Chapter 14
“So, the whole pack hierarchy thing is an artificial social construct?”
Steve watched as Jared settled himself onto the sofa next to him. He placed an arm around his mate, wishing to be close and hoping to provide reassurance.
“No Omegas?”
“Only in stories.”
“And if you bite me, I won't turn.”
“Well, no. But you will then have a lifespan tied to my own and a few other were related changes.”
“So, if you live a hundred years, I will too.”
“And if I die, you do too.”
“That's a hell of 'til death do us part.”
Steve nodded solemnly. “It is.”
“So, we'll have sex, you'll bite me and drink my blood like a vampire, I'll start to die, then you'll feed me some of your blood, and I'll become not a wolf but more than human.”
Steve winced. “Yeah.”
“And the bite feels good. It says here, it feels good. How the hell can that possibly feel good?”
“A mating bite triggers changes in my saliva.”
“Oh. The 'compounds enter the blood' bit. Your spit gets in the bite and drugs me. I'm going to
tell you, this scares the bejesus out of me. But it can't be all bad, right? Otherwise, no one would be mated.”
“Look, Jared...”
“No, stop. I want to be yours. I kinda wish I hadn't read this in quite so much depth, but I did.
And I'm also kind glad I did, because now I won't freak out while it's going on.
Actually, scratch that, I probably will freak out, but at least I'll know what's going on. Can we have a candlelight dinner and all that first? With lots of wine, then bed and the mating?”
Steve took Jared's hand. “Yeah.”
“Make us some reservations someplace really swanky, mister. The sooner the better, before I really do majorly freak.”
“Friday too soon?”
“Honey, tomorrow lunch would be even better but I'm sure that's too soon for a reservation.”
“I'll find us somewhere.”
“Stay with me tonight?”
“How about my place? Yours is still airing out.” Steve gave a sniff as he spoke. The source of the stench was gone, but air freshener did little to hide the lingering smell.
“Yeah, okay. I guess I'll be moving in with you anyways. Shortest lease ever.”
“I'm sure Des won't mind. As landlord, I know my parents will be thrilled.”
“Do we have to take over the pack right away?”
“No. We can take a honeymoon, get you settled with me in our place, then hold the ceremony to officially take over. So, not until about a month after. Gives my folks time to settle things there end too. Mom was talking about them taking cruise once we take over.”
“That sounds like fun. Hey, can we take a Disney cruise?”
“For our honeymoon?”
“Yeah. Or is that stupid?”
“Not at all. I think that sounds fun. There's bound to be lots of kids about though. You sure you want kids everywhere during our honeymoon?”
“Oh. Didn't think of that. How about Hawaii? We can do Disney later, right?”
“Hawaii, huh? Relaxing on beaches. Sounds great.”
Jared smiled happily. “Hawaii! Yay!”
Steve made a mental note to discover if anyone pack related worked as a travel agent.
“Hey,” Jared said. “Do we have a wedding as well or anything? I mean, mating is like marriage, right?”
“We can get legally married as well, yes.”
“Do you want to?”
Steve pressed a gentle kiss to Jared's temple. “I want to let the whole world know you're mine,” he said. “How about we combine the Alpha ceremony with our wedding? We can get married, do the succession and retirement thing, and celebrate everything after.”
“So, to be clear, you are officially proposing actual marriage.”
Steve reddened. “I could have done this in a more romantic fashion, huh? Like during a dinner date.”
“I'm just teasing. But I do want to get married in the human way too. Combining things seems logical. The Alpha succession ceremony is really a big speech and dinner thing, right? I think I read that.”
“Yes, usually.”
“Do you think we could get A Bite of Heaven to do our cake? Or do they just do pastries?”
“We can always ask. An Alpha wedding and succession is going to be a big event, so Laurie should be invited anyway.”
“Right. I hadn't thought of that. Being a big event I meant. How the hell is that going to get pulled off in a month?”
Steve grinned. “Just leave it to the pack. Besides, ever since I found you, tentative plans for celebrating our mating and the succession were made and put on hold. If we do it on pack property, using pack related businesses, and keep it relatively simple, I'm sure it'll be no problem.”
Jared looked at him dubiously. “If you say so. Umm, don't packs do a run after these sort of things?”
“Yes, usually before the party because between the shifting and the exercise, we end up very hungry.”
“Where does the pack run? Is there a property out of the city? I've been wondering about that. I kinda doubted you guys'd be running in central park. It'd be all over the news, right? 'Call of the Wild in Central Park' , story at ten. That sort of thing.”
