Wolf's Holiday

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Wolf’s Holiday

Copyright 2015 by Rebecca Royce

ISBN:
978-1-61333-908-4

Cover art by Fiona Jayde

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

Look for us online at:

www.decadentpublishing.com

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Black Hills Wolves Stories/Decadent Recent Releases

Wolf’s Return

What a Wolf Wants

Black Hills Desperado

Wolf’s Song

Claiming His Mate

When Hell Freezes

Portrait of a Lone Wolf

Alpha in Disguise

A Wolf’s Promise

Reluctant Mate

Diamond Moon

Wolf on a Leash

Tempting the Wolf

Naming His Mate

A Wolf Awakens

The Wolf and the Butterfly

Infiltrating Her Pack

Omega’s Heart

Raven’s Claw

Claiming the She-Wolf

Worth Fighting For

Dangerous

Uncaged

Promiscuous Wolf

Disquieted Souls

A Cougar Among Wolves

Long Road Home

A Mate’s Healing Touch

Winter Solstice Run

Wolf’s Holiday

Winter Magic

Winter Secrets

Winter Ménage

Wolf in Winter Clothing

Also by Rebecca Royce

Another Chance

Bar Mate

Out of Place Mate

Mate by the Music

Unwanted Mate

Behind the Scenes

Believe in Me

Embraced

Rebirth

Return to the Sea

I’ll be Mated by Christmas

One Night With a Wolf

Paging Dr. Wolf

Forever

Love in One Night

February Lover

A Note From the Author

Dear Readers

Thanks so much for joining Drew and Betty again,
and the Black Hills Wolves. I love writing this series and I loved visiting these characters again. Happy Holidays to all of you!

Much love,

Rebecca Royce

Wolf’s Holiday

Drew Tao is loving life. His pack is happy. And it’
s time for the holidays. But his mate is keeping secrets and there is a crazy mother bear circling his borders. Can they survive the holidays or will everything fall apart?

Wolf’s Holiday

Black Hills Wolves

By

Rebecca Royce

The bar buzzed with the sounds of laughter and romance. His pack laughed, joked, and propositioned each other. He sat back and soaked in the happy. So many days, the rebuilding of Los Lobos didn’t have moments with anything other than pain and anguish. No good decisions, only bad choices, and trying to figure out which bad scenario was best.

When he’d killed his father, it had become his honor to lead the fine Wolves he called family. Drew pushed the thought away. Magnum had no place in the gathering in Gee’s bar. In the corner, a burst of high-pitched squeals sounded, drawing his attention. His mate, B, and four other women were giggling. He really didn’t want to know about what. Females could keep their secrets; the male population benefited from not asking too many questions.

He looked up as the chair across from his pulled back and Ryker, his Enforcer, settled in. The other man clunked his drink down with a grunt and didn’t make another sound to indicate his arrival. Drew had initiated these get-togethers at the bar with Ryker about three months prior. Once a week, they sat and had a state of the pack discussion.

Or at least that was how Drew got him to show up. Ryker wasn’t what anyone would call chatty. Truth was, Drew was determined to forge some kind of real, lasting friendship with his Enforcer. In a pack where they both shouldered the burdens of leadership, they needed each other.

At least a decade with the humans had taught him, they were stronger together. He wasn’t certain if Ryker would agree.

But the Enforcer showed up. Every week. On time.

“Get your usual?” Drew motioned toward the beer. Gee didn’t have a great deal of choice at the bar, their need to keep Los Lobos all but completely off the grid meant he didn’t do business with microbreweries or anyone who delivered fancy liquors.

Yet, he kept Drew’s favorite whisky in stock.

Ryker nodded toward the unopened bottle. No one save Gee opened his drinks; everyone else knew to serve him a sealed bottle. “I don’t know that I have a usual.”

“You do.”

The other man didn’t argue, which didn’t mean he agreed with Drew’s statement. It simply meant he was done talking on the subject.

“Do you smell that?” Drew motioned his hand in the air.

Ryker raised a dark, severe eyebrow. “Smell what exactly?”

“That smell in the air. It’s happiness.”He grinned. “This is the way a happy, relatively functioning pack scents.”

The Enforcer leaned back in his chair, popped the lid from the bottle then took a deep pull from his beer. “They’re certainly loud tonight.”

“I’ve been thinking of what you suggested about the holiday celebration and the pack run.”

“Saja’s suggestion.”

Drew nodded. “Right.”

Ryker gave his human mate credit for most innovative ideas. Drew liked Saja and he was more than happy to give the woman her due. “I talked it over with Bowe think it’s a great idea—let’s face it, you and I are not decorating trees or lighting candles. If the others want to do it, I say have a good time.”

The other man gave a brief nod. “Is there anything else?”

“You seem tense.” Ryker’s usually solid shoulders seemed hiked even farther than usual.

“We had ten returns this month. That’s a lot. Not everyone who has come back can immediately be trusted. And you keep letting them, letting them blood oath.” Not a criticism—Ryker didn’t critique him—but maybe a quiet suggestion lurked within his statement.

