Col: His Destined Mate

by Georgette St. Clair

  His wolf was fast, surefooted, and at last it arrived at the door he had scratched at the previous night.

  Where it was silent. His sharp hearing could detect no sounds from within, his sense of smell picking up on faint, hours-old traces of her intoxicating scent. He shimmered, and his human form appeared, pressed up against the door that led to her room, easily filling the area between the door jambs. His key card swung from his belt loop and tapped against the lock; the wizardry that powered it created a clicking sound that meant the door was opened.

  Good. Saved him from smashing the flimsy piece of construction down.

  The human form was just a skin, a wrapping for pure instinct overriding rational thought. He could not resist. Col entered the darkness of the room, where a click of a light switch revealed how even more barren it was, compared with the night before.

  There were still some possessions around, although very few. And then he realized what was missing: The strange effigy of a beast that she had in her bed the previous night.

  It had obviously occupied some place of import, being one of the few or perhaps only personal item that was on view. He doubted that she had it elsewhere in the room, she must have taken it with her, wherever she was. Along with one of the two bags that had been out where he could see it the previous night. He did not see the car that Simon had lent her outside either.

  She was gone, and it seemed for the night.

  He imagined her at Ye Olde Taverne, sandwiched betwixt Merek and Barric, with her choice of the two. Or, mayhap as a cosmic jape from She Who Grants Abundance, she was with another male entirely, and she was not a Destine, but a different type of creature — one that wove a seductive spell over any male that she encountered. He had heard tell of females such as that, and held no truth to it until he encountered Katie Cooper.

  Inside him, his wolf threw back its head and howled.

  Col fell upon the bed where they had lain together, sifting out her sweet scent from the sheets. And there he lay, enveloped within her scent and tortuous thoughts of her with others, as the hours stretched into the dawn.

  Then and only then, did he shift and return to the house, only a shell of what he was earlier, when he had first left in great haste and anticipation.

  Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. It might have been the isolation of the single-wide where Rosa lived with the twins, or the fact that she was unused to the sounds outside and the bright lights of this community. The trailer might have been shabby and dilapidated looking on the outside, but the interior was extremely clean, with only the normal clutter one would expect with two preschoolers living there.

  It had to be her imagination.

  Rosa was apologetic that she only had a cot sized foam mattress for Lily to sleep on, but the threadbare sheets were freshly laundered, and Lily assured her that it was perfectly fine. She thought to herself that it might be helpful to bring an extra pillow from her room the next day, along with another blanket to line the mattress for cushioning.

  Even so, if she tossed and turned through the night, it wasn’t because of the firmness of the mattress laid out on the cheap, low pile carpet on the floor, or the faded and worn bedding, or the fact that she was attuned, as she was sure Rosa was, to the soft sounds made by the two sleeping children only a few feet away on two cot sized mattresses that had been pushed together against a wall. It was due in part to that weird feeling of being watched, and in part to her thoughts turning, as they frequently did, to the memories of laying in Col’s arms, the heat of his body against her own.

  With only a few hours of sleep, especially as she had to get up earlier to prepare the kids for the day, she dragged herself out of bed and got the twins ready. She strapped them into the back seat and headed to the childcare center.

  “Come on out, Brady and Clover,” Lily had opened the side door and unsnapped the buckles holding them in their car seats. They were near her room, where she meant to pick up a few more items before heading to Staff Childcare with the kids.

  The two preschoolers emerged with Lily’s help, a bit dazed as they adjusted to being on solid, unmoving ground.

  “I’m hungry,” Clover said.

  “Me, too.” Brady was rubbing his eyes.

  “I’m just going to pick up a few things from my room, and then we’ll get breakfast, ok?”

  “Where are we getting breakfast?” Clover was instantly alert, Brady following suit.

  “I’ll show you in a minute,” Lily said. She pulled out her key card and tapped the panel for access, and then opened the door.

  The kids followed her in, excited to have a new location to explore. As they ran around excitedly, Lily started to peel off the blanket from her bed. But something was off.

  She looked around. The kids were occupying themselves with a new game they invented, leaping backwards onto the other bed and bouncing off it, shrieking with laughter.

  Despite their glee, that sense of unease she had the previous night at Rosa’s single-wide returned. It was subtle, but she could tell.

  Someone had been in here.

  It couldn’t be Jordy, she had moved all her things out already. It couldn’t be a new staff member who needed emergency accommodations as she had; Rika would have had them meet instead of just giving someone access to the room at night.

  There was nothing definitive, but she was certain. Someone had been in here. Just as she felt someone had been watching her last night —

  —Her stomach plummeted, as the kids narrowly escaped colliding with one another. Which only served to remind her. There was no time for daydreaming with the twins, who had to be monitored at all times. She immediately stopped her musings. Change of plans, before the two preschoolers succeeded in getting hurt.

  She wouldn’t pack up the blanket and pillow now, but leave the items where they were and come back during a break, when the twins could be left at Staff Childcare.

  “OK, let’s go and grab some breakfast,” she said brightly.

  “Goody!” Clover bounced off Jordy’s bed and grabbed Lily’s hand. Brady took the other, and all three left for the Staff Caff.

