Chapter 4
Roi was aware when Dreama transported them to her home. He felt the energy as it pulsed around them as they moved. She pushed at his jacket, and he shrugged out of it, urging her to do the same.
“I have a question,” she said, breaking the kiss and tossing her jacket onto the floor.
“I said we could talk later,” he reminded her, lifting the hem of her shirt and baring her stomach. She was so sexy he could barely think straight. He wanted to map her body with his lips and fingers. He wanted to bury himself in her again and again.
“We can, but I want to know what you mean by fated mate.”
He rubbed his thumb around her navel. “I’m a quad. I can shift into four animals – reindeer, polar bear, snowy owl, and arctic fox. Quads are unique in that we have a fated mate, which is the one person on the planet meant for us. I recognized you the moment I walked into SC’s house.”
“I felt a connection to you, too, but I didn’t know there was a special term for it.”
“What are you?” he asked, sliding his fingers through her soft hair. She had the prettiest auburn hair, and her deep-emerald eyes mesmerized him.
“I’m a dream walker. My father is Sandman.”
“You walk in people’s dreams?”
“It’s just a name. I can see what people are dreaming, but aside from using sweet-dream-sand to promote good dreams, I can’t interfere in someone’s dreams.”
“So you can’t give someone a nightmare or influence a dream’s outcome?”
“No nightmares. What a dream is and what happens in it is up to the person dreaming.”
“Just humans?”
“I don’t know, actually. I’ve only ever helped humans.”
He knew he needed to talk to her about the short time they had. He wouldn’t mind being trapped in the states with her until Christmas Eve, but she had to get Rhys and Merri home to their son. And it occurred to him that even though she could take them to NPC, she wouldn’t be allowed to stay.
“Why are you frowning?” she asked.
“Because I don’t know what will happen when we go back home.”
“Right, since I’m supernatural and Santa has a ban on my kind being in the city.”
“I’ll stay here.”
“What?”
“There’s really no choice. We’re mates and I’m not about to live in NPC while you’re here.”
“Maybe we can figure something out.”
He shook his head. “SC said he wouldn’t rescind the law against magical creatures in NPC. The consent is only once, and when the time has passed, you’ll be blocked from the city. I won’t live where you can’t.”
She pressed her lips together in thought. “If I weren’t supernatural, I could live in NPC with you, like the human mates.”
“But you are supernatural.”
She tilted her head. “Just like that, you’re giving up everything?”
“For you, yes.”
She snagged the hem of her top and pulled it over her head, and then she grabbed the back of his neck and drew him to her lips. The time for talking was over, and he was okay with that. For now. He’d miss his family, but he had found his mate. His family would understand. Home for him was where Dreama was, period.
Roi kissed her deeply and unbuttoned his shirt, tossing it aside and drawing her close. She wiggled from his grasp and dropped to her knees, sliding her fingers into his waistband and licking her lips as she gazed up at him. She undid the button and zipper and worked his jeans and boxers over his hips and down his legs, freeing his erection. He didn’t think any female had ever looked at him the way that Dreama did now. Hungry. Wanton. Full of desire.
He saw the first bloom of love, deep in those green eyes, that spoke of a future full of happiness.
She wrapped one hand around the base of his cock and kissed the head, rubbing her lips back and forth over the top. He groaned as she took him into her mouth slowly, the wet heat enveloping him perfectly. Her tongue rubbed along the underside, sweeping side to side as she sucked, her cheeks hollowing. He ground his teeth together and clenched his muscles so he remained still as she sucked and licked him.
He cupped the back of her head and flexed his hips slightly. She moaned, and the sound traveled over his cock and pushed him closer to release.
“Fuck, baby,” he said with a growl. “I don’t want to come in your mouth.”
She grinned around the mouthful and bobbed her head up and down on him while she worked her jeans down her hips, wiggling tantalizingly. Unable to stop himself, he pulled from her mouth and picked her up. He dropped her on the bed on her knees and pushed her shoulders until she lowered herself. He stood behind her, gazing at her bared bottom, her pussy pink and glistening. Her jeans and panties were at her thighs, and he pushed them down to her knees. He grabbed her hips and dropped his head to her pussy, running his tongue up and down her heat and groaning at the sweet taste of her arousal.
He probed her pussy with his tongue, sliding into her and sucking on her lips. He played with her clit, and she writhed and moaned. He threw his arm over her back and drew her close to his mouth, holding her in place. Her pussy creamed, and her clit swelled under his finger.
“Right there, oh, right there, Roi,” she said, gasping the words and struggling in his hold. He rubbed her clit faster, and she fell apart, throwing her head back and chanting his name.
He lifted from her, kissing the backs of her thighs, and then he tugged her lower body off the bed and pushed her cheeks apart so he could watch his cock sink into her pussy. She fisted the comforter, and he leaned over her, unhooking her bra and kissing the center of her back, and then he pushed her hair to the side to bare her neck as he entered her, slamming into her with a growl. His beasts were riding him hard, anxious to mark her and make her theirs in truth.
He planted his hands on either side of her, his fists sinking into the soft mattress. He pumped his hips, sinking into her and pulling out. He felt his control slipping, and he slammed into her, over and over, until he came, his cock spasming as he sank deep into her. He snarled and gritted his teeth against the roar in his throat.
Then he slipped his arm under her shoulders and lifted her upper body from the bed slightly as he pushed his hand under her hips and touched her clit. She groaned and grabbed his arm with both hands, relaxing in his hand as he pushed her to another climax. He could feel her getting close, her pussy clenching his cock rhythmically as he rubbed her clit. She arched under him as much as she could with his body blanketing hers and cried out. He felt a sweet rush of heat over his cock, and with a satisfied smile on his lips, he sank his fangs into the side of her neck and marked her.
