A Bleacke Christmas (Bleacke Shifters 5)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Description
Title Page
Copyright
Also by the Author
Dedication
Author's Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author
[Alpha heroine, geek hero, urban fantasy, interracial, paranormal romance, shifters]
It's beginning to feel a lot like...baby season.
With the Targhee wolf pack growing, Dewi's dual responsibilities as Head Enforcer and head of the expanded Pack Council are beginning to weigh on her nearly as much as her pregnancy. But it's beginning to feel a lot like the Bleacke family can't do anything the easy way. When a family Christmas vacation at the pack's Idaho compound goes sideways in completely unexpected directions, Dewi will need every ounce of patience she has not to banish half her family to the doghouse. Literally.
A Bleacke Christmas
Bleacke Shifters ~ Book 5
Lesli Richardson
©2019
WWW.LESLIRICHARDSON.COM
A Bleacke Christmas
Bleacke Shifters Book 5
Copyright © 2019 by Lesli Richardson
First E-book Publication: June, 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This work may not be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form or by any means currently available or available in the future, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, for free or for sale, without express written permission from the publisher and author.
Distributing copies of this e-book to others is a violation of international copyright law and infringes the rights of the legal copyright holder. This e-book may not be shared, copied, sold, given away, offered as a contest prize, or otherwise distributed to anyone other than the original purchaser. Distributing this e-book as part of any collection, or with any type of resale permission, is also strictly forbidden and a violation of copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This is my livelihood. PLEASE do NOT share, upload, or otherwise distribute this book. When people buy my books, it pays my bills. Please don’t steal from me. If you want me to keep bringing you more stories, I need to be able to pay my bills, so I ask that you please legally purchase my books. If you want to give this file to someone else, please purchase them a copy from a legal retailer. The links are on my website. Thank you!
www.LesliRichardson.com
Also by the Author
Please sign up for my author newsletter, where I post info about both my Lesli Richardson and Tymber Dalton pen names, and never miss a new release or update:
https://tymberdalton.com/newsletter/
Writing as Lesli Richardson:
The Bleacke Shifter Series:
1) Bleacke’s Geek
2) Geek Chic
3) A Bleacke Wind
4) Bleacke Spirit
5) A Bleacke Christmas
6) Geek-Speak
7) Bleacke Expectations
The Great Turning Series:
1) The Great Turning
2) The Great Turning: Into the Turn
3) The Great Turning: Future Ages
Governor Trilogy:
1) Governor
2) Lieutenant
3) Chief
3.5) Yes, Governor (in the Passion, Pleasure, Pain benefit anthology)
Determination Trilogy:
(A standalone trilogy set in the same world as the Governor Trilogy.)
1) Dignity
2) Diligence
3) Desire
Devastation Trilogy:
(A standalone trilogy set in the same world as the Governor Trilogy.)
1) Dirge
2) Solace
3) Release
Of Boardwalks and Bison
Cross Country Chaos
Poly
Jailmates (Maxim Colonies 1)
Farborn (Maxim Colonies 2)
Coming Soon
Deviant Trilogy
Inequitable Trilogy
Lesli Richardson is better known by her more prolific Tymber Dalton pen name. Please check out her website for more info on all her titles under both her pen names, including full book and series listings, trivia, character information, and more.
http://www.tymberdalton.com
Honest reviews are greatly appreciated and can help boost a book’s rankings on retail sites. Thank you!
Dedication
To Hubby, because he’s not just the love of my life, but he’s literally the glue in my universe and keeps me going. And to Sir, who knows why.
Also, for Matt. You wanted a corgi shifter—you got one. :)
Author's Note
The events of this book overlap some of the events that happened at the end of Bleacke Spirit (Bleacke Shifters, book 4). It is strongly recommended the books in the series be read in order.
The reading order is as follows:
Bleacke’s Geek
Geek Chic
A Bleacke Wind
Bleacke Spirit
A Bleacke Christmas
Geek-Speak
Bleacke Expectations
There will be more books in this series.
Please visit the series page on my website for the most up-to-date information.
Chapter One
December 15th
Malyah Drexler Carlomarles tried to contain her excitement as she and her three siblings, Nami, Lu’ana, and Da’von, and her little niece, Bebe, boarded their flight to Spokane.
So much had happened over the past several months. Life-altering events. Like their eldest sister, Nami, meeting Beck. Then Malyah had met Joaquin in September, when they’d been in Idaho for Nami and Dewi’s weddings.
Which had ended up being a triple wedding, when Malyah and Joaquin got married.
That’s also when Malyah had learned the closely held secret about both men, and their friend and boss, Dewi Bleacke—they were all wolf shifters. The “family business” Beck and Joaquin helped Dewi and her two older brothers run from Florida?
