me choose the prettiest heals I owned I put them on and we walked down the road, where – according to Jeanne – Jason and Aldahir were already inside, she had decided we deserved to have the famous first look and took it upon herself to make it happen. So we walked into the actual room where would get married and Aldahir was standing with his back to me wearing a dark blue suit, I saw Jeanne sneak around me with her phone on her hand and then Jason tapped Aldahir on the shoulder and he turned around.

As soon as he saw me he smiled from ear to ear and I noticed he was holding back tears, I smiled back at him and walked until I was next to him and in front of the layer that would legally marry us. We simply signed everything we needed to sign and when we wrote down our names he wrote Aldahir Wittner and I wrote Dhalia Wittner, that made it official, we put the rings on, kissed and Jason and Jeanne celebrated with us.

We went to a restaurant right after to kind of treat ourselves and I couldn’t stop looking at the ring on my finger, that ring not only meant that I as married to, who I was positive, was the love of my life, it also meant our freedom and the actual opportunity at a new beginning, one truly together, without any ghost from our past daring to hunt us.