“I’m very serious. It’s the truth. It also gives you a way to get to your brother’s house. I can borrow a sleigh and take you home. Tonight.”
The laughter returned and she shook her head as her brain tried to put the words he was saying into order, so they made sense. But there was nothing about this that made sense. Shifting wasn’t a thing and yet she’d seen it. Reindeer couldn’t fly and yet she’d witnessed it right here. Was it such a stretch to believe that she was standing in front of one of Santa’s reindeer and he was offering to fly her home?
“This is crazy.”
“We went over a ten in terms of freaky, didn’t we?” Dash came toward her, his concern evident as he reached out for her.
Gina’s first instinct was to turn around and run. But she had nowhere to run. She was stranded here with a shifter. “We went way past a ten. Yes.”
“It’s all real, Gina. And I can get you home.”
“Is it just you?” she asked. “And the other reindeer who pull the sleigh?” What was she saying? Did she really believe all of this was real?
“We are the only ones who can fly. But there are other shifters. Both here and in the world outside of Wishing Moon Bay.”
“They live everywhere?” Her teeth shattered as the shock of this new discovery sank in. “I could pass a shifter on the street or sit and have lunch with one and never know.”
“Yes. Unless they decided to tell you, you would never know.”
“Why is this such a big secret?” Of course, she knew why. “You’re scared of what might happen to you if other people found out.”
“Yes.” He shrugged. “It’s always been that way. I can’t say whether it always will be.”
“Why are you a shifter and I’m not?” she asked.
“It’s part of my genetic makeup. Passed down from a parent to their child.”
“Your brother and sister...” Her eyes widened. “Oh, so that’s how they got to the cabin last night. I couldn’t figure out how they managed to walk here and yet there was no sign of a car. Can they fly, too?”
“No, just me. Only a handful are chosen for the job of pulling Santa’s sleigh.”
“Pulling Santa’s sleigh. That is still the hardest part for me to believe.”
“Set aside everything you know or thought you knew and just believe.” He grinned. “I expect you did when you were a child.”
“I did. Until I didn’t. If Santa is real, then why do we stop believing?”
“I never stopped believing.” A flicker of sadness crossed his face.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. It’s not important now.” He put his arm around her shoulders and guided her back into the cabin. “Let’s have some coffee, unless you want some of that whiskey?”
“I think whiskey might be just what I need.” She took off her boots and coat, Dash did the same and then grabbed a couple of glasses before going into the living room where he opened a door in the bottom of the dresser and pulled out a bottle of liquor. He splashed a large shot into the glasses and offered one to Gina.
“Thanks.” She slumped down onto the sofa and took a sip. Then another sip. The liquor warmed her, and she drank some more before she leaned back in the seat and looked at him. “Let me get this straight. You are offering me a ride on a sleigh that your reindeer will pull through the sky?”
“Yes.”
“Is it safe?”
“I think so, although I have never pulled a sleigh outside of Wishing Moon Bay without Santa.”
“Why does that matter? If you can pull the sleigh inside Wishing Moon Bay, why not outside?” Her eyes widened. “The town is special. Is that why I couldn’t see it when I drove past the first time?”
“Yes, the town protects itself and those who live here.” He tipped his head back and downed the liquor in his glass. “Okay. Since we’ve already passed ten on our freak-o-meter, I’ll tell you all about the town.”
Gina downed the rest of her whiskey and held out her glass to him. “I think I need a refill.”
Dash grabbed the bottle and poured in a generous shot before topping up his own glass. Then he sat down on the sofa next to her. “You believe in shifters. You saw me shift and so now you believe in them.”
“I do.” She raised her glass and took a drink.
“So it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch of your imagination to believe that there are other magical beings in this world.” He studied her face and she looked into his eyes. Deep brown pools of desire, fringed with copper that crackled as he licked his lips. Gina was drawn to him, she wanted to kiss those lips and taste him.
“All kinds of magical beings?” Her logical mind was done fighting.
“Witches and warlocks, with real magic. Most of what you read about in myths and legends. Mermaids, dragons, at least dragon shifters.”
“Dragons.” She coughed as her whiskey caught in her throat. “Okay, I could just fly on one of those.”
“I thought you’d be more comfortable in a sleigh.” He looked down at his drink and swirled the tawny liquor around. She’d hurt his feelings.
“You’re right. And surely those dragon scales would chafe.”
“Does that mean we have a plan to get you back to your brother’s house?” He didn’t want her to leave, she could read it in his eyes but at the same time, he was willing to let her go. There was a connection between them, and he felt it, too.
“We do. Although, I’ll need to come back and pick up my car after Christmas. Will the town let me in again?” She tilted her head to one side and moistened her lips, she’d never wanted to kiss a man quite so much as she wanted to kiss Dash.
“Give me your phone.” He held out his hand for it.
“Are you going to keep it so that I have to come back and get that, too?” Her voice cracked as she handed over her phone.
“No, I’ll put my cell phone number in your phone so you can call me when you are ready to come home.” He tapped the screen and added his phone number to her contacts. “If you text me the address, I’ll come and get you.”
