by Reina Torres
XAVIER
MYSTIC MOUNTAIN
Reina Torres
Copyright © 2019 by Reina Torres
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Photographer - Golden Czermak - FuriousFotog
Model - Michael Scanlon
Contents
Winter - Book 1
XAVIER - Book 2
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
LOCKE - Book 3
About the Author
Also by Reina Torres
Winter - Book 1
Aaron Winter has waited for nearly two decades to claim his mate and now he has his chance. He’s going to do everything he can to convince Celeste that she’s the only one for him… and his bear.
He’s had two dreams in his life: Turning Mystic Mountain Resort into a getaway for shape shifters and to have Celeste at his side. The town is excited as nearly all the residents are shifter themselves.
Celeste Olwin is at a turning point in her life. She raised her kids as a single mom, with Aaron as her friend and rock. She was already half in love with the man.
But Aaron has always kept his emotional distance from her and after all of this time he’s offering her a dream. There are still some questions she has about him, something she’s sure he’s hiding from her. She’s not sure if she can take that leap, because if he broke her heart now, she’d never survive.
Aaron knows he has to tell her who he really is if this is going to work between them, but to drag up old memories into the darkest night of her life may set her against him forever. Still, he can’t give up.
He’ll move a mountain to prove that he’ll protect her and love her like no one else could, because they were meant to be.
XAVIER - Book 2
Xavier
His freedom and his solitude were everything to him… until he met her.
Xavier Salazar lives the life that he wants. He has his friends and his home carved into Mystic Mountain. It’s his retreat, his refuge. When a gorgeous woman shows up in town to help make the resort’s bar a brilliant success, he’s torn. Xavier is determined to drive her away, but his panther wants to touch her all over, hide her away in their den, and add to the family that he was slowly creating around himself.
Oh, he was going to fight his panther’s demands… hard. And yet, even he knew he was probably fighting a losing battle.
True Sinclair is at the top of her profession. Being a world class mixologist means she knows how to blend all kinds of things together. She just can’t fathom why Xavier treats her like he’s oil and she’s water. There was no doubt that he was combustible around her.
At first, he can’t seem to force himself to be civil or even make an effort to share the same town, but she finds herself drawn to the dichotomy warring inside of him.
True knows what he is and she knows what she wants, but she won’t wait around forever if the man who makes her blind with love and drunk with passion won’t even meet her halfway.
Prologue
Celeste Winter looked up when the kitchen door popped open. With a quick jab to the power button on the screen of her computer, she turned in the chair and started to lift herself onto her feet. Her mate, polar bear shifter Aaron, set down the tray he had in his hands and rushed across the room to her side. “Let me help.”
He lifted her up from her chair effortlessly and rather than set her on her feet and move away, he drew her body closer to his. Aaron had to tuck her into the crook of his arm to accommodate her rounded belly.
Almost as if the babies knew that their father was near, the little ones pushed against Celeste’s belly and into Aaron’s side.
“The babies are getting stronger.” Aaron rubbed a hand over the other side of her belly and they felt the babies shift around as if chasing daddy’s hand. “Is it painful?”
Laughing, Celeste shook her head and covered Aaron’s hand with her own. “No, not really. They’re active, but there’s no pain. I’m just hoping they don’t start dancing on my bladder anytime soon. That’s the worst!”
“Cel?” Aaron’s icy blue eyes flared with otherworldly light as he met his mate’s gaze. “What do you think we’re having? Boys? Girls? One of each?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed sweetly, “do you think they’ll be shapeshifters?”
“Probably. We don’t know if you have any in your family, but since we were mated when you conceived, it’s very likely.”
She beamed at him. “I think the only reason I conceived at my age is because we were mated and I share some of the biology that makes you… you.”
Aaron pressed a kiss on her temple and laid his cheek on the top of her head. “If you’re at all worried, I can take you to Sylvan City for tests.”
Celeste rubbed his forearm and enjoyed the feeling of his arm muscles under her palm. Being a shifter had gifted Aaron with a fantastic physique, and he was beyond healthy as his very DNA gave him a preternatural advantage.
“I’m fine.” She sought to soothe his worries. “Wren says I have nothing to worry about.” She saw the relief on Aaron’s face. Wren was another local resident who had lived in Mystic for more years than anyone could remember. Ever since Celeste had come to Mystic, Wren’s normal abilities as a mediator and counselor to the residents of the small town had expanded to midwife when Celeste became pregnant unexpectedly.
A bemused smile touched Celeste’s lips. “If Wren thought there was anything wrong, I would go and see a doctor, but I feel fine. And besides-”
“You’ve done this before.” Aaron rubbed his hand over her belly again, drawing an answering flutter under his hand. “I’m just happy that I can share it with you this time.”
