Lyall's Story

Lucy

Finally… Aurora, Mia, and Lyna could get me out of that crazy house! Ursa and the guys kept Vincent busy. Lyall turns to check on me, and I’m relieved that he’s here.

“Lucy… Scarlett? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, we can… thank you for rescuing me…” I’m frightened and tired and just want to get out of here!

“I’d never leave you with a jerk like this! You’re mine and I’m going to take care of you! Let me help the guys take care of this jerk and we can take you home.” With that, he was off fighting… Ursa was more on guard patrol to make sure he didn’t escape. Guess she was on our side. Maybe she was the one who sent everyone… I didn’t really care why they’re here just that they were.

“Let’s get you out of here. I can try to sneak you out while Vincent and the rest are distracted.” Aurora tries to comfort me and her calming presence was much needed right now. She also tries to heal me with her healing powers and she tells me something that I didn’t expect.

“You realize that you have some low-level poison in you?” What!? “I’ll take that as a no.” I shake my head unable to really talk… between the assault and this rescue I couldn’t be more grateful for such good friends and family.

“Lucy come on take our hands!” Lyna and Aurora help me up, Mia behind me in case we get attacked while trying to leave. We rub some leaves and mud on us to camouflage ourselves so they wouldn’t smell us. Seems to have worked since they didn’t come after us. I had little strength left in me. Soon it felt like I was being carried out or they were helping me walk. After what felt like an eternity, when really a few minutes, we stumble almost fall down a small hill and come across a stream.

“Where did this come from??” Lyna asks me with curiosity and shock in her tone.

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen this here before. Well… it’s just water what harm can it do than from what I’ve already been through…” Between the assault and almost being trapped by a spell, I didn’t have much else to lose… I cupped my hands and took a drink from them. Seemed to taste like normal, everyday water. When I hear paws coming. We all growl to scare it off, but soon a big sow coming. We all sigh in relief… it was just Ursa.

“Did anyone drink the water?” They all look sheepish at me…

“I may have… why?” I got nervous. Hopefully, I didn’t just meet my doom after everything I had just been through…

“Oh, good you of all people should have. It’s a healing spring. I could feel the light magic radiating from it from the cabin I just didn’t know where it was, and Vincent wouldn’t let either of us outside. Any magic that Vincent may have put on you is now gone, the spring works as an antidote.” Oh, thank goodness… soon I could hear more paws coming towards us. We are all growl again but soon hear a voice.

“Don’t hurt us, It’s Oliver, Lupe, and Evan!”

“Oliver!” Aurora runs to hug him.

“Evan!” Mia does the same.

“Lupe, where’s Lyall?” I hug him with relief. Glad he’s ok, but ask him with concern in my voice.

“He’s fighting Vincent…” Lupe doesn’t look me in the eye.

“By himself!? Nobody thought to help him!?” Oh no… I run back to him, but Lupe stopped me.

“He told us to go…” Soon we hear a yelp of pain and soon I can see Lykos. I run to him and sob into his fur…

“Lykos! Thank goodness you’re alright!” I nuzzle into him tightly so glad to hold him again. It had been the longest four days… he licks my face and I kiss his cheek back. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to see Lyall too.” He changes back to himself, and I give him the most passionate kiss I could give.

“I missed you too… Vincent is severely injured, but I think he got the point to not mess with us anymore.”

“So, this nightmare is over now??”

“Yes… it’s over… let’s go home.” We all walk happily with our mates back to my parent’s house who I’m sure are worried sick about us. I could see Lou waiting for us on the porch anxiously. I ran as quickly as I could to her with tears in my eyes.

“Lou! Thank you for your help!” I hugged her as tightly as I could.

“I helped a little, but we summoned the bear and sent her back with our plan. I’m so sorry Lucy for dragging you into this!” She cries on my shoulder.

“It’s not your fault. I don’t regret trying to save you at all! You’re my sister… and nobody messes with family.” I wipe away her tears and give her a smile.

“Speaking of family, I think your parents would like to know you’re ok.” Lyall takes me inside when I get tackled by mom.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re alright! Why would you do that!?” She cups her hands on my cheeks.

“Better me than Lou! I would not allow that jerk to hurt her!” She smiles at me with pride and hugs me again. Lyall and dad go off somewhere and frankly I didn’t care at the moment. “I’m going to take a shower and get the smell of Vincent off me…”

“Good idea. I’ll make everybody some comfort food to make everybody feel better.” Mom and Lou hurry off to make dinner.

