by R. E. Butler
She moaned and reached for him, fisting his hair and tugging. “Sullivan!”
He chuckled and slid one hand under her, tilting her hips and pushing his tongue into her pussy. He rubbed her clit firmly with his finger and growled, and she could feel the vibrations in her pussy. She arched and pushed herself against him, and he growled again, his finger moving even faster. She spiraled again, her climax rushing at her. This time he let her go all the way, growling loudly so she felt it even more, as his finger moved impossibly fast on her clit and sent her screaming over the edge. Before she could come down from the bliss, he pushed two fingers into her pussy and curled them up to rub against her inner walls as he pressed his tongue against her clit and growled. The vibrations from his tongue and his massaging fingers pushed her pleasure even higher. Her breath caught in her chest, and her toes curled as the climax twisted inside her. She couldn’t stop from screaming again, pressing her head back into the pillow as he licked and fingered her to an impossible height of pleasure. Lights sparked in her vision, and she felt as though the inside of her body had melted.
She tugged on his head, and he crawled up her body. She caged his hips with her legs as he hovered over her, his eyes bright gold and his fangs peeking from his parted lips. She’d never seen anything sexier. He pressed his cock to her, the thick head of him parting her so slowly as he pushed inside. His whole body tensed, his muscles flexing as he took his time giving her his whole length. He was hot and hard inside her when their bodies met, and she gasped as the connection between them grew even stronger.
They gazed at each other for a moment, that single second frozen in time in her mind as the exact instant she fell in love with him. He was her everything. Call it fated mates or destiny or magic, but they were truly meant to be together.
He slid out of her, never taking his gaze from hers, and then plunged back in. His arms slid under her, and he held her close as he thrust into her faster, pulling out and pushing in with a rumble in his chest. She pulled him down for a kiss as he moved faster. Their tongues tangled, and she linked her ankles behind him, urging him on. She tilted her hips up to meet him, and a hot button of pleasure sparked inside her, making her gasp. He snarled and pounded into her, and she relaxed into his embrace. She was tempted to close her eyes and absorb the pleasure, but she wanted to share it with him and not miss a moment of their first time together. He slammed into her, the bed cracking against the wall with the force of their joining.
She threw back her head and cried out as pleasure swamped her, her pussy clenching hard on his cock and her body tingling from head to toe. He pulled out of her and pushed her roughly to her stomach, lifting her up onto her hands and knees and plunging into her harder and faster. She met his thrusts, each press of his body into hers prolonging her pleasure.
He bent over her, his hips slamming into her as he kissed her neck and then bit down. His fangs cut through her skin at the same moment as he rubbed her clit with his fingers until she rode another wave of pleasure. He came inside her, and she could feel how hot his come was as his cock thickened in her sensitive channel.
Extracting his fangs, he pulled her to him and slid to his side, curling around her firmly. He licked the mark he made, growling softly. The vibrations in his chest made her back tingle and filled her with warmth. She reached behind her to cup his head.
“You taste like candy, inside and out,” he said, his voice low and growly.
She laughed and wiggled from his grasp, pushing him to his back. “I’m yours forever now.”
“Marked and mated. You’re mine and I’m yours.”
“Then I need to know something.”
She glanced down the length of his body as his cock thickened.
“What?” he said, his voice tipping deeper.
“How you taste.”
Chapter 9
Kerri listened to the steady beat of Sullivan’s heart under her ear as she lay snuggled up against him, her gaze on the flickering candle on the nightstand. She was bone-deep tired, but she was also the most wide awake she’d ever been in her entire life. After he had marked her, she’d gone down on him. She’d been curious how he tasted when he came, and it turned out that his come tasted oddly good, slightly salty with a bit of an earthy herb taste. Like mint and snow. After she’d made him very happy, he returned the favor, and then they’d made love a second time.
“It’s Christmas,” she said as she lifted her head and propped it on her upturned hand.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“Do you guys celebrate Christmas up here?”
His brows rose. “Of course. Christmas Eve is busy here – the toymakers are finishing up final gifts, the sleigh team is polishing our harnesses, and everyone is doing their part to make sure that the most important thing that we do happens without a hitch.”
“And then? When you’re gone, what do the people in NPC do?”
“For those with families, they send their kids off to bed and wait for SC to bring them a gift. Of course they know for sure that SC is real. The workers who deal with the sleigh and sleigh team wait until we’re back and then they clean and put away everything. The unmated team members usually head to the tavern for a drink and then back to the barracks. In the morning, we all go to our families’ homes for a big meal, and then we have a week off work before we get back to our regular duties. The security team runs on a skeleton crew during that time.”
“We should be meeting your parents right now?”
He lifted his head and looked at the clock on the nightstand. A soft ticking came from the old-fashioned bronze clock with two big bells on top. He cupped her face and kissed her. “We’re both tired. We can meet them tomorrow.”
“I just don’t want to mess up your family traditions.”
