ChoosingHisChristmasMiracle

by Charlie Richards

  Lily took that moment to blink open blue eyes—blue eyes so similar to his sister’s—and let out a loud wail. Sean shifted his hold on his niece, bouncing her gently on his hip. “Hey, little sweetie. Easy now. You’re just fine,” he crooned.

  “Geez,” Raul muttered, catching Sean’s attention. “How does such a little cub make such a loud sound?”

  He actually chuckled at the wide-eyed look Raul was giving Lily. “Awe, this is nothing,” he assured. “You should hear her when she’s hungry. This just means she’s wet.” Sean lifted a brow. “Do you have somewhere I can change her?”

  It seemed to take Raul a moment to process the question, then the human took a step back, saying, “Uh, yeah. This way.”

  Raul turned and led the way through the living room, past a dining room, and along a hall. The door on the left stood open, revealing a bathroom. Through an open door on the right was an office. The second door on the left was closed. This one Raul opened and stepped back, letting Sean enter first.

  Turning his back to his mate, trusting Fate’s judgment of the man, Sean headed into a spare bedroom done in pale blues and greens. He lay Lily on the bed, then dropped the diaper bag from his shoulder to the mattress a couple feet from her. He rummaged through the contents, pulling out the needed items—diaper, wipes, powder.

  Sean could feel Raul’s presence over his shoulder, so he began to talk. If he didn’t look at his sexy mate, Sean stood a much better chance of getting his words right than if he were distracted by more than just his intoxicating scent.

  “My sister Sarah, her mate died while she was carrying their first child. She managed to live long enough to give birth to Lily, here,” he said softly, nodding toward the child he cleaned and changed. “After that, she passed.”

  “I’m sorry,” Raul said, sounding sincere. He rested a hand on Sean’s shoulder and squeezed, trying to offer reassurance.

  Sean paused in his work, relishing the contact. Glancing over his shoulder, he forced himself to continue. “That day in the woods…” He paused, uncertain how to say what needed to be said.

  He didn’t need to. Raul seemed to guess. “You were punished for saving my life.”

  Jerking a nod, Sean knew a hard smile twisted his lips. “I couldn’t tell them who you were to me,” he whispered.

  “Embarrassed to be mated to a man?” Raul snapped, pulling away.

  Damn, my mate really thinks the worst of me. Considering how they’d met though, Sean couldn’t blame him. “No,” he immediately replied. He again paused and looked at Raul over his shoulder. “Never.”

  “Then what?” Raul asked, clearly disbelieving.

  Raul finished changing his niece before answering. He rested a hand gently on her back as she gurgled and kicked happily now that she was clean. “I knew my sister would give birth any day, and that I’d be the one raising Lily,” he said, meeting his mate’s gaze. It shocked him to see the hurt in the other man’s eyes before Raul hid it.

  “I couldn’t run the risk that my bigoted alpha wouldn’t just kill me, or worse, go after you, Sarah, or try to take Lily from me.” Sean shook his head. “I didn’t like any of my options, but I did the best I could with the hand life dealt me.”

  Just then, Lily froze under his palm. A second later, she let out a loud wail. Sean closed his eyes, hating her timing, but knowing he needed to feed her. As much as he wanted to concentrate on Raul, explain everything, and beg for understanding, Lily came first.

  “Let me guess,” Raul murmured. “Lily is hungry.”

  Sean grimaced, then nodded. He pulled the makings for a bottle from his bag, then picked Lily up. “Can I use your kitchen?” he asked quietly.

  Raul nodded once. “Sure.”

  “I’m really sorry,” Sean said as he once more followed Raul through his house. “I thought she’d nap for another hour. I thought I’d have enough time to talk to you.”

  “This is actually good,” Raul replied, surprising Sean with his answer. Raul looked over his shoulder at him, raking him with a lustful look. “This way we actually get a chance to talk instead of getting carried away by the mate-pull.”

  “You know about that?” Sean asked, knowing his shock sounded loud and clear in his words.

  Raul snorted while hitting a light switch to illuminate the kitchen, then waving him inside. “Of course. My best friend is mated to a shifter. I met you when I came with shifters. Why the hell does my knowledge surprise you?”

