Shifters in the Snow: Bundle of Joy: Seventeen Paranormal Romances of Winter Wolves, Merry Bears, and Holiday Spirits

by J. K Harper

  “I…”

  His mouth was so hot against her neck.

  Oh, shit.

  “I…don’t think…you want to do this,” she said, and the words sounded unconvincing, even to her.

  “Be quiet, woman.”

  She closed her mouth, not just because he’d told her to, but because he was kneading her breast so possessively, and if she kept talking, she might very well yip again.

  Just be cool. Be cool.

  She nodded to herself, and licked her lips.

  Yep, I’m cool as shit, she thought, even as her diaphragm spasmed with the nervous laugh she so badly needed to let out.

  She had to at least act like she’d been touched before, beyond playground fondles and whatever that performance was that Neal Manfredi did in his SUV after one particularly memorable full moon run. She was pretty sure that had counted as sex. He’d seemed to think so, anyway, but she hadn’t felt anything. She figured that was normal, and hadn’t thought to ask anyone else, because they would have just told her to be grateful she’d gotten that much attention.

  Hot, urgent lips seared down from her collarbone to her cleavage, and he looked up at her, bright eyes gleaming with trouble.

  She craved trouble, and he could probably smell her arousal on her, anyway.

  His tongue lashed across to her nipple and her back bowed, lungs constricted.

  “Gods.”

  He pulled her nipple taut between his lips and worked his tongue beneath it, suckling and growling while he snaked one hand down the front of her jeans.

  The snap gave way, and she gasped as the tip of his long middle finger tickled the top of her mound.

  Her thighs clamped tightly together.

  “You tryin’ to keep me out? Come on, I’m just tryin’ to taste ya.”

  Gods.

  “I can’t help it,” she said on a whimper. “I’m not…used to this.”

  “What, being touched?” He wedged his hand in farther and gently petted the peak of her clit.

  She nearly launched her body away from the counter, but he’d snaked his other arm around her waist and kept her from floating away.

  He pulled her other nipple out and let it spring back in, then looked from one wet nub to the other. “Hmm?”

  “No. I don’t get touched.”

  “Why not? No men at all? No one hounding you to go home with ’em?”

  “Not really. No.”

  “Why not?” He kissed the skin over her heart—butterfly-soft flutters over tight flesh, the place where men marked their mates.

  “Because I’m omega, and I never encountered outsiders who might have wanted me. Not too many male wolves thought I was worth the trouble, either—not even for a quick screw. I guess my wolf energy doesn’t do anything for anyone. Or rather, my lack of ener—”

  He didn’t care. If he had, he wouldn’t have growled and bought his mouth down over hers and eaten her protest.

  As his tongue flitted between her lips and danced around her mouth, she suddenly couldn’t remember what she was protesting in the first place.

  Chapter 5

  Grant had to bite her. That was all he knew, and everything else was a distraction. He’d decided somewhere between the shower and walking back to the coffee pot that he needed to just go ahead and claim Angel. They weren’t human. Wolves didn’t court the same way, and there was no good reason to wait. The chemistry was there—it was a neon sign flashing at him to act fast. Leo had said that with Arnold, she just knew he was right, even if she hadn’t wanted to be with anyone so soon after running from Samuel. The part of her that was wolf recognized Arnold as her perfect mate—her balance, her unconditional lover. And Arnold? Well, his wolf had bitten her before the man part of him had a chance to have a say.

  He figured she could be his holiday gift to himself—way better than the boots he usually bought each December.

  Angel notched her fingers into his forearms and drew back, gasping. “Grant.”

  Her voice was a scold, but he ignored the tone. His mother had always said he was a bit of a rascal. Her scolds hadn’t worked on him, either.

  “Give me you.” He wanted Angel’s sweet mouth back. He liked the way she moaned when he kissed her, and how her breath went short when he tapped her clit.

  He pressed the fleshy little nub again, and her nails cut deeply into his skin.

