Chapter 2

G reat. Wonderful. Fantastic. More books.

Well, to be honest, Levi wasn't sure exactly what else he should have expected to find in a box shoved up the back of his great aunt's old bookshop but even more books… but, still.

He hadn't asked for this – any of this.

He'd always known about his Great Aunt Aida, who'd left their chimera village to strike it out on her own in the human world. It hadn't exactly been a secret , but then, no one in the village had actually approved of her choice either – even if she was one of those shifters who, due to the ornery and secretive nature of their shifter type, had never actually managed to shift, and take on the form of her chimera.

It wasn't exactly an uncommon problem amongst chimeras – unlike other shifter types, chimeras preferred to keep themselves to themselves, and that included not revealing themselves to the world until they really, really felt like it. And sometimes, that until they felt like it never actually came.

Great Aunt Aida had been one of those unfortunate shifters whose chimera had chosen to remain hidden – and once she'd hit a certain age and still hadn't shifted, she'd announced to the whole village that she was taking off and finding her own way in the world. It was just never going to be all that comfortable living in a chimera village, as a shifter who couldn't shift.

Just like me.

Levi shook his head.

No, not just like me.

But as much as he tried to deny it, he had to admit, with every year that passed, he was losing more and more hope.

At twenty-seven, he was well past the age that most chimera shifters finally figured out how to coax their inner chimera to the surface. And yet, his remained stubbornly curled up inside him, refusing to come out, refusing to even speak to him a lot of the time, except to offer him some cantankerous, unhelpful advice or snarky comment, before going straight back to sleep, its scaled tail curled around its lion's head, its giant eagle's wings folded around its body.

Just like his great aunt, he too was a shifter who couldn't shift. Even his parents had stopped bringing it up, and resigned themselves to the fact that he'd be just like Aida.

Except, Levi thought, as he started lifting dusty old books out the box he'd found shoved under the shelves, I'd never run away from the chimera village to open a bookshop in a human village, and then send a note out of the blue one day to my family saying I'd met an unbelievably handsome silver-haired dragon shifter on my annual vacation to Florida and was off on a whirlwind round-the-world honeymoon with him, so can you please go and sort out my stock and shut up shop because I won't be back!

So now, this shop and everything in it was simply someone else's problem.

Namely, his.

In some ways, Levi had to grudgingly admit, he did kind of admire Aida. She did what she wanted, when she wanted. Even if it meant he was now in possession of a bookshop he'd never asked for, since his family had decided for whatever reason that the mess Aida had left behind was his job to sort out.

True, he was the only one of his siblings who didn't have children yet, and so wasn't in the midst of trying to prepare what seemed like endless Christmas celebrations and getting their present shopping done, so he supposed he could see where they were coming from.

And at the time, Levi had thought it might be a good chance to get away from all that. It wasn't that he didn't love his brothers and sisters and what seemed like their immense horde of children – it just felt like a constant reminder, at this time of year especially, of everything he'd never have.

No one would choose a chimera who couldn't shift as their partner.

He knew it – it was unspoken, but it was generally just known that chimeras who never managed to figure out how to bring out their shifted forms just weren't really considered marriage material.

Levi wondered if that was part of the reason Aida had decided to run off. She'd known it'd never happen for her, so she'd gone to find her own happiness – a different kind of happiness.

Until the ripe old age of sixty-three, when she suddenly met her dragon shifter fancy man, apparently, Levi thought, shaking his head.

He sighed as he sifted through yet more books with disgustingly cheerful caroling children on the cover, holding candles and delighting homeowners – who had probably just been trying to enjoy their dinner before these kids showed up – with their merry songs. He did have to wonder about her taste in books.

He'd never liked Christmas, and being here now in Great Aunt Aida's bookshop, trying to sort through the stock she'd unceremoniously dumped on him, he was finding nothing in particular to endear it to him.

He'd never thought about it particularly hard in the past, but now that he'd been thrust into this situation, it struck him that it was kind of… weird … how much chimeras liked Christmas. Not only did they tend to be a bit grumpy and antisocial by nature, but they weren't overly integrated into human society, either – while they didn't keep themselves fully apart from it, they did more or less keep mainly to themselves, and follow their own traditions.

Except for Christmas, it seemed. And a couple of other random things that had carried over somehow, like water polo, Arbor Day, and root beer floats. Levi could only assume that some overly enthusiastic chimeras in the past had brought these things in from the outside world, and made them into a thing . He guessed that when your community was small, it didn't take much for certain crazes to take over.

But Christmas was the biggest one of them all. Chimeras loved Christmas. It was like it gave them all an excuse to shed their cranky, antisocial exteriors and become their cheeriest, most festive selves.

