A Christmas Home (7 page)

Chapter Ten

Ophelia
looked at the mess of the office in the mechanic shop, then out to the garage
and back again. “Jagger.” She was shaking, couldn’t help it. “I
…
”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “Jagger, how in the ever-loving name of
hell can your garage be so much cleaner than your office? Every tool has a
place for storage, yet in here it looks like everything is
…
Jesus
I don’t know what this is.” She was utterly flummoxed because there were boxes,
literally, of paperwork. The file cabinet had silly things in it such as
bottled water, the keys for the soda machine, and everything else except the
paperwork it should hold.

“You
should seriously be thankful that I love you as much as I do or else I would
bloody well smack you upside your head. With this mess I will be lucky to be
done before Christmas. I will be very, very cranky if I’m not done by then.
Christmas is our day. It’s our first one together.”

“I’ll
help you,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t realize it had
gotten this bad. We had someone I thought was keeping it tidy in here. The
number of times I’ve been in here over the last couple months has been minimal.
The kid was always in here working, or so I thought anyway. Tell me what you
want me to do and I’ll do it.”

She
opened the next drawer and gagged. “First, take this drawer and please dump it
somewhere.” Well she could see what the kid had been doing. The drawer was
filled with porn and old sandwiches, of all things. “Weird kid you had working
for you.” She waited until he got closer and tilted her head up. “And you can
give me a hug. Then we will get this place cleaned and into working order.”

He
wrapped his arms around her. Dropping a kiss on her lips, he rubbed his hand up
and down her back. “I’ll dump this drawer and give it a wash. Check the others
and I’ll do a clean on each one that needs it. Then we can start to organize by
having them all out on the floor. We’ll dump into each, and sort later.”

“Sounds
like a plan. I’m going to put any and all paper on top of the desk now that
it’s clean. Speaking of. We need to get a computer in here so that I can hook
up to your computer system. You do have one, right? For when people check out
and all of that fun stuff?”

“Yes,
ma’am, we do,” he said. “We had a computer in here, somewhere. I have no idea
where the hell it is. It was ancient so it’s not worth anything. If it isn’t
under one of these piles I’ll pick up a new one tomorrow and we can network it
to the system in the shop.”

She
nodded. “That will make inventory and billing updates much easier.” She let out
a breath, then smiled. “I think that you are very, very lucky to have me in
your life. Just saying.” She was the lucky one, she knew it, but she liked to
tease him now, too, now that she knew she could. “Okay, oh God, what in the
ever-loving name of Christ is this?” she asked as she opened another drawer and
was once more nasally assaulted and visually abused by
…
well she had no idea what it was other than dead.

“I’m
only guessing here, but I think that may have been a rat at one point. No clue
why it’s in the drawer, but it’s probably best not to ask. Pull the drawer and
stick it on top of the one I have and I’ll clean them both out. With industrial
strength shit that kills anything that might still be living in these.”

“Thank
you. The last thing I need is some sort of exotic disease that will make me
sick and ruin our Christmas.” She grimaced and set the drawer aside, then
looked up. “What do you and your pack typically do for Christmas? Is it a big
deal around here?” She was assuming that it was with all of the Christmas trees
she saw, lights, and the utter cheer that all but oozed from the place.

“We
do tend to do it up big,” he said. She followed him but only to the doorway
when he hauled the drawers out into the bay. Jagger dumped the contents into
one of the large barrels she figured were for the various wastes they had in
the shop, then set the drawers down near a drain. “The pack does dinner on
Christmas Eve before we all come into town for the festival. On Christmas day
it’s pretty laid back until around mid-afternoon. Then there’s hay rides,
snowball fights, and a bunch of ice carving and snowman building contests.
Around seven there’s a huge buffet out of the community center where everyone
and anyone is invited. The local businesses get together to put it on, but it’s
on a rotation each year so only some of us have to work and then the next year
we get it off while others slave. I’m off this year and next, but the following
year I’m on the schedule.”

She
brought out another of the drawers for him and laughed. “Well when you are
slaving away I will make sure to admire you while you work your cute and tight
ass off, deal?” That’s when it really hit her. She was truly planning on
staying here in this place. She already was seeing this as her home. “I’m
home,” she whispered quietly.