  He laughed.

  “Grant, Pete’s awake.”

  “Come on, honey. You don’t have to tell me stories just because you don’t want to play.”

  “No, he’s awake. I can hear him. I can’t help but to. One of the few things I’m good at, I guess.”

  Sighing, Grant tipped his ear toward the back of the house. Being an alpha came with some extra sensory perks, so his hearing should have been better than pretty much anyone’s. He didn’t hear so much as a gurgle.

  He cocked up an eyebrow at her.

  Her eyes went wide. “I swear, he’s up.”

  “You don’t want me kissing you?”

  “No!” She cringed. “I mean, I like you kissing me, but I’m being honest. He’s awake, and you shouldn’t be kissing me anyway. Save your kisses for your mate.”

  “I thought I was trying to offer you the position.” In case she’d forgotten just that quickly where his hand was, he flicked her clit.

  She speared him with her nails, and he smiled at the delicious pain. She couldn’t really hurt him. There was way more of him than there was of her. Banks boys always took up a lot of space.

  “I think the snow is getting to your head, and you’re being nice to me only because I’m here and available,” she said, even as she rocked her hips forward and let his fingers play in her cleft.

  He still wanted a taste. He withdrew his fingers from her pants and pushed them straightaway between his lips. “Mmm. Sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.”

  A tiny muscle over her eye twitched.

  “Will you let me lick you?”

  “What?”

  “Taste you right from the source?”

  “Pete’s awake!” she whispered.

  “You keep saying that.”

  “Because you keep not believing it.”

  “I don’t hear him.”

  “I’m omega,” she said solemnly, as if that was supposed to mean something.

  At that exact moment, the phone rang, and Pete whimpered mulishly, as if he’d been purposefully kept waiting all that time.

  “Damn it.”

  “I told you,” she whispered tartly. She slid his hand out of her jeans, righted her shirt the best she could in a hurry, and darted to the back of the house.

  He grabbed the towel off the floor, wrapped it around his waist again, and snatched the receiver off the base. “What?” he snapped into the phone.

  “Jeez, what’s got you in such a stinky mood?” Leo asked.

  “I swear, your timing could use some work. That’s twice. Anyway, what’s up?”

  “Oh, just the snow accumulation. Have you looked outside lately?”

  “Can’t say that I have,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’ve been busy trying to eat.”

  “Well, no hurry, but do me a favor and let Angel know that Arnold and I tried to get out to the ranch, but the roads are a mess, and we couldn’t find anyone with a plow attachment willing to lead us out. By the time anyone can get out there…well, you know.”

  “You’re saying she’s stuck.” He tried not to sound too pleased, but he’d never been such a great actor.

  “For the moment, and maybe until tomorrow. It is Christmas, and most wolves celebrate. You gotta expect some inconvenience.”

  Angel paused in the doorway with Pete in her arms, eyeing Grant with suspicion.

  Pete smacked on the pacifier he would never take for Grant, and stared lovingly up at her. Smitten. But Grant understood why anyone would be. She looked exactly like what her name was, and she was about to be his angel if he had any say in the matter at all.

 
He opened the cabinet and pulled down the open can of formula. “Well, don’t do anything stupid. If the roads aren’t good, don’t try to get out only to be sliding around.”

  “You stay inside, too. Let the animals fend for themselves for a while.”

  “They’re all right. They’re built for snow. Plus, I’ve got windbreaks set up, and they’ve got shelter, anyway, if they want it. I left the barn open for them, and there’s plenty of bedding out there, too.”

  “Good. Let me talk to Angel.”

  Grant held the phone out. “It’s Leo. Wants to see if you’re alive, because I guess I’m trustworthy enough to be an alpha, but not trustworthy enough to hold one of her packmates under my roof.”

  “Shut up, Grant,” he heard her yell.

  With the frisky way Grant was feeling, Leo would have probably been right about that second thing.

