Valentine's Day Tigers (The Holiday Shifter Mates Book 3)

by Kestra Pingree

  To conquer death.

  Ash followed Yuri as he made his way to the trees. He shook the snow off branches to get a better look at them and eventually settled for snapping off a couple. He shredded them bit by bit, stripping protruding twigs and adjusting their height until they were virtually the same.

  “Damn,” Ash said. “I know you’re wearing gloves, but you practically did that with your bare hands. Are you some kind of lumberjack, then?”

  “Close enough. I’ve done it before.”

  “Maybe a sculptor of some sort.”

  Yuri shook his head and chuckled.

  Ash tried again. “Jack of all trades.”

  “Probably the closest you’ll get to pinning me down, sexy—and by that, I mean good luck.”

  “Give me a hint. Or maybe danger is the thing that defines you, just like music defines me.”

  “Decent assessment.”

  “Do you usually play hard to get?”

  “Uh, yeah. Usually works out the best for me.”

  Ash shook their head, but the corners of their lips upturned into the first smile Yuri had seen.

  Yuri held the almost-torches in his hands as he led the way back to the truck bed. He set the branches down and started digging underneath the tarp.

  “Help yourself. What’s mine is yours,” Ash said. Yuri might have interpreted that as a warning laced in sarcasm, but there was a teasing tone to Ash’s angelic voice. Oh, Yuri was enjoying this one. All the chicks he had fucked in the past were way too uptight. He never got to do anything beyond straight sex with them. Which was fine. He enjoyed it, but this was already proving to be far more entertaining. He and Ash could probably be friends.

  There was no need for further invitation. Ash told Yuri to help himself, so he did. He ripped up some threadbare blankets he found underneath the tarp and wrapped strips around one end of the branches. Now they looked like proper torches. It felt like they were going on some medieval campaign. Maybe they’d slay a dragon. As if those existed. But hell, who was to say they didn’t? Yuri was a tiger shifter, and most humans were ignorant of his existence. Dragons could be like chameleons, blending into everything, more hidden than any shifter or witch.

  What a thought.

  Yuri picked up the gas can and was pleased to hear liquid sloshing inside. He held it out to Ash. “Want to do the honors?”

  Ash shivered. “You’re sure nobody’s in that building, right?”

  “Trust me, when you get close to it, you’ll know. It’s an old boathouse with the roof caved in. It’s barely standing. We’re not going to hurt anybody. That’s not my thing.”

  Ash studied him for a moment, green eyes catching on moonlight, and then nodded their head. “Good to know.” Yuri focused on the sound of their heartbeat, waiting for any inconsistencies, but it was as calm as the iced-over lake. Ash wasn’t afraid. They weren’t even excited. Yuri needed to change that last part. This was about getting an adrenaline rush.

  With an easy sweep of his hand, Yuri claimed the torches and held them out over the snow. He nodded toward them, inviting Ash to drench them. It didn’t take much more than that. Ash grabbed the gas can and gingerly tipped it over, soaking the fabric-encased tips. They were careful about not being too gasoline-happy, but they didn’t hold back either.

  “You’ve got matches in the glovebox, don’t you?” Yuri asked. He was pretty sure he glimpsed a box in there earlier.

  “Yep,” Ash said.

  “Man, you have weird shit everywhere. I like it.”

  Ash snorted, but they smiled again, bigger than last time. They moved their hand over their heart and pressed down on their puffy coat. Then they gave an elaborate bow. “Thank you, kind sir.”

  God, Ash was weird. In a good way.

  “Okay, the goal,” Yuri said. “We race across the lake with these torches lit and burn down the boathouse.”

  “That’s it?” Ash asked incredulously.

  “Naked. We’re doing this naked.”

  “Not sure how sex is going to work into this. I was planning on sex, Yuri.”

  “If you’re turned on by the time we get to the boathouse and set it on fire, that’ll be my new type.”

  It would be miserably cold enough for Yuri to run naked out here in his human skin, but Ash was human. They’d freeze their perfect tits off in this weather. Yuri expected Ash to back out at this point. This was not the way to get laid, but hell if he wasn’t turned on right now. He didn’t know why he was pushing so hard, though. There was something about Ash that just kept gnawing at him. The dark depths of Ash’s eyes made him want to push more and more.

