The Wolf I Want for Christmas

By Abigail Owen

Cade Campbell has spent ten years in hiding, preparing to return to his small town, the pack his uncle stole from him...and the mate who doesn’t know she’s been waiting for him. When he shows up on Shyla’s doorstep a few days before Christmas he discovers the sweet, quiet girl he grew up with is all woman. The problem is she’s become a loner, is obsessively neat, and allergic to dogs. Bad news for this wolf. Still, Cade’s not giving up on her or on taking his rightful place as alpha. Maybe this year Santa could finally get things right.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Violet Publishing LLC
• Release date: Mar 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463090480

Abigail Owen

Award-winning author, Abigail Owen, writes new adult/upper YA fantasy romance and adult paranormal romance. She loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of HEAs! Abbie has a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) from Texas A&M University (gig’em Ags!), and an EMBA from California State University-Sacramento. Prior to becoming a published author, she spent years 15+ years using the other side of her brain in various tech-related roles including website design, graphic design, HTML coding, and business analysis. Other titles include: wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, AuDHD, spreadsheet lover, Jeopardy fanatic, organizational guru, true classic movie buff, linguaphile, wishful world traveler, and chocoholic. Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero, their (mostly) angelic teenagers, and two adorable fur babies.

Book preview

The Wolf I Want for Christmas

A Wolf Shifter Holiday Novella

Abigail Owen

COPYRIGHT © 2019 by Abigail Owen

Smashwords Edition

The Wolf I Want for Christmas

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Cover Art by Authors On A Dime

Dedication

To the ladies in NYC—Trish, Astra, Liz, & Jen—who kept me laughing so hard I forgot to be the introvert I usually am. I promised you a story…and this is what happened. Hope you love it!

The Wolf I Want for Christmas

Cade Campbell has spent ten years in hiding, preparing to return to his small town, the pack his uncle stole from him…and the mate who doesn't know she's been waiting for him. When he shows up on Shyla's doorstep a few days before Christmas he discovers the sweet, quiet girl he grew up with is all woman. The problem is she's become a loner, is obsessively neat, and allergic to dogs. Bad news for this wolf. Still, Cade's not giving up on her or on taking his rightful place as alpha. Maybe this year Santa could finally get things right.

* * *

This story was originally published in the multi-author CHRISTMAS AFTER DARK anthology of paranormal romance holiday stories, now no longer available. Want to find some fantastic new authors? I hope you’ll check those stories out…

Christmas in Atlantis by Alyssa Day

Bewitched Before Christmas by Nina Croft

The Lone Wolf’s Wish by Lisa Kessler

Shifting Seasons by Sheryl Nantus

Bewitch You a Merry Christmas by Juliette Cross

The Wolf I Want for Christmas by Abigail Owen

Dear Santa—

Before I explain…how much do you already know?

Chapter 1

SHYLA

The sharp knock on Shyla’s door was not expected…which meant not wanted.

She frowned as she cautiously approached, her socked feet silent on the hardwood floors of her cozy cabin. She knew for a fact that no deliveries were happening today, and no plans had been made for visitors. Her friends and family knew to call ahead.

So, what the hell?

Shyla? a deep, instantly recognizable voice sounded—a voice she hadn’t heard in ten years. It’s Cade Campbell. Sean sent me over.

She stopped stalking toward the door like a cat and straightened, spine stiff, eyes wide.

Cade Campbell.

Her body froze like the icicles that hung off her roof in the winter as memories flashed through her mind. Laughing blue eyes. Dark hair flopped over his forehead. Constantly throwing him out of her room. Helping a bloodied boy of sixteen through dark woods. A soft kiss.

Before he’d disappeared from town without a word.

Cade Campbell.

Drool worthy, tease her until she screamed, make her want to orgasm with a single look Cade Campbell was standing on the other side of her door.

And her dumbass brother had sent him.

What was Sean thinking? That he’d send her an early Christmas present? How would he know? She’d certainly never shared the fact that every sexy dream she’d had featured Cade since the day he’d disappeared from town.

She made a mental note to kill her brother next time she saw him.

I can hear you, Shyla, Cade called through the door.

Right. Wolf shifter. How could she ever forget that bit?

This time his voice sounded amused, like he was holding in a laugh. At her expense. Some things never changed. With a shake of her head, teeth gritted, she managed to shake off her paralysis and move to the door.

One, two, three, she whispered as she flicked the bolt three times. Only if she did that would the pressure in her chest ease enough to let her do the next thing. She repeated the action with the bolt that shot into the floor but left the chain on when she opened the door. A chain no wolf shifter could break.

She’d made sure of that.

Through the gap, she looked up, and up, and up—over work boots, jeans, and a black t-shirt under a well-worn leather jacket—until she reached familiar light blue eyes. Eyes under thick black brows that were raised. Eyes that twinkled with suppressed laughter.

Merry Christmas, Shyla. Remember me?

Oh, hell.

Dumbest question ever. But, while some things might not change, some clearly did. Cade Campbell was not sixteen anymore, that was for damn sure. Neither was she for that matter.

The last time she’d seen Cade, he’d been a scrawny boy, all limbs and gangly. Still bigger than any of the human boys at school, but rail thin with it. Now his jet-black hair was short instead of floppy. His shoulders had filled out. So had his face, despite the uncompromising square jaw.

A wave of attraction caught her on the raw. She’d had a thing for Cade since she’d been ten and realized boys gave her butterflies. That had grown into an almighty crush that she’d hidden as best she could as she’d hit high school. Every girl had wanted Cade. She knew because they had asked her about him all the time since he was always at her house.

He’d never seen her as anything but Sean’s little sister. Someone he alternately drove nuts with pranks and helped in the way that big brothers did in books. The first mean girl incident in high school had ended up with her crying on Cade’s shoulder. She suspected he’d also got his own back at the girl, because a few months later she’d apologized to Shyla and muttered something about how maybe they could all put this behind them. Maybe that’s why his leaving, cutting every tie so hard, had hurt so damn much.

That and the fact that he hadn’t been there for her through the worst thing.

Now she did her best to shove those memories aside. "Hi, Cade. It’s been a while. Can I help