Hot for the Holidays

  made it clear he blamed Naomi for Julie’s deafness. She’d returned to her people, took over her parents’ business when they retired, and made something of her life. When Jamison had disappeared, she hadn’t folded up and stopped. She’d gotten mad and kept on living.

  Naomi embraced life, the good and bad of it. She was an Unbeliever, yet she indulged her neighbors’ obsession with the Ghost Train and took in Jamison’s Changer ability with good grace.

  Jamison put his hand on hers. He liked the feel of her skin, always warm, on his. She laced her fingers through his and gave him a little smile, which made his blood sing.

  Jamison had been raised not to interrupt his elders, but he sensed that this man could go on rocking and mouthing nonsense for days if he wasn’t stopped.

  “Sir,” he said in a low voice. “Mr. Clay.”

  Alex Clay didn’t look up or stop chanting. But after another minute or two, he wound down to silence. He rose, took a bundle of herbs from a basket in the corner, and tossed it into his wood-burning stove. A sweet but acrid smell permeated the room.

  “I think that’s a controlled substance,” Naomi hissed. Jamison gave her the barest nod.

  The old man sat in front of them again. He took Jamison’s hand in his then Naomi’s. He closed his eyes and began chanting in a low drone as the room filled with heady smoke.

  Alex put their hands together and started piling the stones on top of them. The turquoise and onyx felt warm, the white stones strangely cool. Naomi’s eyelids drooped from the smoke, and Jamison wished the man would open a window or something.

  Alex suddenly opened his eyes. They were wide and black, full of more intelligence than his rambling muttering had led Jamison to believe. He put his hand on their joined hands and squeezed. Naomi winced, and Jamison felt the pain of stones pressing into his skin.

  Just as suddenly the old man let go and raked the stones back to the blanket.

  “One hundred dollars,” he said clearly. “Cash.”

  Naomi raised her brows. Jamison bit the inside of his mouth, pulled out his wallet, and counted five twenties into the man’s outstretched hand.

  Jamison helped Naomi to her feet while Alex recounted the money and stuffed it inside the pouch with the stones.

  As they made to leave, Jamison turned back.

  “I don’t mean to question you,” he said. “But you are a Changer, aren’t you?”

  The old man chuckled. He didn’t move, but suddenly his body shrank and his clothes collapsed inward. Naomi gasped.

  An elderly hawk emerged from the clothes, shaking its feathers. It glared at them with yellow eyes, put one wing over its head, and went to sleep.

  o that’s it?” Naomi asked as she started the truck. “Now “we’re bonded?”

  “No.” Jamison sighed, frustration and disappointment warring within him. “I think that was the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever gone through. He’s not a real shaman.”

  “But you gave him a hundred dollars.”

  “He needs food and fuel for the winter. I bet he shafts a lot of people, and they go along with it because they feel sorry for him.”

  “He really is a Changer, though. He didn’t fake that.”

  Jamison shook his head, glum. “But there was no bonding. You’re still vulnerable.”

  “Then so are you.”

  Jamison tried to contain the anger boiling through him. “Let’s get back to Magellan. The weather’s changing.”

  Naomi peered at the sky, which had moved from blue to gray while they’d been inside, clouds lowering. Storms could gather fast in the mountains. Jamison remembered a summer day he’d been hiking on Humphreys Peak, one of the sacred mountains of the Navajo near Flagstaff. One small cloud had been hovering over the summit when he started, but within an hour, he was dodging lightning strikes and a deluge of hail.

  Naomi said nothing as she inched the truck back toward the main road. As they snaked northward through the reservation, flakes of snow began to dust the windshield.

  “What do we do now?” Naomi asked. “Who else can perform the bonding thing?”

  Naomi faced the road like she faced everything, chin up, with bring-it-on sass. A defeat was only a minor setback to her.

  “I don’t know anyone else,” Jamison said. “Except the Alpha who held me captive, and I don’t plan to ask him.”

  “What about this Coyote? He knew where the Changers were in Mexico, maybe he knows where some others are around here.”

  “He’s not exactly trustworthy.”

  “He’s nice to Julie. And it’s worth a shot.”

  She had a point. “I’ll try to track him down,” Jamison conceded. “I’ll check out the Crossroads Bar and see if anyone knows where he’s staying. If he shows up at the Ghost Train tonight, I’ll try to corner him there.”

  “Or I will. I’d like to know why he shunted you off to Mexico and didn’t tell me. If he’s some powerful god, he could have at least called.”

  Jamison chuckled. Coyote the mighty trickster god would meet his match in Naomi.

  “Damn, the snow is picking up,” she said.

