Shifters of Silver Peak: A Very Shifty Christmas (8 page)

They went flying and lay in the snow, whimpering and snarling.

Morgan turned human again, standing there in the snow, fists balled. Stark naked. Valerie tried not to look at his perfect butt, but it was impossible to look away.

“You idiots!” he yelled. “This is how you behave at my house? Go back to your rooms and stay there until you heal, and I’d better not see you two fighting again. You’re packmates and brothers, and you should be standing together, not trying to kill each other. I don’t care what poisonous garbage your mother has been feeding you.”

Festus reared his shaggy head in anger at the insult to his mother, and dared to let out a low growl at Morgan. Morgan shifted again and charged at him, sending him rolling end over end. Then he reached out his mighty paw and smacked Festus on the head with it. Festus ended up lying on his back, waving his paws in the air and whimpering in submission.

Valerie saw Festus glance at his mother, who stood on the porch, shaking her head in disappointment and disgust.

Festus climbed to his feet and slunk off through the snow, head hanging low in sorrow, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Camden followed, but walked a good twenty feet away, padding through the snow and holding his head up. The fur on his back was high and ridged with anger.

“You sure you’re ready for the position of Alpha’s mate?” Nelda said, with a look of fake concern at Valerie’s pale face. “You seem a mite peaked, dear.”

The cell phone connection was crackly, and Valerie felt a sharp stab of loneliness as she spoke to her grandmother. She was sitting in Morgan’s enormous living room all by herself, and her grandparents were in upstate New York, a thousand miles away.

“So everything is all right?” Gam-gam asked her for the millionth time.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” Valerie lied through her teeth.

“I don’t know. You just sound kind of down.” Gam-gam’s tone became indignant. “I hope that boss of yours isn’t working you too hard. It’s Christmas, for heaven’s sake. Is he making you work too much? Do I need to come up there and give him a piece of my mind? I’ll wallop him with my rolling pin, that’s what I’ll do.” She was working herself up into a snit.

Valerie couldn’t help but smile at the thought of her four-foot-ten human grandma lighting into a wolf shifter almost two feet taller than her. She’d do it, too.

Then she glanced up toward the second floor, where Morgan was locked away in his home office, working, and her smile faded.

“No, he’s being quite reasonable,” she said.

“All right, if you say so,” her grandmother said, mollified. “I do wish we could come out there. I can’t believe we have to miss seeing you on Christmas. It’s just all this work we’re getting now…”

“No, no, I’m delighted that you have so much work coming in.”

With the infusion of cash from their new “business partner”, her grandparents had purchased a fancy new embroidery machine, and they were swamped with last-minute Christmas orders. They were putting in long hours, making bucketsful of money, and well on their way back to being financially solvent.

And besides, if they were to visit right now, she’d have to lie to them and pretend she was really mated with Morgan. Right now, they didn’t even know about this rather important, and completely fictional, development in her life.

“I’ll talk to you soon, and don’t worry about me. Everything’s perfectly quiet around here,” Valerie said to her grandmother.

She was telling the truth.

That was the problem.

Ever since they’d come back from their three-day jaunt, things had been painfully awkward between Valerie and Morgan.

Morgan was being annoyingly polite and formal. He and Valerie slept in different beds in his suite of rooms. The two of them went into work together early every morning and stayed late, to avoid family awkwardness – but they rode silently in the car together, and once they got to work, Morgan spent most of the day on the job site or locked in his office.

It was enough to make Valerie miss the days of shouted curses, threats of firing, and hurled pieces of furniture.

It wasn’t just Morgan who was acting strangely. The closer they got to Christmas, the further Nelda and her children retreated into themselves. Honoria and Homer were getting quiet and sad, and Nelda and Elmira looked at each other with barely concealed loathing and only communicated through their servants.

Valerie heaved a sigh. Enough wallowing in self-pity. She had an invitation from the Ladies Benevolent Society to deliver.

She went to the kitchen, where she’d seen Nelda head a few minutes earlier.

As she walked in, she saw Nelda standing by the big eight-burner gas oven, shoulders hunched, talking on her cell phone.

“There must be some loophole. No, I don’t know if she’s infertile, but I’ve got no reason to think so, unfortunately. Well, keep looking. We’ve got to find something,” she was saying in low, urgent tones. But not low enough.

Valerie let the kitchen door shut with a bang. Nelda started, then turned to face her.

“Oh, there you are,” she said to Valerie, quickly hanging up and stuffing her cell phone in her pink quilted Coach purse.

