by Zoe Chant
And Caine let go of every mental control he had spent the last twelve months constructing.
The hellhound ripped out of him. Muscled legs. Razor-sharp claws. Teeth that dripped smoke and eyes like gateways to Hell itself.
It was a monstrous, terrifying beast. And it wasn’t going to let anyone hurt the woman he loved.
Caine twisted in the air, leaping between Meaghan and the car. He curled around her as she hit his side, trying to cushion her landing as much as possible.
The oof of breath she let out as she hit him hurt. The hellhound shivered.
Is she safe? Is she injured?
Meaghan stood up slowly, swearing under her breath.
She’s fine, Caine reassured his trembling hellhound.
Meaghan’s eyes widened as she looked at him.
“Caine?” she breathed. “This is incredible. You’re so—so…”
Caine knew what she was seeing. A huge, rangy, wolf-like creature that looked like something from a nightmare. He held his breath with his hellhound.
She reached out and gently touched his muzzle. A bright sort of shiver went through her, traveling through her hand into Caine’s body and lodging in the golden sun in his heart. His veins sang with wonder.
“If I’d seen you like this three days ago, I never would have thought you were a monster,” she said, and hugged him around his massive neck. “I’ve wasted so much time being so stupid and sad.”
Her tangled emotions surged through the connection between them. Caine’s hellhound whined and tried to nuzzle her, and he reached out along the connection and found another well of golden sun at the end of it. Meaghan’s heart. He sent all his love down it, and his regret at letting her stay in pain so long. And his promise that it would never happen again.
She gasped. “That was like when we kissed. What is it?”
Caine’s hellhound grumbled something and she laughed. “I don’t know why I’m asking questions. It’s not like you can answer me like this.”
We can’t speak telepathically? All my migraines—but that was when I hated my hellhound. If I wasn’t so focused on locking away everything about it…
No sooner had he thought the words than something released in Caine’s mind. A moment later, a voice blasted into his mind.
*What's happening down there?*
Caine’s hellhound yelped. That was Jasper’s voice—Jasper's dragon, calling into his mind like fireworks. And he could hear him. And it didn’t hurt.
Could he call back?
“Maybe you can’t talk to me, but I bet you can hear me,” Meaghan said. She put her hands either side of his hellhound’s massive head. Her expression was so fierce and determined it made Caine’s heart sing along with his hellhound’s. “We have to stop the other hellhounds. Are you with me?”
Caine and his hellhound took a deep breath. Pine Valley was under attack. All hell was breaking loose.
And his mate needed him. Caine barked his agreement and shouted silently:
*What’s happening? We're going to save Christmas.*
Could Jasper hear him? Could Meaghan? It didn't matter. She grinned at him, and her faith in him—in him not being a monster—burst into his heart like the first sunrise at midwinter.
The hellhounds had run ahead. He could hear them baying and howling as they turned their attention from the dogs to the people lining the streets for the Santa parade.
He knelt so Meaghan could climb on his back, and they ran to the town center.
The square was in chaos. Lights and Christmas displays had been dragged down. Windows were smashed. People were screaming. And the hellhounds...
The hellhounds were in chaos, too. Caine sniffed the air.
His senses were sharper in this form. Not just the usual ones, but something else, as well. It was as though he could smell, or hear, or see or feel, power.
This new power-sense told him the hellhounds were following orders, but the orders were wild and undirected, and wrong. The hellhounds were obeying a command so strong that it vibrated through the air, but it wasn’t the right command.
Caine’s hellhound growled uneasily. I know, he told it. Something isn’t right here. We need to stop them. And stop whoever’s telling them to do this.
*Caine?* Jasper’s voice lit up his mind again. *There’s not enough room for me to land down there. I’ll find somewhere to shift. Can you handle things until backup arrives?*
*I’ll do my best,* Caine called back.
Meaghan sat astride his shoulders, gripping his mane-like hair like she was holding reins.
“There!” she yelled. “By the eggnog truck!”
