Dasher's Fated Mate (Arctic Shifters Book 2) Read online

  He lit the wick. It sparked to life, then slowly transformed, melting from a solid taper to a golden, glowing orb. The sphere lifted from Rhys’s hand as he blew out the match. It sparkled and cast lights all over the room. It reminded her of a disco ball, with warm golden twinkles that moved leisurely. The orb spun in slow moving circles when it reached the ceiling.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said.

  “You are,” he said, coming to stand next to the bed. “Merri, if I don’t tell you this, I’m afraid you’ll hate me.”

  “Tell me what?” she asked.

  “If you don’t leave NPC by dawn, which is in just a few hours, you’ll be trapped here until next Christmas Eve.”

  She wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. “Say that again?”

  He repeated himself, but this time his words were punctuated with an angry growl, as his eyes turned bright gold.

  “Why? Why would I be trapped?”

  “NPC is a city protected by magic. It’s closed three hundred-sixty-four days a year. Only Santa is powerful enough to leave at other times of the year. For the rest of us, we can only leave for twenty-four hours, from dawn on Christmas Eve to dawn on Christmas Day. If one us of doesn’t come back by dawn on Christmas Day, then he or she is trapped in the human world for the year.”

  She glanced at an old-fashioned clock on the dresser; the soft ticking that she hadn’t really noticed suddenly sounded very loud. A countdown of the seconds marked the time as it swiftly slipped away.

  “Wh–when is dawn?” Her mouth felt dry; her heart pounded, and her eyes stung with tears.

  “Six a.m.”

  She had a little less than four hours until dawn. Until she’d be trapped – one place or the other. Either a year with Rhys or a year without him.

  He dropped to his knees and grasped her hands. “I’ll take you home. We can be in touch through video calls. Next Christmas, I’ll come see you. Maybe you’ll be ready to come here to live.” He paused for a long moment, and she watched as his teeth morphed to fangs and his knuckles cracked as claws sprouted from his fingertips. “No, I can’t bear to be away from you for any length of time. I’ll pack and come to your world to live. We can take the time to get to know each other, and then we can decide where our future lies.”

  She’d asked him for forever when they were in the toy factory. It had seemed like a simple request – the promise of a lifetime of happiness.

  “You’d give up everything for me?” She lifted her hand to brush the tears from her cheeks, but he beat her to it, tenderly wiping them away.

  “I can’t live without you. I’d rather have you in the human world, than be here alone. I know it’s fast, but it makes sense to me because I’ve known about fated mates my whole life. We’ve only known each other a little while, but you already feel like the center of my world. If having the chance to be together means I walk away from my life here, I would gladly do it.”

  She felt entirely overwhelmed. “How can I make a decision like this in such a short time? What about my parents? My job? My home?”

  “If you stay here, you can stay in touch with your parents through video calls. We can figure something out for you to tell your parents as to why you’ve left town. You don’t need to keep your job or a home in the human world – everything I have is yours.”

  She’d never been faced with such an important decision. If she asked to be taken home, Rhys would be giving up everything for her. If she stayed, she’d give up everything for him.

  “I can take you to see your parents on Christmas Eve morning every year. We could spend the day with them, and I could leave you with them while I fly with Santa. Then I could pick you up on the way home. I know it’s not fair to ask you to make this choice now.” He kissed her so tenderly that it made fresh tears spring to her eyes, and then he stood and tugged her from the bed. “Let me take you to Santa, and I’ll tell him that I’m leaving with you.”

  She jerked on his hands and nearly fell back onto the bed with the motion. “No! I mean,” she said, straightening and clearing her throat with a chuckle, “that I don’t want that. I don’t want you to give up your life to be with me.”

  His brow furrowed. “You don’t want me at all?” His voice cracked with emotion, and it made her heart ache.

  “I do want you, Rhys. I want you more than I want my next breath. I can’t leave here and take you with me. It just doesn’t feel right. I want to build a home with you, here. In your world, not mine.”

