by Lori King
Slowly, he lowered himself to his knee, and took her hands. “Tavi, baby, will you marry me?”
Before Tavi could formulate an answer she heard everyone around her buzzing with excitement. Nodding her head, and barely able to see the ring he placed on her hand, she stumbled into his arms, and accepted the kiss he gave her readily. All around them were cheers and shouts of encouragement. She even heard a howl or two.
The only voice that truly broke through her highly emotional reaction was Sonny’s. “Did she say yes?”
Luke broke their kiss, laughing, and yelled back, “Yes!”
Sonny whooped and came running their way, slamming into the two of them with a big hug. “I told you she would.”
Tavi looked at Luke curiously and he shrugged. “I had to get her permission to ask you.”
Laughing at his guilty look, she hugged her daughter close, and whispered, “Thank you, sweetheart.”
“We’ll be happy here, Mom, I know we will, and now that Este is going to live with Oren, nothing is stopping us from joining our pack!” Sonny said, smiling up at her and Luke as they began accepting the congratulations of their new family.
Epilogue
Owen watched the leggy blonde move with confidence across the bar. Her ample ass was covered in skintight denim, and across her beautiful breasts was the word “Italy.” His mouth watered, and his wolf howled in his mind for a taste of her. She was his mate, there was no doubt in his mind, and he was damn glad. Not that he’d found a mate all of a sudden, but that the person that fate picked for him was hot as hell.
Tipping his beer back, he debated his options. Now that he’d found her, there was no way he was going to be able to leave her be, but sharing all of his secrets with her could scare her off. Human women didn’t necessarily take the whole werewolf thing well.
His blonde goddess didn’t seem like the type to be easily scared off though. While he watched she fended off more than one interested man, and ran the bar like a confident general. Who knew confidence could be so sexy? Her smiles were few and far between but when they did break free, it was heavenly. Surely she was an angel sent to earth to save his tarnished soul.
“Owen, you gonna order some food or what?” Damon Gray asked, smacking his shoulder to draw his attention back to the group he was with. The waitress, Lisa, stood watching with a curiously amused expression on her face.
“Caught sight of Cory, didn’t ya?” she asked with a knowing grin.
“Cory?” he questioned.
“Yep, Corinne Alessi, AKA Cory our new boss,” Lisa answered with a giggle. “Don’t worry, most guys react like that when they get a look at her for the first time.”
“The new boss?” Owen was dumbfounded. This was the new owner of Rustler’s? Holy shit, Cash was going to go ape-shit when he came face to face with her.
Ryley pulled a face from across the table. “You’re starting to sound like an echo, bro, what’s the big deal?”
The question brought Owen out of his fantasy world where he was already mating and marking his woman, and he realized that the whole table full of guys was watching him with rapt curiosity.
Damon jerked his chin toward the bar and asked Lisa, “Is she single?”
Not understanding that Damon was asking on Owen’s behalf, Lisa gasped and smacked the big man’s shoulder with her notepad. “Damon Gray, you’re married! You just wait until I tell Caroline—”
Eyes wide, Damon snapped, “Whoa! Hold up, girl! I’m not asking so that I can make a move. I’m just feeling out the field of competition for my boy here.”
The steam fizzled out of the petite waitress, but she continued to frown as she answered, “To my knowledge she’s married to her work, and very uninterested in dating. There are a few rumors she’s a lesbian because she’s so harsh on her would be suitors. That piece of candy is tart, boys, not sweet.”
“Looks pretty sweet from here…” River O’Brien piped up, making the guys laugh. Owen wanted to punch the lecherous bastard for ogling his mate, but somehow he kept himself in check.
“Thanks for the intel, Lisa. Put me down for a burger and onion rings, along with another beer,” Owen said quickly, trying to divert the attention of the three other single men at the table from Cory’s perfect ass as she climbed a step ladder to retrieve a bottle from the top shelf.
