~~

Emmalee

~~

Two days after the big reveal about me and Carter, I was on my way to meet his parents. He had already met mine so it was only fair after all. I was excited, I wanted to meet his parents and see what my in-laws would be like, but I was also nervous too.

Since this was a 'family' dinner Trinity and Reece were there, as were Noah and his wife Nikki. I had met Noah when they were all back at my house in January, but I hadn't known at the time that he was married. His mate, Nikki, was pregnant. She and Trinity were just over a month apart and I thought it was going to be so sweet to have the babies that close in age. They would play together all the time.

Eve, Carter's mom, was so amazing. She was so sweet and so nice, and very polite. I could see how they were all such wonderful people with someone as great as Eve around. And Wesley, his dad, was the nicest dad I had ever met. I thought my dad was great, but he can sound so mean sometimes. But Wesley was amazing. Carter's whole family was amazing.

While we sat down to an amazing dinner there was a lot of talk and a lot of laughing.

"Emmalee, are you sure it's this numbskull you want?" Noah asked me with a look of confusion that was clearly fake.

"I'm sure. Carter is amazing."

"You don't even know him yet." Noah pointed out. "I promise you, there's not much there."

"Hush now." Eve snapped at him. "Don't scare her away. I need another girl around this house. Soon, we might be able to outnumber all of you naughty men." Eve was giggling as she spoke. "I just know Nikki is going to give us a girl, and Trinity too. Then with Emmalee she will make us all the winners."

"Too many girls will make all these walking piles of testosterone flip out. They're all bound to be overly protective dads. You know that, Mom." Trinity had apparently just started calling her aunt and uncle mom and dad and it had made the whole family happy. She had not thought that she was allowed to for the longest time and now it was something that was out in the open. This whole family was full of so much love.

"Don't get me started on these cavemen. And Carter is the worst of them all."

MOM!" Carter snapped his head up from his dinner plate so fast that I thought he was going to break something.

"Well it's the truth. You were the one that gave me the most headaches. I swear." She fanned herself pretending to be distraught. "Oh the heartache you have caused me."

"Stop being mean. You're going to make her think I'm horrible."

"But you are." Noah added.

"If it wasn't for your bad influence I wouldn't have done half the things that I did." Trinity added. Nikki, Reece, and I were just laughing as they were all ganging up on him.

"Dad?" Carter was pleading with him.

"Alright, give the boy a break." Wesley laughed. "Let her figure some of his faults out on her own." That's when I laughed so hard I nearly choked on my dinner. Not because of what Wesley said, no it was because of the loud yelling whine that Carter gave.

"WHY?!" I don't know if it was playful or not but it was funny. The whole night was fun, and I thought his family was amazing.

~~

Carter

~~

When Emmalee walked me to the door I felt like I was walking on a floor made of clouds. Now I know what it was Trinity was feeling when she was falling in love with her mate. Being mated, falling in love, these feelings were the best things in the world.

I was probably grinning like a fool the whole way home, but I didn't care. I had ridden here with Noah and he was long gone, but I didn't care. I just walked out the front door, down the driveway, and whistled happily as I walked home. Nothing could bring me down.

I still had work to do, trying to locate the warlock and finding the kids, but Reece said we had plenty of people on the job and I had just gotten home so I could take some time off. I think he was just being a nice guy and letting me have time with my mate. Since he and Trinity had made nice he had been a pretty good guy. I tried not to think about the fact that it was most likely due to him sleeping with my little sister. But since my mind was currently focused on my mate, I kind of knew where he was coming from.

The wedding was right around the corner and Emmalee was busy with that a lot, but she still made time to see me at night. And I managed to talk her into going on a date with me.

There was an end of winter carnival being held at the fairgrounds. They had set up an ice skating rink that was aided by cooling fans. There were game booths, a few rides, and lots of really bad for you but really delicious carnie foods. I didn't want our first date to be constrained, I wanted something fluid, something where we could move around and talk, and the carnival seemed perfect.

I had walked to her room with a giddy hype in my step. I had dressed casually, dark jeans, a green t-shirt, black hiking boots, and a leather jacket. I felt ready to go.

