Page 33

Birdie

I should’ve known he was up to something the second he showed up on my porch the next morning, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

“Rise and shine, Sunshine,” Rocky said, his voice low and smug, like it always was when he had a secret. He leaned on the doorframe, wearing his leather jacket, hiding his sinfully carved chest, and a duffel bag at his feet.

It was barely past sunrise.

I squinted at him. “You better have coffee in that bag, or you’re about to see a side of me that ain’t so sunshine.”

He chuckled, reached into the bag, and handed me a travel mug. “Trust me, Birdie Mae, today’s worth waking up early for.”

I took a sip. Hazelnut, hot and sweet, just how I liked it, and narrowed my eyes. “What are we doing? If this is some kind of surprise snake hunting thing, I swear to God…”

He stepped close, kissed me full on the mouth before I could finish that threat, and when he pulled back, he whispered against my lips, “Put on something warm. And bring your boots.”

He had that look again, like he was about to steal the damn moon outta the sky and hand it to me in a mason jar .

Twenty minutes later, we were riding on his Harley, cutting through the quiet back roads that curved like veins through Knoxville. stewed in the mystery like he hadn’t just hijacked my morning.

“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?” I asked at a stop.

“Nope.”

“Is this a date?”

“Could be.”

“Do I need a weapon?”

He smirked. “Only if you plan on breaking my heart.”

I rolled my eyes, but my cheeks went hot. He was impossible. And irresistible. And mine.

Eventually, he pulled off the road and into a tiny private airfield I recognized from forever ago. The one where he worked flying tourists over the Smokies.

“Oh,” I said, breath catching. “You’re taking me up?”

He climbed out of the truck and came around to open my door, offering me his hand.

“I ain’t dressed for romance,” I said, glancing down at my jeans and hoodie.

He slid his sunglasses on. “You’re always dressed for romance.”

The man was a menace.

Inside the chopper, he handed me a headset, and soon we were lifting off, the world falling away beneath us. The snow-covered trees turned to white waves, the roads to threads of silver ribbon. I clutched the straps, not because I was scared, but because the beauty of it all knocked the air clean outta my chest.

“You okay?” Rocky asked in my ear.

“Better than okay.”

We flew higher, the sky stretching out in every direction, clouds like cotton candy, the peaks of the mountains rolling under us like the backs of sleeping giants. Tennessee was so beautiful like this, wild, raw, untamed. Just like him.

After maybe ten minutes, he began to descend toward a rocky outcrop at the very top of one of the highest peaks. One I didn’t even know had a name. The chopper touched down on a flat stretch of land that looked like it belonged in a postcard. No buildings. No cell towers. Just mountain air and the whole damn world laid out below.

Rocky killed the engine, pulled off his headset, and turned to me.

“Come on,” he said. “This is the part you won’t forget.”

I followed him out, boots crunching over gravel and patches of snow, and when I turned around to look at the view, my heart stopped.

It was endless.

Blue ridges stretched to the horizon, kissed by morning light, the haze of the Smokies soft around the edges like a dream. We were higher than any overlook I’d ever seen, and the only sounds were the wind and my own heartbeat.

“Rocky,” I breathed. “It’s… it’s perfect.”

He came up behind me, slid his arms around my waist, and pressed his mouth to my ear. “Not yet.”

I turned, and he was already lowering to one knee.

My breath caught.

“Birdie Mae,” he said, pulling a carved wooden box from his jacket. “You know I ain’t much for speeches, but I’ve got something to say.”

I covered my mouth with my hands.

“You shot into my world like a damn firework,” he said, voice gruff and full of every bit of his heart. “With your loud mouth and your glittery hats and your sunny smile that made my whole goddamn soul wake up.”

The tears came hot and fast.

“You ain’t just my girl. You’re my mate. My better half. My reason. And I’m askin’ you to stay wild with me. To make a home with me—in the clubhouse, in the woods, in the sky—wherever the hell we end up. Will you marry me?”

He opened the box.

