20. Gage Bronzeheart

Chapter 20

Gage Bronzeheart

One month later…

"Cupcake," I rumbled, catching my mate around her waist. A laugh pealed from her lips, and I smiled at the amazing sound. As she melted back into me and tilted her head back I felt taken off guard, not for the first time, by how fucking beautiful she was. The way she looked with afternoon light hitting her golden skin caused me to squeeze her tighter, feeling painfully possessive over her.

One would think that after all this time it would have faded, or at least subsided, given that I'd marked her, the others had marked her, and it was beyond clear for everyone to see that she was ours. But it hadn't, and I hoped it never would.

"Yes?" she chimed, offering me a knowing smile.

"Promise to meet me here right after class," I said pointedly.

She sighed, giving me a sassy eye roll. "Fine, fine—but only because you're being bossy," she teased. "I always meet you after class anyway."

"This time it's extra important," I said seriously, my fingers running over her waist. Despite the time of year, the chill of October infiltrating the campus, she was wearing a light silk dress with a sweater wrapped around her shoulders, along with boots. In my opinion it was far too little, but I knew clothes was a battle none of us would ever win.

"Okay, I promise," she agreed, going up on her toes and pressing a light to kiss my lips before disappearing into the classroom. Standing there for a long moment, I made my way down the hall to a bench and sat, examining the changing autumn landscape outside the window.

I could've made myself busy while she was in class—I understood that she was safe and essentially untouchable in theory—but it didn't sit right with me. Especially when I had nothing else to do. Although it was completely factual to say that no one would mess with Bexley, and it was only partially because of us.

The real reason had all to do with her. Word of what had happened and the power she'd wielded had gotten out, and the shift in the way others regarded her was immediately evident when we arrived on campus. While people weren't afraid of her—or at least most weren't—because of her softer personality, there was a natural respect and apprehension that she was now greeted with. She bulldozed through the latter completely, reaching out to make friends with both prey and predator.

Our mate was like this personal sunshine to everyone on campus, and even Diane and her crew found themselves hanging around Bexley. I wanted to be jealous about the attention she got, but I could see how she thrived off of the interactions and the sense that the community was coming together—so I shut the fuck up because her happiness was far more important than my issues.

"Hey, Gage." My head turned to see Fletcher's new beta, George, walking down the hall with his mate. Unlike Fletcher, many of the wolves who were in DIA had decided to stay, and George was one of them. The bastard was leagues better than Walker.

"Morning." I greeted him with a head nod as he approached me after his mate had slipped into the classroom.

"Bexley reached out to the wolf pack about hosting a bonfire mixer with everyone. I wanted to make sure that we were cool to do that—Fletcher's fine with it, but I wanted to clear it with everyone else."

"If she brought it up to you, assume we're good with it," I said easily. Despite my possessiveness, I had distinctly chilled out in the past month, and I could tell that it still freaked people out. George didn't appear bothered by it though.

"Awesome, I'll be in contact," he said and jogged away.

Pulling out my phone, I checked the group message with Jagger and Breaker, who were back at the dorms. Shooting off a text to let them know our ETA, I scrolled through my other messages, glad that we were able to have our phones here now. We weren't really supposed to use them except in case of emergencies, but…I think this called for an exception.

Lauren had sent us some photos of the framing of our house going up, an icon showing that Bexley had seen it. I could practically hear and easily imagine her excitement from the classroom. I couldn't wait to get her in that house. I knew that she was enjoying school, and if she wanted to continue I'd be the last to stop her, but there was also a lot of change coming to the territory. Being there to help could be essential, laying the foundation for our part as clan leaders.

I knew one thing for sure, though—we weren't waiting past this next summer to get married. I wanted our ring on her finger, which is exactly why I was so damn impatient for her to get out of this damn class. My lips pressed up, thinking about the ring we'd chosen.

"You boys brought the whole jewelry store here," my mom mused. Luckily, she hadn't gone out with Bexley and the others, somehow realizing why we were staying behind and deciding to lend her opinion. Considering how stubborn the three of us could be, it wasn't the worst idea to have an outside source who was familiar with Bexley to serve as a source of reason.

She hadn't been exaggerating, either. We had, in fact, ordered the entire store here, and the older man who owned it was more than happy to oblige. I watched as he laid out five cases of rings, all varying in size and color.

"Wanted as many options as possible," I explained.

"Just remember—big and shiny. It's Bexley." She smirked. "The girl loves shiny."

She did, but everything here fit that description. We'd even given him a four-karat minimum.

Walking up to the glass cases with Breaker and Jagger, we began to examine our options. All of them, from the white gold to the traditional gold, were beautiful, but none of them particularly stood out to me. It was missing some element of color to it, and I started to get worried we wouldn't find anything…

Reaching the last case, a huge princess cut diamond caught my attention. Around it, in a halo of stones, were a set of yellow diamonds circling it like a sun. Motioning for the others, they joined me, all of us staring at it for a long moment.

"This is the one," I told them.

"The yellow is perfect," Breaker agreed.

"And it's big enough," Jagger mused.

"Oh, let me see," my mom sang, appearing next to us. She stared at the ring in surprise, her brows shooting up. "Oh, wow."

"What do you think?" I asked.

"I think it's beautiful! And huge. I mean, that has to be ? —"

"Ten karats."

Shit. That was a good size.

