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

  SUGAR, SPICE, AND SHIFTERS

  A Touch of Holiday Magic

  Including EXCLUSIVE NEW stories from:

  Élianne Adams

  Calle J. Brooks

  Rinelle Grey

  J.K. Harper

  Loribelle Hunt

  Ellis Leigh

  Anna Lowe

  Eris Sage

  Vivienne Savage

  Bethany Shaw

  Kristen Strassel

  Elle Throne

  Holley Trent

  Catherine Vale

  Lori Whyte

  SUGAR, SPICE, AND SHIFTERS

  A Touch of Holiday Magic

  Ring in your holiday season with all-new holiday shifter stories from today's hottest paranormal romance writers. From the sweetest of mating claims to the spiciest of holiday wishes come true, this set has a perfect present for every reader. Whether you’ve asked Santa for wolf shifters, werebears, or dragons, this box set of ALL NEW holiday tales from bestselling authors gives the best gift any lover of paranormal romance could want: a little naughty n' nice with a whole lot of sugar n' spice.

  SUGAR, SPICE, AND SHIFTERS

  The Stories

  Claiming Their Christmas by Ellis Leigh

  from the Feral Breed series

  Desert Yule by Anna Lowe

  from the The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch series

  Maker by Holley Trent

  from the Norseton Wolves series

  Claimed by Heart by Eris Sage

  from the Dragon Bond series

  Healing Christmas by Bethany Shaw

  from the Wayward Wolves series

  God of Nightmares by Calle J. Brookes

  from the Dardanos, Co. series

  Celebrate Me by Kristen Strassel

  from the Sawtooth Shifters series

  Bringing Christmas to the Dragons by Rinelle Grey

  from the Dragon Ruins series

  Fascination by Elle Thorne

  from the Shifters Forever After series

  Snowbound at Solstice by Lori Whyte

  from the Mannix Dragon Shifters series

  Furever Yours by Catherine Vale

  a Stand-Alone BBW Romance story

  A Beary Merry Christmas by Vivienne Savage

  from the Wild Operatives series

  Mated By Christmas by Loribelle Hunt

  from the Redstar Werewolves 4 series

  Solstice Wolf by J.K. Harper

  from the Black Mesa Wolves series

  Her Gingerbread Dragon by Élianne Adams

  from the Dragon Blood series

  Claiming Their Christmas

  Feral Breed Motorcycle #6.5

  Ellis Leigh

  Beast of the Feral Breed has been blessed with much over the past year, but guilt still lingers in his heart. As the crew comes together to celebrate the holiday season, friends step in to remind their brother that bonds run deep in the Feral Breed, and sometimes you have to let go of the bad to truly receive the gifts you deserve.

  ONE

  “This wasn’t exactly what I meant when I said I couldn’t wait for the baby to go to bed, cariño.”

  Calla huffed a quiet laugh, rubbing my thigh as she rested her head on my hip. “Just keep growling, hot stuff. You’re the only thing keeping her from screaming right now.”

  I did as I was told, wishing once more that I could be alone with my sexy mate to give her a proper present—a naked one that would make her quiver and gasp. The kind of present that would allow my mind to stop spinning and release the anchor of guilt tied around my soul. Something more memorable for the two of us than the boxes of toys I had stored in Phoenix’s garage for Ali’s first Christmas. Memorable for the parents, at least.

  Christmas…a celebration of the birth of Christ in the Christian religion. I hadn’t participated in the holiday since the death of my parents, too far removed from the faith they’d taught me as a child. Hell, there weren’t many shifters who celebrated the holiday at all, but Calla loved it. When your mate wants twinkly lights and a fir tree and presents, you get that shit with a smile. The rewards for turning your living room into a scene from Elf are well worth the trouble. My human mate looked amazing spread out on red velvet under that tree with the golden light from the bulbs shining down on her, naked except for one large red bow. Stunning. She’d knocked me metaphorically on my ass that night and had been able to keep my mind focused on nothing but her for hours.

