by Lucy Farago
Her lips curled. He was going to miss that face.
“Not in the way you think, no. But I was able to prove to FUC that I could do things humans couldn’t. All my years of training finally paid off.
“Like survive an explosion?”
She shrugged. “Lucky for me, I had my space disintegrator.” From her front pocket, she withdrew the same square object he’d seen Aubin use when they’d disappeared into nothing. “It…sort of moves space and allowed me to escape. When they’d removed most of the debris, I transported back.”
“You cheated.” Loki would get a kick out of that.
“Anyone who survives when the odds are against them cheats death. And my sense of smell might suck, but my endurance is far superior to any shifter. I withstand the cold better than a polar bear, and, in this form, I swim faster than all marine life. After I was allowed to join FUC, my confidence improved. I wasn’t the fuckup my family led me to believe. Even though now I realized they were testing me. Guess I failed.”
“How so?”
“I ran. Not very queenly,” she said, mocking herself. “When FUC offered me the teaching position, I thought, why not? I’d spent a good chunk of my life learning to survive one thing or another. I had to be tough, and I think I lost myself, who I was…and all the joy I once had before my aunt and her unborn daughter died. Then you taught me to laugh again. I was happy. Around you I didn’t have to be…to be…” She searched for the right word and found it. “On. I could relax and be myself. I liked who I was with you. I never liked myself before. So thank you.”
He nodded, but it wasn’t entirely true. “You could be yourself, but this form you’re taking, is it your true self?” What was she? Who had he fallen in love with?
“Yes and no. We’re not that different, you and I.”
“As beautiful as you are, my skin doesn’t light up a room.”
She laughed. “Aren’t you glad I can mute all this,” she said, waving her hand over her body.
“Nah. Glow in the dark sex would have been cool.”
She grinned mischievously. “’I wish I were a glow worm. A glow worm’s never glum. ‘Cause how can you be grumpy, when the sun shines out your bum?’”
He laughed. “Did you make that up?”
“I saw it on a greeting card. But you look so sad, I had to make you laugh. I love that sound. So,” she stood, quickly changing the subject. “I can shift. But a very long time ago, my people chose not to reveal themselves to the outside world. It’s along story. But this,” she said, “is my warrior side.”
Before his eyes, Winter grew in size, her clothes ripping from her body as her head all but touched the cathedral ceiling. White glossy fur sprouted from her skin, covering every inch of her, and if not for the claws where her fingers and toes had once been, you’d think she’d donned a shaggy fur coat. Her eyes stayed that iridescent blue, and her hair remained the same long snowy strands he’d come to love, especially when they touched his skin.
“This is what I am.” She growled more than spoke, through a mouthful of very sharp teeth.
“Holy shit,” he replied, thoroughly impressed. “You’re an abominable snowman.”
“That was Uncle Berger. He got off on terrorizing the monks. Given the south is ruled by women, we prefer Yeti, even though that’s not accurate either. We come from a planet called Aisla.”
“Aliens?” He always knew they weren’t alone.
“What’s an alien? We were here before humans, even before you.”
She shifted back into human form, only now she was gloriously naked. Life really wasn’t fair.
“I don’t want to waste the time we have explaining everything,” she said, laying down her bed. “We don’t have a lot of it.”
She was asking him to… She wanted to…? “Are you serious?”
“As I said, I’m not going to lie to you. You deserve the truth. I’ve fallen in love with you, and I know you believe I’m your mate.”
“Winter—”
“It’s how you found me, right? You tracked me down? I know Siberians are good trackers, but even you have to admit finding me in the South Pole is a little out there.”
If she could be honest, then so could he. “You are my mate. I feel it in my very bones. Ever since that first night. When I sensed your brother in the woods, something came over me. Like I was born to protect you and anyone who threatened you would die by my hands. It was the most powerful thing I’ve ever experienced. And now I can’t do that.”
“No, but you can make love to me, one last time. We can have this. Give me this.”
He didn’t need to be asked twice. He stripped and joined her on the bed.
Their lovemaking began with a hunger to take everything they could from each other and make it last a lifetime. Lips locked, limbs intertwined as skin touched skin. And when he entered her the first time, it was hard and fast, a pounding of flesh against flesh. The second time, they played and teased. He tasted, she suckled. His hands explored every inch of her, searing every dip and crevice, every peak and mound to memory. Her tongue traced each ridge of his belly, down to the sensitive vee of his groin. His body responded, ready and willing for round two. She laughed, riding him, driving him deep into her body so, when she came, he was so far inside her he didn’t know where he ended and she began.
