CHAPTER ONE
Mori
On a train headed home to the Nightshade Bear Territory
Big, white fluffy flakes were the first thing that let me know the train had neared Nightshade Bear Territory. My twin always rolled his eyes at me when I said the biggest snowflakes always fell in the land of our birth. He says it’s biased or some bullshit like that. Though, the flakes outside of the window looked big enough to take up half my palm. Preston’s already at home or he’d say it wasn’t the snowflake’s fault that I had tiny hands. He can be a sweet jerk sometimes.
My wolf brushed against my ribs, his tail wagging ninety miles an hour, kicking up white fluffy stuff inside his inner sanctum. How he got snow in there, I didn’t know, but inner beasts had always had their ways. A little boy further up the train pressed his nose up against the window taking in the almost surreal white coating layering itself over the world outside.
I could’ve come straight from Dern’s old house to the Nightshade Bear Territory through the Other World gateways but magic had crept into every part of my life. So, after making the trip to see Ni, Teddy, and my godkids before they went off to have a Starscale Yule with Teddy’s family, I hopped the train from the Appalachian Wolf Pack Territory headed towards home. I wanted this feeling. The awe at the wonder of winter and the beauty the earth displayed while she slept under the snow. I wanted to practice my patience and revel in the mundanefor just a few moments. Plus, I needed some time to get my head on straight. Some time to remember who I was. I’d always be that wolf pup born in Nightshade Bear Territory to Xenos and Barry. I grew up surrounded by wolves and bears learning magic, attending feasts, and just floating along my life. I didn’t remember the war that broke out when I was a pup. I didn’t really recall anything horrible from my childhood. I grew up between my family’s house and all the houses of our community, living in rhythm with the seasons and the needs our community faced. That’s the wolf I was. That’s the wolf who I still wanted to be.
I loved Dern and Ormund. I enjoyed a good mystery and wanted adventures but somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing that wolf when I looked into the mirror. I grew into a magical practitioner tossed around by magical waves and dead men. I grew jealous of someone who got a job I thought I could do because Dern made it sound like it was already mine. I forgot the cardinal rule that all seers and workers with spirits know. The future was ever changing and even if something was concrete you could lose it without effort and momentum. I counted on magic and a dead man to carve my path forward. That was dumb. It was ignorant. Honestly, it showed a hubris I didn’t know I was capable of. I wasn’t raised to be a know-it-all.
Then, of course, Dern put me through the hell of letting me know I was within a paw’s slap of meeting my true-mate. That broke me a little. Okay. That broke me a lot, but it reminded me of how my carrier waited for years until it was the right time for him to meet my sire. Would I ever be like him? Bearing my burdens, my knowledge, and my magic with grace?
“Eh, people leave the messy parts out of stories,”my wolf chimed into my thoughts.“I’m sure he had his fuck ups too.”
I hoped the furry guy was right, but I also hoped he was wrong for my carrier’s sake. Just because somehow, I ended up face down in the mud because I couldn’t keep my head from growing too big didn’t mean I wanted anyone else to feel this way.
A buzz echoed through all the train cars. “Next stop is the one and only stop for the Nightshade Bear Territory. We’ll be taking a break here as we are arriving at the same time as the train headed in the opposite direction. As frequent travelers know, my mate operates that train. We’ll be having lunch, and I recommend all passengers who will reboard do the same. The little restaurant across from the station serves a hearty butternut squash soup and a good deer stew. No pot roast, though. It’s not Tuesday,” the conductor’s voice sounded over the intercom.
I pressed my hand against the window and watched the snow-covered landscape roll by. No magic during this trip. No worrying about the business or lack thereof. No looking for mysteries where the only mystery was how did someone become such a huge asshole. I was here for Yule. I was here for my family. I’d be present in the now and not worry about what Dern or anyone else was up to. Just a few weeks of being me.
“And we’ll have pot roast tonight,”my wolf chimed into my thoughts again.“Dad’s making pot roast.”
We would and my mouth was already watering at the thought of it.
CHAPTER TWO
Wess
On a train headed to the Nightshade Bear Territory
The lady in the seat behind me would meet her true-mate at a New Year’s Eve party. She didn’t know it yet. She was on her way to Raven Hallow Wolf Pack Territory after her polycule fell apart when her hinge met his true-mate. I wasn’t sure how a polycule fell apart when that happened, but who was I to judge? I’d never been on a date. Hell, I tried not to come off the mountain if I could help it. Sure, I hooked up with a few of the furry wolf people here and there but who didn’t? It wasn’t like there was anyone else around except for those that some people called yetis and bigfeet. Though, I wasn’t convinced they were properly either. It’s not what most of them called themselves. Mostly they didn’t call themselves anything except for their names.
