Their lips remained locked together for a good five minutes, the pair of them ignoring the wolf whistles a certain blonde was giving them, and when they broke apart the two of them were breathless.

"Thank you." Lyra whispered, finding her voice.

"I'm glad you liked it."

"It was a nice surprise." She smiled.

"See?" Rylan grinned. "I told you... Some surprises are good ones..."

"Yeah."

He kissed her again, before setting her down and telling her to take a seat.

"So..." Blaze slid into the seat next to hers. "How good of a kisser is our dear Alpha King?"

"Kiss him yourself and find out."

Blaine laughed. "Come on Blaze, leave the poor girl alone... Otherwise you might not get any food..." He said, glancing over at the man who was now casually flipping a clean frying pan in one hand, the other busy stirring the pot over the hob.

"I was only curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat." Rylan scowled.

"But satisfaction brought it back." Blaze grinned.

"Blaze, I'm feeling very sorry for your mate..." The Alpha King folded his arms. "I'm gonna have so much fun tormenting the pair of you..."

"Will you now...?"

He grinned, but there was no humour in his eyes. "Most definitely."

Blaze raised his glass. "Challenge accepted."

"Just you wait..." Rylan grumbled.

"Well..." Blaze smirked. "I'm looking forward to it already." He said, sipping from the fizzing blue drink. "May the best man win."

Rylan just glared as he brought the large pot over to the table, setting it down on a heatproof matt, telling everyone to fend for themselves. "Except Lyra, of course." He said, handing her some filled taco shells.

Lyra simply smiled back at him. She'd gotten used to the fact that he always grabbed her food before it went to the wolves. Literally.

Eating with Alphas was dangerous, after all, especially when there were no set portions. Sharp elbows battled with each other, hands clawing at the clean white tablecloth, all just to be the first to get to the food.

It was a battlefield.

A different kind of battlefield compared to what she was used to, but a battlefield none the less, and it was one Rylan had taken measures to remove her from.

That was why the pair of them just watched as the other Alphas attacked the bowls of food Rylan had so carefully prepared.

"Want to go for a little wander after we've finished...?" He turned to her between bites. "Just around the grounds – no further."

Lyra nodded. "Sure."

"So the Lovebirds are out for a moonlit stroll in the gardens...?" Blaze said, smiling widely. "How quaint..."

"Blu..." Rylan muttered through gritted teeth, turning to the blue-haired Alpha. "Keep Blaze out of the gardens by any means necessary."

"Of course, Alpha King." The guy nodded.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Blu...?" Rylan sighed. "Call me Rylan, Ry, or any other nickname you can come up with. We're friends, after all."

"Any other nickname?" One blonde brow rose. "You should take advantage of that, Bluey." He said. "Call him Studmuffin. I dare you."

One rather well-defined arm wrapped around his throat, pulling him into a headlock. "For once in your life, shut the hell up!" Blu scowled.

"And this is why we're such great friends." Rylan grinned.

"Everyone's put Blaze in a headlock at some point..." A red-haired Alpha mumbled. "He never seems to know when to shut his mouth..."

"Too true." A second blonde spoke. "I can't help but feel sorry for his mate..."

"Speaking of mates... Rylan..." Grey eyes locked on his, a russet brown hand waving to get his attention. "We're going to have to release a statement about your mate soon." Finn said. "Thanks to your little outing in town, rumours are spreading like wildfire, so the sooner we get this over with, the better."

"Tomorrow." The Alpha King sighed, standing up, having finished his dinner. "I'll sort it out tomorrow." His gaze flickered over to Lyra. "You ready?" He asked, offering up his arm, leading her from the noisy room and out into the fresh air.

"Wait!" An all too familiar blonde sprinted out, hauling Lyra to one side.

"Blaze..." Rylan scowled.

Surprisingly enough the blonde ignored the irritated Alpha King, instead pressing a small velvety black box into Lyra's hands. He tapped her on the butt, just as Blu appeared beside him. "Go get him, tiger..." He called, having been slung over the other Alpha's shoulder and carried inside.

Lyra growled. "I'm a werewolf, thank you very much!"

"Come on, Ly." Rylan grabbed her hand. "We've got better things to be doing..."

"Like what?"

"Like this." He said, pulling out a small box, flipping it open so she could see the ring inside. "We haven't marked each other yet, and I'm doubting you'll want to do that anytime soon, so I got you a promise ring when I went out..."

Lyra's gaze fell to the matching box Blaze had put in her hands. "Don't tell me..." She mumbled, trailing off at the sight of the golden ring nestled on the tiny white cushion.

