~~

Acacia

~~

Breon was still having a fit at the end of the wedding. He kept telling me that there was no way that Queen Gloriana would allow me to mate with a wolf. But there were things he didn't know. There were things that Breon wasn't privy to simply because he was not a woman.

Like, he didn't know that my cousin Aaron had been with a wolf. He was a pixie, unlike me who is a Dryad, but we are both nature Fae and we both mated with a wolf. Well, Aaron less mated and more toyed with one but that's different. Being a pixie made Aaron a natural trickster.

Mine wasn't a trick though. I could feel the nature spirits all around me telling me that Cedar was my mate. And just his name fit me so well. Cedar was a type of tree and my names, Acacia and Aspen were both trees as well. We were literally made for each other.

I wished that Breon would just be happy for me. I wished he would just let me live my life the way that I wanted.

The first step was for me to get to know Cedar, and the second step was for me to introduce him to my Queen. I was excited for her to meet him. And I really wanted to tell her that Cedar's Luna, who just got married at the wedding that I had attended, was a Queen as well. She was the Luna Queen, the Goddess Incarnate. This new development would be amazing and special.

I told Breon I was staying in town following the wedding, that was something that had angered him but he had no choice but to accept it. I saw him and the others off at the door of our hotel room and waited until I could see the man that was my new mate. He had promised me that he was coming to see me the day after the wedding.

I didn't have to wait long. It was maybe twenty minutes after everyone else left that I heard the knock on the door. I was so excited to see him that I actually jumped off the bed and ran toward the door.

When I pulled the door open I saw him standing there, his handsome face, his gorgeous eyes, and a sweet, sweet smile. I felt myself smile as well and the warmth from the mating began to spread through me.

"Hi." I said in a breezy voice.

"Hey." Cedar smiled at me in return. "I was hoping that you would like to go out on a date."

"Of course." I grabbed my jacket and purse that were sitting by the door and was out before he had said anything else.

Cedar took my hand naturally and held it all the way out of the building. He led me to a blue car that was parked out front and opened the door for me. So far he was being the perfect gentleman. He drove us out to a remote spot near the river. There was a clearing where the water cut through.

I had just had time to think that it was the perfect place to have a picnic when I saw Cedar pulling a blanket and a basket out of the trunk of his car. He had the same thought I had apparently. I like that we thought alike.

Cedar and I worked together to spread the blanket out on the banks of the river. He told me to sit while he pulled out the food. He had brought a few different types of sandwiches, some crackers and cheese, bowls filled with fruit, and bottles of juices and water.

"I didn't know what you would like so I brought you a few different options."

"That's so sweet of you, thank you."

Soon, we had started eating and with that came talking and getting to know each other. I wanted to know everything I could about Cedar, what he liked, where he liked to go, if he had ever had any relationships. We sat and talked for hours on the banks of the river, learning about each other.

I learned that he had one sister, a twin, who he was very close to his whole life. He was protective of her and his friends and family. He was studying to be a cop and wanted to work as a warrior in the pack. He was a loving and caring person.

I found out that we had similar tastes in music and movies. Not to mention that Cedar liked to read, which was one of my favorite things to do. We both also liked to dance, and I made Cedar promise to take me dancing sometime.

Sometimes, there is just nothing better than learning about someone new.

"Cedar, you will come with me, won't you?" He was looking at me while I spoke.

"To where?" He didn't seem to get what I was asking.

"To meet my Queen."

"If that is what you want, then of course." His smile was so sweet and so sincere, but I detected a hint of something hotter and darker in there as well.

"I want her to meet you and to approve of you. I know she won't object though. This is a true mating, I can feel it." I know I was grinning, and I hoped he didn't find it off putting.

"I'm glad you're so happy, Casey." I loved that he was using the nickname that those close to me used. It made this moment feel that much more special. I couldn't get enough of this, enough of him.

"Casey? He asked me after a little while.

"Yeah?" I looked at him, curiosity in my eyes.

"Are you going to stay here in Colorado Springs?" He looked worried about this, like he thought I was going to leave.

"I was planning on it. I won't want to force you to leave your family. I want to stay near you."

"Won't you feel sad though? Leaving your family and all."

"I've been with my family longer than you have been with yours." He looked at me in shock then.

"Really?" I thought we looked about the same age." He was certainly confused now.

"In terms of physical appearance, we are about the same age. But we Fae age much slower than humans and wolves."

"So, how much older than me are you?" He looked at me curiously. "No, I'm sorry, don't answer that, it's not polite." I laughed at him then.

"It's true most women don't like being asked their age, but I don't mind. I am eighty-nine years old."

"SERIOUSLY?!" He shouted in his shock. I would not have guessed you that old, I seriously thought you were nineteen. Personally, I just turned twenty." He was holding the side of his head and laughing then.

"Is this a problem, that I am so much older?"

"Goddess no." His voice was filled with force when he said those words. "I don't care if you're twenty, ninety, or five hundred. Age is a number but a bond is eternal." He looked so sincere when he told me that, it almost made me cry.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Though I think it might be a little sad that I will get old and you will stay young forever. But when I am old and gray I can just look like some super rich dude with a hot young wife." We both laughed at that and the conversation just continued in an easy manner.

~~

Cedar

~~

I couldn't believe my luck. I had found that mate that was perfect for me. Maybe I had just been drawn to Trinity so much because she would someday lead me to finding my mate? That would be an interesting way to look at all the heartache I had silently suffered for the last several months.

Still, I forgot all about that the instant that I met Casey. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was sweet and kind, and just all around perfect.

I loved the smile on her face when I asked her to come on this picnic with me. I had felt the elation that just being close to her and touching her was causing for me. I felt myself being drawn to her every second that I was near her, like she had some sort of Cedar magnet and was pulling me along with her.

I was hopeless and I knew it. Still, I wouldn't object. I was happy to be hopeless. I had been longing for my mate for so long now that I was beginning to lose my hope.

The longer we talked, the more I listened to her sweet, sweet voice the more I longed for her. I couldn't help myself. I was being pulled in, I could feel the strength of that force and there was no reason for me to fight it.

We were sitting side by side on the banks of the river and I was watching her talk while she looked out over the water. I saw her lips moving, forming the words. I saw the pucker of her lips as she bit into a grape, the juices dripping down her chin. Then the slow and sexy way that her finger moved as it caught the juices before then got too far and the pink flash of her tongue as it slowly licked the droplets from her finger.

I could see it all, as if she were moving in slow motion. It was so perfect, so sweet, so erotic. I felt a heat, a passion began to burn inside of me that was so intense that I thought I would truly catch fire.

My lips itched to press against her. My tongue longed to lap away the juices that had spilled down her chin and that would spill elsewhere as well. My dick hardened at the thought of seeing, touching, and entering her body.

I couldn't take it anymore.