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

by Kestra Pingree

  Lance wasn’t sure how Ash could say that with so much conviction, especially since they had more reason than anyone to doubt the power of family, friendship, lovers, or anything like that. They said they loved Lance, and they were here after learning Lance was a shifter. They were still here even after Lance had admitted his asexuality.

  Ash was all in.

  Totally.

  Truly.

  Completely.

  In.

  “I’m glad you stayed,” Lance said.

  Ash bumped their arm into his. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me.”

  “Then prepare for forever.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  Lance searched Ash’s eyes for the lie, but it wasn’t there. Ash was truth.

  “Me too,” Lance whispered.

  He ran his fingers along Ash’s jaw like no one was watching. No one really was; they were listening to the Earth Alpha just like Yuri was. The touch alone seemed to make Ash’s scent sweeten.

  Lance dropped his hand, feeling guilty for arousing them like this when he was such a failure as a sexual partner. He wondered what he could do about that. With Ash, he was pretty sure he could learn to be okay with sex. It wasn’t that sex was out of the question for him—when it came to Ash specifically. If sex made Ash glow like last time, he thought he could do it and like it for maybe an entirely different reason.

  Was that what Ash wanted? He knew Ash and Yuri had their own rather intense physical reactions to each other, but neither of them seemed interested in exploring that again—which he found hard to understand. Why would Ash be so set on him when his brother was clearly the better sexual partner?

  Lance looked at his brother, who was now sitting cross-legged in front of the computer screen with the phone propped up against it so it could still capture his face without anyone holding it.

  “Concentrate and visualize the space outside of yourself,” the Earth Alpha said. They sounded kind of like meditation instructions, something Yuri had never wanted to try in his life. He was either doing something that caught his interest, or he was sleeping. Sitting and doing nothing was not his thing. But he was doing that now, and he was awake. Lance didn’t like watching, though. Yuri was only ever this motionless when he was sick in bed. At least his breaths were coming in deep and long rather than shallow and labored.

  “If I’m correct, activating Terros Sight will take you directly to Luc because your subconscious is honed in on him after all these years of being somewhat connected to him. Follow that but go back to your body—hurry back—if you feel anything weird. Since you’ve already been doing this without realizing it, it should be more of the same, but I must promote caution since Bruiser had a bad experience with a Black Witch not so long ago.

  “Some witches can sense your spirit outside of your body, this invisible specter, and attack it. This witch put Bruiser into a coma for a few days. We were able to resuscitate him, but only after that witch was killed. Normally, killing the witch responsible for a ‘curse’ is the easiest, and sometimes only, way to lift it. I would like to avoid something like that again.”

  “Uh, no shit,” Lance said. He broke away from Ash and went to his brother, hands on his shoulders. “Forget Terros Sight. We know where the holes are. That’s all you need, Rei. You should be able to pick up the monster’s trail there.”

  “Hands off,” Yuri growled, but he kept his eyes closed. “I’m doing it. My choice.”

  After a moment of silence, Lance reluctantly stepped back. It wasn’t because Yuri had asked him to. It was because there was suddenly this empty space where his brother sat, even though Yuri was physically there. When Lance touched Yuri’s shoulder again, his body was warm, but he wasn’t in there. It was an empty shell, a body functioning to keep itself alive, but it wouldn’t move.

  Lance shuddered as he listened to the smooth breaths Yuri’s body took. The room was quiet as death aside from the soft hum of the working computer. Rei sat patiently, her expression neutral on the monitor. Everyone waited with bated breath, and Lance tried not to choke.

  Lance counted down the minutes as he brushed against Ash to keep himself steady. Each passing minute Yuri stayed away made him clench his jaw just a little more. He was starting to feel like a windup toy that would break if it was wound back one more rotation. “Come back, Yuri,” he whispered.

  Lance almost died when Yuri opened his eyes like he had been there the whole time and was just ignoring everyone.

  “He’s leaving,” Yuri said.

  “Right now?” Rei asked.

  “He has what he came for.”

  “What is it?”

