Sugar, Spice, and Shifters: A Touch of Holiday Magic

by Élianne Adams

  He blinked, then agreed with no conditions. “Of course.”

  His gaze turned to Kade. “You?”

  Kade gave him his lazy grin, stretched his arm out over the back of her chair. “I go where she does. And Dane comes with us.”

  Sutton gloated.

  “That isn’t becoming,” she said after the waitress came and took their order.

  He smirked. “When will you be home?”

  “Do I have a home to go to?” she countered.

  “Yeah. Yours, actually. We've taken full possession of the old Waterford land in addition to the acreage we bought when we broke away.”

  She went cold then hot. She'd heard he'd brought all the Waterford properties under his control, but she'd tried not to think about it too much. The idea of moving back into her childhood home was a little bittersweet, though. The yearning for it surprising. Dane squeezed her hand and leaned in close.

  “Hey. We don’t have to live there,” he whispered.

  Sutton pretended to ignore them but she felt him watching. “No, it's fine. It's my house now.”

  It always had been. It was only in the last few weeks she hadn’t lived there. She marveled at how much had changed in so short a time. How much it would continue to change. There was just one last step to take but not quite yet. She was still wrapping her mind around having two mates. She wanted to settle into the other changes first.

  — — —

  Five days later she stood on her old front porch and laughed at the two grown men in the yard currently embroiled in a snowball fight. She wasn’t at all surprised to see Kade engaged in the game. But Dane? She was learning he wasn’t always serious, though the times he truly relaxed and let go were few and far between. She didn’t turn to the lupine who approached from the side of the house and joined her on the porch.

  “It's good you came home,” Sutton said. “Though I can't help but noticed you're still not mated.”

  “You're nosy, Sutton. Did you know that?”

  He reached over and ruffled her hair. She swatted his hand away. “It's my job.”

  She snorted. He could be the lowest ranking member of the pack and still be nosy as hell. “It's my birthday,” she said instead of telling him to mind his own business.

  “I know. And Christmas Eve. I assume you have plans.”

  She smiled but kept silent as Kade jogged up to her. He nodded at Sutton. “Is something up?”

  The alpha shook his head. They weren’t quite back to being friends again, but she was confident they'd get there. They shared in the blame for what had happened to their old pack. She accepted that and was settling into her new position much easier than she'd anticipated. It didn’t hurt that she already knew most of the lupines and humans who comprised the pack.

  “Well, I have a date,” Sutton said. “Y'all have a good night.”

  Dane had gone into the house and as night fell the lights in the yard came on. He came back out and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

  “Come inside, sweetheart. You're shivering,” he said.

  Was she? She hadn’t noticed but she let them lead her inside anyway. She smiled as Dane turned her and pressed her back to the door for one of those soul consuming kisses of his. Kade nudged him aside to claim one of his own, and she came up for air laughing.

  “Y'all are so greedy.” She put a hand on each hard chest to stop them from coming back for more. “We need to talk.”

  She found herself on the end of two slightly nervous but very determined looks.

  “It won't be painful,” she rushed to add. She took a deep breath. “I know I said I needed time to process all the changes. I'm done. I love you. Both of you. There's no reason to keep waiting to make this official.”

  They stared at her. “Do I need to say it twice?”

  “Fuck no,” Kade muttered, bending to kiss the curve between her neck and shoulder before biting, breaking the skin.

  For a moment, she felt his soul brush against hers, the connection deep and pure. She wanted to mark him too, but before she could Dane pressed his lips to hers. It felt like an electrical charge ripped through her. She broke away gasping. His claiming wasn’t gentle, but she wasn’t surprised. It was as intense as he was. Kade picked her up and carried her to their bedroom, which was good because she doubted she could make it there on her own.

  They undressed her slowly. Touches firm then gentle. When Kade finally drove into her, she gave into the need to lengthen her incisors and bite into his skin. Joy and peace filled her. Dane made a sound of impatience and she released Kade, faced her other mate and smiled. He leaned in to kiss her while Kade's lazy strokes slowly drove her insane. The first orgasm rolled over her in a sweet, blissful wave. She was barely aware of moving positions, of straddling Dane and taking him deep inside her. She took a moment to savor the perfection of him fucking her before giving into the need to claim him as she had Kade. As they had her. Somehow Kade got a hand between them to rub fast circles over her clitoris. She pressed close and Dane gripped the back of her head as her teeth sank in, thrusting into her and shuddering as they climaxed together. She licked at the red mark she'd left on his neck before collapsing at his side, Kade moving in behind her to drape an arm over her waist.

  “I love you, baby,” he whispered next to her ear. “I should have told you before.”

  “I love you, too,” Dane murmured, his knuckles brushing over her nipples. “But you knew that already.”

  Her body still hummed from two excellent orgasms but she wasn’t ready for another round yet.

  “Nope.” She grabbed his hand. “I need recovery time. And dinner.”

  He grinned. “I think we can arrange that.”

  His expression changed to mock solemnity, and he looked at Kade. “I think we win Christmas this year.”

