~
Silently grabbing my car keys, I spared one more glance at the beautiful angel still sleeping in the hotel bed. My angel, she had finally agreed to be mine. Not only had she allowed me to mark her but we had claimed each other, body and soul. We were linked, she was mine and I was hers. There was only one way I could be happier, and I was planning to work on that now.
Tip-toeing out the door, I slid my shoes on before carefully pulling the door closed behind me. I wanted Roxy to stay asleep until I got back, that way I would have the element of surprise. Climbing into the driver's seat, I started the car and rushed out of the parking lot with one destination in my mind, the jewellers.
Seeing how we would be heading back to our pack and families, I figured it would be safe to use my credit card. Fears of Blaze using it to track us were wiped now that he was mating someone else. This meant that I could really splash out and get something special.
My mind was ticking over ideas, trying to think of special ways to show my love to Roxy. I had come up with something that I hoped she would like. As I finalised my ideas and decided I was happy with them I reached the jewellers and parked the car.
Determined to get what I wanted, I strolled through the front door confidently, heading straight for the rings. An attendant popped up, seemingly from nowhere, and asked if I needed any help.
"Do you do engraving on the jewellery here?" This was vital to my plan, I needed the ring engraved.
"Yes sir we do, we can do it in an hour for a fee of $200," she replied. I could almost see the dollar signs lighting up in her eyes.
I shook my head at her; some people are so money hungry. Not wanting to waste any time, I didn't bother trying to haggle the ridiculous price with her.
"Fine, can you show me your white gold engagement rings please?"
The woman looked pleased with herself as she motioned for me to follow her over to a glass cabinet.
"These are all of the rings you requested that we currently have in stock, is there one here that you like?"
Scanning the rows of rings in front of me, I spotted the perfect one in the last row and pointed at it, "What can you tell me about this one?"
She pulled the ring out of the cabinet and studied it for a moment before answering. "The stone in the middle is a 1.25 carat diamond, these stones surrounding are a mixture of sapphires and emeralds." She was indicating the figure eight shape of gems that swirled around the diamond. It was perfect, something I hoped Roxy would love.
"How much is it?" I questioned, even though I had already made up my mind and was reaching for my wallet as we spoke.
"This ring is $3 599. Would something a little less expensive suit you better?" Smugness was plastered all over the store attendants face now, as she made to put the ring away.
"No that ring is fine, also I need to get it engraved within the hour. Where do I write what I want engraved?" Suck on that you snooty bitch. She turned her nose up at me before moving towards the register and pulling out some kind of form and handing it to me with a pen.
"This is the form for engraving, you are required to pay for the ring and engraving in advance sir, will that be a problem?"
"Not at all, I assume you take VISA without a problem?" The woman nodded her head and took the card I held out to her while I filled in the form with my engraving request.
I wanted 'Baydon' engraved across the top inside of the ring so that if Roxy ever took it off, my name would be left on her finger for a while. Along the bottom outside of the ring I wanted 'It was always you' engraved, to show her how I felt about her.
The attendant took my form and ring, after charging them to my card, and headed out to the back door, she called out. "Come back in an hour sir and it should be ready for you."
"It better be," I grumbled before making my way out of the store. An hour till I could pick up the ring, that should give me enough time to shop for the other items I needed to try and make this special.
First stop was a local candle maker; here I purchased several scented candles and little trays to set them on. Next stop was 'The Chocolat Shoppe', caramel filled chocolate hearts and fudge cake brownies was my goal at this stop. Thankfully everything I wanted was available.
The last stop was, of course, the florist. I had no idea what to get here, my only idea was red roses but it sounded a little to cliché with everything else I was doing. A kind looking woman was standing behind the counter, arranging some flowers into a display vase.
"Excuse me Miss, I was wondering if you could help me with some flowers." The woman looked up at me, smiling, as she wiped her hands on the apron she was wearing.
"Sure love, what's the occasion?"
I gulped, oddly nervous at telling this stranger what I was planning on doing, 'Oh grow some balls Baydon.' Smart arse wolf thought he was funny.
"I'm proposing to my girlfriend today, the only idea I have is red roses, but they seem a little traditional for what I'm looking for." My feet shuffled around on the floor as I spoke, but I somehow still managed to look at the woman.