Levi hated it.

Well, ‘hate' was probably a strong word. But it wasn't that far off the mark. He'd just never been able to get into the Christmas spirit. Why should he start acting chirpy just because the time of year dictated it? There was no need for it. If he was going to be happy, it was going to be on his terms.

Even as a kid, he'd never gotten it. His parents had rolled their eyes in fond exasperation as he'd crossed his arms and huffed, exclaiming that he'd never like Christmas, never EVER . They'd told him that he'd understand one day, but that day had never come. If anything, he liked it even less now. Now, as an adult, Christmas came with expectations that he would actively contribute to the charade, and he wanted no part of it.

No, it being Christmas was just the cherry on top of this whole situation. He sighed as he looked at the insufferably festive book.

Don't suppose you'd feel like helping? he asked his chimera where it was curled into a tight ball inside him.

It twitched its scaled tail, ruffled its feathered wings, and Levi thought he caught a glimpse of a golden lion's eye.

Nope, it said.

Then it went back to sleep.

No. Of course not.

Levi wasn't even sure why he'd bothered to ask. His chimera had made itself clear: the outside world held no interest to it whatsoever.

Irritated, he scrawled the word ‘FREE' onto a box and then tossed the book into it with a satisfying thump . The sooner he could get rid of this stuff, the sooner he could get out of here and stop looking at pictures of jaunty-looking elves and prancing reindeer.

Of course, this store had been here for decades, and he doubted that the good people of this town – what was it called again? Kirkwood Springs? – would happily whisk away several thousand books out of the goodness of their hearts. So he was going to have to sort out how the hell he was going to get rid of all the leftovers as well, not to mention trying to sell a dark, dusty, musty old shop in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks, Great Aunt Aida, he thought sourly. Thanks so much for jetting off with your age-appropriate boy toy and leaving me to deal with your mess.

His nose twitched in annoyance… or possibly an impending sneeze from all the dust he was stirring up.

Nope, definitely a sneeze. He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth, stifling the sneeze in its tracks, his eyes watering just a bit.

Levi paused a moment, waiting to see if the sneeze would come back, and that was when he heard it – the tread of feet on creaky floorboards.

A customer? But the shop's closed up!

Had he forgotten to close the door when he took the last box of books outside? He didn't want customers – he just wanted people to take the boxed-up books away somewhere, anywhere, as long as it wasn't here.

But no, somebody had obviously wandered in – and, if the increasing volume of the footsteps was any indication, they were wandering farther and farther into the labyrinthine corridors of the store. The place was so stuffed with books and shelves and who knew what else that a person could easily get lost.

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose.

Great. Fantastic. Just what I need – some nosy person who'll come in and ask me why the books are being packed up, and where Aida is, and who I am, and a bunch of other stuff I neither know how nor care to answer. Just take your free books and go. Go. Shoo.

He remained stock-still as the footsteps stopped and started, and stifled a groan. Any remaining hopes he had of the person wandering off were being well and truly dashed.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" a voice called out, and Levi barely restrained an annoyed groan. It was a woman's voice, and she sounded friendly.

Levi didn't like friendly . Friendly invariably led to chatty .

He slid back farther into the dark corner, blocking his nose against the gentle rain of dust that fell upon him, and listened with growing irritation to the approaching voice as it muttered to itself.

"Where's the reference section?" the woman said thoughtfully. "Or… oh, this is a cookbook! I could use one of those… oh, a book on… knitting? And this book is about Hanukkah! That's a holiday, right?"

Levi blinked at the sudden jumping from topic to topic. What exactly was this woman looking for? He was almost tempted to go out and try to help her find whatever it was – the sooner she left, the sooner he could go back to clearing this place out, instead of hiding in the corner.

No. Not hiding. Strategically waiting.

He continued to strategically wait, but to no avail, as the woman was clearly now a few short feet away, just on the other side of the shelves. She came to a halt directly across from him, and he scowled.

"So if Santa has reindeer that help him deliver hot cross buns, and they've been doing so for many years," she mused, "then they must be pretty old. Where does he get the new ones to replace them from? Does he breed them? Or maybe they're magical reindeer. They must be magical, if they can fly."

Levi blocked his nose against another incoming sneeze, even as he wondered what the hell this woman was trying to accomplish. His Great Aunt Aida had a lot of books about Christmas, but he was pretty sure that none of them covered Santa's reindeer breeding regime.

Could he sneak out past her, and come back later once she'd gone? Or maybe she'd take the shop off his hands – she seemed like she would be happy to wander the stacks forever.

Once I'm done here, I'm definitely rewarding myself with something. Like a hot dog.

