The Reindeer's New Year Love (Reindeer Holidays Book 7)

by Elizabeth Ann Price

  Ariel beamed and started making the rounds with Mikey. Mal said he would get some more drinks from the garage and Carrie, feeling somewhat at a loose end without Mikey to look after, went to the kitchen to see if she could be of any help there.

  *

  Riker didn’t bother to knock. The door was unlocked, probably because of all the reindeer shifters coming and going. The hunter in him couldn’t help but be annoyed at such lax security, but the wolf in him could care less at that moment.

  He scented a lot of people, mostly reindeer shifters, but there were a few other shifters mixed in – like a few deer – probably mates of the reindeer, and some humans, plus Mariska had apparently made it, and those wolf pups again. Plus, Mick was definitely there because Riker would know that aftershave anywhere – it was illegal to sell it now, and instead had been reconstituted as bug repellent, but Mick had bought up big when they were pulling it from the stores. Then, there was her.

  Riker shuddered as his wolf roared. Finally. He followed his nose to the kitchen, and after all this time, he finally had her.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Hey.”

  Carrie spun around and gasped. Her reindeer hooted excitedly. It was him! The man she had almost started to believe didn’t exist – although given Mikey, obviously he had to be real… a part of him had to be real at least. The male she had been pining for, hoping to find for over a year, had now just appeared in her kitchen and he was staring at her just as intently as he had when she first ran into him in that awful bar. Had he found her? Had he been looking for her?

  “Michael?” she breathed.

  She tried to put her glass down on the counter and, too distracted by the wolf shifter in front of her, missed and it shattered on the kitchen floor.

  Mal thundered into the kitchen. “Carrie?” he grunted, immediately looking around for danger, though obviously he saw no danger in the wolf shifter.

  Carrie just about managed to drag her eyes away from Michael, and noted that he seemed to step back when Mal came into the room.

  “I umm, dropped a glass, be careful,” she murmured faintly.

  Mal frowned at her and took her elbow. “Are you okay? You look pale.”

  Carrie tried to smile, though it felt rather painful to do in that moment. “I’m just a little tired.”

  Mal looked at her for a few beats before nodding. Apparently that excuse passed muster; boy, she must look worse than she thought. Jeez, if she knew Michael was going to turn up she might have made a little more effort. She could have put on make-up. Put on a nicer dress. Tried to do something with her hair. Shaved her legs…

  “I heard a crash, is everything okay?” asked Ariel as she glided into the kitchen holding Mikey.

  Carrie inhaled sharply and looked at Michael. Her heart started beating erratically. She’d wanted to tell Michael about his son for a year and a half, but this didn’t seem like the best place to spring a child on him. However, like a car crash, she could see it coming, but couldn’t seem to do anything to stop it from happening.

  “Just a glass breaking, watch where you step, baby,” rumbled Mal.

  “I’ll get something to clear it up,” whispered Carrie, barely able to trust her own voice.

  “Are you okay, Carrie?” asked Ariel, matching Mal’s frown. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I’m fine,” mumbled Carrie, feeling heat rising to her cheeks – at least that would mean she didn’t look pale anymore.

  “I’ll clear it up in a second,” said Mal, grasping Carrie’s shoulders and propelling her away from the carnage of their kitchen floor. He smiled at Michael. “Riker, man, glad you could come. You remember my mate, Ariel.”

  “It’s such a pleasure to see you again,” said Ariel, with a beatific smile as she juggled Mikey and held out her hand. “I know we only met briefly before, but Mal has told me so much about you, I feel like I already know you.”

  Carrie twitched in annoyance as her reindeer huffed. Mal hadn’t said a word to her about Riker or Michael or whatever his name is! But, then, she probably knew a few intimate details about him that Mal had no clue about!

  “Nice to see you again too,” said Michael lowly as he shook Ariel’s hand. He looked at Mikey and raised an eyebrow at Mal in surprise. “He yours?”

