Chapter 11
The next week was a whirlwind of adjustments—setting up my home office, applying for a business license for my new accounting practice, learning the rhythms of pack life. Klaus was patient with my questions, my occasional moments of culture shock, my still-city-calibrated sensitivity to cold.
“Why do you smell anxious?” he asked one evening as we sat in front of the fireplace, his arm around me while I worked on my laptop.
I looked up in surprise. “Do I?”
He nuzzled against my neck, inhaling deeply. “Mmm. Not as bad as yesterday, but still there. What’s bothering you?”
I closed my laptop and leaned into his warmth. “Just… normal new business jitters, I guess. I’ve only secured three clients so far.”
“The pack businesses will all switch to you,” Klaus assured me. “That’s seven right there. And Martha’s been talking you up to every business owner in town.”
“Really?”
He chuckled. “Why do you think old man Peterson called you yesterday? Martha cornered him at the diner.”
I shook my head, amused but grateful. “Small town life is… different.”
“Good different?” Klaus asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
I turned to face him, straddling his lap to look directly into his eyes. “Very good different,” I assured him, and kissed him to emphasize my point.
The kiss quickly escalated, as our physical interactions tended to do. Klaus’s hands slid under my sweater, warm against my skin, and I ground down against him, feeling his immediate response.
“Bed?” he suggested, voice already roughening with desire.
I shook my head, fingers working on the buttons of his flannel. “Here. Now.”
His eyes darkened, pupils dilating. “Demanding,” he growled approvingly.
“You like it,” I retorted, successfully opening his shirt to reveal the chest I still couldn’t get enough of.
“I like everything about you,” he said, suddenly serious despite our position. “I love you, Jordan.”
The declaration caught me off guard, though it shouldn’t have. We’d been dancing around the words for weeks, expressing the sentiment in every way except verbally.
“I love you too,” I said, the truth of it settling in my chest like a physical weight. “God help me, I love a werewolf.”
Klaus laughed, joy brightening his features. “And the werewolf loves you back.” His hands moved to the button of my jeans. “Now, I believe you were being demanding?”
Later, sated and drowsy in front of the dying fire, Klaus traced patterns on my bare shoulder. “The next full moon is in three days,” he said casually.
I hummed acknowledgment, too comfortable to form words.
“I was thinking,” he continued, voice carefully neutral, “that it might be time. If you’re ready.”
I propped myself up on one elbow to look at him. “Time for what?”
His eyes met mine, vulnerability clear in their amber depths. “The claiming bite. The bond.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. “You mean… werewolf marriage?”
He smiled slightly at my terminology. “Something like that. More permanent, less paperwork.”
I sat up fully, pulling the throw blanket around me. “Are you serious? It’s only been—”
“I know how long it’s been,” he interrupted gently. “I’m not suggesting we do it this full moon. Just… starting the conversation. Seeing where your head is at.”
I considered his words, the implications. “What exactly would it mean? For me, for us?”
Klaus sat up as well, his expression earnest. “The bond would make what we already have more… concrete. I’d be able to sense your emotions more clearly, your general wellbeing. You’d likely develop some sensitivity to mine as well, though you wouldn’t gain wolf abilities.”
“And it’s permanent?” I clarified. “No werewolf divorce?”
He shook his head. “Wolves mate for life, Jordan. It’s not something we enter into lightly.”
I thought about the whirlwind of the past month—meeting Klaus, discovering his nature, moving across states to be with him. By any rational standard, we were moving too fast. And yet, nothing about our connection had ever felt rushed or wrong.
“I need to think about it,” I said finally. “Not because I don’t love you, but because… it’s a big step.”
Klaus nodded, relief evident in his expression. “That’s fair. All I ask is that you consider it.” He took my hand, pressing a kiss to my palm. “When you’re ready—whether that’s next month or next year—I’ll be here.”
Three days later, I stood on the observation platform once again, watching as the pack shifted under the full moon. This time, the spectacle was less shocking, more familiar—I knew what to expect, knew the individuals behind the wolf forms.
Klaus, in his silver-gray wolf form, looked up at me before joining the run, his amber eyes conveying a question he wouldn’t voice: Have you decided?
I shook my head slightly, not yet ready to answer.
As the pack disappeared into the woods, I contemplated the choice before me. The claiming bite would bind me to Klaus permanently—not just a relationship, but a supernatural connection that would alter the fundamental nature of my existence.
Am I ready for that? I wondered, listening to the distant howls. To be not just with the pack, but of the pack?
By the time the wolves began returning from their run, I had my answer.
Klaus approached the platform in wolf form, then shifted back to human at the base of the ladder, quickly pulling on his jeans. He climbed up to join me, his expression carefully neutral.
“Good run?” I asked.
He nodded, settling beside me on the bench. “Always is.” He didn’t ask the question burning between us, giving me space to find my own words.
I took his hand, large and warm in mine. “I’ve been thinking about what you asked. About the bond.”
“And?” His voice was carefully controlled, but I could feel the tension in his body.
“And I think… not yet.” I squeezed his hand as disappointment flashed across his face. “Not because I don’t want it, Klaus. I do. But because I want to be absolutely certain when it happens.”
He nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“But,” I continued, “I was thinking maybe we could take a step in that direction.”
His eyes met mine, hope kindling. “What kind of step?”
I smiled, suddenly nervous but certain. “A human step. One with paperwork.” I took a deep breath. “Will you marry me, Klaus? Not werewolf-marry me—at least not yet—but regular, human marriage?”
For a moment, he simply stared at me, shock evident in his expression. Then, a slow smile spread across his face, transforming it with joy.
“Yes,” he said simply. “Of course yes.”
Around us, wolves began to howl—whether responding to our emotions or simply celebrating the moon, I couldn’t tell. But as Klaus pulled me into his arms, kissing me with all the passion and tenderness I’d come to expect from him, it felt like the entire forest was celebrating with us.
* * *
Our wedding three months later was a blend of human tradition and pack custom—held outdoors despite the lingering winter chill, attended by the entire pack and most of the town.
Martha, who turned out to be ordained (“For emergencies and werewolf weddings,” she explained cryptically), performed the ceremony.
Standing before Klaus, who looked devastating in a proper suit, reciting vows that acknowledged both the conventional and supernatural aspects of our union, I marveled at how completely my life had transformed in the span of a few months.
From city-dwelling auditor to small-town accountant. From solitary professional to pack-adjacent mate. From cynical urbanite to… well, still fairly cynical, but happier than I’d ever been.
“I now pronounce you husband and husband,” Martha declared. “You may kiss your mate.”
Klaus pulled me into his arms, kissing me with a passion that elicited wolf whistles (literally, from some of the younger pack members) and applause from the gathered guests.
“Happy?” he murmured against my lips.
“Ecstatic,” I confirmed. “Though still cold.”
He laughed, the sound I’d grown to love more than any other. “I’ll keep you warm. For the rest of our lives.”
“Promise?” I asked, only half-joking.
Klaus’s eyes—those beautiful amber eyes that had captivated me from the first—held mine with absolute certainty. “With everything I am, Jordan. With everything I am.”
And as the pack howled their approval, snow beginning to fall gently around us like nature’s own blessing, I knew I’d found where I belonged—in the arms of a werewolf, in a small town I once hated, finally, completely home.