by Bianca D'Arc
Feeling playful, she prowled closer to her mate, joy in her heart.
“Come here, you,” he mock-growled, wrapping one strong arm around her waist and pulling her close. He couldn’t growl like a wolf, but that was fine with her. As submissive as her inner beast was, Evie thought it much better to have a non-growly mate with fey sensibilities than the other way around.
That said, he certainly knew how to play like a beast. He nipped her neck, leaving tingling little kisses down her throat as he walked them over to the big overstuffed couch across from the fireplace. He swept her legs out from under her, catching her in his muscled arms as he lay her gently down on the soft cushions. There had been a dustcover over the fleece throw that covered the couch, so it was clean and fluffy, as if no time had passed since they’d last been here together.
They’d spent an entire winter, it seemed, snuggled together on this couch, looking into the flames of many fires…and kindling fires within themselves…for each other. She was pretty sure some of her most memorable moments spent with her mate had been on this couch—both talking and making love.
Evie was all for making some new memories. Right now, in fact.
She pushed at his shirt, wanting it out of the way, so she could stroke his skin. He had such delightful textures to his body, rough where she was smooth, hard where she was soft. She reveled in the contrasts, knowing this man, of all men, had been made just for her.
She succeeded in pushing up the offending fabric, sliding her hands over his chest, and then, Ray helped by lifting his arms and tugging it the rest of the way off. Good mate. Cooperative mate. She wanted to pet him and praise him for doing what she wanted. Her inner wolf wanted to submit to him and play with him at the same time, a never-ending game of affection between them.
While one part of her mind was aware of the increase in the winds outside and the snow coming down to land almost soundlessly on the roof of the cabin, the majority of her senses were occupied with her mate. His delicious scent. The thoughtful way he accommodated her. The dizzying passion that sprang up between them at the least provocation.
He was undressing her, bit by bit, and she was grateful for it. Each new caress made her want him more. He knew just how to touch her to evoke her most passionate responses. Even after all this time, it was as if their bodies had never been apart, never known the loss of each other. It was all perfect. Just as it had been all those years ago.
“You’re so beautiful, Evie. Now and forevermore, you’re my mate.” His words made her open her eyes. They’d shut without her conscious volition, at some point, but she was watching him now, gauging his mood. He seemed so serious. Almost solemn.
Evie reached out to cup his cheek. “Forever, Ray. You’re my mate. You know what that means to shifters. There is nobody else for me. There never could be.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d been able to find someone else while I was away.” The look in his eyes was almost painful to bear. There was a lot of regret there. Something she never wanted to see on her mate’s handsome face.
“Never, Ray. I’m not wired like that. Once I found you—my mate—that was it. I don’t want anyone else.” She tried to reassure him.
“I’m just selfish enough to be happy to hear it, even though I know how hard it was for you. Raising a baby. All on your own. I missed so much, and you were so alone. It’s one of the deepest regrets I will carry with me for the rest of my days.”
She stroked his hair, wanting to erase that look from his beloved face. To ease the burden in his heart.
“Don’t do it, Ray. Don’t feel bad. I’ve been talking to Josh since he found his priestess mate, and we’ve hashed out a lot of reasons why he and Deena both think that everything happened in an almost preordained way. I couldn’t speak of you to Josh, which was why he went off on his own quest for knowledge when his magic manifested all of a sudden. If not for that, he never would have met Deena.” She stroked his shoulders, wanting so much to make him understand. “Yes, it was hard while it was happening, but now, I honestly don’t think I would change it. Oh, I would have rather had you here with me all those years, of course, but our son didn’t turn out too bad, if I say so myself.” She grinned. “And I think we’re all where we’re supposed to be now, even if you did poof me halfway across the country without so much as a by your leave.”
There it was. Ray’s smile. Granted, it was a small one, but it was still a smile. A little quirk of his lips that told her without words that everything was going to be okay.
“You’re too good to me, Evie. You always were.” He leaned down to kiss her, and she welcomed him, needing to bind with him in the most elemental way. To reassure them both that all was once again right with their own little world. They were together now. That’s all that mattered.
Her hands went to his waistband. She allowed her fingers to do the job of unbuttoning and unzipping the old jeans they’d found in the closet. She’d spent quite a bit of time appreciating the way his butt made a bit of otherwise ordinary, worn denim into something truly drool-worthy.
Hubba hubba. Her man looked good in faded jeans. Josh was never getting this pair of pants back. Never. She was appropriating them for her mate, and that was the end of that.
But right now, the jeans had to go. Evie didn’t want anything between herself and her mate. His kisses grew more urgent, and her passions rose. It wasn’t quite as explosive, as quickly, as the night before. Thankfully, they’d taken the edge off a little and were able to go at a slightly less frenetic pace this time. But it was still pretty darn combustible. Sparks of golden light were already beginning to form. Just small ones right now, but if last night was anything to go by, there would be fireworks inside the little cabin soon enough.
