So much had changed since Christmas. Stella and Kevin had moved into a house near the national park where Kevin worked in Washington state. That way, Stella could work in town, at a local Bear Claw Bakery franchise in the touristy town near the park. Kevin still kept the cabin in the woods, but it was Stella who had helped turn that house into a home.

Stella’s family was shocked by the news about Nivek, who had randomly appeared on his parents’ front lawn, smelling of sulfur, weeks after his disappearance. They thought it best that Stella marry Kevin rather than Nivek to avoid scandal, but Stella didn’t let her family off of the hook that easily. She made sure Kevin was accepted into her family and that nobody dared question her decisions about her life ever again — especially her decisions involving her heart.

And of course, everyone slowly learned to listen to Stella — as she was pregnant, and there was no way she’d let her family near the babies unless there were a severe change in behavior. She wasn’t quite showing, but her mama bear instincts had already come out. It was like Stella had undergone a shift of her own and had ‘mama bear’ madness.

“Can I open my eyes yet?” asked Kevin, who was being led from the porch into the house. The house smelled of freshly baked gingerbread bears — ginger-bears — which Stella was baking for the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration down in Nuthusk. Stella had baked the cookies all on her own – and she didn’t need any help from any elves. Stella had achieved her dream of having a house that always smelled of gingerbread after all. When she didn’t have the time to put a batch of gingerbread in the oven, she could always light a gingerbread scented candle.

“Not yet,” said Stella, leading Kevin into the bedroom. “Alright…now, you can peek.”

Stella took the bandana blindfold off of Kevin and tossed it aside. Kevin looked around the bedroom. The bedroom had been transformed from lonely forest ranger’s bachelor crash pad to romantic oasis. Kevin had carried Stella’s packages and the new mattress in from their place in town, but Stella had put the rest of the room together while Kevin read a book on the porch.

There was a new set of sheets on the bed. They were red and green flannel, the type that would only get even softer over time and over many washings. There were matching pillows — new, big, not like the tiny lumpy ones that Kevin had used for years. There were now two end tables, one by each side of the bed, and each had a soft white warm light. There was an alarm clock on Kevin’s side of the bed and an e-reader on Stella’s side the of the bed. On the walls, there were lovely prints of famous works of art set in different parts of the world, like little windows to other realities.

“Is it too much?” asked Stella.

“No,” said Kevin. “It’s perfect. It’s just missing one thing.”

“What?” asked Stella.

“You, in nothing, on those sheets,” said Kevin.

“But I’m all sweaty from assembling furniture and hanging paintings and —” started Stella.

Kevin shut her up with a kiss.

“You smell great,” said Kevin. “Plus, have you ever had sex with me and not ended up soaked with my sweat? You know I like it dirty.”

Kevin picked Stella up. He felt her thick ass in his hands. She was wearing a pair of thin sporty shorts for mobility, with a white camisole style tank top on top that left little to the imagination. It was still too much clothing for Kevin’s liking. Kevin ripped the camisole with his hands, exposing Stella’s bust.

“Hey, I liked that top,” said Stella.

“I’ll buy you a dozen tops,” said Kevin, taking Stella’s tit into his mouth so he could wrap his tongue around her nipple, before continuing. “Consider my destruction of your clothing an investment in your future wardrobe.”

Kevin put Stella on the bed and moved his hands right to her shorts, pulling them off her body. Clad only in underwear, Stella looked up at Kevin, who was wearing a ratty grey shirt with holes around the collar and a pair of jeans.

Stella pulled Kevin close. She crooked her fingers into the holes on the shirt and ripped the shirt. She wasn’t able to tear it in half like Kevin had split her top.

“You get points for trying,” said Kevin with a chuckle. He took his shirt off and tossed it aside. He undid his jeans button and disrobed. He didn’t bother to take off his boxers. He just flipped his cock through the fly.

Kevin flipped Stella over, so she was on her hands and knees. He slid her underwear aside and pushed right into her.

“Oh!” said Stella “Oh…fuck, Kevin.”

“I couldn’t wait any longer,” said Kevin.

Kevin grabbed Stella’s curves with his strong, muscular hands, his callused fingertips rubbing against the big, beautiful woman’s soft, luscious skin. Stella let out gasps as his fingers ran over particularly sensitive parts of her body, as he rubbed around her nipples, as he brushed against her rosebud with the base of his cock. Every part of Stella responded to Kevin’s touch, with both her ass cheeks and her face cheeks reddening with every thrust.

