A Warrior Christmas

by Gabelman, Teresa

  “Looks like Christmas threw up in here,” Sloan grumbled, making his way toward her.

  Becky straightened from unpacking boxes, looking around. “I think it’s beautiful.”

  “No.” Sloan stopped and pulled her into his arms. “You’re beautiful. This is a mess. Why didn’t you go with them to get the tree?”

  “Sweet talking isn’t going to make things better, Mr. Murphy. And I didn’t go because you didn’t go.” Becky pinched his side as she stared up at him. “Please don’t be a Grinch. This will be my first year I won’t be seeing Frankie for Christmas because of his new girlfriend and well, dammit, I love Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday. Ah, well, except for Halloween.”

  “Halloween?” Sloan grinned. “I didn’t know you liked Halloween.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Becky rubbed the spot she pinched. “One year I dressed up as a vampire bride.”

  “Seriously?” Sloan chuckled. “I would have loved to have seen that.” Damn, she was right. There was still so much to learn about his mate, but he was always so busy. It wasn’t that he didn’t make time for her; he did, and yet, their time usually quickly ended up with no one talking, other than telling each other what they wanted to do to the other in bed.

  “It wasn’t sexy at all.” Becky laughed. “I had huge fangs, fake blood on my face, neck, and wedding dress. But one year in college, I went as a German barmaid. Now, I have to say, I rocked that costume. Got a lot of numbers that night.”

  Sloan growled, not liking that at all, then again…. “What happened to that costume?”

  Becky smiled up at him with a sexy smirk. “It may still be around.”

  Bending down, he pulled her up to him and kissed her deeply. Never would he have thought he could love someone as he did this woman. He would forever be indebted to Jill for the fiasco of trying to find him a secretary. Not that he would tell Jill that. Shit, if she knew how indebted to her he truly was, he’d never get any peace.

  “Don’t be so rough.” Nicole’s voice broke Sloan and Becky apart. “You’re knocking the needles off the tree.”

  “If you don’t stop bitching, I’m going to take a lighter to the damn thing,” Jared grumbled loudly. “Now, where do you want it?”

  Nicole, Tessa, and Pam, along with Daniel, walked around the tree to the center of the room. “How about over there?” Pam pointed.

  Jared, Damon, and Sid started that way then stopped when Tessa’s voice rang out.

  “It would be gorgeous there in front of the window.” She walked that way and stood. The guys headed toward her. “Or wait. How about over by the bar? The lights would look so pretty reflecting off the wood.”

  “I swear I’m going to lose my shit,” Sid grumbled, spitting a pine needle out of his mouth. “Not only did we have to walk miles to find the perfect tree, but now I’m eating the damn thing. Seriously, how in the hell do the needles find their way into my mouth?”

  “Will you stop complaining.” Lana walked in and shook her head at Sid. “I could hear you all the way by the front door. Oh, what a beautiful tree.”

  “It’s a tree.” Damon frowned, glaring at it. “Nothing beautiful about it.”

  “Just you wait, DeMasters. This will be the most beautiful tree you’ve ever seen.” Nicole slapped her hand on her hip. “And I think the window will be perfect.”

  None of the men moved, just stood there waiting.

  “Actually, I think Tessa is right. By the bar will give us plenty of room to decorate and be out of the way of the pool table,” Pam said with a finger to her chin, in deep concentration. “What do you think, Becky?”

  “Please, Becky, tell us where you’d like the tree. Holy shit, come on!” Sid gave an exaggerated sigh.

  “How about you let Becky answer without your fucking attitude?” Sloan growled at Sid. “Or I’ll show you where I will put it, and that will be straight up your ass.”

  “Ignore them, Daniel.” Becky glanced at Daniel, who was grinning from ear to ear.

  “It’s okay. My dad says worse.” Daniel glanced at Duncan. “I’ve heard it all. Plus, I’d like to see if Sloan could really do that.”

  “You all should be ashamed of yourselves,” Nicole scolded, then pointed toward the bar. “You think the bar, Becky?”

  “I think it’s perfect,” she replied with a smile. “And I think I’ve got all the decorations separated.”