He
looked up with a frown. “Sorry, what did you say?” he asked. Straightening from
where he’d been switching the heads on the hose, he took a step her way.
“Ophelia, are you all right, sweetheart? You look flushed.”

“Just
realizing that I’m home,” she told him with a laugh and jumped into his arms.
“I’m home.” She had never felt as if she fit into her life, never felt like she
was where she belonged but now she did. She hadn’t met his pack yet, but now,
just being here, she was happy. She. Was. Home.

He
let out an “oomph” when she jumped him, but Jagger never faltered and didn’t
drop her. His arm banded around her tight. Then he hitched her up higher so she
could wrap her legs around his waist. “Of course you’re home, sweetheart.
Wherever you are is home to me, and I hope you feel the same for me. The
location doesn’t matter as long as you’re there.”

“It’s
you.” She had to agree with him on that. She bent so that her forehead was
pressed to his and smiled down at him. “I do love you, Jagger Morris. I really
hope your pack likes me because if not we are so totally screwed because I’m
not letting you go. Not now, not ever.”

“You’re
my mate, and they will bloody well love you. Mainly because you are sweet,
wonderful, kind, generous, and so fucking beautiful that it fries out my brain
every time I look at you. Don’t worry, sweetheart. The pack is going to adore
you. Just always be yourself and they’ll see why I fell head over heels for
you.”

“I
hope you’re right.” She was worried, of course. She loved her curves and being
a big, beautiful woman but she had for far too long been told she needed to
lose weight, needed to do this or do that. Now she had a man who loved her
completely.

“You’re
worrying about something more, aren’t you?” he asked softly. Resting his
forehead to hers, he stared into her eyes. “What has you chewing on that
luscious lip of yours so hard that it’s making me want to suck on it and to
hell with doing any work today?”

“God
I love when you get all sexy,” she confessed. “I’m just worried because I’ve
never fit in anywhere where there are only humans. I’ve always been too big for
anyone’s taste but not now. Right now I feel like I belong. Like I’m loved for
being me. And I know that I will always be loved even if I become as big as a house.”

Jagger
had the most adorably confused look on his face. “What the hell are you talking
about, woman? You are perfectly sized. I don’t know who the hell has been
filling your head with that other crap, but you can definitely ditch it. You
are perfect. Period. End of story, throw the mike down, perfect. Got it?”

She
laughed. “I got it,” she said with a smirk. “I understand what you’re saying
and I get it. Okay, so you love me just as I love you.” She leaned in and
pressed a kiss to his lips. “Now, we need to finish cleaning so that we can go
and find some food. Food and then we will meet your pack.” A girl had to have
her priorities, after all.

Grumbling
under his breath, he let her down onto her feet but didn’t immediately release
her. “I know that human women have doubts, Ophelia. About who they are and
their place. But don’t ever doubt how much I love and adore you. You are my
mate, and I will never lie to you about anything. These things take time, and I
fully understand that.”

“I
don’t doubt that. I don’t think I ever did, even when I first met you. There
was a draw to you, a pull that I couldn’t and wouldn’t ignore. But if I have
doubts I’ll come and find you and we will talk it out. Then again I might come
find you so that I can get you naked. I think that would definitely ease any
worries I had.”

She
earned herself a hard, yet definitely amused look from him. “Sexing me up to
ease your worries only casts a shadow over the issue for a time. Eventually it
will crop up again, sweetheart. We should always talk out all problems or
concerns we have as a couple. Then we can get naked and have wild bear sex to
your heart’s content. Deal?”

“I’m
totally down with that.” She cupped his cheeks and pulled him closer.

“You’d
better get back in that office, little mate, or we might end up putting a show
on for the townsfolk.”

“Yes,
we wouldn’t want to shock them now, would we? Heaven forbid they learn that you
have wants, needs and desires, too.” She bit his neck. “Right, going to go and
get back into the office. I’m going to pull the shades so that we can do
everything that you have going on in your mind.” She pulled back from him and
laughed. “After we have cleaned the mess up. And when you find the kid you
hired, kick his butt for leaving us such a mess, please.”

