Chapter 15

CHAPTER15

It was the meowing that woke him in the early hours of the morning. Since he didn’t need sleep, he tended to wake easily. The low throaty cat cries would have woken anyone though.

He sat up confused, trying to figure where the sound was coming from. Aline was breathing softly, so it wasn’t her.

But he didn’t have a cat, or any pet at all. It certainly wasn’t possible for there to be an animal in his realm without his knowledge. Only other supernatural creatures could…

“Fuck.” He frowned, listening. There was the meow again and now there was a door on the other side of the room. A regular, ordinary front door, like any house would have.

Except his didn’t. Doors appeared when they were needed, and he never needed one. A back door to go outside, sure, but front doors implied company, guests, and visitors—none of which he was particularly keen on.

There was a scratching sound. Like a housecat wanting to come in. If the housecat was the size of an elephant.

“Aline, wake up.” He nudged her.

She grumbled and pulled tighter into a ball.

He slapped her ass hard. “Wake up!” It was the nuclear option, but necessary. They didn’t have much time.

It startled her out of sleep, and she sat up with wide eyes. “What! What’s wrong?”

He shoved a garish Christmas sweater into her hands. “Put this on quick,” he demanded.

She looked down at the brightly colored garment with confusion. The green and red yarn clashed gloriously, but it wasn’t until she unfolded it that she saw the tacky Christmas tree with little plastic baubles sewn onto the front. There was even silver trim for tinsel and lights that lit up.

“I don’t… understand.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to put this on immediately. Do you really want to be punished right now?” He used his sternest Dom voice and added a little bit of a snarl to the order.

“Okay, okay.” She sighed and started to pull the sweater over her head. It became complicated when one of the decorative balls tangled in her hair. She ended up stuck with the sweater half on and covering her face.

There was another meow, loud enough that the room seemed to shake. And a heavy rending sound from the door. He was pretty sure there would be deep claw marks right down the front of it.

“What was that?” she demanded in a muffled voice, from inside the sweater.

He leaned over and helped her untangle the plastic ball from her hair, and then jerked the sweater down into place. “Yule Cat.”

She stared, eyebrows rising. “What…”

There was a new sound outside, an inquisitive “Mrowlllll?”

“She has her damn Christmas clothes on. Now, fuck off or I’ll have you neutered, you furry bastard!”

There was absolute silence. And then there was a loud rumbling purr that slowly quieted as the cat moved away. The door remained for a minute longer and then it vanished too.

Aline looked at him, and then looked down at the ugly sweater. The plastic lights had started to blink. “Um…”

Master flopped back on the carpet with a groan. “You just survived a visit from the Yule Cat. He eats people who don’t get new clothes for Christmas. You’re welcome.”

“Why?”

“It’s from an old tradition where hard workers were rewarded with clothes at Christmas. So if you didn’t get new clothes, it meant you were lazy. The punishment for being lazy was to be eaten by a giant cat.”

“What does a cat have to do with people being lazy? Cats literally sleep twenty hours a day.”

“Don’t ask me. Humans create these things with their belief, and before you know it another supernatural weirdo has entered the world.”

“That—okay, yeah. That sort of makes sense. But, um, why… this?” She gestured at the tacky sweater.

He grinned. “I had to improvise, and I was half asleep. Besides, it’s going to look cute on you.”

“This wouldn’t look cute on anyone.”

He grabbed her by the Christmas balls and dragged her down with him. “It will when I shred it.”

That made her laugh as she sprawled across his chest. The sweater did end up shredded, when he took her again, but it wasn’t the only thing that got destroyed in the enthusiastic second round.