by Zoe Chant
Honestly, she thought, as she watched Beau make his way over to the little tree. I have to get a handle on this, or the next three days are going to be incredibly awkward.
She’d never usually had any trouble with letting her imagination get the better of her. What was so different about now?!
She watched as Beau, clearly deciding the ax might be a bit of an overkill for such a small tree, put it down and picked up a hacksaw instead. In what seemed like no time, he’d cut through the trunk and was lifting the tree into his arms.
“I think I can carry that one,” Annie said, reaching out her arms. “You’ve done enough work for one day!”
“If you’re sure,” Beau said. “I don’t mind – it barely weighs a thing.”
“Then it’ll be no issue for me to carry it,” Annie said, taking it from him. As she did so, her gloved fingers brushed against the bare skin of his arm – and even through the material, she could feel that same shiver of electricity pass between them, just as it had done back at the bakery.
Pins and needles shot up her arm – except, unlike pins and needles, this feeling was warm and pleasant, like a surge of hot adrenaline and anticipation, racing through her body and settling low in her belly…
Coughing, she stepped back away from him, lowering her head to let her hair fall over her face.
What was I just saying about letting my imagination run away with me?!
Before Beau could notice her discomfort – well, hopefully, anyway – Annie turned on her heel, just in time to see Mr. Johnstone heading back out of the shop.
“All done then?” he asked as he reached them. “That’s some nice work – not even Jimmy makes such clean cuts.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out some folded bills. “How much d’you think I owe you, then?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Beau said quickly, after the slightest pause. Annie glanced back at him, and – was that a blush she saw on the perfect arches of his high cheekbones?
Great, now I’m seeing things.
Mr. Johnstone shook his head. “I can’t be having a man working for me for free,” he insisted. “You work, you get paid. That’s what I believe.”
“I understand that,” Beau said. “But I couldn’t take your money for helping you out of a tight spot. And it is Christmas, after all.”
Mr. Johnstone frowned, but Beau’s voice had been completely firm. It was clear he meant what he said.
“I can’t talk you out of this, can I?”
“No, sir,” Beau replied.
“Well, fine,” Mr. Johnstone said. “If you really won’t take my money, then the least I can do is let you have the tree for free.”
“Are you sure?” Annie asked. “I wouldn’t want to take it for nothing –”
“It’s not nothing, after the help you’ve been to me today,” Mr. Johnstone said. “Like I said, the tree is the least I can do for you.”
Annie glanced at Beau, to see what he thought of the deal. He nodded.
“All right, accepted,” Annie said, feeling a strange lightness in her heart. “I really appreciate it.”
“Pleasure’s all mine,” Mr. Johnstone said, as Beau turned away to pick up the ax and hacksaw from where he left them. After watching him a moment, Mr. Johnstone turned to Annie and said, “Actually, there is one more thing you can do for me, Miss Shaw.”
Annie swallowed. “What’s that?”
“Have a merry Christmas,” Mr. Johnstone said.
Chapter 6
She feels it too. Our mate knows what she is to us. She knows she is our mate.
Beau did his best not to shake his head as his hippogriff impatiently rustled its wings and stamped its back feet, its insistence filling his mind. If he didn’t get a hold of it, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop it from taking over his mind – or his mouth – and blurting out the truth to Annie.
Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, he thought for a moment as he glanced across at her in the driver’s seat of her car, her eyes focused on the road, before he quickly pushed the thought aside.
No, it would. I have no way of knowing how she’d react. And if I can’t win her heart without her knowing I’m a shifter and she’s my mate, then I don’t deserve her in the first place.
Things worked differently for humans. He knew he couldn’t just waltz into her life, announce that he was her mate, and expect her to understand what that meant – the bond that it created between them.
As a human, Annie would need to see that he was worthy of her before he told her what he was – what they were.
And Beau was determined to show her.
I will prove myself to her before I say a word about the mated bond, he told his hippogriff. He wasn’t at all certain the creature understood what he meant from the way it tossed its head and stared at him belligerently with its eagle’s eyes, but Beau couldn’t help that. It would just have to deal with it.
Nonetheless, Beau knew what he’d sensed in Annie during that moment they’d been standing close to each other when she’d taken the tiny Christmas tree from him. Maybe she could sense it. Maybe she did know.
Well – he guessed he had three days to find out.
“Do you have any decorations at home?” he asked Annie as she swung the car out of the Christmas tree farm gates. “Your tree is great, but it’ll be nicer with a star on top.”
Annie shook her head. “No. I’ve never had a Christmas tree of my own before, so I’ve never really bothered. I’d prefer something simple, though – just some fairy lights and a star. Nothing too fiddly.”
“So you’re a minimalist,” Beau laughed. “Well, I can respect that. Let me know if I can talk you into some tinsel or something, though.”
To his surprise, Annie joined in with his laughter. “I’m not opposed to a little bit of bling, I suppose,” she said. “I’d just like to be able to see the tree underneath it all!”
