Chapter 9
Kerri listened to the steady beat of Sullivan’s heart under her ear as she lay snuggled up against him, her gaze on the flickering candle on the nightstand. She was bone-deep tired, but she was also the most wide awake she’d ever been in her entire life. After he had marked her, she’d gone down on him. She’d been curious how he tasted when he came, and it turned out that his come tasted oddly good, slightly salty with a bit of an earthy herb taste. Like mint and snow. After she’d made him very happy, he returned the favor, and then they’d made love a second time.
“It’s Christmas,” she said as she lifted her head and propped it on her upturned hand.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“Do you guys celebrate Christmas up here?”
His brows rose. “Of course. Christmas Eve is busy here – the toymakers are finishing up final gifts, the sleigh team is polishing our harnesses, and everyone is doing their part to make sure that the most important thing that we do happens without a hitch.”
“And then? When you’re gone, what do the people in NPC do?”
“For those with families, they send their kids off to bed and wait for SC to bring them a gift. Of course they know for sure that SC is real. The workers who deal with the sleigh and sleigh team wait until we’re back and then they clean and put away everything. The unmated team members usually head to the tavern for a drink and then back to the barracks. In the morning, we all go to our families’ homes for a big meal, and then we have a week off work before we get back to our regular duties. The security team runs on a skeleton crew during that time.”
“We should be meeting your parents right now?”
He lifted his head and looked at the clock on the nightstand. A soft ticking came from the old-fashioned bronze clock with two big bells on top. He cupped her face and kissed her. “We’re both tired. We can meet them tomorrow.”
“I just don’t want to mess up your family traditions.”
“You’re my new tradition. And I think we could both use a good rest, don’t you?”
“I would feel terrible if your family wasn’t happy because you didn’t come visit them on Christmas Day.”
“They’ll be thrilled to meet you, I promise. Tomorrow.”
She rubbed her fingertips along his chest; the smooth skin felt warm under her touch. “I didn’t get you a present.”
“You’re my present, candy cane, and I’m yours. What’s a better present than finding the one person in the world who’s right for you?”
She hummed and then gave him a sly grin. “That’s sweet. What I really wanted was a pink and white striped hoodie.”
His mouth fell open, and then he laughed. “Maybe next year.”
“Now that I know for certain that Santa’s real, I bet I could get a car or something.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“Says you. Maybe you just never asked.”
He tickled her until she laughed and begged for mercy, and then he kissed her senseless. His smile softened, his eyes glowing pale gold.
“I can see your beasts,” she whispered, cupping his cheek and rubbing her thumb along his skin, feeling the stubble. “I think they like me.”
“That would be an understatement,” he said, rolling to his side and pulling her into his chest.
“Sullivan?” she whispered.
“Yeah?”
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, my sweet, fated mate.”
Closing her eyes, she smiled at how strange a twist her life had taken on Christmas Eve morning in the woods, because of a polar bear, who was also part of Santa’s sleigh team.
* * *
Kerri woke up before Sullivan and just enjoyed the quiet and warmth of the bedroom. The room was large, but clearly made for one person only and not a couple or a family. He’d explained that unmated males moved away from their parents’ home when they were eighteen to begin their job training. Shifters who weren’t able to shift into the fourth animal found jobs around NPC – security, maintenance, construction – and quads always worked security. There were twelve quads in NPC, and only eight positions on the sleigh team. Arian had been the most recent addition to the team, but Sullivan had been a member for ten years. Sometimes quads were injured and couldn’t keep up with the rigorous Christmas Eve flight and had to step down, which was how he had been able to take over the Prancer position.
Sullivan stirred next to her, and she went onto her elbow and watched the sexy look on his face as his eyes opened and he saw her.
“Morning,” she said, leaning over for a quick kiss.
“Hey.” He glanced at the clock and said, “Have you been up long?”
“Just a little while. You’re pretty sexy when you’re sleeping.”
“One of my many charms.”
Her stomach took that moment to growl, and he sat up. “I’m not being a good mate.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t make sure I had food for you. You must be starving.”
“I’d say no, but my stomach would disagree loudly. Do you have a kitchen on this floor? I could make us something.”
