Chapter 3
Dreama transported to her father’s house, appearing in the family room. She took the bottle of wine from under her arm and walked into the kitchen, setting it on the table.
“Dad?”
“Just a sec,” he called from the back of the house.
She removed her jacket and draped it on the back of a kitchen chair, and then she lifted the lid from a pot on the stove and inhaled the spicy scent of her father’s homemade spaghetti sauce.
“Yum,” she said, humming happily.
“There’s a problem, D,” he said as he came into the kitchen with his laptop.
“What kind of problem?”
He set the laptop on the table, and she let out a surprised gasp. Santa Claus and his wife were visible in the video chat window. Mrs. Claus smiled sweetly, but Santa looked disturbed.
“Holy crap. You know Santa?” she whispered loudly to her father.
“I can hear you,” Santa said, sounding grumpy.
Mrs. Claus swatted his shoulder. “Don’t mind him. He’s just unhappy with the current tide of events. You must be Sandman’s daughter. It’s nice to meet you.”
Dreama stared mutely at the two characters from children’s stories she’d always wondered about. She knew they were real, but she never thought she’d ever meet them, since their city was closed to supernatural creatures.
Her father nudged her.
“Oh. Right. Yeah, I’m Dreama.”
Her father looked at her. “They need help.”
Immediately, Dreama shook off the awe and focused. “What’s going on?”
Mrs. Claus said, “The father of one of our quad’s fated mate’s is ill, and she wants to see him. As you know, our magic isn’t strong enough to take a person out of the city any other time aside from Christmas, which is too far away.”
Dreama’s father looked at her. “They’ve asked if I would travel to NPC to pick up the fated mate, the quad, and a security officer, take them to her father’s hospital, and then return them within twenty-four hours.”
“Why only twenty-four hours?”
“My consent to break the law lasts only twenty-four hours. If my people are outside of NPC after twenty-four hours, they’ll be trapped until Christmas Eve.”
“You’re going to go, right, Dad?”
“Excuse us for a minute,” Sandman said, pressing the mute button on the screen. “I thought you might like to do this.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “When they called and asked for help, I said yes right away, but then I got a strange feeling about asking you to handle the request. Call it father’s intuition. I think it would be good for you.”
She narrowed her eyes at her father. “Is this like the time you told me that eating liver would be ‘good for me’? Because that was awful.”
He rolled his eyes. “Eating liver builds character. And no, this feeling is different. If you don’t want to go, I will, but I think it’s important for you. Plus, you’ll get to meet the great Santa Claus, and I know you’ll enjoy it.”
“I’ll go.”
He pressed the mute button again and said, “Dreama will go in my place.”
“Wonderful,” Mrs. Claus said.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” she said.
“Transport to our home,” Santa said.
She looked at her watch and set a timer to count down twenty-four hours. “Anything I should know, Dad?”
“Watch the time. You don’t want to have three NPC residents living in your house until Christmas.”
She chuckled.
“And be safe.”
“You bet,” she said. She kissed her father, pressed the button on her watch to start the timer, and looked at Santa’s face on the screen. “I’m ready.”
Santa said a few words in a language she didn’t recognize, and then he spoke in English, “It’s done.”
She glanced at her father, gave him a peck on the cheek, and then she transported to Santa’s home. Even though she’d never been there, her power was such that she could simply think of a place and go there. She liked to call her power her ‘magical GPS.’ A rush of wind buffeted her, and she closed her eyes and wondered what her father meant when he said that he had a feeling that she needed to take the job.
Dreama opened her eyes when she arrived and found herself standing in a homey family room, with a crackling fire in the fireplace and the scent of chocolate and marshmallows in the air. She turned in a slow circle. Santa and his wife were smiling at her, but Mrs. Claus smiled more broadly.
Dreama hurried across the highly polished wood floor and hugged her. For a moment, every Christmas she’d ever celebrated with her father flashed through her mind, from the earliest ones when he dressed up as Santa, to the most recent ones, when they made caramel popcorn and stayed up late watching bad science fiction movies.
“Oh,” she said, letting out a soft breath of surprise. “That’s amazing.”
“A part of my power,” Mrs. Claus said, her blue eyes twinkling.
“That’s a cool power.”
Santa said, “You’re a dream walker like your father?”
She nodded. “My power is as strong as his, but I’m not immortal because my mother is fae. I take entirely after my father, though.”
“It must be so nice to help little ones have sweet dreams,” Mrs. Claus said.
“It is.”
There was a knock at the door, and Santa went to open it.
“Merri, the fated mate of our lead reindeer, Rhys, is terribly upset about her father,” Mrs. Claus explained. “It’s bad timing that she can’t go see him on her own or with my husband’s help.”
“I’m glad I could offer assistance.”
