by Paige Tyler
Contents
Copyright
Title Page
Author's Note:
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
Copyright © 2017 by Paige Tyler
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the author.
MOE & KELSEY: A CHRISTMAS STORY
Paige Tyler
Author’s Note:
Ever since Kelsey met Moe, we’ve wanted to do a story with them! In the Special Wolf Alpha Team timeline, this story actually takes place after Wolf Hunger, but don’t worry, there aren’t any spoilers. Oh, and they really do call Grapevine the Christmas Capital, although we took a little creative license with some of the events at the street fair. Hope you love Kelsey and Moe’s story!
Happy Reading!
CHAPTER ONE
THE SNOW SLOWLY sliding down the back of his neck would be cold as hell if he wasn’t a werewolf. Moe Jenkins tensed and scrunched his shoulders as another snowball found its way underneath the collar of his jacket. A few feet away, his girlfriend, Kelsey Barton, laughed and quickly bent to scoop up another handful of the white stuff, her long, blond hair falling forward over her shoulder. He grinned, unable to help himself. He liked hearing her laugh.
He and Kelsey, along with his packmates, Jayna Winston, Megan Dorsey, Joseph Garner, and Chris Hughes, all with their significant others, were in Grapevine, better known as the Christmas Capital of Texas. A cool place to hang out anytime, it was even more awesome at this time of year, because right after Thanksgiving, the town transformed into a winter wonderland that looked like something on a holiday card. In addition to the manmade snow, there were hundreds of colorful decorations and what had to be a million twinkling lights. The foster families he’d grown up in after his mom had OD’d when he was fourteen hadn’t been big on holidays, and while his pack had celebrated Christmas, it hadn’t been with all the trimmings, so this stuff was new to him. He was glad he was experiencing it for the first time with Kelsey and his packmates.
Moe was still thinking about that when he caught sight of a blond guy in a turtleneck sweater and skinny jeans standing a few feet behind Kelsey checking her out. A grin tugging at his mouth, the Abercrombie and Fitch model palmed a snowball and aimed it at her. Moe didn’t know if he was trying to get her attention or just thought it’d be fun to hit her with it. Regardless, there was no way in hell Moe was going to let the guy get within a mile of her, be it with a snowball or anything else.
Grabbing some snow, Moe quickly formed it into a ball and slung it at Pretty Boy, smacking him upside the head and sending him staggering back a few feet. If Moe had wanted to, he could have nailed the guy hard enough to knock him out. But he didn’t want to hurt him, merely make him think twice about trying to get close to Kelsey. While Pretty Boy was brushing snow off his sweater and eyeballing him warily, Moe jogged over to Kelsey. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her in for a kiss.
“Your lips are cold,” he said with a faux shiver. “Let’s grab some hot chocolate”
She grinned. “I never turn down a mug of cocoa. Especially if Christmas cookies are part of the deal.”
“I think I can manage that,” he chuckled.
As they headed for the exit of the snow-filled area, Moe looked around for his pack alpha. Jayna, and her mate, SWAT cop Eric Becker, were half hidden behind a big pile of snow along with Chris, Megan, and her boyfriend, Zak Gibson, who tossed a well-aimed snowball at Joseph where he and his girlfriend, Mia Barlowe, were gearing up to retaliate with chilly missiles of their own alongside Eric’s fellow SWAT members and packmates, Jayden Brooks and Zane Kendrick.
Moe caught Jayna’s eye and pointed toward the sidewalk with his free hand, his way of telling her he wanted some private time with his girl. As if sensing something was up, the rest of his pack looked his way. Not surprising. Unlike Becker and his SWAT pack, which was made up of all alpha werewolves, everyone in Moe’s pack except Jayna were beta werewolves. They were an extremely close group…as in so close they could practically feel each other’s emotions. Because of that, they liked to stay close to each other. Being apart for very long made them feel a lonely. Moe had always been cool with that, because he’d been without that feeling of closeness for most of his life. But being in a tight pack made it damn hard to get some alone time with Kelsey, especially since his pack all lived together. Being super close meant they tended to stick their noses in each other’s business whether their fellow packmates wanted them to or not. Moe supposed he shouldn’t be too hard on them. When Megan and Zak had gone to Galveston for a getaway weekend that summer, Moe had been the first one to suggest they all follow, just to make sure she was okay. The truth was, all of them had felt uneasy having one of their members that far away.
Of course, it didn’t help that Kelsey had no idea that she was dating a werewolf—or that he was part of a pack. She probably thought they were just really close friends.
But revealing he was a werewolf wasn’t something he was eager to do—at least not yet. He might be crazy for her and already half in love, but they’d just started dating in August. And while he was pretty sure she liked him just as much, he wasn’t convinced she was ready for the whole werewolf convo. He didn’t want to scare her off. It was tough as hell hiding it, though, especially when they were at the loft where his pack lived. Chris’s new girlfriend didn’t know they were all werewolves, either, so when she and Kelsey were there, he and the pack had to be super careful not to let anything slip.
Over by the big pile of snow, Jayna smiled, giving him a wave. She was such a cool alpha. So much better than the butthead who used to run their pack.
