Somewhere nearby a phone rang. How long had it been since I heard a phone ring? It wasn’t my phone. I didn’t think I had a phone anymore. Pami had probably smashed it into pieces or tossed it off a cliff onto the rocky shore below. She was evil like that and always put her nose where it didn’t belong.
“Should’ve eaten her face when we had the chance,”my bear grumbled into my thoughts still not fully awake.
“Gotta get that. If it’s my parents, they’ll show up if I don’t answer it” Lero said, his face still nuzzled against my chest, muffling his words. “Don’t disappear while I’m gone.”
“I don’t plan on it, mate,” I said and kissed him on top of his head just in case.
He crawled off me and grabbed his phone from the hardwood coffee table and went into the kitchen to take the call. For a moment, I strained my ears trying to catch a whisper of his conversation. Who had called him? Why had they called him? It was probably some mere mundane call but after being utterly on my own for two years everything was much more interesting.
Someone knocked on the front door and I swore under my breath. Who dared to interrupt my first morning alone with my true-mate so thoroughly? I’d never manage a workable plan if all this ringing and knocking continued. I glanced toward the hallway Lero had disappeared down. He was nowhere in sight. If he heard the rapping on the door he was choosing to ignore it.
“Lucky he answered for us then, huh?”my bear grumbled again.
We were.
Whoever it was knocked again. They weren’t giving up. Sighing, I got to my feet and crossed through the end table again. I had forgotten it was there. It wasn’t as solid as the other things inside the house. I unlocked the four locks that Lero had on the door as if he feared someone would break in. They still vaguely smelled of older bears – those who must’ve lived here beforehim. Were they the ones who thought they needed so much security?
I peeped out the tiny hole and found a teenager bouncing from foot to foot like he was about to piss his pants. Whatever had the kid all worked up and put springs in his feet must’ve been good news because he was grinning like the weasel who got into the coop. Unsure if he’d see or hear me, I opened the door. Only when I was face to face with him did I see the red envelope in his hands. Was it time for school acceptance letters here? He looked a bit young for university but then again I wasn’t sure how round ears aged up.
“Hello?” the teenager called out. “Lero? You home? Your door just opened up? Did you install a Magi system? Do you have a ghost? A ghost once opened the door to Xenos’s magic house for me! Lero?! LERO!?” the teenager bellowed at me without looking at me. I stepped closer and waved my hand in front of him. He really didn’t see me. I sniffed his shoulder. Dragon and wolf. Interesting combo. There was some elf in there somewhere too. Well, hell.
“Grain?” Lero sprinted into the living room. He looked from the kid to me and back to the kid. It took him a second too long to realize that Grain didn’t see me and the kid’s smile fell flat.
“I didn’t open it! I don’t know what happened,” he said. “One minute I was knocking and the next the thing just opened! I was helping to sort the mail and saw this --- the Mated for Holiday people sent you another letter. It’s not bulky but I bet they found you a match! Xenos said you had someone coming for it!” His belief that he was chastised faded quickly as he handed off the red envelope to my mate, happy to be the bearer of good news.
Grain and Lero sat down on the sofa and forgetting myself, I shut and locked the door.
“See!” Grain pointed at the now closed door and I shot my mate a sheepish grin. Some habits died hard. Especially when I half-expected Pami to show up at any minute and drag me back.
“I hope if there is a ghost in my house that he’s friendly,” Lero shrugged and tore open the red envelope from this weird holiday company. He read it once and then again before looking at Grain.
“They’ve found me another match except Grandpa was right. He’s coming here. They want me to host a Snow Demon for the holidays as my match!”
“Out of the question!” I shook my head and Lero flinched.
“Are you okay?” Grain asked Lero.
“Yeah. Got a ringing in my ear,” Lero said, rubbing his left ear.
“Are you going to do it? I know you wanted to get away for a while but it would be cool to have someone new come here, huh?”
“Aren’t you going home for Yule?” Lero asked the teenager.
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “I get along better with the kids here. We all like to eat. Plus, my Dads have more eggs in the nest and I don’t want to be put on rotating or polishing duty. Besides, what do you think a Snow Demon would be like?”
“Apparently, he wants to live a peaceful life,” Lero said.
I opened my mouth and shut it again. My mate wasn’t about to tell the cub that I was here and there was no use in arguing with an omega who could so easily ignore me. I paced the floor, ruffling the carpet, hoping the young one would notice but it seemed my luck had run out. The two of them talked on while looking at the photo of the horned man. I didn’t care that he was a demon of whatever sort. All I cared about was that my mate didn’t need a matchmaker. He was mine. All mine and I wasn’t about to share.
CHAPTER THREE
Lero
The Nightshade Bear Territory
It took me forever to get rid of Grain, but I had long ago decided that whether I chose a mate or found my true-mate I wasn’t going to be the sort of omega who forgot about his friends and relatives whenever it happened. Grain was young and impressionable. He needed good role models and people to listen to him ramble on. At his age, it was normal and good to be excited about meeting people from faraway places, especially when he felt as if he didn’t feel he fit in at home. His family had a history of running away and disappearing. His grandfather, Sky Hemlock, had disappeared into the Other World and barely came back decades later when his family needed him. I knew all about not fitting in and was glad Grain didn’t feel the need to run away to the Other World. With the world more connected than ever, finding a place to belong was a bit easier. As tired as I was of dating, the Nightshade Bear Territory was now my home.
With Grain gone, I cooked breakfast for the second time while my invisible mate ran down the list of reasons it was a bad idea for me to have this Wess guy come here.
