For this Round Robin, we are sharing Christmas stories. I wrote this one this past week just for this post. It’s short and lighthearted. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
——-
A Fated Mate for Christmas
Lanie nestled into the wooden rocking chair next to the fire, a cup of hot cocoa in her hand. Inside the cabin, other than the crackle of the logs burning, silence reigned. Outside, a snowstorm howled its outrage. Her parents and siblings with their pups were supposed to arrive earlier, but the storm had closed the roads. It looked like Lanie would be spending Christmas alone while they waited it out in a fancy hotel.
There could be worse places to be than their tiny family Tahoe retreat. The rocker had been her grandmother’s. Her father had replaced the original couch with one he’d built and upholstered back when mud brown was all the rage. Of course, with three rambunctious pups who tended to track dirt and mud in, mud brown was practical if somewhat unattractive.
In a few days, maybe even tomorrow, if they cleared the roads, the cabin would be bursting at the seams. Pups sleeping on the floor, siblings fighting over which couple got the top of the double-sized bunkbed. And Lanie? Well, being single, she’d be sleeping on the couch with the littles on the hardwood floor around her.
A smile curled up the corner of her mouth. She blew on the hot cocoa. The melting marshmallows swirled around the cup.
Yup, she’d enjoy the quiet before the insanity began.
She crossed the small living room to the kitchen and washed out the cup, putting it in the drying rack. A long, hot shower called. Once the family arrived, it’d be shipboard showers for all.
Something scratched on the front door.
Lanie stilled. Her wolf slipped closer to the surface, and she approached the door. She inhaled. A delectable scent tantalized her wolf… pine, something earthy, citrusy, and definitely a wolf shifter.
Her instincts urged her to let whoever was out there in, but her rational brain balked at the idea.
Mine, her wolf said.
He is not yours.
He smells delicious. He is ours, her wolf insisted.
I’m not—
The shifter scratched on the door again. Her wolf whined.
With her luck, her fated mate would be a serial killer.
Her wolf huffed.
Fine. I’ll open the door, but if my family arrives to find me dead—
If a wolf could roll their eyes, hers had just done it. But, when it came to picking shifters to date, she was batting a zero.
Your fault, not mine. If you’d only listen to me. Now, open the door already.
No, it’s—
Her phone pinged.
Hey sis,
I hope you don’t mind. I sent my friend Cam to make sure everything’s okay. He’s a park ranger, and he should be arriving any minute if he’s not already there.
Humor me, please. So, don’t be a knucklehead. Open the door for him when he comes.
Love,
Nick
See, her wolf said, I was right.
Ignoring her wolf, she texted back, He’s here, and jammed her phone into her back pocket.
She scowled. Her brother still saw her as that pesky sibling who chased him and his friends around always getting into scraps and unable to take care of herself.
With a snort, she yanked the door open to see who her brother had sent and gasped. At least, Nick had good taste. A large, black wolf with the most beautiful whiskey-colored eyes stared back at her. Snow blanketed his back. He shook, spraying it everywhere, and grinned.
She sighed. Just her luck. If the man matched his wolf, he was the exact type of wolf she couldn’t resist. He was trouble with a capital T.
But the right kind of trouble, her wolf whispered.
That remained to be seen.
“Well, come in, Cam,” Lanie said and stepped back. “It’s a good thing my brother texted me or I’d’ve let you stay out there.” She shivered. “I’m not going to hold the door open all night, so come in or stay out. It’s cold out there.”
The wolf brushed his whole body against her as he padded past her to the fire, marking her with his scent. Goosebumps raced across her skin.
Yup, she was definitely in trouble.
Mate, her wolf said.
“Do I get to meet your man?” she asked him.
He laid down on the hearth, crossed his legs out in front of him, rested his head on them, and blinked at her.
“Ah… feeling modest, then.” She shook her head. Shifters generally weren’t modest, but she wasn’t going to push, and, really, it was for the best. She’d had enough of short-lived relationships to last a lifetime. She didn’t need to add one-night-stand to her list.
Mate, not one-night-stand.
Lanie ignored her wolf. She had yet to meet the man. He could be an asshole. Fated mate or not, she wasn’t tying herself to an asshole. So, maybe she’d just have some fun.
Her wolf huffed, but Lanie paid her no mind.
“I don’t know your size, but maybe I can find something for you to wear,” she said.
The shifter her brother had called Cam blinked at her. She took that as a “yes.”
She crossed the few feet to the “hall,” if one could call it that. The door on the left opened into the master bedroom where a queen-sized bed, a small dresser, and a red, orange, and yellow round rag rug covered the floor. Over the bed, curtains covered a large window.
