“Okay, too much football talk. Once you open your present, we’ll get the cookies and then someone better get to bed if he wants to stay off the naughty list.”
I wriggled my eyebrows at Jeremy, but he wasn’t paying any attention to me. He was too busy marveling at the new woodworking tools in the opened box. They were just the basics. I didn’t want him using any power tools without Gunnar’s close supervision.
He finally looked up at me, excitement dancing in his eyes. “Can I go to the workshop and try them out?”
“Sure. If you want that to be the only thing you get for Christmas.” Game on, Jeremy. “There’s only so long Santa can wait for us to turn off the lights.”
We still had gifts to take out and I had a buck to tend to once those lights were out.
“Tomorrow,” he said, like he was making a concession.
He kept me up long after I brought him into the bedroom, asking about each of the Bloodhounds he met at the party, and what I thought they were doing for Christmas. Then he went through it again with all the deer in the herd. I had to remember this was what I wanted, even if time was running out to make it work. His eyelids were fluttering, flighting sleep when I tucked him in.
But now, here I was, praying Jeremy didn’t wake up as Gunnar backed me against the door, rattling it on impact. Heat radiated from his nearly naked body and his eyes were the only light in the dark.
“What did you have to do?” We spent the early hours of the morning stringing wire through the living room so we could have the inaugural flight of Santa’s sleigh. They’d put the finishing touches on it before we headed to the party. I wrapped the rest of Jeremy’s presents, mostly Bloodhounds gear, and all a little sloppier than usual thanks to the wine, and left out cookies. I’d been too tired to take care of my reindeer before I passed out in bed.
But now, here he was, ready to play.
“Santa didn’t only have stuff for Jeremy. He might’ve had a package or two for his momma, too.” Gunnar’s words were a hot breath against my cheek. His beard tickled my skin as he skimmed my lips with his. I caught them in a kiss, needing him to soothe the nightmare away. He’d done it so many times since we moved in together, he knew exactly what made me feel better.
“Oh yeah?” I said. He ran his hand up my thigh, under the shirt to cup my sex. He pressed into the kiss, and I surrendered to him. My buck was good with his hands—no doubt about that—but his imagination was even better. There was something to be said for being someone’s first, someone’s forever.
The shirt fluttered into a heap at our feet.
“Yeah.” The door rattled again as Gunnar lifted me off my feet. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d taken me against the wall, but on Christmas morning, he had something else in mind. I landed hard on the bed, and he crawled up my body like I was his prey. My heart hadn’t recovered from the nightmare, and it was pounding double time. Not because I didn’t feel safe, but because I was overcome with anticipation of being ravished by this man.
“There’s no way for me to thank you for what you’ve given to me.” He settled beside me, his touch too gentle. The last thing I wanted right now was gentle. “You made my dreams come true, Delilah. I’d given up on that ever happening.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It was heartbreaking, convincing myself what I had was enough when it wasn’t. I wanted so much more. What kind of alpha was I, settling for good when I could have great? You have no idea how brave it was to go on The Real Werewives. You wanted more. For yourself and for your son and you stopped at absolutely nothing to get it.
“If you hadn’t done that, I would’ve never met you and Jeremy. I’d never be able to say I was a professional football player, even if it was only for one game. And I’d never be able to guarantee safety for Faraway Island for my herd.”
“You would’ve done those things.” I straddled him, taking his hard cock in my hand. I loved the noises he made when I ran my hand over his length. Everything was new to him. “We were meant to be together. We would’ve found each other.”
He shook his head. “You needed Jeremy to believe in magic. But in the meantime, you made me believe, too.”
I leaned down and kissed him. “So there’s a prize for that?”
“There is.” He swallowed hard. “Let me mark you.”
And there went my heart again, going crazy at the possibility. “What does that mean?”
He sat up and trailed his fingers over my shoulder. “It will be right here, and it has to happen as you climax. The legends say that’s how our spirits become one. If you were a doe, everyone would be able to see that you belonged to me when you shifted. But I prefer it this way. The marks are for me only. Like a secret only we share.”
“You think being old fashioned is a shortcoming, but I love it.” I brushed my lips against his, teasing him with a gentle touch like he’d done to me. But his cock was getting a totally different treatment. “It’s what makes you different than any other man I ever met.”
I could barely see him, so close, but his lip curled against my cheek. “Just different?”
“It makes you my mate. And me the luckiest woman on earth.” I’d found love twice when some people would never find it. “I’ll be proud to wear your mark.”
His beard tickled my shoulder. “I’m the only one who sees it,” he repeated with a growl. “Because you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” I whispered. Gunnar gave away everything he had—he gave away toys, he gave his herd his time and his love, and even shared his knowledge with Jeremy—and never asked for anything in return. He thought doing the right thing would reap the rewards. His patience and persistence finally paid off.
