by Maia Star
“Fabio?” I raised my eyebrows. “You mean like that romance-cover model?”
“Exactly like that. I haven’t met him yet, but I can already tell from his picture he’s going to grow up to be a little lady-killer.”
“All right, that sounds like the perfect name.” I kissed her forehead. This was the perfect start to our new life.
Chapter Nineteen
Catarina
Kyle and I were looking at houses that weekend.
Life in the small town that we had moved to had been absolutely lovely. Kyle’s job was going well, and we had even made a few friends. The apartment was cute and had been good for a while, but Fabio was no longer a puppy, and the two of us were quickly realizing that we needed more space.
Especially because Kyle had set his eyes on a new sheepdog puppy that had arrived at our local shelter.
He always complained that Fabio loved me, and me only, which kind of made sense. After all, the loyal sheepdog had been by my side since we had adopted him, and with Kyle working, he hadn’t been able to spend as much time with him.
So when Fabio wanted a walk, he came to me. And when he wanted food, he came to me. When he wanted cuddles or pets, he came to me. The only time he came to Kyle was the one time he had an accident inside and knew that someone needed to clean it up.
He had even tried to sleep between us in the bed. Kyle allowed it when he was a puppy, but the moment Fabio grew, he got him his own dog bed and insisted that he sleep in it so that he could cuddle me when we slept.
It was honestly cute.
I could understand why Kyle wanted a dog that was loyal to him, and so the two of us definitely needed to move into a house, and soon.
Normally, there was a long process to become owners of a house and therefore move in, but we had found a cute little cottage with about two acres of land (that I fully intended to turn into a very large garden and maybe even some space to have sheep or goats) whose current owner agreed that we could move in as soon as we signed all the papers and made the full payment.
We wouldn’t officially own it until a month had passed, but it would be nice to have more space immediately, especially since our lease would be ending soon.
So now we were heading out to view it.
It was around a half-hour outside of town, which was perfect. Close enough to commute to work, see our friends, and do any shopping we needed, but far enough away to feel like we were in our own little world.
As we drove up to the property, Kyle squeezed my hand.
“I honestly think this might be the one,” he said.
I laughed. “You’re only saying that because you don’t want anyone else to adopt your precious puppy.”
“It’s not her fault she’s so stinking cute!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Still not as cute as you, though.”
I smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Come on, let’s not keep Mrs. Yekult waiting.”
The two of us exited the car after parking it in the driveway and took a moment to admire the house.
It was the perfect picture of a country cottage. It had light blue walls with blue trim and an extensive wooden porch. There were potted plants and a couple of deck chairs, and the path leading up to it was a little overgrown. There were rose bushes on either side of many colors, and I could see that there was a little herb garden over on the side.
There were even window boxes with wildflowers in them. It was absolutely perfect, and we hadn’t even properly seen the inside yet.
A shorter middle-aged woman emerged from the house and clasped her hands together, looking at the two of us with a smile.
“Oh, how lovely to see the two of you. You’re an even cuter couple than I imagined.”
I blushed and looked down. I was glad that she was a human woman and not a dragon-shifter because she wouldn’t be saying that if she was.
I had gotten pretty good at disguising the scent that gave me away as an Omega, but fear still fluttered through my chest every time I saw a dragon overhead or saw someone who looked like a shifter. It didn’t happen often as we were some of the only shifters in town (and the other ones wanted nothing to do with clan life either), but I was still scared that one day someone was going to come and force Kyle and me apart for breaking every rule of shifter culture.
Kyle squeezed my hand as if he knew what I was thinking.
“Thank you, Mrs. Yekult.”
“All right, let’s take a look at the house, shall we?”
I nodded, and the two of us followed her inside.
It was even cuter inside than out. The rooms were all spacious and the walls maintained their cute blue color. The kitchen had vintage-looking cabinets and a little antique gas stove.
It obviously wasn’t furnished or decorated yet, but I knew that Kyle and I would make it adorable.
When we had finished touring, Kyle turned to Mrs. Yekult. “Do you have the paperwork on you?”
“You want to sign in right now?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Yes, in fact, I’m ready to send the down payment to you right now,” he replied, pulling out his phone.
“I left it in my car, but I’ll go get it right now,” she said and scurried away.
“Wow, you move fast,” I said with a grin. “Not even a discussion to see if this is something we both want?”
“Oh, Catarina, I could tell from your eyes that you want this just as much as I do. There’s no need to discuss when it is written as plain as day all over your face.”
He was right, of course.
“Well, I guess we can pick up your puppy on the way home then. It won’t be much longer before we move in, after all.”
“That is true, I want to move in here as soon as possible. But there is also something else I want to do, and I cannot wait any longer.”
I wasn’t expecting what came next. I always just thought that Kyle was the type to wait and not rush into things. But maybe we had been waiting long enough, for there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted this.
