Howloween Hunt (A Holiday Shifter Romance) (Holiday Shifters Book 1)

by Evelyn Vox

  Right. Leave it to me to be a weirdo even for shifters.

  “Can I shift into a wolf?”

  “I don’t know. It’s doubtful.”

  I felt her clawing at me, my wolf whining in outrage at the idea that she could never be let free. I wondered if it was true, that I’d never be able to shift.

  “I’ve never experienced changes like last night before.”

  “It was likely a combination of the Full Moon and my effect on you. I may have unleashed latent qualities in you through our bond. I bet you’ll only be able to half-shift like that when the Moon is full.”

  “I have always been a little crazy during Full Moons,” I admitted.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, it always felt wrong not to be outside. Drove my parents crazy.”

  “I wish we could ask your parents about your heritage.”

  “Me too,” I agreed.

  Vincent didn’t have to tell me he knew they were gone. Just like I didn’t have to tell him I knew he’d been exiled. We just knew through our bond.

  “Did either of them seem particularly…wolfish?”

  I thought back to my parents. My mom’s kind brown eyes, my dad’s balding head.

  “No, they were really normal, bland, every day folk. They fit right in here.”

  “I can’t imagine you having a shifter for a parent and not knowing. It’s not an easy thing to hide. It’s especially not in a shifter’s nature to keep it secret from their family.”

  “It is really weird.”

  “This is going to sound crazy,” Vincent said, pulling back. “But do you have anything that might smell like your parents?”

  It did sound crazy, but I trusted this man with my life. He could have asked me to string a tight rope across the Grand Canyon and I’d have done it for him. He was my other half. I never knew how incomplete I was until he walked into Smith’s and took my breath away.

  “Actually, I do. Let me grab it.”

  Vincent hesitated before letting me go, just as I paused before leaving his arms. I hated the idea of being apart from him, even if it was only to go into the other room. This whole mating bond was ridiculous, I thought as I took his hand and pulled him along with me into the bedroom.

  Would I always be this co-dependent on him? He stood behind me and held my hips, sniffing contentedly at my neck while I grabbed the box from the closet. Listening to his happy rumbles as he inhaled my scent, I didn’t think I’d mind if it was always like this.

  “My parents had this silly tradition, every Christmas they wore these ugly sweaters. I couldn’t bear to get rid of them. I don’t know how much they’ll smell like them still.”

  Vincent and I sat on the bed. He opened the box to reveal the tacky, green and red holiday sweaters. I felt a pang in my heart looking at them. Memories of that patchwork Santa on my mom and the knit Christmas tree on my dad flashed into my mind. Vincent took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. I knew he was feeling everything though the bond.

  “It’s perfect. Especially if it the sweaters hung in their closet or were in a dresser with other clothes.”

  “Yep, always in the bottom drawer.”

  He took them out and gave the sweaters a good, long sniff. It was weird, but I didn’t question him. I’d never question my mate. He smelled each one over and over, and waves of disbelief and shock hit me through the bond. I think I knew even before he said it.

  “These people weren’t your biological parents.”

  15

  Vincent

  My poor mate. She’d stood up in shock, put the box back in her closet, then burst into tears. I cradled her in my arms, rocking on the bed as she processed the news. I felt bad. The moment I walked into her life everything changed so radically. I wished I could have left her alone, let her continue to live a normal life, but I never would have been able to do that.

  She was the other half of my heart, my soul, and I’d never leave her side. I’d already spent too long traveling this world without her.

  “You’re sure?” she asked again, disbelief and denial stopping her from accepting.

  “Yes, my love,” I said, kissing her on the top of the head. “Wolves have precise senses of smell. And mine is exceptional, even by wolf standards. I’d recognize your kin anywhere.”

  Sadie’s scent was branded into my mind and soul for eternity.

  “Why wouldn’t they tell me I was adopted?”

  “Maybe they meant to, but never got the chance.”

