My Perfect Mate Page 9

  “You don’t think she’ll keep him a prisoner?”

  “When it comes to Fae women, I’m not sure what they’ll do. Let’s have a look around. This underground complex Aisyt has created is fascinating. I had no idea it was here. The Witches Council will want to know of it.” Jean-Paul paused at the door and whispered something under his breath. A white light suddenly filled the doorway blocking the dogs inside. She pushed her hand through it, feeling tingles against her skin. JP took her hand.

  “It’s only a one way barrier. It will keep the dogs in, but anyone can enter.”

  They started down the corridor. The dogs whined behind her, but didn’t come through the barrier.

  “The Witches Council? Why would they want to know about this place?”

  “The Witch-kind know the Fae as the Averys,” JP said. “An old bloodline from the beginning of their history. They can’t see through our glamour spells like the shifters can, so our existence is a secret.

  “Still, all Averys are allowed a seat on the council if they wish it. My father sits on the council for Canada. They would want to know a powerful witch resides in the Arctic. There are all kinds of rules about territory and trespassing. Most of them are obsolete now that everyone can get on a plane and fly anywhere in the world. The Arctic isn’t like that and Aisyt is one of the first Fae to make Earth her home. She’s been here millenniums. She will have old ideas and may not know what is happening in the rest of the world.”

  “I doubt she would even care.” They walked into the main chamber.

  “You’re probably right.”

  A sudden growling and snarling made them rush toward the sound. Ahead, they saw Aisyt and Ujarak surrounded by six snarling, angry amarok. They were all focused on Ujarak.

  “That’s enough!” Aisyt’s voice seemed louder and deeper than normal. “Know this, a strike against my mate is a strike against me.” Her body seemed to grow bigger. Sparkles of light surrounded her. Susan shivered. Aisyt continued. “You live because I saved you.” Her voice reverberated through the cavern. Susan vibrated with its intensity. “I’m not asking for your obedience. I demand it. If you can’t give it freely, than leave this place and never return!”

  Silence filled the space. No one moved. The wolves turned and slunk away. Susan blinked. Aisyt was just a woman again. Ujarak drew her into his arms. She put her head on his chest, her eyes glowed with a cold fire.

  Susan squeezed JP’s hand, needing reassurance, afraid to move.

  “It’s all right. I think we should leave after dinner,” JP sent telepathically. Susan nodded.

  The tunnel suddenly brightened, the sun appearing for its short journey across the pole. There were several hours before dinner. The crowd of people that appeared slowly dispersed, leaving Jean-Paul and Susan. Aisyt, seeing them smiled and hurried over. Susan was glad to see her eyes looked normal now.

  “I’ve ordered meat for your dogs. It should arrive shortly. If you don’t mind us leaving you alone for a while, Ujarak and I want to freshen up.” She turned and looked at the polar bear shifter. Susan could tell that the woman had more than getting clean on her mind.

  “I’m sure we can find something to amuse ourselves. The pull of a Destined One is strong.”

  “Yes, after dinner we could perform the binding ceremony. You for us and me for you.” Aisyt suggested, her face suddenly blushing.

  “A wonderful idea. I would be honored to join you with your mate,” JP said.

  Aisyt nodded regally and walked back to Ujarak. Taking his hand, they disappeared.

  “What is she talking about? What ceremony?” Susan asked.

  “The ceremony of Destined Ones. If you were a witch, it would bind our powers. We could share our magic and strength.”

  “What happens when you bond with a shifter?”

  “Truthfully? I don’t know. I’ve never heard of such a bonding.”

  “Aren’t you worried something might happen? You might be turned into a lycan, or something else.” Susan’s heart began to race.

  “Susan, a Destined One is the gift of a lifetime, and our lives are very long. There can be no mistake. Like the lycan mating bond, it’s never wrong. I am your perfect mate.”

  §

  JP could feel Susan’s panic flow through the mating bond, but couldn’t understand it. True, the ceremony wasn’t the pretty white wedding Susan pictured in her head. They could do that when they returned to Quebec.

