Magic & Mistletoe: 15 Paranormal Stories for the Holidays Read online

When she heard nothing, it sent alarm bells off in her mind. Her predators had to be close and ready to strike.

  Rachel took off again, heading east.

  Must keep running.

  Staying in motion was her only option. She couldn’t stop or they would certainly claim her. And that would be a fate worse than death.

  Spurred on by the memories of Craig’s hateful face and threats of punishment for her disobedience, Rachel kicked up frozen slush in her wake as she powered through the forest.

  If she could somehow lose them and make her way to Ipswich she’d be able to pick up the passport and IDs she needed. Leave the country. Start a new life somewhere her mate could never touch her.

  Faster and faster she pushed her limbs, leaping over roots jutting out from the ground, and avoiding jagged rocks that lay in her path. Her lungs burned as she panted with exhaustion, but even the chill in the air could not cool the sting.

  Another round of shrill baying rang out, only this time; it came from in front of her.

  How is this possible? They couldn’t have surrounded me!

  She skidded to a halt, nearly crashing into a large evergreen tree, sending a slurry of snow back up into the air.

  Heart racing as adrenaline pumped through her body, Rachel scanned her surroundings for any sign; a broken twig, the beating wings of a frightened bird, anything to give away the direction of those who chased her.

  But rather than clues, Rachel heard nothing. The most frightening of all things her radar-like ears could pick up on, silence.

  Snow settled around her aching paws, soothing the blisters she felt forming from overuse. As nice as that small comfort was, she couldn’t enjoy it long, not when she knew an attack was coming.

  Shifters hunted with more cunning than their animal counterpart. The deadliest of all beasts, her Mate, Craig, probably enjoyed the sport of it.

  He and his pack of bullies had run her for what felt like hours. Tiring her out.

  She cocked her head up, pointing her snowy muzzle skyward as she sniffed the air.

  A heavy smell surrounded her. Damp and cloying unlike the crisp notes of pine from the trees surrounding her.

  She whimpered with frustration. Not knowing which way to go or how many wolves might be on her trail.

  If she could smell them, they most certainly could smell her.

  The whole area reeked of it. As if an entire pack had been through recently, marking their territory.

  Or maybe she’d been running in circles the whole time, running from their howls and allowing them to herd her into this area.

  Was it her imagination? Or had she seen that tree before? And that rock. Was that the one she’d tripped on earlier?

  Her world shrunk before her very eyes, leaving her in a cage of trees.

  Panic tightened her chest, like an invisible hand clenching, squeezing all the air from her body. The deeper she tried to breathe to fight against the constriction, the tighter her chest became, preventing her from filling her lungs.

  Struggling to gasp for air created a vicious circle that amplified the panic attack, sending her heart into overdrive, racing so hard it ached with the strain of keeping up the pace.

  How had things gone so wrong? In the span of a year her life had been turned completely upside down.

  Her father had been so proud when the son of the great Alpha had picked her as mate. All because of her colors. Rare among her kind, she had fur as white as the falling snow, and eyes like blue crystals. Wolves like her represented what a true shifter should look like, whereas most of the packs had grown smaller and their colors indistinguishable from real wolves. Purity and perfection were prized greatly in packs that had muddied their bloodlines over the centuries with turned wolves. Werewolves, though physically similar, still carried human weakness in their DNA. She was pure as they came. And because of it, Rachel was to become royalty among her kind. Live in luxury and never want for a thing.

  A dream come true for a small-town girl like her.

  But Craig had been no prince charming. Cruel and merciless in his treatment of her. The moment they’d been Mated, she became nothing more than a brood mate.

  Dreams of love and happily ever after morphed into a nightmare of animalistic dominance and desire to procreate. Nothing more than a trophy, rather than love her, Craig pinned her to the earth and took her as he liked.

  And when she’d failed to further the Alpha’s line by giving him a pure wolf son or two. She’d been punished.