  The black strip of road they’d reached was deserted, and snow fell thick and fast. They had miles to go before they met the northbound highway, and then they’d have to crest a summit before twisting back down to the plateau.

  Naomi set her jaw, slowed the truck, and drove carefully and intently. Five miles later, wind slapped them halfway across the road, and the windshield was covered with white.

  “Shit.” Naomi pumped her breaks. The truck obediently slowed, listing sharply to the right as the wheels went into the shoulder. They stopped, the truck rocking, and the whiteout blizzard struck full force.

  Naomi sat still, hands locked around the wheel, eyes wide. Jamison unbuckled his seat belt, slid across the cab to her, and put his arms around her.

  “We’ll be all right.” He turned her face to his, smoothing her cheek with his thumb. “There’s no other traffic, and when the storm lets up, they’ll send out the plows.”

  “Julie . . . ”

  “Is snug and safe with your friend in Flagstaff. We’ll just have to think of a way to keep ourselves warm.” He licked her ear.

  She relaxed enough to smile. “I missed you, Jamison.”

  “I missed you too, love.” Her hair smelled so good. It always had. He nibbled her earlobe, liking the little noise of pleasure she made.

  Naomi turned her head and kissed him. He melted into her, feeling her hot mouth, her questing tongue. He remembered falling asleep inside her last night, her warmth filling his empty spaces.

  “You’re mine,” he murmured. His entire body flushed with heat. “Mine.”

  She kept kissing him, her lips so soft. He imagined her lips sliding around his heavy erection, and his body throbbed.

  “I’m going to do another sculpture and sell it,” he said. “Then use the money to buy you the biggest diamond ring you ever saw.”

  She stilled. “Diamond?”

  “It’s the custom of your people for a man to give a diamond ring when he asks a woman to marry him, isn’t it?”

  Naomi’s turquoise eyes went wide. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

  “I plan to, when the time is right.”

  “Jamison . . . ”

  He kissed her again, finished with words. He let his fingers move to the button of her jeans, then her zipper. She jumped. “What are you doing?”

  He grinned. “Celebrating that you’re going to let me ask you to marry me. Besides, who’s going to see us in a blizzard?” He kissed her again, then he tugged at her open jeans. “Pull these down.”

  Naomi gave him an amazed look, then she quickly slid the jeans and her panties down over her butt. Jamison moved his hand between her legs, feeling her liquid heat.

  “The seat is cold.” Her eyes widened, then she dissolved into laughter.

  Jamison reached behind the seat, where she’d stowed a neatly folded blanket along wit
h her emergency supplies. She was always so practical.

  Naomi half rose, and he slid the blanket under her. “Better?”

  “Better.”

  “Good.” Jamison leaned down into her lap and moved his tongue into her slick heat.

  esponsible Naomi never dreamed she’d let a man go down on her in the front cab of her truck on a major highway. Of course, snow was piling up on the windows, blotting out the world. She should worry about how much gas and battery life her truck had, but right now those concerns seemed irrelevant.

  Jamison had a magic tongue. He licked and kissed her, using fingers to spread her. She let her head drop back.

  “Jamison.”

  “Mmm hmm?” he asked, his mouth busy.

  “I’m glad you came back.”

  “Mmm. So am I.”

  His hot tongue contrasted sharply with the cool air in the cab. She needed his mouth and what it did.

  His tongue moved across her labia, parting the lips, then tickled her swollen berry. He suckled her, pulling the nub into his mouth, the tiny pain of his teeth arousing as hell.

  She looked down at his satin black hair and strong back, marveling that this man wanted her. Three years ago, when he’d said in his lecture, “Navajo legend says that this world is the fourth level of worlds we’ve ascended to,” his smooth voice had made her wet. She’d never thought listening to a creation myth would make her want to take a man to bed.

  This incredible man everyone liked wanted her, and he showed her now by jabbing his tongue straight into her cream. She moaned out loud, her fingers furrowing his hair.

  He went on driving her crazy, his neck muscles working as he drank her. Her hips moved frantically, her juices pouring out of her and over his tongue.

  “Jamison,” she screamed.

  “That’s my girl,” he whispered into her skin.

  He kept his mouth on her, moving with her frenzy until she suddenly broke. She had no idea what she shouted or what she did, but she was squeezing with her thighs, raking her fingers across his back.

  Finally he raised his head, his smile stretched wide. “Don’t kill me, love. I want to do more later.”

  Naomi collapsed against the seat, panting. “Sorry.”

  “I was teasing.” Jamison licked his lips as he sat up, his eyes hot and full of sin. “I like it a little rough.”

  Naomi dragged in long breaths, fire still raging in her core. Before she could reason out what she was doing, she unbuckled and unzipped Jamison’s jeans and lowered her head to his lap.

