by Cecilia Lane
“Which you can do at any other time of the year. There’s also that ridiculously huge room.”
“A girl can’t treat herself sometimes?”
He canted his head and watched her for a long moment, then turned back to his construction. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay. You don’t want to talk about it, so we won’t.”
She felt as if he’d slammed a door in her face. Which, she realized, was likely the exact same thing he felt, too.
“I was supposed to bring someone.” Her house wobbled with the force of her candy placement. Probably too soon for decorating, but she needed something to do with her hands. “As you can see, he’s not here.”
“I take it that wasn’t your call?”
“No,” she scoffed. “Not my call at all. After turning down assignments to meet his request of more time together and planning to spend the holidays in each other’s hometowns, he decided our schedules weren’t compatible enough. True. I can agree to that. But I was trying.
“The worst part was he was so dang amicable about it. Not saying I wanted to catch him cheating with my best friend or have a huge, blowout fight, but at least a little something? Some acknowledgment that emotions were involved?”
Zane didn’t say a word. She didn’t dare look at him, either, but the prickling of her neck said she had his entire attention.
Izzy took a deep breath and let go of the biggest worry that stuck like a lump in her throat. “Part of me thinks it was because of where we’re at. Maybe he could ignore my cougar half when it was just us, on two feet. Coming here to shifter ground zero made it too real.” She shook her head and added another gumdrop to the roof. “Stupid. He never hinted at that, but those worries run deep, you know?”
“He didn’t deserve you,” Zane said harshly. “Doesn’t matter what he believed, he still left you with that worry. He still didn’t fight for you. You need someone better than that.”
“Someone like you, you mean?” she blurted.
Zane snapped straight like he’d been slapped.
Well, fuck.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. She pushed to her feet before her cougar could do more than howl and hiss in her head. “It didn’t mean anything.”
Dumb. Dumb! So incredibly stupid. That reaction was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to get close to anyone again. And a man she’d only known for a handful of days? Even worse! He was a stranger. She knew nothing about him. No middle name. His favorite color and food were entirely up in the air. Could she really be with someone who adored baby puke green and insisted on adding pumpkin spice flavor to everything that went into his mouth? Pumpkin spice steak was too far even for the unconditional love she should have for her mate.
Her idiot cat and her idiot mouth. She’d just gone on a little rant about her ex, which had to be the least sexy topic in the world. But, oh, there was also the implied commitment in said rant, and a holiday tryst with a practical stranger did not exactly meet the expectations.
She turned without another word and hurried from the dining room.
“Izzy.”
Her name on his lips was her only warning before his hand latched around her wrist and spun her around. He crowded her against the wall, just out of sight of the guests still decorating their gingerbread houses. That alone was enough to get her heart pounding. They were so close and had zero idea about the silver-eyed dragon advancing on her.
“Didn’t mean anything?” Zane rasped in a low voice.
He gave her no warning before acting. His hands went to her cheeks and tilted her face upwards to meet the crash of his lips.
After the initial, hard shock, his lips softened against hers. Slow, patient, but insistent. So insistent that she not back away, that she melt against him, that she let down her guard.
Izzy curled her fingers around his forearms. Even gripping her gently, there was power under his skin. Power he controlled around her. For her. Offered her.
That touch was all he needed. With a groan, he swiped his tongue against the seam of her lips and pressed deeper. One hand slipped from her cheek to cup the back of her neck, holding her captive. Making her his with every twist and tangle of his tongue.
Heat spiraled to life in her middle and expanded outward to the tips of her fingers and toes. She felt it wrap around her heart and settle deep into her bones.
She didn’t fight it. The current simply carried her away.
Mate.
Zane eased back with a small smack of his lips, breath coming in pants as harsh as hers.
“You feel it, don’t you?” she asked in a shaky voice. “Tell me I’m not imagining things.”
He rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed. “You’re not,” he said after a moment. His eyes slowly opened on the bright silver of his dragon. “There’s something here, Izzy. Maybe it’s been there from the first time I caught your scent.”
She nodded. Her cougar had insisted on it from the beginning, she just hadn’t wanted to listen. Ignoring the draw between them seemed impossible now.
“We’ll take it slow. You’re not ready. But until then…” He leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. “I’ll be on the couch.”
Izzy leaned her forehead against his chest and laughed. Understanding man, he knew exactly what she needed even without her putting the words to air. She couldn’t be expected to jump right into the whole mates things after a recent disappointment, and with a practical stranger to boot. Fated or not, she needed at least another day to get to know him before stripping down and doing things that’d surely put them on Santa’s naughty list.
She let off another laugh and rolled her eyes at herself.
He wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for her.
Chapter 8
Mate.
He had a mate.
One who’d been hurt. One who needed time.
Time he needed, too. He still hunted Erik, and a mate would only be a distraction.
His dragon bathed him in flames and shook his wings in agitation.
Zane watched Izzy as they strolled between tents after another long day out in the cold. She’d taken him out to the reservoir, but even the leftover evidence of Erik’s presence had disappeared under the fresh flakes that had fallen overnight. He still searched. He studied the snow and tested the air with every inhale but found no sign of the polar bear shifter.