Lisa took the rest of their orders and disappeared leaving Owen to face an interrogation. Damon started in on him the moment they were alone. “Okay, what gives? You’re watching her like a starving man stares at a piece of steak.”
“She’s hot. No big deal. Sounds like she’s a hands-off type of woman,” Owen said shortly.
Heath Truehope snorted and nudged River. “Maybe she just hasn’t found the right pair of hands yet.”
“I’ll be glad to let her test mine out any time,” River agreed.
Owen felt his blood warm, and he knew his eyes were glowing. In his chest his wolf was butting to get out, to break free and claim his mate.
River, Heath, and his brother, Tate Truehope, continued to make ribald comments about Cory for a couple of minutes before they noticed Owen’s reaction. Instantly Heath blanched and looked remorseful. “Shit, this is a big deal for you isn’t it?”
Owen shook his head, but the whole table had gone silent around him. His alphas Devin and Damon shared a look before Devin said, “Let’s step outside for some air, Owen. I wanted to talk to you about the paperwork on Rafe and Ryley’s boys anyway.”
With a sharp nod, he rose and followed his Alpha out the door of the bar. Before the heavy wood swung shut he looked back for one more peek at his perfect mate. She was preparing drinks with quick efficient movements that turned him on. Fuck that woman knew how to handle a martini shaker.
“You, too, huh?” Devin asked, drawing his attention back around as the door slammed shut behind them. The air was frigid, and Owen shivered as he drew in a deep breath of it. Maybe it would ease the erection pressing against his zipper.
“Me, too, what?”
Devin rolled his eyes, and rested his butt against the brick wall of the bar and grill. “Don’t play that with me, lawyer boy. I know evasion tactics when I see them, and I also know a man in lust with his mate when I see him.”
He wanted to deny it. Every cell in his body screamed at him to argue and stomp back in the bar completely ignoring Cory, and proving his Alpha wrong, but it wasn’t possible. Now that he had her scent in his head, and her image burned into his eyelids, he was sinking in quicksand with no way out.
“Fuck,” he muttered to the gravel at his feet.
“Yep. That’s how I felt, too,” Devin said.
Silence built between them as they were both lost in their thoughts, and Owen wanted to vomit. He wasn’t ready for a mate—even if she was hotter than any centerfold he’d ever seen in his life. In truth he was just as married to his work as Lisa claimed Cory was, and right now he was swamped. There was no way he could squeeze in a dating life, much less a mated-settled-down-permanent relationship.
“You know you can’t walk away from her, right?”
Owen jerked his eyes up to Devin and then quickly looked away. “I could be wrong.”
“Sure, and I could suddenly grow a second head that quacks like a duck.”
The joke broke the tension, and Owen laughed. “The hell with that, Dev. I already have to look at two copies of your ugly mug, I don’t need a third.”
“Damon’s not a carbon copy. I’m much prettier,” Devin joked back.
“I can’t take a mate right now, Dev.”
Shaking his head, Devin grinned. “You say that like you have a choice. The moment I met Caroline—no, the moment I scented her, I was a goner. There’s no way to avoid biology, Owen, and you know it.”
“I don’t have time—”
Devin slapped him on the shoulder. “Brother, you’ll find a way. We always find a way.”
THE END
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ABOUT T
HE AUTHOR
Best-selling author Lori King is also a full-time wife and mother of three boys. Although she rarely has time to just enjoy feminine pursuits, at heart she is a hopeless romantic.
She spends her days dreaming up Alpha men and her nights telling their stories. An admitted TV and book junkie, she can be found relaxing with a steamy story, or binging on an entire season of some show online. She gives her parents all the credit for her unique sense of humor and acceptance of all forms of love. There are no two loves alike, but you can love more than one with your whole heart.
With the motto “Live, Laugh, and Love like today is your only chance,” she will continue to write as long as you continue to read. Thank you for taking the time to indulge in a good happily ever after with her.
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