Sugar, Spice, and Shifters: A Touch of Holiday Magic

by Élianne Adams

  “Lisa.”

  “Bingo. In fact, you should also stay away from Leticia, Mrs. Carbone, Stephanie, and Ashley, too, because they’re going to be able to tell. They might accidentally bring it up and blow your cover.”

  “I can’t live like that. I can’t hide from the entire pack.”

  “But you can make yourself real busy, at least until Lisa warms up a little bit to the idea. She’s a reasonable woman, I promise she is, but she’s gonna be angry, because she brought Graciella here so she wouldn’t have to take a mate so soon. I would be frustrated, too, if I were in her shoes.”

  “Fuck.” Finn set the wood down again and rubbed his hand over his beard stubble.

  He didn’t want to stay away from his girl. He craved her something fierce, but they didn’t need drama. He’d finally gotten used to having peace in his pack.

  He blew out a ragged breath and shook his head. “I guess I could volunteer for that away mission that starts tonight. It’ll keep me gone for a few weeks.”

  “You’re going to hate it, she’s going to hate it, but it might be for the best.”

  “I love her.”

  Christina’s expression softened and her shoulders drooped. “Oh, I believe you. Just—take care, Finn. Things are different here than what we were used to, and we have to solve problems in ways we might not have before.”

  “Back at home, we would have just fought.”

  “Who, you and Lisa? No. It’d be you and Colt, and Colt’s probably got forty pounds on you. He wouldn’t want to claw you up, but if he gets into a fight, he’s not gonna phone it in.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Finn clapped his hands clean on his jeans and headed toward the door. “I’ll let Alpha know I’m goin’. Should I tell—”

  “No. If you call her, you’re not going to leave. Just go.”

  He didn’t want to, but he didn’t see what choice he had.

  — — —

  Graciella had been busier than usual with the start of a new school term, and that had her scrambling to catch up and adjust her schedule at the greenhouses. Her hours spent playing in the dirt would now be sandwiched by hours of studying on either side, and she’d barely had time to step outside into the sunshine.

  That suited her fine, though. Finn had gone out on some mission, which she’d only found out about through third-hand information, and she was getting nervous. He’d been gone weeks already, and she was rational enough to know he was probably okay since Alpha was with him, but she worried he couldn’t stop himself from shifting. Or that his high energy was making the people around him nervous.

  “I don’t even have his phone number,” she muttered to herself as she stepped out of the library. “How do I not have my own mate’s phone number?”

  She started down the street toward the path leading back to wolf housing, but stopped short. Finn’s apartment was a couple of blocks away, and she had a key. “Maybe I’ll feel better just to be near his scent.”

  She made her way over and let herself in. The apartment looked more or less the same as the last time she’d been there, only with the addition of a table and a couple of chairs in the kitchenette.

  She set her laptop bag on the table, watered his wilting poinsettia, and shuffled through the few items of mail he’d left on the counter. It was so intrusive, and she felt guilty for it, but she didn’t know what else to do besides asking Christina for his number outright, and that would just be asking for trouble.

  “Ah.” She found the cell phone bill—thankfully, already opened—and typed the number from the top left corner into her phone.

  She settled onto the sofa and texted him, even though he hated writing so much.

  You: It’s Graciella. Are you coming back soon?

  Graciella made sure to save the number as soon as she sent the message. She didn’t expect him to immediately respond—especially if he were working in stealth mode—so she made herself comfortable and pulled the afghan from the back of the sofa over her body. She wouldn’t be expected at home for several hours, and had left the library much earlier than she normally would have. She hadn’t been able to concentrate because of the worrying.

  Her phone buzzed almost instantly. Intrigued, she sat up and pulled it out from beneath the blanket.

  Finn Stilton: Hey baby

  You: Where are you?

  Finn Stilton: Near Santa Fe. Heading home.

  “Thank goodness.” She ground her palms against her tired eyes and lay back down.

