A Lion for Christmas Read online

  Crispin just chuckled and pushed to his feet, giving Chase a smack on his backside to get him moving. “You’re such a sweet-talker.”

  This really sucks, Sasha thought as she looked around. She was certain there was going to be something important happening, her magic could feel it. The air was full of electricity and she could feel something on her skin making the hairs stand up.

  She looked across the room at the Fae King, she was not going to acknowledge the man, he was arrogant and an asshole. When they met for the first time, he’d followed her out of the meeting insisting on talking to her. When she politely told him he could make an appointment, the man actually demanded she listen.

  Sasha knew what he was going to say, she felt it, but it was weird. He was her mate, she was certain, but she was not going to make a big deal about it. Her mother would freak and then she would plan the last wedding for her kids, and what sucked is that it would—be big. Sasha hated big weddings. But in the Wizard world when the last of their children mated, the parents held a huge party after the ceremony for all of their children. Her brothers would not be happy either; it would be a pain in the ass, especially since what was going on around here.

  Dion would love to take advantage of the fact that her parents were going to have to throw a party for the all of the Wizard community. With the way things were going though, protocol wouldn’t be followed and the Wizards would be upset.

  Sasha hated it. She wanted to kill that little fucker, Dion. She nodded to some important person and then danced with another. Sasha made small talk when she was supposed to as she refused to look at the man who tried to hold her attention. Damn, he was hot though. When they were in the meeting he had explained the Fae mating, that is why she felt like she had time, if she avoided him during the next full moon, which so happened to be tonight she would be golden. Another year.

  During the meeting where they were all introduced, Killian explained how they were only given twenty-four hours to find their mates. She also felt they were missing something, but her mother would be thrilled. Sasha was not stupid; she could feel that there was another. So she was to have two mates, her brothers and her father were going to freak out. But she felt the power in the Palace, the other mate was here, she had no clue who it was though.

  She needed air; Sasha nodded at the Guards who were standing at the windows. “Just a minute,” she whispered to one of her friends. He nodded and stepped back and allowed her to exit the room.

  “I will stand with you,” Jordan said and she nodded absently. Her gown was like a huge weight on her. It was the traditional ball gown in the Stratum colors of blue and red, she felt like an idiot in the tight bosomed and huge skirt. If a good wind blew she would be in trouble, she laughed to herself.

  Pulling in her power, she searched the grounds. That little asshole could be anywhere. When they found the doorways, they found the tunnels the Rebels dug went throughout the whole Stratum. Dion had to be working on them for months. One could be under them right now, there was no way of telling unless they dug up the whole Palace ground, and they weren’t there yet.

  Her gift was of Transport, she used the Coins for others. However, Sasha had enough power herself that she could open a doorway without anything. It was her power that she spelled into the Coins, no one knew but the immediate family.

  Wait. There was some kind of movement off to her left. “Jordan,” Sasha whispered just as she heard a crack.

  Someone was popping fireworks, she thought, and then laughed. What was wrong, she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Jordan came to her side as she fell. Someone had shot her.

  Chapter Seven

  Chase opened his eyes at the morning light. He felt content, something he had not felt in months. His was now the King of the Shifter Stratum Consort, and Crispin’s mate. He was more than ready to start his new life but first something had to be done. Good, bad, or indifferent, he needed to talk to Crispin about what happened when he was captured.

  Chase leaned over and kissed his mate on the shoulder, he looked peaceful sleeping.

  Crispin pulled him close without opening his eyes and whispered, “Why are you awake?”

  “There are some things we need to talk about before we can move on,” Chase said slowly and then looked at Crispin.

  His mate wrapped his arms around Chase and moved them both until they were comfortably lying on the pillows facing each other. “I don’t have to know yet, I can wait.”

  “Yes, you do. You have to hear this because if we are going to move forward, there can’t be anything between us. You know last night there was something I wanted to tell you but we never got to it.” Chase smiled.

  “Really?” Crispin asked.

  “First the bad conversation. My weeks in captivity were not pleasant,” Chase began.

  Crispin could feel his eyes change in anger as he thought about anyone hurting his mate. Until now he felt like he had taken it pretty calmly, just thankful he was back. However, Blake and Logan both knew that when the time came, Crispin would be front and center in Dion’s death. He had a lot to answer for.

  “I know,” Crispin said.

  Chase sighed and stared into his angry mates eyes. “It was my own fault I was captured. You know when I think about it, it pisses me off, because Blake said you came the same day I was captured.”

  Crispin nodded, “I did.”

  “I was fighting in the front, making my way to where the others were battling, intent on making sure Blake was covered. Dion apparently planned the separation. One minute I was fighting, the next I was strapped in a chair in a dirty room. I have no clue how they did it, but my head was pounding and I was sick. I am pretty sure the wolf I was fighting dipped his claws in some kind of drug,” Chase said.

  “Blake figured you would not go easily, either you were drugged or knocked out,” Crispin said quietly.

