The Reluctant Cougar (Rise of the Alpha King's Heir)

Quiet

The next morning, Ben woke before Eileen. He eyed the open drapes, beyond which a beautiful sunrise was beginning to creep over the land, and quickly made his way over to shut them.

As he returned to bed his eyes fell on his woman, his beloved. She was so beautiful, so warm, so giving. He craved her kisses, relied on her counsel, and needed her happiness.

And now she's mine.

The thought gave him pause. Technically she wasn't his yet, not in a way that others would recognize and respect.

He would turn nineteen soon. At that time he would be old enough to be her husband, but would she be ready to be his wife? Had he proven himself to her?

A muffled sound of discontent pulled him back into the moment. He watched with a satisfied smile as Eileen patted the bed, searching for him. Not finding him, she turned to blink up at him groggily, "What're you doing up? Come back to bed."

He took her outstretched hand, allowing her to pull him back in. He found himself grinning when she wrapped her arms and legs around him as if afraid he was going somewhere--as if there were anywhere else in the world he'd rather be than by her side.

"Hey, Eileen?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Hmmm?"

"Will you marry me?"

She laughed even as she held up her bracelet, "I thought I agreed to that when I let you buy me this last year."

"No, I mean... Will you marry me when I come of age this summer?" he whispered.

He felt her tense, and then she was pulling away from him. He turned, capturing her retreating form in a tangled cage of his own arms and legs. "Don't leave me. I just--if you need more time--"

"What if the Alpha King's Circle decides you can't have a Vampire Mate? What if--"

"Then I'll make them change their minds."

"And if they don't?"

"Then I won't be their king. I'm never going to abandon you, Eileen. Nothing is worth losing you. Nothing."

"Are you really, really sure, Ben? This is a big deal."

"You're not answering my question, Eileen. What I need to know is: do you want to marry me?" he murmured against her hair, taking her fragrance deep into his body, loving that his scent and hers were beginning to merge, beginning to create a combined smell that would link them as Mates.

"Of course I do, Ben. I just want to make sure that you're sure. I don't want you regretting your choice, resenting me..."

"Never," he promised her. "Us being together is the one thing that I've always been sure about. Marry me, Eileen. This summer. On my birthday."

"On your birthday?" she laughed, turning to look at him. "Why--"

"Because I don't want to live even a day longer without you as my wife. I want everybody to know you belong to me and I belong to you. I want to spend every day of my life with you and every night in our bed. And... it would make the date easy to remember," he added with a playful grin.

She laughed at that, "I guess it would. And you're sure this is what you want?"

"You're what I want--but only if you're ready," he murmured as he nuzzled her neck, trying to hide the way his heart pounded with anxiety as he waited for her to answer.

"Well..." she paused, and after a deep breath declared, "then I guess we'd better start planning our wedding."

Relief and joy flooded his body. He hugged her to him, rocking them both in the bed. "Really? Yes! Eileen's going to be mine, all mine. Mine, mine, mine."