He slipped from the bed and stretched, and she let her gaze roam his lickable flesh.
“Unfortunately no. The individual homes have kitchens but not the dorms. Everyone eats at the commissary. They serve three meals a day there.”
“I’m not so much of a breakfast person, but I do require coffee or I get crabby.”
“Thanks for the warning.” He offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet, kissing her. “We need to find a home of our own. I don’t think there’s one available, so we might have to wait a while for one to be built.”
“I don’t mind. I like your room.”
“It has a big downfall, which is no privacy outside of the room, including the bathroom.”
“So we can’t play in the shower? That sucks.”
He grimaced. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
She hadn’t unpacked her bags yet, so she rummaged through them to find her robe, clean clothes, and toiletries. She was going to meet his parents, she wanted to dress nicely and in warm clothes, because they were also going for a tour of town. Wrapping up in the robe, she followed Sullivan out of the room and into the bathroom. He opened the door and then pushed her behind him.
“You going to be long?” he asked whoever was in the bathroom.
“Nah, I’m done.”
She recognized Mire’s voice and said, “Hi.”
The bathroom door opened, and Mire chuckled. “Hey, Kerri. Sullivan treating you good?”
“Of course!”
“Damn it,” Sullivan said, spinning her away from the door so he was blocking her view entirely.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him.
“He’s naked. The only guy parts you get to see are mine.”
She started to laugh, but then she saw the serious look on his face, so she shook her head and rested her cheek on his chest. “You’re naked.”
“You’re mine.”
“I just mean, what if some other woman would walk out into the hall now? I don’t want anyone to see your bits.”
“There aren’t any females on this floor.”
“What about dating or sexy sleepovers? There are women in NPC, right?”
He looked over his shoulder and then reached for the bathroom door. When she could peer down the hall, she saw it was empty.
“Yes, of course, there are females here. But no one spends an entire night with anyone. It’s just not done.”
She set her toiletries on the bathroom counter while he locked the door. He turned on the shower, and she took off the robe and hung it up on a hook. “I don’t understand. You never brought someone back to your room for the night?”
“None of us have. It wouldn’t be right. It would be one thing if Mrs. C had paired a quad up with an elf, but none of the quads have been mate-matched by Mrs. C. So overnighters, on our floor anyway, aren’t done.”
She stepped beneath the hot spray of water. She’d brought along her favorite body wash and shampoo, and she lathered her hair while she thought about the people who lived and worked in NPC.
“So no one dates?”
“They date after Mrs. C. mate-matches.”
“I don’t understand why you guys don’t give fate a chance with your relationships. Why wouldn’t someone go to the tavern to find someone to spend the rest of his life with?”
“Because we’re magic. Are you really complaining? Because I never asked Mrs. C to mate-match me; otherwise we wouldn’t have met. I don’t like thinking about that. A future without you in my life isn’t one I want to contemplate.”
She let that possibility roll around in her mind for a moment. “I’m not complaining about you not being mate-matched. I was just wondering about the rest of the people in NPC. It seems lonely.”
“When NPC residents want to find their mates, they reach out to Mrs. C. My parents were mate-matched and they’re very happy. But for me, I wanted to wait and see what would happen. After Arian found his fated mate, it gave us hope that all of us might be able to find our fated mates.”
The conversation stopped while she rinsed off her hair and body, then she switched places with him so he could rinse the suds from his skin. After he turned off the water, he pulled open the curtain and walked to a cabinet to get towels. The bathroom was quite large. There were several other shower stalls along the wall and a row of sinks with mirrors, as well as toilet stalls on both sides. It reminded her of a college dorm. She’d never lived on campus, but she had friends who had and she’d visited them. The dorm life hadn’t appealed to her at all.
Sullivan handed her a towel. While they dried off, Sullivan returned to their conversation. “And keep in mind, too, that there are a finite number of people in NPC.”
“And?”
“And some of us already knew that our fated mates weren’t in NPC or we would have connected with them already. Although our people do travel to human cities on Christmas Eve, we don’t go looking for mates.”
“It seems like a wasted opportunity. But,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and tilting her head to look at him, “I’m thankful that you didn’t ask Mrs. C to match you up.”
