“Wait, don’t you want something from the bakery?”
“Is the news delicious?”
“Yes,” Sera replied, eyes as wide as her smile.
“Then I’ve got all the treats I need.Let’s go.”
Sera kept a lid on her secret until they were seated in a back corner seat in their favorite coffee shop with her rose and vanilla latte and Hugh’s adorably small, but dignified-looking espresso.She was shaking with the force of her news.
“Hugh,” she said.
“Please, I’m dying to know.I have hopes but I’m not willing to entertain them until I know one way or the other.”
“Hugh,” she said again, beaming.She wanted to tell him.The words danced on her tongue.But she couldn’t stop smiling long enough to say anything.
“Save me from this anticipation.”
“We kissed.”
Hugh sat down his espresso with a clatter.“You and —”
“Yes.”
Hugh sat back in his chair.“I never thought I’d see the day.”He paused.“And everything you were worried about?”
“Still there.Still one hundred percent there and weird and stressful, but we’re going to figure out a way.Together.”
“My dear, I’m so happy for you.For her, too, but mostly for you.You know where my most treasured loyalties lie.”
“Thank you.It feels surreal.”
“I can imagine.You’ve certainly waited long enough.”
“I waited weeks.She waited years, Hugh.Decades.”
“What?”
Sera’s words spilled out faster the longer she spoke.“She’s loved me for a long time and kept her feelings buried so she didn’t act on it.And she said no at first, that it would be easy to shove down our feelings with time, but then I was brave.Hugh, I was brave and told her that it’s okay to be selfish and want something and that love makes us stronger.And she kissed me.Then, we went running in the woods.”
“The mating habits of the modern werewolf.”He leaned forward with his arms on the table and smiled.“Mon lou lou,I am over the moon.You deserve this, both of you.”He winked.“Also I told you so.”
Sera had known that was coming at some point.She puffed out a laugh.“Yes, you did.This is, honestly, in part thanks to you and your teasing.”
“Just let me be the first to speak at your wedding and we’ll consider us even.”
“Don’t jinx anything,” she warned.“I’m trying not to think about what happens if this all blows up horrifically.”
“And if it does — which it won’t — you’ll find a way forward.Together.Though, as we’ve just proven, I'm always right.”
“Sometimes.”
“Always.I know nothing is set in stone and forever is an awfully big word, but what you two have runs deeper than a surface-level connection that can be so easily broken.”
“I hope so, but the pack —”
“The pack will be there for you, too, just as you two help them.”His smile slipped into a sharp smirk.“Plus, you have no idea how many of them have been rooting for you two this whole time.”
Sera choked on her latte.