The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise

by Emilia Hartley

  “I’d like to speak with your daughter in private if she would allow it.” Nolan’s voice was calm and controlled, but she could see the strain on his face. Good. She hoped this hurt him.

  She raised her chin in defiance, hoping it told him she would fight. She would fight him every inch of the way if he wanted to take Casper from her. She would fight him if he said anything about the way she raised her son.

  As the cakes cooled, she had nothing else to do, so, hanging her head, she had no other choice but to follow Nolan. On her way out of the kitchen, she moved to lay a light kiss on Casper’s head, but the boy ducked away from her touch. Another needle pierced her heart. She couldn’t help the look of pain that crossed over her face, but she turned to follow Nolan anyway.

  Down the hall, she pulled him into her bedroom, the only room she could think of for privacy.

  His eyes drifted past her and a smirk touched his lips.

  “What is so funny?”

  “You still have the stuffed cat,” he said, pointing at the toy on her bed.

  “That isn’t what you dragged me in here to talk about.”

  He drew his gaze away from the stuffed animal on the bed. “No. It isn’t.”

  Ellie pressed her foot into the floor to keep from tapping it. Her patience was wearing thin. One would think, after handling Casper for four years, she would have the patience of a saint, but she was on edge. Fears writhed inside her, each one making the next stronger until it felt like someone was clawing at her from the inside out.

  “You aren’t going to like what I have to tell you, but you’re going to have to trust me. There’s something that runs in the family and I’m positive Casper… he’s a part of that.”

  Her blood froze. Her first thoughts were of diseases. What had this man passed on to her child?

  Nolan looked away, not as ashamed as Ellie would like to have seen. Instead, there was a touch of… what was it that she saw? Fear was obvious, but Ellie couldn’t help but wonder if she truly saw a spark of excitement in his eyes. It made her angry. What could Nolan have to be excited about? He was talking about passing a disease on to her child.

  “Spit it out already.”

  “I’m… well, I don’t think you’re going to believe me.” He paused, chewing on his words as he shifted from foot to foot. “In any other circumstance, this would be a bad idea, but I have to tell you. For our son’s sake.”

  Ellie’s mind filled in the blank with the worst things she could think of. Right after sleeping with Nolan, she’d gone out and gotten tested. She knew he hadn’t passed on any sexual diseases. Yet, striking that from her list didn’t make her feel any better.

  “He’s my son,” she hissed. He had no claim over Casper. He hadn’t been there while she puked her guts out on the bathroom floor every morning, through the labor, or the numerous baby sitters.

  Nolan’s lips curled and anger flared across his eyes, like a flash fire. Yet, he held back, slowly pulling in a steadying breath. “My blood runs through that boy’s veins. Tell me it doesn’t and I will leave.”

  Ellie hesitated. The lie sat on her tongue, slightly bitter yet so sweet. If she let it out, Nolan might leave. But it stuck, trapped in her mouth. Tears burned her eyes. Tell him, she commanded herself. Tell him Casper wasn’t his.

  But, she didn’t.

  Nolan studied her face, waiting. The anger she saw moments ago had faded and the nervousness had returned. His brows rose, as if to ask if she was ready.

  “I’m a Shifter,” he finally said.

  “Get out of my house,” she snapped, pointing toward the door. He was spouting nonsense. This man was insane. She was going to have to go to court and file a restraining order. “Get out. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  Nolan seemed to rise to his full height. Anger flashed across his face, his jaw tightening. Ellie couldn’t help the step she took back. Pinpricks of fear bit into her muscles, but his shoulders sank once more and his gaze turned to the side.

  “Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll just have to prove it to you.”

  Ellie’s heart lurched. “Oh, that’s not necessary.” She moved to open the door, hand on the knob while her heart hammered.

  The last thing she needed was Nolan having a fit on her bedroom floor. She must have been very drunk when she slept with him, because as attractive as he was, there was clearly something wrong with her head. She chewed her lip and prayed Casper didn’t inherit this instability from Nolan.

