by Leyla Hunt
“All right,” I said, perplexed. Why had he dropped off his mom, only to disappear? I shut the door and concentrated on getting Margaret comfortable.
A few minutes later, my phone rang. It was Will.
“Hey, sexy. Come outside,” he commanded in a husky voice.
A shiver of excitement ran through me. “Sure, I’ll be right there.”
I slipped into my coat and bundled up with a neck-warmer and hat and swung the door open. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
There, on the street in front of our house, stood a sleigh. But not just any sleigh! This one had an army of majestic wolves in harness in front of it. Like Santa’s sleigh, only with wolves!
“Will? Did you do this?”
He nodded and when he stepped closer, I threw my arms around him.
“This is gorgeous. Absolutely breathtaking.” In my excitement I called his mom and Lupo over to take a look, and they squealed with excitement when they saw the wolves.
“That’s so cool! Are you really going to ride in that thing?” asked Lupo, his blue eyes big and round.
“I sure am. Do you want a ride, too?”
“Yes, please. But only once you come back,” he said quietly.
“Why not now?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I want to be sure the wolves won’t eat me?”
I burst out laughing. “So, you want me to be the guinea pig, then?”
He smiled sheepishly, and I patted his head.
“You’re such a smart little guy.” I still couldn’t believe that until his accident, he hadn’t had a home. It was simply obscene that a six-year-old had had nowhere to comfortably sleep and the very idea of it made me nauseous. I’d been trying my best to be positive, and most of the time, it worked. It sort of bugged me that I still didn’t know all the details about his life, but I’d find out eventually, when he felt comfortable talking about it. What mattered now is that he had a home, and hopefully it would become a permanent arrangement. At some point, I realized, we’d also have to tell him our own secrets, namely that we were shifters. I had no idea whether he knew what that even meant, but he’d have to find out eventually.
“Come closer, take a look.” Will led us down the driveway toward the sleigh.
Tiny silver bells hung from the wolves’ harnesses, and twinkling lights adorned the sleigh itself. My heart swelled with love for Will.
“How did you get the wolves to behave?” I asked him, a bit confused.
“They’re my pack members,” he whispered.
My hand flew to my forehead. “Of course—they’re shifters!”
Two of the wolves glanced back at me and appeared to smile. I could have sworn one rolled his eyes. Will wrapped an arm around me and squeezed my shoulders.
“Only the best for you, sweetie.”
He kissed me on the cheek, and I warmed all over.
“Come on, let’s go! We have a long ride ahead of us!”
I climbed into the sleigh and settled in. We waved to Margaret and Lupo, and with one word from Will, the wolves took off.
Their muscular shoulders pumped up and down as they pulled us down the street. We weren’t an overly odd sight by Vale Valley standards, but we got more than a few looks due to the awesome sight of our beautiful wolves.
“Hey, Will, nice ride!” shouted Ren as we passed him on the street.
I snuggled in close to Will, breathing in his scent. His arm was wrapped tightly around me.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“I’m fine tonight. I was a bit nauseous earlier, but it’s passed.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
When we got to the edge of town, the wolves picked up the pace. A crisp, cool breeze blew millions of snowflakes off the adjacent field. They swirled around us as if in a magical snow globe. I buried my face in Will’s shoulder, laughing.
“This is great,” I said when the wind died down, “I’ve never had a Christmas quite like this. In fact, nothing can ever compare to feeling of being next to you.”
“You deserve everything and more. You’re special, and it shows in everything you do. Who would have saved Lupo if you hadn’t been there? I don’t even want to think about it. The point is, you’ve touched so many people since you’ve arrived here, and I couldn’t be happier to have you by my side. You’ve changed my life in so many ways.”
The wolves suddenly came to a stop in a clearing in the woods.
“Where are we?”
“Have you never heard of Vale Valley Lake? Look over there.”