“Me too, candy cane,” he murmured, kissing her tenderly.
Not willing to risk getting sick with a head of wet hair, she used her hair dryer and then dressed in the thick, cable knit sweater she’d brought along specifically to wear while meeting his family. The sweater fell past her butt and was woven with pale cream yarn. She paired it with fleece-lined, brown leggings, slouchy cream socks, and ankle boots.
“Do I look okay? I have a dress I could wear, but I wanted to be warm enough outside for the tour, and bare legs in whatever negative temperatures it gets here didn’t seem smart.”
“You look beautiful,” he said. He’d dressed in a pair of black trousers with a black button down shirt.
They carried their things back to his room and grabbed their coats. Although the stocking cap messed up her hair, ears were important, and she wasn’t interested in freezing hers off. He dressed as warmly as she did, in a thick coat with gloves and a hat.
“Ready to meet my parents?” he asked, taking her hand as they left the bedroom.
“I feel like I should have made them something or brought a gift. I had all those hours back in the states before you showed up, and I didn’t do anything thoughtful.”
“You’re thinking too hard. My parents are going to be thrilled to meet you; they’ll be happy I found you. If you want to give my parents a present, let me knock you up, then they’ll get a grandkid to spoil.”
Her cheeks flamed, and she scowled at him, but he was smiling so broadly that she couldn’t help but smile back.
He reached for the door leading outside, and she said, “That was a super romantic way to ask me to have your baby, by the way.”
“I told you I’ve got skills.” He waggled his brows at her.
In NPC there was six months of night. The residents wouldn’t see the sunrise until March, and then it would become a place where there was no night for six months. Kerri was curious about living in all dark and then all light. And also why they had no vehicles.
“Everything is close, so we walk. You’ll get used to the cold.” He put his arm around her and hugged her to his side as he hurried them along a neatly shoveled path. It was lunchtime, but the sky was dark as if it were midnight. There were streetlights that cast amber pools of light on the sidewalks, but it still felt like the middle of the night.
“I guess it’s all relative. You’re used to the cold because you grew up here, but it’s a lot colder than it was at the cabin, and I thought that was pretty freaking cold.”
He hurried her to a small cabin, and the door opened as soon as they reached the bottom step of the porch. A tall man with a neatly trimmed beard and a red flannel shirt stood in the doorway.
“Welcome! I heard you coming and wanted to help you get your girl in the house as soon as possible.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Sullivan said.
The door shut, and Kerri breathed out a sigh of relief at the warmth in the house. In spite of very warm outer clothes, her teeth were chattering, and she was thankful the walk hadn’t taken that long.
A woman wearing dark pants and a sweater with a large poinsettia on the front joined them.
Sullivan said, “Mom, Dad…this is my fated mate, Kerri. Kerri, these are my parents, Tulula and Geoff.”
Kerri extended her hand, but his mom hugged her instead. “It’s so nice to meet you, Kerri,” Tulula said. “Welcome to our home.”
Geoff shook her hand, patting the top with a smile. He looked at Sullivan and said, “When SC stopped by on Christmas Eve to say you’d found your fated mate, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. It’s amazing that three of the quads have found mates. I bet the other guys are anxious and hope it’s a trend.”
“They really do. I’m just glad that Kerri was in the right place at the right time.” Sullivan took her coat and winter gear and then they followed his parents into the kitchen. The cabin was quaint, with polished hardwood floors and colorful throw rugs. The aroma filling the spacious kitchen smelled delicious.
A two-sided fireplace built between the kitchen and family room was filled with a crackling fire. Sullivan stood in front of the fireplace, facing his parents, and Kerri tucked her hands behind her back to warm them. After accepting a mug of hot cider with a cinnamon stick floating in it, Kerri answered his parents’ questions and shared a short version of her life story with them.
“It’s so wonderful that you and Sullivan met at Rhys’ wedding,” Tulula said.
Kerri sipped on the cider, loving the spicy sweet taste of it and how it was hot enough to warm her up but not too hot to burn her throat. “He’s lucky I didn’t run for the hills when I met him the first time. I’ve never seen any kind of bear in the wild, let alone a polar bear.”
