Chapter Thirty

Lukas and Jason walked through a mall on a Saturday afternoon in February. With Emma at work, Lukas had nothing to do. He had spent the morning looking through his course materials for the police academy, but he simply didn't feel like reading through it. He first tried to contact Talon, but his phone was off, so he called Jason.

The beta had been planning to meet with a wolf from outside the pack at the mall, and Lukas volunteered to accompany him. That hadn't been the best idea, as the young wolf was already nervous about meeting Jason. Having two of them had made Shane almost flighty.

Even after Jason bought pizza and drinks, Shane didn't calm down much. It wasn't until they got him talking that they felt like he wasn't going to take off running. After speaking to him, it was quite apparent why he was so nervous. Although most wolves lived amongst humans in large, relatively loose packs, there were those that lived in family groups, isolated both from humans and other wolves.

Shane had been a part of such a pack, what the "city wolves" often referred to as "feral packs." According to him, they were victims of a group of lions who tried to run them off. Shane had no idea what they wanted, but his family fought back, which resulted in their deaths. Only because he'd been knocked out in the beginning of the fight had Shane survived.

Jason offered to let Shane join the pack, but he wasn't sure about that idea. Understanding that he needed time, Jason simply traded phone numbers with him and walked away. Because Sophia wanted him to spend at least two hours with the new wolf, Jason had time to kill.

"Do you think I should get Emma something for Valentine's Day?" Lukas asked.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're here. I really think I should get her something. I just don't know what."

"Wasn't Valentine's Day last week?" Jason glanced at his watch to check the date, and sure enough, it was the 26th of February, almost two weeks past Valentine's Day.

"Yeah, but everyone celebrates it on the fourteenth. I thought I'd do something for her later so it's more special."

"Your logic makes no sense."

"Maybe not. But do you think I should get her a gift? Or should I just do something special for her?"

"You're asking someone with absolutely no experience with anything at all romantic."

"I thought you'd at least be a little help. Talon's been AWOL for a while and Sophia just stared at me like I grew a second head when I asked her. You think with her being a woman, she'd at least have some idea of what to do for stuff like this."

"Sophia doesn't count as female," Jason said, shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure she's got a lot of testosterone and not enough of whatever it is women are supposed to have."

"That would explain a lot. So you have absolutely no ideas?"

"I don't know. She's your mate. You should know what she'd want."

"Tickets to an Avs or Nuggets game."

"There you go."

"That's not special. We've gone to games before."

"So get her a ring and ask her to marry you. You probably haven't done that." Jason simply blurted out the first thing that came to mind, not caring it was ridiculous.

"That's brilliant!" Lukas said.

"You can't be serious!" Jason said with a groan. "You can't just decide to ask her to marry you on the spur of the moment!"

"Why not? Think about it. She's already agreed to be my mate and she knows what that entails. By our standards, we're already married. But she's human. She probably had ideas of a wedding. So why not give that to her?"

Although Jason felt like he was listening to a raving madman, he did realize that Lukas' logic did make at least some sense. And if he wanted to do something special for Emma, it did actually seem like a good idea. But still, he couldn't resist thinking about the negative.

"What if she doesn't actually want a wedding?" Jason asked. "If she had wanted one, don't you think she would have mentioned it when you told her what being mates meant?"

"You just don't want to help me pick out a ring. You're not getting out of it."

After getting off work, Emma was tired and wanted to go home and take a nap. When she found Lukas asleep on her couch when she got home, she definitely wanted to take a nap. Ever since his injuries had mostly healed, Emma had wanted to cuddle with him to make up for the time they'd spent apart and then the time during which she was too worried about aggravating the injuries.

Although the couch was comfortable enough for one person to sleep on, it wasn't that great for two people, so Emma woke him up and then dragged him over to the bed. Lukas never fully woke up and once Emma got him on the bed, he was instantly asleep again. She snuggled up next to him, but she found she wasn't quite as tired as she thought she was. Instead, she found herself relaxing listening to the sound of his breathing and heart.

After about an hour, Lukas woke up. He had no complaints about waking up with Emma's head on his chest and his arm around her, but he was completely confused about how he had ended up in her bed. He clearly remembered falling asleep on her couch after getting home from the mall.

"Do I sleepwalk?" Lukas asked.

"No," Emma said, remaining where she was. Lukas made a good pillow and he was very warm to lay next to, so she had no intentions of moving anytime soon.

"How'd I end up in here?" he wondered out loud.

"I carried you."

"No you didn't."

"I'm stronger than I look."

"You're not that strong." Although he knew Emma was right about being stronger than he would have thought just by looking at her, he knew there was no way she could have managed to carry him.

"It's a great mental image and you know it. Don't let reality ruin it."

"Fine," he agreed, a smile coming across his face at the idea of Emma carrying him. "Did you carry me bridal style?"

"Yeah." Emma moved her head so that she was looking at his face, smiling when she saw his golden eyes. She loved the natural color and wished he didn't have to hide it. Although she couldn't argue with his reasons for wearing contacts, she had at least been able to forbid him from wearing them in her apartment. "I've been thinking."

"What about?"

"Lots of things. Like how pretty your eyes are."

"At least someone likes them."

"And about how my lease is up in June. And I was thinking that since you spend so much time here anyway, why don't we look for a place together?"

"Are you asking me to move in with you? That's a big step and I just don't know if I'm ready."

"Shut up, mate," she said with a laugh. "You said being mated was like being married, right? Married couples usually live together. So I'm not asking you to move in with me. I'm telling you to."

"Oh, really?" he asked, amused. "But what if there's some weird werewolf rule about not moving in with your mate for a year?"

"Well, I say that's retarded and you're already practically living here so you're already breaking it."

"Good thing there's no such rule."