  But the grief, it always came back, and with it, the suffocating sense of guilt. I sometimes wondered if Calla felt it as strongly as I did through our bond, but that led me down a path of self-hate and destruction. A vicious fucking circle with only one way off that I’d found…giving everything up and focusing solely on sex with my mate.

  Sadly, Ali wasn’t cooperating in my plan to lose my mind in naked adult time. Whether the baby was teething or it was something more that I hated to think about, we didn’t know. But our almost-one-year-old had been whiny and crying for most of the day. My wolf clawed at the edges of my mind, desperate to calm his baby, which only added to the stress of the situation. We’d tried walking, driving, bouncing, snuggling, and pacing—all to no avail. Aliyana would not be soothed. So we were lying on the couch, me growling for her as I had when she was a newborn, her finally passed out across my chest. Not even close to naked adult time. Nowhere near a peaceful interlude.

  “I wish I had the camera, but it’s upstairs. I’m too tired to go up two flights just to come back down and maybe have to do it again.” Calla shifted closer, wedging herself between my body and the back of the couch and moving her head to my chest beside Ali’s. A favorite spot of hers since we’d bought the new piece of furniture. Or, as she would specify, I’d bought the furniture. Not we.

  “You know,” I started, cautious, “maybe we should—”

  She shook her head, not allowing me to finish the statement she knew was coming. “No.”

  “Cariño,” I said, keeping my voice soft and sort of…accommodating. “We could be so much closer to Phoenix and Zuri. Ali and Sorrel could grow up as neighbors.”

  “Are you ready to admit why you want to move so badly?” she demanded.

  My growl turned to what sounded suspiciously like a whimper, the tone of her voice cutting. The baby jerked on my chest, so I ignored my own needs and growled again. Low and deep, keeping her calm. Keeping her asleep. This trick had worked since she was a newborn, and it made me slightly nostalgic to know my growl still soothed her. That I still had some kind of ability to make her feel comforted and safe. That I at least could make one person happy.

  “Maybe she’s cranky because she’s teething.” I patted the baby’s back, keeping my voice extra soft. Completely ignoring the direction Calla had turned the conversation…as I always did. “It might not be her bond.”

  Calla again crawled up along the back cushions. I inched over, giving her room to lay beside me with her head on my shoulder. Her hand joined mine on Ali’s back.

  “I love you, Bastian, but you need to deal with this.”

  “Stop it, Calla,” I said, my growl growing louder, still refusing to follow her lead on this conversation.

  “Fine.” She tilted her head to put her chin on my chest, almost glaring at me. “I’m not ready to give this place up yet. There’re too many memories of my family here. Memories of you and Ali. We’re not moving.”

  “We take our memories with us. They
don’t live in these walls.”

  “If you’re going to be stubborn, then so am I. We stay.”

  I huffed and focused on my growling. Same damn fight since we got home from Merriweather. Since the war that took away my biggest fear…and brought me my greatest guilt. But it wasn’t just that, no. It was also the fact that, in October, our entire lives had changed. Aliyana’s life had changed…forever.

  Fucking Phoenix. I loved the kid like a brother, but he’d totally thrown a wrench into things. Well, not him. His son.

  From the moment Aliyana had seen baby Sorrel, they’d been almost inseparable. Aoife and Jameson had come up for the birth, the necromancer sitting us down to tell us more about Amber’s actions before the war. About what she had done, purposely, to force us to act in one way or another. How she’d manipulated us. Something I felt like a bastard complaining about because she’d given her life to save mine. But that history was secondary to the main issue at hand. Aoife had come specifically to confirm what we’d guessed. My daughter and Phoenix’s son were mated.

