Her Guardian Angel (Fire and Snow) (25 page)

He leaned over her back, placing a fist into the bed on either side of her shoulders, he bent his head down and nuzzled her neck. As he slid himself into her wet heat, he gently bit her neck, just above her collar bone. Using the sensitive flesh to pin her under him, dominating her. She loved it. She felt surrounded and filled with Dominic's power and love. Oh, what she would give to be able to freeze time right now and feel like this forever.

~ * ~

Dominic had never felt such bliss. His mate was beneath him, accepting his dominance. He began pumping in and out of her glorious wet heat. After a few strokes, he felt her walls ripple. She was getting close which was a damn good thing, because he wasn't going to be able to last long; the feel of his naked erection sliding in and out of her core was more than he could stand. After a few minutes, he felt her tighten up around him as she began to climax. He released her neck and sat back, gripping her hips in his hands and roared as he joined her. His right hand was perfectly placed just above her hipbone when he felt the magic roll through him and his claws ripped through his fingertips then into her flesh. He dragged his hand around to her side, marking her before he placed his palm over the mark. He pulled himself from her body and rolled her onto her back. He lifted her encased right hand to his chest. Her sharp claws looked so right coming from her fingertips. He used his fingers to help her curl the tips over and scratch down his pectoral over his heart. He then took the palm of her left hand and placed it over the mark. He leaned down to kiss her but didn't make it. She cried out and started to shake.

Dominic wasn't sure what was happening, but he was in an instant panic--his mate was in pain. Mating wasn't meant to hurt. He reached for his phone to ring his dad to ask him for help when a blue glow started forming around Adele's body. What the hell? She was shifting? How on earth...

"Baby, don't fight it. Go with it. It won't hurt if you go with it. I don't know how or why, but you're shifting."

He saw the panic in her eyes before the blue glow engulfed her, and she reappeared as a stunningly beautiful snow leopard. He reached over to stroke her fur. He was totally dumbstruck...lost to his mind stumbling over itself. Until he heard her whimper, oh hell, bugger the whys and hows. His mate was hurting, confused.

"Adele, you're okay. You just shifted. It's okay. We'll work it all out. Dad will know why. Just relax your mind. Think about what you look like as a human and focus on it." It took her a few minutes, but eventually the blue glow began to shine and she returned to human form. Before either of them could speak, she grabbed her left wrist and screamed out in agony. Shit, the cast had shattered when she'd shifted and now her broken wrist was out of line. Moments later she passed out on the bed. Dominic sunk down next to her, stroking her face and taking some deep breaths to collect himself; that was so not how he planned on finishing their mating.

Finding his pants, he pulled out his phone, rang Clint and explained what happened. Clint told him Adele needed to get back to the hospital ASAP to get her wrist re-set and checked over. He dressed then he put Adele in clean underwear and wrapped her up in her robe before gently carrying her out to his car and laying her on the rear seat. He locked up the house, jumped in the car and drove to the hospital.

While Clint was x-raying and re-setting Adele's wrist, Dominic rung his Dad.

"Hey son, kind of late for a phone call. Everything okay?"

"No, Dad, nothing is okay. Adele, she shifted."

"Come again? She what?"

"We completed the mating. I marked her and she marked me. Then she cried out, started shaking and shifted to a snow leopard. I don't get it, Dad. She's human."

"I think I might know what is going on. I'll come over to explain. Where are you? At Adele's?"

"We're at the hospital. The shift shattered her cast. She shifted back and was in agony from her wrist. She passed out. So I rung Clint and bought her in. She's just in getting it re-set now."

"Okay, I'll come down to the hospital. Go be with your mate, son, I'll be there soon."

~ * ~

Jake quickly rose and dressed ready to head to the hospital. Suddenly, what Choden had said to him made sense. There was no point wasting time looking for another future Alpha because Dominic was in fact mated to a shifter. He scrubbed his hands over his face as he sat on the edge of his bed. As he put his shoes on, he figured he better ring Tristian and let him know they found a Lost One with a French background. He glanced at the clock, eleven forty pm. That made it mid afternoon in France. He picked up the phone and dialed. Tristian picked up on the second ring.

"Bonjour, Jake. What has you ringing me at this hour? It must be near midnight your end."

"Bonjour, Tristian. Yes, it is getting late, but this matter is urgent. I think we just found one of your Lost Ones."

"Oh, that does sound promising. Please, tell me more."

"It's Dominic's mate. She presented as fully human, but after mating, she shifted. I know her mother was French, moved to Melbourne when she was pregnant."

"Do you know her mother's name? Or the year she would have moved?"

"Ahh, I don't know her mother's name but Adele's last name is Petit. She was born in 1989. November, I think."

"
Incroyable
! You found her! Oh Remi is going to be so happy.
Merci,
my friend,
merci beaucoup
."

"You know her father? Personally?"

"Sit back my friend and let me tell you a story."

Twenty minutes later Jake hung up the phone. Damn, he hoped Dominic and Adele handled this news well, because, depending on how fast Remi could get on a plane, Adele's Dad was going to be here in the next day or two. He'd made the call to Tristian on speaker so Sophie would know what was going on. She gave him a tight hug and wished him luck and strength as he headed out the door to go to the hospital.

It was close to one am when he walked into Adele's hospital room. She lay unconscious on the bed, and Dominic was pacing back and forth across the room. His son looked like he'd aged ten years since he had seen him early yesterday. The anguish, confusion and pain rolling off him cut Jake to the bone.

"Hey, son. How is she?" He watched as Dominic raised his head to look at him

"I didn't know it would hurt her Dad. I don't get it. I don't understand why she shifted. I'd just told her that the mating wouldn't change her and then she goes and shifts!" Jake strode across the space and wrapped his son in a bone-crushing hug; Dominic sagged into his embrace, resting his head on his father's shoulder.