  Angel furrowed her brow and parted her lips, but whatever she had in mind to say, she didn’t speak. She shifted Pete onto one arm and took the phone. “Hello?”

  She turned her back to him, and rocked rhythmically side-to-side as she chatted.

  Grant kept one eye on her and the other on the bottle he was making for Pete.

  Pete was smiling around the pacifier nipple with each sway and dip. Mothering seemed like second nature to her—a woman who had no children of her own.

  “I talked to Tess,” she said into the phone. “I told her about the snow, so she knows Arnold’s schedule might be a bit off. She’ll probably be in touch with Adam, so don’t worry about rushing back. I just looked out Pete’s window. White, as far as I could see. I could hardly tell where the horizon was.”

  She stopped rocking and turned her head, peering at Grant out of the sides of her eyes.

  “Um. No. He’s fine.”

  Grant took back the phone. “What’d you ask her?”

  Leo huffed. “I asked if you were bothering her.”

  “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because you’re my brother, and I know you’re a butthead.”

  “Bye, Leo. I’m going to go feed Pete. Enjoy your dinner, and tell everyone at Ma and Dad’s that I said hello and I’m sorry I can’t get out there.”

  “I hope you have something special to give Angel for dinner.”

  “I’ve been trying to give her something special for the past fifteen minutes or so.”

  “What?”

  “Bye.” He hung up and reached for Pete.

  Angel held him back. “I’ll feed him.”

  “Are you using my kid as a shield against me?”

  She looked everywhere but at Grant.

  “Uh-huh.” He clucked his tongue. “Seriously?”

  She ferreted the bottle away from him and dashed Pete toward the front room.

  “You know, all you have to say is that you don’t like me, Angel, and I’ll leave you alone.” He didn’t want to, but he’d never been the kind of wolf who’d keep sniffing around females who didn’t sniff back.

  “I never said I didn’t like you,” she said.

  The low drone of the television hit his ears. He couldn’t think of a better conversation-killer. She obviously didn’t want to talk to him.

  He sighed, and headed to his room for sweatpants.

  “I guess I come on a little strong for you,” he called out as he stepped into them. “You’re probably used to being around charming guys who know all the right things to say.”

  Her answer came on a long delay. So long, in fact, that in the time it took her to speak, he’d applied deodorant, pulled on a thermal shirt and some woolen socks, brushed his air, and straightened the covers on his unmade bed.

  “No, not really.”

  “I don’t get that.” He backtracked to the kitchen and reheated his cup of coffee. There was only the smallest chance of making up the day’s caffeine deficit, but he wasn’t a quitter, and he was going to try his hardest. “I don’t believe what you say. A girl as pretty as you has got to have some wolves paying attention, because you’d make pretty babies.”

  No response to that, but he could picture her cheeks darkening in that endearing way they did.

  “Of all the things wolves are,” he called out, “vain is usually one of them. You want to get on a male wolf’s good side fast? Tell him how good-looking his kids are.”

  “Does that work on you?”

  “Yep. Without fail.”

  While the microwave hummed, he peeked around the corner in time to see Angel smile.

  “He’s a beautiful little boy,” she said.

  He grinned, because he really was a vain asshole. “Thank you. I just wish I’d made him on purpose, that way I could take credit.”

  “Do you think she’ll ever take him back?”

  “His mother?”

  She nodded, but her gaze was toward the television. He understood why she wouldn’t want to make eye contact. The question was a personal one, and one he wouldn’t have imagined being asked even a year ago.

  The microwave pinged.

  “Hold that thought.” He grabbed his mug, along with a couple of rapidly browning bananas, and made his way to the front room. On the way to the front door, he left the mug and the fruit on the coffee table.

  He pulled open the front door, took one look at the mound of snow atop his truck’s roof, and then shut the door right away. “Shit. That’s about a foot in an hour.”

  “Weather report says the system is still moving through.”

