4. Jasper

4

Jasper

E verything was not fine.

* What was all that about last night?* he demanded the moment he sensed Caine in telepathic range. He assumed the hellhound was leading one of the dogsled tours around the valley, if he was that close. In human form, of course; they had actual dogs to pull the sleds. Ones that didn’t leak sulfur-scented smoke into the air.

* What was what about?* Caine asked with a psychic laugh.

*You jumping in and taking over the fireworks!*

*Thought you said you wanted help?*

*I wanted…* Jasper groaned. * Yes, help, but…*

He couldn’t put it into words. Why couldn’t he put it into words? It was obvious. He wanted to make this Christmas the best Christmas ever, to show his mate and his family that—that—

That his mate would never have to make that expression he’d caught in her fleeting glances ever again. The one that she’d worn so often when they first met: small and still and worried. Like she was expecting the world to throw bad things at her.

It had appeared again this Christmas, just as things were starting to ramp up. And when he focused on the shining mate bond that connected his soul to hers, it shivered with unease.

He needed to fix this for her. To give her the perfect holiday season she deserved.

* Anyway, Sheena did most of the stealing. You know how her inner hellsheep has more crazy in it than she knows how to deal with. Some controlled explosions were the perfect outlet for all that energy, with Fleance to tease it if it got too distracted. They make a great team.*

Caine’s telepathic voice was overlaid with a shy sense of pride. Jasper knew he still found it strange, being the alpha of a hellhound pack. But he and Meaghan had taken on their responsibilities with that same sense of pride and determination to do right by the others who were bonded to them by pack status. Even if Fleance and Sheena were on their way to making their own pack.

* I guess what I’m saying is, thanks for the opportunity. I owe you one.*

Jasper blinked. * You’re thanking me?*

*Sure. We all had a great time. I think I even saw Hardwick smile. Don’t tell him I said so, though.*

*And you owe me one?* Jasper thought fast. * Good, because I have another idea…*

The week raced past. There were the ordinary life things that still had to be done: work, groceries, helping Ruby with her latest madcap schemes, bailing Ruby out of her latest madcap schemes.

Then there were the ordinary Christmas things: helping his friends and family hide their Christmas present shopping from one another through a complicated system of having parcels mailed to each other’s houses and picking them up without anyone noticing—always difficult in a small town, more difficult when half the people you knew were psychic and your daughter thought the best part of a surprise was telling everyone about it as soon as possible. Finishing decorating the house, an activity that actually never finished, because every time he stepped out the door, he stepped back inside with a new ornament or idea for a Christmas craft they could make together.

Which was where he’d gotten his latest idea. A way to bring even more Christmas to the entire town.

His dragon nosed at him with a huff of sparks. He frowned. Yes, of course, this was a good idea. How could it be a bad one?

“You want to what ?” Hardwick crossed his arms.

Jasper wasn’t even entirely sure why he was having this conversation with Hardwick. “A Christmas tree decorating competition. We’ve done them before.”

“Yes. You’ve done ones where people send in photos of the trees in their own houses. One year, you did one where people competed in teams to decorate pre-selected trees in the Christmas village.”

“This is basically the same as that!”

“Except instead of one tree per team, it’s—”

“All the trees in and around town, yes.”

Hardwick stared at him. Jasper stared back. Their inner animals stared at each other, too. Admittedly, Jasper’s inner dragon had also been slightly hesitant when he first came up with this idea, but the thought of exactly how sparkly and shiny the town would become had won it over.

Hardwick’s griffin did not appear to be being won over.

Hardwick dropped his head into his hands, groaning something that sounded like ‘health and safety’.

Out loud, he grumbled, “And you want to plan this when, exactly?”

“I’ve planned it all already—”

“Of course you have.” Hardwick raised his head. His eyes narrowed as he cast a strange look at Jasper. “Have you and Abigail actually talked about—”

“Talked about what?” Abigail’s cheeks were pink as she came in, and Jasper had a sudden, wonderful memory of the last time he’d made her cheeks go that color. Surely not that long? “Hi, Hardwick!”

“Hi, Abigail. How’d your shopping trip go?”

“In the interests of answering that without lying, I’m going to say it was almost all great.” Abigail had gone to the next town over—one that was more of a city—to stock up. She flashed Jasper a grin, and he pulled her close for a kiss. “What are you two up to?”

“Planning,” Hardwick said flatly.

Abigail stiffened in his arms. “Planning what?”

She sounded as upbeat as before, but Jasper couldn’t ignore the way she’d gone tense when Hardwick let the cat out of the bag. Not that he’d let the whole cat out. Barely a whisker.

“Something incredible,” he reassured her.

Hardwick made a disbelieving noise.

“Is this what you were up all last night doing?” Abigail asked.

“You caught me.”

She sighed and leaned against him. He kept his arms around her, and his dragon imagined wrapping its wings around them both.

“Well, if you didn’t sleep all night and you’re still looking happy about whatever you have planned… it must be a good thing, right?”

There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Jasper and his dragon both froze up.

“It’s going to be a real party,” Hardwick interjected. “Don’t worry. We’ll make it happen.” He checked his watch. “Delphine dropped you off?”

Abigail nodded.

“Then I have just about enough time to grab us dinner and head home while she hides my present.” He grinned. “I’ll let the others know about the tree decorating plan. Catch you later.”

Jasper fought not to let his jaw hang open as Hardwick let himself out. His dragon curled its tail in distress. The Christmas-tree-decorating-town-takeover was his idea. If he didn’t carry it out, then it wouldn’t be him making Christmas the best Christmas ever. It wouldn’t be…

He swallowed hard, again unable to put into words what was clear in his heart. Abigail looked up at him, a crease between her eyebrows.

“Jasper?”

“My love?”

“I was wondering—” She bit her lip. “Never mind. Tell me about the plan! Or is it a surprise?”

It turned out to be a surprise—for Jasper.

The next morning, they headed out early, but not early enough. By the time they reached the Christmas village in the square, Delphine, Olly, Jackson and Hardwick must have been up for hours.

“Have I got this right?” Abigail murmured to him as Ruby ran ahead to be the first to tackle-hug everyone. “It’s a tree decorating competition, but it lasts the whole week, and the challenge is to decorate literally every pine tree they can reach? ”

“Well, if you say it like that, it sounds unhinged,” he joked.

She raised both eyebrows. “Does it?”

“Hardwick thought so.” He forced his shoulders not to drop as, inside, his dragon flopped bereft to the ground. “I expect he’s managed to turn it into something far more sensible and well-hinged. I’m surprised he took it over, to be honest. I know I asked the guys to help this Christmas—”

“You asked them to help?”

“But—well—there’s helping and there’s taking over, you know?”

Abigail’s mouth moved silently. “Um—maybe I should tell you…”

“There they are!” Meaghan waved them over.

“I’ll tell you later,” Abigail said quickly, sounding kind of… relieved? “Let’s go find out how much they shrunk your original plan.” She squeezed his hand, as though she knew he needed comforting about that.

Of course she knew. She was his mate.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Ruby cried out as they got closer. “We’re going to decorate EVERY TREE IN THE WHOLE VALLEY!”

Jasper stopped. “Every tree?”

“Every tree!”

Hardwick cleared his throat. “Within a specified perimeter that excludes any area further than twenty feet from an accessible roadway or marked trail,” he growled. “Other than that… every tree.”

Next to him, Delphine clapped her hands. “And each competing team gets a different theme!”