Chapter 13

Thirteen

Joshua and Johnny leave after they've cleaned up the kitchen, even though I know neither of them have to work. They don't give me the chance to ask where they're going.

A pair of searing kisses later, they're out the door and in Josh's truck, headed up my drive.

I watch them go until they disappear, and when I turn back, Thomas and Chase have set up a reading station at the kitchen table for me. A warm cup of tea waiting beside the book I'd left off on last night, open to the correct page.

They both sit on the other side of the table and pick up books of their own.

I take a moment to wonder what my mother would say if she saw two werewolves reading the family tomes… and then I dig in, losing myself in the research once again.

"Let's take a walk," Thomas says, making me glance at the clock. It's just after noon, and Chase has set a sandwich down beside me.

"Or we could go to the beach? The chill would definitely help clear your mind." Thomas says, taking a bite of his own sandwich. "You know, to get you out of the house, get your mind off Aphrodite so you can come back to it with a better focus in an hour or two?"

"We can take a walk. I don't think I want to be gone long enough to go all the way to the beach." It would be nearly a half an hour, each way and I'd want to take a shower once I got back…

A walk would be infinitely better.

As soon as I'm done with my sandwich and the mulled punch Chase provided along with it, he whisks the plate and glass away. "You two have fun. I've got to run an errand."

I don't ask what the errand is.

If I knew anything about Christmas going into this, it's that people who celebrate it are needlessly secretive leading up to the holiday. I don't want to make him lie to me if this is one of those things.

Thomas helps me into my coat and laces up my boots for me before leading the way out into the forest behind the house.

He gets his coat on when we descend the steps and takes my hand.

The wolves come with us, close, but not crowding this time.

"You might check out while you're researching, but you definitely aren't quiet. I've never heard a woman sigh so much in my life."

"Can't help it." I shrug as I lean into him. "I'm frustrated."

"More than you were yesterday?"

"I don't know. It feels like we're running out of time." I take a deep breath of the crisp air. "Distract me. Tell me which Christmas traditions you each kept or brought to the pack when you found each other."

The woods close in tighter around us and he takes the forked path that leads toward Conner's farm. It circles back, so there's no chance we'll get lost.

"It's not really a tradition, but we usually go out to the Coastal Gardens for the lights, and burn our tongues on their super hot cider. We try to go when it's raining so there are fewer people."

"Sounds like fun."

"Chase's mom still sends him gingerbread cookies. He'll bring them over as soon as they're delivered… if the mailman doesn't eat them. She only sends trees and little houses, sometimes bells. Not men. He asked her to stop making him eat people when he was six or so and I will never stop teasing him about how fate tried to make him eat the real thing."

"Rude," I say, but I don't mean it and he chuckles.

"Die Hard is always watched on Christmas Eve."

"Should we go back and set the living room up for a movie night?"

"In a little bit." He swings me around, twirling me in his arms. "I like the Yule traditions you've shared with us. They're interesting."

"Mmhmm. Perhaps next year, if things aren't as… eventful as this year has been, we can make a master list and do all of the things."

Then again, next year will have a few more traditions that will need to be added to the list.

"Fair warning, Joshua may kick Johnny out of the kitchen on Christmas morning and we may all be treated to reindeer pancakes."

"As long as they don't actually have reindeer in them."

"Don't mention that to him… he might find it somewhere to torture the rest of us." He snuggles me close. "You, of course, would be spared."

"He likes me best."

"We all do."