Grayson sat patiently in the gazebo waiting for Chance.

Like the last the time he’d gotten the message to meet the older man at the lake, he’d gotten another message. This time the instructions were delivered with a bouquet of roses, a black suit, and a small box with red satin thong inside. Topping it off with a black wool coat. Grayson had taken a shower and gotten dressed at his center early like he always did, not wanting to keep his man waiting.

When he got to the gazebo, there was a table set for two and a bottle of apple cider chilling on the side. Grayson shifted in his seat and hissed at the slight sting. He smiled at the reminder of his spanking a couple of nights ago. Grayson was also a bit nervous as well. There was something he had to tell Chance and wasn’t sure how he was going to tell his lover. He looked around. He stood when he heard music start playing and looked around only to gasp when he saw that it was the town’s quartet that came into view.

Fuck he’s handsome.

Chance had on a matching suit with a red satin tie, his salt, and pepper hair was slicked back, and his beard neatly trimmed. Chance took the stairs slowly and was standing in front of him with a hand extended.

“Dance with me.”

Not needing to think about it, Grayson put his hand in Chance’s and stepped into his lover’s arms. They didn’t speak, simply swayed to the music staring into each other’s eyes. Slowly their lips met in the middle and Grayson felt his body melt into a puddle of goo the instant their lips touched.

Chance made love to his mouth leaving Grayson completely spellbound. Or maybe it was the magic of being under the gazebo and the mistletoe, but their kiss felt different. As if this was much more than a romantic dinner between lovers. Their mouths separated, and Grayson blinked his eyes open and connected with Chance’s stormy grey ones.

“I love you,” Grayson whispered.

Chance smiled and brought the hand he was holding to his lips. “I get the feeling this is the second time you’re telling me that.”

“It is. I said it to you that night we were at the lake.”

They stared at each other and Grayson thought Chance was going to walk away. Instead, he pulled out his cellphone and tapped a number. “Hey, the timeline’s been moved up,” he said then hung up his phone, shoving it back into his pocket.

“Chance, what are you doing?”

He didn’t answer Grayson’s question, but went to his knees. “I was going to save this for after dinner,” he said then reached into the breast pocket of his coat and pulled out a velvet necklace box and flipped it open.

Grayson gasped seeing the platinum collar with two matching wedding bands.

In the background, the music that the quartet was playing changed and Scott the lead singer from Chance’s band started singing.

“For a long time, I’ve searched for a man like you, and for a while, I gave up and figured an old man like me could never find the perfect man. I love you too, Grayson. I think it happened the night we met but was too horny to see it.”

They both smiled at that. It was then Grayson realized he was crying.

“I love you so much I cannot see my life without you. I need you to share it with me, and I’m ready to claim you as my mate.”

“You already claimed me,” Grayson blurted out. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to feel guilty for not remembering that you did, and I was wrong for keeping it from you. But, Chance, I’ve been yours all this time.”

Grayson was waiting for anger from his lover. He’d kept another secret from him. “It was the night at the lake, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Grayson said going to his knees to meet Chance face to face.

Chance reached up and brushed away his tears with the back of his hand. “You waited for me, didn’t you? You waited for me to see how much I needed you instead of telling me?” Chance cupped the back of his head and pressed their foreheads together. “What the hell am I going to do with you?”

“I know I should have told you. I made a promised to never keep secrets from you, and I’m ready for my punishment. Spank me, punish me, do whatever you want to do to me. But don’t leave me, I can never live without you.” He reached up and took Chance’s hand bringing it to his stomach. “We can’t live without you.”

Chance snapped his head and looked into Grayson’s eyes. “You’re…you’re pregnant?” his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Yes, I don’t think I can call you Daddy anymore…”

Grayson didn’t get to finish what he had to say before Chance claimed his lips in a hastened kiss then hugged him tightly. “So how about we make it official?” he asked pulling back from their hug. “Marry me and become my full time submissive?”

“Yes,” he answered bending his neck waiting for Chance to take off the temporary collar and replace it with the permanent one.

“Read the engraving,” Chance whispered.

Chance’s Heartbeat

Tears filled his eyes as the tip of his finger moved over the words.

“You’re my world, Grayson. Always.”

Chance replaced the collars then they both placed the rings on each other’s fingers cementing their love for each other. They celebrated the rest of the night by having the wonderful catered dinner that Chance had organized and a couple more dances thanks to the quartet, Scott had gone home after he’d sang a couple of songs with congratulators.

After dinner Chance took him home and made love to him and reclaimed him, this time remembering that he’d done it. As Chance fell asleep, Grayson couldn’t take his eyes off his ring or touch the collar around his neck thinking back to the legend of the gazebo. Grayson had always believed in the magic of the gazebo and the mistletoe. He knew that the kisses he and Chance shared that night would keep them together forever, mated or not.

Chance turned the lights off to his garage and shut down the doors. He’d just sent his guys and Sheri home with their yearly bonuses and two extra days off since Christmas was right around the corner. He grabbed his jacket, putting it on and buttoned it all the way up. He wanted to catch Grayson before he left the center, they’d plan to meet at his parents’ home for their annual neighborhood Christmas party.

Chance pulled up the collar of his jacket before putting on his leather gloves. It was a cold winter night, but he felt like walking instead of driving his truck. He and Grayson had decided to wait until Christmas to tell their friends and families of their engagement. Grayson requested that the next time that Chance claimed him again would be on their wedding night. Chance thought it was adorable but would easily give his boy whatever he wanted.

