by Anthology
“Um, just after one a.m. on Christmas morning.”
“Do you have a computer?”
“Sure.” She gathered the blanket around herself and moved to a small desk. “What do you need?”
“I need to let NPC Security know where I am.” He sat down behind the desk and opened the Internet browser.
“Oh, okay.” She chewed her lip again.
He glanced up and frowned. “Charli, what’s wrong?”
She chuckled mirthlessly. “Besides the fact that I’ve got a reindeer shifter in my cabin? You’re leaving.” Tears glistened in her eyes, and Arian’s heart melted at the sight. She scrubbed at her eyes and groaned. “I’m acting like an idiot. I know I just met you, but I don’t want you to go.”
He reached for her and pulled her into his lap. She gasped and tears slipped down her cheeks. “I’m letting them know I’m safe, Charli, but I’m not going anywhere. And you shouldn’t be embarrassed by your feelings because I feel the same way. You’re my mate and that’s a powerful, instant connection.”
“Mate?” Her scent, which smelled sweet like cotton candy, deepened, and his whole body tightened.
“North Pole shifters find their mates in one of two ways – either Mrs. C mate-matches or they find them through fate. You’re my fated mate, Charli. I’m sure that’s a surprise, since you’re human and know nothing about our kind, but I’ll explain more in a minute.”
He entered a website address in the browser and waited for the page to load. Charli sat stiffly in his lap, and he wished she would relax, but he wagered that if he were in her shoes and someone had fallen from the sky in his backyard and said they were mates that he’d be suspicious and nervous, too.
“You said NPC Security. What is that?”
“NPC is short for North Pole City. It’s where all of the arctic shifters and other supernatural creatures live. I work for the security team as well as being a new member of the sleigh team.”
When the page loaded, a colorful cartoon image of Santa filled the page, directing visitors to several different pages within the site, from following the sleigh with a GPS program to games to coloring pages to print. Clicking on the GPS page, he triple clicked on a small icon in the left corner of the map, and then he double clicked on the image of the sleigh before triple clicking on the icon in the left corner again. The page blinked twice, and a small box appeared in the center, requesting a code. He entered his name, and a black screen with a blinking cursor appeared.
Arian_772 uninjured after fall from sleigh and safe with FM. Respectfully request removal from sleigh team and permanent move to current location.
He waited while an hourglass twirled in the center of the black screen.
“FM?” Charli asked.
“Fated mate.”
She looked at him, her eyes searching his face. “Is this really real? I write about stuff like this, but I didn’t know it really happened.”
At his urging, she told him that she wrote paranormal romance stories, about shifters finding their mates. Considering that humans didn’t know that shifters were real, he was amazed at how much she was right about as she shared some of the information she’d either read from other books or had made up on her own.
“It’s real, Charli. But we can never tell another human. It’s against our laws, and it’s dangerous for humans to know such things as a group. They tend to want to study or kill what they don’t understand.”
“I promise I won’t ever tell anyone. Arian?”
“Yes, beauty?”
“You’re really not leaving? I mean, you’re going to stay here with me?”
“Unless you want me to go? I can woo you, if you’d like. I’ve never done it before, but I could figure it out.” He looked toward the window. “I could live in the woods and woo you.”
Her hand that was resting on his shoulder tightened. “No! I mean,” she cleared her throat as she blushed, “you don’t have to live in the woods. I don’t…”
“You can tell me anything, Charli. We’re mates.”
“I don’t know why I feel so connected to you, but I do. I don’t want you to leave or live in the woods. The wooing thing? What does it involve?”
Her blush deepened, staining her cheeks a lovely color.
“I would visit you and bring you gifts. I would show you that I can be a good mate for you.”
“I like that, but you don’t have to live outside.”
He cupped her face and drew her close, intending to kiss her for the first time. His beasts purred in expectation, excited for the prospect of earning her trust and proving their worth as a mate. The computer beeped, and he turned his head, disappointed because they’d been so close to kissing and had been interrupted. He frowned as he read the reply from the North Pole Security Office:
Request denied. NPCS will arrive at your location at 5 a.m. local time.
The link was severed, and the screen blinked twice before returning to the main page.
“What does that mean?” Charli asked, her words tinged with worry.
“I don’t know.”
“Will they take you away?”
His hands tightened on her fractionally as his beasts raged inside him. “No, they won’t.”
But the truth was that he didn’t actually know. If he was outside of the North Pole after sunrise on Christmas Day, he would be trapped until Christmas Eve of the following year. North Pole-born creatures were only free to leave the confines of the North Pole for twenty four hours – dawn on Christmas Eve to dawn on Christmas Day. Grief stuttered through him, making him wish he hadn’t checked in. It had been an automatic response, one born from years of training. NP-born creatures were taught from birth that if they were away from North Pole City suddenly, such as though an accident, they were to immediately alert the security team. He’d never heard what to do in the case of finding a fated mate, but Charli was human and Arian didn’t know what that meant.
Her stomach growled, and he stood with her in his arms. “Let me make you something to eat, mate of mine.”
