Sheena gave Fleance a worried look. He had a strong suspicion he looked petrified, himself. Then Meaghan, Caine’s mate, called from inside the house:
“For God’s sake, Caine! Stop terrifying them and bring them inside!”
*It was the most terrifying moment of my life,* Caine muttered to Fleance as he opened the front door for them.
Meaghan was in the living room, ensconced in a throw rug with the sun streaming in and turning her dark curls into a halo around her head.
She smiled as Fleance and Sheena came in. “He fainted,” was the first thing she said, and Caine groaned out loud. “Not that I’m meant to tell you that. Protecting his alpha dignity, et cetera.”
“You were just glad I got myself out of the way,” Caine accused her, ducking to kiss her on the forehead.
“The floor isn’t ‘out of the way’!” she grumbled. It sounded like a well-worn conversation. Fleance barely heard it.
He was speechless. If he needed any more proof that Caine trusted him, this was it. Tucked up in Meaghan’s lap were two tiny babies, their scrunched-up faces and fluffy tufts of hair enough to break any shifter’s heart.
“Meet Lola and Hamish,” Meaghan said, as Caine slipped onto the sofa beside her and took one of the twins. “The newest members of our pack—but… not your pack, anymore?” She stared hard at Fleance, as though she was trying to look inside him, then blinked and rubbed her forehead. “It might just be the sleep deprivation talking, but…”
Fleance was speechless again. Meaghan was human; so far as he’d been aware, she’d never been able to sense the pack bonds before. But Abigail Heartwell was human, too, and she’d said that after she had Ruby, she had been able to connect to her daughter psychically. Maybe the same was true with hellhound mothers, with added pack sense?
Caine picked up her hand from her forehead and kissed it. “You’re right,” she told her. “He’s broken the pack bond somehow.”
“By forming another.” Fleance was surprised. His voice didn’t come out choked, or surly. It was warm and heady with pride. “Sheena, this is Meaghan, Caine’s mate. Meaghan—Sheena Mackay. My mate, and the reason Parker isn’t going to be a danger to your family or anyone else, ever again.”
Meaghan’s eyes lit up. “So, you’re your own alpha now?”
“Well…” He exchanged a look with Sheena. “That depends. What day is it?”
“Meet-your-family day,” she murmured. “Which means you’re in charge.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, and power tugged deliciously under his skin as they each tested one another’s authority. Sheena pushed up onto her tiptoes and nipped him on the chin. “And no take-backs,” she warned him.
*Not until tonight,* he replied, and she blushed bright red.
“Lunch!” Meaghan announced, and there was a flurry of activity from the direction of the kitchen. Fleance cast out his senses and found Rhys and Manu. Meaghan grinned. “If I don’t give them anything to do, they default to standing around staring at me and the babies like they’re terrified we’re going to shatter into a million pieces.”
“Or call up absent members of the pack to join the vigil,” Caine said, suitably abashed. He nodded at Fleance. “If my message sounded a bit panicked…”
“It’s because he is panicking. Constantly.” Meaghan sighed dramatically, then met Fleance’s eyes. “You said Parker isn’t a danger anymore?”
Fleance quickly explained, with Sheena backing him up, that Parker had lost his alpha powers and wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else. That he would never set foot in Pine Valley again.
“Good.” Meaghan closed her eyes briefly. “That was the one thing that was panicking me. If he’s dealt with…” Her gaze softened as she looked down at her babies, then at Caine. “This feels a lot like happy ever after,” she said quietly.
Power tugged beneath Fleance’s skin again, and he looked down at Sheena. Without speaking, they moved to the edge of the room, letting the hellhound alpha and his mate have their private moment.
And giving them the space to have one for themselves. Sheena blushed, and tipped her head back. *Seeing them like this… I don’t know,* she whispered, shaking her head.
*Makes you want to be in charge again?*
She slipped her arms around his waist. *Makes me want to have as much to protect as they do.*
Excitement leaped in Fleance’s heart and her eyebrows drew together, mock-severe.
*After traveling the world. And showing you what a real New Zealand Christmas is like. And kicking Parker’s arse some more. And—we can’t do it all at once, can we?*
*Can’t we?*
As he kissed her, Fleance thought for the first time in his life that maybe, just maybe, he could have everything his heart desired.
A note from Zoe Chant
Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to be emailed when I release my next book, please click here to be added to my mailing list. You can also visit my webpage, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter. You are also invited to join my VIP Readers Group on Facebook!
Please consider reviewing The Hellhound’s UnChristmas Miracle, even if you only write a line or two. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.
Page down to read a special sneak preview of A Mate for the Christmas Dragon, book 1 in the A Mate for Christmas series.
The cover of The Hellhound’s UnChristmas Miracle was designed by Marie Hodgkinson.
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