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Sidney watched as Lucius set up a blow-up mattress and inflated it with a battery-operated pump. While the mattress inflated, he brought out a container of strawberries from the cooler and bottles of sparkling water. When the mattress was ready, he put a fitted sheet on it along with pillows and a light blanket from the duffel.

“What did you wish for when the shooting star went by?” he asked as he lowered himself to the mattress and patted the space next to him.

“Is that like a birthday wish, that you’re supposed to keep to yourself?”

“I…don’t know.” He laughed.

“Well,” she said, “I wished that you and I would have a long and happy life together.”

She’d been so excited when he’d told her earlier that day about the alphas offering her a job sketching in the park. She couldn’t believe how caring everyone in the park was. They were still getting to know her, but they were willing to make a place for her to do what she loved because they loved Lucius.

They were already like family to her, and cared and supported her in a way that she was still getting used to because it was so different from how she’d grown up—always needing to put others first. But after the conversation with her mom earlier and things finally coming to light between them, she felt like she was on the way to having a healthy and supportive relationship with her mom too.

She and Lucius ate the sweet strawberries and talked about the hunt and the shooting star that had led to his proposal.

The ring he’d picked out had a square diamond with a band made of two twisted pieces of white gold, one covered in tiny diamonds. The ring sparkled brilliantly in the firelight.

“Do you like it?” he asked when he noticed she was admiring the ring.

“I do, it’s so pretty. I can’t wait to see it in the daytime, though. I’m sure it’s even more beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you, sweetheart.”

She stretched out on her back and looked up at the night sky. She was wearing only a long black T-shirt with nothing underneath. He was still wearing only black pants and nothing else. The traditions of his people were fascinating to her, and they weren’t even finished with the full mating ceremony; tomorrow there was another part for them to do.

Lucius settled on his side next to her and rested his hand on her stomach.

“I love you, sweetheart,” he said with a gruff voice.

As he leaned over to kiss her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him close.

“I love you too.”

The following day, she and Lucius had lunch with the pride at Caesar’s, and then Lucius took her to a greenhouse in the private living area, which had tables and hanging shelves filled with plants. At the door, he took a wicker basket off a hook and handed it to her. “First up is the flowers that we’re going to turn into bracelets.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” he said. He led her to the back of the greenhouse where a table held rows of lilies. “These are impala lilies, they’re native to Africa. The pride plants them regularly so that at any given time there are enough blooming for a mating ceremony no matter what time of year it is. Before greenhouses were used, the couple would use dried petals and carefully sew them into bracelets.”

“They’re beautiful,” she said. “And they smell amazing.”

He took a pair of shears from a nearby hook and cut several stems, laying them gently in the basket. “The number of flowers relates to how many people are in our immediate family. You have your mom and yourself, and I have myself, my dad, and my brothers, and even though I’m not in touch with my mom, she is still alive so that makes seven total flowers for each bracelet.”

“Why didn’t your mom and dad stay together? They had three kids.”

He cut the fourteenth stem and set it in the basket then hung up the shears. “In their generation, the males and females would get together just to have kids. They didn’t live together or date, it was just for procreation. They weren’t soulmates, so they never had a real relationship, and when my mom found another male she did have feelings for, she walked away from my dad and us.”

“That’s really sad she didn’t want to be part of your lives, that you didn’t get to have both parents in your life.”

“It’s the way it is for shifters sometimes. I had a great childhood even though I didn’t have her in my life, but I’m thankful I have you so that our kids will grow up knowing the love of both parents.”

“I’m glad for that too.”

They moved onto the prickly pear and he showed her how to harvest it. When they were back in the house, he demonstrated how to peel the outer skin and prepare it for the ceremony, and then they braided the lilies into bracelets for her to wear for the ceremony.

They put the bracelets in the refrigerator next to the container of prickly pear. She shut the door and then turned to him. “Is this like a wedding?”

“In what way?”

“I was wondering if there was a no-touching before the ceremony rule, when you’re going to mark me, like how humans don’t see each other the night before the wedding.”

His lion let out a low growl and he reached for her. “Absolutely not. You can touch me anytime, sweetheart.”

“That goes double for you.”

Lucius and Sidney dressed in the same black clothes they’d worn the night before. They met the pride in the paddock after the park was closed, with another bonfire blazing and the sky full of stars. This time, instead of a regular blanket, there was a thick fur in front of the fire and Caesar was standing in front of it.

She and Lucius knelt on the fur and faced each other.

Caesar picked up the bracelets.

“The impala lilies come from Africa, the place of our shifter ancestors. Some of us will never go there, spending the entire span of our lives in places like this—veiled in secrecy from humans. It’s important that we hold tight to the traditions so that we never forget what we are or where we came from. The fierce beasts that prowled in the darkest nights cherished their mates above all else. It is because of these fierce protective instincts, that our beasts must mark our mates, a visible claim that not only permanently imprints the male’s scent on his mate, but also scars the skin.

“Sidney, do you accept your place at Lucius’s side as his beloved mate? Do you welcome the marking that his beast will give to you tonight, knowing in your heart that this is the first night of the rest of your mated life?”

As Lucius had told her to do, she lifted her hands to his dad and said, “I accept Lucius, his beast, and his marks.”

His dad settled the bracelets on her wrists, and she pushed them up past her elbows, trailing the lilies’ essence on her skin.

Lucius opened the container of prickly pear that had been cut into bite-sized pieces. “Lucius,” his dad said, “do you swear yourself and your lion to Sidney? Do you promise to be with only her for as long as your heart beats? Do you promise to make her life as sweet as the prickly pear fruit, as lovely as the lilies, and to protect her with claw and fang as long as you live?”

“I swear,” Lucius said, feeding a bite of prickly pear to Sidney.

She fed him a piece of the sweet fruit, and then they took turns feeding each other until it was gone. Lucius set the empty bowl aside.

Caesar rested his hands on each of their heads and the pride drew closer to them.

“I welcome you, Sidney, to the pride, and I declare this night that when Lucius has marked and mated you, you will be as a lioness in the pride, honored and adored. The pride will stand with you and for you against any who would harm you. May the cubs you bear grow up to be as strong and fierce as their parents.”

The lions all roared in approval and Sidney smiled. The pride filed by them one by one, each dropping a lily on the ground next to the rug, a token of their approval and a blessing on the mating. They disappeared quickly into the darkness until it was only her and Lucius.

“We’re alone now, sweetheart,” he said gruffly.

Her heart started to beat faster and she bit her bottom lip as his eyes flashed to the amber of his lion.

There was no going back after this. She and Lucius were going to be fully mated after he marked her and that was like marriage for shifters.

She couldn’t wait.