A Christmas Home (8 page)

“I’d
like to think I would’ve known that he wasn’t exactly who he said he was by the
people he sent. I probably wouldn’t have recognized him as a sabertooth. I’ve
never met one. But he would have had my hackles up, that’s for sure. We know
now, and that’s all that matters. We still have a few days to plan, organize,
and get everyone else on board. If Garth gets the other alphas to meet at the
shop to talk all at once, I want you there. You need to tell them exactly what
you saw and what happened in the order that it went down. Details especially
will be important to make them see this threat for what it is. We need them on
our side when the cats come at us.” And Jagger had no doubt at all that the
sabertooths would be coming. They just wouldn’t know they were expected and the
reception party would be ready.

That
had her nodding and she took a deep breath, one that told him she was going to
piss him off when she spoke next. “I need something that the sabertooths have
touched. Or I need to hold something that was in the hand of their
emissaries—it doesn’t matter. I can give you a lot more then. That or touch one
of the Shifter Falls alphas if he comes and I would be able to describe his
mate or children. If they had them, that is.”

Jagger
let out a low growl at the thought of her touching another male. “No touching
another alpha. That isn’t on the board. But I think I can get you something the
emissaries brought in. The town council has a lot of paperwork from them. I’m
sure something in there will help you out.”

“Fair
enough and if we are lucky one of the sabers touched some of the paperwork and
I could see what devastation they’ve left in their wake. Is there any way you
could possibly send runners or whatever to some of the former places they’ve
been to look for something that I might see in a vision? Would that be enough
to convince the alphas?” He could tell she was trying to come up with anything
at all she could in order to save her pack and that filled him with pride.

“They’ll
smell the truth of your words. Humans are easy for us shifters to read for
lies,” he told her. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then tipped up her chin and
dropped another to her lips. “We can go to the town hall to see the original
paperwork. We should head over there now. I don’t want anyone getting the idea
to clean out the files if they figure out what we’re up to before we’re ready.
I would be really pissed if they moved up their timetable.” Giving her another
squeeze, he helped her up and stood. “Let’s get going. We have a lot to do and
little time to get it done.” Tucking her in close to his side, Jagger held her
tight as they made their way to his truck. No matter what he was going to make
sure that his little mate had the future she wanted and had envisioned for long
enough. No one was going to stop him from making it happen, and the gods help
them if they dared to try.

Chapter Twelve

Ophelia
was as nervous as a kitten in a dog pound. She was sitting in Jagger’s lap and
rubbing the skin of his neck anxiously as she watched the large men entering
the too-small space. When she and Jagger had taken their seats earlier it
seemed the space was huge. Now she was rethinking her initial assessment of the
whole thing. Now it seemed ridiculously small.

She
looked from man to man and even the couple of women that were there as well.
She took a deep breath and pressed closer to Jagger, her hand slipping into
his. She looked up at him when he spoke to the people around him. He told them
about her vision and of course they all looked at her as if she were a liar or
a fraud. She took a deep breath and once more related back to these alphas what
she had told Jagger.

She
breathed in, then back out again. “May I touch one of you?” She felt Jagger
squeeze her middle and shook her head. “We both know it needs to be done.” One
of the men stepped forward and lifted his hand out. “As long as your mate
doesn’t mind.” His voice was low and growly. He wasn’t nearly as huge as Jagger
but he was very large and had deep green eyes. He was a handsome man, but no
one held a candle to her bear.

When
Jagger gave her a slight nudge she realized it was okay. She slipped her hand
into the other alpha’s and stepped outside of Jagger’s touch. It hit her,
sudden and hard. Her eyes glazed over. She was sure that they all saw only the
whites of her eyes as she’d been told time and time again happened when she had
a vision.

“She’s
got flaming red hair, a smattering of freckles over her nose. A tiger.” She
smiled. “A kitten right now. She likes to sleep in front of the fire because
her bedroom smells. It’s newly painted.” She spoke softly to the large man.
“They come in through a double French door silently. She doesn’t even hear them
when
…
” She felt the tears rolling down her
face. “Jesus. Please don’t ask me to tell you what they do to her.” She
released the man’s hand and stepped back into Jagger’s arms. “They start with
her and then your newborn son before they go for you and your mate. You never
hear or smell them coming. They have some sort of scent suppressant.” She bit
her lower lip and took another shaky breath, coming back from the hard vision
thanks to Jagger’s hand at her back.

“I
know that none of you or your animals want to fight with weapons, but these
sabertooths are using weapons. They’re using human weapons of scent suppression
and have learned to bypass alarms and break into homes. Please don’t let them
destroy this amazing place as they have all the other places they have been
through?”