There was a vendor selling hot chocolate and cookies on the sidewalk right outside the snow area, so he and Kelsey didn’t have to go far for a snack.
“We were so busy throwing snowballs at each other, I forgot to ask how work was today,” Kelsey said, nibbling on a cookie as they walked.
A few crumbs clung to the corner of her mouth and Moe was so mesmerized watching her lick them off that it took him a moment to answer.
“Great.” He bit into his own cookie, then washed it down with a swig of hot chocolate. “Megan and I spent the day exercising horses on the underwater treadmill.”
He and the rest of his pack worked at a horse rehabilitation center about thirty minutes outside of Dallas. In addition to caring for retired race horses, the rehab center also took in those that had been injured or abused. Right now, the center had about twenty horses.
Kelsey gave him a sidelong glance. “When you say underwater, you don’t really mean completely submerged, right?”
“Well…yeah. I mean…underwater is underwater.”
Her brow furrowed in the cutest way as she considered that. “You’re making that up.”
“No, I’m not.” He grinned, unable to resist teasing her. “They have special scuba gear and everything. It’s kind of hard getting the mask to fit their head, though. And they keep chewing up the mouthpiece.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then thumped him on the arm. “You’re so making that up!”
He couldn’t help chuckling. “Okay, I did. But I had you going there for a minute.”
Kelsey laughed and shook her head. “Because I’m so gullible.”
“I like to think of it as trusting,” he corrected.
She rolled her eyes and sipped her cocoa. “Tell me about this treadmill thing.”
“So, the treadmill is in a tank and the water comes up to the horse’s withers—that’s the area between their shoulders,” Moe explained. “We use it
to treat injuries on animals that can’t put full weight on their legs, but it’s also a great low-impact exercise for race horses because it helps condition their muscles.”
“That’s so cool.”
“Yeah, it is. There must be something soothing about being in the water because the horses love it.”
And he loved working with them. Even though he hadn’t had pets growing up, he’d always wanted a dog or a cat or a hamster. Hell, he would have been cool with a goldfish. But the families he’d lived with could barely take care of the kids they fostered. So, getting to work with animals every day was awesome as far as he was concerned.
“Doc Addison said he wants me to start assisting in surgery next week,” Moe added. “He said that since I’m going to school to be a veterinarian, I should start learning that kind of stuff.”
Kelsey turned away from the life-size gingerbread house she’d been admiring to look at him. “That’s fantastic!”
“Yeah, I’m pretty psyched,” he admitted. “Just hope I don’t screw up and hand him the wrong surgical implement or something.”
He was a quick learner and had always done okay in school, but unlike Kelsey—and even Megan, who was also studying to be a vet—college wasn’t coming quite as easily. He had to study like crazy, especially when it came to math. Luckily, they all had a lot of the same classes together, so Kelsey and Megan helped him out a lot.
Kelsey shook her head. “You won’t screw up. You’re going to rock it!”
Moe opened his mouth to thank her for the vote of confidence, but she went up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, silencing him with a kiss.
“Come on,” she said, taking his hand with a grin. “Let’s check out the gingerbread house.”
Moe would be lying if he said the gingerbread house wasn’t pretty damn amazing, not to mention smelled delicious. Even so, it didn’t compare to how amazing Kelsey was. Or how delicious she smelled. One sniff with his werewolf nose and it was enough to make him high. That wasn’t a bad description actually since she was like a drug to his senses. The crazy thing? She didn’t even seem to realize it. Instead, she gazed at the gumdrops and frosted gingerbread all around them in wonder, completely oblivious to the fact that he only had eyes for her.
Oh yeah, he was falling in love for sure.
CHAPTER TWO
THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE house smelled so good, Kelsey wanted to take a bite. Kind of like she wanted to do to her cute boyfriend. Beside her, Moe grinned, his teeth a flash of white against his brown skin. Was he thinking about doing the same to her? The thought made her pulse skip a beat.
“Where to next?” he asked as they walked outside. “You want to check out the ice sculptures or go snow tubing?”
It didn’t take her long to decide. “Both. In that order.”
“Works for me,” Moe said.
She slipped her hand in his, loving how warm his palm was against hers. They rarely got freezing temperatures in Dallas, but it was December, so the evening air was cool. Moe didn’t seem to notice at all, though. He didn’t even have his jacket zipped.
The ice sculptures were only a block down from the gingerbread house, and as they wandered through the impressive collection of frozen artwork, Kelsey glanced at her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye.
She’d fallen for him the moment they’d met. She hadn’t even intended to go with her sister Lacey and her boyfriend, SWAT officer Alex Trevino, to the cookout at the SWAT compound, but when Lacey asked if she wanted to join them, Kelsey found herself tagging along. And had ended up spending the entire time with Moe.
Who could blame her? With his chocolate brown eyes, gorgeous smile, and all that lean muscle, Moe was seriously cute. Plus, he was easy to talk to, made her laugh, and even liked the same kind of movies she did.
The best part? He was a werewolf!
How cool was that?
