The mountains of Western Wyoming, December 19th

Lucky.

Everyone thought Oakley of the Western North American snow leopard leap lucky. Or blessed. So very blessed he had found his mate so very young. Some waited decades or centuries to cross paths with their chosen one. He had been thirty-two, Nova twenty-nine, both still considered adolescents for their kind. So they had waited. Fifteen years of moving between leaps so they could be together.

He would spend half the year with his leap or family and then travel to the sanctuary city on the lost island of Baltia in the Baltic Sea to spend the rest of the year, including the month their sign of Sagittarius ruled, with her.

Everyone had been wrong. Cursed would be a better way to describe it. Five years ago, he’d never expected to be in this house alone. A house he had been building in secret for his mate. High in the mountains of Wyoming, isolated from the world, a place where the two of them could be alone. Alone. Though his kind loved to travel, and it was in their blood to explore, he wanted some time for he and his mate to be together with no one around them.

For the last thirty-nine months, he had felt nothing. The emptiness had been a welcome relief from the early months where his heart had been ripped from his chest bit by bit. The fates did everything in their powers to bring those mated together. Unlike humans the shifters had no freewill. So each day that went by without contact had been harder and harder. In the past she had been young the need to mate hadn’t been as strong. But this Zodiac cycle she had entered into maturity and his need to be claimed by her became overpowering.

Numb, he could manage. He spent his days adding onto the log cabin, collecting wood for the long winter, and hunting for food. When called upon, he share his home with other shifters as a safe haven from the Foniás, the slayers created by the gods to hunt his kind. But the nights were his, to read, meditate, or simply watch the snow fall. Snow for a snow leopard was like sun to a lion—it called to them.

A peaceful emptiness had filled him until twenty-three minutes ago when someone crossed over the first of many wards protecting his land. Twenty minutes ago, anger had engulfed him, and he knew, she, Nova was close and approaching the cabin at a good run. He didn’t know what enraged him more, that she dared set foot into the world when the Foniás were so near or that she came to his land to search out him. He wouldn’t be fooled by her again.

He saw her in the tree line. Knew she was trying to judge if the house was occupied. The windows always looked dark, an added protection allowing him to watch without being seen and giving those who would attack a false sense of security. He had even managed to vent the fireplace out of the side of the house so it didn’t give off the smoke from the false chimney on the roofline. Nova took a hesitant step into the open field. There was nothing to hide her from where she stood to the house. Even her white fur wouldn’t give her coverage she craved. He could sense her hesitation. And shut down the connection. If he could sense her feelings, she could sense his. At that moment, she sprinted.

Damn it to hell. Nova had gotten back into his psyche.

The knock sounded, and he debated ignoring it but, at this point, she knew he was inside. He would send her on her way. If she left immediately…even if she left this very second she would never make it down the mountain before nightfall, no matter how fast she could run. And his mate had never been forced to spend a single hour in the elements before now.

Throwing the heavy oak door open, he glared. “What the hell do you want?”

Teeth chattering and standing naked before him, she shivered. “Heat would be nice.”

“I have a good mind to tell you to fuck off,” he snarled at her between gritted teeth.

“It-it-it’s, really co-co-cold.”

No matter how much bile he had built within him for this woman, he could not in good conscience let another shifter freeze. He stepped to the side .“Better to have you in than all my heat out.”

“Thank y-y-y-you.”

“Where are your clothes?” He led her into library where the fire was roaring. He would do anything not to look at her body, waging an inner battle with his leopard as it screamed for him to claim her. “I can’t believe you would be stupid enough to come up this way without a sack.” They always carried a set of clothes in their mouth when making any long trip where they didn’t have supplies stashed.

“I dropped it over a cliff some ways back.”

“Of course, you did. You must be the only snow leopard unable to scale a mountain,” he muttered then cursed as she crouched before the fire giving him a great view of her backside. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Not likely with this fire here.” She smiled at him then as their eyes met and the chill had her smile faltering.

In the bedroom on the lower level, he reached into the right side of the closet and pulled out three Ziploc bags. He suspected she was an XL from the size of her ample, luscious hips. Each bag held; sweat pants and shirt, a tee shirt, two pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks, and an assortment of toiletries. He had packs of supplies in men’s and women’s sizes from infant to adult 3x. Everything a shifter on the run and in need of help could require. Not fashionable, but they were comfortable.

