The Alpha Queen And Her Chosen Mate
Chapter 54

Thorin

What to plan for my date with Kelly…what would she enjoy? Jonas and Emmett made plans nearly immediately, leaving me to wonder what I should do. It was hard to compete with a castle and a boat ride. Not to mention, I hadn’t exactly dated before. Sure, some hookups as a newly shifted pup, one more serious relationship, but then she tried to kill me. I was significantly lacking in experience in this department. What to do…

I looked over every magazine I could to get some idea, then I turned on the television to see what inspiration it might offer. When neither of those panned out, I asked the hotel staff what interesting things there were around here. After they suggested a boat ride and castle tour, I simply left the hotel and went on a long walk, taking everything in. And that’s when I found an idea. It was different, it required working with your hands, and was objectively romantic. It checked all the boxes. Plus, we had time for food before and after, so I knew Kelly would be pleased.

Hopefully she hasn’t done anything like this before. I want her to enjoy our date, I want her to remember it. I want her to remember me. I had never felt so strongly for someone before, except my little Alina, but that was a different kind of love. Kelly has held my heart for years now, and soon I will make that fully known.

– – – – – – – –

“Good morning Thorin.” Kelly smiled, letting me into her room.

“Good morning Solnyshko.” I said, handing her a freshly picked rose.

“Thank you.” She smiled broadly, smelling the decaying plant.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Starving actually.” She nodded.

“Well then, let us go.” I said, holding the door open for her.

We casually walked down the street and stopped at the first breakfast place we could replace. It was nearly lunchtime by the time we left, but Kelly and I were both fully satisfied with our meals. I told Kelly I had something planned at a specific time, and we had some time for a walk beforehand. She was happy about that, saying something about needing time to digest, and we took a nice long stroll through the park.

“Thorin, pretend I didn’t exist. What is your dream woman?” She asked as we moseyed along.

“Dream woman?” I pondered. “I honestly did not think I would ever be suitable for woman, so I hadn’t put much thought into it until recently. But, I would want fierce woman. Someone who is not necessarily fearless, but courageous. Someone who offers me a challenge, but will also let me take care of her. You seem to fit bill quite well.” I said, giving her a side eye.

“I suppose I do.” Kelly laughed softly. “What is your dream life like?”

“Dream life? I am simple man, Solnyshko. I love forest and moon goddess. I do not require much to replace happiness.”

“So what if we moved forward in our relationship? I might be made queen, or I might be arrested or exiled. How does either of those make you feel?”

“Eh…if you are made queen, I be the muscle to handle dirty work. If you are exiled, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been kicked out of a country.”.”

Kelly burst out into a fit of laughter at my answers, making me laugh as well. “I’m not even going to ask how many countries you’ve been kicked out of.”

“Only two, only because camera caught me on tape.” I sheepishly admitted.

“Well, two isn’t so bad then.” She smiled.

I took her hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze. “Come, Solnyshko, we should be going.” I said, pulling her in the direction of our event. It took us ten minutes to get to the garden museum where our date was taking place, but it did not disappoint.

“Botanical gardens?” Kelly asked, a soft, carefree expression on her face.

“That is the location, yes.” I nodded.

“Okay…but what are we doing here?” She nudged me, picking up on my cryptic ways.

“We have the paint session.” I smiled as we stepped inside.

We made our way to the center of the gardens where there was a large opening, filled with a dozen stations. Each had two canvasses, some paint brushes and some other art supplies. The most interesting part were the live animals that sat in the middle of it all.

“We are painting them?” Kelly lit up. “I love to paint, I cant say I’m any good though.” She laughed.

“Not to worry, that is why we have instructor.” I said, sitting us in front of the station closest to the dark brown wolf.

Our class began shortly after, the instructor telling us to each pick and animal to paint. They had wolf, tiny pig, owl, fox, and even a turtle. Kelly picked the wolf, which I knew she would. I picked a wolf also, just not the one sitting in front of me. I picked the one sitting next to me. It was hard trying to keep my work a surprise at the end, when everyone else was finishing and I was still furiously painting. Kelly tried to sneak a peak, and was even confident I chose the bird because I asked to take the rest of her white and yellow paint.

Instead, I painted a picture of Keres, having committed her to memory after all these years. How could I forget her golden blond hair, her sharp blue eyes, even sharper teeth? There was one moment in time where Keres looked at me curiously, right before trying to kill me again. It was before Kelly had started getting treatment from Emmett, back when she was completely unmedicated. I also wrote ‘Keres’ at the bottom so there would be no question about what I painted.

“Okay, I cant wait any longer, let me see!” Kelly pleaded. “You already saw mine!” She added.

“Just one final touch…there.” I said, setting down my brush and turning the canvass towards Kelly.

Her breath hitched, her hands coming to her mouth and her eyes watering. “Thorin…” She began to cry. “Its beautiful. You made her look so beautiful.”

“This is how I see Keres,” I said. “Maybe one day you will see her the same.”

Kelly climbed onto my lap, despite all witnesses, and pulled me in for a heated k**s. Her tears were falling onto my face, so I reached up and wiped them away with my thumbs.

“Thank you.” She choked out.

“Okayyyy folks, why don’t we wrap things up?” The instructor laughed nervously. Kelly half laughed, half cried as she got up off of me and dried her eyes once more. “We will wait for your work to dry and then mail it to the address you provided-” The instructor began to ramble.

I could hardly hear what she was saying, my eyes fixated on Kelly. Her eyes were black with shimmers of silver peaking through. Looks like Keres wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

“Why don’t we grab dinner?” I suggested, pulling Kelly to stand with me.

We found somewhere to eat. I couldn’t tell you the name, Kelly and I were far too distracted with each other to notice what we were eating, let alone the name of the place. She was giving me bedroom eyes all evening long, not that I was complaining, quite the opposite actually.

When we were done eating, we took the long way back, enjoying the cool air and star-filled sky. Things began to get a bit heated after we found a quiet spot in the park we were walking through. Unfortunately, Kelly’s mood began to drop the longer we were kissing, making me wonder what was wrong. I don’t think I did anything wrong. She was straddling my lap, my back against a tree, having full control of the situation. She could stop whenever she wanted.

“What is wrong, Solnyshko?” I asked, pulling away from her perfect lips.

“I don’t want today to end.” She sighed. “And I hate that you agreed to a ‘cease fire’.”

I laughed at her frustration, earning me a scowl in return. “Solnyshko, I had a wonderful date with you. And I hope to have many more with you in future. I did agree to cease fire. It lasts until the end of all of your dates,” I said pointedly.

“So…when is our date over?” She hinted.

“Whenever you want it to be,” I said, running my hands up her legs.

“Thank you for the date, Thorin. It was wonderful.” She said while pulling my shirt off. “And so thoughtful of you to walk me back to my room.” She added, yanking off her shirt next.

“I’m glad you had nice time, enjoy the rest of your night.” I said, unbuttoning her jeans.

“I will, you too.” She said breathily, just before crashing her lips into mine.

Kelly and I spent half the night together, making sweet sweet love to each other in the park before I actually took her back to the hotel. It took every bit of resolve I had to not follow her into her room. I think she could say the same. But we had a big day tomorrow, and the last thing we needed was for the other men to replace me in her bed in the morning. I don’t know if they kept to their word or not, I didn’t ask, nor did I want to know. Either way, we needed peace among us so we could replace the herbs for the elixir. It was the last thing left before we could go back home. And hopefully, once we were back home, Kelly would decide on which male she wished to pursue. Hopefully, she can finally have true happiness in her life, that’s all any of us wanted for her, to be happy.