by Sadie Hart
“It went straight through,” she said as he went to look at the gunshot wound. He looked up at her and she gave him a rough smile. “It’s just going to hurt like hell when I walk home.”
“You need to get to a hospital,” he said.
Bree lifted her good shoulder in a small shrug. “Yeah that too. Could have been worse.”
She glanced at the rogue and he watched the sadness flit across her gaze. Hunter reached out and ran his knuckles over her cheek. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know. Want to help me up?”
Hunter wrapped an arm around her waist, and boosted her up, holding her against him as they hobbled back towards her house. It was a long, grueling walk and his feet burned with the cold by the time her house came into view. He got her to her door, grabbed her car keys and her phone, and dragged her to her car. Once she was sitting in the passenger seat and they were on the way to the hospital, he called the local Shifter Town Enforcement.
Not that they’d care. It was a dead wolf out there, a dead shifter. The only people that had been harmed were other shifters. Hunter glanced at the pale woman in the seat next to him, the regret still shimmering in her eyes. She had to have made a damn good Hound.
Because unlike those he called, she cared. That wolf had hunted her down and yet he’d still seen the sorrow in her eyes when she’d looked at the body. They needed more Hounds like her, especially in White Pine.
More importantly, they needed her here.
Hunter needed her here.
***
Bree fought back another yawn as they pulled up in front of Hunter’s house. Exhaustion curled through, begging for sleep. It’d been a long night dealing with the doctors and Shifter Town Enforcement. All she wanted to do now was to go home and sleep.
Home, however, wasn’t an option.
Hunter pulled her car up into his garage, the door automatically closing behind them. “Just for the night,” he said and glanced at her. “I don’t want you alone.”
“The rogue is dead.” The rogue had been Jeremy Hale according to Shifter Town Enforcement after they’d found the body. He’d been the only living relative of the man Caesar had killed.
“I know, but please, for my sanity.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair and she could see the black bags under his eyes. Hunter looked every bit as exhausted as she did. It was damn near morning by now, Christmas Eve at that, and they both had yet to get more than a few hours sleep. “Please.”
It was the tired way he said, his eyes imploring as he looked at her, that made her smile and nod. Besides, if she were honest with herself, she didn’t really want to be alone right now. She kept waiting for a phone to ring, the raspy breathing over the other line to come back. And the thought of walking back into her house and seeing the bullet hole in her wall and bedside table...
She just didn’t want to deal with it tonight. “Okay.”
The smile he flashed her was genuine and Hunter hopped out of the car and headed around to her side. He helped her out and handed her the crutches the doctor had given her. Bracing the one under her good arm, she hobbled toward the steps leading into his house. He touched the small of her back, heat flaming under her skin at his touch.
The garage led straight into the kitchen. An oak dining table sat in front of a large sliding glass door. Marble countertops wrapped around the far wall, and an island sat between the kitchen area and the table. Hunter tossed her keys on the counter.
The whole place looked like him. Like home. She could smell the wolves that were in and out all day, a variety of scents that she recognized as part of his scent. She hobbled over to the counter only to see the small Christmas present on the marble. She glanced at it. Breanne, the tag read.
Her heart froze as she reached out, her fingertips gliding over the smooth paper. He’d gotten her a Christmas gift. He’d know her what, a week? And he’d gotten her a gift. She hadn’t gotten him anything.
Hunter turned toward her and paused. He cleared his throat softly. “Ah, that was for, well...today I guess. It’s Christmas Eve after all. I planned on taking it over to your house this afternoon.”
“I didn’t...” She looked up at him, lost for words.
“It’s not about getting me something. I saw that and thought you needed it. Open it.” Hunter nodded toward the small package and she couldn’t resist.
“You’ve done so much for me,” she said, even as she gently tore through the paper.
“Not nearly as much as you’ve done for me and my pack. But this gift isn’t about any of that, it’s about you.”
A soft cry fell from her lips and she saw what was inside. A crystal ornament sat in a clear box. It sparkled, silver glitter inside the orb, but it was the beautifully written Arianna in brilliant silver that brought tears to her eyes.
“To honor your first Christmas with her again, even if she’s only here in your heart.”
Bree blinked against the sudden tide of tears and stepped away. She wanted to turn and run. To get some space and be able to breathe. Then Hunter touched her arm, just a light brush of his skin against hers, and she gasped. “You have no idea how much this means to me,” she whispered.
