A Shifter Under the Christmas Tree Read online

  Max couldn’t have stopped the hungry growl that rolled through his chest if he’d tried. His bear was all for going for it there and then, but then his beast was a wildling and didn’t understand the concept of a knee to the balls.

  Max would prefer that not happen again.

  “Nice save, but wouldn’t it have made more sense to go for tree and not me?” Kaylee asked.

  Yes, she could see the funny side of it, but she was also battling her own demons and trying not to yank him towards her and kiss him – but that kiss would only have been out of pure curiosity – like a science experiment, she lied to herself.

  “I…”

  That was as far as Max got before the door to the cabin was tossed back on its hinges, and the rush of cold air, a whistling wind, and snow raced in. They snapped a look towards the door in unison, just as someone covered in snow stalked inside, and with a flick of the wrist – slammed the door behind her.

  “Oh no,” Kaylee muttered, but she hadn’t meant to do it, it was just the first thing that raced through her mind when she felt that familiar magic in the air.

  Talk about embarrassment – talk about timing – talk about annoying – there stood three in one.

  Maybe it could get worse, no, she was sure it just got worse.

  “Hello sister,” Chloe said, tossing back the hood of the thick padded jacket that swamped her frame, and she shook off the snow like a wet dog. “Something you want to tell me?” Chloe asked with a wicked smile that seemed to stretch upwards to the mischief dancing in her eyes at the situation Kaylee found herself in.

  “Oh yeah,” Kaylee bit out in annoyance. Then she placed her hands against Max’s chest and used a jolt of magic to throw him and the tree free and clear of her.

  Kaylee scrambled to her feet as a rush of anger swept through her. She clenched her fists at her sides, narrowed her eyes, and let Chloe have it. “You are the most irresponsible person I have ever had the misfortune to know in my life to date – and as for being a mother … Pah! Your son almost got taken into care because the school reported your latest absence from his life, and we had to hightail across the country before the powers that be got involved!” she spat out all in one big breath that in all honesty, she felt as if she’d been saving up Jackson’s entire life.

  Max pushed up to his feet and felt the weight of what had been bugging him lift from his shoulders – she had a story, but it wasn’t what he’d expected. He did, however, find himself with a sudden rush of anger for Kaylee’s sister at the story that he’d heard.

  What kind of a mother could do that to her son? Jackson was better off with Kaylee and him, and he’d protect the both of them from whatever, or whoever might try to hurt them.

  “Well, hello to you too,” Chloe said as if the whole speech hadn’t just happened and was nothing more than a greeting.

  She started to peel off the layers of wet clothing and dump them in a pile by the front door.

  “This is not ok,” Kaylee bit out as anger seethed inside of her.

  Chloe turned what was supposed to be a charming smile on her sister – she’d been practising that same smile since the day she was born, but Kaylee was wise to it now, and her sister had gone too far this time – risking Jackson’s wellbeing for her own selfish ends.

  “And that’s why I’m here,” Chloe said as if nothing that had happened so far had fazed her. “I’ve brought legal papers, signed off by a friendly Judge who succumbed to my powers of persuasion that allow you full guardianship of Jackson until further notice…”

  “Friendly Judge? Full Guardianship?” Kaylee said, shaking her head with disbelief as she tried to wrap her head around what her sister was saying, but one thing stood out among the confusion. “Further notice?”

  “Yes, yes, and yes,” Chloe said as if it was a simple transaction that happened all the time.

  “You’re his mother,” Kaylee bit out, disgusted at her sister, and yet grateful that Jackson’s future was settled and they wouldn’t have to keep running.

  “I remember the pain of childbirth and have the stretch marks as proof of the event…”

  “The event?” Kaylee tossed back. “Are you for real?” She put her clenched fists on her hips and glared at her sister.

  Oh, how she wanted to shake some sense into her.

  “We both know that Jackson is better off with you…”

  “You’ve got that right,” Kaylee snapped. Then she took a long, deep, calming breath in – that didn’t work and breathed it back out again. “But, you’re still his mother.”

  “And one day I’ll be in a position to be his mother…”

  “When you lose your looks and remember that family is more important than fun?” Kaylee snapped.

  “Ouch,” Chloe said, but she didn’t look even remotely bothered by the accusation. “But I am here to deliver his gifts and…”

  “Deliver his gifts?” Kaylee said, taking a step towards her while trying to hold back her temper. “How did you even get here in the snow?”

  “That’s what magic is for,” Chloe said, and it was true that her sister was better at controlling the elements that Kaylee was, but even so – that was a lot of snow. “And I’ll be leaving the same way…”

  “Leaving?” Kaylee demanded an answer before she lost the plot completely and delivered some witchy home truths to her wayward sister. “What the hell?”

  “Tonight, I have somewhere to be…”

  “Chloe!” Kaylee snapped, and all rational thought except one left her mind. She raised her hand, yanked open the front door with her magic and blasted her sister out into a pile of snow on the porch. “Let me help you with that!” she snapped and tossed the door closed again.