  Humiliation and ridicule hardened her spirit. Craig had tried to break her, but after all he and his family put her through, she refused to submit.

  Just keep moving. Don’t stop. Keep running. Keep fighting.

  She recited the mantra over and over as she fought to gain control over her mind and body. After all she had been through, she was still alive. She’d pushed so hard and made it this far. As long as she had some life left in her, she refused give in. Screwed as she might be at that moment, she was free.

  That realization gave her the strength to turn the tide of the panic attack.

  Slowing her breathing, she continued to repeat the mantra in her mind, Keep fighting.

  A bird bolted from the tree branches above. Rachel jerked her head left and right, keen eyes searching for any sign of movement that might have spooked it, but came up empty.

  She wasn’t falling for it. They were close. They might be just out of sight, but she had their scent. And that was enough to tell her which way she should run.

  East. She just needed to go east.

  A crack of branches had Rachel sprinting away, twisting and turning amongst the young trees, kicking up snow and muddy leaves in her wake. Another cry rang out, long and loud. Then two more joined in the call. How many more of them had caught her scent?

  Panting, painfully dry breaths, she pushed her body further, trying to pick up additional speed and put that much needed distance between herself and her hunters.

  Muscles protesting, lungs burning, and her heart beating dangerously fast, she felt as if her body might burst under the pressure, but still she drove herself forward toward freedom.

  Leaping over a large boulder, she hit a dead end. A large wall of rock prevented her from moving forward.

  Fallen trees and piles of snow created a blockade on either side. She could try and climb but not knowing what lay beyond had her ready to double back.

  Sounds of the pack, closed in all around her. Paws crunched in the snow, just on the other side of a bush she’d considered escaping through.

  She whimpered loudly, circling, looking for another way.

  A large black and grey wolf stalked out of the bushes, shaking away the snow caking his fur. Larger than normal, she recognized him immediately as a shifter.

  But this wolf wasn’t Craig.

  Nor was it a wolf she recognized.

  Not that it mattered. Whoever he was, he wasn’t friendly. Baring his teeth and snarling, he took a position in front of her.

  Instinct told her to lower her eyes and head in submission since the black wolf dwarfed her in size, but Rachel couldn’t do it.

  Submission meant returning to the life she had so desperately tried to escape from.

  Just keep fighting.

  Rachel crouched down, ready to spring to action. Ears pinned back, she adopted the same snarling expression, ready to lunge for the male’s throat.

  He might have been twice her size, but she trusted her agility and speed. Locking her eyes onto his ghostly gray ones, she summoned all the power of her wolf, daring the male silently to make his move.

  Rustling of branches nearby, and soft padding footsteps, caught Rachel’s attention. Another was nearby. Whoever they were, they’d be next to fight. She tried not to let that steal her resolve as she kept her eyes fixed on the dark wolf in front of her.

  When her glare failed to intimidate him into moving, Rachel growled and lunged. Her teeth made contact with thick fur, but he jerked and maneuvered too q
uickly.

  Rachel slipped and crashed into the ground taking a small tuft of fur in her mouth.

  The dark wolf pounced before she could return to her feet. His sharp teeth sliced into the scruff of her neck. Like tiny razors, she felt each one leave its unique mark in her body.

  Pinned under the weight of the dark wolf, Rachel howled in pain, as she struggled under his bulk.

  Sticky warmth bloomed over the back of her neck. Blood oozed down her back as the male dug his teeth in ever further, punishing her for showing resistance.

  This is not how it all ends.

  She’d fought so hard to escape Craig and her life with him, she couldn’t let it end here, fighting with some random stranger in the middle of nowhere.

  Rachel threw all her weight to one side and then the other, squirming free as she rolled herself and the wolf over in the snow.

  That final burst of energy had taken its toll. She struggled to her feet, feeling woozy. The back of her neck burned and as she found her feet, fat drops of blood fell from her matted coat, staining the snow.

