by E A Price
“I have to mate before Christmas Eve, or I will forfeit my right to be alpha. There are laws regarding shifters, and we have to abide by them.”
“I see.”
“Where does this leave us?” asked Branch uncertainly.
“It actually explains a few things,” she admitted.
“You don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind, of course, I don’t mind, it’s just… incredible.”
Mira was totally in awe of what she saw. Yes, she had been surprised at first, but she couldn’t deny that this made the world just a little bit more magical.
“You’re not leaving?” he asked wondrously.
“No, I don’t think I am.”
Seventeen
“This is where you live?”
Mira frowned as Branch made a sneering face at her sister’s apartment block.
“Well, I’m staying with my sister, but…”
“I don’t think this is a safe area.”
She shrugged. “It’s fine.”
“Hmmm.”
“So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night at your mother’s tree trimming party?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, that.”
“It sounds like fun.”
“Yes,” he agreed doubtfully. “You know she already has a tree up – has ever since December 1st.”
“Oh, what will we do then?”
“We’ll be decorating the other fifteen.”
“Sixteen trees?” chuckled Mira. “Gotta love a woman who has sixteen trees.”
Branch gave her a solemn look. “Are you sure you wish to go through with this? It will mean living in my house for at least two months. It will mean family dinners and get-togethers – the tree trimming party is just the start.”
“The charity…”
“The donation is already set up.”
Mira took a deep breath. “Then yeah, I’m sure.”
He raised an eyebrow. “In spite of me being a shifter?”
“It actually makes you kind of cool.”
His lips pouted ever so slightly. “So I wasn’t cool before?”
“Aww, no, not even a little bit.”
Branch blinked and gave her a ‘are you kidding’ look.
Mira bit her lip. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”
He glared at her for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head.
“I will see you tomorrow,” he said.
“Yep.”
He gazed at her and leaned forward slightly. For a second, she thought he would kiss her. Her heart started thumping like a drum, and imperceptibly she started pushing her chest out – best foot forward and all that. Damn, it had been so long since she kissed anybody – the mechanics hadn’t changed, right? Oh, she bet he was a wonderful kisser. Her tongue darted out of her mouth, and she wet her lips in anticipation. Branch groaned softly and leaned back – actually pushing himself as far away as possible as he could in the small sports car. Then he grunted that he would walk her to her door, jumping out the car before she could object.
Mira slumped in mild disappointment. Oh, she hoped this wasn’t going to be a mistake.
Eighteen
December 16th
Branch tapped the keys on his laptop. He was supposed to be writing an e-mail to members of the finance department. Further to his original concern, he had noticed quite a few strange irregularities in the quarterly report. That was what he was supposed to be doing. Actually, he wasn’t doing anything. He was too distracted.
He was thinking about Mira. He hadn’t meant for her to find out the truth about his herd, though he knew it was a possibility he would have to tell her, but she had taken it rather well. Better than most humans. The shock had quickly given way to curiosity and dare he imagine it, but didn’t she even seem a little delighted by the truth that shifters existed?
She apparently read romances about shifters. That stirred his inner beast. Maybe he should download a few to see what they were like. Though she said that most were about wolf shifters. Bah – thugs of the shifter world.
He glanced at the clock. Still, more than four hours until he collected her for the dreaded tree trimming party. It was a party that he usually avoided at all cost, but his mom cornered Mira and invited her and rather than scoff that it sounded more boring than watching paint dry, Mira had gushed about how she would love to go. He didn’t think she was even just humoring his mom – she actually seemed excited. His mom had pulled him aside last night and gave him an extra long hug. Clearly, she was thrilled he was mating Mira. Except… he wasn’t. Not really. It was all just a business transaction. He needed to remember that. Needed to stop looking at the clock. Needed to stop counting down the minutes until he saw her again - the long, interminable minutes.
“Hey, Alpha.”
Harlan breezed into the office and froze as Branch let out a snarling grunt.
“Can’t you knock?” Branch hissed. “I’m busy.”
“You’re always busy.”
“I have a lot of work to get done before the party tonight.”
Branch made an effort to concentrate on the empty, waiting to be written e-mail in front of him.
Harlan looked confused. “What party?”
“Mom’s tree trimming party,” he said impatiently.
What did he think he meant?
Harlan waved his hand dismissively. “You miss that every year. You haven’t attended that since you were fourteen and Mom stopped being able to bribe you to attend. Mom always hopes you’ll change your mind, but you never do.”
Branch cleared his throat. “Mira agreed to go.”
He couldn’t let her go on her own. One of his herd may ask her difficult questions she can’t answer, or try to hug her or something. He was supposed to be mating her – he had to be on hand to make it look like they were in love, or to break the arms of anyone who tried to hug her.
Harlan gave him a strange look.
“So this is about Mira, huh?”
“We are going to be mated,” he said evenly.
“Yeah, and you were mated to Janelle, and she never got you to come to the tree trimming party.”
His look hardened at the mention of his late mate. “Janelle never wanted to attend Mom’s Christmas parties either.”