"Perfect," Jagger said as I looked back down at the ring, imagining it on her delicate finger. What it would look like as light shone through the diamonds onto her golden skin.

"This one. This is the one," I repeated.

To say the shop owner had been happy with our choice was an understatement, as we'd unintentionally chosen the most expensive option in the case. It probably helped that we followed it up by getting her a pair of yellow diamond earrings—which is what we'd told her we were up to when she came back early, catching the shop owner packing up. The other moms had been apologetic, but it had been the perfect cover. It had also given us reassurance that our ring was the right choice because she loved the earrings. In fact, she wore them almost daily.

I must have been trapped in thought for quite some time, because before I knew it the doors of the classroom opened and Bexley waltzed out. My eyes narrowed on some bastard behind her staring at the back of her head for a bit too long, but the minute his gaze moved to mine, he was booking it out of there. I couldn't blame the fuckers for looking at her, but I also wouldn't let it stand.

"You waited?" she teased. "I am not surprised at all. I feel like the three of you don't even have classes anymore."

We didn't—not really—but that was because we chose not to go to them very often. I had way more important stuff to be focused on, namely my mate.

Standing up, I pulled her into me and kissed her hard. She melted against me and let out a sweet sigh, the sound enough to have me pulling back—other students were watching, and they didn't get to see this. I swept her up into my arms and strode down the hall, her laughter making me smile.

"Where are the others?" she asked, leaning her head against my chest and looking up at me as I jogged down the steps and into the fresh air.

"Back at the dorm," I said, gently setting her down. She intertwined her fingers with mine, slowing our pace down the path.

"Oh!" She turned towards me with bright eyes. "Did you see the framing?"

"It's looking good," I agreed.

"I'm hoping, fingers crossed, it's done by the end of the school year. I'd love to hold parties at it all summer." She sighed with a dreamy look. "Oh! When we eventually get married, maybe we can hold the ceremony there? We have more than enough land to make it work."

We did, and I loved that she was already in that state of mind, considering…

"I think we can arrange that," I said, lifting her left hand and brushing my lips against her soft skin. As we turned the corner, the familiar set of dorms stood out against the afternoon sky. Their pillar-like bases, leading to modern cabins up top that connected through a series of exterior bridges, had been made into a true home since returning. Bexley had gone out of her way to decorate all of them and to make the space homey, stocking us with enough food that we didn't have to leave if we didn't want to.

That wasn't the only change though.

"I would love—" Bexley's words cut off as I saw her catch sight of our surprise.

The land in the center of the dorms, surrounded by the large structure, had gone untouched for a very long time, but that had been changed now. Hanging from the bridges were lanterns that lit up the space, and a garden with hedges and a stone patio with a fire pit now filled the area. There were three comfortable benches with enough room for us to all sit, but also for her to entertain friends. I knew that she didn't always want to go to parties, but she loved having people over, so it felt like the right move.

Sprinting ahead, she nearly tackled Breaker, causing me to chuckle. Jagger jumped down from the bridge above, giving me a nod. He had what we needed.

"This is awesome!" She twirled around once Breaker set her down, Jagger using it as an opportunity to hand me the dark box. "We should have a bonfire tonight. This is the perfect space to have everyone over. Thank you guys so much."

"No problem, little treasure."

I inhaled and pushed away my nerves. After all this time, it felt ridiculous, but this woman was the center of all of our universes. I wanted to get this right.

"We can do that," I agreed. "We'll have a reason to celebrate."

"Oh?" she turned from her examination of one of the handcrafted benches, now facing the three of us. Offering the others a small nod, I decided to just fucking go for it. The minute that my knee touched the ground, the others following suit, Bexley let out a gasp. The way she held her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide, told me that we'd done our job—she'd truly had no idea that this was going to happen.

"Bexley," Breaker said, "we loved you before we even knew what love was. And even though we lost you for a period of time, our love only grew."

"You're ours," Jagger said. "Completely ours, with an entire future ahead of us."

I pulled out the box that was a deep sapphire and opened it to reveal the ring inside. "Marry us, Bexley Blackforge, and make our bond official in every single way possible."

"Yes!" she squeaked, tears filling her eyes as she nodded. "Absolutely yes. I love each of you so incredibly much, and I don't want a future if it doesn't include the four of us together."

Standing up, the three of us surrounded her. She happily put her hand out, the delicate motion making me worry that it would be too heavy?—

"Oh my," she whispered. "I didn't realize how big it is! I love it." Her eyes filled with so much happiness as she kissed each of us in a swift and excited movement before looking back down at the ring. "This thing is so heavy."

"Wanted it as big as possible," Jagger said as I ran a hand up her back gently.

"I love it, and I love you guys so much…we totally have a reason to celebrate now! And a wedding to plan! Just wait till I tell our moms."

I had absolutely no doubt they'd be thrilled—they'd been waiting eagerly for us to pop the question for weeks now.

"Go grab your phone, we can call them." I squeezed her waist, and she jogged towards her backpack, her ring glinting as she opened the bag. Something settled in me upon seeing the piece of jewelry on her, and our group bond told me that Breaker and Jagger felt the same. I was thrilled that this start of forever was going to include two men I considered brothers. It felt right for the four of us to be together, just like Bexley had said.

The rest of our lives was going to be amazing, all because of my sweet cupcake.