I shook my head as I looked around and he motioned to our left, where there was a clear gap in the line of trees. It could have been my imagination, but there appeared to be some glittering body of water just beyond the woods.
“A lake?” I hopped out of the sleigh, followed by Will, although he stopped and took a bag out of the sleigh’s trunk. “What do you have there?”
“You’ll see, honey. It’s a surprise.”
I chuckled. He was full of crazy surprises. This one had better be good, because it was freezing.
The snow crunched under our boots as we strolled to the lake. What we saw was breathtaking—the moon shone on the snow-blanketed shore, making it glitter and shine, and what appeared to be steam rose steadily from the surface of the lake.
“What in the world? What’s wrong with the lake?” I asked Will in wonderment.
“Absolutely nothing.”
Then, as I watched, open-mouthed, Will undressed.
“Come on, what are you waiting for?” he asked, pulling his pants off.
I gasped. “Are you kidding? What are you doing? Put your clothes back on before you catch frostbite.”
“Only if I’m too slow to get in the lake.” He hung his clothes on a small bush beside us.
“Get in the lake?” By now I was starting to worry. Who would go swimming in this weather? “Have you gone nuts?”
“Just trust me,” he said with a reassuring smile.
His impressive physique loomed before me as he helped me undress.
“The lake is magic. It never gets cold, even in the dead of winter,” he said, his every breath coming out in a thick fog.
It started making sense, and I tore all my clothes off and hung them on top of his. My toes were freezing, and I was anxious to sink my body into the warm water.
“Let’s go!” My teeth had already begun to chatter as we got to the shore.
I grabbed Will’s hand and together we splashed into the hot water, until our bodies were fully submerged. The hot water flowed over and under me, its silky smoothness kissing my entire body.
“Ah, this was such a great idea,” I said as I treaded water next to Will.
I was struck by how sexy he was with his wet hair slicked back, and felt a jolt of desire pump through my body. I swam closer and gave him a long, lingering kiss that was only broken when a small wave splashed me in the face.
“Feel this.” He grabbed my hand and brought it to his cock, which was thick and erect.
My ass pulsated with need for him and I gripped his cock firmly, stroking it slowly.
“Come with me,” he said, and turned, swimming further out and to the right.
The night was eerily quiet. The only sounds I could hear were the owls in the trees, off in the distance. I looked back toward the shore—we’d gone quite far out by now.
“Where are we going?” I called out to Will ahead of me.
“Just over there!” He pointed to a strip of land that jutted into the lake.
Will reached our destination first, and stood up. The water was up to our chests and we were well hidden from the shore behind the mini peninsula.
He gripped my waist under the water and pulled me close. I pushed out a breath as his lips crashed on mine, melting me and lighting a fire in my loins. His cock rubbed against my hip, and holy shit, was it hard.
I couldn’t wait—the anticipation was killing me.
I turned around and leaned against the wall of earth, sticking my ass out. I was ready and waiting.
“I want that sweet ass, my omega,” he groaned.
“Take it. Take me.” I groaned when he reached around and held my cock in his hand.
His strong thrusts sent tidal waves through my body, bringing me closer to nirvana with each stroke of his cock.
Skin against skin.
A hand gently gripping my neck.
For a moment I thought I would die of pleasure. Was it possible?
I let out a whimper and then an alarmingly loud moan as my cum sprayed into the warm lake. Will’s hot cream filled my ass to the brim and he kissed and sucked my neck as he pounded his every last drop of cum into me.
“Will…Will…” I started, but was too out of breath to form my words.
“I love you, omega. You’ll always be mine, won’t you?”
I nodded. “I would never leave you, Will. We’re mates now. I love you more than life itself, you know that?”
We were forced to hang out until his knot deflated, and as soon as we could separate, I whipped around and jumped into his arms.
“Thanks for this surprise. I never would have thought you’re such a romantic.”
“No?” Will raised a brow. “Well, I have a lot more surprises in store for you.”
