“My bag?”
Oakley rubbed at the back of his neck. “It’s in my room in the closet.”
She stared at him for a while in pure disbelief. “I thought…”
“I was never really going to let you go without bonding. It wasn’t an option, and I think you knew that.”
“I tried to follow you. The morning after your banishment, I went to the prime and said I needed my mate.” She lay back down on his chest. A part of her didn’t want to see the disbelief in his eyes, and the other knew it would be easier to say it without looking at him.
“I’ll bet that went over well.”
“I had my bags packed but, as I was leaving, Hans had his guards escort me back to my room.” She took a deep breath, remembering being dragged, kicking and screaming, to her room. “I was placed under house arrest, for my own protection.”
“Probably the only smart thing Hans ever did. I barely eluded the Foniás. You would have been easy prey on the mainland.”
“That’s what my grandmother said, but when Sagittarius waned and Capricorn started and I was still under arrest, no one could believe I was still locked in my room.”
He stiffened beneath her. “How long were you under lock and key?”
“Ninety-seven days. By then, I could no longer sense you at all. Had no idea where to find you. Your family wouldn’t talk to me. Not that I could blame them. I didn’t want to believe you had set Lars and sent him to his death with the Foniás. But the evidence…”
He kissed her temple. “Was overwhelming. Hans wanted you for himself. He was furious when it became obvious we were soul mates and he overheard that I was planning to go through with the mating ritual that year.”
“You were? He was?”
“Unfortunately, just because the fates decreed you were mine doesn’t stop others from wanting you.” He ran fingers through her hair. “Hans wanted me dead, but he couldn’t challenge me, so, for years, he taunted me into challenging him. But I had no interest in being prime. And I knew if I lost, he’d banish me. I had no reason to challenge him. Not one.”
“I had no idea.”
“Lars, I found out later, had simply gotten delayed and walked into the waiting ambush. It was unfortunate that everyone knew I considered the man a waste of space. He had put too many of our kind in danger. So, how did you convince my sister to tell you where I was?”
“I asked her if you were dead. And when she said yes, I was gutted. I couldn’t eat or sleep, and when I wasn’t crying, I was so depressed, no one could reach me. When it came out what Hans had done not only to you but to me as well, she came and told me you’d lived and where you were. She gave me a crash course on surviving the elements and, with the new prime’s blessing, sent me to bid you come home.”
“Who is the new prime?”
She’d wondered how long it would take him to ask. “Gan.”
“From the Mongolian leap? Huh.” Oakley paused as if thinking about what the change meant for their kind. “I think he’ll be a great prime. I didn’t know he was even a beta.”
“He wasn’t. Their alpha feared he would fight him for power.” She looked up at him. “He wants you to come back so he can make amends. He is trying to mend the leaps.”
“I have no desire to go back,” he announced. “But I do think he should talk to Leonidas.”
“I understand that, but the gates are open to you. He is sending out messengers to many who have been banished.”
“Sending or sent?”
“Sending. I’m the only one who ventured out during Sagittarius.”
“Why?”
“Because I hoped we wouldn’t have to wait another year.”
“I’m glad you did.” He moved from beneath her and stood to add a log to the fire. “As I said, I need your room. I’m hoping you’ll move into the master suite upstairs with me.”
“I can’t think of anywhere I would rather be. I’m not saying I might not want to go back to the island for a visit during the summer, but if this is where you are, this is home for me.”
He handed her a piece of paper and a pen. “I need you to make a list of what you need. I’ll stop by the general store and get what I can.”
“You mean, to deliver a baby.”
“Well, yes, but also anything you might not have. Although it’ll be safe to go to town next month, it won’t be easy even with the Sno-Cat. The snowpack will only get deeper.”
Nova looked at the paper and his scribbled notes.
3 families
Family 1: two adults, one teen
Family 2: two adults, one pregnant woman.
Family3: Four adults. Two elderly, two younger, with two young children.
“These are the people coming tomorrow?”
“They are. They were due to fly out, but this blizzard has closed the airport at Jackson, and it was safer for them to make their way here than attempt flying into their sanctuary city after entering their zodiac. The Foniás are bound to be waiting at all ports of entry in one hundred miles of Baltia.”
“These families will be here for Christmas.”
“Yes.”
“We need to go cut a tree and decorate. We need to make it special for the children.” She got up and sat at his desk, busily jotting down lists of items. “Do you have games or toys for young children?”
“I have a train set that the Taurus family made for other children who might come. There is a box of items in the basement others have left. No idea what’s in there. It’s a unspoken rule that when you move on from a safe house, you leave something to help others who come after.” He went to the cabinet. “I have two board games and some cards up here.”
“I’ll make my list while you go find a tree. Oh, and I’ll need some cuttings to make the house festive.” She looked around. “We’ll turn the other room across the hall into a bedroom and put the pregnant couple into the other room upstairs, so I’ll be close.”
She heard the front door open and close and realized he wasn’t listening. He was going out to do as she asked and get a tree. He didn’t question; he just allowed her to take over the plans and, in kind, the household. Perhaps, as he’d found his calling, she had, too. Her gran had known she would need midwifery skills, and now Nova understood why.