“I can cook for us,” she said as he carried her into the kitchen.
“It’s my honor to feed you, Charli.”
He set her on the counter, and she cupped his face, her eyes darkening as the scent of her arousal spiked in the air between them. “I don’t know you, but I’m terrified that you’ll be taken from me. It feels like you’re in my heart already. How is that possible?”
“It’s our way.”
“It’s not mine, though. I’m human and you’re a reindeer shifter who works for Santa. I didn’t even know he was real.”
“Let me feed you, and then we can talk. I’ll tell you everything you need to know, my life is an open book.”
She drew close to him, and he slid his hands up her back, feeling the warmth of her skin through her thin shirt. He pulled her close as their lips met and everything inside him quieted in a profound way. Her lips were soft and smooth, and as their mouths opened and their tongues met, the taste of her filled him with heat and desire that was so strong it threatened to boil him from the inside out. The blanket he’d wrapped around himself fell to the floor as she wrapped her legs around him and he tugged her closer. The apex of her thighs pressed against his stomach, and his cock twitched, anxious to sink inside her heat and bond them forever. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat, and he gripped the edge of her top and lifted it.
They separated for a heartbeat as the top went airborne over his head and he growled softly.
“Food,” he managed, his beasts clamoring for him to shut up and kiss her some more.
She smiled with a sultry gleam in her eyes. “Later.”
4
Charli couldn’t really believe the sultry tone that came out of her mouth as she suggested that eating could wait. She’d never considered herself shy, but she’d never been all that forward either. She didn’t know what was going on between her and Arian, but the connection between them was touchable. Th
ey belonged together, as strange as it sounded in her head, and she didn’t want to waste any time.
Arian’s fingers skimmed up her sides and she shivered. He pulled her closer, and she hugged her legs around his waist. His mouth left hers, and she couldn’t stop the soft protest that left her lips. He chuckled and lifted her from the counter, carrying her into the family room and dropping to his knees in front of the fire.
He laid her down gently on the blankets and loomed over her. His fingers traced the line of her jaw as his eyes smoldered, flashing from dark blue to brilliant gold.
“Be mine, Charli,” he said with a husky tone.
“I’m yours, Arian.”
He gazed down at her and something unsaid passed between them. She couldn’t explain it, but their connection – still so new and unexpected – strengthened. She wanted to remember this moment forever, when she knew that love at first sight did exist. It was new love. Fresh love. But it was love all the same. She could see herself falling deeply for him as the days passed.
His mouth was on hers, his tongue teasing as he feasted at her mouth. His fingers moved slowly along her jaw and down her throat as the kiss deepened. Her body trembled as he stroked her skin.
He moved from her lips, kissing across her jaw and nibbling gently on her ear lobe. He kissed down her neck, sucking lightly on the flesh until he reached her shoulder and continued his downward trek. She touched his back, stroking the smooth, hot skin. His lips brushed across her nipple, and she bit her lip, her fingernails digging into his flesh.
He sucked on her nipples, alternating between the two, nipping and licking until the buds were tight and pleasantly aching. She couldn’t stop trembling as he kissed his way down her stomach and hooked his hands over her thighs to pull them apart so he could lie between her legs.
His face was inches from the apex of her thighs, and he inhaled slowly and deeply. A growl that sounded a lot like a deep, happy purr rumbled from his chest. He lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to her clit. Her sigh of pleasure slid into a gasp as he licked her bud. His hands tightened on her thighs as he licked and sucked on her clit. He pulled her thighs over his shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh as he licked around the entrance to her body, his tongue delving into her depths as he tasted the evidence of her arousal.
He growled softly and wrapped his lips around her clit, sucking gently and flicking the tip with his tongue rapidly. Her arousal peaked and she threw back her head and shouted his name as a climax wove through her.
Kissing her sensitive bud, he moved up her body, kissing her twitching stomach and her tight nipples and her thundering pulse. She caught his hips with her legs, hooking her ankles together behind his back. He slid his arms under her back and held her close, his lips brushing hers as his cock pressed against her pussy. She lifted her hips to meet his as he surged forward and both of them groaned as his thick, hard length pressed inside.
She’d never been so perfectly filled. When he was inside her completely, when their hips were pressed together as tightly as two people could be, she felt another, deeper connection snap into place between them. He gazed down at her, his eyes a luminous deep gold, and she knew that this was it for them. She was his and he was hers, and no matter that they were virtual strangers hours earlier, they were here now – together. Mates. A human and a reindeer.
His fingers bit into her shoulders as he began to move in and out of her, sliding slowly, deeply inside and then retreating until only the head of his cock touched her pussy. Each slide forward made stars light her vision, and each pull back made her clutch him closer. She wanted him to move slower so it would last forever, but she yearned for him to make love to her harder, faster.
He lowered his mouth to her throat and sucked on her flesh, and she arched under him, her nails dragging across his back as heat filled her.
“Arian,” she groaned.
He lifted from her throat with a soft snarl, and she saw his fangs.
“Mine,” he growled.
