Chapter 11 The Ceremony

A/N: The ceremony below is an adaptation of my own wedding ceremony.

Thanks to Reka for beta'ing! =)

Legal: It ain't mine, unfortunately... =( Thanks for not suing, Stephenie! =)

~xoxo~

Many of the pack were still at Emily's when they arrived. Bella was sitting out on the steps by herself.

"What's wrong, Bells?" Jacob asked as he approached her.

"Nothing. Just waiting for you guys to get back," she responded, but he could tell she was upset. It was probably Paul. He was always shooting his mouth off.

Speaking of the devil, Paul shot out the door and headed straight for Drea.

"Hey, Tink! I missed ya!" he yelled, as he lifted her up and swung her around in a hug.

Jacob snickered and pulled Bella up off the step. "Watch this. He's about to get it," Jacob sing-songed, directing Bella's attention to Paul as he set Drea back on her feet.

"I swear to the Goddess, Paul. You are asking for it!" Drea yelled, as she got her balance back.

"Oh come on now, Tink. What are you doing to do? You're so little," he goaded her.

Drea grinned at him. The look was pure mischief and Paul started to get nervous.

"Little, am I?" she asked, giving him an evil chuckle. "I think not!" She yelled as she raised her arms above her head and began to chant so quietly, even the wolves couldn't pick out her words, but the shiver of power moved over Bella. She didn't know what words her cousin was saying, as her lips moved so quickly, but she could feel something along her skin. It was like a warm breeze that comforted her, even as it made her worry.

Paul gasped, staring into the sky twenty feet above Drea's head. "I'm sorry, Drea. I was just playing. You know I love you, girl. You wouldn't squish me, would you?"

"What in the hell is he going on about?" Jacob asked, staring at the frantic wolf. He really looked scared by whatever he could apparently see above Drea's head, even thought no one else seemed to see anything at all.

She knew the spell would be broken as soon as she spoke, but Drea thought she'd scared him sufficiently so it didn't matter if she answered her mate's question.

"Oh he just got to see how not little I can be," she chuckled, as Paul's eyes refocused on a normal sized Drea in front of him.

"How did you do that, Tink? It was like insta-giant. I thought you were going to step on me or something."

Bella and Jacob joined Drea in laughing at Paul when they realized that he'd been seeing a 20-foot-tall version of the elder Swan girl.

"I didn't really do anything, Paul. It was just an illusion, a parlor trick of intimidation. No one even saw it but you."

"Still, damn cool trick. Think it would work on those bloodsuckers tomorrow?" Paul asked eagerly.

"Maybe, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try," Drea smiled, agreeing that it would be a fun trick to pull. Maybe her book could give her a few other ideas too.

Jacob walked over to Drea and wrapped his long arms around her waist.

"Are you ready, babe?"

"Yeah, let's do this. Bella is my witness. Billy's officiating. Who's yours?"

"I guess any of the pack could do it. They are all my brothers in a sense. Maybe Sam?" Jacob asked her.

"It's your choice," she answered him, but he could tell she wasn't particularly satisfied with that idea.

"Of course, if he's willing... Paul might not be a bad choice either."

Drea's smile made it obvious that she had taken to the snarky wolf and considered him a friend already. Jacob didn't give a damn which wolf stood to his right, as long as this beautiful girl was to his left. For his part, Paul bounded over like the puppy he was and grinned at the couple.

"I'd be honored to be part of your fairy ceremony, Tink!"

Drea growled, actually growled, at the werewolf bouncing in front of her.

"You love me and you know it," he told her before stepping out of the way of her swing. It would have hurt her more than him anyway.

"Paul, stop agitating my girl and go get my dad for us," Jacob told him in a voice just short of an alpha command.

Paul stomped off to get Billy and Drea turned to her cousin.

"Do you have the scarf?"

"Yep," Bella answered her, lifting the small delicate piece of fabric from her arm to show Drea.

Paul wheeled Billy out to the flat patch of grass they had chosen behind Emily's to do this. The moonlight shown down on them and bathed the area in a silver light. A very appropriate setting for a werewolf handfasting, Drea thought to herself.

Paul took his place to Jacob's right and Bella stood on Drea's left. Sitting between them, Billy read from Drea's book the words, infused with the magic of her people.

"Join hands with your betrothed," he instructed, taking the cloth from Bella and tying it around their hands. "Above you are the stars, below you are the stones, as time doth pass, remember... Like a stone should your love be firm, like a star should your love be constant. Let the powers of the mind and of the intellect guide you in your union, let the strength of your wills bind you together, let the power of love and desire make you happy, and the strength of your dedication make you inseparable. Have no fear and let not the ways of the unenlightened give you unease, for the gods and goddesses are with you always."

Drea and Jacob looked at each other.

"I vow this day and forever more to love and protect you with all the magic of my line and all the love in my heart," she told him.

"I loved you from the moment I saw you and I will love you forever, Drea. I will protect you with all that I am," he responded as naturally as he could, both having decided this part would be best unrehearsed.

Billy nodded, holding his own emotions in check as best as he could before continuing.

"Drea, I have not the right to bind you to Jacob, only you have this right. If it be your wish, say so at this time."

"It is my wish," she said softly, not taking her eyes from Jacob's.

"Jacob, I have not the right to bind you to Drea. Only you have this right. If it be your wish, say so at this time."

"It is my wish," he answered with a small tremor of emotion in his voice and staring back at his love.

"By the power of the gods and goddess of her people, and that of our ancestors before us, I beg for the power to complete the bond you have both wished to enter into."

Billy placed his hands on the fabric he previously tied to the couples clasped hands and focused his prayers as Drea had told him to do. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced, as a foreign power poured through his body and into the two before him. It was as if he could see their life forces swirling and mixing together. Even if he didn't fully understand what he was doing, he knew he'd done his part.

"Hey, Jay," Drea called, still staring dreamily into her mate's eyes.

"Yeah," he answered her, sounding a bit drunk from the power rush of their union.

"Kiss me," she breathed softly.

She didn't have to tell him twice. Leaning over their hands, he pressed his lips to hers lovingly. When they finally drew back, the couple noticed they were alone. Had their kiss lasted so long that they had run the others off? They didn't care. It's been a long day and it was their time now. They deserved to be alone for a bit.

Jacob moved around behind Drea so he could lift her off the ground with their arms still bound together.

"I think I will kidnap you now, my beautiful wife," he whispered, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck.

"It really wasn't a wedding," she protested softly.

"Does it matter, my love? I am yours, you are mine. The rest is just vocabulary."

"Then kidnap away, ma grian. You are my Lugh, my sun god. Go wherever you like, I will orbit you."

"Hmm, that sounds kinky," Jacob said, raising his eyebrows and chuckling before running off into the woods to find a quiet spot to snuggle.

~xoxo~

End note: ma grian means my sun

I have a little outtake that I've written to immediately follow this. It is really just fluff, and not really very smutty, but I wanted to post it separately because I wanted to be on the safe side with the rating and I didn't want this story to go beyond 'T.' So, if you're interested, and old enough, you can look at my list of stories to read this outtake. It's called Melded. If you're not interested, or not old enough, don't worry. It is all fluff and will not make a real difference to the storyline. Thanks! =)