Mated for the Holidays: A Holiday Mpreg Romance in the Hemlock Mpreg Universe

by Maggie Hemlock

  “I wish. That’s why I started Mated for the Holidays. I wanted to match true-mates. It’s still not perfect. It said we had a little more than a fifty-fifty chance of compatibility.”

  I focused on Aidan’s soft plump lips as he spoke, so my mind didn’t wander away again. His scent coiled around me and the space between us was still too vast.

  “Forgive me,” I said.

  “For what?”

  I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him in until our bodies pressed together. My wolf’s tension eased. The furry beast leaned against my stomach as close as he could get to Aidan and the wolf living inside of him. Aidan leaned back and looked up at me. His lips hung parted as if he waited for me to claim him there on the leaf covered lawn. He ran his fingers up my arms and rested his hands on my shoulders. I leaned forward testing the waters. In my younger days, Alphas claimed their omegas almost on sight. These days some true-mates engaged in courting before their claiming vows.

  Aidan rose to his toes and pressed his lips against mine as if answering the question, I had yet to ask. His lips were even softer than they looked. He opened his mouth accepting my probing tongue. His fingers entwined in the thick fabric of my mage robes. Aidan sighed into the kiss leaning hard against me. His shifting weight pulled at the edges of my self-control. The longing I held back for my centuries of waiting for fate to deal me the winning hand showed its face. I slid my hands down over Aidan’s firm round ass and squeezed hard impeded only by his phone. His tongue twirled around mine as my dick came to life against his lean muscular stomach.

  His phone vibrated under my hand. I slid my fingers over the device trying to find the spot on the screen to shut the damn thing up before it broke our moment.

  “Sorry,” Aidan stepped away. “That’s my work phone. I’ve got to take this.”

  Chapter Nine

  Aidan

  “Zera? Is that you? Is everything okay? This is my work number,” I answered the phone turning away from Luc and his hard dick. His kiss still lingered on my lips.

  “Aidan! Aidan!” Zera screeched into the phone.

  In the background a familiar voice sounded.

  “A cyber breech has occurred. A cyber breech has occurred. Your system is at risk. Your data may be vulnerable to outside forces. A cyber breech has occurred!”

  “How do I make it stop?” Zera shouted over the racket.

  “Hang on. I need to set the phone down.”

  “Please hurry! It’s loud enough to wake the dead!” Zera shouted.

  I set the phone down on the top of my car and turned to open the door. Luc had followed me to the car. His scent washed over me.

  “Is everything okay, mate?” He asked.

  Mate.

  The word spun around my thoughts.

  “My company is being hacked.” I forced myself to look away from him and open the door.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” He asked.

  “Coffee. Lots of coffee,” I said and pulled my laptop case out of the backseat.

  I climbed on top of the hood of the hatchback and opened it up. Luc disappeared into the house. If he was like most of the Alphas I dated, later I’d have to stroke his ego and explain work came first. For now, I had to rid the system of whoever was endangering my baby. I booted up the laptop holding my breath. We never had a security breech in the decade of running Mated for the Holidays. Who was trying to steal my data? Were they after the information of my clients?

  Damn it to Frost’s Pit and back!

  When the laptop booted on, I accessed the information. Someone was changing my algorithm faster than even I could type.

  “DAMN IT!” I swore out loud and started a trace for the intruder.

  The first came back empty. Who were they hiding behind? I booted up the Moonscale firewall I had for emergencies but changes still danced across the screen.

  “Take the server offline!” Gloria shouted over our coven link.

  I didn’t like when she told me what to do, but she was right. It was the only way to stop things in their tracks. I started pulling stuff online and shouted for Zera to unplug everything in the office. She shouted something back that I couldn’t make out, but slowly devices left the network. I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked around. Luc stood by the side of the car holding out a mug of coffee.

  “Thanks,” I sighed and looked back at the laptop screen. The changes had stopped. I slammed it shut and slid off the car. “I need to call someone in. I’ve never seen anything like what’s happening.”