“Hey, it’s your tree,” Beau replied. “We can decorate it any way you like. My tastes are maybe a little too over the top – but maybe that comes from letting my tastes be dictated by my nieces and nephews. I’ve lost all sight of anything that leaves even a little bit of the tree visible.”
“You have a pretty big family, then?” Annie asked, as she took the turn back into town. “It sounds… really nice.”
Beau nodded, though something in his chest twisted at the slight note of wistfulness in Annie’s voice. He’d sensed the same kind of sadness in her back at the farm, and it’d made him hesitate to ask her about her own family. Perhaps she had some painful memories. All his instincts were telling him to comfort her, to tell her that his family was hers now too, but he knew it would probably be better to take it slow and let Annie tell him about herself at her own pace.
“Yeah,” he said. “Two sisters, with three kids apiece. Two girls and four boys, and all of them are handfuls by themselves, never mind when they all get in the same room. I only get to see them a few times a year and I don’t know how they handle them the rest of the time. They’re always getting into everything, running around, being absolute little terrors. I taught the older ones how to ice skate one year, and let me tell you – it’s lucky they’re so cute.”
Annie laughed softly. “So you’re like… the cool uncle then?”
“Cool might be pushing it a bit, but I like to think I’ve built up some cachet with them over the years,” Beau said, thinking fondly of his nieces and nephews – who had always made him wish he had children of his own.
“I always kind of wished I knew how to skate,” Annie said after a short pause.
“You never learned?”
Annie shook her head, the same look of sadness passing across her face. “I… no, I didn’t. I guess I… well, the places I grew up weren’t really cold enough for it, most of the time. It’s only since I moved here that I’ve been somewhere with this much snow and ice.”
“Maybe it’s about time you did learn then,” Beau said, twisting in his seat to look at her. “I have s
ome experience as a teacher, as you know.”
Annie glanced at him. “Oh – I think it’s way too late for me to learn.”
“It’s never too late,” Beau said, hearing the warmth in his own voice. “I promise – okay, maybe you won’t be going for Olympic gold, but I can at least help you get the basics down.”
He watched as a short internal struggle seemed to pass across Annie’s face. She opened her mouth – but then she nodded firmly.
“All right. I’m in.” She flashed him a smile, before flipping on the car’s turn signal. “I know a place. Let’s go.”
Beau couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face – not that he’d wanted to. It’d been difficult to keep from smiling goofily every time he looked at Annie. She was everything he’d ever dreamed his mate would be. Her beauty, her smile – shy though it may be – her humor, the way the goodness of her heart shone out in every movement she made, every brilliant green mote in her eyes… all of it seemed to sing to his very soul.
Not to mention other parts of him.
Beau had always known that part of finding your mate was the powerful physical aspect of it. He’d thought Annie was beautiful from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. But now…
He looked at her, her tongue tucked into the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on driving through a tricky intersection, and felt heat coursing through him.
Now, I’ll be lucky if I can make it through the day without causing some kind of public scandal.
Even as he watched her now, he could feel his blood surging through his veins, his hippogriff screeching and stamping within him, demanding that he show his mate exactly what being the beloved of a shifter truly meant…
Beau almost jumped out of his seat as a strong vibration passed through the seat of his pants.
As it was, he must’ve made a sudden jerk, because Annie glanced over at him, face concerned.
“Everything okay?”
“Uh – ah! Yeah,” Beau said with as much grace as he could manage, twisting around in his seat to yank his cell phone out of his back pocket.
He already knew who’d be trying to get hold of him – but he couldn’t even bring himself to feel that guilty when his younger sister Courtney’s name popped up in the family group text.
“Sorry, I just gotta check this,” he said. “I know it’s a bit rude of me, but it’s my family.”
Annie just nodded. “Take your time. No biggie. I get it.”
Okay… maybe Beau had to admit he felt a little guilty. But to be fair, he’d had a lot on his mind. You didn’t find your mate every day, after all.
Hey hey, Courtney had written. What time r u getting here?
Beau grimaced a little, wondering what to say – how to explain this situation.
Not for a bit, he typed. Sorry. It’s a long story. I’ll explain soon.
He hit send, but he knew he couldn’t leave it at that. A text like that would only make his family worried something had happened at work. And to be honest, he wasn’t sure he could keep the news to himself for much longer anyway.
Taking a deep breath, he typed, I found my mate.
He swallowed at the long pause that followed, watching the undulating dots at the bottom of the screen that could only indicate Several people are typing…
And then, all at once, their messages exploded onto the screen.
R u serous? Omg! u shld bring her! congratulations!!
Really??? Where??? Ok u HAVE to tell us how this happened!
Okay, so that’s cool, you’re bringing her with you to the Christmas do, right?? I can’t wait to meet her!!
On and on the messages went.
Suppressing his grimace, Beau knew he really should have known better than to think he’d get any other reaction from his family.
He’d known they’d be delighted and excited for him – but the situation was more complicated than they knew!
Like the fact he hadn’t even told Annie herself yet.
That was something he’d have to deal with, before he could even contemplate any next steps.
