I closed the door behind me and leaned against it for fortification before going back to face my mom.

"Chloe, are you two dating?" She pounced on me the instant I walked back into the room.

"Yes." I kept it short.

"I'm happy for you, he seems extremely nice. And he's very cute, cuter than Brian, I think." She said, smiling broadly.

"Yeah, I think so too." I smiled at her enthusiasm. "I have to get to work, but I'll see you after." I said, running out the door. I was actually early.

"Has hell frozen over or am I going crazy? Chloe being at work early?" Lana said, looking at me in disbelief.

"Don't get used to it." I joked back.

"Oh, trust me. I'm not going to." She said. "The dressing rooms need to be cleaned out, and then there are some new things in back you should put out."

I got to work, finishing the dressing rooms quickly and going through the new things. There was a really cute new dress; it was loose and looked kind of like a bell, it flowed out more and more towards the end, with spaghetti straps, and it was a really pretty blue that complimented my eyes.

"Hey, Lana, I think I'm going to put this on hold till after my shift." She raised an eyebrow at it, but didn't say anything.

"Chloe." Jasmine said quietly, standing off to the side. I glanced at Lana.

"You came early; I can give you two minutes." She laughed. I smiled my thank you at her and walked over to Jasmine.

"What it is?" I asked.

"Valentina got back from her trip today and wants you to come over for dinner. I might have let something slip about you and Alek…" Her voice trailed off and her expression turned guilty.

"Is she mad?"

"No, she's really happy. She's wanted you to start dating a Mai guy forever." She reassured me.

"Oh. That's good?" I turned it into a question.

"Yes, trust me. If she didn't want you to date Alek, it would be very hard."

"Well, I'm glad she approves." I told her.

"Two minutes are over." Lana called over to us.

"I gotta get back to work, see you tonight?" I asked.

"Yep, Alek will pick you up around seven."

"Okay, bye!"

The rest of work passed quickly, I was imagining all the things that could go wrong: Alek making some gross remark to Valentina, Alek saying anything bad in general, Valentina actually not being okay with us dating. The list goes on and on.

I bought the dress I put on hold. I finally made it home and told my mom about dinner.

"Of course that's fine." Was her reply.

I went upstairs and decided to wear the dress. There wasn't a better time to try it out. With the dress, I put on some make-up, added a necklace and a few bracelets, and paired it with a pair of silver flats.

As soon as I felt I was ready I heard a knock on the door, then my mom's voice.

"Hello, Alek. Chloe's almost ready. You look nice." I smiled and hurried down the stair.

"Wow, Chloe, you look really good." Alek said to me as I walked down the stairs.

"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself." I laughed and kissed him on the cheek. He was wearing a tight, dark green shirt with a pair of jeans. I felt kind of overdressed, but I shrugged it away.

"Bye, Mom, I don't know when I'll be back." I smiled up at her hopefully.

"Just make it before eleven. It's a school night." I almost laughed, I would be home by eleven, but then I would be out training. She didn't need to know that though.

"Okay, I'll see you then. I love you." I called over my shoulder as we walked to the door.

"Implied." She responded.

"You do look very good." Alek repeated after we got outside.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Not even a kiss for that compliment?" He groaned.

"You'll have to work harder than that." I teased him as he opened my door for me. "That helps." I added when he got in the car. He simply smiled and started driving.

"So, how does your mom like me?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Like you don't already know. But she does like you, a lot more than Brian." I told him.

"I knew she liked me, everyone likes me." He said cockily.

"Let me check with the Order, do they like you?" I asked, smirking at him.

"Well, that goes without saying that they don't." He scoffed at me.

"Oh, my bad." I said.

We got to the apartment and walked up to the elevator.

"So, Jasmine said Valentina is happy about us. Is that true?"

"Oh yeah, she's ecstatic you've forgotten about your little human."

"That's good." I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't know why, but I had been nervous about it.

"Chloe, you look wonderful." Valentina said as we walked in the door.

"Thank you." I replied, blushing slightly.

"So do you." I complimented her. It was true; she had on a dark blue shirt with a black pencil skirt.

"Thank you, Chloe. Shall we eat?" She asked.

Dinner went well, Alek didn't say anything rude or gross the whole time, which I was incredibly grateful for. Soon, it was almost eleven.

"Dinner was great, thanks for having me over." I said.

"Oh, no problem." She waved the compliment away.

As we got up to leave, Jasmine followed us. I sent her a questioning look.

"I'm going to drive you guys home, because Alek doesn't need a car to get home." I nodded.

Alek opened my door for me and then left, to meet me in my bedroom. I answered all of my mom's questions. (Yes, dinner was nice. Valentina likes me, it was fun.) And I got to escape upstairs.

"Do we have to train tonight?" I grumbled.

"Yes, but we can cut it a little short tonight. I'm very tired." He smiled as my face lit up. We ended up only doing about an hour's worth of training, just running and then fighting with him.

As we got back in my room he said, "I brought my own pajamas this time. And I brought the clothes you wore the other night, in case you wanted them again." He offered up the blue shirt and sweats I had worn.

"Sure, they were pretty comfortable." I thanked him.

I went to change and when I came back Alek was already lying shirtless in my bed.

"Relaxed?"

"Oh, yes. I like your bed." He smirked at me. I rolled my eyes and crawled over to him.

"I love you, Chloe." My eyes which had just began to shut snapped open and I looked at him. He looked at ease, but his eyes were worried, waiting for my response.

"I love you too." I told him, kissing him. He breathed a sigh of relief and kissed me back. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I knew I had feelings for him, but love? It just felt so right to say it back to him. I decided not to worry about it. Despite being hunted by the Order, and wanted by many other prides, I felt totally at peace. It felt good. I fell asleep in Alek's arms.

Alright, that's it! I'm ending it there. Sorry about the awful ending, but I couldn't figure out how to end it exactly, just don't hate me! Thank you all, every review makes me smile. My family probably thinks I'm crazy when they see me beam at a computer screen, but oh well. Thanks again!

Allie