Away from the High School, Leon and Regina Talbot were enjoying a rather quiet Halloween night. Leon was actually rather grateful that the wedding had gone relatively peacefully, as an all out brawl could have done damage to the church, which would be especially wreck buildings that were initially built in the distant past, and preserving history was an important thing. With that handled, Leon was content to return home and be by Regina's side while they watched various Halloween specials and handing out candy to trick or treaters. As Regina went to answer the door the phone rang, which then allowed Leon to receive some news.
As Regina Talbot returned to the living room, she found her husband standing near where they had their cordless home phone mounted with a rather pleasant smile on his face. The most telling thing, though, was that he was looking to the phone and not her or the television. That meant that something was going on at the moment, which made her curious or suspicious depending on what the plan was. Just because Leon wasn't a werefox didn't mean that was impossible for even him to pull a prank every once and a while.
"And just what has you grinning from ear to ear?" Regina asked as she approached her husband.
Leon looked back up to her and met his wife halfway, "Nothing much... Just something that I think was bound to happen."
"One of your brothers wants to challenge you for leadership over Moon Lake's werelions and all the respective prides and coalitions?" Regina asked slowly.
"No," Leon answered, "it wasn't a challenge of any kind... I why would I smile at that? We'd need to gather our specific pride, the challenger's pride... set up a wide enough area to wrestle and see who can pin the other. That'd be more frustration than anything else."
"The President called and wanted you and your brothers to restore the first car he ever owned?" Regina asked.
"Interesting... but no," Leon shook his head. His smile remained, "This was actually closer to home and family."
"Nubia, Olivia, Rose, Lily, Astra, and/or Dahlia are pregnant," Regina guessed.
"As happy as I would be for my brothers to have their families grow... no," Leon answered, "this has more do with our nuclear family."
"I'm not pregnant, I know that," Regina answered with a slight huff, "and Peter is a boy."
"Yes," Leon nodded, "but he CAN get married."
Regina blinked and then raised her hands then lowered them in surprise, "He..."
"Joy and Ife called, Peter proposed there on the dance floor," Leon said with a smile as he watched a similar happy grin grow on his wife's face, "Karen said yes."
"That's wonderful!" Regina said as she leaped into her husband's arms, "Karen seems smart, is very good with art, seemed to get along well with the family, and has made Peter happy... Perhaps because your position among Moon Lake's werelions isn't as important to her as it is to others..."
"Much like Peter," Leon nodded.
In a sense, Peter was in a place to inherit Leon's position as the "Lion King" in Moon Lake, as the position had come to be called. It wasn't really a role that was quite so similar to the Skulk and Leon was never fully involved with every potential decision that went on within their segment of Moon Lake's were population. In fact, Moon Lake's werelions generally lived with several small prides with one or two males in coalition to maintain organization and deal with the small matters, and would be supported by their wives, girlfriends, daughters, and unmarried females assigned to them. And thanks to his brothers, those smaller pride units were headed by one of his brothers, Tau, Jay, Rudy, Apio, Adongo, or Noah part of the coalitions that governed each pride unit. There could be subordinate males outside the coalitions, but they were expected to submit to the coalition's decisions with small matters. Bigger matters that went between pride units were then discussed on by the coalition males. If no agreement could be made, it then fell to Leon to make the final decision.
And in theory, if Leon ever decided to retire or was killed by some outside force, Peter would inherit the role. But from Leon knew, Peter loved and respected him and had seen no reason to challenge Leon. Some other males accused this of weakness, but Leon did defend his son, in that if he felt there was no need to challenge Leon for the throne, it would be wrong to force him to make a challenge. And at the same time, given that there wasn't that great an age difference between Leon and Peter, that if they waited until Leon was too old to rule, Peter might then be old enough that he wouldn't reign long either, given how long weres could live. Large predatory weres like werewolves, werelions, weretigers, wereleopards/panthers tended to live shorter lives by were standards, given that they at times did hunt and were thus exposed to greater risks of injury or exposure to parasites, that while as weres they could easily fight those off without problem, that didn't mean that there wasn't a potential negative effect. But that left Peter the heir apparent, and regardless, Leon did want his son to be happy, and Karen Yuletide seemed to allow for that.
"Have they set a date?" Regina asked, "for the wedding, I mean?"
"From what I was told... next Valentines Day," Leon answered.
"Might be good... give Karen time to make sure her family is good with the wedding," Regina mused, "avoid trouble... and make sure she's fully okay with what she will become..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Back at the dance, Peter quietly lead Karen toward an area that was quieter than the main portion of the dance floor. The area they went to was in a far corner of the gym, but for the moment with a new song playing and the excitement of Peters wedding proposal done, it was a quiet enough corner to talk in private.
