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“Oooh bacon!” Carter exclaims.
“Sounds great,” Rachel agrees. “I’ll help after I shower if you’re cool with waiting another few minutes?”
“Okay, but you’re shifting first, right?” Carter asks.
She raises an eyebrow at him. “I am?”
“I need a clean slate to give you your present after we eat.”
“That wasn’t it?” she asks.
I smile as I leave the room.
I’ve never been that big a fan of the holiday season, but this year it feels different. Everything feels different since Rachel came into our lives. Our lives are better, and it makes me want to keep trying to be better for her. Right now, it feels perfect.
Nothing’s going wipe the smile from my face today.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Rachel
Mywolfalmostimmediatelymakes me want to go rushing out into the back yard. She seems to be almost as excited as I am about today. Or maybe it’s because I haven’t let her out for a while.
Sorry, but today’s not the day to be running around the woods. Maybe later.
I shift back to my human form quickly and turn to Carter. “Ta-da!”
“Perfect,” he tells me with a bright smile, rubbing a hand through his own hair.
“Maybe I should give you my gift,” I tell him.
“I thought you said you’re closed for lunch,” he says, raising an eyebrow at me.
“I did actually get you a present that has nothing to do with sex.”
“Nothing?” he asks with a mournful tone that’s completely fake.
“Well … maybe not nothing,exactly.”
“Oooh, now I’m intrigued.”
“Well, you’ll need to stay intrigued because food comes before presents.”
“There’s an order for this stuff?” he asks.
“There’s not?” I ask, wondering if his family ever celebrated the human holidays.
He shrugs. “My mom put up a tree and bought me stuff she knew I’d like. She wanted me to fit in with the human kids, but my dad … He was actually human and all he really cared about was sneaking out to get drunk and use his abilities to pick up women. Christmas was just another day to him. My mom put up with that shit for way too long when I was younger. I’m glad she filed for divorce before I left for the academy.”
It's pretty shocking, but I already knew Carter’s father was like that. I saw it once when I spelled in a dream to wake him when he was passed out cold. Carter doesn’t talk about his family much, and I can understand why.
“It’s the only day my parents behave like parents,” I admit. “They work so much, and they never give me the time of day unless it’s Christmas. Probably why I love the holidays. It’s the one time they actually make an effort.”
“Parents. Who needs them?” Carter says. “We’ve got each other. And we’ve got a growly Alpha and a sullen Beta. That’s way better than anything else.”
“It is,” I agree, without having to think about it.
My mates are my family now. They’re my everything.