For the past couple of weeks, Chance had been giving deep thought to whether or not he wanted to take Rosemary up on her offer to be Mayor. He realized that for a while he was looking for a new challenge. He loved working in his garage but left the majority of the work to his employee’s while he dealt with the paperwork. His shop gained most of its success because of the cars he remodeled and sold online. And although some places in the town were a bit spread out, most Vale residents like himself preferred to walk than using their vehicle’s.

But that was what Chance loved about Vale Valley. Magical properties aside, the residents cared about their little town. But Chance felt there were more things that could be done keep their magical tourist town moving forward without revealing its many secrets. He wanted Vale to continue to be the town it was, where it was safe for his son or daughter to grow up and be accepted.

“I’m going to say, yes aren’t I?” he finally admitted that he wanted a new challenge.

He didn’t have to worry about Grayson agreeing. Chance knew his boy would support him no matter what. It was one of the things he loved about Grayson, his willingness to support those he loved. He saw it whenever Grayson was with Anita who turned out to be Erica’s little sister. Chance loved Grayson’s forgiving spirit.

The sound of a branch breaking pulled Chance from his thoughts, and he looked around realizing he’d veered off into woods while he was deep in thought. He would have been spooked if he didn’t live in a town where anything supernatural could come out of the woodwork, so to speak. He looked at the clock on his cell and realized he needed to get moving or he’d end up missing Grayson. He was about to start walking again but froze when he heard another branch breaking once more.

Chance turned around when he heard a menacing growl, and a black wolf walked from behind one of the trees and slowly prowled towards him. The wolf’s eyes were glowing yellow, and his sharp white teeth peeked through his parted lips. Chance couldn’t tell if it was a real wolf who thought he was encroaching on his property or a shifter who was pissed off at him for some reason.

“Hey, who are you?” he asked, and the wolf growled louder. If it is a shifter, it doesn’t look like they are in the mood to talk.

Chance backed up, and with each step, the wolf did the same following him, he wasn’t sure what to do in his current predicament. The only thing he could think was to run and get back to town, but then the wolf might harm other residents. That was something Chance didn’t want. Looking around Chance spotted a large tree branch not far from him. Not taking his eyes off the wolf, he slowly bent down to get the branch only to stop when the wolf growled, not giving him a chance to stand. It attacked, sending Chance flat on his back.

Chance screamed when the wolf bit into his arms, the teeth piercing his skin felt like fire burning through him. The wolf growled and dug his teeth further into his arm, and he heard the bones breaking. He didn’t have time to dwell on the pain. With his free hand, he swung hard, punching the wolf in the face, but the wolf didn’t budge, not even an inch.

Fuck, fuck, Chance chanted in his head as he tried to think through the pain. He could feel his blood running down his arm and soaking through his sweater and coat. Chance stopped punching the wolf and tried searching for the branch he’d seen earlier but felt a rock instead. Grabbing it, he smashed it against the wolf’s head hard which finally got the thing to release his arm enough for him to use his foot and kicked the wolf hard, ignoring the breaking sound he heard. He just needed to get the wolf away from him.

“Who the fuck are you?” he yelled, getting to his feet. Chance was convinced that he was fighting with a shifter and not some random wolf who laid claim to part of the forest.

The shifter got to his feet and as an answer charged at him. With the rock still in his hand he swung, hitting the wolf, sending the thing back, but with each hit, the wolf seemed to get back up and went at him hard. On the last hit, the wolf struggled to get up, giving Chance the opportunity to get the branch he’d seen earlier.

Chance wasn’t doing so well himself, he had lost a lot of blood and his arms was broken. And a few nerves were probably damaged as well. He went to move but stumbled and screamed, looking down he saw that his pant leg was wet.

Fuck, I must have broken my leg when I kicked him.

Chance was certain that with a bum leg he wasn’t going to make it out alive or too far if he tried to run. Whoever the shifter was didn’t seem as if it was going to give up on whatever vendetta he had against him.

Yeah, I pissed a few people off over the years, but not enough for them to want to kill me.

“I thought shifters were supposed to be brave and tough,” Chance taunted the wolf, no longer caring who it was. “Hiding behind your animal instead if facing me like a man.”

The shifter growled, and froth bubbled, escaping the side of the wolf’s mouth and Chance could tell it no longer had the human mental capacity to understand him. The shifter charged after Chance again, and he swung the branch, barely clipping the feral animal on its snout. In an instant Chance saw Grayson’s face flash before his eyes and his heartbeat sped up. It was as if seeing his lover’s face gave him what little strength, he needed to swing the branch hard once more, this time hitting the wolf. He heard bones breaking, a whimper, then the loud thud of the animal’s body hitting the floor.

Chance stumbled back, and his body connected with a tree stump, the branch fell from his hand, and he closed his eyes trying to collect his breathing. He looked over to the wolf not far from him and noticed its labored breath and knew that whoever it was, they were about to die. Chance had never killed anyone one in his life, but at that moment, he couldn’t muster up the feeling of regret.

It was either he lived or died, and he wanted very much to live. Or he prayed he would as his vision grew dim. He looked up and squinted when he saw lights heading his way. He closed his eyes thanking whatever God knew he was out there. When he opened his eyes again, he saw nothing but darkness.

Maybe I am going to die.

He grunted as he tried to move off the stump but faltered when he realized that his leg wouldn’t budge. Sadness coursed through him at the thought that he might not get to see Grayson again which made him ache worse than the injuries he sustained as his body hit the floor hard, hitting his head.

How ironic, he thought. The branch that saved my life not too long ago is the one that might take it.