Chapter 24

Once both I and Yuan were redressed, in our robes, after our interesting bath. The old lady took me off into a separate room. Once there the old lady spoke in a mesmerizing tone. Probably telling stories from when she was a bride. Well, that was my assumption anyway. I sat there silently and listened to the rhythmatic tones of her voice.

When the old woman had finished my make-up, she moved on to my hair. She did my hair up in an elegant hairstyle. Then she put a Classical Wedding Headdress on my head. It was filled with red roses, and looked like a Coronet Crown. (I had to look it up to know the name.) It was filled with beads and Jewel's. As a last step she added a red vail. She showed me before applying it, I could see out. But they could not see in. It covered my entire face.

I was wearing a beautiful yellow Kimono. The red headdress actually complimented my dress rather well. I never really thought of it before. I guess yellow and red really do look pretty together. But when we walked out to meet prince Yuan in front of the shop, he stood there and stared at me. After a moment he said, "wǒ měi lì de rì chū!"

I giggled and smiled, "Yuan, what does that mean?"

Yuan shook his head and grinned. "It simply means, My beautiful sunrise!" He walked up and put his hand out to me. "Today is our wedding day. May I carry the bride the rest of the way to our new home?"

I breathed in deeply, "Well that depends." Yuan's smile melted immediately, he looked worried. "It depends on how far we have to go. I will not be your burden Yuan."

Yuan's smile came back bigger than ever before, "Its not far my love. I have but only a mile to carry my bride. Please join me on this journey my beautiful rì chū. That means sunrise."

I put my hand in his and giggled slightly. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me into him. Then he dipped me in one of the most sweetest kisses I think I have ever had. He did not pull my vail up. Instead, when he dipped me, my vail kind of moved aside from my mouth. He just took advantage of the movement.

The old lady walked at him, griping him out in Mandarin. He stood me back up and she turned my back to him in one simple movement. She pulled up my vail and fixed my lipstick. When she turned me back around she walked over and began cleaning the vary red lipstick off of Yuan as well. He grinned at me sheepishly. I could not help but giggle.

When she was done he bounded over and quickly swept me off of my feet. He was carrying me like a bride. Well, I guess I am a bride. I am, HIS, bride! I am the bride that he is carrying to our wedding. What an entrance we are going to make.

Yuan did not walk down the stairs either. Once I was in his arms, he bounded down the stairs. This caused me to throw my arms around his neck. It scared me. But it only made Yuan smile all the brighter.

People were beginning to gather down the sides of the streets as Yuan walked. It was like we were todays entertainment. It made me feel vary shy. I curled into Yuan. I just wanted to hide inside of him. The people staring at me really bothered me. I did not know what else to do. But Yuan, the all-knowing, knew what was going on. He hugged me to him and kissed me on the forehead. "Tiánxīn, You can cradle into me as much as you wish. But the people we are walking by, they are who you will be princess to. My family rules over these lands. From the dock to dà hé. It is about six hundred miles inland. Most of it is forested. dà hé Literally means what it is too. It means big river. Anyway, these people are going to now be your family as well. It is scary, but if you could try to acknowledge them in some way. They will love you for it."

It was awfully quite. I think that is really what was bothering me. Not really anything else, except maybe the whispers. I wanted so badly to make Yuan Proud! I sat up a little straighter and began to wave at the people. As soon as I did, people began to start shouting and applauding. Yuan leaned into my ear, "That's the way Tiánxīn! The people are shouting your praise. Remember, they know me as prince. Me bringing you in, means you are, as of today, my wife."

He rumbled in his chest. It took me a moment to realize it. But he was doing something like purring in his contentment. Once I realized, I had to giggle. I cant wait to see what else this amazing man can do.

We had just made it out of the city. From what I could tell; we were moving at a pretty decent rate too. That is when a rotten tomato came flying out of nowhere. Someone shouted something as well. I do not know what was said but the tomato slammed Yuan upside the back of the head. Who ever had thrown it, had put a big rock inside before he had thrown it. Yuan went down to one knee. He did not drop me amazingly.