  There was usually breakfast for the kids at Staff Childcare, but Lily thought it would be a good treat for the kids to let them pick out their own at the Staff Caff. Even though, predictably, they zoomed in on the station featuring the sticky, sugary pastries.

  “I want that one!” Clover stabbed a chubby finger at the glass. It was amazing how she was able to spot the donut with the most cavity-creating potential, despite her head barely high enough to peek over the counter.

  Karen, the woman in the food service jacket smiled at Lily as she expertly speared the donut with a set of tongs, placing it on a small plate to hand to the little girl. “It’s so nice of you to take care of them for Rosa.”

  Lily was about to respond when a familiar short, strawberry-blond girl with a round, freckled face pushed next to her and demanded, “You got another one of those for me, Karen?”

  A look of distaste briefly crossed Karen’s face, before a bland expression took its place.

  “Sorry, Jordy. That was the last one.”

  “Hey, Jordy.” Lily said calmly. She could feel some tension between the two. The girl turned to her, stared blankly for a second with a frown, before recognition flooded her features.

  “Oh, hey,” Jordy blinked at her. “Former Roomie.” She swept her eyes over the two preschoolers, who were clinging to Lily, before narrowing them slightly. “What’s going on?”

  “Just getting the kids some breakfast. I’m watching them for Rosa.”

  “Oh?” Jordy kept looking at them as if they were flea-infested dogs she needed to keep her distance from. “But not at Staff Childcare?”

  “In addition to,” Lily said, as Brady started tugging at her hand.

  Clover spoke up, with donut frosting smeared all over her mouth. “Katie’s staying with us.”

  “Forever and ever!” Brady yelled.

/>   Lily gave an embarrassed laugh. “That’s a slight exaggeration. I’m staying with them for the next couple of weeks to help out their mom.”

  Jordy looked bored. “S’cool.” She turned her attention back to the pastries. “Gimme that frosted pop-tart looking thing over there.”

  Karen’s eyes met with Lily’s. “Tell Rosa to feel better soon.” She was prepping Jordy’s pastry, looking all the world like she wanted to spit on it.

  “I will,” said Lily. “And what do you say, Clover?”

  “Fanks” the little girl said, her mouth stuffed with more of the donut. Karen laughed, and Lily steered the kids away.

  If she was going to take a break to get the blanket and pillow from her room later, she really shouldn’t leave the kids alone at Staff Childcare two or three hours for tonight’s practice dinner date with Aylwyn, she decided. Even if TraceyAnn was cool with it.

  And even if she wished she were really going to have dinner with Col instead.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Col straightened the lapels of his jacket, using the reflection in the glass facade of the restaurant in order to do so. Fortunately, Miller had provided all of them with what he had deemed to be wardrobe staples, which meant that Col paid special heed to what Aylwyn was told to wear, and found the similar items in his closet.

  After spending last night in Katie Cooper’s room, mired in his anguished thoughts, Col knew he could not bear it if she was out with that blond Waryeor this evening as planned. It would be torture beyond compare, envisioning her alone with him, laughing at his japes, entwining herself in his arms, joining the soft curves of her body with his—

  Col was here now, his compulsion leading him to practicing—for him a heretofore unheard-of level of — deception, in order to forestall that very agony. He had told an untruth to his Brodher, and pushed aside the pangs of his conscience in doing so. He’d informed Aylwyn that he had heard from Katie, and she felt unwell tonight, and would not be able to attend their “dinner date”.

  There was an expression that he had learned from Miller, that had been ascribed to a wielder of words with a fearsome Waryeor’s name — Shakes a Speare —that “All is Fair in Love and War.”

  He did not know if this was love, but he certainly was at war with whatever forces kept driving him towards Katie Cooper.

  A war that he kept losing.

  He was pacing again, on the flat surface outside the restaurant, filled with nervous energy fueled in parts with the deception and the excitement of seeing her again. And the fear that she might not look upon seeing him with the same pleasure, if she truly preferred Aylwyn.

  He stopped to examine his clothing again, to confirm it was exactly as Miller had advised. Dark jacket, cotton shirt that buttoned down the front and was pushed inside his even darker jeans. Black leather shoes that had been polished to a dull gleam. In the pocket of his jacket he carried a leather wallet that had cards much like the ones that he could use at the Faire. These he would hand to the serving-folk at the end of the meal, as he did to the florist who had sold him the trumpet-flared blooms that were wrapped elegantly into a cone.

  “Just for tonight, Col,” she had said. “Call me Lily.”

  He would never forget it, and so he had brilliantly hued Calla lilies resting against the crook of his arm. He couldn’t recall ever holding flowers before, let alone readying to offer them to a maiden.

  Then again, there were a lot of firsts. Like lying to his Brodher, saying that Katie Cooper could not make it that evening and would reschedule. Another first, uncaring of the consequences of that lie. He cared more that he would be the one with her that night.

  Another wave of nerves swept through him, and he turned to pace again. He met with her startled eyes.

  “Col?”

