by A. J. Macey
If I lived closer, I would never leave this place.
Dante
The house smelled like yummy cookies when we got back, my mouth salivating at the sugary goodness. Logan and Landon sniffed the air before practically running down the hall to the kitchen where they snatched up a couple of the cookies from the tin Abigail had set out for us.
Lucie walked with Hudson and me, slowly, as she made her way into her childhood home. She tried to hide it, but her lips pursed slightly, and her movements were stiff. Leaning over, I dropped a kiss on top of her head, her knit hat soft against my lips. Looking up at me, she smiled, sapphire eyes nearly glowing in the soft Christmas lights that decorated the space.
"Hey, Mom," Lucie greeted. "How's the order going? Looks like you're making good progress."
"Last batch just came out, actually. Going to start packing while they cool so I can take them to the old folks home and Ms. Georgie for her annual holiday party tomorrow. How was dinner?"
"It was good, went to the diner, and Bruce spoiled us unsurprisingly," Lucie explained with a chuckle. After spending the day decorating the house, watching her interact with her mom, and going to dinner, I realized Lucie was different here. It may have been because she was finally free from her past, but she smiled more, her gaze less shadowed, her body not as tense as it had been on campus.
"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Abigail replied, her tinkling laughter pulled me from mine and Hudson’s blatant staring. Lucie followed the other guys into the living room, swerving into her room as she pulled off her hat and coat.
"Would you like some help packaging up the cookies?" Hudson asked, pointing to the large amount of treats waiting to be put into their tins.
"Oh, you don't have to do that, Hudson," Abigail tried to protest, but he chuckled, shaking his head.
"It's really not a problem. It's the least I can do for letting all of us come in and take over your house so we can be with Lucie for the holidays."
That’s a freaking understatement, I thought, doubt she realized how much of a handful we could be when she extended the offer.
“That’s sweet, thank you.” With a nod at him she handed each of us a tin. “Before we do that though, I just want to talk to you a bit about Lucie, and I want you to be honest with me.” She kept her tone low as she looked up between us. “I’m sure it’s no surprise, after everything with Noah, but I worry about her and her relationships. I’m not saying that any of you are like him, but I want to know how Lucie is doing, both in healing and with your guys’ relationship.”
“I understand,” I started, telling the truth. My griffin ruffled his wings in irritation at the insinuation that any of us would hurt Lucie.
“If either of my little sisters had been in a situation like Lucie’s, I would worry about anyone they saw afterwards,” Hudson’s thoughts echoed in my head. I didn’t want to give away to Abigail that we were communicating, but I threw my irritation at his intrusion down our mental connection. “What, dude? Not my fault you think so damn loud.”
“She’s still struggling with the night terrors and her panic attacks, but I’ve noticed a difference in her. She’s happier, a little less jumpy, and even though she leans on us when she’s having a rough time, she’s growing into her own confidence. Which is all we want for her,” I explained quietly, glancing over at Lucie who had emerged from her room. “She deserves the world, and we’re hoping to help get her that.
“She helps bring us together too,” I continued. “While we’ve been friends for years, she’s helped us be more of a cohesive unit. She sees the best in us and has helped each of us be a better person.”
“Hell, I’ve noticed you being a lot less emotionally cut off,” I sent to Hudson. “I think it’s been good for you.”
“My mom’s told me for years not to close myself off, but it just happened anyway. I’m trying because I know how much it fucked everything up before. Brittney’s runed bracelet wouldn’t have worked as well as it did if I was more aware of how I truly felt.”
“Okay, I believe you,” Abigail said with a narrowed gaze, her tone playful as she continued. “But don’t think I won’t whoop you or those boys’ butts if you break my baby’s heart.” My griffin roared, angry at the threat, but while he was irritable, he understood even if he didn’t want to accept it. I could feel his discontent to my calm collected thoughts, but he didn’t push when I chose to be diplomatic versus abrasive like my brothers or fathers. Laughing, I promised, agreeing that’s what would happen even though I knew we would never willingly hurt Lucie. Ever.
