by Hazel Gower
A Wolfen Family Christmas
Jack
I’m not doing it this year. I’m not the alpha anymore, and I had so many children for a reas—”
“Aha, you had all the children?” His wife Della glared at him, and he knew he’d fucked up.
“Er, sorry. I mean we.” Her growl had Jack backing up and wishing he could restart the whole conversation.
“I don’t remember you carrying them for nine months or giving birth to the big, over-nine-pound babies. No. All you did was have a fun night, day or hour or so.” She stalked toward him, and he raised his hand in surrender.
His wolf whimpered and he gave a mental shake at it. He had been an alpha wolf for many years and stood up to men who were stronger and smarter than him. He’d fought demons that were three times his size, but he and his wolf cowed at their wife. “Sorry, but they are our children, and I did help raise them.” That he did do, he may have been busy being the alpha wolf and looking after the pack, but he was a good father.
Della gave a sharp nod. She came over to him, wrapping her arms around him and gazing into his eyes. “Yes, you were—still are—an amazing father. I agree. Kane’s been the alpha now for a while, he’s ready to take over this too.” She ran her fingers up and down his chest. “Can I be there when you tell him?” The smile that covered her face was devious; she knew how unhappy Kane would be when he found out he had to be Santa.
A grin of his own spread across his lips and he nodded. “Let’s go give him the news now.”
* * * *
Kane
Jamie had babysat Bengie and brought the huge kid home full of sugar and hyped up, and Jamie didn’t hang around to help with the chaos that it caused.
Faith swayed back and forth with an agitated Braydon. Bengie was still on a high, running around and playing with Emmett, who they’d volunteered to have over for a sleepover. It was Bengie’s first, but Jamie had babysat them both for a couple of hours, and right now Kane and Faith were regretting their decision.
The door banged open and Braydon, who’d started to settle, screamed his displeasure. “Oh, what’s Nanna’s little boy upset about?” His mother swooped in and took Braydon from a haggard Faith. Braydon instantly stopped crying and started cooing.
Faith’s hands flew up and she cried out, “How the hell did you do that? I’ve been trying for over an hour, or since that fucking youngest son of yours bought back those two terrors.” She jerked her head at the two half-demon children wrestling with Kane’s father.
“Hey Pop, look what Jamie taught me,” Bengie said before his head connected with the older man’s stomach, then Bengie picked him up and flipped him. Thank God Kane’s father was skilled in combat and reacted just right so he didn’t get hurt…much.
Kane’s dad got up and backed away from the boys. “I need to talk to Kane. I’ll play later.”
“Promise?” both Bengie and Emmett pleaded.
“Promise.” He ruffled both boys’ hair.
Kane wanted to tell his dad that there was no way in hell he was riling up the boys even more. Going to his father, he guided him away from the rambunctious boys. “What do you want to talk about, Dad?”
His mother stood next to Faith, telling her she needed to calm down as babies could sense stress. “He doesn’t like me more, Faith. You’re being silly. Trust me when I say babies feel how their parents feel. If you’re agitated, they will mimic that. I know it’s easy for me to say this as I’m not with him twenty-four-seven, but I’ve raised ten children, going on twelve now, so I know what I’m talking about.” Della transferred a now sleeping Braydon to Faith.
Kane’s father’s arms went around his mother’s waist, and he leaned down and kissed her.
Kane cleared his throat loudly. His parents were always showing their love for one another, but he didn’t want to see it at the moment. “Mum. Dad. What did you want to tell me?”
His father grabbed his arm and moved them down to the back room, out of the young boys’ hearing. “I’m doing it.”
Raising his brow, he wondered what his father meant. “Doing what?”
His dad huffed, glanced at his wife, and they gave a chin lift to each other. “You’re alpha now, son, so the duty falls to you.”
Why was his father being so cryptic? “I need more details, Dad.”
“Santa. I’m not being Santa this year. I have six boys. You’re the alpha. I did it when I was the leader. Now it’s your turn.”
