Shifters in the Snow: Bundle of Joy: Seventeen Paranormal Romances of Winter Wolves, Merry Bears, and Holiday Spirits

by J. K Harper

  “Not so tough now, are you?” He stunk of stale alcohol, and his sweaty palm felt gross on her face.

  She wanted to hit him with her elbow, but she was in the wrong position to do it. He gave very little leeway for her to move around.

  What was wrong with her? She was usually better at checking her surroundings and making sure she was aware of every movement around her, but tonight she wasn’t thinking straight at all.

  “I’m going to teach you what women get for making a fool out of me,” he said.

  Great. The crazy-ass warlock had a problem with women. He sounded like the typical witch hater with a little stupidity thrown in for the best mix possible. Having him as a chauvinist attacker was the icing on her late-night cake.

  The humidity from the day had dried up all chances of finding any water to use against him, and he held her face so tight that she couldn’t see if there were any weapons her magic could use for defense.

  At least encountering him in a mentally weakened state meant he couldn’t use his magic on her either. Magic required focus, and he was too out of it to think of anything but his hurt ego.

  Rynn grumbled over his hand and prayed to the goddess for a chance to bite it off. She hated to think about the amount of mouthwash needed to get the taste of him out of her mouth if she had to use her teeth to take something off, but thankfully she didn’t need to do any kind of biting.

  “Let her go,” a voice said. It was the same masculine voice she’d heard earlier and couldn’t help but react to.

  “You heard my brother,” the second voice said. “If you let her go now, we won’t have to kick your ass as hard as were planning to. You may actually be able to walk away without limping.”

  The imbecile behind her actually had the audacity to laugh. Well, if they didn’t kill him, as soon as she got loose, she was going to take the task upon herself.

  “What are you? Some shifter strays who don’t know your place in Kala West? Let me tell you something, here in this town, the magicals are the ones who rule it. I suggest you turn around and mind your business.”

  “This is our business,” Hendrix said. “She is a very important part of our business, and if you don’t release her, we’re going to make death seem like a wonderland.”

  “Is that a threat?” the drunken warlock asked.

  “Yes,” Jax said. Even though his voice wasn’t raised, and he didn’t show one bit of emotion, that made his threat so completely serious with only one word.

  The man tossed her to the side, but she was able to balance herself on a parked car before she hit the pavement and hurt something.

  She looked up and recognized the guy as the one she had denied drinks to earlier. His hair was disheveled, his clothes were dirty, and he looked like someone had already kicked his ass several times. A small sense of pride filled her, knowing she had something to do with that awful appearance. Served his dumbass right.

  It was the drunken man who tried to strike first, but the two shifters moved swiftly and out of his reach. He tried to aim for them again and did nothing but punch at the empty air.

  Rynn knew by the way the men were built that one of them could have easily subdued the guy, but they handled him as if they were holding back what they were truly capable of. She respected men who knew when to use their force and when to restrain themselves.

  “Stop moving!” the drunken fool said.

  This time when he charged at them, Hendrix used his forearm to knock the man unconscious. “Some people need to know when to stop talking.”

  “Shame you don’t take your own advice,” Jax said.

  Hendrix checked on the unconscious drunk and moved him to the side of the building, while his brother helped Rynn to stand up.

  “What are you two still doing here?” she asked.

  He smiled with a grin similar to Hendrix’s, but his held an even darker promise than his brother’s, and she couldn’t decide which one she enjoyed seeing more.

  “Helping out.”

  “What he said,” Hendrix added. “Although we’re pretty sure you can handle yourself, it doesn’t hurt to have some extra hands around.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I wasn’t paying attention and he grabbed me.”

  “Don’t worry. He won’t be touching you like that ever again. No one will.” Jax spoke with an odd sense of finality, and she took interest in the way he said it.

  “I should get home before any more nonsense happens this morning,” she said, moving toward her car.

  “Good. We’ll follow you.”

  “What? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Jax made sure he crowded her personal space, and he was so close that she could hear his steady breathing. “We weren’t asking permission.”

  He hovered above her lips, and she had the greatest urge to pull him down the last couple of inches and kiss him. She swallowed hard, but his eyes stayed on her lips.

  Her head was spinning, and she couldn’t focus on anything but the man towering over her with a power that made her intoxicated.

  “Where’s your car?” Hendrix asked.

  She nodded her head toward a silver sedan that was parked under a nearby streetlight.

  “I’ll follow in our car, and Jax will ride with you.”

  They gave her no chance to respond or debate their decision, and she didn’t think to do anything else. The only thing she knew was that she actually felt safer with them around her.

  Jax didn’t wait to escort her to the car. He opened the door for her and stood there until she fastened her seatbelt before he got in through the passenger’s side of her car.

  “I’ve gone home at night before, you know,” Rynn told him as they rode together. “Regular people do it all the time.”

  “You’re not regular people,” Jax said. “Not to us. Far from it.”

  “What does that mean? And what did you mean by telling that guy I was your business? That makes no sense.”

  “It does to us.”