  Understanding rippled down our bond and she looked at me with puffy eyes.

  “You know, they said they wanted to tell me something important. That they wanted me to come over for dinner that weekend. Except they never made it to the weekend.”

  “I’m sorry,” I enveloped her in my arms, hating the pain she was in—I felt everything, and I wanted nothing more than to ease her anguish, but I didn’t know how.

  “It’s okay,” she sniffed. “I’m glad I know. It explains a lot. My parents were both blonde! I never understood how they had a kid with black hair.”

  Sadie looked at me with her big, dark eyes and kissed me. The touch was electric and warm and something I was sure I’d never get used to. I willed my throbbing arousal to calm itself. Now was not the time to mate her.

  “Thank you, for telling me. For finding me.”

  “I don’t know if you should be thanking me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Your life was fine and I came into it and ruined everything.”

  “My life was far from fine. People hate me in this town. All I want is to leave and start over with you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes,” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me and kissing me with passion.

  I couldn’t stop my cock from lurching when she threw herself on me like this. I flipped her over and ground my erection between her legs. Sadie moaned, her body arching up to meet mine. I planted kisses down the side of her neck.

  “Where do you want to go?” I asked in-between kisses, pausing to lick our mating mark.

  Sadie shivered and I smelled her sweet nectar in the air.

  “Oregon. Portland.”

  It seemed like that was all she could manage to say before she fisted her hands in my hair and urged me lower. I chuckled. I loved how wild my mate was. I loved that she was not shy about what she wanted. She was wearing an oversized black T-shirt and nothing else. I moved my head between her legs and marveled at her glistening folds.

  “We can go wherever you want, Sadie,” I said before I enveloped her hard little pleasure bud between my lips.

  “Vincent!” She moaned, pressing my head deeper into her sex.

  I devoured her, lapping and licking her sweet honey to my heart’s content, my wolf happier than he’d ever been. I thought I’d been doomed to a life of emptiness, but instead I’d found my mate. Nature had a strange way of making sure we found our mates. If I’d never been forced to leave California, I’d have never found this beautiful creature writhing beneath my lips. She shuddered and screamed when her orgasm broke over her, and I savored the extra sweet taste.

  My cock was slick with my own juices, trembling and ready to be inside my mate. I tore off my stupid, small pants and unleashed the beast between my legs. Sadie’s lust filled eyes took me in hungrily, and she flipped on to her stomach. She lifted her ass just enough to present herself to me, and I growled low and long before I pummeled into her heat.

  “Fuck, yes!” She cried, pushing back on me as I filled her.

  I groaned. Being inside of her was bliss. Heaven. I pumped inside of my beauty for a few beats before my hands itched to be full of her. Staying joined, I scooped her into my arms and rolled us onto our sides. I squeezed her nipples and cupped her breasts. Sadie groaned, leaning her head back to rest on my shoulder. She kissed me savagely, biting my lip, before I slipped my hand between her soft curls and rubbed her swollen clit.

  I watched her eyes roll into the back of her
head, felt her toes curl and her entire body shake as I rubbed the orgasm out of her. The sweet ache of her tight pussy clenching around my cock had my hips bucking as I came deep inside of my mate. My hands roamed over her incredible curves. She turned and licked the spot on my neck where she’d marked me, and my cock jumped inside of her.

  “I’m glad it has the same effect on you,” she laughed.

  “You better be careful, little mate.” I warned, fully hard and ready for her again. “The more you poke the wolf, the more you get the monster.”

  She shrieked as I moved to pin her beneath me, ready to worship her with my cock once more. Sadie smiled her beautiful smile.

  “I love monsters.”

  16

  Sadie

  I’d had to convince Vincent that he couldn’t come into town with me until I got him some clothes. I felt the anguish of being apart just as much as he did, but I had to remind him that if I was in trouble, he’d feel it right away. Remind him that the town was so small, he’d get to me in a heartbeat. He’d begrudgingly told me his clothing sizes, and I’d left him in my apartment with a bag of beef jerky.

