Lora Leigh - A Christmas Kiss

“I don’t do well at parties.” She lifted her head and squared her shoulders as they passed several Breed soldiers who had escorted her to her cell the day she had been arrested.

“You’re going to do wonderfully,” he promised her as they stepped inside the wide double doors to the main room and he helped her off with her cloak before handing it over to a helpful attendant. A human attendant.

Coyote and Wolf Breeds mingled amid Christmas music and a display of bright, multicolored lights. At one end of the room was a huge fir tree that had been brought in, decorated lavishly and stacked with presents underneath.

Wolfe Gunnar stood close to the brightly colored traditional tree with Hope, his mate. Hope, with her slightly Asian features and diminutive stature, was dressed in a gay, vivid Christmas green. Her shoulder-length black hair fell to her shoulders like silken ribbon and gave her an almost regal air.

Wolfe, much taller and broader, stood with his arm around her shoulders as he laughed at something another Breed said. Coarse black hair was pulled back from his face to his nape and secured there. He was dressed in black as well, as were most of the males, with a dark silver silk ribbon stretching from his shoulder across his chest and to his waist that proclaimed his rank of Wolf Breed Alpha.

There were other ribbons present on many of the males. Different colors, all muted blue or gray. His second-in-command wore cloudy gray; his head of security wore a navy blue. Communications wore silver blue.

The women, guests and Breeds alike, were dressed extravagantly in long gowns. For the Breed females, this was their chance to be women rather than soldiers.

“I see you finally got her to join the rest of us mortals.” Ashley True stepped up to them, her teasing smile catching Jessica off guard.

“It was a trial,” Hawke admitted as he pulled Jessica closer.

“He’s the trial,” Jessica teased back. She was actually glad to see Ashley now that she wasn’t her bodyguard.

“Most male Breeds are.” Ashley sighed with exaggerated patience. “We put up with them the best we can.”

“Be good brat, or I’ll have a talk with your alpha about giving in on those spa treatments,” Hawke warned her. “I hear you got the full go-round today.”

Ashley’s smile brightened as she fluffed a head full of multihued blonde curls and flashed a perfect set of nails. “Del-Rey does so enjoy spoiling me, Hawke. He won’t listen to you.”

“Brat.” Hawke laughed again.

“Always,” Ashley agreed. “Now, go find Wolfe. He was asking where you were a little while ago. I’m off to find more punch.”

She sped away on heels that should have been impossible to stand on.

“That woman is a menace,” Hawke muttered as they continued through the throng of guests.

“She’s nice though.” Ashley, her sisters Sharone and Emma, and the Coyote’s mate and Coya, the female Coyote alpha, Anya, had always been kind to her. She’d appreciated that, even as she had chafed under their protection.

“She’s hell. A prissy little diva by day and when night falls, I swear, one of the sharpest, most lethal Coyote Breeds ever created.”

But wasn’t that what all Breeds were created to be? They were trained to fit in when they had to, and to kill perfectly, efficiently, when they were ordered to.

Moving to the tree, Hawke sat their large bag of gifts among the others before straightening and drawing Jessica to where Wolfe and Hope Gunnar and Jacob and Faith Arlington stood.

“Wolfe, Hope, Jacob, Faith.” He nodded to the four as he drew Jessica closer. “May I present my mate and soon-to-be wife, Jessica Raines.”

Jessica almost froze in shock as everyone around them became quiet. Dread began to fill her as Wolfe’s black gaze flickered over her. He was imposing, showing little emotion, no acceptance or rejection. His nostril’s flared and he drew in her scent.

She knew he could smell the combination of her scent and Hawke’s as it merged in the mating heat. He would also smell her fear. But would he know her regret, her pain, and the wish that she had known what her parents were doing, how they had wanted to destroy the Breeds? Did all that come across in a scent? She highly doubted it.

“You’ve chosen well, Hawke Esteban.” Wolfe’s arm moved from his mate’s shoulder so he could clasp Hawke’s hand. “A beautiful and loyal mate, and one I’m pleased to accept into our pack.”

Jessica blinked. He couldn’t have been speaking of her, could he?

