Frozen Necessity

by Evi Asher

  “What’s wrong with you, Jer. If you told me Gel—” Colt clamped his jaw shut and refused to finish that sentence.

  “Oh, no you don’t. You aren’t getting out of finishing that thought. Spit it out.” Jericho was still grinning, but now the expression seemed far more knowing to Colt.

  He changed the subject back to Jericho and Kate. “Aren’t you jealous?”

  Jericho frowned for a second as if he was considering it, then lied.

  Colt knew it was a lie.

  “No, I suppose I should be, but I’m not. It’s not in me to be the jealous type.”

  Colt snorted. Yeah, right. Meet the right woman and you’ll be five shades of green every time anyone looks in her direction.

  He caught himself glancing at Angelica’s closed door. When he realized where he was looking, he forced his eyes back to Jericho, but it was too late. Jericho had seen the direction of his gaze.

  “So you know jealousy first hand, huh?”

  “No, I don’t.” Colt denied it, but even in his ears, his denial sounded week and forced.

  “Ah huh. If you say so.” Jericho was smirking, and Colt wanted to hit him for it.

  “Why are you here, anyway?” Colt grunted, choosing not to let Jericho get to him.

  “Sarah sent me.”

  “Oh?” Colt sat forward. He wondered if there was town council business that needed seeing to.

  In such a small village, they didn’t get much to do as the council, so he was always eager when there was some work.

  “She’s decided that since you brought guests to the village, we should have a town gathering to welcome the guests.”

  “One guest—and she is a prisoner.” Colt’s eyes strayed to Geli’s door again. The wood looked so warm and inviting, he wanted to get up, ignore Jericho, and go push the door open to see Angelica on the other side.

  “Hey, One-Track.” Jericho half yelled to get Colt’s attention again.

  “Sarah is talking about all the guests, the others we got out of the storm, and Angelica.”

  It took a moment for Colt to realize what Jericho had said. He felt his brow crease with a frown. “No.”

  Jericho laughed and the sound was rich and warm. “What makes you think Sarah gave you a choice? The whole thing has been arranged.” He looked down at the watch strapped on his left wrist. “Two hours from now, the town will be welcoming all the guests, and you had better be there with Angelica in tow, or Sarah will come haul you down to the town hall by your ear.”

  Jericho stood up. “Now that I’ve delivered the message, I’ll be on my way, places to be…people to see.” He winked at Colt, who sat in silence, and walked out the door.

  “Crap,” Colt uttered as the door closed.

  The storm had died right down, so he couldn’t even use that as an excuse for keeping Angelica in the cabin. Jericho was right. If Colt tried to deny Sarah what she wanted, she’d come take it. There was something powerful and strange about that particular village elder.

  Colt felt the small smile that curled at the edges of his lips. Fine, he’d take Geli to the town hall for the welcome, but he still had two hours to fix what he’d messed up and to finish what he started.

  He got up in a fluid motion and stalked over to Angelica’s door.

  “Gelibean,” He said in a husky tone. “I owe you an apology.” He pushed the door open and frowned.

  The room was empty. He stepped in and looked behind the door. Nothing. The fire had burned low in the fireplace and the bedding was strewn across the floor. The bearskin was gone, and so was Angelica.

  Colt felt a roar of pure rage build in his chest. He clenched his fists and fought it. That kind of emotion would only make him shift, and he didn’t want to shift right now. He wanted to find his missing mate.

  * * * *

  “…and that is how I ended up here now.” Angelica finished her story with a sigh. Archer had kept everyone in check, and the commentary had been no more than the occasional question.

  “I’m sorry, Angelica.” Ath leaned forward and grabbed her in a bear hug. “I should have known better.”

  Scarlet was blushing. “I owe you a big apology as well.”

  Yes, they did, but Angelica would let it go. Their assumptions had hurt, but she might have made the same ones, had their positions been reversed. “Don’t worry about it,” she said.

  Scarlet started to protest, but Angelica held up her hand. “Look, you didn’t know the whole story, so I don’t blame you, okay? All that is important is that we get out of here now.”