The food truck Caine had seen his first evening with Meaghan was open for the parade. One of the hellhounds was stalking toward it.
Caine leapt in front of it.
Villain! his hellhound growled, snapping its teeth.
The hellhound hesitated, one paw off the ground. *Who are you? Why do you smell so familiar?*
*Why are you attacking innocent people?* Caine sniffed the air. The hellhound was smaller than him, and so thin its ribs showed. Caine’s new sixth sense showed him the strange power of command wrapped around him like chains. His hellhound snarled. *Who’s making you do this?*
The hellhound snapped back. *Who else? The alpha! Can’t you hear him?*
Caine frowned and strained his senses. The hellhound leapt for his throat.
Caine’s hellhound’s reflexes saved him. It darted to the side, smacking the other shifter to the ground with one heavy paw. The hellhound grunted and staggered to its feet.
The command that wrapped around the hellhound was so strong it made Caine’s teeth ache. It whimpered and crept forward, fangs bared.
It doesn’t want to do this, Caine realized. This “alpha” is forcing them to fight for it.
Want or not, the hellhound was obeying. Its muscles bunched to leap at him again.
“Down!” Meaghan’s voice rang like a bell. “Stay there! Bad dog!”
The hellhound flattened itself against the ground, whimpering. Caine twisted his head to stare at Meaghan in amazement.
The light from his fiery eyes danced on her skin as she shrugged, biting her lower lip.
“I thought—well, you seem to do what you’re told when I’m the one doing the telling...”
Caine and his hellhound huffed in simultaneous displeasure, and then Caine laughed silently. His hellhound didn’t want Meaghan giving orders to anyone but him.
They took down the other two hellhounds in quick succession. Meaghan didn’t even need to order the third one down; one look at Caine and it slunk away with its ears down.
The vibration of command in the air changed. The alpha was losing control. The power it wielded like a chain around the other hellhound’s necks was weakening.
And it was angry.
Which means it’s time to take the fight to him.
*Get the humans out of here,* he called to anyone who was listening. Across the square, Hannah was already ushering people into her restaurant. Caine stared up into the sky. It was full of stars—but no dragons.
Meaghan leaned forward and whispered in Caine’s ear: “Let’s finish this before anyone gets hurt.”
The alpha. Caine’s new sense was blazing. That vibration of command, the thrum of power and hierarchy... it all led back to one point. One leash.
Caine swung his head around, searching the crowds for the face he knew had to be there. It all made sense now.
*Figured it out, have you?*
Caine went completely still.
Angus was seated at the same table he and Meaghan had eaten at, overlooking the square, the Heartwell Christmas Forest... and all the destruction he’d brought down on the town.
Caine's hellhound bared its teeth. *You.*
"Mr. Parker?” Caine could feel Meaghan standing to peer over his head. “The investor?”
Questions Caine had given up even finding an answer to slotted into place.
Like why he’d been attacked last year in the first place.
His stomach curdled. Angus was the one who put him onto the property development case in the first place. He'd bet him he couldn’t crack the scam.
*It was you all along.* Caine walked across the square. Every step seemed to take all the energy he had. *Were you behind that first scam, too, or did you just see what I discovered and see a chance to use your shifter powers to make some money?* He bared his teeth. *Our business was meant to help people, not find new ways to hurt them!*
*The private investigator racket?* Angus’ telepathic laughter sent shivers down Caine’s spine. *There’s a limit to the amount of money I could blackmail out of our clients without you noticing. Whereas this…*
He spread his arms.
