When the other wolves came back from their run, they all piled into the sauna and joined Ethan, who had adamantly refused to come out. Cassy stripped and joined them before serving lunch. While they were all relaxing, Ethan told Alex about Cassy’s theory the sauna speeding up the transformation process. Everybody had an opinion about the likelihood of it being true, so Alex suggested Cassy study up on the records that were kept about the pack.
They also discussed the website Liz had created for their new business, and Alex agreed with Brian that they were ready to place an advertisement in the local newspapers. When the boys started complaining about their empty tummies, they went for lunch. As usual, everybody had a break until about three, when they all got together in the kitchen for training. Because it was the first time that Liz and Tina were present, Cassy simply got them all talking and asking questions from each other. It turned out to be such fun, that they were all still in the kitchen when Cassy, Liz and Tina started preparing dinner, and they carried on, right through dinner, dishes’ a substantial amount of coffee, and a late night snack. When it got late, Cassy wished them all a good night while dragging a willing Alex up behind her.
The rest of the week followed much in the same pattern, except that Alex had convinced Ethan to finish as much of his schoolwork as possible before he changed, so that he would have some extra time for goofing off once he shifted. To make Alex’s offer more agreeable, Cassy had suggested they move their afternoon pow-wow to the sauna. Everybody had agreed to that!
Alex had contacted Harris; and he had agreed to officiate during the subjection ceremony, but due to some other obligations he had during the week, the earliest he would be able to come through, is Saturday. Alex asked Harris to bring his family with and to stay for lunch so the two women could get to know each other.
In a surprise twist, Rudi had phoned and asked Alex if he and Dinah could join the pack. Alex was stunned at first, and made sure Rudi had thought it through before agreeing. Rudi’s father had passed away when he was sixteen, so Duncan had always stood in as a father figure. Rudi told Alex that Duncan was less upset than he was surprised; and he in turn had surprised Rudi by telling him that he was well able to make his own decisions by now. Alex asked Rudi then to be sure he was back by Saturday so he would be able to participate in the ceremony as well.
Alex sighed. He was trying very hard to concentrate on some paperwork he had been putting off for quite a while now, but the temptation of joining Cassy in the bubble bath she was taking right now, was rather distracting. And to top it off, he still did not know what to do to make his proposal a special event for the both of them. He had considered going to a fancy restaurant, a hot air balloon ride, even a boat trip, but none of them tickled his fancy. Besides, he wanted to do something that would make her feel loved and wanted.
Loved. It had stunned him the first time he realized that he was falling in love with her. He was so surprised that his front legs forgot he was running and he had a literally fell over his own feet. Or paws, to be correct. His brothers had thought it was hilarious, him taking a tumble like that. To be honest though, he had to admit that he shouldn’t have been too surprised about it. Everything about her was so amazing that it was pretty much inevitable for him to fall for her. He often caught himself wondering when exactly it happened, but the only conclusion he had arrived at, was that he had not fallen for her from the start, but that this feeling had sneaked up on him while he wasn’t looking.
When first they had met, it was purely a wolf thing. During the time he had spent learning from Timothy, he had also learnt to appreciate that she would be giving him more than just strong, healthy babies. Her wisdom and insight, the way she drew people towards her, the way she handled herself; these were skills that could not be learnt and she had those and even more to spare. These were all essential qualities for an alpha female, and she had them in abundance. He had even noticed the way she was subtly guiding Liz and Tina as well. The thing with Cassy though, you never knew that she was teaching you; or changing you.
Yes; Cassy was an excellent teacher and his pack would benefit from that. Those types of concerns and the realization that Cassy was EXACTLY what he needed; had made him resent the mating in the beginning. That and his distrust of the female species; but somehow Cassy had neatly disposed of all those misconceptions along the way.
And during all this time, Cassy had not once held his bad behaviour against him. Since their beginning, she had understood him better than he had. Alex smiled when he thought about the first few days when she had come back home with him. She had somehow managed to get all his brothers involved with cleaning and repairing the house without once having to fall back on her position as alpha female of the pack. Except of course that one evening when she asked his brothers to do the dishes when she wanted to go for a run. She certainly knew how to get results without throwing her weight around.
Then there was the way his brothers started to change; that was one of the biggest eye openers ever. He had not consciously noticed a difference; he just realized one morning that they cared for her as much as they could have cared if she were their real sister. She was part of their family now, she had walked into this house and made it her own; and enriched everybody’s lives in the process. He could see how a life without her would be empty and meaningless and the thought of her not being part of his life made him feel as if his insides were being ripped apart. It left him with a hollow ache that made it difficult to breathe and left him in a cold sweat. His life was hers completely.
Alex threw the pen he was clinging to onto the table. It was senseless trying to work when all he could think about was her. Eventually he got up and walked to the kitchen where he could hear them all talking. Except for Ethan, he was most likely the one banging on the keyboard in the study room he had put together for their schooling.
