Chapter Two

 

 

"It's really coming down out there, boss."

Axl looked up from filling out forms in his office at the Pinerock County sheriff's department. "I noticed," he remarked. "You ought to head home before it gets worse, Kitty."

Kitty Patel, who filled in around the small department as dispatcher and secretary and whatever else was needed, smiled back at him. "I should say the same to you, too. I just live in town, so I don't have a long drive out into the hills like some people do."

"Who's still out there, anyway?" Axl asked, nodding toward the outer office.

"Just the new deputy. He's your ranch hand's cousin, right? Does he have family in town, or were you planning to take him up to your ranch for Christmas?"

Axl grinned. "For someone who doesn't even celebrate it, you're awfully nosy about other people's Christmas plans."

"You can't blame me for being interested in the local gossip. It's one of the perks of working dispatch. Not," she added quickly, as Axl's eyebrows went up, "that I'd discuss the details of a case. You know me, boss."

"But everyone's personal lives are fair game." Axl laughed as she grinned unrepentantly, and reached into his desk. He passed an envelope over to her. "Before you head out, here you go. Not a Christmas present, obviously. Just an end-of-year, thanks-for-doing-a-good-job kind of thing."

"Oh, you're too much." She broke the seal with a manicured nail and shook out several movie tickets and a restaurant gift card into her hand. "Oh, Axl. Thank you!"

"Treat your family, or get some of your girlfriends together and have a girls' night out. Now get out of here, and go enjoy your day off!"

"You too. Don't work too late. Remember you've got that nice wife of yours and a pretty little girl to go home to. Have a great holiday!" Kitty waved goodbye and ducked out of the office.

Somehow, the mention of Tara and Lexie made it a lot harder to keep concentrating on his paperwork. His gaze kept drifting to the photos on his desk of his beautiful red-haired mate with little Lexie held in her arms, and after filing another couple of incident forms, he decided Kitty was right. It was Christmas Eve, and Tara would love to have him home early. He'd be on call if anyone needed him, and as much as he loved his job, his family always came first.

He got his coat from its rack and went out into the main office. As Kitty had said, the office was nearly empty. The new deputy, Jaron Holbrook, was the only person in sight, his head of cropped blond hair bent over his desk. Axl approached quietly, and as he got closer, he saw that Jaron had a book open in front of him.

Normally he would've had a quick word with anyone he caught goofing off at work, but in this case, he knew very well what Jaron was doing, and he approved. Jaron was studying for his GED.

Axl's heart swelled with pride.

None of the humans in town knew this, but Jaron had come down from the wild shifter clans in the mountains, to live in the human world.

Ever since making contact with the wild clans two years ago, the town's population of shifters had been keeping in touch with their backwoods brethren, and Axl in particular had been helping the ones who wanted to integrate more closely with human society. For those who chafed at life in their tradition-bound, isolated wild clans, the human world offered a world of opportunity and possibility. Many of them hoped to find their mates here. Others merely looked forward to a life doing something other than spending their whole lives in the mountains, living off the land in small cabins and rarely speaking to people outside their clan.

Jaron came from the same clan as Gannon, the hired man on the Circle B ranch. Since Jaron wanted to be a cop, Gannon had quietly asked Axl if it was possible to take him on at the sheriff's department for a little while. Axl hadn't regretted it for a moment. Jaron was smart and dedicated, and in the six months he'd been with the department, everyone had come to like him.

Even if Axl did have to explain to him how to use indoor plumbing his first day on the job. Nobody was perfect.

"Hey, kid," Axl said, and Jaron jumped and looked up. "I'm heading up to the ranch. What about you? Going back to the woods for the holiday?"

Jaron smiled slightly. Blond, blue-eyed, and square-jawed, with a ready grin, he was going to knock some girl's socks off one of these days, whenever Jaron and his bear found the mate that was perfect for them. Right now, though, his smile was tinged with sadness. "Things aren't so good with the clan ever since I left. I figured I'd just work late, so nobody else has to give up their holiday."

"Hell with that," Axl said emphatically. "Nobody's pulling a Bob Cratchit on my watch." Jaron just looked puzzled. "Sorry. A Christmas Carol? No? Guess I know what movie we're watching if we get a chance tonight. Anyway, you're invited up to the ranch for Christmas, and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

"Is that an order, sir?" Jaron asked uneasily.

Axl clapped him on the shoulder. "No, just an invitation. If you'd rather stay down here, I won't stop you, but I suggest you come up and share our family holiday. Meet the mate and cub."

At the word "mate," Jaron looked slightly downcast, but he smiled anyway. "Sure, boss. I'd love to. Should I bring anything?"

"Maybe swing by your apartment and pick up a toothbrush. Actually," Axl amended, "maybe we better drop off your car there, so I can drive you up to the ranch. The road's a little rough, especially in the snow, but I'm used to it. Been driving it all my life. Tell you what, I'll meet you over there, after I call Tara and give her a heads up to expect company."

Jaron nodded and grinned, grabbed his wide-brimmed deputy's hat, and headed out into the snow. Axl picked up a phone and dialed.

His landline number at home went to the answering machine, so he tried the main ranch house instead. Tara answered on the first ring, that beloved butter-soft voice charming him even down the telephone lines. Christmas music and babbling toddlers could be heard in the background. "Christmas chaos central, Tara speaking."

"Hi, sweetheart."

"Axl! I see you used your detective skills to track me down." Rich warmth rolled through his mate's voice. "I hope you're calling to let me know you're on your way home and ask if you need to pick anything up, and not to tell me you're tied up all evening with a five-car pileup over by Harville."

"Nope. Got some callouts for accidents earlier in the day, but all is quiet right now, so I'm about to get while the getting's good." He smiled as he pictured her by the phone, her red hair falling long over her shoulders, half-hiding the little silver crescent of the claiming mark on her neck. "As far as picking things up, is there anything you need?"

"Just the pleasure of your company." Her voice was low and husky, sending a pleasant shiver through him. In a less sultry tone, she added, "Charmian needed to do some shopping anyway, so I gave her a list. Looks like we're going to have a houseful. Charmian and Crystal picked up a stranded motorist and they're headed back to the ranch right now."

"They're not the only ones who picked up a stray. That's the other thing I wanted to mention. I invited Jaron back to the ranch for the holiday—you know, from Gannon's old clan? He doesn't have anywhere else to go."

"Oh, that nice boy? Tell him he's more than welcome." Tara laughed softly. "Maybe he'll hit it off with Charmian's stranded motorist. Who is a young woman, from what I hear."

"Jaron's a shifter, don't forget that. She'd have to turn out to be his mate, and what are the odds Charmian and Crystal would accidentally run into Jaron's mate along the side of the road?"

"What were the odds your mate would turn out to be the fugitive you were arresting?" Tara countered playfully. "Never say never. Christmas is a time for miracles, after all."