by Evi Asher
Had she toned down the flame’s heat so she wouldn’t hurt him? For some reason, that thought made his gut twist. Did she care about not hurting him?
He stumbled in the snow and made sure he concentrated on his footing. Drawing in a deep breath, he scented the air—North—she was flying North. He would always find his mate. They were linked by the binding ceremony, and even if they weren’t mated, he knew Geli’s scent.
It haunted my dreams.
Ethereal images of her in white, blossoms blowing on the breeze around her. Long trails of gossamer dress flowing across her body as she called to him, her unique perfume filling his nose as he followed her through the meadow. Sometimes he didn't want to wake up from that.
He followed the trail of her smell, letting his body do the hard work while his mind went over what had happen in the last fifteen minutes.
When she’d looked at him and asked if they were going to have sex, he’d nearly lost it. The urge to pin her under him and fill her was so strong it was visceral, and his cock had shot painfully hard.
Just the thought of her hesitant aren’t we going to…made him hard again. He groaned, praying his body would subside, and made his pace faster. He saw a flutter of white through the bent branches ahead of him and picked up his pace. Colt was not going to let her get away from him.
He didn’t know if he was punishing Geli or punishing himself by keeping her around, because he hated that he wanted her so much, but he couldn’t stop his reaction to her.
Her taste, when he’d kissed her earlier, had just about driven him over the edge, and the thought that she wanted him, too was more than he could bear.
No.
He would fight it until his last breath, he needed to punish her, not fuck her.
* * * *
Angelica could hear him behind her. Her fine hearing while in her owl form made him sound like a herd of elephants crashing through the snow and trees. He would catch her soon.
She took off again and swept the air with her wings, but it was only the second time she’d changed, and she was unfamiliar with it. She wasn’t sure how to dip her wings or spread her tail feathers to balance.
I suck at flying.
She admitted when she landed on another branch, her wings aching, and her body thrumming with unfamiliar energies. She turned her head and saw Colt’s dark shape barrel past another tree.
If she could have sighed, she would have, as she spread her wings and took flight again. She looked back over her shoulder to see if he was closer and turned back. She had to bank to her right to avoid a tree.
That would have smashed my beak.
Angelica banked again, aiming for a clearing in the trees. Maybe she could gain some altitude and hide high in a tree where Colt couldn’t find her.
She was there, the clearing only a few wing flaps ahead when she felt her form shiver and blur.
What the…
She flapped her wings and tried to coast, but her form blurred again. This time she felt the shift.
Damn it was all she had time to think before her form shifted and she turned human again. She crashed down face first into the snow, hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She was naked, and the cold of the snow was a double shock. She gasped in a breath and choked on snow.
* * * *
Colt got there as Geli was pushing herself up on to her knees to stand up. He stopped, not moving an inch as he watched the perfect paleness of her skin make the snow look like mud in comparison. She stood, her back to him, and he stared at the glorious coal dark length of her hair as it caressed its way down her spine, passing her hour glass shaped waist and brushing the upper curve of her backside.
She was perfectly formed, too. This female was perfect in every way.
He felt himself go instantly hard, his body screaming for her. He clenched his fists at his side and fought the urge to go to her.
She coughed and cursed under her breath.
“Your flight was cut short.” Even in his own ears, his voice sounded deep and husky.
Geli squealed and spun, trying her best to cover everything with her hands and failing, much to Colt’s…pleasure.
“Your owl failed you because I called it,” he told her with a small smirk playing around his lips.
“You…” Words seemed to fail her as she tried to think of a remark that would work. “Douche.”
His eyebrows arched up in surprise. “For a sheltered creature from another plain, you have a foul mouth.
“I’d call you worse if I could.” She looked ready to throw up her fists and fight him.
“Enough of this, Geli. It’s cold, and you are naked.” He gave her a crooked smile to show he hadn’t missed the fact. “Let’s go back to my cabin.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She tilted her chin up in the stubborn way she had, and he knew he was going to have problems.
“Would you rather freeze in the snow?”
“Yes, at least it won’t call me a whore.” Her glare could have melted stone.
“Either you come willingly, or I will hoist you over my shoulder and carry you, Geli.”
Her glare faltered. “I’m not going through the town naked.”
He pulled off his jacket and tossed it in the snow at her feet. “There, now you won’t be naked.”
He cursed himself for giving her that bit of modesty, but having her march through the village in nothing would have been a great punishment. For some reason, though, he couldn’t stomach the idea of other men seeing her like this.
He turned his back and she put on the jacket. It came to her knees and she pulled it tightly around her waist.
“I’m ready.”
“About time.” He grumbled and started leading the way back to his cabin.
Chapter Five
Colt shoved her through the door and Angelica stumbled, but caught herself before she fell. “A little rough, don’t you think?” She turned to give him a dirty look.
“Get yourself in your room and stay there,” he answered, turning his back on her and dismissing her as if she’d already left.
