A SEAL Wolf Christmas

for fun or relaxation.

She hurried down the hallway and entered the master bedroom. The huge, king-sized bed was covered with a pale blue quilted coverlet. A white armoire and dresser, a hand-hooked blue-and-white floral rug, and paintings of blue and white flowers on the walls finished the decor. She looked at the bed again and figured she’d get lost in it, then left her bags next to the closet. She turned. He was looming in the doorway, watching her.

“You and the other male wolf can share a room and bathroom,” she said matter-of-factly, as if she was in charge, ensuring he understood she was serious about this. She felt that Hunter and Bjornolf had decided all of this for her. So it was time for the she-wolf to show she had some say in the whole setup.

Looking down at her with a superior expression, he handed her the remainder of her bags and folded his arms. “How will anyone believe we are mated wolves if we sleep apart?”

Bags in hand, she motioned to the hallway. “Your side.” She waved at the bedroom. “My side. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to change before we go to the farm.” She paused, thinking she didn’t need to explain a prior situation to him, but just in case he’d gotten the wrong impression concerning the mission when she served as Paul’s wife, she wanted to set Bjornolf straight about the living arrangements. “For your information, when I pretended to be Paul’s wife, we slept on separate beds.”

Bjornolf grinned at her. “Good to know. That way when I see him again, I don’t have to kill him.”

* * *

Bjornolf thought that the more he saw of Anna, the less he’d be hooked on her. That he’d get tired of her, rub her the wrong way, and she would do the same to him. But it wasn’t happening. The more he saw of her, the more he wanted to see of her.

He was determined to help Nathan deal with his parents’ deaths over the holiday and look into the murders. Even though he knew that he and Anna would have plenty of trouble to deal with, he was damned glad she was here and hadn’t insisted on working alone or refused to do the mission.

He headed outside to the back patio, then climbed down the wooden steps to the beach below and called Nathan on his cell. “We’re here and it’s a go.”

“Hot damn!” Nathan said.

That’s how Bjornolf felt about Anna being here. “We’ll be by the tree farm shortly. She’s just changing clothes, but expect a reluctant aunt.”

Nathan said, “I’ll make her glad she agreed to the mission.”

Bjornolf had no idea what Nathan had in mind, but he was pleased the boy seemed in such high spirits. “We might need to work at it. Got to get back to her. See you in a bit.”

Before he left the beach to join Anna, he called a friend. “I need you to check into something for me. An Anna Johnson. I need you to dig deep and see what you can learn about any traumatic experience she might have had around Christmastime.”

“She’s a wolf?” Reid asked.

“Yeah.”

“How far back?”

“No clue.”

“You always give me the hard cases.”

“That’s because I know you’ll always come through for me.”

“Okay, I’ll look into it and see what I can find.”

“Thanks, I owe you several.” Bjornolf headed up the steps to the cottage, hoping his friend wouldn’t find something concerning Anna that would be better left buried.

Once Bjornolf and Anna were settled in the Land Rover and on their way to the tree farm, he cast another glance her way, loving the charcoal-gray pants she wore, along with sexy, heeled, dark gray boots, a white fleece jacket, and a pale gray turtleneck. She looked so soft and cuddly in the fleece that he wanted to wrap her in his arms. He reminded himself she was also packing a weapon somewhere beneath that jacket.

To get his mind off how huggable she looked, he asked, “Have you ever been to a Christmas tree farm?”

“No.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Never?” He was unable to hide the surprise in his voice. What was it with her and Christmas?

“No.”

“Then you bought them in a parking lot?”

“No.” This time she sounded annoyed.

He sighed. “Artificial tree, then.” He was surprised. Most wolves he knew bought a real tree. It was the one time during the year when they could bring the outdoors inside.

“No. You?” she finally asked, as if she was tired of the conversation and didn’t want to speak of it any further.

He couldn’t believe she’d never had a tree. “Trees in the woods to begin with. Much later… tree farms. One year we bought one from a parking lot, but it wasn’t half as fun seeing the trees lying there, dying. That was the year before my parents… died.”

“I’m sorry about your parents,” she murmured.

“I’m sorry that yours are gone, too. That’s probably why neither of us has bothered with the holidays for some time. No family to share them with.”

She glanced at him. He gave her a small smile. He was attempting to dig for information. She gave him just as small a smile back. She wasn’t taking the bait.

“Hunter told Nathan he wanted him off the job. Immediately. Nathan insisted that he stay because it was the only way he’d consider staying with the pack. He wants to feel useful. I suspect the owner’s daughter has something to do with his wanting to work there as well,” Bjornolf said.

Anna shook her head. “She’s human. I can just imagine the mess he could get into with a human girl if he thought he was falling in love.”

“Right. Hunter didn’t mention it to you, but Nathan wanted you and me to protect him while we learned about the tree-farm deaths.”

“Why would Nathan want me to help? I understand him wanting you—but with me, he doesn’t even know me.”

“He’s heard of your exploits on the last mission here.”

“What exploits?”

Bjornolf shrugged. “I have no idea what rumors were spread in the pack about your mission when you were protecting Meara.”

“Nathan better not have heard about you tying me up in the hotel room and think he’ll get to see a repeat performance firsthand.” She closed her eyes and groaned. “That’s probably exactly what he’d heard about.”

Bjornolf chuckled. “Hell, if I have to have a mate, I want someone like you who can take anyone down.”

She fought smiling at him, but she wasn’t successful.

“You really never had a tree?” he asked, not liking that she’d missed out.

She shrugged and looked out the window. “First time for everything, I guess.” Then she considered him again. “Don’t expect me to do anything with it.”

“You mean decorate it? Nathan and I’ll set it in water and all.” He hadn’t thought a whole lot about what went on the tree. He hadn’t helped decorate one in years.

Anna didn’t say anything.

“We’ll figure out something. We don’t have any stored ornaments from last year like we would if this had been for real. We’ll have to go shopping for some.”

“Actually, you should take Tessa. If you have a fight over an ornament with another customer, Tessa will win the confrontation with a growl.”

“She nearly gave Hunter heart failure. He thought she was ready to strip and shift. I’d rather go with you. You’re a known commodity.”

She cocked a brow at that.

“As far as the shifting part goes. The rest of you I’m still trying to figure out.”

“Shopping is not my thing.”

“Now there’s a woman after my own heart.”