“Yes, here I am.” Valerie favored Nelda with a pleasant smile that said that Nelda wasn’t fooling her at all. “I got a call a little while ago saying that the Ladies Benevolent Society wants to hold an appreciation dinner in your honor tomorrow. They said that you purchased a whole bunch of decorations yourself, and you sent in a rush delivery of new overcoats and winter boots to everyone in the shanty town. That was kind of you.” She looked at Nelda suspiciously. What was her angle, anyhow? It was unlikely she was trying to win the humans over. For that to be her goal, Nelda would actually have to care what they thought.

“That wasn’t kindness; it was desperation,” Nelda said indignantly. “Their decorations were hideous, and we couldn’t make enough nice ones ourselves in the time we had. And as for their clothing, they show no signs of wanting to bring in a decent tailor or cobbler, and I couldn’t bear to look at their shabbiness any longer. I have delicate sensibilities, and it was giving me a headache.”

Ah, of course.

“Well, anyway, they’ve invited you and all of your family to dinner at the rec center tomorrow.”

“The whole family?” she exclaimed in dismay. “I really don’t know that I can tolerate Elmira and her flea-bitten hoodlum offspring right now.”

What about CoraBelle and Hud?
Valerie wondered.

“You can sit at separate tables, but I think that everyone should go,” Valerie said. “It would be considered a gesture of goodwill. Morgan’s hotels are located in human territory, so it doesn’t hurt to foster good relations with them.”

Nelda made a face of distaste. “Fine. I’d better be seated far away from Elmira,” she said grudgingly, pursing her lips. “And I’m taking my own silverware.” She turned and stalked off.

“Don’t forget your fingerbowl,” Valerie called out after her.

“Well,
obviously
,” Nelda said, pausing for long enough to flick a look of disbelief at her.

* * * * *

Valerie had to admit, Nelda had done an amazing job with the decorations. The rec center consisted of two old trailers connected by a hallway, but somehow, under Nelda’s touch, the interior had been transformed from sad and dingy into cheery and homey-looking. It was festooned with wreaths and garlands of evergreen boughs, adorned with red ornaments that looked like holly berries. Nelda had even purchased curtains, white and embroidered with holly leaves. Each table was laid out with elaborate Christmas-themed tablescapes, and pine-scented candles perfumed the air with their wintry fragrance.

“Very nice,” Valerie said, nodding approvingly as she looked around the room.

“Isn’t it lovely?” gushed Maria Lopes, the president of the Benevolent Society. She was walking around with her husband, Jesus, carrying trays of cocktails. She held one out to Nelda, who shook her head. Maria nodded, and she and her husband moved off through the crowd. There were dozens of people there, from both the Benevolent Society and the shanty town.

“Bit understated, isn’t it?” CoraBelle said to her husband.

“Dear, if we’re going by your makeup, you’d consider the Whore of Babylon understated,” Nelda said coolly. “And don’t get me started on your perfume.”

Morgan exchanged an amused glance with Valerie, who covered her mouth to hide her smile.

“Well I never,” CoraBelle snapped, eyes sparking with anger. She and her husband stalked off to their table.

“I’m going to go grab some appetizers,” Morgan said to Valerie, and he headed off into the crowd.

Great. Valerie was stuck with Nelda. Not awkward at all.

Maria set down her tray of cocktails, and her husband seized her hand. The two of them drifted through the crowd together, chatting with the partygoers and each other, looking like teenagers on their first date.

“Aren’t they adorable? Married thirty years,” Valerie said with a sigh of envy. What must it feel like to be so in love after all that time?”

“It’s embarrassing, is what it is. Completely undignified,” Nelda snapped. She glanced off to the right, and Valerie followed her gaze. Arthur.

Hmm. Good looking guy for his age. Pack member. Single. Seemed to spend a lot of time hovering around wherever Nelda was.

“Nelda, have you ever considered dating?” Valerie asked.

“Dating?” Nelda looked at her as if she’d asked if Nelda had ever considered street-corner prostitution.

Great. A mortally offended Nelda. “I mean, you’re stunning, you’re stylish, you’re single…why not?” Valerie said hastily. All of that was true, and a great way to take the wind out of Nelda’s sails before she could go off on a tirade.

Before Nelda could answer, Teddy walked up and began pulling sharply on her coat. “Stop that,” Nelda said, yanking her coat away.

“Where were you all week? Will you read me a story? Where’s my Christmas present?” she asked her.

