Page 30 of His Winter Wonderland

He needed for her to know he was still there. Would always be there. Waiting for her. Hands in his pockets, Rhen stared at the small cabin surrounded by a white fence. The fence looked so innocent. So simple. It was just a fence. However, it wasn’t innocent. It was spelled to keep him out.

It was there to keep him away from the cabin. If he so much as touched it, he would feel an electrical shock that would zip through his entire body then sparks would ignite and set him on fire. But, like a moth to a flame, he was drawn to that cabin. Or rather, the person inside the cabin.

She was so close, yet so far away. All he had to do was close his eyes and he’d see her beautiful face. Rhen shut his eyes and like magic, her image appeared. In his mind, she was smiling at him. The way she smiled at him in dreamland. Sometimes, he wondered if any of that had been real.

It happened so long ago. Almost a lifetime ago. And so much had happened since then. A few days after she’d healed from their battle, he’d broken into the clinic she was being treated in. He’d just wanted to talk to her, to apologize. He hadn’t known that she’d broken one of the wooden tables and used her claws to fashion a stake out of it.

She’d damn near pierced his heart that night, in more ways than one. Later, after she was completely healed, he started coming by her cabin, wanting to see her. Her wards and her old fence had kept him out. One night, he said fuck it. He was determined to talk to her. He went on a killing spree, killing as many shredders as he could.

Then he cloaked himself in their carcasses, using them to shield himself from the power of her wards. It had taken over a dozen tries, but he’d finally broken in. A fireball to the chest sent him hurling back to the other side of the fence. After that night, she upgraded her defenses. This new fence was designed especially from vamps, especially for him.

One touch, and he’d catch fire. His mate was really vicious when she wanted to be. Moving away from his bike, he strode closer to the fence. It sparked. A warning for him to keep out. Fuck you, fence, Rhen thought. He stared at the cabin and sighed. A weaker male would’ve taken the hints and stopped coming here.

Not him. He wasn’t weak. He could take the abuse. He deserved it. But tonight, he wasn’t just there because he wanted to see his mate. He was there to give her some information. He was there tonight because Sinclair Rose had sent him. Sin was Winter’s best friend of three years.

Other than Silvia, she was the only friend Winter had. After Rhen learned how close the two women were, he’d tried to use that to his advantage and get Winter to pay attention to him. Up until Sin found her dragon mate, Rhen had flirted with her relentlessly, hoping to make Winter jealous enough to notice him.

Childish move. Dick move. But desperate times called for desperate measures. He wouldn’t have flirted with Sin if he’d thought she wanted him. In fact, Sin only saw him as a friend. She had never once flirted or tried to seduce him. His vampire charms didn’t work on her. And he was thankful for that.

It was because she didn’t want him that he treated her as such a good friend. And though he’d never told her, he was thankful that she was Winter’s friend. He hated the thought of his mate being shut up in her cabin all the time by herself. She rarely came out. And when she did, it was always during times that Rhen were nowhere around.

But she and Sinclair used to have a certain time they met up. Rhen learned that time and began escorting Sinclair half the way to Winter’s cabin. Sinclair thought he was doing it to protect her. In part, he was. But the main reason he did it was for the two seconds that he got to see Winter.

He did it just to see Winter open the door, let Sinclair in and then close the door behind her. He lived for those two seconds. But Sin didn’t know that. She didn’t know Winter was his mate at all. Winter didn’t want her to know. So Rhen kept his mouth shut. Plus, it made it easier to flirt with Sin if she didn’t know he was in love with her bestie.

Aside from being his mate’s bestie, he and Sin also had sort of a symbiotic relationship. In exchange for vials of her fire witch blood, he and his crew had kept Sin safe. But recently, Sin had met her mate. Now, she had a dragon to keep her safe. Unfortunately, Sin’s mate fell into the same trap Rhen had.

He’d believed The Deciders’ lie that if you complete a hundred tasks for them, you’ll be freed from this plane. Sin’s dragon had been hired to kidnap her by The Deciders. And since he didn’t and wouldn’t now that he knew she was his mate, Sin’s life was in danger. So was her dragon mate, Kaede’s, life in danger.

That threat extended to those around him. Kaede resided at the compound, a safe haven for some creatures of the Frostlands. Soon, it wouldn’t be much of a haven. Because Kaede refused to turn Sinclair over to The Deciders, Silvia and everyone else at the compound and the village outside the compound were targets.

To keep his mate safe, Kaede was keeping Sinclair at the compound with him. Rhen and his brethren had agreed to help keep the creatures of the compound safe. Kaede thought Rhen was doing it because Rhen had a crush on Sinclair. Not true. Rhen was doing it to prove to his mate that he could be good.

There wasn’t only darkness in him. There was light too. If he helped keep the villagers safe, maybe Winter would finally stop viewing him as a monster. Maybe she’d even start to think of him as her mate again. His eyes widened when he heard a noise coming from the cabin. The door to the cabin open and outstepped the woman of his dreams.

He couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face. Over the years, his mate’s style of dress had changed. She dressed fancier now. Much fancier than he did. And she wore the color white a lot. He didn’t know why and he refused to ask. Afraid that she’d say she was saving her black attire for his funeral.

Tonight, his mate was dressed in a long white dress that stopped at her ankles. The white jacket she’d paired with it stopped at her waist, highlighting her curves. Curves that made his fangs drop from his gums. The curves were new. Over the last few years, his mate had started to put on weight. And he fucking loved it.

She was no longer slender as she once was. She was curvy as fuck. He wanted to explore her body, relearn it. Every time he saw this woman, he wanted to sink into her. Sink his fangs into her. Sink his tongue into her. Sink his dick into her. Sink his soul into her. He wanted them to be one in every way possible. He knew that deep down inside, she wanted it to.

“Get the fuck away from my property, vampire.”

And then she opened her mouth and he was reminded that they were enemies. Or rather, he was her enemy.

“Do you have to yell like a banshee?” He called out.

“If you don’t step away from my fence in five seconds…”

“You’re going to kill me. I know. I know.” Thing was, she serious. Rhen strode back over to his bike and leaned against it. Facing her cabin, he said, “I have news of Sinclair and her mate.” It seemed that lately, she only talked to him if he had news of her friend, Sin.

“Spit it out then leave.”

“This news requires a lengthy conversation.”

“Why haven’t you brought her to come see me yet?”

Because her shifter mate would have a fit and shit fire if I took her away. Also, because if I keep you two separated, I can relay messages back and forth. Which leads to me getting to see more of you. He couldn’t tell her that without upsetting her. Instead, he told her a different truth.