author's note: here's an update I managed! please comment and vote :)

[30] The Mating

Mia made move to slide away from Samuel, but his hands, held tautly at her waist, prohibited her from moving off.

"Samuel, you just got better from your fever. The pack wants to know right away when you're feeling better, they're still so worried," Mia tried to reason.

While her argument made sense, Samuel couldn't find it in him to heed her words and exchange the comfort of having her close in his arms for telling others he was well. He would get to that. Eventually.

Mia made move to slide off him again. At this point, he growled lowly to warn her for her insistence. Instantly, she halted in her movements, letting out a puff of air as she turned to him with an exasperated expression. He didn't dignify her with further words, choosing instead to bury his face in the folds of her neck. Being around her was like submerging in warm water, or eating honey. His body buzzed with elation and his mouth savored the taste of her skin. She was an intoxicating remedy, to be sure he couldn't get enough of her.

Her felt the rise of her chest as she sighed, finding at last that he was not kidding, and could not be bothered to go see the others with his returned health. Right now, he just wanted her. A delighted shiver ran down his spine as her fingers threaded through his hair and played with his tresses. But once she ceased this and altered her light touches to a sweet massage he found himself groaning and plopping her with him on the bed.

"Samuel!" she laughed, then swatting him for what was apparently him overreacting to her ministrations.

"I'm proposing and mating you today," he decided instantly. He leaned into her hand like an enamoured puppy and licked the underside of her wrist.

"But you just got better!"

"I don't care. I'm doing this before you change your mind."

He hadn't meant to sound insecure, but until he sunk his teeth into her flesh he wouldn't feel safe. With his instincts gone this was the perfect time to mate her without him losing control.

"I won't," he heard her say softly, while still giving him the best massage of his life.

As he basked in the feel of her limbs resting over him, he absent-mindedly stroked her side. He thought of how sick he had been these past few days. Although he didn't remember much, he recalled few snapshots of her face, hovering over him as she removed the burning heat with a washcloth and calmed the sting of injuries with soothing hands. He had smelled her near him, a flurry of sunny summers and springtime flowers not unlike the ones she had planted outside. It had served as comfort that lulled him to sleep in those hazy times. She had been so good to him, a woman who had stolen his heart. How could he wait?

<<<>>>

What had originally been prepared as a mini-celebration for his returned health had quickly turned into a full blown party at his soon-to-be mating. Mia couldn't believe it. Samuel seriously went through with it and proposed not long after the announcement of his successful recovery and current health.

What was perhaps most astonishing was everyone's lack of surprise when he went down on one knee and proposed, promising to protect her, guide her, and love her with all his being if she so accepted him. She had felt his smile when his head fell on her lap, because unbeknownst to their onlooking crowd their alpha was not as appropriate as they thought he was, in fact quite experienced in the department of wooing her beforehand. Saying yes had been too easy. Her positive response was met with happy cheers that ran suspiciously with an undertone of finally under it, as though they had seen this whole thing play out before their eyes and were just waiting for her to realize it. Meanwhile, the kids were confused—as far as they knew, nothing had changed.

Had she really been the only one oblivious to his so called 'clear' preference? She begged to differ. For the sake of the moment she'd not bother defending her case. And if he really had liked her that much, why hadn't anyone told her? She could've totally milked it to her advantage in high-school. Maybe Annie wasn't as delusional as they all thought...

At the dinner table, surrounded by all the pack and people she loved, Mia suddenly felt very grateful for not rushing in admitting her affections. Once wolfmen made a declaration, things moved very fast. For one, unlike humans, they didn't have the incumbrance of weddings and other necessities to hinder a union. Secondly, some of the elders had gone up to her and asked when she planned on having babies. Did she know their Alpha was at the prime age for having kids? They would come out oh so strong and very bright, just like him. And thirdly, Saurus kept sending her heated stares when no one was looking, as though he were inwardly agreeing with thoughts of acting out just that after dinner. His hand under the table would not stop caressing her thigh. There was no mistake, this Alpha would be marking her tonight.