Nelda looked down at her with annoyance. “Where’s
my
Christmas present?” she asked sharply.

Teddy looked surprised, blinked hard, and turned and walked away without a word. That was a first for Teddy.

Valerie scowled at Nelda. “You know, that is a child with actual feelings, who for some reason I absolutely do not understand looks up to you, and you were just rude to her. Sometimes you’re a lot like your son, and that isn’t a compliment at this moment,” she said, and hurried after Teddy.

Teddy headed outside the rec center, down the steps, and over to the covered pavilion, where her mother stood, drinking something steamy from a mug. Valerie could smell the alcohol fumes as she got closer to her.

Valerie quickly dug in her purse and came up with…a pen and notepad. Best she could do. She handed them to Teddy. “These are from Nelda, but she wanted it to be a surprise,” she said. “Don’t say anything to her; she’ll just be embarrassed.”

Teddy looked delighted. She hurried off toward a group of kids who were making a snowman, waving the notepad and pen. “I got a present, I got a present!” she crowed.

Liane was staring vacantly off into the distance.

Valerie tapped her on the shoulder, hard. Liane started.

“I didn’t see you there,” she said, her eyes unfocused. “Did you see me there?”

“Liane, how are things going with the springs? Are you noticing any improvement?” Valerie asked, trying to hide the tension in her voice.

“It’ll get there, I expect,” Liane said vaguely. She took a big sip from her mug. The smell of Liane’s body odor mingled with the alcohol, and Valerie took a step back.

“Well…good luck. You know you can call me if you need me,” Valerie said.

“Sure, sure.” Liane’s gaze swam back into focus. “What’s your name again?”

“Valerie Dickinson,” Valerie said for the dozenth time, and headed back into the rec center, wondering if she should have said Valerie Rosemont.

Probably not, she decided. It would be so easy to get used to…and too painful when she had to change it back again.

“We should take our own cars today,” Morgan said to Valerie as they stood by the front door putting on their overcoats. “I have to go on site for a few hours. Is there anything you need?”

“Is there anything I need?” she said, staring at him. She needed him to stop being so polite and formal. She needed to know why he was shutting her out.

“Yes. Anything at all.” He avoided her gaze.

“Nope.” She bit the word out.

“All right, well, while I’m gone, I’d like you to get in touch with the city planning department to see where we are on the septic permits, and prepare an updated vendor list for—”

“No,” she snapped.

“No?” He stopped buttoning his coat and turned to look at her, startled.

“I already know what I’m going to do today,” she said, rigid with frustration and hurt. “I went into your desk and found that list of potential mates your mother had prepared for you. I’m going to go over the list and narrow it down to the most appropriate candidates. Then I’m going to draw up the rough draft of a mating contract for you, so that you can submit it to your attorneys for review. Your family is leaving December 26th. You can start contacting these mates on December 27th.”

She glanced up at the stairwell and saw Honoria standing there watching them with a look of dismay. She let out a sigh. She’d miss Honoria and Homer. She liked them. She’d even miss sparring with Nelda. It was actually getting to be kind of amusing, most of the time.

But she couldn’t go on like this. Being near Morgan, wanting to touch him, wanting him to look at her the way he had when they were out in the woods together… She felt as if he were a million miles away from her now. It hurt her heart. Being close to him felt lonelier than being alone.

“But…no. That’s not what I need you to do for me.” Morgan shook his head in confusion.

“It’s what I need to do for me,” Valerie said angrily, and she turned around and quickly walked out the front door, slamming it shut behind her.

She heard Morgan coming out the door behind her, but didn’t look back.

“Valerie?” he called. She ignored him and walked faster.

Honoria rushed outside as Valerie and Morgan walked to their cars separately. “Valerie, can I speak to you?” she called.

Morgan and Valerie both turned around. “Not you, just Valerie,” Honoria said to Morgan with annoyance. “You’re an idiot.
Alpha.
You should just leave. And buy Valerie some flowers while you’re at it.”

“All right then, crazy younger sibling who is perilously close to being assigned toilet-scrubbing duty,” Morgan said, giving her a bemused look, and he got into his car. Honoria and Valerie stood there in the snow, watching him drive off.

Then Honoria grabbed Valerie by the arm and pulled her back inside, into the great hall.

“Here are the two reasons you need to stick this out,” she said to Valerie. “I like you, and I love my brother. And since my brother needs you, you should ignore the fact that he’s being an ass right now.”