“You’re my new tradition. And I think we could both use a good rest, don’t you?”
“I would feel terrible if your family wasn’t happy because you didn’t come visit them on Christmas Day.”
“They’ll be thrilled to meet you, I promise. Tomorrow.”
She rubbed her fingertips along his chest; the smooth skin felt warm under her touch. “I didn’t get you a present.”
“You’re my present, candy cane, and I’m yours. What’s a better present than finding the one person in the world who’s right for you?”
She hummed and then gave him a sly grin. “That’s sweet. What I really wanted was a pink and white striped hoodie.”
His mouth fell open, and then he laughed. “Maybe next year.”
“Now that I know for certain that Santa’s real, I bet I could get a car or something.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“Says you. Maybe you just never asked.”
He tickled her until she laughed and begged for mercy, and then he kissed her senseless. His smile softened, his eyes glowing pale gold.
“I can see your beasts,” she whispered, cupping his cheek and rubbing her thumb along his skin, feeling the stubble. “I think they like me.”
“That would be an understatement,” he said, rolling to his side and pulling her into his chest.
“Sullivan?” she whispered.
“Yeah?”
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, my sweet, fated mate.”
Closing her eyes, she smiled at how strange a twist her life had taken on Christmas Eve morning in the woods, because of a polar bear, who was also part of Santa’s sleigh team.
* * *
Kerri woke up before Sullivan and just enjoyed the quiet and warmth of the bedroom. The room was large, but clearly made for one person only and not a couple or a family. He’d explained that unmated males moved away from their parents’ home when they were eighteen to begin their job training. Shifters who weren’t able to shift into the fourth animal found jobs around NPC – security, maintenance, construction – and quads always worked security. There were twelve quads in NPC, and only eight positions on the sleigh team. Arian had
been the most recent addition to the team, but Sullivan had been a member for ten years. Sometimes quads were injured and couldn’t keep up with the rigorous Christmas Eve flight and had to step down, which was how he had been able to take over the Prancer position.
Sullivan stirred next to her, and she went onto her elbow and watched the sexy look on his face as his eyes opened and he saw her.
“Morning,” she said, leaning over for a quick kiss.
“Hey.” He glanced at the clock and said, “Have you been up long?”
“Just a little while. You’re pretty sexy when you’re sleeping.”
“One of my many charms.”
Her stomach took that moment to growl, and he sat up. “I’m not being a good mate.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t make sure I had food for you. You must be starving.”
“I’d say no, but my stomach would disagree loudly. Do you have a kitchen on this floor? I could make us something.”
He slipped from the bed and stretched, and she let her gaze roam his lickable flesh.
“Unfortunately no. The individual homes have kitchens but not the dorms. Everyone eats at the commissary. They serve three meals a day there.”
“I’m not so much of a breakfast person, but I do require coffee or I get crabby.”
“Thanks for the warning.” He offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet, kissing her. “We need to find a home of our own. I don’t think there’s one available, so we might have to wait a while for one to be built.”
“I don’t mind. I like your room.”
“It has a big downfall, which is no privacy outside of the room, including the bathroom.”
“So we can’t play in the shower? That sucks.”
He grimaced. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
She hadn’t unpacked her bags yet, so she rummaged through them to find her robe, clean clothes, and toiletries. She was going to meet his parents, she wanted to dress nicely and in warm clothes, because they were also going for a tour of town. Wrapping up in the robe, she followed Sullivan out of the room and into the bathroom. He opened the door and then pushed her behind him.
“You going to be long?” he asked whoever was in the bathroom.
“Nah, I’m done.”
She recognized Mire’s voice and said, “Hi.”
The bathroom door opened, and Mire chuckled. “Hey, Kerri. Sullivan treating you good?”
“Of course!”
“Damn it,” Sullivan said, spinning her away from the door so he was blocking her view entirely.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him.
“He’s naked. The only guy parts you get to see are mine.”
She started to laugh, but then she saw the serious look on his face, so she shook her head and rested her cheek on his chest. “You’re naked.”
“You’re mine.”
“I just mean, what if some other woman would walk out into the hall now? I don’t want anyone to see your bits.”
“There aren’t any females on this floor.”
“What about dating or sexy sleepovers? There are women in NPC, right?”
He looked over his shoulder and then reached for the bathroom door. When she could peer down the hall, she saw it was empty.
“Yes, of course, there are females here. But no one spends an entire night with anyone. It’s just not done.”
She set her toiletries on the bathroom counter while he locked the door. He turned on the shower, and she took off the robe and hung it up on a hook. “I don’t understand. You never brought someone back to your room for the night?”
“None of us have. It wouldn’t be right. It would be one thing if Mrs. C had paired a quad up with an elf, but none of the quads have been mate-matched by Mrs. C. So overnighters, on our floor anyway, aren’t done.”
She stepped beneath the hot spray of water. She’d brought along her favorite body wash and shampoo, and she lathered her hair while she thought about the people who lived and worked in NPC.