  She turned to face her attacker, desperate to make a show of strength by baring her teeth and snarling.

  He’d shifted and stood before her in his human form.

  A man she’d never seen in her life, but the look on his face said he knew exactly who she was.

  “I’ve got a message for you, Rachel,” his southern drawl accentuated the way he said her name. “Craig sends his regards.” He turned away from her for a moment, angling his head toward a snowdrift.

  Taking her eyes off her attacker went against every last instinct she had, but curiosity got the better of her and she too glanced at the snowdrift.

  A large gray wolf sat up on high looking down on the pair of them. He looked like Craig, but from the distance she couldn’t be sure. Gray was one of the most common of colors in their kind. She had to believe it was him though. Having someone else do his dirty work. That was his trademark.

  “You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” the man in front of her said with a laugh.

  She stood her ground, part of her wanting to shift and use her voice, but she knew better. As a wolf she fared better in a fight.

  “Mr. Marsden is finished playing with you.” His words sent a chill up her spine. “But we have one final thing we need you to do before we’ll leave you alone.”

  Curiosity had her questioning exactly what he meant and in that moment of distraction she’d given up her chance to attack.

  He shifted back down and once more became the black wolf, attacking the instant his paws hit the ground.

  A blur of teeth and claws, he moved with speed her tired body just couldn’t keep up with.

  Her cries of pain and howls for help did no good out in the middle of the forest but still she tried. He slammed into her with the force of a truck, battering her body against the wall of rocks that had trapped her.

  She tried to muster the strength to fight back, but he was relentless in his attack, leaving no opening for her to take.

  His teeth shredded her fur. His claws raked across her belly. When she tried to evade he snapped his jaws, catching her backside, ripping chunks from her tail.

  He had the upper hand. He could have finished her, but for all his ruthlessness in the attack, he failed to go for a killing blow.

  Another one of Craig’s fucked-up games. She recognized his attacks were aimed at causing pain rather than simply ending her life. And each time she tried to fight back he punished her harder, inflicting wounds that would hurt but not kill.

  Round and round they went until she’d lost so much blood she collapsed on the spot.

  Vision going in and out, Rachel tried to succumb to the call of the abyss. The next life had to be better than the one she was currently living in. But unconsciousness wouldn’t fully claim her.

  Too weak to move. Too weak to speak. Rachel had been reduced to a vegetative state. Her eyes were locked open with fear of what was to come next.

  She begged for death, silently praying to whatever god might be out there listening to her.

  The dark wolf shifted again, and lifted her broken body, carrying her over his shoulder deeper into the forest.

  Her silent sobs went unnoticed as he walked for what felt like forever. Minutes, hours, days…Time had lost all meaning. Just an endless stretch of hell she could not escape from until at last he stopped walking and threw her broken body down into a pile of snow.

  Cold felt nice. It welcomed her with the promise of carrying her off into oblivion.

  She blinked again and he appeared above her, this time holding a knife. She watched the arc of his arm as he struck, but felt nothing. Pain should have been there, but mercy, or shock spared her the sensation.

  His mouth moved. Perhaps he was speaking. Or maybe just laughing. It no longer mattered to Rachel. His face disappeared with the rest of the world as she closed her eyes and welcomed death.

  Rachel’s eyes fluttered open when death had failed, yet again to claim her. Comfortably numb to the pain of her wounds, she existed in a state of limbo; paralyzed, or maybe just frozen solid, while her mind worked as fast as it ever had.

  Maybe this was hell.

  At least he no longer stood above her. Small miracles.

  Another male had taken his place, but after her ordeal Rachel had moved past fear, and she looked at him curiously.

  Another man she had never seen before. Her nose still worked and he definitely smelled of wolf. His features, even as a human were very much wolf. Prominent nose, heavy eyebrows, windswept hair.

  Pure shifter. He had to be.

