by Ophelia Bell
She wouldn’t put it past Fate to align all their paths this way, and the very thought of the inevitability of it all somehow put her at ease for the first time in almost a month.
Fate knew the outcome. So she would stop fighting and open herself up to whatever came her way. And as long as Nicholas was by her side, she would cherish him.
An uproar sounded when Gavra unfurled his wings and began to shift. Alarmed by the sudden excitement, she and Nicholas rushed to the doorway.
Emma and her two mates seemed to be in a standoff with Gavra, who looked more confused than angry. He quickly shifted fully back to his human shape.
“I’m sorry,” Emma said, visibly relieved. “I should have talked to you all about this earlier, but I ask that you please refrain from flying while you’re inside the Sanctuary. I understand it means traveling will take longer, but you guys are extremely visible when you’re up in the air. I’d prefer to avoid any rumors and excitement among the residents while you’re here.
“We’ve managed to keep the true reason for the strange weather under wraps—calling it a special farewell gift from the former Queen on Midwinter. As it stands, it’s a good omen, and you are all honored guests who arrived to celebrate with us in the old traditions before the barrier was raised. If they saw you flying it would raise too many questions, particularly now that we’re opening up a mating exchange with the Haven. The males Assana is taking with her are from the other clans, not Stonetree, so we can keep your presence here as quiet as possible. I hope you understand.”
“Assana won’t share our arrival?” Gavra asked.
“No, I won’t,” Assana said, making her presence known from the balcony above them. “I don’t agree with my mother’s desire to lock down the Haven the way she did. If we’re going to keep the way open, she needs to feel safe. Do you understand, Red Dragon?”
As Gavra stared back at the pretty nymph, the air around them thickened with want. Aurum cursed under her breath, acutely aware of her brother’s potent need to possess the female he was so enthralled by.
Every aura in the room grew bright with desire simply by virtue of their proximity to Gavra, but as quickly as it had flared, the magic subsided again.
Gavra nodded and his wings curled in against his back, disappearing completely as his shoulders finally reshaped into those of a man.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Aurum squeezed Nicholas’s hand. “I guess this means you get to give me a ride this time, huh?”
Nicholas laughed. “Yes, I suppose it does.”
Chapter 27
Aurum
Unlike the areas of the Sanctuary they’d flown over to reach the Stonetree clan, Windchaser territory seemed suited to the snowy weather. The terrain was steep and rocky, often perilous, but Nicholas was in his element as he sped on his strong, ursine legs across the snow.
Aurum was acutely aware of the change in elevation as they climbed higher and higher, and doubted the shift affected Nicholas in the least. As long as he had his four paws solidly on the ground, he was fine.
It took them a day and a half of almost constant movement before they arrived, both of them equally eager to get there and silently agreeing to only stop long enough to catch a breather before moving on.
Aurum’s energy reserves were waning with each day, so she was somewhat grateful for the reprieve from shifting. She would use less energy in her dragon form, but the power required to shift would take too great a toll for her to last long without replenishing. Though she was sure that Nicholas would gladly offer himself were she to ask, she didn’t want to put him in that position as long as their days together were numbered.
Her stomach fluttered every time she thought about seeing Assana again, and finding out what, if anything, the mystical nymph might have learned about her future with Nicholas. She had to be prepared for bad news, she knew, but would it be so bad to hope?
Still, she must keep an open mind. The Sanctuary was brimming with eligible ursa males, and any one of them might be her true mate if it wasn’t Nicholas. Otherwise, Assana and the nymphaea would not have embarked on this trading pact with the ursa.
They reached the Windchaser lodge with very little fanfare, and she immediately requested an audience with the clan shaman. Nicholas dragged his feet, exhausted from the long trek, but clearly excited to be here, even if he had no strength to voice his own reason for their arrival.
It was the middle of the night, and for the moment they were made to wait in a large foyer that resembled the Stonetree lodge’s entryway, except this one was built from dark, polished wood compared to the bright blond pine of Emma’s home. After a few moments, they were escorted up a flight of stairs and shown into a comfortable sitting room with a roaring fire.
Aurum saw the strong profile of a regal, white-haired woman staring into the fire from her seat. They paused just inside the door and Nicholas seemed to hesitate. Aurum glanced up at him, his worried look prompting her to take his hand and squeeze.
A huge, gray-bearded man appeared in the doorway to an adjoining room and stopped dead in his tracks.
“As I live and breathe,” he muttered, his eyes wide and fixed on Nicholas.
“Tell me if it’s true, Keith. I’ll believe it if you tell me,” the woman said from her seat in an aged voice.
“Aside from his hair, he’s the spitting image of Hamish. He could be Gunnar’s brother, Sol. I shit you not.”
Finally Nicholas seemed to find his voice. “Gunnar … you mean Autumn and Jasper’s Gunnar? Are we … am I related to him?”
The older woman took a deep breath, her full bosom rising and falling. She looked sideways over her shoulder as she gripped the arms of her sturdy chair.
“Not by blood, child,” she said, and hoisted her heft out of the chair to turn and face them.
