by Evi Asher
He has forgiven her for something she never did, but is it too late to win her?
She has run from him for the last time. Colt is determined to find and keep his Gelibean, but someone is trying to kill her. Will he find his runaway mate before they get it right?
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Unfrozen
Copyright © 2014 Evi Asher
ISBN: 978-1-4874-0098-9
Cover art by Carmen Waters
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Unfrozen
Eternals Book Six
By
Evi Asher
Dedication
For Rachel, you are a true angel and indispensable to me. I don’t know what I’d do without your sweet nature and kind heart.
Chapter One
Someone knocking on the front door of the cabin woke Colt. He decided to ignore the noise for a moment as he stretched languidly in bed, a warm feeling of contentment making him smile.
The night before with Angelica had been like nothing he’d ever experienced before. Their passion had reduced him to a bumbling schoolboy, but he intended to fix that today. As soon as he got rid of the annoying visitor, he was going to go get Angelica and carry her back to bed—kicking and screaming if he had to—and make sure she knew they had started over and he was planning on making things work between them.
She had to know that he’d forgive her, right? She must know he was prepared to put the past behind them and move on.
The elders had made sure she became his, and even if he wasn’t sure if she was his one true mate, they were joined.
The mythology was that if the runes appeared during a joining, that meant the pair was meant to be together. Fated, was a better term.
The runes that appeared on their wrist during the ceremony had given him reason to remember the lore. Angelica was supposed to be his one and only, but he’d never put much faith in folklore, even if he was starting to doubt his stubborn denial of it.
Yet he couldn’t deny the draw and intensity between them. He’d tried so hard to hate her, tried to make her the enemy, and after what had happened to him on the other side, it should have been easy—but it wasn’t.
Angelica had wormed her way into his life and he wasn’t going to let her go, so he had to make sure she understood there would be no more running away from him. Even if he would never believe she was innocent. There was no way she’d been a virgin when they’d had sex. She was being naive if she thought he’d believe her claims. She had to deal with their past just as he had, and she had to leave it in the past. He wasn’t going to let her drag it along with them for the rest of their Eternal lives.
The knock sounded again, this time more insistent. Colt got out of bed and stabbed his legs into the jeans he’d thrown onto the floor. He padded barefoot to the door and opened it with a glare fixed on his face.
Athera stood on the stoop, with Nanook at her side. Colt frowned down at his lead dog. He should have been by his kennel, tied up, the same as the rest of the sled team. He must have gotten loose.
“Hey, grumpy.” Athera pushed her way past Colt without permission and Nanook followed her in. “Found this fellow sitting on the steps waiting for you to get your lazy butt out of bed, no doubt.”
Colt felt his frown deepen, but he pushed the door closed and turned to look at Athera. The dog was sniffing around the cabin, or rather, he was sniffing at Angelica’s closed door.
Athera walked over to the couch and sat down in it. “So, where is Angelica?”
“You came to see Geli?”
“Duh.” Athera blew her fringe out her face. “You’re yummy and all, but I’m far more interested in my friend. She left without saying goodbye last night.”
“Yeah, she tends to do that.” Colt sat down on the armchair. He decided he was going to get some info out of Athera before he woke his mate. He didn’t know where to start with the questions, but Athera seemed to sense he was trying to ask something.
“She didn’t do it,” Athera said, leaning back on the couch and canting her head to look at him.
Colt was confused for a moment. “Do what?”
“Angelica didn’t rape you.” Athera looked him straight in the eye, and didn’t flinch when he growled at her.
“You know nothing about that,” he spat.
“Wrong—I know plenty, and as guilty as it makes me feel. I didn’t believe her at first either.”
Colt felt his mouth open. If Angelica’s friend hadn’t believed her, why was she sitting here trying to make him believe?
“I said at first,” she emphasized. “There is good reason for that, too. Let me tell you a little story.” Athera pulled her feet up onto the couch and got comfortable, then looked over at the kitchen area. “Where is the coffee?”
Colt suppressed the urge to growl again as Athera widened her eyes and looked innocent. He got up and made her a cup of instant coffee. The entire time he was making it, questions raced through his brain—he wanted answers, and the only person who could give them to him was Athera.
He handed her a cup of coffee and she sniffed. “Instant? Really?”
“It’s coffee. Talk.” He sat on the armchair again, but he was on the edge of it, agitated and impatient.
Athera took the time to blow across the piping hot coffee before taking a sip, her hands curled around the mug as if it was comforting to her.
Colt growled. Though it was a slow trickle of sound, it must have given Athera goose bumps because she shivered. “Behave, snow-bear, or I’ll take my story and leave.”
Nanook whined at Angelica’s bedroom door and Colt flinched. He didn’t want her to wake up yet, at least not before he had the story.