She hadn’t moved from her spot in front of the fire when he reentered minutes later. “Here. These should fit.”

She looked from the bag to him. “What are these?”

“Clothes.”

“Yes, but why would you have them?” She turned the bag over. “And packaged…”

“You lost all right to question anything I do, Nova. I am only housing you for the night. At daybreak, you can make your way back to where you came from.” He prayed to the fates that the looming blizzard would hold off. The last thing he needed was to be stuck in the cabin together for the last two days of Sagittarius when everything in him screamed to claim her.

“Aren’t you even curious as to why I am here?”

“Not really,” he lied. He was curious, but be damned if he gave her the satisfaction. “Get dressed, and I will make you something to eat. You must be starving.”

He didn’t give her a second to respond he marching into the large kitchen pulled out a beer form the well-stocked fridge and gulped it down. How was he to make it through one night with her under this roof and not claim her as his?

This was what Nova had expected. Actually better than she expected. Oakley had let her over the threshold. The odds had been against her getting this far, but it still hurt. She told herself again, she had no right to be hurt. No right to expect anything from him. He had been the victim, she the guilty party. She had come to make things right for Oakley. The leap had been in disarray since his banishment. Some had seen through the ruse to make him look guilty. Unfortunately, she had seen the truth of his innocence too late.

She no longer wondered if he still wanted her. His hate had hit her like a brick wall when she entered his land. But now it took everything within her to stay standing when all she wanted was to curl up in a ball in the corner and cry. After pulling the sweats out of the bag, she hurried to throw them on. She had hoped the sight of her body might seduce him into thawing a bit, but it had only made him angrier and her more uncertain.

Twenty minutes, she stood on the edge of the forest. Two things prevented her from turning back: the near certainty a Foniás was on her track and the smell of snow in the air. Shifted, her body was made for the snow. Or it should have been, but growing up in the city, she never once had even been camping. The closest she had ever come to braving the elements had been when she was a teenager alone on the beach and a storm blew in, soaking her to the skin in a heavy downpour.

At least feeling was returning to her fingers, that was a plus, even if it was pin and needles and the blood flow started again.

“Good. They fit.” He stood in the doorway, a steaming bowl in one hand, a small plate holding a sandwich in the other. Didn’t matter to her what was inside the bowl, only that it was hot and food. He placed them on the coffee table. “Eat. There are two bedrooms on this floor. I suggest you pick one after you’re done with dinner and, when you turn in, leave the bedroom door open so the woodstove can take the chill from the air. Be gone in the morning. Good night.”

Night? Already? She looked out the window to find the sun had set. “I need to talk to you.”

“No. You want to talk to.” He glared at her. “There is a difference.”

“You were innocent,” she blurted.

He met her announcement with cold indifferent silence.

Finally, she tried again. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“I have nothing to say. You came a long way to tell me something I knew all along.” He turned toward the stairs.

“Please stay.”

“Why? So you can beg for forgiveness? Plead to have things go back to the way they were?” The cold hatred forced her to take a step back. “You’re forgiven. Do the words make anything better? There is no going back. I was banished, and the one person I thought would believe in my innocence turned her back on me.”

Embarrassed to admit what knew he already knew she whispered, “I was scared.”

“I never expected you to come with me. I only asked you to take my word.” There was nothing cold about him now he was a blazing source of anger. His hands were balled so tight at his sides, the knuckles were turning white. “I didn’t give two shits about your alpha or our prime. What I cared about was that when they found out I was innocent, you would be there. Hell, I ever harbored an inkling that for half a second you would be trying to prove my innocence. But you turned your back. So don’t ask to stay, now, when you couldn’t be bothered before.”

She could offer no argument, nothing he’d have any reason to believe. In five years, she had done a lot of growing up. She had tried to follow him. But why would he believe that Hans had locked her in her room? For two months, she had peered out through the bars on her window, and no one except Hans or his betas had been allowed to interact with her. She had made the decision to follow her mate twenty-four hours too late. Hundreds of empty years lay before her.

