That Time I Took Down A Cult (Cozy Cult Cuties, #1)

by Rebel Carter

I’m about to marry the most handsome man in town. The smartest man in town. The man every girl wished would get down on one knee for her. Yet the Founders made me a Blossom and made the match. They chose me. Me. I’m the chosen one. I’m the one marrying Callum O’Hare.

“You don’t have to do this,” I whisper. But when Callum looks at me, it’s not my Prince Charming that looks back. It’s a killer. “I have to.”

“You’re insane.” I shake my knife at him. “You chase me out here after fake marrying me just so you could slit my throat and I’m the insane one? No way, buddy. You’re not reverse Uno-ing me. I’m trying to survive.”

“Who touched my wife?”

“Me?” I shake my head and move to pull away from Wrath. “I’m no one.” “You are everything.”

“What is it? What’s the one thing you care for?” “You,” Wrath replies, “you are the only thing I care for, darling wife. The rest of the world can burn,” he declares. I nearly lose my battle not to lick his fingers.

“My ruthless little bride.”

“We weren’t brainwashed!” Nina shouts from inside the concessions stand. There’s a clatter and something big falls with a thud, but she doesn’t appear. “Yes, we were, Nina. We were getting married to a demon in the middle of the night. Yet we didn’t think anything bad was going to happen to us,” I call out to her.

“What the mulberry was that?” “I’m finding that I’m jealous when it comes to you.” Wrath shrugged and held the door open for me. “If you’re going to wear clothes, I’ll be the one making them from now on.”

“Besides, I’m the harbinger around here. So don’t worry, I’ll keep you plenty safe, husband.”

But before I can take the next, there’s a yank on the bond between Wrath and I. The sudden tug makes me fall back a half step and I whirl around to look at him. “What are you doing?” I ask Wrath and everyone gasps the second I speak. “Do you see that?!” “Where did the fritters all go?” “They just vanished!”

Which makes sense, because what’s a virgin sacrifice without the virgin?

“That a wife is not something you control but cherish. That a wife is a part of their chosen partner. A wife is neither meant to be below or above, but beside their partner. There is little else in all the universes and dimensions, no greater honor or thing more lovely and precious than a wife to have and to hold,”

I pat Wrath’s hand. “As much as I appreciate gifts, I don’t think I want to wear my parents as a crown.” “Are you sure? You would look splendid with a crown.” “Could we try something made of silver, maybe some diamonds, before we move to the medium of my parent’s fingers?” He sighs and looks disappointed but nods all the same. “As you wish, my treasure.”

“I am a very sweet demon when I have the mind to be.”

“I knew it!” I point a finger at him. “I knew you knew, you sneaky little rat!”

“I mean it. I have never and will never see anything more beautiful than your face in rapture.”

“You punched him!” “He was threatening you,” Elijah says simply. “I really like you,” Wrath tells Elijah and tucks me under his arm. “I like him, beloved. He’s a great addition to the team.”

“You booped him?” I ask in confusion. “It was a necessary boop,” Wrath grumbles.

“You almost got clocked with a turkey leg, what do you think they’re gonna do if they find out you can use magic?”

“A text? When did you get a phone? Am I the only one without a phone now?”

“You lit candles,” I whisper. Everything is turned up to eleven and I’m grateful I can hide in the shadows of the candlelight. “I did.” “Why?” “You deserve candles, beloved.”

“I’ll never drop you, beloved,”

Sunday sighs and leans back against the counter with her cup of coffee. “She’s right. I’m a menace.”

My juice ran out. Whatever power up Wrath gave me isn’t powering me up anymore. I wince when I bump against the ceiling and hold my hands over my head to stop me from hitting the ceiling again. I try to reach for the power that got me up here in the first place but there’s nothing there but a void. I sigh and bump along the ceiling like a half-inflated balloon. “A little help here?”

Wrath catches me and kisses me before I’ve even processed what’s happened. “I have blood all over me,” I whisper when we part. “I think it’s okay. I have a lot of his dust on me,” Wrath tells me.

“You are not allowed to die. End of story.” Wrath steps in with me until we’re toe-to-toe and leans down to glare right back at me. “And neither are you. There is no story without you, Buffy.”

“Have fun getting your vengeance dear and make sure to let us know when you’re home!”

No, that will never be true. Even if I’m not here, you still have to live.” “I won’t. I refuse it. Even if the gods conspire to take you from me, I would follow you into the underworld in this dimension or the next and I would find you. I would bind myself to you for all eternity even if that meant my soul was damned to walk the worlds in darkness.”