Getting down on one knee, Kyle pulled out a ring box from his pocket. It was a pretty little thing, black satin with gold filigree. Definitely something to keep.
Then he opened the box.
Inside was a gorgeous golden ring with several pale white stones that shimmered with a thousand different colors.
“Catarina, I hope you will forgive me for not waiting until the two of us had dinner tonight, but I’ve waited so long, and it’s become difficult not to say the words that are in my heart. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and the prettiest dragon of them all by far. You’re kind and sweet but stubborn when you need to be.
“You have my heart, and you always will. You’re already my princess, my lovely Snow White. But I want you to be my queen. I want you to marry me.”
I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. The thought of marrying him was so lovely, so overwhelming. I knew that there was no way that I could say no.
“Yes, a thousand times, yes.”
He slipped the ring onto my finger with a smile, and then stood and pulled me into his embrace.
“I love you so much, my princess. I can’t wait to marry you.”
“I love you so much too. Always.”
We were wed about two months after that. We didn’t have too many people to invite and saw no harm in just going ahead.
The only reason we didn’t just elope was that my best friend from town, Maria, wanted nothing more than to take me dress shopping and made sure that we actually planned something out, even if it was a small affair.
She was standing with me in the dressing room now, looking at me joyfully in the mirror as she tied up the bow on the back of my dress.
“There, all done,” she said, then smoothed down my hair with a loving hand. “You look absolutely stunning. He’s not going to be able to resist you looking like this.”
I laughed. “In his words, he can’t resist me already.”
“Well, that’s true. But now you’re double irresistible. Maybe even triple.”
“Is that so?”
“Most definitely.”
My dress was absolutely lovely. It had come from the little antique store in town, and it was a true stunner. It was a cream silk color with white lace and little buttons all down the end of the sleeve and up the back of the dress. The neckline was high, and the skirt was long and fitted over my hips. There, it flowed out into a long train that was only matched by the lace veil that Maria had pinned into my updo.
I looked like a dream. Like a true princess who couldn’t wait to become a queen.
“Shall we go? The procession is going to start soon.”
I nodded. I still couldn’t believe that this was happening.
Maria led me to the little antechamber of the church, where the rest of the small bridal party composed of our new friends was waiting. There was Darla, one of my other good friends, and then there was the best man, Samuel, and the other groomsman, Richard.
Fabio was also waiting there with a basket of flowers in his mouth. He looked excited, as did his adopted sister, Mochi. She had the symbolic ring basket in her mouth and was looking around with a great deal of interest.
The rest of our friends and acquaintances from our small town were waiting in the pews of the church.
And Kyle was already waiting for me at the altar.
The procession music started, and Maria squeezed my hand before getting into her position, and then walking down the aisle with Samuel at her side. Then went Darla and Richard. Fabio and Mochi went then, just as we had trained them to. And then, there was my queue.
I stepped out into the aisle and almost lost my breath.
Standing there was Kyle, and he looked so handsome. He was smiling at me, and immediately my world shrank to include him, and just him.
I took one step, and then another. And another until I was all down the aisle and at his side, looking up at him as the priest had us say our vows.
It passed by in a blur. I was so concentrated on him.
Then we finally slipped our wedding rings onto each other’s fingers and said I do.
“You may now kiss the bride,” the priest said, but Kyle didn’t need any prompting.
He kissed me, and he kissed me hard, drawing me against his body. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Just the touch of our bodies against one another. It was so incredibly lovely.
And now we were married. Husband and wife. This was the start of our forever.
Epilogue
We took a short honeymoon to the countryside of France, but neither of us missed it much once we headed back. We just enjoyed the little life that we had built for ourselves too much, in that cottage with each other and our two dogs.
Kyle definitely enjoyed calling me Mrs. Reese. He did it almost every opportunity he got within that first month, and I smiled every time.
Our dogs did well. Mochi was loyal to Kyle (though she loved me lots), and Fabio was mine, no questions asked. They loved bounding around in the field and giving me lots of trouble.
I ended up getting five sheep, two males and three females, to graze in our little pasture that I hadn’t yet turned into a garden. I wanted our dogs trained in how to actually do herding work, and it was a good release for their energy.
Besides that, it gave me something to do during the day other than tending my massive garden. When it came around time for the sheep to be sheared, I would harvest and collect all their wool and then spend my spare time preparing it, dyeing it, spinning it into yarn, and either selling the yarn online or at local farmer’s markets.
I would sometimes even keep the yarn to knit into things. A matching scarf set for Kyle and me. A sweater. Or maybe even a little hat.
In the meantime, Kyle was working hard. He was working with several other dragon shifter attorneys on a case that might change the way that Omegas were treated forever.
