Chapter 6

Oh. Oh my goodness, Sylvie thought, her breath stopping in her throat.

To be honest, she hadn’t been certain what to expect when Gale had told her he could change forms – nothing, really, she realized, despite the obviously magical thing he’d done right in front of her with her plants.

But now she realized she’d been wrong.

Because this was far from nothing.

First, there’d been a golden glow that had enveloped Gale from head to foot. Then there’d been a kind of… shimmer, and then – and then –

And then there was a unicorn standing in my back garden,Sylvie thought in a daze.

She closed her eyes, counted to ten, and then opened them again.

No, that’s definitely a unicorn. And it’s definitely standing in my back garden.

Blinking, she took a bit of skin on her forearm between her fingers and pinched. Hard.

“Ouch.”

That had hurt! But at least now she knew she wasn’t dreaming.

The unicorn gazed at her with large, silvery eyes, its snow-white mane glistening in the mid-morning sun, its single silver horn shining where it rose up on its forehead, long and thin and elegant.

Sylvie gasped as she took it in, realizing how truly beautiful it was.

No, she thought suddenly, shaking her head. It’s not an it. It’s a he. It’s definitely Gale.

Despite everything, somehow, Sylvie could tell it was still him. It must have been the piercing silvery eyes – they were definitely Gale’s. They’d been one of the first things she’d noticed – and loved – about him.

The unicorn standing in her garden seemed to be regarding her quietly, waiting for her to make the first move.

Sylvie took a deep breath. I have to let him know I’m not frightened of him.

“Wow,” she said, the word leaving her lips as little more than an exhale. “Okay. You got me – I really didn’t believe you at first, but I guess I can admit when I’m wrong.”

She took one or two steps forward, before hesitating. What was the etiquette surrounding this kind of thing? He wasn’t a horse – would he object to having his nose petted? Should she offer him a carrot, or a lump of sugar?

Despite herself, Sylvie felt a giggle rising in the back of her throat.

Well, I could always just ask, I suppose.

“Is it all right if I pet you?” Her fingers twitched a little in anticipation – she was really curious to know what a unicorn’s coat felt like!

The unicorn tossed its head, before stretching out its neck, nuzzling gently at her arm.

I guess that’s a yes!

Sylvie raised her hand, sliding her fingers gently over the unicorn’s mane. It was soft and silky – not like the coarse hair of a usual horse’s mane. And the pelt beneath was just the same, like running her hands over expensive silk. The unicorn didn’t seem to mind her taking her time to run her fingers over it at all, as if it was happy to wait until she felt she really believed what she was seeing.

“Okay,” she said finally. “Okay – I believe you. You’re a unicorn. But… you better believe I have a few questions for you. Uh, can you turn back?”

The unicorn tossed its head again, before being enveloped in that same shimmering golden cloud as before. Suddenly, Gale was standing before her once more – apparently, his clothes came with him when he shifted, which Sylvie was, remotely, grateful for. She wasn’t sure she could handle two mythical sights in one day!

And seeing Gale naked would definitely count as that, she thought before she could stop herself, her eyes roving hungrily over him.

Somehow, finding out he was a unicorn wasn’t off-putting in the slightest.

If anything, it only made him more attractive – How many guys can say they can turn into a beautiful, mythical creature?! Who, coincidentally, can also fix my gardening problems?!

“Sylvie?” Gale asked, jerking her out of her reverie.

“Yes!” she said hurriedly, trying to push her thoughts – her sexy, sexy thoughts – about him to the back of her mind. “Uh. Sorry!” She shook her head, pulling in a deep breath. “Okay. Well, like I said, I guess I have some questions. But… maybe it’d be better to ask them over a cup of coffee and some cake.”

“I’d like nothing better than to answer any questions you might have,” Gale said warmly. “And to eat some more of your amazing cake.”

Sylvie laughed, feeling strangely at ease despite what she’d just seen. She led him back inside, gesturing for him to sit at her dining room table.

“I’ll brew some coffee,” she said, walking across to the kitchen area. Her home was so small that it was only a few steps away. “And for cake, well, I have something a little special.”

The honey cake I’ve only just perfected.

She’d finished making it last night, layering the slices of gingerbread between thick slatherings of cream and butter, with her own added extra of butterscotch. She reached into the fridge and pulled out the cake, cutting off two generous slices, lifting each one onto a plate, and taking them back across to the table.

“Wow,” Gale said, blinking. “That looks good enough to… well, to eat.”

Sylvie laughed, twisting her fingers together. “It’s… well, it’s kind of new. I haven’t trialed it on anyone yet.” She pushed one of the plates toward Gale. She was still bursting with questions, but weren’t difficult questions easier to ask over cake?