  Rather than snarl at her or look on her with disgust, his expression held shock and sadness.

  He knelt down in front of her, reaching a hand out. Every instinct she had screamed for her to pull away, but frozen as she was, Rachel could do nothing but allow him to prod her wounds.

  Sorrow quickly morphed into anger, as he inspected her, painting a hard line across his mouth.

  He mumbled to himself before scooping her into his arms and standing.

  Unable to command her arms or legs, Rachel was little more than a ragdoll in his arms, but he carried her weight with ease, cradling her as gently as if she were a precious baby.

  His body was like her own personal space heater, spreading delicious warmth through her frozen limbs. But with warmth came pain.

  Ice and snow had numbed her body against the reality of her wounds, but as he trudged through the snowy forest, she thawed enough to let the angry gashes and bites make their presence known leaving her wishing he’d just left her to die.

  Rachel stared off into the distance as the man carried her through the forest. Twinkling lights of blue, red, green, and purple began to appear in her vision. Hallucinations she thought at first, but as the trees became thinner and they entered a clearing, she realized they were real. And thousands more decorated the trees and building they were heading toward.

  Her rescuer, at least she hoped that’s what he was, rushed toward the largest of the decorated buildings, yelling for help as he approached.

  People began to rush around him. Their voices were muffled but the tone she understood.

  Panic.

  Past the decorated trees, and a large bonfire, they finally entered into a building.

  Wounds thawing and pain increasing, Rachel’s head spun as she tried to deal with all the raw sensations attacking her senses. Angry and intense, her pain screamed so loud her ears rang from it, distorting everything around her. A prisoner in her own personal hell, she rested in his arms in motionless agony.

  He set her down gently on a table and wrapped her in a warm blanket, calling out for help again from those passing by. It was then that she began to accept that he was truly helping her. And with that realization she summoned the last bit of strength she had to endure, knowing at some point this pain might end.

  His concern touched her. He didn’t know her. He could have easily left her fo
r dead, but he hadn’t.

  Why?

  Maybe she hadn’t woken up in hell after all.

  Lying paralyzed on the table, waiting for help to arrive, her eyes fixed on the beautiful decorations. Wreaths of red and green. Trees inside and out strung with lights and baubles of every color. The air filled with spices and warm cocoa.

  A magical place that perhaps she had conjured up in a dream, but it was as real as the pain she felt.

  More people surrounded her. A lady appeared in her field of vision, carrying a large needle in hand. She barked out orders, calling the one who had rescued her by the name of, Brady. Large as he was, he seemed to bow to her orders.

  Rachel couldn’t feel the needle, but the medicine immediately returned her to that state of blissful numbness.

  Brady, her savior, knelt down bringing his face into her line of sight. His warm chocolate-colored eyes met hers and with a consoling nod, he whispered, “Take what you need from me.”

  Whatever that meant, it felt reassuring and Rachel knew, despite all she had been through, her story wasn’t over.

  Rachel’s story continues in Mated (an Olde Town Pack book) by Katie Salidas

  For more information and to find out where to purchase this book visit:

  www.KatieSalidas.com

  Other Books By Katie Salidas

  Mated

  An Olde Town Pack novel

  Brady is a confirmed bachelor, serial womanizer, and sex god.

  He wears those titles like a badge of honor.

  Boyfriend or – a word that should never be spoken – mate...

  No. Way. In. Hell.

  He’d never let a woman tie him down… like that.

  But when he meets Rachel, everything changes.

  Moonlight

  An Olde Town Pack novel

  Good girls don’t wear fur, or fight over men, and they certainly don’t run around naked, howling at the moon. But then, no-one ever called Fallon a good girl. As a human unofficially mated to an Alpha werewolf, Fallon is being pressured to “become”...or be gone.

  With other she-wolves desperate to be the Alpha’s mate, Fallon’s got a fight on her hands. When these bitches get serious, it’s not just claws that come out.