Solo stood at the bus stop.

Rain was beginning to fall, fat drops soaking into his hair and splashing in the puddles that were already forming in the macadam of the shopping center parking lot. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

He didn’t care that he was cold and wet. He was numb at the thought of leaving Cecily. Already his heart felt stretched tight like a rubber band between where he stood and where she was now.

He tried to picture her with her father. Would she tell Dirk who she was to him?

Though she had indicated that she didn’t want Dirk in her life in that way, Solo couldn’t picture her pushing him away. He had heard the sadness in the man’s voice when he’d called and asked him to go to the park if he wanted to right an old wrong.

He imagined Cecily smiling, her father embracing her. He imagined her happy, opening her heart to love and commitment one day. He imagined her in a wedding dress, her father giving her away to a faceless groom. He imagined her nursing a child with russet curls, happy.

These visions threatened to rip his soul to shreds, but they were all he had now. The hope of her happiness would have to be enough.

He looked up when he heard a vehicle pulling in to the parking lot, thinking it must be the bus.

But it was a silver Lexus. It seemed to be traveling far too quickly.

He watched in amazement as its brakes squealed and it slid sideways into a parking spot like something out of a movie.

The door burst open and someone flung themselves out of the passenger side, auburn curls bouncing, a hand shielding her blue eyes from the rain.

Cecily.

He ran to her, his heart pounding.

She melted into his arms.

“I’m sorry,” she panted. “I’m so sorry. I love you.”

A crushing weight he hadn’t realized he was carrying suddenly lifted and he felt like he could fly.

“Cecily,” he said helplessly, “Cecily.”

She pulled away slightly and looked into his eyes.

“I accept you as my mate,” she said.

The thunder stopped mid-boom and soft sunlight embraced them.

Solo blinked, not understanding.

Cecily’s eyes widened.

“The glade,” she whispered.

He tore his eyes from hers to look around.

The parking lot was gone. In its place was a grassy meadow, trees swaying at its perimeters. Birds chirped overhead and a soft breeze lifted Cecily’s curls.

“I used to come here when I was a kid,” she said. “This is what was here before the parking lot. Are you doing this?”

He shook his head. “I can’t do this,” he told her. “I mean, I can see a memory vision, but only a shadow, a ghost image. This must be you.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“When you accepted me as your mate, I think I clicked with you,” he said.

“But we didn’t…” She trailed off, blushing.

“Oh, don’t think you’re getting off that easy,” he teased her. “We’re definitely going to do that, too.”

She smiled and his heart felt like it would expand out of his chest.

“Anyway,” he said. “I think you got my gift. Dr. Bhimani said it might happen. And somehow, I think we’re making this together.”

“Wow,” Cecily breathed.

“Yeah,” Solo said, looking around. “Wow.”

“I always thought the first boy I ever kissed would kiss me right here in the glade,” Cecily mused.

“How about if the last man you’ll ever kiss decided to kiss you here?” Solo asked.

Her eyes danced and she tilted her chin up to him in invitation.

Solo leaned down and kissed her slowly, carefully, reveling in the heat of her sweet mouth, the feel of her hands tightening on his shoulders.

After a moment she pulled away slightly.

“My dad is probably watching us,” she whispered.

Solo hadn’t thought of that.

“It’s time to leave the glade then,” he told her.

“How do I do that?” she asked.

“Just reach into your mind and… let go,” he explained as best he could.

She closed her eyes.

After a second, the glade faded to the ghostly afterimage he had created himself.

She opened her eyes.

“Oh wow,” she said.

“Can you still see it?” he asked her. That had never happened before. Only Solo could see his visions.

“I can see both now,” she told him. “The outline of the glade and the actual parking lot.”

“You’re seeing my vision,” he mused.

“No more private visions for you,” she teased.

He smiled, closed his eyes, and let go of the glade.

As soon as he opened his eyes he could feel the rain on his head again. Thunder boomed overhead, not so distant this time.

“Hey kids,” Dirk Malcolm called from where he stood, leaning on his car with a fond smile on his face. “Want to get out of here before we all get washed away?”

“Absolutely,” Cecily replied, taking Solo by the hand and leading him back to the car with her.

“So do you want me to give him a hard time or what?” Dirk asked Cecily. “I’m new to this dad thing, but I’m pretty good at improv. Should I threaten to kill him if he hurts you? Or do I just give him a look that implies I have weapons?”

“He’s good, Di… Dad,” Cecily said, climbing into the car. “No threats or mean looks needed.”

“She called me Dad,” Dirk mouthed excitedly to Solo, his eyebrows comically high.

Solo climbed into the car and they headed down the leafy streets of Greenfield.

“You guys are staying at the Greenfield Inn, right?” Dirk asked. “Or did you want me to help you track down your friends?”

“No,” Solo and Cecily said at once.

