Vixen Claws (The Twelve Mates Of Christmas Book 4) Read online

  Soon, Candy was actually too hot, and it was time to kick Cain off the couch.

  “Okay, Cain, enough,” said Candy, wiping her brow clean of perspiration. “You’re way too heavy to be a lap dog. This was fun, but I’m burning up.”

  The bear moved off the couch, looked up at her and nodded.

  “Sorry,” squeaked Candy. “Not that I hate bears or anything, just — you’re a lot of animal, and I’m a teeny piece of Candy!”

  Cain walked away, shifting into a human once he was behind the couch, so he could navigate the narrow hall with ease. Candy looked back to watch the bear walk away but was surprised that, instead of seeing a grizzly bear’s buns, she got a face full of Cain’s bare buns.

  She turned away blushing. Soon, Cain came back out in his lumberjack clothes.

  “You know, I can still warm you up,” said Cain. “Here.”

  Cain grabbed one of the thinner throw blankets. He wrapped it around Candy’s shoulders, leaving one side free. He slipped into the seat next to her and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders too.

  “Wh-what’s this?” asked Candy.

  “I told you,” said Cain. “I’m going to keep you warm. Shifters run hot, real hot.” Before Candy could reply, Cain turned the movie on again.

  They watched the movie together. Candy did start to get warm. She felt Cain touch her thigh with his hand, and then, his hand moved lower…

  …and lower, but not in the way she thought.

  “Your legs are icy cold,” said Cain. “Here.” Cain took Candy’s legs and tossed them over his lap.

  “Thanks,” whispered Candy. “Wouldn’t want to catch frostbite.”

  Candy’s heart was racing a mile a minute. She was watching her favorite Christmas movie with frikkin’ Cain Pellichero, romance novel model, bad boy lumberjack, and apparently, sensitive protective alpha male werebear.

  Candy’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out. Avery had finally texted her back, explaining that there was another heater in the supply closet, to the side.

  “Huh,” said Candy. “I guess there is another heater.”

  Candy got up from the couch, followed by Cain. Before she went to the supply closet, she realized there was one more thing she had to do.

  “Oh, I nearly forgot,” said Candy. “You haven’t seen the tree in all its glory yet.” She went to turn on the tree’s lights.

  “You like the tree?” asked Cain.

  “Yeah, it’s frikkin’ huge and makes the entire house smell like an air freshener,” said Candy. “What’s not to love about it?”

  “No ornaments, though?” asked Cain.

  “In my family, we only put them up the night before Christmas Day,” explained Candy. “I don’t know how it became a tradition. It just did.”

  “That’s how traditions are, aren’t they?” asked Cain. “I should now.”

  “Oh, because you’re a shifter?” blurted out Candy. “Sorry, I mean —”

  “Exactly,” said Cain. “My Clan, Clan Marron, wants to make sure all the little cubs know about our history, about our legends. All the ornaments at Clan Marron have stories.”

  “Your Clan has communal ornaments?” asked Candy. “How does that work?”

  “Every family contributes ornaments, one per child, to the collection,” explained Cain. “Each ornament has a meaning, explained by parents to child, and spread across the Clan. Every year, the Clan puts up a big tree in the Clan Marron lodge, and the kids all help decorate it.”

  “That’s beautiful,” said Candy. “That must be real special.”

  “I can’t wait until I have kids of my own,” admitted Cain. “I’d have to have a lot of cubs. There are so many stories I’d want to tell them, for them to hang up on that tree.”

  “Like what?” asked Candy.

  “Like the story of how I met my true love, this curvy baker,” said Cain, cocking Candy’s chin up and leaning in.

  Candy pressed her hands up against Cain’s chest. She knit her fingers into his flannel shirt and pulled him close to her. She got on her tip toes. She pressed her lips against Cain’s, softly, but then, Cain pulled her lower lip into his mouth. Candy pulled away and sucked Cain’s upper lip into her mouth. She felt his stubble’s bristles against her tongue.

  Cain picked Candy up. Candy wasn’t sure what to do with her legs, but then, Cain hiked her legs up around his waist.

