Winter's Dawn (20 page)

Max rolled his eyes. “I consider you my friends, Serena. So does Susie. We don’t mind doing nice things for her.”

“No nice things for Lady Katrina,” Serena said in a singsong voice. “She has plenty of nice things that her sister buys for her on a daily basis. She is spoiled completely rotten. The fact that she spends her spare time shopping with the queen should tell you that.”

“I feel like I owe you two and you never let me repay you!”

Serena snorted. “Save me from blind males, even powerful alpha ones.”

“What is that suppose to mean?”

“It means that Katrina talks about you incessantly,” Serena said softly. “And she is going to be truly heartbroken when she is not needed any more. We both are.”

Max was silent for a long moment, before he finally whispered, “Serena—”

“Enough on that topic,” Serena said dismissively. “I’ll gather my thoughts on your shelters. We’ll discuss it once I get there.”

Max sighed, shaking his head. “You’re a good sister, Serena. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’ve fixed bigger problems than one little, brokenhearted arctic wolf.”

Max looked at the phone long after he hung it up, feeling strangely confused and uncertain about the waves of guilt rolling over him. Not for the first time he felt jealous of humans and the simplicity of their mating rituals. He was envious of humans for lots of things and he suddenly missed going to school with Susie. He wondered what John and his other friends were doing in college and he hated that he was stuck being ruler at such a young age.

He wasn’t supposed to be worrying over budgets, homeless werewolves, or Canadian Presidents who had just confessed to something that made his heart hurt.

“Your Majesty, the French President is on the phone.” Carl peeked his head into Max’s icy cold office. “He is having problems with some of his staff and requires guidance.”

Max snapped out of his trance and nodded. “Yes, thank you, Carl.”

He picked up the phone and leaned back in his chair, switching easily to French. “Jean Luc, I told you to just replace the staff giving you problems.”

“I hate to fire all of them,” Jean Luc said. “Many are talented, Your Majesty, just blinded by Aubert’s abuse of power. I find it a similar situation to that of you taking over after your father. I was hoping you could offer me some guidance.”

Max sighed, reminding himself that he liked Jean Luc. “Very well, lets go over it. I know much of the staff, having spent far more time than I liked dealing with Aubert’s problems. We’ll go over it by departments.”

Max was still on the phone with the New French President when Susie came home from school. She ran into his office, bursting with excitement and he had to hold a hand up to silence the words that were trying to spill out of her.

“I know Aubert was loath to give any work to omega wolves.” Max rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “But, I am telling you, Jean Luc, they are much better with administrative duties. Most of my personal staff is made up of omega wolves. Carl is a brown omega wolf and I think he was sent from the Gods. I would be lost without him.”

“Maxwell!” Susie said insistently.

“Hold on a moment,” Max said in French and then raised his gaze to Susie, switching back to English. “Yes?”

She beamed at him and then laid a yellow oak leaf on his desk proudly. He frowned as he stared at it, unable to believe he had forgotten winter was so close.

“Wow.” He looked back up and smiled at her. “That’s great. We won’t be melting anymore.”

“Max.” Susie stared back at the leaf on his desk. “You’re supposed to make it snow now.”

“I did,” he told her quickly and pointed to his window. “Look.”

Susie turned to stare out the window as the first snowflakes of winter drifted down. She tilted her head, her gaze dull and sad as she nodded. “Thanks.”

“Go play in it,” he told her, gesturing to the door of his office. “I really have to finish this call.”

Susie turned around and left without another word, closing his door with a thump that seemed louder than necessary. He frowned at the white wood of his office door for a few seconds after she left.

“Your Majesty?”

“Sorry, Jean Luc, where were we?” Max snapped out of his confusion and returned his attention back to Jean Luc.

“Omega wolves with administrative duties.”

“Right.” Max nodded as he picked up a pen and started making notes on another topic, because he had learned to multitask amazingly well. “Their talents towards that line of work aside, you can’t just employ beta wolves. That goes against everything we are trying to do. Humans are fighting towards equality and we are too. We need to take a leaf out of their book. I find their Martin Luther King very inspiring, don’t you?”

Max was engrossed again, making notes on the topic of shelters while he continued to discuss staffing problems with Jean Luc. He was unsure how much time had passed before Carl came in and quietly laid more files on Max’s desk.

“Hold on, Jean Luc.” Max turned to Carl. “Where are those files I needed to give to my father, the ones with the suggestions for the Winter Solstice guest list? I’ll be so mad if Emma only invites beta wolves and I try to avoid getting mad for running parties.”

Carl looked at Max’s desk, sorting through the files himself. “You should still have them.”

Carl was still sorting through the files, trying to make sense of the confusion of Max’s desk when he picked up the leaf Susie had left. He moved to dump it in the garbage. Max dropped the phone in his haste to stop him. He leaped over the desk and grabbed Carl’s hand so quickly it made him jump.

“Sorry.” Max let go of his wrist, knowing that his strength could have gotten away from him. “That’s the last leaf. We keep those.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” Carl looked at the leaf in his hand reverently. “The start of your season is important. That was thoughtless of me.”

“No, it’s fine. You didn’t know,” Max said as he picked up the phone again.

“I find it very touching that you keep the last leaf.” Carl gave him a wide smile. “Alpha wolves have soft spots too.”

Max smiled. “Yeah, since we were little. Susie finds them and I make it snow for her as a reward.”

“And it’s snowing.” Carl looked out the window. “She should enjoy playing while in it while she can.”

Max frowned. “What?”

“She won’t be young forever.” Carl turned away from the window to stare back at him with warm, brown eyes. “We all played in snow once, but we grow out of it.”

“Oh Gods.” Max turned to stare out the window. “Jean Luc, I’ve got to go.”

