A Shifter's Christmas Box Set

by Emilia Hartley

  They waited on the front porch, alongside her brother, as the kids made their plates and retreated back to the living room. Once the kitchen was clear, the three shifters slunk back in and took their seats at the table. Both Harry and Norma watched the three of them warily, but they said nothing.

  They knew their kids had come back changed, but not how. The parents just accepted their kids for who they had become and that was that. Atticus melted into his seat, enjoying watching Frankie fill her plate. This holiday, there would be no leftovers. Not with three shifters at the table.

  The young man on the other side of Frankie worked with Althea. Atticus wanted to know how the pack was doing. He’d seen Althea earlier, at the quarry. She’d looked great, but that was no indication of how her life was going. Atticus worried that he’d made a mistake by leaving Devin in charge.

  Having a dragon around kept other foolhardy predators from trying to overturn the pack. It’d happened in other circumstances, where power hungry tyrants killed good alphas. Atticus hadn’t meant to unleash a tyrant on the pack.

  All Atticus wanted was to hold onto this moment forever, but he could feel responsibility trying to catch up to him. He wouldn’t drag Frankie into it. So long as he drew breath, he would keep her as far away from the fight as possible.

  Chapter Eight

  Frankie snuck glances at her brother. She desperately wanted to ask him how he’d become a shifter but couldn’t in front of her very human family. Many of the children had gone home after dinner, their eyes drooping with the impending sleep of a holiday food coma. The spread hadn’t been enough to appease three full-grown shifters.

  Her brother stole a whole pie and sat down on the couch with it. Atticus kept off to the side, but her mother kept sneaking him food like she knew he would be a bottomless pit as well. The look of pure relief on Atticus’s face warmed Frankie’s heart. She didn’t think it was the food that he savored. It was the company, the fact that Frankie’s mother didn’t shy away from him.

  Frankie didn’t want to leave him alone, but he seemed to be in good company. Atticus would be fine while she brought her brother back outside. She tapped Colton’s shoulder and asked him to watch the bonfire with her. Colton grumbled something, but he followed her out the back door.

  Outside, without human ears to overhear their conversation, Frankie relaxed. Her brother was still nursing the pie. When he speared another piece, she snatched the fork from his fingers and devoured the bite on the end. Colton stared at her like he’d forgotten that she was a shifter, too.

  “What happened to you?” Colton asked, as if her change was an attack on him.

  She straightened. “I came out here to ask you the same thing.”

  Colton grumbled something about a bear attack in Colorado before shoving a bite of pecan pie into his mouth.

  “Wolf bite. Baltimore alley.”

  There wasn’t much more to say. They both knew what came after, the delirious haze as their bodies were ripped apart and reformed into something completely new. The loneliness that came after when there was no one around to tell them what they’d become.

  But her brother seemed better adjusted than she did. She assumed he’d been alone, but he didn’t flinch at loud sounds the way she did. He didn’t growl as the kids stampeded down the hall earlier.

  “Where did you meet this guy? Atticus?”

  Frankie rocked back on her heels, surprised. Colton might have been her baby brother, but he towered over her and acted like he was the overprotective older brother. He held something back from her, like he was waiting for her to explain so he could drop what he knew on her head. Frankie clenched her jaw as her wolf rose with a snarl on its lips.

  “I’m not going to let you trash Atticus,” she declared. “He’s done a lot for me in a very short period of time. I would have lost my shit in the car when I pulled in. Mom and Dad would have found a wolf in the car instead of their daughter.”

  Colton’s jaw flexed like he’d bitten down too hard. She wanted to punch the truth out of him. Maybe now that they were both shifters, he wouldn’t be able to overpower her as easily as he used to. She figured he would underestimate her and forget that she’d changed. To Colton, she was small and frail Frankie still.

  Frail Frankie who couldn’t keep the job she’d crossed four states for. Frail Frankie who let a stray dog bite her in an alley. Her wolf swallowed a howl, but the sound echoed inside her. She didn’t want to be weak and out of control anymore. Even before she’d changed, she’d fumbled to manage her life.

  She lost her job when an associate pinned her in a closet and human resources took his side when she made a complaint. He’d been working there for a year longer than her and no one else ever came forward with a complaint like hers, so why should they believe her? It’d hurt so much more when she packed her things and saw the looks in the other women’s faces. Regret, like they wished they’d warned her against filing the complaint.

  After that, she dedicated her time to those who would care. She fostered pets and rescued dogs from puppy mills. At night, she helped out at the homeless shelters and served food in the soup kitchens. None of it paid very well, but she thought she mattered for a little while.

  Frankie had never been more alone than after she changed. The wolf inside her shoved her further away from people. It barred her from helping animals at all because they pissed themselves when she entered the kennels.

  To say she was tired would be an understatement. Atticus made her feel like the center of the world for once in her life. He helped her when no one else would. Colton might have found a community here, but Frankie had been utterly alone. Finding Atticus was the single best thing to ever happen to her.

  Now Colton wanted to ruin that? For what? She was tempted to punch him in the nuts to get his secrets out of him.

  “You want to protect me. I get it. Stop acting like you’re all high and mighty, and just spit out whatever you’re hiding from me. I doubt you know what you’re talking about anyway.”

