Greatest Gift

by Moira Callahan

  She snorted loudly. “You can try, but don’t be disappointed when you fail miserably.”

  “Damn, now that there sounds like a challenge.”

  “Go, now,” she order. This time she pointed at the door with a stern look on her face he wanted to kiss away.

  “Fuck, you’re strict,” he muttered. “Is it weird I find that hot?”

  “Nichols!”

  “I’m going, I’m going.” Feeling lighter, he blew her a kiss from the doorway and left her be. He found he quite enjoyed playing with her. Whether it was verbal sparring or sexual in nature he was having fun with Holland Frost. A first for him in regards to a woman. But then again she wasn’t merely any woman.

  ****

  Thirty minutes later, he went to collect Holland. Seeing her on the phone, he stayed back from the door to give her privacy. His own cell rang when she let out a laugh. Enjoying it a moment longer, he finally answered, and moved away from the office.

  “Hi Nix.”

  “Am I interrupting?”

  The suggestive tone had Jakob letting out a growl. “We’re at the shop. Not that that’s stopped you in the past, but in this case, no, you’re not interrupting. What do you need?”

  “Shit, now I owe Grady fifty,” his friend muttered. “We got a courtesy call from our friends up north. Apparently there’s a small wolf group, five members, heading our way. They would have called sooner but their Alpha’s mate delivered a couple days ago.”

  Which meant they’d been busy, understandable. “Did they forward us the particulars?”

  “Yeah, and you’re not going to like this, brother. One is Carson.”

  Jakob’s blood chilled. There was a name he’d hoped never to hear again. “They’re already here.”

  “What? What do you mean? Did you see them somewhere?”

  “No, I haven’t seen them. But I had a weird feeling last night when Holland and I got to the house. I shrugged it off at the time because I couldn’t pick up a scent, and it dissipated quickly.” Now he realized how wrong he’d been.

  “Fucking hell, man, you should have called us.”

  Probably true. “Wasn’t anything to be done. You could have spent the night searching and come up empty. Now we know that Carson’s here, and he has four friends. Meet us at the house. Holland and I are going to stall by grabbing takeout, and then we’ll meet everyone there. And, Nix, when I say everyone, I mean the entire pack. I want every member on the same page.”

  “Shit, yeah, okay. Fuck! Why the hell can’t this asshole get that he’s unwanted here.”

  A noise had Jakob turning and he smiled at Holland. “I don’t know, man, but we’re going to drill the message into his skull this time.”

  “It’s going to take me at least forty minutes to find everyone, and another ten to clear the house before you get there. Can you stall an hour?”

  “Yup, because I’m going to tell her what exactly is going on.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “She’s it for me, Nix.” The other man would understand. There were never any secrets kept between mates. Including pack matters. While Holland wasn’t a wolf she was his and needed to be alert for all issues that could harm them. Especially given she was human.

  “Have you told her you’re keeping her?”

  “Not yet.” Then he had another thought. “Bet with Grady on this and I’ll neuter you both.”

  “Absolutely, no betting. Talk later.”

  Staring down at his cell, Jakob rubbed a finger to his nose. Fuckers had already bet. At a guess he’d say that those two would be talking soon to negate the bet already laid down. He would have to smack them both later. Hard.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cuddled into Jakob while they sat on his sofa, Holland tried to grasp what was going on. His pack, or rather the majority not including kids and teens, filled the room around them both. Before they’d returned home he’d taken her for take-out. The purpose had been to talk.

  “An ex-pack mate has returned to town,” he’d told her while she was stuffing her face with a taco.

  She hadn’t exactly known what to say to that rather odd statement, but she’d figured out from Jakob’s rather stiff posture it wasn’t a good thing. “Who is it, and why is it an ex-pack mate?”

