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

by Élianne Adams

  “I'm gonna go for that run,” she told Liza, ignoring the understanding and knowledge in the other woman's gaze.

  She couldn’t have known about Kade, but she'd probably researched Finley enough to know about her and Dane. It's what Finley would have done in Liza's position. She didn’t say goodbye, just turned, left the clearing, and headed for the perimeter fence. She found a storage box and stripped off her clothes, boots, and weapons to stash them inside. Going from human to wolf, morphing those bones and muscles and skin, was uncomfortable and she took a moment to settle into her changed from before taking off. Setting a fast past, she considered her options.

  She could stick around, see how serious Dane and Kade were. Maybe they were just having a casual affair. That wouldn’t be at all out of character for a lupine. Her heart tripped a beat when she realized it would be for Dane, however. He was intense and powerful and didn’t trust easily. Who could blame him? He'd been forced to grow up quick in the cold magical world, and after his father's death he'd set about changing it. The last Finley had heard, he now controlled what was left of the Magical Council and had brokered peace treaties with most of the lupine packs in North American. Their races might no longer be enemies, but she guessed Dane still had plenty. So, no, he wouldn’t do casual.

  Where did that leave her? She couldn’t stay in the cabin with them so close. She had a couple friends so could crash with and her grandmother's couch was always an option, but maybe she'd be better off heading into town. Redemption wasn’t far, in the event she was needed, and she could catch a movie after dinner. If she could have groaned in wolf form, she would have. Liza's dinner invitation was more an order than an invitation, and she knew it. Hell, under the circumstances the paladin might even offer her a room in her house. She turned and headed back to the cabin. After she cleaned up she'd go find Liza. It was time to explore those options.

  TWO

  Dane followed Kade into the cabin and looked around for signs of Finley. He knew she wasn’t there. He'd sense her presence if she were and Harper had already told him she was helping with Christmas party prep. If he had anything to do with it the celebration would be for more than the holiday, though.

  “I can see you thinking. And worrying,” Kade said.

  He offered his lover a weak smile. “I haven’t seen her in two years. Harper says she's still processing what happened in Waterford. I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

  “Good luck with that,” Kade said, grinning. “You tend to intimidate most people.”

  Dane scowled. He was right, though that hadn’t been a problem with Finley before so it probably wouldn’t be now. He had no way of judging how she'd react to mating, though. Maybe she'd be all for it. Maybe she'd balk when she realized she wasn’t just getting him but a lupine who was stronger and more dominant than her. Neither she nor Kade could stay in Redstar much longer, though, and Dane wanted Finley bonded to them before they decided what to do next.

  Kade had some offers from packs whose beta's wanted to retire but didn’t have a member who could take their place. One of them was from the Freegate alpha, Sutton Langston. He'd made it clear he wanted Finley back in the fold too and had assured Dane and Kade he had way to influence her if necessary. Dane was damned curious about that but the lupine had flat out refused to explain himself. He'd also like to know why Finley hadn’t already joined what was left of her old pack. Neither went in Sutton's favor in his recruitment efforts. Kade liked him well enough, had known him for years, but Dane only considered Freegate an option because of its proximity to his home in Virginia. If Finley wasn’t interested, he'd have to find an acceptable place to relocate.

  Sighing, Kade stripped his shirt off then unsnapped his jeans. “I think I'll go run while you work out your master plan.”

  “How can you be so blasé about this? You aren’t the least bit worried?”

  Kade reached over, gripped Dane's shirt, and pulled him closer. “You worry enough for both of us, babe. She's our mate, which is miracle enough, but that we found each too? This is all going to work out. I know it.”

  He was so sure, maybe Dane should just let things fall out as they may, but it went against his nature. He liked plans and back-up plans and all the information he could get. They shouldn’t even be in this position. He could have bound Finley too him long ago, but he'd sensed her reluctance. Her trepidation. She hadn’t wanted to accept she was his mate so he'd decided to give her space and time to come to the realization on her own. It frustrated the hell out of him that she hadn’t yet. Even more irritating, he hadn’t had any helpful visions on the matter. He was usually very accurate but everyone he had of them had a different outcome.