“You don’t have to do that...” Of course, she had no way of getting back to Wishing Moon Bay unless he came and got her, or she hitched a ride.
“I won’t be able to fly unless it’s within a couple of days of Christmas. The magic will be gone for another year. But I can drive.” He handed her back the phone. “Is that okay?”
“Yes. Very much okay.” She put the phone in her pocket and drank the rest of her whiskey. “This is the strangest Christmas ever. And just think, if my brother had made it home, I’d never have left my apartment. I’d never have met you.”
“Fate.” He was deadly serious. “Fate brought us together.”
“Why?”
“Because... There is something else about shifters that you should know.” This was it, this was where it all fell apart. Dash was about to tell her something she didn’t want to hear, something that would break the spell he’d cast over her.
“Tell me.” She needed to know everything. Before she agreed for him to take her to her brother’s house, she had to know what she might be bringing to the door.
“Shifters have a mate.”
“A mate.” Her eyes narrowed. “A girlfriend/boyfriend kind of a mate?”
“Yes.” He nodded and eyed her warily. “There is only one person in the world for a shifter. One person that they are meant to be with for the whole of their lives.”
“You mean like marriage. They don’t like getting divorced.”
“No, it’s much more than that. When they meet their mate, they know who it is instantly. It’s like a connection between them. One that cannot be broken.”
“Oh.” Was this his way of telling her that shifters were possessive? That if you were the mate of a shifter, you lost all say in whether you wanted to be part of the relationship or not? “I’m not your possession. I have free will.”
“Possessive isn’t quite what I mean. The thing is, they know w
ho their mate is and there is no other person in the world for them. Not every shifter finds their mate and they live a lonely life.”
“And what if the person they believe is their mate doesn’t want to be part of their lives, part of the relationship?” Her breath caught in her throat as fear unfurled in her stomach. What was Dash trying to say? He’d offered to take her to her brother’s house... Oh, she had jumped to the wrong conclusion, she wasn’t his mate. Disappointment filled her, she was certain he’d been talking about them being mates but she’d gotten it wrong.
“If the other person doesn’t want to be in the relationship…” He looked down at his now empty glass. “Then a shifter would set them free. The happiness of their mate means more than anything to them. There is no way a shifter would ever force their mate to stay with them if that wasn’t what they wanted.”
“Oh.” Heat spread across her skin, she blamed the alcohol, but she was certain it was the nearness of Dash that caused it. “Am I your mate?”
“Yes.” He swallowed hard as he whispered the word.
“Is that why I found the town?”
“I think so. The phone swap, everything was just so that we could meet. Fate works in mysterious ways.”
“And you are willing to let me go.”
“Yes.” He gave a short, humorless laugh. “I’m not saying it’s easy. But it’s important to you that you go and spend Christmas with your brother’s family. So I’ll do whatever I can to get you there.”
“Even if that means you spend Christmas without your mate.” She reached out her hand and stroked his cheek. “Thank you.”
Gina inched forward, her eyes on his lips before she lifted them to his and smiled softly. Dash stroked her hair, his hand on the nape of her neck as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. Gina kissed him, nipping his lower lip with her teeth as his tongue pushed forward and entwined with hers. He groaned and their kiss deepened, his arms encircling her waist and pulling her close. She grasped his sweater, her fingers curling into the fabric as she clung to him so tightly, she didn’t want to ever let go. Being in his arms felt so right. His lips on hers were soft but firm, and she longed to strip off her clothes and lie down in front of the roaring fire and make love to him.
But the fire was cold, and she had a promise to fulfill.
Their lovemaking would have to wait. But as their kiss broke and she leaned her head on his chest, she knew she would return to him and then never leave his side again.
Chapter Nine – Dash
He’d left her alone in the cabin while he shifted into his reindeer and flew across the town, heading to the area where the reindeer sleighs were kept in a warehouse until they were needed. He would borrow a small one and then take his mate to her brother’s family. It wasn’t far and would only take a few hours, giving him enough time to get there and back again under the cover of darkness.
As he hitched himself to one of the sleighs and returned to his cabin, flying unnoticed high in the sky when everyone else in town seemed to be focused on the deep snow on the ground, the first flakes of snow floated lazily past him.
We’ll need to get warm clothes for Gina, plus a sleeping bag over her legs. Dash made plans as they aimed for the cabin and descended through the air.
When he left earlier, he’d been worried that Gina might have changed her mind about everything and left the cabin. His fear that she’d only pretended to be okay about shifters and fated mates and everything that went with it tried to get the better of him. So, it was a relief to sense her in the kitchen of the cabin, to know she was there waiting for him to return.
Dash landed in front of the house, parking the sleigh next to Gina’s car before unhitching himself from it. There was a knack to getting in and out of the harness on your own, but Dash had been doing this long enough that he made it look effortless. Unlike when he’d made his first couple of attempts as a young reindeer and ended up in a knot.
“I watched you land.” Gina stood in the doorway of the cabin.
Good thing you didn’t end up in a knot, Dash told his reindeer.