  Sean prepared the bottle for Lily, then took the liberty of settling into a chair at the breakfast nook before answering. He looked at Raul who lounged comfortably with one shoulder resting on the kitchen wall. Damn, the human really was a sexy specimen.

  He finally shrugged. “I apologize. I guess I never really thought about it.”

  Grunting, Raul strode toward the second chair, the one across from Sean. His mate had just grabbed the back of the chair, probably intending to pull it out and sit down, when the sound of a door slamming open echoed through the house.

  Raul growled, glaring toward the front.

  Sean’s jaw dropped open when his mate pulled a gun from under the table and pointed it toward the doorway. He rose, holding a mewling Lily close, trying to decide the best course of action—to shift or not?

  A human dressed in blue jeans and a black turtleneck appeared in the doorway, his own gun at the ready. A lean, gray wolf stood at his side, a low warning growl rumbling through his throat. Sean was about to tuck Lily under the table and shift to wolf—fuck ruining the clothes he wore, when Raul lowered the gun and cursed.

  “Son of a bitch, Jared. What the fuck are you two doing?”

  Okay, evidently, his mate knew these guys. From the way the human swept a cold hazel-eyed gaze around the room, Sean didn’t know if that was a good thing. The human, Jared, focused on him, giving him an assessing look.

  “You didn’t come back, Raul. We were worried, especially when Carson scented a strange wolf near your home,” Jared responded quietly, his gaze never straying from Sean. “Who is this?”

  At least, both humans lowered their guns. Raul returned his own weapon back to wherever he hid it under the table. The other man, Jared, slipped the gun behind his back and came up empty handed.

  “Shit,” Raul muttered. He glanced toward Sean, then returned focus to Jared. “This is Sean Garcia.”

  “Interesting timing,” Jared responded mildly.

  The words confused Sean, but Raul seemed to understand, for he grimaced. “Yeah, funny, huh?” He turned toward him and waved toward the strangers. “This is Jared Templeton and Carson Angeni. Carson is our head pack enforcer. Jared is his mate.” Raul brushed a hand through his red hair and muttered, “Guys, Sean is my mate.”

  Sean knew his expression appeared just as shocked as he felt. Raul had just verbally claimed him. He fought the urge to grin and, instead, did a mental fist-pump. If Raul was at least willing to voice the fact that they were mates, it meant the human was going to give their bond a chance. Sean could work with that.

  A now-human Carson spoke, drawing Sean’s attention. “I wasn’t notified that a wolf from another pack was entering the territory.”

  Sean grimaced. Double damn. “I wasn’t certain Raul would be receptive, or even remember me,” he admitted. “I wanted to make certain he was…well…” He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts in order.

  Raul planted his hands on his hips and frowned at him. “Damn it, man. How could you pull that shit? Especially, after everything that happened with your alpha and Kyle?” he snapped, green eyes flashing.

  Too busy taking in his mate’s sexy fierce expression and flushed cheeks, Sean didn’t really pay attention to his words. He wanted to know how far down that red would creep in the heat of passion. Not that Sean really knew what he’d do to Raul if he got him in his bed. Sure, he understood the basics—Insert tab A into slot B. Still, the mechanics of man-on-man sex eluded him. Maybe he should have done some research, but just the idea
of watching porn felt like he was cheating or something.

  “Sean!”

  The frustrated snap of his name caused Sean to blink and focus on his glaring mate. Shit! What’d I miss? He glanced at the other two men, surprise rocking through him at Jared’s amused smirk and Carson’s bland expression as he shook his head.

  “What?” he muttered, trying desperately to catch up.

  “Sorry, pal,” Jared said. “You’ll have to fuck him later. We gotta take a little pit stop at the alpha’s first.”

  He felt the blood drain from his face. “Oh,” he whispered, tightening his hold on Lily. How could I be so stupid?

  Sean, however, knew what had happened. He’d been so consumed with discovering if his mate remembered him that all proper protocol had flown from his head. Now he’d done the exact same thing that had caused so many problems for the Stone Ridge wolf that had intruded into his old pack’s territory. Would this alpha, Declan if he remembered correctly, demand restitution? And if so, what?

