Contents
Title
Copyright
Contacts
Logan
Marlie
Logan
Marlie
Logan
Marlie
Logan
Marlie
Marlie
Marlie
Logan
Marlie
Logan
Marlie
Logan
Marlie
About the Author
Miracle on Shifter Street
A Holiday Romance
Vale Valley Season Four Book Six
by
Braylon Black
Copyright © 2019 by Braylon Black.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without express written permission by the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Miracle on Shifter Street contains sexually explicit content that may be offensive to some readers. You must be 18+ to read this book.
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Logan
“Here comes Santa Claus…”
I gritted my teeth, trying to stave off my impending headache. The saccharine jingle of the overplayed Christmas hit no longer brought me joy or filled me with the Christmas spirit. It just grated on my nerves.
I flipped to a different station.
“And what do you want for Christmas, little Timmy?”
“I want a motorcycle! And an iPad! And a trampoline! And a VR set! And an Xbox!”
I rolled my eyes. Brat. I can’t listen to this.
I flipped to the news.
“Another mass shooting has erupted, claiming the lives of…”
Nope! I turned off the radio entirely.
That’s when I knew for sure. The realization sank deep into my bones, and it suddenly felt like the most obvious thing in the world. Christmas was total bullshit.
I pressed on the gas pedal, eager to escape from this part of the country as fast as I could. I was headed out of the frigid cold and the miserable snow towards the hot, sunny Florida Keys, where I could lay on the beach, sip my margarita, close my eyes and pretend it was July.
I didn’t always feel this way. I used to be totally obsessed with Christmas and everything about it. The music, the lights, the scents, the food. The holidays stressed most people out, but not me. I was in my element. I loved decorating the tree, hanging lights, shopping for presents, wrapping gifts, throwing parties, playing secret Santa.
But after the shitty month I’d had… I just couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm.
First I’d been “let go” from the very company that I’d started myself—forced out by my two business partners and supposed “friends” because they didn’t share my vision for the company’s future.
So, unemployed? Check.
Then I discovered my beloved fiance Toby had been cheating on me. Not through the grapevine, nor by snooping on his phone. I walked right in on him getting plowed by his boss… in our bed.
Broken-hearted and single? Check.
So you can’t exactly blame me for not feeling the Christmas spirit this year. Santa had already filled my stocking with coal, and I’d received the message loud and clear.
I looked at my surroundings. I was on some lonesome country road, the deep white snow glistening brightly in the morning sunshine. I had no clue where I was. Leave it to me to get lost even when the route to Florida was supposed to be straightforward. I wasn’t even sure when I’d left the interstate. I must’ve taken an exit by accident while I was lost in thought.
I turned a bend in the road and a picturesque town appeared in the distance, nestled in a valley. From here I could see quaint little cottages, church spires, and smoke curling out of chimneys. It looked unreal, like an imaginary town painted on a Christmas postcard.
My grumpy mood lifted and disappeared like a fart in the wind. Intrigued, I drove on, and soon passed a wooden sign that said “Welcome to Vale Valley”.
Vale Valley? Never heard of it.
Minutes later I was inching along Main Street in what must’ve been the town center. It was busy and bustling, the sidewalks full of smiling townspeople. Children laughed and skipped; adults chatted amongst each other, sipping steaming lattes from to-go cups. I passed a large gazebo and an area set up with a bunch of red tents; it must’ve been some kind of market. An older man stood on a step ladder, hanging up one side of a red and silver banner that read “Happy Holidays!”
I felt like I’d been transported into a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie.
Despite the fact I loathed Christmas now, this cheerful scene didn’t annoy me in the slightest. Instead it actually seemed to lift my spirits, and I couldn’t help but smile.
The scent of some delicious baked good hit my nose and my stomach growled in response.
I hadn’t eaten much over the past few days, given all my emotional turmoil. Only now did I realize just how ravenously hungry I really was. When I passed the sign “Sweet Bites”, I knew I’d found the perfect spot.
I carefully parallel parked on the opposite side of the street. When I stepped out of the car, I inhaled a deep, invigorating breath of Vale Valley winter air. It felt so fresh and clean, and smelled like Christmas sugar cookies straight out of the oven.
Fuck Christmas, I reminded myself. Yes. I hate Christmas. So much.
Across the street, just outside the entrance to Sweet Bites, I was drawn to the sight of a particular omega. I flinched, startled, when I realized he was staring right at me with his big baby blue eyes. He was small and petite, with platinum blond hair and strikingly handsome features. He wore a light gray winter jacket and had a red scarf wrapped around his neck, though he’d left his head and ears uncovered. His nose and the tips of his ears were red from the cold, and it made him look as cute as a button. Something stirred inside me at the sight of him.
He grinned and waved exuberantly as if he knew me. Confused, I looked behind me to see if he was waving at someone else, but there was no one there. I pointed to my chest and mouthed “me?” in disbelief. He nodded with a laugh.