  He grunted and nudged the draft guard against the bottom of the door. “I shouldn’t complain. We’ll need that water come summer. I just prefer we didn’t get it all dumped on us at one time.”

  She pulled back the peel on one of the bananas and let Pete gnaw at the top of the fruit. “I guess no matter what part of the country you move to, there’s a risk of scary weather events. In Jersey, it was hurricanes and Nor’easters.”

  “Yeah? What are you afraid of in New Mexico?”

  “I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m sure there’s something. I guess droughts are bad enough.”

  “I’d say so. Can’t make hay if we can’t grow grain.” He paused to poke the fire, then took a seat on the sofa beside Angel. He propped his feet up on the coffee table and, in spite of her gentle protest, took Pete and the banana along with him.

  She twined her fingers primly atop her lap and stared straight ahead.

  He chuckled and nudged her with his elbow. “Come on. Relax.”

  “Easy for you to say, but you’re not the bottom-tier wolf sitting beside an alpha. That would unnerve pretty much anyone.”

  “I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “Did you not fear your alpha before you took the job?”

  Grant jiggled the pudge on Pete’s belly while he thought. Pete didn’t seem to mind. He was too busy gnawing on that banana and making heart-eyes at Angel.

  Grant grunted, then shrugged. “No. I guess not. I mean, mostly I tried to steer clear of him just like everyone else to spare myself some frustration, but I wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t think he could hurt me, even if he’d tried. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a big dude.”

  “I noticed,” she said, ever so quietly.

  “Just checkin’. You act like you can’t see me.”

  She expelled the tiniest scoff and twiddled her thumbs. “So, no one ever challenged him?”

  “No. Not that I could remember, and I never cared to challenge him because I lived so far from town and didn’t give a shit for the most part, until he came out here snooping around for dues. He quit that pretty quickly, though.”

  “Why?”

  He smiled at her, and judging by the way her brown cheeks turned maroon, he guessed he must have looked like the fang-owning wolf he was.

  He put his teeth away and cleared his throat. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’m generally a ‘live and let live’ kind of guy, but one of the things I just can’t abide is folks trying to fuck with my money.�
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  “What’d you do to him?”

  “Nothing, besides telling him that he could swing by looking for my contributions to the alpha maintenance fund all he wanted to, but he’d have better luck digging for gold in a heifer’s ass.”

  “And he really didn’t come back?”

  Grant shrugged again. “Maybe the mental imagery was too off-putting for him.”

  “Or maybe he didn’t think he’d win a challenge if you were to make one.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because you’re the rightful alpha?”

  He snorted and smoothed down one of Pete’s crazy cowlicks. He sure didn’t feel like the rightful alpha. He’d always thought alphas were supposed to want the job more. “You think that after being in the area for just a day, huh?”

  “Like I said. You don’t know what being around you is like. Your power screams ‘alpha’ to me. Lesser wolves are wired to take note of who’s dominant to them. Naturally dominant, I mean. People can tell I’m not a threat the same way.”

  “Hmm.” He considered what she’d said. He’d never paid much attention to who was more dominant in the pack. Perhaps, there hadn’t been anyone.

  Wouldn’t that be a fuckin’ scream?

  He quit fiddling with Pete’s flyaway hair and shifted him closer to his other arm so he’d have use of his dominant hand. “Speaking of things that supposedly aren’t threats, no, I don’t believe Pete’s mom is ever going to swoop back in to claim him. She’s a bigot. Pretty sure she’s already hardened her heart against him.”

  “That’s terrible. If she’s a bigot, why would she—”

  “Fuck me?”

  Angel cringed.

  “You can say the words, I won’t be offended.”

  “That’s okay. You’ve already said them. But, yes, that’s what I meant.”

  “All I can tell you is that sometimes, in the heat of passion, some things seem like good ideas, even when they really aren’t.”

  “Like biting me.”

  “No, honey, I still think that’s a good idea. You think you’re gonna get a better offer? If so, I’ll gladly stand down.”