He and Wick alternated between running, tousling, wrestling, to simply walking and talking under the moon’s light. Justice shifted when they got back to the lake and dove in, hoping Wick would join him. Justice slung water off his face when he resurfaced. Sputtering water out his mouth he grinned back, his naked mate still standing at edge of the water. “What are you waiting for?”

“Didn’t you say cats don’t like water?” Wick sat down on the bank and sprawled back against the cool earth.

Justice flipped over his back and floated along the surface while talking. “No. Big cats can swim but they avoid it. Now, tigers on the other hand, are great swimmers.”

“I still think I’ll just stay right here, dry and comfortable.”

“Buzzkill,” Justice grumbled.

“Why would you want to have sex in the water the shifters use to drink from? That’s not proper,” Wick scolded teasingly.

“I didn’t say a thing about having sex. I just wanted to see you dripping wet.”

“Then watch me shower.”

“You’re asking for it. Smart mouths lead to sore asses.”

Wick’s contentment and joy flooded Justice while they continued to banter. “I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.”

“Oh, you don’t, my Lord?” Justice mimicked in his best British accent that wasn’t all that good. He saw Wick shaking his head disbelievingly, his smile so bright and broad it challenged the stars.

“Shut up, you.”

Justice smirked at how hard Wick pronounced his Ts. “Come shut me up.”

“I’ll wait until you come out.”

“You’re my protector, what if something gets me in the water.”

Wick propped himself up on one elbow and sniffed the air. “You’re safe, my love. Nothing around for miles.”

Justice finished his swim and joined Wick in his comfortable position on a thick patch of fallen leaves from the tall oak tree, his body inclined on the slight slope while he lay gazing at the clear sky. “You want to shift back to your animal? I didn’t expect the temperature to drop this much. Feels about forty-five.”

“Is that normal for Nevada in late fall?” Wick turned in to Justice’s heat, soaking up his warmth instead of shifting, and he was glad to let him do it.

Justice yawned, wrapping Wick up tight. “I’m not sure. Remember, I don’t live here.”

“Mmm. Yes, I remember. Tell me all about Maine and the White Mountain Forest, again.” Wick snuggled up like he’d just asked Justice to tell him a bedtime story.

“I guess we have a little time before we have to head back.” Justice loved to talk about his home. Because he was Siberian, he and his pack preferred to live in cooler climates, and snow was a must for them. He couldn’t wait to see Wick’s gorgeous tiger in his element. As he thought of the scenic parks and towering snow-capped mountains, his voice drifted off and sleep claimed a few moments later.

“Ahhhh! Justice! Help me! The sun!”

Justice lurched awake so fast he didn’t know where he was or what he was doing there. They were still laying on the lake’s bank; the Nevada sun was up high over the water, and toasty on his back. Scrambling at the desperate sound of his mate’s cries, Justice used his body to cover Wick’s balled-up form as he hid from the dangerous rays.

“I’m gonna die!”

Justice couldn’t handle hearing that. He shifted to his wolf, desperate to protect his mate. He was trying to ensure every inch of Wick’s sensitive, pale skin was covered when he realized Wick’s body was barely warm. Sure, the sun was beaming down on them, but Wick wasn’t bursting into flames.

“Shh. Calm down. Wick, please, calm down before you make my wolf do something crazy like drag you into the lake. Please… easy… Easy,” Justice crooned as Wick’s body finally stopped trying to climb inside of him. His wolf whined. “Listen, baby. I have you fully covered, nothing can touch you.”

“Justice, get me out of here!”

Justice hissed at the feeling of Wick’s nails digging into his underbelly. “Wick, calm yourself.”

“I can’t think. I can’t… someone’s coming!”

It was his pack. His brothers were charging up the mountain, reacting instinctively and immediately at the feeling of Justice’s fear.

“We’re coming, Justice, hang on.”

It was Alek, and it was far too late to stop them, so he didn’t try, he had to focus on Wick. The terror and dread he was feeling manifested inside Justice and threatened to eliminate his rational thought. “I’ll never let anything happen to you. I don’t think the sun will—”

“What?! No.” Wick cut him off his fear ramping back up. “I can take dusk sun, for a couple minutes at most. I will burn in full sun, Beloved, please.”

Justice hadn’t feared death since he grieved for his mom. But right now, he was petrified of it and he knew he had to take back control. “Wick.” Justice pushed love and trust at his mate, hoping Wick could hear what he had to say. “Stick your hand out from under me and try.” 

Justice lay there practically suffocating Wick’s trembling body, but he wouldn’t move until he felt safe. Justice thought for a second Wick wouldn’t trust him, but after a few more minutes, he could feel one of Wick’s hands untangle from the long hair on his belly and reach out from under him. “That’s it, baby. Trust your mate.”

 

 

He hadn’t felt such fear since he was a boy and he’d gotten lost on one of his numerous, father-forbidden adventures into the Forest of Dean. He’d been lost for days. Wandering helplessly at night and buried under the earth during the day. The Royal Court and his father had to initiate an emergency search and rescue. But as Justice flooded Wick’s mind with trust and confidence, he very slowly reached his hand out from underneath Justice’s heavy body. He slammed his eyes shut, half expecting his hand to explode… but… nothing happened. It was like his mate said… barely warm. Wick’s body temperature was typically about seventy-four, because of his age, sometimes lower. So when he woke and felt the sun on his face, his regularly cool skin was warm. Warm enough that it scared the hell out of him. Too scared to even think of shifting.

