A Shifter Christmas (4 page)

Dearest Kaitlyn, I am sorry. There were
complications. I promise I will be there as soon as I can. I am
yours, and you are mine. Forever, Jaxson.

"This ain't Game of Thrones…I'm not your
Khaleesi and you are definitely no Khal Drogo," she hissed. A
flutter in her belly alarmed her. She'd never felt the baby move
before. Was that good or bad? "Okay, they really said something
about the moon and stars," she admitted, feeling calmer.

"You think I should forgive and forget,
baby?" Kate rubbed at her belly a moment. "Fine, I may forgive him,
but there will be no forgetting. I have the memory of an
elephant."

Kate was busy stringing popcorn to make
garland for the tree. She had not celebrated Christmas, or any
other holiday since Charlie died. But with the baby on the way, she
wanted to at least do a little something.

The tree was small but fresh, so she would
not have to deal with falling pine needles on the wooden floor.
Since she had no idea where the decorations had been stored, and
did not feel like climbing up to the second story of the shed, she
used the ribbon from the box of traitor's roses as a topper to the
tree, and the popcorn garland would be the only decoration. Better
than nothing, she mused.

The sudden thought that her baby would be
crawling the next time this holiday rolled around was equally
exciting and terrifying.

The door burst open to her left and the
traitor was suddenly standing there. "Get the fuck out of my
house!" she snapped.

"Bloody hell, love, I have missed you!" He
began to stomp the snow off his boots, placing the spare key left
under the doormat on the small entrance table to the left of the
door.

"Are you deaf? I said get out," she hissed in
annoyance.

"I'm back for good! Tell me you missed
me."

"Not on your life." She missed a kernel of
popcorn and jabbed the needle into her skin, causing a drop of
blood to bead up. She was on her way to sticking it in her mouth,
when he got to her hand first.

Jaxson licked the blood off, moaning his
enjoyment of the taste of her. He got down on his knees in front of
her and peered up. "You are so beautiful, Kaitlyn."

Kate rolled her eyes, doing her best to
ignore him. She did notice he'd cute his hair short, though he had
a few days' worth of stubble on his face.

"I closed my bank accounts and credit cards.
I sold the houses. The property in Wales took the longest. The
economy isn't what it used to be." He rubbed his hands along her
legs, ignoring the giant bowl of popcorn in her lap, his eyes never
leaving her face.

"Houses? Plural?" She could not help but
raise a brow, then silently chided herself that she'd even spoken
to him again.

"Yes, I had three. But it's all taken care
of, and what's left of my possessions is on the porch. I can't wait
to begin our life together, love!" He stood, rushed outside, and
began to carry in boxes and suitcases. "Shall I put these in the
guest bedroom for now?"

"I never said you could move in!" she
exclaimed.

"Where else would I live, Kaitlyn? My life is
here with you now." Jaxson gave her that twinkling eyed look of his
before leaning in for a kiss.

Kate turned her face away before his lips
touched hers. "If you stay, you're sleeping on the couch."

He chuckled. "I can't even sleep in the guest
bedroom, love?"

"It's no longer a guest bedroom."

"Really? What is it?" His brows drew together
in thought.

"See for yourself." When he walked away to
the bedroom, she pushed herself off the couch.

"Kaitlyn, there are children's things in
here." He walked back into the living room and paused at seeing
her.

"Wow, you're smarter than you act," she said,
placing a hand on her belly. She had been thin all her life, and
the second the baby started growing, he took up more and more space
so that she looked further along than she actually was. At four
months, she looked at least six months or more. Stretch marks were
going to be a bitch!

"You…" he trailed off, his mouth left hanging
open.

"Didn't I tell you? Oh, that's right, you
knocked me up and then ran off in the middle of the night. No way
to contact you, no way to know where you were. Anyway, this baby is
mine. I will raise him, and nurture him, and you will never see
him. This is the part where you disappear and I never see you
again." She pointed to the door.

"We're having a son?" he whispered. He ran
across the room and dropped to his knees in front of her, splaying
his hands over the swell, kissing her belly.

"No, no," she tsk'd at him. "My son. You
don't have a son…or maybe you do, but it isn't this one." Kate put
her hands on his forehead and attempted to push him away.