“Er, no, we’ll just go to the hotel,” Cecily said. “Would you mind letting my friends know where I am?”

“Sure,” Dirk said, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

Solo was grateful that Cecily didn’t seem to care.

Rain drummed down on the roof of the car, and the short drive seemed to take forever. But at last they reached the small hotel outside the village, just as the rain began to pour in earnest.

“Thanks for the ride,” Cecily said, suddenly sounding awkward.

“Are you kids okay from here?” Dirk asked.

“Sure,” she said. “So are you going to the Con in Glacier City?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I sure am.”

“Would you want to, um, have breakfast or something when we get there?” she asked.

“I would love that.” Dirk smiled so hard the lines on his face disappeared.

“Okay, I’ll text you,” Cecily said, squeezing his knee and hopping out of the car.

Solo hopped out of the back seat and gave Dirk a wave before following Cecily through the deluge to the hotel lobby.

They headed up the stairs quietly to their room on the second floor.

Cecily opened the door and went in. It was a small space with a big bed at its center and a tiny bedside table.

Once Solo closed the door behind them the room seemed small and quiet. There was nothing to distract him from his mate.

Cecily put her bag down on the table and turned to him slowly.

“Are you feeling shy?” he asked her.

She gave him a crooked smile. She was feeling shy.

Her damp t-shirt clung to her curves and raindrops sparkled in her hair like diamonds.

Solo was nearly overwhelmed with the need to pull her close, to warm her body with his and claim her.

“We don’t have to consummate our mating tonight,” he told her. “We can go find our friends and spend time with them. We have the rest of our lives…”

But she was approaching him slowly, an unmistakable look in her eyes.

“Oh, no,” she said. “You’re not getting off that easy.”

He smiled at how she had turned his words around on him.

And then she was up on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body to his.

Solo held her gently, enjoying the feel of her cool wet t-shirt and the warm woman beneath it.

Cecily brushed her lips against his. She tasted like rain and hunger.

He kissed her back with all the pent up passion of the last twenty-four hours.

In one rotation of the Earth he had loved and lost and seen her return to his arms again. The emotions were dizzying, and when coupled with the hot demands of his body he felt nearly drunk with relief and desire.

Cecily pressed her breasts against his chest.

Growling, Solo lifted her up and deposited her on the bed.

Cecily giggled and the happy sound sent lightning bolts of need through his veins.

He stripped out of his clothes, loving the way she got quiet again the moment he revealed his muscular torso, and the hungry way her eyes caught on his rigid cock.

“Now you,” he said.

She smiled and got up on her knees. Keeping her eyes on his, she peeled her t-shirt up over her head, then unfastened her bra, releasing her beautiful breasts.

Solo’s mouth watered at the sight, but Cecily wasn’t finished.

She pushed down her waistband, peeling shorts and panties over her hips and off at once.

He fell on her, pressing his body to hers, nearly moaning at the contact with her soft warmth. He kissed her forehead her eyelids, her cheeks, her chin.

Cecily giggled again, the sound like a symphony, and wrapped her arms around him.

He kissed her sweet lips again, and nuzzled her neck.

She arched her back slightly, inviting.

He brushed his lips against the delicate hollow of her throat, inhaling her light scent, then kissed his way down to her breasts.

Cecily tensed, waiting.

Solo licked one sensitive nipple into his mouth, teasing the other between his thumb and forefinger.

Cecily moaned lightly and arched her back even more.

Solo growled and feasted on her breasts, licking and nipping, and sucking her tender nipples until he felt her hips trembling under him.

She was ready.

He nuzzled her belly and nudged her thighs apart, reveling in her delicate scent.

Cecily tossed her head against the pillow.

Solo smiled. She was more than ready. But he had to taste her first.

He lowered his mouth to her, licked her slowly as she whimpered and trembled.

His own need made him nearly frantic, especially with the taste of her on his lips, but he was determined to go slowly.

Cecily’s sex glistened pink and swollen as he lapped and flicked his tongue against her slick opening.

She cried out when he drew a circle around her pouting clitoris with his tongue.

He eased a finger against her, pressing inward until her velvety interior enveloped him, pulsing and throbbing in a way that made him wild to be inside her.

He licked around his fingers and she wiggled and lifted her hips, as if begging for release.

When he was convinced that she couldn’t take any more, he nuzzled her inner thigh and pulled back to look at her.

Cecily’s curls were spread across the pillow, her eyes hazy with lust, hands gripping the sheets - a wanton angel.

“Are you ready, my love?” he asked her.

“Yes, please,” she whispered, lifting her arms to him.

He crawled on top of her and kissed her cheeks, her eye-lids, her sweet mouth, as she wrapped her hands around his shoulders.

“I love you,” he told her.

He took his cock in his hand and found her tender opening, pressing as gently as he could into that intoxicating warmth.