by Zoe Chant
Beneath him, Watts growled – but Maris and a hulking bear shifter Rowan didn’t recognize had him secured now. It was over.
Blinking, he watched as Hardwicke shifted from his pegasus form to his human one. He had a hard glint in his eyes that Rowan knew meant he’d be in trouble later – but alongside that, there was also an expression of utter relief.
“Shift, Rowan. It’s over. We have him now.”
Rowan shifted. His bones protested and everything in his body screamed in pain, but he didn’t care.
I only care about holding Emilia in my arms and knowing once and for all she’s safe.
“Rowan, oh my God...” Emilia’s voice was soft, and breathless in horror. Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked at him. Rowan knew he must look a mess, and immediately cursed himself for frightening her.
“It’s nothing a little nap won’t fix,” he tried to joke, realizing how feeble it was. Emilia, unsurprisingly, didn’t look convinced. “Shifters heal faster than humans,” Rowan tried to explain, which was true – but even so, with his injuries, he’d be out for at least a week. He touched his side gingerly.
Yep. Definitely a couple of broken ribs in there.
“Rowan, I want to – but I – I don’t want to hurt you –”
That was the last thing Rowan cared about right now. Laughing softly, he drew Emilia to his chest, enfolding her in his arms. There was no pain as long as he was touching her, the ache in his body insignificant compared to the glow in his heart.
Emilia. My mate. My everything.
When they could finally bear to let each other go, Rowan looked up to find Harwicke eyeing him speculatively.
“Well, well, well,” he said, shaking his head. “Rowan Stanton with a mate. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Rowan laughed, unable to help himself. “What took you so long getting here?”
Hardwicke only rolled his eyes. “I thought I told you to hang back if Watts had company?”
“There was no time,” Rowan said. “They were going to attack the town if they’d reached it. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Hardwicke looked less than pleased at this reasoning, but, giving Rowan’s bloody form a once-over, he apparently decided not to argue. “I’ll need a report about this, on my desk,” he said, then hesitated. “Later. Once you’ve had time to recover.”
“Yes. Later,” Emilia broke in. “Rowan won’t be doing anything until he’s had time to rest.”
Rowan appreciated the startled expression on Hardwicke’s face – it must have been a while since anyone had dared to talk back to him. But then, he shook his head, before looking Rowan in the eye.
“You got yourself a good one there, Stanton,” he said, his voice as serious as Rowan had ever heard it. “Don’t screw it up.”
Rowan blinked, too surprised to respond. Then, Hardwicke jerked his head.
“Go. Get yourself seen to by Mason – she’s got the first aid kit. And then go home and rest.”
Home.
Rowan reflected on the word as Emilia helped him to stand. Limping, he made his way past the satisfying sight of Merritt Watts’s furious human form as Maris Jackson cuffed him.
Emilia was a warm presence at his side, her hand resting gently on his arm.
That’s right. I’m home.
Epilogue
Emilia
One year later – three days before Christmas
“Well, I’m glad you’re tall – I never could have gotten that star up there by myself.”
Rowan finished adjusting the shining golden star on top of the tree, before turning to grin at her.
“You know, if you’d wanted me to go cut you down a real Christmas tree I would have done that, right?”
Emilia shook her head. Their plastic Christmas tree might be old and tatty, a relic from her childhood, but she felt like she owed it: it had been there when she’d made her Christmas wish last year for Rowan to be okay, and for everything to work out. To throw it away or leave it moldering in the shed didn’t seem like the right thing to do.
“It has sentimental value,” she said. “Yeah, it’s not the most beautiful tree, but it means a lot to me.”
Rowan smiled in response. “I only want what makes you happy,” he said, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head. “And anyway, this is my first proper Christmas. I’m entirely at your mercy – if you told me humans usually hit themselves with sticks or roll around in the snow naked to celebrate Christmas, I’d just have to believe you.”
