Warren stopped dead two steps into our home, paused for a long moment, and then burst into laughter.

“What?” Shaun demanded from behind him. He poked his head around from behind Warren, their son Theodore squirming in the omega’s arms. “Oh,” Shaun said, very obviously striving to be polite. “Uh… Wow. This is very… um… decorated.”

“You mean it’s garish and ridiculous,” I corrected him with a grin.

“Well… yes?”

Warren guffawed loudly and turned to me, shaking his head. “Well, if I wasn’t already sure that it’s Christmas, there’s no doubt now. I’ve seen actual Christmas stores less decorated than this. I’m almost afraid to see the rest of the house…”

I clapped my friend on the shoulder. “You should be,” I said in an exaggerated whisper, then turned to Shaun. “Glad you guys are here at last! Need help getting anything out of the car?”

Shaun shook his head, stepping inside so I could close the door and cut off the cold draft of air blowing inside. “Been a while, hasn’t it? We meant to get back over at our place, only Teddy got sick again and then I got sick and the house is a mess—”

I waved a hand to cut off the omega’s apology, leading him deeper into the house. “It’s fine,” I assured him. “I know how it goes—believe me, I know how it goes.” In a timely illustration that proved my point, I snatched one of Charlotte’s shirts up off the floor in the middle of the hallway. I had no idea where it had come from or how it had gotten there, but that seemed to be a constant thing with a small child in the house.

“Yeah, but still. You and Warr work together, and you live all of five minutes away…”

“And we both have young’uns in the house,” I reminded him with a smile.

I could still hardly believe that in just a few more days, Charlotte would be an entire year old. It seemed like all I’d done was blink and she’d gone from a newborn to almost walking, albeit with a bit of help from us or whatever furniture was around.

Warren had already found his way into the living room by the time Shaun and I got there. He turned in a slow circle with an increasingly horrified look on his face as he saw around all the holiday decorations.

“Da!” Teddy demanded, holding his arms out toward Warren.

Warren approached and took their son from his husband. “Yes,” he agreed. “I do need to protect you from the holiday bomb that’s gone off in here. Shield your eyes, my son! No one should have to witness this!” He dramatically held his hand over Teddy’s eyes to shield him, lips twitching as he tried not to smile.

I opened my mouth to joke that if he thought this was bad then he needed to see the bedroom, but before I could, Chris came bustling through the doorway leading to the dining room, our daughter in his arms. “Oh, you’re here! Have you seen Charlotte’s—ah, thank you.” He accepted Charlotte’s lost shirt, set her down, and managed to get her back into it before she could start to toddle toward our guests.

“Not even going to ask,” I teased him while Shaun crouched down and held his hands out to our daughter, greeting her excitedly.

Chris made a face at me. “Good. Don’t.”

Unable to resist—not that I ever could—I pulled Chris closer and leaned in for a lingering kiss. He hummed happily, pressing against me, and I suspected that he’d forgotten about our guests for just an instant. Not that I blamed him; it was hard to remember that other people existed in the world when our life was so… perfect.

Everything was perfect—even the obnoxiously overdone Christmas decorations.

The night I had marked Chris, we had checked to make sure Charlotte was still sleeping and then curled up on the sofa, where we’d spent hours talking about what we were going to do about the future. So focused on taking care of Charlotte over the first few weeks of her life, it was a conversation we’d put off, first in the days we’d spent in the hotel in Boston after leaving the hospital, then in my apartment in New York. But it couldn’t be put off forever, and even though both of us were tired, we had already tied ourselves together in the most intimate way an alpha and omega could; we had promised our futures to each other, and it was time to discuss what that actually entailed.

Realistically, there was a high chance that all I needed to do was wait out my family. They’d never be happy that I had chosen to take Chris and Charlotte for my own, but there was a chance that they would eventually come around, given time. My father had followed through on his threat to fire me from Apex, but he had the power to restore me to my previous position, too, if he wanted to.