*Do you know how many small towns like this there are across America, just waiting to be scooped up? The shifters here were stupid. Too afraid of revealing their true selves to defend their own town. They don’t understand just how hard humans will try to ignore the evidence of their own eyes. Tomorrow, no one here will want to admit to anyone that they thought they saw ghostly hounds attack the town. They’ll just tell themselves they imagined it, and go home, and worry about how they’re going to afford to fix all the damage.*
*I won’t let you do this.* Caine was beneath the balcony now. He squared off against his old friend as Angus lounged on the balcony rail, smiling easily. *Come down here and let’s talk. If you’re doing this because of money troubles again, we can sort something out—*
*Money troubles? The only money trouble I have is other people having what I deserve!* Angus’ smile dropped off his face and then returned, narrow and sly. *You don’t remember, do you?*
*Remember what?*
Meaghan leaned over his shoulder. “Caine, what’s going on?” she whispered in his ear.
Angus’ sly grin widened, and Caine’s feeling of unease grew. Something is very wrong here. What don’t I remember?
*You want to stop me, Boy Scout? Go on. Try.*
*I don’t want to hurt you, Angus.*
*Oh, big surprise there. You always were too soft.*
But he’s the one behind all of this, Caine thought. He might have been my friend, once, but now he’s hurting people.
The balcony behind Angus was empty now. He was the only person on the Grill’s rooftop.
Caine bunched his muscles and leapt.
“Stop!” Angus barked out loud. Caine’s muscles spasmed. He collapsed to the ground.
And Angus’ command wove chains around him.
Angus spread his hands on the railing, staring down at him with utter contempt. “You did forget, didn’t you?” he remarked, raising one eyebrow. “I’m the one who made you like this, Caine. I knew you’d cracked the case, and I needed to make sure you weren’t going to take it to the authorities.”
Meaghan gasped. Caine’s claws scrabbled on the icy cobblestones.
The chase. That first hunt. That was him.
No wonder he looked so shocked when he found me in the office the next morning.
Caine’s horror must have flooded out through his telepathic abilities. Meaghan clenched her hands in his fur. “What’s wrong?” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Caine, can you hear me?”
“He can hear you, whoever you are,” Angus drawled. “He’s just a bit busy remembering who he really is.”
*You bit me and you left me for dead.* Caine’s telepathic voice shook *That’s why my hellhound attacked you the next morning.*
“You remember how that ended up, Boy Scout?”
The hunt. There were two hunts, after all. When he attacked me—and when I attacked him.
*This time’s going to be different.*
“You really think that? This isn’t a contract job, Boy Scout. It’s for life. Sure, I’ve been a generous boss and let you out on sabbatical for a year, but it’s time you came back into the fold. I made you. You’re part of my pack. Now heel.”
The command tugged at Caine’s bones. He lowered his head, snarling.
*No!*
Angus’ face twisted. “Get to work!”
Spread fear. Spread terror. Be the shadow at the corner of their eye, the noise in the night. Make them afraid to leave their houses.
“Leave him alone!”
Caine twisted his head around. Meaghan was standing on his back, glaring up at Angus.
“I don’t know who the hell you think you are, asshole, but if you think Caine’s going to do anything you say—”
“He doesn’t have a choice.” Angus’ eyes narrowed. “I know you, don’t I? That twisted, scared little mind. You should have left when I told you to.”
*Order me to fight him,* Caine begged silently, hoping against hope that Meaghan could hear him. He focused all his energy on the burning golden sun inside him, and the connection to the light in Meaghan’s heart. *You know I’ll do anything you command. Your command, not his.*
*Caine? Is that you?*
*Meaghan!*
Meaghan’s telepathic voice was as fierce and wonderful as her speaking voice. *I’m not going to order you to do anything,* she said firmly. She repeated it out loud, glaring at Angus.
“Hah!” Angus barked a single burst of laughter. “You’re both weak. What are you planning to do, you stupid girl, ask him nicely? He’s a hellhound. He only responds to force!”
“I don’t think that’s true.” Meaghan’s voice rang like a bell in Caine’s head and his heart.
“Have it your way. You ask him nicely, and I’ll order him… and we’ll see who his real boss is.”
*Meaghan, no!*
Angus’ alpha power pressed against his mind like a black cloud. Caine fought it off, but the alpha’s chains tightened around him, as strong and relentless as the chains he’d used to bind his own hellhound.