She moaned, her body going limp in his hold as he extracted his fangs and nicked his tongue. Then he stroked her wound with his tongue and pushed his blood into it, marking her permanently.
She reached back, sank her fingers into his hair, and tugged the strands. “Fucking amazing.”
He grinned and flexed his hips, his cock hardening at her feisty tone. “Mine.”
“Forever.”
* * *
As Dreama stroked her fingers lazily over Roi’s back, he couldn’t contain his smile. He was the happiest he’d ever been in his life, and it was all because of his fated mate. She was everything to him now. His sun, moon, and stars all wrapped up in a devastatingly gorgeous package. She was petite and curved in all the right places; her skin was so soft he couldn’t stop touching her, tracing the dip of her waist and then flexing his hand on her lower back.
After he’d marked her, they’d stripped completely and made love again, taking their time and loving each other slowly. He’d heard from his mated friends that finding his fated mate would lead to intense feelings of possessiveness and love, and it was true. His beasts were content now that she was marked, and they were determined to keep her safe and see to her happiness for the rest of their lives. They just had one issue to deal with, and that was him moving to her home.
“Tell me about your job,” he said.
She tilted her head until she was looking at him. “I work at night, of course, and I travel around and help children fall asleep and have sweet dreams.”
“Just kids?”
“Most humans stop believing in magic when they’re young. There are some who believe longer, but usually by the time they’re teenagers, they’ve grown out of believing in magic and things they can’t see.”
“I didn’t know that your dad was real. Or the Easter Bunny or Jack Frost. I thought they were just stories.”
She smiled. “I think that’s how humans view supernatural creatures in general. Eventually, they put away beliefs they view as childish, which I think is sad.”
“Do you know why our city is closed to magical creatures?”
“I only know that it had something to do with Jack Frost.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“I’ve seen him, but he stays to himself.”
“He wanted Mrs. C as a mate.”
Dreama hummed. “I think relationships are tough for the immortal. There aren’t a lot of them. My father’s immortal, but because my mother is mortal, I’m also mortal.”
“Your mom is human?”
“Fae.”
His brows rose. “There are fae?”
“Yes. Most of them live in Ireland, and they’re hidden from humans. She’s mated to a fae male, and they have children, but I’m not close to her.”
“Why?”
Her gaze drifted down and her shoulders slumped, but then she seemed to shake it off. “She wanted to mate a male of high standing, and he didn’t want a half-breed for a step-daughter, so she asked my father to raise me. Since I can dream walk, he took me with him while he worked, and I learned to hone my power from a young age.”
“I’m sorry that she didn’t choose you.”
Sadness flashed in her gaze. “Me too. I can’t imagine not choosing my own children. Even if she and my father weren’t meant to be mated, she still could have found a male who would accept me, too. When I was growing up, my father always said that he and I were a package deal – if a female wanted him, she had to accept me, too.”
Roi nodded. “That’s the way it should be.”
“What about your family?”
“My parents live in NPC. My mom is an elf, and my dad is a shifter – he can change into three of the animals, but not the reindeer.”
“Are females always elves?”
He nodded. “Yes, but males can be elves or shifters.”
“And quads like you?”
“Rare. There are only twelve of us in NPC right now, and eight are on the sleigh team. I’m the Cupid position.”
She smiled. “Did you want to be that position or were you assigned?”
“When I was able to change into a reindeer, I was just so excited to be a quad that I didn’t really care what position I was in. Rhys is the Dasher position, and that’s the leader of the team, but since SC is the boss of everyone, it doesn’t really matter what position we’re in.”
“I notice there’s only eight of you. What about Rudolph?”
He snorted. “Now that guy is fiction.”
“Aw, so there’s no reindeer with a light bulb for a nose, for those extra-foggy winter nights?” she teased.
“Nope,” he said with a laugh.
Her smile slipped when she said, “We should talk about more serious things, right?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know there was a ban on magical creatures in NPC. It means that after the twenty-four hours is up, the city will be closed to you forever.”
She sighed. “I never hated my powers more than I do now. I wish I was human.”
He arched a brow. “If you were human, we might have never met.”
“Good point. I wish I could get rid of my powers now.”
He tucked his finger under her chin. “Hey, I don’t want you to be any different than you are, okay? You’re my fated mate, and that means you’re perfect.”
“I might leave my shoes everywhere.”
“I’ll pick them up.”
“And I might not be a great cook.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said with a laugh. “The important thing is that we’ll be together.”
“What about your family and friends? You’ll be leaving NPC, where you were born and raised. Can you still be on the sleigh team if you don’t live here?”
It would suck, for sure, but he would give up anything for her. She was that important to him already. “I’ll be able to keep in touch with my family by video call and email, and they can come visit on Christmas Eve. As far as the sleigh team goes, I’d lose my position if I’m not staying in NPC. I’ll miss being part of it, but I get you. If I tried to live where you weren’t, I think my beasts would tear me apart from the inside out. Home is you. Period. So don’t worry about what I’m walking away from. Let’s concentrate on what we’re walking to.”
“What would that be?” she murmured, her voice tipping to a husky tone that made his beasts clamor to get close to her.
“Making a home together. Raising a family. If you want kids, that is.”
“I do. As an only child, I always wanted to have a big family.”
“Me too.”
She rolled to her back and picked up her phone. “We’ve got seventeen hours and change until NPC is closed to me. What do you want to do?”
“I can think of a few dozen things.”
She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “No, I mean about you coming to live here.”
His brows rose. “Oh, right. Sorry, I’m having a hard time thinking about anything but hearing you shout my name again.”
“It’s my favorite name,” she said, dropping her phone to the nightstand. “Wanna hear it?”
She rolled to face him and curved her leg around his waist.
“You better believe it, baby. Over and over and over again.”