“Honoria, it’s kind of you to say so, but he wouldn’t even notice if I left. He’s barely even speaking to me,” Valerie pointed out.

“That’s not personal,” Honoria said. “It’s not just him who’s in a mood. It’s all of us. We’re always like this at this time of year.”

Valerie tried to remember if Morgan had been noticeably crabbier the last few holiday seasons she’d worked with him. Honestly, he was always such a grump that it was hard to tell.

“What is it about this time of year?” she asked.

Honoria stared down at the ground, hands shoved in her pockets. “It’s not something we generally talk about. I’m just telling you so you’ll understand why Morgan’s being weird right now. Our father died on December 20th.”

Valerie sucked in a sharp breath. To lose one’s parent, and so close to Christmas, the time of year that was all about family and togetherness – how terrible that must have been.

“I’m so sorry. How did he die?” she asked gently. “Morgan never talks about it.”

“Elmira’s husband was a power-hungry buttwipe, and he death-challenged him. Camden Senior,” Honoria said, with a look of disgust on her pretty face. “Our dad actually had the upper hand, but he didn’t want to kill him, because of Camden’s cubs. He let the doucheface get back up – and Camden caught him by surprise and killed him.”

“What?” Valerie asked, in utter shock.

“Morgan was only seventeen, but he death-challenged Camden Senior on the spot, they fought the next day, and he ripped his guts out with his teeth.” She looked around, then spoke in a lowered voice. “Mom just collapsed after that, for a few years. She drank a lot; that’s why she never touches alcohol now. Morgan had to take care of Homer and me, and run the pack and run the business. Finally he put his foot down and forced her to quit, under threat of being expelled from the pack. Mom went to a fancy rehab for two months and came back stone-cold sober. Don’t tell her I said that – she’d be mortified.”

“I would never.” Valerie felt the sharp sting of sympathy deep in her chest. “How can Nelda even stand to look at Elmira and her family?”

Honoria shrugged unhappily. “They mostly avoid each other, but it’s a pack thing. Death challenges happen. That goes along with being Alpha. It’s not a cause to throw them out of the pack.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“Morgan can’t stand to talk about it. He doesn’t even have pictures of Dad up on the wall – I’m sure you’ve noticed that. We all kind of tiptoe around it, because it’s so painful. But if you could just wait until after the Christmas season...I think you’ll see him come around.” Honoria looked at her with a hopeful expression.

“I’ll think about it. I appreciate you telling me,” Valerie said, nodding.

She headed out to her car, trudging slowly through the snow. Was Honoria right? Was that the reason Morgan was suddenly treating her like a stranger, or was he just plain sick of her? Because he wasn’t being rude or angry, he was just doing everything he could to avoid contact and conversation with her. How could she talk to him, how could they work through this, when he’d erected a giant wall of stone between them?

The front door opened and Nelda stuck her head out. “Valerie!” she yelled in tones of impatience.

Valerie kept walking. She felt sorry for what Nelda had been through years ago, but she wasn’t in the mood to be sniped at.

“Valerie!” Nelda yelled again, and this time there was something in her voice that made Valerie stop and turn around. Fear. There was fear in Nelda’s voice.

“What is it?” she called out to her.

“Do you have any idea where Teddy is?”

“No, why would I? What do you mean?” She hurried back toward the steps.

“Her aunt just called. Nobody knows where she is. She’s missing,” Nelda said, standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with alarm.

* * * * *

“Well, Camden and Festus, of course, are the best trackers. So they’ll be the ones to find her.” Elmira stood by the parked cars on the roundabout in front of Morgan’s house, trying to talk over everyone else. She looked at her sons with a smug expression. “It will be excellent publicity for the Rosemont pack when we find her.”

“I’m not riding with him,” Festus said sullenly, glowering at Camden. The two of them had traded punches the day before, and Morgan had sent them both outside to run a hundred laps around the house and threatened to send them back to California if they didn’t stop acting like cubs.

“Ride with someone else, then,” Elmira said, waving her hand dismissively.

“Fine, come with me,” Valerie said, exasperated. “It makes more sense to split up, anyway, so we can cover more ground.”

“Hud is by far the most superior tracker in the pack,” CoraBelle said haughtily as they climbed into their SUV. “We’ll take the south part of town.” They screeched off, wheels churning up a spray of snow.

Valerie had already called Morgan and told him to meet her at the shanty town as fast as he could safely drive there. The last place anyone had seen Teddy was at the rec center, where she’d gone to get breakfast. Everybody was going to start out from there and fan out.

