“I’m real,” she answered as she forced her eyelids open. “Very real.”
“And very mine.” He shifted his weight and lay down beside her, watching the rise and fall of the bedspread as she inhaled and exhaled. In the quiet of the night, he laid his head down on the pillow and listened to the sound of her heartbeat as the moon rose higher in the sky.
All around him the world was asleep, but he didn’t want to let go of this night or this day when he’d finally claimed his mate. When she’d finally seen his other side and not freaked out.
When he finally felt as if he had a future worth living for.
Yes, in the days leading up to meeting his mate, Mac had questioned what kept him here at the sawmill. He’d mulled over plans of signing everything over to his brothers and leaving them to live happily ever after without their miserable older brother around.
Yet, he’d never been able to say the words ‘I’m leaving.’
And now, he never would. This was right where he belonged. With his mate asleep by his side.
Finally, his eyelids closed, and Mac fell asleep with his arm laid protectively over his mate.
Chapter Eighteen – Saffron
“Morning.” Saffron knocked lightly on the door before she opened it and went into Nina’s room. Carefully juggling the breakfast tray she was carrying, she stepped inside and pushed the door closed behind her. “I didn’t want to spill your coffee.” Saffron placed two hands on either side of the tray and crossed the room.
“Thanks.” Nina sat up in bed, she’d been lying on her side staring out of the window at the view of the forest. “I could have come into the kitchen.”
“You could, but it’s manic in there with so many people and I thought you might enjoy the peace and quiet of a sleep-in.” Saffron set the tray down on the nightstand and sat down on the side of the bed. “It sure is beautiful.”
“It is,” Nina agreed reluctantly, turning away to reach for her coffee cup.
“Here.” Saffron passed the coffee to Nina as her sister adjusted the pillows behind her back. “How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good, actually.” Nina sipped her coffee. “Even better now.”
“You look better.” Relief surged through Saffron. Maybe, at last, Nina had turned a corner and was ready to put her life back together.
“So, how did your evening go?” Nina asked. “Because I do not look as good as you.”
“My evening was perfect.” Color spread across Saffron’s cheeks and she avoided Nina’s eye. “I’m in love.”
“Oh, it shows, you are glowing.” Nina reached for Saffron’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m so happy for you. You deserve a man like Mac.”
Saffron’s smile faltered. “I just wish…”
“No!” Nina waved her finger at her sister. “Don’t say it, don’t take anything away from what you and Mac have. I know how you feel, and I want you to embrace it and enjoy it without tempering your happiness every time you look at me. Because if you do, I’ll leave.”
“Wow, you are feeling better.” Saffron hugged her sister and fought back tears. “You are positively feisty this morning.”
“And that is after one sip of coffee. Just wait until I’ve drunk the whole cup and eaten breakfast.” Nina tensed. “There’s a man outside my window.”
“What?” Saffron jerked upright and Nina’s coffee nearly spilled over the bedspread.
“A man.” Nina pointed and pulled the covers up higher under her chin.
Saffron sprang up from the bed and went to the large window. After a quick assessment of how to unlock the window, she slid it open, and confronted the intruder. “Can I help you?”
“Sorry!” The guy put his hands up as if in surrender. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I left something here.” He pointed to the paved area outside the window. “I’m Kelos.”
“Hi, Kelos.” Saffron frowned and was about to tell the guy to move along when she recognized his name. “You work for Mac?”
“I help out when he needs me,” Kelos said as if he was affronted by the thought of working for someone, as if it were servitude.
“I heard Hex mention your name last night,” Saffron continued.
“All good things I hope…” He stared harder at Saffron and a curious expression slid across his face. “You must be Saffron, Mac’s mate.”
“I am.” She grinned despite the situation. “My sister is using this guest room. You scared her.”
Kelos looked over Saffron’s shoulder to where Nina was watching them from the bed, her curious expression matching that of Kelos. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Nina lifted her hand and waved, looking bemused. Then she swung her legs out of bed and carefully stood up.
