Snow Time for Love (4 page)

Mak was trying to keep his dignity, but he said, “She isn’t wrong. Shifters do it by physical feedback.”

Reygaer tightened his hand on Nova’s waist. “High Lord, I would hate for this experiment to remain unratified.”

“You do realize that this lacks dignity.”

Nova sighed, “You do realize that for most shifters life is too short for dignity. We like to live our lives, not formalize them into empty rituals. No disrespect intended, but this is why we are thriving and you are fading. I have yet to see a fey who doesn’t look bored with their own existence. This will inject some much-needed fun. Shorter lives but much more energy.” She paused. “High Lord.”

She curtseyed again and he started to laugh.

“Reygaer, please continue your courtship elsewhere before I have the urge to take your mate over my knee.”

“You are as wise as ever, High Lord.”

Nova yelped as Reygaer put his arm around her waist and lifted her as he walked out of the Crossed Star to laughter and shouts of relief. Nova knew at that moment that they were fairly sure this just might work.

“This lacks a certain amount of dignity.” She idly kicked her feet as he carried her.

“I thought shifters didn’t care about dignity.”

She grinned and twisted to look at him. “We don’t. I just wanted to make sure you knew I could see it when it was around, though I don’t miss it when it is gone.”

Her heart was buzzing, her skin was tingling and she finally understood what her sisters had been trying to tell her. When you met your mate, you could feel it in every inch of you. Her brothers had been more macho about it, but their mates had told her that the fascination had been mutual on both their parts. Her brothers had fallen over themselves to keep their mates’ attention on them, and it had led to a few interesting scenarios.

Now, she was facing a man that she was pretty sure was the one for her, and he had removed her from the space where his competition was located with an instinct she applauded. His instincts were sound.

When he set her down on her feet, she stepped away from him. “Was that the head of your clan?”

“The High Lord of the People of the Echo? More or less. He is the lord of the fey of the mountains. We also answer to a High King.”

“Lots of High guys.” She nodded.

“Do not let his appearance fool you. The fey choose to appear aged. When he threatened to turn you over his knee, he was flirting with you.” Reygaer smiled and cupped her cheek.

She felt her eyes widen. “You mean he wanted to...”

“He would have liked to try. I would have had to stop him and that would have ended in our banishment.” He leaned toward her and kissed her briefly before whispering, “It would have been worth it.”

Nova smiled and cupped his cheek. “I would have clawed him to shreds before he did more than unsnap my bra.”

“You are not wearing a bra.”

“How kind of you to notice.”

“With your curves, it is impossible not to notice.” He smiled.

She closed her eyes as he ran his hands over those very curves. His skin cooled, and she grinned as her nipples perked and the rest of her leaned into his grip.

She pulled his head to hers and kissed him as the air around them cooled. Her blood surged, and she slipped her tongue into his mouth.

He groaned and held her against him, tightening his grip until she could feel every plane, angle and ridge in his body. Their kiss grew wild, and to Nova’s delight, it started to snow.

The kisses of tiny bits of ice on her skin made her smile, which made the kiss awkward. Delight and arousal rode her hard. She twisted her hips against him and her inner cat rumbled happily.

She paused and pulled back, which was not an easy manoeuver given his grip on her. “She is beginning to like you.”

“Are you speaking of yourself in the third person?” He kissed her neck and licked the pulse that she could feel throbbing under his lips.

She moaned and tilted her head to the side. “No, I am referring to my tigress. She isn’t sure if she likes you, but she loves the snow.”

She opened her eyes enough to see that the blizzard she was standing in was only a column of wild weather in an otherwise green field.

Reygaer gathered her skirts up and lifted them over her head. He knelt and cupped her breasts in his hands, and his mouth iced one and then the other. Her body shook in his grip.

The trickle of moisture down her inner thigh sent the flames in her body higher, and he met each one with slow attention to the tight nubs of her nipples and the slopes of her breast.