  Mikey started grizzling as if on cue and Carrie’s heart gave a lurch as her reindeer cooed for their young. He was tired and way overdue for his bedtime.

  Mal snorted. “Because I just neglected to mention him for the last year?”

  Ariel giggled with musical laughter, while Carrie almost wished she had slit an artery with the damn glass – anything to stop this surreal meeting!

  “No, but we are planning on having one soon, right, honey?”

  Ariel beamed at Mal who pretended to look horrified before grinning. The two of them laughed and shared some mutual adoring looks, neither noticing that both Michael and Carrie were stonily silent.

  “He’s mine,” said Carrie, moving to take him from Ariel, unable to bear it anymore. Her baby immediately cuddled against her and settled a little. “I better put him to bed.”

  Michael stared at her, but this stare seemed to have an edge to it – like the ragged edge of a broken glass.

  “Right, of course,” said Mal, jovially, remembering that someone other than his mate existed for a moment. He put his hands on Carrie’s shoulders. “This is my baby sister, Carrie.”

  “Hardly a baby,” muttered Carrie, looking down at Mikey so they couldn’t see her flush.

  “And my nephew, Mikey.”

  “Short for Michael,” put in Ariel – oh so helpfully.

  Carrie bit her lip and looked up at Michael. The edge from his expression was gone. He looked stunned.

  Oh no. He knows.

  *

  Silently, Riker mounted the stairs. After the kitchen… incident, Mal had whisked him away into the back yard to introduce him to various herd mates, and to talk to the other hunters who had also managed to make the party. But, as soon as he could, he slipped away and found himself seeking Anne, or Carrie, or whatever she was calling herself. Not just Carrie rumbled his wolf. Yes, he was also searching for Mikey, short for Michael.

  He could be wrong. She could just like the name Michael. She could have met a guy named Michael after him. Or…

  Riker paused at the top of the stairs and inhaled. Following her scent, he found her behind a slightly ajar door, crooning softly.

  He pushed the door open to find a nursery. Bunnies and duckies frolicked on every wall, and she, the object of all his wants and desires for more than a year now, moved slowly around the room, singing softly to the bundle in her arms.

  Riker just stared at her for a moment. He almost thought he’d been imagining it when he saw her earlier – that his mind was playing tricks on him and she wasn’t really here. He’d just about given up hope, but to find her here, so close to him, and so much more beautiful than he remembered, excited and infuriated him in equal measure.

  She must have scented him because the singing abruptly stopped and she stiffened.

  “Michael,” she murmured, turning to look at him.

  “I usually go by Riker - my last name,” he rumbled, walking into the room and closing the door behind him.

  He leaned against it, almost afraid she might make a break for it - she had the look of a frightened reindeer about to bolt.

  His eyes dipped as baby Mikey let out a disgruntled yowl. Carrie rubbed his back and hushed him while giving Riker a wary look.

  “So your name’s Carrie?”

  “It’s Carrie-Anne,” she retorted quickly, almost defensively. “Most people just call me Carrie.”

  “You said it was Anne,” he said mildly.

  “I said it was Anne to a disgusting coyote shifter that I never wanted to see again. I just never got the chance to correct it. I never expected to wake up on my own.”

  His eyes narrowed at her accusing tone. “I was on a hunt; I ha
d to leave. I thought you’d be there when I got back.”

  Carrie scoffed. “I was kicked out of the room, and where would I go? The reception of the motel so that I could watch porn with that pervy little boy? Or back to that awful bar in the hope that I might get picked up by some other coyote shifter who doesn’t know the meaning of the word no? I called a tow truck and left.” Her irritated expression crumpled and she looked hurt. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  Riker frowned. “Call you? When I got back to the motel you were long gone.”

  “But I left my number with… with…” She sighed and groaned. “I left it with the receptionist of the motel. I asked him to give it to you when you came back for your truck. I take it he didn’t.”

  “No,” growled Riker as his wolf howled furiously.

  Mikey stirred and she made shushing noises. “Sorry, but he’s tired and I need to get him down.”

