“Yeah, yeah.”
“You should pay attention if you don’t want to get sideswiped like that.”
“Uh-huh.”
Frederick frowned. “Okay, for real, what’s your problem?”
“No problem.”
“There's clearly a problem. Is it about the damn tree? I volunteered to let her decorate me if all she wanted was the experience of dangling ornaments and twinkling lights off a big green beast. You didn't even laugh at that.”
Despite how the sight of a green dragon geared up in twinkling lights, streamers, and popcorn string would have been enjoyable, Alex knew Katie wouldn't have been satisfied with it. “I have no issues with my blood match celebrating the season if that’s her wish. It’s simply not my holiday.”
“It doesn't have to be. Pretend that we’re doing this for our mate, and you’ll enjoy yourself much more.”
“Dragons hardly enjoy the holidays of the religious any more than vampires do.”
“You’re right, I don’t care about any of this, but the lights are nice to look at, the food she’s making is awesome, and it makes her happy to wrap presents for us. Speaking of which, you better have a good gift for her.”
Alex settled back into his seat. “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I have an excellent gift for her, and I can promise you it’s better than yours.”
“What did you get her? Some generic bracelet from some upscale store in the Mall?”
Shit.
“Or some sexy lingerie?”
Goddammit.
Alex had to deny it, but he took care to not be too quick about it, lest the dragon realize that he was covering. “Of course not. I’m not that unoriginal.”
“I saw the receipts.”
Mother. Fucker.
“It’s for someone else.”
Frederick put his hands to his heart, a false look of hope on his stupid face. “For me? Really?”
“Don’t be an idiot.”
“I thought for sure you wouldn’t mind me modeling that piece for you.”
“You would.”
The asshole dropped the act and smiled at him, as though he had Alex up against the wall.
Maybe he did.
“You just picked out some piece of jewelry and the first skimpy thing you saw and didn’t put an ounce of thought into it, didn’t you?”
“Those are just stocking stuffers, not the main event. Make no mistake, I put thought into everything I give to her. Everything,” he said, leaving the unspoken obvious.
“Whatever.”
“And I assume you think you’ve done a better job? What experience do you have with giving holiday presents that makes your gift better than mine?”
“Not experience with giving Christmas presents, just presents in general, you tool. All women love the stuff you put any ounce of thought into. It doesn’t even have to be a lot of thought.”
“Reaching for the stars, are you?” Alex mocked, even though he found himself mentally taking as many notes as he could. Gift giving was hardly a staple of his life, regardless of what holidays or events there had been. A gift given was a sign of desire. You gave a gift to someone you wanted a favor from, or the person you wished to bring to bed with you.
Katie was not someone he desired a polite favor from.
She also wasn't some flirt who needed to be easily impressed so he could get her panties off.
She did that for him almost every night. Eagerly, too.
Katie was...something so much more than that.
Alex would have to figure out a new gift. Something that would truly impress her. It was going to be the true task.
“Do you want to know what I got her?”
“No.”
“Well, I’m not going to tell you.”
“I already said no,” Alex said, snapping his fangs.
“Which means that you do want me to tell you, but you don’t want to admit it.”
Alex clenched his hands over the arms of his chair. The damn cocksucker.
“Can I assume you put just as much thought into my gift?”
Alex nearly choked. “What?”
Frederick grinned at him. “Come on! Did you really think I was gonna let you off the hook like that? I got you something. You’re telling me you didn’t get me anything?”
“I didn’t say that. Of course I did. I didn’t forget,” Alex said, staring the man in the eyes and willing him to believe it.
Frederick hardly seemed convinced, but before he could say anything, Katie returned to the room with their drinks on a tray. “It’s not about who gets what. It really is about being together and enjoying each other’s company.”
She handed Alex his mug, a bright red drink receptacle with a reindeer on it.
“It’s not a competition,” she added.
“Thank you, my love,” Alex replied. “At least someone here has some sense.”
“Right,” she chirped, tucking the tray under one arm while sipping rum from her penguin mug. “Besides, my presents are going to kick all your presents asses.”
Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The stupid, blood-sucking vampire was stubborn.
Frederick didn’t entirely understand why. Christmas was a simple enough concept. The lights, the decorations, the excuse to eat as much food as they wanted, and the act of exchanging presents on a certain day made their mate happy. Wasn't that easy enough for them to do?
For some reason, out of all the things Katie was able to rope them into, this seemed to be the thing that Alex was the most resistant to.
And it was a pain in the ass getting information out of the vampire.
How the fuck was Frederick supposed to outshine him when the man wouldn’t say with a straight face what he was gifting?
He could have been lying. The bracelet and lingerie could have been all he got her. There was a time when Frederick would have said with one hundred percent certainty that they were.
Not anymore. Alex was a little too good at lying sometimes, at keeping things hidden away, and if there was even the slightest chance that he had something else prepared, then Frederick needed to up his game.
