Page 13 of The Omega's Beary Merry Christmas

“Her father—my husband—was killed right before Christmas, the year she was four. We were supposed to go to the beach that summer and spend time together as a family, but…” I turned off the water and dried my hands, turning to face him. “Being a single dad is difficult, especially financially. Fine, maybe not especially, but including financially, and when the beach trip was on her Christmas list to Santa, I was heartbroken.” I told him about the app and all the bad luck I had with it. “So this swap—it wasn’t supposed to be here. It was supposed to be to the beach. But there were no swaps available, and here we are.”

“Well, this is very much not a beach,” Bert said sweetly. “But I’m sure we can make some Christmas magic happen.”

It didn’t go unnoticed that he said we, and I held on to that far more than I should have as we continued talking about Mark, my life since, a little about his life and brother, and a whole lot about the weather outside.

What I thought would be a small snow shower over the week was turning into a full-on blizzard. If I had to be snowed in somewhere, here felt like the right place to be.

Chapter Eight

Bert

“Where are you going?” Conrad asked as I put my boots on near the front door. I’d checked to make sure there were logs on the fire, and the temperature was damned near stifling to me but probably perfect for humans.

We’d had a long talk that night about his life and what happened to his mate—his husband. Now I knew why he was here on the holidays without him. My heart broke for the deep sadness. apparent in his tone and the words he used to describe his mate, Natalie’s father. Gods, he was alone in this world, alone with a child. No wonder he had circles under his eyes and a wistfulness about the way he spoke. He must’ve been as lonely as I was.

But at least he had his sweet girl with him.

She had been lovely at dinner. While she had some sass about her, she also had good manners and said please and thank you more times over the meal than my brother had in his life. He could take a few pages out of her book.

My worries about having my mate here, while he was with someone else, had been erased by his story, though I wished he was single for another reason.

Still, perhaps there was hope after all.

He could stay here with me. They both could.

“I thought you’d gone to bed,” I whispered, not sure if my volume would wake Natalie. She’d zonked right out in front of the fire after reading a chapter from a book with her father.

“I heard you moving around the house. Is everything okay?”

He’d heard me up, which meant he was still awake. I wondered what kept him up at night. Whatever it was, I wantedto chase it away. Let the man rest. He deserved it after all he’d been through.

I nodded. “I’m sorry I woke you. I’m going to try and fix that heater. I’m worried the pipes will freeze.”

“Don’t you sleep?” He chuckled. His hair was tousled and he wore plaid pajamas right out of a Christmas card. Red and green and beautiful all over.

Me? Sleep? Under the same roof as my omega? With him in the next room? Not a chance. There were all kinds of sounds whipping around us, and my bear was aware of every one. He had an omega and a cub to protect now. He was on high alert. Wouldn’t even let me sleep.

“Um, not really.” I rubbed the back of my head. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, okay. Don’t forget your jacket.”

Right. A jacket. Because he didn’t know that I was a furnace underneath this human exterior.

I fought my bear while walking away from Conrad and my cabin, but I had things to do. With the heater out and no fire to heat up the cabin, I didn’t want Rudy to come back to frozen pipes and a potentially flooded house.

I loved my brother, but he was one houseguest I didn’t want. He and I got along at a distance. A close distance but a distance nonetheless. It was natural for bears. Other than our mates, we didn’t want a lot of people around.

Exactly why we appreciated this place.

There was also the alternative. I could get to know Conrad, and things could be going great, but there was a chance he would not accept my bear. A big chance.

Who could blame him? Finding out a person who could potentially be in your life—your partner—turned into a grizzly bear at will? Might be a bit jarring for a human. Or anyone.

I picked up my phone and put in a call to Rudy. He would be up, like me. His bear would be restless among the humans. As was mine.

“Trouble with the human already?” he answered. “Did you turn beast and scare them off?”

“Not with the human but with your cabin. You left the human with a heater that doesn’t work and a broken water heater as well. What were you thinking? This whole idea was hairbrained at best, but this?”

---