A grin opened up on her face as she clasped her hands in front of her, bouncing slightly on her heel. "Oh how beautiful, good luck. I have just the thing. I call it the lover’s bouquet. It has sunflowers, red orchids, pink tulips, orange lilies, purple iris' and white daisies. And I'll throw in two bags of red rose petals for free seeing how you are proposing. They come in handy for these kinds of occasions. Does that sound alright to you?”
I nodded eagerly, all those colours and varieties sounded perfect for Roxy. She was such a happy, vibrant person and when the lady bought out the bunch I knew I had made the right choice. I gave the lady my credit card to swipe and reached into my wallet and handed her a $20 note, telling her it was for her amazing service, and left the shop.
Calling in quickly to pick up the ring, which was engraved perfectly, I headed back to the motel, hoping Roxy hadn't woken up yet.
The first thing I noticed was the empty bed when I walked into the room, although I could hear the shower running in the adjoining bathroom. Excellent, that gave me enough time to set up everything.
The candles alight and set up in various places around the room, the chocolates in an open, heart-shaped box on the bed surrounded by rose petals. More rose petals were scattered on the floor and I was kneeling on one knee with the flowers in one hand and the ring box in the other. Now I just needed to wait for the guest of honour.
She had turned the shower off about five minutes ago so she was due out any second now. Anticipation filled me as I heard the knob twisting on the bathroom door, and out stepped my girl. A towel in hand, she was vigorously rubbing it through her hair, drying it I guessed. The moment she noticed the room and then me was easy to pin point. The towel fell from her hands as her jaw dropped and she looked around the room in astonishment.
'It's now or never Baydon' my wolf muttered to me and I cleared my throat. "Roxy, you have made me one of the happiest wolves alive when you asked me to be your mate. Not only do you wear my mark, but you are connected to my soul and hold my heart beside yours. I would do anything to make you happy. You are kind, smart, independent, beautiful and driven to succeed, and these are only a few of the attributes I love about you. Roxanne Lei Sparks, will you allow me to be your husband and spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me? Rox, will you marry me?"
It was all out there now, I couldn't take it back. I bared my soul and poured out my heart and I was now holding my breath waiting for her answer. It felt like hours, but was probably only seconds before Roxy ran to me and slid to her knees on the floor in front of me, wrapping herself around me as much as she could and snuggling into my chest.
"I thought you left me Baydon," she whispered as she tried to pull me even closer.
"I did, but only to organise all this Rox. You let me mate you, which made me ecstatic beyond anything I ever dreamed I could be. I know we are only young, but I know I want to spend the rest of my life with y
ou and only you." She still hadn't answered my question, but comforting her was more important than anything else right now.
"But what if you find your mate? What happens then? Oh Goddess, why didn’t I think of this before we mated?" Roxy was hesitating and making excuses to avoid the question, making me start to doubt myself. The question was easy enough to answer, it was the only secret I still had from her. I had expected it to come up before now, but surprising it never did.
"Rox, I have met my mate before. The day after I turned eighteen I found her. I was visiting my grandfather at the hospital where he worked when a scent wafted its way to me. I followed it, curious about why I found it so alluring. The smell led me to a room, and in that room was a sixteen year old human girl. Her deep red hair fanned her pale face and helped make the purple around her eyes stand out even more. I knew instantly she was my mate. She was hooked up to so many different machines I couldn't even count them. She was sleeping so there wasn't even any way for me to speak to her. All I knew was her name, Annabelle Wright, it was written on a board above her bed. I raced out of the room and went to find my grandfather and demand answers about her. He was in his office filling in forms when I stormed in and slammed the door. I demanded to know why she was in the hospital. Apparently she had been involved in a hit and run a few weeks earlier and had been in a coma ever since. Before I had a chance to question him further, a call went out over the speaker system, calling all available doctors to room one-oh-four. My grandfather took off and my wolf urged me to follow him. I remember the overwhelming sense of dread that filled me as I ran down that hallway. Of course we stopped outside Annabelle's room. I watched from the doorway as my grandfather tried to revive her. After six attempts he gave up and called it. She died from cardiac arrest before I even got to speak to her. I don't even know what colour her eyes were, but she looked just like Izzy." I let out a sigh as I looked at Roxy, "You don't need to worry about me leaving you baby, you are it. My love, my life, my mate."
