Page 46

Beth

C hristmas morning had always been a time of stress and suffering. Food needed to be cooked, the mess from opening gifts would need to be cleaned up, and the tasks were never-ending. For a holiday, it was rather busy for me.

So, when I was woken bright and early on Christmas morning by Joey jumping on my bed, I didn’t know what to expect.

“Santa was here!” she declared excitedly as she shoved all the adults down the stairs. Her bubble gum scent was practically exploding everywhere due to her excitement.

“What time is it?” I yawned sleepily as Cullen threw an arm around me and we made our way into the den, where Joey was jumping on the sofa while still wearing her festive pajamas covered in candy canes.

We were all rubbing sleep from our eyes and trying to join the land of the living after our rather rude awakening.

“Just be glad that Joey waited until the sun was at least starting to rise. A few years ago, she woke us at five in the morning…”

I gaped at him.

Five a.m. wasn’t a time anyone should be awake.

Ever.

Gideon hummed in agreement. “The younger they are, the earlier they wake you. We’ve got this to look forward to with the little one.” As he spoke, he grabbed Joey off the sofa and spun her around, making her giggle wildly.

“Where’s Daddy J?” she whined.

“He’s coming,” Cullen assured her. “He’s just getting coffee for the grown-ups. Then we can start.”

“I think a gift-wrapping store exploded in here.” I laughed as I surveyed the scene. Overnight, the den had been turned into a Christmas-themed wonderland. Every surface had presents on them.

Cullen shrugged. “We like to spoil our girls.”

I didn’t miss his use of the plural—were they talking about the baby, or me?

Hopefully the baby, because I wasn’t sure how I would handle the guys getting me gifts.

Joey waited patiently for a few moments, or at least as patiently as she could, jumping up and down on balls of her feet as we settled down around the room.

“Okay! Present time?” she asked excitedly.

Gideon nodded, reaching under the tree and passing a gift to Joey.

He took on the responsibility of slowly distributing all the gifts.

Joey wasted no time in tearing into the paper, squealing happily at her latest doll set, throwing herself into Gideon’s arms and thanking him profusely before moving on to the other dads.

“This one is from Bethany!” she said, grabbing the large, squishy parcel I had significant trouble wrapping a few nights prior.

Cullen raised a brow at me. I had bought Joey a small gift just from me.

When I had been racking my mind, trying to figure out what I could get her, considering her fathers provided everything she could possibly need, I remembered the pale blue bedding from my nest she had been absolutely enamored with.

Two of the pillows and one of the blankets had even left my nest and went home with her that day she was sick.

So I had gone out and repurchased that exact same set of nesting supplies but in pale blue, pink, and lilac. All colors I knew Joey loved.

The squeal that left Joey’s chest as she ripped open the packaging made my heart swell with happiness.

“Thank you, Bethany!” she shouted, launching herself at me for a hug while her fathers watched on with matching grins.

“I’m glad you like them,” I said, clutching her to me in a bear hug.

Joey pulled back, nodding enthusiastically. “I love them. I’m going to make a nest that matches yours, because your nest is the best . Though I will still use your nest because it’s so big…” She trailed off thoughtfully.

“You know you’re welcome in the nest anytime,” I assured her.

“When my baby sister is born, we’re going to have to make her a nest, aren’t we?”

“It may be a boy…”

Her little look of horror was so disgusted. “But boys like icky things like mushrooms .”

I think every adult in the room laughed at that one.

Joey stood up. “I’m putting these on my bed right now!” she said, darting out of the room, weighed down by the masses of nesting supplies.

“She’s so an omega.” Jensen chuckled, looking at the doorway where she had just left.

“Our house is going to be so full of pillows,” Gideon agreed with a nod.

Cullen pulled me tighter into him, so I was practically on his lap. “Sounds perfect to me,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

Jensen leaned forward, plucking a small box out from under the tree. “This one is from all of us,” he said, handing it to me.

I wasn’t a fool. Even though it was wrapped, it was pretty obvious that it was a jewelry box. Knowing Pack Noble, it was probably expensive jewelry, so I was immediately on edge.

“You didn’t have to?—”

“We wanted to,” Gideon assured me.

Gingerly I opened the box, all breath leaving me when I flipped open the lid and saw the beautiful ring.

It was simple, but stunning. A gold bezel-set emerald-cut stone, which, knowing my guys, was totally a diamond.

A big diamond.

“What the heck?!” I whispered, glancing around at them. “This is way too much!”

“No, it’s not,” Gideon assured me.

“Actually, it’s rather selfish of us.” Cullen shrugged. “We can’t bond yet, so this is the next best thing for letting the entire world know you’re ours.”