  “Really, sugarplum? You’ll stay?” The gold in his eyes swirled with the hazel, an impossibly sexy color that made every feminine instinct in her squeal in happiness.

  She nodded, and the apprehension she’d felt earlier disappeared entirely. She knew she was making the right choice. He didn’t belong in her world, but she belonged in his.

  “I’ll stay. I asked you to promise me forever, and I meant it. We’ll figure things out with my family and everything in my world, but right now all I really care about is being yours and starting our future off on the right foot.”

  “What’s the right foot?” he asked, his voice tipping low and a soft growl rumbling in his chest.

  She didn’t answer, but she held his gaze as she undid the buttons on the shirt she wore. It slipped off her body and dropped to the floor. He growled in a way that sounded like a purr; his eyes darkened as he watched her fumble with the belt that held the trousers on her hips. He dropped to his knees in front of her and pushed her hands away.

  Undoing the buckle, he loosened the slacks and pushed them down her legs. She rested her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as she stepped from them. He trailed his hands up the outside of her legs as he leaned forward and kissed her navel, flicking his tongue along her flesh as he nuzzled the juncture of her thighs. She stepped back slowly until her knees hit the bed. She stretched out on her back, spreading her legs as he lifted her knees over his shoulders.

  With a low growl, he pressed his lips to her pussy, tilting his head and sliding his tongue into her. She inhaled sharply as warmth stole over her. His hands were wrapped around her hips, holding her close to him as his questing tongue stroked in and out of her. He leaned closer, closing his lips around her clit and sucking.

  And then he growled.

  The vibrations wrapped around her, making her clit throb and her pussy clench. She arched her back, grabbing his wrists and holding on as he licked and sucked her clit, growling happily, the delicious waves of arousal rolling through her. Her stomach fluttered, and she felt herself rushing toward climax. She’d never come so quickly in her life. Rhys’s talented tongue and lips drove her to the edge so fast that her vision blurred and her chest heaved as she panted.

  He growled deeply, his tongue pressing to her clit as her world narrowed impossibly and then heat bloomed as pleasure spiked through her. She cried out his name, her toes curling as she shuddered.

  He kissed the inside of both her thighs and then smiled at her sinfully as he gently pulled her legs from his shoulders and stood.

  “Sugarplum, you’re gorgeous, all flushed and sexy. How did I get so lucky?”

  He shoved his trousers down his legs and stepped from them, kicking them away. Climbing up the bed, he kissed his way up her body until she hooked her legs around his waist and cupped his face.

  “If the way you licked me is any indication of how our life together is going to be, then I’m definitely the luckiest.”

  He pressed his lips to hers, flicking his tongue along the seam of her lips until she opened, sucking on his tongue as he’d sucked on her. He groaned as the head of his cock touched her pussy and pushed in. He was thick and stretched her, but she was so wet and ready that she could think of nothing but him being deep inside.

  Tilting her hips, she urged him inside, tugging on him with her ankles hooked at his lower back. She exhaled when their bodies touched, and she felt a strange, deep connection solidify between them. She knew at that moment, that she’d made the right choi
ce.

  “Stars, you feel good,” he said, growling. He kissed down her throat, nibbling on her pulse as he tilted his hips and pulled from her pussy, before pressing back in. She gripped his shoulders and moved with him. The bed rocked under them, squeaking with each thrust. Overhead, the golden orb twirled, dotting the interior of the room with twinkling light.

  He slipped from her pussy and gripped her leg, pushing her gently to her side as he lined up at her back and thrust into her. He kissed her neck and sucked her flesh gently into his mouth. Slipping her hand down to her clit, she rubbed the tight, sensitive bud in time with his strokes.

  “Fuck yes, take me with you,” he said, his lips whispering over her flesh.