  Max stood in silence as he watched most of that exchange in disbelief. When Kaylee turned to him, all red-faced and with anger sparking in her eyes, he held his hands up to his broad chest in mock surrender. “Team Kaylee all the way,” he said and watched all the fight go out of her in one long breath.

  “Was that my mom?” Jackson’s voice snapped Kaylee into action, she turned on her heels and found him standing in the entrance to the room, all sleepy-eyed and confused, and her heart went out to him.

  Damn it to hell, but she wasn’t going to let Chloe ruin his Christmas.

  With a flick of her wrist she used her magic to yank open the door once more, and she felt no sympathy for her sister, who stood there looking as if she wanted to return the favour, with her chin angled down and glaring from beneath her long eyelashes and a whole lot of snow at her.

  The fact that Chloe was covered from head to toe in snow made her feel only slightly better. “Merry Christmas, Jackson!” Kaylee announced with as much fake excitement and holiday cheer as she could manage.

  The moment that Chloe heard her son’s name, she snapped out of wanting to kill her sister and plastered a smile on her lips. She stalked into the room, slammed the door behind her, and her eyes searched for Jackson.

  “Merry Christmas, Jackson,” Chloe said as the boy rushed to her, collided with her lower body and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could. That moment stabbed at her heart.

  “Mom!” Jackson buried his face against the snow-covered sweater and held on for dear life.

  Christmas had just come early in his book.

  He knew she’d come. In fact, he’d wished for it to happen, and not just any wish, he’d used magic to get here.

  That was why it had to be this town. That was why they had to stay, and that was why she was never going to leave him again.

  Jackson had been practicing, and so far, every time he’d used his magic to wish for it she had called him on the phone. The last time had been different, he’d put everything he could into bringing her home to him for Christmas.

  He’d got his wish – or – most of it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ~

  Chloe bent down onto one knee as Jackson ran through one question after another. “Jacks, I can’t stay
for Christmas, but…”

  “She’s here now,” Kaylee announced. She wasn’t about to let her sister break his heart again. The very least she could do was stay the night. “And I have somewhere to be.”

  Chloe’s head whipped around, and the speed at which Kaylee was pulling on her outdoor clothes and boots rendered her momentarily speechless as a million thoughts shot through her head. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go down – she had somewhere she needed to be and that somewhere wasn’t in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. “Kaylee…”

  “Watch a movie, eat some popcorn, and crash out on the sofas,” Kaylee said, just before she yanked open the door to a blast of icy wind and the rush of snow.

  Maybe leaving the cabin wasn’t the best idea, but if she didn’t do it, then her sister would, and that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Kaylee…” Chloe bit out in annoyance.

  “Don’t suppose you want to share your snow go away spell?” Kaylee tossed behind her.

  “Wind,” Chloe said, but before she could say anything else, Kaylee grabbed a handful of Max’s sweater and yanked him out into the snow with her.

  The thud of the door closing and the sudden sound of silence in the cabin brought everything back into perspective. Like it or not, she was spending the night.

  “Popcorn?” she asked, looking down at Jackson’s upturned face and getting the feeling that boy was wise far beyond his years.

  “And hot chocolate,” he said as if it was expected.

  “And why not?” Chloe said.

  She wasn’t going anywhere until Kaylee came home, she might as well make the most of the time she had with her son.

  ~

  “Tell me again how this is a good idea?” Max called through the howling of the wind and the constant barrage of snow into his face.

  The storm had really picked up, and he was sort of glad that they hadn’t tried getting to his mother’s cabin for dinner. They would have been stuck there all night with his family because who would be stupid enough to go out in a snowstorm?

  Apparently, they were.

  Kaylee was just fine-tuning her magic in the hope that she could, at the very least, keep some of the snow from them – it seemed to be just a case of push and push some more against the wind. It was kind of cool – like she had an invisible wall just ahead of her that was protecting them from the worst of it, and she thanked her sister for that.

  Of course, she couldn’t wrap them in a little bubble, as she’d first tried to do the moment that they stepped out the door because that would take too much magic, maybe even another witch working together, but it was working for now.

  “Trust my sister to find a way around everything, even Mother Nature,” Kaylee muttered to herself, grimacing at the sight of his pickup truck covered in snow.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Max said. He didn’t need to be a genius to read her mind, and he could practically see the cogs turning. “Just because your sister appears to be an idiot, doesn’t mean you have to try it.”

  “Fine,” she said, tipping her chin up in defiance. She wasn’t going back inside and admitting defeat, because he was right, her sister was an idiot, and she’d be out the door in a heartbeat. “We’ll walk…”

  “No, we won’t,” Max bit out in disbelief. A human and a snowstorm didn’t go well together. “And where were you planning on going?”

  “She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Town would be closed, and it was too far away, she didn’t think her legs could hold out on a long-distance walk like that, but then maybe they didn’t need to. “Where’s your parents cabin?”

  “Oh no,” Max said, shaking his head. He’d escaped that special torture for the evening, and he wasn’t about to turn up on their doorstep. “Not as close as mine…”

  “Perfect, we’ll go there,” Kaylee said, and put one foot in front of the other, but his large hands came down on her shoulders and held her where she stood.