The third time was slow, savoring the minutes, the seconds, knowing it would be their last. They kissed, whispered silly sweet nothings and professed their love. Feeling both wonderful and sad, he mounted her, and with slow and steady thrusts, they stared into each other’s eyes. They mourned the life they would never share but loved so deeply that this memory would be forever branded in their minds. And when it was over, they knew, without the words ever being spoken, that, when they were parted, a part of them would die.
The ache was already too much for Winter to bear. “They’ll be here soon.” She would make this sacrifice. She had no choice. This was her destiny, and she had accepted it. Sirius had made her whole. But she didn’t have to like it.
“I’m surprised they gave us this long.”
She, too, wondered why they hadn’t come barging through her door. It wasn’t like anyone in her family knew how to knock. And on that note…
“We should get dressed.”
“Yeah, okay.”
She left him alone and made her way to the closet. Her hair would have to be done again, but she didn’t care. They could all suck it. She was queen, and they could wait. She fetched her robe then headed back to Sirius. But he wasn’t alone.
“Winter.”
“Mother.” Because really what else did one say to your mom when she caught you in your bedroom…in a robe…with a half-naked man?
Sirius slipped on his shirt, trying to be as inconspicuous as a man his size could be.
Her mother looked between her and Sirius a few comical times before turning a beautiful shade of red. “Wren told me not to bother you, but it’s getting late. I had no idea…”
“And why would you?” While it was the women in the family who ruled, her brothers were fiercely protective of their mother. She wasn’t born into royalty and had lived among the humans as a child. Her father, Winter’s grandfather, studied climate change, and he thought that if he infiltrated scientific groups, he could lead them in the right direction. They’d lived on this planet for far too long to see humans destroy it.
“Your brothers underestimate the women in this family.”
“That they do.” Aubin most of all.
Winter held her breath as her mother turned to her attention to Sirius, afraid of what she’d say. “You’re the Siberian I’ve heard so much about.”
“I would assume, ma’am, yes.”
“Wren told me Winter is your mate. Is this true?”
When Winter opened her mouth to object, the woman actually shushed her.
“Is this true?” she repeated.
“Yes, ma’am. It is.”
“Do you understan
d that Winter, in a very short time, will be crowned queen.”
“Mother, what’s your point? He understands we can’t be together. Are you trying to make this harder on us?” Because that was what she was doing.
“I’m trying to assess if he understands what it means, Winter. Do you understand what it means when a Siberian finds his mate? It is for life.”
For life? “No.” No, it wasn’t possible.
“Winter,” she said, her consoling tone painful to hear.
“Sirius? Is this true?” As much as it killed her, he had to move on, find someone else to love.
“What does it matter?” he said, giving her the answer she didn’t want to hear.
It mattered to her…and he was right. In the grand scheme of things, neither of them mattered. This was bigger than both of them. She closed her eyes and allowed the pain to wash over her. Sirius would never love another woman. She’d taken that from him, and for that, she’d never forgive herself.
Then she gritted her teeth and opened her eyes. “I will always love you.”
“Love me here and now. Tomorrow, forget me.”
Like that was going to happen. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
Sirius smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re going to make an amazing queen.”
“What is that?” her mother said, jabbing a finger toward Sirius’s hand. “Let me see it.”
He looked as confused as Winter. “Excuse me?”
“Your hand, give me your hand,” she demanded, thrusting out her own and waving it like a mad woman. When he failed to comply, she took it upon herself to snatch his wrist.
“Mom. What are you doing?” Other than embarrassing her.
But it got worse. Her mother yanked his shirt to his elbow, ripping the button from the cuff. “You’re a Tutor,” she exclaimed.
“Ma’am?”
“A Tutor. You belong to the Tutor clan.”
“As in Henry the eighth?”
Despite herself, Winter laughed.
“No, no, you misunderstand,” she argued, her agitation worrisome.
Had her mother lost her marbles? Shit, she hoped that wasn’t hereditary.
“The last of the Tutor line died nearly two thousand years ago. It was said that when Xavier Tutor lost his wife and unborn child to a rebel in the Northern Faction, he refused to remarry. As the last one of his kind, when he died, so did the line.”
“Interesting,” he said, humoring the whacky woman. “But what does some dead dude mourning his family have to do with my tat?”
As if just noticing the tattoo, her mother, her bat-shit crazy mother, tore his shirt, ripping off the sleeve. Winter lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist, but she was having none of it.
“Leave me be, Winter. You don’t understand. See?” she said, practically mauling Sirius’s arm. “Do you see?”
“Don’t they have tattoos here?” Sirius asked, being ever the generous soul and just going with the insanity.
