Felicity relaxed as she felt Dom’s presence at her shoulder. She cast him a glance and found his face set in stone.

“You didn’t raise me.” The words felt so ridiculous to say she nearly giggled. The alpha had to be crazy or something.

He rolled his eyes. “Semantics, syntax, whatever. If not for me you wouldn’t have this fine vampire at your side.” He leaned down and whispered. “Let me know if you ever get tired of his taste. I hear us weres are practically mouthwatering.”

“What are you doing here?” Dom said, his voice a growl.

Zeke stepped back, putting his hands in the air. “Hold on there, partner. No need to go all Dracula on me now. I just came by to have a little chat with you.”

“Go inside, Felicity.”

She snorted. “Like hell I’m gonna miss this.”

He sent her a warning glare but she just winked and wrapped her arm around his waist.

“What do you want, Zeke?” she asked.

Zeke smiled at her. “I like her. She’s got spunk and all that. Now, here I am, president of the council which you so sadly lost, Dom. Very regrettable. My sincerest apologies for kicking your ass at the polls and all that.”

“What the hell do you want, Zeke? Remember, you’re on my land now.”

Zeke rubbed a hand over his stomach as if he was petting a full belly. “See here I got a little problem, thought you might help. Philips wants to step down. That means we need another of your kind sitting on the council to even things out. I thought I’d be a nice fella and offer it to you.”

Felicity’s eyes widened. She smiled up at Dom, but he still looked like he was made from granite.

“What do you want in exchange?”

Zeke slowly grinned, his whole face softening. “I can’t tell you how good it makes me feel that you know me so well already, Dommy. Can I call you Dommy?”

“Not if you want to keep your teeth,” came the sharp reply.

Zeke laughed a deep, belly kind of laugh that made you want to join in. “Dom it is then. Listen, pal, all I want is for you to agree with me every now and then. My people want some big changes. They want to mate with other packs, having stronger pups and all that.”

“It’ll cause problems. The men won’t like it. It’ll be a war.”

Zeke shrugged. “It may, it may not. Fact is, we gotta keep our stock strong and mating with the same folks for years on end, well, you can see the problem. We need to spread our wings. Change things up. I have strong support in the were community.”

“From the men?”

Zeke laughed. “From enough of the men. The smarter ones.” He winked at Felicity like they shared some kind of secret. They didn’t.

Dom grew quiet. Felicity knew that look on his face—the deep, thinking one where he weighed the pros and cons of the entire situation before making a decision. After a minute, he nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Zeke rubbed his stomach again. “Sounds good, Dommy—I mean Dom.”

They shook hands then Zeke left shooting up gravel as he did.

Felicity turned to Dom. “That was my surprise?”

He grunted. “Hardly.”

Another car came down the drive passing Zeke on its way. Felicity squinted at it but didn’t recognize it. “Who’s coming now?”

He smiled. “Now that’s your surprise.”

“Dommy, what have you been up to?”

He pressed her up against the door, his face inches from her. In a dark voice he said, “What did you call me, sweets?”

She wet her lips at the dark glint in his eyes. “Dommy?”

She squeaked at his growl then his lips caught hers in a kiss that addled her mind like scrambled eggs. They were still kissing when someone cleared their throat. She tried pulling away, but he was much more reluctant. He kisses her on the lips, at the corner of her mouth up the line of her jaw to her neck.

Panting, she peered over his big shoulder and gasped. “Beth!” At the sight of her friend a rush of excitement burst inside her and she shoved Dom away and pulled her friend into her embrace. “Oh my god! What are you doing here? I’ve missed you so much.”

“It looks like I’m to be your ‘sort-of’ maid of honor again.” She grinned then winked up at Dom.

“You planned this?” Felicity asked Dom.

“This is nothing, and it’s only part of the surprise, sweets.”

Felicity jumped into his arms and of course he caught her and kissed her square on the mouth, licking his way inside to taste her. “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “You haven’t even gotten to the good part of the surprises and you’re already kissing me. I think from now on I’ll make it my duty to surprise you.”

“You might want to do that,” she said with a wink.

Beth grabbed her hand and pulled her back to her car. “Come on, you and I have fun stuff to do.”

“Like what?” She could barely contain her excitement. Dom got a job, they were getting mated, and now her best friend was here for part of her “surprise”. She couldn’t be happier.

Beth grinned at her from the other side of the car. “Shopping.”

Oh, hell yeah. With a final wave to Dom she peeled out.

“Now, listen up,” Beth was saying, “I need to get you dressed, done up, and all that by midnight.” She pulled onto the highway and sped up. The girl had a lead foot.

“What happens at midnight?”

“Your fairy godmother comes by and turns you into a pumpkin, what do you think happens at midnight?” Beth said, her lips fighting a smile.

“I think, for one, that isn’t how that fairy tale goes, and for two I think I’m getting mated—tonight.” Just saying the words aloud made butterflies dance in her stomach. She pressed a hand over it to stifle them.

Beth tossed her head back laughing. “True enough and you’re absolutely right. So, right now we’re headed to the mall.”

Felicity glanced at the clock. “It’s almost ten, babe. They won’t be open.”

Beth sent her a knowing glance. “They’ll be open.”

“You know that because of your secret mind powers?”

“Nope, I know it because Dom arranged for you to have full access to all the clothing stores, shoe stores, and even that great makeup place I like to go to. Anything and everything you need to beautify yourself is at your disposal.”

Felicity’s heart beat a mile a minute and she couldn’t stop smiling. “Oh my god, this is too much. I spent all week unsure if he was even going to mate with me but instead he’d been planning all this to surprise me.”

Beth whistled. “Mmm, girl, he’s a keeper.”

“Speaking of keepers how’s your man?”

Beth hesitated. It was only a moment’s pause but in that look Felicity saw a fleeting look cross her face—pain. “He’s good. We’re good. He sends me flowers, and when it’s not flowers it’s these gift coupons for the spa. All day free massages, tans, which I don’t use, face masks, the whole she-bang.”

“So everything’s good?”

Beth smiled, a real one. “Everything’s good.”

They pulled up to the mall and sure enough a lone security guard unlocked the entrance door and let them in. For the next hour she and Beth ran around the mall from shop to shop like little kids in a candy shop.

“We need a shopping cart,” Beth said, her arms full of clothes for herself.

Felicity laugh. “I hear that.”

Beth tried to check her watch, which was hilarious to watch as she struggled to move the mountain of clothes in her arm to glance at her wrist. “Damn, we have to get rolling soon. Do you know what you want to wear? Personally, I thought that light pink dress with the ruffled material looked perfect on you.”

This was the crux of the problem and what Felicity had been avoiding since they got here. What the hell did she wear? Last time she’d worn an expensive and gorgeous red gown. Things hadn’t turned out so well though. Now, everything felt perfect and right. She wanted to do things her way.

“You know, I’m not gonna wear a dress.”