“No, no she did not,” agreed Harlan thoughtfully.
“What does that mean?” snarled Branch, his aggressive bull pushing to the surface.
Harlan winced slightly at the dominant tone but merely gave him a level look. “Nothing. If you don’t want to go tonight, I could take Mira…”
Branch snorted. “Not happening.”
His brother shot him an amused smile. “What about Ariel then? I’m sure our harmless little sister would be happy to look after her.”
“I already cleared my schedule,” grumbled Branch, and even to him that sounded lame.
He could easily miss the party, and a part of him knew Mira would be fine – Ariel and his mom would look out for her - but no, he had decided to go, and he would go.
“So you and Mira…”
Branch inhaled a long, rumbling breath. He glowered at his brother with a ‘choose your words wisely’ expression.
Before his brother could say anything potentially suicidal, his assistant came into the office. The young male was a bundle of nerves to begin with – which while irritating was a big improvement on his last assistant – and on seeing Branch’s glare, he let out a small ‘eep.’
“What is it?” demanded Branch.
“Ah, the cell phone you wanted – you did say you wanted it immediately.”
“Of course. Give it to me.”
His assistant did and scurried away as quickly as possible.
“New phone?” asked his brother.
“It’s for Mira.”
What? It was no big deal. Hers was so dilapidated how could he not buy her a new one? He would need to contact her for the duration of their arrangement, and not being able to do so because t
he duct tape fell off would be unacceptable. Plus, she would need it for emergencies – particularly in her neighborhood.
Vaguely, he thought Mira might not want to take the phone – he had tried to suggest that their arrangement involve some monetary compensation for her, but she wasn’t interested. In truth, that actually made him feel a little better about it all. As for the phone, he would insist she take it. He would insist it be part of the arrangement. Now, if only he could include getting her and her sister the hell out of that awful apartment building…
He became aware of Harlan’s amused expression.
“Just get out,” Branch ordered waspishly.
Harlan smirked. “No problem, I’ll see you both tonight.”
He grunted. His brother was behaving like an idiot – as usual.
Branch brought his attention back to the laptop screen and blanched at the one word he had typed over and over again – Mira.
Nineteen
“Ooh, they are a little close together. In fact, three decorations should not be on the same branch.”
Mira tut-tutted and she started undoing Branch’s handiwork.
“He’s just not used to decorating Christmas trees,” teased Ariel. “He usually works late every year so he can avoid this.”
Branch grumbled under his breath. Mira smiled at him and set about finishing their tree. It was fifteen feet tall and required lots of support to keep it steady. They were decorating it along with Branch’s uncle and sister. But Uncle Clay was less use than Branch, and Ariel seemed a little distracted – her eyes wandered over to the door every few moments as if she were expecting someone to come through it. Mira didn’t really mind – she loved decorating. The only downside to decorating was the need to take everything down when Christmas was over.
While Ariel was distracted, Uncle Clay just seemed actually to be watching Mira. Honestly, it was getting a little weird. She tried smiling at him, but he just gave her a strange look.
Herd members came in and out, giving a little bow to Branch and saying hello to Mira. They seemed positively excited to see them both. She wondered if they were always this pleased to see their Alpha. Honestly, she wasn’t sure. She’d read her romances, sure, but she wasn’t sure what was based on fact and what was pure fiction. Maybe the people who wrote them really had close encounters of the sexy kind with shifters! That would be awesome. Or maybe they were just using their imaginations. She had tried to look up shifters on the internet, but she couldn’t find anything useful.
Clay cleared his throat. “So, the mating is set for Christmas Eve.”
Branch nodded, but Mira let out an almost hysterical giggle as butterflies crashed into one another in her stomach. It was fine – she would be fine. She was just glad she had a little more time to let it sink in fully.
“In less than two weeks, you’ll be mated and living together,” continued Clay.
Branch shrugged, but Mira swallowed and licked her lips a little anxiously. She had agreed to it; she knew it was coming – she was just a little girlishly nervous about living with Branch. Would their rooms be next door to each other? Would they share the same bathroom? Was there any chance she’d run into him naked? She kind of hoped so.
“You are sure about this, Alpha?” asked Clay.
“Of course, I’m sure,” snapped Branch, his face nearly thunderous.
Though that may be because his beautiful work suit was now covered in pine needles from the tree and glitter from the decorations – and neither of those things seemed to want to leave him.
“Yep,” squeaked Mira in agreement.
Clay’s expression looked almost suspicious. Uh oh. Did he know they were just faking? Did he suspect? No, he couldn’t, if he did it would have dire consequences with something called the Shifter Council – only Branch didn’t use the word dire when he was telling her that.
No, this all had to look real.
Mira hung the decoration she was holding and slipped her arm around Branch’s waist. She considered rubbing her cheek against his chest, but given the glitter/pine needle situation, decided against it.