"Kaitlyn, please," he begged. "I didn't run
away from you. I was just preparing to move here full time. You
don't have a phone. And I knew if I tried to tell you in person I
had to go away for a bit, that my resolve would crumble and I would
wind up staying, delaying the start of our lives together."

"Yeah, sure. You think I will ever trust
anything you say? Never again, Mr. Barnes." She managed to pull out
of his hold and backed up, though he kept following her on his
hands and knees. It seemed eerily like when he had followed her
home the day they'd met, except he was on his feet that day. She
backed against a wall, and his hands returned to her belly.

"I will spend the rest of our lives making
this up to you and our son. I swear." He kissed her belly once
more. He grabbed her left hand, fished the ring out of his pocket,
and slid it on. "Marry me, Kaitlyn."

Kate looked down in utter shock at the large
sapphire surrounded by diamonds. "N-"

He stood up and kissed her before she could
say no.

She whimpered into his mouth, the addictive
taste she had craved for so long was better than she remembered.
Her inner horse whinnied, and she could swear she heard a soft purr
too, inside her head. Our son.

Jaxson picked her up and carried her to their
bed. "Merry Christmas, my love."

"And Happy New Year." Kate tugged him down on
top of her.

Every day since Christmas, Kate always woke
thinking that today would be the day her mate disappeared on her
and the baby. Every day, she was pleasantly surprised to see that
Jaxson was still there.

The addictive mating bond they shared, along
with her rapidly expanding belly where their son grew, cemented
their love.

Ian Jaxson Barnes was born on May 18th.

Kaitlyn Kalei became Mrs. Barnes on June 5th.
And yes, she was Hawaiian, not Asian as her mate had once
assumed.

I hope you enjoyed my cute little shifter
story. This was written after Healing A Shifter (book #2), so I
called it a prequel.

The anthology in which it first appeared had
length restrictions, so besides a few editing fixes, the story has
not been lengthened or altered.

Kate and Jaxson appear in the Pepper Valley
Shifters books going forward (as do all the other characters).

If you liked the story, I would love it if
you left a short review wherever you purchased it.

C.A. Tibbitts lives in Oklahoma, USA, with
her husband of 18 years and a bossy parakeet. She has a degree as a
paralegal and worked for the District Attorney's office, and before
that, she worked as a travel agent.

Though she wrote for years as a hobby, her
first published book was in August of 2014. Best known for her
Pepper Valley Shifters series, she also has several short stories
published with the Mystical Box Set Babes and in the Wickedly
Exotic seasons series.

She loves to hear from her readers, and
deeply appreciates honest reviews.

http://www.catibbitts.com

https://www.facebook.com/C.A.Tibbitts

https://twitter.com/catibbitts

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8431484.C_A_Tibbitts

https://www.tsu.co/C_A_Tibbitts

https://www.pinterest.com/catibbitts/

http://google.com/+CATibbitts

PEPPER VALLEY SHIFTERS

A Shifter Christmas, Pepper Valley Shifters
#0 (contained within Mystical Xmas Box Set)

Shifter In Training, Pepper Valley Shifters
#0.5 - Forrest Scott prequel (contained within Wicked After Dark -
coming Oct. 2015)

Shifted For Love, Pepper Valley Shifters #1
(ebook & paperback)

Healing A Shifter, Pepper Valley Shifters #2
(ebook & paperback)

Twice Fated Shifter, Pepper Valley Shifters
#2.5 (contained within Mystical New Love Box Set)

Shifter Under Cover, Pepper Valley Shifters
#3 (ebook & paperback)

Star Crossed Shifters, Pepper Valley Shifters
#4

~~Pepper Valley Shifters #5 - coming soon

ROYALTY OF VEZUL

Prince Of Vezul: Tallen, volume 1 (contained
within Mystical Royal Love Box Set)

Prince Of Vezul: Brayden, volume 2 --coming
soon

STANDALONE SHORT STORIES

Christmas In D.C. (contained within Wickedly
Exotic Winter Erotic Wonderland Box Set)

Ghost Of A Chance (contained within Wickedly
Exotic Spring Erotic Wonderland Box Set)

SEALed by Fate (contained within Mystical Hot
Military Box Set - coming July 2015)

SHIFTED FOR LOVE
, Pepper Valley
Shifters #1

"One kiss, Jace. Just one," she begged,
turning her face to meet his. Her hands slid over his as he still
cupped her face delicately.

