A Christmas Home

by April Zyon

  As for him, Jagger stepped off the porch and made his way to where Ophelia was listening to a wide-eyed little girl chatter. Winking at the little one, Jagger put a finger across his lips to make sure she didn’t say anything. The giggles she let out betrayed what he was up to and his mate spun to give him the eye. “Hello, sweetheart, having fun?”

  She turned toward him and he could see the happiness in her face. “I am. I adore your pack. And the cubs. God they are so freaking cuddly.” He had noticed that the young ones had been shifting into their bear form for her and getting more than a few cuddles from his mate. “I want one eventually. A cub,” she explained when he likely gave her a blank stare. “Jagger.” She reached up and touched his cheek, which had him leaning into her touch. She stilled then. He watched as her eyes all but glazed over in a white haze. His arms clenched around her when she began to speak.

  “The snow’s covered in blood. Where they walk, puddles filled with blood follow. They take, abuse, hurt, kill. Want to be the only ones left. They are wiping out packs one at a time using the face of need and homelessness.” Tears flowed from her eyes and he could practically feel her pain. “Christmas night, they come and kill us all.”

  Just as fast as it started it ended and she was looking up at him in pain. “Jagger?”

  He scooped her up into his arms. After signaling one of the mothers to keep an eye on the cubs, Jagger carried her back to the porch around the pack office building. Settling in one of the chairs, he cuddled her to his chest. “I have you, sweetheart,” he whispered against her hair. A shiver worked through his body as he replayed her words through his head. The foretelling left him chilled. “Are you okay?” he asked first.

  “I am.” She was curled up tightly against him and shaking. “They come in the middle of the night. One holds me down while the alpha shifts to kill you. They’re sabertooth tigers, Jagger. They aren’t normal tigers like they’re telling you. Please, please don’t let them come here. They’ll kill us. They’ll kill everyone and they have been doing that all along the coast so that they are the only pack left.”

  “Son of a bitch,” he bit out. Well that would explain a lot, especially in the last town and why Layla’s contact was getting nowhere. He was likely only speaking with humans who might know about the shifters, but wouldn’t know shifter business. And if said shifters were killing others in the town, then the humans would be running scared and keeping quiet.

  Pressing a kiss to her temple, he wiggled around to dig out his cell phone. He put in a call to Garth. “It’s me,” he said quietly, rocking Ophelia slowly while holding her tight. “I have new information that may help us figure this shit out. They’re sabertooths. Yeah, I know, but we’ve been hearing rumors a pack survived for years now. They kill off other packs after they move into a town. And if they don’t they kill off the packs anyway.”

  When Garth asked how he knew that info, and so quickly, Jagger stilled. Putting the phone to his chest, he looked down at his mate. “Are you okay with me telling Garth about your abilities, sweetheart?” He wouldn’t if she wasn’t okay with it. He’d figure out some way to explain it all to his second.

  She nodded and he took that as her assent. “Anything you have to do in order to keep the pack safe do it, Jagger. It doesn’t matter. They will all know one day anyway that I’m not exactly normal, so it’s okay.”

  He brushed a light kiss to her lips. “I love you.” When she smiled for him he tucked her head back under his chin and put his phone to his ear. “Ophelia had a vision. She can see the future on occasion,” he told his second.

  “Shit, damn that’s rather handy. What all did she see?” Garth asked.

  “The sabertooths attacking on Christmas night, blood in the snow, puddles of blood, to be exact. She saw herself being held down while the sabertooth alpha shifted and went in for the kill on me. According to my sweet mate, this pack has been killing other packs all along the coast.”

  “Damn.” Garth drew the word out. “I’ll get the others updated, and I’m damn well calling in the other packs. I won’t share where the info came from until you give me the okay, but we need everyone on the same page here. If they truly are sabertooths, and I’m not doubting your missus in any way, we can’t take chances. My grandda told me a story about his uncle’s pack running afoul of a sabertooth pack, like the same group I’m betting, and they were practically slaughtered. But the one thing grandda said is that the sabertooths don’t view things the same way the rest of us do. Their moral compass is fucked the hell up, and they’re deadly. Biggest warning he ever gave me about them is to never, ever face one alone. Two against one odds is the only way to take one of the long-toothed cats down. Cause if they get hold of you, you are going to be dead fucking meat.”

  Not what Jagger needed to hear, but it was good information. “Warn the others. Let the other alphas know I’ll be in touch tomorrow to explain everything in person. I will not be calling on the phone. Best to do this off the radar. If you can get them to agree, see if they’ll meet me at the shop tomorrow. It’s safe, secure, and soundproofed in the back room so no one will know what we talk about.”

  “You got it. I’ll touch base later. You take care of your little mate for now.”

  Jagger slipped his phone back into his pocket and hugged Ophelia closer to him. “We’re going to be okay, sweetheart. You have to believe that.”