Jagger
pressed a kiss to her temple and whispered soft words to her that she knew only
she could hear. When the shaking began to ease he rubbed his hand to her back
and cuddled her in closer. “We need to take this threat seriously. If Ophelia
was to touch any one of you she would have a similar vision of what is coming
your way personally. The story is the same for us all. They are here, and they
want us all dead. I don’t know why, and neither does Ophelia at this time, but
we have to prepare. Silver will stop them, so I’ve given my pack permission to
go into the mines to collect any of the deposits easily removed. If we need to
dig for more we will, but I don’t want to risk any lives unnecessarily until I
see what we have available. I know two of you also have silver mines on your
lands. We need whatever we can get our hands on quickly. One of our pack and
his mate’s family are going to start making silver bullets and also coating the
edges of several small blades for us to carry. The blades won’t do much but set
them back on their heels, but we need every advantage. You need to talk with
each of your packs and let them know what’s coming. We all need to be
prepared.”

Ophelia
nodded, then looked to the men once more. “They’ve done this with every pack
that they’ve come to in the past. They’ve used the guise of needing help and never
really giving their numbers until it was too late. They revel in the
destruction and pain inflicted upon others. I’m begging you, please don’t allow
them to destroy this family as well.” Family, not pack. Not several packs.
These people were tied together as family, pure and simple.

She
saw the alphas sharing a look before one looked to Jagger. “Come on, little
one, let’s give them a moment to talk freely among themselves,” he said softly
to her. When she looked up at him he gave a nod and tugged her from the room.
He shut the door behind them before hauling her into his arms and squeezing her
tight. “I hate that you had to see more of what’s coming.”

“It
wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been a child. What they did to her,
Jagger.” She had tears in her eyes because to be honest it was horrid what she
had seen. The innocent child had been sleeping as a tiger, and the things they
had done shook Ophelia to a level she never knew existed. No one, child, man,
woman, shifter or anything should ever have experienced the torture that small
shifter child had gone through.
It had broken her heart.

“We
are all someone’s child, sweetheart. It doesn’t matter how old we get. There is
always someone out there to grieve for us if we were gone. In this world or the
next.” Jagger began to stroke her hair, the motion calming her ragged nerves so
she didn’t feel like she was about to come out of her skin. “The others are
with us on this. I only gave them the room so they could process what they saw
you do in there without embarrassing or upsetting you. They believe in what you
saw, and it scares them as much as it does me.”

“I’ve
been doing it all of my life so why would it embarrass me? Did I do something
weird? I’ve been told my eyes turn white but
…
”
she trailed off with a shrug.

“You
did nothing wrong. I only know that they are in there dissecting your every
word right now.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, nose, then her lips when
she tipped her chin up. “They had to know, sweetheart. And that’s why I didn’t
tear Neville’s head off when you touched him. The urge was there but I
resisted.”

“Thank
you for that. I know it was hard for you and I’m sure it was hard for him, too,
but it had to be done. I really would like to meet his daughter, though. She’s
utterly adorable and all curled up in her tiger form just made me want to pick
her up and pet her. Silly, I know.” Then again she was sure when they had
babies she would want to cuddle them in their bear forms as well.

“I’m
sure we can arrange that. Not now, but once we’re through this coming shit
storm. Right now we need to all be thinking more about the security of the
packs than visits. We’ll have all the alphas and their families out to the pack
lands for a post-Christmas party. Low-key, relaxed, and lots of fun. It will
double as a celebration.”
If they all survived,
she knew he left off
saying, but she heard it loud and clear.

“That
sounds like a great plan,” she told him, then took a deep breath and looked
around, trying to focus on something happy. “So, this place is amazing. Shifter
Falls. Who came up with that name, by the way? Do you celebrate all of the
shifters in the world with equal abandon? If so, this is going to be such an
amazing place to be.”

“One
of the founders named the place, or rather his wife did. She loved all shifters
and was a pacifist no matter what they were. She started the traditions we
still carry on to this day. She was also big on holidays, so we celebrate every
single one of them. Christmas is the big one, obviously. The only bigger celebration
is the town’s birthday. That is usually a week’s worth of revelry that is
unsurpassed. I don’t think most places are even open during that time because
we’re all partying so hard and long.”

“That
sounds like a fabulous time. I can’t wait to celebrate New Year’s but please,
please tell me that they don’t start getting ready for Christmas before it’s
even Halloween. If so, we will have to have a discussion with the people in
charge. Each holiday should have its own month, ya know?”