Lyall

I sneak her dad off to his office to talk to him privately. I could hear the shower going so glad she wouldn’t be able to hear me.

“Son… I’m so glad you could bring our girl home.” He claps his hand on my shoulder with pride. Honestly, it has been a long time since I’ve felt this.

“I’d do anything for her… Vincent is severely injured, but not dead. So, he’ll just have to limp his way home without Ursa… I gave him the message of he’s not welcomed here.”

“I’m sure she can make a portal or something to get her family out of there and she can go back home too.”

“I hope so. She deserves a happy ending too after all this, but there’s something that I wanted to ask you.”

“Yes… I already know what you’re going to ask and you have our blessing. After everything, you’ve done for our Lucy… I couldn’t be prouder.” I beam with happiness. Now to make my dream come true. Soon I hear the shower stopped, and I was worried that Lucy will hear us. “Go to her…” He didn’t have to tell me twice. I run out of his office and tackle her down to her bed.

“Well, hi there.”

“Hi…” I kiss her and rub my hands down her curves. I’ve missed her so much… I didn’t want to take this for granted ever again.

“I missed you too…” She kisses me back with the same passion. Man, I’ve missed this… I was about to get more active when we hear her mom call us for dinner. “I suppose I should get dressed and we can get something to eat.”

“Yeah, I suppose so. I think our guests would blush if they saw you right now.” We giggled at the thought. She changed into a fleece sweatshirt and sweatpants to make herself comfortable. I didn’t blame her for wanting to be. All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms. Make her forget this nightmare we’ve been living for the past few days… we all enjoyed a delicious beef stew. Between the meat, potatoes, vegetables, and the gravy I could tell this is what everyone needed. Just a simple home-cooked meal…

Soon the coldness of winter turned into early spring, and we could finally shed our layers! I couldn’t wait to see Lucy in spring clothes. I took some ladies out to surprise Lucy with some flowers. I sneak into her shop to look at some spring dresses that I may like and ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink’ suggest getting it and try it on. Lou, Lupe, and Lyna all came with me to a surprise shop to get some opinions without outright asking Lucy because that’d ruin the bigger surprise. I had been planning this since I had the wonderful dream before the fight with Vincent… which feels like forever ago, but really was like a month ago. Sometimes I like to visit her at the store, and this was an important day to visit her.

“Hey, sweetie.” She looks up at me from her computer and smiles at me.

“Hey, what’s up? I have two more customers for the day and then I’ll be done.”

“Oh… I wanted to take you out for lunch, but I can switch it for some dinner.”

“That’s very sweet of you.” She gives me a smile and I just turn to mush. I never get tired of her smile.

“Also, I was eyeing this nice pastel yellow dress in your spring collection.”

“Oh, really?? Which one did you have in mind?” I go and find it to show her.

“This one…” I point out a mid-thigh, off-the-shoulder, pale yellow dress that I thought would look so beautiful on her.

“Oh, my… it’s pretty. What’s the occasion?” She asks me with a curious look on her face.

“Do we need an occasion to have fun on a warm spring day?” I smirk at her, trying to hide my scheme.

“No, I suppose not. Let me finish up and I’ll join you at my parent’s house.” She smiles again and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Sure, no problem. I love you.” I kiss her cheek as her customer comes in. She smiles at me and takes care of her. This gives me time to look around the jewelry store while a customer distracts her for a few hours. She strikes me as a simple style so I take Lupe and Lou with me to get some ideas. We look around the shop and while what I find is nice, and they’d look lovely on my Lucy, they just didn’t seem like her style… I was getting defeated that I’d never find the perfect one… Lou found a nice pearl necklace that’d look beautiful around her pretty neck.

A simple chain, with a single pearl with a tiny diamond on top of it with a white gold chain, and pearl studs to match it. I kept looking around the ring’s counter and nothing was really catching my eye. Sure, there were beautiful rings, but they were too flashy for Lucy’s taste. Then Lupe and I finally found it… we turned toward each other with a diabolical smile on each other’s faces like ‘yeah this is it’… I take the jewelry and sneak it back to her parent’s house. Aurora and Lyna had beautifully decorated the meadow near Wild Forest like it was in my dream. Lucy texted me saying she was done with customers for the day and she got the dress.