“Which makes your job harder.” Drew nodded. He valued the older wolf’s opinion even when it utterly disagreed with his own. The pack might be shocked by how much he relied on Ryker’s cynicism and experience or maybe they wouldn’t. It didn’t matter—the Enforcer never lied or sugarcoated anything. “We invited everyone back, told them the pack was reforming. This was their home. It can be again, if that’s what they want.”

He had a deeper belief in the goodness of his wolves than Ryker did. Then again, who knew how much fucked-up stuff Ryker had seen under Magnum that Drew didn’t even know about? If Ryker distrusted, it was with plenty of pack history to back him up.

“Is there anything else?”When the Enforcer was done with a conversation, he was finished.

“Actually, there is.” Drew let the whisky burn down the back of his throat. “I want you to know I’m grateful. This happiness tonight, the way the pack is gelling. That’s thanks to you. I want you to know I see what you’re doing, how you take care of our safety so I can bring us back to life.”

The other man stood. “Saja is waiting.”

“Right.” Drew set down his drink. Apparently, the man couldn’t take a compliment. “See you next week.”

With a fast, smooth step and a nod to Gee, Ryker walked away. Drew watched his exit with a heavy heart. He’d not had friends for ten years because he had to keep himself separate from the humans; he couldn’t get too close. Since his return, he was Alpha. A solitary position. And although B kept him loved and busy, he would have liked a buddy to talk things over with on occasion. Like what to get B for Christmas. One week away. He’d asked him a couple of times, and Ryker’s answer remained the same.
Get her something she likes. Not. Helpful.

The Enforcer seemed to have less than any interest in opening that door. However, Drew was a shifter who got what he wanted. He’d keep working on it.

“You got eight minutes.” B slid into the chair next to him, a smile on her face. Her red hair was up in a bun with curls sliding down her cheeks. His mate was, without a doubt, the loveliest female ever born. “Is that some kind of record for Ryker? Eight minutes of conversation before he abandoned his beer and ran like you’d threatened him?”

He heard the ice in her voice, which spoke volumes beyond the words she used. His mate was always one to speak her mind. Well, at least her frankness had been the case since his return from exile. Before he left, she’d been easier, lighter. When Magnum forced him to leave, she’d been abandoned to face the years with Magnum alone.

She’d forgiven him for the role he’d played, which didn’t reset the clock.

And whenever she spoke of Ryker, she got a tone.

Drew touched her arm, running gentle fingers over a heart-shaped birthmark he loved. “Something to say, B?”

“No.” She picked up his whiskey and took a sip before she scrunched her mouth and eyes into a tight ball of unhappiness. B clinked the glass down. “Did you tell him we’re doing the Christmas thing?”

“I did.”

His mate needed to talk about her Ryker issues. Only, no one forced B to do anything she didn’t want to do and walked away with their balls intact. She’d tell him when she wanted, in her own good time.

Or she wouldn’t.

“Drew.” Gee’s voice boomed out into the room and he turned to regard the Werebear. “Ryker needs you, outside.”

The bartender’s hearing dwarfed his own. Drew nodded and stood before making his way out the door. B stayed tight behind him. The need to keep her safe warred with the desire to let B be B. She wouldn’t want to wait in the bar. Likely, there wasn’t danger. Gee would have led with a warning, and Ryker hadn’t charged through the door to throw himself between Drew and the world.

If Ryker and the dominant males had their way, Drew would likely never see any action again.

His Enforcer stood in the center of the square where, the next day, the pack would put up a Christmas tree. As shifters, they didn’t celebrate the holiday, but some of their human counterparts did. And Ryker’s mate thought they should honor the changes in the pack by having everyone celebrate, followed by a pack run which would include the humans, thus fusing everyone’s customs together. From a tree to a menorah to a yuletide bonfire—if anyone wanted their own holiday stuff included, it could go in as well. A regular smorgasbord of happy.

Snow slipped down onto the empty space, hitting Ryker as the white evidence of winter coated his dark hair. The other man held a small object in his hand.

“Gee says you need me.”

He held up a small wooden train to Drew. “This was sitting in the middle of the square.”

“It’s a child’s toy. A train,” B interjected. “You’ve seen them before, haven’t you, Ryker? Or were all children born miserable and unfeeling when you were young?”

Drew shot her a look to knock it off, although he doubted she’d heed him unless he made it an Alpha order. Their relationship was tricky. As Alpha, his way happened. As her mate, often it did not.

Instead of answering B’s challenge, Ryker handed the wooden toy to him. If Ryker thought the train warranted a look, Drew would give it one. “You found it here? In the center of the square where the tree’s going to go?”

His Enforcer nodded and Drew sniffed the toy. The scent of wood and the metal used to carve the piece wafted up to him, but nothing to make note about.

“Don’t you remember?”Ryker asked the question softly before the other man looked away.

“Should I?”Drew had been so young when most of what Ryker lived with took place. If he was missing a piece of information he should have, this time he needed it fed to him very clearly.

“He gave you one for your tenth birthday.”

Next to him, B gasped. “Stewart.”