Page 53 of Jasper

She was gorgeous.

But hell, he always thought she was.

Tonight, however, she positively glowed in the dark dress she wore. She took his hand and smiled up at him. Around her neck was a necklace with a wolf charm, which he’d been told the females were going to give her as a gift.

He took her hands and they linked their fingers.

Joss called for the pack to be seated as Jeanie joined him at the bonfire.

“When wolves are lucky enough to be born into the same pack as their soulmate, to know each other from a young age, there isn’t much better than the mating ceremony to cement the relationship according to our traditions. No matter the hurdles that came to pass in your relationship, remember that you were made for each other, and that regardless of the obstacles that come your way, you have each other and that’s the only thing that matters at the end of the day. As alphas of our pack, Jeanie and I approve of this mating and give our blessing. Jasper and Melody, mark each other with our sacred oil.”

Jeanie handed Jasper a glass container, and he took it from her and opened it. He tilted the glass over his and Melody’s fingers, then handed the glass back to Jeanie.

He drew a short, straight line over her heart. “I claim this as my own.”

Melody mimicked his actions and words, leaving a heated path on his skin from where she touched him.

He drew two marks across her biceps, promising to lend her his strength, and then two marks across her temple, giving her his wolf. When she’d followed suit, Jasper held out a hand toward Joss, who dumped a handful of ash from a pouch into his palm.

Jasper drew marks across his and Melody’s biceps and wrists with the ash, and then tossed the remainder into the fire.

“You’re marked with ash from the bonfire that you built today,” Joss said. “Do you swear to protect your soulmate with every fiber of your being? To be her everything?”

“I swear.”

Joss looked at Melody. “Do you swear to love Jasper with every fiber of your being and to be his everything?”

“I swear,” she said breathlessly.

“Mark your mate,” Joss said with authority.

Jasper turned Melody to face the pack and tilted her head to the side to expose the mating mark he’d already given her. “I love you, Melody. I give you all of myself for all of my days.”

He bit her neck just below the mating mark, hard enough to leave a bruise but not hard enough to break the skin. Lifting from her throat, he let out a deep and joyous howl at belonging to his soulmate.

“If there are any who know why these two shouldn’t be welcomed into the pack, speak now or remain silent for eternity,” Joss shouted.

The pack was silent and Joss grinned. “Congratulations to Jasper and Melody. Jasper?”

He turned Melody around to face him. He reached into his pocket to pull out the ring and realized she was holding something in between her thumb and forefinger.

As he brought the ring he’d picked out for her from his pocket, he saw that what she held was a ring.

“Oh my gosh,” Jeanie whispered with a chuckle.

Melody’s gaze dropped to his fingers. “Jasper?”

“Melody?”

She smiled and her eyes danced in the firelight. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too. It seems like we both had the same idea.”

“You first,” she said.

He dropped down to one knee and held up the ring. “Sweetheart, Mellie-mine, you’re the most important person in the world to me, and I can’t think of anything better than calling you my wife. Will you marry me?”

She sniffled and lowered the ring she had in her fingers toward him. “I can’t think of anything better either. Coming here to find you, despite the crazy circumstances, was the best choice I ever made, and while I regret the lost years between us, I have zero regrets about being your mate. I’m so glad you’re mine, Jasper. Will you be my husband too?”

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