My Perfect Mate (15 page)

“I know. I’m sorry you had
to do this for me.”

“I’m not sorry. In fact, I
think I will like running as a wolf, especially if I am chasing my
mate.”

Susan chuckled and lifted
her head.
“I think I would like that
too.”

JP rolled to his belly and
licked Susan’s face. He could taste her salty tears. Her sorrow
possessed a scent, salt and mustiness. His wolf wanted to ease his
mate, make her happy. He licked her again.
“Now, how do I shift back?”
More
than anything he wanted to hold Susan in his arms.

“Picture yourself in your
human form. Make the picture as complete as you can. The shift back
will hurt as well, but the more you practice the less pain is
involved. Don’t fight the shift, keep the picture in your
mind.”

Jean-Paul built the picture of himself
in his mind. The wolf part of him receded and suddenly his bones
broke again and reformed. Fur sank down under his skin and his
muzzle retreated back to his regular nose and jaw. This shift was
much faster and the pain over in a moment. He blinked his eyes open
and color flooded his senses. Susan kneeled next to him, her face
worried.

He reached up and brushed his fingers
over her cheek. A cold breeze against his skin made him realize he
was naked. A warming spell whispered brought the temperature back
to normal.

He rose to his hands and knees and
then to his feet. Susan stood with him. He pulled her against him.
Great Goddess, he wanted her. Surely she could feel how much. The
wolf’s wildness seemed to merge with the Fae’s. Erotic pictures of
Susan filled his mind.

“So, now what?” Ujarak asked taking
Aisyt’s hand.

JP let his fantasies fade. When he
took his Destined One, it would be in a real bed, not on top of
sleeping furs surrounded by sled dogs. He called a clothing spell.
The ripped and tattered cloth, the only thing left of his former
outfit, laying on the ground reformed into a snowsuit and boots. JP
stepped into the suit and zipped it up, before stepping into the
boots.

“It’s time to go home,” he
answered.

§

Home. Susan didn’t even know where
that was anymore. She wouldn’t be returning to Margot and Mathis’s
house, nor would she be comfortable in the Alpha’s Lodge with Jared
and Esme. She looked at JP. He was her home now.

His gaze was tender as he took her
hand. He opened the catch on the gold bracelet and removed the
chain holding the second bracelet. Then he clicked it back onto her
wrist. “It would give me great pleasure if you would wear this
always as a symbol of our joining.” He removed the chain from the
second bracelet and slipped it into a pocket before putting the
bracelet on his wrist.

“Let me,” Susan said before he could
close it. She reached over and clicked the bracelet closed. “I’ll
wear mine, if you wear yours.”

Jean-Paul smiled. “I promise to wear
it at all times, unless you wish to wear both of them.” A picture
built in her mind of the bracelets around her wrists snapped
together like handcuffs.

She chuckled. Her Fae liked to play.
That was good with her. “Deal.”

“You need to get changed, and we need
to collect your dogs.” JP took her hand, his thumb rubbing over the
palm.

“We need to go back and get the other
sled dog team, not to mention our snowmobiles. Jared said not to
lose or damage them.” She might not live with the alpha, but she
was still part of his pack. Losing his new snowmobiles wouldn’t be
a good idea.

“I’ve never ridden on a snowmobile,”
Aisyt said listening to the conversation.

“Don’t worry, baby. All you have to do
is hang onto me. I know you can do that.” Ujarak winked at
Aisyt.

Aisyt wrapped her arm around Ujarak.
“You’re right. I’m going to hang onto to you from now
on.”

“I thought you would port back, but
having company on the ride will be safer,” JP said.

Susan sighed. There went any chance of
intimacy in an igloo somewhere. Guess her Fae wedding night would
have to wait.

“Not too long,”
echoed in her mind with Jean-Paul picking up her
thought.

“Aisyt, Qannik is missing. She never
came back,” the woman from the kitchen said.

