The reporter had caught up to thecamera man and they both nodded nervously to Kai.
The pack helped the women andchildren get settled into their rooms and began handing out water bottles,hygiene kits and welcome packets. This was so much bigger than I had everimagined. I was overwhelmed with joy. This was good work.
Kai had warned me that the upcomingelder’s conference would be hard. There would be a lot of dominant males andvery few women. Also, I was technically unmated so that would play a part. Buttoday I didn’t care, in this moment, as I saw the little children jumping onthe bunk beds in their new rooms, the mothers trying to cover their bruiseswith their hair, I knew I was doing good. If I died now, I would have left my positivemark on the world.
Logistics were set. The packwould take shifts guarding Safe Haven from any abusive persons looking fortheir family. We would all rotate teaching self-defense classes, to whoeverwanted them, in the multipurpose gym. Kai had also set up a job fair for once amonth for the jobless women to try to get back on their feet. It was more thanmy mother and I had when we tried to leave my dad dozens of times. In the end,it was death that parted us from my father. Luckily, not mine or my mother’s. Ishivered thinking of that night.
“You okay?” Kai asked me. We hadbeen driving home in silence. I was reflecting on the day. I reached over tograb his hand.
“I’m more than okay. I’m happy,”I assured him, smiling.
He grinned. “Good.”
He cleared his throat. “I knewopening Safe Haven would bring in women and children that came from abuse but…I don’t think I was prepared for what I saw today. I wanted to make them all apart of our pack so that I could take care of them and protect them. That onelittle girl had a bruise in the mark of a hand on her arm. Did you see that? Icould kill whoever did that to her!”
I nodded. “That’s why I openedSafe Haven in the first place. So many women are dreaming up the day they canwalk out of their abusive situations but they don’t have the money or the guts.At least we can give them a place to stay and some food on their tables.” Ishrugged.
“We will give them more thanthat.” Kai turned to look at me. I held his gaze. “We will give them futures.”That’s when I knew, without a doubt, this man was made for me and I for him.
By the time we pulled up to thehouse it was dark out. I jumped out of the car and was halfway to the door whenKai spoke behind me.
“Wanna go for a run?” he asked.
I spun around grinning. “Yes.”
Kai looked nervous. He wasfumbling with the buttons on his shirt.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He brushed me off andshifted quickly, dashing into the forest. Okay. Weirdo. I stripped down andshifted, taking off after him. He had confided to me earlier that he wasnervous to take me to the council meeting. Hell, I was nervous myself! If mysuspicion was correct, I was going to have a pretty crazy time there havingvisions of hundreds of mates and revealing my gift to the werewolf community.But Kai had become my rock, not just my Alpha but my mate. I needed him not tobe weird. I needed him normal. To think of it, he had been weird all day.
I couldn’t see him anywhere. Ipicked up his scent near a cluster of pine trees and darted between them. Iwent around the back side of our property near Emma and Devon’s house. None ofthe pack members had backyard fences. We all roamed each other’s propertyfreely. I was about to call out for Kai when I came out into a clearing and sawhundreds of tea lights. A soft blue blanket covered the ground and a picnicdinner had been set up. Kai had shifted to human form and changed into clothes.I gave him a wolfish grin. Music played softly from a cd player.
“Shift and then change. I broughtyou some clothes.” He had turned his back to give me privacy. This was superromantic. I thought he was acting weird and he was trying to surprise me with apicnic date. I shifted and slipped into the short red dress he had picked outfrom my closet. I walked barefoot over to him and wrapped my arms around himfrom behind. He spun around and I saw a small navy blue velvet box in hishands. My heart started pulsing wildly. My breath hitched.
“Aurora, that night that you gotinto the car accident was the worst and best night of my life. When I saw youlying there on the road bleeding out, you looked so innocent and beautiful. Icouldn’t imagine you dying. When Ichangedyou, I feared you wouldn’tsurvive. When you survived, I feared you would be someone else’s mate. I havefelt pulled to you since I first saw you and now I know why. You are my soulmate. I know you haven’t had the best view of men but I will never hurt you. Iwill always protect you. Your passions will become mine. I will support you inwhatever you do. I respect that you want to take things slowly but I will gocrazy if you don’t say you will marry me. Marry me now, marry me in ten years,but please tell me you will marry me?”
Tears were streaming down myface. I looked down at his hands which held a large circle cut diamond ring.
“Yes! I will marry you,” I croakedout and then laughed. He picked me up and spun me around. He kissed me then satme down.
“Not in ten years, right?” he prodded.
I smiled. “How about threemonths?”
Alpha
I woke up the day of the councilmeeting and immediately my eyes flew to my left hand. There it was. Oh my God,I was getting married. I heard a light snore next to me. Kai looked so calmwhen he was asleep, almost submissive.
His eyes opened. “Morning, fiancé.”He smiled.
“How did you sleep?” I queried.
“Better than I have in decades.” Herolled on top of me and we kissed.
After a few minutes I pushed himoff. “We have a plane to catch.”
***
