CHAPTER 8
Jasper
*
DECEMBER 22
THREE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Jasper parked around the corner from the square— a cause for celebration, given how busy the town center was this close to Christmas. Gold and red lights glimmered above the street, leading towards the square. Towards his Abigail.
He turned the engine off and closed his eyes, just for a moment. Abigail. Letting her leave the bed this morning had been almost impossible. Seeing her dress for work— he’d wanted to shift then and there, pick her up and fly her deep into the mountains, to the Heartwell lodge and his personal hoard.
A shiver ran through him. His hoard. He would take her there, eventually. Eventually? Try sometime in the next couple of days. And when he did…
Jasper frowned. Abigail was so prickly about the magic of Christmas, and he was beginning to suspect there was more to it than just grumpy Grinch-ness. The look on her face the night before… He shook himself. How would she react to him inviting her to join with him on top of a pile of gold?
Guess we’ll find out soon. He had plans for tonight: romantic, non-Christmassy, perfect plans. If everything went well, the night would end with Abigail in his arms, and on his hoard. And then his prickly, sharp, glorious Abigail would truly be his mate, now and forever.
He jumped out of the car, leaping over a pile of icy snow. Inside him, his dragon rose up, wings outstretched. Fly!
Not yet, he reminded it. Didn’t we fly enough this morning, with Cole? Not that what he does can really be called “flying”… more “falling with intent”… Intent of dive-bombing, most of the time.
Heart light, he practically skipped down the street, buoyed by the glow of festive lights and the enticing scents of spice and coffee on the air. The only way this evening could be better was if I could smell snow on the air, as well, he thought, kicking at a small snow-drift as he rounded the corner into the square. Clearly it had snowed in Pine Valley recently, probably only just before he arrived. It would be a white Christmas. But that wasn’t the same as seeing snowflakes settle on his mate’s eyelashes, and kissing them off her lips…
When she is your mate, he reminded himself. When he’d made things official. Yes. When he’d completed the simple task of revealing his true nature to her, and convincing her they were meant to be together, and taking her up the mountain—
His foot slipped. Jasper shifted his weight to keep his balance, but his legs didn’t obey. For a moment, his vision swam, going double. Four legs slipped out from under him. Two wearing dark trousers, and two huge and scaled.
Jasper squeezed his eyes shut. When he looked down at himself again, there were only two legs. Human. Wearing pants. And one human ass, currently soaking up snowmelt from the sidewalk.
He groaned and rolled onto his knees. His vision swam again and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He might not be able to see his dragon’s phantom body any more, but he could feel…
A shiver jolted down his spine. He could feel his dragon, but not like he ever had before. It had always been a part of him. When he was human-shaped, the dragon curled up in the fire of his soul, deep inside. And when he was dragon-shaped, his human side made itself at home in the dragon’s fiery heart. But now— it was like the dragon was being shaken loose. Like something was tearing it out of him.
He was losing his dragon.
No! It’s too soon! He gritted his teeth and pulled, wrapping psychic arms around the burning shape of his dragon as tremors struck them both. I still have three days— not now—
“Jasper?” Abigail’s voice exploded into his mind like fireworks. He took a shaky breath. The tremors stopped. His dragon was still there, safe inside him. He pushed himself up and saw Abigail running towards him. “Jasper, what happened? Are you all right?”
Jasper forced himself upright before Abigail reached him. Too fast. He swayed, and then she was with him, holding him upright.
He let his head drop onto hers and inhaled deeply. Her scent filled him, sweet and warm and his.
“I’m fine,” he mumbled into her hair. “I fell— hit my knee. Like an idiot.”
“Are you sure?” Abigail held him at arm’s length, frowning as she inspected his face. “You’re so pale.” She bit her lip and Jasper’s heart lurched. His mate might be spiny, but the spikes surrounded a soft, delicate heart. “If you want to cancel tonight—”
“Never.” He tipped her head back and kissed her, tender and— he had to admit it— more than a little desperate.
