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  My Perfect Mate

  Book Ten of the Siberian Volkov Pack Romance Series

  Caryn Moya Block

  Copyright

  Published by Caryn M. Block

  Copyright © 2015 Caryn M. Block

  Smashwords Edition

  Cover Design by Cora Graphics

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  My Perfect Mate

  Book Ten of the Siberian Volkov Pack Romance Series

  Susan Adams embraced being turned into a lycan with her whole heart. But having super senses and turning into a wolf on command doesn’t help her keep a job or figure out who she is. Now the mating bond has snapped into place and her wolf, through the mating heat, demands she cement the bond in place. There’s only one problem. Her mate isn’t a lycan, in fact she’s not sure what he is, and mating is the farthest thing on his mind.

  Jean Paul Nadeau is more than just an elemental witch, he is one of the famed Averys, as the human witches know him. In truth, he is an Immortal Fae Lord sent by the Queen of Avalon to guard a dimensional gateway located in Quebec City. When the lycan mating bond attaches to his heart, he is both surprised and dismayed. Finding his “Destined One” is an unexpected gift, but a gift that will cost him more than his immortality.

  Dedication

  To my Mom, who is my friend, constant cheerleader, and beta reader.

  Acknowledgements

  It takes a village, or in this case a whole bunch of friends, even in the solitary business of writing books. I am blessed with knowing these people and receiving their help to bring you every book I write. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. My beta readers, my critique partners, my editor, Tina Winograd, the authors that mentor and help me, and certainly not least, my family. Then, of course there is you, the reader, who cheers me on and can’t wait for the next book. You are the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  Prologue

  Jean-Paul Nadeau gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. A simple favor of driving his friend Mathis Levesque’s limo had turned into so much more. Some wacko and his men were in the process of invading Mathis and his mate Margot’s home. They all were going into battle to save the couple’s adopted children.

  The silly humans actually thought they could win against a pack of lycans. JP almost felt sorry for them. Of course, humans didn’t know about the magical races. He belonged to the secret, mythological Fae.

  He pulled up to the creek not far from the house Mathis rented from the pack. The two SUVs following them parked, and lycans jumped out, some already in wolf form.

  “Okay, JP. You know what to do,” came flooding into his head from Mathis in the back of the limo with Margot. JP winced. Telepathy wasn’t a gift of the Fae. Though convenient for a lycan in his wolf form, it gave Jean-Paul the headache from hell.

  He pulled slowly over the bridge and drove up the road to the house. Just as they reached the front door, the lights went out in the building. Inside the limo, Margot opened the car’s back door and Mathis’s wolf form jumped out. JP rolled forward, headed back to the bridge.

  A man stepped into the driveway, holding a gun aimed at him. “Merde!” Jean-Paul swore. “Get down,” JP yelled and floored it.

  Margot dropped to the seat. Glass broke. Bullets flew into the car. Jean-Paul moaned as one bullet hit him in the chest and another grazed his head. His hand fell from the wheel. His arm numb. Blood poured into his eyes. He must hang on. Miraculously, they kept moving down the road.

  “How badly are you hit?” Margot asked. The smell of blood filled the air.

  “Not too bad. I’ll have you to your parents in a minute,” he said through gritted teeth. He could do this, help his friend. A strange lethargy started taking hold. A whack on his chest made him gasp. A thin golden cord came from his heart. A vision of a woman with blond curls holding a small child filled his mind. His eyesight darkened.

  Margot sneaked a peek over the seat. They were almost to the bridge. The car began to fishtail on the slick surface. “Slow down, Jean Paul, you need to slow down.”

  There was no answer.

  §

  “Ujarak!” Susan Adams cried out.

  The polar bear shifter turned to look at her. He frowned. “What’s the matter with you? You look as white as a snow.”

  “Take the baby, I think I’m going to faint.”

  Ujarak Levesque, Mathis’s youngest brother jumped up and caught both Susan and baby Cybille as Susan collapsed. He lowered them to the floor. Cybille started to cry. Tikaani ran over to comfort her.

  “What’s the matter with Aunt Susan?” Nuvuk asked.

  Ujarak smiled at his brother’s six adopted Amarok children. Descended from polar bear shifters, they were abandoned because they turned into arctic wolves.

  “Hopefully, nothing, if that golden thread of light attached to her heart means what I think it means,” Ujarak said.

  “Oh, I see it, too. Aunt Susan has found a mate?” Ila asked.

  “How come you aren’t her mate?” Uki asked.

  “We’re friends. I kind of hoped there might be more to it, but I know how important you wolves take your mating bond. Looks like Susan is meant for someone else.”

  “But who is it?” Nuvuk asked, coming over and patting Susan’s face.

  “I don’t know, little buddy. Whoever it is, he must have gotten hurt to make the mating bond snap into place like that.”

  “I hope he’s okay,” Elisapie said.

  §

  JP came to, slowly. He was wet. The car must’ve fallen into the creek and someone fished him out. Esme, the Alpha lycan’s mate kneeled beside him. “Let’s get you into the house. The all clear has been sounded.” JP nodded and the world swirled out of focus.

