Wordlessly, I walk to him, on a mission now. I hold my hand up to Sarah as she goes to say something. I do not care one bit about ruining my lipstick. That I can fixter, but my man needs to know how much I appreciate him right now. I reach up and grab his face, pulling him down to meet me in a bruising kiss that probably shouldn''t be in front of an audience, but I still don''t care.


    Way too soon he pulls back far enough to rest his forehead on mine. "Happy Birthday Kennedy." He whispers.


    "This is so amazing. Thank you." I have to blink fast so the happy tears forming don''t fall.


    "Believe it or not, I''m not actually done."


    "Hmm?"


    "I have one more thing for you. You ready?"


    "You and your mom like to ask me that question when I have no idea what is going on. You know that, right?" I giggle at him as he takes my hand and leads me towards the head of the room.


    "It''s really more of a rhetorical question that''s less of a question and more direction." Heughs and I roll my eyes, choosing to ignore him and focus on where he is taking me.


    The head of the room has a long table decorated with a white linen tablecloth and covered in blue flowers with a ton of greenery. The center of the table has an old tiered candbra with blue candles matching my dress. I can see that Sarah was a part of this decorating scheme. Just in front of the candbra is a golden goblet that looks old and really important with jewels and engravings along the top edge and the base. There is also a gold knife with a handle that matches the goblet.


    "Ryker..." I gasp. He doesn''t slow our pace as I try to pull him to a stop. He walks me straight to the table and positions me in front of him.


    "This is so long overdue that it should be punishable, but I want to make sure that you fully understand my hesitation was from the fear of losing you, nothing more. I had to know I wasn''t going to cause you any more pain than I already have."


    "Ryker..." I whisper, trying again.


    "You are my mate and my Luna and you have done nothing but make this pack better since the day you stepped foot here. I know you are already a part of this pack, but you were unconscious thest time." He smiles a sad smile this time at the memory. "I would like to give you the opportunity to ept us the way we have epted you and I would like to mark you as our Luna. What do you say?"


    "I still don''t know if I am good enough to be the Luna of everything you have built, Ryker. I am just a human. I am fragile, easily hurt and taken, used as bait to get to you. I don''t know if that is what is best for the pack." The tears are really loading up behind my eyes.


    Ryker cups my cheeks and uses the pads of his thumbs to gently wipe them away as they spill over. "I think they would disagree, Kennedy.” He turns my head and the room is full. Wall to wall, people are everywhere. I can see all the shopkeepers that Be and I visit regrly and the pups I see every weekend. Finn and several of his rogues are here too. I look back at Ryker, the question in my eyes. "That is a whole other discussion. Right now we are talking about you and your role as our Luna." He raises his voice for everyone now. "The first time you were called on to protect this pack was just a few short days ago and against night you confronted one of our biggest threats. Someone within our protection chose to betray us and you took her on single handedly and returned her to the Goddess for her punishment with no additional weapons or enhancements. You love and care for this pack like your own. We would not want any other Luna in your ce."


    There is a murmur around the room. "Ryker, are you sure?" I don''t know why I am still questioning his intentions. He has proven that I am his and he is mine, but sometimes old habits die hard I guess.


    "Absolutely, you are what I want, who I want."


    "Did you bring me here thinking I wouldn''t say ''no'' in front of everyone?"


    "I didn''t think it would hurt my chances. And if you need more convincing, Emily is


    on standby to plead my case.” That damn smile.


    "Okay."


    "Okay?"


    "Okay." I say more confidently this time. Let''s get on with the ceremonies.