I barely heard what she said next as I sped out of the room, nearly running down the hall. The nurses watched me with wide eyes as I rushed back to the EMTs’ office. Callie startled as I flew through the door, and Ozzi gave me a wary look.
“Lyla has mom issues! It wasn’t me.” I went to sit down and realized I had way too much energy to sit. “There’s so much to do.”
“Wait. Calm down.” Ozzi rose and ran his hands over his head. “Clearly you talked to Eloise. Tell me exactly what happened.”
I blurted it all out and told him my plan. There were still a few hours before my shift. I could go home and get supplies. It had to be just right, and I knew the perfect place for it.
“So, pardon me for listening in, but I know Eloise and I’ve met Lyla a few times. I love her Christmas sweaters.” Callie leaned forward on her chair, resting her hands on her knees. “I’m not an Omega, but I’m a woman. Lyla might have mom issues, but you saying you want babies and she’ll be a great mom is not only insulting, it shows you have no respect for what she wants. I follow her online, and she’s got big dreams. No man is going to stop her. No matter what Christmas magic you throw together.”
A flare of anger lit up in my gut, and my first instinct was to snap at her. This was none of her fucking business. Lyla was mine, and… That’s when I stopped myself. She wasn’t mine, and Callie was right. It was disrespectful to assume Lyla just wanted to be a mother. That had nothing to do with her mom. That was all me. I was the Alphahole here. “Shit.”
Callie nodded and sat back. “Do all the Christmas magic you want, but if you can’t show her that you respect what she wants, then not even Santa Claus can help you.”
Ozzi nodded and heaved a sigh. “Callie’s right. Don’t let your controlling urges loose. You prove to Lyla that you respect her. I already know what I need to do, and fuck, I don’t know—”
The radio crackled and the dispatcher put out the call. Callie and Ozzi were fast on their feet and grabbing their coats.
“I’m still going home and getting the stuff for my plan. I’ll be back for my shift in a few hours, and then you’ve got to finish the preparations, Oz.”
“I’ll help.” Callie offered as she stuffed her arms through the sleeves of her coat. “I know lots of people would be happy to help.”
I wrapped her up in a hug and spun her around. “You’re a Christmas elf in disguise, Cal. Thank you.”
Ozzi held open the door for his partner and nodded once at me before leaving. He didn’t say anything else. It must have been a shitstorm in his head for him to be so closed-mouth about things, but I didn’t doubt for a second he was going to do what it took to win Lyla back.
When I had lost Aurora, it had been my own damn fault. I went from picking the places we went to the people we saw, telling her not to go anywhere without me, and then telling her what she wanted. I’d been so certain she wanted the same things I did and never asked what she actually wanted.
I was a controlling bastard, and she was right to leave me. Ozzi had been helping me not fall into that same trap with Lyla. My emotions for her had grown much faster, and her being my scent match only made it more difficult to hold my beast back. Yet I’d been doing so well, or, at least, I’d thought so.
If I’d fuck this up beyond repair…
No. I wasn’t going to think like that. My plan would work.
Time to make some Christmas magic.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Lyla
I glanced at the clock again as the minute hand ticked closer to the hour. Once eight o’clock hit, I’d have to go home by myself and spend Christmas Eve night alone. Even after I pulled out the tears, Miss Eloise wouldn’t let me stay overnight in the hospital with her.
Mariska was supposed to be home, but her pack had apologized for whatever they did and took her back to their farm. Miss Eloise showed me the pictures of the sleigh with the white horses. So pretty, but it was no sleighride that convinced my bestie to not go to California and stay in the state. She sent a text promising me all the details later.
I’d hoped Mariska and I could commiserate. Stay up late and yell at the women on Hallmark movies not to fall for the men who convinced them running a country store was better than a million dollar job in the city. We’d eat cookies and cakes and drink mulled wine, and then pass out on the couch.
Now it would just be me, crying into my wine, gorging on cookies, and wishing lumps of coal on all the happy movie couples.
I’d never spent a Christmas alone. Not once. It was eating me up inside. Though that could be the aftermath of me kicking Jason and Ozzi out and still feeling the increasingly painful ache of my heat.
I went back and forth wondering why I told them to go away and rallying myself to stay strong. Did I overreact because I’ve been an emotional bomb these past few days? Or was I in the right, and I should just wipe my boots of the mess?
“Lyla?” Miss Eloise’s voice broke into my thoughts, and I blinked, straightening in my chair and smiling. “That’s thethird time I’ve said your name. Come see this picture. Can you imagine a household with this many people in it?”
I stood and came to look at the image on her phone. It was Emberlee and her family, minus her parents. Yet she had ten brothers and sisters. Some who had mates and children. They were all gathered around a grand Christmas tree, and… Wait.
I recognized Emberlee’s siblings. They either had really red hair like her or black hair. There were three men I didn’t know. Two handsome blonds and one with messy green hair. They stood surrounding Emberlee, each of them touching her in some way, protective and possessive.
Alphas. Look at her face! Emberlee was grinning like she’d won the lottery.
I gasped and expanded the picture on the screen to get a closer look. “Those are Alphas!”
