Page 5 of The Omega's Beary Merry Christmas

“Because you always want to go.”

That seemed to satisfy her. Thank the gods.

“It’s okay if we don’t, Daddy.” But, for the first time since she got home, the sparkle of pure joy in her eyes was gone.

“Well, I’m glad you are understanding about that because we can’t—not this year. But we can still go away, if you want. There’s a house in the mountains.” I opened the app and showed her the picture. “We could go here for Christmas.”

“Are there bears?”

“Oh, you’ll be safe. If there are any bears, they won’t hurt you.” I hadn’t considered wildlife being a factor in her decision, and I had no idea what was or wasn’t local to the mountains in question.

“I hope there are bears! I want to dance with one!”

That was so not where I’d thought this was going.

“Probably not the wisest idea. Bears aren’t really safe dance partners.”

Her face turned suddenly serious. “The fairies would dance with us too. They would protect me.” She had it all planned out.

I made a mental note not to let her wander too far from the cabin if she wanted us to go, which it sounded like she did.

“So, what do you think? Should we go?”

“Yes!” She jumped up and ran to her room, talking about what to bring. I agreed to the swap.

The next morning, we packed the car with our cooler filled with food, our suitcases, and a few bags of shelf-stable groceries. We were on our way before the sun woke up. It was a ten-hour drive, and we managed to get there just before dinnertime.

The cabin wasn’t as rustic as it had looked in the pictures. There was nothing fancy about it, but we didn’t need fancy. The mountain itself was gorgeous, the drive up not too steep for my poor old car. And, best of all, Natalie was excited. So what if it wasn’t the beach? We were going to have a wonderful Christmas—minus the bear dancing.

Chapter Four

Bert

My brother owed me. Big-time. While he was on his way to a staycation, if that was the right term for being in someone else’s home, I was stuck here, watching over the human he’d swapped houses with.

Who swapped houses anyway? I mean, I’d heard of vacations and renting other people’s homes during vacations but switching houses?

I finished my morning chores, grumbling the whole time about Rudy and his silly plans. Christmas wasn’t a fun time for me. Not because I didn’t get the whole spirit of things but because I was alone, yet again. There was no point in getting a tree or stringing up lights. The only Christmas cookies I partook in were from the bakery in town.

I wasn’t a bear who baked cookies to share with my brother.

Fate hadn’t smiled on me yet in the mate department. Of course, I was lonely but I tried not to let it fester. My mate, I was sure, would show up exactly at the right time and probably when I least expected it.

My bear had zero patience for Fate. Zero. And, this morning, he had none for me either.

He wanted to break free from my human side and run, run until his paws wore out and his anger and frustrations were long gone, but we couldn’t right now. It was hunting season and there was almost surely a human on the way.

We had enough trouble with the humans with guns who lived around here, but now we’d invited one onto our land and into one of our homes.

Perfect, Brother, perfect.

Groaning, I stomped to the window and moved the curtains back to see a car coming up the driveway. The vehicle was small and coughed as it climbed, not suitable for the country life.

For fuck’s sakes, the thing was slinging rocks everywhere.

No more time to groan about a human being on their way to our home—our safe zone. A human wasn’t on the way. He was here.

Shit. Time to put on the fake grin and bear through this.

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