Forbidden love, The Saga

"Congratulations," the words seem to fall on Marc's ears but he barely seemed to register anything. He could feel his heart beat loudly against his chest. Anxiety building up in him. "Congratulations, Erica." The voice rang again and mark tried to spot the origin of the voice. Oh Right. He had to be polite. He could not afford to displease his parents on the day of his wedding.

"Thanks for coming," mark said without traces of any warmth in his voice. Then came another well-wisher and one more. His eyes searched for her again. There she was, laughing with the other bridesmaids at their table. She lifted the flute and sipped her champagne. Marc wished for nothing more than to be the glass that was pressed against her lips.

He moved his gaze back to his table. "This is just perfect, isn't it?" Erica's assertive voice demanded an answer. Marc nodded and forced a smile.

Which part of this arrangement was perfect he wondered. How had things gotten to this point? He quickly stole another glance at the bridesmaid's table. A man approached their table and stretched his arm towards her, asking for a dance. She slipped her hand into his and pushed against her chair.

Marc wasn't careful this time. He had looked for longer than he intended to. "Our first dance was perfect, wasn't it?" Erica chirped and asked marc for another dance. She wanted to go to the floor and be swung in her gown. She had dreamed of this reception since she had set her eyes on Marc for the first time a year ago.

"Yes," said Marc, "let's dance again."

Erica jumped up in excitement. She was determined to drag him to the floor but his voluntary wanting to go there is something she hadn't hoped for.

Smiling from ear to ear she moved effortlessly to the dance floor. The music changed to her liking and she moved to Marc's lead.

All couples made way for the newlywed to dance and eventually found their rhythm around them.

Marc felt her presence right behind her. His heart started to thump in his chest louder yet. He turned Erica around to the next beat. She matched his gracious waltz. Marc was facing the couple now. Looking at another man's arm on her made his stomach squeeze. She threw her head back in laughter when the man whispered something in her ears. Marc wanted to know what she had just heard. He wanted to be the one dancing with her, making her dance, perhaps steal a kiss or two as they'd moved flowless on the floor. He wanted to be close to her, like he had been wanting to since the first day he saw her, a year ago.

"Step Closer," Erica insisted as she clung to Marc. It was a perfect wedding she thought.

Lisa was aware of Marc's gaze over her. She could not let him know that she noticed. It was her best friend's wedding. She was the maid of honour. She would do nothing to jeopardize her friendship of five years. What happened that morning was an accident. It had to be. She tried to shake off the image of Marc and her, pressed together on the floor.

Tobias, alpha of the west pack had booked the Olive Garden, a seven-star luxury hotel. All his guests were invited to stay for two days to enjoy the wedding festivities. All premium suites housed movie stars, politicians, and business tycoons. His daughter's wedding was the most sought event of the year in the county. Marc had initially retaliated to the wedding, but it only took a little bending of rules and fear instilling drive to his parent's house to convince him. Nobody had ever said no to the alpha. Marc wasn't going to be an exception.

"Which one?" Asked Erica with her eyes fixated on the two custom-made diamond necklaces.

"That one," pointed Lisa for the hundredth time.

Every two days, Erica would get mixed feelings about which necklace would be fitting for the biggest day of her life. She waved back and forth on two pieces, one an exquisitely designed necklace with a string of diamonds and another an elegantly studded pendent that was a cluster of 50 diamonds pressed at the centre. Each necklace cost 20 million and yet they seemed not good enough on the day.

"Are you sure? It feels a little off."

"...," Lisa opened her mouth to speak but Erica cut her panicking.

"This can't be. Let's ask Marc." offered Erica.

"Here, let me take these to him. I will get his opinion, let them do your hair now." Cried, Lisa. She looked at her friend getting more and more restless as her wedding hour approached. Would she ever feel this nervousness? She hadn't even kissed anyone yet. Being a physicist wasn't an easy thing. She immersed herself in her research and never cared for romanticism. She smiled gleefully at Erica who let the best stylist in the country finally touch her hair. Sinking into her chair, she finally gave in, "Fine. I will wear whichever he likes best then. It's settled."

Lisa hurriedly picked up both pieces and marched to Marc's suite. She wasn't particularly fond of him, if anything he made her restless. There was a mystery about him that made her curious and terrified her at the same time. After having known him a year now, she had barely managed to be in his presence fighting the strong urge to run away. Erica loved Marc and she had to learn to be around him for her.