“Yes, I promise,” she said, panting for breath.
He pushed away from her, and before she could complain about the loss of him, he flipped her onto her stomach and hauled her up to her knees, plunging back inside her, hard and fast. She fisted the blankets under her as he took her with all the raw passion she’d wanted.
He covered her with his body, one hand sliding down her stomach to her clit and the other pressing over the top of her hand, twining his fingers with hers. He strummed her sensitive bud, and she closed her eyes, giving herself over to the sweet hum of pleasure that filled her. His lips caressed the place where her neck and shoulder met, and after releasing a growl filled with possession, he struck, sinking his fangs into her flesh.
She screamed as she climaxed, bucking against him as he snarled into her shoulder and his cock spasmed deep inside her. He lifted his fangs from her shoulder and licked the wounds slowly. She smelled the metallic tang of blood and knew she would feel the pain of the marks later, but at the moment, all she felt was complete and utter bliss.
They fell to their sides, and with his tongue, he continued to stroke the marks he’d made. She could hear everything in that moment – the crackling of the logs in the fire, the pounding of her heart, and the way Arian softly growled in contentment.
“I could stay like this forever,” she whispered.
“Me too,” he said. “We’re bonded, Charli. You’re mine and I’m yours. Nothing can separate us. Does that scare you?”
She turned in his arms and looked up at him. The firelight flickered over his handsome features. “Scared about being with you for the rest of my life? No. I’ve always believed there was something more out there, but I never knew what that something was. Now, though, I know it’s you.”
5
“I’m an arctic shifter, a quad,” Arian said, as he cracked eggs into a cast iron skillet on the stove.
“What does that mean exactly?” Charli asked, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders a little tighter as she watched him make her something to eat. It was a little cooler in the kitchen, away from the fireplace, and she hadn’t wanted to get dressed, so a blanket around her shoulders was enough to keep her warm.
Tossing the egg shells into a wastebasket, he pulled more eggs from the carton. “Well, being an arctic shifter means I can transform into arctic animals. The quad means that I can take on shifts for the four arctic animals – polar bear, fox, reindeer, and snowy owl.”
Her brows rose. “You can be a bird?” She leaned forward slightly and looked at him strangely. “Where does your body go?”
He snorted out a laugh. “What?”
“Well, you’re six-and-a-half feet tall and muscular. An owl is so…small. What happens to your body? What is your shift like? Does it hurt?” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I wrote a story about a wolf shifter, and I imagined it was very gruesome and torturous for his big human body. I just assumed it was painful.”
He wiggled the spatula under the eggs and flipped them gently. “If it hurt, no one would want to shift. I don’t know how to explain how it happens, it just does. Call it magic or supernatural forces or whatever, but it’s part of our lives. The animals are inside me, part of my consciousness. When I need or want to shift, I simply call on one of them, and I become that animal. I’m still myself in the shift, but I have more animalistic urges.”
“What’s your favorite animal?”
“The fox, because I can run fast.”
“Can I see you shift?”
“Of course, but we need to be careful. I trust you explicitly, but if another human were to see me shift, it could cause untold problems for you and me, and for my kind. The truth of shifters is a secret that must be maintained.”
“My closest neighbors are a couple of miles away. It takes me thirty minutes to get to the nearest town. I picked this place because I liked the seclusion of it, but it does get lonely.”
He rubbed her knee. “You’re not going to be alone anymo
re.”
She smiled sweetly. “Okay, so you started shifting when you were eighteen. Are there shifters who can’t shift into all four arctic creatures?”
He nodded, placing the eggs on two plates and adding buttered toast. She hopped off the counter and picked up two mugs of coffee and followed him back to the pile of blankets in front of the fire. There was a couch, but he liked sitting with her by the fire. “There are some males who can only shift into two or three animals. Only a true shifter – a quad – can be part of the sleigh team.”
“What do the non-quad shifters do for work?”
“Because we’re stronger than other supernatural creatures, we work in areas where our strength is needed. Before a spot opened up on the sleigh team, I split my time between working in the barn and working for the security team. There are only twelve quads in NPC now, and only one who is younger than me who would love to be part of the sleigh team.”
“It’s a position of honor?” she asked as she cut a wedge of egg with her fork and lifted it to her mouth.
He nodded. “When we’re young, we’re told that the sleigh team is the ultimate job for a shifter.”
“Tell me about your parents,” she said.
“My mom is an elf. Like all female elves, she works in the commissary, although when she was younger, she was allowed to work on the toy line, which is what she loved the most. My dad was a quad. He died when I was eight. There was a fire in the stables, and he was killed when a beam fell on him.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, reaching for his hand. “My parents are gone. They died in a wreck when I was a teenager. My sister, Kerri, and I went to live with our aunt, but she died a year ago, so it’s just the two of us.”
“I don’t have any siblings. It must be nice to have someone you can rely on.”
“We’re very close. She thought I was nuts to move out here, but now I feel like the reason I fell in love with this cabin is because I was meant to be here on this night.” She chuckled. “I can’t believe I’m living a paranormal romance novel.”