A Mate for Christmas

by Katie Reus

  “She hates these things.”

  Kat snorted. “I know, but it’s awesome and I like making her crazy.”

  “Do you also like getting killed?” Natalia asked dryly.

  “Erin’s gotta catch me first.” She grinned mischievously and dashed off the porch. “I’ll catch y’all later. I’ve got more deliveries to make. And I better see those on your tree next time I’m here.”

  Chuckling, Natalia shut the door and plucked the bag from Aldric’s hand. “Let’s put these on now.”

  “I can think of something better we could be doing.” He followed her into the living room, soaked in all the Christmas decorations. Since it was his first real Christmas in centuries, Natalia had gone all-out and was making a huge deal over the holiday.

  He’d told her she didn’t need to, but deep down, he was glad she loved him enough to do this. The only thing he needed in his life was her, but spending their first Christmas together like this…reminded him how damn lucky he was to have her.

  “Soon, I promise.” She hooked one of the ornaments onto the tree and handed the bag to Aldric. “Maybe this will become a new tradition. Erin ornaments on all our trees.”

  Laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, he took a handful of the figures and added them to the tree as well.

  He couldn’t believe how much his life had changed since he’d met Natalia. He’d gone from being a lonely, solitary wolf with nothing to live for, to having everything he could have ever wanted. A family, a pack, and her.

  The female he loved more than anything. The female he’d be spending the rest of his life with, would have a family with eventually. He was never letting her go.

  Chapter 6

  Energy and excitement hummed through Noel as she walked across the yard to the guys’ cabin. She’d wanted to help Nathan decorate his tree yesterday but the psychologist December recommended had been able to work her in, so she’d jumped at the chance to take the appointment.

  She knew she had a way to go in emotional healing, but making the first step in getting help made her feel as if she could get through everything, could start to get a handle on her life again.

  When she reached the front door, it swung open before she’d knocked. Nathan stood there as if he’d been waiting for her, all ridiculously sexy as he gave her a slow smile. His green eyes darkened and that spicy scent of his heat filled the air, wrapping around her. Her stomach filled with butterflies at the mere sight and scent of him.

  “Hey.” She did a mental fist pump, glad she’d managed to get a word out when she could just stare at the sexy male forever. After how sweet he’d been on Wednesday, clearly not wanting to push her into anything too soon, she had no doubt what a good male he was. And…he was the type of male she could see herself with long-term. Not even just the type of male. He was who she could see herself with and it scared her a little.

  “Hey, yourself,” he murmured. “Thanks for coming over. I found a couple bins marked as ornaments in one of the closets, figured we could use them.” He stepped back to let her in and she finally realized he was wearing a Star Wars T-shirt. Chewbacca was on the front wearing a Santa hat.

  Laughing, she slid her coat off and handed it to him. His gaze immediately landed on her own T-shirt—Darth Vader wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. She’d found it in her closet this morning. It had belonged to Carmen and wearing it made her feel closer to her sister.

  “So we’re both nerds,” he said, taking her coat.

  “I think you mean we’re both awesome.” She left her boots by the door, hating how much height she lost when she took them off. “But confession time—I’ve never seen all the movies. This was Carmen’s.”

  His eyebrows raised. “I think I see a movie marathon in our future.”

  Her belly did a flip-flop at the way he said ‘our.’ Yeah, she could get on board with that. “I’ll bring the popcorn.”

  His gaze went heated again but he quickly turned and motioned to the main living area and bare Christmas tree in one corner. It hadn’t been there Wednesday when she’d come by so he must have just put it up. The scent of pine needles teased the air. A half-eaten string of popcorn fell haphazardly from the tree.

  “What happened to your popcorn?”

  “Pretty sure Vivian got in here and ate it. Well, her or Lucas.”

  Noel snorted. “My money’s on Viv.” She lived with the adorable eleven-year-old jaguar cub, and to say she was mischievous was the understatement of the century.

  “No kidding… I’ve, uh, never really decorated a tree before.” He sounded almost sheepish as he admitted it.

  “Really? Not even as a cub?” She knelt down next to one of the plastic containers marked ‘ornaments’ and recognized her mother’s handwriting. Seeing it was a punch to her chest. Her pack had used two of the closets in this cabin as storage before the males from Connor’s group moved in. Most of the stuff was still in there.

  “Nah, my parents didn’t celebrate anything really. They were good parents, but more in touch with their wolf side. Didn’t care much about integrating with humans or traditions.”

  “Where’d you guys live before…” She didn’t want to finish the thought, didn’t want to say the words and cause him any pain. She looked up as he knelt next to her, opened another container.

  “All over, but we were in Montana when they were killed. I roamed for a while afterward, tried out a couple different packs, then went solo until I met Connor and Liam.”

  “I’m glad you met them.” As soon as the words were out, she realized how true they were. She might have been blind to him the last year, but looking at huge, muscled Nathan in his silly T-shirt, she was very glad he’d joined their pack. Was very glad he was in her life.

  “Me too.” His voice dropped an octave as he carefully watched her. He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if there will ever be an appropriate time to say this so…I’m just throwing it out there. I haven’t been with anyone since our kisses a year ago. I haven’t wanted to. Just thought you might want to know.”