  “Naomi . . . ”

  “Payback,” Naomi said and swirled her tongue around his stiff cock. “Sit there and take it.”

  Jamison made a raw noise, fist closing on her hair. He tasted so good, better than she remembered. She wanted to suck him into her mouth and keep on sucking, to let him know how much she missed him. He rocked his hips like he wanted to fuck her mouth, and she opened wide for him.

  “Damn, I missed you,” he said.

  Naomi was slightly surprised at herself, but the new wildness in him touched a wildness in her. And what the hell? If they were going to freeze to death out here, they might as well go out having fun.

  Naomi suckled and licked his cock until he groaned and shot a sweet stream into her mouth. She sat up again, triumphant, and reached for the tissues she kept in the glove compartment.

  Then she noticed the silence. “Oh my God, it stopped snowing.”

  The blizzard had slowed, and a snowless wind had blown chunks of white from the front window.

  Naomi wiped her mouth and jerked her jeans up with shaking fingers. “We’d better stop this.”

  Jamison’s smile was wicked. He drew her against him, kissing her neck, under her hair, his breath hot. “Why, so we don’t embarrass the highway workers?”

  “I was thinking we’d be the ones embarrassed, sitting here with our pants down.”

  Jamison licked her ear, and she felt the ridge of his already hard erection against her thigh. “Hope they get here soon,” he rasped. “I want to do more in a more comfortable setting.”

  “Maybe you should take a look at how stuck we are. The cold might do us good.”

  “I don’t think anything will cool me down from being with you.”

  “Even so.”

  Jamison laughed and kissed her again, then he zipped up his jeans, pulled on gloves, and opened the door. Freezing air rushed into the cab, cut off abruptly as he slammed the door again.

  Storms up here could diminish just as quickly as they blew in. Jamison brushed the remains of the snow from the windshield and Naomi could see the road, or at least a thick blanket of white with reflective markers sticking up through it. Even with her four-wheel drive, the road would be impassible for a while, the snow too soft and slick. They’d have to wait for a plow.

  Jamison walked around the truck, the wind whipping his hair. He retied part of a tarp that had come loose in her pickup bed, brushing snow from the top of it.

  Towering pine trees grew thickly on either side of the road, and Naomi saw something moving under them. An elk maybe? Or a deer?

  It came closer, a large animal lumbering on four legs. Elks were big and could be dangerous if they charged.

  Jamison turned around and stilled. It was a bear. Two bears, one shadowing the other.

  Black bears roamed these mountains, but Naomi would have thought this deep into winter they’d be hibernating. These bears didn’t look lean and hungry, and were nowhere near sleepy.

  They stopped, snouts swiveling to point straight at Jamison. They sniffed the air, then with enraged growls, they charged.

  SIX

  Naomi screamed. As Jamison leapt back into the cab, Naomi instinctively slammed the truck into drive and stomped on the accelerator. The pickup lurched forward a few inches, then the tires spun, digging them deeper into snow and mud.

  “Stop!” Jamison said in a commanding voice. He was yanking off his coat, shoving the boots from his feet.

  “Making noise might scare them away.”

  “Those aren’t bears,” Jamison said grimly as he hauled off his shirt and kicked out of his jeans. “They’re Changers.”

  Naked now, he grabbed Naomi by the back of her neck and gave her a rough kiss. “Stay in here.”

  He slammed open the door, changing into a snarling mountain lion as he jumped from the cab. The bears charged. Naomi cried out as Jamison met them head-on, teeth and claws clashing.

  Holy shit. She couldn’t just sit here and watch them tear Jamison apart. Maybe she could scare them, distract them. She punched the horn, letting it sound in loud bursts. One bear jerked its head up, then as the other bear tackled Jamison, the first bear rushed the truck.

  The cab rocked as the bear slammed into it. It was a Changer, Jamison said. That meant the bear could morph into a human who could open doors and drag her out into the snow.

  She slammed the locks shut and flipped open her cell phone, punching 9-1-1 and praying she had reception. “Hey,” she shouted at the person who answered. “We’re stuck in the snow, and bears are attacking.”

  The calm-voiced woman on the other end asked her where she was and promised help was on the way. She advised Naomi to stay inside the truck with the doors locked.

  “You think?” Naomi screamed as the bear slammed its paws into the driver-side window. Glass shattered and cold air poured in.

  The bear suddenly howled and went down when a huge, tawny-colored beast jumped on it. A wolf? Naomi wondered as the two animals rolled away. Could this get any worse?

