Purr, Kitten [PUBLISHED - Sample Only]

The Proposition

As soon as I walked in the door to the house, Grace caught sight of me and walked over. "Hello, Kathryn. How are you today?" she asked politely, smiling.

"I'm great, thank you so much," I smiled. "And how are you, Grace?"

"Also great. Did you enjoy a day out with Ivy?"

"Yes, it was very pleasant," I answered with a smile just as Ivy walked in after me.

"Hello, mother!"

The two women caught into a chat, while I excused myself. I jogged up the stairs and went walking into my room. I shook off my jacket and opened the door to the bedroom. I was happy to see Liam standing by the window. He looked up and sent a dazzling smile my way.

"Hello," I sighed of relief and he stood up. With every step of his calm stroll towards me, I got impatient. Finally I took the last step, letting him wrap me into his tight embrace. I hadn't noticed the knot that had formed into my stomach throughout the entire day, but as soon as he embraced me all of it seemed to dissolve.

"Did you have fun?" he asked, pressing his lips against my head.

"Yes, of course. We went to see a really cool movie."

"What was it about?" I honestly didn't want to answer his question. I wanted to jump to his waist and kiss him, but I could fight it.

"Something about a dangerous maze," I answered silently.

He chuckled and nodded. "The Maze Runner."

"Exactly!"

He tightened his embrace, before dropping his arms. "We have dinner to attent to," he announced and I scrunched up my nose.

"I'd much rather stay here," I admitted and he laughed quietly. He brought a hand to my cheek and stroked it.

"So would I," he admitted. "If I didn't know we weren't going to have dinner in the dining room."

I looked at him in confusion and tilted my head to the side. "Where then?"

"I've planned something for us. You'll see," he said and took my hand in his. In sighed in relief at the action and laced my fingers through his. I patiently followed him out the door and down the stairs. I saw Ivy close the dining room door, but before she did, she gave me a wink. I was even more confused. We went out of the house.

Why was Liam doing any of this? And where was he the entire day? He has never given me flowers before, so why now? My confusion slowly turned into nervousness. I tried to peer at Liam's mind, but the cleaver man as thinking of something about the pack's safety. His feelings however mirrored my own nervousness, but at the same time he seemed happy.

I knew he listened to my thoughts when he began stroking my hand gently with his thumb, an action that he knew calmed me down. I decided to focus on that: his skin brushing repeatedly against my own, creating a warm and fuzzy feeling inside of me.

I kept my gaze on the ground and didn't look at where Liam took me, until the normal forest ground was lit up, by little outdoor candles. I looked up in surprise and saw more of the candles, creating a small trail to a set out quilt on the ground, around which the candles continued. On the quilt were multiple small pillows and a few fleece blankets.

"L-Liam?" I asked shakily. He grinned and took me over to the blanket instructed me to sit down and walked over to a tree. From under a tree, he took a basket and then walked over to the quilt as well. I've never really seen Liam as the romantic kind of a man, but this obviously proves me wrong.

"Actually, Ivy and mom helped me with this," he spoke, answering my thoughts and I smiled. "You're right. I'm not really a huge romantic, but I guess you hit some part of me when coming along." His warm words and charming smile made my head dizzy and stomach flutter from butterflies.

"Is there a special occasion?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled and looked at me.

"Do I need to have a special occasion to try and please you?"

"N-No, not really," I said, blushing. I swear, I lit up like a traffic signal light. He brought his hand to my cheek, caressing my skin without words, only a reassuring smile and then opened the basket. One by one, he pulled out a few boxes and a bottle of wine. In one of the boxes there were some little sandwiches. In the other one, there were purple grapes. Then there was a container with chocolate and one with sliced apples. It was a light dinner, exactly what I would need after having just ate a bit ago with Ivy.

He also pulled out two crystal wine goblets and opened the bottle. I held the glasses while he poured the drink and finally, he sat the basket a bit away from us. We raised out glasses together and he smiled.

"For us," he said gently and I couldn't help but smile as well.

"For us," I repeated and sipped the wine. I've never had any alcohol really, so I didn't know much about it, but I did know that whatever I just swallowed tasted brilliant. I hummed in delight and he laughed. We spent a bit of time, just talking about nothing at all and eating.

At some point of the dinner, Liam set our glasses aside and pulled me to him. He wrapped and red fleece blanket around us both and laid us down on the quilt. I sighed and tangled my legs with his, only causing him to pull me even closer to his front.

His lips brushed against my ear and goosebumps rose on my pale skin. "You make me so happy, Kathryn," he whispered gently. It didn't go unnoticed for me that he called me like that, instead of a pet name like usually, but his mere presence distracted me from it right after he said it. "But you're right. This little date is set up for a reason."

I gulped nervously and pulled the blanket closer to my neck. He thought of another thing however and he flipped me over, so I was facing him. "There's a reason for all of this. There's a reason why I got you flowers. A reason for having Ivy take you out, while I fixed up this. Also, there is a reason for me going to the Young Moon pack to see Jonathan, who's volunteering there and visited the far away Howl Wolves pack to talk to Tom and invite him over tomorrow."

I was silent, listening to him. He had gone to Jon? And even to Tom, whom I haven't even seen yet?

"There's a reason for me to go talk to my father, verbally fight him and win. And there's a reason why I went to my mother last night to ask for something very precious. It all has a reason, Kathryn," he spoke gently.

I realized he was waiting for me to say something. I didn't exactly know what to say, so I decided to ask the most obvious question. "What's the reason?"

He pulled the blanket from around us and pulled me sitting. "I went to your brothers to ask for their blessing. I fought my dad for him to drop his stupid accusations that all revolved around his past and aren't even relevant. And I went to my mother to ask for my great grandmother's ring."

I took a deep shaky breath, staring at him. "Y-You went to Jon and T-Tom to ask for my h-hand?" I stuttered.

He rose to one knee and opened his palm, in which lay a beautiful ring. It was made of white gold. There was a rose on it and in the heart of it a small blue stone. It looked antique and precious, but yet timeless. "I know this is fast for a normal situation. But we've never been a normal couple. And it actually seems quite innocent, how actually my parents got married right after mom said yes," he said and chuckled. "I love you, Kathryn. Forever and always. Is it enough for you to give me the pleasure of being your betrothed and later on your husband?"

I didn't want to cry. I never had the plan of crying. Yet there I was, sitting, silent tears running down my cheeks. "I love you so much, Liam," I whispered. Even if I hadn't said it before, neither of us had, it was the truth and it felt amazing saying it.

I fell into his embrace, almost knocking him off of his one knee stand. But he steadied me and hugged me, pressing his lips softly against my head.

"Yes," I finally managed to whisper. There was no other acceptable answer. He let out a breath of relief and rocked us back and forth slightly. I lifted my head from his chest and held my hand out in front of him. He slipped the ring on and then brushed the tears of happiness from my cheeks with his thumb.

In the distance, more towards the pack, there were heard a multiple set of howls. Those were followed by some more and some more, until the entire pack was cheering for us and themselves.