  Holy… Talk about a subject change. She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. The truth was, she had wondered about it. He was a sexy, alpha shifter who would have no problem finding female company. Wednesday at the skating rink she’d noticed at least a dozen females checking him out, and the most insecure part of her had wondered how many women he’d been with since her. Had hated how jealous it made her. It didn’t matter that she had no right to be jealous. “I’m glad,” she rasped out.

  The reason behind what he’d admitted wasn’t lost on her either. But she wasn’t ready to think about that. Not yet. It was too huge.

  Looking away under his intense scrutiny because that was a conversation path she wasn’t sure she wanted to travel down, she popped open the lid of the container closest to her. “These bad boys are true art, my friend.” She held up two snowflakes made from twigs that had been decorated with buttons, twine and a whole lot of glitter. Most of the glitter was gone now. Green stained her fingers as she set them on the coffee table next to her.

  “I can see that.” His oh-so-sexy mouth kicked up at the corners. “You make them?”

  “Yeah. Ana, Carmen and me, when we were cubs. I can’t believe we still have these.” She shifted the snowflakes to the side and found a bundle of wreaths made from small birch discs and tiny red plastic berries—and of course more glitter. “We had a theme every year. My mom set everything up and we, as well as my younger cousins, all got together and made ornaments. These look a little fragile though… I’m not sure if we should use them.”

  She looked up at him, the flood of memories bringing back a feeling of warmth. Her Alpha might have been hard to live with but they sure had a lot of good memories.

  “Would you want to go into town with me and hit up the craft store? You can make your very own ornaments.” Part of her wanted him to experience that anyway. To form new, happy memories he could treasure for years to come. Some intrinsic part o
f her needed to do this for him. Sure, it was a little nerdy, and she might have been cursing Christmas this year, but she cherished all the holiday memories she’d had over the decades.

  “I’ll go anywhere with you.” Something about the way he said it, the drop in his tone, sent out a frisson of awareness to her nerve endings.

  She cleared her throat. “After we decorate, maybe we can watch one of the Star Wars movies?” She wanted to do more than just watch a movie. A replay of one of their kisses—and maybe more—was definitely in order.

  Taking her hand, he pulled her to her feet as he stood. “Perfect.”

  After they put on their boots, he took her hand again. And as he grabbed their coats from the rack by the door, she noticed he still held on tight, as if he couldn’t stop touching her. And she didn’t pull away.

  When they stepped outside onto the porch, she was sad when he let go to help her into her coat. But as soon as it was on, he took her hand in his again. Oh yeah, he was making a statement to anyone who saw them. Though it was icy outside with a forecast of more snow that afternoon, neither of them wore gloves.

  She was glad to have that skin-to-skin contact, however small it was.

  “Want to take my truck?”

  “Yeah.” Their boots crunched over the snow and iced-over grass as they headed to the huge shed everyone parked in. “How’d you get out of work today?”

  “Switched days with Jacob.” One of the only other single male wolves.

  “That was nice of him.” Noel made a mental note to bake the other male cookies. Or…ask Ana to, anyway. “So, I saw that doctor yesterday.” She felt weird talking about visiting a psychologist but she really wanted Nathan to know.

  He squeezed her hand once before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “How’d it go?”

  God, how had she been so blind to him this last year? She leaned into him, soaked up all that strength and warmth. “Really good. A little strange at first just talking, but…the guy’s a shifter and really down to earth. And he’s lost people too.”

  “He told you that?”

  “Sorta, yeah. He didn’t say who, or anything, but it came up organically when I snapped at him, asking if he’d ever lost anyone. I…don’t know why I thought he wouldn’t have. It was such a stupid, arrogant question. God, every shifter I know has lost someone. If not to violence, then their human friends to old age.”

  “I still think about my younger brother. Think about how things might have been different if I’d been there that day.”

  He’d told Noel that his brother had been sixteen, had looked up to him. She squeezed his waist, holding him tighter. “You might not be here right now if you had.” That thought shredded her up inside.

  “I know.” He kissed the top of her head as they reached his truck, and instead of opening the passenger door he pressed her against it and covered her mouth with his.

  She hadn’t been expecting it, especially not the possessive hunger that sparked inside her. The second their lips touched, she arched into him, a wildfire of need spreading through her.

  His kiss wasn’t soft or sweet, but demanding and sensual. She clutched onto his shoulders, her heartbeat out of control as he slid a hand behind her head, holding her in place.

  She didn’t want to be anywhere else.

  She moaned into his mouth, digging her fingers into his shoulders, her claws peeking out a fraction. She felt bad until he groaned.

  “Oh, yeah,” he murmured against her mouth, grinding his hips against hers. His erection was hard and unmistakable and she really, really wanted to see and touch his cock for herself. She had almost no experience with males, thanks to the previous structure of their pack’s dynamics.

  Tasting him like this made her remember exactly how combustible things had been between them a year ago. Her grief was the only thing that could have doused what they’d started to explore with each other.

  It was truly like she’d come alive again and she wanted everything Nathan had to offer.