  Kade kissed him, gripping his hips as he rubbed his hard cock against Dane. As always, his body responded even though his mind had just been focused on something else. Kade had a habit of doing that and Dane sure as fuck wasn’t protesting. Breaking the kiss long enough to rip his shirt off, he reached for the button on his jeans as he sensed Finley enter the house. Kade smiled into his eyes and turned to face her. Dane did so more slowly. It had been so long since they were this close and he wanted to savor the moment.

  She was flushed, breathing as hard as they were. He had a sudden flash of her knocking someone down and later running in wolf form. She was surprised to see them, but he found it hard to believe no one had warned her of their arrival. He should have done it himself but he didn’t want her to have enough notice to make herself scarce.

  “Shit! Sorry. Didn’t know I was walking in on a live sex show.”

  She still didn’t have a filter for her mouth. He hid a grin as he looked her over. Her hair was bright red and several inches longer. He'd guess she hadn’t cut since they were together. Was there any secret meaning there? Probably not. She had it pulled back in a pony tail that almost reached her waist. She shoved her hands in the back pockets of her snug jeans, which showcased breasts concealed by an equally snug sweater. It was unseasonably cold for north Florida, still too warm as far as he was concerned. He'd be glad to get back to a place with real seasons, wondered for a moment if Finley had already adjusted to this milder climate.

  “Well it is my cabin. Maybe I should charge a door fee,” Kade said while he was distracted.

  “I'm Finley Saren.”

  “From Waterford. I know.”

  “Christmas came a few days early,” Kade drawled.

  Dane watched her suck in a deep breath at the sultry invitation in Kade's voice. The flush on her pale skin deepened. He couldn’t scent her emotions but he didn’t need to. He felt them. After her initial rush of arousal she grew cautious and turned her gaze from Kade's to him. He didn’t like her guarded expression but he could work with. At least she wasn’t fleeing the scene.

  “Hello, Finley,” Dane said. Anticipation surged through him. Finally, his mate was in reach. “It's been a long time.”

  — — —

  His smooth Virginia drawl made her whole body clench, the memories made her nerve endings sizzle. And his eyes…While there was invitation in Kade's gaze, the look in Dane's could only be described as carnal intent. She'd been on the receiving end of it before. Then he turned back to Kade and she deflated. The scent of desire in the air, tangy and intoxicating, didn’t have anything to do with her. Well. Alrighty then. She'd had a fleeting little fantasy of getting between them, and the fact she was still seriously considering the possibility scared her a little. It was a good thing they weren’t offering. Or a crying shame, she thought, staring at them standing together. Two bronze gods haloed by the afternoon sun streaming through the window behind them. Kade smirked back. She was surprised he remembered her, even more surprised that the impression he'd made on her teenaged hormones hadn’t diminished one damned bit. She had to leave. Too bad she didn’t have time to pack a bag. Maybe she could sneak back in later.

  “Well, I'll get out of your hair,” she said, trying her damnedest to hide her embarrassment.

  She was almost bac
k through the front door when she scented Kade at her back. He grabbed her elbow and tugged until she faced him. She tried to yank free, a futile effort, and had to tilt her head back to glare at him which was just irritating.

  “Let me go,” she clipped out.

  “We didn’t ask you to leave, baby.”