  “You got that right,” Chase laughed. “Anyway, the first few days they were pretty calm. You know, they would come in and ask their questions, I would tell them to go fuck themselves, and then they would leave. Food was brought, and they made sure I was able to move around some. By the end of the first week, Dion was getting pissed. I could hear him in the room, next to mine, screaming at the men. Demanding they did whatever it took to get the information he wanted.

  “I was pretty sure he wanted to know what was going on in the Palace, but he wanted to know the layout of where Ian and Trent were working. They were planning to kill them. I just pissed them off when I wouldn’t tell them anything. Then they wanted to know where Sasha stored the Coins for Transport. I also refused to say anything. Then Dion wanted to know personal stuff about Blake, again I refused. That is when it got ugly,” Chase explained.

  “It sounds like this Dion is crazy,” Crispin said.

  “You don’t know the half of it. He has all of them calling him Sir and Sire, fucking weird. Anyway, they were going to torture me, so I just was a smart-ass. First, they used their fists. That wasn’t so bad, they were not really that strong, and I used my powers to block them. Then, they called in another Wizard. A fuckin’ asshole I knew from way back. He blocked my own powers and then he laughed when they began to use the electricity.” Chase explained. He went day by day, making sure that he told Crispin the basics. When he was done, he could feel the anger pulsing off his mate.

  “I saw what they did. Now tell me what you felt.” Crispin gritted.

  “I know I’m a smart ass, and most of the time that is just who I am. I will make sure that I will not do it to our subjects. All I thought about was staying alive. Then I felt you. At first, it was like this weird cloak that flowed over me every once in a while. You know, like I was passing out. The pain would leave and then I would feel stronger. But it would fade.”

  “That was when I was moving closer and then father away. Our bond began when I scented you, so it was weak but there. When I got closer to you, I started to feel you. Not like now, it was muffled like you explained. Until
finally I was able to feel you,” Crispin said.

  “Well, for some reason when you drifted in and out, I didn’t realize what was going on. I was sure that I was going nuts. It was like there was another person in my head. Well there was, you, but I mean, I thought I split myself. You know, in order to protect myself, like different personalities. Anyway, the day you rescued me, I swear I was ready to give up. Then there was like a light at the end of the tunnel. Suddenly you were in my head and you were real. I focused on your voice, not what they were doing to me. Damn the pain, it hurt to fucking breath. Moving on,” Chase said when he felt his mate growl under his hands. “When I heard you, I held on, I knew you were coming for me. I think that was why it was so hard for me to talk to you when I was rescued. I was worried that what I was feeling was not right. I could not handle that. I was worried you would be an asshole and I would hate you.”

  Crispin smiled and nodded, “I get it. Like when you dream of something that you are hungry for and can’t have. After a while it becomes an obsession, but when you taste it, it never tastes as good as you remember.”

  “Yep, so I avoided you, and for that I am sorry, because I was missing out on the best thing that ever happened to me. You and this, is more than anything I could have ever dreamed. This was special, this is real,” Chase said and leaned forward and kissed his mates lips.

  Crispin groaned and leaned in. He was more than happy to claim his mate again. However, first there were a few words to be said.

  “I love you,” Crispin whispered.

  “I love you too,” Chase laughed and pulled him closer.

  “Remember who said it first,” Crispin laughed and the phone rang.

  Epilogue

  Zade shifted in his chair, he was feeling worse and worse as the night wore on. It was a fucking full moon, his cat wanted out, but for some reason he was not able to shift. There was something suffocating him.

  He picked up the phone and called Bria, “Ma’am, I am sorry to bother you. But there is something wrong!”

  “We are having an incident, please come to my office, I am calling everyone to the hospital wing,” Bria said and Zade took a deep breath, he could make it.

  “I am on my way,” Zade said and hung up. He could call his Alpha, but he was not ready to cause concern. He was certain it had to be something he ate, or possibly maybe a plant he ran through.

  Standing up his legs felt shaky and he was a little dizzy. His tiger growled inside, he was pissed from being held down. During a full moon, they usually shifted and remained in their animal form if they were unmated.

  Making his way to the hallway he opened the door, a bright shining light was coming from down the hallway, it was from where the Fae’s rooms were. That must be what Bria was talking about. Weird shit was going on around here.

  He leaned against the wall and began to walk towards the light. He had to pass the Fae’s suite before he could make it to the stairs. Maybe one of them could help him if they weren’t too busy with the whole light thing. As he reached the doorway he sucked in his breath, the feeling became unbearable as he sank to the floor. Damn it, he should have called his Alpha.

  “Killian what is wrong?” Zade heard a man ask as he felt someone move close to the entryway.

  “We have to go, someone has tried to kill Sasha, and she is my mate. I was waiting until in the morning to talk to her!” Zade heard a man yell.

  “Sir, we will get the Guards called,” another man said.

  Zade felt a presence in the hallway with him. He wanted to lift up his hand and ask for help but he was too weak.

  “Sir, there is someone collapsed in the hallway.”

  Someone knelt next to him and he felt a hand touch him softly.