  The sound of someone clearing their throat made her pull back, but only a fraction. She scented someone familiar and it took a long few seconds for her to recognize her packmate Aiden.

  His longish blond hair was pulled back in a rubber band but he scrubbed a hand over the top of his head. “I hate interrupting, but uh, you’re blocking me in, man. And I’ve got someplace to be.”

  Nathan made a low growling sound, but didn’t respond as he placed a hand on the small of Noel’s back and opened the passenger door.

  Noel finally found her voice as she slid into the seat. “Hey, Aiden.”

  “Hey, shorty. Glad you’re finally putting my man here out of his misery.”

  She blinked, surprised by his words, but before she could respond, Nathan shut the door. He was around the truck and in the driver’s seat in seconds. She waved at Aiden, who just looked amused as Nathan tore out of the spot.

  “What did he mean, put you out of your misery?” She was pretty sure she understood perfectly well, but wanted to be sure.

  Nathan lifted a broad shoulder. “He knows how I feel about you—how I’ve felt the past year.”

  Guilt infused her at the muted pain in his voice. Others had clearly known how much he’d been into her. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize how you felt then.”

  Frowning, he turned to look at her before steering through the main gate. “Don’t ever apologize. You were dealing with a lot. I feel like I should apologize for not trying harder.”

  She scooted closer so she sat in the middle of the bench seat. “You don’t need to be sorry either.” He’d done nothing wrong. “I’m just glad we figured out that…” She swallowed hard, struggling with how to phrase it. “That we have a chance at something real.”

  “Me too.” He placed a hand over hers as they made their way down the long, winding drive.

  For the first time in ages she felt happy and hopeful about the future. One thing she knew for sure: she wanted Nathan in it.

  * * *

  Aiden tried to tamp down the riot of emotions inside him as he headed into town. By nature he was easygoing, took things in stride.

  Except where the safety of his mate, Larissa, was concerned. Not that he was sure she was in danger. No, but she’d flat-out lied to him this morning. She’d carefully worded her answers to the point he knew she was lying without her coming out and saying it.

  It was making him edgy, riling up his wolf in a way that was hard to control.

  His beautiful bondmate who he thought he’d lost decades ago had been awoken from a long coma-like sleep mere months ago. A sleep that had severed their bonding link, as if she’d died, leading him to believe she truly had.

  He’d never gotten over her though, never moved on. How could he move on from her?

  Larissa Danesti, from one of the purest bloodborn vampire lines, a rare bloodborn daywalker. She was his world.

  And she was keeping secrets from him.

  If he hadn’t lost her once, hadn’t been shattered so badly all those years ago, her behavior the last couple days wouldn’t affect him so much.

  But the darkest part of him needed to see her with his own eyes right now. Something was driving him forward, so he’d done something that he felt guilty about—he’d used her phone to track her movements.

  He glanced at his own phone, watching her location move deeper into downtown. She’d told him she was going shopping—which she had, according to one of the stops she’d made. But she hadn’t been there long.

  She’d left Main Street not long after and was now heading into a residential area. She didn’t know anyone in Fontana other than shifters.

  Not that he knew of.

  Members of the Brethren had been hounding her to join them, however. He wondered if they were in town, had requested a meeting? He’d told her he would support whatever decision she made. It was too much to believe she would keep something like that from him, however.

  He knew he was acting crazy right now
, but his wolf wouldn’t let him turn around, go back to the ranch and wait for his bondmate to return.

  Her phone eventually stopped moving so he drove through the cheery, brightly decorated downtown of Fontana before he found himself in a quiet neighborhood of historical homes. And in front of a three-story bed and breakfast, which her car was sitting outside of.

  There were four other vehicles in the long driveway so he parked and headed up to the front door.

  She was probably going to be pissed he’d followed her here, but he was pissed she’d lied. And an omission was lying as far as he was concerned. They didn’t keep secrets from each other. Or he hadn’t thought they did.

  Testing their bondmate link, he said, Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing?

  A few moments later she said, Holiday stuff. Busy now, talk to you later.

  He frowned as he opened the front door, her brush-off making all his hackles rise. A little bell jingled overhead, announcing his presence.

  In the foyer there was a credenza to the side with a guest sign-in book and a vase filled with two dozen fresh red roses.

  Various voices and scents filled the air. There were three humans inside and another shifter. Well that was interesting. It wasn’t someone from his pack and as far as he knew, no one had told his Alpha that they’d be in town. And all outside shifters had to announce their presence to Connor when they were in his territory.

  He also smelled Larissa’s dark forest scent. It called to him, pulled him in like an addict. He started for the stairs when a tiny human woman with a mass of curly gray hair and wearing a dress that looked a lot like what he thought Mrs. Claus would wear stepped through a swinging door.

  She smiled warmly at him. “Hello, dear. We don’t have any openings at the moment, but we should by the end of the week.”

  He smiled politely at her, cleared his throat. Think, think. “I just wanted to know if you had any brochures. I’ve heard a lot about this place.” The lie rolled off his tongue with ease. “I thought I’d bring my wife here for a weekend getaway.”