25. Marry Me

*Well fuck*.
“Marry,” Sona repeated in a rasp. “Marry…*you*?”
“Yes, please phrase it as if I’d asked you to marry a piece of grass.”
Behind Taos, Sona heard Conri bark harshly. “She’s not going to do something that desperate, Redbone.”
“No?” Taos wondered casually. The expression on his face was anything but, now so close to Sona’s she was wreathed with his honey scent. “You’re the one who’s known her for—how many years?”
“Twelve. Which is why I’m more than sure she will always side with—”
“Someone who won’t condemn me and my family.” Sona moved around Taos to march up to Conri with mere inches between them. This was the male she’d loved since she was thirteen years old. It was hard to believe that only a month ago, she was still in love with him—even if it had been fading.
Her voice came out in a rasp, “I don’t even know you anymore. And it breaks my heart. It broke my soul—you broke both our souls. They’re incomplete now, all because of your misguided ambition to ‘protect’ us all. Look where it got us. You wanted to protect me from the Redbone Alpha? You failed. And Arden—”
“Don’t talk about Arden. Where is he?”
“He’s—”
“Mourning the Alpha and Luna who you allowed your lover to poison,” Taos interrupted. Sona refrained from narrowing her eyes at him. He stopped her from mentioning his sister. “Weren’t they the ones who raised you? Did you come to see them as your parents?”
“Shut your damn mouth!” Conri snarled, pushing aside Sona to point a finger at Taos. “How the hell did you—”
Taos steadied Sona when she was too shocked to believe Conri would dare treat her so brusquely. He’d never laid a hand on her before. All bets were off the table, then.
“I am very intuitive,” Taos growled coolly. “Thank you for confirming my assumption.”
Conri looked ready to combust—or at least chip his teeth, he was grating them so hard. “He’s deceptive and cruel, Sona. You’d bind yourself to someone with so much blood on his hands?”
“He’s not the one who raided Leto, Conri.” Sona made her voice match Taos’. Unnervingly calm and detached. “You have the blood of Artem and Amaris on yours.”
He sneered. “Fine, then. Do you want me alive or dead for my deeds?”
Taos laughed once. “Do you have a preference?”
“Dead, so you can rob me of another pack?”
“I can take it into consideration.”
“Or alive, to watch my soulmate become your Luna?”
Sona’s heart jumped. Why hadn’t that processed in her mind? Marrying Taos was one thing by binding them together by werewolf law. But the result of that…was her becoming a queen. Just like that. Just like that, she would be a higher rank than a Gamma—than Conri. And not just with Taos’ influence, she could repeal her own trial.
It was appealing. 
Taos’ lips came close to her ear. “My general outlook for moments like this is to see the benefits of spite.”
“Spite?”
“It’s deliciously satisfying. If he says you can’t, why can’t you? Prove him you *can*.”
Even more appealing.
“I can hear you,” Conri pointed out with annoyance.
“By the blood moon god,” Taos drawled. “Eavesdropping on private conversations, how rude. Trinket, shall we step aside to discuss?”
Gently he guided Sona several feet away. She glimpsed Gamma Edom step in front of Conri to block his view; just as Taos did now, making sure the only thing she could focus on was him, even as he lowered himself to his knees so they were eye-level.
Moon goddess smite her twice, she thought, *Godsdamnit he’s beautiful*.
*No*, she savagely corrected herself, *he’s dangerous*. 
Well, no one said they couldn’t coexist.
Sona managed to get in the first sentence. “Are you insane?”
Taos blinked in surprise, then hmphed in contemplation. “I’ve never been asked before. Do you think so?”
“Yes,” she hissed. “Why are you doing this?”
“Helping you?”
“Yes. How am I supposed to believe that you, an Alpha, would marry a Goldwater healer accused of murder by the Gamma of Moonvalley?” 
It just sounded ridiculous. Alphas married—more importantly, *mated*—with females of stature, who could be efficient Lunas. There was even a courting process arranged by the Gamma and previous ruling pair. Why would the Redbone Alpha marry an Omega-class willingly? What was his goal? How did binding her to him benefit him?
“Well, yes,” Taos said matter-of-factly. “I said the loophole for a reason. I want to marry you, Sona Mai. Become Luna of the Redbone pack.”
