I smiled at my sweetheart as he climbed into bed, humming a holiday standard. "What are you talking about with that dreaming of a white Christmas shit? Look outside, baby. We've got a house full of people that will attest to the fact that you got your white Christmas—no dreaming necessary."

Justin curled up beside me, his hand moving down to possessively cup my cock while he kissed my neck. "Maybe that's not the kind of white stuff I was dreaming about, Ray." Wrapping his hand around my shaft, he gave it a couple tugs as he nipped at my ear. "No, I'm dreaming of a whole different white substance right now."

Flipping him onto his back, I cradled his cheek in the palm of my hand while I gazed into his eyes for a long moment. "Merry Christmas, baby, and happy anniversary. We made it another year, didn't we? I don't care how long it's been, just thinking back to those endless nights of longing and so many days spent looking for you makes me want to go back and rip those fuckers apart all over again. I would, you know. For you? I'd tear the entire world apart. Believe that, baby."

"I know," Justin said softly, his hand coming up to rest on my chest. "I love you so much, Raymond Noah Perkins. For so much of the year I'm able to forget those awful days, but then the kids clamor for the Christmas story and it's all back fresh in my mind." He shook his head, huffing out a breath. "That's my fault, though; I'm the one who started the tradition."

Resting on my elbow, I stroked his cheek with my thumb. "I know it's hard on you when you relive it, but you're right, baby. The kids do need to hear the story. They need to know that there are bad people in this world, just like there are good guys like their dads who will be there to protect them. But whether or not it's a fun story, they need to know their history—our history. Life ain't pretty, we both know that. But we also know that good usually wins in the end, and that's the lesson we want those pups to learn. Watch your back and be careful, but trust that things will work out how they're meant to in the end. And if shit goes sideways, Team ALPHA will swoop in and save the day. Hoo-rah."

"Hoo-rah, indeed." Justin smirked. "How about we just keep our little angels from being taken in the first place? I'm still not above microchipping them until they're old enough to be mated, I’ve said it once and I'll say it again."

"Sorry, baby. I think their parents might take issue with you chipping the pups." I chuckled softly, gazing into those soft, warm eyes that had grabbed me by the short and curlies from the first time I'd seen him—and still did. The sexy little shit owned me heart and soul, and he damn well knew it.

"What are you thinking about so hard, Ray? You look like you're about to start growling." Justin ran his hand down my chest and scratched the sensitive skin over my abdomen before cupping my cock again. "Do I need to take your mind off things, baby? I still haven't had my white Christmas, you know."

I snickered when he started humming the song while he went back to stroking my cock. "I was just thinking of how much I love you and how your ass owns me lock, stock, and barrel—and I think you're proving that right now."

Justin winked, his slow strokes not missing a beat as he lifted his head to kiss me. "That's okay, baby. You own me too. But tell me, what's a guy got to do around here to get laid?"

I groaned as his thumb slid over the slippery precum already leaking from my tip. Touching my lips to his, I finally took the kiss I'd been waiting for all night. Justin groaned into my mouth, thrusting his hips up against mine and taking our cocks together in his hand on the next stroke. "Oh, yeah… I like that," I murmured against his lips. Right as I slid my tongue back into his mouth, our bedroom door flung open with a bang.

Jerking the blanket over us reflexively, I flipped onto my side and looked at the doorway to see who the fuck was charging into our bedroom to cockblock me right now. I blinked against the sudden blindness that hit when the bedroom lights came on, only to cringe a second later when my eyes adjusted just in time to see Isaac clambering up on the bed.

"Hi, Daddy and Papa. Did Santa come yet?" His eyes were a little too alert for this time of night.

"No, he certainly did not. And he won't as long as little pups aren’t in their own beds where they belong," Justin said sternly, yet was already reaching his arms out for the little shit to come snuggle.

Isaac started to pull the blanket down as if to get under the covers with us, but I held it fast and shook my head. "House rules don't change because it's Christmas, sport. Nobody gets under the covers in this bed but me and your papa. You can snuggle for a minute, but then it's back to bed with you."

"Please, Papa?" Isaac whined to Justin, pleading for him to intervene. The little brat was cuddled up against his father's chest, the blanket thankfully separating him from Justin's very naked body.

"None of that whining, precious. Listen to your daddy," Justin said firmly. "Rules are rules. You'll understand when you're bigger. Right now, you just have to obey. Now give me a hug and scamper off back to bed. I'll be right behind you to tuck you back in, but you don't want to be awake when Santa comes or he won't stop. Remember, he sees you when you're sleeping and he knows when you're awake."