"That idiot." Rylan sighed, letting Lyra slip the ring over his finger, before he slid the matching gold ring over hers. "How did he even get one from the same set...?" He shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to know." He weaved his fingers through her own. "Let's just enjoy our walk..."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, Rylan leading the way through the large maze on one side of the garden. He'd clearly been through the maze numerous times, since he led her to the centre without ever hitting a dead end. He pulled her towards the gazebo at the very heart of the maze, tugging her towards the swinging white bench surrounded by roses.

Lyra sat down next to him at the edge of the gazebo, rocking the white wooden bench back and forward slightly. Her eyes flickered between her mate and the large bed taking up most of the gazebo behind them.

"Do you like it...?"

Lyra blinked, turning back to her mate. "What?"

"My parents had this place built a while back..." Rylan shrugged. "This was the place where they came to relax..."

"What happened to them?"

He smiled. "They retired." He said. "They're halfway across the world, enjoying their retirement with the rest of the previous Alpha Council."

Lyra stared up at the sky, barely noticing as Rylan shuffled closer to her. "How long until you retire...?"

Rylan snorted. "Ly, my parents served the Pack for five hundred years, and they only got off early because my father fell ill and I was considered eligible to take the Alpha King Trials... I've only been officially leading the Pack for a few years now, so we've got another few hundred years to spend here in Blagmoor Castle before we can move out."

"Do they know about me?"

"Yep." He nodded. "I've told them about you via text." He shrugged. "I even sent them a photo of you."

"A photo." Her eyes narrowed. "I don't remember you taking a photo of me..."

"Ah... Well..." Rylan smiled sheepishly. "I kinda took a photo while you were sleeping..." He shrugged. "My mum told me: Cute, but it's kind of creepy to take photos of people while they sleep, just FYI." He laughed. "So, don't worry, I've already been told off."

Her head landed on his shoulder. "It's not that big of a deal – I've had worse done to me."

"And I wish you hadn't." Rylan said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I'd prefer it if you got mad at me for that, rather than you comparing it to what those Rogues did to you..."

"They didn't touch me." Lyra said. "At least, not in the way you're thinking."

"You mean you're still a...?"

"Yeah."

His arm pulled her close. "That's a relief to know..." He mumbled. "Now I don't feel like I have to rip their heads off anymore... although I still want to throw them into a deep dark hole where they'll never see the light of day again..."

"I would've done the head ripping myself if they'd tried anything like that."

"I don't doubt that." Rylan mumbled. "You're my little Red Devil, after all." He said, grinning widely as he tugged her further into his lap. His lips brushed her ear. "You're really cute when you get all embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed." She grumbled.

"Your cheeks are red."

"How can you even see in this light?"

Rylan smirked. "So they are red..."

"I didn't say that!"

His fingers tickled her sides. "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

"I'm not lying! I didn't say my cheeks were red! They're not!" She choked out between giggles. "Rylan..." She squirmed, trying to get away from his unrelenting hands. "Rylan, stop."

"What's wrong...?" He stared down at her, pausing as he realised the position they were now in.

Lyra was pinned underneath him, staring up at him with wide eyes, heat radiating off her body as he froze above her. "Rylan..." Her voice came out as a husky whisper.

"Don't say my name like that, Ly-bear." Rylan climbed off her. "Not yet, anyway..."

"Rylan?"

"Just give me a minute, Ly." He said, taking a few deep breaths before he turned back around. "Sorry about that." He mumbled, offering her a hand. "Do you want to lie down for a bit...?"

"OK." She spoke hesitantly.

"Chill, Ly." He smiled. "I won't do anything you don't want me to."

"I know you won't." Lyra said, wandering over to the bed, lying back on the comfy pillows. "Well, not on purpose anyway."

"We always wake up in that awkward tangle, don't we?" Rylan laughed, rolling over to her side of the bed, propping himself up on one hand.

"You aren't doing it on purpose, are you?" She glared at him.

"Of course not." He raised one hand in surrender. "But do you want to try something tonight?"

Brown eyes narrowed on his pale blue ones. "What are you suggesting?"

"We go to sleep in a tangle of limbs, and see what happens." Rylan said, snuggling up next to her.

Lyra glanced over at him, wrapping an arm around his chest, pulling him closer. "If your hands happen to wander intentionally, I will electrocute you."

"Noted." He mumbled, wrapping a leg around her waist, nuzzling into her neck.

"Goodnight, Ry." She whispered, hesitantly pressing her lips against his cheek before she drifted off to sleep.

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ILLENIS HERE

This must be one of the longest chapters so far, I believe, so I hoped you enjoyed it, cause there's no guarantee the next one will be as long.

My word goal for each chapter is about 1000 words normally, but I beat that here, so yay me. Hope you enjoyed this update.

Until next time.

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