  That’s when Candy realized she was about to have a very, very Merry Christmas.

  Chapter Nine

  Christmas Eve Eve 2010

  Candy couldn’t believe it. Cain was holding her up, kissing her, feeling her curves with one hand, grabbing her full butt with his other hand and arm. She couldn’t lie — she’d imagined herself in Cain’s arms before when she’d seen him on the cover of romance novels. When she’d gotten to model with him, she’d felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She’d gotten closer to him than she’d imagined possible.

  But now, he was kissing her. He wasn’t just posing with her. He was embracing her. There was no camera, but from the firmness Candy felt through Cain’s pants, he was definitely ready to make a sex tape.

  Cain shut off the lights, leaving on only the low rainbow lights of the Christmas tree. Cain carried Candy over to the couch. He sat down, keeping Candy on his lap as he grinded on her. Candy was wearing pantyhose underneath a skirt. Cain moved his hand under Candy’s skirt and grabbed her ass with both his hands. Candy reached and grabbed onto the back of the couch. She arched her back, pushing more of her thick curves into Cain’s hands. She rocked forward, grinding against Cain’s cock.

  What they were doing now was far too dirty for the cover of any romance novel.

  Cain’s cock twitched in his pants, begging for egress and ingress at the same time. It needed to escape his pants and enter Candy’s skirt. Cain undid his jean button with one hand. Candy reached down and carefully undid his zipper, while Cain reached underneath her skirt and felt for her panties.

  Cain couldn’t find her panty line. All he felt was nylon. He pushed the skirt up.

  “Naughty, Naughty,” said Cain, pulling Candy close to whisper in her ear. “No panties? This close to Christmas? That might just get you on The Naughty List.”

  “I’m sure there’s something I can do to get off that list,” said Candy. “Do you have any ideas?”

  “Just one,” said Cain. “You’re going to have to come, hard.”

  Cain took Candy in both his arms and lifted her up, off his cock. He lay down on the couch and put Candy’s crotch in his face. Cain reached up and took the nylon pantyhose in his mouth. He ripped them, hard, and reached up with one hand to make the run in the stockings go from front to back, leaving Candy’s pussy exposed.

  “Hey, I liked —” Candy started to protest, but then, she started moaning.

  Cain had started eating Candy out. She was more delicious than any of the bakery treats she’d served him over the past month.

  “Fuck, Cain, you know what you’re doing,” said Candy.

  “If I hadn’t gone into modeling, maybe I would’ve done well as a porn star,” commented Cain, before going back to rubbing his tongue all over Candy’s hot honeypot.

  Cain slid his cock out of his boxers with one hand. He lifted Candy up again and held her in the air. Candy wrapped her legs around Cain and Cain slid his cock into her pussy. Cain put Candy down on the ground, in front of her fireplace, on the fake bearskin rug, and showed her just what it meant to claim a mate.

  Candy ran her hand over Cain’s mark. The mark felt smooth under her hand. She could feel no edges, no ridges. The lines of the mark were clean as if Fate had used a fountain pen to write the word ‘Naughty’ over Cain’s shoulder. She’d never seen a mark like it before. If Candy hadn’t seen Cain shift, she wouldn’t have believed he was a bear shifter — after all, she’d heard werebears had their mate marks on their chests.

  “What is it?” asked Cain.

  “I’m just a little nervous,” said Can
dy.

  Cain took Candy’s hand into his and entwined his fingers with hers, like tinsel getting knotted up in the needles of a Christmas tree.

  “Candy, you’re my fated mate,” said Cain, kissing the top of Candy’s forehead. “I know it. I think you’ve sensed it by now. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Candy tried to stop worrying, but it was hard. Candy knew how shifters worked. Practically everyone did. Every shifter had a mate mark. Their mate mark told them who they were meant to be with, their true love, their fated mate. The mark would do something when the shifter first had sex with their fated mate, ‘claiming’ them.

  That meant that either she was Cain’s fated mate, the woman he’d be with forever…or she was nothing. She was just another woman in what she was sure was a line of women he’d tried and failed to claim.

