It was the night before Thanksgiving, and all through the house, creatures were stirring. They were stirring hard.

“Oh, Ryan,” moaned Angelica as Ryan bit her neck.

“That’s right, babe,” said Ryan. “Just say my name.”

“I know you’re the one who’s used to riding poles, but there’s nothing I love more than riding your pole,” said Angelica. “Heck, I could ride your pole to The North Pole and back.”

“Leave the pole work to the expert,” said Ryan. “Just lie back and watch me work my magic.”

“Your magic?” asked Angelica. “Oh. Don’t tell me. You have a surprise for me?”

“Call it an early Christmas present,” said Ryan.

“I’ve heard of opening Christmas the night before Christmas Day…but nearly a month before Christmas?” asked Angelica. “I don’t know. Just doesn’t seem right.”

“Oh, then I guess I shouldn’t press this button,” said Ryan, moving the picture frame that had hidden his surprise.

The button was big, red, and had one simple word on it. ‘Party.’

“I guess I could make one exception,” said Angelica. “It is Thanksgiving Eve.”

Angelica walked over to the button and tapped it.

A trap door opened from the ceiling and a pole snaked down. A disco ball came out of another trap door. So did a set of rainbow lights. The lights turned on, and the disco ball turned. Their sound system started playing a song Angelica had caught Ryan singing in the shower. Now, she knew why. He was practicing a routine.

Ryan ripped off his pants. Of course, they were tearaways. Underneath, he was wearing a pair of red velvet shorts. He pulled something out of the pocket. It was a red Santa hat with fur trim. He stuck it on his head.

Ryan swung on the pole. Ryan put so much force into the swing that Angelica was worried the house was going to fall down. Ryan danced to the music, rubbing his hands over his abs, moving the droplets of sweat that beaded over his skin over his every ripple of muscle. Angelica half expected cannons full of baby oil to pop out of the walls and squirt Ryan down.

Angelica’s hand wandered down her pants. She was already wet, wanting. She’d seen Ryan dance before, touched herself while thinking about it, but she’d never gotten to touch herself while he pole-danced for her. He only pole-danced at the club, where people were around. In private, Angelica could do whatever she frikkin’ wanted while watching the man who was soon to be her husband.

“How do you like your present, babe?” asked Ryan, dismounting from the pole.

“I can tell you once I finish unwrapping it,” said Angelica.

Ryan came up to Angelica, dancing all the way. Angelica reached right into Ryan’s shorts and tried to flip his cock out.

“Where’s the fly?” asked Angelica.

“Here,” said Ryan, putting Angelica’s hand on his waistband and making her grab it. “Rip.”

“Of course it’s a frikkin’ tear away,” said Angelica with a grin, smacking her forehead with the palm of her free hand.

Angelica pulled back, hard. The snaps on the side of the shorts made satisfying snapping sounds. Angelica tossed her half, the front half of the costume shorts, to the side. The other side fell on the ground. Ryan was buck naked, the tip of his cock wet, but nowhere near as wet as Angelica.

Angelica got up and pushed Ryan back down onto the bed. She mounted his cock, pushing her panties aside, ripping them a little.

Ryan grabbed Angelica’s butt with both his hands and leaned in to whisper something to his fated mate.

“What did I tell you about leaving the pole work to me?” growled Ryan.

“Come on,” said Angelica, tapping Ryan’s nose. “You look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want to watch me ride your pole.”

“You know I can’t,” whispered Ryan huskily.

Ryan leaned back, hands behind his head.

“Wait, aren’t you going to help?” asked Angelica. “You’re just gonna frikkin’ lie there?”

“You said you wanted to show me your moves,” said Ryan. “I believe in…a hands-off teaching experience. I’ll just give you constructive criticism.”

“You can lead ‘the Big Bad Bear’ to The Wreath, but you can’t make him stop being a cocky bastard,” said Angelica.

“Not how I remember that saying going,” said Ryan.

Angelica put both hands down on Ryan’s shoulder. She rocked herself back, nearly slipping off Ryan. She pulled herself back onto him. She moved one of her hands back to Ryan’s thighs. She put one hand down on his thigh and gripped it hard, bucking onto Ryan by swinging her torso between her two arms.

“Oh, babe, you’re showing me some new tricks,” moaned Ryan, reaching up to grip Angelica.

“What happened to no touching?” asked Angelica. “If we’re playing strip club, you should know that this is a no touching strip club.”

“You don’t offer extras?” asked Ryan, reaching up to grab Angelica’s big boobs.

“Nope,” said Angelica, batting Ryan’s hands away from her breasts. “I’m a good girl. I’m just a bad stripper.”

Angelica rocked down onto Ryan. Confident in her ability to balance on Ryan’s lap, she moved the hand on Ryan’s shoulder down to her clit.

“Fuck,” moaned Ryan. “I knew I was getting a lap dance. Didn’t expect a live show too.”

Ryan burst inside Angelica as Angelica’s pussy fluttered around his cock. They’d had a mutual orgasm, a rarity, as Ryan usually made sure to bring Angelica to climax at least twice before he came. He couldn’t hold back. Angelica was just too hot. Her curves were bouncing up and down, hypnotizing him. If they’d really been at a strip club, this would’ve been the point where Ryan followed Angelica into the champagne room.

“How was that, babe?” asked Ryan, as Angelica dismounted him and lay back next to him on their big bed.

“I really do love my Christmas present. I only have one question,” said Angelica. “How the heck did you get that installed without me knowing?”

“Remember last week, when I sent you to the spa with your friend?” asked Ryan. “Never, ever trust a man who gives you a spa gift card complete with an appointment. It means he’s up to something.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” said Angelica, sitting up and getting some air, before turning to sit on the side of the bed. “We should get going.”