  His words were gently spoken, not at all like the hard dominance in his eyes. He'd be demanding in bed, taking total control. Her wolf side wasn’t so sure about that, and neither was the human. She'd been fending for herself since she was a teenager and her parents had died suddenly. No, that wasn’t exactly true. She'd already been looking after those weaker than her. It was an integral part of her personality now. A matter of pride, especially after Waterford. She never wanted to depend on anyone again, like she had her fellow soldiers. Knew how fragile life was and conflated asking for assistance or even comfort with weakness. She knew it was unreasonable. Ridiculous even. The shift in her thinking had come about before she'd left Waterford land, and it wasn’t likely to change. There was something about Kade that convinced her he didn’t let a woman who shared his bed hold back. The idea that such a woman could protect herself probably didn’t even occur to him. She'd say the same about a male lover if that lover didn’t happen to be Dane. He wore deadly like a shield and for a second she wondered how long he'd been that way. Did it start when he was a teenager? Earlier?

  “Maybe not.” She struggled to keep her tone light and easy. “But it's better if I go.”

  Kade slid his hand up her arm to her collarbone, his long nimble fingers stroking over the racing pulse in her throat. His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply, and she could imagine him cataloguing her emotions. Desire, wariness that bordered on fear, yearning and irritation.

  “If you leave we'll just follow you.”

  “So I run, you chase?”

  She made it sound like a joke, but there was an intensity in his gaze now that made her shiver. So much possessiveness. He blinked and the expression was gone. She didn’t even try to pretend she'd imagined it and fought down panic when he moved around her to lean back against the door. There was no escape. Growing irritated and wondering if Dane could get his lover to back down, she turned to ask. He met her gaze with warm amusement.

  “Kade can be an immoveable force. He wants you to stay.”

  But what did Dane want? And what about what she wanted?

  “I want you to stay too,” he continued, and she had to remind herself that while she remembered him as a skilled lover he was also a powerful mage.

  Dane had not only changed the magical world but its relationship with the lupines. Once fierce enemies, the two factions were now wary friends. There were always exceptions of course, hard liners on both sides. Kade and Dane had been working together the last couple of years to at least forge peace treaties between groups who lived too close for comfort. That suggested they knew how to compromise, understood when they weren’t going to get their way.

  “Finley, sweetheart, stay awhile,” Dane said.

  Gods, that drawl. He could string a bunch of nonsense words together and seduce her with his voice alone. It didn’t seem fair and her lack of self control pissed her off. She considered making an excuse to get to her room and sneaking out her window but dismissed it as ludicrous and humiliating. Better to confront them, convince them she wasn’t interested, and find someplace else to crash while they were on pack lands. She crossed under the archway that separated the living room from the kitchen and got a beer from the fridge, twisting the top off before taking a long drink.

  “Rough day?” Dane asked.

  She shrugged one shoulder. “Long, but uneventful.”

  That wasn’t true, but he didn’t need to know that, right? She already felt raw and exposed seeing them together. There was no point in adding to it. She had plenty of distraction here to take her mind off the challenge earlier and her precarious future. The scene she'd barged in on hadn’t gone that far but the two men in her living room were tantalizingly bare-chested and winded from their aborted kiss. She also couldn’t help but notice both were unbuttoned and sporting two impressive bulges. She wouldn’t mind getting up between them one damned bit. Kade, who she realized was way too dominant to stay in Redstar full time, gave her a cocky grin. He was cute and teasing. He was higher than her in the pack's hierarchy so she was a little surprised she hadn’t got a snarled response when she interrupted them. She hadn’t missed him asserting his place either. Yeah he'd joked, but he'd made it clear this was his cabin. She'd just been using the spare bedroom while he was out of the territory. He stared at her but before it could begin to make her uncomfortable someone banged on the door.

  She took a deep breath, scented Liza as Kade reached the door. She strolled in, her power a pulse in the air, and looked around until her gaze settled on Finley. She held a white envelope in one hand, tapped in against the heel of the other. Finley stared at the envelope and Liza held it up when she noticed.

  “You want to explain to me why Sutton Langston is hand delivering letters for you to my front gates?”

  Damn it. She still had time before he could start making ridiculous demands. Demands he knew she'd refuse, so what the hell was he up to? She held her hand out for the missive.

  “He's probably reminding me of an old family arrangement. One I have no intention of honoring.”

