Page 9 of Our Accidental Christmas Mating

“When we have sex.”

His eyes widened. “I’ve never… I… There was no one I wanted to be with in that way. I kissed a man once, but I was sick for days after.”

My wolf preened. My mate knew who his mate was. Distance and time did nothing to sever or dull the bond we felt. The only thing it had done was cause us pain.

We were together now, though, and there would be no separating us.

My parents, and my pack, would accept Christopher as mine. Fated mates were sacred to wolves.

“When we have sex, it will solidify our bond. If that is what you want. I am not trying to pressure you. We’ll be one in well… more ways than one.”

I looked to where my mate lay next to me. I expected some retort to my statement or maybe more questions, but he had closed his eyes. Sleep had overtaken him. I pressed a kiss to his cheek. When he woke there would be more to talk about, but until then, I would hold him close and cherish every moment.

“Sleep well, Christopher. Omega mine.”

Chapter Seven

Christopher

CominghomeforChristmashad been something I dreaded. I wanted to be anywhere but this town, where my heart was most vulnerable. And yet, here it was, exactly where I needed to be. I still didn’t have my head wrapped around the whole man-I-have-always-loved-is-a-wolf-sometimes thing, but I understood the important parts. He’d never rejected me and this connection I felt was real. The obsession I had with him was because we were fated to be together always. It wasn’t weird, it wasn’t wrong, and it was completely normal…. for shifters. That was going to be enough. At least for now.

We walked to my house with a plate of cookies from Nicholas’ mom in hand. I wore his collared sweater to cover my injury, and we both had smiles on our faces. I still wasn’t sure what all this would mean when all was said and done, but I knew we were going to be together. And really? That was all that mattered.

“My head—she’s going to notice.” The collar might be high, but it wasn’t high enough to hide the bruising near my temple. If anyone tried to ruffle my hair I’d likely wince if they grazed the goose-egg on the back of my head.

“And we will tell her the truth, you fell and hit it on a rock—we’ll just omit the fact you fell because my beast tackled you to the ground to prevent my dumbass relatives from harming you in their testosterone-filled wrestling match.” He kissed my cheek and whispered close to my ear, “And maybe leave off the fact that I was a ferocious, sexy wolf.”

“Sexy, huh?”

“You thought so. I saw it in your eyes.” He smirked and I was thrown back to a time when we were just kids and that smile lit up my whole world. It had the same effect now.

We seamlessly fell into how things were when we were kids.

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

I didn’t love the idea of lying to my mother, especially about something this important. But I understood why it was necessary. At least for now. I didn’t even understand what was happening. Adding a new level to the mix was a piss poor idea.

“Yeah, I’ll leave off all the wolves. We can probably stop by for a few minutes and then head out. We can say we are going on a date?”

“Date? I like the sound of that.”

My mom was still pissed at me for walking out. She wasn’t so good at hiding things like that. But I had to give her credit. She did give her best attempt and I appreciated that. Things between Nicholas and me were still weird, and adding my mom being grumpy to that wasn’t going to help matters at all.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time.” She hugged Nicholas. “You grew up.”

“That does tend to happen,” he teased. “Anything I can help you with? It looks like you have a house full.”

“I do. But I’ve got it. They all know that I am not a resort. I will do Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas breakfast, and Christmas dinner. The rest is up to them. There’s a sign up sheet on the fridge.” She pointed to the very incomplete list. The theory was that people would sign up when they got hungry enough. I wasn’t so sure the theory was right.

“That’s very organized. What meal do you have?” Nicholas turned to face me.

“I hadn’t picked yet. Why?” I had barely been home when my sister had told me her news and my Nicholas-obsessed brain had misunderstood. I knew now that my sister had her own Nick that she was engaged to. The two of them were sitting by the fire, cuddled under a blanket.

“I was thinking I could help you. It could be fun. Is Christmas Eve breakfast taken?”

My mom positively beamed. “It’s not. Why don’t you boys go ahead and plan that one. I’ll put your names down.”

And that was how our date included grocery shopping as well.

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