  Sloan walked over, ordering the Warriors on how the tree should be set while the women looked over everything they had. Once they had the tree positioned, the women okayed it after a few minor adjustments.

  “Okay, damn.” Sid spat out another needle.

  “What in the hell were you doing with the tree, Sid?” Jared eyed him with a weird gaze.

  Sid glanced toward Daniel to see he was busy with something other than watching him so he could flip Jared off. Sid then turned toward Sloan. “Please tell me you got a job for me, and I can go out to kill something now.”

  “As a matter of fact, I do.” Sloan nodded, heading toward the door, but was stopped.

  “Hey, before you guys go running off, I have something I want to discuss,” Nicole announced, catching them at the last second.

  Moans filled the room, but they all stopped.

  “I know we talked before about having a party with other Warriors from different areas, but I want to see if we can have some of the children come here without families to celebrate with the Warriors.” Nicole looked at each one of them in the eye. “We all have everything we need. None of us needs more, but these kids do.”

  “I don’t know about that, Nicole,” Sloan said hesitantly. “This really isn’t a place for kids. I mean, we can’t even not cuss in front of Daniel. That may be a bad idea.”

  “You suck at excuses.” Becky frowned at him. “I’ve never met anyone more controlled in situations than the VC Warriors when they have to be. So I’m sorry you’re going to have to come up with something better than cursing, Sloan. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

  “So do I.” Tessa nodded excitedly. “Not only will they get presents, but to spend time with heroes. What child wouldn’t want a Christmas like that?”

  Sloan narrowed his eyes at Tessa. She was playing dirty. Without a doubt, the word hero hitting Jared and Sid’s ears had them sold on the idea.

  “You know, that isn’t a bad idea,” Sid agreed, his chest puffed out a little more than normal. “I mean, it’s for the kids and all.”

  Shaking his head, Sloan rolled his eyes. “Do whatever you want, Nicole,” he said, then actually realized what he said and corrected himself. “Within reason.”

  “Don’t I always?” Nicole replied with a smile of victory.

  Sloan had no idea if Nicole insinuated she always did what she wanted anyway, or she always did things within reason. Either way, she was full of shit. That he did know. He glanced at Becky who gave him a smile, then mouthed, “Thank you,” with a wink. She best understand she would be thanking him with more than words later. Giving her a smoldering look of promises he meant to keep, she blushed, and he knew she understood his meaning completely. With that, he along with his “hero” Warriors, walked out of the room and away from the Christmas insanity taking over the compound.

  Chapter 6

  Bishop walked into the compound, glancing at his watch. He had an hour to kill before he had to meet his brother, Viktor, and his mate, Lacey. Viktor hadn’t been around much. They were working different shifts and when his brother wasn’t working, he was with Lacey. Not that Bishop blamed him, not at all. Lacey Cruz was a beautiful woman who loved his brother, and nothing made Bishop happier than to see his brother finally in a good place.

  The game room was full of activity. Holy shit, Christmas had definitely come to the VC Warrior compound. Leaning against the door, he watched the women rushing around decorating as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Damn, that must be nice.

  “Well, look who came to join us,” Bonnie
announced. Every female eye landed on him.

  “Ah, no. I don’t do Christmas,” Bishop said quickly, getting a narrowed look from the women before getting back to business. He noticed Bonnie’s sneaky grin. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

  When she walked his way, her grin faded. While Bishop found Bonnie attractive, almost to the point of thinking she may be the one, the deep feelings just weren’t there. At least, he didn’t think they were. His mixed feelings for her put him on edge. He didn’t like not knowing, and her being a witch complicated things for him. Once upon a time in his long life, he had been a witch killer. She would be horrified at the number of witches he had put to death. It just seemed wrong to him and not fair to her.

  “What?” Bonnie stopped in front of him and crossed her arms.

  She was gorgeous, no doubts about that, and with an attitude he found feisty. Her sense of humor matched his, dark and edgy. She was definitely mate material, but still, there was something that just wasn’t there.

  “Oh, well, look at that.” Caroline’s voice caught their attention.

