Happy Howlidays: Shifters in Love Romance Collection (Shifter in Love Book 1)

by V. Vaughn

  Instead of answering, he closed the distance between them and reached for a wayward curl hanging over her shoulder. Twirling it around his finger, he sighed, “So soft.” To which Elsa’s mind went blank and she stood like a tin soldier, gazing at the strand of red hair embracing his digit.

  Watching the man, standing right next to him, Elsa noticed subtle changes. His eyes weren’t as sunken and the dark circles beneath them had lightened. The cuts and bruises visible through the ice were all but healed with only yellowing spots and raised pink scars remaining in their place. Although his hair was still long, tangled, and matted, it shone in the light from the two remaining heat lamps, revealing a myriad of highlights and his beard looked more like soft whiskers than prickly straw.

  Her eyes fell to his lips and it suddenly became hard to breathe. No longer were they drawn in a thin, blue line plagued by cracks and sores but now pink and healthy with just the corner raised in a half-grin that widened the longer she stared.

  Clearing her throat, Elsa’s eyes dropped to his chest where the proof of his miraculous healing was even more evident. No longer did he bare any resemblance to a zombie…oh no, quite the opposite. The outline of well-developed muscles that flexed and grew more defined before her eyes were visible through his threadbare shirt. Unable to look away, her mouth dropped open as the head of a dragon tattoo practically came to life on the left side of his chest. Of its own volition, her hand crossed the scant inches separating their bodies and with just the tip of her index finger, she moved the thin material to the side, revealing an incredibly life-like representation of a mighty dragon whose emerald eyes she swore looked right into her soul.

  Mesmerized, her eyes followed the outline of the beast’s body down the man’s side and around his ribs until a sudden inhale and his hand wrapped around hers woke Elsa from her daydream. Ripping her fingers from his grasp, her eyes flew to his as magic filled the air and her heart skipped a beat.

  Jumping back, she breathed, “Who are you? What are you?”

  Throwing his shoulders back, he announced with a pride that resonated in his words, “I am a Dragon Guardsman of the…of the…”

  His expression immediately turned dark. Elsa didn’t have to see his aura to know he was angry and confused. Slapping his hands to his head, the man turned around in a complete circle before looking at the elf with such sadness and grief she reached out to him as he said, “I don’t know who I am. I can’t remember.”

  Forgetting all about dragons and tattoos and the way being near this man made her insides all warm and tingly, Elsa wrapped her hand around his forearm and led him to the back of the barn, into the changing room her dad had built, complete with showers and cubby holes for all the girls to store extra clothing. Halfway during their walk, he’d pulled his arm from her hands and let them drop to the side, but his feelings of loss and confusion still beat at her. It broke her heart and made the elf even more determined to help get back all he’d so obviously lost, starting with a bath. She figured if he felt more like himself maybe that would help him remember.

  Sitting him in her father’s desk chair, the largest seat in the place, Elsa chuckled at how he overflowed the small space as she collected a washcloth, a towel, and a bar of soap from the cabinet under the sink. She laughed out loud when it dawned on her that he was at least six-foot-six inches tall and she was barely five foot nothing, thinking they must look like David and Goliath when side-by-side.

  Walking to the sink and turning on the water, she asked, “What’s the last thing you remember?” Then added when he didn’t respond, “Before you went into cold storage?” The words had barely crossed her lips before she was apologizing, “I am so sorry. You must excuse my stupid sense of humor. I open my mouth before I engage my brain about ninety-nine percent of the time. I really meant no disrespect.”

  Looking over her shoulder when he still didn’t answer, Elsa almost fainted dead away at the mere sight of his smile. It literally brightened up his entire being. His aura was a bright white and when he chuckled, she could feel his happiness.

  “I like your wit.” His voice was barely a whisper and she wondered why his magic wasn’t curing his sore throat.