Not again anyway, my mind hissed, bringing me back to everything that had happened at the beginning of the year. Shoving that toxic thought away, I reminded myself that I was working on the one thing Lucie asked of me, staying the sweet, romantic man I always have been instead of turning cruel like the men in my family were so used to being. Abigail pulled my attention from my quickly spiraling thoughts, explaining how to package the cookies properly, and before long, Lucie came over from the living room to see what was going on, insistent on helping. After she gave a small pout and trained those puppy dog eyes that could bring any man to his knees on us, her mom agreed to let her help, and we got to work.
"What are you doing?" Logan asked with a head tilt. A little time had passed, and he made his way into the kitchen from the living room where the guys had gathered. I glanced over as Hudson and I placed festive-themed tissue paper in the bottom of the tins we had.
"Helping pack the cookies; don't want Abigail and Lucie to have to do it by themselves," I explained with a shrug. Lucie's eyes sparkled and her lips quirked slightly from where she sat on the other side of the table, counting out the proper amount of each type of cookies.
"Oh," Logan exclaimed in surprise, his eyes widening. "Well, what do you want me to do?"
"What are we doing now?" Landon questioned, coming up behind his twin and glanced at the table.
"Packing up cookies, twin," Logan explained, sitting in one of the last free chairs. Landon huffed, half shoving his brother over so they could split the old, worn wooden chair.
"Fat ass," Landon grumbled under his breath, looking over at Lucie. "What do we do?" Lucie chuckled, handing over a tub of empty tins.
"Help Hudson line these with two square pieces of the decorative paper. The corners will come up and stick out the top but don't worry about that. We'll fold them over the top of the cookies when we put the lid on. Dante, if you want to help my mom?" Nodding, I got up from the table and stepped over to the counter.
"We don't get to count cookies?" Logan pouted.
"No, I know you two better than that, and only a quarter of the order would actually end up in the tin and not your mouths," she chastised playfully.
"Oh no, twin, she's figured us out," Landon stage whispered behind his hand. Lucie's musical laugh filled the space right as Abigail turned on the speaker and cheerful holiday music started to play through the kitchen.
"We having a holiday party in here?" Cam asked, coming in with Nik, his brow raising as he glanced around the room. Grigori hopped on Nik's shoulder before fluttering to the back of Lucie's chair.
"Hi, Grigori," Lucie cooed over her shoulder, angling her body in her chair so she could look at him. "You look very handsome, boy. I'll give you pets after I finish, okay?" Grigori squawked, seeming to nod his head as Lucie turned back to the guys.
"Cookie packing party if you want. One of you can help me count out, while the other can help my mom and Dante load them into the tins. With all of us, we'll be done in no time and put on a movie or something." Lucie perked up. "Can we watch The Grinch? The live-action one?"
"Whatever you want, Babe," Nik whispered roughly, curving around the table to sit on a stool that had been shoved in the corner, pulling it up next to Lucie.
The next hour was filled with laughter, cookies, and Christmas music as we made our way through packaging everything. Before we knew it, all several hundred cookies were
packed up and stacked nicely for Abigail to tie bows onto the tins. The guys migrated back into the living room, sprawled around the room on the different pieces of furniture or on the floor, while Lucie's mom excused herself to go get ready for bed.
"Dante," Lucie called softly before I could walk out of the kitchen. Turning, I stepped up to her, encasing her gently in my arms.
"Yeah, Firecracker?" I murmured. Rocking from side to side slowly, I traced every plane of her face. Even covered in darkened marks and still healing cuts, a thick piece of gauze taped to her forehead, she was beautiful.
"Thank you," she whispered, smiling. The upturned curve made my heart race as she popped up onto her toes. "For helping my mom. It was really sweet, and I appreciate it."
"Of course, anything to help you and your mom out." I gently ran one hand up and down her back as I tucked a wayward strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "You deserve to enjoy your holiday break, and if spending an hour stuffing sparkly colored paper in a tin does that, then I'd do it every night."