  Raul shoved a hand through his hair. “So much for my shower,” he muttered. He pointed at Lily and said, “Want me to hold her while you get into your coat? Where’d we leave that blanket she’d been wrapped in?”

  It warmed Sean that his mate seemed to worry about Lily. Pulling his courage together, Sean carefully handed Lily to Raul, then pulled on his coat. To his surprise, Lily didn’t even fuss. She just stared up at Raul with her big blue eyes as the human stared down at her.

  After a couple seconds, Raul’s firm lips curved up at the corners. “Well, aren’t you just a cute little angel,” he crooned, wiggling a finger at her.

  Lily squealed and latched onto Raul’s finger with one chubby fist.

  “Wow,” Sean murmured. “I’ve never seen her take to someone so fast.”

  “And I’ve never seen Raul with a kid,” Jared stated dryly. “Fucking surreal.”

  Raul glared at his friend—at least, Sean assumed they were friends. After pulling on his coat, Sean reached out and took Lily back, tucking her close. “The blanket is in the bedroom where we changed her, I think,” he said, finally answering the man’s earlier question.

  Raul nodded and headed that way. Sean took a step after him, then stopped himself. There was no need to follow the man, but the urge to do just that sure was strong. He didn’t want to let the redheaded human out of his sight. It had taken too damn long to find him.

  Which brought him back to the problem of his rash actions, just what would Declan do?

  To Sean’s surprise, Jared clapped a hand on his neck and squeezed. It wasn’t in a dominant way—okay, there was definitely an aspect of dominance to it, but it was also familiar and reassuring, too. It almost felt like the reassurance from a higher ranking wolf.

  “Stop worrying so much,” Jared said. “You’ll give yourself an ulcer. Declan is a reasonable man.” The human’s grin appeared shockingly malicious. “Far more reasonable than I’ll be if you fuck with my best friend in any way.”

  Well, that answered the question of whether or not Raul and Jared were friends. They were, and good ones from the sounds of it.

  Sean jerked a nod, not completely surprised by the way his wolf easily bowed to this man’s show of dominance. He was a tracker, and not really a dominant one, which is why he’d ended up in so much hot water for defending his mate when Raul and his friends had gone to Idaho to help their pack-mate save a human Sean’s ex-alpha had been holding.

  Between taking care of Lily and healing, Sean had been in no position to go anywhere, no matter how much he and his wolf had wanted to locate Raul.

  “I’m not gonna fuck with Raul,” Sean stated. “He’s my mate. I just wanna care for him.”

  “And the cub?” Carson asked, stepping close.

  “That’s enough,” Raul snapped, returning to the room.

  Jared shrugged, but dropped his hand. Even Carson didn’t press for information. Just what the fuck were the dynamics between all these guys? From the way Carson wrapped a proprietary arm around Jared, it was easy to see they were mates, but how did Raul fit into it? Why would a wolf enforcer and his mate take orders from an unbound human?

  Gods, his head was starting to hurt. The strain of the last several months was catching up with Sean, and he fought the urge to return to his hotel room and hide until everything made sense.

  “We’ll warm the SUV,” Carson stated. “Don’t be long.”

  Raul nodded, indicating he’d heard. Sean’s disorientation grew. First Raul gave an order, which Carson followed, then Carson gave an order which Raul acknowledged. What the fuck?

  Sean allowed Raul to help him wrap the blanket around Lily and tuck her into his coat. Raul’s warm hand cupped Sean’s jaw, urging him to focus on him. “Hey, you doing okay there?”

  “What?” he whispered.

  “You’re looking a little lost, Sean,” Raul murmured. “Are you with me?”

  “Your pack dynamics are confusing,” he blurted out, feeling his face heat.

  Raul smirked, and wasn’t that a sexy look on the human. “Yeah, I guess I can see how you’d be confused, what with the way they barged in then with all the barbs exchanged. Carson really is the boss of us,” Raul explained, “being our pack’s head enforcer, but he’s pretty lenient where his mate is concerned as long as it’s just us around.” He shrugged. “As far as backing off when I asked, Carson knows you’ll have to explain everything to Declan once we get there, so he’ll get his answers then.”