  As if he’d heard her thoughts, the man responded while holding her eyes captive. “When I was a young Guardsman, the lads and I were in a battle against the wizards. I took a direct hit to the neck. The healers did their best but my vocal cords never healed in quite the same way, so my voice tends to go in and out at will.”

  Spinning and running to him, Elsa dropped to her knees. “Forget the fact that you answered a question I didn’t ask, you remembered something! Who are the lads? Maybe we can call them.”

  His smile turned to a look of intense concentration before his brows furrowed and he slowly shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know where that memory came from and,” he stood and walked past her to the sink, “I heard you ask the question about my healing, here.” He pointed to his temple. Then over his shoulder, he added, “And before you ask, I have no clue how I did that either.”

  Standing and then plopping into the chair he had just left, Elsa watched as the man looked at the bar of soap and then rubbed the washcloth between his fingers almost like it was a new sensation. She couldn’t imagine what he was doing and opened her mouth to ask as he dropped both back on the counter and in one fluid motion removed his shirt, letting it fall to the ground.

  Needless to say, her mouth hung open, her eyes nearly fell out of her head, and her heart went into overdrive. It didn’t matter that he had all manner of scars; some large, some small, some really old, and some that looked recent, he was still absolutely the model of the perfect male physique and Elsa was enjoying ogling him like one of the actors in the movie magazines her sister, Harmony, was always hiding under her bed.

  Leaning back in her seat, the elf was thoroughly enjoying herself, not paying attention to anything but the view before her when Muriel, the sister only ten years her senior burst through the door and screamed, “Oh my Goddess, it’s a naked man!”

  Wishing she could disappear in a puff of smoke, Elsa threw her hands over her eyes and groaned, “What I wouldn’t give to be an only child.”

  4

  The next twenty-four hours or so were difficult in ways Elsa would be trying to forget for years. After Muriel had burst into the barn and busted the youngest elf watching the man they were now calling Dragon because, well, he could turn into a dragon, everyone had decided to try to help their visitor get his memory back. That, of course, included teasing Elsa at every turn and making sure she and Dragon were never, ever alone.

  It all started with her mom trying to find something for him to wear, stating, “Well, we just can’t have you catching your death after finally thawing out, now can we?” Which Elsa knew translated into, “You’ll not be parading around showing your naked man flesh off to any of my daughters, especially the youngest one, mister.”

  Long ago the youngest of the O’Leary daughters had learned to speak what she affectionately called Mommaease. She knew all too well that Carolyn could say absolutely anything with a smile on her face and make whoever she was talking to believe she was being nice. It had once been said that the matriarch of the O’Leary family could tell someone to go to hell and they would look forward to the trip.

  Dressing Dragon, as the chaos that ensued would forever be called, had included Carolyn digging out every pair of pjs, long johns, work pants, and sweat pants her husband, Donovan, owned. When none of those were long enough and most were too big around the waist because of Mr. O’Leary’s bowl full of jelly tummy, she resorted to making Dragon stay in her bedroom while she cut the legs off one pair of her husband’s flannel pajama bottoms and sewed them onto the legs of a pair of grey sweatpants, stating that Dragon could tighten the drawstring in the waist to keep them up.

  When that was done, she found him a flannel shirt that fit everywhere but the sleeves, which she made him roll up. It was all Elsa could do not t
o bust out laughing when Dragon appeared at the top of the stairs wearing pants that were grey on the top and red, white, and green plaid flannel on the bottom and a navy, grey, green, and white plaid flannel shirt that stretched so tight over his chest, she feared the ricochet should a button pop off. The elf actually felt bad when her sisters wouldn’t stop snickering but had to smile when Dragon took it all in stride and just shrugged.

  The next step in Carolyn O’Leary’s plan was to feed the man every time he even looked in her direction. She used her famous feed your body, feed your mind motto, and jumped into action. And because Dragon couldn’t remember what he liked or didn’t like, Carolyn started with everything in the refrigerator for breakfast.