Stella flipped herself over so she could look at Kevin’s body. Kevin helped flip Stella over, thrusting in and out of her hips as he turned around on his cock like a lathe.

Stella looked over Kevin’s body. He had always had a jacked body, even back at The Wreath. That’s why Krampus hadn’t had to spend much time training him. Kevin had the build of a bear shifter — broad shoulder, with thick, muscular arms. As an outdoorsman, Kevin not only had a rock-hard body, but he knew how to use it. He knew his strength, but, knowing was one thing — doing was another.

When Kevin fucked her, he wasn’t doing much thinking at all. It was all instinct, just as Stella’s body knew how to move with Kevin’s like they were doing a dance only the two of them knew, and only their bodies could perform the moves to.

One thing was for sure — it sure beat waltzing.

After all, waltzing couldn’t bring Stella to the brink of orgasm, which is exactly where Stella found herself. After all, Kevin was a skilled lover — even if it was all instinct. A mere brushing of Kevin’s fingers against her clit pushed Stella past the brink, and she crashed into Kevin, gripping the sheets while the pulsing in her body quickened before bursting like a supernova, turning her pussy into a black hole that sucked in Kevin’s cock.

After Kevin felt Stella come, he came inside of her. He pulled out and lay down next to her on the bed.

“Whew,” said Stella, fanning her still steaming face. “So…I take it you enjoyed your surprise?”

“That I did,” said Kevin.

“Good,” said Stella, casting her head back and taking in a deep breath.

“I got a surprise for you too,” said Kevin. He got up from the bed and walked naked to the closet. He found a familiar velvet box, one he’d hidden in there and hoped that Stella wouldn’t notice. He took it out and brought it to Stella.

“What’s this?” asked Stella.

“Just a little something,” said Kevin.

Stella opened up the box. Inside, there was a wooden bracelet. She examined the pattern on the bracelet. There were seven tiny scenes, similar, but slightly different from one another. They showed seven geese, sitting on nests.

“This is beautiful,” said Stella.

“You remember how the song does, don’t you?” asked Kevin. “‘On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…’”

“‘Seven geese a-layin,’’” finished Stella. “December seventh…that was the day of our first kiss.”

“Here,” said Kevin. He put the wooden bangle on Stella’s wrist. He held the outside of the thick bracelet still. Then, he pressed a finger on the center of the bracelet and spun it. At first, Stella just saw a blur. Then, she saw that the seven geese laying eggs were like seven frames of animation. As the bracelet spun, the goose sat on the nest and got back up, revealing the egg, before rustling its wings and sitting back down again.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Stella.

“It’s simple — just some wood, ball-bearings, and imagination…plus time spent whittling,” said Kevin. “I was inspired by those old-fashioned zoetropes.”

“It’s perfect,” said Stella. “Wait…you made this?”

“Yeah,” said Kevin. “It took me a long time to make — nearly all year. Consider this an early Christmas gift.”

Stella smiled and pulled Kevin in for a hug. “That just makes this even more perfect.”

Stella didn’t just have a house that smelled of gingerbread — she had a car that smelled like gingerbread too. The gingerbread bears filled the car with a sweet, spicy scent that Stella hoped would seep into the fabric of the seats and never, ever come out. Stella’s SUV and Kevin’s truck were both heavy-duty vehicles, suited to their outdoorsy lifestyle in the small town near the national park where Kevin worked. Kevin drove Stella’s SUV while Stella looked out the window at the now familiar small town of Nuthusk, which was more secluded in the forest than their little village.

“I can hardly believe it’s already Thanksgiving,” said Stella. “It feels like we just visited Nuthusk last week.”

“At least you already know everyone, unlike some of the other bad boys’ fated mates,” said Kevin. “Well. Nearly everyone. Bunch of other out-of-towners are gonna be coming in.”

“Is Emily going to be there with her brood?” asked Stella.

“You know it,” said Kevin. “They’ll snatch that tray of gingerbread bears out of your hands before you can say ‘fated mate.’ Many hands make light work. Guess we learned that that night in the bakery…just like that old fairy tale, The Elves and the Shoemaker. I guess the only elf there was Avery, and you don’t exactly make shoes…but, you know what I mean. It brought us closer together. The couple that works hard plays hard…especially when one’s fated mate is a very talented baker.”

