The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise

by Emilia Hartley

  He knew it probably wasn’t the best idea to stir up anything so soon before the meeting, but seeing Lucy lying naked before him with a hunger in her eyes that only he could satisfy, his body had seemed to move on its own.

  Her legs parted easily with the slightest beckon of his hands, his lips and tongue dancing playfully along her leg as she stifled another breathy moan. He took that first, almost tentative taste of her, her body shuddering animatedly in reaction as a small squeak of pleasure slipped past her lips.

  They were going to be so late.

  He dove between her legs with renewed fervor, sliding his tongue up and over her clit as she quaked against him. Dan could tell she was trying to stay quiet, but each gasp and moan came quicker and a little louder than the last as he teased her closer to the edge with his mouth.

  Every sensation that he pulled from her sent shivers down his spine; his bear rose up in anticipation as he coaxed small noises from her throat, and he could feel himself hardening eagerly as she begged him for more with her eyes.

  When Dan was sure that she couldn’t take much more, he nearly leapt on top of her. He’d worked both Lucy and his bear into a fit of want and need; the heat in her eyes matched perfectly with the fire he felt from his bear within. Both turned that lust directly on him, and he felt like he’d been set ablaze.

  Still, he couldn’t help but grin. “You know, if we take too much longer, they’ll start to get suspicious,” he teased softly. Despite his words, he’d already begun lightly pressing his erection between her legs.

  “I don’t care,” she gasped, curling her hands around his biceps as he gripped her hips. “I need you, Dan. Please.” It wasn’t often that Lucy begged, and it sent a thrill through him.

  With an eager groan, Dan slid enthusiastically into her deep wet center. Her nails dug slightly into the flesh of his arms as he thrust, a cry spilling over her lips that was a little too loud for comfort.

  She flinched slightly as he grinned. “You think they heard that?” she asked with a sheepish smile.

  Dan beamed, leaning down close to her ear. “We’ll find out when I’m finished with you,” he growled, pulling away briefly before pushing inside of her once more.

  He moved at a slow rhythm, careful not to lose control of the pace. He loved watching Lucy’s expression intently as she physically restrained herself from making too much noise, the small pants and squeaks only adding to the building pressure within him. Everything about her was electrifying as their bodies married over and over again, each losing a little more control every time he pulled away.

  Lucy sighed long, frantic gasps as he pumped himself into her relentlessly, one hand clasped tightly over her mouth in an attempt to keep things quiet. Her hips rose to meet his in perfect time, her legs beginning to quiver with the first threat of orgasm.

  She pulled her hand back from her face to reveal supple lips puckered and slightly red from how much she’d been biting them. “I’m close,” she whined, biting down yet again on her already tender lip.

  “Me, too, babe,” Dan bit out, already losing the rhythm he had set up for them. He gripped the pillow above her head, giving her reddened lip a little nibble of his own before immediately pounding into her as he quickened the pace.

  He drowned her cries of satisfaction and desire in his kisses, no longer holding back. Her nails found solace on his back, digging in hungrily as she bucked and writhed against him, each moan catching prematurely in her throat as they approached bliss together.

  Her growls reverberated in her chest, sending shockwaves of excitement through Dan and directly to his bear. It rose on hind legs as Dan reached the precipice of satisfaction, roaring loudly inside of him as the first wave of climax crashed over them both. He and Lucy cried out in unison, meeting their sweet release at the same time. Neither bothered to keep their pleasure and love for one another silent, the echoes of their shouts seemingly ricocheting off of the room walls.

  As they collapsed in a pile of post-orgasmic bliss, Dan chuckled. “You know they’re not going to let us live this down, don’t you?” he asked, trailing a light finger down the sheen of sweat that covered her stomach.

  She smiled up at him, still slightly breathless. “Worth it.”

  After a quick cleaning up, both scrambled to affect some form of calm as they stepped out into the office area of the shop. Almost immediately, they saw the knowing glances on each face as they looked from pack member to pack member.