  “All right, we have eggs, scrambled and sunny side up, sausage, bacon, gravy and biscuits, pancakes, grits, and toast,” she sing-songed as she dropped all the plates on the table in front of him. Then pointing at the jars she’d gotten from the fridge, “And there is strawberry and grape jelly, plum and peach preserves, and orange marmalade for you to try also.” She wiped her hands on her apron, looking pleased as punch when he took a bite of her pancakes and groaned, “This is good,” with his mouth full.

  Patting him on the shoulder, she beamed. “You eat up. We’ll have you fit as a fiddle and ready to roar in no time.”

  The rest of the day pretty much followed the same routine. Dragon ate and slept and ate and slept and ate some more and much to Elsa’s surprise, every time he emerged from the guest bedroom he looked larger, more muscular, and damned if his eyes didn’t sparkle every time she caught him looking at her.

  Elsa’s dad called to say he needed yet another day or two at market, which was fine with his youngest daughter since her mother had already told him about Dragon. Carolyn made everyone laugh when she told them about Donovan grumping and griping about Elsa bringing home strange frozen men the size of Thor. Even Elsa chuckled, until she realized that she would be getting the same speech when her dad got home.

  Walking downstairs, the elf started to jog when she heard her mother ask, “How short do you want it, dear?”

  Rounding the corner, Elsa skidded to a stop, grabbed the refrigerator for support, and stood gawking at the most handsome man she’d ever seen. It wasn’t that Elsa doubted Dragon had a handsome face under the mass of messy whiskers she’d found him with. The Goddess knew she’d had a hard time looking anywhere else since digging him out of the snow, but nothing could have prepared her for the shock of seeing him clean shaven.

  Handsome was a mere adjective compared to him. The jawline she’d originally thought was strong could only be described as carved from granite and ruggedly masculine. His lips that already caused her to lose her train of thought every time he spoke were positively kissable and basically irresistible without the beasty beard to cover them. High cheeks bones added to his regal look and accentuated the emerald of his eyes in such a way that Elsa felt herself falling into their shimmering depths.

  “What do you think, Elsa?” His low baritone voice rolled through her from all the way across the kitchen.

  “I…well…that is…ummm…what did you say?” Elsa stammered, having been caught ogling Dragon instead of paying attention.

  Grinning like he knew exactly what she’d been thinking, Dragon opened his mouth to respond just as Mona pushed past Elsa, intentionally bumping her shoulder and sassed, “Stop drooling over the previously frozen man, Elsa. Goddess knows he’s probably got a wife and a houseful of kids in whatever hell on earth he came from.”

  Running at her sister with the full intent of tearing her long black braids from her head, the youngest elf once again found herself sliding across the kitchen floor in her sock feet as Dragon stood up and announced, “My name’s Quinn. Quinn MacKenna and…” He paused, slowly turned, and looked Elsa right in the eye before adding, “and I have no mate.”

  The world seemed to stop spinning. There wasn’t enough air in the room. She and Quinn were suddenly the only two people on earth. The weight of his gaze, caressed its way to the bottom of her soul. Elsa felt a light that before had only been a spark for all her life, burst forth. There was no doubt in her mind the man standing before her was the key to her future, her happiness, her forever.

  Taking a step forward, Elsa stopped short as the sounds of whispers and giggles broke the spell Quinn’s memory had caused. Clearing her throat and acting as if nothing earth-shattering had just happened, the elf plastered on a smile as Carolyn patted the Guardsman on the back and cheered, “That is fantastic. You remembered your name. See? I told you, nothin’ good food and rest can’t cure.” She nodded to all her children before going on, “Now, sit down and let’s get to this hair.

  Watching Quinn just as closely as he watched her, Elsa finally had to turn away before her sisters caught them and started butting in again. Making her way toward the door, Elsa grabbed her coat as she slid on her boots and called, “I’m going to feed the calves. Be back in a bit,” over her shoulder.

  “Okay, darlin’,” she heard her mother answer right before Quinn said, “No shorter than shoulder length. I like it a bit longer. I always wear it tied back.”