Kane’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. There was no bloody way he would be Santa. “Nope. No fucking way.” He backed up like his father had a disease.
His mother and father laughed, like Kane had just told the best joke ever. Between gasps his father said, “Call your brothers. Assign it to them. Rane is—”
“No fucking way am I being Santa,” Rane growled as he came into the room. Kirby was close on his heels with Ryland in her arms.
“I think you’d be a good Sant—”
“Don’t even, mate of mine,” Rane snarled. But Kirby wasn’t scared of her mate; she giggled, and the sound was like bells.
Arden stormed in. “Don’t even let it enter your thoughts of me being that fat, red clothed, old man.” It was said in not a growl or snarl, but a deep voice that brook no argument.
“Ohhh, you would have looked so cute as Santa,” Remy said from beside him. She used a baby voice, and Kane waited for his brother to snarl, but instead he became putty in his mate’s hands. Remy moved her hands up and down his arm, and Kane was sure Arden would growl, but he just shook his head and leaned down and kissed her.
Kane sighed at his brothers and wondered who else he could fob the job off to.
“Don’t even get it into your head, brother of mine.” Griffen came in and Hope followed hesitantly behind him. Hope still wasn’t comfortable around the men. She was fine with the women now—well, Ava, Faith, Remy, Kirby, and a couple of the others.
Throwing his hands up, Kane sighed. “I can’t use Devlin either, he’s not due back for months yet. Who the fuck will do it?”
Faith went into a daze for a moment and came out laughing. “Oh, I know.” Her eyes sparkled and Kane hoped that was good for him and not a bad sign. “We’re going to do a draw. Use a hat and pick a name out.” His brothers all groaned, and Faith smiled at the women. “Let’s go and the boys can talk.”
Kane watched as the women left the room. As soon as they were gone, he turned back to his brothers and father. “I’m not being in that suit you wore in this fucking heat.”
His dad glared. “I’m done, Kane.”
He heard a loud smashing sound and cursed Jamie again because he knew it was the hyped-up kids. “Fucking hell, I’m going to kill Jami…” He knew what he was going to do now and a massive grin covered his face. “None of you want to do this. I have an idea, and I know you’re all going to love it. Jamie would make a good Santa, don’t you think?”
When all his brothers, and even his father’s, grin spread wide he knew they were happy and they’d found their Santa.
* * * *
Faith
“Why the hell do I have to be Santa? I don’t have an ounce of fat on me or any gray hair.” Jamie lifted his shirt, and Faith rolled her eyes at one of her closest friends and brother-in-law.
She yanked his shirt down, covering his perfect six-pack abs, and placed the red and white Santa hat with wig attached on his head, covering his red hair. She’d added a little superglue so it stuck to his forehead and wouldn’t come off. Jamie wouldn’t be happy when he stopped complaining and figured it out.
“Think of the joy this will bring all the children when they see you come down on the back of the UTE.” She winked. “Oh, and don’t worry about looking the part, we have this.” Faith held up a fat suit.
Jamie gasped and stepped back, holding his hand to his chest. “No way. How long have we had this?” He gazed at the suit with a horrified expression; he was always so dramatic.
Faith held o
ut the heavy body suit. “I’m not sure. I know your dad wore it.”
“What! No. Why would Dad wear a fat suit?”
Faith didn’t answer, she just smirked and raised her brow. She watched as realization dawned on him and chuckled at his crestfallen face.
“Oh, why’d you ruin that for me? I didn’t know it was Dad as Santa.” Jamie’s shoulders sagged, and his frown had her feeling a little guilty about what she’d revealed.
She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him with all her strength. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew your dad did the Santa each year.”
He returned the hug, squeezing her tight. “I think I kind of knew. Who else would put up with me bouncing on his lap or going on for almost an hour about every toy I wanted?”
Faith pushed at his chest and took a step back. “Or the tugging on the beard, and climbing all over him. You know your dad dyed his beard for like two days, but you don’t have a beard that can be dyed, so you’ll wear a fake one.” She shook her head, still fascinated that he’d never figured out that Santa had been his dad for years. “I mean, come on, every Christmas your dad would go missing for two or so days. Can you really tell me you didn’t suspect?”