A door slamming upstairs jerked her from her thoughts. . She pushed the sandwich away and stood. She exited the library for the hallway that extended from the front door to the back of the house where she caught the gleam of a nicely appointed kitchen. Peeking in the first door, she found a sitting room with a view of the beautiful mountains beyond, but the chill inside indicated it hadn’t been used much. The other two doors led to the promised bedrooms.

They were mirror images of one. Same light wood furniture, same simple patchwork quilt in shades of greens and browns, and identical braided carpet. In the end, she decided to go with the room the wind wasn’t battering on. Leaving the door ajar to allow heat to warm the room, she located a small half-bathroom under the staircase.

After washing up, she wandered to the kitchen with its woodstove, refrigerator, and long table. Benches running down either side would seat quite a few diners. She opened a door to find a pantry, another to the outdoors, and a third to a set of steps leading into a basement . No art adorned the wall, no knickknacks or anything sentimental. Except an odd golden statue of a lion.

Thankfully the large wood stove kept the back rooms near toasty. If it could only ease the chill in her heart.

Oakley hadn’t slept, not a single wink. Nova, on the other hand had. He could sense her rhythm. The slow of her heart as she finally settled down. She had explored the first floor after he had gone to bed. Bed? No, retreated to the privacy of his room. Confined himself away for his own safety. If she had set foot on the second floor landing, he might have forgotten his vow never to mate. He would rather be alone than with someone who had no faith in his honor. Keep telling yourself that.

This morning, he spent much of the time watching the snow come down. Even the weather seemed to be against him. When the control panel beside his computer desk alerted him that an outside door had opened then closed, he turned and left the room before he could think. The idiot was actually going to leave in whiteout conditions. She couldn’t see two feet before her. He wouldn’t try to make it down the mountain in these conditions. What the hell made her think she could? She’d barely made it up here in clear weather.

Throwing the front door open, he could see no sign of her. About to strip off his clothing and shift, he yelled her name. He froze, surprised to hear her voice coming from behind him. “Did you need something?”

He turned and found her leaning back to look at him from the kitchen. “You’re here.” Of course she is, you dolt.

Nova didn’t answer him, so he closed the door and headed down the hall to her. “You didn’t leave.”

“I don’t have a death wish, and I hoped you would find it in your heart not to send me out into it.” She kept her back to him, fumbling with something on the counter.

“I wouldn’t send Hans out in this weather,” he admitted.

“But then, Hans didn’t hurt you as badly as I did.”

She spoke the truth. “Why did you go outside?”

She stepped to the side to show a large metal bowl with snow in it. “I remembered how much you loved snow cream, and this is the perfect snow for it. From the two cases of sweetened condensed milk in the pantry, I would say it’s still a favorite.”

They had shared the treat once… “So you thought we would break our fast with snow cream.”

“I’m happy to make something else, but this seemed like a good peace offering.” She offered a tentative smile. He knew he should tell her to go to hell. But something deep inside prevented him from destroying this very simple act of kindness.

“Thank you I would love some.” He reached into the cabinet and pulled down two bowls. “There is no way you can get out in this. I wouldn’t even try it.”

“Perhaps tomorrow.” She shrugged.

“Perhaps.” But Oakley doubted it would be done snowing. This storm looked to dump a few feet.

“I noticed you have a computer in the library. You don’t, by chance, have Internet?”

“I have a sat phone and a hot spot I use, but coverage will be iffy with the storm. Why?”

“I wanted to let my brother know I made it safely.” She scooped out two servings and pushed the bowl toward him.

“Did you say you’d call? Should I expect the search and rescue units at my door?”

She shook her head. “No, but it might be nice to let him know.” She took a spoonful of the sweetened snow and kept her focus on her food.

He walked into the library, pulled the satellite phone from the desk, and placed it on the table before her. “Text him. When there is a signal, it will send automatically.”

“Thank you.” She reached for the phone and tapped at the keys.

He took a seat at the far end of the table. “How did you find me?”

“Your sister.” She didn’t look up from the device.

“Lieselotte told you?” He couldn’t believe his sister would betray him.

She met his gaze and nodded. “She did.”

“Why in the hell would Lieselotte tell you where I am?”

“Because she hoped I could make amends so you would be happy.” Her voice was so soft, he had to strain to hear her.

“When did you two become friends.”