  You: Haven’t been able to sleep.

  Finn Stilton: Ain’t been doing so great either.

  You: I’ve been worried about you.

  Finn Stilton: Be there soon. Where r u?

  You: At your place. Sorry. I went through your mail to find your number.

  Finn Stilton: Nobody knows u r there?

  You: No.

  Finn Stilton: Stay there k? Want 2 see u as soon as I get back.

  She did some quick mental math to figure out how long it’d take for them to be back. Norseton was way off the beaten path. It’d probably be four hours before they got home.

  You: I’ll be here.

  “It’s eight o’clock.” She drummed her fingers atop her thigh and wondered which excuse she could give Lisa. Lisa could always smell a lie on Graciella. Being vague seemed like the best course of action. The truth was that Graciella was a grown woman. She could do what she wanted, but she was trying to be respectful and prove that she was grateful for everything Lisa had done for her. But at some point, Lisa was going to have to trust that Graciella was capable of making good decisions for herself. Graciella trusted Finn, and knew with every fiber of her being that he was going to be good to her. She wanted to be the same to him, and that’s why she had to be there when he got home.

  She toed off her sneakers and padded back to the table. It was a simple table, but pretty. Rough-hewn, but smoothed in all the places that would be frequently touched. She ran her fingers along the side, and one caught in a little dip. She bent to look at what the disfigurement in the wood was and saw it wasn’t a knot or a gnarl, but a Finn. His little wolf carving. She grinned at it and closed her hand around the pendant he’d given her. No one had ever made anything for her like that, and she still hadn’t stopped being awed over his talent. So many people underestimated him, but she’d never make that mistake.

  She settled back onto the sofa again, but with her laptop this time, and made herself comfortable. Reading her assigned texts was a little easier now that some of her panic had abated, so she was actually able to concentrate…though for only five minutes at a time. She kept looking at the door at every sound outside, knowing full well it wasn’t Finn, but she was eager. Desperate to see him. To take care of him.

  “Just a few more hours. That’s all.” She pulled her earbuds out of her pocket, plugged the jack into her computer, and queued up some music with a driving beat.

  “That’ll cover up the sounds from outside,” she said to herself.

  But it didn’t stop her from looking.

  NINE

  Graciella woke, hot and sweaty, and found her computer perched at a precarious angle atop her lap. She righted it as her eyes focused on the room around her, and sat up. It was still dark, but there was no Finn.

  She woke up her computer and read the time in the status bar. It was well after midnight.

  She threw off the covers and patted around for her phone, finally finding it wedged between the sofa cushions.

  No new messages.

  She let out a ragged breath and drummed her fingers on her thigh a moment as she thought. “Maybe they got hung up at the gate.”

  That happened every now and then when wolves passed in and out of the community. There was almost always a wolf minding the gatehouse, and sometimes, the reunited packmates ended up shooting the shit for a while before the returning party went about their way.

  She left the computer on the sofa, stuffed her feet into her sneakers, and grabbed her keys. Lisa proba
bly wouldn’t have been panicking yet. The full moon was approaching, and with her wolf so energetic and eager to get out, by the end of the day, she would have been exhausted. She usually turned in early the couple of nights before the full moon, and if Graciella were lucky, Lisa would be knocked out when Graciella got home.

  Graciella cringed and picked up her pace when she spotted the lights on in the Baylor house. Pretty much all of them. That meant Lisa was up, Colt was probably up, and Leticia, too.

  “Fuck.”

  Jogging nearer, she heard the shouting. Lisa. Colt.

  Anton?

  Christina, too.

  “Fuck,” Graciella repeated, and dug deep for a little more speed.

  She ran through the wide-open door and tried to make sense of the chaos. So much yelling, so much posturing.

  And there was Finn in the corner, ashen-faced and wearing the sheen of sweat across his brow.