She could barely say the word to herself without shouting it out loud for all of Texas to hear. But Moe didn’t know that she knew what he was, and she wasn’t quite sure how to bring it up. She could understand why he didn’t put it out there on social media for the whole world, but she was his girlfriend. Did he think she wouldn’t believe him? Or did he simply not trust her with his secret? Crap, what if he thought she’d be disgusted with his wolfie appearance? Assuming he had a wolfie appearance. She wasn’t too sure about that part of the werewolf thing.
Kelsey snapped a quick picture with her phone of a lovingly carved ice dragon, then grabbed Moe’s hand. “Selfie.”
He immediately put his head close to hers, grinning at the camera. She smiled, too, thumbing the button on the bottom of her phone. The photo came out perfectly, and she gazed at it for a moment before they checked out the rest of the icy masterpieces.
She was a little surprised the camera never captured Moe’s gold eyes. But regardless of where they took the photo, or the angle at which she held the phone, it never did. That made sense, she supposed, especially if they changed color only when he wanted them, too. Then again, that flash of gold in his eyes she caught whenever they kissed sure seemed involuntary.
Whatever the reason, it was sexy as hell.
“Think they’ll let us ride together?” she asked Moe when they got in line to go snow tubing a little while later.
He shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
Moe was right. The people running the ride didn’t mind if they wanted to ride together. It was similar a water slide, but it was covered in snow. Moe climbed into the raft first, then she sat in front of him, her butt nestled up against his groin. Little tremors of excitement danced through her, and she stifled a moan as he wrapped her arms around her. As they laughingly glided down the snow, Kelsey decided this might be her favorite part of the evening yet. She immediately wanted to do it again.
They rode the slide a few more times before checking out the vendors lining the streets. Most sold holiday-themed stuff, and while there were a lot of cool things, Kelsey was drawn to the elderly couple selling the cutest plush animals she’d ever seen.
Beside her, Moe grinned as she oohed and aahed over them. “Pick your favorite,” he said.
She smiled up at him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She studied the collection on the various tables. There were dogs, cats, bears, monkeys, lions, and everything in between, but Kelsey went straight for the timber wolf.
“This one,” she announced, picking up the wolf and turning to face Moe.
Her boyfriend looked a little stunned for a moment, then dug his wallet out of his back pocket with a grin. “A wolf, huh?”
She nodded. “Wolves are my favorite animals.”
He did a double take as he paid the women. “They are?”
“Uh-huh. They might be all strong, protective, and fierce, but they’re also cute and cuddly.”
Crap, could she made it any more obvious? Why were guys so dense when it came to stuff like this? Couldn’t he tell she was trying to drop a hint?
Moe lifted a brow. “Cute and cuddly?”
“Yup.” She held up the wolf. “Just look at that face!”
Moe stared for a moment, then chuckled. “You’re crazy.”
“Crazy for you!” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him long and slow on the mouth.
“Ditto,” Moe said when they both finally come up for air.
On the other side of the table the elderly couple selling the plush animals were smiling warmly at them. Kelsey blushed as she and Moe continued hand-in-hand down the street.
“So, you want to come over this weekend and study for finals?” Moe asked.
“Sure,” she said, then added, “Although sometimes, I think that I’m over at your place so much, I should probably move in.”
At her words, Moe froze and turned to look at her, his expression suddenly serious. “Why don’t you?”
She blinked, not sure what she was more shocked at—that she’d actually said that last part out loud,
or that Moe hadn’t immediately freaked out.
“Why don’t I what?” she asked.
What if she’d heard him wrong? Or taken what he said the wrong way simply because it was truly what she wanted.
“You know…move in.” He lifted his shoulders. “I know you’re not crazy about living in the dorms and like you said, you’re at the loft all the time anyway. It would make a lot of sense.”
Kelsey’s pulse beat faster. She’d told her sister that very thing last week during an animal adoption event at an outdoor mall in Dallas. She hadn’t brought it up to Moe, though, because she wasn’t sure what he’d think about it.
When she continued to stand there like a statue, Moe finally looked away, shaking his head. “Forget about it. I know it was a crazy idea. I just thought that…well…maybe you’d like to stay there. No big.”
She opened her mouth to tell him it wasn’t crazy at all and that she would love to move in when Moe suddenly stopped and stared into the alley they were standing in front of, his eyes fixed on something. Kelsey turned to see what he was looking at, and was surprised to see a tan-colored dog standing a few feet away at the mouth of the alley. She hadn’t even realized the animal was there.
Moe went down on one knee, resting his forearm on his thigh. “Hey, buddy. You okay?”
The dog came closer, clearly unafraid. Not wanting to scare him off, Kelsey slowly crouched down, too. She gently ran her hand over the dog’s head and down to the collar, glancing at the tag there.
“He’s wearing a tag,” she told Moe. “Maybe we should call his owner.”
The dog let out a loud bark, then turned and trotted a few feet toward the opposite end of the alley. Halfway there, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at them. When neither she nor Moe moved, the dog came back their way and let out another bark, then headed for the other end of the alley again before halting and looking at them.