“I’ll help you.” Saffron left Kelos and rushed to her sister’s side.
“I’m okay.” Nina stood up straight and walked to the window. “It’s such a beautiful morning.” She stepped out into the fresh air and tilted her face to the sun. “It’s warm, as if the last of winter is finally letting go.”
Kelos tilted his head to one side and studied Nina with a small smile on his lips but a frown creasing his forehead. “Are you unwell?”
Nina turned her head slowly to face Kelos. “I’m a little under the weather.”
“My sister isn’t as strong as she used to be,” Saffron said evasively. “Right, you were here to get something you left last time you were here.” Saffron put her hands on her hips, making herself seem bigger as she tried to shield her sister from Kelos, who seemed a little odd.
“Yes.” Kelos nodded, his attention still fixed on Nina. “What ails you?”
“What ails me?” A smile played across Nina’s lips but quickly slid away. “My doctors don’t know but my sister thinks my heart is broken.”
“A broken heart.” Kelos knitted his brow together. “You have lost your one true love.”
“I have.” Nina forced her lips not to droop downward.
“There is no cure for a broken heart,” Kelos said sadly.
“I think you’re right.” The strength seemed to seep out of Nina, and she reached for the wall to keep her balance.
“Shall I help you find whatever it is that you left here?” Saffron offered. “Nina, why don’t you go and finish your coffee?”
“I don’t need help finding it,” Kelos said eagerly as his attention snapped away from Nina and he crouched down and flipped over one of the paving slabs.
“Does Mac know you dig up his yard?” Saffron asked.
“I’ll replace it.” Kelos reached into a hole beneath the slab and pulled out a small wooden box. Or maybe it was a chest. “Here it is.”
“Are you a pirate?” Saffron could not resist.
“No, I’m a dragon and this is part of my treasure.” Kelos flipped the lid of the chest open and showed Saffron the contents.
“Holy crap!” she squeaked. She’d figured Kelos was delusional when he’d said the box contained treasure. But the contents looked like the real thing.
“What is it?” Nina turned around and came back outside. “Holy moly.”
“Is all that real?” Saffron asked. She pointed at the treasure but sensed Kelos might rip her hand off if she tried to touch it.
“Yes. All real.” Kelos nodded.
“Wait, you said you were a dragon?” Saffron’s attention instantly left the treasure and fixed on the man before her.
“You know Mac is a bear shifter. Well, I’m a dragon shifter.” Kelos tilted his chin up and gave them his best profile.
Saffron wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not but she certainly didn’t want Kelos to shift here in front of them to prove he was.
“A dragon shifter?” Nina asked. “Are you for real?”
“Very real,” Kelos answered. He turned to Saffron. “If you don’t believe me, ask Mac. He’s your mate and can’t lie to you.”
“He has a point,” Saffron agreed, although she still wasn’t sure the guy in front of them was deluded in som
e way.
The dragon shifter fixed his attention on Nina. “Did your mate die?” The suddenness of the question took Nina by surprise.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head as tears misted her eyes. “He went missing in the mountains. Not these mountains.” Her gaze drifted toward the high peaks before her eyes filled with tears.
“Missing or dead?” Kelos eyed Nina as if she were a mystery he needed to unravel. “You can’t tell which?”
“No. He was lost during a mountain rescue and even though they have searched for his body, it’s never been found.” Nina’s jaw tightened and she fought back tears.
“Okay, Kelos, it’s good to meet you but I think Nina should go and eat her breakfast before it gets cold, and you probably have somewhere you need to be.” Saffron’s eyes widened and she inclined her head away from them. “Please.”
Kelos stared at Nina for a long moment before he nodded. “Good to meet you both.” With that, he closed his treasure chest and walked away, leaving a stunned Saffron staring after him.
