AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But he’d never been happier standing with Laura by his side.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Laura spent the next few days apart from Gerald by design. Between getting the raptors taken care of and doing the requisite paperwork, in addition to some petty nonsense the wolves had gotten up to while she’d been gone, she’d been busy enough.
And that wasn’t counting all the trouble she’d been in with her mother and alpha for mating without permission. It was all nonsense, but her alpha liked giving her a rough time. Give the guy one parking ticket and he never let up when she slipped in protocol.
“Protocol.” She snorted with amusement. As if the bear clan had such a thing.
Stovall was the most laidback alpha of them all, including the catamounts, and those cats accepted anyone into their clan. As long as you didn’t cause trouble and contributed in some way, Stovall would welcome you.
He’d been teasing her unmercifully about mating a fox. Though she technically had to get permission before getting mated, he didn’t really care. She knew it. Her mom knew it too. As did her sister, who’d returned early from her overseas trip, worried about Laura having missed Christmas.
Yet her family kept pestering her about a party to celebrate, and she figured if she didn’t go along with her sister’s plans, Hailey’s head might explode.
So, on New Year’s Eve, she accompanied her sister, her mom, and her alpha to her boss’s house for Ty’s annual New Year’s Eve party. Surrounded by friends and family, and hopefully, her absentee mate, she’d ring in the new year as a newly-mated shifter.
Excited about the prospect, though still annoyed Gerald had been ducking her calls, “too busy dealing with family” to see to his mate, she entered Ty’s home with her family in tow.
For the occasion, she’d worn a red sweater and black skirt paired with her favorite fancy black boots. She’d left her hair down, applied a light layer of makeup, and according to Hailey, looked ah-may-zing.
“You sure you aren’t a fox, Sis? You’re awfully dramatic,” Laura said to her sister.
Who promptly gave her the finger.
Their mother scowled. “Hey, knock it off. We’re here to be merry, not crack heads.”
“Yes, Mom,” they said as one then laughed when their mother winked at them.
Laura suddenly noticed the quiet. “What’s going on?”
“Surprise!” over a dozen people yelled at once.
Before she knew it, holiday music blared, confetti dropped from the ceiling, and Gerald swept her in his arms and danced her away from her family.
“What’s the surprise?” she asked, breathless as he whisked her in circles. “I kind of already knew this was a party.”
“The surprise is…” He stopped and dropped to one knee.
Her heart raced. She hadn’t expected this at all.
The room grew silent.
“Laura Novak, admit you love me.”
She blinked. “Is that how this is supposed to go?”
“Because I’m the most amazing man in town.” He ignored several groans in the audience as well as a lot of giggling. “I’m smarter than the cats.”
“You wish,” said their alpha.
“Faster than the bears.”
“That’s true,” said her alpha.
“And better looking than everyone in the fox, raptor, and wolf clans.”
That had a lot of grumbling in response.