  “Come on, let’s look around while we can. I want to return to Quebec tonight.” JP sent reassurance flowing through the mating bond. It had been wide open for a while now and the side effects seemed to have passed. He actually enjoyed it. Susan’s feelings were pure, without guile or deceit. It was refreshing to know where he stood with her, that she could never lie to him.

  A shriek and giggling heralded a group of little girls running by. The youngest ones were naked, their little feet slapping against the hard ground. Susan laughed at their antics and JP felt her panic ease. They continued meandering around the huge cavern.

  Aisyt needed him to perform the ceremony. He hoped that by doing so, he would be forging an alliance with a very powerful Fae. He didn’t want to fight her for the Gryphon’s Eye.

  What no one realized was when he felt the ring respond to his passion while confronting Itigaituk, he ported it to his chest in Quebec City. The ring was far too dangerous to keep in his possession. It was no longer in the Arctic Circle. His heart told him he’d made the right decision.

  The queen was correct when she said Jane Griffin should never have given the ring to her Destined One. The ring should never have been brought to Earth at all. Only a world that could stand the heat, could keep the ring. The queen would probably put it in a nullifying container. The ring should be destroyed.

  The smell of cooking filled the air. It came from a chamber off the main hall. They both peeked in. Girls of all ages were busy stirring pots and pulling hot loaves from a stone oven. Two men flirted with one of the women who appeared to be in charge. With an indulging look, she gave the two men a half loaf of bread and then gave the other half to the little ones wandering about.

  They stepped out of the way as the two young men hurried by holding the bread like it was a treasure. JP smiled. The life here seemed so simple, but happy. It was hard to remember that all of these people could turn into wolves.

  The woman who gave out the bread hurried over when she saw them. “Can I help you? Would you like a snack before dinner? Aisyt said to make sure you felt welcome. I’m Alice.”

  “Hello, Alice,” Susan said. “That bread looked awfully good. Can you spare another piece?”

  “Of course, I always make more than we need. The little ones come begging for snacks, though the jerky I make is better for their wolf. I see you two are mated. What’s it like?”

  “It’s wonderful,” JP was quick to say. “Susan and I share our thoughts and feelings.”

  “There are only three mated pairs here,” Alice said. “A lot of us have given up hope of finding a mate.”

  “There’s a big world out there and many of the lycan packs are short of women. I noticed most of the amarok are girls.” Susan gazed around the hall. She was right of course. JP noticed the difference in the population as well.

  “Oh, I could never leave Aisyt. She needs us as much as we need her,” Alice said.

  “If the mating bond connected you to your mate, don’t you think you would change your mind?” JP asked. Jared, Quebec Alpha, would happily send his single males up here to see if a mate could be found. The other alphas would probably be glad to as well.

  “I don’t know.” Alice bit her lip. “Let me get you that snack.” She hurried off into the kitchen and returned a short time later with a wooden plate of cheese and warm bread. “Here. Don’t worry about returning the plate. Someone will see it and bring it back. Have fun looking around.”

  JP took the plate and led Susan toward what he assumed was the entrance to the cave. The li
ght was brighter here and a wall of magic filled the entry blocking out the cold. He found a stone bench unoccupied and sat. Breaking the bread in half he handed a piece to Susan. She nibbled on it while looking around. Jean-Paul bit into the warm bread enjoying the grainy texture.

  A group of young women sat a ways apart and appeared to be working on sewing furs into clothing. Another group of girls poured over a picture book. JP wondered if they could read and write. Did Aisyt even think of educating them? She’d been hidden away in the Arctic a long time.

  “Help me,” someone cried out.

  JP jumped up and ran toward the voice, Susan right behind them. A naked young woman appeared running forward. She held a bleeding pup in her arms.

  “Here, let me see her,” JP said holding out his arms. The woman passed the wolf pup to him and he laid her on the floor.

  “I found her abandoned on the ice.” Tears streamed down the young woman’s face.

