Chapter 124 - Epilogue 1
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Trinity
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I was running through the trees, my paws digging into the forest floor. My breath was fogging in the air in front of me as I panted. I was trying to watch where I was going while also predicting where my pursuer was likely to jump out at me.
I didn't hear a single noise coming from his footfalls as he chased after me. My heart was pounding, but still I could hear every sound around me, even though he didn't seem to have a sound at all. I could see the snowbank in the distance. It was pressed right up against the edge of the trees, just on the other side would be the house. If I could get to the house I would be safe, I would have won.
Just as I jumped to leap over the pile of snow I sensed a shift in the air, a movement nearby. I knew that he had found me, he had caught me. I lost.
He leapt out of the trees at me while I was in midjump. His wolf form so much larger than my own that he cleared the area quicker than I could. His powerful legs had propelled him right toward me just like a bullet.
The wolf crashed into me, together we rolled down the bank toward the garage. I was so close to winning too. How did he catch me?"
"I win." His voice rumbled directly into my mind.
"Dammit Reece, how did you catch me so quick?" I growled.
"You're still too easy to read." He scolded me. "You give away every move you're going to make with your body language. You need to practice more."
"Yeah, but I'm faster than you." I pouted. "How do you catch me so easily when I'm faster?"
"If I know where you're going to be, I can save time by going there instead of chasing you." He laughed as he held me down on the ground beneath him.
"Alright, I get it, I'm easy to read. I'll work on it." I tried to push him off of me but he just held me down. I had grown in strength immensely since getting my wolf. I was actually more powerful than a lot of the males in the pack. But Reece had gained a lot of strength since I marked him. We couldn't explain it and no one really knew why. But he was nearly twice as strong as he was before. I could hold my own against him, but he was still stronger than me in a regular fight.
"Let's stay here for a moment." He buried his muzzle in my fur, sniffing me.
"Reece, we've got plans for tonight." I reminded him.
"We can always cancel them." He teased playfully.
"Seriously, you perv." I joked with him. "Not right in front of the house for crying out loud." I pushed at him hard, causing him to roll off me and end up several feet away.
I rolled to the opposite side as him, into the snowbank. I felt like my body started tingling instantly. This was the feeling I had whenever something new was happening to me. I had experienced it just a couple times before during our training sessions. I never knew what was going to happen when I had this feeling.
I stood there, nervous and excited, and waited to see what was going to happen this time. I could feel the snow beneath my paws, the slight cold feel biting into the fleshy wolf toes.
The tingling always made me feel warm so I could feel the heat spreading through me. Soon, I no longer felt the cold snow pressing against my feet. But all too soon, the tingling would die down and the cold would return. Already I could feel it lessening.
I could no longer see my breath puffing out in front of me. My feet still weren't cold. I felt like the snow was actually as warm as I was. I had a feeling that was not normal.
"Little Bunny?" Reece's voice exclaimed directly into my mind, his voice holding an edge of fear. We had learned that I could receive communications the same way I sent them. And if someone thought a conversation directly to me then they didn't have to talk. That worked in and out of my wolf form. It was very convenient for private conversations, but we didn't want it to be public knowledge yet.
"What's wrong Reece?" I was perplexed by his tone.
"What happened to you?" He asked, awe and fear warring this time.
"I don't know what you're talking about?"
"You're covered in ice." His voice came out in a sigh. "You didn't notice?"
"What?" I looked down at my legs, sure enough they looked like they were made out of ice and snow. I was in awe staring at the luminescent white ice. It looked like my blue marks didn't just glow from my face and shoulder now, they seemed to glow through the ice, turning my entire body into a light blue color.
"You never cease to amaze me." Reece said with a voice full of pride. "And you look beautiful as hell."
"Oh hush." I said sheepishly, embarrassed. "So what does this mean?" I asked him.
"That we need to play in the snow more." He joked. "We need to learn more about this Ice form of yours." He was right of course, we would need to explore it more.
I didn't know what I would be capable of in that form, and I would have to figure out how to get there without snow. But hopefully it would come in handy at some point.
We wrapped up our training session after that. It was valentines day, our first one. Reece had planned an evening out of it. He wouldn't tell me what the plans were, just told me to be ready to go by five.
I dressed nice, but not too formally. He had told me that we would not be going anywhere that needed formal wear. I chose a simple, sleeveless, a-line dress in midnight blue and a pair of black ballet flats. It would be nice if we went somewhere important, I needed to be presentable, but also comfortable and easy to wear if we were somewhere more private.
We had Shane drive us to the airport, Reece and I sitting in the back.
"Why the airport?" I asked as we got out of the car, we had been taken to a private runway and not the main entrance. Reece went to the trunk to retrieve a small bag.
"We're going out of town." He smiled. "Come on, stop worrying."