Nova tangled her fingers in his hair, and she felt the surprisingly sharp points of his ears. He tugged at her nipple with his teeth and pulled her down to the snowy grass.

His lips swallowed her yelp of surprise. Her fingers tugged at the fabric of his shirt, but it was her claws that tore it free.

He leaned back and looked down in surprise. “You clawed my shirt off.”

She blushed and squirmed a little. “I did. Be lucky I haven’t reached for your pants.”

He took her right hand in his and kissed her palm then the sharp tips of her nails. “What pants?”

She looked down, and his ice-blue erection reared between them. He was right; there was nothing in the way.

She wrapped her fingers around his cock and stroked at the smooth, cool shaft. “You are right. I was mistaken.”

He dipped his fingers into her until he was sure of his welcome, and he gently pulled her hand away from him. “I am sure that we can discuss the matter of fey clothing choices later.”

She lifted her hips to his and watched his dark eyes as he slid into her. She saw flickers of bright light in his eyes and was sure that they were in her own as well.

They both shuddered when he slid home as if she was made for him or he was made for her. When he rocked inside her, she wrapped her legs around him and held on tight.

Light sparked between them, lit and flared around them as they rolled in the grass so that she could take the top. She saw the snowflakes on his skin and smiled, pausing in her ride to press her lips to his skin.

He groaned as she traced the outline of the snowflake with her tongue. She shifted her tongue slightly, and the rasp of it on his skin caused him to lift his hips and thrust deep inside her.

Nova grinned and licked the other snowflake with the same slow attention.

Reygaer moved his hand between them and stroked her clit until she started to move on him again.

She lifted her head and braced her hands in the snow next to them, plunging and rocking her hips against his, savouring the feel of the cool rod inside her. The sparks ran across her skin, skittered against him and cascaded over his torso.

He rolled until he was on top again and pushed into her, grinding his hips on the inward stroke. She gasped and moaned low, hanging onto his arms for dear life.

Reygaer began to whisper to her in words she didn’t understand, but the low urgency in his voice crossed language barriers.

Nova moved a hand between them and stroked her clit until her climax started in a wave that flared blue energy through her and into the man on top of her.

She roared, and her beast roared with her, holding onto her mate as energy poured out of her and into him in a rush.

Reygaer shouted and held himself inside her.

She felt the rush of power course through him and enter her in the most direct way possible.

Snowflakes perched on her skin before melting against her heat. Reygaer’s arms were around her and he was pressing small kisses to her shoulder.

“I think that makes it official.” His voice was a low rumble against her skin.

“I think that you might be right. You have won my beast over. I am guessing that yours doesn’t really matter that much after all.”

“Oh, but now I want to show you.” He kissed her neck and turned her so that she was staring up at his ice-blue features.

He moved away from her and got to his feet, walking a few steps away in order to surround himself in magic and leave a polar bear in his place.

Nova sat up and stared. Her senses were telling her that there was a large bear in front of her. She got to her feet and walked over to him. “Polar bear.”

She ran her hands through the translucent fur and looked into his black eyes. He gestured with his head.

“You want me to ride you?”

He made a gargling roar and huffed.

She grabbed his fur and pulled herself astride him. The world was incredibly small from this height.

He made a strange sound, and she guessed it was a warning to hang on. He took a few steps, and soon, he was rocking through the meadow in a gallop that she had never imagined could cover the kind of ground he was currently sprinting over.

When he had travelled the two miles of the expanded shifter’s meadow, he turned and stopped. To her surprise, he reared up on his hind legs and she tumbled off.

Sitting in the grass, she took in the gesture of his head and realized he wanted to race.

She smiled and took on her tigress, lashing her tail as she prepared to run.

He took off without her and she growled, bounding after him.

Her claws bit into the turf, and she pushed herself faster and faster until she passed him and streaked back to their clothing.

When she arrived, she shifted back, pulled on her gown and waited for him, watching the watch that wasn’t there.