  Nolan appeared by the door, impossibly fast. His hand slammed on the door. Had she blinked? Zoned out? The way he looked down at her, with dark and brooding eyes alight with fire, made her gut clench. Was it fear, she wondered? Or, was it the spark she’d imagined when they first met? Either way, it was bad. Ellie couldn’t afford to let him stay under her roof for another moment.

  “Just give me five minutes,” he said, his voice softer than she expected. “After that, I will leave.”

  Ellie swallowed. Against her better judgment, she nodded. It was a bad idea, but a second voice in her head whispered. It pointed out the speed Nolan had used a moment ago. It pointed toward the way Casper claimed he could smell Nolan. She closed her eyes and pulled in a breath, trying her hardest to steady herself. She was losing it. The holidays were proving more stressful than she thought.

  That was all.

  “Ellie,” Nolan said. “Open your eyes or you will miss it.”

  Forcing her eyes open, she caught Nolan just as he doubled over. The grimace on his face was twisted with pain and his hands slapped the floor just as his knees hit the hardwood. Ellie wanted to reach for him, to help, but she shoved the motherly instinct down. This wasn’t the right time. She didn’t have to help him.

  Before her eyes, his form started to shift. Much like water shifting to shape a new vessel, she watched as his body realigned. Fur started to spread over his skin, spots of white and grey, until a pair of yellow cat eyes looked up at her.

  Her breath was caught in her throat. In moments, a big cat looked up at her. His paws were easily the size of her hands and his tail twitched in the air behind him. Grey spots dotted his thick, white coat. The massive beast paced the floor before her, barely able to twist and turn in the small space of her bedroom. Her heart hammered in her chest and she pressed her back against the door to give the beast more room, easily the size of a tiger, yet of the wrong coloring.

  “Nolan?” she squeaked out.

  He let out a rough purr and turned to leap about the room, stretching his new limbs in the process. Ellie held a hand over her heart. She thought it might stop at any moment. What she was seeing wasn’t possible. The stress of the holidays had gotten to her mind and now she was hallucinating. That was the only plausible explanation.

  “I’ve lost my mind,” she whispered, her back sliding down the door behind her.

  But, when the massive beast stalked toward her and rubbed his cheek against her hand, she could feel it’s fur. It was soft and plush beneath her touch and she let out a choked sob, her fingers tightening in the fur. Could this… could it be real?

  “This can’t be real,” she told the big cat resting his head between her hands. “None of this is real. I’m just having a nightmare. If you bite me, I’ll wake up.”

  The big cat’s mouth opened, but instead of baring his teeth, his tongue slipped out. It was rough against her cheek and only made her throat tighten more. Breathing was becoming difficult. She’d felt that, too.

  The big cat pulled away from her and took another long moment to stretch before she watched his body start to shift again. Ellie bit her knuckles, trying to hold back her whimpers. In moments, the process reversed, and fur fell away only to disappear before it hit the floor. A man sat on all fours on her bedroom floor.

  Nolan’s dark hair fell away from his eyes and, as Ellie’s heart pounded, he crawled toward her until his face was inches away from her. “Do you understand now?”

  ***

  She was terrified. It
was obvious. That hadn’t been his intention when he decided to show, rather than tell. He’d only been gripped by the need for her to understand, anger burning deep inside him at the thought that she would turn him away. He knew he couldn’t blame her. To a normal human, what he’d said was beyond their reality. He shouldn’t exist. The words he’d spoken had been crazy.

  So, he chose to show her. His form wasn’t as intimidating as some could be. He’d met bear shifters, great burly men with roaring forms that towered over humanity. That would have been terrifying in comparison to the moderately sized snow leopard form he carried.

  “Ellie, talk to me.” He reached for her hand, but she jerked it away. He needed her to understand why he wanted to be a part of Casper’s life. It was his duty to teach his son about what they were, to protect him from the violence of humanity by teaching him to hide their secret. The need inside of him was deep and gripped him in a way he couldn’t deny.