"Did you have all that planned?" Karen asked with a smile.
"I had the wedding proposal planned... Joy and Ife's interruption and the DJ making into something that would have us announce things to the whole gym... that wasn't planned," Peter admitted.
Karen took his hands and smiled, which only made Peter smile in response. "Well, it worked out well, and everyone seemed to be happy. That worked well."
Peter only smiled and nodded. His eyes drifted to the crowd as they resumed dancing, now to a song that seemed older, but he didn't know it for sure. That, however, wasn't the main point of the conversation and the privacy and both knew it. Peter was a werelion, and heir apparent to what he preferred be called "head lion," and Karen would need to become a were herself. Karen had generally come to an agreement on becoming a werelion, as there was a certain attraction to it. They were strong, weren't covered in garish stripes the way tigers were, and among cats were actually rather unique in that they naturally lived and functions in social units.
The only thing that made Karen "nervous" had been worries over werelion social functions worked and how werelions had very open marriages. There were some worries that remained, but the more Karen had talked with Peter or Regina, or any other werelion that wished to talk with her on the issue, the more it seemed that while the marriages were open in that partners tolerated each other being with other people, their love and bonds didn't seem to be affected by it. Leon and Regina had BOTH been with other werelions, but Regina would only bear Leon's children, and it seemed that many of those issues served to be not much more than an official function than anything that related whether or not the their love was still strong. And from what she'd seen from Leon and Regina's interactions, their marriage did seem strong. At the same time, the more Karen had talked with Peter the more she got the sense that Peter truly loved her. That she was the most important thing in his life and that he would always come back to her. In that, many of her worries were pretty much gone.
"I'm glad it did," Peter smiled as he looked around, "as there is still..."
"When I become a lioness," Karen said softly.
"Yes," Peter nodded, "Now... if you want to wai..."
Karen raised a finger up to Peter's lips and prevented him from going any farther. There might be some parts where she was still worried, but Peter's wedding proposal and his declaration of love had done a lot with regard calming those fears.
"I've don't think it'd be fair to make you wait until February to be with your fiancée in every way," Karen said slowly, "and while certain issues related to werelion open marriages may make me worry a little... so long as I remain the most important woman in your life and the one that you truly love, I'll accept it."
"You may be asked to participate," Peter pointed out softly, "If my dad ever steps down and you ascend with me... some men seeking to become werelions may ask that the "queen" given them their welcome."
"If it's a duty or role for the pride, that I may accept to," Karen told him, "but you are the only man I want to be with, otherwise. You are that important... that special to me. Just make sure that I remain special and the most important woman to you."
"You will," Peter answered pulled Karen into a warm hug, "You've made me happy in ways I'd never imagined and in ways you wouldn't believe. You are the most important to me and you always will."
Karen only smiled and the two simply stood staring into each other's eyes for a few moments. Eventually they shared a very warm and loving kiss. As they pulled apart from the kiss...
"So, if before the wedding, when would you feel it to be appropriate to...?" Peter asked.
"Give it a week," Karen answered, "Let the town heal after all the nonsense that that asshole of a father Jenny has put the town and his own family through... and let all that nonsense die down. I know it stressed Jenny, and while she may be happily enjoying her husband... I know she was looking forward to being truly free of that situation..."
Peter slowly nodded.
"Now, I suppose you have something special planned, as normally couples don't go into anything like this for when they have sex," Karen commented.
Peter gave a small smile, "Yeah... my dad's had access to this place that's fairly quiet... secluded... and something of a surprise..."
"It's not some sleazy hotel?" Karen questioned.
"No," Peter answered and raised his hands and waved them to assure her that it wasn't that cheap, "In a way it's closer to some the cabin that you said the Skulk gave Jenny and Harry for their honeymoon. It's clean. It's private and secluded, and technically its on land that the pride owns... but it'll often take some time make arrangements for its use to make sure it's stocked with food and other amenities... like what flowers you might want present... or not."
"I see... well, I don't expect you to go overboard," Karen spoke, "So long as it's a nice surprise and isn't some sleazy hotel, it'll be okay. As I said... the most important thing is that I remain important to you and you remain important to me. We give everyone to heal up after things and that way we can have a full weekend. You pick me up on Friday after our last classes get out and come back on Sunday. That sound okay?"
"Yes," Peter smiled and pulled Karen into another kiss, which was warmly accepted.