My Perfect Mate (4 page)

“I know this seems fast, sweetheart,
and it wasn’t that long ago you were human and unaware of the
magical races. I promise you, I will try to make you happy. Our
bonding is a gift not everyone finds. We’ll make it work out
wonderfully.”

“For goodness sake, JP. She said yes
already,” Ujarak growled.

JP shook his head and then slipped a
ring onto her finger. The metal work swirled around a green stone
that caught the light and reflected emerald bursts of color.
Jean-Paul rose to his feet and kissed her knuckle below where the
ring rested. “I hope you like it.”

The ring was gorgeous. So many
emotions overwhelmed her. Susan blinked when her eyes grew moist.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you, Jean-Paul.”

JP smiled and reached out a hand to
brush the lone tear that rolled down her cheek. Then he slowly drew
her into his arms. Her hands rested on his chest and felt the rapid
beating of his heart. His gaze never left her face as he lowered
his head and his lips touched hers. Susan’s eyes fluttered closed
as JP continued to kiss her.

Gently, coaxing her to give in to the
inevitable. Little tingles burst as their lips touched. Heat swept
through her body. She whimpered. Jean-Paul’s arms tightened and his
tongue pushed at her mouth. She opened and he dove in, rubbing
against her tongue and mouth, claiming her with a kiss.

“We really don’t have time for this,”
Ujarak growled. “We’ve got to get back to my village,
remember?”

§

Jean-Paul lifted his head, irritated
that the bear called him back to his duty. He needed to get the
Gryphon’s Eye for the queen and save the arctic from the bear’s
uncle. Still, Susan was soft in his arms. It felt so right to hold
her. He wanted to take her to bed for a week and learn each spot
that caused her to whimper, every caress that drove her
wild.

She was conflicted. He felt it. With
the mating bond taking hold, he would soon know her thoughts, a
gift the Fae and witch-kind didn’t possess. Their bonding was
inevitable. He wanted her to want him. Not just her wolf spirit
that shared her soul, but the lost little girl who’d had her world
turned upside down when a crazy doctor changed her into a lycan.
Sharing their thoughts would be hard enough if she was happy and
content. He didn’t know if he could handle knowing she was
disappointed in their bonding.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to continue
this at another time, sweetheart. Your polar bear friend is very
impatient and rightfully so. Let’s save the world, shall
we?”

“Now you’re talking,” Ujarak said
walking up and pounding JP on the back.

“It was so nice to meet you, both,”
Marguerite said. “Mother and Father will be disappointed you
couldn’t stay, but they’ll understand the emergency. JP’s always
running off to save someone. Be safe, all of you.”

Jean-Paul winked at his sister and
then grabbed Ujarak by the shirt. Before the polar bear could
respond, JP ported them into Mathis’s front room. He released the
bear who slowly sank to the floor and turned to Susan in his arms.
“Are you all right, darling?” Susan blinked and nodded holding her
head.

“Holy Hell! A little warning would
have been nice,” Ujarak grumbled from the floor.

“Mom! Uncle Ujarak is swearing again!”
a little voice yelled. The sound of little feet filled the
air.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Mathis’s voice
called out. “It’s bedtime for all of you!”

JP turned to see his friend
walk into the room. JP had met Susan, helping Mathis save his lycan
mate from a human stalker. His friend was retired now from all the
excitement of the magical councils. Instead he had the chaos of
raising six children rejected by their polar bear and lycan parents
for being arctic wolf shifters. The Nanuk thought it acceptable to
mate with a lycan, but only pure Nanuk children should be raised by
the polar bear villages. Mathis was the perfect alpha of their
small pack, since he too was an
Amarok,
a child of mixed
breeding.

“Jean-Paul, what took you so long? I
thought you’d be here before now,” Mathis asked.

“He was too busy kissing Susan,”
Ujarak growled. “God my head hurts. Can I get
something?”

