by Anthology
A Very Alpha Christmas
Over 25 Paranormal Holiday Tales of Werewolves, Dragons, Shifters, Vampires, Fae, Witches, Billionaires, Magics, Ghosts, Demons and More
Mandy M. Roth
Michelle M. Pillow
T. S. Joyce
Chloe Cole
V. M. Black
Terah Edun
Carina Wilder
Cathryn Fox
Cristina Rayne
Jaycee Clark
JC Andrijeski
Tasha Black
R. E. Butler
Jaide Fox
Michele Bardsley
Renee George
T.J. Michaels
Elsa Jade
Allison Gatta
Arial Burnz
Mandy Rosko
Candice Gilmer
Dawn Michelle
Sylvia Frost
Lissa Matthews
Lexy Cole
TheRavenBooks.com
Contents
Copyright
About A Very Alpha Christmas
Vampire Games by V. M. Black
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About V. M. Black
When Darkness Falls by Terah Edun
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About Terah Edun
Wrapped Up by Cathryn Fox
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Cathryn Fox
Christmas Past, Christmas Presents by Carina Wilder
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Carina Wilder
Hunted by Chloe Cole
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About Chloe Cole
Heated Holiday by Mandy M. Roth
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
About Mandy M. Roth
Stirring Up Trouble by Michelle M. Pillow
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
About Michelle M. Pillow
Baby It’s Cold Out Bear by T. S. Joyce
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About T.S. Joyce
Blitzen’s Fated Mate by R. E. Butler
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About R. E. Butler
Thief of Souls by Jaycee Clark
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Jaycee Clark
A Glint of Light by JC Andrijeski
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About JC Andrijeski
The Clockwork Dragon by Tasha Black
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
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
About Tasha Black
An Impossible Gift by Cristina Rayne
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Epilogue
About Cristina Rayne
Star’s Fall by Jaide Fox
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About Jaide Fox
In Good Spirits by Michele Bardsley
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About Michele Bardsley
Midnight Before Christmas by Renee George
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
About Renee George
Winter Blues: Kotara Pryde by T.J. Michaels
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About T.J. Michaels
Wish Upon a Werewolf by Elsa Jade
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Elsa Jade
A Christmas Caroline by Allison Gatta
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About Allison Gatta
Frostbitten Hearts by Arial Burnz
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About Arial Burnz
The Lady and The Dragon’s Holiday by Mandy Rosko
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Mandy Rosko
Not a Gentleman’s Christmas by Candice Gilmer
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
Chapter 15
Epilogue
About Candice Gilmer
Claimed by the Dragon Kin
g by Dawn Michelle
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About Dawn Michelle
The BBW and the Beast by Sylvia Frost
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
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
About Sylvia Frost
Reindeers, Elves, And Cookies…Oh My! by Lissa Matthews
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About Lissa Matthews
Santa Shifter in Manhattan by Lexy Cole
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About Lexy Cole
More from Taming the Alpha
A Very Alpha Christmas Box Set
Copyright © 2015
All Rights Reserved.
Box Set ISBN 10: 1625011229
Box Set ISBN 13: 978-1-62501-122-0
Individual Stories Copyrighted to the Author. All Rights Reserved.
Heated Holiday © Copyright 2015 by Mandy M. Roth
Stirring Up Trouble © Copyright 2015 by Michelle M. Pillow
Baby It’s Cold Out Bear © Copyright 2015 by T. S. Joyce
Hunted © Copyright 2015 by Chloe Cole
Vampire Games © Copyright 2015 by V. M. Black
When Darkness Falls © Copyright 2015 by Terah Edun
Christmas Past, Christmas Presents © Copyright 2015 by Carina Wilder
Wrapped Up © Copyright 2015 by Cathryn Fox
An Impossible Gift © Copyright 2015 by Cristina Rayne
Thief of Souls © Copyright 2015 by Jaycee Clark
A Glint of Light © Copyright 2015 by JC Andrijeski
The Clockwork Dragon © Copyright 2015 by Tasha Black
Blitzen’s Fated Mate © Copyright 2015 by R. E. Butler
Star’s Fall © Copyright 2015 by Jaide Fox
In Good Spirits © Copyright 2015 by Michele Bardsley
Midnight Before Christmas © Copyright 2015 by Renee George
Winter Blues © Copyright 2015 by T.J. Michaels
Wish Upon a Werewolf © Copyright 2015 by Elsa Jade
A Christmas Caroline © Copyright 2015 by Allison Gatta
Frostbitten Hearts © Copyright 2015 by Arial Burnz
The Lady And The Dragon's Holiday © Copyright 2015 by Mandy Rosko
Not a Gentleman’s Christmas © Copyright 2015 by Candice Gilmer
Claimed by the Dragon King © Copyright 2015 by Dawn Michelle
The BBW and the Beast © Copyright 2015 by Sylvia Frost
Reindeers, Elves, and Cookies...Oh My! © Copyright 2015 by Lissa Matthews
Santa Shifter in Manhattan © Copyright 2015 by Lexy Cole
All books copyrighted to the author and may not be resold or given away without written permission from the author.
This novel is a work of fiction. Any and all characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events or places is merely coincidence. Novel intended for adults only. Must be 18 years or older to read.
