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Storm, Fox, and I walked over to the pile and began putting together the trees first. There was a black one, a vibrant green one, tall, thin ones, and even one that bent over at the top reminding me of The Grinch—who Bishop was currently representing well. There were so many, I wasn’t sure if we would get them all up and decorated before the Midnight opened in just a few hours.
Bishop put together a silver tree, squatty and thick at the bottom, grumbling the entire time. While I shook my head at him, he turned. “What?”
“Do you hate Christmas or something?” I asked, bluntly. If he did, that was fine. We all had our quirks, our likes and dislikes.
“I don’t hate it.”
While I opened up the bent and scrunched branches of the pink tree I was working on, I answered, “But you don’t particularly like it.”
“I haven’t had a lot of good ones. Let’s put it that way. Christmas for my parents was another day. They spent the morning tapping their knees and checking their phones—so desperate to get back to work. We kids couldn’t unwrap our presents fast enough for them. It was something in their way of getting back to what they did best—work and avoid us.”
“But they always provided for you,” I responded, leaving the pink tree for a few seconds. My mate seemed to need me.
“In money, yes. In time and effort, no. We never baked Christmas cookies together or did any of this. The housekeepers decorated, and our nanny baked with us. That was it.”
“Then we’ll have to make some new memories of our own. Besides, if you wanted to bake cookies, all you had to do was ask.”
Bishop was hard on the outside but inside, he was a teddy bear who needed a cuddle once in a while, and by once in a while, I meant all the time. He chuckled. “We could do that.”
I kissed him on the cheek. “Sounds good. We’ll make this Christmas the first good one. As mates. Our first family Christmas.”
He slapped my behind when I walked away. “It already is, mate.”
I didn’t have a shift that night so, when we finished decorating, we walked home together. It had only been a month or so since we had the shadow of Dean hanging over our heads. So, we walked, Bishop was in front of me while Fox held my hand and Storm hung behind, protecting my flank. One day we wouldn’t be so cautious—maybe. My mates would always be protective to a degree but not like this, at least, I hoped not. I wanted us all to have a life free of enemies. That was the whole point of ending Dean, to stop looking over our shoulders, living in fear that every day was our last.
“I need pie,” I blurted, seeing the lights from the coffeehouse ahead.
Fox chuckled. “They might have eggnog already.”
I stopped in my tracks. “You mean the drink or the yummy pie?”
“Probably both, V. They also have a gingerbread cream pie. Only for the holidays, of course.”
I put my hand to my chest. “Betsy never told me.”
Storm cracked up. “How dare she. Let’s go straighten her out.”
Chapter Three
Raven
I should have insisted on staying at home.
When my parents disowned me, I’d been almost relieved to walk away, stuffing the heartbreak of rejection behind the ability to quit trying to meet their expectations. I’d never managed that anyway, and constant failure wore on me. They’d had plans for my future, I had always suspected, and while they might have welcomed Asher with open arms, adding in a non-wolf brought out all their prejudice—not that they would admit it directly. Asher was a wolf from a prominent family, and although we’d not heard anything negative, I was beyond nervous about our trip.
The wintery landscape did little to soothe my soul, but my mates were smiling and chatting as we drove along, apparently much more at ease with the idea of spending the winter break at the castle that his family called home. Asher had reassured me over and over that his moms were excited to have us come to stay, and that they’d want to spoil us all during our stay. They’d already been hinting about grandchildren.
“Did you point out that we are still in school?” I’d sniped. “And don’t need that kind of pressure?”
But he only laughed me off and said they meant well. He knew them better than I did, for sure. Growing up, our packs often got together for various occasions, but I hadn’t had much contact with the grown-ups in those days. Special runs and entertainments were always set up for the kids. And usually girls and boys were informally segregated, so I hadn’t even known Asher well until I started at the academy.
“You doing okay, Raven?” Onyx looked over the front seat to where I huddled in the back. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”
“Fine. Just trying not to do backflips with excitement.”
Asher’s laugh warmed me even through my nerves and irritation. “Not enough room back there. Besides, I don’t think anyone does backflips on the way to a pack party. The moms are pretty liberal for their circle, but I’m sure it’s frowned upon to be so…flexible.”
Onyx shook her head. “I don’t know, you guys. I’m not used to such fancy company. I will probably have to hang around in the kitchen or something.”