"She is one of the Lost Ones, Dominic. I don't know how the mating triggered the shift, but her mother was a future-mate. Her father is one of us. I spoke with Tristan before I came. I have a lot to tell you both, but I would like to be able to tell you together. Has she woken up since we spoke?"

Dominic pulled from his embrace and scrubbed his face.

"No, she hasn't. Clint said she should at any moment. He's put her wrist back in a cast. It's healing faster now that her shifter DNA has been triggered."

"How about I get you a coffee while we wait for your mate to return to us?"

"Sounds like a plan, Dad, because I really want to hear some answers, and I'm certain she will too."

~ * ~

Adele awoke to find herself in the hospital. Damn it, how the hell had she ended up back here? In a rush, the previous night came back to her. She arched her back, pressed herself deep into the mattress as she tried to breathe through the remembered pain. Dominic was right there rubbing her face and arm, saying soft gentle things to her, calming her with his smooth deep voice. But it was his fault; he'd promised her the mating wouldn't alter her.

"You said I wouldn't change. But I did! What the hell is going on, Dominic?" She was pissed off. How could he trick her like this? She didn't even see Jake until she heard him speak.

"Dominic knows as little as you do about what happened last night, Adele. Please, don't be angry. None of us saw this coming." She rested her head against Dominic and inhaled, taking his scent deep within her.

"Please, Jake, if you have answers, can you explain them to me; to us." She didn't have it in her to guess and play cryptic games. She heard Jake take a deep breath and felt Dominic's hold on her tighten; he had slipped onto the bed and had moved her into his embrace.

"Where to start... I guess I should really check a couple things to make sure we have it right. Adele, what was your mother's name? And when did she migrate to Australia from France?"

"Her name was Fleur Petit and she migrated in May, 1989. Why? What has that got to do with anything?"

"Your father. He is one of us, and he's been searching for you and your mother since before you were born."

Adele looked at Jake in shock. Her father? Remi Baudin, the man who had irrevocably broken her mother's heart had been looking for her?

"I don't believe you. He left my mother and broke her heart. When he found out about me, he literally ran from her."

"Yes, he did run, but not for the reasons you think."

Adele looked up to the door as a new deep voice floated over the room. What she saw stole her breath. A Tibetan Monk stood in her doorway, dressed traditionally in red and gold robing. He would only be five foot two at the most, but he had a strong aura of power and wisdom. This was a man whose presence alone commanded respect. His skin was a dark tan color. His dark hair was trimmed close to his skull, and his face was serious but friendly. He looked like he couldn't be much older than twenty, but his eyes held the wisdom of an old man. Who the hell was this man who seemed to know what they were talking about?

Jake spoke words she couldn't even begin to understand to the newcomer then bowed slightly. So apparently, Jake knew who this guy was. She looked over to Dominic whose mouth hung loosely open and his face looked awestruck. She gently nudged Dominic with her elbow to get his attention and cocked an eyebrow in question. He looked down at her and smiled.

"It's okay, Adele. This is Choden Sangye. He is the original shifter, and he's like our guru."

The original shifter? Guru? Adele's head began pounding and she buried her head into Dominic's chest as she became totally overwhelmed.

"Jake, my brother, have you not begun educating your newest cub? I fear we have overwhelmed the child."

"Choden, I was just starting to explain. Perhaps you would like to take over; you tell our history so much clearer than I."

"Yes, I believe starting with our history would be a good place to begin. We will get to her father's story later, I think. Jake, would you be so kind as to find me a seat. We are going to be here for some time." Adele lifted her head from Dominic's chest as she heard Jake bring a chair close to the bed. Before Choden sat down, he picked up her left hand, resting his forehead against the back of it for a moment before speaking in quiet words she didn't understand. She felt a wave of energy roll through her body and mind leaving peace and comfort in its wake.

"Now, my child, let me tell you a story or two." He cleared his throat before he continued.

"This story starts long ago with the monks who lived high in the mountains of Tibet. The monks were bonded with the snow leopards. The men would provide shelter and medical aid and in return ,the snow leopards offered the monks protection from those who would harm them. It was a relationship that worked well and benefited both man and beast.

"In the 1750's an elderly monk had started to become concerned for the snow leopards. Their numbers were declining rapidly from hunters who sought out their beautiful and thick pelts. Together with his prodigy, a young boy who he had taken under his wing, they researched ways in which they could help protect the snow leopards.

"In 1759 they finally had everything they needed to conduct the magic that would hopefully save their friends and protectors. They had found a way to join together a man and a beast. Thus enabling the beast to shift to a man and the man to shift to a beast, enabling both to better protect themselves and others they held dear.

"Now the young monk had an extremely close bond with a young male snow leopard, and they both gladly volunteered to be joined. Late at night, under the darkness of a new moon, the elder monk cast the magic upon the younger man and beast. A ball of blue electric energy formed around both the man and the beast before they were raised in the air and merged into one. Upon the energy fading, the beast was revealed and the man had disappeared. The beast raised his head and roared to the sky. As he did, the blue ball of energy returned over him and he flashed into a man.

"Now, that isn't the end of the story. You see the monks didn't realize that Halley's Comet had passed over them just as they were casting the magic. The comet strengthened the magic, and along with the newly created shifter, a pair of mated shifters were conceived on each of the world's seven continents that night. The magic continues to stay with Halley's comet, and each time it passes back over the earth, a new mated pair is conceived on each continent."

Adele could hardly believe what she was hearing, but then she could. It explained so much, but also bought on more questions.