About A Very Alpha Christmas
Featuring Tales from New York Times, USA Today and National Bestselling Authors
* * *
Limited Time Boxed Set
Vampire Games by V. M. Black
Cora’s Interlude
A yacht trip with a billionaire vampire holds even more dangers and secrets than Cora can imagine.
1
Still damp from the shower, I came out of the bathroom in a fresh cami and shorts, releasing the clip to let down my hair just as Dorian came into the stateroom and shut the door.
He stopped at a small brushed steel cabinet in front of the tinted glass wall that separated the upper deck from the stateroom, pulled a bottle of wine from its silver ice bucket, and poured it into two flutes.
Champagne for celebration. Because we were engaged.
Behind him, an angry sun bled across the sky as it drowned in the western sea. We’d left the Chesapeake behind us hours before, and with it went my last glimpse of land. It was quiet here, almost unnaturally so, even the engine’s noise and the sound of the waves on the hull muted by the thick glass and thicker wall.
He lifted his gaze to meet mine, and my breath stuttered under the force of his regard, my awareness of him like teeth across my nerves.
“Do you feel better now?” he asked.
I swallowed and nodded, knowing that he was asking not about how I felt about being in the middle of the ocean on a vampire’s mega yacht but rather about the threatening note I had found in his—our—stateroom a few hours before.
Stay Away, it had said.
Dorian had put it down to a cheap prank pulled by one of his enemies at his New Year’s Eve party, left for us to find after they had gotten news that the attack on me had failed.
I wasn’t so sure it was so harmless. Still, there was no possibility that anyone could hurt me here, not when the only other people still on the boat were Dorian’s enthralled servants, who were incapable of even wishing either one of us ill. It would be weeks before we planned to return—before I had any reason to worry again. So I was willing to set it aside for now.
I didn’t want to think about what had happened the night before. And for a while, at least, I didn’t have to.
“To us,” he said, offering me a wine glass.
“Us,” I repeated before taking a sip. The word still sounded strange to me.
I’d run so hard, so long from Dorian. But in the end, I had walked onto the yacht with the vampire of my own free will—or whatever approximation of free will I had left. Now here I was with nowhere to go. No one to save me from him because I’d decided that being saved wasn’t worth losing him.
Somewhere on the boat there were stewards and officers and a chef and all the other people who made Dorian’s lifestyle possible. And yet they were all his people, so we might as well be alone.
My finger traced the bond mark on my wrist, the sign that I was bound to him, body, blood, and soul. I wasn’t afraid that I’d made a mistake. I didn’t think I could live without him—even breathe without him. But I was still afraid of how much it would cost me.
And yet I felt buoyant. Effervescent. I’d made my choice, and I couldn’t regret it.
“Reservations, Cora?” he asked. He was still wearing a three-piece suit, his only concession to the fact that we were alone together that the jacket was now unbuttoned.
I felt absurdly underdressed. Of course, when he looked at me like he was now, I might as well be naked.
I shrugged. “None that matter.”
He closed the distance between us and bent his head, and as if caught in a spell, I tilted up my face toward his. Our lips met—lips and tongues and nothing more, but the reaction crackled down through my body and between my legs, and the air between us seemed to spark against my skin. I could taste the champagne in his mouth, and for a long moment, I let him take mine before I ventured in to explore his, too.
I sighed when he finally broke away, and I opened my eyes reluctantly.
“That’s n
ot why I said yes.” My voice was slightly husky. I took another swallow of my champagne.
I didn’t have to voice what I meant—the sex. The spark. The fire that sizzled between us, the one that I knew I could never feel with anyone else. Because no mere man had Dorian’s powers, nor could I ever share the bond between us with anyone else.
“Why did you say yes, then?” His gaze was sharp enough to cut, a sweet hurt deep in my belly.
“Because you love me. And I—I can’t live without you,” I said.
What he did to my mind, my body, was more than any mere human ever could. But that alone wasn’t enough for me to brave the dangers of being his consort—his cognate, as my kind were called. What I clung to were those glimpses of soul, his grief and his love and his terrible and wonderful nobility.
“Is that love, then?” he asked, teasing me gently.
I lifted my shoulders. “Love or madness—or both.”
“Isn’t love always a kind of madness?” he challenged.
“You should know.”
He kissed me lightly on the forehead, then the cheek, then the place just under my jaw that made me shiver.
But when I started to lean in to him, he broke away and plucked the champagne flute from my fingers.
“How would you like to play a little game?” he asked with a light in his eyes that made my stomach flutter in apprehension…and anticipation.
“It depends on the game,” I said carefully. “What kinds of games do vampires play?”
“Agnates,” he corrected lightly, using his preferred term. He was an agnate—and I was his cognate. I could say something trite about that, yin and yang, north and south, dark and light. But none of those easy characterizations would do justice to what was between us, either to its depth or its complexity.
He set both the wine glasses down on the cabinet, one next to the other, and topped them off—too far, for the champagne came almost to the rim. “For the next day—twenty-four hours precisely—this game will determine exactly how far I go. And when I stop.”
“And what are the rules?” My throat felt suddenly dry.
He came back with the two flutes and pressed them into my hands.
“The first challenge has only one rule: Don’t spill the wine. When you spill it, the game is over.”