  Cain did a push-up up and then, came down onto Candy slowly, excruciatingly slowly, entering her from her entrance to her end, filling her with his thickness. Candy let out a moan and arched her back. Cain moved one of his hands down to Candy’s hips. He guided her hips on and off his cock as he did one-handed push-ups. Candy ran her hands over Cain’s thick pecs and abs. They were covered with a thin sheen of perspiration. His skin glowed underneath the lights of the Christmas tree, the only lights that were on in the room.

  Cain hit her spot just right as he entered her. Candy leaned back and gripped the fur of the fake bear skin rug. The silky fake fur ran through her fingers.

  “Hold me instead,” ordered Cain. “Let me give it you good, babe. Trust me. I’m an expert.”

  “Fuck,” cursed Candy as she wrapped her arms around Cain. She gripped his skin, hard, but she didn’t have long nails, and he didn’t have dry skin. She kept slipping and sliding, but no matter what, Cain made her feel protected and safe. He had a firm grip on her curves and a steady presence in her pussy.

  “I’m taking you there, babe,” said Cain, slamming into Candy harder now that she was even wetter than before. “I can tell just how you like it. You’re mine, after all, and I should know how my special Christmas toy works, right?”

  “That’s fuckin’ right,” said Candy.

  “I see my sweet, sweet Candy has a spicy side,” muttered Cain. “You want it spicy? Here’s spicy.”

  Cain thrust into Candy, hard, making her moan. He knew how to make her moan, how to distract her so that she couldn’t think of anything at all. He pulled out of her and pushed back in, hard and fast, over and over, like a machine.

  Candy and Cain came at the same time. Candy let out a cry and gripped Cain’s back. She raked her hands across his back, her short-nailed fingers sliding over Cain’s back like rough pebbles. Cain nuzzled his chin in Candy’s hair as he came, hard, letting out ropes of cum into her tight canal.

  Candy pulled away for air, Cain still inside her. She looked to Cain’s shoulder, reading the word ‘Naughty’ over and over, but…no matter what, nothing happened. Nothing changed. Candy knew that could only mean one thing, the one thing that, during Christmas, a season of infinite possibilities, she wanted to believe was impossible.

  “Oh,” said Candy.

  “What?” asked Cain, sliding out of Candy and setting her down on the couch.

  Candy ran her hand over Cain’s mark, the bright red mark on his shoulder.

  “Oh,” said Cain. “Candy —”

  “I know what it means, Cain,” said Candy. “I know it means that…that…”

  Candy’s eyes welled up with tears.

  “Candy, that’s not what that means,” said Cain. “I…I have something to explain to you, but I also have to go.”

  “Oh, right,” said Candy, wiping her tears. “You still need to get back to Camp Kringle.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry,” said Cain. “Will you give me a chance to explain later?”

  “I’m busy tomorrow,” said Candy. “It’s Christmas Eve, one of our biggest days of the year, and you’re busy too.”

  “We can find a time to meet up,” said Cain. “I usually see you in the morning, don’t I? I’ll make sure we have some time to talk tomorrow before work starts. I promise.”

  “You promise?” asked Candy.

  “Yes, Candy, because…look, no matter what some stupid mark does, I love you, okay?” asked Cain. “Do you know that? Did you guess that by now?”

  That just made Candy’s eyes well up with even more tears.

  “Candy, are you —” started Cain.

  “These are different tears,” said Candy. “I should let you go, right?”

  “Yeah, I have to leave now,” said Cain. “But…you, me, tomorrow. It’s a date.”

  “It is?” asked Candy.

  “Not as fancy as the ones I’ll take you on once Christmas is over, but yes. It’s a date,” said Cain.

  Cain got changed and left Candy’s house. Candy locked the door behind Cain and leaned on the back of the door. She slid down to the ground and looked at the tree. She knew actions meant more than words, but, did actions mean more than Fate and mate marks? Cain had shown her and told her he loved her…but if Fate didn’t think she was his fated mate, did she honestly have a chance with him?

  Chapter Ten

  Christmas Eve, 2010

  Cain woke up falling through the ice-cold air, looking down at the ground as snow fell all around him. He looked up and saw clouds. He pinched himself. This was no nightmare.

