by Zoe Chant
"We've found it's easiest to just go along with her when she's like this," Crystal told Gloria in a carrying whisper.
"I can hear you, you know."
"I know." Crystal stuck out her tongue very quickly, and winked at Gloria. "C'mon, she's right, though. We should get you out of these wet clothes. I'm parked around the corner—"
"And there you will remain," Charmian told her, "because if Cody finds out that I let you drive back to the farm by yourself in a blizzard—"
"He'll be perfectly fine with it, because Cody knows that I'm pregnant, not an invalid." Crystal crossed her arms, spoiling the effect somewhat since she had to cross them on top of her pregnant belly.
"Look, let's say you're humoring me for my peace of mind," Charmian said. "I'll just bring my Jeep around and drive us all up to the main ranch."
"See what I mean?" Crystal said to Gloria. "Why don't you pack yourself an overnight bag and we'll let Mom here drive us to the ranch."
Gloria got a suitcase out of the backseat. "I don't want to put anyone to any trouble. Y'all sure I won't be underfoot?"
"Trust me, the more the merrier," Charmian reassured her. "It's not like anybody'll even notice an extra seat at the table, not in this enormous clan. In fact, with the weather being what it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out some of the rest of them have invited a stray or two of their own."
Chapter Two
"It's really coming down out there, boss."
Axl looked up from filling out forms in his office at the Pinerock County sheriff's department. "I noticed," he remarked. "You ought to head home before it gets worse, Kitty."
Kitty Patel, who filled in around the small department as dispatcher and secretary and whatever else was needed, smiled back at him. "I should say the same to you, too. I just live in town, so I don't have a long drive out into the hills like some people do."
"Who's still out there, anyway?" Axl asked, nodding toward the outer office.
"Just the new deputy. He's your ranch hand's cousin, right? Does he have family in town, or were you planning to take him up to your ranch for Christmas?"
Axl grinned. "For someone who doesn't even celebrate it, you're awfully nosy about other people's Christmas plans."
"You can't blame me for being interested in the local gossip. It's one of the perks of working dispatch. Not," she added quickly, as Axl's eyebrows went up, "that I'd discuss the details of a case. You know me, boss."
"But everyone's personal lives are fair game." Axl laughed as she grinned unrepentantly, and reached into his desk. He passed an envelope over to her. "Before you head out, here you go. Not a Christmas present, obviously. Just an end-of-year, thanks-for-doing-a-good-job kind of thing."
"Oh, you're too much." She broke the seal with a manicured nail and shook out several movie tickets and a restaurant gift card into her hand. "Oh, Axl. Thank you!"
"Treat your family, or get some of your girlfriends together and have a girls' night out. Now get out of here, and go enjoy your day off!"
"You too. Don't work too late. Remember you've got that nice wife of yours and a pretty little girl to go home to. Have a great holiday!" Kitty waved goodbye and ducked out of the office.
Somehow, the mention of Tara and Lexie made it a lot harder to keep concentrating on his paperwork. His gaze kept drifting to the photos on his desk of his beautiful red-haired mate with little Lexie held in her arms, and after filing another couple of incident forms, he decided Kitty was right. It was Christmas Eve, and Tara would love to have him home early. He'd be on call if anyone needed him, and as much as he loved his job, his family always came first.
He got his coat from its rack and went out into the main office. As Kitty had said, the office was nearly empty. The new deputy, Jaron Holbrook, was the only person in sight, his head of cropped blond hair bent over his desk. Axl approached quietly, and as he got closer, he saw that Jaron had a book open in front of him.
Normally he would've had a quick word with anyone he caught goofing off at work, but in this case, he knew very well what Jaron was doing, and he approved. Jaron was studying for his GED.
Axl's heart swelled with pride.
None of the humans in town knew this, but Jaron had come down from the wild shifter clans in the mountains, to live in the human world.
