“Hi, Fey.” I opened my arms for a hug.
When we pulled away, she peered at Eryne curiously.
I turned to my mate. “This is my sister,” I said, gesturing to the dark auburn haired woman. “Freya. Freya, this is Eryne. My mate.”
“Hey,” Eryne said, sounding shy. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Freya’s blue eyes lit up as she took in the woman at my side. “Well, I definitely didn’t expect this when you said you were finally coming home for visit, but I can’t say I’m upset.” My mate stuck out her hand for a handshake, but my sister went in for a hug instead. “It’ssonice to meet you.” Freya turned her attention to me. “Wow. Mated. Look at you.”
I puffed up my chest, wrapping an arm around my mate and pulling her into me. “It’s a long story, but we’re happy.”
She rested her hand on my chest, nuzzling into me. “Yeah. We are.”
Freya’s eyes widened, and that was when I realized that it was her left hand—the one wearing my ring—that was in full view. “You’re getting married?” She practically squealed. “Why didn’t you lead with that? This is so exciting!”
Eryne blushed, her blue eyes catching mine. “It’s still new.”
The engagement still felt like a dream to both of us. After I’d proposed on Halloween—not wanting to wait any longer—we were taking our time with figuring out when we wanted to get married. After all, we’d only been together for a little over two months now. I didn’t care if we got married tomorrow in the woods, but I wanted Eryne to have the wedding of her dreams. Whatever that looked like.
“I’m so happy for you. I can’t believe my brother is getting married.”
“What about you? Any boyfriends I should scare off?”
Freya wrinkled her nose. “You think I have time with how busy I am working at the library? Besides, you know how small this town is. Who would I even date?”
“I keep telling you there’s some nice boys down at the fire station, sweetie,” my mom said, coming into the living room holding a plate of cookies. “You never know.”
Freya groaned. “Mom, my mate is not some firefighter who is going to waltz out of the station and sweep me off my feet.”
“You never know.” My mom winked. “I have a good feeling.”
My sister rolled her eyes. “You have a lot of feelings. Doesn’t mean they come true.”
Eryne looked at me and snorted. “I said that once, too. Turns out he sort of did.”
I leaned down, pressing a kiss to her nose. “You saved me first.”
“At least one of you is settling down. Come on. Tell me everything.”
Hours later, we left my mom’s house, our backset full of baked goods after we’d finished dinner. We’d told her our entire story—or at least the PG version of it—and she couldn’t believe it was real.
They’d also only been a little pissed at me for keeping my job a secret all these years, but hey. You win some, you lose some.
And I’d won a lot with my mate.
“She’s amazing,” Eryne said, letting her eyes drift shut as she relaxed into the seat. “Your mom.”
“And only a little intense,” I joked.
I started driving towards our family’s cabin in the mountains. Mom had asked us if we wanted to stay with them for the night, but we wanted our privacy.
After all, I had plans for my mate.
My girl hummed. “Thank you for bringing me here. It’s beautiful.”
I squeezed her thigh. “Just wait. It’s only better up at the cabin.”
She gave me a shy smile. “Do I get to see you run around in wolf form again?”
