Chapter Five

Douglas

When I didn’t hear back from Animals right away, I put my name in the hat for a couple of other gigs. There was a mall Santa who needed an elf. The costume was provided, but the money wasn’t nearly as good. Still, the hours worked for me, and if I got enough of those kinds of jobs, it would make a dent in what I needed.

I was still holding out for Animals though. It would be nice to go there, see some other shifters, and not feel as alone. But also…there was something about it—the idea that I’d be accepted for me, for who I was. Shifting for part of a reindeer meant I wouldn’t be looked down on because my beast was different. I’d be exactly what they were looking for.

Then, on the day I was heading to the mall for an “audition”—whatever that meant, given my job would be to hand the kids a candy cane and shuffle them toward the photo payment counter, I got the email from Animals. They said I’d made it to the final interviews, which was weird, considering I hadn’t gone to any interviews before that. Honestly, at this point, I wasn’t worried about that kind of thing.

This wasn’t a long-term, forever job where I had to worry about whether HR knew their staff. This was a side hustle where, at best, I’d net a few gigs, nothing more. If HR was a mess, so be it. As long as I got paid, who cared.

I went back and forth on what to wear. Should I wear a Christmas sweater and look like I was really into the whole Christmas spirit thing? Or should I go with the shirt-and-tie professional look, like I would for any other job interview? Maybe I should go to the dollar store and buy a Santa hat.

In the end, I opted for jeans and a Christmas T-shirt that said, I’m not Rudolph, but I play him on TV . It was meant to be a joke—or maybe it was meant to be the bullying that it was. I’d gotten it as part of a Secret Santa gift one year, and for some reason, I kept it. I don’t know why. Or at least, I didn’t—until now. Now I knew. I was keeping it for this moment, when I reclaimed my reindeer side and refused to be ashamed any longer.

I drove to the club. It wasn’t as far as I thought it would be. Timewise, anyway. I figured, with traffic, it would take forever.

When I got there, I found a sign that said Reindeer to the right with an arrow. How weird that must have looked to any humans who wandered by. Or maybe they’d think it was just a Christmas decoration. Not that I thought there were a lot of humans at Animals.

Once upon a time, they didn’t even let humans in. They had bouncers, and you had to be selected to get in. Urban legend said humans used to get all dressed up, trying to get into this exclusive club. They always thought it had something to do with money, style, or looks. But it never did. It was about what beast roared inside them.

But that was back when Animals was just one club. Before their owner made it human-friendly after he mated one. At least, that was how the story went. Apparently, I was up to date on all the shifter gossip. That’s what happens when you have no friends—you get sucked into the drama rabbit holes.

I drove around to the right, parked the car, and got out. I listened to see if I could hear anyone, not seeing exactly where to go. The initial sign had been great, but they really needed another. I scented the air deeply, and, sure enough, there was a reindeer nearby and, from the scent of it, another had been there recently. Following the scent, I found them.

Only when I did, the reindeer wasn’t in reindeer form anymore. Instead, he had on a pair of sweats, was holding his shirt, and was being very unkind to Santa.

“I don’t know what you want from me.” He was livid or frustrated or both.

The man, fully in Santa mode, replied, “I was looking for Christmas spirit. You may leave. This job isn’t for you.”

The reindeer grabbed his shoes and marched off, brushing right past me. I’d have been worried that this might not be the place for me if it weren’t for the warm smile on Santa’s face as he waved me over with his white-glove-clad hands.

I had to give it to Animals. I’d heard they went all out for parties, but I didn’t expect to see Santa here for the interviews. And not even a half-ass Santa. This guy looked like he could be the actual Santa.

“I’m here about the reindeer gig.”

A wolf shifter I hadn’t noticed handed me a clipboard without telling me their name. “This is your paperwork.”

The man in the Santa suit gave him a glare.

“What? I was told to keep the paperwork moving,” the wolf said.

Santa closed his eyes and shook his head. He was not in the mood for whatever was happening.

“Okay.” I wasn’t sure what else to say or do, so I filled out the forms. It was easy—just the basic things they needed to pay me, and I was there for that.

“Here you go, sir.” I handed it to Santa, the wolf shifter back in the shadows. So very weird.

“You may call me Santa.”

It caught me off guard, but then again, it shouldn’t have. He’d shown up to an interview in costume.

“Okay, Santa.”

“Ho ho ho!” he laughed deeply, holding his belly.

I had to admit, he was really good in the role. His beard was perfect—not some cotton glued onto a string and held up by fake glasses like I’d seen before. His costume wasn’t from a party store; it was custom-made. He looked amazing. It wouldn’t be hard to call him Santa and forget he wasn’t real.

Now having the interview outside made even more sense. They probably wanted to see if the reindeer they picked fit well with him for pictures and such.

The wolf shifter came over to grab the clipboard. He asked to see my hand, wrote some things down, took a picture, and thanked me before heading inside.

“Is it okay that I think that was weird?” I muttered, keeping my voice low so the wolf wouldn’t hear me if he was still within earshot. Wolves had much better hearing than reindeer, that was for sure.

“Oh no, that was very weird,” Santa chimed in. “I like your shirt. Do you want to tell me about it?”

Did I? Not really. But I did anyway. I told him about Secret Santa and how this was my gift, and why they gave it to me.

“You’re Douglas.”

“Yeah.” I didn’t remember telling him, but there was so much oddness here that I’d been focused on other things and easily could’ve.

“I didn’t recognize you.”

I wasn’t sure how he could, but the next thing I knew, he was telling me to shift, and the time to ask him about it was gone.

“Show me your reindeer.”

Maybe he saw my name on the paperwork or something? In any case, it was time to strip down, so I did.

He smiled brightly. “Look at you! You’re magnificent.”

It was the first time anyone had said anything even close to that about me before.

He kept talking, but I didn’t hear it. Between getting stuck on his compliment and my reindeer getting weird, I was too distracted. Then the wind shifted slightly, and I caught the scent of mate. No—mates. I scented my mates.

The responsible thing would have been to shift back and tell Santa I needed to go. But then a little arctic wolf ran past me, followed by a snow rabbit.

I couldn’t take the time to be polite. If I lost the gig, so be it. I had to follow them.

Santa laughed in the background as I took off, chasing them. At least he wasn’t mad. I followed them as quickly as I could, not thinking through the plan past catching up to them. Suddenly, they both stopped and turned to face me.

The wolf shifted. Then the rabbit. Finally, it was my turn.

I landed on my feet as the wolf said, “This makes so much sense.”

I was glad it did to him because, right now, nothing was making sense to me—other than these two men.

They were mine.

Both of them.

But now what?