  After getting him some pants and flannel shirts, I turned down Main Street and headed towards Smith’s. Vincent and I were going to leave as soon as possible, and I had to give my notice to Jeff. Despite what an ass his son was, the man had been good to me all these years. I didn’t want to leave him high and dry.

  The sun was just starting to dip below the sky, and I knew he’d be there getting ready for the evening crowd. I walked into the bar and stiffened when I saw Mandy behind the counter.

  “Oh, look, it’s the town slut,” she hissed.

  “Where’s Jeff?”

  “He’s been puking his guts out all day, and asked me to open for him. Said he tried you first, but you weren’t answering your phone.”

  I grimaced, my phone had been in my backpack all night, and was currently charging, forgotten, in my bedroom. I’d been…more than a little distracted to think to check it for messages.

  “Well, guess you’ll get some extra hours,” I said, ready to turn through the door.

  “I know you tried to hook up with Blake.”

  My hand stilled on the handle and I looked at Mandy. Her face was pink with anger as she walked from behind the bar towards me.

  “Is that what he told you?”

  “Don’t play games with me,” she was close to me now, and jabbed a finger in my chest. “Touch my man again, and you’ll be sorry.”

  “No, Mandy,” I snapped, my hand closing around her wrist, a growl rumbling in my chest. “You’ll be sorry when you marry that asshole.”

  She gasped, eyes wincing in pain as I peeled her hand off of me and bent it far back.

  “You’re hurting me!”

  “You’ve hurt me every day since we were thirteen,” I spat, shoving her forward. “We were friends, but you were too concerned about your image to care about me.”

  “You were social suicide,” she stumbled backward as I advanced until I had her pinned against the bar.

  “Fuck you, Mandy,” I snarled. “Blake is the one who came onto me. Then pissed himself when my man found him all over me.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “You’re lying.”

  “Ask him how he pissed his pants.”

  “He…he drank too much.”

  “Right, cause that’s sounds like Blake. The guy’s a tank. I’ve never even seen him puke, let alone be piss drunk.”

  She heard the truth in my words, but her face turned mean.

  “Whatever. You were tempting him with that slutty goth corset. Freak.”

  My wolf snarled in anger and I felt my eyes shutter the way they did when Blake had me cornered. I knew now that they were glowing silver, giving Mandy a glimpse of the animal inside. She screamed.

  “You have no idea what a freak I am, Mandy,” I growled.

  The door burst open and Vincent stood there in all his naked glory. His sapphire eyes scanned the room, and I realized he must have felt my wolf waking up through the bond. He walked over to us in all his six-five, muscled majesty. My wolf panted at the sight of him.

  He looked like he was carved of stone. Slabs of lean, sexy muscle rippled with power as he moved. His cock hung heavy and thick between his legs. I felt Mandy’s eyes on him and wanted to rip them out of their sockets when I heard her gasp.

  “That’s what a real man looks like, Mandy,” I said. “Not that you’ll be seeing one again any time soon.”

  “Everything okay?” Vincent had scooped me into his arms now, and my body covered his nakedness.

  He glared at Mandy over my shoulder.

  “She smells awful.”

  “It’s because she’s rotten, through and through.”

  “Ah,” Vincent nodded and brought his nose to my neck, sniffing me.

  I could feel him getting excited, his cock twitching to life against me. My core throbbed in response. This mating heat was something else.

  “Mandy,” I stared at her with all the wolfish dominance in me. “Get the hell out of here.”

  “Excuse me?” She sputtered.

  “Now,” I growled, feeling my eyes glow again.

  She shrieked and ran out the front door. I followed her and locked it, making sure the closed sign was turned and the shutters drawn. I’d always wanted to be fucked on this bar. Vincent grinned as he felt the sentiment through our bond and pinned me against the wooden counter. I smiled as his lips pressed into mine and his hands tore at my clothes.