"Not that you'd follow it anyway, right? You never follow rules." She had found out from Jason the long process she would have normally had to go through before Lukas revealed himself as a werewolf, but as he wasn't a pack member, he really didn't have to follow through with that rule. At least, there was nothing that could be done as a punishment.

"Nope."

"By the time we move, I'll be out of school, but I don't know how soon I'll be able to get a job. I've been looking for jobs, but nothing looks too promising yet. So I think we should probably just find an apartment somewhere."

"That's fine with me."

"I could suggest moving into a tent and you wouldn't have a problem with it."

"Nope. And it would be cheaper."

"Unfortunately, since I'm not a dog, I don't think I'd adjust to that very well. I can't just lift a leg when I have to pee."

"You should ask Sophia for tips on that." Although Lukas had no idea whether or not his cousin could pee like a man, he was sure that she would be the one woman who would.

"I'll start looking for places soon. We should get a two bedroom."

"Why?" Had Emma not insisted on sharing the bed since they got back together, Lukas never would have questioned that, assuming that she was just uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed as him, but he already knew she had no problem with that as long as his clothes stayed on.

"Because my parents might visit us and since we want them to believe we're just dating, I don't want them to get on my case about sleeping with you. You still need to meet my parents, by the way."

"We keep getting delayed."

"I think you pulled that whole "I'm a werewolf" card to do just that. And then when you realized that wasn't going to hold up any longer, you got yourself shot in hopes I wouldn't want to take you home all beat up."

"Looks like my plan's been discovered," he said with a grin. "When's the next time you're going down to see them?"

"Not sure. Maybe not until my birthday."

At the mention of her birthday, Lukas realized something very important – he had no idea when her birthday was. "Um, when would that be exactly?"

"Wow, you don't even know your own mate's birthday?"

"You don't know mine."

"May sixteenth," she said quickly, anticipating his argument.

"How'd you know that?"

"Took your wallet."

"You've got a problem with that, don't you?"

"Maybe. But it's April fourth. I'll probably go down either the weekend before or the weekend after."

"Just as long as it's on the weekend, I'll be good to go."

"And we've got a month to come up with a good cover story."

"Cover story?"

"Well, I can't go and tell them that you're a werewolf and my mate and all that. So we need to figure out how long we've been dating, how serious our relationship is, things like that."

"Why can't you just tell them the truth?"

"I don't think Sophia would be too happy. Nor would my parents." Emma couldn't help but smile when she thought of the reaction her parents would have if Lukas shifted into his wolf form in front of him and she then told them she was practically married to him. It would be amusing at the moment, but Emma knew it wouldn't be worth it.

"Who cares about Sophia? If you want to tell your parents the truth, do it. I don't want you to feel like you have to keep secrets from them."

"Maybe someday. But for now, let's at least make sure they like you." She reached up and ran a hand through his hair, then pushing herself up, she kissed him.

Lukas put his arms around her and held her close, not letting her break the kiss until after he was satisfied. Even then, he kept her body close to his, wanting to hold her forever.

"You said being mates was like being married, right?" she asked from her new position on top of him.

"Yeah."

"So you werewolves don't have any ceremony or anything? You're just mates and that's that?"

"Pretty much. Sometimes there's a party to celebrate it. Sometimes it's just quiet like and everyone just kinda knows that the couple's together. Why?"

"Can we still have a party for us? I understand not doing it before with you injured and all, but I think I'd like to have some kind of celebration."

"Actually, I was thinking about this earlier," Lukas said. "I definitely imagined a more romantic setting…"

"What's wrong with this?"

"Nothing at all. I just thought we'd be at the beach under a clear, starry sky, with candles and rose petals…"

"Outside at night in February at a beach in Colorado?" Emma asked with a huge smile on her face. "You really do have some crazy ideas there. And lose the candles and rose petals."

"Bonfire and a kiddie pool with beer?"

"Now that's romantic. It's PBR, right?"

"Nothing says romance like PBR."

"Damn, you are perfect for me."

She kissed him again, and once again, they got lost in it. When they broke apart for the second time, Emma remembered that they'd been discussing something beforehand.

"What were you imagining this romantic, PBR filled scene for?"

Instead of answering, Lukas reluctantly pushed her off of his chest and went out to the living room, soon returning with a hand behind his back.

"I got you this. Like I said, I really wanted to make everything special for you, but since I don't think you want to wait…"

He brought his hand out from behind his back, holding a small black box towards Emma. Surprisingly, he actually felt nervous, even though he knew he shouldn't have. She'd already accepted him as her mate – even if she didn't want to have a wedding, it wouldn't change anything between them.

"Oh my god, Lukas!" Emma shouted, nearly squealing in delight. She didn't even bother to open the box – she knew exactly what it was and she threw her arms around him, kissing him yet again.

"I didn't even get to ask the question or get down on one knee," he said with a grin.

"Yeah, well, having a kiddie pool with PBR in the scene means you don't need that stuff. Of course, you should be wearing torn up jeans, a wife beater and this ring looks far too nice," she added when she finally opened the box to see the ring.

"If you don't like it, I can go get you something a bit more redneck."

"The funny thing is, actually, I was thinking about proposing to you. With a ring made from a twisty tie or something."

"I'd take a twisty tie ring. As long as it wasn't silver, I don't think I'd care."

"Now there's an idea. Ask a werewolf to marry me and give him a silver ring." She looked down at the ring again and ran her hand over the stone. "But this is absolutely perfect. Of course, we are most definitely not telling my parents about this for a long time."

"A secret engagement? I like it. Almost as much as I like you."

"You're such a liar," Emma said, smiling and kissing him. "You love me. Almost as much as I love you."

Once again, she kissed him, holding him and letting him hold her. She definitely loved kissing her mate and now fiancé. And the best part was that she knew that he was hers. Forever.