He
let out a snort. “We don’t start on Christmas until the first of December. And
everything usually comes down by the tenth of January.” The door behind him
opened, and one of the alphas stuck his head out to let them know to come back
in. Jagger nodded, then looked down at her. “Ready?”

She
slipped her hand back into Jagger’s and let him lead her into the room of
alphas once more. She took a seat with Jagger, allowing him to pull her into
his lap. She looked to the alphas and waited to see just what they had to tell
them.

One
of the two females leaned forward in her chair to brace her elbows on the
table. “Thank you for sharing that with us, allowing us to see and truly
believe. There are some here that never would have if you hadn’t, but I think
you knew that walking in here. So, too, did your mate, I’m guessing.” At
Ophelia’s nod, the woman blew out a breath. “I called my second and told him to
get men down into the old mines to look for easy to get at deposits. So did
Harold. We will bring all the silver to your men for them to turn into weapons.
What do we do next, Jagger? How the fuck do we protect our packs, our families,
from these assholes?”

“We
band together like never before. I know it’s not easy. We all have issues with
at least one other pack in this room, but in this we must unite. While I may
not particularly like how some of you handle things within your own packs that
is not my business, but this threat is. I will not let us be hurt by these
animals who think to take away what we have fought to build here. We need intel
on these assholes, and fast. We only have a few days before Christmas. I know
they are probably thinking we’re too busy with preparations and with trying to
figure out who they are for the vote two days after Christmas. I think that’s
why they’ll attack on the holiday, when we’re all at ease and unconcerned. I
have four men already watching over the sabertooths, but I need you each to
help with the watch. They can’t keep track of the alpha and his inner circle on
their own twenty-four hours a day.”

The
other alphas shared looks before giving firm nods. The woman spoke up again.
“You’ll have it. In this we are united, Jagger. Afterward we go back to our
truce, and sneer at each other as we will on the streets. Nobody comes into my
town and fucks with the people, shifter or human.” Her words were echoed by the
others quickly.

“Good,”
Jagger said. Ophelia felt him relax under her and realized he had been hopeful,
but until that moment still unsure if they would go along with his plans. “Keep
all information on need to know. Inner circle should know everything. With the
rest of the pack filter what you say. We don’t want one of them saying
something in town that might get back to the sabertooths. All our meetings will
be in here since it’s shielded and protected. We need to meet daily until we
end this threat. Any problems with that?” When the others gave him their no’s
he stood and settled her on her feet. He then moved to shake each alpha’s hand
firmly. She noticed they made eye contact, held, and seemed to also have some
silent agreement pass between them one by one. Then the room cleared out with
each alpha passing by her. A couple tipped their heads her direction out of
what she guessed to be respect before leaving.

When
they were finally alone she looked to Jagger and gave a wan smile. “So, I’m
assuming that things went better than you expected, right?” She’d felt the
tension in his body, had known that he’d been ready for any sort of danger but
these had been his friends so she couldn’t understand why he was so uptight.
“Why were you so upset?” she asked. “Your whole body was tense.”

“You’re
my mate. I don’t like having you around so many other males. Especially
alphas,” he said. At her look he shrugged, then rubbed a hand over the back of
his neck. “It’s a primitive need to keep you cosseted. If I’d had my way I
would have had you in the corner with me in front in full bear form to keep you
safe. Like I said, it’s a primitive need from the bear within. Obviously, I
controlled it. The other part of it all is that they are alphas, and therefore
not always predictable, unlike other members of a pack. Alphas tend to be
smarter, better at hiding their thoughts and emotions, and more cunning, too.
Having the five of them in here with you had my hackles up in case one of them
set another off. We don’t always play well together, if you didn’t get that
from the conversation.”

“I
sort of got that idea from you guys,” she said with a grin, then shrugged. “I’d
love to curl up against you when you’re in your bear form anytime. I love
knowing just how soft your fur is, how the muscles move under your fur and just
like what you look like, period.”

“You
know what my bear looks like,” he said. Then he shot her a purely male grin.
“You know what every part of me looks like,” he pointed out. Walking toward
her, he put his hands on her hips before moving them to cup her ass, squeeze,
and use his hold to pull her up against him.

“You
are seriously hot in any form you take. In fact I think tonight when we go to
bed you need to be in bear form in front of the fire and let me curl up against
you. Naked. You up for that?”

“Damn,
woman,” he breathed out heavily. “Throwing temptation like that in front of me.
I’m going to have a fucking bear boner the entire time. Not funny,” he growled
when she snickered. “For you, though, I’ll do it. You better appreciate the
pain I’ll be in lying there aching for you.”