“We aren’t. There is a long way between hoping her brother is happy and liking the mate he would rather do without.”

“That does make more sense.” He spooned a melting heap into his mouth. “As I told her this summer when she visited, she needn’t worry about me. I’m content in the life I have created, and although it’s not perfect, I’m not miserable, either.”

“Is there no hope for us, then?”

“What? Do you long for children, now?” Though he was impotent without her, a state he hoped would one day rectify itself, she could sleep with whomever she so choose. But only her true mate could fertilize her eggs. So, motherhood would elude her without him.

“This has nothing to do with me.”

“Doesn’t it? I’m proven innocent and you come running. I would say you are trying to assuage your guilt. Why else would you rush out here when there are only days left in Sagittarius? When the danger is high for the Foniás to catch you?” He stood. “The only reason is to complete the mating ritual before you waste another year.”

“I’m here because the prime requires your presence before the council,” she blurted out.

“I was banished, remember?” he nearly roared. “I no longer have to answer to Hans or anyone within the blasted inbreed frat club he calls the council.”

“Hans is dead, and his council has been banished.”

“What?” So many questions ran through him, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. The leap was nothing to him anymore, he reminded himself. They had made their choices, and he had been the one to live with them. He could not forget. Never forget.

“Hans was challenged and lost. He attacked the new prime after the match, outside the ring. It wasn’t pretty.”

“I’m sure it was no more than your cousin deserved.” He had dreamt many times of killing the snow leopard leader himself. The man had framed him and managed to make nearly everyone believe the tale. And, although he was curious, it was best not to deal with a family he had no intention of returning to. Time to divert the conversion, “Well, it seems to be the year for turnover.”

“What do you mean?”

“Libra also has a new prime, and Aquarius is looking to step down. Cancers are pissed that their prime lied to them, so I’m betting there will be a new prime installed before the end of their reign next year.”

“How would you know any of that?”

“Leo.”

“Leos?”

“No Leonidas the Leo prime told me. He seems to have his thumb on all the signs.”

“You’re now friends with the lion prime?” She gaped.

It shouldn’t be too surprising she was in shock. Up until five years ago, he had never been in the same room as another shifter knowingly, let alone had in-depth chats with them. “The Leos saved my life when I was banished. I had a Foniás on my tail, I was bleeding, and I wouldn’t have made it another night on my own.”

She gasped. “You were fine when you left.”

“You don’t think Hans’ goons let me leave without making it clear they expected me to die?” Memories flooded his brain. “The Leos found me. Actually, they had been searching for me. A man by the name of Jaison had been tracking me for days. I honestly thought he meant to kill me, and by that point I welcomed death and was only thankful it wouldn’t be at the hands of a slayer.”

“Why were they tracking you?”

That gave him pause. “You know, I never asked. I entered the healing sleep, and when I woke, Leonidas was sitting in my sick room.”

“Where did they take you?”

“To Greece, where I was treated and healed and trained to stay out of the way of the Foniás.” He indicated the lion statuette on the high shelf on the corner. “There is a good reason the lions are the kings of the jungle.”

“So, now you are in their debt?”

“No. Leo asked for nothing in return, at least not for him.” He took his bowl to the sink and rinsed it. “He asked if, with his help, I would be able to make this place a safe house.”

“Safe house?”

“Yes for those running from the Foniás. I keep the statue to remind me that someone once helped me. So I pay it forward by helping those who are like I was once.”

“How many have you helped?”

“Thirteen families and thirty-two betas who were banished.”

“Leos?”

“Nah, never that zodiac. Leos have an island they send their banished to. They ensure that theirs have a chance to survive. The families I’ve helped are, for whatever reason, unable to make it to their safe zones. The Taurus family was of great help in finishing this house. I got more done in the twenty-five days they were here than I had in seven years.”

“Seven years, but...”

“Oh, right, you don’t know. This was to be your wedding gift. The place you said you always wanted, away from everyone and everything so you could truly learn to be your leopard.” He placed a hand up, preventing her from speaking. “I don’t want to talk about us. Anyway, I offer betas and families on the run a place to stay for as long as they need.”

“That is why you had that bag of clothing. I take it you have more?”