It was the Targhee wolf shifter pack, based out of Idaho. Dewi was the Head Enforcer for the pack, and head of the pack’s expanded pack council there in Tampa. Dewi’s older brother, Peyton, was the Pack Alpha. Her eldest brother, Trent, was Peyton’s second-in-command.
Today, they were flying out west to spend the Christmas holidays with their new extended family in the pack compound, a ski vacation being paid for by Dewi and the pack as part celebration and part Christmas present.
The tricky part was that Da’von, their youngest sibling at almost twenty, and Lu’ana, who was the middle sister, didn’t know anything about wolf shifters. Neither did Lu’ana’s husband, Reggie. “Clueless humans,” as they were dubbed.
Interestingly enough, when they’d all been in Idaho in September, Reggie and Lu’ana’s daughter, Bebe, had started doing some unusual things.
Such as howling like a wolf pup, and insisting on wearing a little wolf costume Lu’ana had found for her. In fact, it was a battle to get her to wear anything
but her wolf outfit. And Bebe carried around a little stuffed wolf with her.
Bebe wasn’t even three yet.
Badger, another old wolf shifter who lived in Florida with Dewi, did some digging into the Drexler family tree. Badger had helped raised Dewi, worked as an Enforcer, and sat on the expanded pack council. He discovered that Malyah and her siblings actually had at least two wolf shifters in their distant lineage. Now, Badger was researching to see if there were any wolf shifters in Reggie’s lineage.
The working theory was that it explained why two sisters had fallen hard for wolf shifters. If, somehow, Reggie and Lu’ana had both passed on wolf genes to Bebe, maybe she ended up with a dominant trait. Apparently, it wasn’t an unheard-of occurrence.
It was also something the Targhee wolves were keeping a close eye on for future developments.
“I can’t wait to see snow!” Malyah settled into her seat next to Nami. She had taken the window seat because Nami, who was now pregnant, wanted an aisle seat in case she needed to make a dash for the lav for her bladder or her stomach. “I wish everyone else could’ve flown out with us.” Dewi, Beck, Reggie, Joaquin, and several others would fly out to join them on the twenty-third.
Da’von’s head popped up from where he was seated on the aisle in the row in front of them. “Can you believe Dewi sprang for first-class tickets?”
Malyah knew how excited their little brother felt to return to Idaho. Despite the unexpected craziness of their last trip there, all four of the Drexler siblings were looking forward to spending more time with their new adopted family.
“You know Dewi ain’t an ATM machine, right?” Nami drawled. “Neither am I, baby boy.”
Da’von rolled his eyes. “I know, Sis. Stop. That’s not what I meant. This is awesome! It’s the best Christmas ever. Not just the trip, but spending it with a huge family.”
Malyah wouldn’t disagree with him there. She was looking forward to spending her first Christmas snuggled up to her wolfman.
Note to self, remind Joaquin to pack extra condoms when he flies out.
Malyah was on the pill. Except after the sudden wave of pregnancies—including, Nami, Dewi, and both of Dewi’s sisters-in-law—Malyah wasn’t taking any chances. She was only twenty-four and wasn’t in a rush to start a family. Joaquin was thirty-nine, but because he was an Alpha wolf, he barely looked like he was in his mid-twenties.
Malyah and Joaquin agreed that they’d wait to have a baby. She was returning to college next semester to work on a creative writing degree, which was her first love. But she got an accounting degree the first time around because Nami had worked her ass off to give them a decent life and put her through school. Malyah had wanted a degree back then that allowed her to get a job that would help pay the bills.
Joaquin worked for the Targhee pack as one of Dewi’s Enforcers. He wasn’t rich, but they could afford for Malyah to go back to school for fun this time. Besides, Malyah felt like she’d never had a childhood, much less a college life. The first time around, she’d spent every spare moment studying, or working part-time to help pay the bills. For the first time in her life, it felt like she could truly relax, guilt-free, take her time, and enjoy being alive.
Plus, she was going to be doing a lot of babysitting for Nami. Their eldest sister was also returning to college, but to finish her long-interrupted education so she could become an architect. Nami dropped out of college when their mom died, so that she could work and support all four of them. Because of Nami, they’d been able to stay together as a family.
Finally, Nami got her happy ending with Beck, and could enjoy her life.
Lu’ana, who was seated directly across the aisle from Da’von and Bebe, tucked her carryon under the seat in front of her. “At least I can imbibe during this vacation.” She grinned at Nami and Malyah. “For once, I’m not the one who has to watch what she drinks because of a baby.”
Malyah didn’t need to see Nami’s face to know she rolled her eyes at Lu’ana. “Just don’t break a leg on the ski slopes. You’re a little long in the tooth to be a ski bunny.”
