~

 

George had to wonder what the alpha was playing at. The man was a wolf shifter. Surely, he could use his nose to sniff out his mate.

George didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

He’d put his plan into action, and it was a good plan. Send the alpha on a witch hunt — where was the problem with that one?

Obviously, something had gone wrong — something unforeseen — that wasn’t his fault, was it?

‘What’s going on?’ Jessica asked as she flitted around his head so many times that he had the urge to reach up and swat her. Now wasn’t the time for the woman to be annoying him.

“Not now — not when things have gone wrong — come back later,” George rushed out the words as he started to pace back and forth, trying to think about any and all the things that could have messed up his plan.

‘What did you do, George?’

“Why do you assume that I did something?” He flicked a look at Jessica, and the fairy had her arms crossed as she hovered in the air right in front of him.

‘Don’t let me asked the question again because I will just fly home and get the fairy godmother to…’

“Okay,” George held his hands up in surrender. He had to come clean. “I helped the witch escape…”

‘I’m sorry — I thought you said you had a brain fart?’

“Now is not the time…”

‘Where is she, George?’

“If I knew that then I could lead the alpha to her — unfortunately, he seems to be chasing his tail at the moment,” George grumbled.

‘What does that mean?’

“It means he can’t seem to track her and I have no idea why. The man is a wolf,” George tossed up his hands in frustration.

‘Feel for magic, maybe she used it to veil her escape,’ Jessica said, and George grunted in annoyance.

“Of course, there’s going to be magic — we’re here,” George grumbled.

‘Witch magic, George — not fairy magic,’ Jessica would have rolled her eyes if there had been time. She didn’t know how long the witch had been gone — and therefore she didn’t know how much time there was left, but wasting it wasn’t going to help anyone.

“I didn’t think…”

‘No, you didn’t. But we’ll talk about that later. Right now, we need to find the witch.’

 

~

~

~

 

George could have kissed Jessica — not really — but in the sense that she had stumbled upon a way to find Angelique — magic. If he’d ever had to actually kiss Jessica, then he would have had to bleach his lips for a very long time.

George hated snow. It didn’t much bother him in his human form, but he wasn’t in his human form any longer because he’d transformed into his fairy-self so that he could follow Angelique’s magic and lead the alpha right to her.

Snow could be fun when it was slow moving and gently drifted down to earth. That kind of snow he could ride like a fluffy white cloud — but it wasn’t that kind of snow that he was facing — it was a blizzard.

The snow was coming down thick and fast, pummelling his wings, and making him fight against the wind and the little white ballistic missiles that were trying to knock him from his path.

George wasn’t happy, but he knew he’d bought it on himself.

George hated to feel guilty, but that didn’t stop the guilt from rising within him. Mates. He was supposed to put them together and let nature take its course.

Instead, he’d sent a female out into a blizzard — half drunk — and without a clue as to where she was going.

He’d really messed up. He could imagine what the fairy godmother would think of him — but, he didn’t much care for that thought. He found himself caring more about Angelique and what she was going, and all because of his selfishness.

George knew that eventually, he would have to face the repercussions of his actions. Whether it be from the fairy godmother or Angelique’s mate, he knew that whatever happened to him then he deserved it, and he was ready and willing to take his lumps – once the witch was found.

‘I know where she is; follow me,’ George said as he pushed his voice out toward the alpha’s wolf as loudly as possible, flying by the beast’s ear, and making his aura as bright as possible so that he could light the wolf’s way.

George heard the angry growl of the beast as it chased behind him, and for once he was grateful for that sound. Jessica closed the gap between them and came up on his right side — for once he was grateful to see her as well.

Two fairies together, working in unison, was always going to be much better than one. Their magic combined, they reached out to snatch up every last drop of the witch’s magical essence like breadcrumbs on a trail.

George was determined to reach Angelique before anything terrible happened. He needed to make things right.

 

~

~

~

 

Luke’s beast was almost frantic. The moment that he’d discovered that his mate was missing he’d set off on the hunt to find her.

It was all that he could do to keep his beast caged — until the time that he realized that he could no longer hold it at bay. He needed to find his mate, and if the wolf could do that better than he could then so be it.

They both had a stake in locating their mate. How could he hold his beast back?

Everything was spinning around in Luke’s mind. The beast was concentrating on one thing and one thing only, and that was reaching their mate.

That was a luxury that he didn’t have. He was thinking about all the things that could go wrong. His mind was spinning, his heart was racing, and his brain just would not shut off.

He’d felt the chemistry between him and Angelique. He’d allowed his mate into his heart, his mind, and his very soul. If he lost her now — then he would be lost forever.

He’d let his guard down. This was his fault. He had to find her.

His pack was out on the hunt, and he was grateful for their help, but the need to be the one to find her raged within him like an inferno.

His beast chased through the snow, desperately following the faeries in the hope that they could lead him to Angelique. He had to trust that they weren’t leading him on a wild goose chase.

He knew that George was the Christmas fairy — he had to trust that the man was not being devious and underhanded. He had to trust that the man understood what it meant for him to lose his mate.

Luke believed in the pack. He believed in trust — he believed in working together for the common good — he just hoped that the fairy was someone worthy of that trust.

Luke’s wolf picked up Angelique’s scent in the air. Hope rose within him once more.

His beast dug its claws into the ground and churned up the snow and earth behind him as he raced toward his one true love.