Angelica didn’t feel like another argument with the stubborn bear, so she went to her room and slammed the door behind her. At least her dirty robes were here so she could change into them and not have to wear his stupid coat any more.
She started to shrug out of the coat, but stopped. Lowering her head and lifting the collar of the coat, she could smell Colt’s warm scent on it—snow and wildness, a male’s smell. It made her reluctant to take the jacket off. Then she remembered how he’d shoved her into the cabin and she jerked the coat off her shoulders, tossing it to the floor in a heap. She found her folded robes and slipped them on again. They were still grimy and she wished she could wash them, but they were hers, and that gave her some comfort.
Angelica moved over to the fire, the cold in this place pervasive, spreading like a sickness through her limbs, and she was shivering from her barefoot walk in the snow. She held out her hands trying to get some warmth back into her body. She tried to flame her fingertips up, hoping that would help, but nothing happened, no matter how hard she concentrated.
Perhaps her body needed to be warm to flame. Perhaps the cold had a way of sapping her ability. She chewed on her lip while she thought.
“Michael?” she called him, her voice just above a whisper. She could hear Colt moving around in the cabin and she didn’t want the ice-bear to hear her talking to Michael.
There was no answer from the ghost, so she tried again. “Michael?” A wavering by the fire was the only response she got.
“Hmmm.” It seemed that the ghost needed her power to materialize, and when she was low, he couldn’t become visible. That was a working theory at least—she’d ask the ghost next time he showed up.
A knock at the front door interrupted her musings. Angelica walked to her entry and opened it a crack so she could peer through the gap. She saw Colt walk to the door and pull it open.
&
nbsp; “Sarah asked me to bring this for you.” Angelica heard a woman’s voice and watched as Colt stepped out the way.
“Please come in.”
Angelica felt a slight stab of jealousy when Kate stepped through the door way and Colt closed the door behind her. It wasn’t fair for a woman to be so beautiful, especially a woman that Angelica’s mate was staring at in open admiration. She gritted her teeth and kept her body as still as possible. Spying wasn’t very admirable, but right then, she didn’t give a damn. What did Kate want with Colt?
Kate handed Colt a wrapped bundle and smiled. “Sarah asked that I give you this, it’s your mating gift from her. She forgot to give it to you in the excitement of Jericho and me getting there.”
Colt took the bundle with a warm smile. “She only says she forgot. She’s a little air headed, our Sarah is.”
Our Sarah, like Kate is part of the village.
Angelica stopped herself from making a rude noise.
“Speaking of Jericho.” Colt looked past her as if Jericho would appear out of thin air. “Where is he?”
“Oh, he’s still busy with the council. I said I’d bring this over quickly.” She looked around Colt into the cabin’s kitchen and living room, then towards the rooms.
“Where is Angelica?”
“She’s…resting,” Colt responded.
Angelica ducked her head behind the door, not wanting to be spotted.
“Oh, so it’s just you and me.”
Something in Kate’s tone made Angelica put her eye to the crack again.
“Yes…” Colt sounded puzzled. He was facing Kate, but Angelica could see his face in profile and he was frowning.
“Good.”
No, not good
Angelica knew with an inexplicable certainty what was going to happen next.
Kate leaned forward, going up onto her tiptoes. She grasped the front of Colt’s shirt in her fist and pulled him closer. Then, reaching even higher, she put her lips to his, kissing him as if he was the last drop of water in the world and she was thirsty.
Angelica felt bile rise in her throat, and she knew it was fury. Jealousy warred inside her, demanding release so it could wreak havoc on the bitch kissing her man. The rune on her wrist burned with an intensity that made her rake her nails over it.
Colt stood as unmoving as a rock face, not returning the kiss.
Calm down, you are overreacting. He’s not going to kiss her back, she told herself, but it was more of a plea than sureness on her part.
Colt sighed and started kissing Kate back. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her closer.
Angelica felt hot tears burn her eyes—tears of anger and betrayal, tears of frustration and fury. She was going to kill the bastard and that bitch, too. How dare he kiss someone else after putting his rune on her wrist? He wore her rune, too and he was degrading her by his actions. She closed her eyes and stepped away from the door.
She was sure that anyone looking at her in that moment would have seen utter serenity on the outside, but inside raged an inferno, and Angelica didn’t know how to let it out.
She lifted her hand to her face, studied her fingers, and let flame burst forth. Cold had no effect on her power when she was this angry.
Michael appeared before her. “I toooold you,” he hissed in his other worldly voice.
“Michael.” She turned her face to look at him. “Shut up.”
The ghost vanished as if she had willed it—and she had. She didn’t need any more witnesses to her humiliation.
She walked over to her bedding and collapsed into the fur and blankets. She needed to think, she needed to curl in a ball and wallow in the pain that lanced her chest. She needed to face the humiliation. She would find a way to get her vengeance, but right now, she needed to process all of it.