  At first, no one spoke, and then Tom chuckled. “Couldn’t have picked a better time to make a move, Big Guy?”

  Savannah gasped and lightly smacked his arm. “Tom!” she chastised, but couldn’t hide the giggle in her own voice.

  Dan could feel the blush of embarrassment already creeping up his neck. He shrugged despite it. “Can’t plan passion, eh?”

  Tom laughed. “Apparently not.” He grinned over at Lucy. “Though it’s nice to know he’s treating you well, Lucy. For a while there, I was afraid this clumsy fool might end up crushing you.”

  “Tom!” Savannah and Jo both admonished in unison this time, but it lost its impact with Savannah’s now openly wide grin and the way Jo had both hands held up to her mouth to hide a smile of her own.

  Dan’s mouth fell open as a blush washed over Lucy’s cheeks. “I’ll have you know I work really hard to keep my clumsiness out of the bedroom,” he rebutted.

  “Well, there was that one time…” Lucy began averting her gaze to hide a tentative smile of her own.

  “Hey whose side are you on?” Dan accused, though now even he was grinning. Lucy didn’t seem nervous or apprehensive around everyone anymore. She looked… happy. She was going to fit in with the pack just fine.

  “Alright, guys, alright,” Nick finally chimed in, trying and failing to hide his own amusement as he brought the conversation back around to the topic at hand. “I know we’re all having fun, but I rallied us here to share news.”

  He waited until the giggles and chatter subsided before he continued. “It’s nothing big, or even too important for the time being, but it warrants a bit of preparation on our part.”

  He looked from face to face. “Now that we’re all here and…” his gaze slid teasingly over Dan and a short fit of soft chuckles broke out amongst the group once more, “… decent, I need you guys to listen and plan accordingly.”

  Dan shook his head in mock disappointment. “Even you, Nick?”

  Nick shrugged with a brief grin. “You give us so much material, it’s almost too easy. If you provide a feast, even I can’t help but eat a little.” He looked out over everyone else. “But all of that can wait until afterwards.”

  “Alright, bro, you can tell them the news now,” Tom replied, wiping away a bit of his smile. “It’s about our reinforcements, so it really is important, guys.”

  Dan’s ears perked at the words. Last he knew, Nick was still having trouble securing reliable back up in the event that Forest Haven and the Northern Wind went to war. Had something changed?

  Nick nodded. “Yeah, specifically about our lack of any reliable reinforcements.” He looked over at Dan. “To your knowledge, how many battle ready bears do you think Lucas had before you left?”

  “Not many,” Dan replied immediately. “Lucas wasn’t exactly lenient with his training. At best, it bred bears like me. At worst, he broke them. Very few made the cut. If I had to guess, I’d say… maybe a couple dozen?”

  “More now, given the strange bears from the battle,” Savannah added. Dan nodded.

  “And that’s not counting my brother and whatever kind of trouble he may have brought with him,” Lucy chimed in. “We didn’t make too many connections on our travels, but we can’t be too sure about anything now that he has the support of a pack. He’s never been a bigger danger than he is right now.” Dan saw the worry churning on her face as she turned to Nick. “For both your—our—pack, and the humans of Woodhaven.”

  “The humans?” Tom parroted. “Is there something w
e should know?”

  Lucy began to shake her head, but stopped. Steeling her gaze, she answered, “Dom hates humans. He sees them as a sub species. I don’t know how Lucas operates when it comes to the people of this town, but I’m afraid that with the backing of a pack as large as you say the Northern Wind is, my brother might just stop caring about lying low.”

  “Are you saying that he might try out his shifting ability on humans?” Nick asked.

  Lucy shook her head. “I’m saying that he has the potential to kill as many humans as possible and he’s not afraid to prove it.” Lucy shuddered and Dan wrapped a comforting arm around her.

  Jo blanched at the declaration. “Kill us?”

