Tuesday, December 8, 2015

#AFTH2015 w/ Paige Tyler---oOoo yall! She has a story for you!

Woots! We've got Paige Tyler with us today to celebrate Authors for the Holidays. Now. Paige brought us a SWAT team of alpha werewolves. Be still my heart. Seriously. More than a dozen totally alpha males all sexy and covered in delicious muscle. Noms! I really love these guys and have enjoyed seeing them find their mates. Some pretty killer mates too! I'm handing off to Paige now. She's sharing a little Christmas story for two of her characters. How neat is that? Yall check it out and leave her lots of comment love :D ~anna






This story features SWAT officer/werewolf Eric Becker and his mate Jayna Winston, the hero and heroine from my newest release IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, Book 3 in my SWAT (Special Wolf Alpha Team Series). This story is out of sequence in the series timeline, so while several of the other SWAT hunks have found The One by now, I didn’t tell you who because I didn’t want to give any spoilers. Don’t worry, you’ll definitely meet all their mates later in the series. And don’t forget to read IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES to find out how Becker met Jayna!

Happy Reading!

Special Wolf Alpha Team (SWAT)
Becker and Jayna’s First Christmas
© Paige Tyler
Eric Becker grinned as fellow pack mates-slash-SWAT officers Alex Trevino and Jayden Brooks weaved through the huge bean bag chairs tossed around the training room, plates piled high with turkey, ham, and mashed potatoes in hand. The moment they flopped down in a pair of empty ones, the team pet and honorary mascot, a pit bull mix named Tuffie, moved over to sit down beside Alex, an eager look on her face. No doubt she was hoping he’d send some of his Christmas dinner her way.
The room was usually full of institutional tables and hard chairs, but their extended pack had grown so much recently that everyone couldn’t fit in the space they normally held their annual Christmas Eve party so he and the other guys had moved all the chairs and most of the tables out and replaced them with an ass load of bean bag chairs. Becker had no idea where his pack alpha-slash-team commander Gage Dixon, and two squad leaders Xander Riggs and Mike Taylor had come up with all the squishy oh-so-comfortable things, but he had to admit they were a frigging brilliant idea. It was like being a kid again. And since he and the other alpha werewolves in the SWAT weren’t much more than big kids anyway, that suited them just fine.
From the corner of his eye, Becker caught sight of a slender hand reaching over to snag a big piece of turkey off his heavy duty paper plate. His grin widened. It wasn’t so long ago that a move like that would have led to a fight. Stealing a werewolf’s protein was a serious deal. But all that changed when your soulmate was the one doing the stealing. He watched as she wolfed down the large chunk of white meat, then licked her fingers clean with a look of pure amusement shining in her blue eyes.
“You want me to get you some more?” he asked. “There’s still a ton of food out there.”
She smiled and shook her head. “No, thanks. It tastes better off your plate for some reason.”
A feeling that was hard to describe grabbed hold of Becker’s heart and gave it a squeeze. He loved Jayna like mad, but it was more than that. She was The One for him, that one in a billion mate the legend claimed was out there for every werewolf, and his life had changed for the better the moment he’d met her.
He remembered it like it was yesterday. Jayna had been standing in a warehouse, pointing an automatic weapon in his face. It was an unusual way to meet the woman he was meant to be with for the rest of his life, but he’d never held her actions against her—she’d been an enforcer for the Albanian mob at the time, so taking out SWAT cops was her job. Fortunately, things hadn’t gone down that way and now Jayna and he were living together. Becker had the feeling wedding bells were somewhere in the very near future.
“Hey, if you’re offering, I’ll take another plate.”
Becker looked over his shoulder to see Joseph Garner, one of Jayna’s pack mates, holding out his empty plate. Beside him, her other pack mates Moe Jenkins and Chris Hughes held their plates out too, innocent smiles on their faces. Joseph, Moe, and Chris were beta werewolves. If Becker had thrown a sharp growl their way, the other guys would have backed off and gone to get their own dang food without comment.
But Becker would never do that to the guys. They were more than just members of his mate’s packs. They were also his roommates and his friends. Jayna’s beta pack was drastically different than the alpha pack he was part of with the other guys in the SWAT unit. Beta packs were unbelievably tight, never straying far from each other for long if they could help it. That was why he’d moved in with all of them. Jayna would never leave her pack on their own, even for her soulmate.
Not that Becker would have ever asked her to. The guys, along with Megan Dorsey, the lone beta female of their pack, were as important to him as his own pack mates in SWAT. He would do anything for them.
Handing his plate to Jayna, he gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then grabbed the guys’ plates and went out to the main room where all the food was set up. There was a Christmas tree in the center of the room, as well as lights, tinsel, and colorful decorations strung up all over the place. The was even a plastic Santa in a pair of long johns with the back flap hanging down who’d sing Deck The Halls and shake his bare little buns every time someone walked past him. That was something Cooper had brought to the party. Becker loved him like a brother, but that werewolf was weird. When Becker had tried to turn off the damn thing earlier, he discovered Cooper—who was in a class by himself when it came to being irritating—had glued the battery compartment closed so no one could turn it off. Becker was just considering smashing the thing to pieces when Jayna walked into the room.
