Page 172 of Omega's Heart

I laughed and let my head fall back against the pillow. “He might be right about that, soldier boy. You won’t find me complaining, though.” I stroked my fingers through his hair. “If there’s anything I can do to help, you know I want to. Just tell me what to do.”

“Just be yourself. And spend some money on you. I had to dig into your father’s prydaya for some of the house expenses but there’s still most of it left. I’ll have it transferred to your account.”

“I have the gift from the Alpha.”

“That’s yours to spend frivolously.”

“I promise I will.” I kissed him on the end of his nose. “Keep the prydaya. You never know.”

“Stubborn omega.” He grew a little heavier against my body and began his exploration of my neck again. “So, you aren’t bothered by my…tactics?”

I ran my hands down his back and wiggled a little underneath him to get more skin-to-skin. “Not at all. You never shock me, but I’ll admit I like the awe part.”

He lunged against me, short and sharp, wrenching a gasp of excitement from my mouth. “No shock at all? I’ll have to work on that.”

“I surrender,” I whispered and pulled his mouth to mine.

C H A P T E R 9 2

I wore my new winter coat and my new jeans to Bax’s for Christmas dinner the next day. He met us at the door and welcomed us in with a hug, taking my bags and setting them on the floor out of the way.

“Is that new?” he asked as he took my coat. He stroked the dark blue cloth and held it out to admire it.

“Kaden gave it to me for Christmas,” I confessed. “Look, you can take the inside out and wear that if it’s a little warmer, or just wear the outside shell of it.” I loved it. It was long enough to keep me warm even if Kaden took me to the northern packs, but could be taken apart to be worn in the warmer ones if I was chilly. The coat was one of the many little things that reminded me how seriously Kaden took his promise to look after me, and how smart and observant a mate I’d found.

“It’s gorgeous,” he said. “It’ll stand you in good stead in Montana Border, from what Jason says.”

“I hope so.” I was nervous about going to Montana Border, but I couldn’t let Kaden know that because I’d had to argue hard enough in the first place to convince him to bring me with him. They were notorious, at least in White River. My father had always said he’d refuse any offer for me from Montana Border, no matter how good it looked on the surface. I was prepared, mentally, for just about anything, but I had to admit my nerves weren’t quite so sanguine about it.

Kaden stomped in behind us with his arms full of the larger presents. “Hunter’s already gone with the pups. Merry Christmas,” he cackled. “Where’s that mate of yours. I need a pack animal. We have more presents, and there’s the food.”

I nudged him with my shoulder. “No sampling. You’ll spoil your appetite.” I’d caught him this morning standing in the open door of the refrigerator, contemplating my meat pies and the coconut squares I’d made for after.

“He’s puppy wrangling,” Bax told him with a laugh. “Along with Cas. Just put these down here and I’ll send them out to you.”

“Naw, it’s okay.” Kaden set the boxes and bags down and gave Bax a quick hug. “I’m an expert brother wrangler.” He kissed my cheek on the way by, leaving Bax and me to gather up the presents and arrange them under the Christmas tree in the living room.

They’d obviously opened most of their gifts, just like we had. But we’d all brought a little something for each of the family members and we’d open them as well once everyone was here.

“I love your tree.” We’d had them at home, because, well—Colorado. One of my many cousins actually had a Christmas tree farm on the edge of the pack land, outside the walls. But I’d learned that actual trees weren’t a common thing here in Mercy Hills, and the three-dimensional rag art that we used back home as a decoration was what most of the families here used for a tree. Bax had one of those, too, but it was hanging on a wall in his dining room.

“Abel spoils me,” Bax said with a smile. “And we always had one in Jackson-Jellystone. He didn’t want the pups to feel like Christmas was less special here.”

I touched one of the ornaments gently and wondered if it would be greedy of me to ask if we could have one ourselves when we were in our new home. I hadn’t realized I’d missed it until I saw Bax’s and smelled how it filled his house with the scent of evergreen resin. It made me a little homesick, to be honest.

The clomp of alpha feet behind us interrupted our rearrangement of the gifts under the tree.

“Look what I found sitting on the front porch like lost pups,” Abel joked. Abel and Cas walked into the room, carrying a small stack of boxes each. Then Kaden, carrying the big box that I recognized as being for me, the one he refused to let me open back at the apartment. Quin and Holland brought up the rear, carrying their own piles of wrapped packages and their two youngest.

“Merry Christmas!” Holland practically chirped. “Where can we put these?”

“I made space for you by the wall,” Bax said, pointing. “Got a little crazy with the shopping this year, didn’t you?”

Holland shrugged. “Lots of pups to buy for.” He stood on one foot to poke me gently in the leg with his toe, his hands being entirely full. “One more for next year.”

I grinned and blushed. “Yes.” What else could I say? I helped him set out the gifts under the tree, mostly by stealing Lonnie from him so I could practice for when my own came. The baby laughed and reached for my face, then squirmed to get down as the sunshine reflecting off Bax’s ornaments caught his attention.

“No, you can’t eat that,” I told him. “It wouldn’t taste good anyway.”