Yuan turned his head around to find the heckler. He kept me on the front side of himself to protect me. He did not see anyone. "Joyce, I am going to pick up the pace. I think the next half mile may be the most dangerous. There is a reason why this is my challenge as your husband. I can not put you down or I am saying you are my mistress not my wife. I am marrying you my wǒ de ài rén. If you will still be my wife?"

I looked up at him, "What does wo de ai ren mean?"

He hugged me to him, "It means, my love."

I smiled, even though he could not see it. "Yes of course I will still marry you."

All of a sudden, Yuan turned me into him and I felt him start to shift. As he did, he maneuvered me to where I was riding on his back. He had begun to run while he was shifting. By the time he was completely shifted, I was riding a large, sandy blond, wolf. When I say he was large, I mean the size of a small horse. He was running so fast, I could still see the fields and meadow's passing but not really what was in them. It was an exhilarating ride.

What would have taken us hours to walk, only now took mere minutes. What I could tell you though, is that it was way more than a mile. We must have went about ten miles at the least. That was when we began to enter another town. When we entered, he never stopped walking. But he began shifting back. Never once letting my feet touch the ground, he maneuvered me back in front of himself. He was now carrying me like a bride again. He nodded his head, beckoning me to look forward, "This my dear is our family home."

When I looked in front, well let's just say, I was shocked. What stood before me was not any regular mansion. It was not a mansion at all. It was long walls with men walking them. They looked at least three stories tall, but it covered so much ground, it was unreal. Again, Yuan smiled at me, "My tián, this is just the outside walls. The outside walls surround the outside of the castle."

As he was explaining, he approached two big doors. As soon as the guards saw recognized who Yuan was, they opened the doors to let us enter. Not even one word was said to us. Yuan nodded to the guards and they nodded back. On the other side of the doors was a beautiful forested front lawn. There were so many trees, with foliage so thick, I could not see more than thirty or forty feet ahead. The road itself was covered and dark. The drive was lined with pole lights though. Which actually made it for a nice cool walk. It was so much nicer than the hot walk we had had coming here. It had been so hot.

Yuan was getting really enthusiastic. It seemed as though as soon as the doors closed behind us we were in a whole new world. He had started out walking, but as soon as the doors closed, he took off at a sprint. I told him there was no need to go so fast. But he just smiled, "My tián we are nearly there."

After a few minutes had passed, he leaned down and whispered, "My love, look to the end of the road. Our new home is coming within view. That is my mother waiting on the right, and my father on the left of the door. They are welcoming us home. At the bottom of the stairs stand your parents."

I had been looking up and watching the birds. There were so many different and colorful birds. The trees were filled with them. When I looked forward, I did indeed see my family. I was so happy! They were the first thing I noticed. But then I noticed the palace behind them. The structure was huge. It was built in a mixture of old traditional buildings and modern buildings. It was so big I could not tell you how far it stretched in either direction. I think the forest helped hide it. But then the height was surprising as well. It was at least seven stories tall. But that was my best guess looking from the outside. There was a lot of glass in the front but the sides were brick and mortar. Then there was a staircase in front of the palace that was about a fight and a half before the door. Then there were two highly dressed Chinese people standing by the door. They must be his parents.

Yuan walked right up to my parents. As soon as they saw me they began to cry. My mother kissed my forehead, and my father pulled her back. Dad said, "Honey, he has to finish his trial. He cant put her down until they are at the top of the steps and in front of his parents. It is their tradition." My mother stepped back, taking a deep breath in, and my father put his arm around her. "You go ahead son. We will walk up behind you." Yuan walked up the stairs and gave his greetings. Then in English both his parents welcomed us.

Yuan's mother was a thin black haired beauty. She must have been about five foot two. She was wearing all traditional garb too and all in red. She was the first to speak. "What a beautiful woman you have brought me for a daughter my son. Her family is very well bred as well. Did you know they come from the Adalwolf pack? And they are prominent members?"

Yuan smiled, but before he could talk his father spoke up. "Chen, give the poor boy a moment. Son you may put your bride down. We accept her and her family. Have no fear. Young lady, I have heard nothing but good about you. I will leave it to you to tell me anything bad."