  “What?!” shouted Cain.

  “I tried to wake you up,” said Krampus. “You wouldn’t get up. I told you — we had to get up early today.”

  Krampus grabbed Cain by the shoulder. The pair slowly floated down to the tarmac in the back of Santana’s Workshop. As they floated down, Cain spotted the giant candy cane that marked the center of the actual North Pole, topped with a giant red glowing gumdrop. Cain wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that the candy cane was made of real sugar, given what he’d learned about Christmas magic over the holiday season.

  “Oh shit,” cursed Cain, causing his mark to burn.

  Hey, said Vixen. Don’t forget the rules.

  You’re back? Cain asked the reindeer spirit. Where’s my bear?

  Back in the snow globe, said Vixen. Krampus did the switch while you were asleep. I think he was worried you might’ve been a runner or something.

  “Krampus, I need to go back,” said Cain. “The bakery, I promised Candy I’d explain it all to her.”

  “Why didn’t you do that last night?” asked Krampus. “Cain…”

  “I know, I know,” said Cain. “So, can I go back?”

  “No,” said Krampus. “There’s a Christmas emergency, and they need all hands on deck. Nobody’s leaving The North Pole unless they’re hitched up to Santana’s magical sleigh.”

  “Candy, it’s break time,” said Avery, coming up to her curvy employee. “Want to go get some fresh air?”

  “I’m okay,” said Candy. “I, uh, am waiting for someone.”

  “Oh, Cain?” asked Avery.

  “The way you said that makes it sound like…you don’t think he’s going to show up,” admitted Candy.

  “Krampus and I were dealing with a work emergency last night,” said Avery. “It’s, uh, not related to the bakery, but it means Cain had to go away early today, on his special assignment.”

  “He promised he was going to come by,” said Candy. “Guess he frikkin’ ghosted me. If a guy does that to me during the holiday season, does that mean he ‘Christmas ghosted’ me?”

  “Cain likes you, Candy,” said Avery. “This was outside of his control.”

  “Yeah, but he chose to make a promise he couldn’t keep,” said Candy.

  “The eight of you gathered here are the only eight shifters that were willing to help with The Ride,” said Santana, pacing the room in front of the eight people who were all clad in identical black tactical outfits, complete with boots and earpieces. “The eight of you are our only shot at Operation Don’t Let Christmas Get Fuckin’ Ruined.”

&nb
sp; Cain couldn’t believe it. He’d just heard Santana ‘Santa’ Claus frikkin’ curse. He looked down the line as Santana made his way back down the line. Pandora Claus, Jack Frost, Krampus, and even Boreas Winter were suited up. Three other shifters, who Jack had learned were ice elementals during his first briefing, were watching Santana intently.

  The last-minute emergency reindeer training had been brutal. Cain had ended up being the most experienced reindeer shifter in the group, the best at flying, but he was still stuck in the second row of reindeer, as the sled was always led by Dasher and Dancer. One of the ice elementals had Prancer’s shift, so Cain didn’t expect much in the way of conversation. The elementals were all chilly and stoic.

  “I’m not here to blame anyone about what’s happened this year,” said Santana pointedly, looking at Boreas. “What’s done is done. I cannot force other ice elementals to lead my sleigh during The Ride. The three of you penguins that volunteered, even without having done the special training — thank you. This is definitely enough to keep you three on The Nice List for quite some time.”

  “Ahem,” coughed Boreas.

  “The five of you were-penguins, sorry,” Santana apologized in a half-ass way. “The reindeer shifts you’ve been given have led my sleigh for ages. Listen to them and listen to the comms station back at The Workshop. They’ll tell you what to do. Remember, our comms devices are made with Christmas magic — when you shift into a reindeer, the headset will change to fit your reindeer’s head. When you talk into them, your voice will automatically get translated from animal to human. We can all hear everything over the comms channel, so keep the channel clear unless it’s absolutely necessary to say something. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir,” said all eight of the temporary reindeer shifters.

  “Then why the fuck is my sleigh still on the ground?” asked Santana, taking two fingers to whistle. “Move, move, move!