  Finley laughed, threw an arm around each of their necks. “Nope. That's me. This time last year I thought I was going to lose everything, and for awhile I did. Y'all gave it back to me. Thank you.”

  “I know how you can thank me,” Kade said with a suggestive leer.

  How could she refuse? The rest of the night was filled with soft laughter, pleasure, and love that overfilled her heart, but the best part was knowing it would never end.

  ABOUT

  Redstar Werewolves

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  Loribelle Hunt

  Loribelle Hunt is a beach bunny at heart, but in a pinch she’ll settle for a pool. An Atlanta native, the Army relocated her to southern Alabama more years ago than she cares to remember. Since it only snows once every two decades or so, she decided to stay. She lives with her husband of twenty years, their three kids, and way too many English Springer Spaniels. She writes erotic science fiction and paranormal romance often with a Southern drawl.

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  Solstice Wolf

  Black Mesa Wolves

  J.K. Harper

  Once upon a time, wolf shifter Lia Woolsey fell in love. More specifically, she met her mate and settled down with him in a small town far from the bustling big city she's always known. But she never thought she'd be the kind of woman to give up everything for a man—not even Connor, the mate of her heart, soul, and body. Five years later, she's been offered a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity she can't turn down. Not even if it means leaving Connor behind and shattering her own heart.

  Connor Lowe has everything a wolf shifter could want. His place in the Black Mesa Wolf Pack is secure, his deeply committed work as a doctor running a low-income medical clinic fills his days, and his mate, Lia, lights up his entire life. He's the world's happiest wolf—but his mate isn't. And he loves her too much to stop her from leaving to follow her own bliss, even though he knows his days will darken into nothingness each moment she is away from him.

  As the frozen longest night of the
year approaches, Connor and Lia face an impossible choice...the kind only winter solstice magic might be able to fix before it's too late.

  ONE

  Huge, beautiful flakes of snow drifted down from the sky to add yet another layer of snow to the already covered street outside Connor Lowe's office window. For a long moment, he stared out at the pretty scene, which showed early holiday shoppers walking along the storefronts, well bundled against the weather. Colorful lights twinkled in many of the stores and giant Christmas tree ornaments decorated the lampposts. It was the quintessential small town winter scene, postcard perfect.

  He saw not a single bit of it.

  Instead, his mind was picturing a cool, tall blonde with the longest legs imaginable, gorgeous gray eyes that had the depths of the sky in them, the sharpest mind he knew, and a huge yet rare smile that never failed to delight him. His wolf rumbled with approval as he pictured his mate. A strong note of worry underlaid it, though, and his tail wavered at half mast.

  “Yeah,” Connor muttered. “Yeah.”

  A short knock on his door snapped his attention back to where he really was. “Hey, doc,” said Trevor, his fellow doctor and main clinic assistant on days like today when their receptionist had called absent because she had a sick kid, poking his head around the door with a frazzled look. “Your two o'clock just got here, your one-thirty is still waiting to be seen, and we also just had three new walk-ins. One of them's a tiny baby with a really bad cough and a high temp,” he added with a concerned frown. “I'm pretty sure that one needs to see you first. It's the Jenkins' kid.”

  Connor sighed, then stood up and stretched mightily. The Jenkins were regulars at the low-income clinic Connor ran. He'd taken them under his wing, since the poor kids were barely into their twenties and already had two older kids, useless drunks and jailbirds as their own parents, and only the worst kind of minimum wage jobs to support them all. They tried hard to be good parents, but they lacked far more skills than they possessed.

  Soft heart, his wolf rumbled. Mate like a lion, he added, picturing Lia's shake of her head as Connor yet again offered free medical services to the very neediest of his clients. Lia was a very good person, but she would never let her own company run as deeply into the red as Connor's struggling but very necessary little clinic was. She believed in charging for what one was worth.

  You'll never get ahead like that, Connor, she often told him, although the words were always spoken as gently as she could. We'll never be able to leave town if you keep letting your patients get away with not paying. The bills are killing us as it is.

  He didn't let his patients get away with just anything. He simply saw them in need and could not let them suffer the consequences of the country's idiotic medical system. He also didn't want to leave Durango. This was his home, his pack's home, and besides, he could never abandon these patients. He and this clinic were the only things standing between some of them and utter financial ruin due to outrageous medical bills—or even needless death from conditions that he could and would treat for free as long as the money held out.

  Which it was not going to do for much longer. Like, maybe a month or two longer.

  “Connor?” Trevor's voice was firm. “It's already almost two-thirty. We've got to get moving out there.” He gestured to the small, overcrowded waiting room where all their patients waited.

  “Let's do it. Jenkins baby first,” he said, grabbing his clipboard and heading out with a briskness he didn't really feel. “No charge.”

  He pictured Lia's wry expression at those words and tried as hard as he could to push her to the back of his mind for the moment, despite the heavy feeling in his stomach.

  This place was the reason Lia was leaving. He was the reason she was leaving to chase her dream. And letting his heart and soul walk away was probably going to kill him, but there was nothing he could or would ever do to stop her. He'd never stand in the way of his mate's dreams, even if those dreams were about to take her so far from him he honestly wasn't sure their relationship would survive it, mates or no.