Straight ahead, another door led into the second bedroom with the double decker bunkbed. Closed curtains hid the small window on the back wall.
To her right was the last door—the single bathroom in the cabin where she’d soon be showering.
Turning left, she flipped on the master bedroom light, dug through the dresser, and pulled out a pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and some socks. They would have to do.
Another few steps took her back to the living room. She set the clothes on the couch.
“Here. I’m going to shower,” she said.
His head popped up, and interest gleamed in his eyes.
Oh, he was tempting. Her resolve wavered. She shook her head.
Nope. Not gonna happen. But she couldn’t resist a jab because, sometimes, she just had to play.
“Honey, if you aren’t going to show me your man, you don’t get to play.” She smirked, raced into the bathroom, and locked the door.
The doorknob jiggled.
She laughed. “Too late. Two can play this game.”
Rich, deep laughter set all of her nerve endings tingling.
Goodness, he didn’t play fair, but, surely, she could resist him for a shower by herself.
A shower…
She scowled. All of her clothes were in her suitcase. Her toothbrush and toothpaste rested on the top edge of the pedestal sink. Her brush sat on the back of the toilet. A clean towel hung on the back of the door. All she needed were the soap, shampoo and conditioner, which she’d put in the shower when she’d arrived.
But her clothes were outside…then she grinned. She didn’t need them. She had her wolf.
Her wolf perked up.
After the shower.
She turned the water on, stripped, laid her clothes on the closed toilet, and took that last step into hot water.
Like everything else in the cabin, the bathroom was miniscule, but that meant the steam quickly warmed up the air. She hummed a tuneless song, scrubbing every single inch of her body. When the water finally grew cold, she turned off the shower, wrung out her long, wet hair, and climbed out. Quickly drying off, she hung the towel back up, unlocked the door, opened it just enough for her wolf to get out, and shifted.
***
While Lanie showered, Cam dressed and checked out the cabin. Two small bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen/kitchenette, and a living room. For the amount of shifters descending on the place in a few days, he didn’t know where they’d put everyone. Apparently, they came there every year, so they made it work. Cramped quarters.
But they had them to themselves. He hoped he could convince her to let him stay. Who knew he’d be led to his fated mate on this stormy night.
The wind howled around the cabin as if echoing his thoughts.
When Lanie’s brother had asked Cam to come out and check on her since the family was stuck in Truckee, Cam had agreed as a friend. In wolf form, they’d be able to reach the cabin, but it’d be much harder with a newborn, and they’d have to leave their cars, luggage, Christmas gifts, and the human mother behind to do it. Cam, on the other hand, could shift, come over, and report back.
However, he’d left his phone at the station. Nick would have to trust him.
Her brother Nick had told the truth about his sister, even if he left a few things out. Feisty and mischievous described her to a T, but he’d failed to mention her beauty—the long, blonde hair, full red lips, sparkling, hazel eyes full of intelligence and humor, and her enchanting laugh. Or that Cam would find her irresistible.
Time ticked away, and Cam prowled through the bedrooms again. In the smaller one, a single, unopened suitcase, which he assumed belonged to her, stood against the back wall.
He smiled. Her rush to the bathroom most likely meant she’d forgotten to take clean clothes in with her.
What would she do? He couldn’t wait to see.
But wait he did because it appeared Lanie enjoyed long showers. He found her slightly off-key humming adorable. If only he’d gotten to the door before she’d locked it. Yeah, he wouldn’t have forced it. He’d like to think she would’ve let him in willingly. However, this game they were engaged in promised to be fun.
Eventually, he sat on the couch to wait for her to reappear.
When the sound of water stopped and the wolf snout poked through the door, Cam chuckled. He’d bet she’d drained the last drop of hot water from the tank with the length of that shower.
The door creaked open, and out step a stunning gray wolf. She had a darker, almost black, saddle on her back, and thick fur that called out to be pet. Her hazel eyes evoked images of the pine forest around them. She trotted over to him and rubbed her scent all over his legs, then jumped up on the couch and sprawled across his lap.
He laughed. “Claiming me, huh?”
She raised her head, looked at him, and grinned.
Unable to stop himself, he ran his hands through her pelt. She sighed and rolled to give him her belly with a look that dared him to touch.
“Is this a trap? Or are you submitting to me?”
She stared at him.
Desire and joy coursed through him at the thought of her submitting to him. If she submitted, it meant she trusted him. While they had just “met,” the moment his wolf had caught her scent on her car and the porch, he’d said, Mine. Did hers agree? It would appear so.