  “Okay.” She waited a little while before saying anything else. “Are you going to explain it to me?”

  “Eventually,” he said. She could feel his eyes on her as she drove. It wasn’t creepy or annoying. Instead, it felt like he was being extra protective of her, as if she’d disappear if he blinked.

  The drive to Zara’s place wasn’t far and as they approached, the Christmas decorations lit up the darkness. Zara and her mates had decorated the place to give Ty his first family Christmas in Kala West. They even had a big Christmas tree set up in the living room, which could be seen from the big glass window.

  No one was home, and Rynn knew that no one would be coming back for a couple of days. Since Zara and her mates split time between this house and the Kala West pack community, there was no telling where the family of four would be usually, but Zara had said they would be gone a couple of days to participate in some holiday wolf festival.

  Hendrix waited with her inside, while Jax went outside to check around the property.

  “I’m pretty sure that guy at the bar was alone,” she said. He stood in the kitchen doorway as she made some tea. Chamomile was usually the only thing that could calm her down after work.

  She was even more aware of him as he stood there. Both men were like two sides of a coin, different but still connected somehow.

  “Better to be safe,” he said. “Why are you here by yourself?”

  “My friends live here, so I’m not usually by myself. Zara’s been a big help since I moved here.”

  “Zara?” Hendrix asked. “You mean this is where Zara, Silas, and Baxter live?”

  “Yeah. You know them?”

  “Silas joined our pack a while back. Zara’s son is also a wolf shifter, so we welcomed them in our community. They split their time out here and there with us.”

  “But Zara’s a witch and Baxter’s a warlock.” She’d always thought that all paranormals hated each other, but what Hendrix told her contradicted all of that.<
br />
  Zara had been kidnapped by a fellow warlock when she first got to Kala West. Obviously, there were more problems inside the paranormal crowds than outside of them.

  “Lance, our alpha, doesn’t believe in separation. He thinks we all need to help each other, especially if humans ever find out about the kind of power we all have. It’s the witches and warlocks in Kala West who have the most problems with us being here. Not all of them, but some of them can’t stand a world where we actually work together.”

  “It’s not just here. There are many people like that in Boston, too, maybe even more as old as the city is. They want to keep the lines pure, whatever the hell that means.”

  “And you’re not a purist?” he asked.

  “If purist means spilling hate, no. I think that’s ridiculous. I mean, I see Zara and how happy she is with her triad. I don’t think magic cares who we fall for. If anything, our magic can find our mates before we do.”

  “So does that mean you’re willing to date beyond your precious warlocks?” he asked teasingly.

  His voice sounded closer to her than it was before, so she turned around to find he was a mere foot from her.

  “I don’t know if you should call warlocks precious. They are far from that.”

  He grinned wide, as if what she said had amused him. “All right. Can I ask you a question to answer honestly?”

  “Depends on what it is.”

  “What are you feeling right now with me this close to you? Remember, wolves have the ability to sense other’s emotions. We can smell it on them.”

  The way he said it in that deep voice made her body thrum like it had been activated by a live wire. “I’m a little anxious.” Although she said it out loud, it was a thought meant to stay inside her head.

  “Why? Do I make you nervous?”

  “You both do. A little nervous and other things.”

  “Care to tell me what those other things are?”

  “I’m not sure yet.”

  “Fair enough. One last question.” He moved closer to her until her butt was against the kitchen counter. “The nervousness and other things that you’re feeling right now. Has a warlock ever made you feel them before?”

  She tried to think about the men she dated in her past, both warlocks and humans. “No.”

  “Now, let me tell you what my wolf senses. You’re not really nervous about us being here. In fact, I bet having us here makes you feel safer than when you come home by yourself. The reason why you’re really anxious is because you don’t want us to go, but convention tells you that us being here, two strangers, should scare you. Still, there’s one thing that scares you even more, and that’s how much you want us.”

  She didn’t know if she was supposed to confirm his suspicions or not, so she challenged him instead. “If you know so much, how come I’m not afraid of you?”

  “Simple. You’re our mate.”

  He didn’t give her any time to respond. He pulled her up against his body and kissed her hard and certain.

  Rynn fell into his kiss and shut out every part of her rational brain that said she shouldn’t be doing it. He was strong and solid against her, support for her as she explored his mouth with hers. He pushed forward, tasting and teasing her. As their bodies molded together, she couldn’t think of a reason to stop.

  She was vaguely aware of the door opening and another hard body next to her. When she looked up, Jax’s dark eyes stared back. He leaned down and took his turn kissing her and roaming his hands over the curves of her body.

  “Bedroom,” Jax said.

  “Upstairs,” she said, panting after their kisses. No man had ever kissed her so well, especially not two right behind each other. “It’s the last door on the right.”

  Jax scooped her up without any more talk.

  There were probably many things she could have said to get them to stop and not go to her bed, but she couldn’t find any truth in protesting, not when they were so close to her and making her forget proper reason.

  With the massive size of them in her room, they made it seem so small.

