Chapter 23
Jakfros
Icannot believe what my dear, sweet Shawna has done.
She has saved me. Naturally, it is with my mother’s help, but Mother has been eagerly recounting the events and her admiration for my mate’s determination to seek help for me.
Her devotion truly humbles me and feeds the fire burning for her deep within my heart that is greater and beyond any warmth that my annual Yule Feast provides.
I stretch languidly, feeling the heat of energy rolling through me once more.
Coming from well over a dozen people, the energy itself feels chaotic to the point of being unsettling, and I admittedly feel a bit dizzy from it, but I am at least comfortably fed with enough holiday cheer to last well beyond the winter. Excellent.
That said, I resist the urge to shudder, my stomach recoiling slightly, as I lean in toward the female standing in front of me.
She smiles in welcome, and it just makes it that much worse.
I glance toward Shawna uncertainly, and she gestures with encouragement for me to proceed.
I swallow thickly, my stomach flipping as I face the female again and try not to look directly at her. Maybe that will be enough—
“Go on, Jak.” My mother’s exasperation is clear in her tone of voice.
I bite back my annoyance. My mother has never been attached to anyone. Of course she would not understand. I struggle to contain my scowl, but my mother’s laughter indicates that I have failed completely to appear unaffected by her remark.
“Just think of it like eating something that is good for you, even if you don’t particularly want to eat it,” Shawna suggests before I can spit out the words on the tip of my tongue.
I give my mate an appreciative look and face the problem at hand.
The human hasn’t moved, and her expression hasn’t changed from the vapid smile with which she greeted me.
She is nothing more than a compliant living statue.
My fingers twitch and I force myself to step closer as I reach out and tip her head back, angling her face so that her lips part instinctively as if waiting for her lover’s kiss.
Little does she know that I am anything but that.
In her dream state, I am anyone, but my mind can never fool me into believing that she is my Shawna.
Her gaze softens and her cheeks take on a pinker hue as she stares up at me vacantly.
This is not real, and yet it feels too close to real for my comfort now that I have found my mate.
It is even worse that she is watching this, though I know she does not understand my reluctance.
It was bad enough when it was a matter of struggling to wait out the cultivation period and feeling overeagerness to feed from females.
But now that I am confronted with this, it has introduced me to an entirely different torment that Shawna does not understand, and my mother sees as frivolous sentimentality.
Either way, when it comes to them, this is no different from any other person I have feasted from.
And in a way they are right—I need the energy and cannot afford to be so selective.
I grimace and lower my head so that my mouth is barely within range to draw her energy.
Ice races through me, rising rapidly and forming into an extension of my being that I exhale as a long, living stream of frosty mist into her mouth.
It is a part of me, sinking down deeper into her, absorbing every drop of that particular holiday warmth and drawing that energy into its icy hold.
I tremble slightly in reaction as it floods into every cell of my being, but I nearly break away when her sigh of pleasure reaches my ears.
I freeze, my wings tensing with the urge to flee.
I am a breath away from jerking away from her when I feel my mate’s warmth press against my wings.
My tail curls around her like a lifeline, and my wings tremble anew as she strokes them comfortingly.
“It’s okay, Jak. I’m right here,” she whispers.
I inhale, and calm fills my mind. Shawna is my anchor as I draw the energy hungrily.
I sip on it voraciously, drawing the brimming energy through my mouth into my being until, at last, I am satiated, and the feast has concluded.
Privately, however, the true feast was in my mate’s arms, even if it nearly destroyed me.
That was the feast of my heart and senses; and the Yule feast pales in comparison to it, despite its necessity.
As if sensing my returned energy, my mate steps back, giving me room to fully stretch my wings.
My tail sweeps in a wide arc through the air, and I stretch my arms over my head, feeling invigorated.
The entire time, the female in front of me doesn’t so much as blink.
She just continues staring and smiling, though I can see a hint of exhaustion in her eyes.
But that is normal. She is still relaxed and happy, and she is filled with that pleasure she experienced with the feeding.
This side effect makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, but a quick glance at my mate’s smiling face assures me that she is unbothered by it as she paces in front of the carolers, looking them over.
“Everyone looks good,” she remarks before glancing my way.
Her eyes skim over me anxiously for a moment before a broad smile spreads across her face with its usual impish happiness. I am relieved to see it because it replaces the strain of worry that she has been wearing since I woke.
“Of course they are,” Mother retorts, shaking her head with disbelief.
She slides off the colorful box she is perched on and adjusts her dress with a few casual sweeps of her hands over her hips.
“Unbelievably sentimental—the both of you. Over what? Look at them,” she says, waving a hand toward them.
