Christmas Kisses
Christmas Kisses
A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance Anthology
Zodiac Shifters
Amy Lee Burgess
Rosalie Redd
Dominique Eastwick
Bethany Shaw
Melissa Snark
Jennifer Hilt
Copyright © 2017 Under the Mistletoe by Amy Lee Burgess
Copyright © 2017 Through the Blizzard by Dominique Eastwick
Copyright © 2017 What a Scottish Shifter Wants by Jennifer Hilt
Copyright © 2017 Blizzard Bound by Rosalie Redd
Copyright © 2017 All I want for Christmas by Bethany Shaw
Copyright © 2017 A Very Foxy Christmas by Melissa Snark
Cover design by Ravenborn Covers
Nordic Lights Press
P.O. Box 1347
Pleasanton, CA 94566
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.
For our readers
Contents
Book Description
Under the Mistletoe
Book Description
The Story
Through the Blizzard
Book Description
The Story
About the Author
Also by Dominique Eastwick
What a Scottish Shifter Wants
Book Description
The Story
Blizzard Bound
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
All I Want For Christmas
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
A Very Foxy Christmas
Book Description
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Afterword
Book Description
A shifter’s mate is in the stars… but sometimes that rugged alpha hero or sassy heroine is waiting under the mistletoe for his or her one true love.
Christmas Kisses is a boxed set of ALL NEW short stories set in Zodiac Shifters, a collection of books with an astrological spin on love. From Aries to Virgo… discover all-new tales of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Our world features New York Times, USA Today, and other bestselling authors.
Warning: Christmas Kisses is all about the sexy Zodiac Shifters who made Santa's Naughty List this holiday season. And it's our gift to you... because we're soooo nice!
Under the Mistletoe
By Amy Lee Burgess
Book Description
Every year the dragons of Zodiac Mountain throw a grand Christmas party where they all come together to celebrate. Only they don’t. They stay in their own clan corners and ignore everyone else. A witch named Marley has a different idea. She enchants the mistletoe sprigs throughout the party chamber. Any two dragons who step beneath the mistletoe are trapped for sixty minutes within a magical force field that shields them from the rest of the world. Emily and Orlando’s forbidden love has been crushed long ago. When they find themselves under the mistletoe, they must decide if sixty minutes are enough to erase the hurt and misunderstanding of a decade.
The Story
“Damn that witch and her magic!” I cried in dismay as the magical shield enveloped me and created a shimmering force field that would hold for sixty minutes. Beyond the shield I couldn’t hear the holiday party noises anymore, nor see anyone. I knew Marley was laughing, though. After ten years of friendship, I didn’t have to hear her or see her to know her reactions.
Cursing, I backed away from the sparkling energy boxing me in. I froze when my elbows smashed into a solid wall of dragon hide. While I couldn’t see it, I knew it was bright red, and the dragon it enfolded was the last dragon at the party I wanted to talk to. Now I was trapped with him for sixty long minutes.
“Do you mind staying on your side of this ridiculous prison?” The dragon’s deep, rumbling voice was soaked in condescension.
“It would help things if you’d shift to human,” I snapped, rubbing my elbows as I hastily put room between us. Thanks to the force field, there wasn’t much maneuvering space.
I knew he would have argued with me save for the fact that the shield had forced him to contort his long neck into his chest and hold his wedge-shaped head in an awkward position. Orlando always argued with me – when we spoke, that was. Thankfully, it wasn’t often.
It hadn’t always been that way. When we’d been little kids attending Zodiac Mountain School, Orlando and I had been friends. I could hardly even imagine that now that I was in my twenties.
When we crossed the line into teens, classes were separated into clans. Nobody wanted to encourage romances between the different dragon clans. I was a Tauria dragon. Orlando was Ariesian. We were supposed to grow up and marry within our own clan or with humans from the villages we protected in our kingdoms.
Or, as in the case of Marley’s husband, Donovan, witches.
Marrying into a different dragon clan created all sorts of problems. Dragons hated problems. They didn’t deal well with them. If they couldn’t flame them, stomp on them, or ignore them, they didn’t know what to do. So they tended to avoid issues like marriage between clans with all the passion reserved for politicians trying to avoid war. Only, politicians had diplomacy to hide behind. Dragons bellowed, they didn’t discuss. And compromise was a dirty word.
Not that Orlando and I had ever wanted to marry. Far from it. Maybe we’d been fast friends at five, but by fifteen it was all we could do to remain civil around each other. Ariesian dragons were known for their egotism, but Orlando raised arrogance into an art form.
If not for the sneer contorting his lips, he might have been extraordinarily attractive. If his amber eyes hadn’t held such a glaze of condescension, they might have been beautiful.