Abigail’s lips were warm and soft. Her touch grounded him with memories of their two nights together, and promises of more. He moaned gently into her mouth and she pressed into him, her hands gripping his coat.
“Falling over in the street is embarrassing enough,” he murmured. “I don’t want to go and lick my wounds at home by myself.”
Abigail stilled. Jasper forced himself not to respond. Not pull away, and not pull her closer, either. After a moment she scowled and tugged at his jacket, yanking him closer to her. “I wasn’t going to send you home alone. I meant, if you wanted a quiet evening, instead…”
He kissed her again, relief washing through him. She wasn’t pushing him away. The shaking was gone. He was himself again, dragon and human and whole.
“There’ll be time for a quiet evening later,” he assured her, nipping at the fingertips of her glove. The glove he had given her. “First, I want to take you somewhere special.”
* * *
“How far away is this ‘somewhere special’?” Abigail asked. Her eyes narrowed. “This isn’t you stealing me away to your mountain bachelor-pad, is it?”
“And risk Mr. Bell’s wrath? Certainly not.”
“So where are we going?”
Jasper shot her what he hoped was a mysterious, sexy smile. “You’ll see.”
Abigail mock-frowned at him and he laughed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you home in time for your beauty sleep. Not that you need it.”
Abigail ducked her head, cheeks pink. “Well, I sure didn’t get it last night. I was almost asleep on my feet the last few hours at work. If I have to listen to another Christmas carol tonight, I’ll scream.”
Jasper paused with his finger two inches from the radio button, and smoothly transitioned the gesture into reaching for Abigail’s hand. She wove her fingers between his, staring out the window as they left the small town behind.
They were driving in the opposite direction to the previous night’s date, deeper into the mountains instead of looking out over the foothills. Snow-covered bluffs rose either side of the road, white peaks disappearing into the darkness. The pine trees were so dark against the snow they looked like black shadows of nothingness.
“It’s so beautiful out here,” Abigail said quietly.
“Picture perfect. I’m not surprised the town goes crazy over Christmas, with views like this in their backyard. It’s like the North Pole out here.”
“Except there aren’t any trees at the North Pole,” Abigail said absently.
Jasper kept his eyes on the road, but his attention was laser-focused on his mate. Had she just said something Christmassy, without sounding like she hated it?
His skin prickled. His dragon was interested in what he’d just heard. Very interested.
Play it cool. He cleared his throat. “Well, there aren’t flying reindeer, either, but it’s all part of the magic, isn’t it?”
She snorted, but it didn’t sound like her heart was in it. “Oh, magic. That’s one word for it, I guess. But it’s all just lies people tell children, isn’t it? Until they can’t even be bothered with that anymore.”
Not all magic is fake, Jasper wanted to say, his heart sinking. I’m not fake. What I feel for you isn’t fake. But if you think Christmas is all about lying, how can I convince you that this isn’t just a fling, and you’re truly my soul mate?
By taking her out of her Christmas-mad town. That was his plan. He just had to hope it would work.
A few minutes later, he followed a side-road into the outskirts of the forest and pulled up outside a long, low building. It was a classic log cabin on commercial scale, with red-painted windows and a sign hanging above the entryway: Home of the Puppy Express!
“Oh, I’ve heard of this place!” Abigail leaned forward, staring at the sign. “I always wanted to give it a go, but I— um. Well. You know.”
“You don’t get out much this time of year, I know. It’s a good thing I came along.” Jasper practically skipped around the car to open the door for her. “The ideal companion for a night out.”
“Or in,” she murmured, leaning close to him as she got out of the car. “Brr— is this where we’re having dinner? I hope it’s warm inside. I’m not really dressed for it.” She was wearing the same tight black pants she had worn to their date the night before, but it was even colder here under the trees than it had been at the rink.