  Dan could see the apology on Lucy’s face as she turned to Jo. “In a heartbeat. It… it wouldn’t be the first time.” She shook her head. “I’ll explain all that later, but the point is that humans seeing him or any one of us shift is such a small means to his end that you need to think bigger. It’s not about ousting shifters to the masses. It’s about starting his revolution. He wants a world were bears rule, humans serve, and he’s above it all on a throne wielding the ultimate power over all of us.”

  She sighed, and Dan saw a bit of her old guilt creep back into her gaze. “With Dom here, no one is safe.”

  “Do you think Dom stands a chance against us?” Nick asked, eyes firm.

  Lucy looked from Nick to Tom, then at Dan before turning back to the alpha. “Maybe not back when he was alone, but now he has the backing of a pack. Even with our two alphas, I honestly think it’s anyone’s game.”

  “What about four alphas?” Tom proposed.

  “Four?” Dan repeated aloud. “What do you mean?”

  “It means that this meeting is about reinforcements, and I think I finally found a few,” Nick answered with a brief satisfied smile before rubbing the back of his head a bit ruefully.

  “I’ll admit, I was getting a bit nervous when pack after pack of our distant acquaintances kept turning down the plea for help. I guess I knew it was a long shot, given how personal the request was; packs don’t really operate that way. Even still, I’d thought our father’s old ties would have found us a few helping hands ages ago.”

  “Apparently the honor of old ally bonds don’t mean much after you’re dead,” Tom spat, heat in his eyes.

  “Nothing worth worrying about now, brother, “Nick continued. “All that matters is that we finally found some people willing to help. A pack of four—even smaller than ours—but they have two alphas and are willing to lend a hand however they can.” He shrugged. “Better late than never, I say.”

  “That would make our numbers ten, while like Dan said, they have at least dozens on their side,” Savannah retorted. “Do you honestly think we could handle their worst with such miniscule reinforcements?”

  Nick shrugged. “We won’t know until we try. Four alphas are nothing to sniff at, and I’m sure you guys remaining can back up our plays well enough that anything is possible.”

  Lucy nodded. “Nick has a point. Even Dom takes a second to think things through when alphas are involved. If he has a weakness, it lies somewhere in there.”

  Nick nodded, and Dan saw something tense loosen in his shoulders. He could only imagine how stressed his pack leader must be feeling right now. “Okay, that’s good to hear. Thank you, Lucy.”

  He gazed over the rest of his pack. “I know it doesn’t sound ideal; trust me, it’s far from it. But it’s the hand we’ve been dealt. We’ve faced worse odds and came out on top. I have faith we’ll do that again.” A small hopeful smile tugged on his lips. “We’re stronger than we look, otherwise Lucas would have won a long time ago. Don’t forget that.”

  He stood, stretching high as he wrapped things up. “So with that said, they’ll be packing up and heading our way before we know it. It’s our responsibility to keep them properly accommodated.” He turned to Lucy. “There’s an old dusty house in town that isn’t seeing much use these days. I was wondering if our official Interior Decorator would be willing to head a renovation attempt in preparation for our future guests?”

  “You mean Lucas’s old place that I stayed in back then?” Savannah asked, nose wrinkling. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  Tom shrugged. “It’s not like he’s going to call the constable and have us evicted. We’ll change the locks, reinforce the doors and windows, and add the house to our patrol route.” He grinned. “Call it a spoil of war.”

  Lucy nodded. “If that’s what you need me to do to help out, I can do it. The office is pretty much finished up and I’ve been wondering about how to take on a new project anyway.”

  Nick smiled. “Good to hear. You’ve only got about two weeks.”

  “Dan, that means no more early morning anti-clumsy practice for you,” Tom quipped.

  Dan groaned, but hearing Lucy’s chuckle, he couldn’t help but think that everything was going to be okay.

  I hope you enjoyed books 1, 2 & 3 of my Alpha Bear series! Book 4 will be out soon! Turn the page to read the first 3 books of my Mountain Wolves Series!

