Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

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Artem

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  Now that we were home, and everyone was adjusting to the new life that we all had here, I wanted to ask Star to marry me. I wanted to make her my wife, and I already had her father\'s blessing, which was something that we never once thought we would ever have or need. I wanted to make her feel special. I wanted to treat my mate with the utmost respect and show her how much I loved her and cared for her. That was the best thing possible in my opinion.

The problem was that I didn\'t know how to do it. How the hell do you plan the perfect proposal for the most amazing woman on the planet? What could I do to show her how special she was? I needed to figure this out.

I spent a while thinking alone and came up with a lot of lame ideas. I went to see Kent and talked to him about it as well.

"You want the perfect proposal for Star, huh? Well, it needs to be tailored to her, what she likes and what is special to the two of you."

"I know that, but everything that I am coming up with is totally cheesy. I don\'t know what to do."

"Sounds like a personal problem." He laughed at me. "You know she is going to love it no matter what. As long as she gets a proposal from you, I am sure she will be the happiest woman ever."

By the time I was done talking to him, I felt like I hadn\'t even gotten any good information. Now I was just as confused as I was before. I need to make this the best night of my Star\'s life. I need to make sure that she will never forget this proposal, ever.

I even went to talk to Chay. I asked her what she thought I should do. Whatever it was I would have done it, maybe.

"You need to focus on your strengths here, Artem. What are you best at doing for a date? What do you think that Star would like? Keep it natural."

She wasn\'t much help either. That was why I was currently laying in my bed thinking about this dilemma while Star showed Aaron what the kids did everyday. School was starting soon, and we were going to send them all to the charter academy in the city, but until then they all wanted to keep learning in the library. Reed and Bailey were even going to work at the school; it would help them with the transition.

Now to think about this. Kent said to focus on what Star would like. Chay told me to play to my strengths and keep it natural. Hmm. Natural? Natural? Natural?

I got it! I could do something in nature. Star is a half pixie. She loves nature. That would let me cook the food for us, and we could be alone. That is natural, something Star would like, and plays to my strengths. It\'s perfect. I knew exactly what to do. And I could even do it tonight.

I started on the food right away. I wanted to make some foods that I knew Star liked, but were also good for a picnic. I made bite-sized pieces of fried chicken, homemade potato salad, wonton tacos, a tossed salad, lots of little things like that.

When I was done making the food, I put it all together into a basket and went in search of my Star. She was reading a book in the library while Aaron got to know the kids some more. Goddess, just seeing her made my heart sing.

"Star?" I called out to her in a soft voice.

"Hey." She looked up just as I got to her and kissed her cheek.

"Will you come out with me tonight?" I got right to it as I held her hand and stared deeply into her eyes.

"What? Why? I don\'t think we need to go out tonight. We\'ve only been home for a few days. We should stay in with the kids."

I felt my joy and excitement plummet. I was hoping she would have said yes immediately so I didn\'t have to convince her at all.

"But, Star, I want to spend a little bit of time alone with you. Just the two of us. I want us to talk about some very important things."

"Artem, I don\'t-." She started to deny me again, but was interrupted.

"I think you should go. You won\'t get chances like this when the baby comes. You should take advantage now that you can. The rest of us will be here with the kids anyway."

"Yeah, Papa Aaron is right, you should go Mommy. Daddy really wants to go on a date with you." Benton smiled at me as he backed up his new Papa.

"Well, if you guys won\'t mind, I guess we can go."

At that Dalton got up and walked over to Star, taking her hand in his little one.

"We won\'t mind, Mommy. We know you and Daddy will be back soon, and we will see you at breakfast. And like Papa said, when my little brother gets here, he will keep you busy. I want to be a big brother, but I also want Mommy and Daddy to be happy."

"I am happy, Dalton. I am happy because I have all of you here with me. I love you. All of you."

"We love you too Mommy." Dalton threw his arms around Star\'s shoulders, and I almost felt like I was going to cry. He was such a good kid.

"OK, I guess we can go out tonight." She smiled at me while still hugging the little boy to her chest. She looked like she was going to cry as well. I was so happy that they were all here to help her to say yes to this.

I had it all set up and ready to go so Star just went to go and get changed. I made sure that I grabbed a thick blanket that would make it comfortable to sit on. I even grabbed some pillows. I made sure that I had the ring tucked away in my pocket, still wrapped in the same silk that Aaron had given it to me in. I was ready to go.

Star came down wearing a strappy summer dress. It was an indigo blue with a map of the stars printed on it. So funny that she would choose that given my plans for the night. Her hair had been braided loosely down the back of her head and she was wearing a pair of sandals that made her look like some sort of Greek goddess.

"You look gorgeous." I smiled at her as she walked down the stairs to where I was waiting by the door.

"Thank you." She blushed, but took my hand. "So, what do you have planned for tonight?"

"Well, I wanted to have a picnic and talk. We can watch the stars after the sun goes down too." Not to mention I told everyone to stay away from that part of the woods tonight.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful. Didn\'t we promise to look at the stars together some time?" The excitement was pouring off of her now.

"That we did, and now we are finally getting to it." I could never stop grinning when I talked to her.

"Well, I guess we have a walk ahead of us. Shall we go?"

She took my hand and headed toward the door. I needed to get a few things though.

"Hold on, I need to grab the stuff." I grabbed the large pack that had the blankets and pillows wrapped up in it. Then I grabbed the large picnic basket. Now that I was ready I took her hand.

"Do you want some help?" She looked at me with worried eyes.

"Nope. I\'ve got it. I could carry you too." I grinned at her. "Let\'s go." I took her hand, and we walked out of the house.

We walked slowly through the woods. I made sure to take an easy path, something that didn\'t need us to watch our steps that much. I guided Star around large trees, rocks, tripping roots, everything that could harm her.

By the time that we were where we were going, the trees all faded away. The clearing opened up before us, and the twilight sky gave up just enough light to see by. The clearing was just big enough for us to spread the blanket out without touching the edge of the fast moving stream that was on the far side of it. The trees were completely pulled away from the clearing at the top so there was no canopy of branches or anything in our way. We would be able to see the sky perfectly here. I hoped Star liked this date that I had planned for her, and the question that I wanted to ask her.