Ever since making contact with the wild clans two years ago, the town's population of shifters had been keeping in touch with their backwoods brethren, and Axl in particular had been helping the ones who wanted to integrate more closely with human society. For those who chafed at life in their tradition-bound, isolated wild clans, the human world offered a world of opportunity and possibility. Many of them hoped to find their mates here. Others merely looked forward to a life doing something other than spending their whole lives in the mountains, living off the land in small cabins and rarely speaking to people outside their clan.
Jaron came from the same clan as Gannon, the hired man on the Circle B ranch. Since Jaron wanted to be a cop, Gannon had quietly asked Axl if it was possible to take him on at the sheriff's department for a little while. Axl hadn't regretted it for a moment. Jaron was smart and dedicated, and in the six months he'd been with the department, everyone had come to like him.
Even if Axl did have to explain to him how to use indoor plumbing his first day on the job. Nobody was perfect.
"Hey, kid," Axl said, and Jaron jumped and looked up. "I'm heading up to the ranch. What about you? Going back to the woods for the holiday?"
Jaron smiled slightly. Blond, blue-eyed, and square-jawed, with a ready grin, he was going to knock some girl's socks off one of these days, whenever Jaron and his bear found the mate that was perfect for them. Right now, though, his smile was tinged with sadness. "Things aren't so good with the clan ever since I left. I figured I'd just work late, so nobody else has to give up their holiday."
"Hell with that," Axl said emphatically. "Nobody's pulling a Bob Cratchit on my watch." Jaron just looked puzzled. "Sorry. A Christmas Carol? No? Guess I know what movie we're watching if we get a chance tonight. Anyway, you're invited up to the ranch for Christmas, and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."
"Is that an order, sir?" Jaron asked uneasily.
Axl clapped him on the shoulder. "No, just an invitation. If you'd rather stay down here, I won't stop you, but I suggest you come up and share our family holiday. Meet the mate and cub."
At the word "mate," Jaron looked slightly downcast, but he smiled anyway. "Sure, boss. I'd love to. Should I bring anything?"
"Maybe swing by your apartment and pick up a toothbrush. Actually," Axl amended, "maybe we better drop off your car there, so I can drive you up to the ranch. The road's a little rough, especially in the snow, but I'm used to it. Been driving it all my life. Tell you what, I'll meet you over there, after I call Tara and give her a heads up to expect company."
Jaron nodded and grinned, grabbed his wide-brimmed deputy's hat, and headed out into the snow. Axl picked up a phone and dialed.
His landline number at home went to the answering machine, so he tried the main ranch house instead. Tara answered on the first ring, that beloved butter-soft voice charming him even down the telephone lines. Christmas music and babbling toddlers could be heard in the background. "Christmas chaos central, Tara speaking."
"Hi, sweetheart."
"Axl! I see you used your detective skills to track me down." Rich warmth rolled through his mate's voice. "I hope you're calling to let me know you're on your way home and ask if you need to pick anything up, and not to tell me you're tied up all evening with a five-car pileup over by Harville."
"Nope. Got some callouts for accidents earlier in the day, but all is quiet right now, so I'm about to get while the getting's good." He smiled as he pictured her by the phone, her red hair falling long over her shoulders, half-hiding the little silver crescent of the claiming mark on her neck. "As far as picking things up, is there anything you need?"
"Just the pleasure of your c
ompany." Her voice was low and husky, sending a pleasant shiver through him. In a less sultry tone, she added, "Charmian needed to do some shopping anyway, so I gave her a list. Looks like we're going to have a houseful. Charmian and Crystal picked up a stranded motorist and they're headed back to the ranch right now."
"They're not the only ones who picked up a stray. That's the other thing I wanted to mention. I invited Jaron back to the ranch for the holiday—you know, from Gannon's old clan? He doesn't have anywhere else to go."
"Oh, that nice boy? Tell him he's more than welcome." Tara laughed softly. "Maybe he'll hit it off with Charmian's stranded motorist. Who is a young woman, from what I hear."
"Jaron's a shifter, don't forget that. She'd have to turn out to be his mate, and what are the odds Charmian and Crystal would accidentally run into Jaron's mate along the side of the road?"
"What were the odds your mate would turn out to be the fugitive you were arresting?" Tara countered playfully. "Never say never. Christmas is a time for miracles, after all."