  Athera was studying her with a strange look. “I’m not so sure we should leave.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Angelica stood and glared down at Athera. “Didn’t you hear a word I said? Colt is holding me hostage, and I don’t want to be a prisoner, so let’s go now.” She looked to the others for support, but only Scarlet would meet her eyes.

  “You are all going to support Athera on this?”

  Archer shrugged. “I think she has a point.”

  “I was just the bloodhound on this trip,” Laz said. “What they do, I do.”

  Angelica looked at Scarlet.

  “I think that if you run, he will follow you, and you are mated to him. I can’t take his mate away.” Her eyes fell on Archer and her lips curled in a small smile.

  “What?” Angelica drew in a deep breath, asking any deity that would listen for some patience. “So you aren’t here to rescue me. You are here to hand me over to Colt?”

  “Angelica, it’s not like that,” Ath spoke up. “Scar is right. He will follow you, so why not save us the stress of being chased and sort things out with him, and find an amicable way to leave.”

  Angelica’s voice brimmed with anger. Even she could hear when she answered. “He will never let me leave.”

  “Fair enough that you believe that, so how about we make a deal. You give me two days, stay with Colt for two days, and if you still want to leave after two days, we’ll steal you away from your mate and make sure he can never find you again.

  Angelica considered the proposal for a moment. She had taken all he could dish out this far—what was two more days?

  Two more days of rejection, hurt, and soul crushing apathy. She hesitated, not sure if she was up for it, and then decided she could do it. She’d proven to herself how tough she could be. She would hide her feelings behind a wall so high that the polar bear could never reach them, and if he couldn’t reach them, he couldn’t hurt her.

  She straightened her shoulders and nodded her head. “Okay, I agree, but if I want to leave, you have to leave, and no more arguments?”

  “Agreed.”

  The front door of the cabin opened and Sarah stepped into it. “Oh, hello Angelica, I didn’t know you were visiting your friends.” She smiled.

  “Hi, Sarah.” Angelica returned her smile then introduced the Eternals to the town elder.

  “I’m so glad you came to visit our small village, and we’d love for you to come to the small gathering of village people. We want to welcome you properly, as is our custom here.

  Scarlet spoke for the others. “We’d love that.”

  Angelica felt a lump of dread starting to grow in her stomach. This wasn’t a good idea. She didn’t want her friends to think she belonged here with Colt. She didn’t want them to leave her here.

  “Shouldn’t all of you get some rest after being trapped in the storm?”

  “Nonsense. We are Eternals. We bounce back fast, as you know,” Ath added. Her look warned Angelica that she wasn’t going to get out of this town gathering.

  “Very good.” Sarah’s creased face beamed. “I’ll lead the way to the town hall. Some of the villagers are already there.”

  Ath looked over at Angelica and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Give us five, Sarah, so we can change clothes?”

  “But of course.” Sarah sat down and started to talk to Scarlet as Ath grabbed Angelica’s arm and yanked her to her feet,
leading her into one of the rooms. Ath shut the door and went to a bag that was on the floor. She started to rummage through it, and clothes learned to fly as she tossed them this way and that.

  Angelica looked around the small room as Ath dug through the bag. It contained a single bed pushed against the far wall, covered with a quilted blanket that looked warm. A small window that seemed to have a double pain of glass in it was in the far wall, and the flames in the fireplace danced merrily, making shadows jump around the room.

  Athera pulled out a pair of jeans and a thick pull over with a rolled neck. The color was a deep emerald green, and Angelica almost sighed at the richness of it. Last out of the bag was a pair of…cowboy boots?

  “There, get dressed. Those robes need to be burned. Eww, just eww, Angelica.”

  “The robes are all the clothes I have.”

  Ath gave another of her unladylike snorts. “Not anymore—between Scarlet’s bag and mine, there’s plenty for you to wear. Now get dressed.