A light blush settled permanently on Mia's cheeks throughout the night as she received knowing looks from the experienced werewomen, while in Saurus' directory wolfmen patted him in the back with congratulations and suggestive 'enjoy your night's. Who could ignore those wiggling eyebrows?

Mia was already exceedingly nervous from her lack of experience and their innuendos throughout dinner was making it worse. Her only reprieve was that Saurus was not experienced either. She would be his first too, and that served as some consolation.

"Um, I guess I should start moving my things in here soon..." Mia started nervously, playing with the hem of her shirt as she entered Samuel's room.

Escaping to her room had been unthinkable with all the grinning eyes that had watched them leave after dinner. Not that she had eaten much. The nerves had gotten to her and she didn't even have Annie nearby to fill her with glasses of wine. Where was the alcohol when you needed it.

Samuel dismissed her statement. "Later."

She heard the door close and lock, with Samuel's presence coming up behind her.

"You know, I d-didn't even wear mating clothes for this," she stuttered, not daring to turn around and face him.

That didn't even make sense. It was technically a human custom to come adorned in a whole decked out outfit on the first night. To be honest, she probably wouldn't have had the courage to wear something so enticing the first night.

She felt his breath at the base of her ear. "What we're doing requires no clothes, don't be silly Mia."

She shivered as she felt him eat the distance between them, his heat emanating all throughout her back and transferring past her clothes. His nose pressed into her hair, inhaling her scent and sighing blissfully at having her so close.

Unable to take her nervousness anymore, she tilt her chin up and looked back, her anxious eyes meeting with unnaturally steady ones, rimmed in gold and eager.

"I've never—"

"I know. Neither have I. Relax..." he whispered, pressing his lips to her cheek and interlacing her fingers together. He squeezed her hand, channeling his reassurance through her. He didn't want her to be afraid or worried. After a few moments of them just breathing, he nudged her collarbone with his nose. "I'm going to mark you first."

His hands separated from hers. They fell to the hem of her shirt, the one she had so nervously played with earlier. Slowly he lifted it off her, enjoying the feel of her skin under his fingertips, smooth and luxurious like fine velvet. With her shirt off he had full access to her neck. She felt the whisper of his breath as he breathed at the turn of her shoulder and trailed upwards to the delicate spot, right at the curve loved to kiss.

"This will hurt a little bit." His voice had turned to a huskier quality, a deep baritone that left her so breathless she could only nod.

Mia had an intake of breath when she felt his lips, then sharpness as his teeth elongated. A pain-filled gasp escaped her when his teeth darted inside, then numbness as something a little like pleasure began to bud up and fill her. She moaned as she felt it grow, something within her intertwining with him in a way so intricate she could feel a oneness begin to consume her. There was a shifting. His grip on her waist became tighter as he pulled her further against him, his own body grounding up her rear as he obliterated any spacing between them.

When his teeth extracted there was a low growl of satisfaction. He had established her as his choice, and now it was only a matter of mating to complete it. His deft fingers did quick work of her pants, having them fall in a heap at her feet. When he flipped she was met with the full brunt of his desire, dark eyes which slowly trailed down her face and assessed every inch, stopping appreciatively at her heaving chest and continuing all the way to her toes. She had never felt so exposed in just underwear and bra. His predatory eyes met hers, full of danger and heady promise.

He led her fingers to his belt buckle and smirked. "Let's see how much you like my stamina."

<<<>>>

"But Samuel...your culture doesn't even wear rings." Mia said, walking through a ring shop three months later.

Her husband was hearing none of her logic, grunting in anger as she tried to reason with him. Whoever thought mating equated to a ceasing of arguments was severely miseducated. It was amazing the foolish things mated couples fought about. You'd think it'd be about pack affairs, but no. Learning pack affairs had been easy. She'd been informed of most of them anyway, so advising him in decision making was a breeze. One would assume it's due to school, but it was not that either. As a matter of fact, she was able to use her knowledge and apply it to their agricultural center, which had been blooming exponentially as of late.