  “I took the liberty of contacting one of my Moonscale buddies. He’ll send someone by the house to take a look at things. I hope that’s not overstepping boundaries. You smelled frazzled. It was too much for me to stand by and do nothing.”

  The Moonscales were a flight of dragons mostly located in what used to be called Europe. A few of them lived stateside and most were willing to fly over for work if the price was right. The dragon shifters excelled in computer science and other technologies.

  “I couldn’t trace the breech. They were fucking with my algorithm, but it’s like they weren’t there at all.” I paced in front of the car sipping the coffee. It wasn’t pumpkin spice, but hazelnut made with heavy cream and sugar. “What? Was a ghost hacking me?”

  “I don’t know much about computers, but I know a lot about ghosts. I don’t think they’d have a reason to mess with your programing,” Luc said.

  “I know, but…” I wanted to scream.

  The mug sparked and exploded in my hand. I squeaked as the first drop of hot coffee burnt my thumb and braced for the rest to follow. The mug and its spilt contents hung frozen in the air.

  “Step back, please,” Luc said.

  His hand was outstretched and his muscular arm unwavering inside his mage robes. When I stepped away the pieces of the mug flew back together, and the spilt coffee hit the grass where I stood seconds before.

  “Sorry about that,” I said picking the mug up. “I’ve never had that happen before. I’ve never been this angry, though.”

  My wolf growled inside my chest. He’d rambled the whole time I shut the server down. My phone rang again.

  “It’s Gloria and I don’t want to talk to her,” I grumbled.

  “Do you need to speak with her?”

  “Probably,” I sighed.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Take care of your business.”

  I leaned back against the hood and beckoned him to me with the wave of a single finger. Luc moved in a blur of motion and stood in front of me. I rested my forehead on his chest and my wolf stopped grumbling. It was easy to forget everything else when his scent wrapped around me. I tapped my forehead against his chest in frustration. Snow had never let me down before. Now, a decade of success flashed before my eyes. If the attacker had their way, everything I worked for would slip through my fingers.

  Luc cupped my chin in his hand and tilted my head back until our gaze met.

  “Every business has its problems and its haters. It’s a sign of success. This can’t be your first challenge and it won’t be your last if you’re lucky. Handle your business. I’m not going anywhere. If you need help all you have to do is ask. You’re not in this alone. Sounds like your sister and whoever called you is trying to help. I’m here too. I might not be the programming genius you are, but I have contacts and I’ve dealt with my fair share of pricks.”

  “I bet you have,” I laughed despite the nausea inducing anxiety gripping me and my wolf.

  “That’s neither here nor there,” Luc smirked.

  “Stay with me for a bit. It’s too hot to go inside. I feel like I’m on fire.”

  Luc sniffed the air and then said, “you don’t smell like heat.”

  “I’m not in heat!” I blushed and looked away from him.

  “Your magic,” he whispered.

  “What about it?” I asked.

  “It’s starting to wake up. That’s what broke the cup.”

  Oh wow. T
hat. It snows and I finally get two huge things I’ve wanted and then someone attacks my baby and my livelihood.

  My phone rang again. Luc smiled at me and pointed to it. Sighing, I answered and listened to Gloria ramble off a list of possible hackers who struck businesses within the last two years.

  “They’re all traceable, though. I keep up with the news too. I couldn’t trace this guy. I’m good, Gloria. I’m one of the best. Moonscale Industries keeps trying to seduce me over to their side.”

  “I better be the only man trying to seduce you,” Luc whispered in my ear.

  “Who’s that? Lucian?”

  “Yeah. Listen, I have a lot going on here. I’ve met my true-mate and my magic may or may not have tried to scorch me with my favorite drink. The servers are offline. A Moonscale guy is coming by to look at things. Maybe he’ll find something I missed. Zera’s at the house. She can let him in. If she’s still around when you get home, please don’t be a bitch. We really need all hands on deck, because mine are useless right now.”

