The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 155

Tristan

"Oh," she said, and I saw her mind start working. "I don't know, I mean we need time to plan everything, especially if we're doing two ceremonies, but I also don't want to wait forever."

"What if we did it in four or five months?" I suggested, watching her face for her reaction.

"Four or five months," she repeated, and I could see her doing the math in her head. "So I'd be about five or six months pregnant, showing but not huge yet."

"Is that okay?" I asked. "We can wait longer if you want, or we can do it sooner if you'd rather not be showing at all."

"No," she said quickly, her hand going to her stomach. "No, I love that actually, I want to be showing, I want everyone to see that I'm carrying your babies, that we're already a family."

Something about the way she said that made my chest feel tight in the best way.

"Plus," she continued. "I want to be married before the babies come, I want them to be born into a family where their parents are committed to each other in every way possible, I want them to have the stability I never had growing up after our parents died."

I understood that completely, understood the need to give our children something better than what we'd had. Because I wanted the same thing too, just needed to know if she wanted the same thing.

"Then four to five months it is," I said. "That gives us plenty of time to plan but gets us married before the twins arrive."

"Four to five months," she echoed, and then her whole face lit up with this enormous smile. "Oh my god, we're getting married in four to five months."

"We are," I confirmed, laughing at her enthusiasm.

"I have so much to do," she said, her mind clearly already racing through everything.

"I need to find dresses, two dresses, one for each ceremony, and we need to figure out the venue for the human wedding. The mating ceremony will be in the woods but we need to find the perfect clearing.

And we need to make a guest list, actually we need two guest lists, one for each ceremony, and the flowers, oh god the flowers, what flowers are even in season in four months?"

"Athena," I said, placing my hands on her shoulders. "Breathe."

"I am breathing," she said but she was definitely spiraling a bit.

"Remember what we just agreed," I reminded her gently. "You get to make the decisions but other people do the actual work, you don't have to figure all of this out right now."

"Right," she said, taking a deep breath. "Right, I have help, Sarah and Leah will help me."

"Exactly," I said. "And we have four months, that's plenty of time."

"Is it though?" she asked. "Four months to plan two weddings seems like not enough time."

"It's enough," I assured her. "Especially with help, and besides, the most important part is already handled."

"What part?" she asked.

"The part where you said yes to marrying me," I said. "Everything else is just details."

She smiled at that and some of the panic left her eyes. "You're right," she said. "The important part is that we're getting married, everything else will work out."

"Exactly," I said.

"You're going to be terrible at delegating," I added with a grin. "I can already tell."

"Probably," she admitted. "But I'll try, I promise I'll try."

"That's all I ask," I said.

Orion came back into the room then, Sarah right behind him, and they both immediately picked up on Athena's excitement.

"What did we miss?" Orion asked, settling into the armchair and pulling Sarah down onto his lap.

"We're getting married in four to five months," Athena announced, practically bouncing with excitement now. "And we're doing both a mating ceremony and a human wedding."

"Both?" Orion said, his eyebrows shooting up. "That's ambitious."

"That's us," I said with a shrug. "We don't do anything halfway."

Sarah's face lit up like Christmas had come early. "Oh my god that's so exciting," she said, turning to look at Orion. "Did you hear that? They're doing both ceremonies."

"I heard," Orion said, his hands automatically going to her waist to steady her. "Congratulations you two, that's going to be beautiful."

"And a lot of work," Sarah added, already clearly thinking about logistics. "But so worth it, when's the date?"

"We're thinking in four to five months," I said. "So we need to figure out when the full moon is and work backwards from there."

"I can look that up," Sarah said, already pulling out her phone. "Let me see, four months from now."

We all waited while she scrolled through whatever moon calendar she'd found.

"Okay so," she said. "In exactly four months there's a full moon on a Saturday night, that would be perfect timing."

"Saturday night for the mating ceremony," Athena said, nodding. "And then Sunday during the day for the human wedding."

"That works," Sarah said, making notes on her phone. "That gives people who want to attend both the ability to do so without having to travel between days."

"Good point," I said.

"Wait," Orion said, and I saw him doing math in his head. "Four months, that's mid February, are you sure you want a winter wedding?"

"Why not?" Athena asked.

"Because it's cold," Orion pointed out. "And you'll be about six months pregnant, are you sure you want to be outside in the cold for the mating ceremony?"

Athena bit her lip, clearly not having thought about that.

"We can have heat lamps," I suggested. "And the ceremony won't be that long, maybe an hour at most."

"And I'll be surrounded by wolves who run hot anyway," Athena added. "Plus I'll be so happy I probably won't even notice the cold."

"If you're sure," Orion said, still looking skeptical.

"I'm sure," Athena said firmly. "I want to get married before the babies come and four months gives us enough time to plan but not so much time that we're waiting forever."

"Fair enough," Orion conceded, then looked at Sarah. "I assume you're going to help with the planning? Not help, you're going to carry the wedding" he said, already knowing his wife.

"Are you kidding?" Sarah said. "I'm already making lists in my head, this is going to be amazing."