  She started through the gauntlet for him, only to be picked up by the waist and set back. “Hold up,” Colt said.

  “Let me go!”

  “Just wait. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on here.”

  “I told you what was going on,” Christina said softly. “This isn’t a consent issue at all. She claimed him.”

  “I wanted it,” Finn said, and as he dragged his shirtsleeve across his brow, that cheek started twitching. So close to the full moon, that inner wolf of his was going to be restless. It would be harder for Finn to be still.

  Graciella could help him.

  “Colt, let me go.” She scratched at his forearm, to no avail.

  “I was at the gate tonight when they got back,” Lisa said, and then turned to Christina. “We agreed that we weren’t going to condone this. We all said that new arrivals—all of them—needed time acclimate. The men hadn’t been around people in so long, and my sisters were just too fucking young to even think about wolf relationships.”

  Christina put up her hands. “I didn’t condone anything. In fact, I counseled Finn to keep his distance for a while.”

  “It’s not up to you,” Graciella said. She tried in vain to wriggle out of Colt’s grip.

  He was an unmoving statue, and hardly bothered by her inconsiderable physical strength.

  “This isn’t what I brought you here for,” Lisa said.

  “What isn’t? Me loving someone? That’s my choice, and I can’t turn that off just because you think I shouldn’t. Colt, let go of me.” She kicked him as hard as she could, which made him sigh, but he put her down.

  She pushed through the wolves—Lisa, Christina, and Anton—and ran to Finn in the corner. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hissed, “Hold me, damn it,” when he was slow to return the embrace.

  He was shaking hard and his energy was so frenetic that it was hard for her to hold on, but she did. She wasn’t going to let go of him like so many others in his life had.

  Finn slipped his hands up the back of her shirt and rested his forehead on her shoulder. “I’m so tired.”

  “Graciella,” Lisa warned. “Step away from him. He’s unstable.”

  “Stay away from me,” Graciella said. “Just—just stay back.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to find an opening in Finn’s energy—a way beneath it so she could squeeze her way in and dissipate the mess that he couldn’t filter out on his own.

  She sought out his inner wolf and its familiar, wild energy and imagined she was hugging that wolf hard. It let her, because like Finn, it was tired, too. He wanted to shapeshift, but he wanted to rest even more. He needed help to rest.

  “Let’s go home,” she whispered. “Just hold my hand and let me take you home.”

  “They’re—”

  “You let me worry about them. You just worry about me.”

  He let out a weak laugh and dragged his palms down her spine. “Can’t hardly worry about anythin’ else.”

  She pulled him by the hand toward the door, casting a glower at anyone who dared to move so much as a muscle. “If you want to argue about this,” she said over her shoulder when they were at the door. “Do it tomorrow. Let Alpha mediate it. It’s not up to you. Finn’s my mate, and you can scream about it until you’re blue in the face, but it’s not going to change anything.”

  Lisa furrowed her brow and opened her mouth, but Graciella slammed the door on her words.

  “Let’s go home,” she said to Finn, who was still shaking but managed a discernible nod. “Leave the trouble for tomorrow.”

  He straightened up more the longer they walked, so he was propping her up as much as she was doing the same to him. As they passed the greenhouses, he glanced over his shoulder, and then down at Graciella. “You shouldn’t have come in there like that.”

  “Why not? I didn’t want them carrying on and arguing like it was your fault.”

  “It kinda is.”

  She stopped and let her arm fall from his shoulder. “What are you talking about?

  He shifted his weight and rubbed his eyes. “I’m the older one. I’m supposed to know better.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “That maybe they’re right, and this shouldn’t happen. Not yet.”

  “You don’t get to decide that.”

  He dropped his hands and shoved them into his pockets. “I think it’s half my choice.”

  “You can’t just flake on me like this. We—”

  “We should’ve been good. We should’ve done what they said. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

  “You didn’t have to touch me for me to want you.”

