Valentine's Day Tigers (The Holiday Shifter Mates Book 3)

by Kestra Pingree

  “Cured.”

  He thought he was over this shit.

  Yuri was dizzy. He caught himself on the counter, but not before shoving a good portion of the chocolates off as he fell to his chest. Pans and boxes went too, causing a big clatter. His vision spun, and he saw double.

  Ike stepped back, and then shifters were streaming into the kitchen like ants. They were saying things, but Yuri didn’t know what. He couldn’t understand a word of it. It was a garbled mess like incoherent screaming.

  He shook his head and shook it again, trying to listen to what they were saying.

  Gale was the one he heard first. “Yuri, really?”

  “What are you doing?” Cedar said.

  Good. He could understand them again. That was all Yuri needed to know. Now he needed to take care of this pain, but he couldn’t think about anything but the pain. This familiar scratching on his skull, sparks nestling in his brain…

  He shifted, right then and there. It hurt when it wasn’t supposed to. He felt every fracture in his bones like they were being crushed by sledgehammers. It was somehow worse when they rearranged themselves and his muscle tissue formed over them like his body was being coated in lava. His black-striped orange fur cut through him like millions of tiny needles. He didn’t even realize it was over until the sound of shrieking ceramic pierced his ears; his claws dug grooves into the kitchen tiles.

  Someone was about to lunge for him. He couldn’t make out who it was, and he turned. There wasn’t enough room for his big body. He swept off whatever was left on the counter with his tail like a wild broom. He ran like a drunken cat and somehow made it out the window without getting stuck. He had a bit of a rough landing, though, when his legs collapsed underneath him, but he got back up.

  Yuri did his best to run through the snow after that; however, committing to a straight line was basically impossible. His vision continued to produce double, so he bent forward and ran his head through the snow. He kept moving like that, somehow avoiding bashing his skull into the trunk of a black or white spruce even though he couldn’t see a damn thing. The cold slowly penetrated his skull, and the pain numbed.

  He just had to wait it out. He had to embrace the pain because he was still alive. He would make it through like he always did. He would conquer this.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ASH CLAPPED AS LANCE finished his song. It took a while for him to warm up and finally sing, so Ash had been singing double time, and that was fine. They didn’t mind singing for hours on end, but Ash wouldn’t stand for Lance being a wallflower forever. It was just the two of them, and he said he’d sing. And he did. Oh, he did.

  “That was amazing!” Ash said. They ran up to Lance in their tiny private karaoke room and wrapped their arms around his neck. “I thought you said you couldn’t sing.”

  The room was hot and sweat beaded on Lance’s skin like melting ice. “I said I don’t sing,” he corrected.

  “Well, you have a great voice. Now you have to start singing with me. We can become a duo.” Ash tapped his chest with a couple of fingers. Then, after taking in a sharp breath, they laid their hand over his heart. “Deep and sexy and a little husky too.”

  Lance smirked, but then the expression fell away. Ash stepped back, giving him space. Something seemed off about him tonight, but also not. There were moments where it was all familiar territory, but there was still some sort of impassable barrier between them. Ash would be the first to admit that it was partly their own fault.

  Ash wanted to do the impossible tonight. They wanted to break through the barrier.

  Hesitantly, Ash wrapped their arms around the back of Lance’s neck again, inviting him closer. Lance didn’t flinch away. He met Ash’s gaze with ice-blue eyes and placed his hand on their waist. Ash wanted both of his hands, but one of them still held the microphone. It didn’t matter in the end. They could look into each other’s eyes for minutes, without saying a word, and it felt comfortable. More than comfortable. Ash had never had this kind of relationship with anyone. Whatever this was.

  That was when Ash could pinpoint what felt wrong. Lance had a hard time keeping eye contact tonight.

  “My turn,” Ash said as they took the mic from Lance’s hand. They untangled themselves, and Lance sat down on the bench as Ash stood at the front of the room near the screen. They skimmed through the titles to find a sweet love song. They bypassed Korean or Japanese and went straight for English so Lance would understand.