“They don’t even realize where they are or who you are.
This is all a pleasant dream for them, and nothing more. ”
“But I know that they are not my mate,” I say quietly and sigh as I back away from the human in front of me.
“Your mate?” Shawna whispers, and my mother makes a sound of disgust.
“I know my cue to leave when I hear it,” she says cheerfully, and she departs in a sudden whirl of snow that has Shawna squeaking in surprise at the icy blast.
I inwardly sigh at my mother’s theatrics, but she is not entirely wrong for her assumptions either.
My eyes are immediately drawn to my mate.
She stands there, still staring at the lightly whirling flakes that mark Mother’s departure until they gradually begin mixing with the snowflakes as they begin to fall again.
Leaving my prey to their own devices as they begin to meander away, I turn to my mate with a welcoming smile and open my arms to her.
Happiness brightness her dear face and she rushes into my arms with a joyous sob that I can feel in a rippling current of warmth that feeds into me.
I close my arms and wings around her, holding her tightly to me as I savor the sweetness of having my mate in my arms. I brush a kiss to the top of her head and hook a finger beneath her chin, tipping her head back so that I can look into her azure eyes.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I lower my head and brush my lips against hers.
Her lips part in welcome, and I deepen the kiss, my entire being, already flushed with warmth from the feast, warming even further with the love and passion burning brightly between us.
Holding her close to my heart, my wings snap open and expand before drawing more tightly around her until she is pressed close to me, and I am hungrily feeding from her mouth in ways that I wished I had been just moments before.
This feeding, however, nourishes something even more important—my heart.
Shawna suddenly draws back, forcing my hold to loosen, as she tips her head back so that she can look into my eyes. She grins slowly at me, her eyes dancing with mischief.
“Now, what was is that you were saying about a mate?” she teases.
“Only that I am yours for as long as you will have me,” I rasp in reply.
Her smile falters, and I worry that I have said something wrong because she searches my eyes for a long moment.
“No promises of forever?”
I shake my head. “I would not cage you anymore than I could hope to capture a snowflake indefinitely within my own hands. My only hope is that you will choose to remain by my side. Mating does not chain you to me irrevocably. It only manifests the bonds that we have already forged within our own hearts.”
Shawna gives me a thoughtful look. “I choose you, Jak. I will always choose you.”
“And I will always choose you, my delightful snow imp,” I murmur, and I smile at the warmth that flushes through me, expanding within my chest to the point of bursting with pleasure.
Lowering my head, I kiss her again, pledging every promise in my heart to her with that kiss before trailing little kisses from the corner of her mouth to her jaw and then down her neck.
Upon reaching that sensitive tissue over her artery, I draw forth my inner ice as I brush my tongue against her neck in a slow caress.
She mumbles and gasps a little at the icy contact but it quickly turns into a moan as my tongue bathes that spot, laying the pattern of frost deep within her flesh and soul, marking her as my mate and dragging my immortal ice over our bonds, tying her to me in every way.
When I at last lift my head, I smile as I admire the tiny snowflake of frost upon her skin.
It is raised, and when she lifts her hand to it, I chuckle at the look of wonder that comes over her face.
“Oh, wow,” she breathes in awe, and she lifts her eyes to me, both nervous and filled with excitement. “So what’s next?”
I shrug my wings casually and with a flick of my tail I draw my magic around me in a way that I seldom bother with so that I appear semi-human.
My illusion is perhaps not as good as my mother’s since I cannot even tint my inhuman coloring, but it will only garner a little staring.
At least in this form, I can accompany her in whatever adventure she might wish to explore.
“It is your choice, my mate,” I murmur as I take her hand and thread my fingers with hers. Lifting her hand to my mouth, I press a kiss against the back of it.
“Well,” she drawls slowly. “It’s not too late for Christmas with my parents.”
The holidays with my mate’s family. It is not quite the intimate holiday season I had planned with my mate, but why not? “If you like,” I agree.
She grins but then pauses, her nose wrinkling adorably as we begin to walk together down the street. “I don’t have a clue where the hell my car is. Have you ever been to upstate New York?” she asks.
I chuckle at her side as we walk among the milling crowd.
The carolers have gathered cups of hot chocolate and have begun singing again, and with the sinking sun, the glow of the holiday lights brings a certain cheer that touches my soul.
The falling snow dances around them and invites the excited activity of the locals hurrying home.
I take pleasure in these things, but mostly in having my mate by my side as we walk through the crowd.
The snow falls harder as a slight wind begins to blow.
I grab hold of that wind, drawing the snow around us as I summon a minor portal, whisking us away from the town center and into our new life. .. together.