A Christmas Home

by April Zyon

  She nodded, curling into him like a kitten. “I love it when you touch me. When you stroke your fingers over my skin. That’s a truth that you can keep close. I love being touched by you. Sometimes I feel like you are petting me when you do. It’s pretty awesome.”

  “I am petting you, sweetheart. Touch grounds us, and when it has the added sensual bonus of being our mate it’s even deeper and more profound. And you can pet me whenever you feel the need. It will probably freak several people I know right the hell out if you do it around them, and personally I can’t wait to see their reactions. Now, are we okay to finish breakfast, or should I keep stroking this lovely, silky skin of yours?”

  “Well then I’m so going to pet you every single time that I can,” she told him and rubbed her cheek to his neck. She then moved out of his lap, much to his displeasure. “Food. I need fuel so that we can get back to bed. We’ll burn off the calories.”

  “After you have a nap.” He let his fingers trail off her arm before he picked up his fork again. Once she started to eat he dug back into his own plate. He didn’t bug her while she was eating, especially since once she got going she really didn’t seem inclined to stop for anything. Even breathing, apparently. “You do know this isn’t a race. You can pace yourself.”

  “I know, I’m trying to slow down but to be honest…” He saw the hesitation, then the telltale bracing of her shoulders. She was going to say something that would piss him off, he just knew it. “Before I had to eat fast because if I didn’t it would be taken away by the ex. I was only allowed to eat certain foods and if he found me eating something like this it would piss him off and he would trash it. I’m trying to slow down, though, I promise.”

  Jagger had to bite back his angry response because it wasn’t Ophelia he wanted to yell at. No, that was for her ex, right before he pounded on the asshole for hurting her. Reaching over, he rubbed a finger to her cheek. “No one will take anything away from you. If they do, you let me know and I will guarantee they regret it for however long I let them keep breathing. No one hurts my mate, we clear?”

  “Thank you for that.” He was thankful that she liked food as much as he did so that was something. “And yes, we are clear. No one hurts my mate either,” she added, which just had him grinning.

  “Good to know, sweetheart.” He gave her cheek another gentle stroke before pulling his hand away. Getting up, he collected the carafe and refilled their mugs one more time.

  “So nap time now. Tomorrow you can take me to your shop so I can look over your financials and figure out just how much trouble I’m going to have with you.”

  “Why am I getting trouble already? You haven’t even seen the slightly messy state of the office and the records, and yet you are judging. Tsk, tsk, Ophelia. At least wait until you realize how bad some of the handwriting is before you flip out. Have something as a basis so it sounds better. Finish your bacon and then I’m taking you back to bed.”

  “Bacon.” He was glad she had told him that she loved the stuff. “And bed with my bear. Three b’s that I think I’m so going to love for the rest of time.” She popped one last piece of bacon into her mouth, then rose and took her dishes to the sink. He was sure that he would have gotten more shit because he bonded them but she seemed to be going with it like a champ.

  Tempted though he was to question her about it, he figured he’d let it go, at least for the time being. Later he might broach the subject again. Finishing off his coffee, he cleared the table of his dishes and the other breakfast items. Then he kept his promise and took his mate back to bed for a long, lazy day of relaxation.

  Chapter Ten

  Ophelia looked at the mess of the office in the mechanic shop, then out to the garage and back again. “Jagger.” She was shaking, couldn’t help it. “I…” She hesitated, then shook her head. “Jagger, how in the ever-loving name of hell can your garage be so much cleaner than your office? Every tool has a place for storage, yet in here it looks like everything is … Jesus I don’t know what this is.” She was utterly flummoxed because there were boxes, literally, of paperwork. The file cabinet had silly things in it such as bottled water, the keys for the soda machine, and everything else except the paperwork it should hold.

  “You should seriously be thankful that I love you as much as I do or else I would bloody well smack you upside your head. With this mess I will be lucky to be done before Christmas. I will be very, very cranky if I’m not done by then. Christmas is our day. It’s our first one together.”

  “I’ll help you,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t realize it had gotten this bad. We had someone I thought was keeping it tidy in here. The number of times I’ve been in here over the last couple months has been minimal. The kid was always in here working, or so I thought anyway. Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it.”

  She opened the next drawer and gagged. “First, take this drawer and please dump it somewhere.” Well she could see what the kid had been doing. The drawer was filled with porn and old sandwiches, of all things. “Weird kid you had working for you.” She waited until he got closer and tilted her head up. “And you can give me a hug. Then we will get this place cleaned and into working order.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. Dropping a kiss on her lips, he rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I’ll dump this drawer and give it a wash. Check the others and I’ll do a clean on each one that needs it. Then we can start to organize by having them all out on the floor. We’ll dump into each, and sort later.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’m going to put any and all paper on top of the desk now that it’s clean. Speaking of. We need to get a computer in here so that I can hook up to your computer system. You do have one, right? For when people check out and all of that fun stuff?”

  “Yes, ma’am, we do,” he said. “We had a computer in here, somewhere. I have no idea where the hell it is. It was ancient so it’s not worth anything. If it isn’t under one of these piles I’ll pick up a new one tomorrow and we can network it to the system in the shop.”