“Do you believe him?” Nina asked as she perched on the edge of the bed and took a bite of toast which she’d smeared with jam.
“I’ll carry this to the sofa by the window,” Saffron offered and picked up the tray of food.
“Do you?” Nina asked.
“I think so.” Saffron looked up as if expecting to see Kelos standing there once more with his box of treasures under his arm. “You saw what he had in the box.”
“It could be fake.” Nina’s suggestion had already crossed Saffron’s mind, but she’d discarded it. The jewelry in the box looked real enough and she doubted Mac would hire a crazy person who walked around with fake jewels. Not when cutting down and processing the timber could possibly be a dangerous job.
“I think he was telling the truth,” Saffron admitted.
Nina nodded and ate in silence for a moment. “I don’t believe he’s dead.”
Saffron sat down next to her sister, her heart beating so hard that blood drummed in her ears. Nina had come so far. Her recovery seemed almost within her grasp and Saffron could not bear the thought that their meeting with Kelos might cause a relapse. “Why don’t you sit down?”
Nina nodded. “I’ve never believed it. I think if I did then I might have gotten over it by now. But I can feel him.” She placed her hand over her heart. “It’s like I can feel him in here.”
“That’s probably natural,” Saffron said, although she felt uneasy trying to talk Nina out of her belief that Evan was still alive. Her sister was so fragile that she didn’t want to risk her health deteriorating anymore.
“It’s not just my mind playing tricks on me,” Nina said. “It’s more than that. It’s deeper than that.”
“Oh, Nina.” Saffron slipped her arm around her sister’s shoulders and hugged her close. “I wish there was something I could do to help you. I wish we could know either way.”
“I keep looking at the spot where he disappeared.” She got up shakily and went to the nightstand to retrieve her phone. “Here.” She tapped the screen and then handed the phone to Saffron. “That is the exact location.”
“It’s just snow.” Saffron slid her fingers across the screen and zoomed out. “It’s all just snow.”
“I know.” She sighed and sat down. “What if he’s there under the snow? Or what if he got up and wandered off?”
“Where would he go, Nina?” Saffron handed the phone back to her sister.
“I don’t know.” Her mouth turned down at the corners as she leaned on Saffron’s shoulder.
Saffron slipped her arm around Nina and held her close. “I wish I could give you the answers you need.”
“Maybe it’s easier to believe in a dragon shifter being real than in Evan still being alive,” Nina said sadly.
“I don’t know what to say.” Saffron took a deep, shuddering breath. “I don’t know whether I should talk you into believing Evan is dead or encourage you to think he’s alive.”
“And I don’t know whether to go on believing he is alive or to let him go.” Nina’s shoulders shook and she turned her face into Saffron’s shoulder and cried like a child.
All Saffron could do was hold her sister’s frail body and wish there was some way she could give Nina some relief. But there was nothing she could do.
Chapter Nineteen – Mac
“Saffron?” Mac’s voice jolted her out of her daydream.
“Sorry, I’ll have the papers you need in a second.” Saffron pulled open the filing cabinet and sorted through the folders, although the name of the client Mac had given her almost immediately slipped out of her mind. With a sigh, she went back to the beginning and started again.
“What’s wrong?” Mac asked and came to her, his arms slipping around her waist as he pulled her close.
She leaned back, resting her head on his shoulder. “Nina.”
“She’s in the kitchen talking to my mom. She seems okay.” Mac placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him.
“We met Kelos this morning,” Saffron began.
“Did he say something to upset Nina?” Mac asked, trying to keep the edge from his voice.
Saffron’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her mate. He held her gaze even though he didn’t want her to look into his eyes. “No. But you think he did?”
“Kelos came to the office this morning to get his jobs list for the day…” Mac broke away from Saffron and went to the door leading out of the office. He stared out at the trees as they moved in the breeze.
“What did he say?” Saffron followed Mac and stood beside him, her eyes fixed on his profile.