  She felt the weight of Liza's stare as broke the seal and pulled out a single piece of paper. She had to give Sutton credit for style. It was heavy linen fiber, cream colored, with his name in a clear straight forward font across the top. The message was brief.

  Meet me at 7 this evening for dinner. We need to discuss the betrothal our parents arranged. Don’t make me come looking for you, Finley.

  Kade snatched it from her hands. She hadn’t even noticed him and Dane come to her side.

  “What the hell is this about? You're engaged?” Kade snarled.

  “This is what he meant. His leverage over her.” She'd never heard Dane sound so cold. It freaked her out more than it should. He wasn’t hers anymore.

  “You talked to Sutton about me? Why?”

  “He needs a beta. And a paladin,” Kade clipped out, crumbling the note in his hand. “We'll go with you. Sutton needs a few things explained to him.”

  “Why don’t you start by explaining things to me,” Liza ordered.

  She felt Kade's control slip and reached out for him without thinking. Closing her fingers around his wrist gently, she looked up at him and shook her head once.

  “Don’t worry, baby. I'm not going to do anything stupid,” he said softly.

  She sensed his dominance but it was leashed again. She knew how frustrating it was to always have to be on guard around people with higher rank but not necessarily stronger.

  “Tell us about this engagement,” Dane demanded, fury burning in his eyes. “When did that happen? You know you belong to us, why would you agree to marry someone else?”

  She stopped breathing. He knew. He knew but he'd never come back for her. “You left,” she whispered.

  “You needed space. Time. I gave you that but I will not allow this,” he said, indicating the ball of paper Kade still clenched. With a grimace of distaste he tossed it to the garbage pail.

  His words suddenly sank in. “Allow? I'm not one of your people, Dane. I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”

  “Y'all can hash that out later,” Liza interrupted, not hiding her amusement. “Talk. Finley first.”

  She sighed. “Our parents were friends, Sutton and mine. He's a year older than me, and when I was born they thought it would be just great if we ended up together.”

  “You have two mates,” Kade growled. “How did they plan to deal with that?”

  Two mates. Dane and Kade. She ignored the way her stomach somersaulted at the declaration.

  “The idea was if neither of us were mated by my twenty-eighth birthday, we'd get married.” She snorted. “But we were raised together.
We used to be as close as siblings.”

  She'd put the distance between them when he'd left to form Freegate.

  “He doesn’t want to marry me anymore than I want to marry him. He wants me in his pack.”

  She'd ignored his calls, texts, and emails. That might have been a mistake. She'd never expected him to pull a stunt like this.

  “Why aren’t you in Freegate already?” Dane asked. His tone had thawed thankfully.

  “We can talk about that later. Why did you talk to Sutton? You said this was leverage.”

  In a few days she'd probably find it hilarious. After she found Sutton and kicked his ass.

  “He offered you his beta position, didn’t he?” Liza asked Kade.

  “Did he now?”

  Finley narrowed her eyes. His was going to try to drag her back into fold whether she liked it or not,and give her position to someone else? He needed a beta and paladin, Kade had said. She'd assumed Sutton wanted her back as beta. Would think making her paladin instead was a form of punishment except it wasn’t his style. No, he'd simply seen Kade was more dominant and made adjustments to his plan.

  “You should take it,” Liza said when the silence stretched.

  “Freegate isn’t the only pack that needs a beta, or that will in the near future,” Kade said calmly.

  “I'm glad you've looked into it.” Liza sounded relieved.

  “Worried about me?” Kade joked.

  “Redstar is your home, but it's not good to always have to fight your nature. Freegate would be a good fit for both of you.”

  Finley felt walls closing in around her. “What about those options you mentioned earlier?”

  Liza studied her and she resisted the urge to squirm. “Freegate is the only pack I know of that needs a beta and paladin.”

  Like Kade and her mating was already a done deal or something. She stared back at Liza until the woman sighed.