The man in front of me had met his true-mate a hundred years ago and was on the way to meet up with her again. She’d gone off to their daughter’s home because she had triplets around the harvest. He was practically buzzing with how much he missed her. Next year that daughter would meet her true-mate at an appointment at the pediatrician’s office.
“That’s not going to be fun…. Is it?”my bear chimed into my thoughts.
“I don’t know, buddy. I really don’t know. Maybe it’ll work out with the babies’ sire too. I don’t know how these people shifters decide how to have relationships.”
I came from a long line of seers. Though, seer wasn’t the word I liked. I wasn’t sure there was a word I liked for what I saw. Most of my visions or knowings were about true-mates. It wasn’t always their meetups. Sometimes it was how they felt about each other and how they might resolve problems. Sometimes I knew how a pair would meet. Sometimes I told them. Not often though. Doing that caused so many problems for my ancestors and I learned from the stories. When you give one person a gift, everyone they know feels entitled to that gift even if it doesn’t come in their size. Plus, at best my abilities were touch and go. They came and went as if I peeped through little holes in the fabric of fate. Only I hadn’t seen the first mate of Hemlock Mountain coming. Hadn’t seen him getting past the wolf pack below me or the avalanches that like to make themselves known from time to time. His arriving at my cave reminded me to never underestimate elves. They were always where you didn’t want them to be. Sort of like flies or something. But pretty flies. If Rune hadn’t been so pretty, I might’ve added him to my ice garden.
He was mated off but he was still nice to look at, and he had climbed through hell to speak with me after hearing a rumor. Though, he didn’t find the demon he was looking for. That demon was my ancestor who used to turn cannibals into ice statues back when Frost and Juda were the leaders of Hemlock Mountain. He couldn’t stand how they’d eat their own kind and thought they were prettier as ice statues. Since they were still in the statue garden, I had to agree with him. Not that I had ever met him. Demons don’t like to stay around others for long. Welike to be the sole owner of our element and when we’re around others that just isn’t possible. So, we separated out.
My carrier was like me, and my sire was a bear shifter who I never met. A polar bear to be exact. I always thought it was fitting that a snow demon mated with a polar bear. Plus, it gave me the option of eating people who annoyed me if they weren’t pretty enough to add to the ice statue garden. That was a big perk. Not that I ate people most of the time. I agreed with my ancestor that it was mostly bad taste.
My bear shifted around inside his inner sanctum and my eyes shifted to his. Big snowflakes fell outside of the train windows, reminding both of us how warm the train was. We wouldn’t melt or anything, but it felt unnatural to be warm enough to sweat while sitting still. I’d packed my own ice from the top of the mountain. It was enchanted ice made by one ancestor or another and it would never melt. It was packed away in a trunk under the train, and I prayed it was enough to make it through this whole Mated for the Holidays adventure that Rune convinced me to go on.
It wasn’t like he held an arrow to my head or anything. I knew from the time I understood what true-mates were that I’d make my way to the Nightshade Bear Territory one day. My true-mate would be there. That was probably the clearest part of my gift.
“We came only because Rune owed us after making an ass out of himself,”my bear pointed out.“He hosted that silly little party trying to get the attention of someone who doesn’t even live on this planet anymore and everyone was going to bug us. At least that one fluffy wolf person found his mate. That’s theonly reason I didn’t eat the elf. I think they’d taste like deer. You know, pointy ears and all that.”
My participation in the holiday matchmaking service, Mated for the Holidays, was a gift from Rune and his draconic mate, Sky. I almost declined it since it meant leaving my mountain to go stay with an omega who I’d never met. I didn’t have much faith in the algorithm or whatever magic was behind their system. Every year approximately point five percent of participants met their true-mates. That bucket didn’t hold water. I almost didn’t go because leaving the mountain empty made me feel strange. Someone had to guard it. It was ours but you never knew when the Hemlock Wolves would go back on their promise and try to snatch it up.
Under normal circumstances for Mated for the Holidays, I’d host my match since I’m an alpha. Only, I couldn’t imagine any omega who grew up outside the mountain wanting to live up where I did. Plus, with only each other for company, it’d be a very long winter. I wasn’t sure how this Aiden guy who ran the program found someone last minute who was willing to turn the norm on its head, but he did.
My host was to be a bear shifter who was the adopted grandson of the shaman of the group and his mate. Though, Rune warned me not to toss the word adopted around. His sire, Colton, had been adopted, but he was their kid nonetheless and that made Lero their grandson. He’d grown up in a community of mostly non-shifters before coming to live with his grandparents as a teenager. I didn’t blame him. Furry shifters wanted to live in their cuddle piles.
