"So Alicia?" Torrance asked with a very interesting look on his face. He was normally very transparent, but I couldn't read him.

"Yes, Torrance?" I replied in a laugh. We had eaten dinner and now we were strolling along in central park. It was twilight and I was carrying my wedges in my left hand as Torrance held my right. He held his own shoes in his right hand because we both had a quirk to be barefoot.

"What do you think about Europe?" he asked.

"Europe?" Europe?

"Yeah. Europe, the continent," he repeated.

"Oh. I thought you meant the movie," I joked. Was there a movie called Europe? I don't know.

"Ha ha," he replied. "So what do you think about it?"

"Europe is vague."

"Then...France," he stated. "Is that less vague for you?"

"I think it's alright," I shrugged even though it was one of the places I yearned to go to. Think of all the chocolate. It's one of the places I really want to go—Paris for fashion, Italy for food, and Switzerland for the chocolate and amazing views.

"Do you believe it's the love capital of the world?—Paris I mean."

"I guess so," I pursed my lips.

"So when we get married, would you prefer the ceremony to be there or the honeymoon?" he asked with a weird tone in his voice. I stopped walking and turned to him. He dropped his shoes, turned and faced me in order to grab my hands and kneeled. He pulled a box out of his pocket and revealed a shiny ring.

My entire body tensed up while also feeling like I was being electrocuted. I couldn't tell if it was a good or bad way though.

"Torrance, we're in college. I'm not even twenty yet—"

"That's alright. You're graduating in two years and I care about your education. I also care about you. I love you," he told. I felt a tear of happiness fall down my cheek. "So, Alicia Lindros, will you marry me? We don't have to talk ceremony dates until after you graduate or however long you want to wait. Just know that I want you to be my wife and me be your husband."

***

"He proposed?" Jasmine asked.

"Yeah. We just got engaged," I repeated the information.

"When?"

"A few hours ago—that's why I'm still freaking out," I clarified while gazing at the ring on my left hand. Freaking out was an understatement. I was just glad Jasmine was finally back from her honeymoon. Thankfully she hadn't moved all her stuff out of her dorm so she came back here and Eli had gone home. I was glad their new apartment was ready because she could actually be here with me.

"Well congrats, bestie," she said and hugged me before examining my new rock for herself. "How do you think Wes and the guys will take it? OMG. How do you think Chase—"

"It doesn't matter how they take it because they're not finding out until the day of," I interrupted while taking off the ring.

"You're gonna hide your engagement for two years from your best friends and mate—"

"What's the big deal?" I asked. Jasmine gave me a weird look. "Look. They don't need to know. Otherwise, they'll either make me want to rush it or break it off."

"Lili..." she whined as she realized her discretion with Eli would be required.

"Okay enough," I shushed. "How was the Bahamas?"

"Awesome," she answered and didn't say any more on purpose. "In two years I'll be asking you how Paris is."

Instead of ruminating with the anxiety that came with the commitment, I hit her with the biggest pillow I could find.

***

After being gone for a week, I felt so out of the loop. The honeymoon was an absolute paradise—like anything was with Jasmine—but something felt off. I got back home and Wes filled me in on Alicia stealing Chase's car, which was odd in itself because Chase never let it get driven by anyone. However, Alicia was always his exception. She always was and she always will be. I didn't know how it would go with him making a surprise appearance at the wedding, but he was my best friend. He was entitled to be there just as much as he was entitled to pursue a relationship with

Proposal? What kind of proposal?

I frowned because Alicia hadn't told me anything. Did she say no? If she said yes, she would've told Jasmine and she definitely would've told me. But if she really said no, Torrance wouldn't have mentioned it. I was confused.

"Welcome home," Chase greeted as I jogged up the porch's steps. The wolf boys that were there started howling and chanting at my arrival. I smiled to the ground. It was good to be back, but the fun would be over. "Wanna go for a run?" Chase offered as he, Mason, and Wes helped with my stuff. I raised an eyebrow. Chase wanted to go for a run? I hadn't seen him phase in years.

"Yeah. He does that now," Mason muttered.

"But I thought—"

"Are we going or not?" Chase asked. I shrugged and then once we let the late-summer air hit us, we phased. I felt good as a wolf—the wind passing through my gray mane as I sprinted behind Wes, Chase, and Mason in wolf form. We danced through the forest with speed and grace. Minutes of running later, we met at a mutual spot to catch our breath.