Hot dogs were one thing chimeras didn't seem to have bought into, but Levi had to admit that he liked them.

Yes, he'd reward himself with a hot dog after all this was done. He thought he deserved it.

As he contemplated his soon-to-be reward of mouthwateringly delicious processed meat in an absolutely un-nutritious white bun, hoping his unwanted customer would finish up whatever she was doing and leave, he suddenly became aware of the shelf in front of him wobbling precariously – followed by the woman's surprised cry of whoops!

Whoops?! Levi had time to think – a moment before a pile of very large, very heavy, very dusty books came toppling down from above him, landing squarely on his head.

Make that two hot dogs , he thought grimly . With extra onions. And a very large beer.

"Ow," he muttered without thinking, rubbing his head, and the woman on the other side of the shelves suddenly fell silent.

The silence grew longer, and then longer still. Levi thought that if he just stayed silent, maybe she would think she'd hallucinated his voice and wander off elsewhere.

"Hello?" she called hesitantly. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry!"

No such luck, then. He stayed silent, trying to blend with the shadows, though he knew it was probably a lost cause. He didn't exactly blend easily at the best of times, being a six-foot-five chimera shifter, but there was no way he could blend with a bookshelf, no matter how much dust he was now coated in.

And speaking of dust…

Oh no. Not now. Not now –

The sneeze, of course, paid no heed to his request, and chose that moment to make itself known. It trumpeted through the silence of the store, followed quickly by another, and then another.

The sounds reverberated off the walls for a moment, before silence descended once more.

Well. She probably won't think she hallucinated that.

Levi was weighing up whether he could just leave the store out the back way before she saw him, when suddenly one of the books in the shelf slid backward, creating a gap.

"Oh!" said the voice. "So there is someone here. I am so, so sorry. I can't say how sorry I am. I'm such a klutz, oh my goodness." Her voice lowered to a barely audible mutter. "This is so typical. Drop books on the handsome man, why don't you, Margot?"

Levi shook his head, confused, and then bent down to look through the gap in the books. An eye peered back at him. As far as eyes went, he had to admit that it was interesting – a pale green, flecked with gold, with darker green at the edges. He found himself staring into it.

"Hi!" the voice said, sounding a little surprised, and the eye blinked rapidly. "I'm Margot! I'm, uh, really sorry about before. Are you okay?"

It would be churlish of him not to respond, he supposed. Even though he really, really hated small talk.

"I'm okay," he said, trying not to sound too much like he would rather be literally anywhere else in the world right now. "It wasn't your fault. This place is an OSHA nightmare."

"Oh… uh… sure, I guess. OSHA," she said, repeating it as if she'd never heard the word before, and now it was Levi's turn to blink. This Margot was a bit of a strange one. Probably exactly the type of person to frequent a moldy old bookstore. And yet, as much as he hated to admit it, he found her oddly fascinating.

While he was trying to work out how to respond, she spoke up again. "You know, this is a bit silly, the two of us talking through a gap like this. Is it okay if I come around there?"

Before he could reply – and really, it would be a bit much to say no, even for him – the eye disappeared, and then a few moments later a woman rounded the corner.

"Oh! There you are!" she said brightly, her face breaking into a smile. Her gaze drifted up to his face. "Wow, you're tall!"

"I guess I am," he said helplessly, unable to think of a better response. She looked a little embarrassed, probably realizing that she had just stated the obvious, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

It was… cute. Which wasn't a word he would normally use, but he couldn't think of a better way to describe it.

She was pretty cute all around, in fact, with her big green eyes and long blonde hair, some of which fell almost to her waist, while the rest was arranged in elaborate plaits. A long, multi-colored skirt swished around her sensibly-booted ankles, and a shawl was wrapped around her shoulders.

So, besides cute , he could probably add eccentric to the list. And also gorgeous –

That stopped him cold. Since when did he go around thinking that kind of thing about random women he'd just met? And random women who'd just dumped dusty old tomes on his head, at that?

But there was no denying it – there was something about her that just grabbed his attention in a way that no one else ever had. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was indisputable.

He realized that he was staring at her in a way that was also definitely not like him. The only redeeming factor was that she was staring as well – their eyes locked for a moment, and he found it almost impossible to look away.

What on earth is going on here?

A movement in the corner of his vision grabbed his attention, and he gratefully took the opportunity to look away from her – admittedly beautiful – eyes.

A black cat meandered down the aisle, weaving around the piles of books and brushing against Margot's leg. He didn't think it had been here earlier, and he knew that Great Aunt Aida definitely would've mentioned it if there was a cat living at the store. It also seemed pretty comfy around Margot, so surely it had to be her cat.