"You're going to make me tear up, stop being so sweet." She chuckled, her eyes glistening as she beamed. "I just wanted to thank you." I smirked, leaning down and pressing my lips to hers. They were soft, slathered in chapstick, but the cut on her lip was rough despite the moisturizing layer on top of it. At the feeling, I felt a surge of rage fill me, knowing exactly what she had been put through to get it.
She's healing, and she's safe, I told myself as I pulled back, following her into the living room. Noah will get what's coming to him, no need to spend the night angry that she's injured. As soon as she leaned into my chest, her vanilla scent filling my nose, my fury melted, leaving me relaxed as we settled into the movie.
This right here is what the holidays are about.
4
December 23rd
Sunday Early Morning
Landon
“Shh,” Logan shushed me quietly as I told him to hurry. “I’m going as fast as I can, dude. You want to do this?” he ground out, glaring over at me.
“Of course not.” I peered around the corner again. “That’s why you’re the one stuffing the glitter confetti bomb and not me.” He huffed, grumbling under his breath before turning back to the small cardboard tube.
“Okay, I think it’s good, just need to add the activator to it,” Logan whispered, holding out the canister. “Remember the activation word?”
“Ho ho ho,” I mentally sent, not willing to set off the spelled ball while it was in my hand. Logan nodded, letting me stuff the marble sized ball into the middle of the Christmas-colored confetti, glitter, and sparkles.
“Okay, ready? It seems like everyone’s starting to stir,” I asked out loud. We had all collected in the living room yesterday for a day filled with movies, junk food, and lots of relaxing to the point that we’d ended up crashing where we sat. That will just make our prank today even better.
“Yup, let’s go.” Logan finished putting the top on it, shuffling down the hallway silently with the canister behind him. The guys were still mostly asleep or too tired to care that we had come back into the room together. Logan discreetly set the glitter bomb on the floor next to his little cocoon as we both settled into our makeshift bed.
“Where did you two run off to?” Lucie murmured, rolling over so she could look down at us from her position on the couch, her fingers reaching out to run through my hair. I couldn’t stop her even if I wanted to, a moan rumbling deep within my chest at the feeling of her fingers tangling within my messy bedhead.
“Nowhere, Lemon Drop,” I murmured, my eyes drifting shut as she massaged my head. Too soon the relaxing motion stopped, and I whined, pouting out my bottom lip slightly as I looked at her. “Why’d you stop?”
“Because Logan needs some too,” she said with a smile, her sleepy gaze looking between us. “And I know you are lying to me, you naughty daemon.”
“Who?” I heard Cam ask, his disheveled appearance looking at us, his hand reaching up mindlessly to grab for his glasses.
“The twins being troublemakers, I’m sure,” Hudson mumbled from under where he lay, his face shoved into his pillow.
“Well,” Logan started, smirking, “when we’re in the Christmas spirit, what else can we say other than…”
“Ho ho ho,” I finished with a laugh, the canister shooting off like a firework, erupting in a wave of silver glitter, red and green confetti, and sparkling twinkles that flared within the room.
“Dude!” Hudson groaned, trying to burrow under his blanket, but it wasn’t enough to save him.
“Little troublemakers!” Lucie shouted, her exclamation filled with squealing giggles as she played in the resulting glitter that dusted her blanket and hair. “I knew you two were up to something.”
“That is because they are the biggest pranksters,” Nik explained, sitting there with thinned lips as glitter and confetti coated his exposed torso and chocolate brown hair.
“How exactly do you plan on picking this up?” Dante’s brow rose as he looked at us. “This is Abigail's house, and you two don’t need to be trashing it.” I scoffed, waving a hand toward Lucie.
“She seems to be enjoying it,” I challenged, feeling a sense of pride at Lucie’s continued laughter as she scooped up some of the glitter and tossed it into the air above the rest of us.
“Thank you, you two.” She slipped out from under her blanket and into the space between us, pulling us into a hug. “I enjoyed your prank.”
“See!” Logan hollered in triumph, his chest puffing up as he stuck his tongue out at Dante.