  Casper was his son.

  “What do you want me to say?” She rubbed her face with her hands, blocking him out for a moment.

  The urge to reach forward and pull her hands away from her face, to make her see the situation they were in, was overwhelming. The idea that the mother of his child wanted to ignore this heated him. Yet, being in her presence also stirred something else in him, something that shot into his groin.

  Her hands fell away from her face and she met his gaze with green eyes that sparkled with flecks of gold. Her nose was short and upturned at the end, begging for the light flick of his finger. Would she smile, or would Ellie punch him? He wasn’t about to test the theory, letting his eyes wander further instead. Her cheeks were round and her jaw strong. She could have easily been a Viking princess.

  “Stop staring at me like that,” she growled.

  Nolan caught himself and fell back to sit on his haunches. “I never meant to leave you alone with a child. What I did was negligent, but I would like to start taking more responsibility.”

  Her head fell back, eyes beseeching the ceiling like it was the higher power many people believed in. The ceiling wasn’t going to help her. Only he could.

  “Casper’s excess energy is part of who he is, what he is. It takes a lot of energy to change shapes.” As if to prove his point, his stomach growled with a ferocious need. Changing twice in such a short time was draining, even if it had been necessary. “Once Casper experiences his first change, his energy should start to ebb.”

  “His first change,” Ellie croaked. “I can’t believe this is happening. It isn’t real. It can’t be.”

  Nolan’s sigh turned into a growl of frustration. The woman saw with her own eyes and she was still in denial. What did he have to do to make her believe? Introduce her to a pack of shifters? Lead her into a cave of bear shifters? Instead, Nolan reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders. It brought her back, her green eyes meeting his once more.

  “Let me stay and help,” Nolan offered. “You’re clearly stressed. Between work and raising Casper on your own, it has to be overwhelming.”

  Ellie swallowed. “Fine. But, you are not sleeping under my roof.”

  Nolan wanted to argue, but once Ellie dug in her heels, he knew she would not be swayed. It was one of the things that had attracted him to her four years ago. She was strong and capable, even if she’d been drunk then. Ellie had caught his attention and, even over the course of the past four years, he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind.

  Nolan nodded, giving her what she needed if it meant he could be part of Casper’s life. “I’ll find a place in town to stay. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

  “And, don’t tell my parents about any of this.” Her voice grew strained. “They weren’t too happy about him not having a father in his life, about my attempt to be a single mother. I’ve tried to fill the space, but nothing worked. Over time, they grew to love Casper, but I don’t want to know how they’d react to this. To knowing my boy is a…”

  He waited for her to say the word he feared. But, she didn’t. Her voice trailed off, as if she caught herself in time and realized he should start pulling herself together.

  “I have a wedding cake to finish.” With shaking knees, Ellie pushed herself off the floor and turned toward the door. She carefully avoided Nolan’s gaze as she kept her back to him. It gave him time to admire the view from behind. Her waist narrowed into a tight pinch before spreading wide over her hips and ass.

  His heart screamed, begged for her to look at him. What was it about this woman that twisted him? It could be that she was the mother of his child, a powerful figure in his future, but Nolan worried it was more than that.

  His stomach growled again, greedy and demanding to be heard. Ellie glanced over her shoulder, eyes on his stomach.

  “I guess I could feed you, too. I hope candy makes a fine meal replacement.”

  His mouth watered. Nolan wanted to taste something a little different in that moment, watching Ellie’s rear sway back and forth while she walked. The animal in him growled with need, begging him to reach and pull her back into the room so he could use his carnal prowess to convince her to keep him in their lives. He could make her moan and beg, then she would keep him nearby.

  But, Nolan had the feeling that Ellie would rather punch him in the face than let him touch her like he once had. That meant his only option was to shove down the instinct and follow the woman back into the kitchen. The smell of vanilla and butter was palpable, coating his tongue in an instant and making his stomach growl louder than the animal inside him.