  “It looks like a bone, a big-ass bone. And it feels… wrong.” Goosebumps spread all over Yuri’s body, and Lance slid down onto his knees to sit beside his brother. He didn’t touch him, since he looked so pissed off, but he was close if Yuri needed him.

  “I’m on my way,” Rei said. “Stay inside like I told you to, and do not face Luc Lenoir. Let him go. You remember the place you saw him, right?”

  “Yes,” Yuri replied.

  “Good. Maybe the energy from this bone will leave a more permanent trail than what we’ve found in the past.” The Earth Alpha frowned. “I’ll have Trinity Shifters on standby for calls in case of trouble, but do not get in his way.”

  With how many times she told them to stay put, Lance was inclined to do just that.

  Rei shut off the call, and Yuri stood. “I’m leaving,” he said.

  Lance stood up beside him. “No, you’re not. You heard what that alpha chick said.”

  “That’s why I’m leaving. This is bad, Lance. You didn’t feel the power coming off that thing. I did.”

  “So, what? Leave it. What are you going to do about it? His Black Magic is still inside of you and that’s why you were able to see him, right? What if you go out there and face him and he breaks you for good?” Lance shook his head. “You can’t. You can’t face him. It seems like he doesn’t realize you’re watching him, right? Let’s keep it that way. You can’t die on me, Yuri. I won’t let you.”

  When Yuri turned to leave anyway, Lance grabbed him. Yuri didn’t miss a beat. He spun around and punched Lance square in the jaw. Lance’s head snapped back violently, but he held on.

  “Let me go.” Yuri growled low in his throat.

  “Punch me again. See what happens,” Lance goaded.

  “Stop,” Mateo said. His eyes flashed yellow. The wolf shifter had probably been growling for a while, but Lance had been too preoccupied to notice. Mateo’s shoulders were hunched over, his teeth were long, and he was about to shift.

  “Mateo,” Austin said softly as he rubbed his mate’s back, “now is really not a good time.”

  “Okay, everyone, calm down,” Gale said. Something red-hot rippled through the air, the alpha in him maybe. This kind of heavy repression wasn’t a normal thing that Lance had experienced, but it seemed to call to everyone to some degree, even the untamable Mateo. They all buckled and turned their eyes to Gale.

  Yuri tried to pry Lance’s fingers off his arm, but Lance held fast. They fought harder than anyone else to resist Gale’s alpha aura.

  “He’s leaving!” Lance said through gnashing teeth. “Why challenge him when he’s leaving?”

  “We don’t know what he’s going to do on his way out,” Yuri said. “He’s going to do something with that bone. It’s filled with Black Magic. It feels like a bomb just waiting to go off. What if he destroys all of Eurio before he leaves? He’s in the area, way too close to everyone. Look, I know I’m a royal pain in the ass and you all get tired of me, but you’re my family. I’ve lived in Eurio for ten years. If there’s one place I can call home, it’s this place. I’m not going to let this bastard hurt any of you.”

  Lance was stunned, stunned enough that Yuri was able to jerk out of his grasp. Yuri shifted in record time, the sounds of bones snapping and reshaping hardly registered in Lance’s ears as Yuri went for the window and
broke out of it—since the front door was blocked. The shattered glass was an explosion in Lance’s ears. Everyone was frozen for a couple precious seconds, and then there was chaos.

  Lance shifted and followed his brother out the window. He worried about Ash, but he hoped they would stay put and safe. He just wanted everyone safe.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  AFTER DONNING THEIR BOOTS and coat, Ash ran as fast as they could. They were well behind the shifters because they were in animal form. Ash didn’t expect Lance to stop for them, and he didn’t. If anything, Lance would’ve wanted them to stay home, but Ash couldn’t, not with all the chaos. Ash didn’t know if they’d be able to do anything to help, but they needed to do something. This Black Magic made Yuri sick for so long, and it was back. Ash couldn’t stand seeing Lance so upset. They couldn’t imagine Yuri bedridden. It wasn’t right. Ash had found their family, and they wouldn’t let this Black Magic take that away.

