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  Santa Claws

  A Holiday Shifter Romance

  Evelyn Vox

  Cover Design by Rocking Book Covers

  Copyright © 2017 by Evelyn Vox

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Jace

  Holly

  Epilogue

  Also by Evelyn Vox

  About the Author

  Jace

  “Please, Holly.”

  “No.”

  “Come on,” I begged.

  “Jace, No.”

  “It’d be so badass.”

  “Jace.”

  “Hoooooolly, please. Pretty please, can I ride your polar bear as my warrior Santa’s mighty steed at the Christmas parade?”

  Holly laughed, the sound like jingle bells, and shoved me.

  “No way, so stop asking!”

  “Fine,” I moped. “Who wants to ride a polar bear anyway.”

  Holly smirked at me and raised an eyebrow, as if to say: I know how you’d really like to ride me. Her pine-green eyes glimmered with mischief and something about the look made my heart skip a beat. I had these moments when I looked at her, and it was like a social media filter would click into place. Suddenly, she’d be gorgeous and glowing; beyond perfect. If I was honest, it happened all the time when I looked at Holly.

  All she had to do was smile, and I’d see her skin sparkle, her lips glisten, and her white-blonde hair glitter like snow under the sun. In fact, it was happening right now. I smiled, basking in her beauty. She’d been dazzling me since the day I found her sitting alone at Harvest Moon, the family bar, almost two months ago. It was hard to believe it had been such a short amount of time.

  It felt like I’d know her for years.

  “Jace,” Holly laughed, a blush gracing her fine features. “You’re staring at me.”

  The sunlight dappled her skin through the trees, snow crunched under our feet, and all I could do was shrug. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and it wasn’t going to be the last.

  “I can’t help it,” I told her, for the thousandth time.

  A few days after Thanksgiving, I’d agreed to help her find more information about the group of hunters who had killed her mother. The same group of hunters who had likely killed Zander, my adopted brother’s, pack. The pair of them had followed a lead to Idaho, where they found a town of shifters that tipped them off to search near Seattle. And since Zander was now mated to my sister, Addie, he wasn’t exactly free to traipse about the woods with Holly anymore. So I’d more than willingly volunteered to go in his stead.

  Not that I’d minded.

  These last few weeks in the woods with her had been incredible. She fascinated me. Every move, every sound, even her scent, enthralled me to no end. And she seemed to be as enamored as I was. I saw the way she looked at me. Hell, I could smell the way my heated stares excited her. Even now, the sweet scent of her arousal peppered the air.

  We’d snuck a few kisses, spent more than a few nights snuggled together in both human skin and as a wolf and bear on this journey. But we were both virgins, inexperienced, and something stopped us from going further. Some ancient knowledge that if we waited, it’d be well worth it.

  I wouldn’t know for sure until the Full Moon in two days, but as it drew closer, I was feeling more of a pull towards her. Feeling uncontrollable urges that could only mean…

  “I think you’re my mate,” I blurted out, voicing my thoughts before I could stop myself.

  My jaw dropped, and I felt like an old-time cartoon character, certain it had fallen all the way to the ground. What the hell was I doing? Way to be smooth, Jace. The sound of her feet crunching on the snow stopped as she stood stock still. I spun around and Holly just stared at me. I was shitting my pants, sure I’d ruined any chance I had with her, until the trace of a smile curved those perfect lips upward.

  “Does that mean you going to hunt me down now?”

  “Oh, not now,” I grinned, “but during the Full Moon, if I go into heat and scent you as my mate, I’ll hunt you, catch you, and claim you.”

  “You can try,” she laughed, walking again. “But who says I’ll want to be chased? Bears are different you know.”

  “I recall you saying something about a courtship?”

  “My mother didn’t live long enough to tell me all the details, but I think that’s what happens. Bears are fiercely independent, picky animals. For us to take a mate, that person has to enhance our lives, make it better than it would be if we were on our own.”

  “Wolf males need to prove to the females that they are worthy mates with a show of power. If they are strong enough to hunt and catch the female, they have proven they can protect their mate and cubs.”

  “So primitive, you wolves.”

  I flashed my canines at her before I moved, quick as an adder, and pinned her against the trunk of a tree. My arms made a cage around her body , my legs parting hers so her sex was flush against mine. Pine needles rained on us from the impact, the same color as Holly’s eyes. She gasped, and I brought my nose to her neck, sniffing her intoxicating scent. Her heart thudded loud enough for me to hear, and the scent of her arousal grew stronger.

  “You have no idea how barbaric we can be,” I whispered in her ear before I kissed her neck where it met her shoulder.

  Holly shuddered at the contact.

  “This is where I’ll mark you as my mate,” I promised, grazing the spot with my teeth. I looked into her eyes, dark with desire, and my cock twitched against her pelvis.

  She squirmed, and before she could move her arms, I captured them above her head. Her eyes flashed with defiance even as she rubbed her hot pussy against my lengthening flesh.