Her gaze rested on Aurum for only a second, affording her an acknowledging nod before directing her full attention to Nicholas. Aurum genuflected and moved away to let Nicholas have his moment. There would be time enough for her business to be taken care of after his.
“I felt you coming for weeks, even before word came to us that your mother was dying. I admit there was no love lost between me and the Queen, but I will say something for the woman—she keeps her promises. You are here, after all.”
“I don’t understand,” Nicholas said. “What am I to you, Mistress, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Call me Solina, child. Or Sol, for short. You are the flesh and blood of one of the two people I loved the fiercest in life. The one I lost so long ago. Keith is right. There is no mistaking that face … you are Hamish’s son, save the hair. How on Gaia’s green earth did you wind up with hair like mine? Poor thing. But you aren’t an albino, are you? I see green in those eyes …”
She stepped closer and grabbed Nicholas by both cheeks, forcing him to stoop down so she could look more closely into his eyes.
Finally, she made a little snort of approval and motioned at them both. “Come, sit and take a load off and I’ll tell you the whole story. In the morning, you can meet the rest of the sleuth. Keith, go get some food.”
The big man chuckled. “As you wish, my love.” Before he went to the door, he grabbed Nicholas and wrapped him in a huge hug, almost picking him up off the floor with his enthusiasm. He put Nicholas down and suddenly Aurum found herself completely enveloped in the man’s embrace, his laugh warming her from the inside as much as his hug warmed her from the outside.
“Welcome to the family,” he said, his thick beard brushing against her cheek.
The sentiment gave Aurum such a wonderful feeling of belonging she didn’t have the heart to confess that Nicholas wasn’t even hers. She was, however, extremely keen on sitting down to hear what Sol had to say about the color of Nicholas’s hair, which seemed to be such a curiosity in spite of it matching two other Windchasers so far.
She sank into one of the overstuffed armchairs by the fireplace and listened while Sol recounted the rather hea
rtbreaking tale of several young ursa embarking on their Pilgrimage to the human world together, but returning home short two. Sol and Keith had been a trio with Keith’s bachelor partner, Hamish, when they’d left. They’d been unmated at the time, with the intention of consummating the mating ritual once they’d completed their pilgrimage. Nicholas’s mother, aunt, and the other children of the clan leaders had been among their group, all having been raised together. “Like peas in a pod,” as Sol said.
Except they hadn’t counted on the Ultiori destroying what should have been the best time of their lives. Maia Stonetree and Hamish Windchaser had been captured, and when only Maia returned nearly a decade later, Solina never forgave her for not bringing Hamish back too.
When Nicholas began telling his piece of the story, Aurum grew enchanted by the deep sound of his voice. She hadn’t counted on how comfortable the chair was, nor how safe and warm she was by the fire, or how bone-weary the trip had made her, even though Nicholas had been the one carrying her on his back for a change.
It wasn’t until nearly dawn when she felt the world shift and her eyes fluttered open long enough to know that Nicholas cradled her in his arms and was carrying her somewhere. Rustling noises preceded them and she looked up to see Solina turning down the covers on a huge four-poster bed built out of raw ebony logs.
“Now you make sure she rests and replenishes, you hear me? This pretty thing has work to do, if we’re going to set the seasons right again. It may be wintertime in half the human world, but it ain’t the right time for it here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nicholas said, his lips quirking up in a secretive smile that only Aurum could see as he placed her on the softest of beds.
The door to the room closed, leaving Aurum and Nicholas alone. He stood, just looking at her for a moment before moving to the windows and closing the curtains against the pink of dawn.
He said nothing more as he began to strip in the warm light cast by the embers in the fireplace. Neither did Aurum speak when she scooted over and turned the covers back for him to climb in beside her. She may have missed most of the stories that could have helped her understand who this man she’d fallen so hard for was, in spite of not being able to reconcile her feelings with her ridiculous, indecipherable dreams. But she didn’t care right now, and it seemed neither did he.
She let her conjured clothing fade as his hands roamed over her body. Nicholas neither wasted time nor lingered too long. Each touch was filled with just the right amount of sensual worship to drive her to the point of begging, but he never actually made her beg, because he always knew exactly where her limits lay.
When their shared orgasm shook them both, she thought she might have misjudged those limits all along. With Nicholas, she never wanted this to end.
Chapter 28
Aurum
Despite her conflicting emotions, Aurum was grateful for Nicholas over the next two weeks. Once her assessment of the Windchaser portal’s power was complete, she understood how much work it would take to balance. With her magic linked to the barrier and her mind linked to her siblings, the four of them worked for days, transferring more magic into the Sanctuary’s protective dome to ensure it stayed strong.
Within the first two days, they succeeded in getting the snow to stop, and by the fourth day, the temperature warmed. Each day, Nicholas would walk with her up the snowy slope to the concealed grove where the portal was hidden. The leaves of the ancient aspens had all turned bright gold from the cold weather and had begun to fall. If today went well, Aurum hoped she could stop the premature shift in the seasons, though she didn’t think she’d be able to turn the leaves green again.