“Well, I can tell just by looking at it that it’s going to be incredible,” Gale said, picking up a spoon. He sliced off a large hunk and lifted it to his mouth. “Mm,” he said, chewing, his eyes flickering closed.

Sylvie couldn’t help but stare. She’d thought he was gorgeous from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, but looking at him now, she felt her heart kick it up a notch. He looked blissful, like he was experiencing heaven in his mouth.

“That is… incredible,” he said, once he’d swallowed. “It’s perfect – I’ve never tasted anything that good. How do you make it?”

“It’s not complicated – it’s slices of gingerbread, with cream and butter. You’re supposed to make it the day before you’re planning on eating it, so the gingerbread gets nice and soft between the cream layers. I added my own little thing, with a bit of butterscotch, but it’s not how I was originally taught it.” She swallowed. “I don’t really want to sell the original, to be honest. It’s a recipe that’s close to my heart – the first thing that really made me love baking. It was my grandmother’s recipe, and so it’s a bit special to me.”

“She taught you how to make this?” Gale asked.

Sylvie nodded. “Yeah – as soon as I was old enough. Before that, though, I would always look forward to going around to her place, knowing she’d have a slice of cake waiting just for me.”Sylvie’s throat tightened as she spoke, the way it always did when she thought about her grandmother, even though she’d died some time ago now. Sylvie still missed her. “I owe her everything, from wanting to be a baker in the first place to this house. It was her house, and she left it to me in her will. It’s meant I’ve always known I had a place of my own back here, if I needed one. So really, I can’t say how grateful I am to her.”

“I can tell she was very special to you,” Gale said, his voice soft.

“You can say that again.” Sylvie took a shaky breath. She still got a little choked up when thinking about her grandmother. She was glad she’d had the chance to tell Gale about her, but now, she had a few questions of her own. “Speaking of very special families…”

Gale nodded, seeming to understand her at once. “I want to tell you everything you want to know. Where should I start?”

Biting her lower lip, Sylvie pondered. “Well, how about at the beginning? How did your family come to be… well, unicorns?”

Gale laughed softly. “I’m not sure anyone really knows now – we’ve always been like this, as far back as anyone can remember. It’s not just us, though. There’re many shifters out there in the world, for any kind of animal you can think of. Bears, cats, zebras, antelopes, pandas… if you can think of an animal, I guarantee there’s a shifter out there who can change into it.”

“Okay, wow,” Sylvie mumbled. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. She’d need some time to get used to it. “But… you’re not exactly an everyday kind of animal.”

“No, I’m not,” Gale said, shaking his head. “And there’re others like me out there. Griffins, pegasus, even dragons – they’re all out there too. But they tend to keep themselves to themselves, for reasons I’m sure you can understand. If a human saw a regular animal in the street, they wouldn’t think too much of it. But a griffin… well, I’m sure you can see the problem there.”

“I dunno,” Sylvie said slowly, still trying to process the dragons part of what Gale had told her. “I might look twice if I saw a panda wandering down the main street of Girdwood Springs.”

Gale laughed. “Well, understandable. But an alley cat? Probably not that big of a deal.”

Sylvie had to smile, despite the fact Gale had just turned her whole world on its head. “Yeah, you’re right about that.” She looked around. “Speaking of…”

As if on cue, Brioche jumped up onto the chair next to Gale, still purring his head off at the sight of his new friend.

“He really seems to have taken to you,” Sylvie said softly. “Does that have something to do with your being, uh, a shifter? Maybe he can sense you’re… um…”

Not human didn’t seem quite the right thing to say. But she wasn’t sure how else to put it!

“I think so,” Gale said, his fingers ruffling through Brioche’s thick fur. “Most shifters have an affinity with animals, though it doesn’t always work out that way. I don’t know that a cat shifter would be able to bond very well with a mouse. Or a lion shifter with an antelope.”

“That figures,” Sylvie laughed. “But a unicorn… well, maybe that’s universal.”

They sat together in silence for a moment, the only sound in the room Brioche’s booming purr.

“Sylvie,” Gale said after a moment, his voice soft and warm. “There’s something else I have to tell you.”

“Oh, okay.” Sylvie blinked, wondering what more there could possibly be. “Shoot.”

Gale hesitated, his fingers still ruffling through Brioche’s fur. “You already know about the fact I can make plants grow just by touching them. But there’s more to being a shifter than just having an extra power or two. Though I didn’t even really think about it that much myself, until my powers started going haywire.”

