As normal on Christmas morning, I was up before any of the pups. Maybe it was because my childhood had been so craptastic, but I’d never lost my eagerness for Christmas morning. I loved the quiet sense of expectation and magic, waiting for the first whisper of little feet, the first wide-eyed sparkle of amazement at the presents magically delivered overnight.

And this year was unexpectedly more precious, with all our boys snowed in, plus a few extra. I couldn’t be sad about that.

I slipped on my obnoxious Rudolph Christmas pajama pants—Ray and I never actually slept in clothes. There was a little battery pack sewn into the waistband of these, and when it was turned on, all the little Rudolph noses flashed. One of the Chiarelli girls—Boomer couldn’t remember which one—had found it in an after-holiday discount pile last year and I’d been silently saving it for today. Noah was going to hate it.

Modesty achieved with the pants and a plain white tee, I slipped into the hallway, surprised to find I wasn’t the only one awake at this hour. Dean looked up at me with deer-in-the-headlights eyes, and it took me a moment to realize that the door he was closing wasn’t the one I’d assigned him, but Sam’s…

Oh, my. Dean completely reeked of sex, and high on his shoulder was a bright, fresh scar that would be impossible to hide with anything less than a turtleneck.

“Uhh…” The young man’s eyes darted between me and the door, and I didn’t even bother to hide my giggle.

“Looks like Santa brought someone their present early,” I said. Flustered, Dean started sputtering, and I didn’t feel the least bit sorry. I’d seen how sassy he could get when his barriers were down. He was going to have to get used to being teased if he was mated to one of Ray’s boys.

“I just… we were… I mean—” Dean sighed. “I didn’t mean to betray your hospitality like this, sir.”

“Oh, honey.” I clapped Dean on the shoulder opposite of his mating bite. That side would be a little sore for a few days. “You weren’t the only ones making some Christmas magic. As I told Ray last night, you’ve got to be a little free with the meaning of White Christmas.”

I left a stunned Dean behind me as I walked away humming, Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

I was still giggling about Dean’s embarrassed expression as I prepared the giant percolator of coffee that we used for holidays. I was more than happy to facilitate someone finding their mate, especially on Christmas.

Our mating… I shivered as I remembered Ray’s first touch, his hands still covered in blood, his eyes still wolf-wild. I had no idea what I’d whispered to him. I thought I’d finally snapped. I’d finally disappeared into my mental happy land. I didn’t dare believe it was real.

Then Ray had spirited us away, stopping briefly at a truck stop to shower both of us off. We couldn’t even bear to be alone for the time it took to rinse the grime of death and evil off us, and when one pot-bellied homophobe thought it would be a good idea to give Ray some shit…

Well, he’d learned better real fast.

The first time we’d met, it had only been for that brief moment, just enough to scent each other, to know. My body threw me into heat, and I had been alone. Well, not as alone as I would have liked to be. My captors made a pretty penny off my pain, I was sure. Thankfully, I could barely remember it. That was the one benefit to suffering an unsatisfied heat. The pain of it blocked out every other evil that might have happened during that time.

So when we were finally together, for real, all I wanted to do was jump Ray’s bones and figure everything else out afterwards. The man had the patience of a saint. A fucking saint. I had no shame, stripping in the cab of the truck, sucking on his earlobes, begging him to pull over to the side of the road. But the man managed to resist me until we hit Vegas, where he pulled up to the first fancy hotel he could find, practically threw his credit card at them for the only available room—a swanky VIP suite—and then, as soon as we were behind closed doors, completed me.

I sighed, an echo of that relief coursing through my body. To have found your mate and then been parted from them in a matter of minutes, kept separate for years, to know your other half was out there, to know a shadow of what you were missing, and then to claim it?

There was no way I could ever be upset over anyone finding their forever love in my home. It was a blessing.

“What are you grinning about?” Ray’s voice pulled me from my daydreaming, and I looked up to see him standing in the doorway, holding a sleepy-eyed Isaac. “Why don’t you come over here and I’ll give you something to really smile about.”

He glanced up at the mistletoe above him.

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” I slid into his one-armed embrace, squishing Isaac between us. We kissed the little cutie’s cheeks loudly as he squirmed and giggled in protest. He turned his head away, hiding his face in Ray’s shoulder, and I turned my attention to my alpha, reaching up to grab the back of his head and pull him into a kiss of passion and gratefulness.

“Hot damn, if I knew there was a free show, I would have gotten up earlier,” Dr. Wendy Anderson hooted, making Ray chuckle into our kiss.

“Wendy, hush. That was a beautiful moment and you’ve gone and ruined it.” Cindy Tierney, Preston’s mother, fussed at her partner. Wendy, a large, matronly bear, completely dwarfed the small and petite omega wolf. The two had just celebrated their second anniversary a couple of weeks ago, and they simultaneously acted like they were still in their honeymoon phase yet also as if they’d been together forever.

I guessed you could say the same about Ray and me, though. Maybe that was common for those of us who’d been through trauma before finding our happily ever after.

“Turnabout's fair play,” Ray said, pushing us farther into the kitchen. “Your turn, ladies.”

Cindy laughed as Wendy wasted no time pulling the thin omega woman under the mistletoe, dipping her back and laying one on her. Ray cheered and clapped, and Isaac followed his example.

Wendy pulled her blushing bride to her feet and gave us a wink. “Gotta show these old fogeys how it’s done.”

I could never express how grateful I was to see the open, joyous smile on Cindy’s face. When Preston had found her, she’d been a broken, lonely woman, cast out from her family and kept from her son most of his life. She’d really grown into herself.

Which she proved by taking charge. “Okay, anyone not preparing breakfast, you’re officially banned until the first round of cinnamon rolls is complete. And I’m not getting started until our kitchen is clear.”

“Our kitchen?” I raised an eyebrow, suppressing a smile.

“Your kitchen, our kitchen.” Cindy waved a dismissive hand. “It’s all the same.”

Ray hoisted Isaac a little higher on his hip and guided Wendy out. “We’d better escape before they unleash World War III.”

“As long as no one puts my cinnamon roll consumption in danger, I’ll happily sit in a corner,” Wendy said, blowing Cindy a kiss.

I gave Cindy a look as they left, her eyes dreamily trailing after her partner. “You two are ridiculous,” I said.

That snapped her back, and she rolled her eyes. “You have no room to talk, Don Two.”

“Don Two?” I handed her the apron I’d bought for her a couple years ago. I had several spares, but this one was Cindy’s. It said, “Kiss the cook and bring her wine!”

It matched mine, which said, “Kiss the cook and bring him whiskey!”

“Because Ray’s Don Juan,” she said with an evil grin.

I groaned. “It’s too early to be breaking out the dad jokes.”

“It’s never too early for dad jokes. You’re just upset I beat you to it.”

I tied my apron around my waist. “Don’t you have some cinnamon rolls to make, woman?”

“Don’t sass me, or I’ll go join the others and you’ll have to deal with Wendy fussing about the lack of rolls.”

I shivered in mock horror. “You win… this round.”

While she prepared the ingredients for cinnamon rolls, moving around my kitchen with familiarity, I started prepping the second oven for the mass production of bacon.

Sugar and meat. That’s how you kept a house full of men happy.

I snickered. Lots and lots of meat.