The Reindeer's Easter Family

by E A Price

  Naturally, his mom and sisters ignored him completely – as per bloody usual.

  His mom padded halfway down the stairs. “Hello dear, I’m Tank’s mother, so if you got married, I’d be your mother in law – are you getting married?”

  “Oh my goodness, you’re human!” exclaimed Tamra, following her.

  “What’s your name?” demanded Trini.

  “Where are you from?” asked Teena.

  “What do you do?” said Tamra.

  “What are your intentions towards my son?”

  Marion licked her lips. “Ah…”

  “Enough,” boomed Tank, silencing all of them.

  “Mommy?”

  Izzy peeked around Tank. The four reindeer cows stared at the little girl.

  “Who’s that?” said Trini.

  “What is she doing here?” asked his mom.

  The girl bared her teeth and growled. The four reindeer cows took a step back.

  “She’s a wolf,” gasped Tamra.

  Marion picked Izzy up, shielding her protectively.

  “Go to bed,” Tank ordered his mom and his sisters.

  “But…”

  “Now.”

  He stared at them until, muttering, they finally did as they were told.

  “Come on,” he said to Marion, “you can have my room.”

  He picked Sophie up, and Marion frowned as Izzy reached for him. She allowed him to take her. He carried the twins upstairs, with Marion and Penny following.

  Tank took them into his room, thankful that it was clean and there were clean sheets on the bed. If it were down to him, it wouldn’t be clean or tidy, but his mother insisted on cleaning it, and in spite of the need to find inventive hiding places for his ‘special’ magazines, he was grateful she did.

  He set the twins down and pointed across the hall. “Bathroom’s there. I’ll get your bags.”

  Tank jogged downstairs and brought them up. Marion and her girls hadn’t moved, but when she saw the bags, Marion clapped her hands together.

  “Okay, honey bunnies, dig out your toothbrushes and brush your teeth. Chop, chop.”

  “I can’t find mine,” said Izzy without bothering to look.

  Marion arched an eyebrow. “I packed yours; you must brush your teeth.”

  She shepherded all three into the bathroom and then turned to Tank. “So, those guys were your mother and sisters?”

  “Yes.” He couldn’t deny it, even if he wanted to, which he often did.

  “Ah. I take it that’s why you’re single.” She smiled a little shyly.

  Tank chuckled ruefully. “Is it that obvious.”

  She started laughing, but soon it devolved into a long yawn.

  “You’re tired.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed.

  “You guys gonna be all right in there?”

  There was only one bed for all four of them, but even Marion was on the small side, and given his size, his bed was huge.

  “Well, Izzy may get the urge to use your weights during the night,” she inclined her head at his dumbbells, “but I think we’ll be fine.”

  Tank smiled. “I’ll be downstairs.”

  He turned and felt a small hand on his arm.

  “I never said thank you,” she murmured.

  Tank looked back at her. She was all soft curves, big, dark eyes, warm brown skin and acres of black hair. He’d noticed her beauty the first time he saw her – holding up that spatula, ready to do battle for her little angels. There was a sweetness to her, coupled with a fiery need to protect and he’d felt an urge to drop to his knees and worship her the moment he saw her. Thankfully, he didn’t. He’d been too distracted by the asshole wolf and then moving them out of their house. But now that he had a few moments, he was tempted.

  “Thank you for saving me,” she breathed, “for bringing us here and giving up your bed.”

  Tank shrugged and tried to pretend that the image of her in his bed wasn’t doing torturous things to him.

  “It’s my job.”

  Marion shook her head. “No, it’s not. You didn’t have to do this. Thank you.”

  He nodded and mumbled a good night before virtually stumbling downstairs. It was going to be a long night, and not just because his couch was lumpier than two-day-old oatmeal. No, a raven-haired temptress was definitely going to be keeping him up all night.