I gritted my teeth and tried to remind myself that I did not have feelings for him. Maybe when I’d been fifteen, but his behavior had long since burned away any romantic feelings I might have harbored.
Cold flames licked my ankles as Orlando transformed from dragon to human. They tickled as they sparked against my skin.
I yelped and jumped backwards only to slam into the force field, which then catapulted me forward straight into Orlando’s arms. He grunted and staggered back, instinctively tightening his arms around me to keep us both upright or else he wouldn’t have bothered.
As we regained our balance, it became excruciatingly apparent that Orlando was naked. All dragons were when they first transformed into human. Neither one of us had thought that through.
“This is an intolerable breach of my personal space.” Orlando shoved me away and turned his back to me, presenting a pair of nude butt cheeks to die for. I couldn’t stop staring, so I squeezed my treacherous eyes shut.
I heard a creaking noise and some fabric rustling. Had he found clothes, hopefully? How?
“You may open your eyes now,” Orlando declared a moment later.
I jutted my chin. “If I want to keep them closed, I damn well will. You can’t tell me what to do.”
; Arrogant laughter resounded in the air. “If you want to stand there in the dark, why should I care?”
I cautiously pried open my eyelids. Sure enough, he was clothed in a pair of red leather pants and a billowy white shirt – the kind that laced in the front. He’d left the strings untied revealing more of his toned chest than I wanted to see, but I steeled myself.
“Where did you find clothes?” I asked.
He raised his blond eyebrows in that mocking way I remembered from school. What an ass.
“I discovered a padded bench and inside were clothes. Male and female. These are not to my taste, but they’ll suffice.” Orlando plucked at one of the shirt’s lacy cuffs, his lip curled.
Eyes dark with brimming anger he snarled, “What the hell is going on? What kind of magic is this? I hate witches. This is their doing, isn’t it?”
“We stepped under the mistletoe.” I gazed upward at a bright green sprig of leaves and red berries. “It activated a shield that will last for an hour.”
Orlando’s face suffused with red. “Are you saying I have to spend an hour with you? With nothing but a padded bench for furniture? Nothing to drink or eat? Nothing to do?”
“I think the idea is to be romantic,” I said.
The snort that burst from him was worthy of a dragon’s lungs. “Still harboring feelings for me, I take it, Emily?”
“Go screw yourself, Orlando!” I glared at him. “In the case of people trapped beneath the mistletoe who aren’t attracted to each other, like us for vivid example, we’re supposed to talk. Marley says conversation opens doors. Communication is the first step toward understanding.”
“Understanding what?” Orlando looked down his attractive nose at me. “That we despise each other and have nothing in common? We don’t need sixty minutes in a prison to establish that.”
“Marley thinks the segregation of the dragon clans is stupid,” I said.
“Who under the Zodiac is Marley?” Orlando snapped. Realization flooded his golden eyes. “Not that horrible witch Donovan was forced to marry? You’d think ten years on Zodiac Mountain would have taught her that dragon clans do best apart. For instance, this ridiculous Christmas party forced on us every December. Ever notice that there’s no real interaction between dragons of different clans? We have our own decorations, our own tables of food and drink, and our own dance floors. Only the little kids interact because they don’t know any better.”
“I know.” I sighed. “Marley thinks our Christmas party is ridiculous. She says it’s supposed to foster good will toward each other and forge friendships. She says we can’t do that if we’re all in our separate corners, so she hung bunches of mistletoe all over the damn place hoping to force the issue with her magic.”
“You knew this, yet you stepped under the mistletoe with me?” A supercilious grin I didn’t like at all spread across his gorgeous face. Why did he have to be so damned attractive? It wasn’t fair. “Hope springs eternal, I suppose, but once again I am forced to tell you I don’t find you appealing whatsoever.” He raked me up and down with his arrogant gaze, and although my mirror had told me my silver dress clung in all the right places, I felt dowdy as a beggar in rags.
“I’ll admit you’ve managed to finally tame that hair of yours, but your dress is gaudy. You can always tell a Tauria dragon by their unfortunate choice of bright colors and large accessories. You’re no exception. That bauble around your neck must weigh half a ton.”
I moved my hand to the silver-and-gold choker encircling my throat. The small, multi-colored balls attached to it had seemed whimsical and festive an hour ago. Now, I wondered if I resembled a clown.
I lifted my head high. Screw him. Everyone knew Ariesian dragons had no fashion sense. Tauria dragons set the standard there. Pure, unmitigated jealousy was all his words revealed. He only wished he could pull off outfits the way Tauria dragons could.