“You could have stayed in there with your pack,” Becker said as he pulled her into his arms. Damn, he loved the way her body melded perfectly with his. This is what it meant when people talked about being made for each other, he was sure of it. “I could have filled their plates without supervision.”
Jayna looped her arms around his neck with a laugh, kissing him sweetly and making him forget all about the dancing Santa and turkey leftovers. “I didn’t come out to supervise. I came to make out.”
As her tongue tangled with his, he slid his hands down to cup her gorgeous bottom and give it a squeeze. Lifting his head, he gave her his best smolder. “You want to slip over to the admin building? We could run upstairs and have a quickie before anyone notices.”
“We can hear you,” Trey Duncan, the SWAT team’s medic, called from the training room. “And if you two keep talking like that, you’re going to make us yak.”
Jayna laughed. Becker did, too. There was no such thing as a private conversation when you were in a building full of werewolves. They could all hear a gnat fart from fifty feet away. Moreover, the single guys enjoyed ribbing him about how insanely in love he was with Jayna. They never let an opportunity pass to point out that seeing them hanging all over each other all the time made them ill. Becker knew they were full of crap. They were just jealous they hadn’t been lucky enough to find The One for them yet. But it was the holiday season, and anything was possible.
He and Jayna reluctantly put the kissing on hold, at least until they got back to the Beta House. Then they’d make up for lost time. After piling food on the plates for Joseph, Moe, and Chris, they headed back in to join the others.
“Finally,” Gage said from the front of the room. “We were waiting for you so we could open the presents.”
That announcement was met with a round of cheers. Becker and Jayna quickly moved to take their seats as Mackenzie Stone, Gage’s mate, came around with a gift bag filled with little folded slips of paper with numbers written on them.
“Okay, explain this number thing again,” Jayna said to Becker as she reached inside the bag Mac held out. “And where the heck does the white elephant part comes into this. Is one of the presents up there an elephant?”
Becker chuckled. She was so cute it made his teeth ache. “White Elephant is just the name for the game. I have no idea where it came from, but there are no actual elephants are involved.”
Jayna pouted at that, making him laugh again. He held up his slip of paper, showing her the number twelve written on it.
“The numbers tell us which order we pick our gift. The person with number one goes up first and chooses any present they want. No shaking—or sniffing. If you pick it up, that’s the one you take. Then the person with number two goes up and picks their gift, and so on. Or they can steal the present that anyone before them opened.”
She flipped her long dark bond hair over her shoulder and lifted a brow. “I thought you SWAT cops frowned on stealing stuff?”
“Not in this case, since it’s all in the name of fun,” he said. “Just remember that any particular present can only be stolen three times. After that, it’s locked and can’t be stolen again.”
“Is there a reason this has to be so complicated?” Jayna asked. “Can’t we just give each other presents like normal people?”
Becker laughed. “It’s not complicated once you get the hang of it. And why would we do anything normal? We’re werewolves, remember?”
Jayna didn’t have an answer to that one. It also turned out that Megan was the lucky holder of the ticket with number one on it.
“That’s the best number to have,” he told the petite werewolf. “Since there aren’t any other presents to steal, you also get to go last—right after number twenty-nine. That way you can swap your present for anything that hasn’t been locked down already.”
Megan bit her lip as she considered that. “I don’t think I could go up to someone and take their Christmas present. It doesn’t seem right.”
Becker glanced at Jayna, who shrugged. “Yeah, she really is that sweet.”
For all their confusion about the rules of the game, Jayna’s pack quickly got into the swing of things when everyone started opening their gifts and they realized the game was more about laughing and having fun than who got what.
While there were some items under the tree that were nice—like bottles of expensive alcohol, or small tools and gadgets that you might want to throw in your car for an emergency—there were just as many that were silly and meant purely to make people laugh. Such as the five-pound bag of Doritos, deer musk scented cologne, adult bedroom slippers with wolf claws on them, and even another one of those damn naked dancing Santa’s. Cooper grinned when Gage opened it. How many of those things had the team’s explosives expert bought?
Although seeing Gage with the Santa was pretty damn funny, Becker and everyone almost fell off their bean bag chairs when Chris opened his gift and discovered an adult sized wolf costume, complete with Velcro openings so all the important parts could be accessed. He immediately begged someone to take the costume off his hands, but something told Becker that Chris didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to steal that one.
“Don’t get rid of it,” he told the beta werewolf. “Re-gift it next year.”
That idea got Jayna and the rest of her pack excited—and not just for the obvious reason. They were completely jazzed at the idea of staying in a place long enough to actually think about next Christmas. Before coming to Dallas and getting involved with the SWAT pack, they’d never spent more than a month or two in one town. Now they had a place to call home.
