Season of the Wolf (BBW Holiday Romance)

by Mason, Marie

  Jason snarled, as he turned around just in time to see Priscilla fall face first into the snow. He wasn’t close enough to catch her. Damn stubborn woman. Now she was completely covered in snow, both front and back, thanks to her backward tumble earlier by the SUV.

  He picked her up and she moaned. She pulled the scarf from her face. “Just give me a minute. I just need to rest.” She bit her lip as she had earlier and he wanted to take the plump flesh inside his mouth and bite it himself.

  “Hush,” he breathed against her ear. “Just let me get us to the cabin.”

  For the next twenty minutes, he plowed through the thigh high snow, worry weighing on him as Priscilla’s breathing grew slower and slower. She had to be freezing to death. Her jeans were stiff and he knew the frozen fabric was draining the heat from her body even with the added protection of the wool blanket. He stopped for a few precious moments and took off his coat. She didn’t even protest as he wrapped it around the lower half of her body. That’s when he knew he had to get her inside and warmed up as quickly as possible. There was no damn way he was losing his mate. Not when he had just found her.

  He forced himself to move faster. Soon he was dodging trees, the branches whipping against his face, marking him in his desperate attempt to fight time. Finally, the cabin came into view. One moment he was struggling through the forest, the next he was in the small open clearing that housed the rustic pack retreat. He silently thanked the alpha for keeping some form of shelter in the deep forest. As usual, the door was unlocked and he shouldered his way in.

  There wasn’t much in the way of amenities—a fireplace, a wooden rocker, sofa and bed. Sitting her in the rocker, he quickly started a fire. He was grateful the last wolf to use the place had moved a stack of wood inside out of the weather to keep it dry. Soon he had a small fire blazing. He grabbed all the cover from the bed and spread it in front of the fire. The bed was too far away from the heat to do much good at the moment. He needed to get Priscilla stripped and warmed up. The fastest way to do that was with body heat. He quickly shed his own clothes, cursing when his cock grew at the thought of seeing his mate without her clothes for the very first time.

  She didn’t even protest when he removed her funny knit hat and scarf. Her face was a translucent white and she reminded him of the enchanted snow princess he’d read about once as a child. He gently drew away her coat and then he moved to her feet. He cursed as he brushed away the snow. Next to come off was a pair of black running shoes. Her footwear was useless in the snow.

  “Damn stubborn woman,” he growled as he removed the sneakers. Her socks had kept some of the snow and cold off of her tender flesh, but it was still red and cold to the touch. He didn’t think there was any frostbite. He enveloped her feet in his hands, debating whether he had time to heat some water. Her low groan of pain decided for him. Moving closer, he put the soles of her feet against his chest.

  She cried out.

  “I know, sweetling. I know.” No doubt the rough mat of hair were sharp pinpoints of pain against her flesh, not to mention the sudden warmth of his shifter body against her cold skin. But it was the fastest way he knew to warm her up without causing any additional damage to her delicate flesh.

  He held her feet against him for a five, long minutes. She’d stopped groaning which wasn’t a good sign. He put her feet down and reached for the closure of her jeans. He cursed his body as it reacted to the sight of her body as he pulled down the sodden jeans. The job was made even more difficult since the fabric had a slight stiffness from being frozen.

  It had nothing on his cock.

  Damn, she was beautiful he thought to himself as her body was revealed to his hungry gaze. Her stomach was round, reflecting the fact that she was a curvy girl. He couldn’t wait for his dick to be cushioned against the inviting softness. The jeans caught on the roundness of her thighs and his mouth watered, thinking of the treasure hidden between them. He wanted to part them now and taste her. Later, he assured the hungry wolf. They would have their fill of her sweet, honey-coated taste later.

  He slipped his hands behind her back, tugging down the waist. After that, he wasted no more time divesting her of her jeans. She started shivering again as the cold air hit her exposed skin. That was a good sign; her body was reacting to cold. The training he had in search and rescue came in handy now dealing with his human mate. Most individuals thought shivering meant a person was going into hyperthermia. In fact, just the opposite was true. The muscle contractions released small bursts of energy, which actually helped raise a person’s core temperature.