  By the Grace of She who Grants Abundance, Katie Cooper was lovelier than he remembered. He was slammed with a wave of desire, and all of the words he had practiced, the charm he had hoped to evince failed him. “Here,” he uttered, thrusting the bundle of lilies at her.

  Her eyes fell on the blooms as she took them in her arms. “Lilies,” she whispered.

  “Pretty,” a child’s voice chimed in beside her. Col looked down.

  There was a child to either side of Katie Cooper, staring at him.

  Lily was stunned. Floored. Speechless. Well, except for the “Col?” that squeaked out of her.

  She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, forming a mirage of what she had been obsessing over all day, whenever her attention wasn’t drawn to the twins or the other kids. Or when she wasn’t fretting over the bad news she had gotten, that the twins’ mother was not getting released as expected.

  Rika had come into Staff Childcare, pulling Lily aside to let her know that although the surgery itself was fine, Rosa needed to stay overnight at the hospital for observation and more tests. The Human Resources Director didn’t elaborate, only letting Lily know what the situation was, and confirming that Lily would still be onboard with taking care of the kids, albeit alone. TraceyAnn had been hovering around the entire time, of course, gleaning as many details as she could possibly hear.

  Lily had to mask the worry in her voice when she told the kids. To her relief, they treated it as more time with Katie.

  It had made her even more determined to bring them with her this evening, and possibly the next night as well, until their mother was safely home.

  Even TraceyAnn had been nice enough to suggest that she take the kids straight back to the trailer after the dinner, instead of coming back to Staff Childcare afterwards. She had heard enough to feel sympathetic, and probably to gossip to Luna, who couldn’t hobble away fast enough on crutches.

  Lily had looked forward to seeing Aylwyn, thinking that he would probably be most readily at ease with the two kids. It would be an early night, anyway, as she would have to get the two kids into bed.

  But when she first saw the broad shoulders, the brush cut auburn hair, the height on the man facing the restaurant that had been selected for tonight’s one-on-one, she couldn’t help the little flare of hope that it was the person she had been thinking of, wishing that she were meeting.

  And then the man turned around, and it was Col. Col carrying a bouquet in the crook of his arm that she had run her hands over not that long ago….

  A bouquet of flowers that she shared a name with. A tangible memento of the night that they had shared, when in a rash, impulsive moment, she had begged him to call her by her real name.

  Lily.

  He had remembered. That meant the world to her.

  He was saying something about how Aylwyn couldn’t make it, and she only heard the sound of his voice that she had missed so much. The strangely accented syllables, that when whispered against her hair did wonderful things to her equilibrium.

  “Can I smell the pretty flowers?” Clover’s voice interrupted her reverie.

  Right. Clover. The kids.

  She cleared her throat and smiled at the little girl. “Of course you can, in a bit. When we sit down, although…”

  She looked at the restaurant that she was supposed to have a meal with Aylwyn in. In the reflection of the glass, she could see Col looking at the twins as if they were three headed dogs. Beyond the glass, there were candlelit tables with white tablecloths. The crystal glasses on each table were meant for fine wine, and she bet that the plates would be of the finest thin ceramic, the utensils of hefty metal. The waiters were wearing crisp white shirts, and black aprons and looking even more polished than she was, in her earthen toned linen overdress and white chemise.

  And definitely more polished than the two preschoolers by her side, each of whom was more than capable of wreaking havoc where there was glass, ceramic, metal, white linens, open flame and the expectation of refined behavior. Together? And with Col looking at them like they were wild boars?

  Maybe this was a bad idea. Like, a colossally bad idea. She opened her mouth, about to ask for a raincheck, when all of a
sudden, Col added to the 9 layer cake of shock she’d been served.

  He crouched down, all six feet million inches of him, so that he was at the same level of the kids. And in that grave way of his, he asked, “what is your favorite food for dinner, children?”

  Brady and Clover yelled “Pizza!” at the same time, and pointed to a restaurant a few doors down, which had cleverly placed a chalkboard sign outside on the sidewalk, with a picture of a pizza slice. To make it even more enticing for kids, there were helium balloons festooning the entrance. It was clearly a family restaurant. It was perfect.

  Col nodded to them, again in that serious manner that he used for adults, and rose up to his full height.

  “Sounds like we’re having pizza for dinner,” Lily said.

  “Yippee!” One or both of the twins screamed, and to her utter astonishment, they wrapped themselves around each of Col’s massive legs.

  And wonder of wonders, if Col didn’t throw his head back and laugh, a full-bodied sound that filled Lily with joy.

  “Will you carry me?” Clover pleaded.

  Brady chimed in, “Me too, me too!”

  Col smiled again at the two kids, a sight that just zinged right through Lily, ringing her ovaries with a loud wake-up call. In a smooth motion, he leaned over and scooped the children up, a twin in each arm as if they weighed nothing. They squealed with laughter, especially as Col let them direct him to the restaurant that served pizza.

  Lily followed in their wake, marveling at the sight of the two kids and Col, completely carefree and genuinely enjoying each other’s company. She had never in her life, felt like nothing would make her happier, than to bear this man’s children.

  And be bonded with him forever.