  Colton’s nostrils flared. She could imagine the beast inside him, a great big blond bear. The massive beast probably thought it was hot shit, but Frankie knew Colton as her brother and nothing else. He couldn’t intimidate her.

  “Your friend used to run the local Pack. Then he up and abandoned them one day, left an asshole in charge. Don’t get too attached to him because he might leave you, too.”

  “You don’t know anything about us.” Frankie stumbled back. “Go eat a dick.”

  She spun away from her brother, his warning thudding inside her chest. No, that was her terrified heart. She wanted to latch onto Atticus and never let him go, but no one could keep a person that didn’t want to stay.

  Her skin could remember the way Atticus touched her. Surely, someone who touched her like that wouldn’t disappear from her life. He’d crawled into a bathtub to console her.

  But Atticus had a life he wouldn’t talk about. He kept his past to himself. She didn’t need to be privy to absolutely every fact about him, but the secrets swirling around her just then felt like a wave trying to pull her under. She didn’t know what to believe.

  Frankie would have asked Atticus himself, but when she went inside, he was gone. Betrayal stung, but her wolf refused to admit he had abandoned her. The creature held steadfast to its belief. Atticus belonged to her. He wouldn’t just disappear.

  Although she wished that was true, the evidence was clear. Atticus had left while she spoke to her brother. The dragon shifter must have seen that Frankie was doing better among her family. Maybe he even thought Frankie would choose to stay here, with her brother and whoever he was running with now.

  Had he given her a chance, she would have asked him to stay with her. She’d hoped they could explore what was between them. The chemistry that had filled her car with their scent and his promise afterward had filled her with hope for a better future. One where she wasn’t alone, where someone actually cared about h
er.

  Frankie couldn’t catch a break. Some curse clung to her, and there was no escaping it.

  That was never more evident than when Ryan sidled up to her. He smelled of chewing tobacco, a nasty habit that plagued the North Country. The smell was so much stronger now. Frankie had to fight back her gag when Ryan looped his arm over her shoulder.

  “I heard you brought a co-worker with you,” Ryan began.

  She couldn’t shove Ryan away and claim Atticus was her boyfriend. Not without Atticus nearby. When Frankie searched for her mother, Norma seemed indecisive for a moment. Like maybe Norma actually regretted inviting Ryan this year because Atticus had been a nice addition.

  But Atticus wasn’t here when she needed him. Her wolf growled, but Ryan didn’t seem to notice. He was empowered by years of Frankie’s meddling parents trying to push them together. Frankie had moved four states away to escape her high-school boyfriend.

  “The two of you aren’t…like friends with benefits, are you?”

  Frankie wanted to wrap her hands around Ryan’s throat. His words laughed in the face of what she wanted. She and Atticus had barely spent two days together, but she felt like they could have formed a deeper connection. Maybe they really had been friends with benefits after all.

  Was that really all they’d had together?

  ***

  Atticus held the phone to his ear as he walked down the street. His other hand was a fist in his pocket, trembling with the force of his beast. The creature wanted to drag him back to Frankie, but Atticus knew that would only lead to trouble. He told the creature this needed to be done first. But as the phone rang and time dragged on, his beast grew increasingly restless.

  Frankie was alone. She would need him. The beast wanted to make sure its mate was safe. Atticus wouldn’t be awake if it weren’t for her. She’d fallen into his life like a charming prince. He would have wasted away the years had it not been for her. He owed her everything.

  Right when he was about to give up on the phone call and run back to Frankie, Althea picked up.

  “I was wondering when you would call,” she answered.

  Atticus’s mouth soured. He was a horrible leader for not calling earlier. He should have cared more about the pack he’d left behind, but he’d given himself over to Frankie and thought of no one else.

  “You’re likely to run out of minutes on that phone soon, but you should come visit the pack,” she said, her voice warm and inviting. Althea was a pack mother, always picking up the shifters who fell, always admonishing those who did wrong.

  Atticus waited for her to scold him, but it never came.

  “You know where we are. Bring the wolf-girl with you. We’ll be waiting.” Althea hung up.

  Atticus had meant to ask about Devin. He needed to make sure Devin wasn’t destroying the pack. He guessed if they were gathered for Christmas, then things couldn’t be all that bad. He shoved the phone back into his pocket and turned around. The beast heaved in relief. It added a bit of speed to Atticus’s step, eager to return to Frankie’s side.

  The trailer seemed small from the outside, like there was no way it could possibly hold the warmth and love he’d felt. He excitedly leapt up the steps. For a moment, he considered knocking. This wasn’t his house. It didn’t feel right to just invite himself inside. The beast, however, had different thoughts and took control to shove the door open before Atticus could stop.

  Immediately, his sights fixed on Frankie. He growled at the young man with his arm draped over her shoulder while she tried to shrink in on herself. Atticus hadn’t thought there would be predators in this house, especially with Colton around, but he’d been wrong.

  Frankie’s lips parted in confusion at the sight of Atticus. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he needed to throw the young man out the window first. Before Atticus could touch him, Frankie ducked out from under the man’s arm and went to Atticus.

