A Hippogriff for Christmas Read online

  She didn’t know how she was going to react to any of the things Beau had to tell her. She didn’t know what she even thought of the things she already knew. She’d just discovered that mythical creatures apparently roamed the earth, taking on the forms of impossibly hot men.

  Is there a way I’m supposed to react to that information? Annie thought as she pulled up in her driveway, not remembering a single thing about the trip from the lake to her home. Maybe I can Google it. ‘Boyfriend is hippogriff what do’.

  Annie felt her heart stutter in her chest as she realized she’d just automatically referred to Beau as her boyfriend.

  Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, she thought, glancing across at him as she shut off her car’s engine. It wasn’t too long ago you thought he was pranking you and were about to walk off and leave him.

  She hadn’t actually wanted to do that, though. Everything in her had been screaming at her to stay.

  I hope it was the right decision.

  “I’m sorry – it’s not fancy,” Annie said as she opened her car door. She just hoped she hadn’t left any dirty laundry lying around where it was plainly visible. She didn’t think of herself as a messy person, but when you lived alone it was easy to just forget about these things.

  “It’s your home,” Beau said, his smile soft. “It doesn’t need to be fancy, if you like it here.”

  Annie did like her little apartment. It was only small, but it was only in a group of four, and her neighbors were quiet.

  But most importantly, it was hers. She’d never really had a space to call her own before she came here, she thought as she unlocked the door, trying to surreptitiously peep inside to make sure the place was decently clean before Beau could set foot inside.

  True, she hardly had any stuff, and her decorating extended to a couple of houseplants and some cheap fairy lights she’d strung along the window frame.

  But everything in it was hers.

  Okay, she thought, glancing around. No panties on the floor. No laundry on the couch. No giant mess of dishes in the sink. It’s safe!

  “So,” Beau said, as she leaned down to unlace her boots. “Where do you want this?”

  “This?” Annie asked, looking up – only to see Beau holding not only a bag containing their containers of soup and the boxes of cookies and pie he’d bought, but the Christmas tree he’d sawed down for her too. It was small enough that he could carry it under one arm, and Annie had to admit that with everything else that’d happened, she’d completely forgotten about its existence.

  “Uh – let me take that off you –”

  “If you could take the soup that’d be good, but no need for the tree,” Beau said, passing Annie the bag with the soup and baked goods before reaching down to undo his bootlaces one-handed.

  Annie couldn’t help but stare. Okay, he’s good-looking, strong, apparently amazing with his fingers –

  She turned away quickly before she could complete that thought, heading over to her kitchen bench and putting the bags down with a loud plonk, before putting the pie safely in the fridge.

  Get your head together! she told herself, taking a deep breath. You invited him here to answer some questions, not to – to –

  Jump his bones? some evil inner voice supplied, and Annie swallowed heavily.

  Yes, exactly – not to jump his bones, she told it, before turning to see Beau stepping up from her entryway and into her living room.

  It was a sight Annie was pretty sure she could get used to.

  “Uh, maybe just put the tree down in the bucket by the door for the moment,” she blurted. “Um, can I get you a cup of tea? Or should I just start heating the soup? Are you hungry? Sorry, I don’t really have a table, I usually just eat on the sofa –”

  “Anything’s fine, Annie,” Beau said, his voice low and warm. She could see him looking around, and she wondered if she’d see judgment in his eyes at the tiny size of her home, or how sparsely it was furnished. But he just seemed interested. Curious.

  Annie took another deep breath, trying to calm herself before she blurted out anything else.

  And really, maybe we should just get the elephant in the room out of the way first.

  “I’m not really sure where I should start,” she said after a moment. “What do people, uh, usually ask you when they find out that you’re – uh, that you’re a –”

  “A shifter,” Beau said. “It’s the word for people like me. And to be honest, you’re the first person I’ve ever really had to explain it to, Annie. Either I’m talking to another shifter, or a human who already knows about us, or a human who doesn’t need to know. So this is all new for me too.”

  “Oh. Right.” Annie looked down at her hands where she was twisting them in front of her, willing herself to relax.

  “But if there’s anything you want to ask, just ask it,” Beau said. “I said I’d answer – there’s nothing you can ask that I’d think was inappropriate or rude. You have a right to know, after all.”

  What does he mean by that? Annie wondered.

  “Okay. Well. Why don’t we sit down?” she said, before remembering the only place she had to sit down was on her old sofa. She didn’t often have guests.

  Well, it’s too late, I’ve said it now, she thought as she sat on the sofa’s edge. Beau was so big he almost took up the whole thing himself, but still, somehow, it felt like there was more than enough space for her.

  “Were you born as a – a shifter?” she asked. It felt forward to ask, but Beau had said he wouldn’t consider any question rude.

  Beau nodded. “Yes. It runs in the family – it always does. Everyone in my family is the same as me: my parents, my grandparents, my sisters, my nieces and nephews. We’ve always been this way as far back as anyone remembers.”

  “So, in the photo, that was –”

  “My nephew, Jesse.” Beau smiled. “He’s just at that age when hippogriffs start learning how to shift. I guess my sister Courtney couldn’t wait to show me. It’s a big step in a shifter’s life.”

