Winter Tails: A Limited Edition Winter Shifters Collection

by Fox, Piper

  Grandpa was still here, though. He still had his wits, and he seemed to believe her. Something never really added up. Her mom kept her and her sister away after her third divorce. She blamed Gran for an awful lot, but it never really seemed fair to Mallory. Mom didn’t know that she’d kept in touch over the years, even if it was only through phone calls and letters.

  Mallory honestly didn’t care. Her mother was a mess, and sometimes she wondered if the things she said weren’t to deflect against her own faults. No woman went through husbands like water without some major issues.

  One being that she was pretty sure that one of these legendary guys had possibly broken mom’s heart. Mallory’s eyes flicked back to the very naked bear-man’s junk, and she couldn’t help but feel a strange hunger within her. A heat stirred between her legs and suddenly the snow didn’t seem very cold.

  Yeah, she could see how a man like this could ruin you for all the others.

  Remembering how any man could ruin things, such as a damn job promotion, pushed aside the annoying heat swirling within her.

  The more she took in the muscles of his chest down to his tapered waist, maybe stopping too long on his chilled abs, and the huge muscles cording in his arms, the harder time she had remembering why she hated men again.

  She also couldn’t figure out how her mouth worked. What had he just asked? She nodded to whatever was coming out of his lips. Maybe she’d use him for once. At least he was a walking fantasy.

  Mallory nearly jumped when he’d picked her up.

  “You can put me down,” she scolded.

  Could he feel her heart nearly jumping from her chest?

  No. Of course not.

  She hadn’t expected him to come and grab her. He lifted her like she was some petite thing, and she knew damn well that wasn’t the case. She was fine with her body, but she wasn’t dense enough to think she was the size of some starving model.

  His hands felt strong around her as he helped her stand. Her ankle twinged as she put weight on it. Oh, for shit’s sake. Like her head wound wasn’t embarrassing enough, now this.

  “Are you okay?” the man’s deep voice purred over the wind.

  Ha. Of course, he sounded sexy as sin. Why wouldn’t that be her damn luck? She could imagine his voice in a bedroom. Deep and seductive. And why the hell was she thinking about him like that?

  Probably because he was naked and holding her. Or maybe it was the head wound’s fault.

  Mallory had been mentally prepared to hop on one foot, in a snowshoe to the tree a few inches from them. She hadn’t been ready for his strong arms to lift her and her body was slowly catching up that this was happening. Between his inhuman strength, the smooth sexy of his voice, and her own obvious attraction, this was a recipe for everything that wasn’t supposed to happen.

  “Stand here for a second. Don’t freak out when I shift, okay? Same bear as before, same guy. You can do that right?”

  Do that? Sure. She could do anything. It wasn’t like she hadn’t known there were men out there that shifted into animals. Mostly. But now, staring at him, all those rumors and stories didn’t even come close to how beautiful these men were.

  She bit her lower lip, trying to keep her hormones from combusting as her body heated with every move of his muscles. He turned away and his perfect ass only encouraged every nerve ending in her body to misfire.

  Her back straightened as he shifted in front of her, the giant bear reemerging.

  “Same man. Same bear,” she chanted. Her heart didn’t get the memo, and neither did her lungs. She couldn’t remember how to breathe as the beast walked up to her and settled next to her.

  Same man. Same bear. Okay. Same man. Same bear. She was fine. This was fine. She was smart. She’d just remember the man under the bear. Her body liked that idea and warmed all over again.

  The bear nudged her arm.

  Aww. That seemed kind of cute.

  She placed a hand on his head and scratched. The bear closed his eyes, seeming to like it.

  Mallory hesitated, realizing she was petting a bear. No, a hot guy. No, this was most definitely a bear. But, still. Oh, hell. This was weird.

  The bear pulled away and nudged her thigh this time. Right. She was supposed to climb on. Okay. She hopped forward and nearly fell as the toe of her snowshoe dug into the powder.

