Alphas War

Chapter 18

Much to my dismay, Lexi didn't back down after getting the dresses sorted. If anything, she became even more intense, throwing information about venues and cakes and flowers at me.

Between keeping up with all her new ideas and keeping up with the pack and defence against Rick, I had hardly had a second to sit down. After nearly a week, Alexia was well under way with the planning and Rick had been suspiciously quiet.

Finally, after a few hours of planning with Lexi and Jordan, I had some time to relax and hurried home to see Zach sat in the living room with his brothers. "Hey," he called, turning to face me and smiling widely.

I blushed a little - even after all this time - at the love clear in his eyes as I approached him. "What do you think?" I asked, holding out a wedding invitation for him to look at instead of me.

He took it from me with narrowed eyes. "You are invited to the wedding of Ella Reed and Zachary Thorn," he read aloud and then smirked. "I think it would be a crappy wedding if I wasn't invited."

I frowned at him. "Shut up." I moved to climb onto his lap and then looked to him expectantly. "Do they look okay?"

He continued to read and then nodded. "Yeah sweetheart they look great," he said. "June 14th?" He read, raising an eyebrow. "We have a date?"

"Yeah, if you have plans you better cancel them," I grumbled and he laughed.

"I'll be there," he assured me and I grinned.

"Good. I am going to start handing them out then," I said, reaching into the large box I had brought back with me and pulling out two. "Here, save the date," I said as I passed them to Liam and Chris and they laughed.

"We will," Liam said before folding up my perfect hand crafted invite and stuffing it into his pocket.

"I hate you," I grumbled, shaking my head at him.

"So has Lexi bombarded you with wedding crap?" Chris chuckled, raising an eyebrow in my direction.

I nodded, leaning backwards against Zach's chest. "Yeah, she keeps looking at venues but I'm pretty sure as Alpha I have to get married on the territory. I don't really know the rules since I'm the only female Alpha."

"You should be able to get married wherever the hell you want," Liam said from opposite me and I laughed.

"That is exactly what Lexi said." I shot him a suggestive look which he responded to with a scowl.

I smirked and took Zach's hand in mine. "I honestly don't care where it is or what the flowers look like or if someone else wears white-."

"You're wearing white?" Liam scoffed and I scowled.

"Yes," I snapped back.

He sniggered. "Nobody is going to believe that," he said.

I snarled loudly, making him smirk over in my direction. "Ass," I grumbled, shaking my head. "Anyway, I don't care about any of that stuff, I just want to get married."

Zach's lips pressed against the skin on my neck and his hot breath followed. "Me too," he said softly.

I shuffled around so I was facing him. "I wish my parents could be there though," I muttered, squeezing his hand tightly.

He rested his chin on the top of my head and sighed. "Me too," he repeated. I wasn't sure if he meant my parents or his own but either way, this wedding was going to be short of parents and I had a feeling I would notice.

With a shaky sigh I moved away and kissed his cheek. "Speaking of parents," I said, jumping off his lap. "I'll be back in a bit," I told him.

I left the house and tapped on my neighbours door, waiting for a minute before Aiden appeared. "Hey."

"Hey El."

I stepped inside and made my way to the living room to where Dean was sitting. "Ella? Whats up?" He asked, eyeing me closely.

"I just came to give you guys these." I passed Aiden a special invite first.

"Part of the wedding party? Really?" He asked, a huge smile on his face.

"Of course," I answered before giving the same to Dean. "I want both of you to be a part of the wedding party."

My father stared at me for a while in silence before pulling me into his arms. I couldn't help but smile as I hugged him back. "Thank you," he whispered.

"You're welcome." I smiled and he mimicked it, squeezing my hand. "I have put in the order to get you guys ties that match the bridesmaids dresses so you just need the rest of the tux."

"Is Zach okay with this?" My dad asked, waving his invite around.

"He knows how important this is to me and he knows that you wouldn't do anything to ruin the day so yes, he is," I assured him. "But um... I asked Ryder to give me away," I admitted but his smile didn't falter.

"I think that was a good idea," he told me and I smiled. "But let me do something that the father usually does," he begged before leaving the room.

I frowned at my brother who looked just as confused. "He seems really excited about this," he commented and I laughed.

"I'm glad I will have the two of you there," I said.

"Here," my dad called, returning with a slip of paper in his hands. When he stepped closer and forced it into my hands, I realised it was a cheque.

"You don't have to," I said, pushing it back towards him.

"I want to Ella," he insisted. "Please?"

I smiled gratefully at him and nodded. "Okay, thank you." He nodded and I hugged the two of them one more time before heading home.

****

I spent the rest of the afternoon stuck in my office, thinking about my wedding and emailing back and forth with Lexi as she nagged me about more small, unimportant details.

With a sigh, I rested my head on my forearm after a while of my mind drifting to one very important detail in particular. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about one thing and it blocked all my concentration.

I slammed my laptop shut and began pacing the room. After nearly half an hour of pacing and scribbling on a sheet of paper, I snatched my phone from my desk and sent out a text to a group of people.

I waited until I was sure they had all arrived before stepping out of the office. "Sweetheart?" Zach called. "What's going on?"

Beside him, his brothers frowned at me while my own brother did the same. Dean seemed equally as confused as he leant against the kitchen counters, watching me closely, searching for something. The only one who was unsurprisingly calm was Ryder who just grinned.

I cleared my throat and looked to Zach. "I really want to get married," I told him and he nodded, furrowing his brows. "But the date we have set is in a couple of weeks and I don't want Rick to come along and ruin it."

"He wont," Ryder assured me. "We won't let him."

"I don't want this to just be our wedding and nothing more. I want everyone to have a day off from all the crap we have had to deal with and its not fair to you guys to try and keep Rick from ruining it," I argued and they all frowned.

"What do you suggest?" My father asked me, taking a step forward.

"I came to you the other day because I wanted to find a weakness of his but we said there wasn't one. But there is. He has one weakness that we have completely overlooked," I said.

"What weakness?" Chris asked and I bit my lip.

"Look, I have come up with a plan. I am sick of him being the one attacking and us playing defence. I want to get rid of him so we can enjoy our wedding and I know how."

"How?" Zach asked, his eyes narrowed.

I swallowed and met his eyes. "You're not going to like it."