  Ash succeeded in finding a song they had heard on the radio before. It fit the criteria well enough for now. Later, Ash would sing the song they wrote, but not yet. When the time came, it would be even quieter, even more private. It’d be just Ash with their ukulele serenading the man who gave them butterflies.

  After the song started, Ash sang the first line with ease. They memorized music rather effortlessly and were pleased with their pick. This song was about seeing a cute guy across the street and getting up the courage to talk to him. That one little thing then spiraled into one of those fairytale romances.

  Yeah, this was a good song. It described pretty well how Ash felt. Their heart beat faster with the realization. Their hands were even clammy. It was a first for Ash. This was the kind of stuff people experienced when it came to stage fright, but Ash didn’t have stage fright, and this wasn’t it. It was something else. It was this burning desire and hope.

  Would Lance understand?

  Ash’s surroundings seemed to dim as they got lost in the song, but Lance stayed bright. Ash let Lance into their special musical world. It was a place that they saved only for themself, a place they never knew how to share. If Ash wasn’t convinced before, the fact that Lance could penetrate this place proved he was special. This was important. This was a step that had to be taken to break down walls. Letting Lance into this space was the biggest thing Ash could offer.

  And Lance understood. He watched Ash like he had watched them all night, but now he couldn’t stop smiling.

  Ash walked forward as they continued singing, each word becoming more intimate as they reached Lance. Ash held out a hand to his shoulder, and Lance grabbed their waist with both hands. Ash sat on his lap, trying to remember the words of the song instead of thinking about how close they were, instead of wanting to press closer and feel him like they never had. Then Ash let the last word ring out, and Lance stole the microphone. He set it down on an empty space on the bench. Their gazes locked then, unwavering, and Ash wondered if they would kiss for the first time. Because they were feeling it. Ash was really feeling it. Their legs trembled with the anticipation.

  Lance’s eyes darted to Ash’s lips. He tilted his head and pressed his lips gently against theirs. He didn’t push far. It was more of a whisper-kiss, but Ash didn’t demand more. There was something about this that Lance was unsure about. Ash felt it too.

  It was scary.

  Having sex with a stranger, even an endearing stranger like Yuri, was nothing. This was everything. This was opening their heart to someone, becoming vulnerable.

  It was about honesty.

  Ash pulled away and said, “I met a Yuri last night. He was interesting and engaging, very forward, and sexy, and I didn’t think you were coming back, Lance, and I just want to tell you now and apologize—”

  Lance shut Ash up with a real kiss. He pressed his lips hard against theirs, and he bit at their lips like he was punishing them, begging them to stop. “I don’t want to talk about that,” he said. “I don’t want to hear that. I know. And I don’t need your apology. I’m not mad, Ash. I’m sorry for leaving without saying a word.”

  “You know? How?”

  “Where I live, we had really bad cell reception, and I would have had to use our public landline to call you, so I never gave you a phone number.” Lance shook his head.

  “That’s not what I—”

  “But things have been changing, and that little town is becoming way more livable, not so prehistoric, and I’m ready to give you my number
, Ash. I don’t ever want to lose contact with you again.” He lifted a hand and gently touched Ash’s cheek. “I’ve been falling in love with you all this time. I love you, okay? I’ll prove it.”

  He kissed Ash again. Ash instinctively parted their lips. They wanted some answers, but Lance was quickly making it hard to think about anything but him. He was good about sucking on their lower lip and driving them out of their mind, but he wouldn’t take Ash’s cue to dive in.

  But love.

  Lance loved them. He just said it, and he meant it. Ash knew him well enough to know that he would never have said it otherwise. Their chest felt full like their heart was growing several sizes and might explode right out of there.

  Ash buried their fingers in Lance’s almost-white hair and said, “Let’s go to my place.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  YURI HAD NO IDEA where he was going. He just kept lumbering forward. His usually deft tiger paws were clumsy, and he kept dragging his head in the snow, trying to work through a throbbing brain and blurry vision. He was far from the Lodge and any of the cabins in Eurio. No one was following him. He had either lost the others or they had let him go, but none of that mattered at the moment. He was trying to figure out how to stop this pain.