“I’ll have to scry for her and see
what’s happened. Ujarak and I will meet you at the snowmobiles.”
Aisyt turned to Ujarak, her gaze worried.

“Very well,” JP bowed to Aisyt. “Merry
Meet, Aisyt.”

“Merry Part, Jean-Paul”

“And Merry Meet again. Let’s go back
to the chamber and get you changed, Susan.”

Aisyt and Ujarak hurried from the
chamber, the amarok offering congratulations as they hurried past.
JP walked more leisurely and Susan followed his lead. The amarok
needed reassurance. Their leader mated one of their sworn enemies.
Susan shook hands and hugged the little ones. Several offered her
small gifts, a bone comb, a sweet cake, a fur hat. She accepted
them all with a smile and exclamation of gratitude.

Jean-Paul pulled her toward their
stone chamber and suddenly they were through the crowd. He picked
up his pace. Susan struggled to keep up with him. Feeling her
distress, he paused and grabbed her, swinging her
around.

“Should I carry you, my lady
fair?”

“Don’t be silly. I can walk. My legs
aren’t as long as yours.”

“They go around my waist and hold
tight. I think your legs are just right.”

Susan felt her face flush. She wasn’t
the only one thinking of bedtime sports. “I’m glad you like them.
If you ask nicely, I’ll let you massage them. It sounds like
they’ll need to be soft and supple.”

JP laughed and turned them down the
side corridor. “That they will. I’d be happy to massage them and
anything else my lady wishes.”

Susan smiled. She loved JP’s
enthusiasm. He never failed to let her know she was wanted. Maybe
they had time for a quickie before they left.

They arrived at the chamber and JP
dissolved the magic barrier holding the dogs inside. Fur was flung
far and wide, the large blankets ripped and shredded into tiny
bits. The alpha dog sat in the middle of the platform bed a scrap
in his mouth. He quickly dropped it on seeing Susan and JP
enter.

“Oh, no,” Susan gasped.

§

Luckily, a mending spell can repair
fur as well as cloth. JP repeated the spell again slowly so Susan
could memorize it as well as hear the nuances of the
tone.

“What once was whole, is now asunder.
Cells grab hold, your form to muster.” Susan watched in amazement
as pieces of fur flew through the air to find the other pieces that
made up each blanket. Sparkles of light filled the air around the
room. When the blankets were whole again the sparkles winked out
and little pieces of dust fell from the air. Susan leaned down to
inspect the light covering on the blankets. Little pieces of
sparkle glittered the surface.

“What is this stuff exactly?” she
asked JP.

“Fairy dust, like in the stories. I’m
afraid you need more than a happy thought to fly though. You have
to be Fae or an Air Witch for that to happen. The dust is magical
and marks a person as Fae, or in your case, the mate of a
Fae.”

“Wow. So some of the fairytales are
true?”

“No, fairytales are stories of
morality. They are rarely true as told, but pieces of them hold
truth. Fairy dust really does exist, but the Fae weren’t formed
from a child’s laughter, quaint though the thought might
be.”

A clearing of a throat made them both
turn to look at the door. The alpha dog’s ears perked up when a
teenage amarok entered the room carrying two stuffed bags. “Aisyt
told us to pack supplies for your journey. She and her mate will
join you shortly. They are indisposed at this time.”

The young girls face grew red and she
hurried out of the room. JP chuckled. “She means they’re having
sex. I guess Qannik is fine, wherever she is.”

“I was worried about her. It must have
been traumatic to kill your own father.” Susan shuddered. She
couldn’t imagine what Qannik suffered.

“The father who tortured her and left
her to die. Tortured her so much, her black hair is now white. I’m
not sure it was as hard as you might believe. Qannik is full of
hatred toward the nanuk.” JP picked up one of the sacks and
inspected the contents.

“She cried, even as she stabbed him. I
think she was traumatized, but I might be wrong. The poor girl
needs counseling.” Susan petted the alpha dog, needing to be
comforted while thinking of the troubled amarok.