“Speaking of sharing,” she felt her smile brighten as she turned in Aaron’s strong and gentle arms, “I found us a bartender and she’s coming here to meet us… and Xavier.”
Celeste felt Aaron tense against her. “Xavier?”
“Yes,” she looked up into his handsome face and smiled at the wary look she saw, “Xavier. I’m tired of him hiding away up in the mountains.”
“Cel, honey, you know Xavier loves you, but if you’re thinking of matchmaking-”
She kissed Aaron and wiggled out of his arms. “I’m thinking that we talked about needing a top-notch bartender to make our bar a feature of the resort. I found just the right woman.”
Aaron’s growl sent shivers along her skin. “Celeste, you can’t just-”
“She’s perfect for the resort. She’s young and she’s already made a name for herself as an inventive bartender. She’s a real show-woman who matches her cocktails to the bar and clientele. I mentioned Xavier because the two of them are kind of perfect opposites.”
“This is a bad idea, Cel. You know how grumpy Xavier gets.”
“He’s not grumpy,” she winked at her mate. “He’s snarly and you never know. True might like that kind of a guy.” Celeste stepped into Aaron’s embrace and touched her hands to the sides of his face. “I know I like mine all growly.”
She heard the low rumble of a growl in her ears and pulled her lower lip into her mouth to wet it with her tongue.
“Just like that.”
Aaron lifted h
er into his arms and she leaned her head back to accept his kiss. Oh yes, Aaron Winter was one sexy polar bear shifter and he was all hers.
And yes, she was playing matchmaker, but what was wrong with helping their closest friends be this happy in their own lives? After she was done with Xavier, she would move on to Locke. From then on to… who knows?
By the time Aaron set her down in their bedroom the heat rolling off of his body was better than a fireplace. And the way he lovingly peeled her clothes from her body made her feel treasured. When his clothes fell to the floor at his feet, he tugged her down to the edge of the bed with his hands on her hips, and she knew it was going to be a really good night. Mystic Mountain was going to be lit up. The sky overhead was going to be painted with bright lights… again and again.
“Come, Aaron,” she reached for him. “My love.”
He touched her lips with his own and her hands moved over his skin. Her sigh turned into a moan.
Xavier would be upset with her, of that she had no doubt, but it was for his own good.
He’d realize that soon enough.
One
Xavier Salazar liked his life just fine. Sure, things had gotten a lot more interesting since Aaron Winter had decided to renovate the old hot springs resort and make it a ‘Destination Vacation’ for shifters.
Well, that was pretty much the only flaw in Aaron’s plan. All the extra people coming into town.
He liked life quiet, and quiet he’d had. His home was built up against the mountain as far as anyone alive knew. What they didn’t know was that there were a whole series of tunnels that went into the mountain. His family had a steady hand when it came to tunneling and using a few things that made big noises and shattered rocks, but that had all happened a good century or more before. As long as he didn’t plan on adding more passages, he figured no one would discover them.
“Zay, give me a hand?”
Turning his head toward the back of the room, Xavier saw his friend, Locke Ascher, waving him over.
The lion shifter was working on the new bar top and his tone was just short of a roar. “Zay?”
“What do you need me for?” The panther shifter felt his cat snarl inside of him. “We offered earlier, but you said you had it all taken care of.”
He did manage another glance over to make sure his friend wasn’t about to end up under a slab of stone or had cut off his arm with the table saw. They both had preternatural healing abilities that would save them from all kinds of injuries, but a severed limb might be beyond even their powers of recuperation.
The look on Locke’s face said that if he had the hand to spare, Xavier would be staring at a rather emphatic middle finger.
“I’m trying to secure the bar to the back wall. I need a hand to hold it steady. Unless you’re busy doing… nothing.”
Xavier scoffed at his friend. “If you want help, act like it.”
Locke glared at him. “Act like it? You want me to beg?” A soft grunt ended in a wince. “Help me or I’ll kick your ass.”
It took Xavier less than a heartbeat to reach his friend, lending his muscle to hold up the end of the bar while Locke moved around to the other side of the sculptured granite slab.
With the additional help, Locke easily anchored the bar in place. They shifted sides with Locke staring at him the whole way.
“What?” Xavier was in no mood for what Locke had in mind. “If you want my help, let it go.”
Locke’s eyes widened a bit. “Let what go?”
Xavier’s fangs came dangerously close to scoring the inside of his lip. “Whatever you have in your head. I don’t want to have to kill you.”
“Already whipped by a woman, Zay?”
For once his panther’s snarl wasn’t as loud as his own. “I don’t have a woman, and neither will you when I tear out your throat for even suggesting-”
“Gentlemen?”