  She nodded. “That will make inventory and billing updates much easier.” She let out a breath, then smiled. “I think that you are very, very lucky to have me in your life. Just saying.” She was the lucky one, she knew it, but she liked to tease him now, too, now that she knew she could. “Okay, oh God, what in the ever-loving name of Christ is this?” she asked as she opened another drawer and was once more nasally assaulted and visually abused by … well she had no idea what it was other than dead.

  “I’m only guessing here, but I think that may have been a rat at one point. No clue why it’s in the drawer, but it’s probably best not to ask. Pull the drawer and stick it on top of the one I have and I’ll clean them both out. With industrial strength shit that kills anything that might still be living in these.”

  “Thank you. The last thing I need is some sort of exotic disease that will make me sick and ruin our Christmas.” She grimaced and set the drawer aside, then looked up. “What do you and your pack typically do for Christmas? Is it a big deal around here?” She was assuming that it was with all of the Christmas trees she saw, lights, and the utter cheer that all but oozed from the place.

  “We do tend to do it up big,” he said. She followed him but only to the doorway when he hauled the drawers out into the bay. Jagger dumped the contents into one of the large barrels she figured were for the various wastes they had in the shop, then set the drawers down near a drain. “The pack does dinner on Christmas Eve before we all come into town for the festival. On Christmas day it’s pretty laid back until around mid-afternoon. Then there’s hay rides, snowball fights, and a bunch of ice carving and snowman building contests. Around seven there’s a huge buffet out of the community center where everyone and anyone is invited. The local businesses get together to put it on, but it’s on a rotation each year so only some of us have to work and then the next year we get it off while others slave. I’m off this year and next, but the following y
ear I’m on the schedule.”

  She brought out another of the drawers for him and laughed. “Well when you are slaving away I will make sure to admire you while you work your cute and tight ass off, deal?” That’s when it really hit her. She was truly planning on staying here in this place. She already was seeing this as her home. “I’m home,” she whispered quietly.

  He looked up with a frown. “Sorry, what did you say?” he asked. Straightening from where he’d been switching the heads on the hose, he took a step her way. “Ophelia, are you all right, sweetheart? You look flushed.”

  “Just realizing that I’m home,” she told him with a laugh and jumped into his arms. “I’m home.” She had never felt as if she fit into her life, never felt like she was where she belonged but now she did. She hadn’t met his pack yet, but now, just being here, she was happy. She. Was. Home.

  He let out an “oomph” when she jumped him, but Jagger never faltered and didn’t drop her. His arm banded around her tight. Then he hitched her up higher so she could wrap her legs around his waist. “Of course you’re home, sweetheart. Wherever you are is home to me, and I hope you feel the same for me. The location doesn’t matter as long as you’re there.”

  “It’s you.” She had to agree with him on that. She bent so that her forehead was pressed to his and smiled down at him. “I do love you, Jagger Morris. I really hope your pack likes me because if not we are so totally screwed because I’m not letting you go. Not now, not ever.”

  “You’re my mate, and they will bloody well love you. Mainly because you are sweet, wonderful, kind, generous, and so fucking beautiful that it fries out my brain every time I look at you. Don’t worry, sweetheart. The pack is going to adore you. Just always be yourself and they’ll see why I fell head over heels for you.”

  “I hope you’re right.” She was worried, of course. She loved her curves and being a big, beautiful woman but she had for far too long been told she needed to lose weight, needed to do this or do that. Now she had a man who loved her completely.

  “You’re worrying about something more, aren’t you?” he asked softly. Resting his forehead to hers, he stared into her eyes. “What has you chewing on that luscious lip of yours so hard that it’s making me want to suck on it and to hell with doing any work today?”

  “God I love when you get all sexy,” she confessed. “I’m just worried because I’ve never fit in anywhere where there are only humans. I’ve always been too big for anyone’s taste but not now. Right now I feel like I belong. Like I’m loved for being me. And I know that I will always be loved even if I become as big as a house.”

  Jagger had the most adorably confused look on his face. “What the hell are you talking about, woman? You are perfectly sized. I don’t know who the hell has been filling your head with that other crap, but you can definitely ditch it. You are perfect. Period. End of story, throw the mike down, perfect. Got it?”

  She laughed. “I got it,” she said with a smirk. “I understand what you’re saying and I get it. Okay, so you love me just as I love you.” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Now, we need to finish cleaning so that we can go and find some food. Food and then we will meet your pack.” A girl had to have her priorities, after all.

  Grumbling under his breath, he let her down onto her feet but didn’t immediately release her. “I know that human women have doubts, Ophelia. About who they are and their place. But don’t ever doubt how much I love and adore you. You are my mate, and I will never lie to you about anything. These things take time, and I fully understand that.”

  “I don’t doubt that. I don’t think I ever did, even when I first met you. There was a draw to you, a pull that I couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore. But if I have doubts I’ll come and find you and we will talk it out. Then again I might come find you so that I can get you naked. I think that would definitely ease any worries I had.”