“So no one dates?”
“They date after Mrs. C. mate-matches.”
“I don’t understand why you guys don’t give fate a chance with your relationships. Why wouldn’t someone go to the tavern to find someone to spend the rest of his life with?”
“Because we’re magic. Are you really complaining? Because I never asked Mrs. C to mate-match me; otherwise we wouldn’t have met. I don’t like thinking about that. A future without you in my life isn’t one I want to contemplate.”
She let that possibility roll around in her mind for a moment. “I’m not complaining about you not being mate-matched. I was just wondering about the rest of the people in NPC. It seems lonely.”
“When NPC residents want to find their mates, they reach out to Mrs. C. My parents were mate-matched and they’re very happy. But for me, I wanted to wait and see what would happen. After Arian found his fated mate, it gave us hope that all of us might be able to find our fated mates.”
The conversation stopped while she rinsed off her hair and body, then she switched places with him so he could rinse the suds from his skin. After he turned off the water, he pulled open the curtain and walked to a cabinet to get towels. The bathroom was quite large. There were several other shower stalls along the wall and a row of sinks with mirrors, as well as toilet stalls on both sides. It reminded her of a college dorm. She’d never lived on campus, but she had friends who had and she’d visited them. The dorm life hadn’t appealed to her at all.
Sullivan handed her a towel. While they dried off, Sullivan returned to their conversation. “And keep in mind, too, that there are a finite number of people in NPC.”
“And?”
“And some of us already knew that our fated mates weren’t in NPC or we would have connected with them already. Although our people do travel to human cities on Christmas Eve, we don’t go looking for mates.”
“It seems like a wasted opportunity. But,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and tilting her head to look at him, “I’m thankful that you didn’t ask Mrs. C to match you up.”
“Me too, candy cane,” he murmured, kissing her tenderly.
Not willing to risk getting sick with a head of wet hair, she used her hair dryer and then dressed in the thick, cable knit sweater she’d brought along specifically to wear while meeting his family. The sweater fell past her butt and was woven with pale cream yarn. She paired it with fleece-lined, brown leggings, slouchy cream socks, and ankle boots.
“Do I look okay? I have a dress I could wear, but I wanted to be warm enough outside for the tour, and bare legs in whatever negative temperatures it gets here didn’t seem smart.”
“You look beautiful,” he said. He’d dressed in a pair of black trousers with a black button down shirt.
They carried their things back to his room and grabbed their coats. Although the stocking cap messed up her hair, ears were important, and she wasn’t interested in freezing hers off. He dressed as warmly as she did, in a thick coat with gloves and a hat.
“Ready to meet my parents?” he asked, taking her hand as they left the bedroom.
“I feel like I should have made them something or brought a gift. I had all those hours back in the states before you showed up, and I didn’t do anything thoughtful.”
“You’re thinking too hard. My parents are going to be thrilled to meet you; they’ll be happy I found you. If you want to give my parents a present, let me knock you up, then they’ll get a grandkid to spoil.”
Her cheeks flamed, and she scowled at him, but he was smiling so broadly that she couldn’t help but smile back.
He reached for the door leading outside, and she said, “That was a super romantic way to ask me to have your baby, by the way.”
“I told you I’ve got skills.” He waggled his brows at her.
In NPC there was six months of night. The residents wouldn’t see the sunrise until March, and then it would become a place where there was
no night for six months. Kerri was curious about living in all dark and then all light. And also why they had no vehicles.
“Everything is close, so we walk. You’ll get used to the cold.” He put his arm around her and hugged her to his side as he hurried them along a neatly shoveled path. It was lunchtime, but the sky was dark as if it were midnight. There were streetlights that cast amber pools of light on the sidewalks, but it still felt like the middle of the night.
“I guess it’s all relative. You’re used to the cold because you grew up here, but it’s a lot colder than it was at the cabin, and I thought that was pretty freaking cold.”
He hurried her to a small cabin, and the door opened as soon as they reached the bottom step of the porch. A tall man with a neatly trimmed beard and a red flannel shirt stood in the doorway.
“Welcome! I heard you coming and wanted to help you get your girl in the house as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Sullivan said.
The door shut, and Kerri breathed out a sigh of relief at the warmth in the house. In spite of very warm outer clothes, her teeth were chattering, and she was thankful the walk hadn’t taken that long.
A woman wearing dark pants and a sweater with a large poinsettia on the front joined them.
Sullivan said, “Mom, Dad…this is my fated mate, Kerri. Kerri, these are my parents, Tulula and Geoff.”
Kerri extended her hand, but his mom hugged her instead. “It’s so nice to meet you, Kerri,” Tulula said. “Welcome to our home.”
Geoff shook her hand, patting the top with a smile. He looked at Sullivan and said, “When SC stopped by on Christmas Eve to say you’d found your fated mate, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. It’s amazing that three of the quads have found mates. I bet the other guys are anxious and hope it’s a trend.”