I finally was able to say something. "I am sorry, but I think you have been misinformed. My family is not part of any pack. I was bitten by Abel Adalwolf. That is how we were associated with them."

In comes my father to the conversation. He waited until Yuan sat me down. Then he pulled me off to the side. This did not seem to bother anyone. So I let my father do as he wished without question. Then My father half shifted, right there in front of me and changed back human. I forgot to breathe for a second. But my mother was there rubbing my back. She was who explained, "Sweetheart, we are what is known as old blood in our pack. I was one of the last natural born females who could shift. We found out the hard way what was going on to all the new pups after we were married and were expecting you. For some reason when all new female pups were born, they were born human. The council decided that if they wanted to stay part of the pack, they would have to be turned. That was when we decided we would try to keep you out of pack matters. We wanted you to decide on your own. That is unless you were to meet a nice young wolf. We thought Abel had you. We knew he had bitten you. He knew of our pack ties."

My mother hugged me. Then my father took up the story. "We thought you two would be getting married very soon. Then the kidnapping and Abel loosing his memory. Well, he thought by not telling us, we would not find out. He forgot we are of his pack. We are told everything. When he finally did find out we knew, he had been married for about a week. He did not recognize us at his wedding either. He did eventually apologize to us and he explained the whole ordeal. You will be happy to know that that family is no longer a part of our pack. The pack has annulled their vow's. He is coming here to personally apologize for his actions, and for your treatment. He should be here just in time for your ceremony. My princess, we are so proud of you. Not every pup can say that they had two separate pack leaders after them. This is a dream come true for our family. But that being said, all we care about is your happiness. We love you kido!"

My mother wiped away her tears, "We are so proud of you my sweet baby. Is this what you want? Will marrying Yuan make you happy?

My father hugged me, "We will approve of your wedding only if it will make you happy baby girl."

I was in shock! How was I supposed to! What was I to say! How could I take this in!!!! I forced myself to take a deep breath. Then I looked at Yuan. He was looking at me and smiling as he talked to his parents. He was so confident, strong, and happy. I mouthed the words "are you sure?"

Yuan put up a finger to his parents and told them he would be right back. He come over to us. Then he leaned down to me. "Tiánxīn, I think you forgot that you are still wearing the veil. I could tell your mouth was moving. But I have no idea what you were saying."

I whispered back in his ear, "Are you sure this is what you want. Do you want to marry me?"

Yuan giggled, "I thought you would never ask me. Of course, I will marry you! How does right now sound?"

I giggled, "Yuan! I am serious."

Yuan took both my hands in his and got down on one knee, "I have never been more serious. I want to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me daily. Anything I can do I will! That includes traveling to and from America as often as possible. I want you next to me for every decision, for every meal, for every night. Will you please, become the better part of me. Please become my wife. Then in life and in love we shall be together till death do us part."

I took a deep gasp in as Yuan stood up slowly. He kept his eyes locked with mine. I smiled, "I do not think that there is a thing in this world I want more. Yes Yuan! I want to marry you! I will marry you!"

Yuan cheesed at me, "right now?"

My parents and I laughed, "Yes Yuan, right now."

Yuan's parents led the way. First we stopped to pay our respects to the ancestors. But then we walked into a small temple. The seats were filled with the people of prominence in this community. In front there was a preacher standing in front of a huge window. I looked at Yuan, "Yuan, I thought we were having a traditional wedding. A Traditional Chinese wedding?"

Yuan gave me is boyish grin, "Yes parts will be. But we are merging two souls, two families, two packs, and two lives. Our traditions can mix two. I have been working this out with my mother for several days now. Is this all right? Or do you have to have the white dress?"

I had to quickly wipe away a tear that threatened to ruin my makeup. "This is wonderful!"

There in front of the people in the audience, his parents and mine, we got married. The ceremony was small. It was right at sunset. When we finally had our first kiss as husband and wife, someone set off some fireworks just in sight of the big window in the temple. It was an amazing moment. I was now Mrs. Joyce Mackenzie. We signed the marriage certificate right after the small ceremony. It was the first time I had seen my new name, and I love my new name!