Branch stiffened slightly, but on realizing what she was doing, he dropped his own arm around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer – molding her against his big, warm body. She wouldn’t have thought the two of them would really go together, but damn if they weren’t a perfect fit. Her softer body snuggled just perfectly against his. Ah, to hell with the glitter!
Mira beamed up at him, and Branch gave her a crooked smile in return. Her stomach lurched – even with a half-smile, he was too gorgeous. Oh, if he ever truly grinned he would blot out the darn sun.
Clay opened his mouth as if he were going to say something but before he could, Branch’s mother, Martha, bustled into the room.
“Oh! That tree is absolutely beautiful! Well done Mira and Ariel!”
“Mostly Mira,” admitted Ariel with a blush.
“Hey, what about me?” groused Branch.
Martha raised an eyebrow and Branch huffed.
“Fine, mostly Mira.”
Martha walked around the tree admiring it. Clay slunk away to get another drink. Something was bothering him, but Mira couldn’t say what. She didn’t think he didn’t like her – more like he just didn’t believe that they were actually going to mate. She supposed they were an unlikely pair, though no one else in the herd thought so.
“Let me get a picture of you two next to the tree,” gushed Martha. “You look so happy together!”
Mira felt her cheeks warm as she realized she was still cuddling up to Branch. Honestly, after a moment she hadn’t noticed she was – it felt so nice and even – ha – natural.
She smiled as Martha snapped a few pics and then to save Branch having to push her away, she tried to wriggle out of his grasp. But Branch’s arm merely tightened around her – pulling her even closer, which she didn’t think was possible. They’d be sharing the same belt in another couple of inches.
“Umm…”
She was going to object that breathing was almost difficult when Branch let out a low grunt, and she spied the reason for his sudden bone-crushing embrace. The redhead from the previous night was gliding into the room on five-inch heels. Her dress – or the brief scrap of material she was wearing – was bright red and covered in skiing penguins. It was a little incongruous for such a sexy dress, but it made Mira smile. Okay, Mira would never have to guts to wear such a tiny dress, but she liked the woman’s style.
“Alpha,” trilled the tall redhead, who in heels reached well over six-feet.
“Maris.” Branch nodded shortly. “I don’t think you’ve met Mira – my mate.”
Maris looked around in confusion before looking down and spying Mira. Her face creased in confusion. “Your mate? I…”
“Come and get some eggnog,” said Ariel very loudly.
She took Maris’ elbow, and the redhead tottered along as Branch’s deceptively strong sister led her towards the kitchen. Mira was surprised to see Clay glaring at Branch, before following them to the kitchen.
“Ex-girlfriend?” murmured Mira.
Branch snorted. “No. Definitely no.”
“But she wishes she was… or wishes she was your current girlfriend… or your mate… or…”
He let out an impatient breath. “Maris has always had her sights set on mating high in the ranking. I’ve always had my sights set on not mating Maris.”
“Oh, so no sordid secret past between the two of you?” asked Mira, almost hopefully.
Branch let out a bark of laughter. “Hardly.”
“Shame.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Hey pass me the angel for the top.”
Branch slowly let go of her and Mira tried not to sigh as the lovely warmth of his large body left her. But they would have to separate eventually – in more ways than one - lest they wish to go through life in a three-legged race.
As Branch turned his back, Mira let out an eep as the enormous tre
e started toppling towards her.
“Mira!”
Harlan rushed in and grabbed the tree, righting it. Branch pulled Mira back into his arms.
“Are you okay?” he demanded furiously.
“I’m fine,” she chuckled against a very hard chest. “I’m used to decoration related disasters – happened every year in my house growing up.”
They used to have an enormous blow-up snowman outside their house. Once, when it got a puncture, she almost suffocated under the thing. Course, it was no problem; they managed to find a replacement for him – a blow-up Grinch instead.
Reluctantly, Branch let go of her to help Harlan secure the tree.
“One of the wires holding it up came undone,” said Harlan.
“Who tied this?” snarled Branch and everyone in the room quailed.
“No harm done,” murmured Mira quickly. “Everyone’s fine; it was just an accident.”
Branch humphed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Mira waved her hand. “Sure, but some eggnog wouldn’t go astray.”
He nodded and snapped at Harlan to get it. Harlan tried to argue, and Mira couldn’t help her giggles. Though through her mirth, she did notice Clay and Maris in the corner of the room whispering conspiratorially and she had to wonder about just what made that tree topple over.
Twenty
“That went well,” said Branch, as he drove Mira home.
“Good,” she murmured distractedly.
She was awfully quiet – too quiet, and not at all like her usual self. He would have liked the quiet with someone other than Mira, but her silence just had him worried. Maybe she decided not to go through with it.
“My herd like you,” he said encouragingly.
“I’m glad.”
There were more moments of awkwardness and Branch was danged if he knew how to fill them. He wasn’t sure what to say to a human female. Honestly, he didn’t say much to reindeer females either.
“You’re lucky to have them,” said Mira.
“Yes,” he agreed.
He wanted to keep them – hence the arranged mating.
“Growing up, it was just my dad and me.”
“Your sister?”
