It was very late when we got back home, the last game was over, and Nick was already in bed sleeping peacefully when we checked on him. I smiled and looked on our coffee table to a stack of papers and a note from Nick and Violet. He finished his last essay and I looked over two of them. I pointed out his misspellings and he will fix them tomorrow. The last one I’ll leave to you... by the way. UNC won. -Violet Like there was any doubt UNC would lose! We whooped them! I chuckled to myself and looked to the essay they left for me. Behind me my mate was taking her hair ribbons out of her hair and taking off her jewelry. “Damn, I really hate hairspray...” She muttered and I smiled as I put the paper down and walked over to her. With her heels on she was just as tall if not slightly taller than me and I wrapped my arms around her waist as I pulled her into me. I laid my nose on her bare shoulder and started to pepper her neck and upper back with kisses. She started giggling and leaned further into me. “But with the hairspray I get here so much easier...” I tease as she flinches back and jerks away. “Where are you trying to go?” I hold her tighter, and she shrieks slightly as I am hitting all of her tickle spots. “No!! No... no!!! Ben!!! Aahh! I’m in heels!!! Please!” She starts shifting in place and I hold her even tighter against me as her feet go out from under her. “Hey now, you already fell for me once. You don’t have to keep doing it.” I teased as I start to subconsciously poke into her lower back. “You’re so mean!!” She giggled as she tried to reach her shoes. “What are you doing?” I chuckled, I was having a little too much fun. “I like those shoes.” “If you like them, you wear them! Aaah!” She flinched again as I wiggled my fingers into her side. “Sorry, they clash with my whole wardrobe.” I laughed and finally slowed down on my tickle assault. Gently I swept her up in my arms and spun her around. “I much prefer to see them on you.” I chuckled as she grabbed my neck and I sat her down gently. “Get my zipper for me, Sweetie?” She whispered in my ear. “I need to get this hairspray out of my hair.” Gently I wrapped my arms around her and laid my head on her shoulder as I pulled on the metal clasp, lowering it all the way down to her lower back and smiled as I watched the cloth fall to the floor, leaving her in nothing but her heels and undergarments. She giggled slightly as she spun us around and sat on the bed with her legs crossed. Getting the hint, I leaned over and unsnapped her shoe and smirked as she crossed her other leg presenting me her other foot. Slowly she stood up and kissed my cheek softly and grabbed my tie. “Have I ever told you what you do to me when you dress up so nice?” “No... what?” I asked as she pulled my tie down, forcing my mouth to hers. “Well, come here... let me show you.” She smirked as she pulled me into the bathroom by my neckwear. Oh Goddess how lucky I am! ~~~ I was purring slightly as my mate cuddled further into my side, thoroughly exhausted. We didn’t even bother with clothes as once we hit the bed, we started up again. I barely glanced at the time before my eyes started to flutter shut and I relaxed even more. BEEP BEEP Oh Goddess what now??? I lifted my head and glanced at my phone. “Shit!” I jumped up. “Love get up!” She looked at me sleepy eyed before she picked up her phone. “I’m going to fucking kill Jess!!!” She screamed throwing her clothes on in a hurry and grabbing her moccasins. “Hurry up!” “What the absolute f*ck?! A race to the main gate, the side gate, then the gym?!” I growled. “Is she trying to kill us?!” “No, she just wants free babysitting!!!” Samantha growled as we dashed out the door. We heard Violet and Jake’s displeasure as they opened the door to the access ladder and made their way down. Damn it! This is going to be a race of endurance and I slightly worried for my mate, but if it came to it, I would make sure she wouldn’t come in last. That would not be us. I growled as we hit the door, snatching up my mate and swinging her on my back. The distance to the main gate is the longest, if I can get her there then maybe she has a chance. I started to worry, I was running as hard as I could, but we haven’t passed anyone yet. I tried to open up the pack radar to find them, but they were all either too far away or had their links blocked. “Hey, let’s shift when we hit the main gate and run shifted, the terrain is a little rougher.” She whispered in my ear, and I nodded. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” It wasn’t a lie, I was going as fast as I could, but I wasn’t getting tired at all yet. In the distance the guards waved at us as we passed them. Soon we shifted and ran together with the brick to our side. Samantha mused. I answer. The side gate comes into our view. Her wolf nodded. I huffed as I let her take the lead, sprinting the whole way until the gym came into focus. Samantha said slightly defeated. Glancing behind me one last time and not seeing anyone I sighed. Slowing to a stop outside the gym door we both shifted back. I could faintly pick up the scents of everyone and sighed. We were last. “You first.” I offer. “I can watch a newborn pup for a few days no problem.” Samantha shook her head. “No, we go in together.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it as she smiled. “We’re a team remember? We do everything together.” I chuckled and kissed her again as we opened the door. “SURPRISE!!!!” Holy f*cking shit!!! My mate jumped and instinctively I pulled her behind me. Looking around everyone in the pack was here. Staring at us and laughing. “We gotchu Alpha! Luna!” Penny clapped as her and Nick ran up to us. “Surprise!” “Yeah, you got us alright. Tried to put us both back in the hospital with heart attacks.” I laughed and hugged them as I looked around. A giant banner hung from the ceiling. “Congratulations to a Happy Couple!” “We all got together and planned this as soon as Alpha woke up.” Violet laughed. “Since all of our allies are coming tonight and tomorrow for your ceremony we wanted to celebrate with the pack.” “At 4:30 in the morning?” I chuckled as I looked around again. “That was my idea!” Jess chirped. “Early morning training is one of the few things Alpha will drop everything for.” “That’s the damn truth.” Daren mumbled. “And they cancelled school for the rest of the week!” Nick chirped. “Well, after today.” He added. I chuckled as the teacher nodded. He finally grabbed both of us by the hand. “Come on, the kitchen made crepes today!” “Crepes?” I gasped as Nick sat us down at a table. “Kendall figured them out last week.” Mrs. Potts smiled placing some strawberry and chocolate crepes in front of us. “They are so easy to make!” I laughed again as my mate was still looking around in awe. In the crowd I could pick out a bunch of familiar faces, Finn and his family, Kendall, William and Olivia, Jackson and Elsa, Tim and Liza, Herbert, and the many refugees from Nick’s old pack. “But...” She started. “Why?” “Now what kind of stupid question is that?” Jackson laughed. “You reminded so many of us what it's like to have a real Alpha.” William added. “So many of us were lost in this world, alone.” Kendall continued. “Many of us were abandoned by those who swore to love and protect us.” Holly sighed. “Led by someone who was set in past traditions.” Finn added. “Who used us like tools to be discarded when we were of no more use.” Herbert said. “When we were crying in pain and looked for anyone to help us you stepped in and took over.” Another female I didn’t recognize nearly whispered. “And it didn’t matter if we were in your pack or not.” Tim smiled and hugged Liza close. “When you saw injustice and trickery you still stepped in.” “And for all of that and more.” Violet started as Jake smiled. “We are all here to celebrate you and Ben!” Jake beamed and held up a glass of orange juice. “To the Alpha couple!” “Congratulations!!!” ~~~ “What do you mean you failed?!” The voice raged on the phone making the rogue flinch. “Well... I watched them! They all drank the wine but... it didn’t work!” He whined. “I put enough Wolfsbane in there to knock them all out, but they just laughed and walked out of the restaurant. The voice just growled. “Damn incompetence!!! No matter... we can try again.”

Chapter 140