  Gloria took a deep breath to gather herself before speaking. Luc wrapped his arms around my waist and stepped in between my legs. I rested my head on his shoulder grateful for his closeness. The world shot arrows from every direction, but in his arms, I felt safer than outside of them.

  “Aidan, your hands have never been useless. You’re the best programmer on this side of the country. Now, rewind and tell me again what happened.”

  “I can’t trace whoever…”

  “Not that. Your true-mate and magic?” She asked.

  “My algorithm worked. Lucian Montero is my true-mate.”

  “Then why are you talking to me? You should be celebrating!” She smiled.

  Gloria was always animated. After all the time we spent together the smile in her voice was obvious.

  “Congratulations, baby brother,” she continued. “This is a good thing. I’ll find the hacker and eat him if that’s the only way to stop him. The servers are safe offline. Don’t worry about it for now.”

  “You know that’s impossible, right?” I laughed.

  “We don’t need to be back online until summer when applications come in. We’ll have it fixed by then. When things are settled, I’ll drive out and meet your Alpha. We’ll have a proper Yule celebration.”

  “What about my baby?” I whined unable to stop myself. “I don’t want to go back to buying generic stuff because my trust funds are locked until I’m fifty.”

  “You won’t. This is a war we will win. Let me talk to Lucian.”

  “He goes by Luc,” I said repeating what Zera told me the night before in the attic.

  Chapter Ten

  Luc

  “My sister, Gloria, wants to talk to you,” Aidan held out the phone.

  “Oh great,” my wolf rolled his eyes. “We don’t even have Aidan inside the house and his cave-Alpha sister wants to give us the talk.”

  “Luc Montero speaking,” I answered the phone keeping my voice level.

  Alphas giving their siblings’ mates a hard time was a time-honored tradition. It made me glad to be an only child. Sure, I’d kick someone’s ass for messing with an omega relative. I just didn’t assume a true-mate response would go balls up before it ever got off the ground. Fate knew its job well.

  “Gloria Gilmore, here. I understand you’re a busy man and probably will be busier than ever with my brother as your mate. So, I’ll cut to the chase. He’s a workaholic. He crawls out of bed in the middle of the night to tweak his algorithm if he dreams about an idea. Don’t expect to be the center of his attention. You need to meet him halfway on things or neither of you will ever know peace.”

  “That’s not what I expected you to say,” I laughed.

  “Oh yeah. If you break his heart, I’ll rip yours out and feed it to my pet harpy.”

  “That’s better.”

  “In all seriousness, he hasn’t taken more than a few days off since he was seventeen. I hoped he’d take time off this winter. All work and no play is no way to live and now this shit happens,” Gloria said.

  “Known enemies?” I asked her.

  “None. We’ve never had trouble with anyone.”

  “Let’s see what the Moonscale techie says. Maybe it’s just a virus or something.”

  Aidan’s grip on my shoulder tightened. His nails pressed against my flesh.

  “I’ve gotta go. We’re about to land. I should be home tonight. I’ll be in touch after I talk to the tech guy. Tell Aidan I love him. Take care of him and don’t let him spend all day pacing the floors.”

  “You got it,” I ended the call and handed the phone back to Aiden.

  “Do you need to go home?” I asked him.

  “There’s nothing I can do until the tech guy looks. It didn’t act like any virus I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t think it’s that.”

  “This is your holiday,” I tightened my hold on him. “What do you want to do?”

  “You’re the paying customer,” he smirked.

  “Ten grand to meet my true-mate. That’s a small price to pay.”

  “I’ll refund your money when the server’s back up,” Aidan said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I leaned in for another kiss.

  Aidan ran his hands across my shoulders as our lips met for a slow tender kiss. His magic prickled over my skin unsure of what to do with itself. Gilmores usually understood magical theory long before their magic woke up. Aidan likely had dozens of spells memorized and if he was anything like his grandmother, he’d be a natural witch. Though, there was always a learning curve when magic woke up.