"Just tell me where." I pleaded.
"No, just wait."
We ended up taking a helicopter from the airport. The view of all the mountains from this height was breathtaking. I was in awe, starting out the window intently for the entire twenty minute flight.
I expected we would have been taken to another airport. Instead, the helicopter touched down in front of a very large, and very beautiful, cabin. It was made of stone and log and nestled in the mountains. There were no cars around, just us in our helicopter.
Reece held out a hand to help me down, pulling me into his arms for a tight embrace.
"They will be back to get us tomorrow afternoon. But we now have this place all to ourselves." He smiled at me.
"This is amazing." I hugged him tight.
"You haven't even seen it all yet." He laughed.
"I don't need to see it to know it's going to be amazing."
Reece took me inside to show me the cabin. It was huge, with multiple bedrooms, but only the master suite had been prepared. It came complete with a king sized bed with a large sky light over it for viewing the stars while laying in bed, and an option to close metallic shutters over it. There was also an enormous bathroom attached to it. It wasn't as grand as mine, but I didn't think any bathroom ever would be.
There was a small deck off the master suite with walls up on the sides. But sitting there in the middle of the deck was a natural hot spring. It was a beautiful site that overlooked another, even more beautiful site of the mountains.
When we got to the kitchen and dining area I saw that someone had come ahead of us and prepped dinner. Whoever they were, they had to have left just recently as the food was still warm and fresh. Steak, thick, juicy and grilled to perfection, baked potatoes, grilled asparagus, and even a salad. A bottle of wine and two glasses sat waiting for us on the table.
"I can't believe you did this." I told him.
"I wanted to be with just you for our first valentines day." He pulled me into his arms again and gave me a quick kiss.
"I love you." I told him.
"And I love and adore you." He whispered against my lips.
We enjoyed our meal together. It was delicious and just what I would have wanted. After the meal Reece took my hand and led me to the living room.
"I have something for you." He said as he started to reach for whatever gift he had gotten for me.
"I got you something as well." I told him. "Though it's not much. I couldn't decide."
I added sheepishly.
"Anything from you is fine, as long as it doesn't say Fido again." He laughed.
"Not this time." I laughed as well. "Can I give you mine." He nodded.
I went to the bedroom and grabbed the small box I had for him. He took it from me when I got back and opened it. There were two things in the box. The first was a silver pendant on a leather rope. The silver pendant was of a wolf's head, it went down around the sides like the shoulders and front legs. Just below the nose and nestled into the side parts was a set of stones, a sapphire, an emerald, and a black diamond. Blue for me, green for him, and black for his wolf.
The second thing in the box was much more simple. It was a yin yang necklace split into two pieces. One side had a white wolf's face, the other a black wolf's face. The black part of the necklace didn't have a chain, the white half had been attached to a keyring.
"I figured we could split the yin yang. We will always be carrying the other half, you make my life worth living and completed something I didn't know was missing. So, I wanted to show you that you're my other half." I was getting sappy and sentimental.
"That's amazing, Little Bunny, you complete me too." He smiled at me. "Now time for mine." He grinned and slid to the floor in front of me. He pulled a small black box out of his pocket and opened it in front of me. I gasped at the sight.
In the box was a beautiful platinum ring. There was a line of six black diamonds on each side. At the top of the ring there was a layer of metal petals so that it formed a lotus flower. In the center of the lotus blossom was at least a 1 carat round diamond. It sparkled in the light coming from the lamp nearby.
I covered my mouth looking at the beautiful ring in front of me.
"Trinity, my Little Bunny, you are the love of my life. I never want to know what my life is like without you, I need you with me. As you said, you make my life worth living, you make me whole. I promise to do my best to do right by you for as long as I live. Will you marry me?" His words took me completely by surprise. I had not expected this from him, at least not yet.
"Reece?" I breathed, unable to say much. "Are you sure?" I asked him. This was a big moment.
"I've never been more certain of anything, besides the fact that I love you with everything I am."
"Reece." I sighed his name as I cupped his face. I pressed a quick kiss against his lips as I fought to hold back the tears.
"Is that a yes?" He joked.
"Yes, Reece, it's a yes. Yes I will marry you." I saw the happy grin on his face as he heard my answer.
"I love you." He said as he kissed me passionately. When he pulled away he pulled the ring from the box and slid onto my left ring finger. I couldn't believe it, I was engaged.
He scooped me up into his arms, hugging me close as he spun in a few quick circles.
"What do you say we take advantage of those hot springs before we get to dessert?" He asked me excitedly.
"Dessert?" I asked wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.
"No, I brought you chocolate cake and candies. Who's the perv now?" We both laughed as he walked back toward the bedroom. "But I'm more than willing to give you any dessert you want.