“Nanook…here.”
The dog didn’t need to be invited twice as it ran across the room and leapt onto Colt’s lap.
Athera burst out laughing. “He does know he’s an Alaskan Husky and not a lap dog, right?”
“Tell your story, Athera.” Colt tried to get the dog settled while wanting to rip the tale out of Athera.
She sighed and started speaking. “The phoenix moved to a separate realm many years ago, after all our males were killed in a war with the necromancers. What males were left stayed behind, or rather they weren’t invited along.” Athera held the coffee as she spoke, and her warm breath made small puffs of steam in the house.
“Keep talking.” Colt got up and went to the fireplace. He stoked the fire and added more logs. He didn’t want Angelica to be cold when she did get up. She never had seemed to like the cold.
“The plane we ended up on had no native populace, so we had no males with which to… procreate.”
Colt snapped his head around to look at her as he dropped the
last log in the fire. He had an idea where this was going.
“And since there were no real phoenix men left, our elders decided they would use other shifters, lycans, and thropes as breeders.”
“I was kidnapped for the purpose of studding to your phoenix females?”
“Not females, plural. Female, singular.”
Colt scowled at the enigmatic answer, and took his seat in the armchair again, Nanook jumped back onto his lap.
“You were kidnapped to breed specifically with Angelica.” Athera grinned. “And in that statement is all the proof I need that she didn’t rape you.”
“Explain what you mean.”
“Phoenix females go through a fertile period every few years. Angelica was on her first fertile period when you were taken. She was supposed to create a little phoenix with you. If she had raped you, she’d be pregnant.”
Colt snorted. “Bullshit. It doesn’t happen that easily.”
“Yes it does, for a female phoenix in her fertile period. You could have given her a heated look and knocked her up.” Athera paused, and grinned. “I do so love that human saying.”
“By now, I would have noticed symptoms of pregnancy.”
“Yahtzee!”
Colt frowned and realized that Athera had a point. He pinned her with a hard look. “Are you sure about all of this?”
Athera rolled her eyes at him. “I’m a phoenix. I grew up in that twisted culture, I know how it works.”
“Then, if Angelica never touched me, who raped me?”
Athera didn’t miss a beat. “An uber bitch named Malta. She was head of the breeding center, and apparently thought she could use the males as she pleased.” Athera shrugged, nearly spilling her coffee.
“You are sure…”
“I’m sure. If you and Angelica had been together, she would be pregnant.”
A stunning realization hit Colt. Angelica was pregnant. If Athera was telling the truth—and he was pretty sure she was—then he’d gotten Angelica pregnant last night.
“How long does the fertile period last?” He pushed Nanook off his lap to sit forward again.
“For approximately three months, or until the phoenix gets pregnant.” Athera took another sip of her coffee.
Colt sat back on his chair and scrubbed a hand over his eyes. That meant that Angelica had to be pregnant after last night. She was carrying his baby.
He felt this weird tightness in his chest. He was going to be a father and he…liked the idea.
A slow smile spread across his lips.
Athera was frowning at him and looking weary at the same time. “What are you smiling about?”
“I’m going to be a dad.” His smile became a grin.
“We went over this, it wasn’t Angelica who—”
“No, it wasn’t.” He had to believe it now. “But it was Angelica in my bed last night.” His grin became a chuckle as Athera stared at him.
“What…Wait, then why did you have me explain all this? You knew she was a virgin.”
That made Colt’s smile vanish. “I felt no hymen tear when we had sex.”
“Made love.” Athera corrected him.
“We had sex, there was no love involved.”
“And a lady makes love, she doesn’t have sex.”
Colt opened his mouth and closed it again. It was obvious that Athera was as stubborn as a pack of mules. Then he muttered. “Whatever.”
“No, not whatever and you are an idiot if you didn’t feel her hymen.”
“And you’re the expert?”
Athera blushed. “Well…no. I’m a virgin, but—”
“Ha! Then what do you know?” Colt stood up from the armchair.
Athera put her hands on her hips and glared at him as if she would set him on fire with a look. “Enough, I’m done talking to your stubborn ass. I want to see Angelica.”
“Geli!” Colt bellowed while glaring back at Athera. He wondered when the guest would be leaving, because it couldn’t be soon enough for him. He wanted his Angelica without her interfering friends around.
His Angelica?
He ignored the thought. He’d deal with possessive ideas later. Right now, he needed Athera to get the hell out of his cabin, and she wasn’t going to leave until she’d seen Angelica.
“Angelica!” he yelled again, and when she didn’t answer, his long strides took him to her door. He opened it, and all he found was an empty room.