  “I do believe you.” She had her fingers fisted in his shirt, though. “This is going to take everyone. They have thirty that I saw. They took out the cubs and women first.” He felt her tears again and that tore his heart apart that she saw something as vividly as she had. “They killed the men, well the ones that weren’t sentries on duty. Humans and shifter alike. They will kill them all. Anyone at the resort and town, they don’t care. They’re crazy, Jagger. They should have died with the last ice age but somehow lived. I don’t know how but they did. Silver—it will kill them. I don’t know where that came from, but silver. I know that goes against all that you are as an animal but silver bullets through their thick skulls will kill them dead.”

  She was right. The thought of shooting a shifter instead of facing it in his own shifted form did go against the grain. But he also wasn’t an idiot. He knew that facing off against a foe with no care for lives in that manner was a great way to die. They wouldn’t hesitate where Jagger might if an innocent was in the way. Stroking her hair, he continued to rock her side to side. “I won’t take risks, little one,” he said softly. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we all come through this alive.” Now all he had to do was figure out how the fuck to do that.

  “I know you will. I trust you. Too bad you don’t have someone who makes weapons or could at least create bullets for you. God only knows that weapons are easy to get a hold of, but not so much silver bullets. Heck, silver for that matter even.”

  “Uh, not exactly true. We have people who can make weapons, bullets, and we have silver. Little known fact is that our pack land sits on one of three old silver mines in the county. When we bought the land we wiped the records to make sure no one came looking for something not theirs, as did the other two packs who are sitting on similar sites. We did it as a safety measure mainly. Mining silver is dangerous, from what little I understand. But there are deposits we could get out relatively quickly and easily if we needed to.”

  “Maybe it was providence that had you taking this place instead of another as your pack’s lands.” She was looking up at him with awe in her voice and eyes. “Well then I think we know what to do. I have no issue in the least shooting one of the bastards if they dare to try to come after my family.”

  “Wasn’t me who picked the spot, sweetheart. That would be the alpha who moved the pack here over a century ago. But the fact he chose this spot just might keep the pack alive and kicking for centuries to come. I’ll talk to our guy and see if he can get working on things. Biggest problem is keeping it under wraps. I don’t want word leaking out that we’re up to s
ome big operation over here, and garnering attention from the sabertooths. We don’t want them sitting up on a hill keeping watch more than they likely are already.”

  “True. It’s been their ace in the hole for so long, no one knowing what they are. People thought they were foxes or something similar because those are the people that they send in as their ambassadors and since I’m assuming that sabertooths aren’t something people meet often, they are able to somehow hide that scent or something. I don’t know how, but you would have known, I’m sure, if you had met their alpha, right?”

  “I’d like to think I would’ve known that he wasn’t exactly who he said he was by the people he sent. I probably wouldn’t have recognized him as a sabertooth. I’ve never met one. But he would have had my hackles up, that’s for sure. We know now, and that’s all that matters. We still have a few days to plan, organize, and get everyone else on board. If Garth gets the other alphas to meet at the shop to talk all at once, I want you there. You need to tell them exactly what you saw and what happened in the order that it went down. Details especially will be important to make them see this threat for what it is. We need them on our side when the cats come at us.” And Jagger had no doubt at all that the sabertooths would be coming. They just wouldn’t know they were expected and the reception party would be ready.

  That had her nodding and she took a deep breath, one that told him she was going to piss him off when she spoke next. “I need something that the sabertooths have touched. Or I need to hold something that was in the hand of their emissaries—it doesn’t matter. I can give you a lot more then. That or touch one of the Shifter Falls alphas if he comes and I would be able to describe his mate or children. If they had them, that is.”

  Jagger let out a low growl at the thought of her touching another male. “No touching another alpha. That isn’t on the board. But I think I can get you something the emissaries brought in. The town council has a lot of paperwork from them. I’m sure something in there will help you out.”

  “Fair enough and if we are lucky one of the sabers touched some of the paperwork and I could see what devastation they’ve left in their wake. Is there any way you could possibly send runners or whatever to some of the former places they’ve been to look for something that I might see in a vision? Would that be enough to convince the alphas?” He could tell she was trying to come up with anything at all she could in order to save her pack and that filled him with pride.

  “They’ll smell the truth of your words. Humans are easy for us shifters to read for lies,” he told her. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then tipped up her chin and dropped another to her lips. “We can go to the town hall to see the original paperwork. We should head over there now. I don’t want anyone getting the idea to clean out the files if they figure out what we’re up to before we’re ready. I would be really pissed if they moved up their timetable.” Giving her another squeeze, he helped her up and stood. “Let’s get going. We have a lot to do and little time to get it done.” Tucking her in close to his side, Jagger held her tight as they made their way to his truck. No matter what he was going to make sure that his little mate had the future she wanted and had envisioned for long enough. No one was going to stop him from making it happen, and the gods help them if they dared to try.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ophelia was as nervous as a kitten in a dog pound. She was sitting in Jagger’s lap and rubbing the skin of his neck anxiously as she watched the large men entering the too-small space. When she and Jagger had taken their seats earlier it seemed the space was huge. Now she was rethinking her initial assessment of the whole thing. Now it seemed ridiculously small.

  She looked from man to man and even the couple of women that were there as well. She took a deep breath and pressed closer to Jagger, her hand slipping into his. She looked up at him when he spoke to the people around him. He told them about her vision and of course they all looked at her as if she were a liar or a fraud. She took a deep breath and once more related back to these alphas what she had told Jagger.