Emilia laughed. “Well, no. Any story I told you about that would really just be an excuse to get you naked.”
“Is that so?” Rowan’s eyes smoldered with a sudden heat. “You know you don’t have to make up any stories, if that’s what you want...”
The kiss he drew her into was warm and deep, and Emilia felt desire curling in her belly, before, with a groan, she pulled away.
“As much as I’d love to get into more of that right now, we have places we need to be.”
Rowan pulled back, nodding. They’d accepted Anthony and Jonathan’s invite to their fully-catered Christmas dinner – and aside from the fact it would be just plain rude not to go after they’d RSVPed, Emilia knew that both she and Rowan had been looking forward to it for weeks.
Anthony had even told her she could bring a couple of dogs, if she liked – but Emilia didn’t think she could show favoritism, and she didn’t like the idea of trying to keep track of all six of them.
“Well, you guys will just have to wait for leftovers, then,” she said, as Jez, Bob and Suzie bounced around her, while Max, Laurel and Coop maintained a little more dignity, and restricted themselves to a lot of hand-licking and mournful looks as they realized Emilia and Rowan would be going out without them.
Rowan ruffled Max’s shaggy head as Emilia watched, smiling. Rowan adored all her dogs and they adored him, but he and Max had always had a special connection.
“I’m sure Jonathan will have set aside some big juicy bones for you guys,” Rowan reassured them. “It is Christmas, after all.”
Emilia went over to the couch, where their cats were snuggled up – well, Antony, Cleopatra and Octavian were snuggled up, while their fourth cat, the newly-added Marcus, was sitting on the back of the couch, eyeing the Christmas tree with great interest.
“No climbing,” Emilia told him sternly, knowing that whatever she said, they’d probably come home to ornaments strewn across the living room. Marcus blinked his yellow eyes at her, the picture of innocence, but Emilia wasn’t fooled. “If you climb, I won’t give you any turkey after Christmas,” she threatened, pointing her finger in his face – which he then promptly leaned forward and rubbed his cheek over, purring contentedly. “You’re lucky you’re so cute,” Emilia grumbled.
Next it was time to head out to say goodbye to Harvey – there were no storms forecast, so he was wandering about his paddock. Knowing it wasn’t feeding time, he only looked at them from far distant, flicking his ears before lowering his head once more to search for grass amongst the snow.
“Ingrate,” Emilia called to him cheerfully. “See if we bring you a Christmas carrot cake!”
“You know you will though,” Rowan said as he waved at Harvey, who ignored him.
“You know me too well,” Emilia said. “You also know that if I don’t, you will.”
“Guilty,” Rowan said, laughing, before leaning over to drop a kiss on the top of her head before, as one, they turned and headed toward the garage.
***
The Fairhill Snack House was almost bursting at the seams with light and laughter when they arrived. Anthony and Jonathan had gone typically over the top with their Christmas decorating this year – but now, Emilia found she was delighted by the twinkling lights and flashing signs, whereas in the past she would have rolled her eyes, if she hadn’t just avoided it altogether.
What a cliché, she thought, shaking her head at herself. A girl finds love, and suddenly, she ca
n’t help but swoon over Christmas.
But cliché though it may have been, it was also true. Where once Emilia had been worried she’d be consumed by bitterness toward the holiday season, she now found herself full of joy.
Looking over at Rowan, she decided that with a man like him at her side, it would have been pretty hard to remain her old, Grinch-y self.
And anyway, she thought, I made a Christmas wish, and it was granted. Pretty hard to deny the facts.
None of what had happened to her and Rowan last year seemed real – not from the first moment she had found him passed out in her shed, to everything that had happened afterwards. But Emilia did know that they’d gotten through it, against all the odds – and for that, she was truly thankful.
Rowan and Emilia were greeted by a cheer from everyone who’d already arrived when they pushed open the door to the Snack House. Anthony was by their side in a moment, offering them a glass of Champagne and some Christmas-colored finger food, which Emilia accepted gratefully.