  Shutting the door just as Carolyn was congratulating him on remembering something else, Elsa shuffled her feet through the fresh snowfall and grumbled about nosey sisters and sexy men with green eyes who both made her act like a goofball. She knew it wasn’t her imagination. She had most definitely felt his eyes on her back when she left the house. It was also obvious, at least to her, that he felt something weird happening between them and was just as confused as she was.

  “Or is he?” the elf asked out aloud while tugging the side door of the barn through a snow drift Penelope had neglected to shovel earlier in the day. “I could tell Mom and get her in trouble,” she sighed, walking inside and then shutting the door, “but then I’d just be as big a tattletale as Mona and that is a hell no in my book.”

  Taking off her boots and slipping into her fur-lined clogs, Elsa hung her coat on the hook before heading toward the baby reindeer. “And they may think it’s okay to act like teenagers at our age, but not me.”

  Walking to the feed bins, she grabbed a bucket of mushrooms and a bucket of reindeer moss before making her way to the calves. “Look what I’ve got for you guys? I bet Ivey didn’t even bother with treats or fresh water when she was cleaning out your stall, did she?”

  Talking to the babies, as she thought of the reindeer calves, always made Elsa feel better. She figured it was their big brown eyes that looked at her with rapt attention and the way they followed her every movement as if she was doing something amazing that made her feel like they were truly listening. There was also the fact that animals had always been attracted to her. It didn’t matter what kind of furry, scaled, or slimy creature it was, if it was nearby, it was sure to find the little elf and she was sure to fall in love with it at first sight.

  “Must be what attracted me to him. You know…the dragon,” she sighed while splitting the mushrooms between the two and then filling their basket with the moss.

  “I don’t know what it is about him, but he makes me a little crazy, ya’ know what I mean?” Laughing out loud, Elsa added, “And if you answer me, I will have confirmation that I have lost my mind.”

  Grabbing the water bucket, she clomped back to the sink, with visions of the man she now knew as Quinn’s back and the way her fingers had tingled with the need to touch his bare skin. The sound of the water filling the bucket made the elf think of a babbling brook in a green meadow, which brought back memories of her dream. “I had forgotten all about that,” she mumbled as images of her kissing a tall dark stranger took front and center in her mind.

  She easily imagined the man in her dreams as Quinn and the dragons flying in the air as other dragons from his clan; at least she thought that was what a group of dragons was called. “I’ll have to ask him about that,” she said before moaning, “if I ever get up the nerve to talk to him again after that debacle in the kitc
hen.”

  Turning off the water, Elsa hoisted the bucket full of water out of the sink, carried it back to the calves, and filled their trough. Grabbing the milking stool from the incubation pen, she opened the babies’ stall, went inside, and took a seat as she asked, “Okay if I hang out with you guys for a while?”

  Both the calves padded over and licked her hands while making little happy grunts. “I’ll take that as a yes,” she snickered, patting the female, Daffodil, on the head before she said, “I just don’t get my sisters. Are they gonna live at home forever? Don’t they have dreams or goals? I mean, come on, Mona is two-hundred-years old. I know that’s not really old for an elf but she’s gotta be ready to get out and see the world.” Elsa huffed. “I know I am. I bet you will be too when you get bigger. Isn’t that right, little girl? We’re not like them.” Her fingers rubbed under the calf’s neck. “We’re gonna get out of this frozen wasteland and have an adventure, aren’t we?”

  The male, Trigger, as she’d named him because he was up and raring to go less than an hour after his birth, nudged her free hand with his snout and gave a little grumble for attention, making Elsa giggle. “You can come too, little man. The more the merrier.”

  “And, can I come?”

  The sound of Quinn’s voice had Elsa spinning around so quickly she almost fell off the stool and had to grab the rail of the calves’ pen to avoid landing in the straw on her butt. Immediately irritated, she snapped, “Why are you sneaking up on me? What are you doing here?”