When Megan’s turn came around again, they all watched as she slowly unwrapped the last present to replace the gift one of the SWAT guys had stolen from her. When she opened the box, it was to reveal a fancy bottle of chocolate-flavored liqueur.
“You can keep that if you want,” Mac said. “Or trade it for anything that hasn’t been locked down already.”
Becker thought Megan would take the chocolate liqueur and run—that was a nice gift. But she surprised him by walking around the room to see which presents were locked and which ones were still available. Then she completely shocked him by stopping in front of Gage. She glanced up at him shyly for a moment, then firmly reached out and grabbed his dancing Santa, replacing it with her bottle of alcohol.
“Okay, I’m done,” she announced happily, hurrying away from the most intimidating member of the SWAT pack to sit beside her mate.
Becker gave Jayna a curious look.
“She told me earlier she wanted to start collecting Christmas stuff now that we had a real home to decorate,” Jayna explained. “I guess she’s going to start with a dancing Santa.”
Now that everyone had opened their presents, everyone was eager for dessert. Between pies, cakes, and cookies, there was plenty to choose from. While everyone ate, they sat around trying to figure out who had brought what gift. Becker was right about Cooper being responsible for the dancing Santa, but he never would have guessed that Mac had brought the fully functional wolf costume.
“I did a story a few years ago on furries and one of the people I interviewed told me that they could get me a great outfit anytime I wanted it.” Mac grinned. “So Chris, if that thing doesn’t fit, let me know and I can get it exchanged for another size.”
Becker didn’t think he’d ever seen a guy blush so much. Chris’s pack mates were still teasing him when they all climbed in Becker’s SUV hours later. They were halfway to the loft apartment affectionately known as Beta House, when Jayna reminded everyone that they still had presents to open when they got home. She’d told him how their little pack had usually celebrated Christmas and it sounded pretty special to him.
“We’ve been a pack for a while now,” Jayna said when they were all sitting in the living room twenty minutes later. “Some of those years were harder than others, and sometimes we didn’t have a whole lot to be thankful for, so we didn’t have much to celebrate. But we always had each other—our pack and our family—and that was always the most important part, and still is.”
Megan and the guys smiled and nodded, making Becker get the feeling that she’d given this speech before.
“This year is different though,” Jayna added with a grin. “This year we have a warm place to sleep, jobs we love doing, and friends we can depend on.” Her gaze lingered on Becker. “This Christmas for the first time ever, we’re not just sleeping in someplace for a couple weeks. This Christmas, we have a home. But even with all the good stuff that’s going on in our lives, we need to remind ourselves that our pack—our family—is what matters more than anything.”
Jayna nodded to Joseph, then joined Becker on the couch. He put his arm around her, kissing the top of her head as she cuddled close.
Joseph stood and recounted the story about how his life had unraveled after he’d gotten shot and became a werewolf, and how finding the pack had changed everything. Chris told his story next, then Jayna, followed by Megan, and lastly Moe. Each explained what their lives had been like before finding the pack, how things had changed for them, and how important everyone in the pack was to them.
After Moe finished, Becker expected them to hand out the gifts, but instead everyone turned and looked at him expectantly.
Crap, what was he supposed to say? Things had been screwed up in his life right after he’d changed, but it was nothing like what Jayna and her pack had gone through. He felt bad even comparing his situation with theirs.
They were waiting though, so he told them how he’d become a werewolf, how Gage had found him and brought him back to the SWAT pack. He explained how important his pack was to him and how he would do anything for them, anything at all. But he also told them what it was like to be part of Jayna’s pack too, and how important she was in his life, and by extension how important they were to him.
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for all of you,” he promised. “Anything at all.”
Beside him, Jayna leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, her eyes bright with tears. She wasn’t the only one. The rest of her pack were a little misty-eyed, too.
“Okay,” Jayna said, smiling as she wiped the wetness from her cheeks. “Enough of the tear-jerking stuff. Let’s open some presents.”
Becker knew they didn’t have a lot of money saved up yet so the gifts were going to be small in comparison to some of the stuff they got earlier, but every one of their presents was going to be special to the person getting it because it had come from their pack mates.
He grinned as he watched them exchange gifts, getting a little misty-eyed himself at the thought that had gone into each one. Megan got a Rudolf Christmas tree ornament to add to her new collection. Joseph got some heavy work gloves because he always seemed to be the one repairing the fencing at the horse sanctuary where he and the rest of the pack worked. Moe got a flannel shirt because he hated the cold weather and they spent a lot of time outside taking care of the horses. Chris got some expensive inserts for his work boots because that bum leg of his hurt sometimes after standing at work all day.
When they finished, Becker got up to get Jayna’s present when Jayna caught his arm.
“Yours first,” she said softly.