  There was so damn much he needed to learn about taking care of a human.

  He pulled her upper torso forward to remove her shirt. It wasn’t wet all over, but it was still cold, chilling her skin and drawing away her body heat. Her sweater was Christmas red covered in white snowflakes. Did she enjoy Christmas? Shifters held the time in high regard. And why not? They were here because of the benevolence of their maker and in no small part thanks to the inherit magic of mother earth. What celebrated that more than the Christmas story and the magic of Santa?

  It took extra effort on his part to remove her sweater. Her long brown locks wanted to tangle in the soft knit. He resisted the need to quickly cut it off with the slice of a claw. He finally pulled it from her body and smiled when the ulitarian white bra was revealed. His little mate apparently didn’t believe in sexy underwear. The simple white lace matched the soft cotton of her panties. Her underwear wasn’t wet and he wrestled with his consciousness. He could warm her just fine with it still on her body. Looking at her flushed face he knew the honorable thing would be to leave her dressed instead of stripping her completely bare, but he and his wolf wanted to feel her skin to skin.

  Cursing, knowing she would be embarrassed if she woke and they were lying together naked in front of the fireplace, he resisted the primitive impulse and left her modesty intact.

  “Come on, baby.” He slid his arms under her knees and back and lifted her into his arms. Her sweet scent flooded his nostrils. How could he feel so much for her, so quickly? He knew the sexual desire for a mate was something out of a wolf’s control. But that didn’t mean fated mates had a completely smooth road. For most of the mated couples, he knew, love came almost immediately, but for some it didn’t happen until later, but it always happened.

  Her eyes lids fluttered open. “What happened?”

  “Sssh. Just let me get you warm.” He knelt in front of the fire.

  “Are we at the cabin?” She groaned as the warmth from the blaze reached her. “That feels wonderful.”

  Jason smiled, thinking of all the ways he was going to make her feel wonderful. Later. She shivered again, even more violently. “Lay down, sweetheart.” He pushed her into the bed of quilts, pulling some of the cover over them. He pulled her into his arms, her breasts crushed against his chest. He bent one leg, covering her and pulling her closer all in one fluid movement. Her skin was more than chilled. Her legs especially. He rubbed his foot up and down the back of her legs from thigh to ankle, warming her.

  She snuggled closer against his warmth and his wolf almost purred its satisfaction. When her hand brushed across the thick scar on his chest, he realized he hadn’t hesitated in stripping down and possibly revealing the extent of his injuries to this woman.

  “What happened to you?” she murmured sleepily.

  “It doesn’t matter.” He coaxed her closer, trying to burrow her into his warmth. He hated the trembling that struck her every few minutes even though he realized its importance. He ran his open palms over her back and down her hips and along her thighs and legs. He couldn’t reach her feet so used one of his to fold the blanket around them.

  “Yes, it does.” She kept stroking the scar. It started right below his right nipple and ended at his groin. The slow, lazy touch had his cock growing, the reaction beyond even his iron control. “It had to hurt very, very badly.”

  “Not half as bad as my dick does righ
t now,” he murmured into her hair as he took her hand in his, stopping her caresses and therefore his inadvertent arousal. “Sleep baby. I’ll keep you warm.”

  “Okay.” She closed her eyes and her head fell against him.

  Jason knew the night would be hell as he tightened his arms around his as-good-as-naked mate. Keeping the fire burning in the fireplace wouldn’t be nearly as difficult as keeping the one burning in his loins banked. Yeah, the night was going to be hell, but it would also heaven.

  Priscilla woke slowly then almost panicked when she remembered where she was. Stranded in a cabin with a wolf. She lay on the floor, a thick blanket beneath her and another one top of her. If that wasn’t enough to keep her warm, she was snuggled against the side of a blazingly hot, half-naked male body.

