Page 5 of His Secret Mate

Setting her on her feet, he tossed her pack onto a sturdy counter like it was nothing. “Make yourself useful. Get a cup of coffee for you and drink it before you fall over from the temperature and not eating.” He shook his head. “I’m assuming you didn’t eat anything on the flight up.”

“I didn’t know how long it would be,” she said, not quite managing to negate the stammer in her voice.

He looked back down at her footwear and at her down vest and coat. “Nor how to dress for the arctic weather. This isn’t Alaska. The cold up here will kill you before anything else. Get a cup of coffee. Then grab a blanket from the chest. Wrap yourself and go sit in front of the fireplace. I’ll have a fire going in no time.”

“You don’t get to order me around.”

“Oh, but I do. You’re suffering the early stages of hypothermia. If we don’t get your body temperature headed in the right direction, you and I are going to end up in a hot shower together. There’s no way I can fly you back down to Otter Cove before morning, and the window on the weather may be closing. Now, do as you’re told.”

“I’m not as helpless as you seem to think.”

“Helpless? No. Foolish? Freezing? Stubborn? Yes, to all three. “Now move,” he said, turning her around, and giving her a little shove by applying his hand sharply to her backside.

Lara yelped and stumbled forward.

Nightshadow chuckled and turned his attention to the fireplace at the opposite end of the room from the kitchen. He must have had a fire laid already, as it took him less time to get a blazing fire than it did for her to make two cups of coffee with the pod coffeemaker. Her choices for K-cups were dark and dark.

She was adding some honey to hers and was going to ask how he liked his when he settled a warm, fuzzy blanket around her. She squeaked and almost spilled coffee everywhere. God, he was quiet. She hadn’t heard him move, but then, weren’t dire wolves supposed to be stealthy predators?

“Go sit in front of the fire,” he commanded, like a man used to having his orders obeyed.

She set the coffee mug she’d prepared for him down on the counter, clutched the blanket to her, as it really did feel warm and snuggly, and turned to face him.

“You know, you could be a little nicer.”

“I could, but I doubt I will be. Keep in mind, Lara, that now that you’re here, I’ll be expected to look after you. The Resistance sees you as a great asset. Deke actually thinks you might be onto something with this plant thing. He’d asked me to keep an eye out for it. You stowed away on my plane, so now I’m stuck with you. From this point until I can dump you back into Deke’s hands, you’ll do what I tell you when I tell you.”

“Do you find women just willingly obey you when you tell them to warm themselves by the fire?”

“Not really. Generally, I tell them to lie back and spread their legs, which they seem to do happily.”

They stood there staring at each other. Lara wasn’t sure what to say, decided to say nothing, and crossed the room to the fire.

Nightshadow chuckled. “That was the safe choice, not as much fun, but probably the best one you could make in the circumstances.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are an insufferable ass?”

“More often than you’d care to know.”

He took a long drag on his coffee, made another mug, adding honey as she had, and took it to her.

“No, I’m fine, but thank you.”

“You aren’t fine. Drink it,” he said, taking her almost empty mug out of her hand, adding it to the other mug and then handing the second mug to her. “As much as I admire your determination, you can't just stowaway on a plane and waltz into Aurora Station. This is the Arctic. It’ll kill you in less time than it takes for your breath to freeze in your lungs. There are protocols, safety measures, and you’re going to follow them."

"I'm not a tourist," she snapped. "I know what I'm doing."

Orion's eyes narrowed. "Doubtful.” He walked over to a shortwave radio. “Lighthouse Compound, this is Aurora Station. You may not have noticed, but you’re missing a vet.”

“You have her?” growled Deke.

“I do. The little minx stowed away on my plane, and I didn’t know it until we got here. I don’t think I’m safe to fly without some shut eye, but I’ll return her as soon as possible.”

“Keep her safe, Orion.”

“Will do. Aurora Station out.”

Lara glanced around the room. Maps of the Arctic adorned the walls, along with photographs of the stark Arctic landscape—the endless white, the jagged mountains in the distance, the sky a perfect, unblemished blue. They were breathtaking and intimidating all at once and seemed to have nothing to do other than to adorn the walls and portray the arctic beauty of this place. And there in a small photograph framed in silver was the Solanum Mystica. Lara’s resolve hardened. She was not going back until she had gotten what she needed. She'd come too far for that.

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