  “Easy, you’ve been shot.” Esme helped a bedraggled Jean-Paul through the front door.

  “Put him on the floor next to Susan,” Brenda the pack healer directed, striding through the door. JP turned his head and saw the woman from his vision. She was unconscious. His heart ached. Someone needed to help her. Brenda hurried to Jean-Paul and opened his shirt.

  Ujarak made his way to the sofa, and picked up Susan’s hand.

  “Don’t touch her! Get away from her!” JP shouted. He didn’t know why, but the polar bear shifter couldn’t touch her.

  Brenda quickly held JP down. “No! Mathis, help me. He still has a bullet in him. I only healed the wound on his head. Ujarak, get away from her. JP is in the thrall of the mating heat.”

  Mathis hurried over. The ground underneath the house suddenly heaved as JP’s magic surrounded him. The windows rattled and the pendulum light in the dining room swung. No one touched his mate. His Destined One! He hadn’t attacked Ujarak, only because his mind was clouded with pain.

  “She doesn’t even know this guy. Why should I leave her to a complete stranger?” Ujarak demanded. “Besides, he doesn’t smell like any kind of shifter I know.”

  “Because if he dies, she dies with him. Please, I know you care for her. I need you to get away,” Brenda begged.

  The house shook again, weaker this time. Jean-Paul�
��s strength quickly waned as the pain from his wound throbbed through his body.

  Ujarak looked at Mathis, his face a mask of confusion. “She’s right, brother. Why don’t you see what Jared has done with the kidnappers’ bodies?” Ujarak nodded and then reluctantly headed for the kitchen.

  Jean-Paul’s struggles ceased, and his head dropped to the carpet. He didn’t even have the strength for a healing spell now. The pack healer ran her hands over JP’s body, before cupping her palm over the bullet wound in his chest. Warmth poured into Jean-Paul’s chest. It was almost painful. He gasped.

  His skin knitted together as the wound slowly healed pushing the bullet to the surface. Brenda reached down and pulled it from the hole. Jean-Paul groaned and sat up.

  The beautiful angel lying next to him breathed deeply and then her eyelids fluttered. Mathis helped JP to his feet, while the healer checked the woman.

  “Brenda, I felt like I was shot,” she said. “One bullet grazed my head and the other went into my chest. The pain was terrible. I blacked out.”

  “That was your mate getting shot, not you,” Brenda explained.

  JP moved forward and held out his hand to Susan. “I’m Jean-Paul Nadeau. I’m your destined mate.”

  Chapter One

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Susan Adams asked, answering the door.

  “I came to see my brother. What are you doing here, Suzy-Q?” Ujarak Levesque asked, his voice all deep and melty as he towered over her.

  She felt that trickle of attraction and then immediately felt guilty. Ujarak wasn’t her heartmate, and just like everyone else in her life, he snuck into her heart and then left her. He looked like she remembered, tall and broad with dark hair and eyes the color of milk chocolate. Yummy. She hardened her heart and realized he waited for her to speak. “I’m helping Margot and Mathis with the kids.”

  “Well, are you going to let me in?” Ujarak asked.

  “Why should I? You’re the one who left without saying goodbye. You dropped me like a cold fish.” The immediate burn of being abandoned filled her chest and counteracted the earlier attraction. He was such an ass.

  “Polar bear shifters don’t drop fish, we eat them. But you belong to another, and I don’t poach.”

  “I belong to myself, and I thought we were friends. Friends don’t do that!” Susan felt her eyes grow moist and cursed the idiot shifter anew. She’d been crying a lot lately. What was wrong with her?

  “Ahh, Don’t cry, Suzie-Q.” Ujarak wiped the tears from her cheek. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I really like you and I kind of thought we might have something special together. Then that stupid mating bond snapped into place. I can’t compete with that. I only left because I thought it was the right thing to do.” He pulled Susan into his arms.

  Needing the comfort, she buried her face against his chest and sobbed. Everything had gone downhill since meeting her mate Jean-Paul Nadeau. First Ujarak left without saying goodbye, then her mate left her, then she lost her job at the dog sledding company owned by the pack. If it hadn’t been for Margot and the kids, Susan didn’t know what she would have done.

  “Mom! Uncle Ujarak is here, and he made Susan cry!” Ten-year-old Tikaani’s voice reverberated through the house.

  Susan heard hurried footsteps coming up behind her. “Oh, dear. Come into the house, you two, you’re letting all the heat out. Ujarak, it’s so good to see you. We missed you over the holidays. How did the hunt go?” Margot asked. Polar bear shifters needed the flesh of seal and whale in their diet to survive. Each January hunting parties went onto the ice to hunt and fish.

  Ujarak picked Susan up and carried her inside the house. Margot closed the door.

  “The hunt is why I’ve come. I need to speak to Mathis,” Ujarak answered.

  “Put me down. I don’t need to be carried around,” Susan complained, but couldn’t deny she liked how Ujarak held her so gently.

  “Hey, you’re the one crying all over my sweater. Now why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Where is Jean-Paul?” Ujarak set Susan on the couch and then sat down beside her and draped his arm over her shoulders.