When he walked in they looked surprised to see him.
“What?” He asked when they just kept on staring.
“Hey! No need to get all righteous on us. You have been walking around like a bear with a toothache for the last couple of day. So don’t you go clawing your way down our throats.” Conrad protested loudly, making the others snicker and giggle. “It would serve you a lot better if you shared what was bothering you. You know, all that nonsense about worries shared is worries halved.” Conrad waved his hands around in the air dramatically.
Alex popped up his eyebrow at Conrad; staring him down. When the kitchen grew too quiet, he gave up and mimicking Conrad; threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know what to do.” he finally admitted. It was hard, making that confession to his brothers and their mates. He always had answers to any problem and he felt like he was letting himself and them down by admitting that he did not know how to deal with a situation.
They all looked as if they could be knocked over with a feather. Or; using Cassy’s words, with a whole chicken, they were wolves after all!
Brian recovered first. “About what?” If his alpha was having problems deciding on a course of action, it must be a serious thing, and they should all be concerned. Especially because Alex always knew how to deal with situations. This must be a real duzi! **(duzi = big/huge/massive – get it?)**
They watched with concern as Alex struggled to find the right words. “I want to ...” he stopped, shook his head and started over. “I am going to ask Cassy to marry me, and I have got no idea how to go about it.”
At first no one was sure they had heard correctly, and when it sunk in, the girls squealed in delight while his brothers could do nothing but stare at him. This is something none of them had ever considered, and by the way Liz and Tina were going on about this; they came to the conclusion that for them, it was a real DUZI! Carter and Derrick shared a quick glance at each other and they could at that instant read each other’s minds. Thanks heavens the girls were still in school! They would have time to make their plans at least.
Suddenly they all started babbling at the same time, growing more and more exited until Alex had to step in and shush them up. “You are making such a racket that Cassy will be able to hear you!”
The noise level went down marginally, but they got more animated by the moment.
“If Cassy finds out about this before I actually get to ask her, I will never forgive you!”
That made them zip their mouths shut instantly. Not only because Alex had threatened them, but because they did not want to ruin Cassy’s surprise for her.
Ethan stuck his head in the door. “What’s up?”
So they all kept their voices low and explained Alex’s predicament to him.
“Oh! So what are you gonna do then?” He asked, sitting down at the table and reaching for a cookie.
For the next thirty minutes they put their heads together and came up with an idea that had Alex smiling. This is something he should have thought about all by himself; he knew she liked going there. When he heard the bath water running out, he swore them all to secrecy before running up the stairs.
He walked into their room just as she was walking out of the bathroom, dressed in nothing more than a towel wrapped around her.
“Is that what you are wearing to bed tonight?”
Cassy shook her head at him, trying her best to look disappointed with him. “Alex, if this is what I am wearing to bed, neither one of us will be getting any sleep tonight. Again!”
“I don’t mind, and you seem to be coping rather well.” With a cheeky smile he added to that. “Rather very well actually I must say.”
He stalked towards her, allowing the scent flowing off of her to draw him in, closer to her. He stopped before his body touched hers and let his fingers follow the trail of a stray drop of water running down her neck and along her shoulder before it dropped down and disappeared into the towel.
What the hell, Cassy thought to herself as she took a deep breath; causing the towel to come undone and fall at her feet. Not getting enough sleep has never felt this good!
Friday morning during breakfast Cassy gave everybody something to do to prepare for Rudi and Dinah’s arrival later that day. She, Liz and Tina were discussing lunch when Alex frowned and shook his head.
“I don’t think so.” He said when Cassy looked at him questioningly. “The girls can handle lunch, you haven’t gone for a run in how long, and from next week things might get a little hectic. Let them take care of it while the two of us go and stretch our legs for a while.”
“But Rudi and ...”
“But Rudi and Dinah nothing.” Alex interrupted her. “The room you’ve got ready for them is perfect already, you don’t have to do anything more there, and seriously Cassy; don’t you trust Liz and Tina to take care of things for a short while. Besides, I want your opinion on a few things around the ghost town.”
Cassy looked at him suspiciously. “Why now all of a sudden?”
Alex shrugged. “I was thinking last night while you were soaking in the bath and I could not concentrate on anything else. We might need to change a few things around here. Maybe put up one or two smaller buildings for classes. Or we could change some of the other buildings. I just think it would be great if we could reach some kind of agreement before Saturday when Harris gets here. He has an electrician in his pack; and a plumber. I thought if we knew what we wanted, I could get him to loan them to me so that we can start fixing things up around here.” He shrugged again. I just thought we could do that now, go for a run and perhaps be back by the time Rudi and Dinah got here.”
Tilting her head to one side she looked at him. “Why have I got the feeling that you are hiding something from me?”