“Pretty words, won’t help her. I’m not
sure magic could even help. I don’t want to think about it now. Not
on the same day I bonded with my Destined One. Please, change the
subject.”

“Okay…Where are we going to live when
this is all over?”

“Wherever you will be happy. I have
funds and I have magic. We can go anywhere in the world. After I
return the ring to its rightful owner.”

“Wow, you sure know how to turn a
girl’s head.”

JP looked up from the bag. “There’s
only one girl I’m worried about. You, sweetheart. I know this
hasn’t been easy on you and it doesn’t even come close to the
weddings I’ve seen in your dreams.”

“Every girl dreams of a fairytale
wedding. I get to marry the fairy. I’m not worried about the big
white wedding.” Susan might have once felt cheated, but this trip
showed her the world had bigger problems than a girl wanting a
fairytale wedding. Susan wanted to help the amarok and nanuk come
to an understanding. Parents shouldn’t leave their children to die,
or give them away to protect them.

“Please don’t call a Fae a fairy. It’s
considered a huge insult. The little flighty fairies you are
thinking about are actually heavenly beings. They are angels for
nature, made by the creator to help the Earth’s plant and animal
life. Not all of them are the flighty little Tinkerbells either,
they can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes depending on what
plant or animal they maintain. I’m surprised you’ve never
encountered them, since you have Earth witch ancestry.”

“Humans aren’t encouraged to believe
in such things. I used to be human. If I had an Earth witch
ancestor, I was never told.”

“There would be more magic in this
world if earthlings would only open their eyes and see. But you’re
right, they have to believe to see, or see to believe. Either way,
it doesn’t happen. I think we have everything we need. Are you
ready to go?”

“What about the dogs? How are we
getting them home?” Susan bit her lip. She couldn’t leave the dogs
behind and the amarok didn’t need them.

“I thought I would port them to your
pack’s sled dog business. We’ll only be a day behind them. Jared
and Mathis will know that I’m probably behind the sudden
appearance. I’ll port the dogs we left at the igloo, once we get
there.”

Susan continued to pet the alpha dog.
She’d hoped to keep him. It felt like he belonged to her. Tears
prickled her eyes. She didn’t want to lose him.

“What is it? Why are you
upset?”

“Could you port the lead dog to Mathis
and Margot’s house? I could put a note on his collar. Please? I’d
like to keep him.”

“I can do that, but once Mathis’s
children get a hold of the dog, they’ll want to keep him too. You
won’t be able to take him away from Tikaani and the
rest.”

“That’s okay. As long as he’s with
someone I love. I know Tikaani and even little Cybille will love
him as much as I do.”

“All right. Let me send the rest and
you can get your note prepared. Margot is going to get quite a
shock when a dog shows up in her living room. I wish I could be
there to see it. She might not thank you.”

§

“The igloo next to what’s left of our
camp on three. One. Two. Three.” JP ported them to the site. The
world swirled and then settled.

A huge roar was the only notice they
weren’t alone before strong arms grabbed them and yanked them
apart. Susan gasped. JP struggled.

“You killed them!”

Jean-Paul stopped when he recognized
the voice of Ujarak’s father.

“You said you were going to convince
my brother to give you the magic ring, but you killed him. You and
the lycans. My brother was right. The lycans are our enemies. Does
my oldest son know? Did Mathis betray me? What have you done with
Ujarak? Did you kill him too?”

“Wait, you don’t understand,” Susan
started to say. Ujarak’s father backhanded her.

“Shut up, you lycan whore. You tried
to seduce my son and then you seduced the magic user.”

“If you touch her again, I will kill
you!” A rage as cold as the ice around them filled Jean-Paul. No
one hit his mate. He turned his glare on Ujarak’s brother,
Kumaglak, who held his arms and blew air over him. “Air so cold,
frozen will hold.”

Susan sent into his
mind.
“Jean-Paul, please. He doesn’t
understand. Don’t make things worse.”