  A moment later she wished she hadn’t thought that. Another mountain lion bounded out of the woods, this one nearly twice Jamison’s size. He was snarling, foam flecking his red mouth. The bear with Jamison backed off, and the two mountain lions met with a crash and a wildcat scream.

  The bear hovered outside the fight, breath steaming in the air. He was watching like a referee, his head moving back and forth as the two combatants wrestled and strug
gled.

  “Jamison,” Naomi sobbed.

  The broken window darkened, and Naomi whipped her head around to see the man who called himself Coyote standing next to her, stark naked and breathing hard. Gone was the man who wandered Magellan’s streets and teased tourists, who smiled at Julie and signed to her. His eyes were yellow and glittering, his lips pulled back from pointed canines.

  “Get out,” Coyote said to Naomi. He yanked open the door and unlocked her seat belt himself, pulling her out by the arm. The bear that had been attacked lay still, groaning, the snow stained red around it.

  “If you stay in there, they’ll crush the truck,” Coyote said.

  “If I’m out here, they’ll crush me.”

  Coyote ripped the tarp from her truck bed and pulled out a shotgun, one she hadn’t put there.

  He thrust the gun into her shaking arms. “You know how to use this?”

  Naomi nodded, hands automatically moving to hold the gun in a safe position.

  “Good. Defend yourself. Shoot to kill, because they’ll kill you if you don’t.”

  He turned away, not seeming to notice the cold and snow, even though he was bare-ass naked. He threw back his head and let out a ferocious howl. Then he started running at the second bear, morphing into a beast as he went.

  He was bigger than a wolf, huge and muscled, but his face was pointed and foxlike. A coyote’s face.

  The second bear roared, turning to meet the threat, and both went down in a tangle of limbs. Jamison was still fighting the other mountain lion, the two cats springing apart to circle each other before slamming together again.

  Naomi charged around the truck, the shotgun cradled in her arms. She cocked it and sighted, but she couldn’t shoot for fear of hitting Jamison.

  Wind suddenly howled down the highway, stirring up the drifts. The sky darkened with impossible speed and snow started to fly. The driving flakes stung Naomi’s cheeks, and white clouded her vision. The red truck was ten paces away from her, but in a matter of seconds, she could barely see it.

  The bear that Coyote had already wounded struggled to its feet behind her. Naomi swung around and aimed at it, but it morphed into a human man and stumbled toward the truck. He leaned heavily against the hood, blood streaming from his shoulder.

  Naomi moved toward him, still aiming the gun. “I called nine-one-one,” she yelled. “You just stay right there.”

  The man gazed at her like he hadn’t heard. He had black hair and eyes so dark she saw them through the whirling snow. “There’s sorcery in this,” he said with a harsh accent. “Are you doing sorcery?”

  “The only sorcery I have is right here.” Naomi sighted down the barrel to make her point.

  “If you are not, then . . . ” The man’s eyes widened in horror and he stared past Naomi at the fight between Jamison and the other mountain lion. “He’s doing it. He’s a sorcerer. Shoot him! Shoot him, now!”

  Did he mean Jamison? Or the second cat? Naomi swung around and looked over the gun at the mountain lions. But they were locked together, Jamison’s ears flat against his head.

  A few feet from them, Coyote morphed into a man, lifted the bear he fought, and threw it to the ground.

  The man next to Naomi emitted a moan of distress and started for the fallen bear. To Naomi’s astonishment, the bear on the ground morphed into a woman with tangled dark hair. She lay still, her arm bent at an unnatural angle.

  Unperturbed, Coyote walked back to Naomi as the man fell to his knees beside the woman. Coyote was a huge man, easily six and a half feet tall with bulging muscles filling out his body. He had the dark skin of a Native American, long black hair, and black dark eyes. His face had a flat look, as if his nose had once been broken, maybe in a biker bar?

  Coyote put his hands on his hips, watching the mountain lions fight. Jamison was going to lose. Naomi’s heart thumped as the larger cat drew claws along Jamison’s side and bright red streaks erupted on Jamison’s fur.

  “Do something!” she screamed at Coyote.

  “He’s the Alpha,” Coyote grunted, gesturing at the cats. “If I interfere, Jamison automatically loses.”

  “The Alpha? You mean the Changer who locked Jamison in a cage and treated him like a lab rat?”

  Coyote didn’t answer. Naomi’s blood ran hot. She uncocked the gun and moved toward the fighting pair, treading carefully in the snow. Maybe Coyote’s assistance would negate the testosterone contest, but would that happen if Jamison’s own mate helped him?

  Naomi dug her boots into the snowy ground. She cocked the gun, and as soon as the Alpha flung Jamison underneath him, she shoved the barrel of the gun into the creature’s ne