  She opened her mouth, but no words came out. He watched her brows dance, lowering in anger before rising in defeat. The open display of emotion pained him because he was the source of it. He’d never meant to hurt her.

  Atticus glared at the young man one more time, making sure the man could see the beast. Magic flared over Atticus’s skin, and the young man jerked back. If he hadn’t, Atticus might have shoved him through the wall behind him. It was Atticus’s fault for leaving. He should have stuck around, maybe asked for a room to make the phone call in instead of disappearing completely.

  Frankie found his hand, their fingertips grazing like she was asking a silent question. The touch drew his attention back to her. Wide eyes watched him expectantly, almost with fear. He hated the sight on her face and wanted to ease it away.

  “I have somewhere I need to go,” he said.

  Frankie started to pull her hand from his, but he held on tight.

  “I’d like it if you would go with me. You can meet some of the people I used to work with.”

  Just like that, a smile split her features. He couldn’t tear his eyes from her as she bounced to grab her boots. She shouted to her parents that she would be back and disappeared through the front door.

  With Frankie out of sight, Atticus whirled on the human man that’d been hanging off her shoulders. The man flinched and his back hit the wall behind him. Atticus expected Colton to intercede, but when the young shifter didn’t move, Atticus issued his threat.

  “Frankie didn’t want you touching her. If I see you trying anything against her will ever again, then you will find yourself buried beneath five tons of quarry rubble. Do you hear me?”

  For a split second, it seemed like the young man would find the gumption to snap back, but Atticus let a bit of his beast slip into his eyes. The glimpse of the beast was enough to stop the man in his tracks. Atticus wasn’t satisfied, but the man gripped his jacket like he might run away the moment Atticus and Frankie were out of sight.

  Atticus moved to follow Frankie, but a hand stopped him.

  Colton squeezed his shoulder and nodded, possibly his way of saying he would go along, too. They were Colton’s family too, after all. What Atticus should have anticipated was the tense air inside Frankie’s tiny car.

  With Colton packed into the backseat, almost too large for the cramped space, and Atticus in the front seat, there was barely room to breathe. Frankie kept tossing questioning glances at Atticus, but would glance in the rearview mirror at her brother and refuse to actually ask anything.

  Maybe she had decided that Atticus wasn’t worth keeping around. She seemed to be doing well enough with her family, and her brother had handled his change well. He had help, of course. Atticus wondered if Frankie would move home to be near her brother and his support system. If that was what she wanted, she was probably trying to find a way to tell Atticus that she didn’t need him anymore.

  The thought hurt. His heart clenched, like a clawed hand had closed around it, razor nails slicing the tender flesh. If she didn’t want him, Atticus feared his beast might burrow all over again. It would be the same issue, just done over. He would enter this holiday gathering and realize the pack here didn’t want him either.

  Neither his mate nor his pack wanted him. He would be thrust to the sidelines all over again. Atticus didn’t want to burrow. He wanted to breathe the fresh air of the open world and see Frankie every day. If she allowed him, he would make her coffee every morning. They would shift in the afternoon and have sex at night.

  Her scent still clung to his hand, the last time she’d let him touch her. He’d promised more, but he had the sinking feeling that she had only humored him earlier. That she’d treated it like there were no strings when he was wrapped up in threads bound to her.

  Atticus craved more of her, but he couldn’t touch her while her brother lurked in the back seat. It felt wrong, like Colton was the sex-police.

  Silence crackled with everything unsaid inside the car. It was a relief when they found the right road and the land
scape erupted with a herd of parked cars. Colton sighed happily. As soon as Frankie parked, he kicked the back of Atticus’s seat to get out.

  Atticus was going to buy her a four-door car when he had the chance. Money sat unused in his bank account. It should have been put to good use. He could think of a million ways to make Frankie’s life better, but he needed to deal with Devin first. Atticus was avoiding his problems.

  It would bite him in the ass later. He could feel it.

  In letting Colton out of the car, Atticus lost his moment alone with Frankie. She had gotten out of the Volkswagen and was watching the party with trepidation.

  “That’s a lot of people,” she said quietly.

  “You’re going to do just fine. They’re all like you. I used to…work with them.”

  He took her hand in his to reassure her and led her toward the party.

  There was a layer of snow on the ground, but that didn’t stop the pack from cooking out. Lars, another big bear shifter, had a massive barrel grill set up. The snow had melted around it to reveal the green grass. Upon their arrival, Lars raised his hand and waved them in. Behind him, Althea appeared.

  She ran up to them and gathered both Atticus and Frankie into a big hug that startled Atticus. Althea tugged them both deeper into the party. Shifters clapped Atticus on the back, they hooted and howled to celebrate his return. Atticus couldn’t believe the reception he garnered from people he thought didn’t care about him.

  “We were just about to set up a table to play beer pong,” Althea said and gestured to a plastic table with obscenities and dicks drawn on it with permanent marker.

  A laugh escaped Frankie before she smothered it with her hand. “Those are some…diverse dicks.”

  Althea’s smile split so wide they could see her canines. “How about the two of you take the place of honor at the head of the table. You can be the first to go against the reigning champions.”