“Do you truly not know what this means?” her mother asked, some of her earlier excitement abating.
“The tattoo? No, honestly, it came to me in a dream.”
“A dream? As in while you were sleeping?”
“Okay, Mother, that’s enough. Clearly the stress of this day has gotten to you.” Thankfully, her mother didn’t put up a fight as Winter tugged her off Sirius. She wouldn’t say her goodbyes to the man she loved with her mother behaving so poorly.
“Winter, him I understand, but you? Have you forgotten all you learned? He’s a Siberian,” she said, some of that scary enthusiasm returning.
“Yes, I know. I’ve seen him in shifter form.” He was incredible. Four times the size of a husky, Siberians could take down a polar bear with a tail whip.
Her mother blew out a breath and began again. “Xavier was furious with the southern king. He blamed him for his family’s death. Killing the king went against a Siberian’s very being. He couldn’t do it, but what he could do was kill his own line. In doing that, he deprived future kings of their guardians. My mother was a romantic. She told me that story over and over again.”
“It doesn’t sound very romantic to me,” Winter said, admittedly a little intrigued with the old tale.
“Romeo and Juliet die at the end, and yet it’s considered one of the greatest romances. Xavier was so heart broken, he sought his revenge the only way he could. But in the end, he died alone. All because of love.”
Winter looked to Sirius, who seemed to be taken in by the story. “Hey, no seeking revenge or dying alone. You got me?” Now, to talk him out of that bull crap about no other mates.
Taking her by surprise, her mother threw her arms around Winter. “Sometimes you’re as daft as your father was. I told him you’d find your way, but he insisted you had to learn and he had to teach it.” She pulled back and pressed her lips to Winter’s cheek. “When Xavier’s line died, the pact made with the Siberians died with him.”
“Oh, wait, you mean the old alliance between Siberians and our kind? Is that what you’re talking about?” She remembered it had started with the Northern Faction, but she was unclear how it came to pass to the South.
Her mother smiled. “The Tutor line has a complex and troubled history, but they came to protect the throne. He,” she said, nodding over her shoulder, “bears the mark on his wrist, and that tattoo is the compact between the Tutors and the Fables. By having it tattooed on his body, he bound himself to us…to you.”
Sirius, who had patiently remained silent up to now, spoke. “Winter? What is she saying?”
A grin, so wide it hurt, split her face. “That you, lover, signed over your life to me.” She sauntered over to where he stood, where she poked him hard in the chest. “Your ass is mine, buddy boy.” She remembered reading about the alliance in the old tombs, but being a kid, she’d let it go in one ear and out the other. Not that she’d have believed Sirius was a version of Xavier reincarnate. But if her mother would back her up, hey, who was she to argue?
“We can be together?” he said, taking her into his arms.
“It’s your duty to protect her and never leave her side,” her mother said. “If the council takes issue with Winter marrying a Siberian, they can change the right of succession and pronounce Tulip queen.”
Somehow she doubted that would happen. “Marry? Mother—”
“Don’t argue with the woman.” Sirius covered her mouth with his.
And if they’d been alone, she’d have slammed his ass back into the bed. As it was, more needed to be said.
“You need to marry,” her mother said, after waiting patiently for them to come up for air. “We may not mate the same as Siberians, but we love fiercely. The council can be made to see reason, if you marry.”
“How soon can we do this?”
“Sirius, are you sure?” As much as she loved him, this had to be their decision, not her mother’s.
“I should be asking you if you’re sure. This ceremony would be for your people. I am already bound to you. My heart, my life, belongs to you.” Then the corny romantic got down on one knee. “Winter, my queen, will you be my wife?”
The nerve of him, to be that romantic and out do her. She, too, got down on one knee. “Sirius, you dog, will you be my husband?”
“Look at you, a romantic. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“And I’ll marry you.”
“Now that it’s all settled…” Her mom clapped her hands. “We have a coronation to attend. I’ll get the gown.”
When they were alone, Winter cupped Sirius’s face and brought it to hers. “I love you. And after this is over, there’s a lake I want to show you.”
“I love you too. And is it cold?” he said, wrapping his arms tight around her.
“It won’t be after I’m done with you.”
The End
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About the Author
An award winning author, Lucy Farago lives in Canada with her husband and, when they decide to return home, her three kids. When Loki, her Siberian husky, permits her, she writes. Otherwise, she teaches fitness and is a self-employed bookkeeper. She loves to read and wishes to pass that pleasure to her readers. Learn more at lucyfarago.com
Want to read Loki and Mia’s story? Check out Pawsitively Impurrfect by Lucy Farago!