There!
Three tiny faces turned to theirs, bathed in flickering firelight. Ruby’s face was pale with fright.
The two hellpuppy twins were alight with glee.
“Ruby!” Abigail rushed past him and scooped up their daughter. Jasper grabbed the twins, hurrying them further away from the fire. The blaze had truly caught by now.
And then, just as quickly, it died.
Sheena jogged to a halt next to them, hands still raised as she used her hellsheep magic to quell the fire. “What thefu—” she began, and glanced guiltily at the kids. “I mean, what the—he—uhh—shi—jiminy crickets,” she said at last, with feeling.
The others ran up, but the emergency was over. Meaghan and Caine scooped the twins away, and the ice running through Jasper’s veins melted.
“I didn’t mean for it to do that, Daddy!” Ruby wailed. “I wanted it to be special!”
Something pulsed through the mate bond from Abigail’s heart to his—relief, mixed with something like regret. And understanding.
“Hot cocoa,” he announced out loud. “And then the four of you can tell us all how that happened.”
It took multiple mugs of hot cocoa, each one topped with more marshmallows until the last mug was more marshmallow than drink. But eventually the kids were ready to talk.
“I know I was meant to be watching them,” Cole said miserably. “But they knocked the snowman on top of me and—I swear it only took a minute for me to get out, and then—”
“HeeheeheeHEEHEE,” the twins cackled in unison. Caine and Meaghan looked drained.
“Iwas meant to be watching you all,” Meaghan said, rubbing her forehead. She looked up at Caine. “I only looked away for a moment, helping Cole out of the snow…”
Her mate cupped her face. “I know how fast they are.”
“Iknow how fast they are.” She sighed. “I used to think a whole pack to two shifter kids was a safe ratio. Guess I was wrong about that.”
Behind her, Sheena and Fleance exchanged a silent grimace, and Sheena ghosted her hand over her midsection.
If that meant what Jasper thought it meant… then he agreed with them that right now was not a good time to tell their alphas that the ratio might soon bethreeshifter kids against a pack of adults.
Ruby scooped up a slug of melted marshmallow and spooned it into her mouth.
“Are you ready to tell us now?” Abigail asked gently.
“I wanted to do a special Christmas surprise too,” Ruby told them in the tiniest voice Jasper had ever heard from her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out handful after handful of Christmas decorations Jasper had never seen before. Macaroni stars, glittery cardboard trees, an extremely squashed length of bunting…
“Did you make these?” he asked.
Ruby nodded, and sniffed. “I wanted to go all the way over the ice to the island and make a Christmas tree for you and Mommy. And I did! I got all the way there! But Lola and Hamish came too and… then they…” She sniffed harder. “THEY started the fire! It wasn’t me!”
Jasper exchanged a glance with Abigail, then looked at the twins. They were both still in unrepentantly good moods.
As they watched, a patch of the picnic table in front of them started to smolder.
Caine smacked his hand over it to put it out. “I believe you,” he told Ruby. “These little firebugs get too excited, and, well… you’ve seen the consequences.”
“And THEN,” Ruby continued, glowing with vindication. “And THEN, they…” Her face darkened. “Hmph.”
She refused to say any more.
9
Abigail