What on earth did he want from me, a total stranger? Was he trying to sell me something?
It didn’t matter, I decided. I’d see what he wanted anyway.
I felt inexplicably drawn to this sweet little creature, so I walked a little ways down the road to the crosswalk, keeping my eyes on him the entire time. He made a little pose like he was a model in a catalog, jutting his hip out to one side and casting me a flirty grin. He wagged his blond eyebrows up and down suggestively, and then he took something out of his pocket and began tossing it up and down.
He threw it high into the air, spun a full rotation, and caught it. Then he did a little dance, something not unlike the Charleston, before tossing it up, spinning around again, kicking one leg out, and catching it. I just stood and watched, baffled. I couldn’t help but laugh. For the moment at least, this weird dude had made me forget about all the shitty things going on in my life. He was like a healing balm… and I wanted more.
He kept going, tossing it even higher this time, then did a quick little dance as gravity brought the item back down. But this time, instead of catching it, it bounced off his hands. It flew through the air in a high arc and landed in the middle of the street.
The omega’s jovial demeanor turned to panic in an instant. His eyes bulged and he screamed “Shit!” before he bolted directly into the street, without bothering to check
for traffic in either direction.
My adrenaline spiked as I caught sight of a big hulking pickup truck barreling down the street way over the speed limit. My protective instincts kicked into high gear. I bolted out into the street and slammed into the omega, tackling him backwards like I was a defensive lineman a split second before the truck zoomed by.
“Ow!” he cried, wriggling underneath me.
“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” I asked breathlessly. “That truck almost hit you head-on! What were you thinking?”
His baby blue eyes met mine, and his gaze lingered. I became acutely aware all of a sudden that an incredibly attractive omega was pinned underneath my body, and all of his parts were touching mine.
I cleared my throat and pushed myself up. I took his hand and pulled him to his feet.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he huffed, blushing. “You’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking. Sorry, it’s just that my rabbit’s foot—”
He caught sight of something behind me and gasped.
“NO!” he screamed, pushing past me and rushing out into the street once again.
I looked over my shoulder to see some kind of winged animal swooping down into the street. It grabbed the item—a rabbit’s foot, apparently—in its claws and flew off, flying just out of the omega’s reach as he caught up. Meanwhile, another car approached, but this time the driver wasn’t speeding and was able to hit the breaks just in time. The driver honked loudly and screamed expletives.
I grabbed the omega’s arm and yanked him out of traffic, but he fought against me.
“No! My rabbit’s foot!” he cried. He turned to me with bulging eyes full of panic. “Quick! Do you have a gun on you?!”
“W-what?” I stammered. “A gun? No!”
“Argh!” the omega huffed. He turned and watched as the bird flew away, past the treeline and out of sight. “We could’ve shot the damned thing!”
“Shot it?” I furrowed my brows. It dawned on me what I’d been looking at. It was an owl, of all things. Weren’t owls nocturnal? What the hell was an owl doing flying around a busy city street in the middle of the daytime?
Damn, this place was weird. Where the hell was I, anyway?
“The son of a bitch stole my lucky rabbit’s foot!” the omega screeched, putting his hands to his head and yanking at his hair.
“You’re calling an owl a son of a bitch?” I asked, amused by his outburst.
“It’s not funny,” he pouted, jutting out his plump bottom lip.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, staring off into the empty sky. “That really sucks. Maybe you shouldn’t have been tossing it up and down like that if you didn’t want to lose it.”
His eyes narrowed. “I was just trying to impress you.”
“Impress me? Why?” I chuckled.
The omega seemed taken aback by my question. His face flushed an even deeper shade of red. “Well, um, I… I don’t know.”
I furrowed my brows in confusion. “Do I know you?”
He shrugged. “No. I’ve never seen you before in my life. Who even are you, by the way? Actually, I don’t care.” He held out his red gloved hand. “It’s nice to meet you and all, but I gotta go. Thanks for saving me from that truck. Speeding bastard. But I gotta go get my rabbit’s foot back at all costs. Otherwise I am fucked.”
I blinked, utterly confused.
He withdrew his hand before I had a chance to shake it, and for the third time, raced right into the street without bothering to check for traffic. He veered to avoid the bumper of an incoming car and managed to make it to the other side without injury as angry honking rang through the air. Damn, this guy was gonna get himself killed if he didn’t start being more careful.
The enticing scent of the food at Sweet Bites filled my nose and my stomach grumbled loudly in protest. I turned and gazed longingly through the windows of the restaurant. It was full of smiling, laughing patrons stuffing their faces. But... no. I couldn’t.
I turned back and watched as the omega hopped down an adjacent street, vaguely in the direction the owl had flown. The omega was almost out of my sight already.
I couldn’t let him go. I had to find out what his deal was.
So I reluctantly pulled myself from the magnetic draw of Sweet Bites and set off at a clip behind him. A car slammed on its breaks in the street and honked at me angrily.
Oops. I gave them a conciliatory wave before rushing off.