  “It is my mate. Holy shit, another mate.”

  Zade heard the man beside him say and then nothing.

  Books Available by Zach Collins

  Stratum Series

  Wasted Time – Book One

  Enough Time – Book Two

  A Lion for Christmas – Book Two ½

  Twisted Time - Book Three – Coming Soon

  Meridian Warriors Series

  Co-Authored with Jana Leigh

  Xander and Dre – Book One – March 28, 2013

  You can contact me at:

  Email: [email protected]

  Website: www.zachcollinsauthor.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/pages/ZachCollins/432030663545348?fref=ts

  Excerpt from Enough Time

  Stratum Series Book Two

  by Zach Collins

  Prologue

  “Uh….Ian could you come into the office for a minute,” Trent asked his best friend, as he stared at the large muscular man who was staring at him intensely.

  “Sure, give us a minute guys,” Ian replied and nodded to the man he now called his husband.

  Trent frowned when Ian’s mate had to pull the large man from the room they were standing in. When his best friend showed up, and called him after being gone weeks with only one prior phone call, he had been pissed. Not that he needed to check in with him, but he was his boss, and also his friend. It was bullshit that he was doing this right now.

  Trent paced around his friend’s apartment, looking at the boxes and the things that were being packed. His best friend was leaving. It sucked, but he could live with it. What he couldn’t live with was the fact he and his friend had been fired from their jobs at the University, for stupid shit. Then his friend announcing it didn’t really matter because he was moving to another Stratum, whatever the hell that was, and Trent was on his own. Ian had started this shit, and he was going to be left alone to finish it. Being fired was the least of his worries. His reputation and his fucking life were turned upside down, just because he refused to admit his friend was a thief. Now it didn’t really matter, according to his friend. He didn’t need the job, he was moving.

  Great, dandy, and where the fuck did that leave him? Being fired from his job, being accused of thievery and covering up a crime was like having his career implode right in from of him. In addition, Ian was spewing creepy weird shit, which pissed him off. He was going to have to go back to Ian’s father and ask for a job. It was pathetic.

  Shit, he hadn’t been on his own since he met Ian. They were best friends. It was strange how it all came about. They met in college and were the only two gay men on the floor. They were not attracted to each other at all. They were like brothers. Trent finally had someone to talk to and not feel as if he was being judged. His family disowned him and his childhood friends shunned him. When he went to college, he had hoped to start a new life, which he did. Meeting Ian had been the best thing that ever happened to him. Ian’s family took him in and treated him as though he was a long lost family member.

  When the Dean of the College came to him, told him Ian was suspected of stealing and being involved in some kind of smuggling ring, Trent had laughed. Then they showed him the proof. A tape showed Ian reaching for a stolen artifact that had surfaced. Trent assured the Board of Regents that Ian would never have stolen it. Instead, they had accused him of covering for his friend, so he told them to fuck off and walked out of the University. Never actually thinking they would fire him too. He left to try to prove his friend’s innocence, but when he had been unable to find him, his anger had grown.

  Ian called him to say he was in Ireland, great, fine, if that’s where the hell he really was. However, it wasn’t. Trent knew his friend had lied to him, but he never thought he’d gone mad. In the past hour, Trent tried to get his friend away from the people who he came with. If he could talk some sense into him, maybe they stood a chance.

  Trent thought Ian was being influenced by a cult. At least, that’s what these men appeared to be like. Blake, the leader, was very charismatic, and the rest of the men seemed to do everything he said. It was more than a little strange. Two of the men even bowed to Blake, what in the hell was that about? Then there was the large man who was looking at him wi
th such intensity, he felt like a bug under a microscope. When he got close to anyone, the man had stepped forward as if in warning to the other men. He had no idea what was going on. Maybe they were going to try to brainwash him too. At this point, anything was possible.

  He may need to send Ian to one of those deprograming groups. The movie he had seen was the one where they took the person, secluded him or her somewhere and deprogrammed them. It was ugly and could be actually painful. When a cult got their hooks into you, it could screw you up.

  Hell, now he was out of a job, and although he had a lot of money saved up, there was no way he would be able to survive unless he found another one. How was he going to get help without money? Ian’s parents would not be able to be brought into this. That would be a political nightmare. Shit. He had been the Head of the Department, how did that slip through his fingers so quickly? The assholes never even wanted to listen to him. It was as if they had made their minds up before they even saw the video. Maybe their insurance would cover this if he could prove to the Regents that Ian was brainwashed. Crap, he was kidding himself.

  Trent had to accept the fact they were probably happy that Ian and him were gone. They had been the only two gay men on the faculty. It was sad to think they would be happy to see them go if it were for that reason only. Trent really thought that Ian and he had finally found a home where they would not discriminated against. Maybe he was wrong, but it was feeling a little like a fucking set up.

  His mind was going a mile a minute, trying to think of a way out of this mess. When they arrived to the study, Trent paused and made sure the door was locked behind him. Ian raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Trent, let me tell you a little story,” Ian laughed, slapping him on the back.