Page 38 of Love, Clumsily
I laughed, a sound of pure joy tinged with disbelief. “Your wolf proposed to me?”
“He wanted to,” Mason confirmed with a rueful smile. “But I thought you might prefer to hear the actual words from me, not just receive a ring from a wolf’s mouth.”
“I don’t know,” I teased, turning the ring in my fingers. “It was pretty dramatic and memorable this way.”
He took my hands in his, his expression growing serious. “Julian Parker,” he said, his voice steady despite the vulnerability in his eyes. “This past year has been the most extraordinary of my life. You’ve accepted me—all of me—in ways I never thought possible. You’ve taught me that I don’t have to choose between my human and wolf sides, that I can be whole and loved exactly as I am.”
Tears pricked at my eyes, but I blinked them back, wanting to see him clearly for this moment.
“I want to spend every full moon with you,” he continued. “Every ordinary Tuesday. Every moment, in between and beyond. I want to build a life with you, a family if you want that, a future that’s ours together.” He took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?”
The question hung in the air between us, though we both knew the answer. Had known it, perhaps, since that first collision in the park a year ago.
“Yes,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. “Of course, yes. As if there was ever any doubt.”
The smile that broke across his face was like the sunrise—brilliant, warm, full of promise. He took the ring from my palm and slid it onto my finger, where it fit perfectly.
“How did you know my size?” I asked, admiring the way the wood grain caught the firelight.
“Werewolf senses,” he said with a wink. “Plus I measured your finger while you were sleeping.”
I laughed, pulling him closer for a kiss that started gentle but quickly deepened, fueled by the emotion of the moment and the energy of the full moon still pulsing around us.
When we finally broke apart, both breathless, I rested my forehead against his. “I love you,” I said simply. “Human and wolf, claws and all.”
“I love you too,” he replied, his hands framing my face with infinite tenderness. “My mate. My fiancé.” The last word was said with wonder, as if he couldn’t quite believe it was real.
“Fiancé,” I repeated, testing the word and finding it perfect. “I like the sound of that.”
His smile turned wolfish, a reminder of the moon’s influence still strong within him. “You know what else sounds good?” he asked, his voice dropping to a seductive rumble. “Celebrating our engagement under the full moon.”
Heat coursed through me at his tone. “What did you have in mind?” I asked innocently, though we both knew exactly where this was heading.
In answer, he pulled me to my feet and toward the tent, his intentions clear in the hunger of his gaze and the possessive grip of his hands.
Inside, he undressed me with reverent efficiency, his touch both gentle and urgent as he laid me back on our sleeping bags. The moonlight filtered through the tent fabric, bathing us in a silvery glow that made his eyes shine even brighter gold.
“Mine,” he growled, his voice more wolf than human as he covered my body with his. “Forever.”
“Yours,” I agreed, pulling him closer. “Always.”
And there, beneath the full moon that had first revealed his secret to me, we sealed our promise in the most ancient and primal of ways—with bodies joined, hearts aligned, souls irrevocably intertwined.
Later, as we lay tangled together in the aftermath of passion, Mason’s warmth keeping the night’s chill at bay, I gazed at the ring on my finger and marveled at the journey that had brought us here.
From that first chaotic meeting in the park—pasta salad and all—to this moment of perfect contentment, it had been a path neither of us could have anticipated. There had been challenges, certainly. Adjustments and compromises and occasional misunderstandings.
But there had also been joy. Discovery. Growth. The profound pleasure of loving someone fully and being fully loved in return.
“What are you thinking about?” Mason murmured, his voice drowsy as he nuzzled against my neck.
“About us,” I said, tracing patterns on his chest. “About how lucky we are to have found each other.”
He caught my hand, pressing a kiss to the palm. “It wasn’t luck,” he said with quiet certainty. “It was fate. Written in the stars, howled to the moon. Inevitable.”
I smiled, touched by his romantic declaration. “The clumsy werewolf and the sarcastic human? That was fate’s grand design?”
“Absolutely,” he confirmed, pulling me closer. “The perfect match. You needed someone to crash into your life and shake things up. I needed someone who could see past the wolf to the man beneath—and love both equally.”
