It Came Upon a Midnight Dream Read Online Free PDF

survive on if needed, and the family-sized roast beef meal.
    I’d be lonely, but fine.
    I put the food away, upped the thermostat, and crawled into bed, emotional and exhausted. I hoped Dax would appear in my dreams again. Maybe I’d finally get to ask all the burning questions I’d been collecting. Dream or not, I yanked open my lingerie drawer and put on the sheer red baby-doll number I’d bought a few Valentines Days ago for a deadbeat jerk I’d dated a couple of months.
    I spritzed my wrists, neck and, as an afterthought, sent a good shot into my cleavage. Why not? Even if he couldn’t appreciate it in my dream, I would know about the extra primping for our astral-type date.
    Awareness skittered back with the soft morning light bathing the room. I could tell without getting up, everything outside would be swathed in new fallen snow. My blinds always took on an extra white appearance when snow covered the ground.
    I curled under the warmth of the covers and fought back the tears of disappointment and loneliness. My dream guy never showed. Neither had the tiger.
    From the hallway a peculiar colored blinking snagged my attention. I hadn’t put a tree up, but the flashing made me think of one.
    I slid my feet into slippers and grabbed the flannel robe at the end of the bed before heading down the hallway to check things out. I stood before my small living room shocked at the beauty before me. A gorgeous Christmas tree, fully decorated, sat in front of my window, blinking away in a happy fashion.
    Underneath the tree sat a lone gift wrapped in shiny paper.
    Tears pooled in my eyes, and I hadn’t a clue who could have gotten in my locked home, much less who would have bothered to do so. For the most part, I’d told none of my friends about my absence of any real family. I didn’t dwell over the detail so the sadness over my lack thereof would never take root.
    I fingered the ornately wrapped gift and peeled back the paper. A velvet-lined jewelry box wobbled in my nervous hands. I opened the lid and discovered a silver tiger pendant with sapphire blue eyes on a gorgeous silver rope chain.
    A sudden purring behind me had me jerking around to find the source.
    My white tiger lay behind me and his expression, as it were, approached cocky. Like he knew I wouldn’t freak the fuck out seeing a monstrously sized tiger purring behind me.
    “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” I stated, scooting around to face him.
    For his part, he nodded that giant head of his.
    “Okay then. Dax...where should we start?” I prayed I’d get some form of response from him. I’d said his name, and now waited for a reaction.
    He rose and ambled to me. Rubbing the side of his furry face against mine, he sat directly in front of me, very sure of himself. Within minutes, though, the strange popping that frightened me before started. The tiger yowled as if hurting, and then fur flew and bones shifted until suddenly Dax, naked but a man, lay before me.
    “I suspected you’d guessed my secret,” he stated as if seeing someone shifting from enormous tiger to large human were something I experienced every damn day.
    “Your scent gave you away,” I said simply.
    Dax sat up, little concerned about his nudity or his erection, which bobbed to and fro, attracting my attention. “I’d gathered that when I caught you sniffing the air. I’m glad you did. Made explaining all this easier.”
    I didn’t answer. I waited for the explanation I so desperately needed.
    “As you’ve seen, I’m a shifter. We’re real. No, it’s not like the movies. You’re either born as one or you’re not. But our mates, whom we know from scent, can be shifter or human. Our animal side recognizes its missing half.”
    Again, I stayed mum, though deep in my belly a warmth had started. One that had me wanting to pounce on him. But not yet. I wanted to hear more.
    “We passed each other several times. My cat scented you, but I needed to find out how you would react