  She earned herself a hard, yet definitely amused look from him. “Sexing me up to ease your worries only casts a shadow over the issue for a time. Eventually it will crop up again, sweetheart. We should always talk out all problems or concerns we have as a couple. Then we can get naked and have wild bear sex to your heart’s content. Deal?”

  “I’m totally down with that.” She cupped his cheeks and pulled him closer.

  “You’d better get back in that office, little mate, or we might end up putting a show on for the townsfolk.”

  “Yes, we wouldn’t want to shock them now, would we? Heaven forbid they learn that you have wants, needs and desires, too.” She bit his neck. “Right, going to go and get back into the office. I’m going to pull the shades so that we can do everything that you have going on in your mind.” She pulled back from him and laughed. “After we have cleaned the mess up. And when you find the kid you hired, kick his butt for leaving us such a mess, please.”

  “I will, promise. Now go, otherwise I’ll never get these drawers clean enough to actually go back in there. Make sure there are no others that need to be disinfected, too, would you, please?” He grabbed up the hose, then stood back to spray off the worst chunks of whatever was still stuck inside.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll bring you some more, I’m sure.” She grinned at her bear and winked. “I love you, my big mechanic bear. I just love a man that works with his hands.” She put a sashay into her walk as she strolled away from him.

  “You’re going to get it later for teasing your man. I’m not going to tell you what your punishment will be, but you’d better believe I will dish it out,” he called after her.

  “Promises, promises!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Leaning on the railing around the porch, Jagger watched Ophelia mostly because he could. The woman was pure sunshine and had a body that screamed sensuality. His lips curved up when he caught her laughing at something one of his pack mates said to her. He was glad she was being so easily accepted by the majority.

  Not all were happy, but he’d known that would be the case. There were some females who were very pissed that they hadn’t been the one to bag the alpha of their pack. But Jagger had always known his mate wasn’t within the pack. A few of the females figured he was wrong or they could change his mind. Little did they realize an alpha’s mind wasn’t so easily changed.

  “I like her.”

  Glancing over, Jagger gave a nod to one of his lieutenants. Garth had been his best friend since they were four and ended up in the same mud puddle together. Good Lord their mothers were pissed when they’d finally gone home. Jagger could still remember the look on his mom’s face when she’d seen him before he’d managed to figure out how to get some of that muck off. His dad, on the other hand, had taken one look and burst out laughing right before he went to get his camera. Jagger still had that photo on the wall in his bedroom at the cabin.

  Garth propped a hip to the railing near Jagger and chuckled. “Your female is definitely getting a few stink eyes, though. Think those females will eventually get over it?”

  “They’d better,” he said, straightening up. A last look to his mate and Jagger turned to lean his ass against the railing, his attention shifting to his friend and the other lieutenants that had joined them on the porch. “You’ve all read the proposal, and I know some have started to dig around. What do we know so far about this pack wanting permission to move here?”

  Layla pulled out her phone and after a moment passed it over to him. “I had a friend do some digging. He’s an old army buddy of my dad’s so he was cool doing it as a favor. I told him that if he ever needed anything we could help with to definitely let us know.”

  Jagger nodded while reading the point form report from the man. He wasn’t liking what he was reading. Correction, not so much what he was reading—it was more what he was not seeing in the report. “This is awfully thin, Layla.”

  “I know. I called Dad’s buddy up and asked him about it. According to him it was all he could swing in the twenty-four hours I’d given him to dig. He said t
hat the only folks from this pack’s previous home he managed to talk to knew next to nothing about them. Didn’t matter who he asked, the majority of folks would give him this blank look. Occasionally he could jog out a few details, but nothing solid. He’s digging all the harder now because he told me flat out he got a weird vibe from the place in general. Nothing he could pinpoint, but he did mention that the fact the town seemed damn thinned out has him curious.”

  “Good, if he needs anything get it to him. Money, support, whatever.” Layla’s contact was doing them a huge service by digging around in the pack’s past. No way in hell was Jagger going to leave the man high and dry. If Jagger’s pack was going to veto the other pack’s petition to move into Shifter Falls they would need solid evidence for the other packs and the council.

  Ophelia’s laugh had him throwing a look her way over his shoulder. Seeing her playing with a couple kids warmed his heart. The kids were the best judges of character. If they didn’t like an individual it was something Jagger trusted. They all apparently adored his mate.

  “Tap any contacts you have. We need to figure out who these guys are beyond that polished bullshit they handed the town council. Keep it low-key, but it doesn’t have to be under the radar. The pack will know that the rest of us would go digging. But for all information, no matter how big or small, I want to hear it first. Because if we actually do manage to find something on these guys, I don’t want it getting out there.” Jagger had a gut feeling about the pack petitioning residency, but he didn’t yet know which way it was leaning. Without being able to meet the other alpha or any of the pack his bear was cautiously paranoid.

  “Garth, find out where they’re staying and put a couple of our best trackers on them. I don’t need to know everything, but I do want reports on the alpha and his lieutenants. General movements for the time being. Depending on what we find on all fronts, we’ll make the call on where to go.” He got a nod from his friend, and the other lieutenants all gave their agreement. “All right, anything else I need to know.” After a round of negatives he gave them all a hug and let them get on with their day.