Taking a chance, he stroked her belly. Their gazes met, and the need to strip and shift overwhelmed him.
“You want to go play in the snow with me?” he asked her.
She rolled off his lap and trotted to the door.
He stayed where he was and stretched his arms along the back of the couch, settling in.
“I’m going to have to strip to shift. Are you okay with that?”
She looked over her shoulder, turned, and sat, her tail thumping the floor, grinning.
Laughter rolled out of him. “That’s the way of it, huh?”
She cocked her head to the side, as if saying, “Hurry up.”
Shaking his head, Cam undressed, folded the sweats, and set them on the side table. If she wanted a show, he’d give her one. He flexed and sauntered toward her. Gold flecks danced in her eyes. He took that as a good sign.
At the door, he gazed down at her. “Are you ready?”
Rubbing her head against his bare thigh, she yipped.
He opened the door. Cold air blasted him, and he shivered, but he let her go first. Shutting it behind him, he allowed his wolf to take charge.
Fur sprouted. His bones cracked and reshaped themselves. There was a split second of agony, a flash of light, and he touched his nose to hers.
With another yip, she dashed off into the snow. His wolf howled his approval and took off after her. She zigzagged down the drive, darted behind a tree, and disappeared.
The hunt was on.
He stalked her in the silence of the snowfall. She didn’t try to be quiet. He pretended not to hear or see her and ran past the tree she hid behind. Her body flew toward him, and he leapt aside, knocking his shoulder into hers. She rolled, sprang up, and disappeared into the woods again, shaking her tail at him.
Time flew by as he frolicked like a pup with her. The more he played with her, the more it solidified the feeling she held a piece of his soul. Finally, she trotted up to him, touched her nose to his, and licked his face.
Mine, his wolf said.
Ours, he responded.
He followed her back to the cabin, shifted, and opened the door. She shook the snow off her coat, spraying him with the icy, white stuff, and darted past him with a grin.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he said with a mock growl.
She paused, looked over her shoulder, and slammed the bedroom door behind her.
With a chuckle, he donned the sweats and socks he’d left behind. He stoked the fire until it crackled. As he stood waiting for her, arms slid around him from behind, and a warm body pressed against his back. A contented rumble emanated from deep within him. He slowly turned.
She looked up at him, a soft smile lighting up her beautiful face. “Hi.”
“Hi,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you… in person, that is.”
Laughter twinkled in her eyes. “Mmm…hmm…”
She stretched up toward him, and he met her halfway. Soft as petals, her lips tasted of ripe summer berries with a hint of spice. He couldn’t place it, but it reminded him of the mysterious places in the forest. Mysteries he would spend his life uncovering.
When he pulled back, he smiled down at her. She kissed his chin and nestled in closer.
“You know,” she kissed his neck—he growled, “when my parents told me they were stuck at a hotel and I was going to spend Christmas alone,” she bit his ear, and a shiver rippled down his spine, “I thought I’d have to wait for my Christmas gifts. But, then, you showed up on our porch.” She pulled his head down and traced his lips with her tongue. Her breath mingled with his. “You’re the best Christmas present ever. Thank you, Saint Nick, for answering my letter with my very own Christmas wolf.”
Yeah, he wouldn’t call her brother a saint, per se, but Cam would thank him the next time he saw him.
He lifted her up and carried her to the couch, settling her snug against his chest. Her hand rested over his heart. He kissed the top of her head. She reached up and stroked his cheek.
Their gazes met. He caught his breath. Warmth spread through his chest, and a peace settled over him.
The stories of finding your fated mate didn’t quite convey the reality.
She rested her head against his chest.
“You know, when I was a little girl, I asked Santa to send me a fated mate.”
“Santa, you say? Not the goddess?”
“Well, with my mom being human, my family honors both traditions,” she said. “I sent a letter to Santa and a prayer to the goddess.” She sighed. “That was many, many years ago.”
She hugged him tighter. He rubbed her back until she relaxed into him.
“Even if you are my fated mate, I won’t stick around if you’re an asshole, you know.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to. Lucky for you, I’ve only been called that a few times.”
She peeked up at him, her eyes sparkling. “Only a few?”
Laughter burst from him. Oh, yeah, she would keep him on his toes. Fun, challenging, beautiful, and smart—a life full of adventure and love, if he had anything to do with it.
Leaning down, he kissed her, and his wolf yip with joy.
Mine, his wolf said.
Ours, Cam corrected him before passion pulled him under.
If you’ve enjoyed my story, be sure to visit for more:
Wonderfully descriptive passages.
I felt like I was living in the moment.
Thank you, Connie. I’m so glad you enjoyed the story.