  “His name is Carson Lloyd. Six years ago, he was among the Alpha’s inner circle. My inner circle. What I didn’t realize at the time was he had been planning a coup to take over the spot. Since he couldn’t best me per traditional hand to hand, his plan was to kill me when I was unaware. A visiting wolf from a pack up north overheard Carson discussing the plan with someone he appeared to be attempting to sway to the cause. Promising the individual a place at his right hand if they helped him oust me, permanently.”

  Nausea had nearly choked her thinking about a world without Jakob in it. After setting her taco down, she wiped at her mouth with a napkin, and then twisted it in her hands. “Obviously it didn’t work.” She was seriously glad it hadn’t.

  “No, our friend from the northern pack shared what he’d overheard. He was naturally worried we might be skeptical given it was his word against a pack member. But I’ve always taken any and every threat seriously. We put a loose watch on Carson, and caught him in the act. He was meeting with two others he thought he could sway to helping him and in we walked. He has always been a cocky fuck, and that day was no different. Told me straight out that it was time for new leadership and he was the guy for the job. Even those he’d been attempting to convince minutes earlier told him flat out it wasn’t happening. He didn’t have a leg to stand on. We called a vote and he was tossed out, labeled a rogue, and told in no uncertain terms never to return to our lands. To do so would be a death sentence. No judge, no jury, no defense.”

  “Harsh but understandable. I’m amazed you let him walk away.”

  He shrugged. “Not my preference but the vote stood. He had only been talking, and nothing had come from it. Therefore we couldn’t call for a blood trial. That’s a fight to the death.”

  “Right.” She wrinkled her nose. Holland was squeamish and didn’t care who knew it.

  Jakob’s hand slid warmly over hers and squeezed. “The pack made the call and I stood behind it. I could have vetoed being Alpha but there wasn’t a need at that time. If Carson is back, and I’m willing to bet he is given my unease last night, then he’s broken the agreement. When we find him it will be a slow, painful death for him.”

  She could understand the stance. The guy had been plotting to kill Jakob, and take over the pack leadership. It only made her realize the world Jakob lived in had different rules. Which made sense given they weren’t human. A harsher world had different rules to live by.

  Now she sat there wondering what she’d gotten herself into. While she was ready to take the next steps, whatever they might be, to be in his life she found herself questioning the choice. Not Jakob, but getting in deeper. And she was getting in deeper since she was currently sitting in on the pack meeting about the Carson problem. Or maybe threat would be a better term.

  “We haven’t seen him yet,” someone was saying. “But if he’s here there are only a few places he might consider safe. I’ve already assigned a couple scouts to check them all out. We should have something later today.”

  “Good. I don’t want anyone approaching him, or alerting him that we realize he’s here. We need to discover what his plan is before he sets it in motion,” Jakob told the group.

  Once everyone agreed the meeting broke up with pretty much everyone leaving. Only Grady, Nix and someone Jakob had called Tia stuck around. Holland was wary around Grady and Nix, but Tia made her downright nervous. The female wolf seemed to look right through Holland and find her wanting. There wasn’t much there she could put her finger on in regards to Tia, but thus far it had been frosty from the wolf’s end.

  Nix went to raid the kitchen while Grady flopped down in an armchair. Tia wandered to a window and stood staring outside. Turning her face up to
Jakob, she raised a brow. Holland didn’t know if he wanted her to stick around for whatever this might be or go find something else to do. His arms tightened around her in a silent request to remain.

  “You do realize he likely was scouting you out, right?” Grady said.

  “Yeah, which means he knows about Holland.”

  Grady shot her a look, and winked. It startled her that Jakob’s best friends, and cohorts into trouble, seemed to approve her being with him. “We’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “Won’t be much to see,” she piped up. “I’m off work until after Boxing Day. I’ll be helping Jakob get the shop’s accounting up to date but beyond that I have zero plans.”

  “Then we’ll know where you are won’t we?” he asked.

  “You know,” Tia suddenly said, the frost still in her tone. “If Carson left the northern pack when they said he did he would have been here prior to the break in at her apartment. Seems awfully coincidental when you start looking at the pieces from the outside. Everyone in town knows you’ve had a thing for her, seen you two dancing around one another, and then suddenly her car breaks down leaving you to take her home.”

