The Hellhound's Un-Christmas Miracle - Zoe Chant Page 0,74
muttered. His voice seemed so inadequate compared to the twin suns of Sheena’s gaze.
She tipped her head back and narrowed her eyes mischievously. “What? Right here? With the other trees?” She smiled, wide and lazy and delighted. “I only said I thought I’d want to immediately put down roots. I don’t. I still want to go and see the world, and have adventures, and see what ridiculous trouble my hellsheep gets me into. I don’t just want to go on the trip of a lifetime, I want to have the life of a lifetime. With you.”
Fleance’s hellhound pricked its ears with excitement. Fleance’s face hurt, and it took him a moment to realize it was because he was smiling harder than he had in a long time.
“I’ve still got that plane ticket,” Sheena said.
“I can talk to the airline about bringing my return flight forward.”
“You can introduce me to your family. I want to meet them. And then…”
“Parker hurt a lot of people in a lot of places,” Fleance said gruffly.
“Then we’ll go to all those places.” Sheena pinched his chin and drew his face down to hers. “And we’ll make things right. For them, and for your hellhound.”
Fleance carried Sheena’s pack back to the house and waited while she rummaged through it for clothes that actually fit her. Sunset hit like a comet, roaring red and gold across the sky and falling into darkness and a bone-deep chill that had everyone except those with something to prove, or a house full of relatives to escape, huddling inside Fiona and Rena’s villa.
Outside, Sheena stretched her hands over the hot coals in the abandoned grill, soaking up the last of their warmth. Fleance wrapped his arms around her and frowned at the glowing coals. They pulsed, and new flames flickered up from them.
Sheena sighed contentedly. The sound went straight to Fleance’s heart and stuck there, like a dart made of pure light. “Ooh, that’s nice. I’ll keep you around.”
She relaxed into his arms. For a few minutes, there was nothing but the gentle hiss of the flames and the murmur of conversation from the house behind them.
Was it only a few weeks ago I was so worried about my hellhound’s behavior that I was jumping at my own shadow? Fleance tipped his head back and looked at the stars blazing in the night sky. Standing here, with his mate, that afternoon with Caine at the Puppy Express felt like a lifetime ago.
Just like his time with Parker felt a lifetime ago, and his world before that another lifetime again. He’d been pulled in so many different directions, and now, finally, he was anchored. Not putting down roots, but secure and whole with the woman who loved him.
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