Maybe he could get into his dragon shape, dress himself up as one of Santa's reindeer, and take Katie for a flight around the mountains. It wasn’t something tangible that she could hold in her hands, but it was the sort of gift she could think back on with fondness.
Nah, too cheesy, and what if the humans saw? The sight of a giant monster in the sky, all lit up with blinking Christmas lights might not be the best idea in the world if he didn’t want to get shot down.
But he needed to impress his mate.
The vampire had excused himself, saying he had some work things to see to, and left Frederick alone with Katie. Playing with the decorative little snowmen statues on the mantle, Frederick couldn’t figure out what to do.
While he and Alex got on better than they did when they first met—they were no longer trying to kill each other—there was still a competitive edge that lingered. Frederick wanted to prove to Katie that he was the one who could give the better gift, who could beat Alex in a battle of wits.
Even if those wits involved presents and shiny bows.
“What are you thinking about?”
Frederick turned away from the fireplace, knocking over the porcelain snowman.
Its head popped clean off and slid to Katie’s feet.
It had been one of the few possessions she’d brought with her to their new home. That he broke it caused an intense worry to build up in his chest.
He hadn’t felt panic like that since the day Alex had been taken.
“I’m sorry. I’ll fix it.” He rushed over, but Katie already bent down and took the little snowman’s head into her slim fingers.
She looked up at him with the sort of smile that said everything was all right. She wasn’t angry or even disappointed.
Which he didn’t understand.
“It’s fine. I’ll just gl
ue it back on.”
“I will do that for you. I was the one who broke it.” He reached out to take it from her, but she avoided him as though performing a dance move.
Sometimes it slipped his mind how graceful cats could be.
She took the other half of the snowman’s body off the floor, which Frederick had forgotten about with his horror over the severed head.
“I got this from the thrift store a few years back. The head had already fallen and popped off from a previous crack. Don’t worry. I’ll just glue it back on.” She put the pieces together as though checking the extent of the damage.
“I’m just glad his nose didn’t come off again. You have no idea how long it took me to find that the first time it broke off.”
She set the pieces back on the mantle, a task she would perform at a later time. Then she faced him, and Frederick found himself standing a little taller. “You sure everything’s all right?”
“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”
Katie shrugged. The fact that she seemed to struggle with looking at him rubbed him in all the wrong ways. “I just...I know that not all shifters like the holidays. Dragons and vampires especially, so I get that it might be unfair that I roped the both of you into putting up a tree, the lights, into doing all this—”
“Is that what you think is wrong?”
She looked at him, blinking her big, bright eyes.
Frederick could not help but laugh. “I am not the sort to let the history of others deter my fun, and I have to admit, I’m enjoying everything.”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be doing any of this if I weren’t here, right?”
“Probably not, but having everything look so pretty, the blinking lights, excuses to eat large feasts, and ensuring I give the best gift is enough.”
“Oh, that's it then. ” She nodded, and she smiled, her face looking less worried. “Well, you’ve got another thing coming because I’m going to blow you out of the water with my gift.”
“You...of course. If you say so.”
“I will! My present is amazing.”
If Katie wanted to think he'd been referring to competing with her, Frederick would allow it. It was better than letting her trouble herself over anything he and Alex were doing.
She never came outright and said it, but she gave off little that let Frederick know she was still, however mildly, concerned with the relationship her two mates had with each other. Vampires and dragons didn’t get along in the best of time. They certainly never shared anything.
At least until now. Until Katie.
“Anything you give to me, I can promise you, I will be impressed with. As will that bloodsucker, so you have no need to worry about whether or not we will enjoy what you give.”
“I know, but it’s still going to be amazing. Your socks are going to get blown right off.”
“Isn’t it the thought that’s meant to count?” Even as Frederick asked it, he couldn’t help but wonder.
Regardless, tomorrow was Christmas Eve. There wasn’t much time left to go out into the chaos of last-minute shoppers and hope that something amazing jumped out at him.
Frederick had never celebrated Christmas, but everyone, shifter and non-shifter alike, knew the dangers of shopping for anything days before Christmas.
He would rather run with a stampeding herd of elephants. It would be dangerous.
“The thought is what counts, but...” she stepped in closer, her cheeks flushing as her hands touched his red and green sweater. “This part can still be fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone I could tease about presents with. I like this.”
His heart swelled for her. He’d never realized that even the act of giving gifts could give this kind of pleasure. He was experiencing it himself, but he hadn’t thought that his Katie would be feeling the same thing.
“Don’t do that,” she said, her voice soft.
He didn’t understand. “Do what?”
“That.” There was no annoyance in her eyes or her voice, but he could see strength in her instead. “I don’t want you to look at me like poor Katie every time I accidentally remind you that I didn’t have...” she glanced around the vast room they were in. The fireplace, the tree that went to the tall ceiling, expensive furniture, and everything that her small place didn’t have when she had been discovered by Alex.