Damn, that omega’s lack of common sense was rubbing off on me already.
I hoped I wouldn’t regret this. Either way, I had a feeling my day was about to get a whole lot more interesting.
Marlie
I rushed down the sidewalk in a panic, my heart hammering hard in my chest as I zigzagged around the crowds of people doing their Christmas shopping. What the hell was I thinking? I never should’ve put my rabbit’s foot at risk like that! Normally I kept it zipped up tight in my jacket’s inner pocket. I rarely even took it out to touch it unless I was feeling particularly nervous, in the hopes that would impart some of its luck on me in precarious situations.
But this situation was the most precarious of all… and now my rabbit’s foot was gone.
And it was all because of that stupid sexy alpha.
I’d never seen him before in my life. He looked rather out of his element here, so I figured he must be a newcomer to this town. I could tell just by the baffled look on his face, the look that everyone gets the first time they arrive to Vale Valley. The look that says, “Is this real life?”
It was his chiseled jawline that had done me in, along with his vivid green eyes, stylishly disheveled chestnut brown hair, tall stature, athletic frame, and… literally everything else about him. He looked like a movie star or a professional sports athlete.
Oh, and he smelled good, too. Rugged yet sophisticated, and oh, so manly. I thought I picked up on hints of juniper and citrus wafting from his pores. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to bury my nose in his neck and inhale all of him…
Whatever, it didn’t matter. This wasn’t the time or place to be thirsting over some random stranger. I needed to get my rabbit’s foot back, stat!
Sometimes in my more pessimistic moments, I wondered whether the rabbit’s foot actually did anything. Was it truly lucky like my grandma always insisted, or was it just more unproven nonsense from the dubious bunny shifter mythos?
But now I knew it had to be true... because the very instant it slipped out of my hands, I’d been struck with the worst luck of all—losing it entirely!
An owl? Seriously? What the fuck? Where the hell did that thing come from, and what did it want with my goddamned rabbit’s foot?!
I pressed on without a clue where I should even go to get it back. Probably the woods. Yes, of course. Owls lived in the woods, right? The park was only a couple blocks from here, so I figured I’d start there—
“Eek!” I screeched. The momentum of my scrambling legs carried me right into the path of a white-aproned man carrying a three-tiered white cake. I tried to skid to a stop on the sidewalk, but I was too late. I barreled into him, knocking the cake right into the man’s face. We both crashed to the ground in a big mess of limbs and frosting.
“Oh shit!” I cried.
“What the hell?!” the man roared, his entire face covered in white frosting and yellow cake bits.
“I’m so sorry!”
A strong hand grabbed my arm from behind and yanked me up to my feet and out of the way. I glanced over to see that same sexy alpha standing next to me with a horrified look on his face. He quickly knelt down to help the poor baker get up.
“I’m really, really sorry,” I repeated.
The man swiped one hand across his face, trying to clear the cake from his eye sockets so he could see. “I just spent the last three hours baking this cake! I’m supposed to deliver it to a wedding! Now what the hell am I gonna do?”
“Oh, geez,” I whimpered, my heart seizing in my chest. “God, I’m so sorry. I did
n’t meant to. I just didn’t see you there—”
“How could you have not seen me?” The man barked. “What the hell were you doing racing down the street like a bat out of hell, anyway?”
“We are very sorry, sir,” the sexy alpha said as he pulled out his wallet. “We’ll compensate you for the cake.”
We?
“How much?” the alpha asked.
“Money won’t help!” the man said. “The wedding reception’s at 5pm today! I’m gonna have to bust my ass to finish another one on time.” But the man’s eyes caught sight of the green wad of cash in the alpha’s pocket, and he backtracked. “Well, on second thought. I guess, uh...”
“One hundred?” the alpha offered. “Two?”
“Four,” the man narrowed his eyes. “Fifty.”
The alpha handed over the cash without flinching. “Once again, we’re very sorry, sir.”
The man just harrumphed.
“Can we help you clean up this—”
“Nope!” I interrupted the alpha, taking his hand in mine. “I’m sorry, but we gotta go.”
I dragged him away from the scene of the cake murder at a jog. “I feel bad, but there’s no time to help him. I gotta find my rabbit’s foot. It’s a life or death situation.”
The alpha sighed. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Oh, right. Thanks! That was really awesome of you. Gosh, how much money are you carrying around with you, anyway? You’re lucky there isn’t much crime here in Vale Valley. I’ve heard of the occasional pickpocket or two, but I’ve personally never experienced that. Of course, I’m not a walking ATM, so I doubt the thieves would be interested in me in the first place.”
The alpha stared at me as he jogged along at my side. “I’m not a walking ATM! I just prefer to use cash instead of card. What is this place, anyway? I’ve never heard of this town. It just appeared out of nowhere.”
“It did?” I asked. “Oh, you must be in need of a home and a mate.”
The alpha slowed to a stop. I raced ahead before stopping to look back at him.
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