A Shifter Under the Christmas Tree

by M. L. Briers

  Max was already double-timing it to the fireplace. “My bad,” he growled to himself. “I should have thought how fragile you were…”

  “Fragile?” she snorted a chuckle. “Me?”

  Max bent at the waist to pick up the wood, and she stopped in her tracks at the sight that greeted her. She twisted her head to the left then the right to take advantage of that view – he had a great backside, and as he stretched to collect the wood, she noted the way his muscles moved beneath his sweater.

  Hmm, roll on summer when he wasn’t hiding those muscles beneath a sweater all the time, she thought, and then felt the urge to headbutt a wall. What was she thinking? She wouldn’t there in the damn summer, and she should just appreciate them while they were on offer.

  Kaylee turned away, stalked the few feet back to the rocking chair, and lowered herself to the cushioned seat. Oooo, that felt good. She started a slow rock – that felt even better – and when he flicked a look back over his shoulder, she practically snapped to attention.

  “You are human,” he said, answering her, but for one long moment, she couldn’t remember why her being human had a downside.

  Then she could. “I’m also a witch…”

  “I noticed,” he said, and went back to man-building the wood in the fireplace.

  If it were her building that fire, she’d be more likely to toss it in and set stuff on fire with her magic. He was more precise – but that took longer, and she had little patience when it came to doing stuff like that. Heat was heat, and as long as it burned, who cared? “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He hadn’t, but she felt that things were getting a little too cosy between them.

  “Not bad, just different,” he said over his shoulder as he worked. “Getting you through the storm would have been harder if you hadn’t had magic.”

  “Getting me through the storm? Funny, I thought I got you through the storm,” she tossed back, teasing him with a smile when he shot another look her way.

  That time his look lingered and another growl rumbled in the air between them. He was definitely getting thinking things he shouldn’t, and it was kind of hard not to notice with all the growling.

  Bad idea, she told herself. She should have stayed at the cabin and let the chips fall where they would between Jackson and her sister, but that wouldn’t have worked – Chloe would have left, and that wasn’t right.

  “How about we call it teamwork?” Max asked giving way to the competitive streak that ran through him like wildfire.

  Maybe that streak was only there when he went up against his father and brother?

  Maybe she just brought out another side of him?

  Whatever it was about her, she was soothing and exhilarating all in one little sexy package, and he liked it, even if it did throw him off balance just a little.

  It wasn’t just the acceptance that he needed to speak to her to woo her that had got him talking, although it had started that way, he liked talking to her. It wasn’t like he needed to calculate what he said as he did with his family like he was being judged or mocked for every word and thought.

  Sure, she was sarcastic, and yet, it didn’t feel like a challenge to him or as if he was being tested for some future role to see if he was going to be good enough. He’d felt that pressure for too many years, but with her, he didn’t feel as if she was judging him.

  Max knew that was a lie – of course, she was judging him. He needed to prove his worth as her mate, and if he couldn’t do that, then she’d reject him, but still, it felt – different.

  “I can live with calling it teamwork,” she said, and when he tossed another look back at her; he caught her slowly rocking again.

  The smile on her lips from the enjoyment of just rocking made his chest warm, as if he’d completed a mission to please her that when he’d made that chair, he hadn’t known he’d had.

  Now that was teamwork.

  “I like teamwork,” he lied.

  Bears weren’t one for teamwork, and he was a man, but his beast was also a part of him. When he moved into the cabin, he’d spent forever crafting his own furniture and making it his.

  That time alone had been good for him, and now he had a family to share it with. He could live with teamwork because he didn’t think a strong-willed witch would have it any other way.

  “How’s about some more?” she asked and drew on the magic that was slowly recouping inside of her to light the fire.

  The only problem was, Max’s hand was still hovering near it, and as the fire roared to life, it caught on the woollen sleeve of his sweater and burst into flames.

  Kaylee was out of her seat in a heartbeat and heading towards him. Max couldn’t help but scent the air, but all he could smell was the fire. “Put it out, put it out!” she yelled, and tried to pull on her magic to do just that but found she had nothing left.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  ~

  Max was confused. His mate was heading towards him looking as if he was on fire and not the … out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the flames and snapped a look at his arm.

  Holy hell!

  How’d did that happen?

  How had he only just felt the flames licking at his skin and the heat against his flesh?

  In one quick movement; he yanked his other arm out of the sleeve and whipped the sweater over his head as he yanked his arm from the flames – then he tossed the burning garment into the fire, and that was when she tossed a bottle of water over him.

  Max caught a lot of the water in the face, but he gave her kudos for thinking fast and getting a little on his arm. The hairs were singed, but his skin looked fine, and he reached up with a large hand and rubbed the water from his face.

  Kaylee stood there with her mouth open like she was catching flies. Her eyes narrowed, and she had a sheepish look on her face that he found so damn adorable that he wanted to chuckle.

  “Did you have something against that sweater, or are you secretly looking for ways to kill me?” he asked and heard her teeth click together as she snapped her mouth shut.

  Then she grimaced, and he found that adorable too.

  “Now would probably be a good time to apologise,” she said, grimacing again.

