Page 3 of Snowed in at Santa's Lodge
Coming up here to work on the lodge, I faced the likelihood that I’d be alone unless I was willing to settle. At least until I was ready to open the doors, I’d see very few people at all. Fate would have to work extra hard to get my mate here. It would not happen. I’d always been practical, and there were a lot of good things in life. I had a lodge to get ready for next year. If all went well, I’d be open for the summer season and well ready for the holidays.
I offered to let the omega ride out the storm in the only part of the lodge that was finished, the owner’s residence where my grandfather used to live, but he declined graciously and climbed back into his car. The sky was opening more by the minute, heavier snowfall and higher winds portending a storm nobody should be crossing the mountains in. Particularly if their vehicle belonged on a junk heap.
My reindeer urged me to try harder, to convince him to stay. He was ours. Okay…that was fast. Sure, he was hot and he had that vulnerable quality many omegas did that I found attractive. The alpha in me wanted to take care of him. But I’d been attracted before, for a few hours or a day, and what made this different? If he stayed, even if one thing led to another, I’d have no problem wishing him well and waving goodbye tomorrow.
Except my reindeer had never expressed an opinion about any of the others. And when shaking hands or holding hands, I hadn’t wanted never to let go. This was different. He was different, and while I feared disappointment, something deep inside me woke up at the first touch. Maybe the first sight.
How could I let him go? Fate might not give me another chance. And beyond that selfish impulse lay the danger of a stormy mountain in an unreliable vehicle.
“Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay, just for the night? In the owner’s apartment? The road ahead can be treacherous under the best of circumstances. And your tires are nearly bald.” Maybe I should grab him, toss him over my shoulder, and carry him inside where his teeth would stop chattering and his nose would lose the redness caused by the chill.
“It’s very kind of you, but I need to keep moving. If the heater hadn’t died, it wouldn’t be too bad, but I will grit my teeth and soldier on.”
Except I didn’t want him to soldier on. Or grit his teeth. “I think—” Before I could say any more, my phone went off in my pocket, and Aspen’s buzzed from the front seat of his car.
“What’s that?” He reached for it and looked at the screen. “Oh.”
Viewing my own, I saw why he sounded concerned. “Storm warning. It’s supposed to get a lot worse.”
“All roads are closed?” he murmured. “Does that mean they are impassible already?”
“Not necessarily.” I read the rest of the notice. “Just that they are closed. There may be avalanches or danger of them or a possibility that if someone gets stuck in the snow, emergency vehicles may not be able to get to them. I’ve mostly been here in the summer, visiting my late grandfather, but I’ve heard a lot about winter storms from the people in town.”
“I see.” He was still sitting in the car, but he made no move to turn it on again. “So, no going back either?”
“No, we’re within the closure area in all directions.”
“Fuck.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his expression. “I guess I have two choices, then.”
Two? So far as I could tell, we were down to one. But curiosity had me asking, “Taking me up on my offer is the first, obviously, but what’s the second?”
“Freezing to death out here in my car.”
Because unlike me, he did not have a snow-and-ice adapted animal who would know just how to survive and thrive even in a storm. This omega was human. But he was my mate. Fate must know what she was doing.
“So, which is it?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know which I’d choose.”
Climbing out of the car, he closed the door behind him. “I know you’re joking but I really hate to impose. You aren’t set up for guests and I’m invading your private space.”
“Hardly invading. If you want the truth, I’m glad to have the company. Sometimes it gets a little lonely up here by myself.”
“Only until you’re ready to open. Then you’ll have so many people around you won’t know what to do with them all.”
“That’s kind of you to say.” I took a step back toward the porch. “I have a lot of work to do before I could get more than a single star on Yelp, though.”
“Still, thank you.”
“You are very welcome, Aspen.” More than he might realize. Did humans understand mating the same way shifters did? It never occurred to me to even ask. Most of the omegas I dated or even knew had beasts of one kind or another. “My little part of the lodge is not much, but you’re welcome to share it until the roads open up again and conditions are safe.”
“How long do you think that will be?”
I shrugged. “We can check the weather report, but sometimes I think their guesses are no better than ours would be.”
“Yeah.” He shivered. “And right now, I predict that it’s going to be colder.”
“You have a career in meteorology,” I quipped.