  Jax sat her down and lifted her shirt over her head before cupping her face and kissing her again. With this one, he took his time as if the whole outside world stood still for them.

  When he moved back to toss his shirt to the floor, she ran her hands over the smooth part of his chest, noting each muscle and ridge.

  Rynn felt fingers unhooking her bra and lips kissing her back. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Hendrix admiring the back of her. Both of them made her skin hum. Her insides felt like she would melt if they stopped touching her.

  When they were finally naked, Jax pulled Rynn onto the bed with him, kissing and caressing her as she lay on top of him. His cock was hard and pressed into her hip.

  Rynn slid her hand down and gripped him tight, something she’d never had the courage to do in bed with any other man, but something about these two made her want to follow their lead and take charge of the pleasure they were offering her.

  She crawled up on her knees, straddling him, and eased her pussy on top of him. He rested there at her opening until a slow push up had him inside of her. He was bigger than she was used to, so he allowed her to decide how much she could take. With each inch, she needed more and more of him to fill her. It took a moment for her to accommodate him completely, but she finally sat on him with all of Jax deep inside of her.

  Her muscles contracted around him, sending a thick wave of pleasure through her entire body. She worked her hips with his thrusting motion, each one feeling like he hit her deeper with each stroke. Back and forth.

  She leaned forward, bringing her chest down to his, kissing his lips and exploring his mouth that filled her to the brim with power and magic. A hint of his stubble brushed her face, making each new sense one thing to take her closer to the edge.

  While she enjoyed Jax’s penetration, the back of her was up and exposed for Hendrix to take in. He approached the bed and put a hand on her round ass. Slowly, he eased his fingers toward her back entrance. She moved into him, enjoying the feel of his exploring hands and not being able to see his every move.

  She was so wet from Jax being inside of her, and she felt Hendrix’s finger glide through her slickness. He slid one finger inside of her, testing her tightness and opening her up to him. As she relaxed, he added a second finger and then a third, making sure she was well prepared for him.

  Rynn’s head fell forward onto Jax’s shoulder and he pulled her down to him, embracing her. Her moans must have encouraged Hendrix since he positioned himself at her opening. He was gentle, pushing forward slowly, so she could adjust to his size. She gave out a loud sigh and gripped the sheets with both hands, working to accommodate them both.

  Hendrix held onto Rynn’s hips and pushed forward easily. When he was finally inside, he waited for Jax and Rynn to find a rhythm of their own before he joined their movement.

  Rynn’s head spun from being so high and full of pleasure that she couldn’t concentrate on any one sensation. It all bundled together to build a fire that was steadily roaring to life. Each one moved in and out of her with perfection and had her unable to think about anything or anyone else but them. She pulled both of them in tighter, trying to keep the feeling from ever going away. Although she’d had sex both ways before, it was nothing like the experience these two amazing shifters were giving her simultaneously.

  Hendrix kissed her shoulder and moved up to her neck, grazing his sharp canines against the sensitive skin there. She wanted to beg him to bite her, and she wanted that more than anything else possible, but something held her back. Whether it was her magic or a deep intuition, part of her knew that if they bit her, it would mean so much more than just sex. It would mean things she didn’t want to think about as she moved closer to the best orgasm of her life.

  Instead of thinking about that or any kind of future, Rynn focused on the now. She could feel the wetness building around their hardness, each penet
ration taking her higher and higher so that she didn’t know if there was a ceiling or barrier containing them. She pushed forward anyway, not caring if she broke through it.

  Her first orgasm rocked her so hard that she was grateful for the support of the two men around her. Her head spun and her body shook, pulling them in even deeper. As Hendrix took her from behind, he hit a part of her that made her cry out. Jax, not one to be left out, moved his hand up until he found her clit. The massaging and caressing gave her the added stimulation she needed to hit her second peak as the two men who made her body sing showed her exactly what it was capable of.

  Rynn’s orgasm pushed them forward. She could feel their bodies tense up around her, holding back the inevitable. She didn’t want them to hold back. If anything, she wanted them to soar with her and to receive the same pleasure they were giving to her. She squeezed both of them tightly, holding them deep within her and enjoying the ridges and textures of them.

  It was Hendrix who exploded inside of her first. In one deep thrust, he was filling her ass with every part of his essence, rocking her body to its core. It was explosive and satiating all at once.

  Jax’s release was just as powerful but more steady as his dragged out. She came a final time, and this orgasm made her magic flow strongly over her and the men around her. Her element knew them better than she did, reaching out with unseen fingers to explore the power they held inside of them, searching for their wolves and the primal strength they possessed. It was as if she could taste them on her tongue, and it was a power that created a new craving for something she’d never had before.

  She collapsed between them, loving the hard planes of their muscles and the feel of their overheated skin on her body. With them still inside, so close to her, she could fall asleep and forget about every single problem the outside world offered. It lulled her into satiation, but even through her sweet exhaustion, she wanted more of them. That heavy want was the thing that scared her the most. Hendrix had been right. Their attraction wasn’t normal, but why did it feel so natural?