  Protected by the Mountain Wolf

  Emilia Hartley

  Chapter 1

  Amara loved to walk at night, beneath the light of the full moon. Not that she was allowed to. She couldn’t count how many times her grandfather had forbade her to be out at night. Wolves, he said. Wolves were everywhere. And they were dangerous. Once, that might have been true. In fact, she knew it was, since just three years before, one had killed her father. But that had only spurred the hunters in town to action, killing off every wolf they could get their hands on in retaliation. Since then, the sleepy town of Strathford was nothing more than a boring mountain town just trying to survive until tourist season.

  Still, it seemed like Grandfather hadn’t gotten the memo. She was still expected to be home before dark, still expected to listen to every little warning he had. It was like he thought the wolves could think like humans or something. She loved him more than she could say, but sometimes, she thought the old man was crazy.

  What harm could it do to be out at night beneath the stars? He couldn’t hold her captive forever. As she gazed out at the surrounding houses, she thought she caught movement across the street. Was there someone up there? She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes, before looking again. No, no one was there. She must have been imagining things.

  “Amara, what do you think?” her friend Zoe asked, jarring her from her reverie. She and Becca were staring at her, their hands shoved into the pockets of their coats against the cold.

  Amara stared at them, hastily pushing her thick, dark hair from her eyes and straightening her red wool coat. She had no idea what they’d been saying. “What do I think about what?”

  Zoe gaped at her. “What do you mean about what?” she exclaimed, exasperated. “About Brad! Don’t you think he was into Becca? I mean, honestly, he couldn’t stop staring at her tonight.”

  “Oh, right.” Amara forced a smile, trying to ignore her friends’ incredulous stares. “I’m sure Zoe’s right, Becs. Brad’s totally into you. I mean, the diner is pretty small, so I doubt he was staring at anyone else, right?” Truthfully, she hadn’t been paying attention to Brad at all. She’s just happy she had managed to sneak out and enjoy her freedom tonight. Whether Brad was into Becca or not just didn’t matter all the much to her at the moment.

  Her friends, on the other hand, didn’t appear to approve. Zoe put her hands on her hips and glared at Amara, as if accusing her of not being a good friend. Becca looked more hurt than anything else.

  Amara scuffed the ground with her shoe, feeling slightly ashamed. She knew Becca had been crushing on Brad Hendricks since like, eighth grade. And if he really did like her back, then this was huge, and she was a horrible friend not to notice.

  “I’m sorry, Becs,” Amara murmured, reaching out to rub Becca’s arm in apology. “I wasn’t really paying attention, but I did notice him watching you all through
dance practice yesterday. Besides,” she threaded her arm through the other girl’s and the three of them began to walk again, “you’re awesome. He’d be stupid not to like you.”

  Becca’s face lit up with hope. “You really think so?”

  “Of course I do.” Amara caught Zoe’s gaze. From the look in her eyes, all was forgiven. “Although, he is a guy. It may take him a lot longer to get over himself and figure it out, but once he does, he’ll realize he should have started talking to you years ago.” All three girls began to laugh.

  From somewhere in the dark, Amara thought she heard a growl. Fear gripped her, and suddenly, Grandfather’s voice was in her head again, warning her about the danger of wolves. She shook herself. She was being silly. There were no wolves in Strathford anymore. But a howl in the distance made her freeze. “Did you guys hear that?” she whispered, but her friends took no notice. It must’ve been a coyote or something, she reassured herself. Nothing more. Still, she caught herself glancing over her shoulder, almost as if she were expecting to see a wolf standing in the street.

  “Are you okay, Amara?” Becca asked, concern written all over her face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Amara took a deep breath and shook her head. She was being ridiculous. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel as if she were being watched.

  Chapter 2

  Up on the roof of a nearby house, Nova crouched by the chimney and watched the girls as they walked down the street. Two of them were cute enough, but it was the dark haired one in the red coat that really caught his eye. There was something in the way she moved, the way she smiled, that intrigued him. And out of the three, she was the only one that had heard the wolf’s howl. He wondered what she looked like up close, what she smelled like. How soft her skin was, and what it would feel like to hold her hand.