“Not a problem.” Jasper reached into the back seat and pulled out a bag. “I knew we wouldn’t have time to go back to yours for a change of clothes, so I picked these up earlier. I think I’ve got the sizes right…”
He watched as Abigail looked inside the bag. “You— these are from the most expensive shop in town! You didn’t seriously… oh, my God.” She looked up at him. “Are you sure? I can’t— I mean, there’s a whole outfit in here.” She dug further into the bag. “There’s shoes. Jasper, I can’t accept this!”
Jasper had been ready for this. He braced himself against his dragon’s crushing disappointment. It took a lot of human self-control not to take to the skies and go sulk on the highest mountain-top in the ranges, but he managed it.
He’d gone back to the store where he bought the gloves and scarf. He’d only meant to buy the matching hat for the scarf-and-gloves set. And then he’d remembered her stockinged legs, and wondered how windproof her navy-blue coat was…
He opened his mouth, a dozen pre-prepared arguments on the tip of his tongue. But before he could start, Abigail wrapped her arms around him, squeezing until he couldn’t breathe.
“Thank you,” she muttered into his chest. “This is way too much, and I don’t know why you’re bothering… but thank you.” She pulled away and wiped her eyes quickly.
“I thought for a moment you were going to tell me to turn the car around and return them,” Jasper joked. Were her eyes a little red? His dragon clacked its claws together nervously. Had his practical, definitely-not-a-Christmas-gift not been the right thing to do?
Abigail giggled. “I already saw that you’re taken the tags off everything.”
“And I paid in cash. And I lost the receipts. All of them.” Abigail’s giggle turned into a snort of laughter and the knot in Jasper’s chest loosened. It was all right. “Come on. They should be ready for us by now.”
He pushed through the door. The room inside was comfortably warm, blissful after the bite of cold outside. Flames crackled in a six-foot-wide fireplace, sending flickering light over a couple of temptingly deep armchairs and a thick patterned rug.
It would have been the perfect location for a quiet, private dinner; but that wasn’t what Jasper had planned. He caught Abigail’s eye and nodded towards the back window. She walked over, shopping bag clutched tightly to her chest.
The Puppy Express usually only ran during the day, but Jasper had made a few calls, and they’d agreed to stay open for one last, late-night ride. Abigail actually squealed with delight when she saw the team of huskies harnessed to the sled outside.
The manager strode up, a welcoming smile on his face. “Heartwell, party of two?”
Abigail slid her hand into Jasper’s pocket and squeezed his hand. Warmth glowed inside him.
Jasper nodded to the manager. “Thanks for staying open this late. Is there somewhere my date—” Abigail squeezed his hand tighter, and the glow inside him burned brighter than the blazing fireplace. “— can get changed?”
“Right this way.”
Jasper was tempted to follow Abigail into the changing room, but she fended him off, reminding him that they only had a few hours. So he chatted to the manager and accompanied him outside to pack the sled while his mate dressed herself in the clothes he had bought for her. His third gift to her. And the third gift she had accepted.
A blast of warm air hit his back as the door behind him swung open. He turned to see Abigail outlined by the glow of firelight.
He had been very careful. No Christmas colors, which was a difficult ask in a town like this. Soft pale cream for the warm, windproof jacket with a fur-lined hood, matching pants, a dove-grey hat to match her other accessories, and dark boots lined with thick, warm wool.
She looked magnificent.
Jasper took two long strides, and wrapped his hands around her waist. “Everything fits?”
“Perfectly.” Her cheeks were pink as she pulled up the hood. “I’m impressed. Even I can’t pick out clothes to fit me, half the time.”
“All those hours exploring your body weren’t a waste,” he murmured into her ear, and her cheeks flared from pink to bright, pleased red. She poked him in the chest and he caught her finger to kiss it.
“Hey, lovebirds!” The Puppy Express manager whistled and eight pairs of eyes snapped to him: two humans’, and six dogs’. Jasper laughed and linked his arm with Abigail’s.
“Ready to go on an adventure?”