  This whole situation would have been like pulling teeth with Lance—except it wouldn’t have included any of the kinky shit of course. He could hear his brother now: “You want hypothermia after you’re finally all better?” Why, yes. Yes, he did.

  “Okay,” Ash said. “Let’s do it.”

  “Let’s do it?” Yuri echoed. He measured Ash with a hard look. They didn’t flinch, and their heartbeat was steady and calm. The haunting tone of their voice sounded in his ears as he remembered the song they sang back at Tipsy. That was the voice of someone who was lost and begging for answers. Ash would go along with anything. A wild grin overtook Yuri’s face, and the first drop of adrenaline hit his system.

  “That’s what I said,” Ash challenged. They opened the truck’s passenger door and pulled out the box of matches.

  Yuri smirked. “Did I ever pick the right one tonight.”

  After setting the matches on the end of the truck bed, Ash unzipped their coat. Yuri would have liked to stand by and watch, but that wouldn’t have been fair. This was a different kind of strip show. It wasn’t the sexiest or easiest thing to do with all those winter layers either. It would have been ideal if the boots could come off last, but it was impossible to slip off pants with those clunkers. The cold sunk into the soles of Yuri’s bare feet, and he doubled his speed, yanking off his pants and boxers at the same time. Then he looked up at Ash and got the breath knocked out of his lungs.

  Everything about Ash was sexy, starting with that crazy rainbow hair and ending all the way down to their toes sinking into the snow. Yuri only glimpsed the slight curve of their stomach before they turned around and gave him a perfect view of their backside. That ass was everything: plump, round, and firm. Yuri was so hot, he barely felt the cold now.

  Ash lit a match, and Yuri tamped down the need building inside of him as he grabbed the torches. When Ash turned to face him again, his nose was hit with a wave of sweet arousal. Ash was just as turned on as he was. They held out the match, waiting for Yuri to reciprocate with the torches, but they let their eyes wander his body at the same time. Since their flesh was showing goosebumps, Yuri didn’t let the moment last. He held the torches together, and Ash lit them up.

  Yuri was going to get laid tonight.

  The two of them exchanged looks and shouted in unison, “Go!”

  They shot off as best they could with the snow grabbing their feet each time they touched down. It took a few seconds to gain momentum, and then they were sliding on ice. Yuri was in the lead, but he was happy to adjust his pace to Ash’s; it was a subtle change Ash wouldn’t notice. The ice should have been plenty thick, but one never knew. As if to prove that point, Yuri ended up finding a thin patch. It cracked under his weight, threatening to trap him under freezing waters. But he was agile. Thanks to his tiger, the slippery surface couldn’t best him.

  With a well-placed kick, the ice shattered underneath Yuri, and he took to the air. He touched down on thick ice and slid forward, but he held himself up with ease. The fire from his torch burned strong.

  “Careful over there. You’ll lose if your flame goes out.” Ash called. They dipped forward when they hit a bit of craggy ice, but they caught themself.

  Yuri chuckled. “Back at you, Ash.”

  They pressed forward. Their torches slightly staved off the cold as they continued to burn bright, but that
aching numbness was starting to set into Yuri’s extremities. It was eating its way down to Yuri’s bones. That meant Ash was feeling it much worse. Yuri glanced back at them, but they hadn’t slowed. Their eyes were trained on that boathouse. Silent determination and buzzing adrenaline would see them through. The ice could crack underneath them at any second, but they kept pushing. Yuri’s heart hammered in his chest, and another burst of energy shot through his system. He could overcome anything.

  This was what it meant to be alive.

  Yuri looked over his shoulder again when he heard Ash’s heart beating in time with his, and just when he was starting to think that their heart might be unmovable. This was good. This kind of thrill, sharing this desire to conquer, to face danger and defeat it, was something he had only really shared with Lance because of all they had been through together growing up. Mateo had touched the surface, and Lance protested when things went “too far.” But Ash was different. They could keep up.