Sylvie cocked her head, not sure what he meant, until Gale reached into his pocket and pulled out the –

“So that’s where that fork went!” Sylvie exclaimed as she saw the fork she’d been looking for yesterday in Gale’s hand. “Did you take it as a souvenir or somethi—”

She stopped short as Gale put the fork down on the table in front of her, and she saw the white blooms and green leaves that were growing from the wooden handle. She stared.

Huh. Well, those weren’t there before.

“That’s been happening more and more over the past couple of months,” Gale said, sounding just a touch frustrated. “Usually I can control these things. But recently, whenever I’d touch something made of wood, or stepped on any patch of dirt… well, this would happen, totally out of my control. Flowers and leaves everywhere. It was getting a bit difficult to deal with.”

Speechless, Sylvie picked up the fork and turned it over in her hands. She pinched the petals of the flowers between her fingers, bruising them slightly.

Okay, well, they’re definitely real,she thought. There’s no trick there. They really are just growing out of the handle.

“So… why was this happening now?” she asked, looking up.

“That’s what I’ve only just realized,” Gale said, holding her gaze steadily. “The reason was that… well, my unicorn was telling me it was time to find my mate. And it was getting impatient about it.”

Sylvie’s mouth dropped open. “Your… mate?”

“That’s right.” Gale nodded. “A mate. All shifters have one, though not all of us find them. A mate is… well, the best way I can describe it is to say they’re the person you’re meant to be with. You know it as soon as you touch them – sometimes as soon as you see them.”

Gale’s silvery eyes were intent on hers. Sylvie felt her heart stop in her chest.

Wait… is he saying…

“What are you saying?” she blurted out, before she could let herself finish the thought.

“Sylvie, I’m saying you’re my mate.” Gale’s voice was quiet, but completely sincere. There was no way Sylvie could ever have doubted his words.

Still, they left her feeling more than a little winded.

“Okay,” she finally managed to get out, after struggling to take in a couple of deep breaths. “Okay, I guess I can deal with that.”

Staring at Gale now – at his chiseled jaw and silver temples, his perfectly formed Roman nose and his striking eyes; not to mention his kindness, his attentiveness, and the fact that Brioche had seemed absolutely wild about him at first sight – she thought she could more than deal with it.

“Wait,” she said, shaking her head. “That sounded a little lukewarm. Let me rephrase.”

She wasn’t sure how to tell him, however, that she’d been attracted to him since the moment he walked into her shop, that she’d been left flustered and breathless by everything he did even before she knew he was a unicorn with magic fingers. Her emotions always got the better of her in the end – she knew she was completely transparent in how she felt, and one look at her face was always enough to give away whatever she was thinking at any moment.

Well, why not let my emotions get the better of me now?

She didn’t give herself time to second-guess the impulse. Leaning forward, she ran her fingers over Gale’s arms, watching as his skin rose into goosebumps at her touch.

Wow,she thought vaguely, in the moment before she continued leaning, until her lips found his.

Oh. Oh wow.

Gale’s lips were soft and warm against hers. There was the same tingling sensation as every other time he’d touched her, this time starting in her lips and running through her whole body, like little electric shocks, setting her nerves alight.

She was so caught up in the kiss that she didn’t register that Gale had moved until she felt his warm palm pressing against her cheek, drawing her more deeply into the kiss, and setting off the same thrilling sensation against her skin.

What I wouldn’t give to feel that everywhere… Sylvie thought hazily, as she let herself fall even more deeply into the kiss.

By the time they broke apart, Sylvie felt utterly breathless. She’d never been kissed like that before. She hadn’t even known anyone could be kissed like that.

“Okay, wow,” she mumbled, her brain feeling just the tiniest bit scrambled. “So, uh, in case you couldn’t tell, I’ve been wanting to do that since the first moment I saw you. I guess that’s the, uh… the what did you call it?”

“The mate bond,” Gale said, looking and sounding just as breathless as she felt. “And yes – from everything I’ve heard, it’ll do that to you.”

“Okay. Right. I see.” Sylvie nodded as if she understood perfectly, but to be honest, she still had about a thousand questions running through her mind. Questions that she should probably ask, but right now, she decided they could wait until later.

Unable to stop herself, she leaned forward, kissing him again, feeling the heat of the kiss flowing through her, gathering in her belly.

“Gale,” she said, breaking apart from him, “I know this might sound a little forward of me, but, uh, do you want to… what is it the kids call it these days?” She could feel herself blushing to the roots of her hair at her own boldness. “Netflix and chill?”

“I have no idea what that means,” Gale said, looking mystified, but also extremely sexy and well-kissed, “but if you’re asking me if I want to spend the rest of the day with you here, then the answer is definitely yes.”

“Well, okay then,” Sylvie said with a smile, taking his hand and standing up, pulling him up with her, before leading him down the hallway toward her bedroom.