The thing was… I didn’t want to wait for them to come around. They’d already shown their true colors when it came to Chris, and even if I thought they might learn to grudgingly tolerate him in time, he deserved better than “family” that had tried to pay him to leave—and so did Charlotte. And really, so did I. Maybe they were the family I had been born to, but this was the family I had chosen. What was a trust fund and inheritance when I had everything in the world I needed there with me at that moment? The love of my life, curled up on the sofa with me, the mark of our bonding dark red on his skin and his scent so thoroughly mixed with mine that it created something wholly new. And our daughter, sleeping peacefully in our bedroom without a care in the world.

I had explained all of it to Chris, confessing that I worried that if we stayed in Boston, my parents were only going to drag us down. He hadn’t even batted an eye when I told him of my father’s threat to cut me off entirely, other than to kiss me and tell me that we didn’t need their money because we were strong enough to build whatever life we wanted—together.

Then we hadn’t talked for a while, unless it was in gasps and moans as we made love again.

I suppose I needn’t have worried; everything fell into place perfectly after that.

Although we agreed that night to stay in New York since it was the most likely place for me to get a similar job to the one I’d had with my father’s company, Warren had called two days later to ask yet again if I was interested in coming to work for him. I’d declined, as usual. Warren lived in a small town in Maine, where he ran a real estate company; moving to a town that counted residents in the low thousands instead of millions was such a foreign concept that I hadn’t ever seriously considered his offer of employment, especially when I had a secure job at Apex. But this time, the idea stuck in my mind and I barely slept five minutes that night, tossing and turning as I thought.

I hesitantly brought up the suggestion of taking Warren up on his offer and moving to Maine to Chris the next morning, and to my surprise, he agreed immediately with a simple, “Why not? I don’t care where we are, Riley, as long as it’s with you.”

And a month later, we’d walked hand in hand into our new home in a new state to begin a brand new life together—bonded, married, a family.

“So are you going to explain why it looks like Santa came all over your house, or what?” Warren demanded. When Chris and I broke apart to look over at him, he winked salaciously at me.

“Warren, there are children present,” Shaun reminded him, rolling his eyes.

“What?” Warred asked innocently. “They’ll have to learn where they came from sooner or later…”

Shaun heaved a long-suffering sigh, turning to Chris. “You in the market for another alpha? Because otherwise, I’m offering him up to the highest bidder…”

“‘Fraid not,” Chris answered, snickering. “I’m full up.”

“I’ll bet you are,” Warren murmured, wisely quietly enough that his husband didn’t seem to hear him.

Watching the two of them, I couldn’t help but smile. I’d missed seeing this playful side of Warren, I realized. He’d had it in spades when we were kids, and his mouth had often gotten him—and me, by extension—into trouble. But life had thrown him a few curveballs that had dimmed that side of him, and it was great to see his boyish humor had come back again. And, although he made a show of snatching their son back in annoyance and I suspected Shaun would loudly proclaim the opposite if asked, the omega seemed to like that part of Warren, too. They were a good pair, and I knew that I would have been extremely jealous if I didn’t have a wonderful omega and child of my own.

Speaking of children, I caught Charlotte right before she was about to topple over on her trip from Shaun back to me, and she giggled as I hefted her into my arms. Her pale blue eyes, so like Chris’s, glimmered with mirth as she merrily waved her arms around in the air. She certainly had her moments, as all kids did, but overall she was an amazingly well-behaved little girl, and I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter.

Warren planted a wet kiss on his husband’s cheek, much to Shaun’s annoyance, then turned back to us. “Okay, but really. Christmas on steroids. Explain.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “Other than meeting each other, last Christmas wasn’t the best and we didn’t get to celebrate thanks to someone showing up early, so we’re making up for lost time. Two Christmases in one!” I used my chin to gesture to the room in general, grinning.