Conri’s shout jolted her out of the stare Taos trapped her in. “You know the condition to that, Sona?”
She didn’t know who to trust less. “What condition?” 
Taos rolled his eyes. “Kindly fuck off, Grayhide!”
“Funny you bring up fucking. Sona, to seal a marriage with an Alpha and secure the title of Luna, you are required to mate with him. And there need to be witnesses.”
Her heart jumped into her throat. When Taos sighed and started to turn, her hand lashed out and she took his chin between one hand, piercing his rough skin with her claws. His eyes flashed with surprise. “Is that true?” she asked hoarsely.
Taos didn’t hesitate. “Every word.”
“So is it that you want to marry me, or”—Sona squeezed his face tighter, drawing pinpricks of blood where her nails pierced flesh—“this is an elaborate excuse to get me to have sex with you?”
“I believe I should not answer that.”
“Well, you’re going to have to, you disgusting bastard, because don’t forget that we met for the first time three days ago.”
“Werewolves have gone shorter time before they—”
“Answer me, Taos.”
“It’s difficult to speak with you about to crush my jaw in your capable healer’s hand, trinket.”
Sona released him with a noise of disgust. She couldn’t believe that she’d started to trust that his intentions to help her were unselfish.
He rose to his feet with a grunt, touching his fingertips to his cheeks to wipe away the blood. “Let me break this down, shall I? You marry me in written word and sealed by consummation. That makes you the Luna of the Redbone pack—the first one in almost twenty years—and clears you of your allegation of murder. Easy.”
“Morally?” Sona asked sharply. “Not so.”
Taos lifted one shoulder in a shrug, and it wasn’t entirely condescending. “I see little downside for anyone.”
“You’re just trying to make me jealous,” Conri chuckled. It set Sona’s teeth on edge. Her nails were still half-Shifted; she could swipe them across his face.
“Do you want to be the witness, Grayhide?” Taos asked loudly, finally turning to him. “Gammas are usually the witness anyway.”
Sona’s gaze flicked to Edom, who was starting Conri down as if he hoped he really would combust. He was one of the last wolves she wanted to be naked in front of—much less performing sex.
Conri steered the conversation. “It seems like the risks don’t outweigh the benefits. She’d rather face judgment than fuck you.”
“I wouldn’t be so coarse with her.” Sona jerked forward to see Taos’ face. When he smiled at her, it was…soft. Genuine. “I’d make love to her. She would be my wife and Luna and I would do nothing but respect her.” He frowned when he looked at Conri. “Unlike your ungrateful ass.”
*What in the moon goddess’ hell is happening*?
Conri threw up his hands and walked away for a moment. “This is stunningly *absurd*. Sona, think reasonably about this. You’re on a time limit.”
Taos mumbled out the side of his mouth, “No rush, trinket, but now is the time for your final answer.”
Sona closed her eyes. She’d already weighed the risks and benefits, and it was picking the lesser of two evils. Both males were toxic and she deserved better—Arden was a viable choice, but…right now, he just wasn’t. She deserved to save and reunite with Raff and Auryn. Her life’s purpose was to save and heal. She made a promise to save and heal Taos’ packmates. She couldn't go back on a promise like that. And if she was forced to return to Moonvalley, the wolfsbane-infected wolves would slowly die. 
Their lives were collectively worth more than hers. 
Sona didn’t think herself to be ambitious. But now she felt electrified with it. Conri and Taos would do anything to achieve their goals. Why couldn’t—why *wouldn’t*—she want to do the same?
She looked at Taos, whose dark eyes flashed. She looked at Conri several feet away. She didn’t want to get any closer, even if part of her wanted to spit in his face as payback.
“I’m doing this for more than spite, Conri,” she said, and he seemed to understand from her tone where this was going, because he snarled and had o be restricted from storming forward. “You’ve taken everything from me and my family. I’m going to win it all back, so you’d better not get in my way.” 
They all heard a tiny crack. Conri winced. *He really did chip a tooth*. Taos barked a single bout of laughter that Conri tried to ignore. “I’m not a villain, Sona! You shouldn’t treat me like one.”
“Too late. Taos, let’s go back.”
“It will be my pleasure, future wife.”
“Just so you know,” Sona called back, “I made love to your brother.”