A Shifter Christmas
Chapter One
“I
f I’m a good boy, will you take me to see Santa?” Noah asked as they walked into the crowded mall. Andrew paused only long enough to shoot back an irritated glance. Something Noah noticed his brother did with alarming frequency whenever they hung around.
“Mitchell made me swear to keep an eye on you and make sure that you stayed out of trouble. Somehow I don’t think letting you grind on Santa’s lap is on our leader’s list of approved activities,” Andrew replied in a cool, clipped tone.
Andrew’s gaze swept the interior of the large shopping center as he pulled his ankle length, black trench coat closed a bit. Noah didn’t want to contemplate the weaponry his littermate probably had tucked away in the pockets. Andrew loved his knives and guns and didn’t go anywhere without at least a half dozen of his babies within easy reach. The guy probably slept with a Glock under his pillow.
A few people passing by shot Andrew wary looks as they gave him a wide berth. Not that Andrew had a huge build or anything. He was thinner than most of the soldiers in the coalition and only stood a couple inches taller than Noah. However, Andrew managed to shoot off a don’t-fuck-withme vibe that both humans and shifters heeded.
“Who said anything about grinding on Santa?” Noah replied as he tried to assume his own tough-guy pose.
He failed miserably, probably because he wore a red puffy coat and a tight as snot Lady Gaga tee. He did earn a wink from a passing man though. Not that he had any interest in flirting back since Noah was madly in love and happily mated with Seth, one hell of a sexy Tiger shifter.
“Not even I’m twisted enough to try and give Santa a lap dance,” Noah protested. Before Seth, he did like to play around, but now nobody could tempt him to stray, even a guy in a red suit.
“If you sit on Santa’s lap, I’ll take a picture and post it on your Facebook page. You can use it to replace the profile picture of you dressed in all leather and doing obscene things to that teddy bear,” the third member of their litter, Keegan, teased as he came up and fell in step with Noah.
“It was your mate, Carson, who dared me to put that up in the first place,” Noah pointed out.
Keegan threw his hands up in the air. “He dares everyone to do stupid stuff like that. You’re the only one whoever takes him up on it.”
Keegan unzipped his brown, leather coat to reveal the very sensible, blue sweater he wore underneath. Noah wondered, not for the first time, how the most vanilla member of their litter ended up mated to a Goth, IT, Cheetah shifter who had an attitude bigger than the Flint River.
“It gives Carson something to live for besides you and his computers,” Noah defended.
Keegan cocked a brow. “And here I thought it was because you could never refuse a dare. “
“I can so.”
Even Andrew paused long enough to shoot Keegan a look of disbelief at that claim.
Damn, you run naked around the parameter of the compound one time and they want to slap the label of daredevil on you. So maybe Noah’s lack of discipline had gotten him in a few pickles in the past, that still didn’t mean he could change who he was or anything. No more than Keegan could stop being smart and Andrew could stop being so menacing.
Keegan gave him a playful punch. “Don’t get that look on your face.”
“What look is that?”
“The one where you start to doubt yourself. I like how spontaneous you can be. Before you came back home, things were so dull at times I was tempted to run around in the nude, just to get some excitement.”
Noah laughed. While he had just as little in common with Keegan as Andrew, Noah felt way more comfortable with the intellectual one of the litter. Keegan wasn’t just intelligent either, he had a smart-as-shit IQ, plus a photographic memory. Where Noah realized he should have felt awkward and dumb around Keegan, instead he felt as if they’d been close all their lives. That said something since they’d only been reunited a little under a year ago.
He tensed up as they walked deeper into the mall and the crush of bodies grew. Since Christmas was only a couple of days away, it appeared that they weren’t the only ones who waited until the last minute to shop. He tried hard not to gawk in wonder at the huge trees, red tinsel and other various decorations surrounding them. Growing up, there hadn’t been very many holiday celebrations and he still couldn’t get used to all the cheer. Going by the expression on Andrew’s face, he didn’t feel any more happy to be surrounded by the Christmas spirit. He even transferred some of his scowls to the decorations as if their mere presence offended him. Going by what Noah knew about his brother’s past, he hadn’t celebrated the holidays as a kid either. Ah, finally something we share in common.