He nodded, his attention for a second on the pot of hot coffee calling his name. He poured a cup before returning to the table. He couldn’t spend the rest of the day ignoring her, so perhaps they could be cordial. “It’s rare that someone comes here with all the supplies they need, and if they are on the run, it’s very likely will be coming with nothing at all. I offer shelter, clothing, food, and a sense of safety.”

“How long are they usually here?”

“The longest is the full zodiac cycle. Usually families who are caught out aren’t willing to take the chance with the little ones of making a run to their capital. The shortest so far was a few days, until the danger passed, and they could move to another safe house.” He took another sip. Dammit, she made good coffee. “A couple of times, I have even housed humans who were lost in the woods or got caught in a passing storm.”

“You have become a regular sanctuary for wayward travelers.”

“It’s not a bad way to live. Quiet most of the time and company only stays so long. The Taurus family still writes now and then.”

“You have a mailbox?”

“I have a postal box in town. This land is immense. I have a jeep in a shed down the mountain.”

“How do you get supplies up?”

“ATV, when the ground is green, snowmobile when it’s white.” He had a Sno-Cat, but that was more information than he cared to share. Leonidas had gifted him the larger snow vehicle with a specially made passenger cab he could tow for when the six passenger capability wasn’t enough. Deep down he knew if she knew about the larger machine she would have a way of leaving.

“And yet, you were going to have me run down the hill on my own?”

“The snowmobile is single person.” No matter how much he protested and through anger he demanded she be gone, he wouldn’t have let her leave. Not yet, not with the threat of Foniás about. He watched the snow fall outside the window above the sink. He couldn’t see the tree line or anything farther than the deck that was quickly turning into a white mound of cold.

Nova’s hand on his shoulder surprised him, and as he turned and grabbed it to remove it the heat of mating erupted. Fear filled her eyes followed, by a lust he had never witnessed in her before. They had made love on many occasions. But this was different; this was the mating fire that would consume them both.

“Oakley?”

Her lips touched his and he was lost. Lost to the desired he thought dead, consumed by a heat the fates damned his kind with, and unable to deny what his heart wanted most. Her. She made him whole. It was what mates did. “I don’t want this,” he muttered next to her ear, but his hands were on her ass cheeks, lifting her into the air and placing her on the countertop.

“Then, stop,” Nova whimpered as his erection brushed the apex of her thighs. “All you have to do is walk away, and I’ll do the same. I’ll never darken your doorstep again.”

Suddenly, all the reasons to stay apart, the hurt and the anger, didn’t seem to matter. All he could think about was having her in his arms again. The sense of belonging he had every time they touched reawakened. “If we make love, I won’t be able to prevent the mating.”

Oakley had done so before because she had been young, and he had wanted her to have some freedom before being coupled with him. But, with the moon waning in Sagittarius, he knew now was the time.

“I’ve always wanted to mate.”

“So be it, and damn us both.” Their clothing lay tattered on the kitchen floor within seconds, frayed sweat pants and tee shirts. He tried to slow them down, but she would have none of it. He only prayed, after five years of celibacy, he could hold out and bring her to pleasure. His concerns were ill-founded. With his first thrust, she erupted around him, leaving him gasping to hold onto any reins he thought he held.

He cupped her face, forcing her to see him, before taking her lips in a brutal kiss both punishing and demanding. She met him stroke for stroke, becoming the she leopard he knew she was. He wrapped her legs around his hips and lifted her from the kitchen counter. Without breaking the kiss or leaving her body, he carried her upstairs to the bedroom he had hoped would be theirs. He sat down on the edge of the bed before breaking the kiss, leaning away from her to lie on his back with her above him. As his people had done for centuries, he opened his arms, palms up, and lay still. This was the female’s responsibility. She made the choice as to mate or not. The decision lay in her hands. He could do nothing more than acquiesce to her demands.

“Do you want this, Oakley?” she asked, her voice husky.

“It is what the fates decreed.”

“But, do you want this?”

Did he? He couldn’t lie to her. This morning, even last night, he’d wanted her gone but right now? Yes, he wanted this, and he doubted he would change. With the first touch, he knew he had been fooling himself. Nothing had changed but distance. The wall he’d built around his heart had been made of straw. “Yes, Nova. I want this.”

“Do you want me?” She ground her hips, taking him deeper into her body.

“Yes,” he hissed.