* * * *
The kiss had been shock, the last thing he would have expected, and he had frozen when Kate pressed her lips to his. He hadn’t been sure what to do, but the longing won out. He needed some warmth, he needed a woman to want that he didn’t hate. He needed the intimacy.
He’d given in and opened himself to it, pulling her closer into his arms and tasting the sweetness of her mouth.
There was something wrong, because her passionate response wasn’t doing anything for him. It left him cold.
Colt realized then it was because he was kissing the wrong woman. He raised his arms and gripped her shoulders. He broke the kiss with Kate and shoved her back.
“No.”
“No, Colt. Don’t deny me. I want—”
“I don’t care what you want, Kate, and why are you begging kisses from me when you are with Jericho?”
“It’s not Jericho I want.”
Colt shoved her away from him. “And I don’t want you. So you have a bit of a problem.”
“You responded to me quick enough.” She tossed her long pale hair over her shoulder.
“A mistake. Please, I’d like you to leave now.” Colt walked to the door and opened it. The wind gusted through the opening and he ignored it. He wanted her out of his cabin now.
She looked like she was about to object, so he pointed a finger out the door. “Please.”
Kate threw her shoulders back and marched through the door. “This is not over between us, Colt.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t want to give her reason to linger. Once she was out, he shut the door and walked to the couch in the living room. He sank down onto it and put his head in his hands.
What have I done?
He’d felt the burn on Angelica’s rune on his wrist. It was a sign that he was committing a betrayal, but he owed her nothing. Why the hell had it burned, then? It wasn’t as if he had any feelings for the phoenix. Well, other than hate, anger and the need for vengeance.
Had she seen the kiss?
The thought made him look up at her door, but it was closed. He prayed she hadn’t seen, because it would cause more drama than he needed right now. Technically, he was hers now, and he had no right kissing anyone other than her.
Her anger—if she’d witnessed the farce of a kiss—would be justified.
He scrubbed his face and dragged a hand through his hair. He was a stupid ass. He should never have done it. Should he come clean? Try to brazen his way out of it? Yes, that might be the best course of action.
The door to Angelica’s room opened with a soft creak. Colt looked up and over his shoulder to see her standing there, dressed in her robes again. He needed to get her more clothes. She couldn’t live in the same tatty robes.
He took one look at her and knew.
Oh, gods, she saw.
Colt saw her hands, white-knuckled fists at her side. He let his eyes find her face to see how angry she was. She looked calm, serene even. If he hadn’t seen her clenched fists, he wouldn’t have thought she was mad at all.
“You have a rune on your wrist—does it read Angelica of the Phoenix or Kate of the what-ever?” Her voice was calm, but Colt had started learning her moods, and the calm was deceptive.
Brazen it out.
“You know what it reads, Geli. You were there when we were branded with the runes, so quit the passive aggressive, okay?”
He swore he could hear her teeth grinding. He stood up and turned to face her. He did not want to be sitting down if she decided to go balls to the wall and attack.
“I saw you kiss her.”
He was tempted to point out that Kate was the one doing the kissing, but decided that arguing semantics with Geli right now was pointless.
Brazen it out, Colt.
“So.” He shrugged, as if it was no big deal.
Her eyes glowed with anger, and he knew he’d chosen the wrong way to do it.
“Geli, she kissed me.” He tried to fix his mistake, but it looked like it was too late.
“I didn’t see you objecting and pushing her away. Noooo, your reaction was to shove your tongue down her throat.”
“I did push her away.”
Angelica’s eyes widened and she took a step toward him.
Her anger seemed to be more intense than it should be. Especially if she was only pissed about his betrayal to the mate pact they’d made.
Colt gaped at her for a moment. “Angelica, you are jealous.”
He watched her stop and her whole body tense at his words.
“I am not jealous, you bastard.”
He didn’t know how to process the thought. Part of him was…happy at the idea of her being jealous, another part of him detested it. Mate or not, what she had done to him denied her the right to be jealous.
“I will kiss whoever I want, whenever I want. Got it?” he stated in a dark voice. The confusing feelings had left him reeling, so his reaction was more of a knee jerk than thought out.
Geli didn’t give him chance to take it back or fix his latest fuck up. She turned and went back into her room, slamming the door.
Why do women always slam the damn door?
* * * *
Angelica knelt by the fire. Anger sang in her veins, and she had very little control over herself at that moment.
She’d gone out there to see what Colt would say, if he would defend himself, or apologize for what he had done. Instead, he’d boasted about it.
He did say he pushed her away.
Angelica snorted. She hadn’t seen that, and she didn’t believe it either.
Then why did Kate leave?
“I don’t care why she left.” Angelica said aloud, then tossed another log in the fire.
She used her hand to stoke the fire, pulling back the sleeve of her robes so they wouldn’t catch flame. Then she sat back and started to put a picture of Ath together in her mind.
There was enough fury in her blood for her to attempt to contact Ath. She only had to hope that Athera was near a fire.
Michael’s whisper came near her ear. “Ma’am.”