Wolf's Holiday by Rebecca Royce Page A

chair.
    “You bought me a gift?”
    She nodded. “Open it.”
    “I didn’t get you anything.”
    “For the love of Pete, Drew. Open the gift.”
    He undid the dark wrapping and pulled out a book about the Pacific Northwest section of the United States. “What’s this?”
    “How else are you going to plan our trip without one? I’m all for travel, but I don’t want to just wander. We have to use our time wisely. Make sure we see everything we can.”
    She’d bought him a travel book. Had run off somewhere to buy a book to give him. And a motorcycle had hit her. He kneeled in front of her. B was his life. “When we get back, you’ll be ovulating, right?”
    “You have had a hell of a year. It might not be the time. I mean, there has to be the right time someday. I need children eventually. But maybe it doesn’t have to be now.”
    What had happened to his mate out on the road? “It’s time, love. Portland. Seattle. Vancouver. Then we’re going to make a baby. The first of many.”
    “I….”
    He kissed her hard. She was his mate. His deepest wish would always be to make her happy, and Betty Tao would be the best mother there ever was. “Quiet, love, your Alpha is talking.”
    She grinned against his lips. “I love you.”
    Whatever had happened, he’d take it.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    The snow floated down lightly. Not too bad for the humans and the shifters wouldn’t care. Everyone had gathered. They only waited for him to pull the trigger. Drew stared around the group. He wasn’t sure he’d seen anything so beautiful in his whole life as the crew around him. Things weren’t perfect. They might never be.
    Yet, those around him smelled…happy.
    And Drew didn’t know if he’d ever been so content in his whole life.
    His mate was fine. She turned to Saja and said something, which made the other woman laugh. Ryker shook his head, always alert, scanning the crowd. Drew doubted there would be threats on such a night, but he wasn’t going to tell the Enforcer not to do what Ryker had been born to do.
    Xio and Marcus. Brick and Summer. Jace and Michelle. Colt and Tasha. Sela and Rio. Stephen and Kate. Lara and Ogden. Drayce and Kinsey. Jackson and Aimee. Darci and Ross. Alanna and Bastian. Isabelle and Wyatt. Patch and Kennedy. Ravage and Adrie. Mike and Damien. Angeni and Jaxon. Nika and Kimi. Max, Kole, and Jasper. And the ever-present, even when he wasn’t there, Z, and his mate Ripley.
    There were so many more.
    His friend—the werebear Gee, who’d he never know completely but could always count on. Even his daughter, Amelia, put on a rare appearance, though she stayed at the fringe of the gathering. Silent. Watchful. All of them had come out to celebrate.
    He was all set. They were going to go and…movement caught his attention. He looked skyward. There, attached to his strange bird shifter mate by her talons, was Stewart. And he had, in his arms, a large red bag. As they crossed over the Christmas tree, he opened the bag and dropped the toys out. Packages of wrapped gifts spilled out around the tree.
    Drew’s eyes sought out B’s. He saw laughter in them. And he wondered if she remembered what he’d done. Her drugged out comment about Stewart being Santa Paws. Looked like she’d been pretty right on.
    A gasp sounded before a cheer from the pack. Of course, Stewart had dropped presents during Solstice. They were wolves. This was their holiday. And what an event it had turned out to be.
    “Okay, we’ll all thank Stewart and his mate later for the toys. I don’t know, maybe we’re having a new tradition. All right, everyone. Let’s do this. Time to run. As a pack. You’re my family. Now and forever. Let’s have a great time.”
    He called on his wolf. Time to shift. Time to own the night. And enjoy the season.
     

 
     
    You’re invited to take a run with the Black Hills Wolves….
    A year of change since Drew Tao defeated his father and took over the Black Hills… A year of chaos as