Hi everyone, I know I promised I'd would put this chapter online before Christmas but, Iand my editor wanted to make sure it flowed right before posting it. Thanks to my editor for all her help without her this chapter would have been in a right state.
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and hopefully you will forgive me for keeping you waiting.
Thanks from Bearmad.
Kay awoke nice and warm wrapped in Brad's arms. She laid there with her eyes closed enjoying the feeling.
It's so nice to have Brad's arms around me. I missed this so much when I was burning up. I didn't know how much I still needed the physical contact with someone. I thought that Norman and Helen and killed that desire in me, she thought.
When she opened her eyes, Brad was staring at her. "You've been watching me sleep?" she asked.
"I like watching you sleep, beautiful," he replied. "Happy Birthday honey, I've a surprise for you."
"What is it?" Kay asked with growing anticipation.
"Close your eyes and no peeking," Brad said with a smile.
Giggling, Kay closed her eyes and felt the bed move as Brad got up to get her present.
"Sit up honey, but keep your eyes closed," he said.
Kay sat up wondering what her surprise was.
I wonder if it's a ring, she thought wishfully. I know that weres don't get married, but I've wanted to get married all of my life.
Suddenly, she felt a large, heavy box placed on the bed beside her. She knew it was large and heavy, by the way the bed dipped.
Oh well, I know this isn't a ring. It's way too heavy to be a ring, she thought. It doesn't matter what it is. I know I'll love it, because Brad gave it to me. I wonder when he had time to shop for a gift for me with all of the craziness that has been happening around here lately.
"Open your eyes honey," Brad said.
Kay opened her eyes. Sitting on the bed was a very large box with an envelope attached to its side. "Can I open it now?" she asked.
"Of course silly," replied Brad.
I really hope that she likes what I got for her, he thought anxiously. I wanted to get her something unique that would remind her of us. I've never been one for sentimental, mushy stuff, so I'm not sure if this is a present she will like or not. Oh well, I guess I'll find out in a minute.
Kay pulled the envelope off the box and opened it. There was a card inside. On the front of the card was a picture of a large teddy on a garden chair relaxing, surrounded by beautiful plants and flowers. Inside, Brad had drawn a heart with a key and wrote 'Happy Birthday Kay. Here's the key to my heart.'
Tears began to well up in Kay's eyes as she turned to Brad. She hugged him, kissed him, and told him, "I'll always treasure the key to your heart, and I promise to never do anything willingly to harm your heart," she said. She took a shaky breath and continued, "You've had the key to my heart since the first time you held me in your arms."
He held her tenderly for a few moments. He took a deep breath and sighed thinking.
My beast is only completely at peace surrounded by her scent. Before I met Kay, it seemed that my beast was constantly on edge, ready to spring at any moment.
"Open your present, darling," he said.
The box was wrapped in gold paper and had a large white ribbon on it. Kay pulled the ribbon carefully and then slid her finger under the paper to remove it. The paper concealed a white box with a lid that was about 6 feet wide and 2 feet tall. It was a larger version of a hat box she remembered seeing in Helen's closet during a time when Helen was being nice to her. She removed the lid and looked inside.
At first, all she could see inside the box was packing peanuts. She gave Brad a puzzled look and he said smiling, "You are going to have to remove some of the peanuts to get to your gift. I promise you that I did not buy you a box full of packing peanuts."
As she removed some of the peanuts, she saw an object covered in white paper. Removing the object from the box with Brad's help, she thought,
I wonder what he got me. I'm so excited.
She started removing the paper from the object and , "Oh my God."
"Do you like it? I had it specially made for you," Brad asked hesitantly.
The white paper revealed a statue of a white tiger without stripes and a big black wolf lying side by side. The white tiger had its head on the back of the black wolf. The statue was 1 ½ feet tall and 5 ½ feet wide. The detail work was beautiful. Kay could not stop touching it. Kay loved it and knew that the statue represented her and Brad.
After holding and stroking the statue for a while, Kay placed it on the dressing table and climbed into the bed with Brad to give him a big hug and kiss. "I love my present. Thank you so much," she said, her eyes shining with tears.
"I wanted to get you something special. I thought a lot about what to get you, and I decided that I want to get you something to remind you of our love every time you saw it. I couldn't find a black wolf cuddly toy, and though I found plenty of tigers, they all had stripes. I was getting frustrated, so I asked a friend to do this statue for me. Do you really like it?" Brad asked a little hesitantly.
"I absolutely adore it. Thank you so much," Kay said snuggling up to Brad.
Now that Brad was no longer worried about her liking his gift, he thought
She's so beautiful. I can't believe how happy I am and that she is truly mine.
As he thought about his love for her, he began caressing her face, neck and shoulder. Gradually, he placed soft kisses on her ear, then her eyes, her cheeks and finally her lips. Slowly, Brad lowered her onto her back in bed and was just about beginning some serious making out when there was a loud noise outside.
Kay and Brad sprang apart, jumped out of bed and pulled on dressing gowns. Brad said, "What on earth was that? It sounded like a bomb exploded."
They went to the window to determine what the sound was. Brad didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so he turned to Kay with a questioning look only to have her shrug her shoulders, as if to say I don't know.
Brad sat on the side of the bed, placed his arm around Kay, pulled her in his lap, buried his nose in the side of her neck and thought,
I have a feeling I am going to have to deal with some problems, so I better get a good whiff of her scent to keep my beast calm.
After a few minutes, Bradley thought, Jason, what's going on? It sounded as though a bomb went off.
Jason answered warily, You'd better come outside.
Why? What's up? What's happened? asked Bradley.