Steve laughed. “Yeah, no Central Park unless we are in people form. To answer your question, on the fifth floor we have an indoor garden that takes up the whole floor. Grass, trees, etc. We can wolf out and enjoy a bit of respite. Also a safe place for the cubs to go play tag while practicing their shifts. Pack runs though, those we go across the Veil for. The Fae maintain a portal, a fairy ring if you will, that they can use to open a way for several of us to cross. Sort of like opening a door.”
“So, it takes you to the packlands there and not to fairyland or whatever.”
“No, it doesn't take us Underhill. The Fae can go Underhill without one and even take one or two people with them.
They do have portals that go to Underhill, to the Sidhe and the Unsidhe Courts, but those are natural.
The places where the Veil is thin. The portal here is a made one, created by mages of the Courts.
Laurie's coven also use it to go back home from time to time.”
Jared looked stunned. “So, fairy wizards made a magic portal inside the building, which is on the fifth floor of this building, which houses an actual indoor garden with grass and trees and all that.”
“Yes.”
“That's some magic.”
“Yes. Their mages are very skilled. In exchange, we provide employment for several Fae and they get to live there on the fifth floor.”
“I thought the whole floor is a garden.”
“It is, but there are small fairy houses tucked in the trees and stuff.”
“Small...”
“Yeah. They can make theirselves really small, like the size of a dragon fly.”
“Okay. My brain is about to overload. I think I get it. I'm, uh, ready to do something else. Something ordinary I think.”
“How about we go see my parents and let them know the mating is going ahead and all that? We can grab some lunch, then go see a movie.”
“That works.Just let me feed the cat and then we can go.”
It's happening at last. I wouldn't trade the time we've spent together for anything in the world, but man, being near him and not having him was seriously making me wanna howl.
Steve's inner wolf chuffed in agreement.
Not long now, buddy, he reassured his inner wolf and himself.
His wolf gave a low whine and Steve twitched his shoulders as they itched.
Yeah, yeah, I wanna shift and go run too.
Maybe tonight I can get one of the Fae to open the portal and we can go for a run while Jared gets his first look at the home place, yeah?
The more Steve thought about that idea, the more excited he came.
The joint wedding and Alpha succession ceremony, after party and pack run would take place beyond the Veil.
Jared would benefit from experiencing a crossing and seeing the ancestral home before the main event.
Yes, best strike while the iron is hot, he decided.
I'll make it a surprise so he doesn't have time to freak out about it. Just get it over and done.
“Earth to Steve.” Jared nudged his shoulder as called him out of his reverie.
Steve blinked. “Oh, sorry.”
Jared smiled. “You were a million miles away. You went dead silent on the elevator and stayed spaced out the whole time. I think you only walked out of the elevator because you were holding my hand and I pulled you along. Anyways, we're here now. Time to face the music.”
“I'm sorry, babe. Was just thinking about what we needed to arrange.”
“It's all right. I figured it was something like that. Umm, the pack will giving us some say so on things, right? Like what we wear, what kinda cake...” Jared's voice trailed off as he mentally ticked off items that had to be chosen.
“Sure. They'll just make sure everything is in place in time, okay?” Steve knocked on the door in front of him. He had barely returned his hand to his side when his mother opened the door.
“I told your father I thought I heard you out here talking.” Taking in the serious expressions on the two men's faces, her smile faltered. “Everything's all right, isn't it?”
“Devil's food is my favorite and I only like buttercream,” Jared blurted out.
“You only like- oh! Cake? You came for cake? I don't know if-”
“Cake. Wedding...” Jared's face was a deep red as he fought to explain his outburst. Steve gave a soft chuckle beside him.
“He's talking about what he wants for our wedding cake. He asked me if Laurie's bakery could do it.”
“Wedding cake.Oh! You boys best come inside.Oh! You've decided!” she gave them a deep sniff as they passed her. “Not mated yet, though.”
Steve wondered if Jared could turn any redder than he became as the implications of the sniff became clear to him.
“Mom!” he hissed. “Don't do that!”
“What? I was just curious.”
“He's going to have to get used to that sort of thing living in a pack of wolves,” his father chimed in as he stood up from the sofa. “You look like you could use a drink, son,” he told Jared. Jared nodded gratefully. “Have a seat, I'll go make us some.”
“You do that, and I'll go call the rest of the family!” Steve watched his mother practically bounce as she went onto the balcony to make her calls. He watched as Jared sank onto the sofa as if his legs had lost the will to hold him up and sat next to him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Just... overwhelmed, you know?”
“It's a bit intense, yeah. It's bound to get even more intense before it's all over, you know?”
Jared nodded.
“Hey, how about we go some place quiet after this? Just you and me and some peace.”
Jared looked relieved. “That sounds fabulous. Got anywhere in mind?”
“As a matter of fact I do.”