“I
will, promise. Now go, otherwise I’ll never get these drawers clean enough to
actually go back in there. Make sure there are no others that need to be
disinfected, too, would you, please?” He grabbed up the hose, then stood back
to spray off the worst chunks of whatever was still stuck inside.

“Don’t
worry. I’ll bring you some more, I’m sure.” She grinned at her bear and winked.
“I love you, my big mechanic bear. I just love a man that works with his
hands.” She put a sashay into her walk as she strolled away from him.

“You’re
going to get it later for teasing your man. I’m not going to tell you what your
punishment will be, but you’d better believe I will dish it out,” he called
after her.

“Promises,
promises!”

Chapter Eleven

Leaning
on the railing around the porch, Jagger watched Ophelia mostly because he
could. The woman was pure sunshine and had a body that screamed sensuality. His
lips curved up when he caught her laughing at something one of his pack mates
said to her. He was glad she was being so easily accepted by the majority.

Not
all were happy, but he’d known that would be the case. There were some females
who were very pissed that they hadn’t been the one to bag the alpha of their
pack. But Jagger had always known his mate wasn’t within the pack. A few of the
females figured he was wrong or they could change his mind. Little did they
realize an alpha’s mind wasn’t so easily changed.

“I
like her.”

Glancing
over, Jagger gave a nod to one of his lieutenants. Garth had been his best
friend since they were four and ended up in the same mud puddle together. Good
Lord their mothers were pissed when they’d finally gone home. Jagger could
still remember the look on his mom’s face when she’d seen him before he’d
managed to figure out how to get some of that muck off. His dad, on the other
hand, had taken one look and burst out laughing right before he went to get his
camera. Jagger still had that photo on the wall in his bedroom at the cabin.

Garth
propped a hip to the railing near Jagger and chuckled. “Your female is
definitely getting a few stink eyes, though. Think those females will
eventually get over it?”

“They’d
better,” he said, straightening up. A last look to his mate and Jagger turned
to lean his ass against the railing, his attention shifting to his friend and
the other lieutenants that had joined them on the porch. “You’ve all read the
proposal, and I know some have started to dig around. What do we know so far
about this pack wanting permission to move here?”

Layla
pulled out her phone and after a moment passed it over to him. “I had a friend
do some digging. He’s an old army buddy of my dad’s so he was cool doing it as
a favor. I told him that if he ever needed anything we could help with to
definitely let us know.”

Jagger
nodded while reading the point form report from the man. He wasn’t liking what
he was reading. Correction, not so much
what
he was reading—it was more what he was
not
seeing in the report. “This is awfully thin, Layla.”

“I
know. I called Dad’s buddy up and asked him about it. According to him it was
all he could swing in the twenty-four hours I’d given him to dig. He said that
the only folks from this pack’s previous home he managed to talk to knew next
to nothing about them. Didn’t matter who he asked, the majority of folks would
give him this blank look. Occasionally he could jog out a few details, but
nothing solid. He’s digging all the harder now because he told me flat out he
got a weird vibe from the place in general. Nothing he could pinpoint, but he
did mention that the fact the town seemed damn thinned out has him curious.”

“Good,
if he needs anything get it to him. Money, support, whatever.” Layla’s contact
was doing them a huge service by digging around in the pack’s past. No way in
hell was Jagger going to leave the man high and dry. If Jagger’s pack was going
to veto the other pack’s petition to move into Shifter Falls they would need
solid evidence for the other packs and the council.

Ophelia’s
laugh had him throwing a look her way over his shoulder. Seeing her playing
with a couple kids warmed his heart. The kids were the best judges of
character. If they didn’t like an individual it was something Jagger trusted.
They all apparently adored his mate.

“Tap
any contacts you have. We need to figure out who these guys are beyond that
polished bullshit they handed the town council. Keep it low-key, but it doesn’t
have to be under the radar. The pack will know that the rest of us would go
digging. But for all information, no matter how big or small, I want to hear it
first. Because if we actually do manage to find something on these guys, I
don’t want it getting out there.” Jagger had a gut feeling about the pack
petitioning residency, but he didn’t yet know which way it was leaning. Without
being able to meet the other alpha or any of the pack his bear was cautiously
paranoid.