"See?" I said to Athena. "Told you Sarah would be excited to help."

"I have so many ideas already," Sarah continued, her mind clearly racing.

"We can start looking at venues this week, and we should definitely make appointments at bridal shops, you need two dresses so we should start looking soon to make sure we have time for any alterations."

"Sarah," Athena said, laughing now. "Breathe."

"Right, sorry," Sarah said but she was grinning. "I just love weddings."

"I remember," Orion said dryly. "You started planning ours about five minutes after I proposed."

"And it was perfect," Sarah said, turning to kiss him quickly.

"It was," Orion agreed, his expression softening as he looked at his wife.

"Okay so," Sarah said, turning back to us. "Let's talk logistics, for the mating ceremony we'll need to find a clearing in the woods, somewhere on pack land obviously, somewhere beautiful and meaningful."

"I know a few places," Orion said. "I can take you to see them, we'll find the perfect spot."

"And for the human wedding we need a venue," Sarah continued. "Somewhere that can accommodate a lot of people, somewhere with indoor and outdoor space in case of weather, somewhere beautiful."

"There's that estate about an hour from here," I suggested. "The one with the gardens and the ballroom."

"Riverside Estate," Sarah said, nodding. "That's a great option, they do a lot of weddings there, the gardens are beautiful even in winter and the ballroom is huge."

"Can we go look at it?" Athena asked.

"I'll call them tomorrow and make an appointment," Sarah said, making another note. "We should also start thinking about who you want in your wedding party, who's going to stand up with you."

Athena looked at me, then at her brother, then at Sarah. "I want you as my maid of honor," she said to Sarah. "And Leah as a bridesmaid."

"I'd be honored," Sarah said, her eyes getting misty. "Really honored."

"And I want you as my best man," I said to Orion. "Obviously."

"Obviously," Orion agreed. "I'd be offended if you asked anyone else."

"Derek can be a groomsman," I added. "And we can figure out the rest later."

"What about Lily?" Athena asked. "Can she be our flower girl?"

"She'd love that," Sarah said. "She'll be so excited."

"And Liam can be the ring bearer," I suggested.

"He's two," Orion pointed out. "He might not make it down the aisle."

"Then he'll be the cutest ring bearer who didn't make it down the aisle," Athena said with a grin.

But I noticed something in her gaze, she was thinking something disastrous and a part of me knew what she was about to say.

"How about..." She started, and I stared at her, waiting for her to throw the bomb she was about to throw.

"How about making Derek your best man, while I make Kiara my maid of honor." I smiled because I was right, I knew she was planning something.

"Hmm" I said looking at her.

"Wait listen, let me explain." She said looking at us with a pleading look.

"Go ahead" Orion sad, gesturing her with his hands but the smile still plastered in his face. He knows his sis too well.

"Kiara and Derek has helped us a lot, and we all know there's something there. We just need to push them a little, like make them sit close during the wedding on Sunday.

So they'll have no choice than to face whatever was going on between them. This is the only way we could pay them back." She looked among us with a pleading eyes.

I couldn't say no, I could never say no to Athena and I know Orion too.

And I was right because he gave a defeated breath. "If you say so, I don't mind" she smiled and looked at Serah.

"Please Sah" Serah smiled.

"Of course, I don't mind. I'd never pass on a Derek, Kiara moment. I'm actually rooting for both of them, so let's do this." Sarah said, mirroring Athena excitement.

I and Orion looked at each other, feeling pity for Derek. Because he doesn't know what he just got himself into.

"It's settled then." What could I have said, I didn't have a choice.

We spent the next hour talking through details and ideas, Sarah taking notes on everything while Athena's excitement continued to build.

Orion threw in practical suggestions here and there while I mostly just watched Athena light up talking about our wedding.

This was what I wanted to give her, this joy, this excitement, this feeling of being celebrated and cherished.

"Okay I think that's enough for tonight," I finally said when I noticed Athena starting to yawn. "We have four months to figure all of this out."

"But there's so much to do," Athena protested even as she yawned again.

"And we'll do it all," I assured her. "But right now you need rest."

"He's right," Sarah said, standing up from Orion's lap. "We can pick this up tomorrow, I'll call the estate and some bridal shops and we can start looking this week."

"Okay," Athena agreed reluctantly.

Orion and Sarah said goodnight and headed up to their room, and I helped Athena up from the couch.

"Ready for bed?" I asked.

"I'm too excited to sleep," she said but I could see the exhaustion in her eyes

.

"You'll be asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow," I predicted.

We headed upstairs and I helped her get ready for bed, she brushed her teeth while I changed into pajama pants, and then we climbed into bed together.

I pulled her close and she immediately curled into my side, her head on my chest and her hand on my heart.

"Today was perfect," she said sleepily.

"It was pretty good," I agreed.

"We're getting married," she said, like she still couldn't quite believe it. "In four months we're going to be married."

"We are," I confirmed, running my fingers through her hair.

"And we're having twins," she added.

"And building a house," I continued. "And moving onto the property our parents bought together."