She knocked on his suite door and heard a feeble call to get in. Wearing her confidence high and a smile on her face, she walked into his room arms stretched towards him with necklaces in them when she stopped on her feet. He had walked out of the shower and had a white towel wrapped around his waist. A well-pressed suit hung on the rack. The groomsmen had left him to get dressed.

"I am sorry," she poured. trying not to look at his body but finding it hard to take her gaze off.

"Oh, I thought it was kurt.."

None said a word for a second. Marc could hear her heart beating louder. He tried to say something,

"Which one?"

"What?"

"The necklaces. Erica is having another meltdown over this. Put her out of her misery and chose one."

It was only then that marc noticed that she was holding something in her hands. His eyes met hers and for a moment that was all he saw.

"That one." He pointed to the diamond cluster pendant.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? I thought it looked good on her too. She wants to look her best for you. No wonder she is nervous."

"Do people have to be nervous to want to look good for me?"

"That threw her off. That was a rude thing to say. Shouldn't he be happy that the love of his life and he were getting married and she made attempts to align his taste too? hers. But then, she felt a wave of embarrassment when she remembered refreshing her lip tint before coming here. She was never one for make-up but just before entering his suite, she looked at her reflection in the massive mirror on the corridor wall. Please with how she looked she nodded to herself. Erica had taken it upon herself to select the maid of honour dress.

"If I let you be, you will probably show to my wedding in your lab coat."

"Haha. We wouldn't want to have two women in white then. Sure. Go ahead. Pick one. I will ditch my labcoat for you for a day."

Your Highness" teased Erica.

The dress did look good on her. Like this dress, all her clothes were picked by Erica who had appointed herself as Lisa's stylist years ago.

She wondered if one of the groomsmen would ask her for a dance later. She wanted to make sure to get a final check before checking with Marc about the necklace. pulling the strand of a loose hair wave behind her ear, she walked to his door.

'What would Marc think of me in this dress,' she found herself wondering at the door.

'Can he read minds?' She wondered.

"I am not nervous to look good for you. That's absurd," she regretted her words as soon as they came out. That was a response she had to get out. Why had she just said that? Could the ground swallow her just then so she didn't have to stand there?

"Let me get a closer look at them."

"What?"

"The necklaces. Let me look at them."

"Oh yes, of course." Ah. Maybe he hadn't heard her. She talks to herself all the time and perhaps what she thought was a response was a mere mutter.

Sighing in relief she made her way to him.

Every step she took made her feel a little dizzy. What was happening to her? She could blame it on the hangover. The other bridesmaid had decided to drink themselves to nearly passing out the night before.

Her stilettos clicked against the beautiful marble floor and just went she was about to hand him the necklaces, her heel slipped. The floor was wet from the champagne the groomsmen had opened on the big day.

She fell forward and Marc rushed to her to help her, but not noticing the wet floor himself, slipped too, just when he had managed to grab hold of him. Lisa landed on top of marc who was on his back on the floor.

Her hair fell on his face and it was the first time, she felt a man's breath on her neck. Realising what had just happened, Lisa tried to get up but Marc didn't move an inch. This is the closest he had been to her. He had wanted to be that close to her. He didn't want her to get up. He didn't want the time to move.

Lisa found his gaze compelling and realised her legs were between his. Her breasts were pressed against his bare chest. She could feel the texture of the towel on her skin through her satin dress.

He smelled good. He smelled great. She found herself inching her face closer to him as if hypnotised by his gaze. Marc parted his lips in anticipation.

He pushed her hair at the back of her ear. His touch made her ears burn. His fingers lingered on her cheek for a few seconds before he traced them down her neck. Neck. She is forgetting something. Neck.Lace...NECKLACE. Oh god!

She panicked and pulled herself back, getting up. Trying to find her balance again, she ran out of the door. "I will tell her you liked the pendant."She managed to say before closing the door behind her.

She was probably in his room for not more than two minutes and it felt like an eternity had passed. 'Time does slow down, Herr Einstein.' she thought to herself. What had just happened was an accident. Her habit of overthinking everything was making her nervous. Has his face always been this perfect? Did he trace a finger on my cheek? Did I just misread that in the heat of the moment. She could feel heat radiating from her body. For the first time in her life, a man had gotten that close to her physically. It was an accident she reminded herself again. Wondering if Marc felt in that moment what she felt. Did time slow down for him too?