“Excuse me, Your Majesty?”

“Carl.” Max dropped the phone and jumped up. “Explain to him, to all of them. I have to go.”

“Where are you going?” Carl asked in confusion.

“The last leaf fell,” Max barked at him and gestured to the window. “I’m supposed to be in the snow.”

Carl nodded. “Then go, Your Majesty. We’ll handle things while you are gone.”

“Thank you.” Max pulled off his suit jacket. “I worship the ground you walk on. You have no idea what you just did, but thank you.”

Max dashed out the office, his feet carrying him far faster than a human would have been able to accept. He burst out of the doors in the ballroom onto the outside terrace, nearly slipping as he vaulted over the railing to land on his feet in the snow.

He saw Susie by herself in the middle of the expansive, well-manicured grounds that were framed in the distance by towering trees from the vast woods. Her long hair was loose, floating around her and hiding the snow that landed in it. Still wearing her school uniform, with her legs primly folded to the side she sat quietly. A large wolf made of snow sat stoically next to her.

Max realized she had settled in the spot where the runnings usually started. The wolf wasn’t just any white wolf, Susie had created a startling replica of him. It looked so real Max expected the enormous beast to turn around and start growling at him.

It would be well deserved if it did.

“Susie!”

Her head shot up. She sat there in shock before she wiped frantically at her cheeks. She was still wiping at her eyes when Max made it to her, clearing the huge space of land quickly.

“You came.” Susie beamed up at him with watery eyes. “You didn’t forget.”

“I didn’t forget.” Max fell down in the snow next to her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t out here to watch it fall. It won’t ever happen again.”

She nodded quietly, before she frowned at him. “You want to know what I think about you forgetting to watch the first snow fall?”

“You think I’m a terrible mate,” he asked her. “I am. Gods, I am a dreadful mate. The first snow should never fall without both of us under it when it does.”

She gave him a thin-lipped smile. “You are and you deserve to be punished.”

Max frowned at the odd statement for a moment before the huge snow wolf attacked him. He fell back in surprise as the wolf immediately started melting, “Argh, Sue, my shirt’s all wet!” He swatted at the wolf, destroying her beautiful creation.

“More than your shirt is going to be wet.” Susie picked up a handful of snow and rubbed it into his hair.

He rolled onto his back, laughing hysterically as he grabbed his own handful of snow and then lurched forward to rub it into her hair. Susie laughed with him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him back down into the snow.

“I’m going to make you play out here all day as punishment,” Susie picked up more snow and smeared it over his face.

“You won’t have to make me,” he told her as his laughter subsided. “I plan to skip dinner and stay in this snow until I get cold.”

Susie smiled, her eyes watery again. “That
is
a long time. You never get cold.”

“If kings could make wishes, they would spend every day in the snow with winter queens who make snowy dreams,” he told her as he reached out and caressed her cheek, wiping the tears away. “Make something for me.”

“Okay.” Susie rolled onto her back and looked heavenward as the snow started falling harder. “What would you like?”

“Make me a Susie Bee.” He fell on his back next to her. Susie giggled, but made a large bee as requested and Max reached out when it flew over his face. “Is she busy making the honey sweet?”

“Yes, she is quite busy. You ought to stop poking at her and melting her wings,” Susie told him in a lofty voice. “Queens can’t make sweet things with missing wings.”

He laughed again. “Yes, that would be difficult.”

“Honeywell.”

“Hmm,” he said, still poking at her flying bee, enthralled with the way Susie was able to effortlessly repair the damage from his warm finger.

“Thank you.”

He left the bee alone and let his head roll to the side. “Don’t thank me. I can’t bear the thought of you being too old to play in the snow.”

“Winter Queens like snow a lot,” she told him seriously. “I think it’s physically impossible for one to resist playing in it.”

“I hope so.” He rolled over and kissed her, tasting her full, warm lips for one short moment. “I hope you play in it forever.”

Susie threaded her fingers in his hair, holding him to her as she tilted her head and placed another kiss against his cheek, her breath warm against his skin, “I love you.”

“Love you too, Susie Bee.” He pulled back to smile down at her. “So much it makes my heart hurt.”

“That’s a lot.” She grinned. “Enough to forgive me for drowning you in snow.”

Max squeezed his eyes shut and rolled away when a small tidal wave of snow swallowed him. He jumped up out the pile, positively soaking and shook his head in a wolf-like manner.

“Being fully grown means I don’t have to endure wet clothing,” He jerked his shirt out of the waistband of his pants and ripped it open, throwing buttons everywhere. “I can finally play in this stuff naked.”

Susie screeched. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Oh, yes, I would,” he told her as he reached down to pull his shoes off. “Lay there and watch me.”

“People will see you.” Susie laughed in disbelief and rolled over to look back towards the palace. “Humans work for us too.”

“They are about to get an eyeful then.” He tossed one shoe aside and pulled off his other one. “Because I’m not human and I feel like being naked in the snow.”

“I do too.” Susie jumped up. “And Aunt Emma can’t say a thing about it.”

“She sure can’t,” Max told her as he pulled at his belt. “I’m the big wolf around here now. If you want to be naked in the snow I’m telling you to seize the moment.”

“I will.” Susie pulled off her uniform jacket. “I’m going to be naked in the snow all night.”

“That makes two of us.”

It wasn’t just the humans who watched stunned from the office windows and back balconies. Everyone who lived and worked at the Winter Palace took at least one look at the Winter King and Queen playing naked in the snow until long after the sun set and the moon cast it’s warm glow on their pale skin. Max and Susie fell asleep in the early hours of the next morning, completely careless of what any of the shocked wolves and humans thought about their activities.