Free Silent Bite-A Scanguards Wedding (1001 Dark Nights) by Tina Folsom

glance over her shoulder. “I just thought I’d let you know. I looked in on your future father-in-law. He’s doing fine. I did a blood test, and his doctors are correct. It’s just a bit of anemia. Nothing to worry about. I’ve given him some meds to tide him over until he’s back home.”
    “That’s a relief. At least that means we don’t have to worry Ursula with it. She’s stressed out enough.” The last couple of days she’d seemed frazzled most of the time. And he didn’t like that look on her, the look that said that she wanted all this to be over.
    “Uh, about that.”
    “What?” he asked, instantly worried.
    “Ursula and her mother had another blowout tonight.”
    He shoved a hand through his hair. “About what?”
    “Your date of birth.”
    “What’s my birthday got to do with the wedding?”
    “Apparently everything. You have two fours in your date of birth.”
    “So?”
    “In Chinese that’s bad luck.”
    “Damn it! Superstitious crap!”
    “Well, of course it’s superstition, but it’s not any different than Westerners finding Friday the thirteenth unlucky. Unfortunately, it’s really upset Ursula.” Her eyes turned toward the ceiling.
    “I’ll take care of it. Thanks, Maya.” He ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. Nobody had the right to upset the woman he loved, not even his soon-to-be mother-in-law. Particularly not over a stupid thing like a birthday.
    Without knocking, he entered the guestroom. “Ursula!”
    She wasn’t alone. Vera had her arms wrapped around her and stroked her hand over her hair. Both looked up when the door fell shut behind him.
    “Just in time,” Vera said calmly and rose from the bed.
    Immediately, Oliver pulled Ursula into his arms and rubbed his hands over her back. “I’m so sorry, baby. I just heard. Tell me, what can I do?” He looked at her tear-stained eyes, and his heart bled for her.
    Before Ursula could answer, Vera replied, “I have an idea of how to fix this.”
    Oliver looked at her. “How? Last time I checked, nobody could change their birthday at will.”
    “Well, technically your birthday is the day you were turned into a vampire, which I believe was August 8. And that means you have two 8’s in your date of birth, and that’s very good luck.”
    “Yes, but you can’t exactly tell Ursula’s mother that without telling her I’m a vampire.”
    “Of course not! But I can use mind control to make her think she heard August 8 instead of April 4 when Rose told her your birthday.”
    Ursula eased out of his embrace and sat back on her heels. “That’s not a solution! We can’t keep wiping my parents’ memories when something happens that they don’t like.”
    “But we did it after you escaped those vampires. We had to.”
    “Exactly. We had to!” Ursula said firmly. “But this time we don’t. Just because my mother has some crazy-ass idea about numerology doesn’t mean that we have to wipe her memory. We have to reason with her.”
    Oliver rolled his eyes. “Reason with your mother? Aren’t you asking a little too much?”
    Ursula braced her hands at her hips. “What are you saying?”
    “I’m just saying that she’s not likely to listen.”
    “You don’t know her like I do!”
    Oliver jumped up from the bed. “Well, I’m not the one who’s crying and all upset, am I?”
    “I can’t believe you said that!”
    Shell-shocked, Oliver backed away. Were they just having their first fight? They’d never argued before. For several long moments, he simply stared at Ursula, who held his gaze without flinching.
    “Well, no wonder I always dreaded family visits,” Vera said calmly. “Brings the worst out in people.”
    Oliver shot Vera a look, then dropped his head. “I’m sorry.” He raised his lids to look at Ursula, slowly placing one foot in front of the other to approach her again. “It’s just, I hate seeing you unhappy. It hurts me. Here.” He placed his fist over his heart. “I can’t