  Yuri dug in his feet to slide across the last little stretch of ice and hit snowy, but solid, ground first. He almost tripped, but he caught himself. His torch was alight, but it was burning down quickly. And then Ash was at his side. Their skin was smooth, absent of goosebumps, but they’d freeze as solid as a block of ice as soon as the adrenaline left their system. Ash flicked him a look, and then they both went inside of the dilapidated building and started setting the driest spaces on fire.

  Without gasoline to spark the flames, it was much harder to get a fire started here with all the cold and wet wood, but there were a few dry places that eventually accepted the flames. And those flames grew. They heated up the entire building, canceling out the ice bit by bit as the fire spread.

  Ash and Yuri dropped their torches into the burning pit as the building creaked around them, but they stayed inside. They looked up through the burning beams and out into the smoke-obscured night sky. The stars randomly peeked through like twinkling Christmas lights.

  Ash flung their arms out to either side of them, threw back their head, and started laughing. Light shone in their eyes. Maybe it could have been written off as a reflection of the fire, but Yuri knew it was more than that. Ash was alive. Really alive. This wasn’t the same Ash he had taken out, the one who had nothing to lose. Now they were feeling. Furious. Triumphant. Their lips were blue, but the cold didn’t matter.

  They were alive.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  YURI COULDN’T WAIT ANYMORE. He stepped up, grabbed Ash by the waist, and captured their lips with his. He kissed the cold away, sharing his body heat. Ash was right there with him. They groped his ass, encouraging him to keep going. Ash tasted good, sweet like honey, but their taste also burned. When their tongues touched, little explosions set off in Yuri’s mouth like those candy rocks kids adored.

  A decrepit wooden beam fell to Yuri’s right. It sizzled and then burst. Pieces flew in the air and burrowed into skin. Ash and Yuri flinched, but neither one of them stopped. They clung to each other, and soon their bodies were good and hot.

  “You better not care about condoms,” Yuri said, breathing heavily into Ash’s mouth, “because I don’t have any. Left them in the truck.”

  “I’m surprised you even thought about condoms,” Ash said. “I thought it was a good night to make ‘bad decisions.’ Also, I doubt you’ve had sex with many if these are your baseline requirements.”

  That made Yuri laugh. “You’re the first I’ve ever done this with, Ash. That’s not the reason why I haven’t had more sex, though. Not that it matters.”

  Another beam fell and more bits of burning, broken wood flung into the air. It was hot and punishing. Ash whimpered, but Yuri devoured their mouth as the fire burned brighter. Ash made delicious sounds, even as he swallowed them whole, and he couldn’t get enough. He was hard as hard and wanted to take them now, but they’d burn up if they stayed in here too much longer.

  He unlocked their lips and guided Ash out of the burning boathouse. The snow outside was melting. They went a “safe” distance away, where the snow stayed cold. It soothed and clawed at Yuri’s burns at the same time. He embraced it and pinned Ash to the ground. Ash arched their back in reaction to the snow nipping at their backside, bumping their body into his. They grabbed the back of his neck, fingers pressing like daggers into his skin.

  “Let’s do it,” Ash said.

  “Gladly,” Yuri replied.

  He was about to dive back in, but Ash grabbed his right bicep and squeezed. He paused. Ash was fixated on one of his tattoos. It was the one on his right shoulder, a Siberian tiger’s face. He shared this one with his brother. Everything was the same except for the colors. Yuri’s was orange with sunburst eyes like his tiger, while Lance’s was white with ice-blue eyes for the same reason.

  “What?” Yuri asked. “Please tell me you aren’t done.”

  “I swear I’ve seen this tattoo before,” Ash said. The look in their eyes made it seem like they were a million miles away all of a sudden. But then their eyes caught fire again, and they pulled Yuri on top of them. “How are you so warm?”