  Reaching for his magic JP scanned her body for injuries. The little one was only a few months old. She had been beaten severely. Many of her bones were broken. One pushed through the skin. He started healing her, but didn’t hold much hope of saving the small pup.

  Susan kneeled down beside him. “Work on setting her bones. She needs to shift, but we don’t want her crippled.”

  “I’m not sure I can save her. She’s fading fast,” JP admitted.

  “I’ve got her! Hurry, set the bones. I’m going to call her to shift.”

  JP quickly envisioned the bones in place and saw them move to comply. “Okay, now.”

  “Little one, you will SHIFT.” JP realized the command was both verbal and telepathic. Susan gave an alpha command.

  White lights swirled around the pup. Her form disappeared as the lights coalesced around her. When they winked out a baby lay before them. She opened her eyes and started to wail.

  “Thank goodness!” the young girl who brought her exclaimed. “I thought she wouldn’t make it.”

  Susan picked up the baby and held her close, trying to calm her. A line of white in the baby’s dark hair showed the trauma she’d gone through. JP thought of Qannik whose hair was all white. What she must have experienced to turn all her hair.

  “This has to stop, Jean-Paul,” Susan said holding the child tightly. “Somehow we have to stop this atrocity!”

  “You can’t stop hatred, my love. The healing has to come from within.”

  §

  Susan sat quietly at dinner. A large wooden table surrounded by benches of wood and stone filled the dining space next to the kitchen. JP felt her sorrow and confusion through the mating bond about the amarok situation, but didn’t know how to help her. Racism was an illogical hatred. Magic couldn’t cure it, or take it away. Only the nanuk themselves could stop the persecution of their amarok children.

  Susan suddenly sat forward. “I have an idea. What if the lycans approached the nanuk and offered to buy the amarok children. If we make the babies a valuable commodity they might stop killing them.”

  “What you’re talking about is illegal. Children cannot be bought and sold that’s called trafficking. At least not legally.”

  “So call it something else. Call it paying to adopt unwanted children. People pay to adopt children all the time. We could make sure all the polar bear villages know that instead of killing their unwanted children, we will pay to take them.”

  “Honey, you’d have to have a fortune available to pay the nanuk, not to mention, you don’t speak for the lycans. Turning the amarok into a commodity is too close to slavery. It won’t stop the racism or the persecution. You have no idea how they will react to your idea.”

  “But it’s a good idea. It could save so many lives. Do you have a better idea? We’ve got to do something. Please tell me, you’ll help me find a way.”

  “I will help you all I can,” JP assured her. “The problem of racism is too big for us to fix. It has to come from within the nanuk and amarok. The one thing we can do is open the lines of communication between the two factions. We can make the children our priority, but the hatred has to be released and resolved to promote real change.” Susan loved children. She’d do what she could to save the amarok pups.

  Aisyt sat across the table from them. “If we arranged for single lycans to come calling as possible mates for the amarok, would you be willing to let them leave with their mates?” JP asked. Being newly mated, perhaps Aisyt could see the wisdom of the plan.

  “Amarok can never be far from the Arctic. But neither do I hold them prisoner here. If a mating bond snapped into place, I would give my blessings to the couple.” Aisyt looked at Ujarak with a smile.

  Murmurs could be heard up and down the table. Soon every woman of marriageable age would know they had a chance to find a mate with the lycans. Now all they needed to do was tell the lycan alphas their plan.

  There was still the problem of the polar bears saying the lycans tried to steal their territories. Perhaps a peace accord between the two races, as well as the provisions for the lycans to raise amarok children, could be put into place.

  The Witches Council could act as mediators. If Ujarak could convince the people of his village to attend and spread the news through the nanuk, it might work. Susan could convince the lycans to come to the meeting and Aisyt could bring the amarok. Jean-Paul explained his plan to Aisyt and Ujarak. He looked at Susan. Her eyes glowed with hopeful enthusiasm.

  “I guess we have a lot of work to do.”

  Chapter Nine

  Susan stared at the dress waiting for her on the sleeping platform. White lace beaded with tiny pearls and crystals adorned the length. She’d never seen anything so beautiful. She fingered the material gently. Her hand trembled.