  “Oh. I guess I can see why that might be the case,” Annie said, thinking of a baby’s first steps. “So… there’s more of you out there? Or are hippogriffs the only kind of shifters there are?”

  “No, there’s plenty of others,” Beau said. “Hippogriffs are just one of many. And it’s not all mythical creatures either. Bears, wolves, birds, even dogs and cats – if there’s an animal, you can bet there’s a shifter who shifts into it.”

  Right, well, that’s the last time I get changed in front of the window, thinking only the rats and alley cats can see in, Annie decided.

  There were so many other things she’d wanted to ask, but she had to admit that she was having trouble remembering any of them now.

  Her head felt cloudy, her heart thudding in her chest, her cheeks warm.

  It was then that she realized just how close she and Beau were sitting on the couch – just how very nearly his thigh was touching hers.

  If I leaned over just a little, I could almost kiss him, Annie thought, licking her lips.

  Beau’s eyes immediately darted down, following the movement of her tongue.

  “Annie,” he said, his voice a low rumble that sent a warm shiver straight up her spine. “There’s something else you should know – something you might not think to ask. But it’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you since the first time I saw you.”

  “O-Okay?” Annie said, feeling stupid, but her brain was too muddled to come up with anything else right now. Beau’s proximity, the heat of his body, the scent of him… all of it was almost too much to bear.

  “There’re other things about shifters that are different to humans, aside from the whole ‘shift-into-another-form’ ability.”

  His throat moved as he swallowed heavily, and Annie couldn’t help but notice how his eyes hadn’t left her lips.

  Her breath felt caught in her chest, her heart thudding. She felt almost as if someone had tied a string around i
t, and was slowly pulling it tighter – but instead of causing her pain, it only filled her with a kind of delicious, thrilling anticipation; a sense that she was about to hear something that was going to change her life forever.

  “Shifters… we also have something called a fated mate. I don’t really know how to begin to explain it. No one knows where it came from, or why it happens. But when it does… well, let’s just say, you know.”

  “A – a fated mate?” Annie asked, blinking.

  Does that mean what it sounds like it means?

  Beau nodded. “A fated mate is someone… someone we’re meant to be with. And when we meet them, we know it immediately. Right from the very first moment we touch.”

  Annie’s mind flew back to the moment when Beau’s fingers had brushed against hers at the bakery, when she’d been handing him his boxes of things he’d bought.

  “That – that feeling –” she stuttered out, staring down at her hands. That shock of electricity that had seemed to run right through her arm and settle in her chest –

  “I didn’t know if you’d felt it too,” Beau said, with obvious relief. “But even if you had, I didn’t think you’d know what it meant.”

  Annie looked up at him, wide-eyed.

  Is he saying what I think he’s saying?!

  “I’m your fated mate?” she blurted out, before she could think.

  No. No way. That’s impossible.

  But the look in Beau’s eyes told her she’d guessed right.

  “That’s right, Annie. It’s you. I knew it right away. I thought you beautiful from the first moment I saw you. I could tell you were brave, from the way you were standing up to that guy in the shop. But it wasn’t until I touched you that I knew just how special you were.”

  Annie knew her mouth was hanging open, but right now she just couldn’t bring herself to care.

  Can any of this actually be real?

  Annie wasn’t about to start pinching herself again – mainly because if this was a dream, she definitely didn’t want to wake up anytime soon.

  “That moment on the lake when you almost fell,” Beau said, laughing lightly. “It took all I had not to kiss you right there and then. But I wasn’t sure how you’d react at the time. I thought I needed more time to show you how I felt.”

  “I kind of wish you had,” she said, then felt herself coloring. She opened her mouth to try to walk back what she’d said, but then found herself shaking her head instead. What was the point in denying it? “What I mean is, I really wish you had,” she said slowly, looking down at her hands. “I wanted to kiss you too. But I got scared suddenly – scared of how much I wanted you.”

  Swallowing heavily, Annie forced herself to look up into Beau’s eyes. She wasn’t used to being so open with her thoughts and feelings. Even with people she knew fairly well, she kept her cards close to her chest.

  “I felt the same way.” Beau’s eyes were on hers, never wavering. “Well – I guess I knew why I was feeling that way. So I wasn’t scared – not of kissing you, anyway.”

  Annie forced herself to keep looking him in the eye as she said, “So… you still want to, then?”

  The groan that left the back of Beau’s throat was, Annie had to admit, kind of gratifying.

  “More than anything.”

  Annie licked her lips as she leaned forward. Beau’s breath was warm against her cheek, the heat of his body almost overwhelming.

  “Then you probably should.”

  Annie gasped as his lips brushed against her, warm and soft. It was a gentle touch at first – but even that was enough to take her breath away and leave her heart pounding in her chest. The same tiny shocks of electricity as before ran through her, sending waves of heat all the way through her body, and settling deep in her belly.

  The touch of Beau’s lips was only gentle for a moment, however – a second later and his mouth had opened hungrily, his hands coming up to cup her face.