Ray seemed to get the message about his jeans. His hands took over the job, and within moments, the fabric was gone. Minutes later, the rest of her clothing followed. Finally. They were naked. Together. On the wide couch where they’d spent so many evenings together, so long ago.
It was all new now, though. Even as it felt the same. They were older. Perhaps wiser. Their separation had only made their hearts and bodies yearn more.
Ray stroked her skin with long caresses of his hands. He rubbed his hard body against her softness, positioning her the way they both liked. She was surrounded by him, tucked into the couch, enveloped by warmth from below as well as above. On one side, the couch kept her cozy, and on the other was the roaring fire in the fireplace, not too distant. She was cocooned in warmth…and love.
Only one thing was needed to make this experience complete. Ray.
He claimed her body slowly, pushing inward carefully. She had been a bit swollen that morning, but her accelerated shifter healing had fixed her before they’d even started their day. Still, she wasn’t used to sex anymore. She hadn’t had any for the twenty or so years that Ray had been gone. She simply couldn’t. Not with anyone but her mate.
Ray’s care was appreciated, and as he claimed her, seating himself fully inside of her, she stroked his shoulders and back. He was such a considerate lover, and always had been.
“You okay, sweetheart?” he asked, his breath coming in short pants as he seemed to struggle to keep still.
She squeezed him with her inner muscles, drawing a groan from his lips that made her smile.
“I’m good, but if you don’t start moving soon, I’m going to flip you onto the floor and have my wicked way with you.”
He grinned. “You promise?”
Evie nodded, holding his gaze.
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time. For now, though…” He didn’t finish his sentence as he began to move.
After last night, they were even more attuned to each other, and it wasn’t long before the bright golden light of their magic sparked off each other. It started to swirl around the cabin, pulsing in the rhythm of their love. Faster and faster it went, reaching higher and higher, right along with Ray’s motion and Evie’s desire.
> It was harder to see, this time, because it was still daylight outside, and the reflective properties of the snow outside their windows made everything seem a little brighter in the small cabin, but the light show was still pretty intense. Evie wondered idly if this was something only she and Ray could see, or if they’d have to practice discretion when out in the world where mortals might notice sparks of magic coming from a particular hotel room or house.
But such thoughts were wiped from her mind when Ray changed position slightly, stealing her breath. The sensations were even more intense, somehow. What she’d thought couldn’t get any better, just had, and it was about to blow the top off her head.
“Ray!” she cried in warning a split second before she ignited, her climax hitting her all at once, deep and devastating.
Ray wasn’t far behind. He tensed above her, his muscles straining as he found his own fulfillment. They didn’t move apart for a long time as the orgasms rolled over them both for long, delicious moments.
Eventually, though, the release wound down, and after a pause to catch her breath, Evie put her earlier plan into motion. She pushed Ray off the couch entirely and onto the soft rug between the couch and the fireplace. He landed on his back, and she followed him down, climbing over him and smiling in triumph when he finally figured out what she was doing.
“I did promise, after all,” she told him, placing kisses all up and down his neck and then moving lower.
They spent the rest of the day and most of the night making love, rising only to spend a few minutes eating, putting the cabin to rights and then setting the final ward that would protect the cabin itself. Then, they made love again, this time up against the kitchen counter top.
It had been a wild day. A passionate day. A day of magic and love. A day Evie would never, in a million years, ever forget.
All the while, the snowstorm raged around the little cabin in the middle of nowhere. And the two lovers inside didn’t mind at all.
The next morning dawned bright, clear and cold. The snow had stopped sometime during the night, and the sun shone down on a field of unrelieved white when Evie looked out the window. She was making breakfast for her mate, reveling in the ordinary task. She’d missed all the simple things about being mated when he’d been gone. Just making a meal, providing sustenance for someone you loved. It was special. A caring act.
Ray came up behind her as she stood by the kitchen sink, looking out the small window at the snow-covered landscape. She heard him coming, so didn’t jump when strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind, pulling her back against his hard-muscled chest. He kissed the side of her neck, and she accommodated him, loving the affectionate side of her fey mate.
Fey may seem icy and cold, but Ray had always been warm and giving with her. She was about to turn in his arms when her shifter hearing picked up the sound of something out of place in the otherwise silent world outside. She stilled, listening hard.
“What is it?” Ray whispered, picking up on her mood and letting her go, though he stayed close.
“Engines,” she whispered back, still listening as the sounds grew closer.
“I can’t hear it,” Ray said after a few moments. She looked over her shoulder at him, raising one eyebrow. He grinned. “Sorry. I know. It’s your werewolf superpower. Do you still hear it?”
“If my mate would shut up for a second, I might be able to tell him,” she replied, laughing to soften her words.
She was still smiling when she headed for the door to the cabin, cracking it slightly to let in more sound. He followed close behind, but stayed out of her way. Sure enough, the sound was growing closer, ebbing and flowing.