Most bonded omegas tended to wear a sort of wedding band like beta women did. Usually, the ring was given after bonding instead of a marriage ceremony. If I wore the ring, it would be a clear sign to the outside world that I was taken.

“If you don’t want to, we totally understand,” Jensen said, reaching like he was going to take the ring box out of my hands.

“Don’t you dare!” I gasped, pulling the box out of his grasp.

His answering grin was dazzling.

“So you’ll wear it?” Gideon asked.

I stared at the ring. “Of course I will…but I can guarantee I’ll get it dirty or break it.” Though I was concerned about that, there was no way in hell I was going to turn down wearing a sign that I was theirs.

Gideon’s smile widened. “We can get it cleaned and repaired.”

Whatever I was going to say next was cut off as Joey came barreling back into the room, squealing that it was time to open the rest of our presents.

As she dove under the tree for another gift, he took the box gently out of my hands and removed the ring, gently slipping it onto my finger. It fit perfectly, and I just knew they had done some sneaking around to figure that out.

Sneaky, sexy alphas.

The gift opening took several hours. I had been thoroughly spoiled with even more nesting supplies, jewelry, and bath products—and Joey…well, she had just about everything a little girl could ever dream of.

It was nearing midday, and time to start cleaning up. I stood, stretching, going to grab the piles of wrapping paper and shove them into trash bags, but Jensen stopped me.

“Nope, that’s Cullen and Joey’s job. My job is to get you a snack before we go out,” he instructed, pushing me toward the kitchen.

Rolling my eyes, I did as I was told and sat in the kitchen while Jensen made me apple slices and peanut butter as a snack. He was placing the plate in front of me as Joey sidled up to me at the breakfast bar, looking at my plate excitedly.

“Want some?” I asked.

She nodded, and I proceeded to share the plate. I had a feeling Jensen knew she would be wanting to join me because he had cut up two apples and spooned out extra peanut butter.

I also didn’t miss the way his eyes kept going to my hand, at the ring that was sitting on my finger, and smiling.

“Can we watch Christmas movies?” Joey asked sweetly.

“Of course, munchkin. Why don’t you and Bethany make the sofa all comfy, and we’ll get the snacks?”

“I’ll use my new blankets!” Joey declared, getting up and running out of the room, a slice of apple still in hand.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “People will think we’ve been giving her coffee the way she runs around.”

“She’s a pocket rocket; that’s for sure,” Jensen agreed as he cleaned away the cutting board.

“What’s the plan for Christmas dinner? I know Cullen said we were going to the restaurant, so do I need to get dressed?” I asked, mentally trying to plan out the day.

Jensen shook his head. “Nope. Cullen is going to go and pick up takeout for us. All you have to do today is lounge around with our little terror and watch Christmas movies while we wait on you hand and foot.”

So that’s what we did.

Several times throughout the day, I wanted to pinch myself. There was no cleaning or nonstop cooking. Every time I wanted a snack, one of the guys grabbed it for me. Joey and I hunkered down on the sofa with her curled into my side while we watched movie after movie.

At one point, we moved to the table to eat the mountain of Christmas takeout food Cullen had grabbed from his restaurant.

It was amazing—far better than anything I could have cooked.

I had always thought that Christmas dinner needed to be on fancy china and have several sets of cutlery, but the Christmas meal out of plastic takeout containers was by far the best I’d ever eaten.

“Did you have a good day?” Gideon asked as I crawled into the nest, cuddling into his chest.

“It was the perfect day,” I admitted sleepily.

In fact, I hadn’t even bothered to look at my phone all day.

In the morning, I had shot Kennedy a Merry Christmas message with a selfie of me and Joey, and she had sent one back of her and her pack.

After that, I had left it in my bedside table because I didn’t want to see any messages from my family.

Even though I had blocked them, I was fairly sure they would find a way to contact me.

The peace and quiet had been perfect. For the first time in what felt like forever, I had a relaxing holiday.

“This is what it’s always going to be like,” Gideon assured me as he ran his hand through my hair. Jensen was on the other side of me, lightly rubbing my back, while Cullen was checking on Joey, who had passed out not long ago, all the excitement of the day catching up to her.

I hummed. “I’m not so sure. I think when we have a preteen and toddler, we’re going to have our hands full on Christmas.”

“We outnumber them. We can win,” Gideon said.

Jensen smirked. “For now.”

Gideon’s hand rested on my stomach, and I couldn’t help but grin.

I was excited for the future, for my baby. There was no more panic or anxiety, only joy and anticipation.

Deep down, I knew I was ready to be a mother, and while the circumstances weren’t ideal, I was looking forward to it more than anything.