“You know aspirin won’t work on
shifters,” Mathis said to his brother with a shake of his head.
“Come on, let’s get you off the floor.” Mathis helped Ujarak stand
and then led him to a chair. “You’ll get used to the porting once
you’ve done it a time or two.”

“Sure, sure. I take it our sister
called to tell you what went on at home?”

Mathis stiffened and clenched his jaw.
The polar bear village threw Mathis out when he was a small boy. He
wouldn’t think of the village as home.

“Malina must have called me first,
thinking you were here, little brother.” Mathis ruffled his
brother’s hair. JP smiled at their antics. At least the brothers
were still close. Ujarak wasn’t as closed minded as some of the
polar bear shifters.

Jean-Paul led Susan to the couch and
sat, pulling her close to his side. Her scent of ripe peaches
wafted over him and he couldn’t wait to taste her again. A knock at
the door made them all turn. Before Mathis could move toward the
entrance, the door opened and Jared Wolfe and his mate, Esme,
walked into the house.

Esme marched over and stood glaring
down at JP with her hands on her hips.

“How dare you make my sister cry! Do
you know the kind of hell you’ve put her through by disappearing
like you did? You’re lucky she needs you for her continued
happiness or my wolf would tear you a huge one!”

“Now, Esme, calm down,” Mathis quickly
jumped to his defense. “JP didn’t know about the separation anxiety
that leads to grieving.”

Jared picked up his mate and settled
into a chair with Esme on his lap. He held her close and nuzzled
her neck. Jean-Paul was glad to see the alpha female settle down.
No one in their right mind wanted a lycan mad at them.

“I promise you, I didn’t realize I
hurt Susan by leaving. Now that I know, I’ll keep her close to
me.”

Margot walked into the room carrying
cups of coffee on a tray. “Sorry I didn’t come down right away,”
she said putting the tray on a table. “I finished getting the
little ones to bed. Tikaani was disappointed that his Uncle Ujarak
wasn’t coming upstairs to tuck him in. So fill me in while I hand
out cups.”

“Esme was just about to rip into JP
for hurting Susan,” Ujarak said a little too gleefully.

Jean-Paul grimaced. “Actually, I
apologized about not knowing my absence would be so painful to my
Destined One.”

“So the witch-kind know about
heartmates?” Esme asked curiously.

“We certainly believe in a special
person destined to join with us. The witch-kind don’t share
thoughts like the lycans or grieve with separation. I won’t leave
Susan behind, now that I know.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. The
lycan mating bond is all consuming,” Jared said. “We mate for life,
with the death of a spouse causing the death of their mate. Once
you and Susan cement the bond in place, you too will be vulnerable
to these side effects.”

“If you’re afraid that’ll scare me
away, it won’t. I want to bond with Susan,” JP said giving Susan a
squeeze and smiling down at her.

“I wish we could give you the time you
need, but with my uncle on the loose and a magic item melting the
arctic, you need to get a move on,” Mathis pointed out. “It’s
already dark outside and the farther north you travel, the less
light there will be.”

“That’s my brother’s way of saying,
hit the road, Jack,” Ujarak said.

“Jared and Esme brought a couple of
snowmobiles for you to take to the polar bear village. Try not to
get them banged up; they’re new,” Mathis said.

“We also brought snowsuits. Susan,
you’ll need to bundle up,” Jared said.

“Come on, Sus. Let’s get you changed,”
Esme said moving to the bag at the door and pulling an orange
snowsuit from inside.

JP reluctantly released Susan to
change. She rose from the couch and followed her lycan sister
upstairs.

“My father has talked to the polar
bear elders and explained that you’re coming with Susan. I can’t
guarantee that’ll keep Susan safe, but it’s the only thing I can
do,” Mathis said.

“Don’t worry,” Ujarak spoke up.
“Malina and I will keep Susan safe.”

JP gritted his teeth. Susan
was
his
Destined
One, he would keep her safe, even from well-meaning polar bears if
necessary.