The next morning, she bid her mate goodbye before he made his way down the mountain to bring back their guests. In the past, she would have been terrified of the Foniás, whom she had been told stood in wait for them at every turn, but Oakley had eased her mind on that account. There were far fewer than she’d believed.
Six hours later, she stood in the doorway waiting for the Sno-Cat to come into view. The large, ugly orange machine with four articulating tracks, pulled a second cab behind it. The small break in the blizzard seemed to have waited only long enough for them to get to safety, as the next wave of snowflakes began to fall. Oakley assisted a heavily pregnant woman out of the vehicle first and lifted a young toddler into his arms. As they reached the house, he kissed Nova and placed the toddler on his feet inside.
She smiled up a him and then turned to their guests. “Welcome to our home. Come in. I have hot cocoa waiting, and dinner will be ready soon.”
“I will join you shortly, my love.” Oakley said, the emotion clear in his eyes. “I need to unload the supplies”
Live and love. Her life would be what they made of it. She had people around her and her mate by her side. The fates had managed to make it all work out, even if it had been rocky getting there. She closed the door and led the others into the library. Where Oakley and the few men who’d remained outside to help unload joined them a few minutes later.
“I was worried about you getting through the blizzard,” she admitted, moving into his embrace.
“Nothing could keep me from you again. And nothing should even try. We belong together, and that is how we will stay.” He kissed the top of her head. “Not even a blizzard could keep me from you.”
About the Author
Dominique's love of reading started when she was told to read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in high school. A book that opened her eyes to the joys of reading and entering into the world of the author. To this day she ranks this book and Pride and Prejudice as her favorites.
Stay connected with her Newsletter.
Visit her Website.
Also by Dominique Eastwick
Strawberry Kisses (1NS)
The Duke and the Virgin (House of Lords)
The Marquis and the Mistress (House of Lords)
The Earl and His Virgin Countess (House of Lords)
For Love or Revenge (Heirs to the Duke)
Infiltrating Her Pack (Black Hills Wolves)
The Virgin’s Infiltrator (Black Hills Wolves)
Shifting Hearts (Wiccan Haus)
Siren’s Serenade (Wiccan Haus)
Healing His Soul’s Mate (Wiccan Haus)
Breaking the Mating Bond (Wiccan Haus)
Healing Harvest (Wiccan Haus)
Bear with Me (Shifters of Yellowstone)
Bearing the Hunger (Shifters of Yellowstone)
The Alpha’s Second Chance (Shifters of Yellowstone)
Hunting JC (Sherman Family Series)
Tony’s Haven (Sherman Family Series)
Killing Lucas (Sherman Family Series)
Spencer’s Chance (Sherman Family Series)
Kissing the Bridesmaid (Sherman Cousins)
Kissing the Tycoon (Sherman Cousins)
Kismet and Cocoa (Sweet Christmas Kisses Antho)
Hot Burning Love
Second Chance Desire (Hot Moon Rising)
Her Billionaire Lion (Zodiac Shifters)
Shot Through the Heart (Zodiac Shifters)
Coming Soon
The Viscount and the Heiress (House of Lords)
Taming Trent (Sherman Family Series)
Having her Billionaires Baby
Loving Sage (Wiccan Haus)
What a Scottish Shifter Wants
by Jennifer Hilt
Book Description
When Angus McGowan, a commitment phobic Scottish wolf shifter indulges in a backwoods cabin fling with an Amazon warrior, Angus can’t believe his luck in finding a bedmate with no strings attached.
As a biologist, Bree welcomes Angus into her bed but she’s puzzled that he’s angry over her plans to raise any child that may result from their time together on her own. She’s in Icy Cap, Alaska to experience all that life has to offer. When they part, she gives Angus an amulet to protect him in his travels.
Enter a jealous witch and a curse. When Angus loses his amulet and his memory, will he ever find a way back to Bree?
The Story
I hadn’t asked to be marooned in an Alaskan blizzard with an experimental Amazonian virgin but I was, as typical of Scots in general, making the best of it.
I was having the last laugh on my pack leader who had exiled me from Scotland for a year. My crime? I, Angus McGowan, refused to pick a mate. I’d packed up my dentistry tools and headed hundreds of miles beyond the North Pole to Icy Cap. I planned to spend the year traveling the backwoods area serving the paranormals in this remote region with my skills.
Besides, there was plenty of time to choose a mate in my future. I was only in my early forties. I was tall, broad-shouldered with all my own teeth and hair. Life as a shifter stretched out before me full of possibilities. My wolf nature resisted being told what to do especially when I was in no hurry to choose a mate. I needed my freedom more than my pack.
It had only been a few weeks into my trek across the bush when I’d run across Bree Aries. I’d sought shelter at her cottage during a blizzard. I learned she was an Amazon warrior by birth and a biologist by training. Bree made her interest in me clear after the most basic of small-talk.
