Page 39 of Our Dark Winter Wish

‘Always,’ she replies.

When our hands part, the glow fades. But the power lingers like pins and needles under my skin. Pix takes my hand and rests it on the wall of our home. She waits, looking at me expectantly.

Then I feel it. Warm and tingling. Like a force or movement under my skin.

I look at the bark, and tiny buds start to grow around my hand.

Now I understand why she loves her earth magic so much. I am envious if this is what she feels every time she connects to it, and this is just a fraction of what she feels.

‘How does it feel?’ Dorian asks.

‘Like life.’ I lean into her, my forehead resting against hers. Finally, I own a piece of her no one else can touch.

She ismywife.

Mine.

Dorian and Archie open their small gifts. They, too, have wedding bands.

‘We’re official side pieces,’ Archie says, showing me his. ‘Look. She carved a little wolf into mine. And a giant shadow dick into Dorian’s.’

‘I carved wings into his,’ she scoffs. ‘Maybe I should have done a dick.’

‘I’m good with wings, Poppet. Thanks,’ Dorian grunts back.

‘And on that note, I think it’s time to eat.’ Archie heads into the kitchen. Dorian follows.

And I kiss my wife by the fire, standing beneath the picture of our family, with our Christmas tree glimmering with hacked-up caterpillars just off to the side.

8

Pixie

The food is fucking divine. And I eat until I’m fit to explode. The turkey. The vegetables. The wine and liquor. It’s all perfection.

Holy shit… I never knew food could taste like this. We sit around our table and share stories, laughs and jokes. We drink, and they pull me onto their laps, taking their turn at having me in their arms. I sink into them all. Into their strong arms. Their broad chests. Their solid embraces.

And I am so fucking happy I could cry.

Archie tells stories that his pack used to tell on Christmas. Dorian does his best to manipulate his shadow to cast shapes on the wall to accompany the tales. And Shaw and I do our best at adding sound effects.

But when Archie tells the tale of a lost star that fell to earth on Christmas and finally found a family when she met a wolf, we’re all absorbed in the likeness of our own trial to find our pack.

But we did.

And what a strange little pack we are.

The sun has set when we finish telling stories and singing songs. I peer out of the window. The snow has reached the window now. I’m pretty sure we’re snowed in.

I admit I have no issues with being trapped in our cottage. Just us and nothing to do and nowhere to go.

I pick up the plates and am ready to start tidying. But Shaw holds my hands in place and shakes his head.

‘I think it’s time for dessert.’

Archie lets out a low chuckle, and when I peer back at him, I see a look I know well.

‘Shaw. What do you say we lay your wife down on the table and fuck her until she can’t walk?’ he asks.

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