  She barely remembered arriving at the cabin. She certainly didn’t remember falling asleep in Jason’s arms or taking off her wet clothes. Her sweater and jeans had been removed and she was dressed in some kind of long sleeved t-shirt. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she still wore her bra and panties. At least he hadn’t seen her completely naked.

  Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, the only illuminated provided by the small blaze in the stone fireplace. In the soft glow of the fire, she took all of him in. From the feel of his long body stretched out against hers, he appeared to be almost a foot taller than her five foot five. Her nose was practically buried in the soft mat of silky black hair. She frowned, thinking she should remember something about his chest. Besides the fact that her hands itched to stroke over all the chiseled goodness. Her rounded belly pressed against his hips. He was hard all over. And she did mean hard all over. She licked her lips realizing he was sporting an impressive hard-on beneath his knit pajama pants. No doubt the missing bottoms to her outfit. What would it be like to wake up beside this every morning?

  “Are you alright, Priscilla?” His voice was low and husky from sleep. One minute he appeared dead to the world, the next his deep brown eyes were staring into hers with enough heat to melt all the snow outside. His features were somewhat rugged, but still beautiful in a mesmerizing way. His lean, shadowed jaw begged her to reach out and touch it. His nose was long and straight, his lips full. His dark hair was long with a slight curl where it brushed the bottom of his neck. It was thick and shiny. A total waste on a man. She tried not to stare but it wasn’t every day she was so up-close and personal to such a totally masculine man.

  “I’m, thirsty.” She lowered her gaze before whispering her other request. “And I need to use the bathroom.”

  “Mmm,” he smiled. “I think I can take care of that.”

  Before she could protest, he was on his feet and he was lifting her from the warmth of the fleece blanket and carrying her to a small room off the adjoining kitchenette. “Don’t dawdle,” he ordered as he lowered her to feet and turned on the light before pushing her gently through the door. It closed behind her with a sharp snap.

  Priscilla shivered as the cold air found its why beneath the long sleeved shirt. She quickly finished her business and flushed the toilet, grimacing at the loud noise. When she opened the door, it was to discover him waiting for her. Before she could protest, she again found herself lifted high in his strong arms and carried back to the fireplace. This time he lowered her to the couch. She warmed up quickly in the ring of heat provided by the fire.

  “Here you go.” He handed her a glass of water, which she took gratefully. He was towering above her. His stance implied strength and an innate confidence she could only dream of. He felt no embarrassment to be half-naked before a woman he didn’t know. He had the air of man who was used to being in charge, the kind of man others looked to in a crisis. The kind of man who could be annoying in everyday life because of it, she thought with a slight smirk.

  He was an alpha male at his finest. She stole a glance at the bulge that was still pretty impressive even though it had lost some of its size. Damn fine. She strangled on the sip of water she’d taken.

  He quickly removed it from her hand and gently patted her on the back. “Okay?”

  She closed her eyes and coughed again. Only she could make such a fool out of herself while ogling a man’s morning erection. Other women no doubt would have made the most of the opportunity. Perhaps leaning forward and licking one of his nipples, enticing him into some early morning antics. He drew in a deep breath and her eyes followed the motion of his broad chest rising and falling, followed the way his six-pack–no, dang it eight pack–belly caved in and how his knit pants lovingly cupped his, umm, package. His mouth watering, she’d-give-anything-to-lick, package.

  Oh, to be a woman confident enough to take advantage of a half-naked man in a snow-bound cabin.

  The reality of their situation suddenly soaked in. “We’re stranded here, aren’t we?”

  “Yep.”

  “But just until tomorrow, right?”

  “Nope.”

  “The next day?”

  Not if he could help it, Jason thought. He was planning to keep her here until she agreed to bond with him. “Disappointed you can’t start your study?”

  “Of course not,” she denied hotly. The tone of his voice implied she was eager to learn how male wolves mated and not because of her research.

  “Cause you can start with me right now, baby.”