  Ellie pulled a tin off a shelf and popped the lid. The sound was small, a dull pop, but it was enough to summon Casper from out of nowhere. The child slammed to a halt at her hip, looking up at her with pleading eyes. He knew exactly what she had in the tin. Ellie returned the look with a scowl before she sighed and gave in, handing the boy a chocolate-coated ball.

  “I have an assortment of sugar,” she said, pushing the tin toward Nolan.

  His eyes were on the boy now, his hunger forgotten. Casper had his dark hair, but his eyes were the bright and clear green of his mother’s. Popping the entire chocolate ball into his mouth, cheek bulging like a chipmunk’s, Casper turned those green eyes upon Nolan. Words, a confession and an apology, bubbled inside his chest, working their way through his throat when Ellie spoke up.

  “Get on with you,” She told Casper. “No more candy or you’ll be the death of your grandparents today.” He pleaded with her through the mouthful he already had, the smell of peanut butter filling the air. “I said no. You know what that word means.”

  The boy pouted, but diligently turned and fled the room to return to tormenting his grandparents. Nolan heard a distant shout for Casper to get off something and it brought a smile to his lips. Casper had to be close to his first change if there was that much energy riding his small body.

  Ellie turned burning eyes on Nolan and all thoughts fled. The gaze challenged him and he found his spine straightening, rising to her dare. It took some effort to pull back, even as her glare darkened.

  “You will not tell him who you are.”

  Anger flared inside Nolan, hot and all consuming. “Excuse me?”

  “You damn well heard me. I will not have you coming into his life only to find out you’re toxic for him. If I have to kick you out of my son’s life, I will, but if you tell him who you are, he will forever blame me for getting rid of you.”

  Nolan’s jaw tightened. How dare she threaten him? He closed the space between them, Ellie backing into the counter while he towered over her. To her credit, she tilted her head back to meet his glare. She was a fighter, determined to protect her family. But, Nolan would not let her believe she had to protect their son from him. He would not let her think she could remove him from Casper’s life so easily.

  “Do not tell me to bite my tongue.”

  “This is what I’m talking about,” Ellie said through clenched teeth. She reached up to push him away, but her hands hesitated on h
is chest.

  Her touch sent fire through him, a whirlwind of heat that settled deep in his core and made his cock begin to rise. Nolan was painfully aware of their close proximity, of how Ellie was cornered against the countertop. He reached out and placed a hand on either side of her, gripping the counter and locking her in as his head dipped.

  The ferocity of her demeanor shifted into the startled confusion of a rabbit in the headlights. Her lips parted and Nolan wanted nothing more than to claim them, take them as his own. No one else would ever taste her again. She would be his.

  Another knock sounded at the door and the two of them jumped apart. Nolan found his breathing heavy and had to shift to hide the rising erection in his pants. He narrowed his eyes at Ellie, who was looking toward the front door. Who was this woman to affect him like this? Nolan wanted to blame it on the fact that she bore his child. It was a fact that must have drove the animal in him wild. Maybe, it made him want to reward her.

  Ellie mumbled to herself, wondering who else could be knocking on her door. Nolan followed on her heels. His nose twitched, catching a new scent on the air that was very male. It made a low rumble start in his chest and his hands clench at his sides. His behavior was unimaginable around this woman. Where were these urges, these emotions coming from?

  Grace scooped Casper off his feet and spared a last glance at her daughter and Nolan before retreating further into the house. Ellie rolled her shoulders and gave Nolan a glance. He shrugged. How could he tell her he wasn’t going anywhere? She only rolled her eyes at him before opening the door.

  A man stood in the doorway, a hopeful smile pasted on his lips and a bundle of white flowers cradled in his hands. His head was blocky, sand colored hair cut close to the sides of his head and grown long over his crown, so long it needed to be tied in a tiny ponytail. Nolan found anger rising through him and the urge to pull Ellie into his body. She was not his. He had to keep reminding himself. It helped Nolan inspect his immediate hatred of the man. There was something wrong about the guy, but Nolan couldn’t pinpoint it.