  Boy did Max’s heart race at the thought of her inside his home; the idea was all-consuming. Him, her, alone, a cosy fire, and wooing – lots and lots of wooing.

  “Now what?” Kaylee bit out, turning to look up at him, and she found a kind of weird, goofy look on his face. Max snapped out of it.

  “Wrong way,” he said, spinning her about as her boots slipped over the snow. “There’s a shortcut.”

  Kaylee liked the idea of a shortcut, but from the moment she’d announced they were going to his place, she’d felt a little strange inside. There was a rush of adrenaline, but she was sure that was to do with being out in a snowstorm, and little sparks of excitement, that could have been to do with learning a new magic trick to thwart nature. But when her stomach flopped over like a beached whale, she knew that one was to do with the thought of some alone time that she was about to spend with her mate.

  It couldn’t be helped. She’d started down this path and for Jackson’s sake she was going to have to keep ongoing.

  “We’ll get there faster if you can jog,” Max said, and she snorted a chuckle.

  “If I jog I’m not getting there at all. I will, however, be a mushy pile of gooey legged goodness curled up in the snow.”

  Max considered it for a long moment. “I have a plan,” he said. Then he wrapped his hand around her wrist and spun her back towards him – like that didn’t make her heart lurch and her pulse race, but it was nothing compared to how she felt when he whisked her up into his arms and brought her against his hard muscled chest.

  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, Kaylee’s brain might just have gone into meltdown had it not been that as she was busy thinking some very x-rated thoughts, she let her magic slide and was blasted by the wind and the snow.

  She snapped back to reality and pushed her magic out in front of them once more as he started off on fast feet. “Think your magic will hold out?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she said.

  Kaylee thought her magic was probably more likely to hold out longer than her panties would.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  ~

  “I don’t know about the Hulk, but covered in snow like that you look more like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man,” Kaylee said chuckling. “Does your bear look like a polar bear in the snow?”

  Max shook off the snow that was clinging to him, ignored the insult of looking like a fat marshmallow and watched her shuck out of her outdoor clothes. She was inside his cabin now, and he had a dastardly plan to woo her – or not, but woo her he would – he hoped.

  Max had run the last half a mile or so when her magic had just switched off, and they were left to fend for themselves in the elements. He could take the weather, but she’d started to shiver the moment the winds got to her. “I’m not sure why you choose to let your magic drop before we got to the cabin…”

  “I thought I’d give you more of an incentive to run for it,” Kaylee lied.

  “Carrying you wasn’t enough?”

  In truth, she was low on the witchy energy scale, and sure, she could have tried to tap into the power of nature and the storm, but that might not have turned out as expected. “You get brownie points for that, but no. I wanted to see how much stamina you really had.” She stopped chuckling when she heard the hungry growl that got caught in the back of his throat. “Well, that excuse sounded different in my head.”

  Max couldn’t help but chuckle. “But it conjured up a whole set of different images in mine.”

  Kaylee gave him a double-take. It wasn’t just what he said, but the hungry look in his eyes and that big roguish grin on his lips that sent her mind to places she wasn’t sure she wanted to think about. Especially now that she was alone with him.

  Kaylee knew she needed to change the subject. “Bet you can’t guess what I’m thinking,” she said and then regretted it the instant those stupid words left her idiot mouth.

  He was offering her a drop-dead gorgeous grin that set those silly butterflies flapping their wings inside her, and she had the urge to smack herself u
pside the head.

  Kaylee told herself that her brain was cold, almost numb from the snowstorm, and that was the excuse she was sticking to. In truth, her brain was fazed by him, dazzled by his smile, and distracted by the fact that they were now alone and she didn’t have Jackson to pop up and rescue her from herself anymore.

  “You know I liked you better when you didn’t speak,” she rushed out, covering the tracks of the long silence between them.

  “I didn’t speak,” Max chuckled as he folded his thick muscle packed arms over his broad chest and carried on grinning like he’d won some prize.

  Kaylee grimaced inwardly. It was true, he hadn’t spoken, but that damn smile and those sexy eyes of his had said plenty, and none of it good if she wanted to keep her panties right where they were. “Moving on,” she said and did an about-turn on her sock-clad feet.

  Damn, she’d expected a man cave, and yet his cabin was bigger and nicer than hers. What looked like hand-carved furniture with light shades of greens and blues filled the large room where the huge fireplace was the centrepiece that topped it off and made it feel so homely.

  On the far side of the room was a wall of windows with two large patio doors that must have brought the outside inside when opened. She’d bet the scenery was going to be spectacular in the summer – not that she was picturing it – that would be wrong, that would be like telling her brain to imagine herself standing there in the future, and she didn’t have a future with Max.

  Why didn’t she have a future with Max? She asked herself, and then slapped that question down – she knew why – Jackson came first.

  “I’m thinking it’s cold in here and a nice fire would do the trick,” she said, starting for the fireplace, and walking around a large rocking chair with a padded seat and back cushion that looked inviting. She couldn’t help but run her fingers over the polished wood, tracing the carving as she went. “I guess I’ll do it myself as you…”