“Do you love me?”

“I can again,” he said, and although he could see the pain in her eyes, she nodded. Possible was the best he could give her.

“You are mine,” she announced.

“Take me,” he offered, and braced himself. Her teeth cut into his chest muscle just above the heart. His heart ceased beating for a second as it found the rhythm of hers and their souls bonded. He could no more hold off his pleasure than the snowfall .

Oakley hadn’t spoken two words to Nova since their mating. Once he’d caught his breath, he’d exited the room. Hope as she had never felt it had spurred at the intensity of their mating but then the cruel fates made it impossible to resist their fated love. She watched him from the upstairs window as he paced the snow-covered deck below. Did he regret mating her? Did it matter they were bonded now? Perhaps they should have waited but, one touch, and she had been lost. They were supposed to be the blessed ones. They’d found each other so young, loved each other shortly after, and were going to be the storybook fairy tale love. She had been immature. She could admit that now. For years, he had held her at arm’s length. They had, of course, made love. He wasn’t a saint, he had told her, but she’d needed to have more time before they bonded.

He’d urged her to travel if she wanted, to explore life without being tied to him all the time. What he had neglected to understand was she didn’t want to travel. This, in fact, was her first trip off the island. She was a homebody, and that home she would make wherever he was.

“He is too serious. Your job will be to bring some levity to his life.” The words of her great-grandmother echoed in her head. She had said it when they first discovered they were mates, and she repeated them as Nova walked through the gates of the ancient castle they called home to come and find him days ago.

She made her way down the stairs and to the back door. She hadn’t bothered getting dressed, for what she had planned needed no clothing. Opening the door, she stepped out into the snowstorm. After a brief shiver, she shifted. He turned in enough time to brace for her to ram him playfully.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She chuffed before butting him with her head.

“I am not playing Nova.”

Nova leaped into the snowbank and hissed as she kept falling long after she expected. She had underestimated the depth. Jumping through the drift, she looked over the edge at him and worked her back paws for traction preparing to pounce on Oakley.

“I can see you,” he chuckled. “Your tale is flapping like a lunatic waving a white flag. Must I teach you everything?”

If she were in her human form, Nova would have yelled hurrah. Those were the words he’d used to tease her long ago. She raised her head again, but he was gone. Had he gone inside? She looked around, but there was no sign of him. Perhaps he had walked— He rolled her into the snowbank before she could finish her thought. Spitting out snow, she got to her feet, and again no sign of him. She searched, but the she could see was little through the storm. She heard the growl and turned a second before he pounced off the rocky outcrop. He rolled them both. His crystal-blue eyes twinkled, and he jumped off her, signaling with his tail for her to follow up the rocks.

Two hours later, she shifted in the kitchen, exhausted and ready to drop. He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the library and the waiting heat. “You overdid it.”

“Perhaps, but I would do it all over again.”

He laid a kiss on her forehead as he pulled the blanket off the back of the couch. “Stay put.”

“Not a problem.” She yawned into the back of her hand.

“I’m going to make us some sandwiches, since we missed lunch.” He walked out, giving her a glorious view of his ass.

She allowed a smile to form. His heart seemed to be thawing. Hope infused her. A beep from the coffee table drew her attention reaching over she looked at screen that blinked New message, and below it was the word. LEO.

He walked back into the room wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, carrying a tray. She handed him the phone. “You have a message from Leo.”

His brow furrowed as he reached for the phone. He tapped a few numbers and put the phone to his ear and dialed. “Is Leo there? This is Oakley. I think I can wait. The blizzard is making for choppy reception. I’ll hold but if we get disconnected, I will try again when I can.”

“Everything okay?” she asked, easing to the edge of the cushion.

“Not likely, if Leonidas is calling me. It’s almost midnight there.” He pushed the plate toward her. “Eat. You need your stamina.”

“Oh?”

He glared at her, his eyes turning her insides molten.

Biting into the PB& J, she muttered, “Oh.”

“Leo? Yes I can hear you.” He paused, grabbing a pen and piece of paper. “Three families? No, we can make room. One female is pregnant? I’m not equipped to handle deliveries up here. Nova? How do you know…? She is?”

“I am what?” she demanded, wondering how the other man knew anything about her.