In reply he smiled at her sheepishly. “I feel stupid because I only thought of this last night. It is something I should have been working on a long time ago.”
“Then why didn’t you talk about this last night then?” She frowned at him.
He leered at her. “I kinda got sidetracked.”
Cassy snorted very unladylike while the others all laughed at her. “Humph! If you laugh at me, you get to do the dishes. We can go see the ghost town after breakfast while the boys do the dishes; and yes, I do trust the girls enough to take care of lunch; so we can go for a run when we are done discussing the changes we want to make on the pack grounds.”
Alex and Cassy left after leaving strict instructions. For about two hours they roamed through the miniature town making and remaking plans until they had a rough idea of what they were going to have to do first. When Cassy wanted to go back home to check up on things, Alex told her not to keep on breathing down their necks.
Yawning widely, she agreed. “OK, but you are going to have to let me get some sleep again at some stage.” She added. “I might just have to resort to taking a nap in the afternoons.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Alex agreed innocently.
“To sleep Alex!” Cassy shot back at him before he could get any bright ideas.
“Of course.” He conceded wide eyed.
Cassy undressed quickly while he stared at her appreciatively. When she shifted, he threw of his clothes and run to catch up with her so that he could lead her where he wanted to go.
After running around for about an hour, he started leading her towards the waterfall and she followed eagerly. Ever since the first time he had taken her there, she had loved the peace and quiet she experienced then they were there. There was something about waterfalls that had always intrigued her, and she was thankful that Alex was so observant that he had noticed the paintings she had in her room back at her father’s. She slowed down when she heard the rushing sound of water falling.
At first she did not notice the two huge baskets tucked beneath the low hanging branches of a willow tree, but Alex was relieved to see it there. He was feeling a bit peckish, so Cassy would definitely not mind having something to nibble on. Opening a basket, he found an orange and started pealing it. Only when the citrusy smell of orange made her nose twitch, did she notice the baskets.
“A picnic?”
Alex was happy to see that she genuinely was pleased and excited. Walking to him as he held half of the peeled orange to her, she kissed him lightly on the cheek.
“That is so sweet. My mother used to take us for picnics all the time. I forgot how much I liked this.”
That pleased him even more. He knew how much she loved her mother and that she missed her a lot. He made a silent promise to himself that he would make sure he arranged something like this more often.
“Is there any chance of something to wear?” She asked, trying to peek into the half open basket.
“As a matter of fact, there is.” Alex replied smugly. It was his idea that they take some sort of clothing with. Cassy did not mind lying around on the grass and dirt in her wolf form, but as a human, she said the grass tickled and itched too much.
First, he took out a blanket and spread it before sticking his hand back into the basket. “You even have a choice.” He held up both hands. One of his large T-shirts in one and a towel in the other. He grinned at her and winked.
“One track minded darn wolf you are.” She swatted at him playfully. “Give me the shirt. At least that will only fall off of one shoulder.”
Cassy pulled the shirt over her head, but still heard the agonised groan Alex let slip out. When she faced him again, he was pulling a pair of shorts on.
“Have a seat.” He offered as he pulled a basket closer to where he was sitting. Carefully packing out the food that Liz and Tina had prepared for them, he noticed Cassy’s jaw drop in surprise.
“When did you plan all of this?”
“It’s been a while, but this,” he waved at the basket and food, “was organized last night. Liz and Tina stayed up to do this for you. For us.”
“Well,” she replied; “they are geniuses for coming up with all of this. Remind me to make them cook more often.”
“I will.” He promised as he held a platter of cheeses to her.
Both of them were lying on their stomachs next to each other, propped up on their elbows; staring at the tiny glittering rainbows the sun was making in the mist of the waterfall. They were making silly jokes about nothing at all, laughing with each other softly.
Cassy let her head rest against his shoulder and Alex turned, lying down on his back and then he pulled her closer. Her soundless sigh vibrated through his whole body when his hands softly travelled up and down her side. Being with her like this made everything feel so right and he knew that there was never going to be such a perfect moment for him to ask her as this. Gently he turned her around until her sleepy eyes found his. So very softly he pressed his lips on hers, then he drew back to look at her beautiful grey eyes again. His fingers looked for and found the tiny box with the ring in the pocket of the shorts he was wearing.
“Cassy?” He asked, getting her attention, and saw her eyes drop to follow the movement of his lips. “Cassy?” He repeated himself and watched as her eyes darkened slightly as she shivered before looking up reluctantly.
He stroked his finger along her jaw. “I love everything about you.” He confessed in a husky voice as he kept her eyes on him. “I love the way you are so perfect for me in every possible way. I love the way you make me feel, and I love the way you have come into my life and turned everything the right way up again. Cassy I love you.” He said not even blinking his eyes, too afraid to miss anything. “Will you be my wife?”