Chapter 7
As soon as the sleigh team landed in the barn, Sullivan shifted in spite of still being in his harness.
“Get this damn thing off me! I have to get back to my mate!”
“Hold your damn horses,” Oliver, one of the stable elves, muttered as he helped Sullivan remove the harness.
“Come on! Let’s go!” he yelled at Mire and Declan, who had planned to go with him to bring Kerri to NPC.
“Are you seriously going there naked?” Declan asked. “You don’t want to freeze off parts of yourself she might find useful.”
Glancing down at his body, he huffed and grabbed his clothes from where he kept them in one of the stalls and dressed as quickly as he could.
“Why are you in such a hurry? It’s not even four yet,” Mire said.
He rubbed the space over his heart. “I don’t know. I just feel like I need to get there as soon as possible.”
“Do you think she’s hurt or something?” Declan asked as he dressed in another stall.
Sullivan didn’t want to think about that. He’d worried about her the entire flight. Normally, he spent the Christmas Eve runs enjoying the scenery that flashed below as they traveled faster than the human eye could see. But he’d thought of nothing but Kerri the entire time. As the flight drew to a finish, he’d started to feel nervous, and it wasn’t an emotion he was used to feeling. He didn’t get freaked out by much, considering he had a badass polar bear at his disposal.
But right now, he was worried, and that really worried him.
SC climbed out of the sleigh and handed his heavy red cloak to one of the elves. “You should go. Now.”
His heart leaped into his throat. “Is something wrong with Kerri?”
“I can only feel that something’s not right. Don’t delay.”
At SC’s words, Mire and Declan finished dressing swiftly and joined Sullivan as they headed out of the stable and into the cold, dark morning.
“Whatever you need, we’re here for you,” Declan said as the three males pressed into a tight circle facing each other.
“Thanks, guys,” Sullivan said.
He closed his eyes and imagined the cabin, and in an instant, they were traveling. They landed in the snow-covered yard at the back of the cabin, and immediately he knew that something was wrong. It was snowing so hard that even with his enhanced vision he couldn’t see much except white. The cabin was entirely dark, and Kerri’s car wasn’t where it had been before.
“Where is she?” Mire asked, shielding his eyes with his hand.
The wind whipped up, swirling the snowflakes like a tornado, and making the branches in the trees creak as icicles cracked and shattered. Then he heard something.
“Do you guys hear that?” Sullivan asked, closing his eyes and focusing his hearing.
Mire and Declan went still next to him, and he knew they were listening.
On the wind, he heard his name. It was a desperate, terrified sound, and it was coming from his fated mate.
“Where is she?” Declan asked.
“I’m going to shift.”
“Into what?” Mire asked.
Sullivan glanced around, thinking. The fox was fast, but the owl had better vision.
“The owl.”
“We’re with you,” Declan said.
All three stripped from their clothes and took on their shifts. Sullivan launched into the air, flapping his mighty wings and curling his claws. As soon as he rose above the cabin, he could see the road that led from the home down into the woods and toward the town several miles away. The path of the road had disappeared beneath the snow; the only indication of where it lay was the trees that lined each side.
Somewhere on that road, Kerri was screaming his name. With a screech, he dove lower, using her voice to guide him. Each time she yelled his name, he adjusted his flight, moving as swiftly through the air as he could. He was worried she was hurt, and each time she called to him, he heard the fright in her voice.
He flew faster than he ever had before, flapping his wings and cutting through the air. The wind pushed against them, but it didn’t stop him from moving swiftly.
“Sullivan!”
A break in the storm showed the flashing yellow lights of a vehicle; the illuminated interior filled with snow as it blew into it from the open window where Kerri sat. Screeching in happiness, he tucked his wings and dove, heading for the woods just to the side of the car. He couldn’t chance changing out in the open, even in a blizzard. As soon as he was near the ground, he let go of his shift and took on his human form. Rushing from the woods, with Declan and Mire on his heels, he heard Kerri’s gasp and then a choked sob.
He rounded the vehicle and reached into the window, cupping her cheek. She was shivering, but the heat in the car had been cranked high to combat the open window.
“Hey, candy cane. Did you get stuck?”
“S-S-Sullivan?”
He kissed her forehead. “Yeah, baby, it’s me. I’ve got you.”
Her teeth chattered, and he was afraid she was going to bite her tongue.
“Do you want to try to get this vehicle up to the cabin?” Mire asked.
“I don’t think it’s going to make it up the hill,” Declan said, putting his hands on his hips and looking in the cabin’s direction.
“I c-c-c-couldn’t s-s-s-see,” she whispered.
It took only one hard shiver and a hiccupped sob from his mate for him to make a decision. “Let’s push it off the road, grab her bags, and head into the woods.” To Kerri he said, “Put it into drive.”