He kissed her cheek. “I would have chased you down.”
She blushed and shook her head at him.
They sat down at the table that was covered with a red embroidered tablecloth and decorated with white china and golden flickering candles. A variety of platters, filled with both main courses and sides, covered the table. According to Tulula, it was their Christmas Day tradition to have ham and turkey as the main dishes because she was partial to turkey but Geoff was partial to ham. Sullivan filled her plate for her, something he said that males did for their mates, and she indulged him, thinking it was very sweet that he was so attentive.
“How long have you been married?” she asked Tulula after taking a few bites of the juicy turkey and fluffy mashed potatoes.
“We’re not married by human standards; we’re mated. SC said that mating is better than marriage because it’s permanent. There’s no such thing as divorce here,” Tulula answered.
“Then why did Rhys and Merri get married? And Arian and my sister?”
“Because of their human families,” Sullivan answered. “Arian told us that Charli insisted on getting married for your benefit, because she didn’t think you would approve if she moved away with him without being married.”
“I’d like to think I’m more understanding than that.”
“I think you’re very understanding,” he said with a wink.
“Mrs. C mate-matched Geoff and I when I was nineteen and he was twenty-two,” Tulula said.
“Is there a ceremony?” Kerri asked.
“Yes, after the match is made. I went to Mrs. C and told her that I was ready to start the next chapter of my life. My parents were mate-matched when they were eighteen, so I felt like it was the right time. She told me to go home and get a good night’s rest and that she’d be sending breakfast over in the morning. I didn’t really understand it. I thought that she would just tell me who it was and then I could go find him.”
Geoff chuckled. “Mrs. C showed up at the barracks that night and told me that she’d mate-matched me. I was so surprised because it had been on my mind to ask for her help. She told me to stop at the commissary in the morning and pick up breakfast for my mate.”
“But he didn’t wait,” she said. “He knocked on the door to my parents’ home at midnight and said that he’d come to claim me. Mrs. C had told them she mate-matched me, so they had been expecting a male to show up, but not at midnight.”
“I couldn’t wait.”
She kissed him on the cheek and smiled sweetly. “I couldn’t wait either, and I think Mrs. C knew that, which was why she’d told him about me as soon as she cast the spell. My dad was a builder, so he told us that there was a newly built, empty cabin available, and he was certain it was meant to be ours, so I packed a bag, some blankets and pillows, and we came here and never left.”
“It’s so neat that your dad helped to build this house for you without even knowing it,” Kerri said.
“There’s a lot that goes on here that isn’t explainable except through magic. Is it weird for you to think of magic as being real? I’ve heard that adult humans don’t believe in magic.”
“I didn’t until I met Sullivan. Now I know for sure that magic is real.”
When their meal was finished, Kerri helped Tulula with the dishes while Sullivan and Geoff talked quietly at the table. She and Tulula spent the time chatting about NPC, elves, and shifters, and how strange it was to her that magic was real.
“Ready for the town tour?” Sullivan asked.
“You bet,” she said, drying off her hands.
“Wait, I have something for you,” Tulula said, walking down the hall and disappearing into a room.
Kerri looked up at Sullivan, who shrugged. Tulula returned with a rectangular box wrapped in bright red paper with images of Santa on it. A fluffy white bow sat in the center of the top, and its ribbons spilled over the edges in fat curls.
“SC sent this over yesterday,” she said, handing it to Kerri.
Sullivan took the box from his mother and held it while Kerri undid the ribbon and tore the paper from the box. Lifting the lid, she gasped in surprise to see a pink and white striped hoodie folded neatly in tissue paper. She lifted the hoodie from the box. Underneath laid a keychain with a red toy car hanging from it. A note card had Sullivan’s name on it, and she handed it to him as she picked up the key chain and stared in wonder at it.
Sullivan laughed loudly and then read, “Dear Sullivan, it does too work that way. SC.”
“How weird is it that he knew what I asked for?” Kerri asked.
“Not weird. Magic,” Sullivan said, handing the empty box to his mom.
“I’m glad magic is real,” she said. “It brought us together.”