“That sleigh really does fly.” She stepped down off the porch and came to join him, her arms wrapped around her body to shield herself from the cold since she hadn’t put on a coat.
“It really does,” Dash answered as he shifted into his human form and slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “You’ll catch cold.”
“You keep me warm.” She leaned closer, the scent of her skin making his mouth water. If they weren’t in such a rush to get ready and start their journey, he might have taken her to his room and made love to her on his bed.
He closed his eyes and conjured up visions of her naked beneath him, the same vision had kept him awake last night as he dreamed of her. Knowing that she was in the next room, asleep in the princess bed, had been too much of a distraction and sleep had evaded him. But even now he didn’t feel tired, his eyelids weren’t heavy, his muscles didn’t ache. Being close to his mate invigorated him. With her in his arms, he could conquer the world.
Maybe we should stick with conquering the mountain. Or the skies. The world might be too much. His reindeer settled down for a rest while he guided Gina back inside.
“We should eat and then you need to dress warmly. It’s going to be cold.” He glanced up at the sky. “The snow will be here by the time it’s dark.”
“Great, more snow.” She cast a disappointed glance at the sky. “I doubt my brother will get home before the New Year if the snow continues to fall.” She stopped on the porch and turned around in his arms. “Can we...”
“Can we what?” Dash stroked her hair back from her face. “Tell me.”
“You can fly with the sleigh. The sleigh has room for two people. Is there any way we can fly to get my brother and take him home to his family?” She pressed her lips together as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. This is your secret, and I can’t expect you to share it with anyone else.”
“No.” He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “How far away is he?”
“From here?” She bit on her bottom lip. “He’s five hundred miles that way.” She turned and pointed in the direction of her brother’s house. “And his house is two hundred miles that way.”
“Come on, let’s plot a course and see if we can make it in one night.” He led her into the house. “I have to be back by Christmas Eve.”
“I don’t want you to risk being late back,” she told him. “Forget I asked.”
“No, it’s okay. I should have thought about it before, but I was too focused on getting my mate to where she needed to be to see the bigger picture.” He pulled off his outdoor clothes and she slipped her boots off.
“I need to check on dinner.” She went to the kitchen but before he followed, Dash grabbed a pen and notepad from the dresser in the living room. This might be one of the craziest things he’d ever done. If anything went wrong, he might let down the other reindeer and Santa. They all knew how important it was to be ready to leave as soon as darkness settled on Christmas Eve. There were no second chances, no reruns, if they were late leaving, the whole world would wake up disappointed.
We have to try, his reindeer said.
Dash agreed and sat down at the kitchen table with the notepad and pen in front of him. “I need the exact coordinates of your brother.”
“Okay.” She took out her phone and pulled up the details of the hotel her brother was holed up in. “Here.”
Dash figured out how many miles away he was and how much time it would take to fly there factoring in the weather. He had to consider the wind speed and the snow. Luckily, when he checked the latest forecast, the wind was in their favor, which would lessen their journey time.
“And your brother’s house?” Dash once again took the coordinates, plotted out the course and then factored in the weather. “We could do it.”
“Are you sure?” Her voice rose in excitement as she
sat down next to him.
“Yes, we can get airborne before it’s dark, travel as far as we can within the boundaries of the town, where no one will think twice if they see us. Then, if we climb high above the clouds, we can hide above the snow. It’ll be cold, but we can do it. As long as we get to your brother before midnight, we can fly to his house and then get back here before dawn.”
“Won’t you be exhausted?” She reached out and took hold of his hand. “You have a long night ahead of you tomorrow night. That’s more important than the wishes of one family.”
“Santa wouldn’t agree with you. He’d say that no one’s wish is worth more or less than anyone else’s.” He looked down at his calculations. “We have to try. If we don’t get to your brother before midnight, we’ll have to turn around and fly back.”
“I’m beginning to feel like Cinderella.”
“I won’t turn into a mouse if we are out past midnight and the sleigh will still be a sleigh.”
“And there I was hoping for a pumpkin carriage.” She laughed. “Not really. I don’t want to fall from the sky and explode like a pumpkin.”
“We’ll be fine.” He went over the calculations one last time while Gina finished cooking dinner. No one had ever cooked for him before in the cabin. He’d have to get used to it once she moved in. His heart stuttered to a stop before it thumped in his chest. What if she didn’t want to live here in Wishing Moon Bay? She had her own life outside of town. If she didn’t want to give up that life for him, he’d have to move away.
His reindeer wasn’t happy with that thought. Except for short periods away from here for work, he’d lived in this town his whole life. When he imagined raising children, he’d always pictured them here. He’d dreamed of showing them the mountain and standing on the beach with a golden pebble in their hands so that they could make a wish.
Sure, they could vacation here. But it wouldn’t be the same.
“Is everything all right?” Gina put the plates on the table and the aroma of chicken and garlic filled his senses.
“Absolutely. This smells wonderful.” He puffed out his chest as he inhaled deeply, and his stomach rumbled in anticipation.
Dashing Home for Chrstmas Page 6