  When Angelica sighed and pulled her robes off, Ath tutted. “That set of underwear won’t do either. Lucky for you, I went shopping before the trip, and I brought extras.” Ath produced a matching set of lacy black lingerie that had Geli blushing.

  “I can’t wear that.”

  “Yes, you can. I haven’t worn them, and look, the tags are still on.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Angelica glared at the other woman.

  Ath stood with one hand on her hip and the other holding out the lacy apparel. She puffed her fringe out of her face, glaring at Angelica until she took the underwear and started to put it on.

  “Good.”

  The mini-makeover didn’t stop at the clothes and boots. Ath made Angelica sit down and she brushed all the knots out of her long dark hair, leaving the shining mass flowing freely down her back and past her hips.

  “So beautiful.” Ath sighed. “I wish my hair was this color.”

  “And I wish I had your huge innocent looking eyes.” Angelica looked over her shoulder at the other woman. “I say innocent looking because you are anything but innocent.”

  Ath laughed and put the brush down. “Guilty. Come on, time for us to leave. You are going to make that bear of yours swoon.”

  “He isn’t my bear.”

  “He wears your tattoo, so he’s yours.” Ath’s was wearing her stubborn tone. When she started using it, everyone knew it was pointless to argue, because she would ignore anything you had to say.

  “Let’s go.”

  Angelica stood and walked towards the door. She didn’t have the energy to argue with Ath.

  Chapter Nine

  Colt felt fury burn his blood. Why the hell did his female keep running away from him? He stopped at the foot of the steps to his cabin and took in a lungful of air to scent for her.

  The clean smell of snow filled his nose, then the sharp tang of blood hit his senses.

  Geli’s blood

  He followed the trail to a deeper snow bank and saw a bright crimson droplet glinting in the sun. It was drying, even in the cold and wet of the snow, so she’d been through here a while ago, but she was hurt.

  The thought tore at his gut like some ravening beast. His polar bear half wanted to shift, its reaction to the blood even worse than Colts.

  “Steady now,” he said out loud. “It’s just a drop, not an artery’s worth. She’s not hurt bad.”

  A drop of blood was all his bear needed so Colt could easily follow Angelica’s route. The cabin that he’d put the Eternals in came in to view and he hissed a curse under his breath, “I should have known.”

  He got up the steps in a few strides and burst through the door, bellowing as he entered, “Angelica!”

  Nothing.

  Again…damn it.

  They were gone. Colt felt fear dig into his abdomen. He sank down into the couch and caught a whiff of Geli on the afghan that covered it. He closed his eyes and examined his fear.

  Was it because he needed to get his vengeance on her? He couldn’t answer that question with any clarity. He wanted vengeance, but somehow it was fading into the background. It wasn’t as important to him now as when he’d been lying in that cell in the phoenix realm.

  Yes, the memories still made his fists clench, but for some weird reason, he couldn’t seem to equate the Geli he knew with the woman who had used him. Every time he tried, it felt…wrong.

  He picked up the edge of the afghan and lifted it to his face, subconsciously, breathing in Geli’s fragrance.

  In that room, the mist had dulled all his senses, so the first time he’d smelled her intoxicating perfume was after they had gotten away.

  Since then, it had been tormenting him at every turn. He couldn’t lose Geli, not until he figured out what he wanted to do with her.

  He got out of the chair. Time to find his missing mate and make sure that she stayed with him…for now at least.

  He ran out the door, and almost slipped on the ice-coated steps. Pin wheeling his arms for balance, only his preternatural grace saved him from a nasty fall. He stopped, his body tense as he tried to find Angelica’s trail, but a deluge of scents overwhelmed him and he couldn’t find hers.

  Colt stood motionless, his eyes closed, and his hands curled in fists as he searched for Angelica.

  His eyes snapped open. He knew which direction she had gone in, but it wasn’t from a normal sense. He couldn’t smell her, but he knew which way to go, which was more like a sixth sense.

  One step, then another, he moved forward and soon was all but running, a grin forming on his lips. She hadn’t run away. She was in the town hall. His mate was close.