  Bishop glanced up over his head where Caroline was pointing.

  “Looks like you two are the first to be under the mistletoe.” Caroline chuckled with a huge grin. “Come on, you two.”

  Looking down at Bonnie, he cocked his eyebrow at her, which she returned with one of her own cocked eyebrows. Shock rippled through him when she reached out and grabbed his jacket, pulling him to her.

  “Let’s give them a show, Warrior.” Bonnie grinned at him with a wink.

  Actually, he was more than willing to do just that. He had wanted to see what she tasted like for a while now—just to see if anything was really there between them. He cradled her in his arms, and their lips met. She was sweet and warm, but….

  Their kiss ended and they stared into each other’s eyes. The disappointment he saw was the same disappointment he felt. Odd.

  “Damn,” Bonnie whispered as the women whistled and snickered behind them.

  “Yeah, damn,” Bishop whispered back, searching her eyes.

  “I was expecting something different.” Bonnie frowned, pushing slightly away from him. “Definitely not meh.”

  Okay, that brought Bishop out of his disappointment. “Meh?”

  “No, I mean…” Bonnie laughed, pulling completely away from him. “I didn’t mean it that way. Seriously, you can kiss me any damn time you want, but the feelings weren’t… quite there or at least what I expected.”

  Bishop laughed loudly, relieved she felt the same. “Kinda like kissing my second or third cousin,” he agreed with a half grin.

  “Exactly. Wait a minute. You’ve kissed your second or third cousin?” Bonnie gave him a mock frown.

  “No, smartass.” Bishop chuckled, shaking his head.

  Bonnie snickered, taking a sneak peek behind her. “I think there’s going to be some disappointed women.”

  “Actually, I’m a little disappointed.” Bishop leaned against the door, his arms crossed. “I like you, Bonnie.”

  “Yeah, I kinda like you to.” Bonnie glanced up at the mistletoe with a frown. “Wanna give it another shot? Maybe we didn’t do it right.” She wiggled her eyebrows, telling him she was teasing.

  “Maybe when a room full of women aren’t watching us.” Bishop glanced over her head, then looked down at her. “You’re special, Bonnie.”

  “Tell me about it.” She snorted and tilted her head. “Listen, Bishop, I’m not heartbroken. Bummed a little, but it’s all good. You’re a damn fine-looking man, but the feelings aren’t as intense as I thought they would be for either of us. I want that one day with someone, even if he looks like Steve.”

  “Huh?” Steve said as he passed by, giving them a strange look.

  Bonnie just shook her head with a grin. “Nothing.” She waited until Steve headed further into the room after giving them both a long glare. “Really, I’m okay. How about you? I’m quite a catch.”

  Fuck. Bishop actually felt a sense of loss, but why? He never had Bonnie, but many thoughts about her and possibly something between them had played at the edges of his mind. He pulled her into a hug. “Yes, you are a damn fine catch and any man would be lucky to have you.”

  “Can you believe we just figured all this out under a stupid mistletoe?” Bonnie looked up at it with a frown. “Seriously, this is my life. Odd shit all the time.”

  Bishop chuckled, shaking his head. “What would have been ironic is a witch hunter and a witch being mates.”

  Laughing, Bonnie nodded. “It would have fit perfectly with the narrative of my life. Witch hunter mates with a witch who has a bounty on her head. Perfect.”

  Her words sent rage throughout Bishop. If anyone touched her, he would kill them in the most inhuman way possible. “No one will come close to you, Bonnie.”

  She just shrugged, a small frown dipping her brows, and he knew she was hiding something from him when she pulled away without looking at him. “It is what it is.” She cleared her throat. “Now, what did you need to talk to me about since we got this kiss and weird attraction thing out of the way?”

  Bishop looked over her head, then took her hand, leading her away from everyone. Stopping down one of the hallways, he looked around to make sure they were alone. “What were you and Steve talking about?”

  “Spiders,” Bonnie replied without hesitation.

  “Bullshit.” Bishop frowned at her. “I heard demon.”