“Leo says you’re a midwife?”

She nodded. “I am. My grandmother has been teaching me her trade.”

“Okay, then.” He returned his attention to the phone call. “They are calling for a break in the weather. Tell them to be at the cabins outside of town. I’ll come get them around lunchtime. Last day of Sagittarius. I should be safe.” He hung up and turned to Nova. “I’m going to need your room.”

Disappointment and confusion warred within her. “Okay.”

He sat down next to her and placed a hand on her blanketed knee. “My life is here.”

“I know.” Any moment, he was going to tell her she’d have to live without him.

“I can’t force you to stay up here with me. But I hope that you might give it a chance.”

Nova met his crystal-blue gaze. “You want me to stay?”

“You are my mate.”

“I know, but I didn’t think you liked me much.”

“I didn’t like your choices, but I understood. We can’t mend our relationship if you are an ocean and a continent away.” He moved in and cupped her check. “I want my mate with me, but I can’t force you to stay. If you want to go home, I can get you to town tomorrow. It’s safe enough. Foniás don’t hunt on the last day of a sign.”

“Home is where you are,” Nova said so softly she wasn’t sure Oakley could hear her. A moment later, when she was lying flat on her back pressed into the sofa cushions, she knew he had heard. His lips were on hers, and his body wedged between her thighs. The mating wasn’t pretty or graceful, but it was healing, and although they had bonded, this was them becoming one.

An hour later, when they were both naked under the blanket, she sat up. “How could you get me down the mountain tomorrow?”

“There is going to be a break in the weather.”

“And you are going to climb back up here with a pregnant woman.”

“She is a bear she will be fine.” He evaded the question.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “I have a Sno-Cat in the shed about a fifteen minute hike down the mountain from here.”

“A Sno-Cat? As in a large snow vehicle that could easily get me down the hill. Yet you were going to make me hike out of here on foot?”

“There is also an easier route to take to get off the mountain than the one you took getting here. Though your route did waylay the Foniás following you.”

“You knew about that?”

“Only after I went back to find your bag. I could smell his scent.”

“My bag?”

Oakley rubbed at the back of his neck. “It’s in my room in the closet.”

She stared at him for a while in pure disbelief. “I thought…”

“I was never really going to let you go without bonding. It wasn’t an option, and I think you knew that.”

“I tried to follow you. The morning after your banishment, I went to the prime and said I needed my mate.” She lay back down on his chest. A part of her didn’t want to see the disbelief in his eyes, and the other knew it would be easier to say it without looking at him.

“I’ll bet that went over well.”

“I had my bags packed but, as I was leaving, Hans had his guards escort me back to my room.” She took a deep breath, remembering being dragged, kicking and screaming, to her room. “I was placed under house arrest, for my own protection.”

“Probably the only smart thing Hans ever did. I barely eluded the Foniás. You would have been easy prey on the mainland.”

“That’s what my grandmother said, but when Sagittarius waned and Capricorn started and I was still under arrest, no one could believe I was still locked in my room.”

He stiffened beneath her. “How long were you under lock and key?”

“Ninety-seven days. By then, I could no longer sense you at all. Had no idea where to find you. Your family wouldn’t talk to me. Not that I could blame them. I didn’t want to believe you had set Lars and sent him to his death with the Foniás. But the evidence…”

He kissed her temple. “Was overwhelming. Hans wanted you for himself. He was furious when it became obvious we were soul mates and he overheard that I was planning to go through with the mating ritual that year.”

“You were? He was?”

“Unfortunately, just because the fates decreed you were mine doesn’t stop others from wanting you.” He ran fingers through her hair. “Hans wanted me dead, but he couldn’t challenge me, so, for years, he taunted me into challenging him. But I had no interest in being prime. And I knew if I lost, he’d banish me. I had no reason to challenge him. Not one.”

“I had no idea.”

“Lars, I found out later, had simply gotten delayed and walked into the waiting ambush. It was unfortunate that everyone knew I considered the man a waste of space. He had put too many of our kind in danger. So, how did you convince my sister to tell you where I was?”

“I asked her if you were dead. And when she said yes, I was gutted. I couldn’t eat or sleep, and when I wasn’t crying, I was so depressed, no one could reach me. When it came out what Hans had done not only to you but to me as well, she came and told me you’d lived and where you were. She gave me a crash course on surviving the elements and, with the new prime’s blessing, sent me to bid you come home.”