  Annie had never felt so overtaken by a kiss before – not that she’d had many of them, and she felt it might be a little unfair to compare her one or two tepid high school fumblings to this.

  She leaned her head back as her mouth opened for his, allowing his tongue to sweep greedily between her lips. A groan forced its way up her throat as sparks tingled through her stomach and up her spine, her head clouding with desire. Not only had Annie never been kissed like this before – she hadn’t even known kisses like this were possible.

  Moaning again as her body responded to the heat and power of his, Annie reached up, grabbing at Beau’s shoulders, trying to draw him closer. She felt dizzy with need, her head spinning.

  “Annie,” Beau said, his voice leaving his lips as a husky whisper. Annie shuddered at the sound, but right now, talking was the last thing she felt like doing.

  Beau pulled away when she tried to lean into him again, however, and she groaned with need, wondering why he was suddenly hesitating.

  “Annie, before we go any further, there’s something I have to tell you about the mated bond,” Beau said. She could hear the shake in his voice, and it was clear to her that he was forcing himself to hold back. Annie shivered at the thought – that Beau, with all his strength and power, was only barely able to resist her, of all people!

  Still, she swallowed, trying to focus on what he was saying. “What is it?”

  “If we do this, the bond between us will be sealed. And once it’s sealed, it can never be broken.”

  Annie blinked, trying to sort through the meaning of his words. “You mean –”

  “I mean that I’ll belong to you forever,” Beau said. “That feeling between us – it will always be there. Nothing will ever be able to come between us again. I’ve always known this would happen when I met my mate, and I’ve been preparing for it all my life. But you’re only just finding out about it. I need to know that you accept it – that you accept the bond – before we do anything else.”

  Annie felt as if all the air had been forced from her lungs.

  Nothing will ever be able to come between us again.

  All her life she’d felt like an outsider. All her life she’d longed to belong. But she’d always known that she’d never settle for anyone other than the person who was right for her.

  In the short time she’d known Beau, she’d felt more connected to him than anyone else she’d ever met. She’d kept having to remind herself not to fall for him – that she had agreed to spend this time with him knowing it would have to end, and she shouldn’t get too attached to him.

  I kept telling myself it was only for three days, and that was all, she thought, looking up into his eyes. But my heart kept having other ideas. It kept trying to pull me in, and I kept resisting.

  Knowing what she knew now, Annie realized it had been the mated bond all along, trying to tell her that she and Beau belonged together.

  And now, here was Beau, asking her if she accepted it.

  In the end, the answer was obvious.

  “Yes, of course I do,” Annie said, her voice little more than a gasp. “Of course I accept it.”

  A thrill ran through her as she said the words. She couldn’t help but think she was standing on the brink of something new and exciting – a world she had never even imagined existed.

  And more even than that, she wanted him.

  She’d never wanted anyone – anything – more than she wanted Beau.

  His lips on hers were like fire, hot and demanding, and leaving her breathless in their wake. She moaned, arching up, as her body responded to his.

  Annie could already feel how wet with need for him she was as she lay back on the couch, Beau above her, the hardness between his things pressing against her.

  Feeling it, Annie couldn’t stop herself from moaning, pressing herself against it. She’d never felt such desire racing through her before. She’d often considered herself indifferent to the charms of men, but clearly…

  …Clearly I was just waiting for the right one to come alon
g, she thought hazily.

  Fire throbbed between her legs as Beau sat up, his thighs around her hips, to take off his shirt. Annie groaned, feasting her eyes on the broad, flat plane of his chest with its dusting of dark hairs, the grid of his abs, the sharp jut of his hipbones above the waistband of his jeans.

  She was so busy staring that she almost forgot about her own way too clothed state – but when she remembered, she tore off her work shirt, careless of the buttons. Beau’s hands covered hers as they fumbled with the buttons of her pants, and she gulped as his low voice rumbled, “Allow me.”

  She’d already seen how dexterous he was – nonetheless, Annie gasped as he had her pants off in seconds, sliding them down her legs before he moved aside to pull them over her ankles.

  His eyes roved over her hungrily as he looked down at her, lying beneath him in only her bra and panties. Annie had always considered herself shy, but now she was happy to let him look his fill, glorying in the heat of his gaze.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, his voice a soft growl. “I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as you in all my life.”

  Annie closed her eyes at his words, letting them wash over her. She throbbed with need for him. As much as she was enjoying the clear desire in his eyes, right now, she wasn’t sure she could wait much longer for him…

  “Beau –” she gasped out, but was unable to find any other words within her.

  Even so, he seemed to understand her perfectly. His lips were back on hers in an instant, his hands on her hips, removing the flimsy barrier of her panties. She could feel the muscles of his thighs as he moved, shoving his jeans down his hips.

  Forcing herself to open her eyes, Annie swallowed, licking her lips at the sight before her. She realized she probably looked like a starving woman eyeing a five-course feast, but, well… it had been a while, and even if it hadn’t, she wasn’t sure her mouth wouldn’t have watered anyway.

  Beau was gorgeous, powerful and masculine, every part of him angular and sharp. His erection rose up from between his thighs, just as powerful as the rest of him, and Annie felt a pulse of need run straight through her at the sight.