He would've been surprised, but he was rapidly getting the impression that Margot was the kind of person who would take a cat shopping without a second thought.

In any case, it was a good distraction. He cleared his throat, partially because it was still full of dust, and partially because this Margot made him feel oddly self-conscious.

"Is that your cat?" he asked. The cat stopped its wanderings and stared at him.

Margot's eyes widened in delight. "You can see Monty?" she exclaimed. "Oh! Oh! Then you must be – oh thank goodness. That makes things so much easier, oh my goodness."

Levi frowned. She was… surprised he could see her cat? Her very large, very fluffy cat?

He moved eccentric up to the top of the list of words that best described her, and mentally underlined it a few times for good measure.

"This is great," Margot went on. "If you've been living here, you can help me learn about these people and their customs. I've been doing my research, but I'm so confused! Someone like you would be such a help, you have no idea."

"I'd like to help you how I can… if I can," Levi said quickly, before she could get the wrong idea and carry the conversation off in a direction that it would be hard to backtrack from.

And he didn't even want to think about what she meant by these people and their customs … though he was starting to get the impression that maybe she was from a completely different place.

And he didn't even know why he'd offered to help her. He didn't even know her! And he had enough on his hands already, without doing good deeds for beautiful strangers.

Strangers, he mentally amended. It doesn't matter that she's beautiful, it's still trouble I don't need.

Margot opened her mouth, looking for all the world like she was about to launch into ten questions at once, and Levi quickly spoke up before she could start talking again.

"Your cat is, uh…" he said lamely, mentally flailing around for the appropriate word. Finally, he settled on, "Cute."

It had been the right thing to say, apparently – a brilliant smile spread across her face, lighting up her eyes. At her feet, Monty seemed to preen, and Levi reminded himself not to get caught up anthropomorphizing the creature – it wasn't like it could understand what was being said about it.

"Monty is cute, aren't you, Monty?" Margot crooned, scooping up the cat and scratching him under his chin. She turned to face Levi. "Do you want to pet him?"

"Well, I –" Levi said, before he cut himself off. He'd been about to say no, but Margot looked so hopeful. He hated the idea that he could let her down.

Where is any of this even coming from? he thought desperately. I just met her! And she almost knocked me out!

"Please?" said Margot, looking at him beseechingly. "I feel so bad about dropping those books on you, so if you'd like a little bit of cat time, it's the least I can do."

Really, how could he say no to that?

Her smile was already starting to fade ever so slightly as he failed to respond, and he found that he hated that. He didn't know why, but the sight of her looking anything other than blissfully happy made him feel unhappy.

He made his way over, hesitating for a second before he reached out and touched Monty's belly, which was just as soft as it looked.

He'd never had a cat of his own, and he knew they could be vicious if they felt threatened, but Monty seemed perfectly happy having his belly rubbed, if his deep, rumbling purr was any confirmation.

"He likes you," Margot said, and Levi looked up to see her brilliant smile once again.

Wow. I could get used to that.

He gazed at her for a long moment, before he suddenly became aware of the fact that Monty was now grabbing his hand with his front legs and bunny-kicking at it with his hind legs.

"He's jealous because you stopped paying attention to him," Margot said with a laugh, "Monty, that's enough. Don't kick at the nice man."

Monty responded by gnawing at his fingers, which Levi thought was much more in character with his general expectations of cat behavior. He carefully extricated himself from Monty's deadly grasp, and Margot lowered the cat to the floor.

"Sorry, he can be a bit of an attention hog," Margot said apologetically. "Between that and the books, I fear that I've caused you quite a lot of injuries in the past five minutes."

Levi shook his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

He was finding that it was a little easier to talk to Margot than it normally was to talk to people he'd only just met, though he had no idea why. Maybe this had all just been so unusual that it had shocked him out of his normal responses, or lack thereof.

Amazingly, instead of trying to find some excuse to hurry her out of the store, he found himself actually asking her a question.

"You said I could help you. What was it exactly you needed help with?" He grimaced a little. "Not that I think I'd actually be much help, since I don't know where anything is and don't actually work here."

Her brow creased in confusion. "You don't work here?"

"Well, it's a long story," he said. "The short version is that my great aunt owned this place, but now she doesn't want it, and I certainly don't have any experience with bookshops. Don't live in the area, either. So I'm sorting through everything and throwing it out so this place can be sold."

He gestured at the general mess of books with his arm, vaguely aware that he'd said more words in the past few minutes than he often would in a day. "If you see anything you want, just take it. Please. You'd be doing me a favor."