Dreama felt an odd sensation cascade over her, a warmth that she didn’t understand and a longing that felt entirely out of place. She looked at the trio of people who walked in the door, finding a male with his arm around a female with red-rimmed eyes, and then just behind him was another male. The second male was tall and broad shouldered, with dark blond hair and a trimmed beard.
Everything inside her quieted and yet rioted at the same time, and she inhaled sharply as her thoughts turned to arousal and then to a future held in that male’s arms. He closed the door, then spun with a growl, his eyes flashing to gold, and his fangs elongated in his mouth. In a heartbeat, he grabbed Dreama and pulled her away from the group, caging her against the wall and staring down at her. His chest heaved and a growl rumbled in his chest.
“Hey,” she said, unable to stop herself from touching him. She scratched her fingers lightly through his beard.
“Mine,” he said hoarsely.
“You don’t say,” she murmured, tilting her face so he could kiss her, because she was very positive he was going to. But instead, he spun and faced the room, pushing her closer to the wall and letting out a fierce snarl.
“What’s your problem?” the other male demanded, shielding the female.
“She’s my likli fanna,” he said, his voice rough and growly.
His tone sent shivers down her spine. She’d never been one for a guy going all possessive on her, but she liked it now. She rested her hands on his back. He wore a black leather jacket that was soft and supple, and tight jeans showcased thick legs and an ass that deserved to be squeezed. In private, of course, not in Santa’s house.
Mrs. Claus chuckled. “Sandman.”
Dreama peeked to the side of the growling man and said, “What about my father?”
“He must have known that you and Roi were mates. That’s why he sent you instead of coming himself.”
“How could he know when I didn’t?” she asked. And then she said, “Oh, right. He said he had a feeling I needed to come on this trip. I guess he really did know something I didn’t.”
“Roi, you can stop acting like an asshole,” the female commanded with a scowl. “The two males in this house are mated. We’re wasting precious time. I only have twenty-four hours.”
Santa cleared his throat. “Roi, if you can’t handle being around your mate with others, then you’ll have to stay behind.”
“No.” He growled the word more than spoke it, and it made the hairs on Dreama’s arms rise.
Dreama rested her cheek against his back and wrapped her arms around his middle. “We can talk after we take these two to see her father. Rein in the mine stuff for a few minutes.”
He turned slowly and cupped her face. The growl was gone, but the fangs weren’t, the shiny tips denting his lower lip. “I’m Roi.”
“I’m Dreama.”
“I don’t know why you’re here, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. You’re my fated mate. I’ve been waiting for you.”
She let the phrase roll around in her mind. She’d never heard the term before, but she liked it. Fated to be together. She couldn’t wait to tell her father how right he was.
“Let’s go to the states, and then I’ll transport us to my place so we can talk.”
“No talking,” he whispered, his eyes shimmering from blue to gold. He kissed her. It was a simple kiss, just a brush of their lips, but she knew what it meant. It was a promise of things to come, and she couldn’t wait to get him alone.
He worked to shake off the possessive nature that had taken hold of him. Then he grabbed her hand and walked her to the couple. “This is Rhys and Merri.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Dreama said. “I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Thank you for your help,” Merri said.
Dreama looked at Santa and Mrs. Claus and checked her watch. “We have twenty-three hours and thirty-two minutes until the consent is over.”
Rhys lifted his wrist and set a timer. “Merri’s dad is at United Mercy Hospital in New Jersey. Do you know where it is? Our security team scouted it with GPS, and there’s a hidden alley at the southwest corner where we can transport without being seen.”
Dreama put her hand on Roi’s shoulder and smiled at him. “Ready?”
He nodded. “Whenever you are.”
Merri said to Mrs. Claus, “RJ is with Arian and Charli. Would you check on him in a little while? He loves you so much.”
Mrs. Claus nodded. “Of course, dear.”
“Are you two ready?” Dreama asked.
“Yes,” Merri said. “Let’s hurry.”
With a thought, Dreama transported the four of them to the alley behind the hospital. “Roi and I will be waiting here in twenty-three hours. Don’t be late. While I wouldn’t mind Roi staying with me until Christmas Eve, I take it you have a little one you wouldn’t want to be away from for weeks.”
“We’ll be here,” Rhys promised.
Rhys and Merri hurried down the alley, pausing before they turned the corner, and then they were gone. She and Roi stood alone.
“Are you ready?” she asked a second time, her voice husky as arousal bloomed within her. “Mate.”
“Fated mate,” he said, sliding his hands inside her jacket to her back as he pulled her against him. He lowered his head and kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around him and tilted her head, allowing him to deepen the kiss. As his tongue pushed into her mouth and the sweet taste of him filled her, she transported them to her home, straight to her bedroom.
It was time to find out what he meant when he said they were fated mates, and they had less than twenty-three hours to figure it out.