Chapter 72: The Big Day

Dominic

I’m so warm when I wake up. I feel her in my arms, soft and hot and sweet, as I hold her like a teddy bear pressed to my chest. Her delicious smelling hair is in my face, and I inhale deeply, her scent filling me up.

“Happy New Year,” she murmurs, still facing away from me, and takes one of my hands up to her lips and kisses it.

“Oh yeah, New Year’s Eve,” I say. I realize suddenly that this is the day that we’ve been waiting for.

Sproing!

She must feel me grow harder against her back. She rolls over, careful not to dislodge the warm blankets that are covering us. She gazes up into my eyes with a smile, and softly kisses my lips. It is a brief kiss, but oh, so sweet.

She pulls back, and says regretfully, “I have to go. I need to get ready, and unlock Corinne from her room. Then there is so much to do today to prepare everything for the ceremony.” She looks down towards my crotch, where she knows my dick is hard as usual, and asks, “Do you think you can wait? Just until later?”

I kiss her again, softly, briefly. I won’t detain her. “I’ve waited for ten days,” I assure her, “a few more hours won’t kill me.” Probably. Hopefully.

“You can just stay here if you want,” she says, caressing my cheek. “Stay warm.”

“Nah, I’ll get up too. I’m hungry.” I’ll go out to let her get dressed in peace. “See you at breakfast?”

Amelia

Everything feels so right. We are so ready. We’ll get through this day, which I know will zoom past. I’m going to be incredibly busy. Then tonight after the Alpha’s mating ceremony, it will be our time.

I dress in a hurry after he goes, his scent lingering in the air behind him, then go to knock on Corinne’s door.

She is waiting when I open it, and I am surprised and sorry to see that her eyes are red, like she’s been crying. “Are you okay?” I ask her.

She nods, mutters, “Yeah, I’m fine,” and doesn’t seem to want to talk about whatever is bothering her. Well, I’m not going to interrogate her, I think she’s had enough of that.

“Everyone got back from the cave trip overnight,” I tell her as we walk upstairs. “They had a bad car accident, there was a road that washed out. Some of us took cars out to pick them up.”

“Are they okay?” she asks, seeming genuinely concerned.

“Yeah, I think so. The only one who seemed really hurt was Theo, his leg was badly injured. They took him to the pack hospital.” I remember that she knows the doctor. “Dr. Hughes came with us, she’ll give him whatever he needs.”

“Ah!” she says, seeming to perk up as we chat. “She was really nice. Nobody else was hurt? Dom, or … Evan?”

It’s cute, I can tell that she kind of likes Evan. I know for sure that he likes her. “They’re all right. Evan hurt his knee, but I’ll bet he’s already healed up just fine. We’ll probably see him at breakfast.”

The cafeteria is crowded when we come in. I think that everyone knows that something happened last night, and they all want to hear about it. I’m relieved to see that Dom is already at our table, holding our spot. As we are grabbing some breakfast, Evan comes in.

Corinne’s eyes light up when she sees him, and he comes right over to us. I note with satisfaction that he doesn’t seem to be limping any more.

“Are you okay?” she asks him. “I heard you had an accident?”

“Yeah,” he nods, grabbing a tray. “I’m fine.” He looks over at me. “Beta Nolan heard from the hospital, Theo had surgery overnight and he’s in recovery now.”

I nod. I hope he’s okay, but I know our doctors are very skilled, and that Theo’s wolf healing will help him.

We get settled at our table, and just sitting down next to Dom, not close enough to touch, brings me this wonderful sense of togetherness. I want to be in physical contact with him, but it’s like I don’t need to, in order for us to be touching. Our hearts are touching, our souls are together, I feel like we are sharing everything. He smiles, and I see in his eyes that he feels the same way. We’ll finish it tonight, but we are already bonded.

Theo and Dom start telling us the details about last night’s accident. They are trying to make it sound funny, and I guess it’s easy enough to look back on it with humor in the light of morning. The storm has passed over, the sky through the windows is even showing a few spots of blue, as the last of the storm clouds chase each other east.

“Hey everyone,” we hear Alpha Kanen saying, and the room instantly falls silent. “You’ve probably heard that there was an accident last night, the group that was out on a mission ran into a problem with a washed out bridge. Everyone made it out okay, and the only person seriously injured was Beta Malcolm’s assistant, Theo.” There is a general gasp as people look around at each other. Alpha goes on, “Dr. Hughes has kept me updated, and Theo had surgery overnight to repair some severe damage to one of his legs. She is optimistic that he’ll make a full recovery, but it’ll be a few days. He’s at the pack hospital, and can probably have visitors starting tomorrow if anyone wants to go see him.”

I see several nods, especially from his friends. “For today,” Alpha says, “I understand that some kind of event is planned for tonight.” He grins at Luna Janine, who is standing next to him. “I believe most of you have assignments related to that, and we both thank you for all the effort that everyone is going to. So, have a good day, and we’ll see everyone later.”

Applause breaks out at the conclusion of his little speech, and he and Janine go out of the cafeteria, presumably into the leader’s dining room.

“Assignments?” Evan asks.

“If you’re up to it,” I say. “We have crews set for everything that needs to be done. I hadn’t added either of you to the lists since I didn’t know if you’d be back in time. We’ll need help with some cleaning, the kitchen, the decorations, the set-up outside.”

“Dibs on outside set-up,” Dom says, and I give him a smile.

Evan says, “I’ll join you, but first I need to talk to Nolan and see if he needs anything.”

“I’ll be with Darlene, I think,” I tell them, “that’s the plan anyway. Corinne, you’re on kitchen duty?”

She nods, and gets up to move into the back, carrying our empty trays with her.

I look at Dom and Evan, and say, “It’s a big day,” and Dom knows I’m talking to him. We lock eyes, before we move off to our separate duties.

Later. We just have to wait until later.