  His wolf growled faintly, turning his back on Connor. Sighing again, Connor walked out to meet his patients and focus on his own dream.

  — — —

  Lia's eyes narrowed as she focused in on her prey with the laser precision of the lethal hunter she was.

  “We would like to call the next witness to the stand, your honor,” she said in cool tones. Her heart beat strong and sure beneath the fancy courtroom suit that had cost her a small fortune, especially on the small salary she got from the tiny law firm that had employed her for the past four years. Her palms were dry, as were her armpits too, thank god, and she knew not a single strand had escaped the severe chignon she'd wrestled her hair back into that morning. Her entire demeanor came across as utterly self-possessed and entirely ruthless.

  Well, she wasn't known as Lia the Wolf for nothing. Her full first name, Accalia, meant she-wolf in Latin. It was a standing joke within the Black Mesa Wolf Pack that the humans who'd given her that nickname had no idea how close they were to the truth. A truth they'd never know.

  Arching a single eyebrow at the back of the courtroom, she waited for the judge to indicate she could go on. At his nod, she lowered her voice dramatically and timed her words just right into the spellbound silence. “We call...Christina Wilson to the stand.”

  As she'd predicted, the entire courtroom burst into shocked gasps and cries. The accused, who sat on the witness stand currently, turned white at the sound of his own wife's name. His supposedly deceased wife, on whose supposed deadness the entire case rested. Then he buried his face in one hand, rubbing the back of his neck with the other. His attorney immediately began shouting dramatic protests and asking the judge for a recess to consider this utterly astounding new turn of events.

  Although she maintained her bland expression, mentally Lia was counting up the number of years in prison the slimy bastard was going to get handed to him. She'd pulled out her trump card, and it had worked like a charm.

  Charm? Her wolf pictured a shiny object to play with. Lia snorted inside, though she kept her expression carefully controlled. Her wolf really wanted to get outside and play. Human law interested Lia's human side. Her wolf, not so much, although her predatory instincts were a huge asset in this line of work. Lia had always been careful to balance her two sides, especially as a wolf who'd grown up in the big city. Luckily, Denver had nearby mountains to run and hunt in, so she'd easily managed to assuage the needs of her two selves.

  Here in Durango that she now called home, the little mountain town nestled into the very southwestern corner of Colorado, her wolf was thrilled with the constant, immediate access to the wilderness spreading in all directions. It provided more than ample room for running and howling and just being a wolf. But Lia's human side had grown tired of the too-small town after five years, no matter how darned cute it was. She loved Connor with all her heart, but never in her life had she imagined she'd give up her dreams for a man.

  Not even the one and only mate of her heart, body, and soul.

  The judge called a recess, but they all knew it was over. Lia was going to slam dunk this case, just like she did with all her cases. The defending attorney gave her a weak grin, to which she simply raised an eyebrow and gave her famous half-smile. The one that said, Nice try but no dice. I killed this and you know it.

  “Lia!” came a very satisfied voice. “Superb job. Leaving this town with a bang people will remember. Well done!”

  She turned to greet her boss, Joe—former boss, she reminded herself with a giddy thrill, although the slightest touch of melancholy whispered beneath it—as he reached out to shake her hand. He'd known from the day she walked in the door she was going to help pull up his law firm's stature in town to be regarded as one of the best, and he'd been right. He'd also known she wouldn't stay forever. She knew that because he'd often mentioned it over the years. She was far too ambitious for this town and she would outgrow it. The f
act he'd managed to snag her for nearly five years was something he counted as a blessing.

  She had indeed outgrown this place. This was her last case before she left for her new job. The coveted job every slick, up and coming young legal eagle in the country had vied for. The one she had gotten, out of over four hundred very qualified applicants. The one at the infamous political DC law firm that would shoot her star into the stratosphere, give her experience to die for, and save her and Connor from the deep financial pit they were in because of his beloved yet money-sucking little clinic. She greatly admired Connor's generosity of heart and spirit and his desire to help people. But if it came at the price of putting them in the poorhouse also.... Well, at that she balked. Hard. So now she had this new, amazing, very well-paid job.

  The one on the other side of the country, two thousand miles away from this small town. Two thousand miles away from Connor and his smile that lit up a room, his poor dance skills that always managed to get her laughing when they cut it up on their living room floor some weekend nights, his sweet determination to save the world, one desperate patient at a time.

  Connor, the love of her life, the only one who ever truly got her. His hazel eyes, crinkled up from his perpetual smile, gazed at her proudly in her mind, although she also pictured them with the sadness he was trying so damned hard to mask for her sake.

  Her wolf heaved an enormous sigh and flopped down in a corner of Lia's mind, turning her back and settling her head on her paws in a show of massive irritation with her human.

  Lia stood straight and kept the smile on her face. This was what she'd wanted. What she'd always wanted. Somehow, she and Connor would make it work. Somehow, she'd manage to keep her sanity as both woman and wolf working 100-hour weeks in the bustling heart of the nation.