“It’s like they’re moving in circles, but they’re getting closer.” She closed her eyes for a moment to try to distinguish more. “Three separate tones. Snowmobiles, I’d say. Nothing else could really get around in this.” She opened her eyes and looked toward the buildup of snow against the bottom of the door. There had to be almost three feet drifted against the door to the cabin.
“How much snow did we get overnight?”
“A couple of feet, but as you can see, it’s drifted a bit.” She pointed to the wedge of snow that had been blown against the bottom of the door.
“I hear it now,” Ray whispered, a look of concentration on his handsome features. “No. It’s gone. Can you still hear it?”
Evie shook her head. The sound had drifted away and then stopped entirely. “They’re gone, I think. Either that, or they stopped their engines for some reason. Either way, they weren’t very close. Sound carries over the snow. They were probably miles away.”
“Mmm,” was Ray’s thoughtful response.
He seemed to be mulling over her words as she closed the door on the cold air that had infiltrated their cozy nest. But the fire was still going, and it wouldn’t take much to warm the house up again.
“You think maybe they were Fred’s dirt bikers, come back on snow-appropriate machinery?” Ray asked after she’d returned to the kitchen area to continue working on breakfast.
“It’s a possibility, but there’s no way to tell,” she replied, frowning as she worked.
“Until something happens,” he finished her sentence, and she felt a bit of dread creeping into her thoughts. If he felt it, too, then the feeling of danger in the air might be something real.
“We’ll have to be vigilant,” she said firmly, nodding as she looked at him. “We’re all alone out here, but you set those wards, so that should give us some warning if they are bad guys, right?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Even as she said it, the first ward sounded a warning in Ray’s mind.
“What was that?” Evie asked. Of course. She’d helped set the wards yesterday. They were keyed to her, as well. She had to have felt it when the first ward was breached.
“That’s what you’ll feel when someone goes past any ward you cast,” Ray told her.
“So, that means…” Ray hated the look of fear on her face. “Someone just…”
“Entered the first ward,” he confirmed.
Panic flared in her eyes. He hated seeing that. Her wolf may be submissive, but it could be fierce when needed. He needed her to tap into that fierceness now. But first…he needed her calm.
“It could be innocent,” he offered. “Non-magical humans, at this point, would be feeling uncomfortable, though they wouldn’t realize why. The ward would push them back, without any overt action. The farther they walked into the protected zone, the more uncomfortable they’d feel, and most would turn around unless there was some compelling need driving them onward,” he said. “If they make it to the second ward, there is reason to be more concerned.”
“It’ll feel the same?” Evie asked, calming, but clearly still on edge.
Ray nodded. “The breaching of a ward feels pretty much the same, regardless of the size or shape of the ward. The reverberation you felt is just meant to be a warning signal to allow the person who cast the ward to know it has been breached. Once you know what to expect, it shouldn’t be as distracting, so if you need to fight, your concentration won’t be broken by it.”
Evie took a deep breath. “Good to know.” She was recovering her equilibrium as he watched, digging into that core of strength he knew she had. Good. That’s what he’d hoped for.
Then, the second ward was breached.
Evie went straight to the door and the shotgun hung on the wall next to it. Good girl. She stretched to reach the little shelf above the gun and he felt unaccountably aroused at the sight of her loading shells into the long gun. There was the fierce little wolf he loved.
“If they cross the third ward, they’ll be too close to the house,” Evie said. “I’m going outside to see what’s what.”
Ray shook his head. “Too dangerous.”
“Not for me. I have some natural protection from magic just by virtue of being a shifter. Plus, I can always go wolf and outrun anything anyone can throw at me.”
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��Wishful thinking, Evie,” he warned.
She turned to face him. “We can’t be caught in here like mice in a trap. They could burn this place down with us in it. My wolf says go out in to the open spaces. It’s safer.”
Ray wanted to argue, but her instincts were probably right. This cabin wasn’t exactly fortified in the way he’d like. Stone would’ve been a better building material, for instance, than wood. But he hadn’t been taking magical battles with evil mages intent on killing them into consideration when they’d moved in all those years ago.
“All right. But we’ll both go.” He reached for his coat even as Evie took off her sweater. “No coat?” He knew her wolf blood kept her warm even in her two-legged guise, but it was well below zero out there.
“Less layers means an easier shift if I need it. And you know I don’t feel the cold the way you do. You want the shotgun?” she offered it to him, but he declined.
“Better you keep it and watch my back. I’ll take point.” She didn’t argue, and he was glad she realized this was more likely going to be a magical battle rather than a physical one. Of the two of them, he was the mage, though as a shifter, she did have her own magic…just not quite the same sort.
“If I go wolf, I’ll try to get the gun to you before I shift,” she agreed, nodding.
He went right up to her and pulled her close for a quick, hard, deep kiss that he hoped said more than he could explain in words at the moment. He loved this woman more than anything in the universe, and facing danger with her at his side was both terrifying and oddly reassuring. There was no one he trusted more, and though he’d rather she was out of danger completely, he knew he could count on her.