My Perfect Mate (8 page)

Susan’s face turned pink and she
glanced away. “I’m not sure what to say to him. I know he saved
me.”

“He saved both of us. I would have
jumped off the snowmobile to get to you without his warning. He’s a
good friend to you.”

“He’s a teddy bear. Let’s go find
him.”

JP’s heart thudded when Susan took his
hand. He pulled her into his side and wrapped an arm around her.
They walked to the door and pushed it open.

Ujarak stood backed against the wall
of the castle. He rose to his full height of over eight feet.
Surrounding him on three sides, a pack of arctic wolves growled and
snarled.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Susan yelled
rushing forward.

Ujarak didn’t want to fight the
amarok. He’d never seen so many arctic wolf shifters in one place.
They rarely gathered in these numbers. Susan yelled and ran
forward. JP caught her arm and pulled her back. Thank goodness the
magic user stopped her. The pack could take them out with sheer
numbers, though many of them looked young.

A swirl of light surrounded one of the
large wolves near the front. Ujarak thought it might be the alpha
of the pack. He gasped when the lights blinked out and a beautiful
woman stood before them. Her skin was white as the snow around
them. Her hair was black like a raven’s wing and fell around her
body like a cape. Her eyes were the palest blue and he shivered
when he looked into them. It was like looking into the ice itself.
She walked forward, placing a hand on the heads of the wolves she
passed. They calmed under her touch.

“Sir Hywel. What is a Fae Lord doing
with a nanuk and a lycan in the arctic?”

“Trying to save the world, Aisyt.
Please call me JP. The queen lost a ring which is causing the
arctic to melt. We need to find it.”

“You know this woman?” Susan
asked.

Ujarak wondered the same thing. He’d
never seen a more beautiful woman in his life. If someone told him
the goddess herself stood before him, he would believe
it.

“I know of her. We’ve never met
before,” JP explained to Susan. “My lady,” he addressed the woman,
“could we move our discussion inside? Ujarak needs to shift and
dress.”

One of the other wolves growled, lips
curled back to show sharp canines. Ujarak was sure the wolf wanted
to attack him.

“It’s all right, Qannik. I know of
‘JP’ as well. Wait for me if you wish.”

Snowflake? The woman called her wolf
Snowflake? Ujarak wanted to laugh, but was afraid any movement on
his part would make matters worse.

Jean-Paul held open the door and
ushered Susan inside before turning to wait for Aisyt. Ujarak
lowered to all fours and sidled closer to the door. He sighed in
relief when JP waited for him to enter. He wasn’t sure the pack of
Amarok wouldn’t rip him apart on principle. He could smell their
aggression coming at him in waves.

JP closed the door and Ujarak lumbered
to his clothes, still lying on the floor. He picked them up in his
teeth and looked for a place to shift. Finally he saw a small
alcove and decided it would have to do. He heard Susan whispering
fiercely to JP. From the look on Aisyt’s beautiful face, she could
hear them as well. She smiled at Ujarak and winked. Did he think
this woman was cold, because suddenly he felt way too warm? He
ducked inside the alcove and called the shift.

§

“Who is that woman? Why did she call
you a Fae Lord? What does that mean? Is she saying Fae as in
fairy?” Susan couldn’t believe it. Jean-Paul did have a mystical
quality to him and his ears did have points near the top. Was her
mate a mythological creature?

“Person, perhaps. A mythological
person.”

Susan shook her head. She felt JP use
the mating bond to read her. Now? No wonder she saw those scenes in
his mind. He really was from another planet.

“Aisyt is Fae as well,” Jean-Paul
said.

“You didn’t think to mention you’re
from another planet? I’m bonded to an alien!”

“Susan, I’m as human as you
are.
Ynys Afallon
is in another dimension, and okay, another planet. My people
have been here for centuries, before humans were nothing more than
hunter-gatherers. The witch-kind are descendant from us, the
Fae.”

“Who is that woman? What is she doing
here?”