  “I know. I was the same way. But—” He scoffed and hung his head. “I don’t want to be the reason you don’t get a degree, or a good job later on. You keep carryin’ on with me, what you are now is all you’re ever going to be.”

  “Who told you that? Was it Lisa?”

  “No, honey, she ain’t got to. I know the score. I love you, and I want you to be someone. We can’t—” He shook his head again. “No, I can’t. I can’t do this to you. I’m sorry. Go on home and get some sleep.”

  He started up the path without her, and she stared at his back, agape.

  Did he just…

  Yes, he had. He’d dumped her.

  She didn’t even know who to be mad at. She just knew that she was.

  And she knew she couldn’t go home.

  She started toward the town square. She hated relying on the kindness of strangers, but maybe the queen’s aide would put her up for the night. She’d always said that Graciella should come to her with anything she or the other wolves needed, and Graciella had never taken her up on it, thinking it’d just been polite lip service.

  Now it was either impose or go to Norseton’s one hotel, and she didn’t even know where her wallet was. It was either at Finn’s or her sister’s house. At the moment, she had no drive to go to either place to fetch it, and for the first time since moving to Norseton, Graciella had no place to belong.

  TEN

  Finn opened his eyes for the third time in an hour to find the chieftain Oliver staring at him through the SUV’s rearview mirror.

  “Sorry,” Finn muttered and straightened up in the backseat. He was losing bits of consciousness here and there, which wasn’t unusual for him with his wolf so close to the surface—though lately, his tendency to lose time was more disconcerting than usual. Not even his forced shift for the full moon had done much to slake his animalistic energy. He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he had to fix it before Alpha chewed him out, or worse—he lost his job.

  How was he going to be respectable if he couldn’t keep a job? Graciella wasn’t going to want him if he didn’t have steady income.

  Not that she wants me anyway. Especially not after he’d left her on the path like he had, and how he’d cowardly delivered her belongings to her sister’s doorstep in a cardboard box.

  He didn’t know what else to do, though. He could have fought for her, and he would have, but maybe those other fol
ks were right. If he really loved her, a few years wouldn’t make a difference. He’d give her the time and space to bloom instead of cutting her off at the stem before she had a chance to bud.

  But what about me?

  Ollie pulled the SUV over at a gas station and got out. His aunt Maggie, seated in the shotgun position, turned to Finn. The old lady was in the process of relocating from her old home in Fallon, Nevada, and Finn was on her small security detail. Probably, nobody would mess with her with Ollie around—he was six and a half feet tall and could hit a bulls-eye with a throwing ax with his eyes closed, probably—but they didn’t like to take chances with her, or any of their ladies for that matter. Apparently, the women of the Afótama and their distant cousins out in Fallon had tendencies toward recklessness.

  “You know, wolf,” Maggie said, “I’ve got a lot of kooky psychic mess I use to scare kids like you all the time, but none of it helps me figure out what in Odin’s name is wrong with you.”

  “I’m a’ight. Don’t worry. Not gonna let nothin’ happen to you.”

  “I know you’re not going to let anything happen. You’re going to shapeshift if there’s trouble, right? And you’ll fight dirty if you have to. I don’t have any concerns about my safety, especially not with Ollie around. I’m talking about you. Something’s eating you up. Maybe I can help you fix it.”

  “It ain’t nothin’ that a few years can’t fix.”

  “That means you’re either terminally ill or heartsick. Which is it?”

  Finn snorted. “Terminally ill might be easier. At least that way, I wouldn’t have to look at her and she would just move on. It’s torture.”

  “I haven’t spent much time around wolves, to be honest, so I don’t know what your mating practices are like, but let me tell you something about my people.”

  He sat up a little more and leaned forward, curious.

  “When our gods are in the mood to favor us, they sometimes send us dreams about who’s right for us. Happened to him.” She canted her head toward Ollie, who had his back to the passenger door and was watching the gas pump’s digital display.