Chapter Three
Snow piled up, quiet and featherlike, on the windowsill of Daisy and Gannon's cabin.
Inside, the cabin was warmly lit with candles and kerosene lamps. Both Daisy and Gannon had—so far—resisted the rest of the clan's offers to have electricity and phone lines put in from the main ranch house to the cabin up the mountain. Daisy thought there might come a time eventually when she would cave to their request. She loved the cabin, but in the middle of winter like this, there were times when it started to feel small and dark and lonely.
But it wasn't lonely, not really. If she needed company, all she had to do was take the very short drive down to the main part of the ranch, where she could visit with whoever was around. And now that Fern had been born, one of the other ranch women came up to the cabin at least once a day to visit, bring her anything she needed, and check on her.
Still, there were times when the cabin felt lonelier than other times.
Daisy jiggled the little girl in her arms as she paced, pausing frequently to look out the window. It was too early to tell if five-month-old Fern would end up with her mother's golden curls or her father's dark hair; at this point, all she had were a few darkish little tufts. Her cloudy blue infant eyes had darkened to her father's brown, although they also had a little green in them.
One part Gannon, one part me, Daisy thought, smiling to herself. And she'd never seen or imagined such a gentle, doting father as Gannon had turned out to be, though she was not surprised in the slightest. Everyone thought the big, scarred mountain man was a fierce fighter, but Daisy had known all along how gentle he could be, and watching him hold his tiny daughter in his big hands made her stomach do happy flips.
I just wish I knew where he was.
The storm was getting worse. It had started with snow drifting down gently, settling over winter-bare trees and piling up on the ground, but now the wind was blowing fiercely. Clouds of snow swirled past the window. And now it was getting dark ...
Daisy knew that Gannon knew these mountains better than anyone. He had a bear's shaggy fur to keep him warm, and a bear's keen sense of smell to find his way home. He wouldn't get lost. His errands were probably taking longer than he'd thought. That was all. Nothing to worry about.
She put another stick of wood on the fire and settled down in the rocking chair beside the stove with Fern in her lap. Her book lay open beside a kerosene lamp on the handmade birch end table. She decided to read another chapter, and then if Gannon still wasn't back, maybe she'd take the truck down to the ranch anyway. They had planned to have Christmas Eve dinner in the big ranch house, hosted by Alec and Charmian, as usual.
Another gust of wind rattled the cabin, and Daisy looked up from her book, trying not to be nervous at the thought of driving the truck through this heavy snow. Oh, she wished Gannon was here. She could almost feel his strong arms wrapping around her, holding her safe from any threatening winter storm. His warm lips on her mouth, on her neck, brushing across the claiming mark just above her collarbone ...
She reached up to touch it gently, and was rewarded, as always, with a little silvery shiver of delight and a distance sense of Gannon's presence. He wasn't here at the moment, but in a way, he always would be. With the claiming mark on her neck, she was never alone.
Sudden headlights strobed across the cabin window through the deepening winter twilight. Daisy jumped to her feet. That wouldn't be Gannon—he'd gone out as a bear; he didn't even have clothes with him, let alone truck keys—but it was definitely someone from the ranch, and right now she appreciated the company more than words could say.
She opened the door, shivering in a gust of wind, just as two bundled figures climbed the steps to the porch, one tall and broad, the other medium height and distinctly curvy under the heavy coat.
"Hi, Daisy," Saffron said, pushing her scarf down. "Want a visitor?" Beside her, her mate Remy gave Daisy one of his easy, cheerful smiles.
"Oh, do I ever. Come on in. There's no coffee right now, but I could make some, or instant cocoa if you prefer."
"No need to go to any trouble," Remy said, stamping off his boots in front of the door. "We figured we'd come up and plow out your road, so you wouldn't have any problems getting down."
"I really appreciate it," Daisy said gratefully. "Where's Baz?" Baz was Saffron and Remy's toddler son.
"Back at the ranch. We left him with Tara, even though he put up a fuss about it because he wanted to come with Ma and Da." Saffron pulled off her hat and ran her hand through her long black hair, brushing the snow out of it. "Is Gannon home?"