  Riker took a couple of steps closer, watching in rapt attention as Carrie murmured sweetness to the pup and reverentially laid him down. Finally content that he was sleeping, she turned and flashed with guilt as she found Riker watching.

  “Come on,” she whispered.

  Carrie grabbed a baby monitor and grasped Riker’s arm, leading him out of the room. He cast a last look at Mikey, an urge to not forget what he looked like swelled within him, and a strange feeling blossomed.

  She paused outside the room, listening to the party going on downstairs, and inclined her head for Riker to follow her. She led him into a small bedroom – her bedroom, going by the gloriously fragrant scent in there. There was only a narrow bed, a small wardrobe, and a vanity table.

  She closed the door behind them and brushed past him, making him still and his inner wolf snarl sensually. Jeez, even the feel of her elbow set him going. But, it had been a long time since they were together. Too bloody long.

  “Sorry, it’s a bit tight in here,” she said as her cheeks reddened. “I used to have the big bedroom but I made that into a nursery for Mikey.”

  He took a step into the room and he was less than a foot from her, crowding her, drinking in her enchanting scent to the point that he was almost woozy.

  “And it’s not like I have any visitors in here or anything,” she added. “Well, until you.”

  Was that her way of reassuring him that she hadn’t been with other males since him? His beast was very relieved to hear it. The idea of her being with another male, of allowing another man to touch her, to kiss her, to make her cry with pleasure had almost driven him mad over the past year and a half.

  She put the monitor on the table and fidgeted for a few beats before folding her arms. She opened her mouth to say something, changed her mind, and sighed.

  “I tried to find you,” he said.

  Her eyes flashed hopefully. “Did you?”

  “The name Anne wasn’t much to go on.”

  But, he had tried to find her. He’d never stopped trying. Though it had never occurred to him that it wasn’t just her he was looking for.

  “No,” she agreed with a mirthless laugh. “I thought you just weren’t interested, so after a while I gave you up as a lost cause.” His face hardened and she blushed again. “I mean, I gave up on finding you for me because I figured you thought that it was just a one-night stand with a random stranger. But umm, Mikey, I ummm…”

  “Definitely mine?”

  Her eyes flickered uneasily. “Yes, I hadn’t been with anyone for a few months before you – I never even slept with the boyfriend I’d just dumped. I named him after you – obviously. Besides, Mikey, he… ah… he makes the same noise you do. You know, the umm, motorboat noise. I think he’s a wolf shifter.”

  His wolf preened, but, honestly, Riker wasn’t sure how to feel. He’d long ago given up on the idea of having kids. He’d never been the paternal kind anyway, so it didn’t matter. But, Mikey was already here.

  “I thought you didn’t want me but I did try to get in touch for Mikey’s sake. Really, I did. I had three private detectives trying to find you, but one of them came up empty handed, one didn’t even bother to try and sent me a bill for expenses that included a week-long holiday in California, and the other had me believing you were living in Colorado. It turns out he’d found a wolf shifter called Michael Miller who happened to be in his eighties, and neither he nor his mate was thrilled to find me, eight months pregnant, knocking on their door trying to find a baby-daddy.”

  “Hunters are good at covering their tracks,” he said placidly.

  “Yeah, I noticed,” she snorted. Carrie shook her head and laughed sadly. “Jeez, if I’d known you were friends with my brother – oh!” She looked up sharply. “You didn’t seem that surprised to see me here tonight. Did you know I was Mal’s sister?”

  Would he have stayed away if he had?

  “I only realized last night. We came to get him for his bachelor party, and I thought I scented you. I thought you could have been a member of his herd, I didn’t really know until…”

  “Until?” prompted Carrie.

  “I saw you earlier.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Earlier?”

  “I was watching the house,” he admitted uneasily.

  He wasn’t sure he should admit that, but he didn’t like being dishonest with those closest to him. Of course, the people close to him numbered less than the fingers of one hand, but still.

  “I saw you putting some trash out, and I knew it was you.”