*Meaghan, please,* he begged, and then he felt her hand on his head, soft and gentle.
*Don’t worry, Caine. I’m not going to screw up. Not this time.* She kissed the top of his head and sat back down on his shoulders. *Now—*
Angus bared his teeth. *Attack—*
*Let’s take him down. Together.*
Meaghan’s voice washed over Caine like cool water. The chains melted away. Up on the balcony, Angus’ face twisted with rage and confusion.
He stumbled back as Caine leapt onto the balcony. Fire poured from his eyes, but Caine knocked him back and held him down with one paw.
*I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You might have won the last time we fought, but this time, I’m not alone.*
He focused on the mate-bond that ran like a golden rope between him and Meaghan, knowing that she would be able to hear him.
*This time, I have my mate with me. And if she decides to stop playing nice? You’re going to have a very, very bad time.*
Caine felt the moment Angus’ hellhound yielded. The tangled web of power that forced his pack to attack innocent people dissolved, and Caine’s hellhound felt freer than it ever had before.
Free… and not dangerous. Not to Meaghan and not to anyone else. Caine knew now how wrong he’d been about it. It had never been evil—just trying to help.
“With its teeth,” Meaghan muttered, and laughed. “Better than a dead mouse, but still…”
*What?* Caine didn’t think he’d telepathed at her, but maybe their ability to communicate through the mate-bond wasn’t telepathy after all. Maybe it was something special. Something theirs.
“I’ll explain later.” Meaghan slid off his back and tossed a disdainful look at Angus.
The other hellhound shifter was lying in a bedraggled heap. He was still conscious, and the look of hatred he shot at Meaghan and Caine was almost enough to make Caine want to go another round with him.
But Angus wasn’t just on the ground. He was defeated. Caine’s hellhound smirked.
He doesn’t have power over anyone anymore, it explained to Caine. His hellhound knows who the alpha is now. The human couldn’t fight you if he t
ried.
Who the alpha is now? Caine was still puzzling over that one when Meaghan tugged his chin to make him face her.
Her face was shining. “Hello, my love.”
*Hello.* Caine’s hellhound nuzzled her and… stepped back. Your turn now, it said to Caine.
Shifting this time wasn’t painful, or terrifying. It was easy. As soon as he had arms again, Caine swept Meaghan up in them. “Guess what?”
She laughed delightedly. “What?”
“I think you just saved Christmas.”
She stared at him, eyes sparkling in the light of a hundred Christmas trees. “Wrong again, my love,” she whispered, and her shiver of happiness at calling him her love whispered down the mate-bond into his heart. “We saved Christmas. And now…” She leaned her face closer to his.
“Now?” He moved closer, until their lips were almost touching.
“Now… you need to find some pants.”
24
Meaghan
Pants were the easy part. Explaining what had just happened, to a town of freaked-out humans who had no idea that shifters existed… was also surprisingly easy.
Angus might be an asshole, but he was right about humans not wanting to believe the evidence of their own eyes. Jasper ran into the middle of the square a few minutes after Jackson had snapped the last cuffs on the defeated hellhound shifters, thanked everyone for taking part in the inaugural Heartwell Interactive Christmas Pageant—Meaghan had no idea where he dragged that up from—and everything was fine.
The hard part was going to be getting even a millisecond alone with Caine after the other shifters caught up with them. Before Meaghan knew what was happening, she was squashed in the back of Hank Heartwell’s family-sized SUV, heading up the mountains to the Heartwell Christmas Eve party.
She hadn’t let go of Caine’s hand since he had shifted back into human form. And put on some pants.
The drive up to the Heartwell Lodge seemed to go past in a flash. As they all tumbled out of the car, Opal dove in front of Meaghan and hugged her so hard Meaghan’s “Thanks for the ride” came out as a croak.
“I knew you’d sort it out!” Opal beamed at her. “Merry Christmas, both of you. Now let’s get inside and have some mulled wine to warm up.”