  “Okay, demon spiders.” Bonnie tilted her head. “All spiders are demons in my eyes. Yeah, I know being a witch I’m supposed to be all about nature and nature’s beasts, but spiders are….”

  “Stop.” Bishop shook his head. “Did something happen with you? Did someone make an attempt, Bonnie? And don’t lie to me.”

  Bonnie hesitated, clearly indicating she either knew something or indeed someone made a attempt on her life. “Listen, I can take care of myself. You guys are spread thin as it is and—”

  “Dammit, stop being so fucking hardheaded. Is this a trait all women carry? Stop worrying about what we have going on when your life is in danger.” Bishop growled, running his hand through his hair. “Unless you want twenty-four-hour bodyguards, you best come clean right now.”

  “I’ve had one or two close call, but I’m fine. The bounty on my head is so high right now that even light witches are coming for me. I’m surprised Mira and Kira can contain themselves. Sorry, that wasn’t funny. Don’t worry. I got this,” Bonnie replied with an uncomfortable shuffle of her feet when he continued to glare down at her. “I’m not trying to be stubborn, but if this is going to be my life—and it will be my life until Daddy dearest is dead—then I best learn to deal with it.”

  “So you don’t think it’s demons who put a bounty out?” Bishop asked, his eyes narrowing. He didn’t think so either.

  “I know it’s not.” Bonnie looked up at him. “Demons don’t do bounties. You know this and so does Charger. This is all my father’s doing.”

  “And what’s your take on all the demon talk?” Bishop glanced down the hallway to make sure they were still alone, then back at her.

  “My father is behind all of this. The mastermind. He may have a few demons here and there working with him, but he’s not stupid.” Bonnie sneered, her hatred for her father, Orjyll, clear. “This has been his plan since the beginning. He’s not going to chance the demons taking control. I think all the demon activity is just that… activity. It’s used as distraction to take the heat from him, and it’s working. I’m sure he’s promised them something in return, the ones working with him. And that’s all most demons need. A trip in and out of Hell at the top of the list. My father has many witches with that power.”

  “I agree,” Bishop finally admitted after a long pause. “I’m going over to see Viktor and Lacey. How about you ride with me? I want to bring this up to him before talking to Charger and the rest of the Warriors.”

  “Sure.” Bonnie nodded, then leaned against the wall.
“I don’t think Jezebeth is a demon Orjyll would work with. She’s too powerful. He wouldn’t chance that. I think she’s here for a whole different reason. I’ll see what I can find out. Though I’m not trusting of many witches right now.”

  “Don’t take any chances. I’ll do some snooping around, see what Viktor and I can find out.” Bishop glanced at his watch. “But I think you’re right. Jezebeth wouldn’t be a smart move for Orjyll if he is still in control. Though there is a reason she is here.”

  “Charger,” Bonnie said absently, then shrugged. “Is my guess. I could be wrong, and Jezebeth is working with my father. Guess that’s something we will have to wait and see.”

  “I don’t think you’re wrong,” Bishop assured her. “I think something else is going on, and it’s separate from your bastard of a father.”

  Bonnie nodded in total agreement. “Sure feels good to get that off my chest.” She sighed, long and loud.

  “You know you can talk to me about anything.” Bishop frowned down at her. “I’m serious, Bonnie. This shit is no joke, and you shouldn’t be dealing with it alone. Come on.”

  “Funny, that’s what I told Steve, but with a different situation,” Bonnie replied, then followed Bishop.

  “So you’ve seen it too?” Bishop asked as he held open the door for her.

  “Yeah, my father has a way about him that can screw you up.” Bonnie walked beside Bishop as the snow continued to fall. “Steve is different, but he’s hiding it well. I’ve seen it before.”

  “And did he screw you up, Bonnie?” Bishop this time opened the car door. As she climbed in, she looked up at him and gave him a sad smile.

  “I wouldn’t give the bastard the satisfaction.” She looked away from him as he shut her door.

  Walking around the back of the car, Bishop frowned. Orjyll’s days were numbered. He was going to make damn sure of that. Bonnie may not be his, but he cared for her, and no one fucked with who Bishop Valentino cared for.