Page 73 of Her Purr-fect Christmas Mate

Maybe it won’t be so hard.

Inside him, Jasper’s dragon curled into a tighter ball. Lately it had been doing that a lot. That, and shivering. Like it couldn’t decide whether it wanted to hold on, or flee.

He lowered his head and followed his sister down the street.

The town square was just as he remembered it from the last Christmas he’d spent in town. A giant tree stood in the centre, festooned with gold decorations and glowing with a thousand lights. More ropes of lights were strung out from the top of the tree, connecting to the shopfronts that ran around the edge of the square, and right on top of it was a massive star that twinkled in the lights that seemed to hang in the air below it. It was magical.

Which was silly for a dragon to think, but Jasper had always had a special place in his heart for all the trappings of Christmas. It was his birthday, after all. And a time when people came together in happiness and joy, and all good things. The perfect time of year. Especially these last few years. With his quest to find his mate being such a failure, Christmases at home with his family had been the one certainty in life he could rely on.

Some of the tension in Jasper’s chest unwound. He caught up with Opal in a few long strides and linked arms with her. “Where this coffee? My shout.”

“There— see the piles of exhausted parents under the tree?” Opal pointed.

Low benches and chairs were arranged around glowing braziers beneath the spreading branches of the massive Christmas tree. A coffee cart designed to look like Santa’s sleigh was parked in the middle of them, holding baristas in red and white costumes who were busily dispensing life-giving drinks to the lifeless-looking inhabitants of the chairs.

Opal sighed happily. “God, I love this place. Get me a Rudolph Special, will you? And Cole can have anything except the Jolly Fat Man donut surprise.”

Cole giggled. “The surprise is I threw it up!”

Opal collapsed into a cushioned chair. “No, sweetie. It’s three massive donuts cemented into a Santa the size of a toddler. You throwing it up after you scoffed it wasn’t a surprise.” She closed her eyes.*Thesurprisewas you throwing it up onmewhile dive-bombing me when I was trying to put up the Christmas lights.*

“Gross, buddy.” Jasper reached up to ruffle his nephew’s hair. “You’re right, your mom definitely deserves a coffee. Let’s go get her one.”

A few minutes later, Opal revived enough to grab the drink Jasper passed her. The Rudolph Special was the coffee cart’s showstopper: a towering mug of whipped cream, caramel and raspberry syrup and chocolate flakes, all topped off with a bright red glace cherry.

Jasper had to assume there was coffee in there, somewhere under the sugar and cream, although there was no sign of it.

Cole buried his face in the snowman-shaped s’more cookie he had chosen. Jasper sat back in a chair next to his sister, a cup ofactualcoffee steaming in his hand. Well, mostly coffee. Maybe there was a bit of chocolate in it. And nutmeg. And a cinnamon stick poking out. And a big dollop of whipped cream. But hey— it was Christmas. What was he supposed to drink?

He heard Opal sigh before he felt the nudge of her telepathic voice against his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and let her in.

*What’s up, sis?*

*You know what’s up, idiot. The rest of your life, for a start.* Opal’s mental voice was as grouchy as her real one, but even that couldn’t hide the warmth and compassion behind her words. *I’m worried about you, bro. I know it’s been hard for you, but... have you really given up hope?*

Jasper set down his coffee and stared into the glowing brazier. *I don’t know what else to do, sis. If she was out there— wouldn’t she have found me by now? Wouldn’t I have found her?* He winced at the pain that lanced through his mental voice. *Maybe I’m destined to be the fun, single uncle forever. I can live with that.*

*Live with it as what, though?*Opal’s voice was gentle, but an undercurrent of concern ran through it.

Jasper went completely still.

*Jasper, tell me you’ve thought about this. What are you going to choose?*

What am I going to choose?Inside him, his dragon trembled. He reached for it, for the connection that had always been the core of his being, the place where man and dragon met— and for a moment, there was nothing.

Jasper let out his breath in a rush. Icy sweat beaded on his forehead.That felt like— just for a moment, I thought—

He gritted his teeth. Opal was right to be worried. This Christmas would be his twenty-fifth birthday. And like all Heartwell dragons, if he didn’t find his mate before he turned twenty-five, he would have to make a terrible choice.

Only a mated Heartwell could hold on to both parts of their soul. If he didn’t find his mate by Christmas, he would have to decide: to live the rest of his life as a dragon, or a man. And lose the other half of himself forever.

*Jasper...*Exasperation tinted Opal’s mental voice.*Youhavedecided, haven’t you?*

*Of course I have,*Jasper lied. He jiggled his leg, unsettled, and then jumped up and prodded the brazier.

It was warm by the fire, but the evening was drawing in, and he shivered so hard he could almost feel his scales rattling. Or his skin goose-bumping. Either. Both. Did it really matter which, in the end? If he was going to be alone for the rest of his life, what did it matter what shape he was?

He turned away from Opal, not wanting her to see his face, and stared out across the square. Holiday shoppers drifted from shop to shop in small clusters, at least half of them trailing after scampering children. The air smelled like chocolate and coffee and spices, and was crisp with the promise of an icy night. The town lights were too bright here to see the stars, but he knew that out in the mountains, at the Heartwell lodge, they would be blazing down on the snowy peaks like fiery diamonds.

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