“He was asking where Evan went missing and then he offered to go there and look for him.” Mac turned to face Saffron. “He wanted me to ask Nina. But she looked happy and calm when she was talking to my mom and I didn’t want to upset her or you. Kelos has this romantic notion that Evan is still out there.”
“We don’t know that he isn’t.” Saffron chewed the inside of her lip. “But I don’t want Nina to get her hopes up.”
“So, what do you want to do?” Mac ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I’m asking you this.”
“You’re asking if I want to go and look for Evan?” Saffron sighed and turned away from him. It was her turn to look out across the forest. She was lost in thought and Mac let her be. She needed to make this decision. He should have asked her outright. He should have asked her as soon as Kelos asked him.
You wanted to shield her from any more pain, his bear told him.
“Kelos is a dragon shifter,” Mac said but it was obvious from her lack of surprise that Kelos had already shared that gem of information with Saffron. “He offered to fly there. Tonight. I’d go with him. If that’s what you want.”
“I’m coming, too,” Saffron said quickly.
“If we go,” Mac replied. “I thought you would stay here. With Nina.”
“No, if you go, I go. I know him. I know what he looks like.” She pressed her lips together. “And if we find him, I want to know why he never came home.” Her expression paled and she put her hand to her mouth. “What if Evan lied?”
“About what?” Mac asked.
“About Nina being his mate.” She glanced from side to side to make sure there was no one around.
“I can’t sense anyone,” Mac assured her.
However, Saffron still kept her voice low. “What if Evan told Nina all about mates and things but really, she wasn’t his mate? What if he then did find his mate? The accident might be a way of him covering his tracks.”
Mac shook his head. “I don’t think a shifter would do that.”
Saffron’s shoulders slumped forward. “That’s what I thought.”
“But you wanted to believe it. It would make it easier.” Mac wrapped his arms around Saffron as she nodded sadly.
“It would be easier if he were a lying, cheating bastard,” Saffron told him tearfully. “Nina would get angry at him a
nd then move on. Instead, she’s a ghost of the woman she used to be.”
“Then let’s go,” Mac said. “Let’s go and look for ourselves. Kelos and I can use our shifter senses to scout a wider area to see if there are any shifters in the local towns. Perhaps he has amnesia or there is some other reason why he can’t make it home.”
Saffron nodded. “Nina has the exact coordinates on her phone. I’ll get it off her and make a note of them.”
“Okay.” Mac nodded. He didn’t wholly like the idea of Saffron putting herself in danger but on the other hand, it would make life a lot easier if they could find some answers about Evan.
What if the answer is we smell the dead body beneath the snow? his bear asked.
Then at least we give Nina and her family closure. Perhaps then she can move on and get better, Mac replied.
We would die of a broken heart if we lost Saffron, his bear said sadly.
That won’t happen. Although now I’m worried about her riding on the back of a dragon. However, Mac trusted Kelos. The dragon shifter would keep them safe.
“Will you go and tell Kelos I said thank you?” Saffron asked as she turned around and went back to the filing cabinet. “I’ll find that file while you are gone.”
“Okay.” Mac watched his mate for a moment. There was no changing his mind now. Saffron would never let this go and yet a sense of unease filled Mac. This adventure could make things much worse.
Or it could make things better, his bear said. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Or lost, Mac answered and left the office and his mate to go and find Kelos.
He went outside into the fresh air. Kelos was working in the yard, sorting the timber into piles with Joey. As he walked toward them, Mac could hear the sound of Wes and Jonas playing in the trees. Hex had taken an hour off work to go with them and teach them how to find their way back to the house using landmarks and the signs nature provided to give them a sense of direction.
That’s what we should be doing, not going on some wild goose chase, Mac told his bear.
It’s not a wild goose chase, it’s a wild dragon chase, his bear replied. And we both know it’s the right thing to do.
Mac (Winter - Shifter Seasons Book 3) Page 14
