A chill breeze ghosted across his face and he thought…
Sheena moved against him. *What are you thinking about?* she asked.
*Honestly?* Fleance closed his eyes.
*Honestly.*
Fleance breathed in slowly.
The air was crisp. It stank like rotten eggs, but it held the brisk chill of ice. There was snow on the distant mountains and Fleance was thousands of miles from the only home he’d only known, but in that moment, everything felt perfect.
He pulled Sheena close and kissed the top of her head, breathing her in. Clover honey and wild grass and open skies. But she was more than that, and the proof was all around him. She was wildness and freedom, solitude and endless adventure—and this core of loyalty and love was embodied by her family who’d come from across the country to check on her. Togetherness. Family.
*I’m thinking about Christmas again,* he admitted.
*Because the whole whānau’s here? The family,* she translated, and tucked his hands into her jacket pockets. *I suppose it is a bit Christmassy. Especially with the barbecue out.*
*It’s not too cold? I thought Christmas for you meant summer.*
She wrinkled her nose. *Of course it’s too cold. So? I’m from the South Island. It’s not summer unless it’s raining.*
*It isn’t raining now.*
She sighed and stared up at the clear, cloudless sky. *It might later.* She kissed him. *Or it might snow. I know it’s the middle of the year, but… Happy Un-Christmas, my love.*
Fleance held his mate close. She didn’t just let herself be held; she pressed herself against him, as thoughtlessly hungry for his touch as he was for hers. When he closed his eyes and focused on his pack sense, she was his sun; but here, lost in a kiss that filled his heart with light, they circled each other in perfect harmony. His alpha. His mate. The other part of his soul.
And his own soul, whole at last.
*Happy Un-Christmas,* he whispered, and his hellhound howled with happiness.
Epilogue Sheena
“This is torture,” Sheena groaned, pressing her face against the car window.
“I thought I was the one with an inner dog,” Fleance laughed. “You want to roll down the window and stick your head out, be my guest.”
“Ugh,” Sheena groaned. “That’ll just make me feel more cooped up.”
They’d landed in Los Angeles—could it only have been a few days ago? After the twelve-hour flight from Auckland, Sheena’s hellsheep had been crazy with cabin fever. Unfortunately, while hellhounds were masters of staying out of sight, hellsheep were apparently not so keen on the idea. Her inner weirdo absolutely refused to let itself turn invisible, so instead of the leisurely days of trying to spy on celebrities that Sheena had planned, she and Fleance had rented a car and headed for the desert. Plenty of wide open spaces for her hellsheep to hoon around in, and, half a day’s drive away, a city that a lifetime of watching American media had promised Sheena would barely notice the presence of giant, fire-breathing livestock: Las Vegas.
And then Fleance had gotten a phone call from his old pack. Something had happened, and they needed all hands on deck.
There had been no time to hoon around the desert. No charging at exciting foreign rocks or finding out if tumbleweeds actually were like in the movies. No acting the wide-eyed tourist on the Strip.
Part of her was glad that Fleance had answered his old pack’s call. She had been deadly serious when she said that the people he’d left in Pine Valley sounded like his family, and packing up at a moment’s notice and racing to be with your family in their hour of need was what families did… as so recently illustrated by her own fam. Knowing that Fleance felt the same way made her feel soft and warm inside.
And another part of her could not get over the fact that the outside world was right there, right outside the window, all green and summery and probably full of delicious things to smell and nibble on and jump on and set on fire and she was stuck in the car.
It was a sheepy part of her. But it was still her.
She groaned again and stared up at the mountains that filled the sky ahead of them.
“We’re a few hours away from Pine Valley still,” Fleance said, peering in the same direction. “There are non-shifters living in town, so we still have to be careful, but you’ll be able to stretch your legs farther up in the mountains.”
A few hours? “Aaargh,” Sheena moaned as the open fields either side of the road made way for dense pine forest and they began to wind their way up into the hills. Her hellsheep flared unhappily inside her. A FEW HOURS? IT’S ALREADY BEEN SO MANY HOURS!
Twelve on the flight, overnight on the ground without being able to shift, hours and hours squeezed into the car—Sheena couldn’t blame her hellsheep for getting antsy.
EXACTLY! it boomed. AND IT’S NOT LIKE THERE’S ANYONE HERE TO SEE!
Which was true—the road was pretty empty, out here in the middle of nowhere…
RIGHT, THEN!
“Wait!” Sheena yelped, but it was too late. Her hellsheep shook itself like a dog and took form in a flurry of sparks. She just had time to hear Fleance swear before she dropped through the floor of the car. Damn it, hellsheep!
AHHH! SO MUCH BETTER!
Her hellsheep bounded alongside the car, kicking its heels and trailing smoke.
Fleance’s voice brushed against her mind. *Sheena?!*
*I’m all right!* she reassured him quickly. Her hellsheep baa’d with excitement and headbutted a tree. *Um, for a given value of ‘all right’…* she amended, feeling dazed. *My hellsheep couldn’t take it anymore. It—ow! Seriously? What did the tree ever do to you?*
HAHA! her hellsheep replied, unapologetic.
*I can’t sense anyone else around here,* she told
