Page 43 of Heart of a Dire Wolf
Epilogue
Outside, the chilly northern wind blew snowflakes sideways, but inside the thick stone and wood walls, warmth and the delectable scents of home reigned.
Nic took off his coat and boots, then padded into the large room at the back. “I’m in need of a doctor of magic. You wouldn’t happen to know any, would you?”
Skyla laughed. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” She set her laptop aside to stand and greet him with a sensual kiss. “I’m still surprised the committee agreed to let me appear by video teleconference. They only stopped requiring paper dissertation submissions two years ago.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “How did it go?”
He took a deep breath. “The elders want me to lead the whole project.”
She smiled. “Congratulations.” She kissed him again, then sat and patted the cushion of the overstuffed couch next to her. “Do you want the job?”
He sat and put his arm around her. “Maybe. Fort LeBlanc is still a work in progress. The project would keep me here for years.”
“I think that’s the point.” She slid her hand along his thigh. “Ortesse and Grafit came by this morning. They want to nominate me for LeBlanc’s vacant magister seat among the elders. I said I’d think about it.”
He smiled. “I hedged, too. I told them I’d be going wherever you go.” He covered her hand with his. “So, do you want the magister job?”
“Not really. Not unless you’d agree to be an elder, too, and then we’d both be politicians, and we’d be grumpy every day and get in trouble for biting people.” She squeezed his thigh. “Besides, you’re too young and pretty to be called an ‘elder.’”
He polished his knuckles against his chest. “That I am.” He sobered. “I saw Elsa and Gunnar walking away as I came up the path. Everything okay?”
She sighed. “Yeah, we’re good. Someone gave them a copy ofSpirits.” That was the town’s nickname for her collection of stories from the ghosts. “Gunnar apologized for accusing me of conning them. When they’re ready, they want me to be their translator to talk to their children.”
“I can be there, too, if you like.” He had grown comfortable with most of the town’s ghosts, but still had trouble understanding them.
“I would like.”
He felt her gratitude through their mate bond. He sent a private prayer to the moon goddess to let them always be there for each other.
He squeezed her shoulders. “What do you want to do about the job offer?”
She pointed to her laptop. “I’m writing a counter-proposal. I’ll help them with the layered illusion if they let me use it for a demonstration research project to implement multi-source renewable energy generation. Not just for magic, but for the town, to supplement the glade.” She turned to face him. “If you’re drilling for core samples, maybe we could work with Ortesse’s and Moira’s mirror magic to look for good geothermal exchange sites, too.”
“Yes, we could.” He could already see the possibilities. “We’d need access to GPS satellites, and the internet, for precise mapping.”
“Already in my proposal. My super-not-secret plan is to bring Fort LeBlanc into the current century and make it really hard for the elders to cut the town off again. Even your mother’s traditional caribou tribe uses mobile uplinks during their migration.”
“I already heard about it from Raffa Mackenzie when she asked me for a job.” He chuckled. “She hit me upbeforethe meeting.”
“She’s brilliant, and she lives for challenges.” Skyla laughed. “She’ll be a CEO by the time she’s thirty.”
“She can have it,” said Nic. “I’ll add hiring her to my employment contract.” He threaded his fingers through hers and energized the mate bond. “CEOs don’t get to spend time at home with their sexy mates.”
She swung her leg over to sit on his lap, facing him. “You’re letting your beard grow.” She stroked his jaw. “I like it.”
He leaned in for a kiss.
They froze when they heard an insistent bird chirping from the hallway.
She sighed. “I’ll get it.” She slid off his lap. He followed to the cooler hallway where they kept the satellite phone that had nature sounds for ringtones.
She pressed two buttons, then set it down. “Skyla and Nic, and you’re on speaker.”
“Pendragor here, with Tinsel. Do you want the good news or bad news first?”
“The good news,” Nic and Skyla said together. Truly, she was his perfect mate.
“We happened to accidentally open a portal to St. George, Utah, right next to a group home for orphan shifter children. Your bobcat twins made it back the same day you landed in Kotoyeesinay.”
