There were no awkward moments of silence as we settled into conversation. And as Zoey began to relax, it felt like she fit right in. It was like she’d always been a part of us and I knew that was what I was waiting for.
I was ready to spend the rest of my life with this woman.
We had a lot of good laughs and conversations. It was wonderful spending time together again, and I wasn’t the only one feeling like that.
“I’ve missed this,” Rose confessed.
“Me too,” Caleb admitted.
“Let’s plan to get together again soon,” Delilah said.
“No excuses,” Remy agreed.
“I’d like that,” I told them.
“Me too,” Zoey confessed.
I smiled, hugged her to my side, and kissed her temple.
“You guys really are cute,” Dakota gushed. “You did alright, Monte, and it’s easy to see how happy she makes you.”
Sadie reached over and squeezed Zoey’s hand. “That’s the most important thing to all of us. We just want to see our boy happy. The fact that we genuinely like you is just a huge bonus.”
By the time they started to leave, we had a date locked in for all of us to get together and plans to have dinner with Pete and Sadie later in the week.
Knowing Zoey would need some downtime after that, I escorted her back to my room.
“I’m okay,” she assured me. “That was fun even. I really like your friends a lot. They made me feel welcomed into the group.”
“I think Pete had a lot to do with that.” I laughed. “He and Remy really didn’t get along at first, so it wasn’t the warmest welcome. He grows on you though.”
“I was trying really hard not to morph into my mask, as you put it. They made it easier, as did you. It’s harder to put the mask on when you’re touching me.”
“Oh really,” I said
I grabbed her by the waist and flopped backwards onto my bed, pulling her along with me.
She squealed and tried to squirm away, but I wasn’t about to let her go anywhere.
I hadn’t realized I was waiting on my friends’ validation. Well, not exactly that, but I supposed I wasn’t prepared for how their acceptance of my mate would make my little world feel socomplete. I was happier than I could ever remember. Sure, life wasn’t perfect. Whose was? But it was pretty damn close as far as I was concerned.
With open communication, I was working through my issues over Zoey’s professional persona and she was working on opening up better to people in her life outside of that. We were a work in progress, but together I was confident we’d find balance.
I looked down at her with my heart full of love.
“Mine,” I said, leaning down to kiss her.
Mine,my wolf echoed in my mind.
“Yours,” she agreed with a smile.
“I love you, Zoey,”
She knew I loved her, though I planned to remind her every day for the rest of her life.
She looked at peace as she smiled back at me.
“I love you, too.”