“Yeah, my first year of high school I started, but I wanted to keep the illusion.” His grin lit up his whole face, his lips spread with a huge smile, and his eyes widened and were bright and shined with his happy memory. She saw when he realized what doing this would mean, and how many people, not just the children, would enjoy it. “Okay. Let’s get this suit on and glue the beard just in case we have any kids like me who pull it.”
Faith rubbed her hands together as she thought of how much enjoyment she would get out of Jamie being Santa. The superglue she would get to use and yank off in a day or so would be payback for several jokes only he’d found funny. Seeing him sweat all day and have kids climbing all over him would be justice for all the times he’d babysat their children, filled them up with sugar and kept them hyped up, and then handed them over to their parents. She knew a bunch of parents were going to enjoy Santa this year.
Holding out the fat suit, Faith helped Jamie put it on, biting her lip to stop her giggle slipping out as he moaned and struggled wiggling into it. When he did get it on, he was drenched in sweat, his shoulders hunched, and the belly stuck out further. It gave Faith a look at what Jamie would look like if he wasn’t a shifter and not so active. Jamie lived off mostly junk food when he wasn’t at his sisters’ or parents’ house eating their food.
“Tell me again why Devlin can’t fucking do this?” Jamie snatched the red pants out of Faith’s hand and used her shoulder for balance as he got into them with a lot of wiggling and tugging.
Clearing her throat, a laugh slipped free as she shoved the white shirt and coat at him and saw that his cheeks were already rosy red from all his huffing and puffing getting into the pants. She really shouldn’t have put the hat with wig on him as it was adding to the heat. “He’s posted five hours from here for a start, and you don’t have any kids, so they won’t catch on if you’re not there. Plus, your name was the one that was drawn out of the bucket.”
“I think it was fucking rigged. I should have checked the papers,” Jamie mumbled as he put the finishing touches on the outfit.
It was rigged, but her father-in-law said it was time for his children to take over the job and he said he was too fucking old to get into that fat suit and wear the costume in the bloody heat. So it had been decided that all the brothers’ names would go in a bucket and Faith would choose a name and he would be Santa. That hadn’t gone over well with her mate. Kane, Rane, Arden, and Griffen had all argued that they weren’t going to wear the suit and leave their women and family, so they’d plotted and chose Jamie, and yes, they rigged it so Jamie would be the name pulled out to be Santa, but Faith wouldn’t tell him that.
“To bad, so sad.” She giggled, this time letting her laughter out as he waddled back and forth. Faith put more superglue on the gray beard and went over to him and stood on tiptoes. “You need to stay still for this part and wait for it to set.”
Jamie glared at her but stayed still as she carefully put the beard on. Once done, she stepped back and took him in from the black boots to the Santa hat with gray, curling hair and the beard that now matched. He looked like a damn good Santa, especially with his creamy skin that was rosy with the heat.
Christmas was going to be awesome.
* * * *
Jamie
Holding the chrome of the bar on the truck with one hand, Jamie waved at all the children with the other. He stood on the back of the UTE filled with toys in huge red sacks, smiled, and called out, “Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.” So far this Santa gig hadn’t been so bad.
The truck came to a stop and Jamie saw the red throne-like chair that he was to sit on and listen to the children tell him what they wanted for Christmas. This was the part he was dreading—kids climbing all over him and listening, and sometimes deciphering what they were saying about what they wanted for Christmas.
He liked kids. Loved his nieces, nephews, and little sisters, even his adopted two, but he wasn’t so fond of other people’s children. They wiped their snotty noses on his clothes, and if it wasn’t snot it was dirt. They always wanted to play, and when they talked, he couldn’t understand most of what they said or what they talked about. Jamie was sure young kids spoke a different language. He always thought he spoke their language. Jamie thought he was still young and cool, but with all the new children, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
Groaning, he realized he was worried about children and what they thought of him. He shrugged off his worries and maneuvered through the sacks of toys and eased down off the UTE. He should help lift the sacks, but he was already sweating. It was well over forty degrees, and it was a sticky heat.
