by E A Price
“He’ll get over it.” Clay smiled. “I think you broke Alden’s heart.”
The poor young male had looked crestfallen when Clay kissed her, not that it gave him any pause. Clay was just doing something he should have done a long time ago.
Maris gave him a look of mock outrage. “Me? You’re the one who just declared your undying love for me in front of the herd – you’re the one who broke his heart.”
“I didn’t say undying,” he murmured and then looked at her seriously, “but it is undying.”
Maris gazed at him uncertainly and took the soda out of his hands. “Did you break up with me because you saw that sleazebag kissing me?”
“Yes,” he admitted shamefacedly. Not one of his finest moments, especially since his poor Maris had been innocent.
Maris huffed. “Would have been nice if you could have stopped him from kissing me. I had to rely on Fifi clawing his leg to get me out of that.”
His guilt rocketed to the moon as his beast hooted furiously. “I’m so sorry, I should have protected you from him. I should never have allowed him near you.”
“I’m fine,” she relented on seeing his guilt and passed him the soda, “and I did slap him so hard you can almost still see the hand print. Why didn’t you tell me you saw us?”
“I was upset,” he said lamely.
Maris gave him an unimpressed look. “So was I. Some lunatic tried to stick his tongue down my throat and then my boyfriend dumped me.”
“I know,” he growled and gave her a searching look, “what can I do to make it up to you? Anything, I’ll do anything,” he said beseechingly.
He wasn’t kidding either. He’d climb the tallest mountain, traverse through the densest jungle and fight a thousand bulls if he had to!
Maris chewed on her cheek for a couple of beats. She held out her hand. “I’ll take another drink.”
“I’m serious,” he insisted, passing her the soda anyway.
“Clay, you don’t have to do anything. You certainly don’t have to shout out to everyone in the herd that you love me.”
He jumped to his feet and then kneeled in front of her, looking up at her in equal parts adoration and contrition. “But I do, and I think that was part of the problem when I saw that caribou kiss… doing that to you.
“I already loved you and I was angry at myself because I’d told you that you should look for another mate.”
“Clay, I wasn’t planning on doing that.”
“You had every right. But even if I thought you were with Jason, I still wanted you back.”
“So what’s changed now?” she asked softly.
“I don’t want to be without you. I love you, and these last few days of being away from you have been awful. Something started seven years ago in this very spot, and finally I realize what – you’re my mate.”
“Clay,” she protested.
“Will you mate with me?”
Maris placed a hand on his shoulder. “Clay you said you never wanted to mate again.”
“I was wrong, I want you to be mine. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she admitted.
He beamed at her in gratitude. “And I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”
“So do I.”
His heart started singing. “Then, will you mate with me?”
“Oh, Clay,” she breathed, smiling enchantingly, “no.”
“What?!” His inner beast did a double take. “But you just said…”
Her hand moved to his head and she ruffled her fingers through his hair. “Clay, I do love you, so much, but I want you to be sure before we make this commitment.”
“I am sure!” he nearly howled, and then checked himself – he wasn’t raging at someone because they cut in front of him at the grocery store, he was trying to persuade his lovely female to be his.
Maris bit her lip. “Well, then I need to be sure that you’re sure. Up until a couple of days ago you were adamant you weren’t going to mate again. This about face is a little sudden – even you must admit that.”
Clay reached up and stroked her cheek. “I’ll always love Crystal too, but I know I want to be with you.”
She smiled. “Honey, I’m not going anywhere, and nor are you. We’ve taken a long time to get here, there’s really no hurry. We can date, maybe one day we can live together, and when it’s time, then we can mate.
“We don’t need to rush to do all those things right away.”
Clay humphed. He already had visions of moving her into his house later that very day. “But we’ve already wasted so much time.”
Maris gave him a patient look. “Not wasted. Back when we shared our first kiss, neither of us were ready for more, but we are now. I didn’t see that back then, but I do now. Back then if we rushed into something, you wouldn’t have been ready and I’d have been impatient, and we’d probably end up hating each other.”
“We would never…”
“But we’ve taken our time and now we can be together.”
“So why not…”
“So why not enjoy our time together. We don’t have to mate to know we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together. We can do those things without being mated.”
“But, but, I want to mate you,” he grumbled.
Maris smiled sweetly. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to keep asking me then.”
Clay scowled at her and she kissed him.
“C’mon, let’s go get another soda and we can discuss where we’re going on our next date.”
Thirty
One year later
“I look like a giant marshmallow,” complained Maris.
“You look beautiful,” insisted Clay.
“Liar.”
He chuckled and beamed at her, taking in the swell of her pregnancy and feeling just a mite proud of himself.
“You can wipe that look off your face,” she grumbled. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”
“I won’t allow our calves to be born into an unmated household.”
Maris rolled her eyes. Their twins weren’t due for another month, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Yep, after a year, and thanks in part to her pregnancy, her defenses were so low that she finally said yes to his repeated begging that she become his mate and wife.
Not too long after the barbeque, they had moved in together, and not too long after that gotten pregnant, and a little while after that they bought a set of matching luggage – surely a sign that a couple was planning on remaining together – so now, this was the only thing missing, and while he had been ready a year ago, now she finally was too. Or perhaps was just too tired to argue – the twins took a lot out of her.
Maris let out a groan as she spotted George running after one of the escaping swans. They had wanted a low-key affair, but once her mother and his sister got involved, it was soon anything but low key. The cake alone was six feet tall!
But while it wasn’t quite the wedding she wanted, he knew she was as happy as he was – in spite of her mild complaints.
Maris ran a hand over her stomach. “We need to hurry, I can feel myself getting even bigger – I’m about to split this dress in two. Do you know how hard it was to find one I liked in my dimensions?”
“I love your dimensions,” he murmured, tilting her chin towards him for a kiss.
Maris giggled.
“And I love you, and I’m sure I want to be with you.”
“I know,” she said just a tad smugly.
Her smile reminded him of the girl who had kissed him all those years ago while sitting on the hood of her car and stealing sips of his soda. She was beautiful then and only grew lovelier by the moment.
He was lucky to have her and felt grateful that he had managed to find such a wonderful mate, and he was certain that he needed to get her down the aisle before she changed her mind or needed to pee again.
“We better go,” he murmured.
He started moving toward
s the garden. They were marrying in his sister’s garden, and yes they were marrying on Mother’s Day. The day wasn’t just special for mothers – it would always be their day.
Maris tugged his hand and pulled him back. She took his face in her hands and pressed their foreheads together.
“You are my mate, my best friend and the person I love most in this world. Even without this ceremony or the mating ritual, all those things are true.”
She looked up at him with tears of joy in her luminous eyes.
“I know,” he said just a tad smugly.
Maris giggled and he caught her mouth for a kiss. It was a perfect day, and not even the melting seven-foot ice sculpture could ruin that. He thought he had made a mistake all those years ago, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Clay took Maris’ hand, laced his fingers with hers, and finally led his mate down the aisle.
The end
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