  It was hard to know where the others went once the white and black spruces grew dense around Ash. It was almost as dark out as when Ash had trailed Yuri. At least Ash was prepared this time. Their phone was charged, so they whipped it out and turned on the flashlight. They continued moving as quickly as they could while following the trampled trail taken by several other shifters.

  Well, not everyone was ahead of Ash it seemed. Feet pounded snow behind Ash, and Ash looked over their shoulder to see Austin. He fixed his glasses and ran a little faster to catch up. The polar bear cub named Ike was with him too.

  “Stay with me, Ike,” Austin said. “I know you can run faster than I can, but listen to your teacher.”

  Ike let out a little grunt, but he stayed close to the man’s side. Soon they were all running together.

  “We probably shouldn’t be doing this at all,” Austin said when things had gone silent. “We’ll just get in the way.” Deep worry lines creased his forehead.

  “But we couldn’t stay behind,” Ash said.

  “Well, this all happened pretty suddenly, and you heard how they were talking in there.” Austin swallowed hard, his throat bobbing with the effort. “I don’t want Mateo to die.”

  “Yeah, we’re doing the exact opposite of what that Earth Alpha told us to.” Ash conceded, and they slowed to a stop. “Let’s think about this for a minute.”

  Austin almost toppled over, but he stopped too, the polar bear cub at his side. “Think about it?” Austin asked. “They’re getting farther away.”

  “If they do fight, we’ll end up getting in the way, right? It’s obvious to me we don’t have anything on the shifters. We can’t even keep up, so how are we going to protect ourselves against Black Magic? I don’t even really know what that is. What if they get hurt protecting us?”

  Ash didn’t like this one bit, but they could see the difference. Running had cleared their head and brought logic back into the picture. Ash was left in the dust almost immediately. They were pretty athletic and quite in shape, but the physical difference between them and the shifters was insurmountable.

  Austin opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The little polar bear cub grunted, rolled round in the snow, and then jerked up, his head pointing in a specific direction. He let out more little grunts and grabbed at Austin’s pant leg with black claws.

  “What’s wrong, Ike?” Austin asked.

  The cub pointed with his paw at Ash—or behind Ash. Ash looked over their shoulder. A sinister growl came from the trees. There was a pair of glowing blue eyes. Gleaming white teeth dug into a huge piece of dark metal, scratching against it hard enough to produce sparks. It was shaped like a bone.

  Ash shone their light on the biggest wolf they had ever seen, and the monster leaped into the air like a streak of liquid silver.

  Yuri’s skin prickled, causing his fur to stick up like the needles on a cactus. He heard the growl. He knew where Luc was.

  He turned on a dime, back legs smashing into the snow and through to the ground as he jumped back. He sailed over Lance’s head as Lance tried to break into a stop but failed to find traction in the snow. Yuri moved faster, backtracking and evading the deep holes he had reached and dodging the shifters who had come after him. They didn’t listen. He didn’t want them here, but he couldn’t think about that now. He bounded into the heavy darkness cast by trees.

  Ash, Austin, and Ike stood in a small snowy clearing. Ash looked over their shoulder the same moment a big silver wolf appeared in the air. Yuri made a quick jump, setting him and the wolf on a crash course. He smashed into the wolf with teeth bared and claws extended. At least Luc’s teeth were out of the fight because of the huge-ass bone he was grinding his teeth against. It let out metallic shrieks that had Yuri’s ears twitching, but he stayed focused.

  They grappled in the air, clawing (and in Yuri’s case biting) at whatever they could before they both toppled into a mess of flailing limbs on the ground. The wolf smacked Yuri’s side with the bone, and Yuri crumpled to the ground. How much did that thing weigh? Luc was on top of him for one second, but Yuri managed to kick him off before he decided to drop the bone and crush Yuri’s skull. Yuri couldn’t afford to get grounded.

  Yuri’s heart pounded against his rib cage as he sauntered to the side, slowly circling the monster wolf, sidestepping one way and then the other. The wolf stood, but otherwise stayed where he had landed. That crescent shape flickered on his forehead like a dying light bulb; it was fatter, almost a half-circle, compared to the last time Yuri had seen it.

