The Hellhound's Un-Christmas Miracle - Zoe Chant Page 0,62

still focused on Sheena. He wasn’t expecting Fleance to attack. Fleance went low and fast towards his belly, teeth bared. Parker twisted away—straight into Sheena’s hooves.

Crack!

The hellsheep kicked Parker in the head. He fell sideways, stunned, and before he could shake it off Fleance was at his throat.

He put one massive paw on Parker’s neck. The hellsheep roared over like a steam train and put its hoof next to his paw.

Parker’s eyes rolled, but his voice in Fleance’s head was dripping with disdain.

*This again? Face it, Flea, even if you’ve fooled yourself that you’re as good as an alpha, you’re not man enough to—aargh!*

Sheena’s hellsheep was too impatient to wait for him to finish. She chomped down on his neck.

The shadows that had haunted Fleance’s mind since he stepped into Parker’s web rearranged themselves. They blossomed with light, and weightless joy, and the sweet scent of clover.

*I don’t want him in your head again,* she told him, her voice low and warm and only for him. *Let this be my burden to bear.*

Relief spread through his veins, honey-sweet. He never would have asked Sheena to do this, but now that she had he couldn’t see it happening any other way. She knew how much it hurt him to have Parker in his head and she was too fiercely protective to put him through that again.

But the fact that she had the power to so neatly rearrange the echoes of power in his soul with a single bite…

My mate is an alpha, he thought, staring at her.

She was magnificent. Her sheep form had been adorable, but her hellsheep was ferocity on four legs. One glimpse into her burning eyes and you knew the only thing standing between you and a hellish kicking was Sheena’s goodwill—which she had more of that anyone else Fleance had met.

*Now,* Sheena declared, leaning down to glare into Parker’s eyes. *About making you do things…* She shrugged. *My hellsheep’s still recommending I dunk you into the nearest mud pool. Honestly, right now, I think it might have a point. You’re really annoying, you know that?*

Fleance had a better idea. *Remember all those shell charities, uncle? The ones that offered false hope to people after you’d got them scared they would lose everything? I think it’s about time they started doing some actual work.*

Yes, his hellhound murmured. This is right. Fixing what’s wrong.

Sheena nodded at him and he kept talking. He listed all the loose ends that had been tangling in his conscience since he was a teenager. Every family thrown out on the street, every business sunk into a pit of debt. Each one glowed like a lit fuse.

*Caine just wanted you to go away,* Fleance growled. *I want you to stay and make right what you did. All the world thinks you’re some great philanthropist. Now you’re going to actually be one. And if you get back to your old tricks…*

Sheena’s laughter sizzled against his mind. By the way Parker flinched, he felt it too. *Then you’ll have me to deal with,* she said.

12

Sheena

Hours later…

Fleance jumped as Sheena grabbed hold of the mate bond.

“Sorry,” she said, not sorry at all. “Just checking.”

He made a low sound in the back of his throat and tugged her into his arms. “You’re still my mate,” he said. “Hellsheep.”

She grinned, wide and lazy and thoroughly pleased. The mate bond sang between them, then roared as Fleance kissed her. “And you’re mine.”

They were back at the hotel. Getting there had been less of a mission than Sheena had expected. The car was munted—Sheena had explained to Fleance that that was the technical term for “has half its roof torn off”—but it still drove fine. They’d puttered back to Rotorua without incident. Sheena’s blood was still blazing with adrenaline when they pulled into the hotel carpark and she hadn’t been able to help taking her hellsheep’s shape again to sneak back up to the room.

Being able to turn invisible had helped a lot, there.

You’re doing a good job of holding back the fear, Fleance had said as she walked half through a wall to dodge a group of hotel guests coming down the corridor. He’d shifted back to human form. Clothes intact, the bastard. It took me months to learn that fine control. People kept running away from me and I didn’t know why.

I’m not holding anything back, Sheena had said. I’m just… being. She’d almost nuzzled against him, still invisible, wanting to smooth away the pain in his voice when he