Warren wasn’t that far off when he said it looked like Santa had busted a nut inside our home. From ceiling to just above toddler reaching range, our house was red and green and glitter all over. It had started as a joke more than a month ago to see how much cheap Christmas stuff Chris and I could fit in the living room, then somehow morphed into a competition where each of us tried to outdo the other with the most ridiculous decorations.

While Chris and Charlotte were at a doctor’s appointment on one of my days off, I spent a number of hours hanging as many strings of light from the ceiling as I possibly could, creating what looked like a set for Stranger Things all down the hallway from the front door, through the living room, and into the dining room. Chris responded by turning a few rolls of wrapping paper into makeshift wallpaper in our bedroom, which of course meant that I had to stick bows anywhere and everywhere I could. He sneakily changed the alarm ringtone on my phone to a chiptunes version of “Jingle Bells” at full volume that had to be the most obnoxious song on the planet, and I didn’t feel bad at all when it also woke Charlotte up the next morning and it took him forty-five minutes to get her to calm down. I created a web of tinsel over the door while he took a shower, trapping him in the bathroom; he found the creepiest elf face cutouts known to man and plastered them in unexpected places, like inside cabinets and closets, just waiting to be discovered by the unwary. I found a fuzzy toilet seat cover with Santa’s face on it, complete with matching rug; he found a shower curtain with a picture of Santa urinating down a chimney on it, so of course we had to put that up right away.

And all that wasn’t even the half of it.

“If you say so,” Warren said doubtfully. “Remind me why I told you to move here, again?”

“Because you needed someone else around to make yourself look sane in comparison?” Chris asked dryly, and everyone laughed. He paused for a moment, then a sly expression crossed his face. “Please, make yourselves at home. Dinner’s in the oven but still needs a little bit. I’m going to go check on it… Riley, will you help?”

“Sure,” I answered casually, though I was certain that Chris was up to something.

“We’ll keep an eye on Charlie. I promise not to start a fight club with her. She and Teddy are too young for that anyway—hey!” Warren laughed loudly as Shaun elbowed him in the stomach, glowering at him.

Shaking my head in amusement, I followed Chris into the kitchen. “What exactly do you need help wi—”

“This way,” Chris interrupted, smiling mysteriously. He gestured for me to follow and we headed right back out into the hallway.

I glanced over my shoulder, but Shaun and Warren were fully occupied with the kids, so they didn’t notice us not checking on dinner.

Completely out of the blue, Chris shoved me into the bathroom, closed the door behind us, and shoved me back against the door. “That’s better,” he breathed into my ear, pressing his body against mine.

“If dinner’s in here, we’ve got a big problem,” I teased him lightly, though my cock definitely twitched at the breathy way his words had come out, full of delicious promise.

“Someone’s going to be eating something,” he purred, running a meaningful hand down my stomach to the hem of my pants.

Well fuck me.

I swallowed hard. “Shaun and Warren are right out there,” I said aloud, as much to remind myself of their presence as to remind Chris.

“M-hmm,” he said, not breaking eye contact as he popped the button on my jeans and slid the zipper down bit by teasing bit.

“They think we’re checking on dinner.”

“M-hmm.”

Down went my pants, and down went Chris to his knees—and up went my cock.

“They’ll hear,” I protested, one last, final attempt to keep from giving in to him. The sentence was punctuated by a strangled noise in the back of my throat when Chris buried his face in my groin, nuzzling at my balls with his nose through the fabric of my briefs.

He looked up at me through his lashes, smirking. “Then don’t let them hear,” he said, and pulled my briefs down my thighs. He went right back to nuzzling at me with his face, only this time it was accompanied by his hot breath and slick tongue as he licked teasingly at my balls and the underside of my shaft.

“I do not know what’s gotten into you all of a sudden, but—mmph.” I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a moan as Chris suddenly swirled his tongue around the oh so sensitive skin at the tip of my cock, blue eyes glimmering deviously.