  Eight

  Marion awoke early. Which was a force of habit given that her girls always woke at the crack of dawn. But she hadn’t slept much. Worry about Marcus weighed heavily on her mind. Her days in the pack would always be bittersweet. The fact that she came away from them with three perfect little girls meant that she could never regret meeting Jack, but living in the pack had not been easy. She knew for certain it was not the kind of life she wanted to go back to, and definitely not the life to which she wanted to subject her daughters.

  She had spent the night fretting, tossing and turning. Not that the girls seemed to mind. The twins were always squirmy wormies, and during the night had managed to burrow their way down the bed so that now both of them were sleeping at her feet. Curled up like little wolf cubs she thought fondly. Penny was as still as the dead. Freaked her out at first, but Penny slept like Wednesday Addams – arms folded over herself not moving an inch.

  Marion watched her eldest sleep, resisting the urge to run her finger down her button nose or stroke her hair. She was such a beautiful little thing. But then, Jack had been handsome she thought with a sigh.

  She met Jack right after college. He chased after her – wolves always did like the hunt – and then she fell for him like a simpering, mad fool, and he liked that she was so attentive and devoted. She realized belatedly that he just liked having his own little groupie. She was falling in love with him, but he wasn’t with her. He had planned on returning to his pack and mating a wolf shifter. Then she got pregnant, and he just about freaked out.

  He ignored her for two weeks straight before turning up and telling her he was a wolf and begrudgingly asking him to marry her. Marion found out later that it was his grandfather who insisted he marry her. At the time, his grandfather was alpha and insisted that any of their cubs had to be part of the pack. She couldn’t underestimate the power of an alpha.

  Being the lovestruck fool that she was, she said yes, only realizing later how little he wanted to be with her. But, at his alpha’s command, the two of them made the best of their relationship – her for Penny’s sake and him because his alpha told him to, and yeah, things were okay for a while. She could get over her poor relationship with Jack and the fact that half the pack hated her for being human because she had Penny, and it wasn’t like she and Jack were complete strangers.

  His grandfather was a decent guy and looked out for her. He was old-fashioned and kind of sweet in a gruff way. He considered it was Jack’s duty to be with her and the pack’s duty to welcome her as one of their own. But after he died, and Marcus became alpha, life became pretty hellish.

  At the time, she’d just found out she was pregnant with the twins, and she was even more vulnerable. Marcus had always hated her being part of the pack. Considering that humans were weak, and diluted their strong wolf blood. He’d never wanted her there, but hadn’t dared disobey his alpha. But when he became alpha, he did everything he could to break up her and Jack – pushing Jack to mate a young wolf shifter. Given their rocky relationship, it wasn’t hard.

  Marion and Penny were booted out of their house, forced to live in the alpha’s basement and treated like servants. The pack was openly hostile and aggressive to them. Marion tried to run with Penny, but the sheriff sent her back to Marcus – who was pissed at her for taking some of his money to escape. Hence the slapping incident.

  But she and Marcus came to an understanding. She would leave with just the clothes on her back. She would promise never to contact him or the pack or ask for any child support, and he would let her go. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best offer she was ever going to get f
rom him. Everything had been fine, but now he was trying to pull her back.

  Marion let out a sigh and carefully edged her way out of bed. She’d probably be halfway back to his pack if not for Tank.

  Involuntarily, she blushed as she thought of her big, dark stranger. She wouldn’t necessarily classify him as handsome, though she felt mean even as she thought it, but he was certainly attractive. Too attractive. She felt a fluttering in her sex and hustled herself into the bathroom.

  She had barely dated over the last few years and certainly couldn’t claim to have found herself attracted to any of the men she shared her few dates with. No, they had rather left her cold. But with one grunt, Tank turned her into a mess of quivers and whimpers. He should not be capable of that. She just had this urge to find out what he looked like naked, or rather, what he felt like naked as he slid inside her body…

  Marion let out a disgusted snort at the direction of her thoughts. Her babies were in danger, and yet she was wondering whether her embarrassing flirting technique would sufficiently seduce the sexiest man she ever met. She didn’t need to wonder; she knew it wouldn’t. Shuffling around the dance floor like a lethargic penguin and blushing furiously whenever someone asked her a question was not going to get her anywhere. Not that it mattered, because first and foremost, she had to figure out what to do about Marcus. Then, she could moon over Tank to her heart's content.