  Shifters finding their mates practically at birth wasn’t all that common, but it had been known to happen in packs. I hadn’t been prepared for it to happen to my daughter, though. One look, and the two were linked forever. Aliyana and Sorrel would be the closest of friends until they reached adulthood, then that bond would turn to more. Turn to what I had with Ali’s mother. What I clung to with every fiber of my being, even as something tried to pull me away from her.

  “This conversation isn’t over,” I murmured, not wanting to fight again.

  “For right now, it is.” Calla elbowed the back of the couch, huffing. “I hate this thing. I wish you wouldn’t have gotten rid of the old one.”

  I sighed, exhausted by the conversation. Fuck, I’d never gotten rid of a piece of furniture so fast in my life as I did when we got home from Merriweather after…that day. Just looking at the couch I’d had, the one I’d been sitting on when Amber had done what she’d done to force me after Calla, had nearly made me sick. Had filled me with a sense of grief and guilt and rage so strong, it’d been impossible for me not to be swamped by my own emotions. I’d picked that couch up myself and tossed it out the back door without a word to my mate about why I’d flooded her bond with such ugly emotions. And so had started the fighting between Calla and me as I pleaded with her to move out of the townhouse and she refused. I’d win it someday because of Ali, because she needed to be closer to her mate. With Phoenix down on the island and us in the city, the kids occasionally had bouts of crankiness because the distance stretched their connection. It was hard on all of us, but Calla wasn’t ready to let go just yet. My mate was exceptionally stubborn when she wanted to be.

  Ali reached up in her sleep, her chubby hand finding its way into my beard. She scratched and grabbed, pulling as she had since she was just a tiny little thing. Every tug, every squeeze of her fingers, melted my heart that much more. I’d fought for her, killed for her, and I would keep looking out for her. She was my tiniest blessing, and I just wanted her happy. I wanted both my girls happy…something I was failing miserably at with Calla.

  Ali jumped when the phone rang, waking up with a startled cry. I growled louder and patted her back, shushing her as Calla rushed to silence the offending device.

  “Hello?” she whispered, moving into the hall.

  I looked down at my princess, those big, dark eyes meeting mine. Tear-filled eyes.

  “Don’t be sad, princess.” I sat up and cuddled her close. “Daddy doesn’t want you to be sad. Why don’t you rest, little angel? Go back to sleep.”

  But I knew that wasn’t about to happen. Even from where I sat, I could hear Phoenix’s son screaming on the other end of the phone. Apparently, they weren’t having an easy night either.

  “Really?” Calla asked, catching my eye as she came back into the room. “Yeah, Ali’s been crying for hours as well. We thought maybe she was teething, but if he’s just as upset…”

  I sighed, my shoulders slumping as Ali let out a wail. “Tell them we’re on our way.”

  Calla stopped talking, staring at me with wide eyes. “What?”

  “They’d better have the guest room ready, because it looks like we’ll be starting the holidays there early.” I stood with Ali still cuddled to my chest. We’d planned to spend Christmas with the Tacketts out on the island anyway, but that was supposed to start on Christmas Eve. I’d been looking forward to one last night in my own home, in my own bed with Calla wrapped around me. But perhaps this would give me the chance to get our friends on my side and talk Calla into moving down by them. If I could grow the balls to make eye contact with the witch.

  “Zuri? We’ll be there soon. Yeah. Okay, bye.” Calla hung up, watching me carefully. “I don’t know if this is the best idea.”

  “What else can we do?” I bounced Ali as she cried, my heart breaking with every sob. “Let’s hurry up and pack. I can’t stand to listen to her be so upset.”

  Calla smiled, all soft and sweet and heartbreakingly sexy. God, I missed those smiles. They’d become so rare in the past few months. She stepped forward, rising on the balls of her feet to reach me. “I know things have been difficult, but you really are the best father in the world.”

  I grunted, deepening the kiss when she tried to pull away, stealing a little bit from her while I could. “Remember that the next time you’re pissed at me.”

  She pulled away, a sad sort of expression on her face. “I’ll try.”