  Priscilla’s mind went blank. Was the man offering to show her the mating rituals of a wolf? Offering to perform them with her. To her?

  She must have hesitated to long to take him off on his implied offer. The next thing she knew he was taking another blanket from the floor. “Time to get some more sleep. Get under the covers,” he ordered.

  He watched as she snuggled down into the softness of the couch. While she was in the bathroom he’d put the warmed blanket from the floor on the couch. Now he pulled the top cover up and tucked her in. His hand smoothed down from her shoulders to back. “Need something else, sweetling?”

  “You called me that before, didn’t you?”

  “Mmm.”

  She fell silent, unable to come up with a reason to make him linger.

  Priscilla watched Jason as he settled back down in front of the fire. She frowned, more memories coming back to her slowly. She remembered the feel of the snow as she’d fallen, then the hard strength of his arms as he’d carried her through the blizzard. Everything else remained slightly fuzzy and she was having impressions rather than memories. A rough surface beneath the soles of her feet followed by a painful warmth. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel the roughness of his palms as he’d stroked her body to warm her up.

  “Jason?” Her voice was a soft whisper in the night.

  “Yeah, babe?” He turned back towards her, the light from the fireplace throwing a warm glow around his big body.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Saving my life.”

  “I didn’t do that.”

  “Yes, you did. You might not have had to if I hadn’t been so stubborn and let you carry me from the beginning.” She tried to force herself to stay awake but her voice faded. Before she fell completely asleep, she could have sworn she felt his lips on hers.

  Jason leaned over and kissed Priscilla softly on the lips as she allowed sleep to overcome her. Like a small child, she fought it. He’d turned over on his back, the covers tossed aside since he’d built up the fire for her. He’d been unwilling to leave her even though there was a comfortable bed in the corner of the room. He should have carried Priscilla over there as soon as she’d stopped shivering. Instead, he’d held her in his arms and spent one of the most delicious, yet torturous nights of his life with her curvy, round body curled against his. Just a few hours ago, he’d had to add another log to the fire and had rummaged through the chest of drawers and discovered the set of knit pajamas. He knew when she woke up he’d have to have something more between them besides a flimsy pair of panties and a lace bra. Not that the knit layer over his cock and the on
e over her breasts were much of a deterrent, but they were something.

  He watched her as she slept, his hand absently stroking the scar on his chest. She lay curled in an almost fetal position, arms and legs tucked against her torso. So small. So innocent. She’d been concerned about the scars on his chest, not repulsed. He turned his head so he could study her. Brown hair, flawless skin. A small, almost button nose. He couldn’t forget the lips. He wanted those lips. Leaning forward he took another small taste.

  His mate. He’d never thought to find the woman who would complete him. His hand brushed against his scar again. A female wolf would never have accepted him, viewing the scars as he did. Knowing them for the weakness they were. He’d failed to take the rouge down quickly. Priscilla had been concerned more about the pain they had caused him.

  His wolf whined to crawl on the sofa with her. When her gaze had raked over him as she’d drank her water, he’d felt a surge of heat he hadn’t felt in a long time. If ever. Her rosy blush as she’d seen the outline of his dick in the soft pajamas had been heartwarming and cock hardening. If she’d continued to look, she would have really been embarrassed. Her innocent gaze had caused his member to swell and grow. An ember fell, sending a burst of light into the room. He’d have to bring in some more wood tomorrow, possibly even cut some more. Even though whoever had used the cabin last had left plenty, he’d used more than usual trying to keep his little human warm.

  The sun was shining through one of the small windows by the fireplace when Priscilla woke the next morning. She was still tucked safely in her warm cocoon on the couch, the blanket pulled up to her nose. She realized there was no musky or dusty smell to any of the furnishings. Whoever owned the property took very good care of their possessions.

  Before she could speak, Jason was at her side, looking down at her. She had a feeling he had been up for quite some time. She resisted the urge to smooth down her hair or check to see if she had a dried drool at the corner of her mouth. Had she snored?