“Wow, this is one hell of an ugly sweater party. I love it!”
Mira looked around at the herd members – they really had outdone themselves. She particularly liked how most of them lit up and played music.
“Outrageous sweater party,” rumbled Branch. “Mom objects to the term ugly.”
“I agree, outrageous is a much better word – I think they’re all fabulous. I’m so jealous. I wish I owned all these sweaters.” Mira’s own sweater – a light-up sweater featuring penguins doing the conga - was pretty tame in comparison to most on display. “I love yours, where did you get it?”
Branch pursed his lips and pulled at the collar again. It featured dancing gingerbread men, and yes it both lit up and played music in such a way it really looked like the gingerbread men were moving.
“It was my dad’s,” he said roughly. “He had about a hundred of them. He loved Christmas.”
His face took on a hard look and Mira placed her hand on his arm. She waited to see if he would object, and was pleased when he didn’t. She had to be careful around him. She had to remember that while she was starting to get some very warm non-platonic tinglings for him, he didn’t reciprocate them.
He wanted this to be a business arrangement, and she didn’t want to complicate matters by introducing her own girlish yearnings. But he couldn’t help the way she was feeling. She could tamp it down and say it was a crush because he was handsome and because he downright smoldered, but she knew it was more than that. He wasn’t perfect – no siree – he could be bossy and stubborn and difficult, but he was also generous and devoted to his herd. Not to mention loyal – even if their relationship was fake, he had been absolutely livid when Maris tried to entice him with her lacy underwear.
But no matter what her budding feelings may be, all she wanted was to comfort him – she didn’t want him to think it was anything else. He missed his father, and she could certainly understand that.
“My dad loved Christmas too,” she murmured. “He used to insist on wearing a sweater on Christmas Day – all day.” Mira let out a small fond giggle. “One year, we were experiencing a heat wave, but he insisted on wearing it, and he ended up at the hospital with heat stroke.”
Branch raised his eyebrows and she continued to giggle.
“Oh, he was fine,” she explained. “In fact, we spent all Christmas at the hospital celebrating with the doctors and nurses and the patients who couldn’t leave. My dad bought them all gifts from the hospital gift shop, and we ended up having a huge Christmas meal together in the cafeteria. It was nothing like we planned, but it was an awesome Christmas.”
“He sounds like he was an… interesting man.”
Mira threw back her head and laughed. “Yeah, he was like me only he talked more.”
“Really? He talked more than even you?”
That seemed to shock him, and by that point, Mira was virtually crying with laughter. Though, she stilled as Branch cupped her cheek and used his thumb to catch a couple of her tears.
There was a fluttering inside her chest as his expression seemed to warm with lust. Could it be? Did he really desire her? Okay, yes, she’d seen him looking at her chest now and then, but then so did her sixty-year-old neighbor who was very happily married with eight grandchildren - she kind of thought that the chest glance was just a reflex action. But maybe…
“Hey, guys!”
Ariel bustled into the room and Branch broke their gaze so that he could glare at his younger sister. Though, he didn’t remove his hand from her face.
Right. Of course. Disappointment swelled. He was just pretending to share a tender moment with her to make their relationship look real. He must have known Ariel was there.
Mira backed away from his hand, and he frowned at her. She noticed Ariel watching them with interest.
“Everything okay?”
Mira nodded and forced a cheery smile on her face. “I’m just going to splash some cold water on my face. Back in a minute.”
Branch dropped his hand and shoved it into his pocket. He could sense something was amiss with her, but he didn’t stop her as she fled. She barrelled through the house, dodging various herd members, groaned as she found the bathroom occupied – by Branch’s third cousin Arnold who suffered digestive distress, poor dear - and didn’t stop until she reached the kitchen.
The cool water felt good on her skin. It was almost enough to stop the blush spreading. She had almost embarrassed herself with Branch again – almost considered trying to kiss him again, and if she had, he probably would have been mad.
Mira dabbed her face dry and on turning, squeaked, as she found Maris glowering at her. The tall, slim female had opted for a mini skirt, tights with candy canes all over them, and a very tight sweater that declared ‘I’m on the naughty list.’ Mira could believe that, though she wouldn’t deny the woman looked fabulous.
“How much?” snapped Maris.
“Pardon?”
“How much to make you go away?”
“Ah…”
Maris’ pretty lips pursed in exasperation. “I know this isn’t a real mating. He has to be paying you to do this. There’s no way he has been dating you – I’d know.”
Mira snorted. “Oh, have you been stalking his every move?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, really?” Mira squeaked in surprise at her readiness to admit that.
“And I know that the two of you just met less than a week ago. So I’m asking you how much? I have money.”