My omega took me fully into his mouth for just a heartbeat, so quickly I almost didn’t register what he’d done, then pulled off with a quiet pop. “I just thought you might like your Christmas present early,” he said innocently, though the things he was doing to my balls with his hand were anything but innocent. A thin string of precum trailed from my tip to his lips; as I watched, Chris ran his tongue over his lips and swept it up.

“Oh, that is so not fair,” I groaned, very aware of the sound of Warren’s loud laughter somewhere on the other side of the door. If I could hear the murmur of their conversation, then they’d definitely be able to hear any noises I made… and, judging by the look on my beloved’s face, that was exactly the plan.

“How long do you think it’ll take for it to snow?” Chris asked, continuing his innocent act while simultaneously working his hand up and down my shaft in exactly the way he knew I liked.

“At this rate, not long,” I gasped, taking my hand away from my mouth long enough to speak before pressing it right back where it was.

“I do like white Christmases,” Chris teased. He took me into his mouth again, fingers playing at my balls, and it was all I could do not to whimper in pleasure. His mouth was hot and silky and everything delightful in the world; I leaned against the door and focused on trying not to let any of the groans and moans out, when all I wanted to do was throw my head back and let Chris hear precisely how much I liked what he was doing to me.

He had me at his mercy; a bomb could have gone off and I wouldn’t have noticed, too occupied with the way his tongue raked along my cock and my head bumped against the back of his throat when he took me in particularly deep. It seemed like no time at all before my pleasure mounted to searing brightness, my balls tightened, my knot swelled, and I spilled into his mouth with a low moan that not even Chris hastily reaching up to clamp his own hand over my mouth could fully stop.

Chris drank in every last drop with a quiet little moan of his own, then sat back on his heels and grinned up at me.

He opened his mouth to say something, but I hauled him to his feet and claimed his mouth with my own before he could. I took my time kissing him, exploring his mouth with my tongue, tasting the flavor of my own cum that lingered there, mixed with the mulled wine we’d stolen sips of a short while before while preparing it. We broke apart only when it became absolutely necessary to breathe, and even then I almost hauled him closer to shove my tongue in his mouth again, our guests be damned.

“Well,” I gasped, pulling up my briefs and fastening my jeans again, “that was indeed an unexpected present.”

Chris grinned at me, eyes glimmering in the light waterproof Christmas lights I’d managed to find for the shower. “Oh, that wasn’t the present…”

I blinked at him. “Then what is?”

Biting his lip, Chris pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me.

My eyes recognized what it was before my brain did, and my heart did a pirouette in my chest. I accepted the stick from him, feeling my stomach do a little flip when I looked down at it and saw one blue line, then another.

“I meant to wait until Christmas day to give it to you,” Chris said softly. “I was going to wrap it and everything. I know it’s only a few more days, but—I couldn’t wait.”

I stared at him, stunned speechless and so happy I could have burst out into song all at once. “When did you find out?” was the first of the million things whirling through my mind that made it to my lips.

“This morning,” Chris answered, beaming at me.

I grinned back at him. “So that’s why you dashed off to the store in such a hurry. It wasn’t for mulled wine mix at all.”

“Well, it was for that, too…”

He stepped into my arms when I held them out to him, neither of us able to stop smiling even for a moment. I gripped the pregnancy test in my hand, heart soaring, and leaned in for a lingering kiss that Chris was more than eager to return.

“I know we’ve talked about it, but… we’re actually having another baby!” I exclaimed.

My omega smiled at me. “Merry Christmas, love,” he whispered, and laid his head on my shoulder. We stayed there for a while, arm in arm as the string of lights in the shower slowly blinked at us, even after Warren hollered down the hallway that “a quickie is only if it’s quick, you know.”

A new home, new friends, and now a new spark of life that grew our little family—I couldn’t think of a more perfect Christmas.

* * *