Kenai ran a hand through his white hair, his jaw tight. “Sylvie, I need you to try and stay calm.”
“Calm?” I laughed, humorless. “I wake up in a sauna with two strangers, I’m apparently in the Swiss Alps even though that makes zero sense, and my entire body feels like it’s on fire. Calm isn’t exactly an option right now.”
Taimyr moved to the kitchen area, putting deliberate distance between us. Even from across the room, I could see the tension in his shoulders. “She needs to know, Kenai. She can’t make any decisions without understanding what’s happening.”
“What decisions?” My voice pitched higher. “What are you talking about?”
Kenai took a careful step closer, and I had to grip the back of a nearby recliner to keep from running my hands over that maddening stretch of skin visible through his open robe. “The hot chocolate Mrs. Patterson gave you—it wasn’t normal hot chocolate.”
“No shit,” I managed. “What was in it?”
“A breeding accelerant,” Taimyr answered bluntly from the kitchen. “It triggers heat cycles in compatible omegas.”
I blinked. “Heat cycles? Omegas? What are you talking about? I’m not an animal.”
Kenai’s eyes flashed with something that made my stomach clench with want. “Sylvie, what I’m going to tell you next might sound crazy, but please—hear me out.”
I wanted to scream,This whole situation is crazy!But I held it back. Sometimes silence was the best trick to get someone to incriminate themselves.
He sighed. “Taimyr and I—well, we aren’t human. Maybe you guessed that from the antlers, but we’re reindeer shifters.”
I blinked. Then blinked again. “Reindeer shifters,” I repeated slowly.This had to be a dream, right?“So like a werewolf, but for reindeer.”
“We shift between human and reindeer forms, yes,” Kenai explained. “It’s not just a transformation—we have enhanced senses, strength, and longevity even in human form. We’re also connected to winter magic.”
“Magic?” I practically collapsed into the recliner I’d been gripping. “Of course. Magical reindeer. Why not.” Kenai moved toward me, then thought better of it.
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those jaded humans who doesn’t believe?” Taimyr said, and I could hear the amusement in his voice.
“Oh, so I’m the crazy one in this situation?” I shot him a look.
He was grinning—and unfortunately, much like Kenai, it made him look absolutely delicious. “Yes.”
“Tai…” Kenai’s warning tone made the other man raise his hands in surrender.
“Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood.”
At that, I really did start to laugh. A slightly hysterical laugh I couldn’t quite control.This was crazy. Absolutely crazy.My fingers dug into my skin as I dragged them down my face.
The lawyer part of me tried to find the logical explanation beneath the lie. That’s what I was good at—finding faults in a story, tearing opposing counsel to shreds. But this…
My whole body hurt, like a fever but ten times worse, and heat centered between my legs. Every time Kenai shifted, I could smell him, and it made me want to climb on top of him. That was not normal. Even for me.Okay, well, maybe…
“So let’s just say, for one minute, I believe this. What does it mean?”
“The heat is a way of signaling fertility to compatible mates,” Taimyr explained. “In the wild, it ensures survival of the species. It usually lasts three to five days.”
I tried to remember the Netflix nature documentaries I’d watched. Growing up, I remembered some of the local hunters taking trips up to Canada for deer and elk hunting. They’d talk about imitating the sound of females in heat to attract males. They’d laugh and say the bulls in rut lost all rational thought and charged right toward them.
Was that what I was doing?
I thought about that dark look in both Kenai’s and Taimyr’s eyes—how they’d tried to keep as much distance between us as possible. I wasn’t an idiot; I knew what that meant.
“So if I’m in heat, that means I’m going to attract attention?” I asked.
Kenai nodded. “Sylvie, you need to understand—the scent you’re giving off right now will drive every unmated shifter within miles into a frenzy.”
“That’s why Kenai brought you here,” Taimyr added. “You might’ve noticed we’re not in Vermont anymore. This place masks your scent from the outside world. You’re safe here. Because your scent is unusually strong, it’s even affecting mated shifters.” He shot Kenai a look. Kenai ignored it.