  “You didn’t say hello. Why didn’t you say hello?”

  “It was Mal’s wedding. I didn’t want to ruin that, and I wasn’t sure whether I would be welcome.” He smiled wryly. “I wasn’t sure you would want to see me. For all I knew you were already mated to another male.”

  “Didn’t stop you tonight.”

  “Yeah, well, I allowed Mal his wedding, and then I wanted to see you.”

  Carrie licked her lips and his heart thudded, remembering the first time he saw her. Forty-something wolf shifter hunters should not go gooey for young reindeer shifters, but he certainly did back then, and it looked like he was going gooey all over again.

  “So now you have,” she murmured. Her arms dropped to her sides.

  “Now I have.”

  “I wish I’d known you were coming. You always see me at my worst. Although, Mal told me I looked like I’d been dragged through a hedge backward when I gave birth so ah…” She put her hands over her face and shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, muffled through the hands.

  “Why are you sorry?” Riker asked as he gently pried her hands away, revealing that lovely face that he had thought of every day since he met her.

  “The birth, you, I don’t know, maybe you wanted to be there. I mean, not actually watching the birth – because after watching a few birthing videos, I can tell you the whole thing is a horror show. But well, maybe you wanted to be at the hospital and you weren’t, and I feel so guilty and…”

  Carrie was babbling, and becoming increasingly agitated, and Riker cupped her cheek, running a thumb over the silken soft skin.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “It’s both our faults,” she scoffed. “We should have been thinking a little more clearly that night and then maybe I wouldn’t have had Mal as a birthing partner.”

  If they had been thinking more clearly, they might have considered stronger protection, and Mikey wouldn’t… His wolf growled and Riker decided not to think that way. Instead, he focused on something much more amusing.

  “Mal was your birthing partner?” he chuckled.

  Carrie, in spite of her current misery, giggled. “Yeah. He’s my only family and he didn’t want me to be on my own in there. Though we both agreed that he needed to stay at my end of the table – he definitely didn’t need to see the baby arriving. He can have all that when Ariel gives birth.”

  “I’m sorry you were alone,” he said gently as he moved a little closer.

  She looked up wondrously. “Are you?”

>   Carrie placed a hand on his. The same desire for her, the same hunger and feeling like he could never get his fill was there. It hadn’t diminished one iota in the last year and a half. Though, it may have grown since he last saw her.

  She licked her lips again and he groaned inwardly, lowering his head, wanting to feel her lips again.

  “Michael.”

  His name on her lips made him growl in delight and…

  “Hey, Carrie, are you…”

  Ariel burst into the small room, making Carrie leap away from him with the alacrity of a frog.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” asked Ariel, frowning at the two of them. “Do you want me to come back later?”

  “No!” exclaimed Carrie, immediately turning bright red and donning a guilty look.

  She didn’t appear to be someone who could think on her feet, and he doubted she would hold up well under light questioning, never mind torture.

  Riker turned to look at the young reindeer and smiled coldly. “I was just looking for the bathroom, and Carrie and I started talking.”

  Ariel cast a worried glance at Carrie, but she wasn’t about to call him a liar, at least, not to his face.

  “Well, Mal was just wondering if you were coming back down to the party, Carrie. I think – in spite of strong opposition from their mates - my brothers are about to give some toasts, probably threatening Mal with bodily harm if he does anything to upset me.” Ariel rolled her eyes and smiled in pleasure.

  “Yes, of course, I’m right behind you,” said Carrie with forced joviality.

  Again, Ariel noticed something amiss, but she didn’t comment on it. “Great.”

  She left and Carrie grabbed the baby monitor. “We should go down before Mal notices we’re both not there. Ariel can tell something’s up but she’s too polite to say anything. But Mal wouldn’t let it go – he can never let anything go. Well, he was a hunter and all.”

  “I know; I trained him,” rumbled Riker.

  Carrie’s face creased. “Perfect. So not only did I have a one-night stand with a friend of his, you were also his mentor. Like he won’t hate me enough when he finds out.”