It’s complicated, he typed, and then, aware of Annie sitting next to him and how much he’d rather be getting to know her better than trying to explain the situation to his family, he quickly added, She’s human. She doesn’t know about shifters or mates, so I have to do this right. It may take a couple of days.
He slipped his phone back in his pocket before he could read the barrage of good luck messages that would undoubtedly be flooding into the group chat over the next few minutes. Beau loved his family, but right now, he knew he had to focus on Annie, and Annie alone.
“Everything okay?” Annie asked, as she swung the car into a half-full parking lot.
“Yeah. Just letting the family know I’ll be a little later than planned,” Beau said. “They’re cool with it.”
Annie glanced at him as she parked the car, a strange expression on her face. “So… you’re really serious about this ‘give me three days’ thing? You’re really going to stick around here instead of going off to enjoy Christmas with your family?”
Does our mate doubt our word? Within him, Beau’s hippogriff sounded wounded. Have we not shown her our commitment to her? Unacceptable! We must do better to show her what she means to us!
Despite its tantruming, Beau managed to keep his expression level – he hoped.
“I am,” he said. “I really do mean it, Annie. Not just because it’s Christmas.” Beau swallowed, his throat feeling dry as he looked into Annie’s wide eyes. “I would’ve done it anyway, just to spend more time with you.”
“But… but you don’t even know me,” Annie said, sounding mildly bewildered.
My soul knows your soul, his hippogriff insisted, and Beau had to stop the words from tumbling directly out of his mouth right there and then. From the moment we touched, I knew enough to know we belonged together. I knew you were my mate.
“Maybe not,” Beau managed to say instead. “But I know enough to know I’d like to know you better, if you’ll let me.”
Annie shook her head, and for a moment, Beau’s blood ran cold as he thought she was refusing.
“I – no, I’d like to know you better too,” she admitted, her voice soft. She was looking down at her lap, as if it was difficult for her to speak openly about what she felt. “I thought – from the first time I saw you, I thought –”
Beau’s hippogriff surged up, spreading its wings.
She knows! She feels it too! If we tell her, she will know – she will understand it, in her heart.
Well, maybe, but Beau wasn’t sure he was willing to take that risk. He could sense something inside Annie – a sadness, a belief that she wasn’t the kind of person someone could devote themselves to, body and soul, the way a shifter would devote himself to his mate.
I will simply have to show her she is, he thought. And then, Simply. Ha. What about any of this is simple?
Annie took a deep breath, looking up at him, and once again Beau found himself stunned by the beautiful, almost glasslike quality of her eyes. “I mean – it doesn’t matter,” she said finally, and Beau sensed the moment slipping away from him. Annie’s lips quirked up in a smile. “Weren’t you going to teach me how to skate? Because we’re in the right place, if you were.”
Trying to allay the disappointment that surged through him, Beau looked out through the windshield in the direction Annie had gestured.
She’d driven them to a lake, surrounded by trees that had been wrapped in golden fairy lights, twinkling in the hazy light of the early afternoon. Strings of green and red lanterns were hung between them, bobbling gently in the air. By the entryway onto the lake there stood a massive, dark green Christmas tree, wreathed in lights and tinsel, topped by a brilliant golden star – and on the lake itself were dozens of skaters, some fast, some slow, but all of them clearly loving being out in the crisp cold of winter.
“Wow,” Beau said, meaning it. He’d rarely seen anything so b
eautiful in his life. “This is gorgeous.”
“I’ve never really spent much time here,” Annie said, her voice soft. “Not being able to skate, you know. But it is kind of lovely, now that I look at it properly.”
Beau turned to her with a smile, his heart warming at the sight of her watching the skaters below.
“Come on,” he said, opening his car door. “Let’s get you fitted for some skates.”
“Okay – not too fast now. Just take your time to get used to it, and – there. You’re a natural!”
Beau beamed at Annie as she shot him a grumpy frown. She was standing unsteadily at the very edge of the icy lake, arms out, knees bent, and looking not unlike a new-born foal who was still getting used to the idea that it had legs of its own.
“My ankles are definitely not designed for this,” she said, wobbling a little, waving her arms to keep her balance.
“It’s okay – I promise,” Beau told her. “Let’s take it one step at a time. The first thing you need to do is just get used to moving on the ice. No need to rush. Let’s try marching first.” He moved beside her, raising his left knee. “One knee up, take a little step. Then the other knee up. No worries.”
Annie nodded, biting her tongue in concentration as together they marched along the side of the lake, well away from the other skaters.
“This isn’t so bad,” Annie said after a moment. She glanced out towards the middle of the lake to look at where the more experienced skaters were gliding seemingly effortlessly, a wistful expression on her face. “Though it’ll take a while until I think I get much fun out of it.”
“You’d be surprised,” Beau said. “Sometimes people take to these things quicker than you’d think.”
Annie laughed. “I hope so! Though I’ve never been that great at physical – physical – argh!”
Despite the fact Beau had told Annie the usual safety rule of grabbing your knees if you found yourself falling over on the ice, he watched now, his heart in his throat, as she flailed her arms before beginning to tip over backwards.