The lucky son of a bitch. It still burned Frederick’s tail that he hadn’t been the one to meet Katie first. That he’d only stumbled on her by chance.
“Don’t growl.” She smiled, her soft hands touching his cheeks, as though trying to smooth out the snarl that had formed without his meaning it to.
“It’s not a competition.”
“But sometimes it is,” he said it as a joke, but it was the truth. A part of both men would always be caught up in their rivalry. They could tone it down for Katie’s sake, but it would always be there.
“Just as long as you both know that I belong to both of you. I don’t belong more to him or more to you. I promise.”
There was a time when hearing something like that would have made something instinctual and powerful, deep inside of him, unsettled and dissatisfied.
That piece of him was no longer there. He was all right with their arrangement.
But only because it was Alex
Had it been anyone else, there might have been an issue.
“Well, since I have to you myself right now,” Frederick let his hands slide down to the small of her back, to the swell of her tight ass cheeks. “You think we can have a little alone time now?”
She giggled. He loved bringing that sound out of her. “You’re so bad.”
“Am I?” He didn’t stop the movement of his hands. The more she giggled, the more he kept on going, giving the globes of her ass a squeeze and pulling a yelp out of her.
It wasn’t uncommon for him to have his mate to himself. They weren’t always in a three-way, for various reasons. Sometimes Alex wasn’t there, and Frederick was not delusional enough to think that Katie and the vampire didn’t also have sex when Frederick wasn’t around either.
But whenever possible, they did try to all be together.
Even Frederick had to admit that there was something special about the three of them being in the same bed. But that didn’t mean there weren’t times like these when Frederick wanted his mate all to himself.
He moved quickly, bending over and scooping his arms beneath her knees, lifting her up into the air and spinning her around, relishing the delighted little shriek she made.
They shushed each other like teenagers who were getting ready to sneak out for the night, when really it was just a trip to the couch they were making.
Frederick could not look away from Katie’s face, the bright color of her rosy cheeks and pink lips as he undressed her, the eagerness in her eyes, all of it came together to give him the best gift he could possibly imagine.
It never got old. Whether he was sharing her with Alex or taking her on his own, she had a way of giving him just the right amount of attention he needed when in bed with him, and he, in turn, couldn’t wait to make her cry out his name.
She had no reason to worry about anything. She could give him a pair of socks and a used tie, and it wouldn’t affect him.
She was his greatest gift, and he took immense pleasure in unwrapping her.
Alex really needed to do something.
Listening as Katie and Frederick spoke about the gifts they intended to give each other, and Frederick’s ease with which he understood the customs of the season, was more than enough to make Alex realize he had so much more work ahead of him.
He needed to find something else, anything other than those pathetic attempts he’d purchased for Katie.
It's the thought that counts. They kept mentioning the thought of it, but Katie never dropped hints about what she might want from him. She seemed so easy to impress, but he couldn’t fathom what he could possibly give her that would really wow her.<
br />
When Frederick scooped her up into his arms and walked away with their woman, Alex decided that it was best to give them this time alone.
Normally he would have joined in. He hated feeling left out while the other man made Katie giggle and sigh like that, but Alex had so much work that needed to be done. He needed to go out there and find something that would prove he’d put more thought into his purchase than anyone else.
Where he was going to start, he had no idea.
Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Katie woke up still snuggled in Frederick’s arms. The fire had gone out, and a morning winter light shone in through the windows.
She smiled at it. The clouds were a bright grey—winter's color—while snow fell outside. She closed her eyes, wiggling just enough until she was comfortably blanketed against Frederick’s body.
Until her brain woke up with her and she realized a couple of things.
It was morning. The curtains were open, and sunlight was coming inside.
Shit.
She tried to jump up, but Frederick’s heavy arm weighed a million pounds, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t get out from under him.
“Frederick, you have to wake up. The curtains are open.”
He moaned, not moving.
She suspected that he was faking it and wasn’t entirely asleep, which was the only reason why she decided to elbow him in the ribs.
He let out a noise like she’d knocked all the wind from his lungs, but she didn’t have time to feel sorry for him as she ran to close the curtains.
They were the heavy kind, designed to keep out anything direct. Some sunlight still could get in just by the way the light reflected, but so long as Alex was protected from direct rays of the sun, then he could handle most of what bounced off the walls.
It might not be particularly bright outside, but winter could be challenging. Whenever the sun did come out, it had so much white to reflect off of.
“You know, I wish you’d stayed snuggled up with me, but I really don’t mind the view.”
She was not going to be embarrassed. He’d seen her naked before. This wasn’t anything new. But no matter how much she desperately tried to hold it back, the rising heat in her neck and face wouldn’t be squashed back down. “Uh-huh, well, I hope you enjoyed it, because that’s the last you’re going to see of it until later.”
Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales Page 84