  “Do you like it?” Jean-Paul asked.

  “It’s exquisite. Where did it come from?”

  “Aisyt must have brought it from Ynys Afallon or Avalon as you would know it. It should fit you perfectly. We need to get back to perform the Destined One ceremony.”

  JP seemed to be excited about the ritual. Susan didn’t know what she felt, but it wasn’t excitement. She glanced at the sled dogs, now hers, sleeping on the floor. Her palms moist with sweat, she wiped them on her fur pants. “Do you have something to wear?”

  “Yes. Let me port it here from Quebec.” Jean-Paul closed his eyes a moment and whispered in a singsong voice.

  Suddenly another outfit appeared on the bed. Startled, Susan jumped. This one was a doublet of blue velvet and blue tights. “We’ll freeze wearing these clothes.”

  “No, we won’t. They have magic spells on them. We’ll feel perfectly normal.”

  “Okay.” Susan reached for the ties on her fur coat. Her face warmed and she turned away from JP. What was wrong with her?

  “Are you all right? You seem nervous.” JP’s bare arm extended past her as he grabbed the doublet. The light caught the fabric and Susan realized tiny crystals were sewn on it as well.

  She slipped off the coat and reached for the dress. Goose bumps ran up her arms and onto her back. The prickle of cold made her tremble. She slipped the garment over her head and pushed her arms up through the sleeves.

  The dress slipped lightly over her. She instantly felt wonderful. Reaching underneath the skirt, she untied the fur pants and stepped out of them. Everything seemed a little unreal. Now all she needed were some glass slippers.

  “Glass slippers wouldn’t be comfortable. How about some nice embroidered slippers instead?” JP used the mating bond to read her mind, again. She pursed her lips and then sighed.

  “Whatever you decide, please hurry. My feet are freezing.” She still didn’t turn to look at Jean-Paul. From the corner of her eye, his blue clad arm moved past her to place a pair of slippers on the sleeping platform.

  These items looked otherworldly too. Susan felt like she lived in a fairy tale. What would happen next? Mice singing? She picked up the shoes. Tiny pearls and crystals adorned them in a similar pattern to the dress. She placed them on
her feet. They were warm and she relaxed into them.

  Jean-Paul gently grabbed her by the upper arms and turned her toward him. “What is upsetting you that you won’t even look at me?”

  Susan bit her lip. JP stood before her looking like prince charming from his dark wavy hair to the tip of his shiny black boots. He was perfect. Even his pointy tipped ears looked like they belonged in the scene in front of her. What could she say? She didn’t belong in a fairy tale. She lost every job she ever had. She was a failure. Even in this gorgeous dress, she felt out of place.

  She peeked up at Jean-Paul. He frowned. Removing a hand from her arm, he waved it at the corner of the room and a long mirror appeared. He took Susan by the hand and led her to look inside. She gasped. Was that her? Did she really look like that? Susan ran her hand down the gown.

  “You look beautiful. You are beautiful.”

  “I don’t know. My hair…” She couldn’t help but look for a fault.

  JP waved his hand over her and suddenly her hair was perfectly styled. The long blond tresses were piled on her head and fell in tiny ringlets. “There. My lady fair is a vision of grace and beauty. Come on. Aisyt is waiting for us.”

  “Do you really want me?” Susan suddenly asked. Her cheeks turned red. Did she really say that out loud?

  “More than anything, little wolf. I know you feel out of your element. I’m right here with you. You can do this. The ceremony is a beautiful ritual. You’ll like it. Now, no more stalling. The whole amarok pack is waiting for us. Come.”

  Jean-Paul pulled her toward the door.

  §

  Jean-Paul smiled. Susan would take on racism to save the amarok children, but didn’t feel worthy of a pretty dress. She was a puzzle with more layers than he could fathom, and she was his. A warm glow filled his chest. He smiled, again. He couldn’t help it. He tightened his grasp on her hand and led her through the great cavern.