It felt like a load had lifted from me one I finished telling her my story. Roxy was looking up at me with tears in her eyes, her face looking like a pillar of sadness at what I just told her. She reached out one of her hands and rested it on my cheek, wiping away a tear I hadn't even realised was there.
"Baydon, I'm so sorry you had to go through that all on your own. This explains why you always seemed to feel a little off when Izzy was around. It must have been hard for you being around someone who looked like your mate, but wasn’t. Now that I know I'm not taking you away from anyone else, yes. I would love to marry you some day."
"Seriously? You will marry me?" I was dumbfounded that she had agreed. All the questions she had just asked me had filled me with doubt.
"Yes I'm serious. Baydon, you complete me. As long as we wait till I'm finished high school before we tie the knot, then yes I accept. Now give me my ring and flowers." She chuckled at the end on her little speech, holding out her hands waiting for me to hand everything over. I opened the ring box and took it out to place on her finger.
Sliding it on, I looked her in the eye, "I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and dedication to you and our relationship."
Roxy tried to hold in a laugh, but she failed miserably. "That was so cheesy," she snickered out.
"I agree I just felt like I needed to say something."
"I have an idea Baydon. How bout you show me how much you love me." Was she saying what I think she is saying? I stared at her waiting for a sign; she winked, blew me a kiss and headed towards the bed.
Oh yes, she did mean that. Standing up quickly I followed her, eager for a repeat performance of last night. I guess it is true what they say. When you first mark your mate, it's almost impossible to keep from touching them.
This was going to be a great week, I thought to myself as Roxy beckoned me to her as she sat on the bed.
Scratch that, it's going to be an amazing week.
Roxy
For two days we had been travelling home, the excitement between us building as we neared the family and friends we had been forced to leave behind. I could barely contain my excitement at seeing my parents, brother and Anna again. Although we had all kept in regular contact, talking on the phone was nothing compared to seeing someone in person.
I knew Baydon was excited about seeing his family again as well; he just wouldn't shut up about how much he missed everyone and how excited he was to be able to introduce me as his mate when we returned.
Although neither of us mentioned it, we were both worried about how Blaze would act upon our return and especially what his reaction would be to our mating. Even though he was mating someone else, there was still the chance that his wolf would take over and try to claim me again.
The trees around us thinned out slightly as we turned onto the driveway, leading us to the mating ceremony location. Everyone from the pack would be here so we would all be reunited at the same time.
"You ready for this Rox?" Baydon knew I was worried about Blaze's reaction, and he was starting to act overly protective of me as soon as we re-entered our pack territory.
"I'm good to go; with my sexy muscle man with me I'm sure everything will be fine." I loved teasing him; he seemed to get stirred up to anything even remotely sexual I said these days.
"You think I'm sexy? Wanna drop the 'y' and we can have some fun?" See, dirty minded wolf. Sex on the brain that boy.
"Sure, in the backseat big boy, as long as you don't mind giving a show to everyone in the pack who will be here?" His expression dropped from flirtatious to serious in milliseconds.
"No. No-one can see you like that except me. I can wait." He muttered as his grip tightened on the steering wheel at the mere thought of anyone else seeing me naked. I couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped my lips at his sudden change.
"We're here, bring on the party."
"Really, Baydon? Did you have to shout that, I'm sure everyone heard you. You couldn't have just been a little more discrete? Great look, here come the family." And sure enough they were all speed-walking towards our now parked car, trying not to look over anxious to see us.
My mum pulled open the door and engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug before I even had a chance to undo my seat belt.
"I missed you so much sweetie, don't ever leave again." Mum was sobbing into my hair, I snuck a glance at Baydon, hoping he could help me, but he too was being consumed by a mother hug.
"Mum, let me get out first please. You're crushing me here."
"Sorry sweetie, I just missed my baby girl so much." Mum stepped back and waited for me to climb out of the car before clutching me in a tight hug again. This was going to be a long welcome home.