There was always the fear that something would blow up and we would be discovered again, but Kyle assured me that if the case went through, I would never have to worry about that again. And he was never the face of any of these projects, just the brains.
It had been something he had wanted for a while now. He was upset with the way that general society seemed so progressive and dragon-shifters were behind in their dealing with ranks.
“Nobody should be born into a position subject to abuse,” he liked to say. “Nobody should be in that position anyway. But if we can start with the people who are born into it, we’ll have a good footing to get even more legislation passed.”
I loved him, and I was so grateful for everything that he was doing. It was so special to me, so lovely.
There was one more thing that we wanted to do. One more thing that would complete our little life in a country cottage. And it wasn’t another dog. It was something that we had been considering for a while.
Kyle and I were eating breakfast on a Sunday when I brought it up.
“Kyle?”
“Hmmm? What is it, darling?”
I sighed. “You know, I’ve been thinking. And there’s one more thing that would make everything perfect. I know you haven’t wanted to bring it up for fear of offending me, so I’m going to bring it up now.”
“What is it?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together.
“I want a child, Kyle. Or two. I want to raise a family together. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.” Absentmindedly, my hand drifted to my stomach.
Kyle noticed and came over to stand by me, putting his hand on mine. “I know darling. Thankfully, we have lots of options, so we can make this work. Just say the word and we’ll get started on things right away.”
I considered it for a moment. “I don’t want to adopt a baby, at least not at first. I think there are other children who could use our help, ones who might not get a family otherwise. Can we start with that?”
“Of course. Shall we do some research?”
I nodded. “One more thing: let’s adopt a shifter, an Omega if we can. I don’t want her to go to a clan that will mistreat her, even if you are trying to pass legislation.” And then I let out a little laugh as something came to mind. “And her form might actually be small enough to shift inside of the house.”
Kyle laughed at this too. “All right, I’ll call up some friends tonight, okay? We’ll figure something out for sure.”
I nodded. “Okay, I’m glad. I’m just excited to start our little family. I know it will bring even more happiness to our home, and we can help a little shifter at the same time.”
“Most definitely, darling.” Kyle kissed my forehead. “I promise we’ll have something figured out before the end of the year.”
It didn’t take us too long to find an Omega in the system who needed our help. She was young, maybe about five, we weren’t sure. Her clan had given her up in disgust, and since then, she had been bounced around from home to home.
It was likely she wasn’t going to be claimed by a clan until she was of age, and then her life would be miserable, so Kyle and I knew without a doubt that we had to intervene now.
There were more children that we wanted to help, but Kyle reminded me that he was working on getting legislation passed that would help them all. Right now, we had space to help one, though, and there was no way I wasn’t going to take it.
The process to get our little shifter back home was longer than I might have thought. There was plenty of paperwork, and they weren’t about to just let us take her out of the system before doing thorough home inspections and making sure that we were fit parents.
Finally, though, it was time for us to take her home.
She was in New York, so we headed up the coast on a train to get her. We thought about flying, but we had things that we wanted to take with us to make her feel as welcome as possible and so it just wasn’t a great option.
Instead, we packed our suitcases, grabbed Fabio and Mochi, and made the journey up
north by train.
Our little shifter, named Bella, was waiting for us at the agency. We dropped the things we wouldn’t need off at the hotel first, then grabbed the care package we had put together for her and Fabio and Mochi. We had already gotten the okay to bring them along, and we figured they might make Bella feel more comfortable.
Once we got to the agency, the agent we had been working with there took us back to a meeting room.
“I’ll bring Bella in right away,” she said. “Just wait here a moment.” Then she left the room.
She came back about five minutes later, holding the hand of a little girl who I immediately recognized as Bella. I got down on my knees and opened my arms to her.
“Come here, sweetheart,” I said, but Bella just shook her head and clung to the agent.
“That’s your new mom,” the agent said to her, getting down on one knee to look at her at eye level. “Don’t you want to say hi?”
Bella shook her head and buried her face in the agent’s chest.
“But they have puppies, Bella, look,” the agent said, trying to point out Fabio and Mochi. But Bella refused to look.
“Okay, I’m going to leave her here with you so you can try to get to know her,” the agent said. “I’ll be back in about thirty minutes with the final pieces of paperwork, and then you can bring her home.”
She gently extricated herself from Bella’s grasp, who looked positively frightened, and then left.
Immediately, Bella began to cower, looking at us with wide eyes and then covering her face.
I looked to Kyle for support. I had expected this to be difficult, but I hadn’t known how difficult it would be.
“You don’t have to come over to me, but do you mind if I come to join you?” I asked. “We have some presents for you, and I’d like to give them to you.”
Bella looked up, seeming a little interested. Hesitantly, she nodded. I wondered if she had ever spoken before, or if she had been taught to be small and quiet as an Omega.