Shifters Unbound 23: A Shifter Christmas Carol by Jennifer Ashley

Author:Jennifer Ashley [Ashley, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JA / AG Publishing
Published: 2018-12-10T14:00:00+00:00

“There you are,” Zander said when Dylan returned to him. Zander had a beer in his hand. “All done?”

Dylan resisted the urge to straighten his clothes. His jeans and jacket were perfectly in place, because what he’d done with Glory hadn’t really happened.

Or had it? This in-between thing was maddening.

Holding Glory had been real, he was certain of it. Her heat, her scent, her voice, her beauty—all her. Dylan’s mind couldn’t have conjured out of nothing the true Glory and her enjoyment of lovemaking. She was amazing.

“Done for now,” Dylan answered.

Zander had raised his beer to take a sip, but he burst out laughing. “You have it bad, my friend. When are the sun and moon ceremonies? Any mate bond happening?”

“Not really your business.” His answer was curt because the question had been on Dylan’s mind, and he knew it was on Glory’s.

But first things first. He couldn’t be distracted by mate issues while he was trying to save Shifters from extinction. Once Shifters were safe, free, and living in peace, he and Glory could have a long discussion about their future.

Dylan knew damn well life wasn’t so tidy, but grief and fighting for the lives of others had taken its toll on him. Hence, he’d gone to New Orleans to meet with dangerous beings so the Shifters dancing like maniacs around the glowing Yule log could keep enjoying themselves.

Zander set his beer on a tree stump, sighing with regret. “Time to go.”

“Already?” Dylan watched Andrea and Sean swaying together, Kenny perched on Sean’s shoulders. Dylan wanted to stay and soak up the warmth of his family—he’d already sacrificed too much of that.

Zander shrugged. “I don’t make the rules.”

“Who does?” Dylan pinned him with a stare. “Who is doing this to me?”

“I have no idea. The thing is—am I really doing this? Or are you just projecting me?”

Dylan regarded him calmly. “If I were to conjure a guide to the spirit world, I doubt I’d conjure you.”

“Good point. Well, anyway …”

Zander waved at the crowd, as though they could see him. Then he caught Dylan’s hand with fingers like a coil of constrictors ready for their next meal.

The warmth, light, laughter, and love ripped away like running watercolors. Dizziness smacked Dylan, and darkness tumbled him and Zander end over end, as the wind whipped around them, the cold now biting.

When light returned, Dylan was back in the room in New Orleans, again buried in debris, feeling no pain but unable even to twitch.

Zander had vanished, and a last beam of afternoon sunlight pierced the room. But was this the same day? The next day? The next week? The fact that Dylan was still aware must mean that not a lot of time had passed, else he’d be dead.

Perhaps he already was. Perhaps his soul drifted from place to place, experiencing the past, the present. Why he’d see Ben and Zander, he did not know, but they were both highly magical beings. Maybe some part of them responded to his lost and drifting soul.

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