  “Claim him. Then he’ll have access to your knowledge too,” my wolf urged.

  My dick stirred filled with the same passion as my wolf. Aidan wrapped his legs around my waist and leaned back on the hood. The slick scent of his arousal filled the lawn. He rocked his hips rubbing against my hard cock. His stomach growled.

  “Lunch before romping,” I broke the kiss to say.

  “It can wait,” Aidan played with the hairs at the nape of my neck.

  “We have all the time in the world.”

  “Kiss me again. It’s hard to think about my crumbling business when you do,” Aidan locked his gaze to mine.

  I kissed him again. His lips were sweet and hungry, soft and supple. His tongue tasted like coffee and desire.

  “Are you sure lunch can wait?” I asked.

  “Stop being a cave-Alpha,” Aidan laughed. “I’m not a starving pup. I had breakfast.”

  “It’s in the nature of the relationship. The Alpha must hunt and feed his omega,” I said and kissed up and down his neck in between words.

  “The nature of the relationship is the Alpha must satisfy his omega,” Aidan smirked at me.

  I glanced around the lawn. None of the servants were around. Our primal nature pulled us together. The prophecy danced through my head.

  Two ancient tribes failed to breach their divide,

  Feathers flustered and humans denied,

  Wings and wind shifted, now we must hide.

  Not forever, but for yet.

  Wingless witches and casting magi,

  All watching, upwards turn thine eye.

  Leaves fall like feathers when fates collide.

  Fierce ancestors watching from the other side

  Give thy blessing where gilded wings do glide.

  Montero and Gilmore Covens ease the divide.

  True-mates their hearts cannot hide.

  An oath sworn, a babe born

  Harpies return when Yule fires burn.

  I opened my mouth to whisper the words to Aidan, but my wolf clamped my mouth shut and wouldn’t let me speak aloud.

  “We don’t know if we’re the ones the prophecy’s talking about. Even if we are, he’s been through enough for one day. Us. His magic. The hacker who I have to eat when I found out who it is. We don’t even know if he wants children right away.”

  “We should go inside,” I told Aidan.

/>   “Yeah. You did mention servants, didn’t you?” He laughed.

  His laughter wrapped around me and stirred my dick back to its full length. It would be easy to give in to the primal pull of fate and take him over and over on the hood of the car, but the condoms were inside, and I told him as much.

  “I’ve been tested since my last romp. Have you?” His tone turned serious and he sat up.

  Alphas didn’t pick up venereal diseases often. Not in the way that affected us anyway. We could carry them and pass them around to our omega and beta lovers if we weren’t careful.

  “I have.” I nodded.

  “We’re okay then, right?” Aidan asked.

  “Are you on birth control?” I asked him.

  “No. I’ve… Look, I swore off men about two years ago. I dated a guy for a while, and he met his true-mate. That was just my sign from the universe to give up dating and casual romping. It took time away from my work anyway.” A bright red blush covered his face and ears as he spoke.

  “Then we should discuss pups. I know it’s early in our relationship. We’ve known each other less than an hour, but if we’re going to romp there’s always the possibility of conception.”

  “Do you want pups?”

  “Big families are a Montero tradition. My parents broke that tradition by having a single child.”

  “That didn’t answer my question,” Aidan narrowed his eyes on me.

  I reached out for him on a link that didn’t exist yet. It was a natural reflex. A mate link would allow me to communicate my complicated thoughts on the matter. The link wasn’t there and once it was we might be expectant parents.

  “That would be good,” my wolf said.

  “This feels like a no-win question for me. If I say yes, I sound like a cave-Alpha ready to throw you in the kitchen and buy you a new apron. If I say no then I’m lying.”

  “I want pups. Maybe not until the hacker is dead and his bones are picked clean by the birds, but I want pups. I want a family. I can’t walk by a baby without thinking about holding my own little bundle of joy. If you’re worried about me don’t be. We just need to make sure we’re on the same page. There’s no taking a baby back once they’re conceived.”