She even had an innovative idea that Saurus supported. While the food produce they made generally went to the pack, supermarkets, and charity, Mia had this wild idea of opening a diner in town. There were still many things to consider and look over, but one of the things Dark Falls lacked was a cheap, laid-back food place that could cater to the younger population. She remembered in high school the only place most students ventured was the ice cream shop. She wanted to create an actual food place.

And thus with all these factors taken out of the board she found them arguing over the lack of ring on her finger, which by the way she didn't like wearing jewelry.

"Saurus, we're seriously doing this?" Mia complained.

He paused in the middle of the store and glared at her, his grip on her hand tightening in warning. "You're seriously asking this?" he hissed.

"I don't think it's that serious—"

"You don't think a human surpassing himself with you is serious?!"

"All he did was as me out on a date," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me. He touched your ass—" he spat.

"And I hit him for it."

"—because he thought you were unmarried."

"He's the worst kind of scum, rings don't make a difference on his kind." Mia rationalized.

She felt him tense at her further disregard, and saw his teeth sharpen in warning. Her hair, which had been neatly tied to a ponytail was then pulled by him as he forced her chin up to meet his furious gaze. He was about to further express his anger when a lady behind the counter with her mouth covered gasped in awe "Oh, kinky."

Mia blushed in embarrassment and pushed him off. She tried to appear as poised as possible as she approached the counter, hoping to diffuse the rising tension.

"Hi, we're looking to purchase some wedding bands."

The lady's eyes locked on Saurus with fascination, as though she wondered what kind of man he could be based on the little she'd seen.

"Oh, yes, sure!" she said, finally gathering herself when Saurus raised an eyebrow at her slow reaction. "Please followed me here."

With sashaying hips she led them to another counter in the dead center full of glittering diamonds and other expensive things. She went on a practiced spiel of asking what they were looking for, what their price range was, and if they wanted a warranty. They provided her with little to no information as Mia could careless what they got and Samuel just wanted something on her finger that defined her status to 'dense humans with severe oversight'.

"Hmm, what do you think of this one?" Mia asked, pointing to an elegant set said to be made of solid 14K gold. The female band had soft engravings while the male band kept a stylish matte.

"Yeah."

Mia's eyes narrowed. He hadn't even looked at it. "What's the point of getting this crap if you're not even going to involve yourself in the picking!"

"I. Don't. Care. Pick something that shows you're married, oh so God help me Mia, I am at the brink of going back to him and killing him." His words were iced, doused in steely precision as the tension he had worked hard to calm rose up again.

He had already left that man in question bloodied and bruised, it was Mia's intervention which stopped him from progressing further.

The lady, who had before gazed at Saurus with admiration, now switched to one of unease as waves of murderous intent leaked off him. Yes, he was certainly a scary wolfman when he wanted to be.

The lady laughed nervously. "I think that's a beautiful option! It suits you guys perfectly!"

Mia crossed her arms and made a dismissive 'Hn,' while following the lady to the register. Since he didn't want to care, she wouldn't either. As Samuel was too busy restraining himself from going out to re-find the dude, Mia hurried the process by taking his wallet from his back pocket and paying with one of his cards. As the lady ran up the total Mia shook her head. A waste of thousands of dollars. Barely any women in the pack wore rings, now she'd be delegated to wearing an annoying piece of jewelry. Maybe she could wear it only when they were around humans?

"Here's your receipt, have a wonderful day!" The woman chirped, evidently very happy she just got the fastest sale of her life.

Mia entered the car and closed the door with an added dose of harshness. She heard, rather than saw Saurus grind his teeth as he started the car to drive them home. What was supposed to be a simple day at the mall ended up becoming this.

"Put it on." Samuel ordered at seeing her merely hold the velvet box without a care.

"There's no point. We're going to the packhouse now and obviously nothing's going to happen there."

Samuel repeated himself, this time more sternly, and Mia defiantly lifted her chin up. Suddenly, the car went to a sudden stop, causing her to jerk forward if it were not for the seatbelt.

"If you don't put that ring on I'm not going anywhere," he threatened.

Mia gaped at him. "Are you kidding me?!" They were literally in the middle of the road. She could already see cars coming and surely they would start honking at them to keep the traffic going.