“Garth,
find out where they’re staying and put a couple of our best trackers on them. I
don’t need to know everything, but I do want reports on the alpha and his
lieutenants. General movements for the time being. Depending on what we find on
all fronts, we’ll make the call on where to go.” He got a nod from his friend,
and the other lieutenants all gave their agreement. “All right, anything else I
need to know.” After a round of negatives he gave them all a hug and let them
get on with their day.

As
for him, Jagger stepped off the porch and made his way to where Ophelia was
listening to a wide-eyed little girl chatter. Winking at the little one, Jagger
put a finger across his lips to make sure she didn’t say anything. The giggles
she let out betrayed what he was up to and his mate spun to give him the eye.
“Hello, sweetheart, having fun?”

She
turned toward him and he could see the happiness in her face. “I am. I adore
your pack. And the cubs. God they are so freaking cuddly.” He had noticed that
the young ones had been shifting into their bear form for her and getting more
than a few cuddles from his mate. “I want one eventually. A cub,” she explained
when he likely gave her a blank stare. “Jagger.” She reached up and touched his
cheek, which had him leaning into her touch. She stilled then. He watched as
her eyes all but glazed over in a white haze. His arms clenched around her when
she began to speak.

“The
snow’s covered in blood. Where they walk, puddles filled with blood follow.
They take, abuse, hurt, kill. Want to be the only ones left. They are wiping
out packs one at a time using the face of need and homelessness.” Tears flowed
from her eyes and he could practically feel her pain. “Christmas night, they
come and kill us all.”

Just
as fast as it started it ended and she was looking up at him in pain. “Jagger?”

He
scooped her up into his arms. After signaling one of the mothers to keep an eye
on the cubs, Jagger carried her back to the porch around the pack office
building. Settling in one of the chairs, he cuddled her to his chest. “I have
you, sweetheart,” he whispered against her hair. A shiver worked through his
body as he replayed her words through his head. The foretelling left him
chilled. “Are you okay?” he asked first.

“I
am.” She was curled up tightly against him and shaking. “They come in the
middle of the night. One holds me down while the alpha shifts to kill you.
They’re sabertooth tigers, Jagger. They aren’t normal tigers like they’re telling
you. Please, please don’t let them come here. They’ll kill us. They’ll kill
everyone and they have been doing that all along the coast so that they are the
only pack left.”

“Son
of a bitch,” he bit out. Well that would explain a lot, especially in the last
town and why Layla’s contact was getting nowhere. He was likely only speaking
with humans who might know about the shifters, but wouldn’t know shifter
business. And if said shifters were killing others in the town, then the humans
would be running scared and keeping quiet.

Pressing
a kiss to her temple, he wiggled around to dig out his cell phone. He put in a
call to Garth. “It’s me,” he said quietly, rocking Ophelia slowly while holding
her tight. “I have new information that may help us figure this shit out.
They’re sabertooths. Yeah, I know, but we’ve been hearing rumors a pack
survived for years now. They kill off other packs after they move into a town.
And if they don’t they kill off the packs anyway.”

When
Garth asked how he knew that info, and so quickly, Jagger stilled. Putting the
phone to his chest, he looked down at his mate. “Are you okay with me telling
Garth about your abilities, sweetheart?” He wouldn’t if she wasn’t okay with
it. He’d figure out some way to explain it all to his second.

She
nodded and he took that as her assent. “Anything you have to do in order to
keep the pack safe do it, Jagger. It doesn’t matter. They will all know one day
anyway that I’m not exactly normal, so it’s okay.”

He
brushed a light kiss to her lips. “I love you.” When she smiled for him he
tucked her head back under his chin and put his phone to his ear. “Ophelia had
a vision. She can see the future on occasion,” he told his second.

“Shit,
damn that’s rather handy. What all did she see?” Garth asked.

“The
sabertooths attacking on Christmas night, blood in the snow, puddles of blood,
to be exact. She saw herself being held down while the sabertooth alpha shifted
and went in for the kill on me. According to my sweet mate, this pack has been
killing other packs all along the coast.”

