Travis and Simon were both waiting just outside the Great Hall building in Animalia as Sarah and Malice came out. Both husky sisters wagged their tails happily at seeing their loves waiting for them and rushed forward for hugs and a few friendly licks that were warmly returned.
"So, how did it go?" Simon asked to Malice.
"It went fairly well, I think," Malice answered, "Though, this episode was aimed at helping to educate other Animalians, which has been a part of these broadcasts just as much as helping educate humanity on Animalia... it's odd, but I'd think it helps."
"So, are you ready for tonight?" Simon asked warmly.
"Very much so," Malice answered with a wag of her tail.
Malice was extremely happy at the prospect of having a mate and the fact that he was also interested in police work was a bit of a bonus. She was a little bummed by the regulation that officers couldn't be partnered with their mates or significant others, but she ultimately figured that in the end that wouldn't matter. Besides, since Simon was presently a Senior at Lyre High School and would be looking at going to college or the state's police academy with recommendations from both the Lyre PD and the Animalia PD for future assignment the next year, he'd likely have a partner before Malice and Sarah got through high school and reached the same point. And in the end, having a mate was more important than the rules police officers followed.
Simon was kind and deserved someone who loved him, which was the thing Malice really wanted to do. The biggest thing was that her parents stuck firmly by their rule of meeting with their daughter's prospective mates first. They did it with Sarah and Travis before Sarah took Travis as her mate and essentially turned him into the well sculpted double dosed Dalmatian that he was now and they expected Malice to do the same with Simon. In pure theory, they'd gotten the meeting at Christmas when Malice presented Simon with the gift cards needed to get a computer and a high speed internet connection so that Simon could watch the webcast Animalia's present group of ambassadors ran, but Simon's mother's boyfriend and prospective step father wasn't there and it wasn't a dinner. So, Thomas and Julia Wesley still required that Simon and his family come to dinner before Malice could finally claim her mate, despite the fact that both Malice and Simon were already double dosed Animalians already.
They'd tried to get things set up when things finally began to settle down with regard to various other female uplifted dogs and transformed girls into canine Animalians dropped out of the competition for Simon, but schedules were such that they had to wait. Simon's mother's boyfriend, one of the Animalia PD officers, couldn't get time off until Martin Luther King Day, today, so they had to wait. However, Malice didn't mind that, as it was just another step and confirmed that she would be able to get her mate. She'd waited politely so far through courting Simon to let him get used to her forward nature and for the issue with the others that had flirting with him to cool off. Waiting a couple days more for everyone to be able to come to dinner before claiming her mate wouldn't be too bad, especially when all parties knew what the end result would be.
"Well," Simon commented with a warm smile and looked over his shoulder to where his mother's car was presently parked and idling with both her and her boyfriend in the car waiting for them, "We'll all ready."
"That's good," Malice said with a smile.
Simon, his mom, and his mom's boyfriend were all Wolf Animalians, but to Malice that didn't matter. Wolves and Dogs were pretty much the same, and in many ways, as a Siberian Husky, Malice already looked fairly close to a wolf anyway. In many ways, despite the fact that he was strong and likely very well endowed, Malice actually found herself being more and more attracted things Sarah told her were more personality traits than physical properties, but Malice didn't mind. Simon made her happy and she wanted to spend a lifetime making him happy.
"Have a good time," Malice heard Sarah say to her.
That made Malice stop after she took a few steps to follow Simon. She looked over her shoulder to her adopted sister and her mate. They made an interesting contrast. Sarah wore a tee-shirt and a pair of loose fitting woman's jeans, which was all she needed as a Husky to hold off the January chill, while Travis wore a bit more. He wore a pair of standard jeans and a sweater, which allowed the uplifted Dalmatian to stay warm. They hadn't moved.
"You aren't coming to dinner?" Malice asked, "You haven't met Simon's folks!"
"Oh, we'll be there for dinner," Sarah promised with a smile, "but it isn't going to be dinner time for a while yet and I don't think her car will fit all four of us in there. You can tell mom and dad... whichever is home... that Travis and I will be walking home and will be by shortly."
"What if no one is home?" Malice asked.
"Then we'll have no trouble," Sarah answered, "and Travis and I will help get the dinning room ready for company while you talk with our guests."
"Okay," Malice answered and resumed her pace to follow Simon to the waiting car. He opened the door and let Malice climb in before following closely after her.
"Was that your sister, dear?" Simon's mother asked.
"Her and her mate," Malice answered, "but they wouldn't fit with us... so they decided to to take a more leisurely walk. They'll meet us at our home."
"You're sure?" Simon's mother asked.
"Pretty sure, yeah," Malice answered, "but thank you for the offer."
With that, Simon's mother began to drive the car away from the curb and slowly moving onto the street.
"Will your parents mind if I made a little something to go with dinner?" Simon's mom asked as they rode toward Lyre.
"I wouldn't think so," Malice answered, "just so long as it all works with the dinner plan... though we'll only find that out when we get there."
"Then we'll leave the directions up to you," Simon's mother said with a nod as they road along.
Malice only sat back and rested one arm over Simon's shoulder. It'd might following the rules that her parents had set regarding dating, but things were working out well and Malice knew that with there already being an agreement between her parents and Simon's mother that there was plenty of good things to look forward to that evening, and as she sat with Simon, she looked forward to it.