Malyah snorted but decided to keep her mouth shut. She was looking forward to learning how to ski. Dewi and the Targhee pack were paying for the whole trip as a celebration.
Their first Christmas with their new family.
I can’t wait!
* * * *
Nami knew exactly what Malyah meant—she wished Beck was flying out with them now, instead of handling last-minute Enforcer duties back in Florida.
I can’t fault the man for working.
It was one of the things she loved so much about her husband and mate, that he was dedicated.
This Christmas would be amazing. All of them together, and with their new family, and able to relax without stressing about a dang thing.
Except whether or not Bebe would turn out to be a wolf.
They’d given Bebe the window seat next to Da’von, and she was strapped into her car seat, which had been secured in the airline seat. She loved her uncle, and they all knew the flight would go easier on her if she had a view. He’d spent countless hours babysitting her and had a special way with her, of keeping her calm.
Nami could hear her excitedly chattering to Da’von as she watched the ground crews doing their thing while the remaining passengers loaded.
Then a tiny, joyful howl floated over the rest of the din, followed by Da’von’s deeper laugh.
Nami glanced over at Malyah, who wore a playful, sneaky smile.
“Shh,” Nami whispered, barely able to contain her own laughter. “We really need to talk to them about her while we’re out there.”
Malyah nodded but didn’t reply. She knew what Nami meant.
How were they supposed to deal with a little girl who apparently thought she was a wolf, when her parents were clueless humans? Dewi and the others didn’t know whether Bebe would turn out to be a shifter or not. But there was no way to tell for sure quite yet. Apparently, that was difficult to discern about shifter children who had non-shifting parents until they the children were a little older than Bebe was now.
The fact that Bebe was already acting so much like a shifter child meant they might have to figure out how to break that news to Lu’ana, Reggie, and Da’von.
Which…frankly?
That terrified Nami.
They’d gotten damned lucky in September. An asshole from a drug cartel, Manuel Segura, along with his men, had been pursuing Joaquin. Joaquin had done his job in Mexico and executed Segura’s brother for raping and murdering the daughter of one of their wolf pack.
Not that Segura had known that about them being wolves.
In the process of the cartel’s gunmen invading the pack compound, Nami and Dewi’s mate, Ken, another human, had ended up in a car accident. He drove off the side of a mountain to evade a car full of gunmen, leading to Nami and Ken running for their lives cross-country in the woods.
Fortunately, Dewi, Trent, and Badger were what were called Prime Alphas, and they had special powers that allowed them to help alter memories. So they’d used that on Da’von, Reggie, and Lu’ana to make them think it’d been a bunch of “escaped prisoners.” And that Nami and Ken had just been in a car accident.
But how the hell would they keep up a charade if Bebe turned out to be far more than just human?
It was a Catch-22 that had Nami lying awake at night. Because adding to the complications, her own daughter would be more than half shifter. If you took her distant wolf lineage into consideration, that was. No one knew if she’d be able to shift or not.
Please, let this trip be uneventful, fun, and relaxing.
There weren’t any weddings scheduled for their family this trip. Gillian and Asia had promised Nami a relaxing spa vacation, where they could chill out and be pampered while everyone else hit the slopes. The only “work” any of them would have to do was watching Bebe while everyone else did their thing. And they’d assured Nami that the staff at the resort were Targhee p
ackmates, and they could even find qualified babysitters for part of the time.
I am going to soak up every second of relaxation time they give me.
Because once she had her baby, she knew relaxation would be a rare and precious commodity.
Chapter Two
“Remind me, again, why we’re chasing this kid instead of kneecapping him like Duncan suggested?” Joaquin could barely talk as he and Beck ran.
“Because shooting people is bad,” Beck said. “Or so Dewi keeps reminding me. Especially minors. Although I’m thinking I could make an exception, in this case.”
Dewi’s voice sounded over the radio earpieces they wore. She didn’t sound the slightest bit winded, because she wasn’t running. “Shooting him is frowned upon. Although the little shit is going to wish someone had shot him by the time you finish catching up to him.”
Martin spoke up. “Anyone see him yet?” He sounded as winded as Joaquin and Beck were.
“No,” they both said. “But his scent’s fresh,” Beck added. “We can’t be more than a couple of minutes behind him.”
“I just found him,” Ken said over the radio. “Martin, he’s heading toward the retention pond. Take that last road and you should be able to cut him off. He gets past the retention pond, I’m going to lose him in those woods behind it.”
“Roger roger,” Martin replied.
Joaquin had a couple of choice and snarky comments to make, about the fact that the only human in their group had managed to run down the shifted kid on a bicycle, but he’d keep those thoughts to himself, for now.