“Jessica, had we not doubted that you could betray us, then you would have died before Hawke had time to declare you as his mate,” Wolfe told her softly as she stared back at him. “Questions needed answers, and your loyalty had to be proven rather than simply believed in despite the evidence. We thank you for your patience, and above all, for the grace you showed during your confinement to give us the time to prove your innocence, as well as your bond to your mate.”

She shook her head slowly. “What grace, Alpha Gunnar?” she whispered in disbelief.

A smile tugged at his lips. “You didn’t throw anything at us, despite months upon months of questioning. You never threatened to call in a representative, though you could have. And not once did you demand rights that were due you. The right of Tribunal rather than confinement during your interrogation. That was grace.”

She shook her head again. “It was guilt,” she whispered back. “How could I deny what I had done, even though I couldn’t explain why I had done it, or stop the actions even as they happened?”

“You saved my mate, as well as Jacob’s, despite the drug that enforced your will,” he said gently. “That was courage, and it was strength. We need that strength to survive our future. You’re part of Hawke’s future, and therefore, part of our own. Welcome to our pack.”

He nodded with a slow dip of his head, a respectful air of acceptance. He wouldn’t hug her, nor shake her hand. No Breed alive would dare to even brush against her during mating heat, especially that first, strongest phase that she was in now.

She had been accepted though. By his words and his actions, Wolfe had given her mating to Hawke his blessing, and therefore, the pack’s blessing.

“Dance with me now.” Hawke drew her into his arms even though she was still reeling from Wolfe’s proclamation.

She was part of the pack, a family. The pack was like an extended family, drawing together both Wolf and Coyote Breeds, extending an umbrella over each member, an acceptance they could find nowhere else.

The sound of a slow ballad filled the huge room as Hawke led her to the dance floor. Instantly, heat, sizzling energy and a sense of warmth began to invade her. With her head against his chest, his hands settled low at her back, moving her against him, Jessica let the acceptance she had been given sink inside her.

She had found a home; she had found a family. She had people who had believed in her even when it had appeared she had betrayed them.

“I love you, Jessica Raines.”

She almost froze in his arms as Hawke whispered the words at her ear.

Jessica lifted her head and stared up at him, her lips parting, tears filling her eyes. “I’ve always loved you, Hawke Esteban,” she answered, her voice soft, trembling. “Since the moment I met you, I loved you.”

He was her future, he was her heart.

Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers, a sizzling caress that almost caused a moan to break from her throat. She could taste a hint of the spicy essence of his kiss. A taste of lust, need, desire and hunger. A taste that would only fuel her own.

“Soon,” he promised, turning his head until he could brush his lips against her ear. “Soon, mate.”

Soon. Tonight. When they stepped back into their home, when they stepped back into the heat waiting to flare between them.

Soon. Until then, she had this. His touch, this dance and the incredible realization that she did indeed have a future.

It was a night made for lovers. Even amid the party, Christmas cheer, exchange of gifts and laughter, there was an air of warmth and intimacy that bound her to Hawke.

Quiet smiles, the touch of his hand, the knowledge that the sexual need was building inside both of them. When her skin was prickling with awareness and sensitivity, he took her hand and drew her back to Wolfe and Hope where they made their farewells.

Anyone watching them would have known why they were leaving, what would be happening that night. Besides the fact that they were Breeds and they could smell the mating heat, Jessica knew that each touch, each look they stole at each other gave them away.

The drive back to their home was made in silence. The short distance was filled with magic though. The twinkling of lights, the heated warmth spearing between them. When they pulled into the driveway, Hawke stepped around the vehicle, opened the door and then lifted her into his arms.

She couldn’t speak. Her throat felt closed with emotion when he pushed the door open and, rather than moving upstairs, moved to the living room instead.

Where once the room had been empty, there was now a Christmas tree and a lush silk-covered mattress awaiting them.

The lights on the tree lit up as they stepped into the room. Blue and gold. The entire tree was lit with blue and gold. There were only lights, no ornaments, but at the base of a tree was a small, gaily wrapped box.

“What is this?” she whispered as he carried her to the mattress and eased her to the thick silk comforter that covered it.