  She breathed in, then back out again. “May I touch one of you?” She felt Jagger squeeze her middle and shook her head. “We both know it needs to be done.” One of the men stepped forward and lifted his hand out. “As long as your mate doesn’t mind.” His voice was low and growly. He wasn’t nearly as huge as Jagger but he was very large and had deep green eyes. He was a handsome man, but no one held a candle to her bear.

  When Jagger gave her a slight nudge she realized it was okay. She slipped her hand into the other alpha’s and stepped outside of Jagger’s touch. It hit her, sudden and hard. Her eyes glazed over. She was sure that they all saw only the whites of her eyes as she’d been told time and time again happened when she had a vision.

  “She’s got flaming red hair, a smattering of freckles over her nose. A tiger.” She smiled. “A kitten right now. She likes to sleep in front of the fire because her bedroom smells. It’s newly painted.” She spoke softly to the large man. “They come in through a double French door silently. She doesn’t even hear them when…” She felt the tears rolling down her face. “Jesus. Please don’t ask me to tell you what they do to her.” She released the man’s hand and stepped back into Jagger’s arms. “They start with her and then your newborn son before they go for you and your mate. You never hear or smell them coming. They have some sort of scent suppressant.” She bit her lower lip and took another shaky breath, coming back from the hard vision thanks to Jagger’s hand at her back.

  “I know that none of you or your animals want to fight with weapons, but these sabertooths are using weapons. They’re using human weapons of scent suppression and have learned to bypass alarms and break into homes. Please don’t let them destroy this amazing place as they have all the other places they have been through?”

  Jagger pressed a kiss to her temple and whispered soft words to her that she knew only she could hear. When the shaking began to ease he rubbed his hand to her back and cuddled her in closer. “We need to take this threat seriously. If Ophelia was to touch any one of you she would have a similar vision of what is coming your way personally. The story is the same for us all. They are here, and they want us all dead. I don’t know why, and neither does Ophelia at this time, but we have to prepare. Silver will stop them, so I’ve given my pack permission to go into the mines to collect any of the deposits easily removed. If we need to dig for more we will, but I don’t want to risk any lives unnecessarily until I see what we have available. I know two of you also have silver mines on your lands. We need whatever we can get our hands on quickly. One of our pack and his mate’s family are going to start making silver bullets and also coating the edges of several small blades for us to carry. The blades won’t do much but set them back on their heels, but we need every advantage. You need to talk with each of your packs and let them know what’s coming. We all need to be prepared.”

  Ophelia nodded, then looked to the men once more. “They’ve done this with every pack that they’ve come to in the past. They’ve used the guise of needing help and never really giving their numbers until it was too late. They revel in the destruction and pain inflicted upon others. I’m begging you, please don’t allow them to destroy this family as well.” Family, not pack. Not several packs. These people were tied together as family, pure and simple.

  She saw the alphas sharing a look before one looked to Jagger. “Come on, little one, let’s give them a moment to talk freely among themselves,” he said softly to her. When she looked up at him he gave a nod and tugged her from the room. He shut the door behind them before hauling her into his arms and squeezing her tight. “I hate that you had to see more of what’s coming.”

  “It wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been a child. What they did to her, Jagger.” She had tears in her eyes because to be honest it was horrid what she had seen. The innocent child had been sleeping as a tiger, and the things they had done shook Ophelia to a level she never knew existed. No one, child, man, w
oman, shifter or anything should ever have experienced the torture that small shifter child had gone through. It had broken her heart.

  “We are all someone’s child, sweetheart. It doesn’t matter how old we get. There is always someone out there to grieve for us if we were gone. In this world or the next.” Jagger began to stroke her hair, the motion calming her ragged nerves so she didn’t feel like she was about to come out of her skin. “The others are with us on this. I only gave them the room so they could process what they saw you do in there without embarrassing or upsetting you. They believe in what you saw, and it scares them as much as it does me.”

  “I’ve been doing it all of my life so why would it embarrass me? Did I do something weird? I’ve been told my eyes turn white but…” she trailed off with a shrug.

  “You did nothing wrong. I only know that they are in there dissecting your every word right now.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, nose, then her lips when she tipped her chin up. “They had to know, sweetheart. And that’s why I didn’t tear Neville’s head off when you touched him. The urge was there but I resisted.”

  “Thank you for that. I know it was hard for you and I’m sure it was hard for him, too, but it had to be done. I really would like to meet his daughter, though. She’s utterly adorable and all curled up in her tiger form just made me want to pick her up and pet her. Silly, I know.” Then again she was sure when they had babies she would want to cuddle them in their bear forms as well.

  “I’m sure we can arrange that. Not now, but once we’re through this coming shit storm. Right now we need to all be thinking more about the security of the packs than visits. We’ll have all the alphas and their families out to the pack lands for a post-Christmas party. Low-key, relaxed, and lots of fun. It will double as a celebration.” If they all survived, she knew he left off saying, but she heard it loud and clear.