The Juniper Police department was out looking for her too, but shifters would have a better chance of finding her, since they could scent her trail.

“At least it’s not snowing,” Valerie said, as Arthur came hurrying up to them.

“Are you kidding? It’s freezing.” Nelda was actually in tears. “You humans are ridiculously puny. She’ll get frostbite, and it’s very hard to find attractive gloves when you have no fingers.”

She looked at Arthur, blinking hard. “We’ll find her, won’t we?”

He seized her hand, and she looked at him in surprise – but didn’t pull her hand away. “We won’t stop looking until we find her,” he assured her.

He let go of her hand and climbed into the driver’s side of her car. She got in the passenger side, and they roared off.

Valerie climbed into the front seat of the Mercedes SUV that Morgan had insisted she drive once they’d agreed on the mating deception, and Festus climbed into the passenger side, glowering. As she pulled out, she saw Honoria and Homer running out the front door, waving at her.

“Don’t stop for them. They’re no good at scenting anyway,” Festus said, his tone sullen.

Valerie stopped her car to wait for them and looked at him in exasperation. “Does your whole life have to be a fight?” she said irritably.

“Mother said that’s what keeps you strong.”

“You know what else keeps you strong? Thinking for yourself. And not being a grown man who quotes his mother all the time,” she said, as Honoria and Homer scrambled into the back. Festus let out a growl of anger and looked out the window.

“Hurry up,” he said as she pulled out of the driveway. “I don’t want Camden to find her first.”

“Yes, because that’s what’s important right now.” She seriously wanted to bitch-slap him upside his furry head, but she didn’t have time at the moment. She was concentrating on negotiating the snow-slick roads and trying not to picture what could be happening to Teddy. How long could that skinny little girl last outside in the snow?

“Do you think she’s all right?” Honoria asked anxiously as they drove.

“Maybe she just went to somebody’s house,” Homer suggested.

As Valerie rounded a curve, she tapped on the brake.

Nothing happened. It was like stepping on a sponge. She was speeding up, not slowing down.

“Hold on!” she cried out with alarm. “The brakes aren’t working!”

They were careening down the road. If they went any further, there would be a steep drop-off to the right, and they’d be at risk of plunging a hundred feet into a rocky valley.

“Brace yourselves!” she yelled. She gripped the wheel, her knuckles white, and steered straight into a snowbank.

The car slammed into it hard, and she heard Honoria and Homer cry out from the back seat. The airbag exploded in her face with startling force, and she was stunned for a moment, sitting there with the car wheels spinning. She quickly reached over and, with shaking fingers, turned the ignition off.

“Is everyone all right?” she called out, ears ringing.

“We’re fine,” Honoria said from the back seat.

“Festus? You okay?”

“Of course I’m all right,” Festus said angrily. “What do you think I am, some kind of weakling?” He quickly climbed out of the car and stomped off.

Valerie, Honoria and Homer climbed out too. Honoria called Morgan, then stuffed her phone back into her purse. “He’ll be right here,” Honoria said. She peered closely at Valerie. “Are you all right? Your lip is bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Just shaken up,” Valerie said, hugging herself. Her hearing was staring to go back to normal. “You sure you kids are okay?”

“We’re good. You know how we shifters are – we can take quite a beating,” Honoria assured her.

While they waited, Festus paced unhappily and muttered, glancing at his watch. Obviously worried that somebody might rescue Teddy before he had a chance to. Whiney little jerk.

Morgan arrived minutes later, a tow truck right behind him.

He leaped out of his car and rushed over to them, frantically looking from one person to the next, searching their faces.

“No broken bones? Do we need an ambulance?” he demanded, his voice harsh with worry.

“I’m fine, although I’m so traumatized that I think a shopping spree is in order,” Honoria said cheerfully. “I mean a post-Christmas shopping spree. I’m thinking Paris.”

“Japan has cooler tech stuff,” her brother suggested.

“You two are hilarious,” Morgan said with annoyance. He hurried over to Valerie, looking into her eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked her as she stood there rubbing her shoulder where the seatbelt had cut into her. He reached over and rubbed her shoulder sympathetically. First time he’d touched her in days.

She shrugged his hand off and took a step back, and he gave her a look of puzzlement. She turned away, biting her lip; she didn’t want his pity.

“Been better. Been worse,” she said coolly. “Have they found Teddy yet?”