  Her bear’s head caught her. Oh, damn. Did she just call him hers?

  “Thanks. I think,” she mumbled.

  Righting herself, she meant to put one foot forward but stopped. Instead, she squealed and fell back against the tree as the bear sniffed at the juncture of her thighs.

  “No. No. Bad bear,” she scowled as the bear’s chest vibrated with what? Laughter?

  “You keep that snout out of my crotch. Heathen.”

  The bear snapped at the air.

  “Oh, you don’t like that, do you? Then you keep that nose in your own business.”

  Sticking her nose in the air and keeping her head high, she managed to get to the bear’s back and grabbed his hide.

  God, was she really going to ride him? Choices, choices. Bruised head, sore ankle, lost snowshoe, stuck car. Yes. Yes, she was.

  Only, where exactly would he take her?

  He lent a paw out, forcing her on. Forced maybe was a strong word. But he certainly didn’t seem to trust she’d get onto his back on her own.

  Maybe right now, she’d just go with the odd bear guy and see if he had a phone. He hadn’t killed her yet, and she doubted most murderers would care enough to ensure her safety.

  Mallory had the worst instincts in men, which was why she had thrown herself into her career and why the disappointment of failure hit her so damn hard.

  Fine. Murderer or not, what did it matter? She was alone and obviously not worth promoting. Take her away.

  Chapter 4

  His massive paws hit the porch, and Ryan’s bear eyed the door.

  He’d never had this dilemma. How did he get the female off his back? His bear grumbled.

  Ryan supposed if he shifted, she’d jump off. Hopefully she was smart. Of course, if he shifted, and she didn’t, she’d learn quickly just how much he wanted her. That seemed legit, right?

  The bear fought for any idea that would lead to mating. He protested the shift, hating giving up his time with her. Damn it, he hated his beast sometimes. A few more seconds of fighting his own soul, and he finally won. His bear gave her one last look, his massive head turning in time to see her slink back away. Well, at least she was getting off.

  He shifted as the heat of her legs disappeared, leaving him longing for something he hadn’t realized he truly wanted—a mate.

  Why her, though?

  He turned around as he rose on two human feet and glared at her. “Come on,” he said. He gripped the door handle, pushed, and breathed out of his nose, trying to ignore the fact she hadn’t looked at him and now she wasn’t following.

  “Are you coming or not? Right now, I don’t have the patience to wait for someone stalking me.”

  That got her attention. He sniffed the air against his better judgment. He couldn’t fight the bear’s want to smell her again. Ryan smirked as her flowery scent mixed with the spicy scent of anger. Crazy investor lady didn’t like that, did she?

  “Excuse me? I’ll have you know that I wasn’t stalking anyone.”

  He held the door open against the sting of the wind.

  “Look lady, we can talk about this once you are in here. In case you didn’t notice, the wind’s a bit cold and I’m not exactly protected by my hide right now.”

  She glared. “Oh, I’m sorry. Please let me hobble over to you so you can go cover your tiny little boy bits. Fine.”

  She took a step forward and nearly fell.

  Shit. He’d forgotten. Or rather, he kept getting distracted between wanting her and wanting to kick her off his mountain.

  Leaving the door, he went to her.

  “No. Don’t touch me. I’d hate to inconv
enience you again.”

  This time it was his turn to glare. “You’re on my mountain. I think your very existence is to annoy the shit out of me. Now stop and let me carry you in.”

  She held her chin high as she went to take another step. His porch was all of five feet across, and at this rate it was still going to take her an hour.

  He took her power of no away when she nearly stumbled.

  Her breath caught, the quick gasp not escaping him as he caught her and lifted her, pulling her into his body.

  He sniffed the strands of hair resting against her shoulders, pulling her in tighter regardless of necessity.

  “You’ll just have to yell at me as I carry you in, then.”

