Hard to say how I knew exactly where to go. Be it magic, intuition, or fate, my feet moved before I consciously knew where we were going. The whole time, my heart pattered out a frantic rhythm, my dragon coiling and crying out. He’d made his intentions clear, at least.

“Mate! Mate! Mine! Mine!” 

I weaved through the forest, taking a roughshod path through the sticks and leaves. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t on the road. I was simply following the scarf, and trusting that it would know where to go.

All the while, something built within me. A rising tide of emotion daring to reach a crescendo. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but something had...changed about the connection between Will and I. I felt him more closely, more keenly than I ever had before, and I knew I’d be able to find him, even if the scarf couldn’t.

Next, I had to plan what I was going to say. I still didn’t know what to choose. Will and Vale Valley or New York and business? Was there perhaps a way to have both?

I remembered again Hannah’s face lighting up with laughter. Her jingle bell pigtails. The look in her eyes when she talked about the spirit of Christmas. 

Finally, after all this time, I think I realized what she was talking about. 

I’d spent so much time working, striving, perfecting, that I’d totally neglected my true nature. Outside the Valley walls I was able to distract myself and ignore it, but here among my brethren it came out of me more strongly than ever before. In suppressing my nature I’d not only become jaded and lonely, but had forgotten what it meant to say hi to a neighbor or help a loved one in need. 

Even though this trip was unexpected, perhaps it was just what I needed after all.

Boom!

I startled and looked up, the explosion catching me off guard. There, in the sunset-splattered sky, was a shower of red and gold sparks, twinkling and falling lazily toward the ground.

I blinked, waited. Then came another, louder boom. Blue this time, lighting up the sky for that precious instant and sparkling, raining, down to the earth.

Fireworks. 

Oh my god. Fireworks!

I rushed toward the sound, nearly shifting into dragon form in my excitement. The Festival! It screeched inside me. Now not only the scarf was pulling me forward. It was every fiber of my being, reaching out and pulling me where I needed to be.

Will had told me the Festival of Fire had ended five years ago. That they couldn’t hold it anymore, after an accident. But when I heard another shattering explosion and watched the colors twinkle against the twilight, I hoped against hope that he was wrong.

I pushed through the remaining line of trees and came out onto a clearing.

I knew this place. 

And I knew these people.

I watched, wild eyed and delirious, as Will’s face broke into an ecstatic grin and he lowered a match, waving to me. 

Rosemary Vale was there. My old friends were there. Everyone I knew and cared for in the Valley had pitched in, it seemed. And as another firecracker exploded above us, I knew that the scarf and my heart were leading me to the same place.

Home. 

My real home.

I ran forward and threw my arms around Will’s neck, picking him up and spinning him around. He let out the most adorable little squeak, clinging to me as the world slowed to a crawl. 

“You didn’t,” I breathed, looking at the display around us. 

Will’s eyes were large, shiny with excitement. “You said it was your favorite.” 

I couldn’t believe it. I laughed, shook my head. Brought him closer. “You did all this for me?” 

“It’s not a Vale Valley Christmas without you,” he mumbled. 

I didn’t need any more convincing. I took his face in my hands, tilting his chin upward, and kissed him.

Cheers erupted from the crowd around us. Applause too. But it seemed so far away when my mate was next to me. Nothing else in the world mattered when I had him in my arms. How could I have been so foolish not to see what was right in front of me?

“You’re really something, you know that?” I rested my forehead against his, our eyes still locked. Within them danced his concern, his happiness, and yes...his love.

“So it worked?” Will choked. “I don’t want to lose you.” 

My dragon cried out in pain just at the thought. No. I could never leave him. I knew that now. 

I ran a hand through his hair, brushed it away from his ear, and whispered. “Never again, my little one. Never again.”

I kissed him again, this time faster, hotter, fiercer. And you know how people say that their kiss felt like fireworks? Well, this time it really was. Explosions and cheers went up around us, and as I claimed my mate’s lips, two twin rockets sailed toward the sky, twining around and around each other like two halves of a whole.

I looked up just in time to see the climax, an earth-shaking boom where the two points of light collided. They exploded into a giant heart shape of green and white each spark a delicious reminder of our bond. 

He was mine, and I was his. 

The way it should be.

“I’m glad you came back,” Will whispered, pecking a kiss along my jaw.

I held up the scarf I’d bought for him, shaking the tassels. I shrugged. “I had a little help...guess it really does help you find home after all.”

Will’s face lit up in a smile so bright it could banish the deepest darkness. And there, in the pits of my heart and soul, the last barrier came down. My dragon took control of my senses and I purred a deep, satisfying growl. 

We were one and the same now. I was no longer afraid.