When she opened the door my breath flew away just moments before my jaw hit the floor. She was wearing a lilac colored, sleeveless dress with a black leather belt across the middle. The belt matched perfectly with the knee high boots and leather jacket in her hand.

"Oh look, our jackets match." She grinned. They were both leather and both black, but hers was a tight little thing that really accentuated her curves when she put on.

After she grabbed her purse she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the door.

"Come on." She was smiling excitedly as she led me away from the door.

"Yes Ma'am." I grinned as I let her pull me to the stairs.

Once we got to the stairs I put my hand around her waist and held her to me. We walked like that, pressed against each other, until we were out the door and I had led her to the car. I opened the door of my white Jeep Wrangler and helped her into the tall vehicle.

Once we were down in town and parked at the fairground I walked around and opened her door again, holding her hand and she slid down and out of the Jeep. The smile on her face told me she had been looking forward to this date as much as I had and neither of us could wait to get started.

It wasn't the location we were waiting for but the time together. I had never spent time truly alone with her. We had been at the estate, and she came and met my parents, but we had never truly been alone without family and friends nearby.

There would be people around today too, but hopefully none we would know.

First, we went skating. I thought it best to do that before it got too cold. She was wearing a dress and even though we don't feel the cold like humans, I didn't want her getting cold near the coolers and ice.

Skating was fun. I hadn't been since I was a kid and I wasn't that good anymore but Emmalee was amazing. She skated circles around me and I enjoyed just watching her. The skirt of her dress blowing out behind her as she did loops and jumps.

"Have you skated professionally?" I asked her with awe when she came to stop next to me.

"No, but I did take lessons and I like to skate a few times a year at least."

"That was amazing. You're so beautiful and talented."

"Stop." She blushed and looked away.

After that I took her hand and we just skated in the oval a few times. It may not have been exciting but it was fun, and we were together.

After skating, we went to play a few of the carnival games while snacking on food. That was a must. The food was greasy, artery clogging, and delicious. We loved it, especially because as wolves we didn't have to worry about that as much as humans.

When we were at the ball toss, I couldn't help showing off the wolf skill, for her and the humans around, but mostly for her. I had to knock them all down ten times in a row to get the biggest prize. I could tell by the look on the man's face that no one had ever done it while he was running the game. Time to be the first.

First ball? Perfect shot. Second Ball? Another perfect shot. This continued on for all ten balls. I didn't miss a shot and got all the bottles knocked over each time. I was kind of happy that I had won, cause I know that these carnival games are rigged to make people play more and spend more, but I won on my first try. Ha, that would show them.

The biggest prize was a little spot on for us. It was a giant stuffed wolf, gray and white mostly with some black thrown in here and there. The wolf stood almost as tall as she did, it was so big. But she loved it. She said she didn't care what it was, she would have been happy because I had won it for her. I grinned when she said that.

There was one ride I was really looking forward to. There was something that I wanted to accomplish on this date. I didn't care how cliche it was either.

After we had ridden all the other small rides, it was time for the ferris wheel. We waited in line until it was our turn. The man opened the car and I helped her in. Once we were seated Emmalee was looking excitedly out the side of the car.

I was waiting and biding my time. I waited while the ferris wheel made several large rotations. Then we started to slow down and I knew what would happen.

We had been the last ones in, so that meant we would be in this position first. Just as the ferris wheel was almost to a stop, right at the top, I called her name.

"Emmalee?" She looked at me with wonder and curiosity.

The moment she looked at me I pressed my lips to hers. The kiss wasn't exactly chaste, but we were surrounded by people so I couldn't make the moment into something more. I still explored her mouth with my tongue and devoured the flavor of hers that poured into my mouth. She was gripping my shirt and holding me to her as tightly as I held her when the ferris wheel started to move again.

That was when I broke the kiss and grinned at her. Her eyes had darkened and she looked at me with desire. I just smiled at her and the knowledge that one day we would come together. That, and I was smiling because of the kiss. They say if you kiss at the top of the ferris wheel your love will last forever.