  He was over it. So over it.

  Instead of just double everything, Yuri had entire visions play across his eyes. It was as if the dream he had last night overlaid all of reality. He almost didn’t think it was real when he came across the same black and white spruces he had seen in his dream. Black and white spruces were nothing new, but this area was eerily familiar. It was darker. The trees were larger. The snow was blinding.

  Yuri lifted his head and shook off the snow he had accumulated. It didn’t work very well because he didn’t shake for long. It hurt too much. He swore he could hear a reverberating rattle like his brain had been dislodged and was rolling around in his skull. Then the darkness shattered. If not for the stars, it would have been pitch-black; they were like needle-thin pin lights piercing through the snowy canopy.

  He stopped moving and stared. No, those weren’t lights. They weren’t coming from above. They were right in front of him, coalescing into two shining sea-blue orbs. They were eyes.

  Yuri took a step back. The low rumble of a growl came from that same direction, and he took another step back.

  Before Yuri could whip around and run back the way he had come, a big silvery wolf jumped out of the shadows. Yuri was either really losing it or this was Luc Lenoir, the one who had made Yuri’s life hell for so many years. Yuri wasn’t a grudge holder exactly, but everything in his body was screaming and burning. He had never seen the shifter-witch hybrid in his wolf form before, but he knew. This wolf had a shimmery crescent mark on his forehead just like Luc. It was like the moon. Or, according to Trinity, the shifter alliance that treated the sun, earth, and moon like gods, the Moon.

  Yuri growled and braced himself as the wolf ran. Yuri expected it to charge him. The wolf darted forward like a hurricane, whipping up snow and concealing himself in a blizzard of white. Yuri dug in his claws as it rushed at him, but nothing hard hit him. Only snow spattered his fur and fell away like harmless bits of dust.

  Yuri wobbled as he turned, trying to catch sight of the wolf again. His claws dug deeper into the snow until they hit frigid earth.

  This needed to stop.

  He slowly unanchored his claws and walked around cautiously. There was no sign of the silvery wolf. It was as if he had disappeared in that flurry of snow.

  Or he had never been there to begin with.

  Yuri was known for jumping headfirst into things, but this was a game that had to be played differently—especially if it was real.

  When Yuri crossed another line of spruces, the landscape changed. These large holes pocked the area as far as he could see. They could be dangerous, like landmines, if one wasn’t paying attention.

  Yuri stayed clear of them, he didn’t need to get stuck in a hole on top of getting hunted by a big-ass wolf. Luc Lenoir was a monster. How big was that wolf? Much bigger than a Siberian tiger. Yuri wasn’t used to that; he was a thousand pounds of deadly predator.

  The crackling of a branch caught Yuri’s attention. He sunk lower, belly against the snow, as he stalked forward. Then something barreled into his side. Sharp pain exploded in his ribs, and Yuri went flying. He landed on his side, skidded, and rolled in the snow. He extended his claws and found purchase on solid ground, but the snow sped him up too much. The back half of his body jerked down like he was getting sucked up into the earth. He slid farther and held tighter until his front claws were the only things stopping him from falling into one of those large holes. He gripped the ledge and put all his strength into his upper body to pull himself back up.

  But the ledge crumbled.

  He swiped at the air but caught nothing. For a few distorted seconds, he was weightless. Then his back hit icy dirt with a thud and a pop. His head throbbed worse than before. The seizure never came, but the pain paralyzed his body.

  All he could think was this: Josh hadn’t managed to get all the Black Magic out of his system. It was still in there, and it was still killing him because of Luc Lenoir.

  But why did it take this long? He had been fine, perfect even, for over two weeks, ever since Josh left. Did he just delay the inevitable?