  Yuri’s answer was to kiss Ash silent. They were like two animals fighting, biting, and clawing. He had Ash pinned pretty well, but they managed to get their hands in between them and raked their nails down his abdomen. Then they grabbed his thick length, running their hands down to the sensitive head and stealing his breath away. Yuri grabbed Ash’s thigh and continued to move his hand slowly until he cupped their sex. Ash’s skin burned red as they puffed out breaths of hot air into the cold. Yuri coated his fingers with their slick heat and then pushed two inside of them. He wasted no time pumping fast and hard. They were a tangle of limbs until Ash lost all of their strength as he made them come violently. They let out a mangled scream. And then their strength was back. Ash yanked down on the back of Yuri’s neck, pancaking their bodies, and then they rolled over. Ash was on top now.

  Ash held themself up with their knees to either side of Yuri. “Get up,” they said, and Yuri was happy to oblige.

  Yuri grunted as Ash squeezed his balls, forceful, and yet gentle enough not to hurt. Then Ash sunk down, positioning themself between his legs, and swallowed him whole and all the way down their throat with that one motion. Yuri nearly died. The constriction Ash managed was perfect. Yuri had to grab their short hair and use every bit of strength he had not to pull it out as he trembled. Ash took him in and out quickly. No one had ever given him a blowjob like this.

  Just when Yuri was sure Ash would swallow him whole again, and he would blow, Ash grabbed his hips. He was so unsteady, it was enough to make him fall to his back. Snow sunk into his skin and burned like salt in a wound, but he quickly forgot about that. Ash grabbed his dick and sat down on his hips. Yuri pierced Ash as they sunk lower and lower, and then Ash rode him with a ferocity he had never experienced. He set up as far as he could, supporting himself with an arm and gripping Ash with the other. He screamed when Ash came crashing down around him, and the tension in his body crested. Wave after wave he came, and Ash moved. Yuri rocked his hips up in time to meet them until they were totally spent. His hot cum leaked down and out, coating them both as it cooled hard and sticky. They stayed connected like that while they caught their breath.

  The boathouse had been reduced to a smoldering mass. Smoke was dense overhead, but an aurora was showing face, a bright green band of moving lights in the night. It bathed Ash’s skin in a color that didn’t belong to this world. It fit the wild colors of their hair. Hell, they were sexy, leaning into him with every shuddering breath they took. Yuri wanted to go another round, but a high-pitched wail echoed in the distance.

  Sirens.

  “Ah, fuck,” he said. “That’s our cue.”

  Ash winced as they struggled to their feet. Their legs were shaky, and Yuri understood. He wasn’t feeling much steadier at the moment. Also, he was getting hard again. He would have been down to run several more rounds with Ash like this because this was good sex.

  “Time to go
.” Yuri held out his hand. Ash took it with their shaking hand, and Yuri pulled them close. He swept them off their feet and carried them in his arms as he made his way back across the lake with a grace and poise only a big cat shifter like himself could have. Ash was too blissed out to notice the difference and settled for clinging to him, trusting him to get them to safety. Ash’s body temperature was about to reach frostbite-cold, but Yuri got them back to the truck before it could become anything serious.

  He searched through Ash’s clothes for the keys and started the engine. Then he turned on the heat and wrapped Ash in a blanket they kept in the backseat. They had a pillow back there too. Yuri wondered how many nights Ash had spent alone in this old truck.

  The sirens were getting louder, so Yuri forced on his pants and took the driver’s seat. Red and blue lights pierced the night as Yuri backed up and then continued off-road into the trees. Ash pulled the blanket closer around them and didn’t say a word. They simply watched, and Yuri let the silence stay. It didn’t feel awkward or stiff. A residual high made the moment full.

  When Yuri was satisfied they had gotten far enough away, he parked the truck near black and white spruces. They were far from the road, and no one would think to look for them in here. The police would probably never find their tracks since they were clear on the other side of the lake from the boathouse—and ice didn’t leave good tracks. They were much closer to Eurio than they were to Fairbanks now, so Yuri figured he’d run the rest of the way home in his tiger form. However, he wanted to bring back his clothes, so he looked for a spare bag Ash was almost guaranteed to have lying around somewhere in the truck.

  “I’ve never done anything like that before,” Ash said at last. “Thanks. It was… exhilarating.”

  “Sure,” Yuri replied. Ash didn’t call him out on rummaging through their things, so he kept going.