Page 154 of Tangled In Tinsel & Knots
“I gotta go tell my men they need to seriously lift their game,” Lily says, still grinning as she heads back inside.
When she’s gone and it’s just the four of us in the quiet garage, I glance up at all three of them, who are staring at me with so much love and pride and happiness that I might cry again.
“This is our first Christmas as a family,” Chris says.
I melt against them, and we stand there for a long moment, just holding each other while snow continues to fall heavily outside and muffled music and laughter drift from the house.
This is home and family. Not the building, not the location, but these people. This feeling. And whatever challenges come next, I know I can handle it because I’m not alone anymore.
I have them. They have me. And together, we’re unstoppable.
Even if that means dealing with mysterious family secrets and reindeer with destructive tendencies. But that’s a problem for tomorrow. Today is for celebrating everything we’ve built together.
And it’s absolutely, perfectly, wonderfully imperfect.
Just like us.
EPILOGUE
HANNAH
One month later, and I’m standing in Sweden with absolutely no clue what’s happening.
Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I know we’re in Sweden because I saw my plane ticket. And we’ve been traveling for a long time through flights, layovers, another flight, and then a car ride through increasingly snowy wilderness that looked like something out of a Nordic noir film.
But beyond those basic geographical facts, I’m completely in the dark.
My three Alphas have been infuriatingly tight-lipped the entire journey. Every time I asked where we were going, they exchanged those smug looks and said, “You’ll see.”
Every. Single. Time.
So here I am, climbing out of an Uber in front of what appears to be some kind of hotel entrance, snow falling softly around us in fat, lazy flakes, the air so cold it burns my lungs in the most refreshing way possible.
It’s dark, but there are lights ahead of us. Warm golden glows spilling from windows, lanterns lining snow-packed pathways,everything sparkling and twinkling against the pristine white landscape.
My heart is already racing with anticipation. Whatever this is, wherever they’ve brought me, I can feel in my bones that it’s going to be special.
In front of us stands this large arch-like structure that appears to be made of snow and ice, illuminated from within so it glows pale blue against the night sky. Like a portal to another world.
“Walk through,” Chris says, his breath forming clouds in the freezing air. His eyes are bright with barely contained excitement. “Keep going straight ahead, gorgeous.”
The guys are pulling our luggage behind them, and I’m too mesmerized to do anything except obey. I step through the arch and onto a snowy path, and immediately I feel like I’ve entered a fairy tale.
Buildings flank us on either side, restaurants with frost-covered windows, where people inside are laughing over meals, candlelight flickering on their tables. A small shop with handcrafted items displayed in the window, everything looking cozy and inviting. Cabin-like structures that glow with warmth, smoke curling from chimneys.
Everything has this magical, otherworldly quality as though we’ve stepped into a snow globe or a storybook illustration come to life.
But we’re not stopping at any of these places.
“Keep going,” Kane encourages from behind me. “Straight ahead, baby girl.”
My boots crunch on the pristine snow, my breath coming faster with each step as anticipation builds in my chest.
A structure rises ahead of us. The front of the building curves outward like a dome, and the entire thing appears to be made of snow and ice. Not decorated to look like snow and ice—actuallyconstructed from it. The structure spreads outward in organic curves, low and wide rather than tall, hugging the landscape like it grew there naturally. Soft blue light emanates from within, making the whole thing glow ethereally against the dark sky.
Large double doors mark the entrance, simple and elegant, and I can see people going in and out, their breath creating clouds as they move between the frozen exterior and whatever lies within.
My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat.