  Yuri looked up—his eyes were the only things he could move. He expected the wolf to be circling the hole while staring down at him with hungry eyes, but there was nothing. Snow began to fall. Everything was silent as death. Eventually, the paralysis subsided, and Yuri almost wished it hadn’t. He hadn’t been aware of the fire licking his right foreleg, concentrated like lava in his shoulder. It was dislocated.

  He gingerly got to his paws and limped around the bottom of the ditch. It was rather narrow and deep. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to make the jump with one of his legs out of commission. He tried it anyway. He leaned back on his haunches and sprang forward. He caught the edge, but he couldn’t pull himself up because his right foreleg bubbled fire, and he fell.

  Yuri roared as he hit the frozen earth once again. He was missing small patches of fur from where he had gotten burned when he went out with Ash. They weren’t bad and had healed a great deal; they were hardly noticeable in this form. But now they hurt too, as if they were brand new. Yuri was pretty good at withstanding pain, but he was about to reach his limit. It didn’t help that he couldn’t think with the constant pounding in his skull.

  When it got this bad, Lance was the only thing that came to Yuri’s mind. Most of the time, he was right there, so maybe it made sense. Lance was his security, but Yuri was alone. His brother wasn’t here. Even when he was, Yuri always had to work through the pain on his own. He would overcome because he was stubborn and clung to life like no other. Hell, but he could have used his brother’s help.

  Yuri shook his head and limped around again. He went as far as he could until his backside was against a frozen dirt wall, and then he repeated the jump. He got farther this time. He clawed into the earth as he made his ruined shoulder work through pure force of will and dragged himself out. When all three of his working legs were planted safely on solid ground, he started hobbling home.

  He didn’t see any wolf tracks.

  He didn’t smell anything.

  And he saw no sign of Luc.

  Yuri clenched his jaw and kept his eyes forward. There were just a bunch of random holes out in the middle of the woods outside of the Toran Pack’s usual territory. It was no big deal. It was nothing. It was all nothing. The pain was making him hallucinate. The ditch he fell into likely wasn’t that deep. It was probably the only hole out there and his double vision had tricked him into thinking there had been more.

  He just had to make it home. Everything would be fine when he made it home because Lance would be there.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  LANCE KNEW ASH WAS a wanderer, but he somehow hadn’t expected them to be living in a hotel. It
proved they never intended on staying long but had ended up doing just that. Was it because of him?

  He looked the hotel room over. It was basic, but it was clean. Ash obviously didn’t own much, just that ukulele and that big reddish truck parked outside.

  And some cat food apparently.

  “I know it’s not much, but that’s what happens when you jump from place to place,” Ash said. “Just a second. Let me put out this food. I’m technically not supposed to, but I found some stray cats and couldn’t help myself.” Ash pumped their fist. “Rebel life.”

  Lance chuckled at that. Ash was too cute for this world. After grabbing the bag of cat food and a bowl, Ash gave Lance a friendly nudge with their elbow. “I’ll be back,” they said. But they didn’t move. They stayed, leaning on their tiptoes. So, Lance kissed them, guessing that was what they wanted. And it was. Ash lingered there, pressing their body into him, trying to wrap their arms around him even though the bag and bowl made that impossible. All it took was one kiss, and the dam had come down. Ash had been waiting for Lance to invite them in.

  That made him nervous.

  “Okay. Now I’ll really be back,” Ash said.

  “Get going already.” Lance placed his hand on Ash’s lower back and escorted them to the door.

  “You’re not trying to get rid of me, are you?”

  “I’m trying to get you back in here as quick as possible.”

  Ash hummed. “I like the sound of that.”

  Lance opened the door for Ash, and they slipped through. They gestured for him to shut the door with exaggerated sweeps of their arms, since their hands were preoccupied, and then tiptoed down the hall. Apparently, they knew where the cameras were and how to avoid them because they were really getting away with this. Lance closed the door and shook his head. Of course Ash fed strays. That was so like them.

  Maybe it was that big heart that had initially drawn him in. Or their voice. Or maybe everything about Ash—except for sexual attraction.