I cried my eyes out when I opened my present from Gwen. A trip to Italy, to shop!Heaven!
And then I cried again when Ajax opened his present from her. At first, I couldn’t figure out why he had a little toy helicopter, but then we found out she’d bought him the real thing, along with lessons to learn to fly it. He loved driving us around, and I knew he’d love flying us around just as much.
Ajax bought me platinum collar and cuffs. They were called permanent, but that didn’t work so well with a swan shifter, so the ones he’d bought looked like a single, unbroken circle, but he had a tiny little key that could open and lock them. He put them on my ankles and wrists, and finally, he placed the collar around my neck. Each of the five pieces had a small, thin platinum circle hanging from it. They were beautiful, but they were restraints. Cuffs. I could be restrained to anything, at any time. All he needed was a carabiner or a clip.Or a lock.
“I love them. How did you know?”
“How did I know what?”
“That I wanted a symbol of us. Of what we are to each other?”
He pulled me into his embrace. “You’re mine. Even before Sophia let us make it official, you were mine. It’s my job to know these things.”
He also bought me sexy panties, silly house slippers, and so many other small little gifts, I couldn’t begin to list them all.
Ajax bought our vampires new super-thin gaming laptops, which apparently were more powerful than their desktop units. And then he sent them upstairs to open two presents I’d seen delivered in giant boxes, but I had no idea what was inside. The vampires had no idea they’d been delivered to the garage. It turns out, they were huge chairs with monitors attached to them from an overhead arch. They looked more like an airplanecockpit than a desk or a chair, but I could easily see how this would make their jobs easier. They hadn’t known such a thing existed, and they were thrilled with them.
Finally, we went back to the trees, and Kieran passed out envelopes and boxes. I didn’t want to open my envelope. I didn’t want Christmas morning to be over.
But, I couldn’t risk insulting him, and he wanted me to open mine first.
I stared at the photo, uncomprehending, until he explained. “It’s a pond with a solarium around it. Both will be installed just off the patio next week. I’m arranging for duplicates to be installed at Ajax’s home in Fairbanks as well, so your swan will have a safe, warm place in the sunshine when she wants her very own bird-time.”
I hugged him and cried happy tears —again. He hugged me back and told me how happy he was to see me pleased with his gift.
Kieran had one hundred gallons of maple mead made just for Gwen, and the label proclaimed it to be Gwen’s Maple Mead. She opened a box with a single bottle, and he assured her the rest were in cold storage and not far away. Since alcohol isn’t changed by human digestion and is the same in the blood as it is in the bottle, vampires can digest alcoholic beverages. I loved eating maple foods so she could have a treat, and Ajax did too, but this was a super thoughtful gift from Kieran. Just as I had, she threw her arms around his neck to thank him. She didn’t cry, though.
And finally, Ajax opened his envelope, and stared at it a good ten seconds before he looked up. “It’s a waterfall. On my property. There wasn’t one there before.”
“Your acreage is fenced in. You’ll be able tochangeto wolf and hang out in your own woods. This gives your wolf high ground to hang out on, and water to play in.”
Ajax, too, walked to Kieran, and the two men embraced in a tight bear hug. Ajax told him, “I can’t thank you enough. It’s perfect.”
When there were no more presents under the tree, Kieran pointed the tv remote to the unit on the wall. “Abbott asked us to watch this once we’d opened all our gifts.”
Abbott appeared on the screen with Spence beside him, and the two looked, as always, perfect together.
“I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you, but this will have to do. With Kendra and Sophia both signing off on the four of you as good for everyone involved, the plan I put into motion last year has finally come full circle.”
He patted Spence’s arm and smiled at the camera. “Kieran and Gwen, you were given a werewolf to try to help you find a way back to peace with each other. It was clear you still dearly loved each other, but I worried you’d had one argument too many, and things had been said you couldn’t get beyond. Ajax was my gift to you, but it went both ways. You were also my gift to Ajax. He needed a family. He needed people to protect. To defend. To watch over. At the same time, heneededyou to need him. Becoming your nourishment helped him feel a part of you.
“This was my plan. I hoped it would be enough, but I’ll admit, I had a few worries.” He flashed a big smile. “And then Arabella came along, and it’s as if she was the glue that made everything work. I gave you Ajax, but providence gave you your little swan. All of you have been bestowed the most important gift of all. Family. Belonging. Loved ones. As a group, you’re in possession of thepower of three plus one. I know each of you appreciates this, bathes in it when you’re blessed with the energy, and will never take it for granted. You’ve been given the biggest gift of all.
“Each other.”
* * * *
Kieran
Abbott was right. Gwen and I had been on the road to dissolving our marriage. We’d had a long run, but we both felt we should let each other go before things turned sour. Or rather, more sour.
The plan was for us to make the decision when Gwen returned from France. Ajax was gifted to us Christmas night, but he couldn’t move in until New Year’s Day, and she was gone by then. The plan was for us to see how things were when Gwen returned from France, but we were both certain we’d need to figure out how to continue our business as partners, rather than as husband and wife.
But with Ajax in the house, everythingworkedagain.
I looked around the room, dipped into everyone’s head, and considered the relationship we each had with the others. Gwen and Arabella shopped together, played with each other’s hair, and watched stupid YouTube and TikTok videos about how to get just the right makeup effects. I wasn’t sure when I’d started seeing our Arabella as a person and not a thing, but words can’t describe the joy she’s brought into my life. Some of this is because she thinks of tiny details to make my life easier, but mostly, she brings me sunshine. For a vampire who lives in darkness, she’s brought me energy and life force I never thought I’d have again.
I can’t really explain my relationship with Ajax. He’s bodyguard, brother, son, lover, and a tiny bit slave. He’s my best friend, despite our age difference. We spar, we talk about cars, we go to car shows, and he takes hidden video of gun shows so I can see them when he arrives home. He’s shown me some new guns I didn’t know existed.
