Chapter Seventeen

Sage

Our house.

It still didn’t seem real. Cas and I never suspected our honeymoon would end up with us quitting our jobs and moving to San Diego in less than two weeks.

Douglas had already started the process of putting our names on the deed as joint tenants. Paperwork in California was slow, especially around the holidays, so it would take some time to be finalized, but essentially, Cas and I were new owners of a real house.

A quick toast of champagne to celebrate, and then we set to work.

Cas and I both had money saved, but Douglas refused what we offered. We agreed the three of us would split the bills and the mortgage. Then Cas and I put some of the extra we had toward repairs.

Douglas had taken the job as Santa’s reindeer to pay for rewiring the house. But we got the electrician early, and Cas and I paid for him to do the job right away.

Douglas was surprised when the electrician showed up. “You guys didn’t have to do that. I had it covered.”

“We wanted to. And we’re chipping in for everything else,” Cas insisted.

Douglas turned away as he swiped at his eyes.

I moved up to him and put my arm around his shoulders. “Merry Christmas. You’re our dream come true. Get used to it.”

We worked nonstop for a week. Cas and I still had vacation pay coming and had agreed to not start looking for jobs until the new year. We’d be okay paying the bills for a while, as well as fixer-upper and furniture expenses, which gave us time to make the cute house a home.

Douglas wanted a sectional couch.

Cas decided to line the office space with fresh white desks and shelves. He bought three matching desk chairs, leaving the middle of the room open so we could all work in there, when necessary, without bumping into each other.

I did the window treatments in purple, black, and white and bought matching throw blankets for the couch, along with a couple Christmas fleece lap-warmers.

We bought gravel and flower beds for the front yard.

We spent a day planting trees in the back.

And because we shared expenses, we had enough to splurge on a couple of light trees and a herd of three light-up deer in honor of our reindeer omega. Plus, more house lights.

We each put our mark on the place. Our reindeer’s nest was now our nest.

The project had a lot more to be done, and we’d still be working on it for months, but, for now, we got some major stuff finished just before Christmas.

It looked festive and fantastic.

“Hey.” Douglas stood in the middle of the living room scratching his head.

“What is it?” I was in the open-design kitchen cleaning up our dinner dishes.

“There are presents under the little tree. How’d that happen?”

I shrugged, opening my eyes wide in my best innocent-boy act.

Cas came in from the hall. “What? Presents?”

“Look.” Douglas pointed. “There’s a bunch. They weren’t there this afternoon.”

“Hmm.” Cas grinned at me. “I wonder what might happen if we also hung stockings. Would we get more junk?”

“Junk?” I protested. “Santa doesn’t deliver junk.”

“We already have our Christmas present. Us. And this house. We’re a family now,” Cas said.

Cas went to Douglas and embraced him.

I couldn’t resist. I came out from behind the counter and joined in a three-way hug.

The bond between us flared to life. It felt like sparks lit up my mind, each one an emotional response from my bondmates. It was like being bombarded with mental touches of affection, along with a sense of wonder, as if I sailed through a beautiful starry night that had no end.

For all our hard work, we designated tonight a movie night, complete with pizza and popcorn, and stayed in to relax and admire our results, our tree and all our new stuff.

Christmas had been good to us, and it wasn’t December twenty-fifth yet. I even still had money in the bank. A win-win.

But I wouldn’t have cared about any of it more than being with my mates. I could live with them anywhere, penniless, in a tent, camper, or the snowy woods, as long as they were by my side.

I lay back on the couch as a Christmas movie played on the flat screen, hearing and seeing nothing. I couldn’t remember if we were watching The Grinch or Elf .

“Hey, little wabbit.”

I looked up at Cas, who sat holding a sleepy Douglas in his lap. “What?”

“You’re not paying attention to the movie. What’s on your mind?”

“It’s all just so wonderful. This.” I spread my hands, palms up. “And it happened so fast.”

Cas nodded. “It did.”

“I’m still struggling to wrap my mind around our new reality.” Much to my amazement, I burst into tears.

Cas, with Douglas in his arms, leaned toward me. “Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry. We’ve been making our way toward this moment for over a decade.”

I nodded, tears warming my cheeks.

“We’re good people,” he continued. “We deserve this.” Cas took one arm away from Douglas and opened it toward me. “Come here.”

I nuzzled into his embrace, pressing my face to his shoulder.

“If you keep crying, I’ll cry, too,” said a voice on the other side of my alpha wolf.

“Sorry, Douglas. I’ll stop now.”

“We’re all tired and too happy to contain ourselves. Go ahead and cry, you two,” Cas said. “As much as you want.”

Douglas and I both lifted our heads and looked at him. “You sound like you want us to cry,” I said.

“Well, they are happy tears, right?” Cas asked.

“Ridiculous.” I pouted. “I’m a grown man. I’m done now.”

“It’s hormones,” Douglas said. “We’re all so deep in love, it changes our body chemistry. Our minds and bodies are playing catch-up with each other. It’s not your fault, Sage. But if you keep tearing up, I’m going to join in like a little baby.”

“I think it’s time you two were put to bed,” Cas said.

“Yeah?” I asked. “Will you undress us, too, and tuck us in?”

Cas kissed me on the temple then Douglas. “Whatever you want, my loves. Whatever you want.”