  “Go ahead, give it your best shot,” Max said, pushing up to his full height and cocking his head to one side as she fidgeted on her feet. “You can’t do it, can you?”

  “No, no, I can,” she rushed out. “Just give me a minute, it’s been awhile,” she teased back.

  “Take all the time you need,” Max said, expanding his arms out to his sides and shrugging. “We’ve got all night.”

  Kaylee grimaced once more. Those words didn’t inspire her to come up with an apology, more set her mind racing again about thoughts of him naked, and now that he was in a shirt and his big bulging muscles were on display, it was even easier to imagine him with no clothes on.

  “Unless you want to give me more of an incentive, or test my stamina and burn the cabin down…”

  “No, no,” she said and raised her hand, palm towards him. “I’m good; my fire lighting days are behind me.”

  “Well, that’s good to hear, because you suck at it.”

  Kaylee pressed her lips together, but she couldn’t hold back the low, slow chuckles that burst from within her. She’d tried to be all sheepishly contrite about setting him on fire, but in truth, when she got nervous, she chuckled, couldn’t help herself, and this was one of those times.

  Max folded his arms across his broad chest, and his biceps bulged some more – she noticed – she couldn’t help that either. “Oh, now setting me on fire is funny?” he asked, but there was no disapproval in his tone, no anger, just a little bit of mock disbelief.

  “Well, yeah, kind of…”

  “Kind of? And trying to drown me after was…?”

  The chuckles escaped again. “Yep, that was funny as well,” she admitted.

  “What kind of a sadistic mate did fate send to my door?” Max asked wi
th a slow shake of his head.

  “I don’t think you want to know,” she said, still chuckling.

  “Oh, I think I might need to.”

  “I laugh at the worst times,” she admitted. “See an elder fall flat on their face and my mind’s thinking; oh god! But, I’m more than likely to be doubled over doing a thumper thing with my hand against my thigh cracking up.” She shrugged. “I can’t control it; it’s like a curse.”

  “Funerals?” Max asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “Funny,” she said shrugging. “I find black humour in the worst situations. Like right now, all I can think of is fanning the flames.”

  “Fanning the flames?”

  “You know, like saying; oh don’t fan the flames, or let’s not fan the flames and turn this into something it’s not. Or – oh!” She bit out, looking excited and mischievous all in one go. “Let’s not spark up an argument. Or, I wonder how charred bear shifter tastes…”

  “Ok, that one…” he said, pointing a finger at her.

  “Sick, I know,” she said and dropped her head forward for a moment. “But,” she snapped a look back up at him.

  “Nope,” he said, wagging a finger at her. “You’re one sick puppy,” he berated her, but the look in his eyes said he was laughing on the inside.

  “Yeah, well, just don’t stand next to me at a funeral, I’ve got a million dead jokes running through my head the whole time.”

  “As long as they stay in your head…”

  “Umm,” she rolled her eyes. “Sometimes,” she offered, looking sheepish again. “And sometimes they just pop right out, or – I start to chuckle.”

  “I have just the thing for that – a vampire,” he said, leaning in a little like it was a secret.

  “Here!” she said and looked around for signs that there were two of them living in the cabin together.

  “God no,” Max grumbled.

  “Oh good, because I’m not the sister that gets on with vampires,” she informed him.

  “Chloe?” Max asked.

  “Yeah,” Kaylee said, and turned on her heels to make a beeline for the rocking chair once more.

  “That’s the work that keeps her away from Jackson?”

  “Yep,” Kaylee said, plopping back down onto the seat and immediately starting to rock to soothe her nerves. She liked it; it was moreish.

  “No wonder,” Max said and let out a little whistle.

  “No wonder what?” Kaylee asked.

  “No wonder she had this whole nervous vibe about her when she was talking about needing to be somewhere.”

  “Huh?” Kaylee considered that for a long moment. Then she shrugged it off. “Well, she gets paid well for her magic, which means she puts money into an account for me and Jackson to live on – like I’m a babysitter or his nanny,” she rolled her eyes. “But less about Chloe and more about your arm – how is it?”

  “Healed,” Max said, raising it and showing her.

  “No harm, no…”

  “I still didn’t get my apology,” he reminded her and watched her grimace again. “You thought I’d forgotten.”

  “Hoped,” she said, all bright and breezy, and then she chuckled again.

  “Am I going to get one?”

  “Like, is there a choice?” she asked, teasing him with a drop-dead gorgeous smile.

  Max folded his arms, and she noticed those muscles again. “Does that smile normally get you out of trouble?”

  “Meh,” she said shrugging. “Is it working this time?”

  “No,” he lied.

  “How about this one?” she asked and tried her most dastardly wicked smile on him.

  Max couldn’t help the rumble of a growl in his chest. Her wicked smile sent his big brain fleeing and his little brain snapping into control mode. “That one’s going to get you in a different kind of trouble,” he warned her, and she got that message loud and clear.

  Kaylee snapped off her smile and took stock. No wonder she got some strange looks and comments sometimes when she’d tried that smile out on people. It hadn’t been what she was going for, and she certainly wasn’t sure she wanted to get there either.

