Page 63 of Adored By the Wolf

“I’m so happy to hear that.” And I was. It felt good to give peace to my mate. “Thank you for telling me about your dream, Millie. I wanted to let you know that I don’t have to shift into a wolf in front of you ever again if you don’t want me to.”

“Why?”

“It’s just not something I have to do all the time, and if I need to let him out to run, I can do that without you seeing him.”

Millie turned to look at me. “Please don’t do that, Jacob. He’s such an important part of you. Heisyou. You can’t hide your identity just as much as I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not. I’ve realized this morning that I really like trying new things with you. I feel safe with you, and I’d like to try more new experiences together. Not because I want to be like Lira, but because I like this side of me.”

Would she travel with me?I wondered. That would be a dream come true. “Are you sure? I know the first time you saw my wolf it was less than ideal.”

“I’m sure.”

Her smile made my heart swell, and the words came out before I could overthink them. “Will you be my mate?”

“I will, Jacob McCullough. I will be your mate, and I will marry you.”

The feeling of happiness that surged through me was so strong I couldn’t contain it. I crushed Millie to me and kissed her with everything I was feeling. She responded in kind, and next thing I knew, I was lifting her up and carrying her back into the cave.

She was finally mine.

All mine.

Jacob

“Three weddings?”Sandy said, looking at us like we had just told her she could have all the ice cream in the world.

“That’s what I just said.” Laughing, I pulled Millie even tighter into my side. We were surrounded by my entire family, all of us feeling stuffed from the brunch Mom had just served us, and we were now scattered around Mom and Dad’s living room in various states of contented sleepiness.

“There’s so much planning to do!” Sandy said.

“Let’s not go crazy now,” Dad said. “We still have Pac to worry about.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Sandy said, but from the way she kept crossing and recrossing her legs, I doubted Pac was anywhere in her thoughts right now.

Turning to Mom, I whispered, “Maybe having Sandy plan our weddings would be a good distraction for her.”

Mom just smiled and squeezed my hand. “Where are those paintings Bruno bought? I think it’s time we gave them to our couples.”

“What paintings are these?” Jill asked.

“You’ll see,” Millie said. She stood up and walked to the guest room where Bruno had stored the paintings.

Millie brought out the first one with the beach scene. It was ten by eight feet and was a happy scene of people relaxing on the beach while kids played in the waves.

“Of course, you’d give us this one,” Luc said, shaking his head. “We went to the beach once, and I remember I had to save every single one of you.”

“Well, I love it,” Jill said, beaming. “I know the perfect place to hang it.”

“It has to be front and center where everyone can see it,” Dredge said.

“Of course, it does,” Luc said, and everyone laughed.

Millie then brought out the city painting. “This one is for Becca and Brandon. We thought it’d be a nice reminder of where you two met.”

“Oh, I absolutely love it!” Becca said.

“Especially Luigi’s sign on the restaurant,” Brandon said.

“I added that.” Millie pointed at another spot on the painting. “And this one too.”

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