“Mira, come down.”
“Nuh uh.”
Branch growled. “If you do not come down…”
“What? You’ll turn into a reindeer and fly up and get me!”
She heard a loud drawn out groan coming from the ground below.
What the heck was happening? He was a reindeer. Nope, not possible. She was losing her mind thanks to too much eggnog – that was all it was. She just needed to hide up here until she sobered up, yep, that was all she needed.
Except, she could still see that reindeer running around the garden and, oh my, now there was more than one, butting antlers.
After seeing Marcus transform, she panicked and ran and well, the tree house looked so convenient. Course, now she was trapped.
Mira eeped as the tree started shaking – was he going to shake her out of it?
She peered over the side and saw him starting to climb up. Crud. Yep, this was why you didn’t climb trees in a chase.
She retreated to a corner as a supremely grumpy face appeared over the edge followed by a worryingly large body. The tree house shuddered lightly.
“I think you might be too big for this place.”
Branch peered at the ‘hang in there, baby’ cat poster on the wall of the tree house. “Yeah, the last person in here was Ariel. I definitely did not put that poster up. I haven’t been up here since I was thirteen and I was smaller then.”
“Hard to believe you could get any bigger,” she murmured as the house gave an ominous creak.
“We probably shouldn’t move too much,” he said as he perched on the edge.
“Yeah.”
There were a few moments of awkward silence. He was watching her carefully, waiting for her to go nuts - as if she were a kitten in a yarn factory. She was considering whether snow would make a soft landing if she had to jump out the window.
“Can you turn into a reindeer?” she asked at last.
“Yes,” he admitted reluctantly.
“You’re not going to right now are you?”
The treehouse was already pretty crowded with just his human self, not to mention it was starting to list.
“No.”
Mira bit her lip and Branch inhaled deeply.
“Marcus shifted in front of you as he believed you already knew the truth about us – because he believes you’re my fiancée.”
“It was incredible,” she murmured. “So everyone at the party can turn into reindeer?”
“Almost. Some of the mates are human; some are other shifters.”
“Other shifters?” Mira leaned forward in her eagerness, and the treehouse wobbled. “You mean they can turn into other animals?”
Branch nodded and his brow creased. “You don’t seem all that shocked.”
“Yes, I am. Of course, I am – what do you think I’m doing up this tree?”
His lips twitched into an almost smile. “No, you’re not.”
“Well, I, you know, I’ve read books about shifters.”
“Books?”
“You know, romances.”
Her eyes dipped from his, and her cheeks bloomed with heat. She’d read an awful lot of steamy shifter romances, and yes she couldn’t deny that she’d always had a smidgeon of hope that shifters would be real.
“You like reading romances?”
“A little…”
“About reindeer shifters?”
“Well, no, mostly wolf shifters…”
Wolves seemed to be the most popular, shortly followed by bears. Reindeers weren’t perceived as being quite as sexy.
Branch sneered. “Unwashed idiots – you should stay away from wolf shifters.”
Mira nodded absently. “This is… unbelievable. So everyone in there is…”
“My herd.” Obviously.
“Right.”
“I am the alpha.”
“Of course.” The most normal thing in the world for anyone to say.
“I have to mate before Christmas Eve, or I will forfeit my right to be alpha. There are laws regarding shifters, and we have to abide by them.”
“I see.”
“Where does this leave us?” asked Branch uncertainly.
“It actually explains a few things,” she admitted.
“You don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind, of course, I don’t mind, it’s just… incredible.”
Mira was totally in awe of what she saw. Yes, she had been surprised at first, but she couldn’t deny that this made the world just a little bit more magical.
“You’re not leaving?” he asked wondrously.
“No, I don’t think I am.”