“Speaking of fated mates, who do you think is gonna be brought in this year?” asked Stella.

“It’s someone big,” said Kevin. “High-profile.”

“The Clan’s so big that that could be anyone,” said Stella. “Come on. Give me another hint.”

“He’s a baller,” said Kevin.

“All of the bad boys balled hard,” said Stella. “That’s no help at all.”

“Okay, how about this?” asked Kevin. “I think you would’ve picked him if we’d done a fantasy league where we guessed which bad boy would get brought in to see the council this year.”

“No way,” said Stella. “How the heck did you get Eamonn frikkin’ Costello to agree to see the council?”

“He didn’t exactly ‘agree’ to anything,” said Kevin. “If you’ll remember, I didn’t exactly go to the council of my own volition.”

‘That’s different,” said Stella. “You were wild. I can respect that, in a dark, sexy, brooding way. Eamonn’s just…”

“…A playboy jerk that makes all of Clan Marron look bad?” asked Kevin. “As Fate would have it, the dumbass got himself arrested.”

“So wouldn’t that make it harder for the Clan to get him up to The Wreath?” asked Stella.

“Not exactly,” said Kevin. “You’ve learned a lot about shifters over the last year, but, you haven’t had to see the nitty-gritty politics side of stuff yet. You know how I always say, ‘Clan Marron takes care of their own?’”

“Yeah, that’s why we do the canned food drive, the bake sales to raise funds for activities, all that jazz,” said Stella.

“Well, we also take care of our own,” said Kevin. “The police let shifter Clans take care of various legal matters. It’s a two-way deal. Humans can’t handle shifters. Imagine locking up bears and mountain lions and rhinos. It’d be a veritable zoo. Shifters also have to get along with humans and show we aren’t predators looking to prey on the, well, weaker ones. We have to do our civic duty. In America, that means that shifter Clans handle all punishments that have to do with their members, and usually, that includes anyone exiled or banished or otherwise excluded from the Clan.”

“Did the Clan Elders sent out some squad of elite shifters to capture Eamonn?” asked Stella.

“No,” said Kevin. “I told you. The poor bastard managed to get himself arrested. They’ll be dropping him off at the lodge sometime today.”

“And you think Clan Marron can handle him?” asked Stella.

“No frikkin’ way,” said Kevin. “That’s why he has to go to The Wreath. Santana Claus, Krampus, and all the rest can handle shifters like Eamonn, shifters with some serious frikkin’ issues.”

“You sure know a lot about this,” said Stella.

“I was in his shoes last year, and I’ll be there with the council this year,” said Kevin.

“Why does the council have one of the reformed bad boys there anyway?” asked Stella.

“To show how far we’ve come in just a year,” said Kevin. “To provide hope. To show that Camp Kringle, The Ride, The Naughty List, it’s not all bullshizz.”

Kevin pulled into the parking lot of Clan Marron, where a familiar woman was already waiting.

“Hey Emily,” said Stella, before Emily could open her mouth. “Kevin briefed me. I know you two gotta go do your thing. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Stella, you’re frikkin’ perfect,” said Emily. “Kevin. The police called Jasper a few minutes ago. They’re coming in hot.”

“And why do I have a feeling that Eamonn’s going to put up a fight?” asked Kevin.

“Consider it Karma for the bullshizz you pulled last year,” said Emily with a smirk.

The sound of sirens approached from down the street. The police pulled into the lot and got out of the car. Inside, Stella could spot a familiar celebrity, wearing an orange jumpsuit, his hands cuffed behind his back.

“He’s wild,” said one of the cops.

“We know,” said Emily. “Thank you so much for bringing him. Please, stay, make yourself a plate. It’s the least we can do.”

“Don’t mind if we do, ma’am,” said one of the officers, tipping his cap. “You got it from here?”

Kevin and Emily nodded. The police unlocked the door, and Kevin pulled Eamonn out of the car and out onto his feet. Stella walked with the officers, leading them into the lodge, before taking a peek backward. Eamonn was putting up a fight, but it was nothing Kevin and Emily couldn’t handle. The only question was, would the football player be able to handle what Fate tossed his way that holiday quarter?