Over in the far corner, Logan was showing off how he’d trained Freddy to roll over and play dead for a captive audience of his mother’s friends. Emilia had helped him train his puppy: Freddy was now the best-behaved dog she had ever met, and obediently came when he was called every time. There’d be no more escapades in the woods for him!
Mrs. Lowry and Mrs. Showalter were chatting to each other, wine in hand, as if the Fifty Shades-throwing incident had never happened.
All of the tables in the restaurant were filled with food – everything from nachos to mozzarella sticks to fancy canapés to a massive ham that the guests had to slice themselves – and everything was bathed in the red and green glow of the Christmas lights that had been strung up across the ceiling. Christmas carols wafted from the speaker system.
“Not too much Christmas cheer for you?” Rowan joked, raising an eyebrow as he sipped his Champagne.
Emilia laughed, before elbowing him in the ribs. “I’ll cope, somehow – come on, let’s get some food.”
The food was just as delicious as she’d known it would be, considering that it was Jonathan who had cooked it. She caught sight of him over by the counter, modestly nodding as a group of older ladies gushed at him and insisted he just had to give them his recipes, until finally Anthony swooped in to rescue him, chatting and laughing and charming them the same way he did with everyone, and allowing Jonathan to slip away unnoticed.
“Emilia! Rowan! There you are!”
Emilia turned at the sound of Georgia’s voice, calling out to her from across the diner.
Emilia smiled as Georgia hugged her, before turning to Rowan to give him the same treatment.
“I’ve never seen Logan happier,” Georgia confided as they looked across the diner to where her son was feeding Freddy a slice of ham. “You really came through for me that day. I don’t think I’ve ever really found a way to express my gratitude.”
“It was nothing, really,” Rowan said, smiling. “I’m just glad we could help.”
“Well, I’ll never forget it,” Georgia said. “Thank you.”
Emilia nodded in agreement. Of course, she had other reasons for remembering that day. It had been the day that Rowan had revealed what he truly was – and had told her about their mated bond. Georgia, along with the rest of the population of Fairhill, still had no idea that Rowan was a griffin – he had kept his job as a member of the Shifter Patrol Corps, of course, but Hardwicke had assigned him a role as a remote agent, so he could spend almost all of his time in Fairhill.
Far from being the hardass Emilia had initially taken him for, it seemed Hardwicke had a softer side after all.
Georgia said her goodbyes before dashing across the room before Logan could feed Freddy some mozzarella sticks. The party was in full swing now – friends, neighbors, co-workers, it seemed Anthony and Jonathan had invited everyone in town to share in this little slice of Christmas joy.
And Emilia, for one, couldn’t have been happier.
The life that she and Rowan had built together over the past year had been the stuff of dreams. They lived together in her little wooden house – snuggling up together in winter, drinking lemonade on the porch in summer, and taking walks through the woods in the lush spring and brilliant fall.
Rowan helped her with her foster animals, training them patiently and helping her find them good homes. And when there was an animal she just couldn’t bear to part with – such as their new kitten, Marcus – he was happy to let them stay.
There was nothing Emilia would have changed about any of it.
As the party continued and the evening wore on, Emilia suddenly found herself yawning wide – and was shocked when she looked at the clock and noticed the time. She’d been having such an amazing time she hadn’t realized how late it had gotten!
“Ready to go?” As usual, Rowan was attuned to her every mood.
Suppressing another yawn, Emilia nodded. “Yeah. I’m having a great time, but I have to be up early tomorrow. Do you think we can sneak out without anyone noticing?”
Rowan laughed softly. “I think everyone’s too busy living it up to notice little old us. Come on. Let’s go.”
He was almost right – they’d made it all the way to the door before Emilia heard Anthony’s voice ringing out across the diner.
“Hey, you two! Don’t think you’re getting away that easily!”