“Lesson number two,” said Ryan, reaching around Angelica’s neck and pushing her hair aside. “Never turn your back on a tricky man like me.”

Ryan clasped the necklace shut. Angelica looked down. The necklace had a medium weight silver chain, split into three sections. There was one section going down her left shoulder, the other, down her right shoulder. Both the left and right chains were connected to gunmetal pewter charms. The last section of chain bound the two charms together, making the chain whole.

Angelica fingered the charms. She felt a scale pattern. At first, she thought he’d given her a Pisces themed necklace, with two fish, but neither of them was a Pisces. Then, she saw that the charms had beaks.

“Birds?” asked Angelica. “Why did you get me a necklace with birds on it?”

“On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” started Ryan.

“Two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree,” sang Angelica. “I know the song. Everyone does. But what do turtledoves have to do with us?”

“It’s a symbol of fidelity,” said Ryan. “I want you to know that even though I’m still with the club, my heart belongs to you, Angelica.”

“I don’t care about you stripping,” said Angelica, running her hands over Ryan’s body. “I know you’re loyal, Ryan.”

“You know that because you gave me a second chance, which is the other reason this necklace is special,” said Ryan. “Two turtle doves, one for each of the chances you gave me.”

“This is so much food,” said Angelica, looking backward into Ryan’s hatchback which they’d steam-cleaned the glitter out of just so they could use the car for transporting the food to the Clan Marron Thanksgiving feast. They’d cooked up a storm in their Seattle apartment, making a massive batch of rosemary roasted potatoes, jalapeno cornbread, and some marionberry fritters.

“Trust me. It’ll be gone in the blink of an eye,” said Ryan, pulling into Nuthusk, the town Clan Marron called its home.

“Then did we make enough?” asked Angelica. She zipped up her hoodie — the same bright red hoodie she’d worn on December first when she’d first seen Ryan row across that lake and put the ‘Once upon a time’ on their brand-new fairy-tale love story. She’d had it on when Ryan had come to her on Christmas Day and written their ‘Twice upon a time,’ because he hadn’t wasted his second chance to make it all right. She’d worn it That had been the start of their Little Red Riding Hood story, and there didn’t seem to be an end to their fairytale happily-ever-after. It would just keep on going, forever.

“Don’t worry,” said Ryan. “If some bad boy steals a pie, I’ll chase them down and get it back.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” said Angelica.

Ryan pulled into the lot of Clan Marron’s Clan lodge. They’d gotten into the lodge parking lot earlier than expected, but not earlier than a familiar face, holding a baby in a papoose around her chest.

Ryan had barely parked before somebody knocked at his window. It was Emily, holding a baby like a mama kangaroo.

Ryan got out of the car once Emily backed up.

“Emily, I’d hug you, but I wouldn’t want to smush one-third of your litter,” said Ryan.

“One third?” asked Emily. “So you didn’t hear. It turned out I had quadruplets all along. Yup. One was just hidden…much like the fated mate you’re hiding. You have to introduce her to me properly, Ryan.

“Hey, I’m Angelica,” said Angelica, who had walked over from the passenger side of the car. “You’re Emily?”

“My reputation precedes me,” said Emily. “Now I’m worried.”

“Don’t be,” said Angelica. “You’re frikkin’ awesome. If it weren’t for you, Ryan would’ve never gone up North. Trust me. Ryan and I both owe you.”

“Hon, I’ve got four men at my beck and call,” teased Emily. “I think I’ve got all the help I can get. Y’all brought food?”

“Of course,” said Angelica. “Ryan?”

Angelica and Ryan loaded their arms up with food and chatted with Emily as they walked to the lodge and placed the food on the proper buffet tables inside the lodge.

“Hey, the Council is going to need you this year,” said Angelica.

“The Council?” asked Ryan. “What did I do this year?”

“Nothing,” said Emily. “Except find your fated mate, and reform from bad boy stripper to…happily engaged stripper?”

“I’m still at the club, but I do the big shows for a crowd, not the small ones meant for finding a mate,” said Ryan. “I already found her, so it’s not like I need to do that anymore.”

“It’s great exercise, though,” said Angelica. “Keeps his abs right.”

“Well, the Council needs you to talk some sense into this year’s unwilling recruit,” said Emily.

“Who is it?” asked Ryan.

“Ethan,” said Emily.

“As in Ethan McLean?” asked Ryan. “Ho-ho. There’s no frikkin’ way the Council will manage to get him to go North. He’s a billionaire, Emily. I wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to slither out of this using some business school tricks. A shifter like that doesn’t become rich by being easily toyed with.”

“That’s where I come in again,” said Emily. “So you best head to the Council chambers now, and get ready, okay?”

“I’ll be back soon, my angel,” said Ryan, giving Angelica a kiss on the head.

“Never seen him treat a girl like that before,” said Emily. “You’re special, Angelica. And not just because you got a rock on that finger. Ryan feels something special for you. I know that feeling. Ain’t nothing like it in the world.”

“Is that why you help the Council?” asked Angelica. “Because you love love?”

Emily pointed out the window at the large black SUV that had parked outside in the lot. Angelica could see that the driver was wearing a fancy suit, but that was all she could tell from her angle.

“Heck no, Angelica,” said Emily. “I love drama, girl! And I see drama just parked in the lot.”

Emily readjusted herself and her baby before walking at a brisk pace out to the lot, where she was about to disrupt a billionaire’s life forever, with a little help from Ryan, the Council of Clan Elders, Santana Claus and his crew…and Fate herself.