"One," he breathed into her mouth for a
moment as if deciding their future, and then his mouth claimed
hers, hard and fast. His fingers slid into her curls and he tugged
her head closer.

Fiona’s lips opened with an excited gasp, and
as their tongues touched, it was like a spark of electricity
coursed through her entire body, curling her toes. He went deeper,
and she wrapped her arms around his neck, tasting him, savoring
him. His tongue slid along the side of hers and her nipples pebbled
under her bra. She moaned, her fingertips gripping the back of his
neck.

He pushed her back against the dinette wall,
his hands sliding over her breasts as the kiss continued. She ran
her leg that wasn’t pinned down by his body along his thigh. She
gasped as he forced her pinned leg out to wrap around his waist,
and he settled his hips between her thighs, her dress riding up
dangerously high. Modesty flew out the window as she locked her
legs around his waist and her panties dampened as his hard groin
pressed against her.

"Fiona," he murmured, as he kissed the corner
of her mouth and squeezed her breasts, his thumbs rubbing circles
around and around her hard nipples on top of her clothing.

Her fingers moved to his shirt buttons as
their eyes met. When his shirt was finally open, she slid her hands
along his chest and he closed his eyes with a moan.

HEALING A SHIFTER
, Pepper Valley
Shifters #2 (available everywhere)

Damn, he was sexy as hell! He was a head
taller than her, she knew from briefly transferring him twice, and
she was 5'10". That would make him 6'5" at least, and built like a
freaking tank. His black t-shirt hugged his chest, and even when
sort of slumped down, there was a visible six-pack of abs. And his
arms, those large arms covered in various black-shaded tattoos,
would be the envy of any bodybuilder. His naturally jet-black hair
was tied back at the nape of his neck, but went past his shoulders
and had a slight curl to it. He looked to be in his mid-twenties,
but shifters aged at a much slower rate after getting past the
hormonal teenage years.

She watched him strong arm himself of out the
wheelchair and onto the couch. She quickly sat down beside him,
placing the beer bottle aside, and shifted her body toward him. She
breathed in the scent of him. His smell was so unique, the earthy
scent of the woods, and all man. One of those manly men that could
fix an engine motor, and tell a woman exactly what he wanted done
to him in bed.

"What are you doing here, Dani? With me?" His
eyes seemed to stare through her as though he could hear her
thoughts.

"I think you're hot, Griffin." Was he
blushing? She felt a grin tug at the sides of her mouth.

"And I want to fuck you until you don't
remember your own name," his eyes lowered as he looked at her lips.
"But that doesn't explain what you're doing here. Did someone put
you up to this, or do you get off on handicapped men?"

"Neither of those. Let's explore that first
suggestion of me forgetting my name." She met those incredible
hazel eyes of his.

One large hand grabbed the back of her head
and yanked her forward, then his lips were on hers. Her mouth
opened and his tongue met hers. He didn't bother with a polite
probing, he conquered her mouth, angling his head sideways to go
deeper. Her body recognized the taste of him before her mind did.
At 48 years old, she had found her mate.

SHIFTER UNDER COVER
, Pepper Valley
Shifters #3

"Forrest, I-" he silenced her as his mouth
found hers again. The bed was at her back and he was over her,
tasting, tempting, drawing her further into his promises of
pleasure. Before she knew it, she'd unbuttoned his suit jacket and
pushed it off his shoulders. He shrugged out of it, his lips never
leaving hers. She wrenched at his tie and started on his shirt
buttons.

Forrest yanked at the tie, managing to undo
the knot. She was undressing him, and he knew if he stopped kissing
her, she would protest. Besides, now that he'd had a taste of her,
he did not know how to stop. Her hands splayed across his bare
chest, and he slid his hands under her back, pressing those full
breasts against him. He broke away first, needing to breathe for a
short moment, but kept his hold on her. Her eyes were closed and he
pressed kisses along her jaw, down her neck, and further still, his
tongue grazing where her dress barely contained her breasts.
"Addie, my Addie," he murmured, licking at her skin. She tasted
like the purest clover honey.