Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

The next day, Bronx decides he wants to go downstairs for dinner.

“Are you sure, Sweetheart? The doctor said you need to take it easy for another few days,” | ask as he

is putting on a button- down shirt.

“Yeah Baby.I have some apologizing to do. No.I have a lot of apologizing to do. To everyone. I'm not

going to hide up here in my apartment.I have to face the music,” he says resolutely. He puts on a dark

blue eye patch to match his clothes and looks himself over in the mirror. He looks handsome with his

inky black hair slicked back and olive toned face freshly shaven.

As we walk into the dining room a hush falls over the crowd.I give Bronx's hand a reassuring squeeze

and he leads us to the front of the room. He stands in front of our table and faces the dining room.

He looks out over our pack, takes a deep breath, and eats crow. He fully admits that he got carried

away with trying to protect me and he was wrong. He assures everyone that things will be different

moving forward and that I will be more involved in pack related decisions moving forward. Then he

apologizes to everyone for commanding them to treat me poorly. He publicly asks everyone to go back

to loving and respecting me the way that he knows they do. He promises to do better because that is

what the pack deserves before he thanks everyone for their loyalty and sits down. There are cheers

around the room and some of the children run up to hug me. I kneel down and hug each and every one

of them back. It is the best feeling knowing that things are going back to normal.

ake

| went from being overwhelmed by planning a wedding by myself to being overwhelmed by the number

of people who want to help. By the end of February, just about everything is planned. The Summer

Solstice celebration will be part of our wedding. So instead of just the Blood River pack, there will be a

ton of other people there, leaders from packs around the world, Elder Council members, and even

witches from the Coven will be invited.

Reggie commits to having the new packhouse rebuilt by the beginning of June so we would be ready

for the influx of visitors. Ashley helps me come up with decorations, flowers, and place settings. If she

ever wanted to switch careers, she could totally be an event planner. She is so good at reminding me

of all the things I need to consider. No detail is left untouched. °

The housekeeping omegas also come up with a cute idea of renting tents for people who want a more

outdoorsy experience during their stay. There is plenty of room in the field behind the packhouse. The

staff says they are more than happy to make the campsites and keep them supplied with firewood,

snacks, and cooking supplies, etc. They even tell me it will be easier than cleaning the rooms every

day. If it’s easier on them ,I am all for it.

Mrs. Miller is a rockstar too. She feels so bad about having kicked me out of the kitchens that now she

is bending over backwards to help me come up with the menus, specialty drinks, foods to supply

guests out in the tents or suites. We take inspiration from all over the place, each meal from a different

part of the world. The wedding reception will feature Beef Wellington. She and I research recipes and

perfect cooking techniques at a blistering pace. Bronx doesn’t seem to mind. Probably because he gets

to taste test everything. Delilah offers to help Mrs. Miller with the cake but wants to keep the details a

surprise, so I knew that was going to be amazing too. The entire pack refuses to let me worry about

anything. The one thing they can’t help me with is a dress. Every time I think about it, I get anxious.

Even if my vision can't come true, what if a different wolf tries to come after me? I know Ryan is dead,

his body is still in the morgue but Silver Moon refuses to come to Blood River to retrieve his body, so he

will stay there indefinitely. Bronx says it is not our responsibility to give him a proper burial or ceremony.

*

I even start the cooking classes I had promised to Marco. I thought there would be three or four of his

friends, but there are over twenty single warriors in attendance at the first session. It turns out, Marco

had let all his friends know and they jumped at the chance to learn from their Luna. Every week, I

teach them a new simple, healthy entree, and sometimes we add in a dessert too. | had no idea how

messy cooking could be until I try to teach a bunch of men whose hands are way too big for the

utensils. They may be masters of precision when it comes to blade skills in battle, but apparently

chopping green peppers was a different story.

It's March tenth. I have the phone in my hand and I just need to hit the little green dial button, but | can’t

bring myself to do it. Bronx comes into the living room and plops down behind me.

“Whatcha doin, Baby?” he asks as he pulls me down onto his lap and runs his fingers through my hair,

making me purr.

“I have to make an appointment to pick a dress. I just get so scared every time I try to dial the number. |

can’t hit the call button,” I frown looking at my phone screen.

“Here, let me see your phone,” he says and holds out his hand and giving me a sympathetic smile.

Naively, I hand him the phone. He jumps up, hits the call button, and runs into the bedroom. When I

realize what he's doing, I jump up to follow him but he already has the door locked. «

“Bronx! What are you doing?!” How embarrassing that my fiancé would need to make my appointment

for me. I can only imagine how many guards he was going to send with me ‘just in case’.

The bedroom door cracks open and I see Bronx's green eye looking at me, “Baby, what color did you

say you want the girls to wear?” “Olive green, why? Wait! Bronx, what are you saying to them?!” but he

shuts the door in my face instead of answering me. I growl and pound once on the door, then sit on the

sofa to pout.

Fifteen minutes later, he tosses the phone on the sofa and plops down again. He sees me pouting and

pulls me onto his lap, nuzzling my neck.

“They're going to call Delilah with the details. She'll have James and Marco take you to your

appointment.”

“Ugh. Okay, but when?” I whine.

“I don't want to tell you because I don't want you to chicken out. Don’t worry, Delilah will tell you. She

will make sure you're there on time,” he gives me that smirk that infuriates me and turns me on at the

same time.

I pull him toward me by the collar and snarl at him with a little smile of my own, “If you keep smiling at

me like that, I’m going to make you feel like a weak old wolf, Bronx Mason.”

“Is that a promise, Kas Latmus?” He leans in and whispers in my ear.

“Mmhmm,” I reply, my growl turning into a purr. At that, he scoops me up and takes me into the

bedroom. We spend the rest of the afternoon making each other giggle, moan, and ultimately making

Bronx feel like a weak old wolf.