  His heated words combined with her fingers twined inside her, and she knew she was close. He bit her, his teeth pressing to her throat, and she bucked back against him. Her climax took over, and she reached back and sank her fingers into his hair as she came at the same moment as she felt his cock spasm inside her. He snarled against her flesh and bit down more firmly, twin pains shocking her as his teeth sank deep. The pain ebbed swiftly as he lifted his teeth from her throat and then licked the wound, lowering her leg to the bed and curling around her.

  “I marked you as mine, sugarplum,” he said gruffly. “I should have asked you first, but I couldn’t help myself. You’re so hot and tight and mine.”

  She lifted his hand from where it rested on her stomach and kissed his fingertips. She shivered as an aftershock of pleasure rippled through her. “Is it a shifter thing?”

  “Yes. I didn’t know the urge would be so strong or I would have mentioned it first.”

  “It’s probably a case of better to ask forgiveness than permission. If you’d told me you wanted to bite me to mark me, I might have not been on board with it.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t ask first.”

  “Forgiven.”

  She rolled over and rested her head on his bicep. He tugged her close until their lower bodies were pressed together. “Does it mean something special?”

  “It means you’re mine and I’m yours.”

  “Like married?”

  He tucked his finger under her chin and lifted her head until he was staring into her eyes. “It’s bigger than marriage. Fated mates are for life. Nothing, and no one, on this planet will separate us.”

  “I understand. I like being yours.”

  “I’m yours too.”

  “I especially like that.”

  He chuckled and hugged her, rolling to his back and taking her with him so she was splayed over him like a blanket. She yawned and rubbed her cheek on his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heartbeat.

  “We should talk, sugarplum,” he said. “Time is running out.”

  She opened her mouth to answer him, but then she was gone, fast asleep and dreaming about the Northern Lights.

  Chapter 7

  Rhys glanced at the clock, aware that dawn was fast approaching. He knew he couldn’t simply keep her in his room until it was too late for her to leave NPC. It was imperative that they both speak with SC about her situation. He had no doubt that SC would be happy for them, as would Mrs. C, since she’d orchestrated their meeting in the first place, but there were rules in NPC for a reason, and even the lead reindeer couldn’t just do whatever he pleased.

  Stroking his hand through her hair, he kissed the top of her head and decided she could rest a little while. He loved how she felt on top of him, totally relaxed and smelling of their combined arousal. Overhead, the orb was still spinning, but at a slower rate. He had no idea how long it would last, but he suspected it would fade at dawn and disappear as magically as it had appeared.

  Humming, he wondered what to do about the situation with Merri and her family. It had been easier with Arian and his human mate, Charli, because Arian had left NPC and moved into her home in the human world. Months later Charli decided she wanted to move to NPC because she preferred for their children to be raised with their own kind in the safety of the North Pole. Charli had one sister, but the rest of her family was gone. Charli and her sister saw each other only on Christmas Eve, which was what Merri would be doing with her parents from now on. He’d been willing to walk away from NPC for her, even though he felt he would have difficulty adjusting to the human world. But Merri’s happiness was everything to him now.

  Too keyed up to sleep, he let her rest for a half hour, watching as the minute hand swung around the clock.

  “Sugarplum?” he murmured, hugging her firmly and rubbing her back. “It’s four a.m.”

  She made a soft, almost growling sound and snuggled against him. “No.”

  He snorted. “No? I wasn’t aware that was an option.”

  “Sleepy.”

  “I know, but NPC is going to close in two hours, and I want you to meet SC.”

  She stiffened and raised her head slowly, blinking at him a few times as if clearing her vision. “You want me to meet Santa?”

  “He’s the boss. It wouldn’t be right if I just assumed things were fine instead of speaking to him personally. Plus, my friends were concerned earlier, and I want them to know that it all worked out perfectly.”

  “I’m not sure if I’d call the start of the evening perfect, but it sure did end up that way.”

  “It certainly did.”

  She trailed her fingers along his bicep and asked, “Is this tattoo special?”