  Forty-five minutes later, we walked up the path to Phoenix and Zuri’s cottage along the river. Zuri answered the door, a sobbing sound coming from a bundle of blue and green in her arms. But it was the sadness in her eyes that made me pause, that dropped a lead ball of guilt right down in my gut.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, looking frazzled and grief-stricken. And exhausted. Completely…worn out. Something that was partially my fault.

  “We totally understand,” Calla replied, kissing Zuri’s cheek before she walked inside. The little witch smiled gratefully as her son quieted. Ali had been quiet for the last two miles we’d driven, probably sensing the bond between them better than the baby.

  Ignoring the guilt burning a hole through my stomach wall, I nodded at Zuri, unable to look at more than her chin.

  “Merry Christmas,” I said as I followed Calla through the door. The house was beautifully lit, all golden light on dark wood. A fire crackled in the fireplace, warming the space visually and literally. A true home for the young couple and their family.

  Family…minus one.

  Phoenix appeared from the kitchen, looking more tired than I’d ever seen him. “We wouldn’t have called—”

  “No apologies or reasons needed,” I interrupted, the words heavy on my tongue. “This may not be the ideal situation, but at least we’re all family. Family deals with shit together.”

  “Beast?”

  I stiffened at the sound of Zuri’s voice behind me, unable to turn around. “Yeah?”

  “Just…thanks.”

  I nodded, not ready to speak again. Not willing to look in those eyes and see that pain, know I put it there, that her grief was my fault. Calla placed her hand on my arm, supporting me in her own way. She had to feel what I felt, had to know how much I hated myself for what I’d done to Zuri and Scarlett. That knowledge was just another brick in the wall of my failings. I filled my mate with feelings of failure on a daily basis, especially around our friends. And I had no idea how to stop it without breaking my bond to her. Something I was far too selfish to even contemplate. Calla was my world, my true love, and the thought of losing her terrified me.

  More guilt, more grief, more anger, just…more.

  “How about we let these two try to sleep,” Calla suggested, taking Ali from my arms and giving me a break from the tension. I smiled, thankful, wishing there was some way I could close the distance that was growing between us. Knowing how badly I needed her in my life.

  Phoenix
and I followed as Calla and Zuri carried the babies to the nursery. Green walls and white trim greeted us, a small mural of a field with rolling hills on one wall. I’d painted the room with Phoenix, the two of us working side by side to finish the prep before his baby was born. We’d assembled furniture together as well and made sure Zuri was as happy as could be with every detail of the room. It was the absolute least I could do considering how I’d killed her sister. Not directly, but still…my fault. All my fault.

  “Here you go, princess.” Calla laid Ali in the crib as I fought to focus on the present and not lose myself in past mistakes. Ali turned on her side, her eyes locked on the bundle in Zuri’s arms. Gummy smile firmly in place.

  “There’s your friend,” Zuri said. The second the baby saw Ali, he cooed and reached for her. The two calmed immediately, their little hands touching, their heads coming together as their eyes closed. Two fated mates reunited, comfortable in their contact, their bond blocking out all the distractions of the day. A sensation I knew from experience and needed again…soon.

  Once the babies were settled, the ladies left to prep a room for Calla and me. I stayed next to Phoenix, the two of us looking over our little ones. Both growling low and soft. Protective but soothing at the same time.

  “They are kind of cute together,” Phoenix whispered.

  “She’s cuter with her daddy.”

  He chuckled. “Jealous, man?”

  “Wouldn’t you be? She’s my daughter, my baby girl. I almost lost my shit when the battle at Merriweather kicked off and I knew Calla and Ali were there without me. I thought after the fight was over, after I killed Aaric and his so-called pack was disbanded, that we’d get some peace. A little time to be a family. But then here comes your son, all cute and little and destined to own her heart.” I shook my head, my eyes locked on my sleeping princess. “I love him, and I’m happy that they’ll grow up with each other as friends, but it sort of sucks, man.”