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“Ya’ll already know I work the four nights around Christmas,” Genie reminded them, “and I’ll be pulling sixteen-hour shifts instead of my normal twelve hours on the nights of the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth. I won’t go home between those shifts. As part of my deal with the hospital, I’ve been assigned a bed in the doctor’s quarters that day, so I can sleep through my limited downtime without having to drive anywhere. I’ll come back here the morning of the twenty-seventh, and I’ll probably sleep at least twelve hours.”

“Why would you do that to yourself?” Elijah asked.

“She makes three times her normal pay for working a holiday night shift, and then time and a half over the triple-pay for any overtime she works on a holiday,” Dev told them.

Genie reached for Elijah’s hand. “I agreed to this schedule back in August, when I negotiated the contract to come here for three months to work. I had no idea I was going to fall for two cats and a snake.”

“It’s okay,” Ezra told her. “We don’t mind celebrating our Christmas with you a few days later. It’s going to be the best Christmasever.”

“You know,” Genie said, her eyes threatening to water a little, “I think you’re absolutely right about that.”

How many Christmases had she realized the man she was spending it with wasn’t the right man for her, and it’d made her lonely instead of fulfilled, even while in his arms? And how many Christmases had she spent without anyone? Sure, she had her family, but that was just sad, too. Nothing had been right since her father had left and then never came back.

The last two Christmases, she’d been a party favor a few days before Christmas at the MC’s pre-Christmas bash. More sex thanshe could’ve ever imagined having in one day before she’d met the bikers.

“Did you know, I originally met the bikers when several of them were injured? Well, their humans were injured. One of the human girlfriends died from her injuries. A vampire in Chattanooga somehow arranged it so shifter nurses were overseeing the critical humans, which allowed their people to not have to be so careful with their secrets. They wanted to turn the human who was in danger of dying, to give her a chance at living, but she chose to die as a human rather than bechanged. I always wondered, if she thought so little of werewolves, then why had she been dating one?”

“So, one of the bikers asked you out, fucked you senseless, and then decided to share you with his brothers?” Dev asked.

She shrugged. “Something like that, but not quite. The point is, it was a terrible tragedy, but it worked to my benefit. Sometimes, good things happen due to tragedy. I see it all the time in the hospital — parents who’ve been estranged from an adult child, but the prospect of nearly losing them makes them realize what’s truly important in life. Or a drug addict who nearly dies, and it turns his life around and finally gives him a reason to stop feeding his unhealthy addiction.”

“Or two shifters who are more cat than human, fated to be slaves all their lives, who are given a chance at freedom by a seven-year-old child vampire?” Ezra asked.

“Yes, and who then give a nearly thirty-year-old nurse a chance at happiness, along with a no-telling-how-many-centuries-old snake.” She considered his statement asked, “Seven? I thought she was turned at eight?”

“Officially, she was,” Dev said. “I’m not certain she knows for sure, but it’s the number she puts out.” He sat back. “She looks six or seven, rather than eight, and she doesn’t correct people ifthey get it wrong. The exact number probably isn’t important in the grand scheme, anymore.”

He looked around the table. “I think it’s important for you all to know a few things about Brooke. She was forced into prostitution her first couple of hundred years as a vampire — rented or leased to pedophiles who wanted to fuck a young body. Most vampires have to be eight hundred or more years at the very minimum before they can risk killing their maker and living, but she managed it somewhere around three hundred years of age. My understanding of Brooke at that time, based on what I’ve heard vampires older than her say, is she was so focused in her hate for the fucker, she managed to grow strong enough to kill him in record time. She only had eight-ish years to be a human, and she lost what little bit of humanity she had a long, long time ago. Tonight is about the joy of childhood for her. Everyone there will be focused on making sure she has a wonderful time, and that meanseveryonemust have a good time. We all know she’s scary powerful, but this night is one of the many things I believe helps keep her sane. Most are little things that add up, but this is a big one.”

Genie felt as if that had been aimed at her more than the twins, so she said, “I get it. I’m still pissed at her, but tonight isn’t the time to bring it up.”

“This is true, but it’s also not the time for our cats to act up. Everyone on their very best behavior. Tonight is about fun,notabout trouble.”

Ezra leaned forward a little in his chair and focused on his brother across the table. “In this case, fun doesn’t mean finding mischief to get into, it means enjoying the night as the treat it is, Elijah. If you fuck this up for us, I’m going to be quite mad at you. Please don’t do anything stupid.”

Elijah only gave his brother a tiny nod, but since Ezra seemed to think that was enough, Genie didn’t push the issue any farther.

Surprisingly, neither did Dev.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Dev forced himself to relax once his little foursome was finally in the limo with Brooke, Julien, and Remy.

Brooke was in Remy’s lap, with Julien beside her, fussing over how she was sitting and how she was going to wrinkle her dress.

Brooke wore a red dress with white polka dots. She had a matching bow in her hair, though it was white with red polka dots, which also matched the belt of the dress. She wore white patent kid shoes with white socks, complete with red lace at the top, which had been neatly folded down so it gave the impact of a lacy red stripe just above the top of each shoe. And, of course, there was a red bow with white polka dots on each shoe. Her blonde hair had been fixed in Shirley Temple curls, and she was the cutest childever.

“We have some business to take care of, before the fun starts,” Brooke told them before they were even out of the gates.” She took Genie’s arm, gently, as if she didn’t want to scare their little owlet, licked Genie’s forearm, bit, took barely a sip, and then licked the fang marks so they’d heal.

Five seconds later, Dev heard Genie in his head.Can you hear me?

I can. I’m pleased you agreed to this. I love hearing you in my mind.

“Okay,” Brooke said, “Enough of the grown-up stuff. Remy hasn’t eaten in ten hours, and he’s going to eat funnel cakes as soon as we arrive, so I can drink his blood twenty minutes later and taste the sweetness. I have five people lined up to eatspecific foods throughout the night, and I can’twaitto gorge on holiday tastes.” She turned to the twins. “Dev tells me neither of you have ridden a Ferris wheel. Would the two of you do me the honor of riding on it with me as soon as we get there, so I can experience your first time through your eyes?”

“We would be honored to do so, Miss Brooke,” Ezra told her with a happy smile. “I think I’m more excited about riding a Ferris wheel than anything else.”

“Oh, I want to try the strong-man hammer,” Elijah said. “And the mirrored maze. And, would you let us take you on the flying reindeer ride, Miss Brooke?”