  “Tikaani, can you ask Marie to put on water for tea?” Margot instructed her adopted son. He dutifully ran into the kitchen. “Okay, Susan, spill,” Margot said. “Everything was fine up until Christmas and then suddenly Jean-Paul isn’t around anymore and you’re slowly sinking into depression. Don’t deny it, we’ve all noticed, and are worried about you.”

  “Jean-Paul isn’t a lycan,” Susan said. “I’m not sure what he is, not that it matters with the mating bond choosing him as my perfect mate. He was very sweet to me while he was here. I thought we were working up to cementing the bond in place. I know he wanted me, I could smell his arousal. I thought he wanted to give us both time to get to know each other better, before we jumped into bed. Then he left and went back to Quebec City. He said he needed to get back to work. I haven’t heard from him since. I called and left messages, but he never calls back. I guess he doesn’t want me.” The emptiness in her heart wanted to swallow her.

  “I’ve never heard of the mating bond failing, Susan,” Margot said. “There must be something else going on. Mathis should be here in a little while. He wanted to get home early tonight and take the children for a run. He’ll know what to do.”

  “Somebody should punch Jean-Paul,” Ujarak said, patting Susan’s shoulder. “That’s what needs to be done. I can’t believe he left you. Everyone talks about the gift of the mating bond and knowing you’re destined to be together. What kind of idiot walks away from that?”

  “I guess the idiot who is supposed to be mated to me.” Susan couldn’t help it, the tears started again and Ujarak pulled her back into his arms. She hated crying, hated feeling so weak.

  “I’m going to rip him to pieces,” Ujarak growled. He could do it, too, if he was in his bear form.

  “I’m afraid some of Susan’s depression is from being separated from her mate. The mating bond is causing her to grieve for Jean-Paul. I’m going to call Mathis.” Margot got up and walked into the kitchen.

  “I’m sorry to be so weepy,” Susan said, her breath shuddering. “I’m not normally like this.”

  “I know, Suzie-Q. Don’t worry. Offering a shoulder to cry on is something friends do.”

  “Are we still friends then?” Susan asked, wiping at her eyes.

  “Of course we are. It was stupid not to say goodbye. I was hurt you’d choose someone over me.” Ujarak handed her a tissue.

  “I didn’t exactly choose. The mating bond did. I can’t help that it works that way for lycans. I don’t really understand it myself since I’ve only been a lycan for six months.”

  “I know, like I said, stupid.” Ujarak pushed her blond curls back from her face. “Do you wonder what might have happened if you weren’t a lycan?”

  §

  “I want that ring!” the Queen of the Fae shouted. “The gryphon’s eye is a powerful talisman. Jane Griffin should never have given it to her Destined One.”

  “I think she hoped it would bring him safely back to her,” Jean-Paul suggested quietly. He stood in the queen’s chambers after being summoned back to Yns Afallon, home of the Fae.

  The queen looked otherworldly in her robes of silver covered with pearls and crystals. She paced in front of her desk. “Instead, he and the ring were lost to the ice of the Arctic. That’s the problem with Destined Ones. Your time with them can be so fleeting. Are you sure you want to tie yourself to this lycan? She won’t make your magic stronger since her kind is immune.”

  “Even if our time together is fleeting, it will be worth tying our souls together, Your Majesty. We will meet again, and again, in each lifetime we choose to live. Immortality is lonely when you live only one lifetime, alone. The earthlings get to experience everything new with each life they live.”

  “True, but each life they are ignorant of the last.” The queen shook her head. “I think that would grow tedious,
having to relearn everything new each time. I won’t try to dissuade you. She’s your Destined One and I can’t change it.”

  “Thank you, Your Majesty. I’ll get you the ring. I know someone related to the polar bear shifter you saw acquire it. I’ll try and set up a meeting.”

  “Excellent! When you have the ring, send it through the portal. With my nephew causing trouble in England, I’ll need its strength added to my power.”

  Jean-Paul bowed deeply and backed out of the room. Once out the door, he spun and hurried to his chambers in the castle. Three days would be three weeks on Earth. He needed to get back to Susan. The lycan mating bond tugged at his heart and a feeling of loss threatened to unbalance him. The queen’s demand to return to court couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

  Now he must retrieve this Gryphon’s Eye ring. Claiming a Destined One wasn’t easy for a Fae Lord. Permission from the queen must be acquired, as well as the handling of his personal items.

  Once bonded, he wouldn’t return to Ynys Afallon. Luckily, there were several members of the court willing to purchase his castle and other properties. He’d made them pay in silver and magic items. You could never trust Faerie gold to be real once you left Ynys Afallon.

  He put his treasures into a small strong box and locked it with a spell. He put the ring he’d chosen to give Susan in his pocket and gathered his cloak and weapons. A knock on the door surprised him. Who could be calling at this late hour? He needed to get to the portal.

  Jean-Paul opened the door to find the captain of the queen’s guard waiting for him.

  “Sir Dinadan, is something the matter?” JP asked.