  The tattoo on his right arm was one that all quads received when they turned eighteen. It was a solid black design with complicated swirls and arcs. “Only the quads have it. The design was chosen by the original Dasher, who found the pattern made of snowflakes on his window one Christmas Eve morning. He thought it would be a good idea for all of the quads to have a matching tattoo and Santa agreed.”

  “It’s neat,” she said, moving her fingertip so lightly on his skin he barely felt her touch.

  “You never wanted a tattoo?”

  “I guess I never found something that I liked well enough to put it on my skin forever. But now if I were to pick one, I think I’d get a reindeer.”

  He grinned. “Or a sugarplum?”

  She chuckled. “Do we really have to leave right now? You’re very warm.”

  She wiggled on him slightly, and his body sprang to life. Groaning, he lifted his head and kissed her. “Yes, we do. But at the earliest possible moment, we’ll be right back here, warming each other up.”

  “Now that sounds like a plan.”

  “You can borrow my clothes again, and after we meet with everyone, I’m sure that we’ll be able to find you some clothes that fit.”

  She slid off him and sat up, stretching with a squeak.

  “Will Santa be mad?”

  “Why would he be mad?”

  She shrugged. “We didn’t go talk to him right away.”

  “I’m sure that Mrs. C explained everything. After all, she did put her own tracker on you so that you’d be taken instead of her.”

  He climbed off the bed, ignoring his beasts’ loud protests that they stay in bed with their mate, and handed Merri the clothes she’d been wearing.

  “Why does she have a tracker anyway? Does she disappear a lot?”

  “It’s a security measure. All residents of NPC have a tracker in their outerwear. Weather can take a turn very swiftly up here, and whiteouts aren’t uncommon. Even for shifters who spend a lot of time exploring the land, it can be easy to get disoriented.”

  They dressed and he grabbed their coats, holding his breath as he unlocked the door. He was certain that his friends would be outside in the hall, but a glance either direction showed it was empty.

  “Wait, I need to pee,” she said, her cheeks turning pink with blush.

  “Right, sorry. I’m a little distracted.”

  “Did a sexy reindeer interrupt your nap?” she asked, her brows lifting.

  “No, but my beasts are banging around in my head, wanting to take you back into the bedroom and never come out.”


  She hummed. “Sounds good, but I still need to pee.”

  He laughed and shook his head, turning toward the shared bathroom. He hung up their coats on a hook while she used the facilities, and then he swiped toothpaste that someone had left on the counter and used his finger to brush his teeth.

  She washed her hands and then scrubbed her teeth. “Do you guys make everything that you use or do you order things?”

  “Most things are made here. We have tailors, soap makers, cooks, bakers, furniture makers, gardeners…pretty much any item that you might want could be made here. It’s not as if we could order something on a website and have it shipped up here.”

  “I suppose not.” She sighed and frowned.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “What’s going to happen back at home? In two hours, the…portal – or whatever it is – to my world is going to be shut for a year. I won’t be able to go to my apartment to get my clothes, quit my job, or say goodbye to my parents or my friends in person. It will be like I dropped off the face of the earth.”

  Cupping her face, he kissed her. “We can go right now. There’s time.”

  “No, there’s not! I can’t pack for the rest of my life in two hours! I don’t think I could even pack enough if I had two weeks to get things together.”

  He helped her put on his oversized coat and then grabbed his, wrapping his hand around her wrist and heading for the door. “I’ve got friends who can help. Trust me, sugarplum.”

  She jogged to keep up with him as they moved through the barracks. They hit the door and were outside in the frigid temperatures within minutes, heading straight for SC’s house. His home was on the other side of the toy factory. The Clauses lived in a white cottage with candles glowing in the windows and potted pine trees on the front porch decorated with strings of cranberries and popcorn. The front door swung open as they reached the first step, and SC filled the doorway.

  Merri gasped in shock, and Rhys wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “We came to talk.”

  SC cleared his throat. “I see. You thought you’d wait a few hours before you did so?”