  She changed and made her way downstairs. She had to start thinking about breakfast for the girls. She found Tank’s mom and sisters already awake and dressed and looking far too excited by the presence of a woman who had barged into their house in the middle of the night with three wolf shifter kids in tow.

  But no, they bustled around her, introducing themselves and hugging her until she could barely breathe. They quizzed her on her favorite foods and what she usually ate for breakfast. They demanded to know all about her kids.

  Then they sat her down, crowded around her and asked her what her intentions were toward Tank.

  Nine

  Something was tickling his face. Tank grunted sleepily and flicked it away. Vaguely, he thought he heard giggling.

  Something tickled his face again. He slapped his face – hard, waking himself up. This was met with squeals of mirth.

  Then something jumped on his stomach, followed by something else equally as jumpy. Yep, it was one twin and then the other.

  Tank opened his eyes to matching guileless smiles.

  “Come on, wake up,” insisted Izzy, giving him an extra bounce.

  She was wearing a pink sweat suit, and her hair was in twin buns on top of her head. Sophie bounced up and down and giggled. She was wearing a matching green sweat suit, and her hair was in twin braids. He was pretty sure his sister Teena had done their hair – she was probably thrilled to do it. She was training to be a hairdresser and practiced on anyone she could. It was the reason he kept his hair in a buzzcut.

  Apparently, he wasn’t moving fast enough because the two of them started bouncing in tandem and Tank growled, sending the girls into fits of laughter.

  “I’m awake!”

  “Girls?”

  He snapped to attention as he heard Marion’s voice. She peered around the door, and his heart started beating just a little erratically. After a sleepless night spent alternately worrying and fantasizing about Marion, he had almost convinced himself that he had it all wrong – that she wasn’t the sexiest woman he’d ever seen, and didn’t have curves that made his mouth water. But yeah, in the light of day, she was, and she did.

  “Come on now,” she said to the twins, “come and eat breakfast.”

  The girls bounced off him, and Tank rolled off the couch to his feet, stretching out his frame. The couch really was not made for someone as large as him. He scratched his chest and yawned, stilling as he realized Marion was staring at him.

  He was only wearing his boxers, and Marion was devouring every inch of him. He might have flexed a little when he realized.

  Her cheeks turned a dark, dusky brown as she blushed. “Umm, your mom made pancakes.”

  He nodded and gave her a lopsided smile. Marion let out a nervous chirrup of laughter and fled.

  Huh. Maybe he wasn’t the only one having sleepless nights.

  *

  Breakfast was a loud affair. Tank’s sisters and mother were loud – foghorn loud. Each seemed to be conducting their own conversation but not bothering to wait for anyone to answer them, and seemingly uncaring whether anyone else was listening.

  Izzy and Sophie loved it and giggled incessantly – Tank’s mother paid them a huge amount of attention, while they were delighted by Tamra’s ability to throw blueberries into Teena’s mouth.

  Penny was still quiet – never a very boisterous child, she was naturally wary, and while Marion considered that a good thing, she was also a little sad that her little girl didn’t enjoy herself as much as her sisters.

  Tank was also quiet. He sat at the head of the table devouring plate after plate of food, presiding over the noisy breakfast though not contributing much to the four conversations simultaneously being held.

  He sure could eat though. Yeah, she knew wolf shifters devoured a lot, but damn! She supposed he needed all that considering his size. His enormous size.

  Marion blushed and looked down at her pancakes. He was certainly something to behold without his clothes on. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was him in his boxers, his massive chest lightly dusted with hair. Oh, how she would love to run her fingers all over that chest, how she would like to trace those taut muscles.