Mira rolled her eyes. “Look…”
“I’ve been waiting to be the alpha female for over eight years now. I was patient while Branch grieved for his first mate, but I will not have this stolen out from under me.” Maris stamped her foot as if to prove her point.
Mira threw up her hands. “I don’t know what to tell you. Do you not think that if Branch wanted to mate you, he would? I mean, are you even in love with Branch? Is that it?”
Maris frowned. “Well no, I don’t love him. But my mother always told me I needed to reach for the stars. I needed to make something of myself and become the female alpha.”
Mira had heard some gossip about Maris’ mother – the word nymphomaniac had been thrown around.
“Can’t you make something of yourself without mating the alpha? Ariel told me that you’re a pretty successful model.”
Yep, that was apparently Maris’ neck on the box for the extremely expensive face cream that Mira always told herself not to buy and then did anyway.
“I do enjoy modeling,” she admitted.
“But wouldn’t you have to give that up if you became the alpha’s mate?”
Being a real alpha’s mate was practically a full-time job. It meant taking care of herd mates, organizing events and generally being at the alpha’s beck and call. Mira didn’t like the sound of that last thing.
“I…” Maris thought about it and scowled. “I’ve always wanted to mate high up in the herd, and you won’t talk me out of it.”
“Well, Branch isn’t going to mate you – ever. So you might as well give up now.”
Not the nastiest thing she could say, but it pissed Maris off enough to pick up the punch bowl and hurl the contents in Mira’s direction. Thankfully, Maris’ aim wasn’t terrific, and Mira had a lot of experience of dodging – her school gym teacher loved to torture her students with endless games of dodgeball.
Mira ducked, and the bright red punch found a victim in Mal, who just happened to be coming into the kitchen in search of more ginger cookies.
His eyes narrowed, and he growled at Maris who let out an eep.
“What’s going on in here?” rumbled Clay.
He entered the room followed by Ariel and Branch. Maris and Mira shrugged while Mal glowered.
“C’mon,” chuckled Ariel taking Mal’s hand, “I’m sure you can borrow some of my dad’s old clothes.”
“I’ll take Maris home,” declared Clay.
He took her elbow and marched her out of the house before she could object.
“Okay?” asked Branch.
“Sure,” laughed Mira. “She’s a bit of a handful.”
Branch relaxed a little and chuckled. “Yeah. I don’t envy her future mate.”
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm?” He narrowed his eyes. “I’m suspicious when you are quiet.”
Mira twisted her fingers together. “Do you mind me asking what happened to your mate? It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it, I was just wondering because people keep mentioning her. Well, they’ve mentioned her once or twice – not a lot really, and ah… I’ll stop now.”
Branch smiled sadly. “Her name was Janelle. We mated when we were nineteen. Just over a year later, she had an accident while out running as her beast.”
“I’m so sorry, Branch.”
His lips quirked. “Not dude?”
Mira giggled softly. “It didn’t feel like a dude moment.”
“No,” he agreed.
Mira folded her hands together, lest she run over to him and start trying to comfort him again. He really didn’t need the woman he was pretending to care about offering him support while he spoke about the woman he still loved.
“I can’t even imagine.”
“Janelle was wild – we both were – and reckless. It was a couple of days before Christmas…”
“Oh!” Mira’s hand flew to her mouth.
“We were spending Christmas together up in the mountains. There was a snowstorm and Janelle… well, she never let anyone tell her what to do – not even the weather forecast. She went out and…” Branch focused on his hands. “She didn’t come back.”
“I can understand why you’re not so keen on Christmas.”
Branch jerked to look at her. “No, I started to dislike Christmas ever since I was four and my mother started dressing me up as a donkey for our Christmas photo. The woman is merciless.”
“I’ll bet you were a cute donkey.”
He grinned. “Truthfully, Janelle disliked Christmas as much as me. We were very similar.”
Mira nodded sadly. What a waste. Poor Janelle, and poor Branch. She just hoped he could find someone else who could make him as happy. Clearly, it couldn’t be her – she obviously wasn’t what he was looking for.
“What makes you love Christmas so much?” he asked.
Mira rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling very cold. “My mom left when I was five – on Christmas Eve. She took off and didn’t come back. That’s why my dad started making such a big deal about it. He didn’t want me to be sad on Christmas, so every year our decorations and our customs and celebrations just got bigger and bigger, so we didn’t remember any of the sad things about that time of year.
“I always hoped to have a big family – I always hoped that I’d get married and have kids and they could enjoy Christmas with my dad as much as me.” She could feel the tears starting to well. “He’ll never meet them now.”
Branch moved towards her and held out his hand. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”