Will
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” I asked Nico.
We were headed to the annual Christmas Eve shifters run, which was, for me at least, one of the highlights of the holiday season in Vale Valley. All the shifters would meet in a clearing in the woods, shift into their animal, and go for a wild run through the woods, howling and shrieking and generally being free.
It was a refreshing ritual that always left me energized. The wind seemed to strip all my troubles and stresses of the past year away, leaving me ready for another year.
This year it would be even more special, because I had Nico by my side. Truth be told, I was worried about him participating due to his pregnancy, but he’d reassured me a hundred times that he was fine.
He’d gone to his first doctor’s appointment the previous day, and he was declared to be in tip-top shape. It had been too early to do an ultrasound, so we’d left a teensy bit disappointed, but we were told we’d get to see the baby next time.
“I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again that I’m fine. I’ve been looking forward to this since I’d first heard about it, and I’m not letting anything stop me. I mean, if the doctor had said to skip it, then I obviously would have done as told, but I’m fine. We’ll have fun, so stop worrying!”
He looked up at me with those big eyes as we walked through the woods.
“All right.” I sighed. “Just promise me you’ll stop if anything feels off. Okay?”
He squeezed my hand. “I promise.”
“Afterwards, we’ll go straight home to spend some time with your parents if they’re still up, okay?”
Nico nodded with a sparkle in his eye.
His parents had arrived earlier in the day and had proceeded to take a quick nap. They’d woken up right before we left so they could watch Lupo while we were gone. Nico had assured them that since he was sleeping, they could stay in bed too, but they’d insisted they couldn’t sleep a wink longer.
We arrived at the clearing. It was an unwritten rule that no one would shift until the mayor had spoken to the crowd. Chance Knight was an awesome mayor, and would probably work the shifters into a frenzy by the time he was done. I looked around and didn’t see him yet, but I did catch glimpses of friends and some other familiar faces.
Ren was there, proudly displaying his ugly Christmas sweater, with his coat over his shoulder. I chuckled. He’d rather freeze than hide his Christmas spirit. His mate, Max, stood beside him, holding his hand. I spotted Tuck the elf on the other side of the crowd and nudged Nico.
“Let’s go say hi and thank him for the rocking horse.”
“Yeah. That was so sweet of him.”
I grabbed Nico’s hand and was about to head off in Tuck’s direction, but he’d disappeared from sight.
When word got out about Lupo and his predicament, Tuck had dropped by and brought a rocking horse for Lupo, whose eyes had nearly popped out of his head when he saw it. Luckily, he was able to sit on it without hurting his injured leg, as long as one of us helped him get on it, and he’s been happily riding it ever since.
A loud commotion broke out close to where I’d last seen Tuck, and as I continued looking in that direction, I thought I caught sight of two wolves battling it out. What the hell? Who would cause trouble at a community event like this? I was tempted to go over and watch, but I didn’t want to stress Nico out or risk him getting hurt. I knew, from experience, that when two alpha wolves were at it, bystanders were liable to get a stray swipe now and then.
I looked out over the crowd, hoping to distract Nico with something else. “Look, he’s here!” We moved closer so we could hear the mayor’s speech.
The shifters listened with rapt attention as he said a few words about the past year in Vale Valley and the holiday spirit. His speech was punctuated with hollers and cheers from the crowd, which he good-naturedly shushed if they were protracted.
Once he gave his blessing for the festivities to begin, a strange energy filled the air. Everyone got buck naked, with some shoving their clothes into backpacks, others leaving them neatly folded on the ground, and others leaving them in crumpled messes.
Howls and groans and yelps filled the air as everyone shifted into their animal forms. I watched in amazement as Nico transformed into a magnificent forest cat, his long and fluffy tail standing tall and proud above his body.
He meowed at me as soon as I shifted, and I snarled at him jokingly. My little kitty. He was as cute as could be.