  The euphoric feeling that overwhelmed him made him almost giddy.

  Maybe she wants to stay. Maybe she wants to try to make it work…

  * * * *

  The village hall was toasty warm, a fire burning in the central hearth and a few around the walls. The place was packed with villagers and children who were running around in blissful chaos and screaming in joy.

  Angelica was standing in a small circle with some villagers, a warm cup of coffee steaming in her hand as they asked the phoenix questions.

  “Do you guys really turn to ash?” Sarah’s granddaughter Sue asked.

  “I did,” Scarlet told the young woman. “But I’m the exception. I was a pyro who became a phoenix, I wasn’t born a phoenix, so I had to burn to ash before I could become a phoenix.”

  Sue’s jaw unhinged and her eyes widened. “What?”

  Angelica couldn’t help but laugh at Sue’s expression. “We don’t usually—”

  The doors to the hall burst open, cutting Angelica off. She saw Colt step through them.

  “Angelica!” he bellowed, and she watched him scan the room. When he spotted her, it took three long-legged strides and he was standing beside her, grabbing her shoulder, and spinning her. Dragging her into his arms, he cupped the nape of Angelica’s neck with one hand as she tilted her head back to look up at him.

  She gasped in shock as Colt lowered his head and tilted his mouth over hers in a kiss that was hungry and desperate. Angelica clenched her hands at her side, refusing to be draw into the kiss, her whole body going stiff.

  Colt grazed his lips over hers again, forcing her to open to him, and she went soft. Her clenched fists crept up to rest against his chest and she could feel his muscles twitch through his shirt at her touch.

  Angelica gave in with a sigh and relaxed into the kiss, letting her tongue dance with his. She vaguely heard Eternals clearing their throats behind her and ignored them. Her hands crept up further, so she could send her fingers to play in the soft hair at the nape of Colt’s neck. His response was to jerk her tighter against his tall form, all his hard muscles fitting to her soft curves like opposing puzzle pieces that would fit no matter the situation. Angelica moaned in pleasure as her breasts pressed against his chest, feeling her nipples harden to sharp points. Without thinking, she rubbed her breasts against him, seeking the fricti
on.

  Colt released his hold on the nape of her neck, letting his hands slide down her spine and over the curve of her butt. He held on and hiked her up.

  Oh, God, what delicious friction.

  Not breaking the kiss, he turned and started towards the village hall’s door.

  Angelica didn’t care. He could carry her into hell itself, as long as he didn’t stop the magic he was creating with his kiss. She could feel the hard bulge of his erection and the sculpted plains of his stomach and chest.

  He stopped walking without warning and she lodged a groaned protest. She wanted out of this hall and Colt out of his clothes.

  He broke the kiss and Angelica dropped her head against his chest, too weak to move.

  “Where do you think you are going, Colt?”

  Sarah’s voice broke the stupor and Angelica felt heat rush to her face.

  Oh, my God, we are in the middle of the town hall!

  Colt had manipulated her senses so well that she had forgotten that.

  Angelica pushed against his chest until he let her down and dropped his arms. She bolted past him back to the other Eternals and tried not to feel like a brand new species of virus under a microscope.

  She vaguely heard Sarah tell Colt to behave and not try and kidnap her guests. He muttered a response that Angelica didn’t catch, but by then, she’d become distracted by Ath’s raised eyebrow and Scarlet’s laughter.

  “You wanted to run away? Why?” Ath asked while her eyebrow still chased her hairline.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” Angelica mumbled.

  Scarlet’s laughter wound down as she said, “So, it’s not a super-hot guy carrying you off for some super-hot sex?”

  Angelica felt her blush intensify.

  “No. It’s not,” Angelica lied.

  “Pull the other one.” Scarlet started laughing again then turned to her grinning wolf. “Why don’t you carry me off like that?”

  Archer put on an expression of mock horror. “And have Sarah yell at me? She’s scary.”

  Angelica couldn’t help but laugh as Scarlet punched her mate in his arm and called him chicken.