“You are very slow, Reygaer. If you are going to challenge me to a race, you might want to do speed drills.”

He stood up on his hind legs, and after a flurry of magic, he was back in his fey form with his clothing on.

“You are very fast, and the view from behind you is well worth the loss.” He grinned and put his arms around her.

“How do you do that thing with the clothing?” She plucked at his shirt.

“Practice.” He winked. “If the transfer works, I will teach you. Will you teach me to shift at speed, like you do? One moment you were on four feet and in the next you were on two.”

“Practice.”

He chuckled and they began to walk toward the Bright Soul.

“I wonder if Teebie will be happy or disappointed that I won’t be hanging around this time.” She was enjoying the feel of being next to Reygaer, but it was like running into a friend at the airport and thinking you both had a layover when one’s flight was called early.

She had spent so much time focusing on friends and family that it was going to take a while before she could uncouple and aim her attentions at her mate.

Everything had a strange gleam to it. The buildings were glowing with blends of white, green and blue magic.

“Do you see that?” she rubbed her eyes and focused again. Everything around her was bristling with magic.

“See what?”

“Magic, everywhere there is magic. The blue of the shifters, the white of the fey and the green of the mages.”

He looked at her with an indulgent and surprised smile. “That is the way fey see the world. Are you really seeing all of it?”

She blinked. “How else would I know it was there?”

“Don’t you normally see shifter magic?”

“Only when I transform. The rest of the time, I rely on my senses.”

“So, when I arrived, you climbed into the rafters...”

“To get a better look at you. I couldn’t see you through the shadows and glamour. I was curious and the beam of light that came with you nearly blinded me.”

He looked at her. “I don’t remember an unusual light. It was a human mage that transported me, after all.”

“I saw it.”

“I don’t doubt it; I am just beginning to think that there is more in action here than simple magic.”

They mounted the steps to the Bright Soul, and Teebie threw glitter over them and blew a noisemaker the moment they passed the threshold. “Congratulations!”

Nova blinked and brushed at her face. “Um, thank you?”

“The burst of power nearly boiled the eggs in the fridge.” Teebie grinned. “That was quite the union. You two need to get some equilibrium quickly so you stop mixing power the hard way.”

Reygaer grinned. “I like the hard way.”

Nova sighed.

High Lord West came out of the front room with a cup of hot chocolate and a gingerbread cookie. “You two will be locked in your shielded room for this evening, and tomorrow, we will have the first balance ceremony in the Meditation Centre.”

Dira and Mak wandered out after the elf. Dira winked. “Good night, Nova. Good night, Reygaer.”

Teebie chuckled. “I will send up some refreshments so stay off the table.”

Reygaer swept her into his arms and climbed the stairs. “Good evening, everyone.”

Nova called out, “Good night!”

Nothing else needed to be said. The relieved laughter below said it all.

Her dress turned into a lace robe halfway up the stairs. “How do you do that?”

He smiled. “My magic is that of crafting. Molecular realignment if you believe in such things.”

“Believe in magic or molecules? I believe in both.”

She kicked a little, and her feet were bare of the soft slippers she had been wearing earlier.

“All my magic, you have already seen.” She sighed. “No more secrets.”

“I believe you have a few things for me to discover.” He smiled.

He walked down the hall, and her door opened for them. To her amusement, the room had been expanded and had joined the room next to hers, which just happened to be his.

“I am guessing that Teebie put you on one side and the charmer from the bar on the other.”

Reygaer twirled with her in his arms, and she laughed and held onto him. “I hope that he recovered from his introduction to shifter females. If he is destined to be with one of you, he needs to learn quickly.”

“It is a good thing that you are a quick study.” She laughed.

He paused and let her slip down his body. “It is a good thing that you have a fascination for cold. Even fey women demand that I warm things up for them.”

She scowled. “You do know that shifters are monogamous, right?”

“As are mated fey. The balancing tomorrow should help prove it to the others around us.” He gave her a grim smile.