Except, damn it, he was pulling off the red leather ensemble and then some. The way the pants molded the muscles in his thighs thrilled me. When the fabric of his shirt contracted against his chest after a deep breath, shivers danced down my spine. He was delicious and he knew it.
However, I was no slouch in my silver dress. Hadn’t he even said he liked my hair, even if it had been a backhanded compliment at best?
Why under the sun was I concerned about how I looked, and, worse, how he looked? Why wasn’t I focusing on the fact he’d stated that I’d maneuvered us beneath the mistletoe on purpose? As if!
“I did not step under the mistletoe with you. You were standing here like an oaf, and I was chasing one of Marley and Donovan’s kids. He had his sister’s hair ribbon, and I was trying to get it back for her so she’d stop screaming.”
Orlando smirked at me. “Can’t the witch take care of her own children? It’s true she has a litter of them. How many now? Eight?”
“Five,” I corrected him and blew out my breath.
Orlando shuddered.
I stared at him. “Don’t you like kids?”
“When they’re quiet and someone else’s and close to being grown, maybe.” He noticed me staring at him and added, “I take it you want a brood of your own?”
“I want at least two. I hated being an only child.” I dodged around him so I could sit on the bench. My silver heels might have been lovely, but they hurt if I stood in one place too long.
“Really?” Orlando looked down at me from his lofty height. He had to be six feet tall, maybe more. “I quite enjoyed being the center of my mother’s attention.”
“You would,” I muttered. “Ariesian dragons hate to share.”
“That’s every dragon on the mountain, not just us. You forget how your clan feuded for decades with the witches because of that very reason. You didn’t want to share your magic tubers so the witches could remain young and practically immortal like you.”
“Like you would ever share the herbal elixir that keeps you young and nearly immortal with the witches in the Ariesian kingdom.” I rolled my eyes.
“We would,” he argued. “If we didn’t already know it has no effect on anyone but dragons.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “Your clan is not selfish. You are generous, giving, and marvelous all around.”
“I’m glad you can admit that.” Orlando’s perfect teeth flashed in a grin.
I rolled my eyes again. “Obviously the concept of sarcasm is lost on you.” I lifted my chin. “A lot’s lost on you, isn’t it? Most of the male dragons at the party, clan or not, wouldn’t find it so awful to be trapped under the mistletoe with me for an hour. But not you, the Great Orlando. You can’t even be civil for a second, can you?”
“I was under the impression I was being civil,” he said, shaking his head, a small, annoying smile flitting across his luscious lips. “For instance, unlike you, I’m not pouting.”
“I am not pouting!” I snarled, then winced when his grin grew wider.
“If I had a mirror I could show you,” he said.
“If you had a mirror, you’d be preening in front of it like a vain bastard.” I glared at him.
“I don’t need a mirror to know how good looking I am,” he declared.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “This is going to be the longest hour of my life.”
“Why? Because I don’t want to flirt and kiss you under the mistletoe? Emily, for shame, you don’t want to kiss me any more than I want to kiss you. You hate me, don’t you?”
“You make it hard to feel anything else. I can’t believe we used to be friends. Bet you don’t even remember that, do you?” I gave him a scorching look. “In fact, we bonded over the fact we were only children and lonely. We even had a game we played where we pretended we were brother and sister.”
“I am not your brother,” he said, eyes narrowed. “Children have the most ridiculous notions.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m ridiculous in your eyes. I get it.” I took a deep breath to erase the tumultuous feelings insid
e of me. Hurt mixed with pride and something else – something ephemeral and hard to admit to. “But I wasn’t always no matter how much you try to deny it now.”
He swept a hand through his shoulder-length blond hair. “I’m not trying to deny anything. I just said children are stupid. We’re adults now, Emily.” He scrutinized me doubtfully. “At least I am.”
“Growing up was the whole problem, wasn’t it?” I plucked at the skirts of my dress, not daring to look at him. Surely, he remembered that Christmas party the year we were fourteen. Although not bewitched, there had been mistletoe at that party too. He hadn’t been so reluctant to stand beneath it with me then.
My throat tightened and my eyes burned. Why couldn’t I banish that memory? The weightless sensation in my stomach as I’d stared up at him beneath the mistletoe. The way he’d looked at me, as if seeing me properly for the first time in his life. How his chest has swelled when he’d sucked in a deep breath as I held my own. Waiting with an eager innocence long since lost for him to lower his mouth to mine.
“Yeah, growing up ruined everything between us,” he said, his voice husky and strange. I peeked up at him and saw the confusion and regret in his eyes. He shook himself. “But that couldn’t be helped. You’re Tauria. I’m Ariesian. We don’t belong together. Look at us now, Em, we barely tolerate each other, and that’s as it should be.”