Page 40 of Knotty New Year

Almost before the door was shut, the girls started telling me all about the lodge and what they’d been up to, giving me the details on what to expect over the next few days. “So you know Nicky is the oldest”—Vanessa held up a hand, ticking her siblings off on her fingers—“then Luke, then Teddy. They’re all in their thirties, so we call them the Olds. Then there’s Lindyann and Kati; they’re twins, but Kati’s a beta and Lin’s an omega. She’s Benjamin’s mom.”

“Is Benjamin going to be here?” I asked, perking up. “I miss that little guy.”

“Yep,” Vanessa replied. “And it’s hilarious. Every time he learns a new word, he repeats it a thousand times. Did you know Nicky taught him to sayfuck?”

I choked back a laugh. I did know that. “Really?”

She nodded quickly. “We’ve been taking videos of him wandering around saying fuck and fuck it, dressed up like one of Santa’s elves. Once we upload them, he’ll go viral.”

“You willnotupload them,” the driver muttered without turning his head.

“Yes, Daddy,” Vanessa sassed. “Familyviral, not internet viral. Sheesh.”

Tori took over. “Anyway. Then there’s us; we’re twenty. Penny is the youngest. She’s sixteen and—this is going to be so weird—you know she still lives at your house, right?”

I flashed back to Dr. Margot Robbie and gritted my teeth. “Yes.”

“Cool. So once we’re all back to real life after the lodge holiday, she’s going to be living in the house with you and Nicky.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “You might want to move her into my room. It’s farther from the main suite.”

“Uh, I haven’t moved in yet,” I said, scratching at my neck as the mark burned. “I… I don’t know what Pax will want.”

The vehicle went dead silent, untilValentine’s soft question popped the quiet bubble. “You c-can’t think Nicky d-doesn’t want you t-to move in. You’re his t-true mate. Tori?”

“On it,” Tori said, texting furiously. “I’ll tell him to get his sorry ass here now.”

“It’s inexcusable, Candy. Nothing is more important than your mate,” Vanessa added.

I shrugged, as Tori held up her phone. “Girls, we’re going to need to do a fraternal head-ass-ectomy. He says, get this: ‘Can’t make tonight. Will try for tomorrow morning.’” She started typing furiously again. “I’ll try to kick his nuts up to his larynx when I see him.”

Valentine took my warm hand in her cool one. “He’d b-be here if it w-wasn’t an emergency.”

“I know. It’s a huge issue. Life or death.” I didn’t really know anything, except the amazing Dr. Murray was helping him with it. I stared out the window and did my little chin-jutting trick to keep any tears from starting up. “He’ll be here as soon as he can. And until then, I’ll get to know all of you. So tell me, what are your weird family Christmas traditions?”

Tori and Vanessa ran with the subject change, and in moments, we were laughing as the Hummer wound its way up increasingly narrow, snow-lined roads to an enormous wood and stone fortress of a ski lodge.Valentine held my hand the whole way, even after we got out of the Hummer, and I loved her for it more than a little.

We climbed the steps hand in hand and entered the lodge, stopping to take it in while her sisters raced off to their rooms. Apparently, the others were busy somewhere else in the lodge, or running late coming in from the crowded slopes. A valet came and whisked my luggage away to a room down one long hall. In seconds, it was only us and Valentine’s bodyguard, who lurked in a corner.

The main room had thirty-foot vaulted ceilings, with hand-painted gold-leaf pine cones on the raw wood. The furniture was all oversized, as if we’d walked into a giant’s home. A roaring fire crackled on one side of the room, and the scent of burning piñon wood, like honey and smoke, perfumed the place.

As Valentine helped me out of my coat, then hung it along with my giant purse on a coat rack made out of antlers, I took in the art.Oversized paintings and photographs of the family members covered the walls alongside masterpieces by famous American artists, with a few children’s scribbled crayon drawings framed and displayed right alongside them. I found myself smiling, even though my heart still ached.

“Nap or f-food?” Valentine asked. “I can m-make you something. I’m not a g-great c-cook, though.” From the corner of my eye, I saw her bodyguard’s face soften slightly.

“I’m starved,” I told her. My stomach growled as loud as an alpha, and she giggled.“Where’s everyone else?” I asked as we moved toward a door that I assumed led to the kitchen. “Is there a big meet-up?”

“At d-dinner.” She pushed the door open, and a waft of rosemary and garlic-scented air rushed out. “We’d planned for you and N-Nicky...”

I tried to joke. “Wow, smell that. The heck with Pax, I’ll marry whoever’s cooking.”

A man’s voice answered from inside the room. “Then it’s my lucky day. Nicky will probably try to kill me, but it’ll be worth it. My god, you’re stunning, new little sister.”

I spun around, taking in the Pax lookalike who was wearing jeans, a thermal shirt, and an apron that saidLuke, I am your Daddybut inexplicably had a picture of Henry Cavill dressed as a Jedi knight on it.

“Are you Luke or Teddy?” I asked, as he held out a hand for me to shake, then dropped a kiss on the top of mine instead. I blushed as he looked up at me, batting his eyelashes. His face was narrower than Pax’s, and his shoulders less broad. From his subdued scent, he was definitely a beta. But he was still easily in the top ten most handsome men I’d ever met, and it made me slightly tongue-tied.

He grinned up at me with nothing but friendliness in his gaze. And mischief. “Luke. Teddy’s a little younger than me, but far less attractive. Try not to let him know you think that, though. He’s a very delicate flower.”

“I’ll delicate flower your ass,” a loud voice shouted from the doorway. A man who looked like the lumberjack version of my mate came clomping in the door, carrying a huge stack of firewood on one shoulder. “You left me to carry it all in myself, you lazy a—aaahhh, you must be the lovely Candy.” The lumberjack stopped mid-curse and nodded, a slight blush covering the tops of his cheeks. “I’m Teddy.”

---