“Who is the new prime?”

She’d wondered how long it would take him to ask. “Gan.”

“From the Mongolian leap? Huh.” Oakley paused as if thinking about what the change meant for their kind. “I think he’ll be a great prime. I didn’t know he was even a beta.”

“He wasn’t. Their alpha feared he would fight him for power.” She looked up at him. “He wants you to come back so he can make amends. He is trying to mend the leaps.”

“I have no desire to go back,” he announced. “But I do think he should talk to Leonidas.”

“I understand that, but the gates are open to you. He is sending out messengers to many who have been banished.”

“Sending or sent?”

“Sending. I’m the only one who ventured out during Sagittarius.”

“Why?”

“Because I hoped we wouldn’t have to wait another year.”

“I’m glad you did.” He moved from beneath her and stood to add a log to the fire. “As I said, I need your room. I’m hoping you’ll move into the master suite upstairs with me.”

“I can’t think of anywhere I would rather be. I’m not saying I might not want to go back to the island for a visit during the summer, but if this is where you are, this is home for me.”

He handed her a piece of paper and a pen. “I need you to make a list of what you need. I’ll stop by the general store and get what I can.”

“You mean, to deliver a baby.”

“Well, yes, but also anything you might not have. Although it’ll be safe to go to town next month, it won’t be easy even with the Sno-Cat. The snowpack will only get deeper.”

Nova looked at the paper and his scribbled notes.

“These are the people coming tomorrow?”

“They are. They were due to fly out, but this blizzard has closed the airport at Jackson, and it was safer for them to make their way here than attempt flying into their sanctuary city after entering their zodiac. The Foniás are bound to be waiting at all ports of entry in one hundred miles of Baltia.”

“These families will be here for Christmas.”

“Yes.”

“We need to go cut a tree and decorate. We need to make it special for the children.” She got up and sat at his desk, busily jotting down lists of items. “Do you have games or toys for young children?”

“I have a train set that the Taurus family made for other children who might come. There is a box of items in the basement others have left. No idea what’s in there. It’s a unspoken rule that when you move on from a safe house, you leave something to help others who come after.” He went to the cabinet. “I have two board games and some cards up here.”

“I’ll make my list while you go find a tree. Oh, and I’ll need some cuttings to make the house festive.” She looked around. “We’ll turn the other room across the hall into a bedroom and put the pregnant couple into the other room upstairs, so I’ll be close.”

She heard the front door open and close and realized he wasn’t listening. He was going out to do as she asked and get a tree. He didn’t question; he just allowed her to take over the plans and, in kind, the household. Perhaps, as he’d found his calling, she had, too. Her gran had known she would need midwifery skills, and now Nova understood why.

The next morning, she bid her mate goodbye before he made his way down the mountain to bring back their guests. In the past, she would have been terrified of the Foniás, whom she had been told stood in wait for them at every turn, but Oakley had eased her mind on that account. There were far fewer than she’d believed.

Six hours later, she stood in the doorway waiting for the Sno-Cat to come into view. The large, ugly orange machine with four articulating tracks, pulled a second cab behind it. The small break in the blizzard seemed to have waited only long enough for them to get to safety, as the next wave of snowflakes began to fall. Oakley assisted a heavily pregnant woman out of the vehicle first and lifted a young toddler into his arms. As they reached the house, he kissed Nova and placed the toddler on his feet inside.

She smiled up a him and then turned to their guests. “Welcome to our home. Come in. I have hot cocoa waiting, and dinner will be ready soon.”

“I will join you shortly, my love.” Oakley said, the emotion clear in his eyes. “I need to unload the supplies”

Live and love. Her life would be what they made of it. She had people around her and her mate by her side. The fates had managed to make it all work out, even if it had been rocky getting there. She closed the door and led the others into the library. Where Oakley and the few men who’d remained outside to help unload joined them a few minutes later.

“I was worried about you getting through the blizzard,” she admitted, moving into his embrace.

“Nothing could keep me from you again. And nothing should even try. We belong together, and that is how we will stay.” He kissed the top of her head. “Not even a blizzard could keep me from you.”