  “You better get to courting me then,” she said. “Because you can’t just pin me to the ground and lay a claim on me.”

  “Even if you want me to?” I pushed.

  Her eyes flashed gold and with a surge of bear-like strength, she pushed me off with a coy smile. I growled deep in my chest to be parted from her, but my wolf delighted at the challenge in her eyes. Holly hadn’t rejected me. She hadn’t said she didn’t want to be my mate. All I needed to do was court her, and then she’d accept my mark.

  “Court me, wolf,” she said, turning back to the trail, “and we’ll see what happens during the Full Moon.”

  I cast about, looking at the foliage around me for inspiration. I wished it was Spring, so I could pick her a bouquet. I smiled when I saw the sharp leaves and bright red berries. I lagged behind, taking my time to cut off the perfect sprig.

  I jogged to catch up with her, catching her shoulders in my hands and spinning in front of her. I held the plant in between us.

  “Your namesake,” I smiled, waiting for her to take the sprig of holly.

  Her eyes sparkled, her warm fingers brushing against mine when she took it.

  “It’s beautiful,” she blushed.

  “Not as beautiful as the Holly standing before me,” I murmured, getting closer to her.

  Taking the sprig, I brushed silky strands of hair behind her ear before placing the holly there. It matched her perfectly, her eyes as green as the leaves, her lips as red as the berries. I smiled before bringing my mouth to hers.
Those perfect, plump lips met mine, and she made little sounds of pleasure as I filled the kiss with every ounce of feeling and want I had for her. When I pulled back, our heavy breath frosted in the air between us.

  “You’re better at this than I thought,” she breathed. “Maybe you’re not such a barbarian, after all.”

  “Don’t worry,” I promised with a naughty smile. “I am.”

  Holly

  I didn’t expect this. When I smelled shifters in a random bar in Portland, Oregon, I never thought I’d meet someone like Jace. But then that shaggy black hair and those sapphire eyes captured me and never let me go.

  Not that I wanted to escape.

  Quite the opposite. I’d have bathed in the deep blue pools of his irises if I could. When I accepted his help on my search for the hunters, I didn’t realize he’d be such a distraction.

  Instead of my usual razor sharp focus, I found myself fixated on him. It would have been a problem if I didn’t like him so damn much. And maybe that was the problem. Seeing Jace, it made me feel like there was more to my life than finding the people who killed my mother. Us bears are solitary creatures. We don’t run in packs like wolves, so when we suffer a loss we suffer it greatly.

  My mom was my world, and they strung her up like a prize trophy. These people hunted all things supernatural and different, uncaring if their victims were simply people living normal lives. I’d been traveling for years, collecting information. Here I was, tracking my biggest breakthrough, a tip on a hunter group in Seattle, hopelessly distracted by a man with a quick smile and eyes like the deep sea.

  I was angry with myself. Angry because Mom deserved better. Because I should be on my A-game for this one. I eyed his perfect ass as he walked ahead of me and felt the same pull I’d felt the moment he walked into that bar. It was almost as if a part of me had woken up and said ‘I’ve been waiting for you’. I didn’t know much about mating, but I couldn’t help but feel like what he just confessed was true.

  Maybe we were mates.

  “We should be in Seattle tomorrow morning,” Jace said, looking up at the setting sun. “Want to camp here for the night?”

  I looked around the forest at the small clearing we’d happened upon. The last few nights had been so cold we had to shift into our furrier selves to withstand it. I enjoyed curling up with his big black wolf, but tonight I wanted to feel his skin on mine. It was time to see how much of a courtier Jace could be.

  “Let’s check into a hotel. There’s got to be one around here.”

  His eyes lit up and that rakish grin stole across his face. He sniffed the air, his sense of smell better than mine, and turned due west.

  “I smell a town over there. If we hurry I bet we can make it not long after sundown.”

  “Shall we run, then?”

  Jace smiled again, and something in my heart sparked, settling deep between my legs where it scalded my core.

  I closed my eyes and let my human skin go, just a bit. Just enough that my bear’s strength and speed could shine through. When I opened my eyes, I knew they were glowing gold, just as Jace’s blazed with silver light. His hair had grown shaggier, his fangs longer, and he waited for me to take the lead, gesturing with a clawed hand in my direction.

  “Ladies first,” he said with a bow, his voice deeper.

  “What a gentleman,” I laughed, my own voice an octave lower.

  I huffed a breath and took off into the setting night. Jace’s footsteps soon followed in my wake. A thrill of adrenaline coursed through me as I imagined how it would feel to be chased by him under a full moon. That scalding in my core throbbed into a red-hot heat. Jace’s low growl met my ears, and I knew he could smell my essence on the air.

  These wolves and their damn keen senses of smell.

  It was useless to try to deny how he made me feel, how much I wanted him. I felt his eyes on me, and looked over my shoulder. My heart jumped—he was close, so much closer than I’d thought. Those eyes fixated on me. That thrill of adrenaline got stronger, my blood pumped thick in my veins, and I put on a burst of speed.