“But we do have to clean this,” Lucie added, making both of us whine.
“Both of you,” Nik bit out, his milky eyes rolling before he muttered something too quiet to hear under his breath, his hands waving through the air. A brief sensation of static electricity whooshed through the space, and the glitter and confetti dissolved in a wave of sparkling magic, leaving Lucie gaping at the display.
“Holy shit!” she stage whispered, her eyes wide as she looked at Nik. “That was amazing, Nik.”
“A simple cleaning spell,” he murmured, his pale cheeks tinting pink under her praise. It was hard to remember that Lucie wasn’t used to this kind of behavior while we’d grown up around it. The wonder in her eyes was bright as she continued to glance around the room, inspecting the canister the glitter bomb had shot out of.
“This is so cool,” she mumbled, turning it around in her hands. “Show me how to use it some time?” She addressed the question at us, turning to look between my twin and me. The rest of the guys groaned at the thought of another joining our pranks, while getting out of their beds, but I couldn’t stop the curl to my lips.
“We’d love to,” Logan and I said at the same time.
“Any kind of positivity and cheer would be a miracle right now,” I thought, glancing at Logan who nodded.
Lucie has a little troublemaker behind that sweet smile and sapphire eyes, and I can’t wait to see what all she can do… but damn if I don’t want to talk to her about everything.
Lucienne
Glancing around the kitchen an hour later, I noticed several of my guys were mysteriously missing. Huh, wonder where they wandered off to, especially because breakfast is almost done and they never miss a chance to get food. Pulling the last of the bacon off the stove, I curved around Cam, Nik, and Hudson. They had clustered around the table when I started to make breakfast, now hollering about who was winning their impromptu game of UNO as I started toward the living room. I had expected the others to be in my room, but when I heard some angry murmurs coming from that direction, my steps faltered. Is Dante really that upset about their prank this morning?
"Jesus, dude, we're going to talk to her. It's only been a couple days, can't she just enjoy the holidays before getting the full brunt of everything?" I heard Logan hiss, only furthering my confusion.
"Of course, she can enjoy the break, but you still owe her an explanation, and I don’t want you to t
hink that you can get out of it by playing a bunch of holiday pranks this week. She deserves to know that you now owe a favor to them," Dante chastised, his voice hard. My brows drew down, and my heart started to race.
"Explanation for what?" I asked quietly, pushing the door open so they could see me. The twins' eyes widened, and when Dante looked over at me, he gave me a sad smile, all of which put me on edge. "Guys?"
"Tell her," Dante demanded, his words quiet, but the underlying command wasn't lost in his soft voice. Stepping into the room, I closed the door behind me and waited, my gaze darting between the three of them until finally, Logan sighed, seemingly deflating.
"When you were taken," Logan started, glaring at Dante for having to tell this story. With a soft kiss on my cheek Dante stepped out of the room, leaving me to face Logan and Landon alone. "Time was of the essence, and it was starting to look like it would be impossible to find you. Dean Renaud and the FSID team couldn't get the Tracker in time because he was busy with a serial killer case, and we were running out of leads... " Logan trailed off, rubbing his face in quick succession.
"Lo?" I murmured, anxiety starting to build at what he could possibly have to tell me.
"Sit down, Lemon Drop," Landon whispered, his burning coal eyes centered on my face. "This is kind of a long story."
"Okay..." I muttered, panic rising quickly. My hearing fuzzed over, and my vision tunneled as I tried to walk to the bed. I couldn't catch my breath, my mind whirling with every single outcome possible of this conversation, including the outrageous ones.
"Love." Logan's husky voice and cupped hands on my cheeks eased the panic attack, just enough that I was able to take a deep breath. "Lucie, come back to us, Love."
"I'm back," I mumbled, my vision widening after it tunneled, and my hearing returned.
"Please don't look so scared, Lemon Drop, please. I promise it isn't that bad," Landon nearly pleaded.
"We're not all knights in shining armor, Love." Logan knelt in front of me as I sank onto my bed. "Do you know what the Rage is?"