"No, and I'm worried." Daisy put Fern against her shoulder and tried not to look as frantic as she felt. "He went out this morning to visit the wild bear clans and check on the cattle, and he's still not back."
"Oh, hon." Saffron gave her a hug, baby and all. "You know Gannon can take care of himself, and he wouldn't get lost. He probably just had to go farther than he thought to meet up with the wild clans, that's all. They're way back in the mountains now, since there are so many more humans around than there used to be."
"I know, but ..." She didn't want to go into all the things she'd thought of that could have gone wrong, from a hunter's bullet to ice breaking on a frozen pond and plunging Gannon into the cold water.
"Listen, how about this?" Remy said. "After we get back to the ranch house, Alec and I can shift and go out to look for him."
Daisy brightened immediately. "Would you? That'd be great!"
Saffron gave her mate a quick kiss. "Just don't get yourself lost. You're mostly down in town these days. You don't spend as much time in the hills as everybody else does."
"I'll have Alec with me, and nobody knows the clan territory like the alpha," Remy pointed out cheerfully. "Okay, let's head down to the ranch before the storm gets worse." When Daisy blinked at him, he added, "Oh come on, Gannon would tear me a new one if I left you up here to drive down by yourself in this weather."
"You can leave a note for Gannon letting him know where you went," Saffron told Daisy, seeing her torn look. "You know he wouldn't want you to be up here by yourself all day on Christmas Eve. He'd be happy to know you're down at the ranch house with us."
"You might want to bring some overnight things," Remy suggested. "Once it gets dark, driving up this winding mountain road is going to be—well, I wouldn't want to do it, especially not with a baby."
"On a motorcycle, on the other hand, it's perfectly safe?" Saffron teased.
"Hey, I do have some common sense." He gave her another kiss. "I'm a responsible dad now."
"You are definitely a dad, I will grant you that." She winked at Daisy. "Want me to hold Fern while you put an overnight bag together?"
"Oh, that would be great, thank you. I need to pack Fern's things. Having a baby certainly puts a damper on your ability to go anywhere spontaneously."
"That it does," Saffron agreed, taking the baby from Daisy's arms. "Oh, Remy, look how tiny she
is! Can you believe Baz was ever this tiny?"
"I don't think Baz ever was that tiny," Remy said with a snort of laughter. He tickled Fern around the edges of her pajama top, coaxing out a giggle and a smile. "Maybe when he was in his Ma's tummy."
Daisy stuffed her pajamas and a clean sweater into a bag, along with the seemingly endless pile of things for Fern. After dressing Fern warmly and tucking her into her carrier, she scribbled a note for Gannon, banked the stove thoroughly so it wouldn't need attention overnight, and blew out the candles and lamps, one by one. "Okay, ready to roll."
It was almost completely dark outside now. Saffron helped secure the baby's carrier/car seat in the backseat of the plow truck—it didn't have a full extended cab, but it had a second set of seats behind the front row—and then they pulled out of the yard. Daisy glanced back at the dark cabin as the truck turned away. Without electricity, they hadn't been able to put up Christmas lights, but it was decorated anyway, with a handmade wreath on the door and their own little tree inside. Gannon was handy at making wooden ornaments and braiding garlands. In years to come, when Fern was older, their house at the holidays would ring with children's voices and fill up with smells of cinnamon and gingerbread.
But for now, since it was still just the two of them and Fern, she was looking forward to having a true family Christmas down the hill, with the rest of the clan.
It was a short ride down the hill to the main part of the ranch, where a circle of houses and barns cast the glow of their lights into the winter darkness. A lot more light than usual, right now. Daisy could see at a glance, as soon as they broke out of the trees in the upper pasture, that the Christmas light competitiveness had really gotten out of hand this year.
Nobody would admit who had started it. All Daisy knew was that the different households on the ranch (okay, to be honest, the male members of the different households, though it wasn't like their mates didn't egg them on) just had to be the one to put up the biggest and best Christmas light display.