Closing her eyes, she reached out her mind for her siblings and found them each in turn, replenished and ready to begin. Somehow they had all managed to maintain an ample level of power, yet from their moods she knew there was no emotional intimacy connected to the magic that fueled them.
The four of them simultaneously took their positions in the invisible path of the portals they were assigned to. The magic immediately gravitated toward them, latching on and absorbing what they had to give. The initial connection always made Aurum cry out in pain. Nicholas grimaced several yards away, yet didn’t move toward her. After the first day, they’d learned it would do him more harm if he interfered. Besides, the pain soon passed once the magic started to flow.
There was nothing to do after that but stand and let the barrier absorb what they had to offer. At the Rainsong portal, Gavra monitored the balance and added his own power when needed. That portal had been the recipient of the bulk of their power upon entry, and so required less now.
Sensing an agitation in her brother, Aurum sent out an inquiring thread of thought—not so much an explicit question, but just a suggestion of one. Surprisingly, Gavra answered.
“She is here, sister. The nymph, Assana. But I’m not about to interfere with her task, or let her distract me from mine.”
“I am grateful to you for that, brother.”
“I wasn’t prepared for meeting them to affect me so fucking much. I still taste Silas, and I can sense him just outside this barrier, like he’s within reach if I just pushed a little farther past. But she is in here and I don’t dare touch her. The pair of bachelors who volunteered to help replenish my energy don’t have the allure they once would have. You know me, sister.”
“You only want the mates you dreamed of, now that you know who they are. Tell me, has she spoken to you?”
Gavra didn’t answer for a moment, but Aurum could sense a glimmer of shame through their connection. Finally, he said, “I have been avoiding her. I admit I’m as bad as Aodh, but I get that it’s easier this way. If I were to touch her, I know I would forget everything else but making her mine.”
“This is a party line, brother,” Aodh said, his voice tinged with bittersweet humor. “You owe it to her to let her know, though. She will be oblivious otherwise. I couldn’t let Vrishti go without making her a promise.”
“I have a feeling she already knows much more than she expresses. The one time we crossed paths, she gave me this inscrutable look and told me I stank of the wrong ursa. Made me feel guilty for taking the Nirvana of anyone but Silas. I haven’t been able to bring myself to fuck anyone since him. I just stand by while they fuck each other and steal their energy. It feels wrong, but doing more than that …”
“It’s no different than how we often treated our pets before,” Numa said. “Oh, wait … you liked to fuck all your pets, didn’t you, Gavra?” Numa’s magic brightened the entire barrier with good-natured humor for a second, and Aurum laughed.
“I was no better,” Aurum said. “In fact, if I recall, Gavra often liked to lecture me on my lack of self-restraint. Brother, you are an inspiration. Never change.”
Their banter waned as their energies depleted. As the sun set, they severed their connection in good spirits. That they could see the bright pinks and purples of the sky tonight was a good omen. They were close to completing their task. With any luck, they would be finished by the time Assana arrived at the Windchaser clan lodge on her hunt for more ursa males to take back to the Haven.
More importantly, Aurum hoped Assana would have an answer for her about what to make of her dreams and her feelings for Nicholas.
The males in the Windchaser clan were already energized with anticipation of the nymph’s arrival. Being the last clan on her list meant word of her search had been making the circuit for more than a week before she actually showed her face. The unpaired males were the most excited, being less likely to secure an ursa female without a partner and eager to test their luck with the nymphs.
Aurum watched with amusement as Nicholas fielded dozens of questions about whether he’d sign up to go to the Haven and find himself a nymph mate. While he and Aurum spent most of their days and nights together, somehow their relationship hadn’t seemed to register with the other ursa as anything significant.
When Assana arrived and the call went
out for all unmarked males who wished to participate, Aurum realized why Nicholas had been included in those queries. It didn’t matter to the ursa that Nicholas possessed a strong magical bond to anyone else. He wasn’t physically marked in the ursa tradition, and so to their eyes, he was as good as single.
He is single, she reminded herself. At least, unless Assana told her otherwise. His bond to Calder wasn’t recognized by the nymphaea, and she had never marked him as her own mate.
The great hall was filled with males, and Aurum joined Solina and Keith at the head table while Assana made her speech. Nicholas sat beside her.
“You should consider going,” Aurum said.
“Why? You are here. I believe Calder should be the one to come to us, for one thing. And there’s no way I’m going into the Haven until they let you in, anyway.”
She bristled at his continued assertion that they belonged together, in spite of her argument to the contrary. But didn’t she want that? Why did it upset her so much whenever he said those things?
“If I found a way in now, would you come with me?”
Nicholas tensed, then turned to her. “Is this a hypothetical, or have you actually found a way in?”
“Answer the question. Despite believing Calder should meet us halfway, if we could go in together, would you go with me?”
He turned to stare out at the enraptured crowd of male ursa avidly listening to Assana’s instructions. Over the next few days, she would undertake a series of interviews with all the candidates, and then on the fourth day, announce the ones she accepted. When the interviews were complete, they would all travel to the Source at the center of the Sanctuary—or Gaia’s Falls, as the ursa referred to it—where they would meet the candidates from the other clans and all enter the Haven together.