He had me up on my knees, his hands all over my body. I positioned the tip of his cock so I could take him and sank down, relishing the feeling of being one with this man. In that moment, nothing else existed. It was him, me, and our wildly beating hearts providing the soundtrack to our union. He thrust up inside me, wild and hard. Gunnar did not hold back—he gave everything he had. That was the man I fell in love with.
I squeezed his shaft, keeping him inside me like a gift. My muscles pulsed wildly around him, and I was reaching the edge. I closed my eyes, slumping forward and let Gunnar take control.
He sank his teeth into my shoulder. White hot pain shot through me, bringing my climax to a peak I’d never experienced before. In that moment, my body didn’t belong to me. We were one. His thrusts slowed, and he kept his hand over the marks as I came down to earth.
I was truly his.
“Mom!” Jeremy had learned to knock since we moved to the cabin. My heartbeat had just gone back to normal, and I laid on Gunnar’s chest. He held his hand over the bite. “Santa came!”
“Did he?”
“He’s not the only one.” Gunnar chuckled as he moved my still-limp body to the mattress.
“Yeah! You’ve got to come out here and see this!”
I glanced at Gunnar as I got dressed—in my own clothes this time—and he only gave me a sly grin. It could’ve meant anything; he often wore that expression and nothing else after he came. To me, it meant he was satisfied. So I couldn’t wait to see what waited for me in that living room.
Gunnar pressed his hand to the small of my back as he followed me out of the bedroom. Jeremy didn’t wait for us. He was in the middle of it all, wearing the expression that no money could buy. It was the best gift anyone had given me.
“Look,” was all he said.
He sat beside Santa’s sleigh. There were presents still wrapped, and I was pretty sure I knew what all of those were. But the most impressive thing was the train set that circled the room. The little train chugged down the track. It looked familiar—most of it had to be from the store. But the train was all new. I knelt beside Jeremy, not easy to do with all those presents around us, and examined the train as it passed. It had been christened the Jeremy Express.
I peered up at Gunnar, who was blurry through
my unshed tears. “Thought you said this wasn’t for sale.”
“It wasn’t. Because I didn’t think I’d ever find anyone who would love it as much as I did.” Gunnar reached into the pile of presents and handed me a box I’d never seen before. “But now that Jeremy and I have been working together, he gets it. He’ll give it the appreciation it deserves.”
I nodded. I couldn’t start bawling before I saw what the present was. My shoulder was still smarting from Gunnar’s mark. Nothing had ever hurt so good. I ripped the paper away and found a tablet.
“Tessa’s been filming my work with Jeremy,” Gunnar said, swiping his thumb over the screen. Naomi had convinced me that I should use the time they worked together as my own. Not that I didn’t love having coffee and gossiping with her, but I loved spending time with my boys more. But I did it. “They’ll probably use some of it for the show. But I asked her if she could put something together, only for you.”
She set the video to music that sounded like I wound up a snow globe. If this was what the show looked like, it was going to be a hit. I forgot I was looking at a screen, watching Gunnar and Jeremy work together. So patient and loving in his descriptions, he let Jeremy get his hands on all the tools, high-fiving him after a job well done. They talked while they worked—about the animals they carved, and Gunnar told him about the herd. The history and their traditions.
“This is magic.” There was no stopping the tears now. “Thank you.”
“That’s not all I have for you,” Gunnar said as he reached under the tree and picked up a small box. My heart pounded, because I knew what came in little boxes shaped like that. “This one you can show everyone.”
I was tempted to rip the red velvet bow and gold paper off the box Hurricane Jeremy style, but I wanted to savor this moment. There was a chance it wasn’t what I thought it was. It could be a pair of earrings. They came in the same size box. I couldn’t breathe as I lifted the hinge.
“I made it,” Gunnar said as I lifted the smooth wooden band out of the box. “I know it’s not a traditional ring, but I carved it out of a maple that I chopped down when I built this house. I saved a block of it for this very moment. When I claimed my mate.” He took a deep breath, and he rumbled. He did that sometimes, especially after we’d been together. He said it was his animal coming close to the surface. “Maple symbolizes the giving of one’s self so others may benefit. You make every single day better, Delilah. And I hope you’ll do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me.”
“Like there’s anywhere else I’d rather be. Yes. A thousand times yes.” I slipped the ring on my finger. It was silky smooth and fit my finger perfectly. “You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever met.”
Gunnar raised an eyebrow. “Rugged and handsome.”
“Duh.” I was trying not to cry. “I’m talking about the stuff on the inside.”
“Don’t cry, Mom.” Jeremy had the wooden sleigh in his lap. “Let’s see if we can make Santa’s sleigh fly!”
Gunnar pressed a kiss to the top of my head. He sat beside me and pulled me into his lap. Jeremy only cringed a little bit. Gunnar reached for the remote. “Okay, put the sleigh on the track.”
Jeremy did as he was asked, then Gunnar handed him the remote. He didn’t have to give him any more instruction. Jeremy slid the toggle forward with his thumb, and the red nose of the reindeer in the front lit up.