Becker couldn’t hide his surprise. This little ceremony was supposed to be about Jayna’s pack. He seriously hadn’t been expecting anything. He was about to tell her that, but she was already hurrying into their bedroom. She came out a few moments later with a flat, square giftwrapped present. She sat down beside him, then held it out.
“We all know how hard you worked to not only find us a perfect apartment where we could all fit in, but got us jobs too,” Jayna said. “You’re helping Moe and Megan get their GEDs, and helping Chris and Joseph get into community college. You spend almost your entire paycheck helping to cover the rent on this place and to pay for food. Feeding this many werewolves takes a lot of money, I know.”
He opened his mouth to tell her that he’d do it again, but she put a finger to his lips. “You moved into a house full of betas and their mates, and you never complain, not even once. But the biggest sacrifice you made for me and this pack is your motorcycle. It got crushed as you were racing out to save us and instead of replacing it, you bought that monster SUV out there to haul us all around. We’ve decided to do something about that.”
Becker hoped he didn’t look as confused as he felt, but there was no way she, Megan and the guys could afford a new bike—Harley’s weren’t for the faint of bank account. He was about to ask what they were talking about when Jayna pointed at the gift in his hands.
“Open it.”
He did and found himself staring at a picture of a smashed-up motorcycle. His smashed-up motorcycle, to be exact. It had been shot, then run over by a SUV while Becker had been racing to help Jayna and her pack. It was totaled.
But then he looked closer. “Hey, there’s a new gas tank on there! And why aren’t the handle bars bent flat like they used to be?”
“Because Mac helped us find a bike mechanic willing to repair the bike a little at a time as we pay him,” Jayna said. “We each take ten dollars out of our paychecks every week and give it to him, and he finds us parts as he can. At the rate we’re going, it will probably be two years before it’s done, but it will get done. Then you’ll get your bike back.”
Becker was stunned speechless. He simply didn’t know what to say. After a few attempts, he finally found the words. “This is too much. You guys have to stop. You could be putting that money into a savings account. That’s way more important than fixing up my bike.”
They all shook their heads.
“Not to us, it isn’t,” Jayna told him.
He tried to argue, but it was worthless. They were going to do this, no matter what he said. In fact, they refused to tell him who the mechanic was because they were afraid he’d sneak the guy some extra money.
Finally, he said the hell with it and gave everyone hugs and Jayna a big kiss.
“Okay, time for your gift,” he told her. “But you have to close your eyes and pinch you nose.”
Jayna looked at him like he was insane. “Say what?”
“Just do it,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her again.
The moment she closed eyes and pinched her nose with her fingers, Moe was up and running for the door.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice sounding ridiculously cute.
“Stay like that,” Becker told her, eyeing the door for Moe’s return.
The moment Moe came in, Becker motioned him over. Moe placed the unadorned cardboard box with holes on each side on the floor in front of Jayna, then hurried back to his seat. Becker could already smell what was in the box, which was why he’d wanted Jayna to pinch her nose. It was damn hard to surprise a werewolf with a present.
“Remember the first time you came over to my old apartment?” he asked her. “You said something that day that has stuck with me ever since, and when I started thinking about what to get you for Christmas, it didn’t take me long to figure it out.” He threw a grin at Megan and the guys as he kneeled down beside the box. “Open your eyes Jayna and meet the newest member of your pack.”
Jayna obeyed, her eyes going wide as he opened the lid of the box to reveal the squirming puppy wiggling around inside. Letting out a squeal, Jayna immediately dropped to her knees and picked up the tiny Dachshund. The little guy was barely three months old and he seemed to be all ears.
“That day in your apartment, I said I wanted to get a dog. I can’t believe you remembered.” Jayna cuddled the puppy close, laughing when he licked her face. “Where did you get him?”
“From the shelter where Alex volunteers,” he said, referencing the team’s other medic. “They found a whole litter abandoned near the land fill. One look at that little fact and I knew you’d love him.”
Jayna ran a gentle hand over the puppy’s head, her fingers lingering on one floppy ear. “He’s adorable. What’s his name?”
“He doesn’t have one yet.” Becker said. “We all decided to leave that to you. You’re his alpha after all.”
Jayna held up the puppy and put his nose close to hers. The guy immediately licked the tip, making her and everyone else laugh. “We’re going to call you Biscuit because you’re as cute as a biscuit. Does that work for you?”
Biscuit yawned, which everyone took as acceptance.
“Biscuit it is,” Becker said as Jayna put the puppy on the floor and watched him go stumbling and bumbling around the room greeting everyone.
Jayna leaned over to kiss Becker. “I love you.”
“Ditto.” He grinned as the puppy scampered over to her again. “Before you ask, Joseph already checked with the sanctuary. You can bring Biscuit into work with you. It will be good for him and for the horses. And when he’s here, we have a lot of people help take care of him.”
Jayna gave him another kiss. “Thank you. Biscuit is the absolutely perfect Christmas gift for this pack.”
He kissed her back. “And thank you for arranging to get my bike fixed. It’s an amazing present.”
She smiled. “Merry Christmas, Eric.”
He reached down and scooped up Biscuit so they could both cuddle the little guy. “Merry Christmas, Jayna.”



