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Whatever else Lochdon might have said, he doesn’t have a chance. The older Glantanian comes out bustling and huffing and pokes and prods him. “Well?”

“She said yes.” Lochdon doesn’t look away from me. “Maggie, I want you to meet Bloche, one of my clan. The Earth term, I think is ‘uncle’.”

The word is sour, making me certain there isn’t a Glantanian equivalent, but that he said the word in English.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Bloche.”

He takes my hand in all four of his and shakes it awkwardly. “Welcome to the clan.”

It’s a little premature. There are still a few more steps we’ll have to go through before anything is official, but I thank him anyway.

He looks sharply at Lochdon. “Call your mother. If you do not tell her she’s said yes, we will have a visitor and I don’t want to see my sister hurt you.”

Lochdon laughs and tells me, “I’ll only be a minute,” before he steps away.

“He has been waiting to do this for months,” Bloche says to me, drawing over a chair and lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “One day, he comes to me and he says, ‘Bloche! I have found her!’ And I promise you, little one, I have lived long enough to know when a man is in love.”

He chuckles and clasps my hand a little tighter. “He asked me to keep everything ready, and I did. I have just been waiting for you.”

“And I was just waiting on him.” I look over at Lochdon as he speaks to his mother on his communicator.

He smiles at me briefly and it makes me want to melt.

If I thought for a moment that Phantom would let him get away with it, I might have asked him to abduct me after our second booth date.

“I’ve lived long enough to know when a woman is in love as well,” Bloche says. “No matter if she is Glantanian or not.”

“What are you telling her?” Lochdon asks as he comes back to us. “Is he trying to get you to take him instead?”

“No.” I say with a laugh as Bloche says “Of course not!”

Honestly, Bloche looks offended by the accusation, and he leaves us, muttering something about his old age and other things he knows because of it.

“What now?” I ask.

“Now, we do whatever we want to until I have to go. And when I come back, we’ll decide where you want to become my mate.”

“Tell me what it entails and we can start planning now.”

He kisses me and I’m glad Bloche is gone when Lochdon lifts me into his arms and I wrap my legs around him.

“You’re mine,” I say against his skin.

“Yes, I am.” He kisses my temple. “From now until death parts us.”

“And that had better not be for a very long time.”