“Mine!”my bear growled inside my thoughts and reared up on his hind legs as if he had to fight Lero for the newcomer.
I shook my head and Baby Andy looked up at me. He stopped crying and tapped my face with his sticky hand, giggling. I sniffed the air and Lero said something else I couldn’t make out. I sniffed the air again, trying to smell past the cold and all the cologne either Colton or Ivan was wearing. It was impossible to tell which one actually wore it because those two always smelled so much alike. Past all that was something interesting. Something big, fluffy, and strong. Not something. Someone. Someone who was about to saunter into my life and either help me hold down the fort or turn it upside down. If my taste in alphas was the same in the Other World as it was when I hooked up with Venal, Andy’s dad, it was probably the latter. I prayed to Frost, Juda, and the old bears that I had better taste and more common sense in between lives.
I stared at the top of my baby’s head. I stared at his little hand patting my nose as he giggled. Did he know what I smelled? Did he know that our lives were about to change forever or was he just giggling his furry little tail off because of the dumbfounded look on my face? I didn’t know because I didn’t look anyone in the face. How could I? This guy was here to keep Lero cheerful throughout the holiday season. I had Baby Andy and Mori was home – on the heels of my polar bear – I wasn’t lonely. I didn’t have time to be lonely. Being a dad was my world and everything else was left with the blank spaces to fill in.
“Well, shit,” the polar bear said, his Hemlock Mountain accent thicker than I expected it to be. It wasn’t the most promising start to a true-mate meeting and I was glad my parents weren’t here to hear it but it was more words than I had managed to spit out.
“Don’t cuss in front of the baby,” Lero quipped before I could. “We don’t do that. Preston will wear your b-a-l-l-s around his neck if you teach Andy bad words.”
“Well, I think he can wear them wherever he likes as long as he leaves them attached,” the newcomer said and I turned into a strawberry. If my traitorous feet would’ve moved, I’d have hefted my baby onto my hip and got the hell out of there. Who says that? Like seriously!
“I don’t mind,”my bear chimed in, and I would’ve kicked him if I could get my foot inside his inner sanctum. We did too mind. Very much. He wasn’t supposed to like being threatened. He was supposed to take it seriously and… Who was I kidding? He’d never survive in my family if he couldn’t give as good as he got. And if I wasn’t in protective carrier mode around the clock because of Sharon Claudis, I probably wouldn’t mind either. Well, I wouldn’t mind his ba--- I shook my head. Baby Andy was the most important person in the room no matter who else sauntered in.
Ivan charged through the back door ready to tackle the newcomer, but Colton caught him around the waist and pointed at me.
“Of course, he’s that color. Who the f-u-c-k comes to someone’s house and says something like that to their uncle?” Ivan growled.
“Uh… His true-mate,” Mori said. “I knew you---” my twin stopped short, choosing his words wisely. Information flooded in from our twin link. Of course, he smelled good to Mori too. We were twins and he was a healthy giant horned polar bear. Horned?! I wasn’t complaining but when did polar bears start growing horns.
“Snow demon,”the word drifted through Mori’s thoughts and I placed it. Rune had sort of messed up by trying to summon a snow demon that might or might not tell everyone who their true-mate was. It sounded like a load of shit to me and in the end a yeti-like shifter came out and met his mate instead. They were crazy on Hemlock Mountain. That’s why Baby Andy was staying right here in Nightshade Territory.
“Demon, though?”I thought back at my twin.
“Eh, I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean. He doesn’t look like he’s from the Pit. Looks more like a satyr had a baby with a fay and that baby grew up and married a polar bear or something. Hey! Why do you expect me to know all the answers? He’s your mate.”
“Because you’re just as frozen as I am for some reason. Be a bro and come get the baby, please? I might take the face off anyone else who tries. Be careful. He’s been dunking his hand like a cookie into any nearby glass.”
“Already trying to use glasses? He’s getting so big! I swear he grows every time I blink. How much does he weigh now”Mori asked, my request for help with the baby set him into motion and he crossed the room.
“Mo!” the baby made the little sound he did any time he saw Mori. He was almost talking now. Almost. Well, at least well enough for me to put together what he wanted since we had a carrier-baby link still. ‘Mo’ was definitely his Uncle Mori. He missed him while Mori was away from us. I kissed my baby on his forehead and then on his nose. Anytime I passed him off I ached like I’d never hold my little guy again. I was all too aware because of all my younger siblings that he wouldn’t be small forlong. That one day I’d pick him up and put him down for the last time. Just the thought of it was almost enough to make me cry.
“What about Lero?”Mori thought at me.
Everyone in the room was staring at us now. Mori held the baby close to him and Andy patted his cheek with the eggnog drenched hand. If my brother minded, he didn’t stop him.
“Uh… Shit, Mori. I don’t know. You’re the one with all the clever ideas,”I said, trying to laugh it off.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about the stranger from the matchmaking service killing me, Dad! He’s family now!” Lero called into the kitchen to Bolt and my heart sank into my stomach. It was as if I’d taken a whole holiday from him. Lero didn’t smell sad, but you could hide your emotions from your scent just like you could keep them out of your expression if you knew what you were doing.
Bolt came into the living room with his hands on his hips. He stood there akimbo, taking in the scene and I tried to count the times I watched my own carrier stand like that.
“Which one of you is it?” Bolt glanced toward me and Mori.
Unable to find my words, I raised my hand.
“Good,” he nodded as if Mori would’ve been a bad choice for the newcomer. I opened my mouth ready to argue. What was wrong with my twin? “Good that it’s one of you. Good that---”
“Dad!” Lero groaned. “Meeting someone through the matchmaking service isn’t like I’m picking up a random guy and bringing him home! Even if I was – do you know how old I am?”
“I know exactly how long it’s been since I was in labor with you, yes, but I put a lot of work into that and would like you not to be murdered,” Bolt said.
“He’s not a murderer!” Mori and I snapped at the same time.
“Everyone!” Colton’s voice rose above the rest. “How about we all calm down and give them some time to breathe? This is a happy thing.”
Colton and Bolt exchanged a look that told me a lot of chattering was happening over their mating link. Good. I didn’t want to hear what either of them thought of my mate. I didn’t have time for any more toxic bullshit. It was bad enough that I double locked down the house every night and slept with a tranq gun and a magical capture orb next to my bed every night in case Sharon Claudis showed up trying to steal my baby again.
“It is a happy thing,” Lero said, his lips tilting up into a smile.