Isaac sat up on his knees, slapping his palms to his cheeks as he stared at us in horror. "And he knows if you be bad or good so be good for sake!"

"That's right, sport." I smiled at his garbled recitation as I started to sing. "You’d better watch out, you better not cry."

Justin joined in. "You better not pout, I'm telling you why."

Isaac sang along at the top of his lungs. "Santa Claus is coming to town." He bounced forward and threw his arms around my neck, kissing my cheek before turning and throwing himself at Justin for a kiss. Before I could catch him, the little shit was off and running back toward his own room.

Justin sat up and grabbed his robe, expertly slipping it on as he eased out from under the blanket. As he headed for the door, he glanced back over his shoulder. "Meet me in the living room, St. Nick. We forgot about stocking duty. But first, I've got a pup to tuck in."

My erection was long forgotten. It had disappeared the second I’d realized Isaac was in the room. Since Justin had mentioned St. Nick duty, that meant sex was now off the table, at least for now. Damned cockblocking kids. As much as Justin and I had wanted more kids when we were younger, I’d thrown a giant sexapalooza celebration the day Noah had moved out on his own, over a decade ago. I’d thought we were free from such interruptions for the rest of our lives.

As I pulled on my own pajama pants and grabbed my robe, it occurred to me that I really needed to install a new lock on our bedroom door. And since when had Isaac gotten tall enough to reach our light switch? The little booger was only three. As I headed for the door, I glanced over at the light switch and had my answer. Some forward-thinking little tyke had put a step stool under our light switch. I wasn't sure whether to be irritated or proud.

After I made a quick stop in the bathroom, I headed for the living room, humming White Christmas under my breath. Maybe I could get my mate under the mistletoe and recapture some of the magic. The moment I walked in the room, I knew that wasn't going to happen. Justin was sorting through a box of old Christmas crap with our son-in-law, Preston. Noah looked about as disgruntled as I felt as he sat there shoving candy into little stockings.

"There you are." Justin smiled brightly when he saw me. "I’d nearly forgotten the rest of the Christmas preparation, thanks to all that eggnog. I’ve pulled everything out and I have enough stockings for every pup present, isn't that wonderful? They'll still get their own Christmas at home once the storm passes, but they won't feel like Santa passed them by tonight. And if you will be so kind as to grab that box in your office that you didn't get around to dropping off at the center yesterday, there will be plenty of toys too. Preston is going to help me wrap so that each pup gets an extra couple of gifts to open aside from the ones that you and I got them."

I stared at him blankly. "Box? Desk? Center? Presents?"

Preston quirked a brow. "Very good, Ray. You know basic words." He turned to Noah. "Aren't you proud of your father, honey? Listen to all those words he knows how to say."

Justin snorted out a laugh at Preston's teasing before turning to wag a finger at me. "I knew you weren't listening to me yesterday morning. There is a box of toys on your desk that I found on clearance and forgot to take to the center. I wanted to have enough gifts for any pups that might show up this weekend. Luckily for you, Dean told me that they ended up having more than enough and ended up storing some for the future. At any rate, there's a box in your den and I need it. Would you mind retrieving it, please?"

Shaking my head, I wisely kept my mouth shut as I turned around and headed for my office. As he'd said, there was a large box of toys sitting right on my desk. If I’d actually gone into my office at any point over the past couple of days, I wouldn't have missed it. Unfortunately, or fortunately, as it turned out, I'd been too busy helping Justin prepare for our family party. I carried the box back out to the living room and set it down on the floor between the two omegas before sitting down beside Noah to help him finish filling the stockings.

I hadn't been paying attention to their conversation until I heard Isaac's name. I nodded in agreement when I heard Justin explain to the other two that we suspected that our youngest was an omega. "That's why it's super important for him to be aware and vigilant. He's too young to understand evil just yet, but I'll keep telling my story every year until every one of those babies takes it seriously."

Preston smiled sadly as he picked up some wrapping paper and selected a toy from the box. "I'm not sure if it's tragic or wonderful that your love story is also a cautionary tale. But you're right, every one of those pups needs to be aware of the dangers they'll face out in the world. They need to be vigilant and judge every alpha they meet against the ones in the circle of our family and friends."

Noah sighed. "That's true, Papa. But I still hurt for you every time you tell the tale. I like it when you play up the romance part of things, but I don't like to think of you being sold like chattel or treated like a commodity." He reached across the coffee table to grab his father's hand. "I love you, Papa. I'm so sorry you went through all that, but I will still listen every time you tell the story because I know how happily it ended."

Justin and I met each other's eyes with a secret smile that was only for each other. Yeah, we'd definitely had a happy ending to our story.