Xavier turned his head toward the door, and his panther receded into the back of his head.
On the other side of the bar, Locke struggled to school his features back to normal. “Celeste.”
Leaning against the doorframe, Aaron’s mate gave them both a look that could best be described as cautionary, mixed in with an indulgently maternal smile.
Xavier wasn’t going to press anything with her. As far as he was concerned, Celeste Winter could pretty much walk all over his back, and he wouldn’t put up a fight. He might be a snarly asshole most days to his friends, but Celeste was different. She was still a human, but he could forgive that.
It used to be a deal breaker for him. Living up in the mountains he didn’t have to deal with humans much, and he had his reservations when Aaron had come to them with his plans for not only the resort but also with the news that he had a mate.
That had always been his personal nightmare. Not Aaron’s mate, but one of his own.
Those kind of ties… that kind of responsibility… that was the last thing he wanted in life. He was only too happy to live in the side of the mountain alone.
He was only working down in the resort because of Aaron.
If he continued to work there, after it was completed, it would be because of Celeste.
The woman had gotten under his skin in a way he hadn’t expected and wasn’t sure he liked… at all.
Sure, she was a human, but she made Aaron ridiculously happy, and she made food he could stomach. Okay fine, she was a great cook, but that wasn’t enough to keep him around all the time.
And it wasn’t going to change who he was, or what he wanted.
To be responsible for himself. And live by himself.
That was never going to change.
“I just stopped by to let you know that our mixologist will be arriving soon. Probably today or tomorrow, so be on the lookout.”
Xavier cocked his head to the side, confused. “Mixologist?”
Locke’s snort of laughter made a muscle in his jaw tick. “She means a bartender.” The lion flicked his t-shirt at Xavier.
“It’s more than that.” Xavier caught the end of the fabric in his hand. Before he released it, he extended the tips of his claws and tore through the fabric. “I just don’t know why we need one. People like drinking. Pour from the bottle or tap. Do we really need those umbrella drinks here?”
The instant he said the words he regretted them. Celeste’s hand on her rounded belly stilled and his panther snarled at him. He knew he deserved it too. Celeste had never been anything but wonderful to him. And if she wanted to hire someone to make silly drinks with neon colors and umbrellas then fine
“We’ll keep an eye out.”
Celeste smiled at him, and it galled him to realize he felt good about that token of her affection.
“Wonderful.” She turned a pointed look in Locke’s direction and shook her head. “Please, do me a favor. Put the shirt on.”
Xavier knew exactly what would happen as soon as she said it. Sure, Locke was a lion shifter, but he wouldn’t put up a fight about a shirt. He’d just do it. Neither of them would mess with Aaron’s mate.
Turning the shirt in his hands, Locke found the hem and shook it out. Xavier heard his friend’s roar and couldn’t fight off his smile.
“You tore it!”
Locke held out the shirt, and Xavier didn’t even have to look to see the three gashes in the fabric across the shoulder. “You tried to hit me with it.”
Locke huffed at him. “I didn’t try. I did.”
“Boys,” they both turned to look at Celeste, “more than just looking out, maybe the two of you could manage to act like adults?”
She left them to their work, her laughter trailing behind her.
It wasn’t until she got out of her car that True Sinclair took her first real breath of air in Mystic. Standing there with one hand on the top of the car and the other on the top of the door, she drew in one long, lung-filling breath and came to the startling realization that she was home.
Nothing had ever felt so good.
>
All of her life she’d felt like she was on edge, waiting.
Oregon.
Michigan.
Georgia.
Every state, every town, beautiful.
But not home.
Looking around at the front entrance of the Mystic Mountain Resort she was struck by another feeling. This one, disturbing.
Déjà vu.
The plants, the very walls, looked like a double exposure. Color over color. The exterior paint of warm ochre had once been a pristine white. The landscaping beds beneath the sign were filled with neatly trimmed cypress, but what she could see and smell with startling clarity were flowering bushes and wildflowers. The ground under her feet was perfectly cured concrete, but as she took a tentative swipe with the toe of her boot, she could hear the pebbly scratch of dirt instead.
Thank goodness she had her hands anchored to her car, or she might have questioned if she’d fallen back in time, or forward. Neither really made sense, and yet she was sure both were real.
“What,” she wondered aloud, “have I gotten myself into?”
The laughter she heard crackled like logs in a cozy fire. “Don’t say that within earshot of Celeste. She’ll start to worry.”
Aaron Winter.
True recognized him immediately. She’d seen pictures on the website, but he had also been in the background of some of her video chats with Celeste.
A large and physically imposing man, there was no doubt that he had a big, generous heart, and she didn’t have to get any closer than she was to know that he was a shifter.
The energy in him was unmistakable.