Margot stared at him, dismay clear on her face. "You're throwing out all these books and selling the shop? But this is… this is heaven! "

He shrugged. "If you want to buy it, feel free. And like I said, take what you want of the books. But I can't just turn my life on its head to become a bookseller because my great aunt decided she'd rather spend her time working on her tan with her new boyfriend."

Margot looked confused for a moment as she tried to follow along, before understanding dawned and she nodded. "I get it. I do. I can't just pack up and buy this place either, as much as I'd like to, so I can't really expect you to pack up your life for it, I guess. It's such a shame, though. I wish we could swap lives. You'd be so much better at my life than I am."

Levi wasn't sure why on earth she'd think that, but at least she'd given him an opening. "What are you looking for here, anyway? Like I said, I don't think I can help much, but I guess you never know."

Margot looked cagey for a moment, which wasn't an expression he would have expected from her. When she spoke, he felt like he wasn't getting the full story.

"Well," she said, "I'm in town for a bit of a research assignment. But then I saw the town all lit up for Christmas, and then I saw the books here about Christmas, and I figured this would be the place to learn more about it. I think I may have already embarrassed myself when I was talking to someone else about Christmas. My study did not prepare me."

Levi managed to hide his wince. Oh God. I knew she had to have some kind of flaw. I just can't escape from the Christmas people. Why are they so obsessed with this holiday?!

"The town was just so beautiful," Margot went on. "There's nothing like it where I'm from. I would really love to know more about it." She gazed up at him, her eyes imploring. "Will you teach me about Christmas?"

She looked so hopeful. How could he say no?

"Okay," he managed to get out through his gritted teeth eventually, hoping that he didn't sound actively unhappy about it. "Yeah, I can do that."

Her face lit up even brighter, and okay, yeah, he could do this. But he was definitely going to get some fries and pickles to go with those hot dogs. He one hundred percent deserved it.

"Thank you so much!" Margot said, bouncing a little on her toes. "Did you hear that, Monty? We're going to learn about Christmas from – from –" She faltered. "Uh, sorry, but I don't think I caught your name earlier. What was it again?"

It was kind of her to pretend that he hadn't been so rude as to just not introduce himself.

"Levi," he replied. "Levi Thorne."

"We're going to learn about Christmas from our friend Levi here," Margot continued. "And then maybe if we get time, he can tell us a bit about Easter as well!"

Levi thought he did a pretty good job of stifling his groan… though at least chimeras weren't completely obsessed with Easter, so it wasn't such a problem. He didn't actually know a lot about it himself.

"Well, should we go out and have a look at the town, and you can tell me about Christmas?" Margot asked. "I'll buy you something to eat as recompense."

The thought of wandering through the snow with Margot had already sounded nice, but he had to admit that the added incentive of food was definitely a bonus. He'd been boxing up books for hours, and, he suddenly realized, he was ravenous.

Still, he didn't want her to feel like she had to pay. "Are you sure? I can get myself something to eat."

She shook her head. "Please. I insist. I practically concussed you, and then my cat attacked you, and now you're teaching me important cultural learnings. It's the least I can do."

She was obviously determined, and he didn't think she'd take no for an answer. What choice did he have, but to say, "Sure. It would be my pleasure."

"Great!" she said happily. "That's sorted out, then. Let's go. You'll have to lead the way, though, since I have no idea how to get out of here."

"That makes two of us," he said, and Margot laughed.

"Oh, wait," she said, as he went to move past her. "You've got some dust in your hair. A lot of dust in your hair."

Before he could react, she brushed at his hair absently, sending dust flying up into the air. That was startling enough, but then the slightest contact of her fingertip against his temple sent a bolt of electricity shooting straight through his body, radiating all the way to his fingers and toes, and he stopped short, stunned.

He knew what this was.

My mate. She's my mate.

Levi stood there, stock-still.

Within him, his chimera had actually lifted its head, blinking as if someone had just roused it from a deep slumber.

Our mate? Our mate is here?

It was the most interest Levi had ever felt from it about what was going on outside of whatever dreams it had while it was curled away inside him.

It can't be true.

But even as he thought it, he knew it was.

And – and could this mean –

Will meeting my mate finally mean my chimera reveals itself?

Right now, his chimera didn't seem inclined to actually emerge – but it was interested.

And Levi knew, the only thing he could do now was to follow Margot.

No matter how… how odd she seems.

"Come on, slowpoke!" she laughed as she grabbed his hand, practically dragging him down the aisle. "You can explain to me the meaning of the jingling bells, and then we can partake of the nog!"

He followed as if in a daze, barely conscious of the movement of his legs.

This strange, beautiful, bewildering woman is my mate.