  She huffed but didn’t stop him. The spicy scent in the air died down, and he wasn’t sure if it was pain overriding her anger or maybe she was warming up to him. Probably not the latter.

  He didn’t understand how she got off being angry at him when she was on his territory and he’d still saved her ass.

  His cock twitched at the feel of her warmth in his arms, even with her overstuffed coat.

  The fire burning in her eyes as she tried to fight him fueled his imagination. He could imagine what it would feel like to have her beneath him, screaming out his name as he buried himself deep within her.

  He wanted to see her flushed pink as she screamed out his name.

  Fuck. He shook his head as he carried her into his cabin that was suddenly proving to be way too fucking small. Her scent practically filled its tiny space as he kicked the door closed. Or maybe it was the fact he wasn’t sure he could get far enough away from her to forget her scent.

  He looked around the space. Tonight did not look good for him to get a restful sleep.

  Blowing out a breath, he laid her down on the only flat surface he had. His bed.

  Yeah, this was going to be a long night.

  Ryan did what he could to ignore her, looking at her jeans down to her boots.

  “It was this ankle, right?”

  He pointed to the one without a snowshoe as he removed the other shoe dangling off the edge of his bed.

  She nodded and his damn cock twitched again as he watched her bite her full bottom lip. No. He would not let this vulture seduce him.

  Probably.

  His hands might have run over her calves a little too slowly before removing her boot, skimming the naked skin above her sock. He needed a damn distraction.

  “Let me guess, your car is the one blocking the driveway right now?”

  She nodded, looking up at him.

  “What were you thinking coming up here in that tiny little car? Don’t you know anything?”

  This time it was her turn to growl. His bear liked the sound of her attitude.

  “I was thinking that it was the only car I own and that maybe someone would plow a driveway. I should have known this shitty little town didn’t plow anything.”

  He smirked, ignoring her slight at the town. He had no love for this place other than he could get the hell away from the city when he needed to.

  “Oh sweetheart, perhaps you’re just confused on what kind of plowing this town has to offer.”

  Her mouth gaped.

  “Was that some kind of crude joke?”

  Ryan shrugged. “Offer, joke. You decide.”

  His fingers moved over her ankle once more, his touch running over her skin, going higher up her pant leg than necessary.

  She was quiet. His eyes met hers, and his hands paused. Slowly, he ran his fingers back down to her ankle.

  “Ow,” she yelped.

  He ran his thumb and forefinger over the tendons and gently flexed her foot as he cleared his throat.

  “Nothing looks broken. We’ll wrap it and see how it feels tomorrow.”

  She growled at him. “I never said it was broken. It just hurts.”

  The fluff of a pillow blindsided him.

  “What the fuck, lady?”

  He grabbed the pillow, and she tried to pull it back for what he assumed was another wind up.

  “That hurt, I said. Stop touching it,” she said.

  He stood up. “Fine. Done touching it. You could be more grateful that I saved your ass and gave up my bed for you.”

  The anger corded around him, his muscles tightening in response. Walking to his small kitchenette, he poured some water on a rag to clean the small scratch on her forehead that appeared to have stopped bleeding.

  He took deep breaths. One. Two. Three. Fuck this shit. He didn’t need to please some woman trying to buy him out.

  On his third deep breath he nearly sputtered. The air still smelled of her flowery scent, but something else. Anger? Yes. But something new. Something sweet.

  Fuck. Arousal. Her arousal.

  His cock twitched. How was he supposed to think with that in the air?

  Turning around to face her, her face flushed as he met her eyes.

  “Could you put some pants on?” she said, her voice breathy.

  He watched as her cheeks ran pink.

  His cock jumped at the idea of her full breasts, something he was sure he’d find under that coat. From what he could tell, they were more than a handful.

  “Why would I put pants on?” He started toward the bed again.

  Her mouth opened on a gasp.

  “Should it be doing that?” she asked and pointed at the massive hard-on he couldn’t hide even if he had pants.