  “Finished!”

  Marion looked up to see Izzy and Sophie had indeed finished their pancakes. Most of their breakfast was all over their faces – syrup dripped off the end of Izzy’s nose. Marion used her napkin to catch it before it dropped down her top. Izzy would just get upset, and then Marion would have to tell her to wear something else, and Izzy would have a mini-tantrum because she really, really wanted to wear the top she had on. But then she’d snap out of it and find another top that she really, really wanted to wear even more. Marion smiled even as she thought about it.

  “Okay, time to brush our teeth,” she said.

  “I brushed mine,” lied Izzy.

  “Me too,” added Sophie.

  “No you didn’t,” said Penny.

  Izzy stuck out her very syrupy tongue.

  “Even if you did,” said Marion, “you have to brush them again after breakfast.”

  Izzy pouted, but Trini said she would go with them and do hers too. That got the twins excited – they liked playing with older girls. Except for Penny because she told them what to do.

  “And wash your faces,” added Marion padding into the hallway as Trini took them upstairs.

  Penny was following, and Marion caught her hand.

  “Hey, honey, you okay?”

  Penny nodded, and Marion knelt down in front of her. She turned over the palm of Penny’s hand and kissed it. She did it a lot. The first time was when Penny was born. Whatever regret or disappointment Marion had felt about Jack, she fell head over heels in love with Penny the moment she saw her. In spite of the rocky relationship she had to put up with to get Penny, it was worth it. There was never any doubt about that.

  Penny smiled at her. The first genuine smile she’d seen for a while, even before Marcus turned up at their door.

  “Thank you for being brave and taking care of your sisters,” said Marion.

  Penny’s smile widened even more.

  “I love you, honey.”

  “I love you, Mommy.”

  Marion pulled her closer and started planting kisses all over her face until Penny giggled at her to stop.

  “Okay, honey, you go brush your teeth, too.”

  Penny nodded and skipped upstairs to where she could already hear quite a lot of giggling. Marion hoped Izzy wasn’t decorating the bathroom with toothpaste as she did at home.

  She bit her lip, considering going up th
ere… but, Trini volunteered, so it was on her. Marion virtually whistled nonchalantly as she made her way back to the kitchen.

  She walked in on a conversation about herself, though, they didn’t stop when they saw her.

  “Marion can’t possibly go back to her house while this Marcus douchebag is after her!” declared Tank’s mom.

  “Yeah, Tank,” agreed Teena. “What are you going to do to protect her?”

  Marion held up her hands, mildly embarrassed. “It’s hardly his job…”

  “Have you spoken to the alpha?” asked Tamra, effectively ignoring her.

  Alpha? Was he going to speak to Marcus directly?

  “Yes, talk to Branch,” agreed his mom.

  Marion frowned. “Branch?”

  Were they talking about Mira’s Branch? Temp’s sister, Mira, was engaged to someone called Branch – who also happened to be the brother of Temp’s new husband… it was actually less complicated than it sounded. But why would they bring him up? Was he an alpha?

  “Is Branch a reindeer shifter?” she asked.

  The three women hushed, wincing slightly and Tank grunted. Marion realized they probably shouldn’t have told her that – shifter secrets being so guarded.

  Slowly, Tank rose to his feet. Marion tried not to gasp, but well, there was just so much of him, and she was constantly amazed at how graceful he was.

  He nodded slightly at his mom. Who also rose and then told Teena and Tamra to follow her.

  “I have to get to work,” said his mom to Marion, “and these two have classes, but we will see you later. Tuesday is slow cooker chili night.”

  She hugged Marion. Teena air-kissed her and Tamra high-fived her.

  The three of them called goodbye to her kids, and she heard the front door close behind them. It had gone very quiet upstairs, and Marion was mildly concerned for Trini. The twins were in awe of older girls, but that didn’t stop them from biting their last babysitter – hard. They weren’t wolves yet, but their tiny teeth were sharp.