I looked up at Grey. He had to joking, there was no way this was real.
"Grey please stop kidding with me. Something doesn't feel right. I swear you've just grown several inches inside me."
His eyes were piercing and I could swear his irises were swirling like liquid mercury as he locked his gaze with mine. I must have had far too much Champagne.
"Elizabeth do you trust me sweetheart?"
I nodded my head. "In theory, yes Grey. You saved me from that man who attacked me, even though he was one of your people. You didn't need to do that or help me the way you did tonight. I feel safe when I'm with you."
He stroked my hair and held me close. "I'm glad you feel that way, this will make it easier for me to tell you what I need you to hear beautiful.
You know those large wolves you saw at Red Cloud? They weren't any ordinary wolves Elizabeth. I'm am the Alpha werewolf of the Red Cloud Pack. My whole tribe are werewolves or at least have the were gene. Some have yet to be able to change form. This is the reason my sister was so determined to get you off our land as quickly as she could, despite putting herself at risk of my wrath.
The world isn't as black and white as you think darling. There are things that are kept hidden from most humans and for good reason. If human scientists were to find out about our existence, we would all end up locked away in laboratories being experimented on like lab rats. We are stronger than humans, we age slower and heal faster, but we still can get hurt by bullets and other weapons. We cannot risk being found out.
What I'm telling you puts my whole pack in danger if you were to divulge our existence to other humans."
I tried to pull away from him. I needed some space between us so I could try and process what he was telling me. One thing was true though. We were well and truly stuck together. He wouldn't budge inside me.
"It's no use Elizabeth. I cannot pull out of you until the knot shrinks. I had no idea this would happen sweetheart. Please believe me. I've never heard of a were mating with a human, at least not in my pack. We have recorded generations in our family tree and I haven't come across this before."
He pulled me back gently into his arms.
"Elizabeth please don't be afraid of me. I would never hurt you, I could never hurt you."
I was beyond shocked and confused by what he had told me but I knew instinctively that he meant me no harm.
"I'm not scared of you Grey. I think I'm in love with you."
He smiled at me and turned my face towards his. "Darling, you've made me one happy wolf by saying that." He gave me a tender kiss on my lips. "I'm going to make sure you change that though."
I looked at him questioningly. "Change what Grey?"
He looked at me with a smug grin on his face. "I'm going to make sure that instead of you thinking you're in love with me, you are going to be undoubtably sure you love me. I can love no one else the way I love my mate and you sweet Elizabeth are my mate."
I scowled at him. He was so sure of himself it was borderline arrogant. "Watch it wolf or I will put a muzzle on you." I teased him as I poked him in the ribs.
The next morning we sat in companionable silence as we ate breakfast. I still had a ton of questions and I still hadn't gotten over the shock of what Grey had told me last night.
"Grey what do we do now? How is this going to work out for us? I live here, my home is here and I'm sure you would hate living in an apartment, surrounded by the noise and all the people who live here. It probably isn't safe for you either. As for me, I love it at Red Cloud but your tribe, I mean your pack, clearly don't want me there."
"My pack will fall in line sweetheart. I'm their alpha and they will have to listen to me, as long as I can prove you are not a threat to them. Now that you carry my scent as my mate, the other male wolves wouldn't dare try and claim you for themselves. So the chances of you being attacked again are practically none existent. No male should be willing to risk it unless they have a death wish. Werewolves are highly protective and possessive of their mates Elizabeth and I am no exception."
"Ok Grey but if I am to live on the reservation I'm going to need a few things so I could continue with my work. I need a studio, phone and internet connections, so I can stay in contact with the galleries and my clients. Oh and I'm going to have to insist on a proper bathtub and shower. That cold water pump shower at the hut isn't going to cut it." I looked at him with a mischievous grin on my face. "You do realize that women have certain requirements and although I'm not super high maintenance, I do have certain expectations."
He looked at me with a big, fake frown and grumbled about being hen pecked before he was even mated properly. I giggled at his theatrics.
"Oh and no wolves on the furniture." He threw a wash cloth at me as I giggled at him.
Grey had hired a large truck and we were just finished loading up all the things I couldn't part with. I decided to keep my apartment rather than sell it. I wanted a place in town for when I had art exhibits and felt like enjoying the entertainment that only cities and towns had to offer. My room mate was happy to stay on. She was seldom there anyway but I was glad someone would be there occasionally to look after the place.
Grey had also gone to purchase supplies and building materials so he could build my art studio and enlarge the cabin. He promised me an extravagant bathroom and plenty of space for all my clutter. He was happy to do this for me because I had agreed to move to Red Cloud and sacrifice my home here.
I had made a small fortune from selling my art and the money would help the pack tremendously. If I could carry on being this successful then we would all benefit from it. We had already purchased several generators, solar panels and wind turbines to provide enough electricity to power all the electronics in our cabin and several other buildings, including the new school house I insisted on. Just because the young wolves couldn't attend mainstream schools didn't mean they shouldn't have a proper education.
"You ready to start your new life with me beautiful?" He held the door to the truck open for me with a big wolfy grin on his face.
I smiled at him as I clambered into the truck. He latched the tow bar onto my truck so we didn't have to make two trips and we headed out to Red Cloud.