She forced herself to look up at him, despite the tears blurring her gaze.
“No, but the moment I saw it I thought you needed it.”
The words touched her heart deeper than she’d ever thought anything could again. He hadn’t just thought she’d want it, but that she needed it. Bree closed her eyes. God, how right he was. She needed this shot at moving on, this beginning.
And he was right. This Christmas would be her first real Christmas since Ari’s death. The first one where she let herself feel and live again.
Her eyes opened and she shook her head, still lost for the right words to describe her gratitude. They didn’t make words strong enough to tell him just what he’d done for her. “Thank you.”
“I’d do it again,” he said softly. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Stay. Spend Christmas with me. The pack comes here for Christmas Eve and we celebrate together, but on Christmas day they all go to their individual families. No one should have to spend it alone, so why not together?”
Bree leaned her face into his touch and brushed her lips against his wrist. “I’d love that.”
“Then why don’t we hang this up and go to bed?”
Bree picked up the ornament and felt the tears trickle down her cheek. Ari would have loved it. And Bree had no doubt that her little girl was staring down at her, dancing in the heavens, at the delight of having an ornament just for her to hang on a Christmas tree. “May I?”
“Of course.” Hunter led the way into his living room. Garland hung over the fire place along with an assortment of stockings. A large tree ate up one corner of the room with piles and piles of presents underneath—no doubt for the various members of his pack. “Why not put her right under the angel?”
Her breath caught as she looked up at the angel in a glowing white gown, white and gold wings spread wide as she glowed over the tree. Fresh tears started to pour as Hunter lifted her up so she could hang the silver ornament just below the angel.
“Thank you,” she said and leaned into him, not even bothering to wipe away her tears. There was so much joy in this moment. Hope. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. She looks perfect up there.”
Bree stared at the ornament in honor of her daughter, the crystal glowing with the lights of the tree. An image of Ari’s smiling face, alight with Christmas joy filled her mind, and she leaned her head against Hunter’s chest.
She did look perfect up there, one angel next to another.
In the window behind the tree, the full moon shined down through the glass, silver highlights streaming through the Christmas lights. Bree closed her eyes. Ari had to be smiling down on her now.
***
The scent of bacon sizzling on the stove in the kitchen drifted through the house and Bree buried her face into
the soft pillow. Oh, she could get used to this, waking to the smell of breakfast already being made. Her stomach rumbled and she grinned, shoving out of bed. She made it as far as the door before she paused.
Voices drifted down the hall. Hunter had warned her that the pack came for Christmas Eve day, but that had been a distant thought last night. What with everything that had happened with the rogue, his touching gift in honor of Arianna, sleeping in Hunter’s arms. Now, she hesitated and bit her lip.
So far the pack had made it clear that they didn’t like her. At least the young ones had. Would she be walking out into chaos? And worse, she thought as she glanced down at the oversized sweatpants and t-shirt she’d borrowed from Hunter, what would they think when she came striding out of their alpha’s bedroom dressed in his clothes.
And hell, when had she ever cared what strangers thought of her?
“Bree,” Hunter called softly through the door and she pulled it open just enough to look at him. His hand was raised to knock but he paused, a smile touching the edge of his lips. It warmed his face and there was a softness to his eyes that she was sure she’d never grow tired of. “Breakfast is ready.”
“I, uh…” She glanced down at herself again. “Find myself at a loss for what to wear.”
“I like what you’re wearing.” He would. Bree snorted, only to draw a laugh from him. “Besides, those that are here aren’t dressed to impress, and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not dressed either.”
He’d added a shirt, which she had noticed, but now that he mentioned it, he was still in the same loose, baggy pants he’d come to bed with last night. Hunter pulled the door open a little wider. “After breakfast I’ll take you down to your house so you can get something to wear, okay?”
Like she had a choice. She could hide in here—and she’d never been one for hiding—or she could face the crowd and get a free meal out of it. “The bacon is more motivational than you,” she murmured, drawing a laugh from him.
“Whatever works?”
“Okay.” She ran a hand through the tangled locks of her hair. “If I get a hairbrush first.”
“Hairbrush and a new toothbrush are on the sink in the bathroom. I’ll fix you a plate.”