"Man, I missed that," I thought so the others could hear me. It was hard being a werewolf. They could read your mind and you couldn't do anything about it unless you were really skilled or had a high ranking in the pack. Of us, that was only Chase and Wes. Most couldn't hear Wes' thoughts because he blocked them out with others. Chase's strong emotions were the only thing able to break his boundaries in his mind but he didn't owe anyone any thoughts considering he was an Alpha and basically controlled the communication channels. Even if he wasn't Alpha, he was always skilled. He used to always phase before he met Alicia, but vowed not to phase in case she was around. I guess things were different now that he was back from the supernatural realm. "So how long is the Alpha Wolf gonna stay a wolf?"

The question was aimed at Mason and Wes since Chase's large wolf body was walking slowly and thoughtfully away from us and to the cliff above the body of water.

"He's been phasing a lot lately so I don't know," Mason responded.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think it's the royalty thing," Wes shrugged and then shook his big wolf head to scare away a couple of gnats around him.

"Damn. I miss everything," I complained. "First the f*cking proposal and now this—"

"Proposal?" Mason and Wes' thoughts chimed together. The memory of Torrance's texts played back in my mind and before I could comprehend it, the giant Alpha Wolf himself zoomed past us at an incredible speed.

"We need to go get him," I thought.

"Nah. I want to see what happens," Mason informed with a laugh. I gave him a look.

"We don't even know what Alicia said. She most likely said no anyways. Don't overreact," Wes said calmly.

"A little late for that, don'tcha think?" I thought to them before taking off after Chase. I didn't care what they said, but Chase was definitely going to go do something no matter what Alicia's answer was. The thought of anyone wanting to lock Alicia down as their wife affected him.

"Chase. Stop," I said after I phased back into human form and grabbed the closest pair of shorts that I could find. Chase was in a pair of gym shorts of his own and was marching away. I nearly tripped trying to put on the shorts while chasing him. "Chase!"

"Leave me alone, Eli," he ordered. I walked around to face him and then placed my hands on his shoulders. His eyes were charcoal as he breathed heavily in anger. "Move."

I'm sure he wanted to enforce the order that I would've been compelled to follow, but the obligation didn't come. He was my best friend. I knew what's best for him even if he was gonna be stubborn about it.

"Eli—move!"

"I'm not letting you screw this up with Alicia again!" I yelled. "You've been hurting her for five years, man. That's enough. Don't hurt her anymore."

"It's not her I'm going to hurt," he spat.

"Hurting Torrance will crush her too," I muttered to him. Something flickered in his eyes, meaning he knew I was right, but he shook his head because he wouldn't admit it right now. "We don't even know if she said yes or no—"

"Eli, you're so naïve," he started. "Of course she said yes. She's just trying to hide it from us."

"Then do her a favor and act like you don't know about it," I responded. I wasn't being naïve. How was I always thought of as the immature one when I knew how to treat my mate better than my own Alpha treated his?

"But I do know about it!"

"Well too bad," I replied. "We wouldn't be having this problem if you hadn't—"

"We're not having this problem. I am," he corrected. "Just be my best friend and support me. Not her."

"You're right. You're my best friend," I started. "I know how much it hurts you when she's hurt. So if you want to see it as me being on her side then I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you screw this up for her because I don't want it to destroy you," I shook my head with the whisper. His jaw tightened before he pushed me away from him and stomped past me. I was frustrated at how relentlessly stubborn he was, but I also knew he couldn't help it considering it was how he was wired. I heard leaves crunch under my feet and I turned to see Wes and Mason approach me.

"What the hell is up with him?" I asked. "Has he been acting like this?"

"He just found out she's engaged so I think he's justified," Mason said. I shot him a look. "I don't know what you mean."

"I do. He's changed, but now he's just bottling everything up only in a different way. Even Dane said so," Wes added.

"Why would Dane know?" I noted. Even though they were brothers, they would always be strained for what Chase did with Jaylen.

"He's the only one who's seen him consistently for the last few years. So if his behavior is concerning Dane of all people...obviously he's going crazy from the stress," Wes told.

"He knew the stress when he left though. Even before that, he's always been in charge and had responsibilities. So why is it now that he's kicking everything up a notch? It can't just be about Alicia or else he'd still be up in New York instead of being here."

"It's driving him to," Wes whispered and shared a look with Mason.

"What is?" I asked confused. Wes gave me a look before walking off without giving me answers. Clearly there was more than just Alicia keeping things from me.