I leaned back against Gunnar, rubbing my finger against the smooth maple band, and pointed at the little wooden Rudolph as he headed down the track. “Do you know that guy?”
Jeremy jerked his head over, waiting for the answer.
“I might have seen him once or twice at a herd meeting. Sometimes we get together with other herds,” he said. I wished I could see the look on his face, even though Jeremy’s open-mouthed shock was enough. “How do you think Santa found you here on such short notice?”
The sleigh came to a screeching halt. “No way,” Jeremy said.
“Way. And by the way, that naughty list is totally a thing. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” Gunnar laughed. “Pay attention to the sleigh! You’ve got to give it lift off before it reaches the end of the track.”
Jeremy went back to work, pressing the buttons and sending the sleigh to the end of the track, and the little Rudolph lifted, followed by his friends, and finally, the sleigh. They were suspended by fishing wire, and I wasn’t sure how they managed to make it lift, but it worked. The sleigh circled the room, and Jeremy grinned before he pushed another button.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” the little wooden Santa said. It was totally Gunnar’s voice put through a filter, but it worked. They pulled it off.
“That’s amazing.” I could sit in the middle of the discarded wrapping paper, against my mate’s chest, with my son happily playing with toys he made for the rest of my life. I caught Gunnar’s eye, and he put his hand on top of mine and squeezed it. He felt it, too.
“Tell me more about this naughty list,” I murmured. “I was under the impression naughty girls didn’t get presents.”
“Oh, they do.” His animal rumbled deep inside him. “I can’t wait to reward you for your naughtiness.”
Oh, game on, buck.
THANK YOU!
I hope you loved Delilah and Gunnar’s story! I know quite a few of you were anxious for them to get their happily ever after. For Reindeer Games, I got to do a little of something old, something borrowed, and I don’t think we had anything blue. Well, the Bloodhound wear blue uniforms so I think that counts. I love writing Christmas stories because it fits the central theme of all my stories—finding the place my characters are at home and giving them a chance to celebrate their love and happiness together. I hadn’t had a chance to write deer shifters since Colorado Shifters. They’re not as mighty as wolves or dragons or any of the predators, but they’re beautiful, graceful creatures. There’s power in that, too. The world is a crazy place and it’s easy to forget that. And a deer was the perfect hero for my Christmas story, especially if he’s got an in with Santa’s crew.
The Real Werewives of Alaska series continues with Silver Fox—which is also part of the Bad Alpha Dads collection. Legendary quarterback Landon Fox put football before everything else. So when his wild child daughter crashes a Werewife auction, he can no longer run from his one true love—her mother. Don’t miss how the Fox family turns Holiday Falls upside down!
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Silver Fox
JENNA
Keeping my daughter Fiona in line was like trying to shove hornets back into their nest after I kicked it.
“A tattoo? Really?” There wasn’t enough coffee in the world for this nonsense so early in the morning. “Please tell me that’s fake.”
The plastic and tape that protected the healing wound said otherwise.
She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. When she did that, she looked so much younger than three months away from eighteen. For a second, she was my little girl again. “I’d hate to tell you a lie.”
Right.
“How did you get that thing? You didn’t get another fake ID, did you?” I groaned. I’d shut that shop down with one phone call.
“Don’t need one. My boyfriend Max is a tattoo artist.”
“Your boyfriend?
Max? Tattoo artist?” That one sentence cemented my induction into the failed parent hall of fame. In that guy’s defense, Fiona probably told him as many tall tales as she told me. I’d have to make an appointment with him to compare notes. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be the only one in for a shock. “I take it you didn’t stay at Annie’s last night.”
My daughter was pretty much grounded until her fiftieth birthday, but her best friend Annie was a sweet girl—at least she used to be—and I held out hope that some of that would rub off on Fiona. So far, it never worked that way. My girl had raised trouble to an art form.
She wrinkled her nose again. “I said I wouldn’t lie.”
The important thing was she was home in one piece, and this time, without a police escort. I had to celebrate the little victories. “Come here. Let me see it.”
Hopefully Max was better at his art than he was with common sense. I didn’t want to think about what other ways he’d gotten under her skin. The cream from my coffee curdled in my stomach.
Fiona took a couple steps closer, wincing like she either regretted her decision or she feared I’d slap her. I was far more tempted to wring her neck. She was taller than me now, and I had to get out of my chair and go up on my tiptoes to peel back the wrapping to see what she had done.
“You’re so lucky. It’s actually pretty.” The tattoo was stars with swirl patterns between them. It was on the top of her shoulder, and trailed down to her back. It was big, but she probably wouldn’t regret it for at least a few years.
“See? You should trust me.” How she said that with a straight face was beyond me.
“Hell no. Go to your room. Go to bed, because I’m sure you haven’t had any sleep.” I was only up this early because old habits die hard. I didn’t have my restaurant anymore, but my internal alarm clock had me up at four every morning. “Where’s your phone?”
“Ma, come on.” She grabbed her purse and held it protectively against her.
Reindeer Games Page 10