She did as he said, and he reached through the window and grabbed the steering wheel, pushing on the car and directing it toward the woods as Declan and Mire pushed on the back bumper. The car moved slowly as it crunched through the thick snow. When it was off the road and as close to the woods as they could get it, he told her to put up the window and turn off the engine while he opened the back door and pulled her bags from the seat.
Mire grabbed the bags from him. Then Sullivan opened her door and helped her out. She was shivering, but at least she’d been smart enough not to stand out in the cold. The temperature had dropped into single digits, and with the strong winds, the wind chill probably lowered the temperature into negative degrees.
“Let’s get home,” he said, lifting her trembling body into his arms and carrying her into the woods.
They walked for several minutes, ensuring they were far enough away from the road. Although it was still dark and the snowstorm would make visibility hard for humans, they didn’t want to take any chances. He set her on her feet, and the three males pressed around her. In a heartbeat, they were on their way to NPC.
Landing outside the barracks, he lifted her into his arms and headed for the door. Mire grabbed her bags, and Declan pulled open the door for them. He raced up the stairs to the third floor where the unmated quads lived.
Mire dropped her bags in Sullivan’s bedroom.
“Thank you for helping me get my mate,” Sullivan said.
“Let us know if you need anything,” Mire said.
“Just so you know, pushing a car in a snowstorm, butt naked, is going to add a couple extra favors to the list of what you owe me,” Declan said.
Sullivan snorted. “You got it.”
His friends disappeared down the hall, and Sullivan turned toward the shared bathroom. “How’s a hot shower sound, candy cane?”
“H-h-heavenly,” she said.
In the bathroom, he set her down and turned on one of the showers, and then he slowly undressed her. As he pulled her clothes from her body, he checked her limbs for frostbite, knowing how fragile humans were. Her skin was red, but she could move her fingers and toes, and he was thankful she hadn’t been seriously hurt.
He held open the curtain that covered the tiled shower and stepped in, guiding her with him. He tested the water, ensuring it wasn’t too hot to burn her, and then he lifted her hand and began to massage her fingers. She squeaked as her feet hit the water on the floor, shuddering as she slowly moved under the spray.
She tilted her head with a sigh after pulling out her ponytail and letting the water soak her hair.
“Do you want to see a doctor? Do you feel okay?”
She wiggled her fingers and toes more and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I’m okay now.”
He kissed her, sliding his hands up her wet sides and drawing her close. She pulled away from the kiss and buried her face in his neck with a sob.
“Hey, it’s going to be fine. You’re home now, with me.”
“I was afraid you’d think I didn’t want to come with you.”
“I would have tracked you down no matter what,” he said, stroking her back. “As soon as we got back to NPC, I felt like something was wrong. SC told me to get to you, and shit, baby, I was so worried you were hurt. I never for a second thought you didn’t want to come with me.”
She cried a little harder. “I thought I might have to live without you.”
“No chance of that. You are well and truly stuck with me. If I hadn’t been able to find you, I would have stayed until I found you. It wouldn’t be a hardship to be in your world for a year. I’m glad I found you, and I’m glad you’re safe, but wherever you are is home for me, Kerri. Here or there. You’re the only thing that matters to me.”
She lifted her head from his neck and took in a shaky breath. “Thank you for saving me.”
“You saved me from a lonely life. It’s only right I returned the favor.”
She gave him a watery smile. “I stood outside of the car for a couple minutes, but it was so cold I could hardly breathe, so I sat in the car with the window down and the heat on high. I was still cold, but I remembered you saying that you had better hearing, so I just hoped you would hear me.”
Her voice was a little rough, and he suspected that was from screaming his name.
“How long were you out there?”
“Ten minutes maybe. I thought I heard an owl screech, and then I thought I was going crazy.”
“You’re not crazy. That was me.”
“Can you do me a favor?” she asked.
“Name it.”
“Warm me up.”
His bear growled, and it rumbled in his chest. He shut off the water and tugged back the curtain, making sure they were alone in the bathroom. He hurried to the linen closet and grabbed several towels. She patted her body dry and then wrapped a towel around herself, using a second one to rub her hair. He tucked one around his waist and then took her hand, leading her out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. He turned on the overhead light, and then he closed the door and locked it, not wanting anything to interrupt their time together.
“Can I tell you something?” she asked, dropping the towel she’d been rubbing against her hair to the floor.
“Anything.”
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. As soon as you left, I wished I’d gone with you. It’s not that I think it was a bad idea for me to go get my things, but I just had this feeling like something wouldn’t go right. You were on my mind the whole time.”
“You were on my mind, too.”
“It’s because we’re really meant to be together, right? We’re connected already. It’s like being a soulmate.”
“It’s exactly like that.”
She smiled, and it made everything inside him go all warm and melty. And then she dropped the towel covering her body, and all thought fled his mind except one: mine.