  “My bad,” she said and tried one last thing – Jackson’s Puss in Boots look that got him out of most things.

  Max opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again. What could he say to that look?

  “Apology accepted.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  ~

  “Give me some,” Chloe said, not trying very hard to get into the bowl of popcorn that Jackson was hugging to his chest.

  “Nope,” he said, raising his chin and looking down his nose at his mother. “You made your salty choice, and you have to live with it.”

  “I do?” she asked, amusement playing in her eyes. “Did Aunt Kaylee teach you that?”

  Jackson nodded. “Decisions have consequences,” he said.

  “Oh yeah, that sounds like Kaylee,” she offered back and grinned a wicked smile. “I’ll share mine if you share yours?”

  “But, mine is sweet, why would I want salty?”

  Chloe frowned as she made a show of thinking about it. “Good point. What about if I said; pleeeeeaaassseee?” She offered him that Puss in Boots look that he gave to Kaylee every day and he frowned.

  “Fine, I’ll share, but I don’t want any of yours,” he informed her and placed the bowl down into her lap as he snuggled closer.

  “Thank you,” she said, and reached into the bowl for a handful of the good stuff. To hell with the calories, it was Christmas. “So, Aunt Kaylee’s new friend – spill what you know.”

  Jackson tipped his head to look up at her and considered it for a long moment, then he leaned in like he had a secret to tell. “He’s a bear shifter, but he’s nice.”

  “You don’t say?” Chloe smiled to herself. So, Kaylee had told him about the bears and the wolves – she wondered if he knew that vampires were real.

  “I do say,” Jackson said in all seriousness. “But he won’t bite people and turn them into evil bear shifters because they don’t do that.”

  “Good to know,” Chloe said, nodding thoughtfully. “Anything else you wanna tell me?”

  Jackson frowned. “I think it might be important, but I’m not sure…”

  “Well, why don’t you tell me what it is and I’ll tell you if it’s important or not,” she said shrugging.

  “What’s a mate?” Jackson asked, and Chloe spat out a chuckle.

  She’d been right on the money – the shifter was her mate, and that meant that Kaylee would be sticking around the backwater town for a long time. She liked that idea, Jackson living out of the city and protected by bears sounded good to her.

  “It’s like a boyfriend that fate says you gotta keep,” Chloe said, grinning.

  “We get to keep Max?” Jackson said, his eyes lighting up with glee. “Cooool!”

  “Have you seen his bear yet?”

  “Not yet. He said he couldn’t show me it inside, and he couldn’t show me it outside – where do bears go?” Jackson asked.

  “Mainly in the woods, but that’s a whole other story,” she offered back.

  ~

  “Hungry?” Max asked, not sure what to do for his mate to make her happy. He wanted to kiss her. He missed the feel of having her in his arms, but he thought it still might be too soon, so food sounded like the next best thing.

  “I’m always hungry,” she admitted and got a large drop-dead gorgeous smile in return.

  “There’s something we have in common,” he said and watched her push up to her feet.

  “Let’s go see what you’ve got,” she said, looking around her for the kitchen.

  “I got Mom’s Christmas cookies…”

  “The ‘to die for’ ones?”

  “One and the same,” Max said, motioning to the kitchen. “Or I can make a sandwich…”

  “I’m good with the sugar rush,” Kaylee said and started for the kitchen with Max on her heels. She reach
ed out with her magic and flicked on the lights and couldn’t help but be impressed by her modern surroundings. “I bet that cooker’s never even been switched on.”

  The look she gave him was akin to a challenge. Max was up to the task. “I make a great Lasagne, a mean pot roast, and a flaming hot chilli,” he folded him arms like he’d made his point.

  Kaylee snorted a chuckle. “You talk the talk, but the proof is in the eating,” she informed him, not willing to give ground until she’d sampled what he claimed he could make.

  “Challenge accepted.”

  “Not now,” she snorted with disbelief and snapped her fingers. “Cookies,” she said, raising her eyebrows with expectation at sampling the ‘to die for’ treats.

  Max nodded to the large round tin on the side that was decorated in Christmas colours, and it called to her. She reached out and placed a hand on it, meaning to scoop it towards her, but his hand came down on top of hers, and she felt her heart jump.

  Then she looked up into his eyes, and her pulse raced.

  “Is there a problem?” she asked, desperate to pull her hand away from his touch and stop the tantalising tingles that spread over her body, and yet, the thought of giving ground was an alien one to her.

  Besides, those tingles felt good.

  “When you say sugar rush?” he asked, and she noted the teasing look in his eyes.

  “Oh, it can get ugly,” she lied.

  Max’s slow to boil grin left her wanting more, and the cookies became a distant thought as she watched it to completion, like a sunrise that she couldn’t drag her gaze away from for fear of missing something spectacular. She wasn’t disappointed. “I just like to be forewarned,” he said. “You understand?”

  “Of course,” she said, unable to stop her own wicked little grin from taking her lips.

  “You want a sugar cookie?”

  “I want a sugar cookie,” she assured him and heard the low, deep rumble of a chuckle go through his chest. Chuckle or growl, they both sounded like a treat to her ears.

  “Go ahead,” Max said, not taking his eyes off her.