Page 26 of Naughty Elf: Wink

I choked on my next breath. “Are you serious?” The man seemed so mild-mannered, not at all a dangerous predator. “And your granny knows?”

“I’m sure she does. That might even be part of the appeal.” He waggled his eyebrows, and I frowned at the spike of jealousy that needled at me. Did he wish I were something more fierce, more predatory?

Maybe it was because my mate was a shifter, but I felt a sudden urge to mark him, much like he would mark me when we were properly mated. We’d been waiting for the kit to be born, but now I wished we could do it sooner.

We spent the rest of the day decorating the house for the holidays, and I set Santa’s gift from last year, the snow globe I’d made, on the mantel in pride of place. The festivities all gave me a sense of nostalgia, with the twinkly lights and garland. I sang while I worked, making Derek laugh when I gave the classic carols some naughty lyrics.

“No wonder you got fired,” he teased, and instead of the embarrassment or shame I might’ve once felt when I thought about getting fired, I was filled with warmth and gratitude.

The nursery was almost finished, but Derek had insisted that it needed some decorations too. We’d chosen not to find out the baby’s sex, so the room was a gender-neutral red, green, and silver. We’d bought a beautiful matching quilt for the wall above the crib at the market today, and I might’ve even dredged up a bit of Christmas elf magic to add some extra sparkle.

Derek stood swaying in front of the crib, humming, and I came up behind him and set my hands on his belly, rubbing in slow circles. “What are you thinking about?” I asked, pressing a kiss to his neck.

“Oh, nothing much, just our future,” he said, laughing lightly.

Chewy, who’d taken to following Derek everywhere, hopped up into the crib, sniffing the new quilt.

“You’re not leaving… right?” he asked me, a note of cautious curiosity in his voice, but there was no hiding the wobble. It seemed he’d picked up on where my own thoughts had been going lately.

“Of course not! I’m not going anywhere,” I insisted, even as a tiny tingle of doubt crept in. What if I hadn’t done enough to convince Santa that I’d changed? He’d said I had until Christmas to prove to him—and myself—that I was destined for something more, and I certainly felt like I had, but what if I hadn’t proven myself in the right way? Would he really take me away from my mate and child? I couldn’t imagine! He was generous and jolly… wasn’t he?

18

Derek

Christmas crept up on us in that strange way time had of speeding up when you least expected it. It was just two days away now, and if I hadn’t known better, I’d think magic was involved. Too bad that magic hadn’t extended to the production of snow; the ground was still bare, the yards and medians just patches of sad, dead grass and fallen leaves. Everyone in the grocery store this morning had been grumbling about global warming.

Every day, my body had continued to change, my back and hips aching, my belly expanding until I thought I was going to burst—literally! I’d always wanted to have children, but I’d kind of assumed I would have a full nine months to get ready for them. Two months? Not nearly enough time. It was making me antsy. My to-do list seemed to be expanding faster than my waistline!

I paced around the kitchen island, waiting for the timer to go off. The whole house smelled amazing, of cinnamon and nutmeg, butter and brown sugar. Wink had been called in to The Pie Bar to make aquick emergency cookie delivery for the children’s hospital. My beast had grumbled, but it was for a good cause, so I felt guilty arguing about it. In the end, he’d told me he would hurry. “Even if I have to use a little magic,” he’d promised, before giving me a peck on the lips and dashing out the door.

I groaned, stretching out my back. With space inside me at a premium, everything had begun to hurt on some level, but right now, there was a tension in my lower spine that no amount of stretching could relieve.

Kit, my raccoon said yet again.Kit’s coming. He’d been a regular broken record for the past two days.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I grumbled. “Anytime now.” As much as I loved the concept of being pregnant and providing my baby with everything they needed to grow, I was ready to evict them.

Chewy twined himself around my ankles, nearly tripping me, and I growled, the sound definitely more animal than human. Chewy, a great friend to my raccoon, wasn’t fazed in the least, staring up at me with those yellow-green eyes, meowing plaintively.

Maybe a bath would be nice, as soon as these tarts were done…

Luckily, the timer chose that exact moment to go off. “Perfect!” I clapped my hands and grabbed the oven mitts, opening the oven to the blast of hot air. I had just grabbed the tray and closed the oven when a searing band of pain clamped down on my stomach.

“Fuck!” I shouted, dropping the tray in shock.

Told you, my beast muttered.Kit.

“Yeah, yeah,” I groaned, mitted hands braced on my knees as I waited for the contraction to pass. A moment later, I was able to stand up straight again, and I blew out a long breath. “Well, that was fun—not.”

After cleaning up the fallen tarts, I waited all of ten minutes and two more contractions before I grabbed my phone, fully intending to call Wink back here ASAP. Could elves teleport? It might be a good time to try. If the timing on these contractions were any indication, then I figured this baby might be making an appearance sooner rather than later.

Before I could finish dialing, though, I heard the car in the driveway, headlights coasting past the window, and just seconds later, the door burst open, Wink appearing all wide-eyed and puffing. “The baby’s coming!”

“You don’t say,” I said sarcastically, arching a brow. “Is that what these waves of gripping pain mean?” But then I frowned. “Wait, how did you know?”

“I was just leaving the children’s ward at the hospital when the Santa they’d hired to come see the kids came up to me and told me I needed to get home, that the baby was on the way.” Before I could ask, he said, “It was Santa 49!”

My jaw dropped, but before I could answer, another contraction hit, and my teeth snapped shut with an audible click. Wink was at my side in a flash, still wearing his boots and jacket. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

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