Shaking her head, Emilia turned to look at him. “I can’t eat any more, Anthony!” she said, mock-complaining. “I’ll explode!”
Anthony only shook his head. “I don’t mind about that,” he replied – then, he pointed to the ceiling above Emilia’s head. “What I mean is, you’re standing underneath the mistletoe.”
Emilia groaned, rolling her eyes. “Oh, really –” she started to say, but before she could get any further, Rowan had pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.
Ignoring the cheers from the onlookers, Emilia closed her eyes, smiling against Rowan’s warm lips.
Well, she thought, might as well enjoy it.
***
The animals, curled up by the heater, for once paid them no mind as they came in. Emilia’s blood had been singing in her veins ever since the kiss at the diner – just as it always did whenever Rowan touched her.
Several times, she had been moments away from telling Rowan to pull over – and from the way he had been sending heated glances in her direction the whole drive home, she knew he felt the same way.
Just as he always did.
They were so perfectly attuned to each other that Emilia sometimes found it hard to believe.
But then, we are mates, she thought as they shed their winter jackets, hanging them on the rack by the door. We’re made for each other. We were designed by fate to be together.
There was no need for words at a time like this. Rowan simply took her in his arms, and she tilted her head back to accept his searing hot kiss.
Rowan climbed the stairs to their room with Emilia in his arms, his chest firm beneath her fingers and his breath warm against her throat. He kissed her as he laid her down on the bed, his lips scorching.
Emilia moaned into his mouth, feeling helpless in the face of her own arousal – her breath heaved in her chest, her nipples painfully hard. When he pulled back, looking down at her, Rowan’s eyes were dark with desire – and she could feel from the hard bulge against her thigh that he was just as aroused as she was.
He sat up, pulling his shirt up and over his head. Emilia groaned as his body was revealed to her – even after all this time, she still couldn’t quite believe just how hot he was. She’d seen him naked countless times by now, and yet, the broadness of his pecs, the grid of his abs, and the long V formed by his hipbones before they disappeared into his jeans never failed to take her breath away.
He was perfect.
Feeling overdressed, Emilia began tearing off her own clothes – her top, her comfortable pants, her bra – but as she began to slide off her pa
nties, she felt Rowan’s hands over hers, stilling them.
“Let me,” he whispered, voice low and husky.
Emilia nodded, letting her hands fall back on the bed. His golden eyes glowing, Rowan reverently slid her panties down her thighs, before lifting her legs to pull them over her ankles. Ordinarily, Emilia might have felt self-conscious at being laid so bare before another person, but under Rowan’s heated gaze, she reveled in it. The proof of just how sexy he found her was there in the massive bulge pressing against the front of his jeans; in the way he could barely take his eyes off her as he finally stripped off the last of his clothes.
His cock was thick and full, and Emilia felt her stomach tighten with need as she looked at him. Rowan lowered his head to kiss her breasts, and she arched up into his caress, gasping as fire ran through her veins.
His hands trailed over her, his lips following them. Emilia gripped the sheets as he gently pulled her thighs apart, his mouth traveling low over her belly.
She cried out at the first touch of his tongue against her, gentle but sending a bright wave of pleasure through her all the same. His fingers pressed against her opening, sliding into her slowly, finding exactly the right place inside her.
“Rowan!” She cried out his name as his tongue flicked against her in earnest now, making her writhe up off the bed. She felt overwhelmed by sensation, consumed by fire, as if she was burning up from the inside out. His fingers inside her were thick and hard, and his tongue against her clit was relentless.
She twisted on the bed, desperate for release, but at the same time, never wanting this feeling to end. He knew her completely – knew just how to touch her to make her cry out, just what to do to have her seeing stars.
When her climax finally came, it felt like a wave crashing against the shore, overwhelming her completely and making her cry out in ecstasy. She lay back, panting, as the stars swirled before her eyes, left breathless and dizzy by the force of the sensations that had torn through her.