Sure enough, there was a chorus of honks to get them moving, something that made Mia's anxiousness rise as she hated being a bother and interrupting people's lives. But here her husband was, not caring and all entirely unresponsive.

With a frustrated hiss she threw the box at him. "You put it on if you want it so much!"

"Gladly."

In the timespan of three seconds he grabbed the wedding band and jam it in her finger, a satisfied flint changing his eyes as his foot went to the pedal and he restarted his driving.

Mia heaved a sigh of relief as the honking ceased and the flow of traffic resumed. When Samuel was angry he turned into an unreasonable maniac. The whole thing had her annoyed because he couldn't grasp the fact that there was nothing she could have done to dissuade the guy from moving a pass on her. And while he did not blame her for the vile man's actions, he was angry with her for intervening in what he called retribution. The guy had already been to the point of almost fainting, he couldn't very well let him continue attacking him.

As the car ride to the pack house progressed Mia started feeling guilty. She was unsupportive of the ring decision and made a fuss. While she was the correct one by saying it wouldn't have made a difference, she shouldn't have been so insistent in her point. After all, Saurus was just felt a lack of control over seeing this happen to her and wanted to feel in control again through the means of a ring, even if it wasn't a preventative for things like that.

"Are you going to put on your wedding band?" she asked softly.

She tried to meet his eyes in the rear view mirror for apology, but his hardened gaze remained fixed ahead as they entered familiar pack grounds. Within the safety of his land, he didn't bother waiting for her and merely strode to the pack house without a glance back.

The velvet ring box laid abandoned on the driver seat. A beautiful reminder of the indifference she had given his attempt to keep her safe. Mia opened it and saw his wedding band. He hadn't even put it on. Cradling the box to her chest she brought it with her to their room, where she found him unbuttoning his dress shirt in order to put more comfortable clothes on.

They had gone to a fancy restaurant before indulging in shopping, before all that mess happened, and he had endeavored to impress her by dressing up well. His chest was almost completely bare, except as always he struggled with the top button.

Samuel cursed as the button refused to budge. Mia tentatively approached him and held her hand out. "I, um, let me help."

He leveled her with a glare. "No thank you," before ripping the fabric and causing the button to pop from its place.

Mia bit her lip. He was mad, mad. Walking in boxers he threw today's outfit into the hamper as though it had offended him somehow. Mia sighed and decided that if she didn't do something about this they would spend the rest of today at odds, and that would not be right.

Taking his wedding band out the box she approached him from behind and grabbed his hand. He pulled it right back as though she scalded him.

"What? Now you want us to wear wedding bands? Made a whole fuss in front of humans over not wanting it, and now you want us to put this useless thing on," he snapped, using her own terminology.

"Honey, I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want other men to know I'm taken. That's not it and you know it. It's just that...it's not even a part of our culture. If what happened today hadn't occurred you know we wouldn't have gotten this," she made motion to the rings. Then, seeing his fury rise she quickly amended and finished her statement, "but I see your perspective and if this makes you feel better for when I go out in public then I don't mind."

She grabbed his hand again and this time he didn't pull away from her, but let her slide the band up his ring finger. With it now in place she rose to her tippy toes, grabbing on to his bare shoulders for support, and leaned in for a chaste kiss. His lips remained immobile under hers, but she knew his body so well that she could feel him lose all the built up tension.

"Honey," she whimpered, frowning as she made her kiss more forceful.

He made a low noise that sounded suspiciously like a defeated whine before lifting her up bridal style and bringing her towards the bed. She felt his body come over her as he pressed her against the mattress, his weight reassuring as he gave in to her kiss and lost himself in her touch.

Samuel caught the slip of her bottom lip, biting it between his teeth in an almost reprimanding manner. "If I do anything it's because I love you. I don't like it when people touch what's mine."

Mia let her hands travel down his muscled torso. Smiling when he shivered at the feel of her hands reaching the edge of his waistband. He had an intake of breath, his body arched to her.

"I love you too, honey."

She'd show him just how much.

Author's note: this scene just came to my head for some reason as I felt it would be unrealistic for them to never argue again. hope you liked!