  He shrugged. “He can do whatever he wants. Especially when he sees something he wants.”

  He almost chuckled as her eyes grew wide, and he heard her suck in a breath. She sat up and took off her coat.

  “Hot. It’s warm in here.” She licked her lips.

  Wrong move. His cock only jumped in excitement at the idea of those beautiful lips stretching around his shaft.

  Fuck.

  Ryan thought he should go stand in that damn snow. Being in here was taking all his fucking logic and throwing it to the wind. No, his damn cock was growing heavy between his legs and taking up all the blood they had. His brain wasn’t functioning on half the ration it got.

  He thought he was playing with this little corporate snitch and instead he was sure he was losing. He never liked to play a game he didn’t know he could win, and right now he wasn’t sure he could walk away from this.

  Mine. His bear growled.

  Chapter 5

  Mallory couldn’t look away from the muscles, or rather one particular one. She’d felt the power in the bear. But he was so much better in human form.

  She licked her lips as she remembered running her hands over his chest as he’d carried her in. She didn’t understand his anger toward her and she couldn’t reason how, even though she didn’t want or need a man, this one had her damn near drooling.

  Lord, it was hot in here. She pulled at her hat and at the neckline of a sweater that suddenly seemed like the worst choice ever.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice deep and grave.

  “Nothing. I mean, it’s hot.”

  She was doing whatever she could to not self-combust. That was what she was doing. If he didn’t stop looking at her like that, though, she wasn’t sure anything would help.

  He nodded, but there was something else written on his face. Something in his eyes.

  The look in his eyes awakened something. The way the heat pooled between her legs said she wasn’t against giving him what he wanted. Although her mind was on board with hating him and all the other men in the world, her body didn’t agree.

  He took a step closer and her mouth went dry. Her eyes drank him in inch by inch, catching at the massive length between his legs.

  “Wha-what are you doing?”

  He smirked, his voice low in response. “What are you doing?”

  She shook her head slowly. She had no idea what she was doing.

  So hot. It was too warm in here. Mallory swallowed.

  “You’re on my mountain. In my bed,” he said. She drew i
n a long breath of air as he leaned over her. His lips nearly touching her ear. His words tickling against her skin. “So I ask you again. What are you doing?”

  Her mouth went dry as the heat rolled off his body. She flinched as his hand raised to her brow.

  “Just a rag, little snow bunny. The big bad bear won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice low as his eyes flicked to the gash on her head.

  “Oh,” she said.

  Breathing was hard with him this close. Every time she drew in a breath, his woodsy masculine scent filled her and her body did things that made little sense.

  He pulled his hand away from her forehead.

  “Better?” he asked.

  What did he ask? He was too close.

  “I’m hot,” she squeaked.

  His arms rested on either side of her shoulders as he hovered over the side of her at an odd angle.

  “Perhaps you should take off that sweater then?” He cocked a brow as he pulled his head back where she could see his eyes. The chocolate brown of his eyes pulled her into whatever dark promise he offered.

  She remained frozen.

  “Do you want help?” he whispered, as the heat of his thigh burned through her jeans.

  Wait, when had he climbed on the bed? Holy crap, what was he doing to her mind?

  She moaned as his fingers found their way under the hem of her sweater, grazing her bare skin.

  “Is that a yes?” he asked.

  Mallory tried to form one coherent thought. Nothing made sense, and she didn’t care. He could pull her down into this strange, wintery world.

  His touch burned a trail of need over her stomach.

  “Yes.” The only word she could mutter finally broke free.

  Mallory swore a growl vibrated through his chest, but she wasn’t exactly sure her ears were working. Nothing made sense right now except his touch. She wanted him to touch her. If he had had a shirt on, she would have wrapped her hands in the fabric and pulled him down.

  Instead, she reached for him, framing his face with her hands.

  “Yes, what?” he asked.