  Jakob’s body was tense under her. Holland hadn’t even considered that angle, but then she hadn’t known who, or what Jakob was at that point. “Why would they break into her place, or the others?” Nix asked. He’d wandered back out with a plate in hand to take the other armchair. “I mean they could have tracked his scent up to her place since he wouldn’t have been thinking to conceal it, there was no reason to. But why the break-ins?”

  “Carson has a hate on for Jakob, we all know that. What better way to hurt him than to hurt someone he cares about? Yes, Carson could go after the pack, but the bond isn’t the same. Not like with a mate,” Tia said.

  Grady was sitting forward now with his elbows braced to his knees. “She has a point. Everyone in town knows that Holland has no family here, sorry.”

  She waved it off. “It’s fine.” It was a fact she couldn’t dispute.

  “And if Carson only recently hit town he would have only seen some interaction between them. Enough that he might ask a few questions, and hear what he wanted to hear. But he couldn’t have known for sure until she’d called Jakob. Hell, even I would have bet against that. No offence, Alpha, but you really weren’t her most fave person until recent days.”

  Holland glared at the other wolf even while her face heated up. She couldn’t deny his words any more than Jakob could. But the asshole didn’t have point it out like that.

  “True, but he may not have found anyone that could tell him that part. Or maybe he’s had a spy here the entire time watching us dance around one another. They wouldn’t have been able to get too close without tipping someone off.”

  “Which means they’ll only have seen bits and pieces,” Grady concluded. “And depending on what they did see they might have concluded that if something happened at her place she’d most likely call on you. Makes sense to a degree. But this is all guesswork, and the break-in might not have anything to do with Carson. The cops are still working it with no leads. We can’t assume anything when it comes to Carson.”

  “You’re right,” Jakob said. “We also can’t become complacent either. He will make a move, which means we need to ready for it.”

  “What move is he going to make?” Holland finally asked. She’d followed their lines of reasoning easily enough, but she didn’t know nearly enough about this Carson individual.

  “Best guess is he’ll try to cut Jakob off from the pack,” Tia told her. The whole speaking down her nose really was getting old for Holland. She would need to ask Jakob about the other woman and find out why she kept getting frostbite each time she spoke. “Either he’ll make a call with false information, or use you.”

  “Me?”

  “You are his greatest weakness.”

  Oh no she did not! Holland would have gotten off Jakob’s lap to get in the bitch’s face if not for the tightening hold he had on her.

  “Tia, enough.” Jakob’s tone was biting before he looked to his friends. “Set up the watch and make sure you keep me in the loop on what is found at Carson’s old haunts. I don’t want to be caught unaware.”

  “We’re on it,” Grady told him.

  Nix set his now empty plate aside, got to his feet, and then headed right for Tia. The other woman looked like she was ready to dig in her heels, but changed her mind. Turning on her heel, she headed for the front door, likely would have slammed it if Nixon hadn’t been on her heels to stop it. Grady followed them out already on his phone.

  “What the hell is up her ass?” Holland demanded the moment they were alone in the house.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Now there was a loaded question. Sighing, Jakob pulled Holland in closer, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Tia’s overprotective, always has been. For a time, I thought she had feelings for me but I was wrong. I’m not entirely sure what’s gone on in her past but it’s hardened her. Though, when she makes friends she will go to the wall for them with little to no regard for her own personal safety.”

  A breath against his neck and Holland relaxed. He’d been stunned when he’d had to hold her down. She hadn’t struggled against the hold, but if he hadn’t been attuned to her like he was he knew she’d have slipped free. What she might have done was anyone’s guess. Jakob had a feeling it wouldn’t have been pretty.

  “Well, she needs to get over it,” she muttered. “I’m sticking around.”

  Smiling at her words, he nuzzled her cheek. “Glad to hear it. Not that I was going to let you go, but it’s much easier when you capitulate easily.”