“Damn.”
Garth drew the word out. “I’ll get the others updated, and I’m damn well
calling in the other packs. I won’t share where the info came from until you
give me the okay, but we need everyone on the same page here. If they truly are
sabertooths, and I’m not doubting your missus in any way, we can’t take
chances. My grandda told me a story about his uncle’s pack running afoul of a
sabertooth pack, like the same group I’m betting, and they were practically
slaughtered. But the one thing grandda said is that the sabertooths don’t view
things the same way the rest of us do. Their moral compass is fucked the hell
up, and they’re deadly. Biggest warning he ever gave me about them is to never,
ever face one alone. Two against one odds is the only way to take one of the
long-toothed cats down. Cause if they get hold of you, you are going to be dead
fucking meat.”

Not
what Jagger needed to hear, but it was good information. “Warn the others. Let
the other alphas know I’ll be in touch tomorrow to explain everything in
person. I will not be calling on the phone. Best to do this off the radar. If
you can get them to agree, see if they’ll meet me at the shop tomorrow. It’s
safe, secure, and soundproofed in the back room so no one will know what we
talk about.”

“You
got it. I’ll touch base later. You take care of your little mate for now.”

Jagger
slipped his phone back into his pocket and hugged Ophelia closer to him. “We’re
going to be okay, sweetheart. You have to believe that.”

“I
do believe you.” She had her fingers fisted in his shirt, though. “This is
going to take everyone. They have thirty that I saw. They took out the cubs and
women first.” He felt her tears again and that tore his heart apart that she
saw something as vividly as she had. “They killed the men, well the ones that
weren’t sentries on duty. Humans and shifter alike. They will kill them all.
Anyone at the resort and town, they don’t care. They’re crazy, Jagger. They
should have died with the last ice age but somehow lived. I don’t know how but
they did. Silver—it will kill them. I don’t know where that came from, but
silver. I know that goes against all that you are as an animal but silver
bullets through their thick skulls will kill them dead.”

She
was right. The thought of shooting a shifter instead of facing it in his own
shifted form did go against the grain. But he also wasn’t an idiot. He knew
that facing off against a foe with no care for lives in that manner was a great
way to die. They wouldn’t hesitate where Jagger might if an innocent was in the
way. Stroking her hair, he continued to rock her side to side. “I won’t take
risks, little one,” he said softly. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we
all come through this alive.” Now all he had to do was figure out how the fuck
to do that.

“I
know you will. I trust you. Too bad you don’t have someone who makes weapons or
could at least create bullets for you. God only knows that weapons are easy to
get a hold of, but not so much silver bullets. Heck, silver for that matter even.”

“Uh,
not exactly true. We have people who can make weapons, bullets, and we have
silver. Little known fact is that our pack land sits on one of three old silver
mines in the county. When we bought the land we wiped the records to make sure
no one came looking for something not theirs, as did the other two packs who
are sitting on similar sites. We did it as a safety measure mainly. Mining
silver is dangerous, from what little I understand. But there are deposits we
could get out relatively quickly and easily if we needed to.”

“Maybe
it was providence that had you taking this place instead of another as your
pack’s lands.” She was looking up at him with awe in her voice and eyes. “Well
then I think we know what to do. I have no issue in the least shooting one of
the bastards if they dare to try to come after my family.”

“Wasn’t
me who picked the spot, sweetheart. That would be the alpha who moved the pack
here over a century ago. But the fact he chose this spot just might keep the
pack alive and kicking for centuries to come. I’ll talk to our guy and see if
he can get working on things. Biggest problem is keeping it under wraps. I
don’t want word leaking out that we’re up to some big operation over here, and
garnering attention from the sabertooths. We don’t want them sitting up on a
hill keeping watch more than they likely are already.”

“True.
It’s been their ace in the hole for so long, no one knowing what they are.
People thought they were foxes or something similar because those are the
people that they send in as their ambassadors and since I’m assuming that
sabertooths aren’t something people meet often, they are able to somehow hide
that scent or something. I don’t know how, but you would have known, I’m sure,
if you had met their alpha, right?”