Part One
The events in the following chapters take place right before and during the events of A Nightshade Yuletide.
A gentle reminder: That this book is part of a series and this one in particular you really need to read the one before it first.
CHAPTER ONE
Lero
The Nightshade Bear Territory
They say every omega dreams of meeting their alpha. I wasn’t so sure about that. I’d known plenty of alphas in my life and would be just fine with never having one in my bed again. Who needed them when my fist slid over my own cock perfectly and I didn’t even have to suck a dick to get it there? Who needed an alpha to knot them when today’s sex toys would do the job for you with the press of a button? Who needed the complications of dating?
Not me. Not now. Not ever.
Especially not on the night when my two childhood best friends were renewing their wedding vows. Not now when one was walking down the aisle to the other and the one waiting for him had sworn to love me forever. Had sworn that he could be a good hinge and make poly work even if we met our true-mates. I wasn’t sure I wanted polyamory. I just wanted him. Him. I don’t need him now that my fist is pumping and the toy is expanding inside me, pushing against my every nerve ending until I think my head might explode off my shoulders. I don’t need him now. My brain wouldn’t even form his name in my thoughts, and I was better for it.
The clock on the wall read eleven fifty-eight. They were going for a midnight vow renewal because they met just as thevillage bell tower rang in the new day. Yeah, fuck that bell tower too.
Hell in a hand basket on Frost’s front porch. Not even Mated for the Holidays worked out for me. My match backed out at the last minute because he got back with his ex. Hell, anyone but me, right? I laughed, the sound gurgling in my throat as I buried my face into a pillow, to hide the moan I knew was coming. I lived alone now. Alone in a house that once belonged to twin brothers. One was dead now of his own dumbassery and one had two mates and helped lead the Raven Hollow Wolf Pack. Fuck them too. Fuck everyone but mostly I finally got around to fucking myself like the world kept telling me to do.
I buried my face into the pillow, screaming out my pleasure. My bear’s ears and tail came out, wiggling, waggling, moving as my body tried to process the pleasure and pressure that made beads of sweat form of my forehead and roll down my back. I bit the pillow, tearing into it as everything inside me seized up. Across the room my phone vibrated along my dresser, threatening to hit the floor, but fuck, it could fuck itself too. Fucking assholes back home didn’t even have inner beasts. Maybe that was the problem. He couldn’t understand me because I was too much for him, but what did he expect when he asked a bear to be his boyfriend?
I thrust into my fist hard, taking my pleasure where I could get it as my balls drew up tight to my body and the knotted toy expanded further inside my body. I was so damn slick I was surprised the damn thing didn’t slide right out of me – knot or not. I glanced at the clock that shined midnight in its red digital numbers as I came. The short burst of pleasure rolled over me just as three sharp raps sounded at the door. It sounded like the village guards were banging the door down to arrest me formasturbating because who the hell else would be at my house this time of night?
“Don’t answer the door,”my bear chimed off into my thoughts.“Only spirits knock at midnight.”
That was bullshit. He’d probably heard it from some old person or another. Maybe even Grandpa Xenos. Spirits didn’t go around knocking on doors. Hell, I wasn’t sure if they did or not, but I couldn’t contact the spirit world, so whoever banged down my door was probably in the flesh. Plus, it was midnight. Maybe a forest fire sparked. I jumped back into my pants and tossed my ‘clean up towel’ into the hamper. Anyone with a nose would know what I’d been up to but if it was an emergency they wouldn’t have time to think on it long.
I was out of the bedroom before the minute changed over.
“Coming! Hold on! It’s midnight!” I called out as I sprinted through the house into the living room. I opened the door and nearly died. Maybe I didn’t communicate with the spirit world but for a split second I hoped that I could communicate with the living because the air caught in my lungs wouldn’t leave. The world had a deep earthy scent and it was as if I was choking on dirt.
The man standing in front of me was tall with pointed ears. If not for my reaction to him – hard to breath, hard to think, only smelling him and the earthy scents clingy to him – I would’ve thought he was one of my uncles. Only he looked nothing like the family my sire was adopted into. His ears were too long and his cheekbones too high. His jawline looked as if the old gods themselves chiseled it out just for me. He was a bear and an elf. I wasn’t an elf. I had plenty of elven relatives but that was all by adoption. What the fuck was I supposed to say or do?
The man stared at me with deep set dark eyes as if he couldn’t believe he’d found me. How did he find me? The official calendar didn’t show that we had any out-of-town visitors coming to visit. Had he dragged himself in from the woods? Was he a wildborn bear? Could they have elf ears or were they always rounded? He stood shirtless and his chest and abs heaved with each deep breath he took to breathe in my scent.
My scent! I tried not to think about what I’d just been doing. Hell, there was no hiding it but I wasn’t about to talk about it.
“Say something!”my bear chimed off into my thoughts.“Anything! Say anything! Just stop standing there like an idiot! I am not an idiot and right now you’re making me look like a freaking idiot too! Say something! Grunt!”
His furry head knocked into the inside of my ribs and I managed to raise one hand to wave.
“Where are we?” he asked.
Great. Had he wandered high or drunk away from a party?
“Um… My house?”
“Where?” he asked, stepping closer.
Under his earthy scent I smelled fur and sweat and I forced myself not to breathe too deeply because it would only make the true-mating response more difficult to think through.
“Nightshade Bear Territory? Earthside?” I offered.
“Ok. Ok. I… I can’t believe it worked,” he walked past me into the house, passing through the end table to collapse onto my sofa.
Well, fuck me. My true-mate was a ghost. Everything inside me fell to my feet as I slammed the door shut before grandpa could run and send him through his door. If my true-mate was a dead man I had the right to talk to him before he moved on, at least, didn’t I?