“Alright, everybody. She’s on her way home. I’m going to get changed into my nice clothes. Showtime…” I breathed a deep sigh of nervousness as I got changed into some nice khakis and a pristine white dress shirt. I go back downstairs where everyone smiled, hooting and hollering. Wild Forest was all here, her family, Aurora, Oliver, Evan, and Mia were still here despite everything that has happened. Her dad slaps my shoulder in encouragement.

“She’ll be here any minute, go, hide.” I go off to find my spot and now I wait…

Lucy

Ugh, I wish I could’ve taken lunch with Lyall… it was nice to have a normal day at work. No creepy guys, no potions no nothing. Just women wanting pretty dresses for parties. I grab that yellow dress Lyall liked and text him I’m on my way home. I put the dress in a garment bag, put it in the backseat of my car, and drive home. It was an uneventful drive home, just the wind in my hair and the sounds of spring emerging after a long winter. Soon I arrive home and everyone seemed different from usual.

“What’s up everybody? What’s going on?”

“Nothing… is that a new dress?” My mom quickly dodging the subject of why everyone I care about is here.

“Yeah, Lyall picked it out in the store earlier in the day…” Something fishy is going on and I’m going to find out.

“Oh Lucy, as a thank you Lupe and I picked out a little something for you for rescuing me. It’s in your room.” Lou gave me a hug and I couldn’t help get teary-eyed.

“Lou, you didn’t have to do that, but that’s very sweet of you.” I didn’t expect her to do that for me. So sweet… I go to my room to find Lyna, Reika, Calla, and Aurora there along with something small on my nightstand.

“Surprise! We’ve come to doll you up!” Reika squeals at me before shoving me into a chair.

“For what? Why am I getting dolled up? Going out for dinner?”

“Sure… let’s go with that…” Ok, that’s definitely weird, but hey if Lyall wants to go all out for a dinner date who am I to stop him. The girls do my hair and makeup and it felt pretty good to get spoiled. Take a shower with some lavender soap to help calm me after the week I’ve had… once I’m done cleaning myself, they work their magic. Towel drying my hair, a soft blow-dry, and then curling my hair into soft and bouncy curls. I wash my face and then they work their magic with magic. They put on some moisturizer, BB cream (no idea what that does, but it made my skin smooth!), for my eyes they do a light peachy color with brown mascara and eyeliner. Lips a light peach lip stain, and for blush just a soft pink.

“You ladies are amazing!” I admire their work in the mirror and I can hardly tell it’s me.

“Yeah, we know… Lyna lets us know every time we spoil her once in a while. Alright, go have fun!” I get up from my vanity with my dress, new pearl necklace, and earrings on, and three-inch white wedges. I go show off a little to the crowd downstairs. My mom and Lou get teary-eyed; my dad hugs me. The wonderful ladies come down behind me to hug me too.

“You look, beautiful sweetie.” My mom hugs me.

“Thanks, mom. Where’s Lyall?” I look around the room and don’t see him.

“Oh, I know where he is. You can follow me” Aurora leads me outside to a beautifully decorated meadow. Wildflowers and normal spring flowers are in bloom, leaves have grown on the trees, an arch full of flowers surrounding Lyall in a spring formal attire.

“What’s going on?”

Lyall

It feels like an eternity! I’m waiting nervously while she gets ready. Hopefully, I don’t leave a dent in the grass from passing so much. Finally, I hear Aurora and Lucy heading my way… showtime. The ring in my pocket, and Aurora smiling at me for encouragement.

“What’s going on?” She looks at me confused.

“Hi, babe… you look beautiful.” I kiss her cheek trying to calm myself.

“You look handsome too, but what’s with everything?”

“Lucy Celeste Amelie Artaud-Shaw… I’ve loved you since we first met in your shop and I know it hasn’t been long, but I’m crazy about you. Will you please make me the happiest person and marry me?” I present her with an infinity diamond ring. A big smile comes across her face and she gives me a big hug.

“YES!” We fall back onto the flowers and enjoy our moment… unlike my dream, this is my reality. I kiss her with all my might. Aurora is beaming in the background trying to take pictures on her phone to send to the family. We stay there for a little while enjoying our moment of pure happiness and bliss… finally this woman was mine.