Inside was a ring unlike any I’d seen. A pale moonstone shimmered in the center, surrounded by silver vines and little carved wolves etched on the sides. Wild. Magical. Ours .

“Yes,” I said, dropping to my knees in front of him. “Yes. A thousand times yes.”

He slid the ring on my finger, and I swear I felt the world shift.

“I love you, Rocky,” I whispered.

His arms wrapped around me, and his mouth met mine, fierce and sweet all at once.

And over the whole damn Smoky Mountains, we kissed like we’d earned it.

Rocky held me like I was something sacred, like saying yes made me holy in his arms.

We stayed there on the mountaintop, kneeling in the moss and morning dew, tangled up in each other like time didn’t matter. And maybe it didn’t. Maybe when you said yes to someone like him, a biker made of grit and growl and unshakable loyalty, the rest of the world fell away.

“Let me look at you,” he said, pulling back just enough to cup my face. His thumb brushed a tear from my cheek, but his own eyes were glassy too, all that steely biker bravado cracked open just for me. “Birdie Mae Foster… you’re gonna be my ol’ lady.”

The way he said it? Like he couldn’t quite believe it. Hell, neither could I.

“Don’t go getting all sappy on me now,” I teased, even as I choked on the words. “You’ll ruin your reputation.”

He snorted. “Too late for that. You’ve already made me soft. ”

I smacked his chest. “You are not soft, Wolfman. You’re just house-trained now.”

He threw his head back and laughed, and Lord, that sound, deep, rich, real, was the kind of thing I’d bottle if I could. I’d keep it on a shelf and open it on rainy days.

Rocky stood and pulled me up with him, twirling me once like we were on a damn ballroom floor instead of a bald-ass mountain. Then he kissed me again, and this time it was slow, lingering. Promisin’.

“I got one more thing,” he said, leading me back to the chopper.

I eyed him suspiciously. “Another surprise?”

“Always.”

He opened a side compartment I hadn’t noticed before and pulled out a cooler and a folded quilt. Minutes later, we were spread out on that mountaintop, having a picnic in the snow like it was the most natural thing in the world. Sandwiches, fruit, chocolate truffles I’d bet my sparkly purse came from that fancy candy shop in Gatlinburg. And sweet tea, of course, he knew I wouldn’t survive without it.

“You planned all this?” I asked, munching on a strawberry.

He leaned back on one elbow, smirking. “Been planning it since the day you made eyes at me when I was behind the bar at the Wild Dog.”

My brows rose. “That was our first conversation. ”

“Exactly.”

We lay there talking ‘bout everything. What kinda wedding we wanted. He said leather and lace, I said glitter.

“Knox says Eliza wants a double wedding.”

“She finally going to marry him?”

“I think she’s been waiting for me to ask you.”

“Where will we live? My place or yours?”

“How ‘bout we dust off the ol’ homestead?” Rocky said with a sly grin.

“Ain’t that a bit big for the two of us?”

“Maybe not after last night. Maybe we started our litter.”

My hand shot to my middle as I thought about Eliza’s little fox. Was I ready to bring another shifter into this world?

“Maybe?” I replied, though I wasn’t sure I was ready for that, but if it happened, I’d cross that bridge. Or rather we would.

The sun dipped lower.

And the wolf in me stirred. A tug in my chest, in my bones, like my blood was being pulled toward the moon.

I sat up and looked at Rocky, and he knew. He always knew.

“It’s time,” he said softly, standing and holding out his hand.

I took it.

He helped me outta my boots, peeled off my jacket, and kissed my shoulder before stripping his shirt too. We walked barefoot to the edge of the overlook, the mountains stretching out below us like the whole damn world.

The moon was rising now, full and white and blazing with a kind of ancient fire.

Come run with me, sunshine.

And we did.

We took off through the woods, paws beating the frost, fur slicing through the wind. I’d never felt more alive. The forest bent around us, the trees parting like they knew we belonged there. I could smell every drop of dew, every root, every living thing.

I howled, and it tore from me like joy.

Rocky howled back.

The End for Now