He let his hand linger in the light until he was absolutely sure nothing would happen, then he pushed out a bit more, until his wrist, elbow then shoulder were in direct sunlight. After being accustomed to avoiding sunlight from birth, this was a major shock to Wick’s system. He’d seen vampires get thrown into the sun… it wasn’t pretty and far from painless.

Justice shifted on top of him, exposing more of his body. Wick flinched but he didn’t run. Justice was staring at his face as if he’d never seen him. Most of the sun was blocked off his face by Justice’s, but the heat couldn’t be shielded.

“What’s wrong? Do I look different? Because I sure feel different.”

“You look as beautiful, as always. You’re not even flushed from the heat; you’re just… a bit warmer.”

“Let me up,” Wick whispered in shock.

At the same time he was slowly climbing to his feet, Justice’s brothers charged out of the trees, three huge wolves, skidding to dramatic halts in front of Justice. They shifted quickly, anxious blue eyes darting back and forth between him and Justice, waiting for an explanation.

“I said everything was good and you could turn around,” Justice murmured to Alek, still staring at Wick.

“You literally said that about five seconds ago. We were already here,” Alek said, bending over with his hands on his knees while he caught his breath. “What the hell happened? I’ve never felt distress like that... not before—”

“I almost killed my mate.” Wick heard Justice confess.

“That’s not so.” He sent his mate, but Justice ignored it.

He’d console his mate later. Wick was sure he’d scared Christ out of him, and he was sorry, but that emotion was gone from him right now, replaced with overwhelming gratitude to the Mother for yet another amazing gift. He turned in the other direction so he could admire the brilliance of it all. The emerging and chattering of diurnals, the songbirds singing good morning, the ripples in the lake reflecting the beams of light. It was all affected by the life-giving sun. Wick was a vampire marveling at the exquisiteness of daylight.

The big brothers all crowded in closer to Justice as he explained, and it hurt Wick that his mate was taking all the responsibility for this on himself. “He said it was late to go out, but I insisted on a late run.” Justice pressed his knuckles into his eye sockets. “I fell asleep and….”

“Whoa… go back.” Taleb stepped forward. “A run. He’s a runner.”

“Not quite.” They’d been waiting for the right time to reveal Wick’s gift to Justice’s pack, and now was as good a time as any. “Wick.”

Justice’s sorrowful frown morphed quickly into a bright-morning smile when Wick turned and leapt right into his arms, clamping his toned legs around his waist, throwing his head back and laughing loudly.

“Is he sane?” Mac eyeballed Wick cautiously.

“He’s a vampire walking around in the daylight. I think we can give him a minute to enjoy it.” Taleb smirked.

“Well at least he ain’t fuckin’ sparkling like a diamond.”

Wick reared back, cocking his head to the side like a confused pup, pulling a laugh from them.

Mac waved it off. “Forget I said that. I’m sure you have no idea what I’m talking about.”

“I’m humiliated that I do know what you’re talking about. Now shut up.” Taleb balked.

“Day-walking isn’t all he can do.” Justice put Wick down on his feet. “Show them, baby.”

Like before, Wick’s shift was just as fast as his Beloved’s.

“Jesus!”

“Fuck!”

“Holy shit!”

All the brothers had a different verbal reaction to staring into the eyes of Wick’s enormous white tiger however, they had identical physical reactions of falling on their assess at the boom that resounded when Wick’s bones reformed.

“Holy shit is right. My sunlight-loving Vampire King true mate is also a shifter. A blessed gift from the Mother herself. A protector sent to keep her children safe.” Justice sounded so proud.

“Are we sure?” Alek frowned, slowly getting up off the ground. “Is he coherent in this form?”

Wick chuffed and stalked past Alek, slapping him in his face with his long tail.

“That answers your question.” Mac laughed.

“He doesn’t smell like a shifter,” Alek added, catching Wick’s tail and giving it a slight tug when he tried to slap him again.

“Maybe that’s for a reason. Only the Mother can give the ability to shift,” Taleb informed them. “Justice this is huge. No one – shifter or vampire – will be able to formulate a convincible argument negating the legitimacy of your mating or the Mother’s blessings when they see this.”

“Hey, Poindexter is right.” Mac elbowed Taleb, teasing his baby brother like always. “He can shift… he’s one of us. I don’t think you have to worry about shifter or vampire allies anymore. They’ll all follow him. Shit Justice, I’ll dump your ass and follow him.”

Justice glared exasperatedly at his brother.

“What?!” Mac threw his hands in the air. “He can shift into a fuckin’ Siberian tiger for shit’s sake! Come on, y’all were thinking it, too. That’s cool, man. Look! Alek is still playing with his tail. No one has ever seen a shifter other than a wolf.”

“Not in this generation, but the Mother has sent other animals to protect us before, right?” Alek said.

Justice knelt down in front of Wick, looking into his sharp eyes. “Yes. And she has again.”