With that he left her to return to the crowd building in the rest of the house. It was all Bree could to do walk to the bathroom and not slip out the window. She’d faced wolf-shifter packs before, but never as an insider. She’d always been the Hound looking in, the Hound most likely accusing one of them of a crime.
And while she wasn’t exactly a key part of their alpha’s life, she wanted their acceptance. Wanted to belong somewhere again. Bree quickly finished up in the bathroom, took a deep, steadying breath, and then headed toward the kitchen.
It was more crowded than she’d expected, with the dining room table already filled, as well as the bar. Hunter lounged against the counter chatting with another male. He’d been right though, more than half of the guests here looked like they’d rolled right out of bed.
Bree surveyed the crowd only to find a familiar face staring out at her from the table. “Bree, right?” Rylie called and the room quieted, more than a few turning to get a good look at her.
Maybe she should have insisted on going home and getting dressed first.
She gave a shaky nod, her knees threatening to buckle out from underneath her. But the woman just grinned and headed her way, only to wrap Bree in a hug. “Thank you.”
Color heated her cheeks as Bree hugged the woman back.
“You’re welcome, I was just...” The words died in her throat. Doing her job? Being a Hound wasn’t her job. She glanced at Hunter instead. “Helping a friend,” she finished instead.
“Well that’s good to hear,” someone else called out, a male voice this time. Rylie let her go and stepped back, and she saw a dark skinned man grinning up at her from the table. He swatted the back of the head of the teenage boy sitting next to him. “My son and his friends owe you an apology.”
The boy winced and muttered, “Sorry.”
His father grunted, not satisfied, but obviously knowing when to pick his battles. A few other voices muttered their apologies as well.
“I don’t think anyone knew what to expect when you moved in, doll,” an older woman said from the head of the table. She had curly white hair that framed her face. It drew out the brilliant green in her eyes, but there was something oddly familiar in the way she looked at Bree. “And not all of us have the best manners.”
She leveled the kids with a grumpy look, which drew out a few sincere sounding apologies from the group of kids.
“It was nothing,” Bree said.
“Oh child, it was something all right. The kids might not understand what you did for them, but those of us who’ve been around the block a time or two, do. You had their backs from the get-go, despite their little pranks. And you had the pack’s back when you helped our Rylie.”
“Well thank you.”
The woman snorted. “Now come sit and eat.”
She waved toward the empty chair beside her.
“I’m not sure she wants to sit next to you, mother,” Hunter said, a smile on his face as he stepped up next to Bree, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re known to bite.” He leaned in to murmur in Bree’s ear, but in a room full of wolf-shifters everyone there could hear. “Rylie is probably your safer bet.”
“Ignore him,” Hunter’s mother said. “I want to hear about your daughter.”
Warmth filled her heart and Bree carefully took the seat next to the other woman. “And I’d love to tell you about her.”
Because Arianna would have loved every minute of this morning. The laughter, the food, the feeling of family. As Hunter took the seat next to her, Bree had to blink back tears. He didn’t know how much he’d done for her.
She’d gone from a woman lonely and desperate to forget, to someone who wanted to remember, and somehow, was surrounded by others who genuinely seemed to like her. Hunter leaned in and touched his shoulder to hers. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Hush boy,” his mother muttered, but there was a playful edge to the wolfish grin that spilled over her face. Her gaze darted back to Bree’s. “I lost my first child, Hunter’s old brother, when he was three. Memories are the most important thing. Cherish them. Especially on days like today and tomorrow.”
She reached over and grabbed Bree’s hand. Bree relaxed at the touch. “And if you have no one else to spend tomorrow with, we’d love to have you.” A devilish gleam flashed in her eyes before she added, “It gets tiring having only Hunter to spend the holidays with.”
“I’d love that.”
“We would too, dear.”
Bree let the joy and happiness that filled the room wrap around her, all the guilt and regret from the past slipping away. She’d missed moments like this, where a room could be filled with warmth and the chance at new memories. New hope.
Hunter leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Merry Christmas.”
And the first of many more to come.
Acknowledgements
This story is for the fans of Shifter Town Enforcement. Thank you guys for loving this series. I hope this little novella helps to tide you over for the next novel.
And thank you to my friends and family, who taught me the meaning of Christmas. A holiday about being together, about finding hope, and living in joy.
Thank you for reading.