He didn’t stop even when they made it back to town. He scanned the faces of the crowd and peeked around the tents to the actual storefronts. Multicolored lights brightened nearly every window he could see. Strands even wrapped up streetlights and in the trees lining the sidewalks that showed very little signs of clearing. The crowd had aged up in the hours since they left; more adults and teens meandered between stalls and shops than families with cubs.
But no Erik.
Not on the air, not on the ground. He didn’t know where the bear shifter had holed up, but none of the places Izzy led him over the last two days offered any sign of the fucker. He’d started questioning what he saw in her photo, but unless there was a second Erik Halvorsen walking the planet, he’d been in Bearden.
Been. Could have moved on. Could be a thousand miles away at that moment while he wandered through the town’s winter market and chased his own tail.
He’d sent Hollis updates, but the clan leader still stayed silent. As much as Zane hated the thought, he hoped the dragon had others on the wing.
The silence simply gave him more time to puzzle out the strange woman who’d offered him a place to stay and a chance to keep to the sky. His inner beast had been nothing but attentive since the close encounter their first day on the trails, and doubly so since that kiss scorched him to his very center.
His mate. Skies above. His mate.
“Shoot,” Izzy muttered under her breath, then made a hard turn to duck down a different aisle. “Old Maids.”
“What?” he snapped out, following close behind. His dragon surged
to the surface, ready to protect her from whatever had her darting away.
“Don’t look!” she whispered frantically. She leaned around his side, then sagged with relief. “Okay, I think they’re moving away.”
“Who?” he questioned again, subtly glancing over his shoulder.
“The Old Maids,” she explained with a sigh. “The town bullies. They hold court in the coffee shop and have Opinions-with-a-capital-O about everything. We’d be in for a grilling if they caught us.”
“They can’t be that bad.”
She stuck her nose in the air and clutched a hand to her chest. Critical eyes flicked up and down his frame and she gave an offended sniff. “My word,” she said in a creaky, breathy voice. “Izzy Howell, accompanying this stranger? Do we know his name? His parents?” She turned to speak to an imaginary friend at her side. “I don’t think he’s the right chaperone for her.” To her other imaginary friend, she added, “My great-nephew Pollock, he’d do. He has that limp, you know, but she’s old enough to appreciate whatever fish swim on by.”
Zane laughed, and once again felt a loosening in his chest. Even his dragon seemed to sink down with a sigh, though smoke still curled into the mental air and the beast kept a slitted eye on the happenings of his human half.
“Izzy? Izzy Howell, is that you?”
Izzy stiffened, then slowly turned to face the three women who’d appeared on the other side of the booth they’d paused at.
“Old Miss! How wonderful to see you and your ladies!” Izzy greeted brightly.
They were practically impossible to tell apart. Grey hair teased into place, calculating eyes behind their glasses. Handbags the size of Texas dangled from their arms.
Without a care for who they shoved aside, the trio pushed through the line to snare them in their trap. “Oh, Izzy, you just don’t make it back home enough. Your darling aunt is always telling us how much she misses you.”
“What can I say?” she defended with quick glances to the left and right. No escape came for them. “I’ve been busy. Work, you know.”
Old Miss harrumphed. “If I’d known you would be in town, I’d have sent you an invitation to our annual gala.” She reached into her giant bag and drew out an envelope with swirly gold lettering. “I suppose a hand delivery is more thoughtful.”
“That’s not necessary—”
“You’ll have to join us on Christmas Eve.” She flicked a look to Zane and gave a great sniff, then turned a weak smile on Izzy. “There will surely be a number of respectable gentlemen to keep your drink filled.”
Izzy opened her mouth to object again, but the invitation was simply shoved at her without a care. The Old Maids shot Zane a final, disapproving look before turning and pushing through the crowd again.
Izzy twisted around, holding the invitation between her thumb and forefinger. “What did I tell you?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been dismissed so easily.” Zane’s mouth stretched in a wide, easy smile as he shook his head. Those had been coming more and more over the last few days as grumpy tension seemed to drain away. Even the town bullies didn’t bring him down for long.
Izzy stuffed the invitation into her bag with a shrug, then started a meandering path toward the town square.
The skies opened up again with a fresh sprinkling of snow, and Zane caught her around the wrist. He pulled her to a stop under a tree and away from the rest of the crowd. Bright green eyes met his as another smile ticked up the corner of his mouth. “You’re as much a mess as the rest of this town,” he teased. Reaching up a hand, he brushed away a few stubborn flakes from her hair and shoulders.
“Am I presentable now?”
“Presentable?” he dragged out the word and winced. “That’s a judgment I’m hesitant to make. You’ll probably need to clean up a bit for all those respectable gentlemen.”
She poked him hard in the middle. “Why? I can just bring you along and have them glared away.”
She made him feel… alive. Strange, since he’d been breathing just fine for his entire life. But there she was, pointing out details like who to avoid and leading him all over town. Every laugh she drew out of him was a reminder of how he’d spent his years since formally joining the Darkwood clan. Work, that had been his focus. Doing good for the supernatural world.
