SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️

Chapter 196

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Six

The world was caught in a time bubble. I was floating, every single second felt like an hour, every pulse of blood in my body felt sluggish and agonizingly slow, and even though I couldn't see, my ears were ringing. Every single footstep Diana took across the grass had my mind imploding.

All I could think about was Sebastian. 

Sebastian, and how much I'd come to fucking love him in such a short amount of time.

It was easy to admit to myself since there was so much about the guy to love. I loved his strength, his pride, his sense of honor, his intelligence, his wit, the way his eyes lit up like fire when he got mad and they flashed and darkened when he looked at me. I loved watching him eat, seeing his mouth screw up when he ate sour things, the way he hummed when it was tasty. I loved the line of his jaw and the sound of his voice and the way he moved with such grace and purpose and cockiness and ease despite his lumbering, swaggering, enormous size.

But I loved him for his faults, too.

I loved his stubbornness. I loved how stupid he could be about his emotions. I loved how frustrated he got when faced with simple tasks, like talking about his thoughts. I loved how standoffish he was, how disdainful he was of crowds and small-talk. I loved that temper of his, the way he reacted to things so completely, without hesitation. I loved how bad he was at communicating, too, and how silly he could be when he got embarrassed. 

I loved that he never backed down. That he never surrendered. I loved that he devoted himself to his causes completely. He felt deeper than most men I'd met, too, though he hated showing it. He was shy about his emotions, yeah, and contradictory at times, unsure of how to treat me or how to communicate, but... his hot head was as precious to me as his toffee-butter eyes.

In the end, I loved Sebastian because he was Sebastian. 

I loved even the problematic parts of him, all of his weaknesses and strengths, because he existed in the way those things came together. There was no loving him without loving his faults, and I cared for his faults as much as I cared for all of the good things about his personality. 

I loved him completely, holistically, without apology.

He'd given his all to me the night he'd imprinted on me. Doing so had left him in a permanent state of vulnerability. If he hadn't had faith in me, he never would have made himself so vulnerable

I couldn't help but love that conviction because it was what had made loving each other possible for the two of us. It was the reason I was dressed in a bridal gown and being carried to the altar by a werewolf who'd once hated and feared me enough to wish me dead.

I'd once thought that I would be alone forever. Deep down, I'd felt it, the darkness closing in on my bleak reality, but now that darkness was gone. This was my choice, a choice that I'd made and a choice I'd make again. I'd gone through hell and back to find the door to my happiness and now it was open.

It was finally fucking open and I was holding back tears that wouldn't ever fall.

Cold wind rushed across my gown as I was finally lowered, bare feet coming into contact with something soft. Something was pressed into my hands and I felt gentle fingers fold my own around it--cloth but bundled, a bouquet of some sort. Diana said nothing. 

The roar of the ocean filled my ears but otherwise there was only silence. I didn't wait for permission, I simply raised my hands and took the blindfold off, taking a breath.

I opened my eyes and looked around.

White chairs had been laid out in rows upon rows, more than fifty of them all together, before a gorgeous white pavilion that had been placed on the very edge of the cliff. It had been decorated with flowing white sashes and sheer drapes held open by fat ribbons tied into bows.