“I live here.” Aisyt said, walking up
to them. “I’ve lived here for a very long time. My Amarok pack and
I stay safe in the sanctuary of the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately,
we are not safe from the Nanuk. Several of them go out of their way
to hunt us. The shifters in my pack are the abandoned children of
the Nanuk villages. I find them and bring them to a place of
safety.”

“No wonder they wanted to attack me.”
Ujarak walked out of the alcove in his human form.

“I’m sorry about that,” Aisyt said.
“Many of my adopted family hate the Nanuk for being so cruel and
abandoning them.”

“I’m sorry, too. My uncle is just as
prejudiced against the Amarok.”

“But not you?” Aisyt asked, her head
tilted to the side. Did Ujarak have another admirer?

“No. My oldest brother is Amarok, as
is my youngest sister. My parents sent them to a lycan pack for
safety.”

“I’m glad your parents are more
understanding. But no child should be sent away from their parents.
There shouldn’t be a need. The Nanuk and Amarok are
family.”

“I agree,” Susan said. She wanted to
dislike the beautiful woman, but she was right. “The lycans are
willing to take in the amarok. Before this little adventure, I
helped care for a foster family of amarok children. The little ones
don’t understand why their parents sent them away.”

“Not all nanuk are against the amarok
and lycans. Only a small group of angry men. Our elders don’t want
to make waves, so they let them tell their lies and try to ignore
them.” Ujarak rubbed his hand over his eyes.

Aisyt patted his arm. She hissed.
Ujarak jumped. Aisyt held her hand to her chest and stared at
Ujarak, her eyes wide. Jean-Paul looked at them and
chuckled.

“What am I missing here?” Susan poked
JP in the side.

“It looks like your friend has a
Destined One after all.” JP put his arm around her waist and pulled
her close.

“What? I don’t understand.” Susan
looked from JP to Ujarak.

Aisyt and Ujarak seemed trapped in
each other’s eyes, their gazes locked. Ujarak suddenly grabbed the
woman and kissed her like she was the air he breathed.

Susan watched, surprised that she
actually didn’t mind. Did that mean she was finally over her
attraction to the bear? She looked up at JP. He smiled and gave her
a squeeze. “Let’s give them a moment, shall we?” She
nodded.

Jean-Paul walked them outside. All but
one of the amarok were gone, only the trampled snow gave evidence
to their existence. The arctic wolf ran over to them. Susan leaned
down to greet her.

“Aisyt is fine. She will be
out in a minute,”
Susan sent
telepathically to the amarok. What did Aisyt call her?
Qannik?

White lights surrounded the white wolf
and in moments a young woman stood naked before them. Unlike most
amarok and nanuk, her coloring was white like the snow, from the
color of her hair and skin, to the pale color of her
eyes.

“Aisyt shouldn’t be alone with the
polar bear. He’ll hurt her.” The girl wrung her hands.

“No, he won’t. He’s her mate. You
don’t have to worry.” JP tried to reassure the girl.

“Her mate? She wouldn’t!” The girl
sprung away, transforming into her wolf form in mid stride. Susan
admired the ability; the girl must be an alpha.

“Oh, dear,” Aisyt said from the door.
“Qannik’s nanuk family was exceptionally cruel. They tortured her
and left her to die.”

“That’s horrible!” Susan’s heart ached
for the young woman.

“Yes. This whole situation is
horrible.” Aisyt turned her face into Ujarak’s chest as he gathered
her close.

“We’ve got to do something. This can’t
go on.” Susan grabbed JP’s hand. What could they do to stop this
terrible hate?

“Right now we need to find Ujarak’s
uncle and get back the ring. I’m sorry, Susan. If we don’t stop
him, there will be no Arctic ice cap left. The whole world is in
danger, not just the amarok. The ice you fell through should have
been six feet thick.” JP shook his head and sighed.

“He’s right,” Aisyt said walking
forward. “We must save the world before we save the
amarok.”

“Would you like to borrow some
clothes?” How did the woman stand being naked in the
arctic?

