Darkness Chapter 46: Red Wedding

**Vincent**

I'm standing in front of our friends as I declare my love for Nelly, when she falls into me, and I feel a sharp pain. I look down and see blood pooling on her white dress. She grips her stomach where the blood is seeping. The wound will heal itself, but that's not why she's crying. Her fear is reflected in my face. Our baby! Quinn grabs him, and Alec ushers us to the main house as everyone starts scrambling.

“Find the shooter...NOW!” Quinn shouts to his pack.

“Alec, send our men to help. I want whoever did this alive.”

Alec nods, “Yes, boss.”

Nelly cries, “Vincent, please. Tell me it's ok. Please.”

“Shhh. My love. I need you to relax.”

Quinn comes back with one of the elders. She looks at me and places her hands on my wife.

“Please... It's gonna be ok..right?” she frantically asks. I need to stay calm. I need to keep her calm. “Vincent?” I grab her hand and look into her eyes. I see her tears. This woman is never afraid of anything. I want the person who did this. They will die. The elder looks at Quinn and says something, and leaves. “Quinn?” Nelly asks.

We are both about to lose our shit when Alec walks in dragging a very bloodied and beaten man. Quinn"s wolves have Greg and his commanders surrounded and they look pissed. “So this is who did this?” I ask as I step forward, ready to rip his head off.

Alec holds up a hand. “Yeah, boss, but you'll want to hear me out first before you react.”

“I'm listening.”

Alec's voice trembled as he relayed the chilling message, "This despicable man claims he was ordered by Greg and Gary to eliminate both of you. Thankfully, he was apprehended just as he fired the shot, which is why it struck you both in non-lethal areas. Quinn's scouts managed to disarm him in the nick of time."

In a sudden burst of rage, Nelly broke free from my grasp and lunged towards Gary, her hands poised to throttle him. But then, he uttered words that made me pause, "Nel, release him."

"What?" she snarled.

I hesitated, knowing that what I was about to reveal could change everything. "Just...I may never have another chance to say this, but she needs to know." Reluctantly, Nelly let go of Gary and stepped back, her expression dark with anger.

Gary's voice was filled with urgency as he asked, "Where is my son?"

Confusion clouded Nelly's face as she retorted, "Who is your son?" Gary handed her a phone, confirming my suspicions. The man I had killed, the one who had posed a threat to Nelly, was his son. The plot thickened. "So why was your son trespassing on Quinn's territory, hunting wolves with arrows and bullets?"

Gary stammers, “I...I.. don't know.” The man who is bloodied says he's lying. We look at the man. I walk up to him, and he cowers at me. I whisper in his ear. His eyes go wide, and he sings like a canary.

“So you are willing to break our treaty?” she asks.

Gary glares at her. “Like you would stick to it.”

“We have. Anyone who did that was dealt with. However, Greg and your people have not held up their end. There have been more attacks on us than on you, and you have "t supplied us with the blood you promised.”

Gary says, “What are you going to do? You kill us, you start the war again.”

Nelly laughs coldly. “Oh, and you think that we won't kill you because of that?” She looks at all of the rebel commanders and Greg. “Which one of yoy wants peace? Who's tired of fighting? Who wants to try for some normalcy?”

They all look at each other, and 3 out of the 5 step forward. “There we have it. Do we have an agreement with you?” They nodded to me. “We will let you walk out of here as free men. The rest... well, you won"t.”

“Give this one to the pups to play with.” She nods her head towards the one who shot us.

Shit. I needed to know… “Quinn!”

“Yeah?”

“Are we good?” I dart my eyes at Nelly and back to him.

Quinn grins. “Oh...yeah. You're good. Your "baby" is good to go.”

“Nelly, do your thing, baby.” I can see she's fighting the tears back as she steps to Gary. She leans in and says something to him. He gasps as she snaps his neck. “Quinn, the rest are yours.”

“No, this one is mine.” I put him in a chokehold. He starts to struggle and then snaps. Bye-bye. You fuck with my family I will fuck with you!

“You three leave,” she says.

Alec replies, “I'll take them out.”

“Thank you, Alec.” I go up to Nelly and hold her. My wife…my amazing fucking wife.

“Congrats, man. She's as strong as her momma,” Quinn says in adoration.

“She's ok…?” Nelly asks.

“Yes..she…baby, why can't we just do one thing without someone wanting us dead?”

“I don't know,” she softly replies.

“Come on, let's go enjoy what's left of our reception.” We go back to what's left of our reception. I had made a decision, and I needed to let my wife know. I wouldn't lose her again because I was being stubborn or stupid. We were gonna move. Any of my horde who didn’t wish to leave with us could find another, but after today. I was "I am not going to risk losing either of my girls. Not again.

Sally yells, “Nelly! You are hurt!”

“No, sweetie, I'm not. I'm ok. I promise. You look like a princess. Thank you for being our flower girl,” she says.

Sally smiles. “You're welcome. Daddy has a new friend.”

“Oh?” Nelly asks. Yeah, wolves can move on pretty quickly, while we vampires could brood for centuries. 

“She's not as pretty as you, but she makes daddy happy and she's nice to me,” Sally admits.

“Well, good. I'm happy for you, sweetie.” We watch as she runs off back to her dad. I pull Nettie onto the dance floor. I was at least gonna have one dance with my beautiful wife.

“I’m moving us away from here. We’ll go to Europe. I have a chateau there. We will be safe. No one to hunt us. Our child will be safe.”

“What about your role here?” she asks.

“I"ll give it up. Peter has wanted it for year,s but it"s voted on by the horde leaders. What do you say?”

“I don't know. What about Tara? She's still a problem,” she says.

“Take the baby and get rid of her like we originally wanted. I don't care. She fucked over my family so she"s dead either way.”

“What about the wolves and the packs and... well, that's it. I don't have anyone other than Brandon, but he's moved on with Carrie, who I like. Would the pack come? I like them,” she replies.

“I can ask. So are you saying yes?”

“I'm saying maybe,” she says.

“I bet I can change your mind.”

Nelly rolls her eyes. “I'd like to see you try.”

I gaze into her eyes. “Challenge accepted.”