I couldn’t believe my luck. There wasn’t a better way to spend time being snowed in during a December blizzard than sating mutual lust.
Now we lay catching our breath, watching the shadows from the fireplace dance across the ceiling. Moving her giant feather bed to be closer to the fireplace was an excellent choice.
“Aren’t you a bit far north?” For a change, I wanted to know more about my bedmate than the basics. “I thought Amazonians lived much farther south.”
“We’re children of Aries. Our home is an island in the Aegean Sea but we may choose to live in the world of men. As a child, I read about the far north explorers. I was enchanted by the snow and solitude.” Her cabin reflected the magic she spoke of. She had dug up a small evergreen tree and decorated it with berries strung on yarn. She planned to replant it in spring.
“Aren’t you lonely?”
“I have plenty of plant samples to prepare to fill my time. And once in a while I meet a traveler. I’ll leave in the spring after I get all my samples pressed and labeled.”
I didn’t like the idea of her hospitality extending to other travelers besides me.
By the firelight, her fair skin was a pleasingly pink from exertion. She yawned and stretched, feline like, but she was all warrior. She was almost six foot tall. I still had a few inches on her but usually I towered over females. I was enjoying this change, hip to hip.
I ran my hand along her hip, then gathered her long reddish blond hair to the side to better access her neck. My desire for her was like a forest fire lit by kindling. Just brushing her naked skin caused my cock to twitch.
“I wonder if you were a Boy Scout somewhere in your youth.” I eased her on her back.
She wrapped a leg around mine. We couldn’t be snowed in here forever. We’d return to our real lives soon enough. I wanted to hold on to this precious time.
“You don’t need to join a club to learn how to survive or fight when you are an Amazon. We all learn that.”
“Yes.” I teased her wrinkled brows with a kiss, hitching her leg up higher around my waist. I dipped two fingers in her pussy. She was already wet and straining against me. My cock throbbed against her belly.
She lifted her hips as I slid my cock inside her. She closed her eyes, arching her back taking me in fully. Her pussy muscles gloved me as I began working her. She was amazing. I wanted to wring every passionate cry from her. I was determined to not get lost in my mingled pleasure with her this time.
But like the times before, when our joined bodies started moving, I was fused to her. I closed my eyes, lost in the wonder of doing what felt right and natural. Plus, a few other tricks—I knew what she liked by now.
Briana liked it deep and hard. Soon she was panting. Her nails gripping my ass as I pumped into her.
Finally, I was lost in the white heat of our coupling, stunned like I’d just witnessed an Aurora Borealis.
We lay dozing, listening to the snow flakes falling down the chimney with a sizzle. My mind returned to the conversation I’d started before. “About the Boy Scouts, they have a motto—‘always be prepared’. I never guessed a virgin would be equipped with birth control out here.”
Briana lay on my chest. I felt her smile against me. “Now I understand the Boy Scout reference.” Her fingers lightly stroked my chest.
My brain was foggy with pleasure. I idly wondered how long I could blame my delayed departure on the blizzard. I surprised myself by asking. “What kind of birth control do you use?”
She sat up naked to the waist. Her breasts were perfect, high and round and athletic just like her. I loved how I could fit them in my hand or my mouth.
I reached out to fondle her. Her nipple hardened under my touch.
“I’m not on any birth control,” she said.
I loved the feel of her nipple between my fingers and against my tongue. “What?” I stopped. “You said you were on birth control.”
“No.” Briana leaned forward, encouraging me to continue. H
er breasts brushed my lips. She kissed my brow. “I said don’t worry about it.’
“You’re not on birth control.” My blood drummed in my ears.
She nodded. Cheerfully.
“I’ve fucked you at least a half dozen times.”
Briana slid out of bed. “That’s a conservative estimate.” She gathered her long hair back, braiding it as she stood by the side of the bed. “I’m going to melt some ice for a bath. Care to join me?”
My hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. “What’s going on?”
She glanced down at my hand on her wrist. She raised her eyebrows. “Why are you angry?”
“What if you become pregnant?”
“I hope I’m pregnant. All my sisters have had one child by now except me.” She easily removed my hand from her arm. “I didn’t know about Boy Scouts. You didn’t know Amazons don’t need men to raise their children. It’s funny what we don’t know about each other.” She kissed my cheek once her braid was finished. Briana padded to the kitchen without looking back.
I stared at her shapely retreating backside. “Hilarious,” I commented but no one but me was around to hear it.
The irony of the situation was not lost on me. I’d found exactly what I wanted. I’d happened upon an enthusiastic and robust virgin eager to amend her celibate status. Now, I learned that not only was I absolved of any potential parenting responsibility, my new sexual partner was hoping to be pregnant from this encounter.
I followed her out to the kitchen where she was filling a stainless steel bathtub with snow from a bucket.
“What if you are pregnant with a boy? A bunch of Amazon women can’t raise a boy,” I said.
Briana eyed me over her shoulder. “Amazons select certain men to be involved in the child rearing. It’s not only women. Don’t worry, if I have a son, he’ll have wonderful male influences.”
Christmas Kisses Page 5