  His growl was loud and piercing this time, the rhythm of his footsteps getting faster, and I knew he’d outpace me soon.

  These wolves and their damn swiftness.

  I wondered what he’d do when he caught up with me. I shivered as I imagined how he’d chase me under the light of the full moon, so primal and full of desire. Desire for me. If what happened with Addie and Zander was any indication, he’d turn into a near-feral beast with one goal. One singular want that would overpower his senses and drive him mad with need: to mate me.

  The idea of being wanted that badly…wetness, warm and slick, flooded my panties. Before I knew it, Jace’s large hands wrapped around my shoulders and spun me to face him. He kissed me in the air as we fell to the ground, his fangs scraping my lips, his tongue hot and needy as it caressed mine.

  He landed on top of me and my entire body burned for him. I felt his erection through his clothes, hard and long, and moaned. My hips bucked against him, beyond my control.

  “Holly,” he groaned, looking into my eyes. “I have to taste you.”

  In a flash, Jace was between my legs, pulling my down to my knees. The cold air made goosebumps on my thighs, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was Jace’s mouth getting closer to my aching, wet folds. He stopped an inch away from my pussy and inhaled deeply. His whole body shuddered and a feral growl tore from his lips. Silver-blue eyes blazed at me.

  “You’re mine,” he snarled before he tore my panties to shreds with a claw and buried his face in me.

  His tongue was a searing heat that ignited every inch of my body in flame. He lapped, exploring me, drinking my nectar like it was the sweetest wine in the world. My back arched off the ground when his tongue slaked over my swollen bud.

  “Jace,” I gasped as he licked me there over and over.

  I writhed in the snow and my hips bucked. His hands tightened on my thighs, holding me in place against the relentless pace of his tongue. He sucked and licked, faster and faster, swirling around my throbbing clit until the pleasure reached its peak. I screamed his name as my orgasm crashed through me.

  Birds burst from a nearby tree at the sound, cawing their alarm. Jace held me there, lapping up every drop of the juices gushing out of me. He kept licking my sensitive, swollen little bud, and I knew if he didn’t stop, I’d unravel again. I pushed against his head, trying to get him to resurface.

  “More. I want more,” he growled into my folds, making me shudder, before he went back to lavishing my clit with his wicked tongue.

  As much as I wanted to lie here all night and let him feast on me, the after-orgasm glow had faded, and I felt the chill of the snow seeping into my body.

  “Jace,” I tried again, propping myself onto my elbows, but he growled and pushed me back.

  I bit back a moan as he continued to pleasure me, but I reminded myself there was a warm room and a cozy bed waiting for us somewhere. And I’d let him lick me until dawn if he wanted, so long as we weren’t in the forest, wrapped in a blanket of snow.

  He was in a frenzy, and I knew mere words weren’t enough to stop him. My juices flowed fresh as I wondered what he’d be like during the mating heat if this was what he was like normally. I trembled against his mouth for a heartbeat longer before I steeled myself for what I had to do. With a mighty heave, I grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him off me.

  Wolves had the nose and the speed, but us bears had all the strength.

  Jace landed against a tree trunk. The impact sent pine needles and snow falling around him. The white powder flecked his dark hair as he looked at me like a man who’d just woken up.

  “Holly,” he breathed, mortified, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  I shimmed back into my pants, mourning the loss of my only pair of panties, and smiled at him.

  “I know what came over you,” I grinned, stalking towards him. “Me. All over you.”<
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  I offered him a hand and hauled him up, his eyes gleaming with lust. He licked his lips, still glistening from me.

  “Your taste is intoxicating. I could drink you in all night.”

  He wrapped an arm around my waist and thudded me against his hard chest. I put a hand between us, worried that we’d get carried away again.

  “Down, boy,” I laughed. “Let’s find a room. Then you can have seconds.”

  Jace growled and ran so fast towards the town glimmering in the distance, he was nothing more than a blur.

  So much for ladies first.

  Jace

  Holly needed a warm place to stay for the night, and I was going to get that for her. My wolf wanted to give her anything she wanted, so here I was, pleading with the old woman at the bed and breakfast I’d found, trying to convince her we weren’t vagrants.

  “We’ve just been camping for a few days and it’s gotten too cold,” I explained to her frowning face.

  “One night isn’t much incentive for me,” the crone’s eyes narrowed.

  “It’s one night more than you’d have,” Holly butted in, her tone harsh.

  “I’ll pay the price of two nights,” I said before they got into a fight. I loved that Holly didn’t take shit from anyone, but right now I just wanted to get us into a bed and feast on her to my heart’s content.

  “Done,” the woman grinned shrewdly. “I need a credit card.”

  I fished in my pocket, pulling out my wallet, when Holly stopped me with a hand.

  “You don’t have to pay for this,” she said, “it was my idea to get a hotel tonight.”

  Fiercely independent, indeed.

  “Nope. No deal. I’m courting you, remember?” I grinned, pushing her hand away before I slapped my card on the counter.