Jayna Winston is the most beautiful woman werewolf/SWAT officer Eric Becker’s ever seen—or smelled. Trouble is, she's on the wrong side of the law. What’s a street-savvy werewolf like Jayna going to do with a hot alpha-male wolf who’s a police officer? Find out in my newest release in my Special Wolf Alpha Team (SWAT) Series IN THE COMPANY OF WOLVES!

werewolf romance, SWAT, paranormal romance
There’s a new gang of criminals in town and it’s organized, ruthless, and, most importantly, a pack of wolf shifters. Eric Becker and his Dallas SWAT Team are determined to rid their streets of these lowlifes, but when his fellow cops collide with the criminals in a shoot-out, he finds himself face–to-face with the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

Incapable of shooting or arresting the alluring shifter who’s stolen his heart, Becker decides to hide her and leave the scene with the rest of his team. Now Jayna, his mystery woman, is left not only wondering why she was protected, but also what a street-savvy thief like her is going to do with a hot alpha wolf officer like him…

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads


Paige is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy romantic
suspense and paranormal romance. She graduated from The University of 
West Florida with a degree in education in 2000, but decided to pursue a full-
time career as a writer in 2004. 

She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the 
beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). 
Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her 
passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines 
who fall in love with them.

When not working on her latest book, Paige enjoys reading, jogging, P90X, 
Yoga, Pilates, going to the beach, watching NFL football, watching movies and 
hanging out with her husband (not necessarily in that order!)

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | On herding cats

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