He felt his teeth clench. All that was in the room was the heap of bedding and the quilt she’d taken off his bed last night.
Nanook rushed past him and started scratching at the quilt.
“Stop that, Nanook, you’ll tear it.” He growled at the dog and Nanook sat down next to the quilt, his head canted, and his gaze on Colt.
“She’s gone.” Athera intoned from behind him. “She’s left again, and now she’s out there in the cold and in danger. I could kick your ass—hell—I should kick your ass.” Athera pushed past him and walked over to the pile of bedding picking up the quilt. “You didn’t even give her a bed?”
Colt didn’t respond to the question. He was staring at the quilt, and more precisely, he was staring at the dark patch of dried blood on the quilt, and as the seconds ticked by, his guilt grew.
That blood could mean only one thing.
Angelica had been a virgin, and not only had he not believed her, but he’d taken her in a way that no virgin should be taken. Raw anger boiled in his gut—not at Angelica for leaving, but at himself for forcing her.
He heard himself answer Ath. “She can’t be far, we need to start looking.”
“Forget it.” She dropped the quilt, apparently not having seen the blood stain, and strode past Colt to get out the room.
Colt walked into the room and picked up the quilt, holding onto it and staring at the stain.
Athera paused to turn and tell him. “I think you’ve done enough damage, thank you very much. The Outsiders will go find Angelica, and you’ll stay out of it.”
Colt spun to face her and glowered at her. “Angelica is my mate, and if you think you are keeping me out of this, you have no idea what trouble you are asking for.” His fist clenched the quilt. He looked down to see his knuckles turn white.
Athera snorted. “Try and interfere, and you’ll be sorry.”
Colt had to fight the urge to grab Athera by the throat. “I don’t care if you go with me, nor I don’t care if you go alone, but I will find my mate and I will fix this. If you try to stop me, there will be violence. She is mine.” He held up the wrist that had Angelica’s rune on it. “And I am hers.”
Athera took a step backward with a frown. “Intense much?”
“Where Angelica is concerned, yes.”
“Fine, you can help us look.”
“I wasn’t asking permission.” Colt took the quilt and dumped it on his bed. He and Angelica were going to have a long conversation about that blood when he got her back. She had to explain to him why she hadn’t tried to convince him that she was a virgin, and he wasn’t going to listen to any excuses.
Yeah, like you didn’t listen to her when she said she was innocent and you took her like a whore.
Colt gritted his teeth. “Make sure you are warmly dressed. I’m going to go find Jericho. He’ll be able to help a lot more than you city dwellers.”
Athera frowned up at him. “We’ve got magical means to find her, so we work together tracking her.”
Colt nodded. He hadn’t known about the magic, and it would make things easier.
He looked down and realized that all he was wearing was a pair of jeans. “I’m going to get dressed. You go get the Outsiders ready, and I’ll meet you at your cabin—then we can go get Jericho.”
For once, Athera didn’t have a comeback, but nodded and pulled open the front door. “Don’t take too long, Colt.” She shut the door and left Colt alone with his guilt. Well, almost alone. Nanook whined from his position next to Colt’s legs on the floor.
; “I need to tie you up again, boy.” Colt scratched behind the dogs ears and Nanook chuffed in pleasure. “Let me go get dressed and I’ll go get you settled.”
The Husky walked over to the door and sat down next to it.
“Good.” Colt dashed into his room to look for his warmest clothes and boots.
He dressed at warp speed, knowing he would do anything to find Angelica and once he had her, he was never letting go again. The idea of losing her put a cold spot in his gut that nothing would warm.
Chapter Two
Snow sucks.
Angelica was learning to hate the cold with a passion she should have reserved for hating Colt.
She was on the back of the snowmobile, going at god knew what speed over the snow and ice-covered landscape. Even trees had become a rare sight.
She didn’t know where they were, but she was almost sure they weren’t going where Kate said she would be taking them.
“Kate!” she screamed over the wind.
“What?” Kate turned her head slightly to speak.
Angelica could barely hear her through the icy air blowing past them. “Where are we? This isn’t a place I recognize.”
The snowmobile hit a bump, and Angelica had to grab on to Kate so she wouldn’t fly off the back of the thing.
“We are on a glacier—short cut,” Kate yelled back.
Short cut across a glacier?
No, that didn’t sound right. “We didn’t go near any glacier on our way to the village from the mines.”
“What was that?” Kate screamed back over her shoulder.
Angelica gritted her teeth. She’d been shouting right in Kate’s ear. There was no way the other woman hadn’t heard what she had said.
“I said…We didn’t come this way when we went back to the village.”
“It’s the right way, a great short cut. Trust me,” Kate hollered back.
Angelica was not convinced. Something felt…wrong.