  That earned him a smack to his arm. “You are such a Neanderthal at times.”

  “Yes, I am.” He would own that proudly. While it wasn’t the PC thing, he didn’t care. Jakob had long ago learned to be who he was and not who everyone else wanted him to be. “You like it, admit it.”

  “I am currently tolerating it. We’ll see how long that lasts.”

  “I’m in this for the long haul, sweet cheeks. We’ll find our balance in time.” Rubbing his hand over her thigh, he checked the time. “We should finish wrapping those gifts up if you want to get them dropped off today. Or are you planning to wait until tomorrow?”

  “No, we should get them all delivered tonight. I plan to have you all to myself all day tomorrow. Unless you have other plans.”

  Jakob quickly ran through everything in his head. “Nope. Shop’s closed until the New Year to give everyone time off with their family, which means I have no plans. Although, there will be a pack dinner on Boxing Day. We used to do it on Christmas but that’s a pain for everyone. This way they have the day with their families, and the following with everyone else.”

  Holland sat up on his lap to look at him. “What did you used to do for Christmas?”

  The question was gently asked, her worry obvious in her expression. She didn’t want to hurt him he realized. “Not much. Usually watched a football game, and occasionally caught up with Grady or Nix for an early dinner in the city. There’s a couple joints we know about open all year round. They do close early than normal on Christmas, but we made it work.”

  “Not this year.”

  “Nope, not this year. It’s time for new traditions, ones you and I create together.”

  “Which I should get started on. I want to do the prep today, it’ll give us more free time tomorrow. Want to help?” she asked.

  “Absolutely.” Any time he got to be with Holland was a good time in his books.

  Gripping her jaw, he tipped her head back and kissed her deeply. She let out a moan that raked through his body to end in a deep throb in his cock. Jakob forced his head up with one last peck to her lips. “What do you need me to do?”

  “What?”

  Amused at the glassy eyed look she gave him, he brushed his lips over her cheek. “What do you want me to help you with for the preparations, sweet cheeks?”

  “
Stop calling me that, and quit frying my brain out, Nichols. God damn, you should come with a fucking warning label.” Shoving up off his lap, she glared at him before heading to the kitchen. “Get your ass up. You get to chop vegetables.”

  With a snort, he followed her and turned himself over to her tender mercies. Whatever she needed him to do he would do.

  ****

  Two hours later, he was grating carrots for the coleslaw she planned to make when his phone rang. Digging it up, he stuck it between shoulder and ear to talk while he kept working. Jakob hadn’t missed the look Holland had thrown over her shoulder in his direction.

  “Nichols,” he said.

  “We found Carson.”

  He had to make a grab for the phone at the words that startled him. “What?”

  “I said, we found Carson.”

  “Funny, Nix.” Fucker had enunciated slowly in that way perfectly designed to piss Jakob off. “How the hell did you find him?”

  “Wasn’t that hard. He’s sitting at the diner on Main Street with another male wolf. According to Leona they’ve been there all day. Since they kept ordering she didn’t kick them out, but was growing suspicious about their intent.”

  Munching on the leftover carrot he had in hand, Jakob propped a hip to the counter. “Take Grady in, leave the others on watch. Keep it peaceful, Nix. If the sheriff arrests you I’m damn well leaving your ass in jail until the new year.”

  “Fuck you, my mom would totally kick your ass if you did that.”

  “Well, you could call her to bail you out?”

  “Are you fucking insane? That woman would neuter my ass if she had to bail me out.”

  “Pick your poison carefully then, bro. Let me know what the fucker has to say and let me know if I need to come down there.”

  “Talk later.”

  After sliding his phone back into a pocket, Jakob stared out the window into his back yard. A warm hand on his back jolted him from his reverie. “Sorry, sweet cheeks, didn’t mean to get distracted from my task.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. Leaning her cheek on his upper arm, she stared up at him. “Is everything all right with Nix?”