"Oh my baby!" Sara, Talia's mom, yelled, grabbing her daughter into a hug.

"Hi, mom. I guess you saw, huh?" Talia chuckled. Cameron glanced at Talia's dad, Ryan, and noticed him squinting at him.

"I know you're the future Alpha and all, but you know the drill. If you don't treat my daughter with respect-"

"Dad!" Talia cut him off, turning out of her mom's arms.

"What? Isn't that what I'm supposed to say? I have to make sure my baby girl is going to be taken care of." He said, his expression going from serious to happy. "I'm just messing around. I've watched Cam grow up, I know the kind of man he grew up to be. I know he'll treat you right, sweetheart."

"I will. You don't have anything to worry about. She's my mate, and I will spend the rest of my life proving how much she means to me." Cameron responded. Talia turned towards him, beaming. "My parents gave us the cabin on the lake, a gift for finding my mate. I guess they've been planning this since I turned 18. We wanted to stop by and talking to you before heading to check out the upgrades they made."

"Of course, we'll leave you to it then," Sara said. "I'm so happy for you two. I know how Talia has felt about you for years, I'm sure she's dying to get you alone."

"Sara, I'd rather not think about them being alone. In a house. With a bed." Ryan said, glaring at his mate.

"Ryan, don't act like you didn't throw me over your shoulder and take me to your room the very second we met. You didn't even know my name before we marked and mated!"

"OKAY, MOM." Talia yelled, cringing. "On that note, we are leaving." She grabbed Cameron's hand and quickly dragged him away.

"Have fun, sweetie!" Sara replied, much to the dismay of Talia's cringing father.

Talia and Cameron walked hand in hand, in silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to say. Cameron was worried Talia would feel pressured now, after her mom's statement about marking and mating. He didn't want her to feel obligated to do anything, if she wasn't ready. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he was ready yet. So he broke the silence.

"Talia, I'm not sure what you're thinking, but I want you to know that I'm not expecting anything from you. I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything you aren't ready for, just because of what your mom said. We can go at whatever pace you want. I'm with you no matter what."

Talia chuckled before answering. "Cameron, I'm going to say this once, even at the risk of embarrassing myself. I have imagined us marking and mating more than once. I'm ready if you are." Cameron's eyes almost bugged out of his head. Well he wasn't expecting that. He felt his face heating up at the thought of marking and mating with her.

"O..okay," he stuttered, "I wasn't sure if I was ready, but hearing you say that you are, quickly changed my mind."

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"Ren, if you aren't ready, don't let my desires cloud your judgment of what you want. If you aren't ready, we'll wait." She shrugged. They walked in silence another minute or two, Cameron contemplating what she said. He's been waiting for this since his 18th birthday. Finding his mate, marking her, claiming her as his. And now that she's actually here, next to him, he's nervous. Worried he's going to do something wrong. Embarrass himself. Cam's wolf spoke up.

Come on, Cameron. You're overthinking it. If you're too nervous, let me out. I'll handle our mate.

That settles it. Cameron wasn't going to let his wolf be the one to claim her. That's his place, not Osiris'.

"I'm ready, Tal. I'm just nervous. What if I don't live up to your expectations?" Talia stopped and turned towards him. She grabbed his face and leaned up for a quick kiss. When Cameron opened his eyes, he saw her smiling.

"That's cute. The big, bad, future Alpha is nervous." He rolled his eyes at her. "Don't be nervous. It's just me. We've known each other our entire lives. There's no reason to worry. Don't forget this is my first time doing any of this, too. We'll figure it out together." Cameron nodded his head in agreement.

"Well then, let's go." He put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "I just have to clarify something though." He took a deep breath and asked, "you...can only get pregnant during a heat cycle, right?"

"Yes. We don't have to worry about that for another few weeks though. Marking will trigger them to start, but the first one won't start until four weeks after, and then they'll happen once a month. We'll just need to be careful and use protection during the two days I'll be in heat."

The trail ended and opened up to a beautiful lake. Off to the right was a waterfall raining down off of huge rocks. Talia fondly remembered Cam playing in the 'secret cave' behind the falls. The small lake was calm, reflecting the moon and stars from the sky. To the left of the lake sat the huge cabin where she remembered staying when she was a pup.

The front of the two-story cabin is almost all windows. It has a covered wrap-around porch that held outdoor furniture, a grill, and a tabletop firepit, with huge tree trunk pillars on either side to support the porch roof. The pair walked up the steps, Cameron unlocked the front door, and they stepped inside into the entryway. Through there, the huge kitchen was to the left with the living and dining areas to the right. There was an office and a bathroom located on the first floor.

They continued up the stairs, and opened the first door, a bedroom. The door after that opened into a bathroom, the next door was another bedroom. Finally, they opened the last door, the master bedroom. It held a huge king size bed, a small loveseat in front of a large flat screen, and two more doors. Cameron opened the walk-in closet while Talia opened the bathroom.

She backed out, closed the door, and when she turned around, Cameron was standing right in front of her. She stood against the door and he moved until he was close enough that she could feel his breath on her face.

Talia could feel the heat radiating off of Cameron's chest. She could hear his heart racing, and glanced up at his face to see him staring back. Talia reached both of her arms up and wrapped her hands around the back of his neck. His hands found their way around her waist and he pushed his body up against her.

Cameron ducked his head down and his lips met hers softly. She kissed him back like that for a moment, then slide her tongue out to tease his bottom lip. He groaned as he opened his mouth and his tongue found hers. His grip on her hips tightened and she pulled him impossibly closer. His hands moved down over her butt, and he crouched down to pull up the bottom of her dress. Grabbing her thighs, he picked her up, holding her against the door, kissing her as if his life depended on it.

She gently pulled the hair by his neck and they broke apart, breathing heavily. Talia pulled back to see his face, and could see how flushed he was, eyes black with lust.