He looked at the chair and knew it would be hot even just sitting on it. There was a line of kids waiting already, and he tried to act like he hoped Santa would. He gracefully sat on the red velvet chair and smirked as he looked over and saw his younger sisters, Josie and Emma, in Santa helper costumes—red tights, green dress, and red hats that had a bell on the end. He chuckled when he saw their shoes were flats, the front curled up with a bell on the end.
Josie shot him a glare, and with her back to the line of children, she mouthed I hate Mum and Dad. This sucks. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave the best teenage glare ever.
Happy now that he knew he wasn’t the only one suffering through this, he smiled and waved at Josie, which caused her gaze to widen before he gave her the signal to start sending kids over.
Three hours later, Jamie’s face hurt and he was ready to kill Faith for supergluing the beard on. The children kept tugging on the beard, but Jamie was lucky they didn’t yank on his fake hair that was connected to the hat.
Grace bounced on his lap as she told him about the eighteenth or so item that she really wanted.
He only had a couple of kids left, but as his gaze fell on Bengie he groaned. Fuck, he hoped the giant kid didn’t sit on his lap. His thighs were already numb from all the children bouncing on him. He didn’t think kids could weigh so much, and after a while they got heavier and heavier, and Bengie was the biggest kid of all.
Bengie hesitantly came toward him, like he was unsure of what to expect. Jamie knew last year he hadn’t come to the Christmas celebration. Jamie watched as Bengie studied him, and Jamie could tell he wasn’t sure about Santa. Jamie understood; he guessed Santa was a pretty scary dude when you really thought about it. Santa was an old guy with long, gray hair, a big beard, and a huge belly, who wore red and white winter clothing as he broke into people’s homes. Sure, he left gifts, but the songs made him sound like a creepy stalker. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. The kids had all been singing the songs and he could see the newer kids were uneasy by it as most had never seen Santa before, and he didn’
t blame them.
The camera flashed and he smiled, his cheeks starting to tingle in pain from the forced smile he’d been doing for hours now. Bengie still hadn’t moved from the line, but he let two children behind him go before him.
“This is fucking awesome. Do you know how happy my wife is right now?” Logan’s gloating voice had him turning to see him with two of his three triplets, walking toward him.
Jamie raised his brow and waited for Logan to say more.
“She says this is perfect payback for all the times you were a shit, little brother.” He lowered his voice so the kids couldn’t hear what he was saying. “Here are the boys. They’ve just been fed. So they won’t scream for you. I said that if you were my brother, I would have let them scream and you could enjoy my kids awesome lungs.”
Jamie’s gaze darted up as his sister placed Keela in the middle of her brothers, Phoenix and Carrick. “Leave him be.” She winked at her mate. “At least until he’s done with our babies. This is the first time he’s held all three.”
Ava’s eyes sparkled with enjoyment as she took in his rosy cheeks from the heat and the utter exhaustion he showed, with his leaning back on the chair and his hunched shoulders and the towel he used to wipe the sweat off his face in between children. Jamie now had more respect for his father and what he did for his people than he ever did.
His niece and nephews squirmed in his embrace, and he tried to smile for the camera.
Logan laughed, clearly enjoying Jamie’s discomfort. “This is the perfect job for you.” Logan was a shit, but he fit in with his brothers and their banter.
“I knew he’d be good for the job.”
Jamie growled when Kane came forward and stopped, holding out Braydon. “I don’t have any room for him. I’m struggling with these three.”
Kane’s chuckle grated on Jamie’s nerve, and he snarled when he saw Rane making his way over with Ryland.
“Kirby is looking forward to the photo of all the children together. Mum said Santa’s helpers should get in and help.” Rane chuckled as he said this, and both Josie and Emma stomped over—the best they could in the elf shoes. Emma snatched Braydon out of Kane’s embrace, and Josie did the same with Ryland. Kane and Rane backed away so the photos could commence.