Page 11 of Claiming the Shifter's Heart

It made her want to scream at them. Scream until her lungs burned, until they could hear how suffocating it all was. How tired she was of being treated like some fragile thing that could never be whole again. She wasn’t broken.

She was whole. It might be an affront to other people’s sensitivities, to their delicate view of what a woman, a mother, was supposed to be after everything she’d endured. They expected her to be broken, to wear her scars like a permanent, painful mark. They wanted to see her crumble, to be weighed down by her past. But she had survived—and more than that, she had flourished.

Della had found a way to keep going, to build a life for her children and herself that was more than just existing.

It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t always easy. But it was hers. And that, to her, was something incredible. Something worth holding onto.

She didn’t need anyone’s pity, least of all Kris’s. But he didn’t seem to offer any, and maybe that was her kryptonite. She wouldn’t have let anyone else in so quickly.

But Kris saw her strength, not her fragility. And that, in itself, was worth more than anything.

“Okay. I’ll dance with you.”

Chapter 7

Kris took Della’s hand and pulled her close, hissing a breath when her soft, warm curves pressed against his taut body.

Twinkle lights hung from the rafters, glittering like the stars outside and casting a million shadows across Della’s sweetheart of a face. He couldn’t say what song was playing, whether it was fast or slow. He seemed to hear a symphony inside his brain when he looked at her.

Her pretty brown eyes looked like warm velvet as she stared up at him, mesmerizing Kris with hardly any effort at all. Her blonde hair had grown since the first night he’d seen her in her neighbor’s backyard.

It brushed her shoulders now in soft waves, making Kris want to bury his nose just there to breathe her in. She always smelled so good. Like peaches and cream. Fitting, he supposed, since she was a real live Georgia peach.

They didn’t talk. Hell, they didn’t have to. Whatever magic was in the atmosphere either from it being so close to Christmas or the fact Kris knew they were fated mates, he wasn’t sure.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was how she melted into him, allowing him to press his forehead to hers as he swayed with her gently back and forth.

He didn’t get a lot of perfect moments in his life, but if anyone asked him to name his top one, then that right there would be it. Kris was simply captivated by her.

The entire night, the two of them were inseparable. Della seemed content to remain at his side. A few people seemed to tread lightly around her, confusing him.

Like when the officialManning Farms Reindeer Gamesbegan.

“Gather around everyone! It is time for some holiday shenanigans!” Cassie had shouted.

The games kicked off with a three-legged relay race across the barn. There were three teams, and they wound up competing against each other with Della being picked next to last. He’d wondered why that was until he heard his team’s captain, a young Shifter named Eden whisper loudly that she was sure glad she didn’t get stuck with the ‘chubby sad mom’.

What the fuck?

Kris wanted to say something, knowing damn well that Della could hear the woman’s snide comments from where she stood.

They were all Shifters, for fuck’s sake. And no amount of spiked eggnog was any excuse to behave that way. Besides, any Shifter would have needed a gallon to be even a little bit tipsy.

He opened his mouth to say something and caught Della’s eye before he did. She shook her head, silently asking him to let it go. He bit his tongue, even though it made him angry. But Kris saw something else besides the tired resignation in her eyes. He saw determination.

Fifteen minutes later, the game was done, and he hoisted Della onto his shoulders so she could show off the trophy she won for her team.

“And Della wins it for team Jingle Jangle!” Cassie yelled to a chorus ofyaysandawesomes.

“Oh my God! Kris put me down,” she giggled after a few minutes, and he did, slowly, waiting for the moment the others were preoccupied with the next game.

“I can’t believe we won,” she said, smiling at him.

Her joy was so damn sexy. So real. It was palpable, and it made him want.

“You won, I saw you hauling ass faster than anyone else in the barn, swift-footed little bird,” he said, pride blazing in his eyes.

God, she was pretty. Her peaches and cream scent smelled even sweeter when she was happy. And it was tempting him to sin.

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