  “Ah, yeah, that should—that should be interesting.” He was so not looking forward to this.

  “Relax. We’ll work this out,” Raul soothed.

  Then, to Sean’s eternal shock, the human leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss to his lips. It happened so fast that Sean just stood there and didn’t react. Then his mate was turning and pulling on his own jacket.

  “Let’s get this done,” Raul said, leading the way from the house.

  Sean could do nothing but follow.

  Chapter Three

  What the fuck was that?

  Raul had never kissed a man in his life, so why had he now? Was it the fucking mate-pull that he’d heard so much about? Could be. The poor shifter had just looked so lost, so confused, something in Raul had desperately wanted to soothe him.

  The fact that he wanted to turn around and take the man right back into the house to do God knew what with certainly didn’t bear thinking about. God damn. Now that the man he’d been obsessing over for months was here, just what the hell was he supposed to do with him?

  Raul knew Jared would be more than happy to give him all kinds of lewd advice, but that wasn’t really what he thought the skittish man following him out the door—a skittish man holding a baby—really needed.

  A baby! Double damn! Not only was Sean here professing to be Raul’s mate, but he’d brought his niece with him. The idea of having kids had never even crossed Raul’s mind—well, maybe it had, in the deepest, darkest corner somewhere. Sean had essentially presented him with a ready-made family. Could Raul handle that? His life had just become extremely complicated.

  “I guess I need to get Lily’s car seat.”

  Sean’s softly mused words jerked Raul back to the present. He gave himself a mental slap upside the head as he glanced between Carson’s SUV and the small subcompact parked off to the side.

  “Yeah,” Raul said. “It’d be better if you ride in with us rather than on your own.”

  “Like a prisoner.”

  Raul barely made out Sean’s muttered words. His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed as he watched Sean try to detach the car seat from his car. Unable to watch the man struggle, Raul grabbed Sean’s forearm and gently urged him to straighten.

  “That’s not what I meant,” Raul murmured. “You’re not a prisoner. You’re a welcome guest until Declan says otherwise, which I seriously doubt he’ll do.” He didn’t like the disbelief clearly etched across Sean’s expression. Raul heaved a sigh, but he couldn’t think of anyth
ing reassuring.

  Instead, he turned the shifter toward the SUV. “Go on. Get Lily out of the cold. I’ll get this and be right there.”

  For just a second, Raul felt certain Sean was going to refuse. Then his shoulders sagged and he nodded once. Raul watched Sean head to the running vehicle and shook his head. He hated how defeated Sean looked and prayed he could figure out how to give the wolf the reassurance he obviously seemed to need.

  Raul made quick work of the car seat, then locked and closed up Sean’s small car. He carried the contraption to the SUV, where, with Sean’s soft instructions, he installed it on the short, middle bench seat.

  He settled in the back and watched Sean carefully strap in a slightly fussy Lily. It pleased Raul, probably unreasonably so, that Sean joined him in the back. Besides, he thought, berating himself, it was probably just more comfortable for Sean to lean over the short middle seat to tend Lily than try to fit on the seat next to her. The car seat did take up most of the space on the shorter middle row.

  Except, that wouldn’t explain the way Sean leaned back and put his arm along the back of the seat and started fiddling with the short hairs at the nape of Raul’s neck. It sent a shiver down his spine, which settled in his cock. His dick had been at half-mast ever since he’d recognized Sean. Even watching him change Lily and then Jared’s unexpected interruption hadn’t wilted him completely. Now all the blood flowed right back south.

  Raul couldn’t bring himself to dislodge the man’s hand, liking the contact too much. He flashed a smile at Sean and found himself patting his leg. “Everything will be fine,” he muttered inanely. Hadn’t he already said that? The gentle fingers on his neck sent tingles across his spine that short-circuited his brain.

  Damn, did he like this shifter’s touch.

  Everything he’d heard Jared tell him about the mate-pull returned to him—the undeniable urges to touch and taste, the desire to please, to protect, and most of all, Raul desperately wanted to hold and pleasure this man.