Aisyt laughed. A high tinkling sound
that seemed to dance in the air. “I hope I don’t make you
uncomfortable. I use magic to keep myself warm. I need to go speak
with my pack. I’ll meet you later. There are at least three nanuk
ahead of you. If you continue going northeast, you should catch up
to them today. The light is already failing. Soon you will be
traveling in the dark again. Stay safe, Ujarak. I’ve waited
thousands of years for you.” She reached up and patted his cheek.
Ujarak leaned his face into her palm and then turned and kissed
it.

Susan looked away suddenly
embarrassed. The moment seemed too intimate for witnesses. She was
happy for Ujarak. Now maybe he would understand what she’d been
going through being tied to a person she didn’t really
know.

§

“You’re coming to know me,
as I you. Search my mind if you need to know me better.”
JP frowned with concentration. The headache lying
across his eyes was a small price to pay to reassure Susan. Now
that Ujarak found his Destined One, JP worried she once more felt
abandoned.

“Stop trying to use telepathy. I can
feel your pain,” Susan hissed.

“The mating bond linking our minds is
necessary for your wellbeing. The pain is nothing.”

“It’s not ‘nothing.’ I don’t want to
hurt you. Shouldn’t we be going?”

Jean-Paul nodded and took her hand.
They walked to the snowmobiles. JP handed Susan her helmet, before
picking up his own. Ujarak ran over and Aisyt simply disappeared
using a porting spell to travel.

Susan stared at the castle in awe.
“What a beautiful creation. It’s more magnificent outside than it
was in. Will it just melt away?”

“When the weather warms and the ice
recedes, for now it will remain. Put your helmet on, honey. We need
to find Ujarak’s uncle.”

“If he lets us find him,” Ujarak said
before plopping the helmet on his head. He started up his
snowmobile and JP did as well.

Susan climbed on behind JP and
snuggled. Her arms around his waist gripped tightly. He patted her
clasped hands and then pulled away from the castle heading
northeast. Twilight returned to the landscape and soon darkness
would encompass the top of the world.

§

Susan stared at the stars in the black
sky. Riding behind JP left little for her to do, except hold on.
Her stomach grumbled and she squirmed. She could have died today.
Not even being a lycan would have saved her. She’d faced death
before when cancer tried to take her from the living. Then a crazy
doctor had injected her with the stem cells of a lycan. It cured
her cancer and changed her into a wolf. Susan liked her wolf and
the feelings of freedom and strength.

How could parents kill their children
for turning into wolves, especially being shifters themselves?
Qannik’s stricken face flashed in her mind. It didn’t make sense.
What could they do to change the situation? Ujarak’s family didn’t
hate wolf shifters. His mother was a lycan. What happened to cause
such a rift between the Amarok and Nanuk?

JP slowed the snowmobile. Susan
snapped out of her reverie and looked around. Ujarak stopped in
front of them and turned off his machine. JP parked next to him and
took off his helmet.

“What’s up?” he asked.

Susan heard a small yip, and then a
bark. She peered into the darkness and saw a small lump in the
snow. It was an igloo. Tied up outside, their bodies covered in
snow, were six sled dogs.

“The trail ends here. My uncle must
have built the igloo. He might be inside.”

Susan pulled off her helmet and
covered her head with the hood of her jacket. She wanted to run to
the dogs. She didn’t smell a polar bear, only the dogs that were
now barking in greeting. She curbed her response and waited for JP
and Ujarak to decide what to do. Asking for the ring would be
difficult enough. She didn’t want to make it harder and her
presence alone could be a problem.

“Uncle? Are you here?” Ujarak called
out. He walked up to the small entrance and crawled in. Susan paced
back and forth. Would the man cooperate?

A few minutes later, Ujarak
reappeared. “No one’s here. He left some of his gear inside. He
must have shifted.”

“He left the dogs? They could die out
here!” Susan hurried over to the dogs and was enthusiastically
greeted. Their leads were staked into the ice. If no one came back,
the dogs would die of starvation. There was no sign of food left
for them.