Maybe Hollis had been right. He needed to clear his head.
Izzy was right there to fill it back up.
“Looks like the carolers are setting up,” she said, looking toward activity around the gazebo at one end of the town square. “There’s a snowman building contest tomorrow. And the town’s theater group will be performing A Christmas Carol.” She bumped his shoulder with hers. “Admit it, the last few days have not been bad.”
“They have not been awful,” he admitted with a slight nod and a warming in his chest.
“Present company excluded?” she asked, eyes dancing.
Zane snorted. “Present company has been… tolerable.”
“Tolerable?” she sighed dramatically. “I guess I’ll just have to take my tolerable self to a tolerable Christmas Eve party and let you have a tolerable time alone.”
He didn’t know what to make of her. She threw herself into anything she did, that was certain. From running her mouth to the strange man in her hotel room to scrambling up boulders to get a better shot, she didn’t back down.
She was funny, too. And she had a habit of flicking a glance his way to make sure the joke landed without too much offense. The dry delivery was always followed with something softer and genuine when she stumbled too far over the line.
And that kiss.
Blackberries had burst over his tongue as wild heather filled his nose. The combination was dangerous, heady, and utterly addicting. Even knowing he had to pull away, put steps between them, apologize, he’d stayed locked against her. It’d been like asking him to clip his own wings. He couldn’t survive grounded. He couldn’t survive without that taste on his tongue.
It was wrong. That was absolutely the wrong reaction. Wanting to pin her against the nearest flat surface and do more than kiss was wrong, too.
A tightness gripped his chest whenever he thought about her words. She’d been hurt. Recently, too. He needed to keep well away.
He had a purpose, and it wasn’t the study of plump lips or delicious scents.
Except she was his mate.
Izzy made a noise in the back of her throat that put him immediately on edge. He shot a dark look to their sides, but she wasn’t focused on anyone coming toward them. Instead, her eyes had locked on something above them as she took a giant step back.
Zane followed her gaze and chuckled. Someone had tied a sprig of mistletoe and ribbon to the branch above their heads. “You know the rules,” he said softly, dropping his eyes.
“Absolutely not,” she denied with a laugh and quick, inviting peek from under her lashes.
He reached for her, wanting to draw her closer. One glance over her shoulder froze him in place.
Erik Halvorsen strode through Bearden’s busy winter festival.
Dark eyes glinting as they swept over the crowd. Erik’s lips peeled back in a snarl that sent two small cubs scrambling out of his path. His nostrils flared as his attention darted between one group and the next, lips thinning in his harsh, predatory leer.
Shit.
“Zane?”
Izzy’s voice was soft and tinged with worry as he stepped away. Blindly, he entered the flow of the crowd, not bothering to murmur apologies to anyone he jostled. His entire focus was on the back of Erik’s head as the bastard strolled through the middle of the celebrations.
Without warning, Erik disappeared down an alley.
Zane hurried forward, hot anticipation bubbling in his veins. So close. He was so damn close to taking the shifter down. No more worrying if he’d take another family. He’d breathe a little easier knowing the asshole couldn’t threaten anyone on this side of the veil.
He reached the mouth of t
he alley and cursed. No Erik. Even his scent had disappeared.
Zane snarled, hands curling into fists at his sides. This was the cost of distractions. Even ones wrapped in a beautiful package and tying themselves around his heart still got in the way when he needed to focus.
Erik was in town. Hell, he’d been within ten feet of the bastard. He should have scented him out far earlier, been on the move much sooner, nabbed the fucker before he had a chance to vanish into thin air.
“Zane?” Izzy asked, stepping in front of him. “What’s going on?”
Her hands on his chest were meant to stop him, but he brushed past. “There’s something I need to do,” he said offhandedly, eyes scanning the crowd and not meeting her pointed look.
“What? What do you need to do?”
“I’m a bounty hunter for the Darkwood clan,” he explained. “There’s a target here in town. I just saw him.”
Quiet. Dangerous quiet answered him. His dragon slashed at him to turn and give his full attention to the weighty silence at his back, but Zane brushed the beast away.
“Is that why you’re really here?” Izzy rounded him again, her voice taking on a hard edge. “Is that why you were so insistent on following me around?”
Zane dropped his eyes. His dragon spewed fire in his head and raked him with his claws. “At first, yes. But Izzy—”
“Don’t ‘but Izzy’ me!” she snapped, taking a step away from him. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as her eyes sparked with anger and hurt. “You used me. All this time, thinking you were my—” She folded her arms over her chest and lifted her chin. “You used me.”
He wanted to deny the accusation and kiss away her frown, but she was right. He had used her. That first day. Those first few hours. Until she chipped away at his guarded exterior and made herself comfortable in his head. Until he realized what she was to him.
But there was still a wanted criminal roaming her absurd little hometown, posing a danger to anyone unlucky enough to cross his path.
“I’m sorry, Izzy,” he told her. His dragon lashed at him again as a great ache settled in his heart. “I need to go.”