  At least Ash, Austin, and Ike were safe behind Yuri, and he intended to keep it that way. He sized up the wolf, well aware that he was at least twice Yuri’s size. Yuri had never met a wolf that big. But this wasn’t just any wolf. It was Luc Lenoir.

  Luc foamed at the mouth. Spittle dripped down the ends of the bone in his mouth and landed with a hot hiss in the snow. His eyes dimmed to an almost lifeless gray, and then they flickered blue again. He still wasn’t moving, but these little details were wild like a Berserker. Yuri had never stared one down like this. He had never felt this trickle of fear, this cold drop of dread continuously pounding in his stomach. The last time he had felt anything like this was when Luc first appeared, when he slaughtered his and Lance’s father right in front of their eyes.

  Yuri did his best to make himself an impassable wall should Luc charge forward, but thankfully he didn’t have to worry about that for too long. The other shifters had caught up. They moved Ash, Austin, and Ike farther back. One look at Luc was all anyone needed to see they were in danger.

  But the monster didn’t move.

  Yuri gave a subtle glance to the side, gauging how far the closest ditch was. This was a precarious battleground. With everyone safely away, Yuri made a wider circle. It was dangerous to be too close to Luc. They all felt it. It was like static electricity raising their fur. They kept taking steps backward like a shifter hive mind. Yuri heard paws slip and earth tumbling, but he didn’t look behind him. He had to trust everyone was being wary of the ditch landmines.

  The excessive foam forming in Luc’s mouth made it look like he had bitten into a cyanide pill. Was he having a stroke or something? But he was standing. His fur made random twitching movements like bugs were biting his skin. He winced continuously and jerked his head from side to side while his paws stayed planted in the snow. Was he getting shocked? Responding to the ticking of a clock? Should Yuri move? Luc was like a sitting duck, but no one thought to take advantage of that.

  He probably would’ve been snapping his jaws like a shark had they not been preoccupied with that huge bone. It weighed his head down and extended out a couple feet from either side of his mouth. It was so thick it barely fit into his mouth. His jaws probably ached. The muscles in his mouth trembled. He was biting down so hard he should’ve left marks in the bone, but each time he tried to bite down harder, a terrible screech and sparks filled the air. He couldn’t pierce through it. He couldn’t even scratch it. Maybe it wasn’t bone at all, but a piece of steel. Either way, i
t didn’t feel right.

  Yuri hunched down. His tail flicked back and forth as he prepared to pounce. Everyone behind him mirrored his actions. It looked like he’d be the one leading the charge—despite Lance’s warning growls. But then the bone started reacting. Black smoke rose from it like Luc’s teeth had suddenly become hot as fire. Sparks of purple zapped the air and bit fur. Yelps followed.

  Yuri couldn’t afford to wait anymore. He wasn’t going to be able to read Luc no matter how long he studied him. He had to make this quick, so he dashed forward.

  The first thing he did was dart from side to side to keep Luc’s unfocused gaze from locking onto his position. He dove in, scratched at him, and jumped back before Luc could react, but the stupid bone and whatever Black Magic it was exuding let out energy pulses each time he got close. He leaped forward to gouge out Luc’s eyes, but energy exploded out from the bone and sent him flying backward. Lance caught him with the side of his body, but then Yuri was off running again.

  Yuri just had to get a good hit on Luc’s underbelly. He could tear him open and spill his guts, and it had to happen now because the others had snapped out of their daze. They were about to join the fight. Yuri moved, and then Luc moved. He bowed his head like he had decided the bone was too heavy to keep lifted. He growled. It produced such a deep reverberation that the earth seemed to echo his tone, and the ground trembled. The smoke stemming from the bone stopped drifting into the night and fell down in a thick haze that made it impossible to see. Yuri had no idea where he was going.

  He put on the breaks and came to a hard stop. He swiveled his head from side to side, but he couldn’t see shit. He couldn’t smell anything but burnt tar either. He didn’t know where anyone was, and that went for those damn holes too. One wrong move could send him down into a ditch. Even his hearing was messed up. It was like someone pressed mute on the TV remote.