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"Leave you? On your Christmas? How could you think such a thing? You know I’llneverleave you, sweetheart. At your Christmas or any other time. I just needed to get away for a little while."
"Away from me…"
"No.Neverfrom you. Not on your Christmas.”
“You know it’s not just my Christmas, right?”
“I had a surprise for you,” he said, ignoring him. “I had to go see about it.” Davos kissed him again, teasing his lips with tiny flicks of his tongue.
“A surprise?”
“Yes, a Christmas surprise—and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.” Blake nodded, nestling in the warmth of Davos’s embrace and wondering why he had ever been upset at all.
"Of course, I will. I’ll love anything you got me.”
“Let’s go see if you do.”
He stood up and pulled Blake to his feet beside him. “Go put on your robe. I left your surprise in the main hall—which looks very festive, by the way.”
“Does it? I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Yes, Mikos told me about what happened. We’re going to talk about that later.”
“Mikos has a big mouth. Always has, even as a child.”
“Uh huh. We’ll discuss it later, but for now, come see what I brought you.”
Blake slipped on his robe, and Davos took his hand. From the sounds of voices and laughter coming down the hall as they got closer, it sounded like a large group had gathered inside. The tree was standing in the corner, strung with the lights and the decorative balls Blake had ordered, and now that it was decorated, it really didn’t look all that bad. The entire room looked good, in fact, with decorations and lights strung up everywhere and not just on the tree. It looked like a magical wonderland—if you squinted your eyes a little.
But it was the ones who were standing beside the tree, laughing as Rakkur tried to attach a silver star to the top, that seized and held Blake’s full attention.
“Larz! Janos!”
“And me too!” came Anarr’s voice. He popped up from under the tree where he was rearranging the presents and ran over to hug Blake. His big Lycan mate Reynard was smiling indulgently at him from a chair near the fireplace. He gave Blake a little salute, because he always “joked” that Blake was like a general marshalling his troops. But today, it didn’t even make Blake mad—not too much anyway.
“Don’t forget me!” Mikol said, from the chair beside Ryan. His handsome mate Kalen was there too, smiling and blowing Blake a kiss.
They all came over to him and Blake tried to wrap his arms around them all at the same time. They surrounded him, giving hugs and pats in return. “I’d given up on you all coming!”
Anarr kissed Blake’s cheek. “I started thinking about it, and I told Reynard I didn’t feel right in letting you down. You’ve always shown up for us, so I couldn’t just not come. We decided to surprise you.”
“Us too. Grandfather sent us a message to come and surprise you and we both loved that idea,” Mikol said.
“We had decided not to come, honestly,” Larz said, “but then Father arrived, and he convinced us it was time to come home.” He squeezed Blake tightly as he gasped. “Not forever, omak, but for a good visit anyway. I’m hoping that Mikos and I can have a talk and straighten things out between us. I’ve missed all of you so much.”
“Oh darling, we’ve missed you too.” He turned to Janos and took his hands in his to squeeze them warmly. “Thank you for giving us another chance, Janos.”
“It’s mostly due to King Davos. He was very persuasive.”
Blake whirled around in surprise. “You really did this?”
“I decided it was long past time to put all of it in the past where it belongs. I’ve apologized to both Larz and Janos and asked them to come back with me. I value them both more than my anger and my ego and the need to be right. Our boy needs to truly come home at last. I called Vannos and Stefan too and convinced them they needed to be here as well. It’s time they talked to Tilar in person and besides, they need to come home and celebrate your Christmas. They’ll be here soon.”
Blake almost flew across the room and into Davos’s arms. “I just love you so much," he whispered into his ear.
"Not half as much as I love you." He leaned down for another kiss. With his arm still slung around Blake, he turned back to face the boys. “I’m so glad to have all of you here. I think the cook is still preparing first meal so we can eat and then open our gifts by the fire, like your omak wants to do. But I have something I need to talk to him about first. We’ll be back soon.”
“Not too soon, I’ll bet,” Rakkur said, not nearly as softly as he thought he had.