  Having a mate was so much fun.

  17

  Sadie

  Six Months Later

  Everyone had been shocked when I told them I was moving. Though I wasn’t in my half-shifted form, I’d noticed my senses had been sharper ever since the mating. I heard all the whispers that rumbled through the town after I’d announced the news.

  “Hussy leaving with a drifter.”

  “No good harlot. We’re better off without her.”

  “Did you see the way she ran off with that stranger on Halloween?”

  “I’m going to miss her.”

  That last one had been Mandy, though she didn’t tell me to my face. All she’d said when I made my good-bye’s was that she hoped I found more people like me in Portland. I’d heard she’d broken up with Blake, and I said I hoped she’d find someone who could make her happy. And that was it. I wondered if maybe Mandy’s behavior was more of a show, that maybe she liked me more than she wanted to let on, but I didn’t dwell on it too much. She was part of my old life now.

  Vincent and I had packed a grand total of nine boxes into the back of my old truck, and we’d hit the road to Oregon. Between my savings and Vincent’s, we had enough to rent a little house in the woods and opened a bar: Harvest Moon. It was horror-themed. We played scary movies non-stop, decorated it with all kinds of gothic oddities, and had specially themed drinks like zombie’s brains and a green concoction called Frankenstein’s Monster.

  Our grand opening was less than a month ago and it’d been a huge success. Turns out Portland was full of other horror buffs like me. Everyone accepted me here. If anything, the only thing that raised eyebrows was when I told them I was married and expecting at the age of twenty-one.

  I never thought I’d be so settled at this age either, but as I watched Vincent wiping down the bar and felt our baby flutter in my stomach, I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.

  I was happier than ever.

  I’d been getting to know my wolf better too. Every Moon since Vincent unleashed my dormant shifter abilities, I went farther and farther into a shifted state. I had a good feeling about tonight’s Full Moon. Our house was on the outskirts of the city, right by a protected forest. It was the perfect place to run and howl at the Moon.

  I was cleaning glasses when Vincent’s burly arms wrapped around me. I sighed and leaned into him. He kissed the mark on my neck, which never failed to make me tremble. No one in
Portland asked about the ever-present spot, obviously from a bite. To each their own, seemed to be the sentiment. Everyone had a little bit of a freak in them here. God, I loved this town.

  Vincent’s happy growl rumbled through his chest before he whispered in my ear.

  “Are you ready for tonight?”

  I felt his erection press against my ass and I giggled. Being pregnant did nothing to quell his desire for me. If anything, I think he enjoyed the way my body was changing.

  “I’m always ready for the Full Moon.”

  “We should go soon. I can’t wait to be out there with you.”

  There was nothing like sex during the Full Moon. It made us more feral, called to the wild beasts within us. Yielding to that primal part of myself was something I looked forward to every month. Customers thought it was part of the theme that we closed early every Full Moon. If they only knew…

  Our house was a short drive from the bar, and by the time we unlocked the front door, the sun had set beneath the horizon. The Moon began to shine brightly in the twilight sky, and I saw Vincent’s blue eyes flash with silver. A tremor passed through my body as the Moon began to rise and my mate’s blood called to me. He took my hand and led me through the house, until we walked onto the back porch and faced the forest beyond our yard.

  The moonlight caressed my skin, and I felt the familiar hot, feverish chill of the change take over me. Vincent’s eyes blazed bright as he shed his skin and became the big, black wolf I’d come to love. He was much larger than a regular wolf, but otherwise looked the same. Some nights, he let me climb onto his back and we’d run through the woods, even if it wasn’t a Full Moon. It made me feel like a wild warrior princess.

  The Moon called strongly to me tonight. No, to my wolf. She was giddy with excitement, ready to run, dying to be unleashed. It wasn’t fair that she could only show herself during the Full Moon. Unlike Vincent, barring states of emotional distress, I couldn’t shift on command. This was her one night to come out and play, even if it wasn’t in full form.