With a piercing howl, Chance set off at the head of the crowd, and soon enough, the whole lot of us were thundering through the forest, jumping over fallen branches, and generally being our animal selves. I slowed down a bit so as not to pressure Nico to keep up, but he surprised me by whizzing ahead of me. What a feisty feline!
Chance led us through the forest and eventually, we returned to where we’d started. There were shifters of every type and size—wolves, cats, a couple of raccoons, a tiny Chipmunk, a few bears, and even some dragons. This place was fucking awesome. I’d never been prouder to be a shifter. My wolf howled and I flexed my hind leg muscles as I prepared to shift back.
I glanced at Nico beside me, hoping he’d wait for me to shift before shifting back to his human. I wanted to help him into his clothes as soon as possible after his shift. He meowed and rubbed his neck against my shoulder. What a sweetheart. I nuzzled him with my nose and stepped back, signaling with a flare of my nostrils that I was about to shift.
He watched, his little cat head titled to the side, as I shifted back to human. I quickly grabbed my clothes from my backpack and dressed up.
“Go ahead, honey, I’ve got your clothes, too,” I said to him encouragingly. I knew he’d had troubles with shifting in the past, and I wanted him to be as confident as possible.
His shift was seamless, if a little on the slow side. When he was back to human, I practically ambushed him with his clothes, dressing him from head to toe.
We said bye to a couple of friends who were still hanging around, and took off toward Nico’s house.
When we arrived at Nico’s place, his parents Anais and Gerard were having a glass of wine in the living room, watching an old episode of “Murder, She Wrote”.
“Hello, Will! Nico, dear, was everything fine?” Anais looked Nico up and down, her eyes brimming with concern.
I could tell she was a sweet mom, constantly worried about her only son. She stood and gave us both a double kiss on the cheeks, which I guessed was a French habit. Although it felt odd, I reciprocated. Her dad luckily settled for a firm handshake.
“Yes, Mom, everything was fine. How come you’re still up? Aren’t you ti
red? Can I get you something?”
“Don’t worry about us, we’ve already helped ourselves,” his dad said, gesturing to the coffee table, adorned with a fruit bowl, a cheese plate, a bottle of wine and a couple of small side plates.
His mom sat us down. “We can’t seem to sleep. Maybe it’s the time difference. Back home, we’re usually up by now. We also had a good nap on the plane.” She shrugged.
“And Lupo? Has he slept all right?” Nico ran a hand through his hair.
“Yes, he’s been sleeping. Hasn’t been up at all, don’t worry,” his mom said.
“That’s good. I feel horrible that we’ve been out of the house so much, always leaving him with Will’s mom, and now, with you. But I guess that’s the holidays for you.”
“We don’t mind at all. He’s practically a part of the family, right? And besides, that’s what we’re here for. To help you. How’s the baby? How are you feeling these days?” his mom asked.
“I assume he or she is fine, Mom. I’ve been nauseous from time to time, but Will here is doing a great job taking care of me. It seems to get better after I eat, so he’s been making grocery runs night and day to satisfy my cravings.”
Nico squeezed my hand.
His dad spoke up. “Okay, good. Will, you’re welcome in the family. I’m glad our kitten Nico has found his mate. But I swear, if you ever hurt Nico...” He trailed off with a smile, wagging his finger.
Nico chuckled nervously. “Papa, Will would never hurt me.”
“No matter! He’s been warned.” He winked at me and let out a bellicose laugh.
Anais shushed him. “You’ll wake up Lupo, mon cheri. Keep it down, please.”
“That’s all right, Anais. I understand what he means. I’d feel the same way if it was my son or daughter finding their mate. It’s all good,” I said.
We had a laugh, and then Nico stretched and yawned.
“I think it’s time for me to get some sleep. It’s been a long night.”
“Yes, sweetheart, you should go sleep. The baby needs you to be well-rested, you know,” his mom lectured.