“Go get changed, little brother,”
Mathis directed. Ujarak got up and headed upstairs. “He means well,
JP. He doesn’t understand about heartmates. He’s all
bear.”

Jean-Paul nodded and stood.

“I wish we could send some of our men
with you, Jean-Paul, but with relations on a slippery edge with the
polar bears, it might cause more trouble than it’s worth.” Jared
rose and walked to the two men.

“It’s probably better this way,”
Jean-Paul said. “We don’t want the whole world to find out about
us. Having a magic item loose in the arctic is bad enough. This way
there won’t be many witnesses. If your uncle learns how to control
the ring, we could all be in trouble.”

“He’s a mean, bitter man. I wouldn’t
trust him to do what’s right. He’ll fight you if he can.” Mathis
shook his head.

“That’s what worries me,” JP
said.

§

“How are you doing, Susan?” Esme asked
closing the door to the bathroom upstairs. “I see JP gave you a
ring.”

Susan stopped unbuttoning her shirt to
hold out her hand. “It’s a gorgeous ring. I think the stone is an
emerald. JP was very apologetic about leaving me. He asked me to
marry him. I said yes.”

“Why do I hear a ‘but’ in there
somewhere?” Esme asked, concern etching her face.

Susan pulled on the silk thermal
underwear. “I don’t really know him well enough to promise him
forever. I know the lycan mating bond is never wrong, but how do I
know what I feel is love?” She continued putting on layer after
layer of clothes.

“I know you’re confused, honey. You
can trust in the bond. Love will come. Your wolf knows what she’s
doing.”

“You’re always going on about how
great it is being bonded to Jared. Didn’t you have any doubts?”
Susan asked, pulling up the zipper on the one-piece
snowsuit.

“Of course I did,” Esme
said. “I didn’t know anything about lycans when the bond snapped
into place. My brother still kept me locked in the basement when I
shifted. Then when the bond connected me to Jared, he was so far
away.” Then after a pause, she asked. “Do you
like
JP?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Susan asked putting on
her snow boots. “He’s totally hot, though not in the lycan way.
Still, his body is very fine. He treats me like a valuable
treasure, always respectful and kind. It drives me crazy! At least
when he kisses me I feel his passion. Then something comes up to
interrupt us. At Christmas time, I think Tikaani made it his
mission to interrupt us.”

“The little scamp probably thought he
needed to protect you,” Esme suggested.

“Or protect his favorite uncle’s
interests. I’m ready to go. Are you sure all these clothes are
necessary? I’m burning up in here.”

“Let’s get you outside. You’ll feel
better. Hopefully the guys are taking care of the rest of the gear.
Mathis had us bring camping equipment and a satellite phone for
emergencies.”

“The emergency is going to be me
trying to get these clothes off when I need to go to the bathroom.
Are you sure it wouldn’t be easier for me to go wolf. I could
follow the guys on the snowmobiles.”

“We don’t know where
Mathis’s uncle went in the Arctic Circle. For all we know he’s
headed onto the ice. The
Nanuk
don’t like lycans, so showing up as a wolf isn’t
a good idea.”

“What’s their problem with lycans?”
Susan asked as they started down the stairs.

“I don’t think anyone really knows.
Our kinds have interbred when the mating bond snapped into place.
Mathis and the children prove that by turning into arctic wolves.
Something must have happened in the past and now some, not all, of
the polar bear shifters hate the lycans. They keep saying it’s
about territorial hunting grounds. Lycans don’t hunt the seal or
whale. Maybe you can find out more while you’re up
there.”

“There you are, Suzy-Q. Ready to go?”
Ujarak asked from the front door.

“Where’s JP?” Why did she have to
sound so needy?

Ujarak frowned. “He’s outside with
Mathis and Jared. I guess you’ll want to ride with him.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Susan
said.

Ujarak turned and stomped out the
door. Esme squeezed her hand. “He must really like you to be so
jealous. Are you going to be all right with these two?”

“Sure. I have every woman’s dream, a
mate and a spare. What could go wrong?”