A Perfect Fated Christmas Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  A Perfect Fated Christmas

  A Copper Creek Novella

  Kasey Belle

  Copyright © 2017

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  A Perfect Fated Christmas, A Copper Creek Novella, Book 6

  Text Copyright © 2017 Kasey Belle Romance

  First E-book Publication: December 2017 Kasey Belle Romance

  Cover and art copyright © 2017 Sin City Book Art

  Digital Formatting by Kasey Belle Romance

  ALL RIGHT RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Thank you for bearing with me. This holiday short is a little late, between shoulder surgery and moving I ran a bit behind. But as they say, better late than never.

  Trademarks/Copyrights in this book: Disney, Google, Yamaha, Goodnight Moon, JACS are their own entities and are not owned by this author.

  If you are looking for your own junior adaptive carrier system custom made in Scorpion Multicam with added Molle straps, you can order one from: jacs-babycarrier.com

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Thank You!

  About The Author

  Please Stalk Me

  Other Works

  Coming Soon!

  For my readers,

  Thank you for a wonderful 2017!

  Wishing you love, merriment, and sexy times in the coming year.

  Chapter 1

  Declan leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and watched his mate. His parents would have loved her, especially his mother. Both his mom and mate were forces of nature. Sassy, fiery, tough, and badass women in their own way.

  It was during the holidays that Declan missed his parents the most. They’d been gone almost ten years now, but some days it seemed like he and his siblings had only lost them yesterday to that horrific head-on collision. The drunk driver that hit them had been well over the legal limit. As life altering as the preventable accident had been, Declan took solace in the fact that his parents died within moments of each other, as it should be. Shifters slowly withered away without their mate. It would have been a prolonged and agonizing death for the one left behind.

  After their father’s death, he and Cade took over as pack alpha and beta. At least, they weren’t left floundering. They’d had the benefit of their Uncle Eric and Damon’s guidance and wisdom, the former had been their father’s beta and the latter his head enforcer. Not to mention, he, Cade and Amelia also had their uncles and Aunt Ilene’s never ending support and love, as well as that of the rest of the pack. It hadn’t lessened their sense of loss, but it had made it less overwhelming and lonely, especially for Amelia who’d only been a teenager at the time.

  Speaking of siblings… Cade joined him, mimicking his pose on the opposite side of the doorframe. “I miss them, too,” he said in a quiet voice. “Some days are harder than others.”

  Declan nodded but didn’t take his eyes off their mate. Fiona was studying the schematic she’d drawn up over the course of the past month. Their little princess’s head was bent over the piece of graph paper just like her mother’s as if she could read it.

  Declan shook his head and grinned with amusement. Fiona and her OCD―Obsessive Christmas Disorder. This was their second Christmas together as a family and his mate’s need for perfect ornament and decoration placement still shocked and amazed him.

  Every branch was given a number plus letter code and every ornament―which Fee stored in special containers so each had its own compartment―was marked with the corresponding code for the branch it was to be hung from. Oh, and sweet hell, let’s not forget the lights. The look of horror on her face when she’d found his strands of colored lights last year never failed to make him laugh. Fiona refused to use what she called multi-colored chaos in, on, or around the house. Only white twinkling perfection for his love.

  Cade chuckled. “Fiona really needs to seek professional help before she passes her craziness on to our daughter.”

  “Mommy?” Emma Grace asked. “Where is my new ornament going again?”

  Fiona pointed to the schematic. “Right here.”

  “Oh, that’s the perfect place,” Emma Grace praised and clutched her hands to her chest. Their little girl certainly had a flair for the dramatic. “Everybody will be able to see it. You have to teach me how to do this when I’m a grown up. Huh, Mommy?”

  Cade groaned and covered his eyes with his hand. “We’re too late,” his brother muttered. “The Emperor and the dark side already has her.”

  Fiona flipped Cade the bird behind her back. Declan snorted a laugh. He should have known she knew they were watching her. Their mate didn’t miss much.

  His brother snickered. “I love that woman.”

  Emma Grace picked up her ornament and carefully peeled the tissue paper away. She took the thin loop of gold thread between her fingers and held the miniature grand piano up allowing the smooth crystal to catch the light. “It’s so pretty. Isn’t it, Mommy?”

  “It is, cher.”

  It truly was, Declan thought. Fiona agonized over Googled pages upon pages of ornaments until she finally stumbled on a website for an auction house in the UK and saw the image for the gold plated and Swarovski crystal vintage orn
ament up for bid. Fiona made sure she won by spending a small fortune on the rare collectible item. Declan wasn’t complaining. Anything that put a smile on his little girl’s face was priceless. They used an engraver recommended by the antique dealer and had Emma Grace’s name and the year engraved on it before shipping it with special instructions. The ornament was the reason Fiona was running behind and decorating their tree two weeks before Christmas. Giving their daughter a new ornament on Thanksgiving Day then trimming the tree the day after was a tradition Fiona started when Emma Grace was born. Unfortunately, the auction didn’t end until the day and Fiona refused to decorate the tree without it which delayed all tree trimming efforts until today. His poor mate didn’t like having her schedule thrown off, but they’d made it through.

  They’d kept her spirits up by decorating the ranch the weekend after Thanksgiving like she wanted so they wouldn’t risk pissing off the townsfolk. He’d enlisted the help of the pack cubs to help her decorate the common areas. The kids thought Fiona’s system was a little crazy, but there were good sports about it.

  Yesterday, the guard at the gate had called, as planned, and given him and Cade a heads-up that Rob, their local FedEx driver was on his way up to the house. They met Rob at the door and called for their pixie. Their social butterfly came running when she heard someone was there to see her. When Rob asked if she was the Ms. Emma Grace Creed, she nodded with wide eager eyes and said, “You know my name, Mr. Rob.”

  Rob sent her a good-natured grin then leaned in and whispered, “I have these instructions here and they said I had to ask if you were you or I would be in trouble.” He cleared his throat and went through the whole spiel. Emma Grace squealed with delight when he told her he had a special delivery just for her. Rob helped her sign her name on his handheld device before handing her the package. Declan had never seen her or Fiona so excited.

  Fiona rubbed her back. She’d been doing that off and on lately and it made Declan worry. She was doing too much. He knew that, but his mate was like a little whirlwind when she got going. Nothing short of tying her to a chair would contain her. If he thought he’d survive with his balls intact, Declan would have tried it just to test the theory.

  “Hunter called. He and Alan won’t make it back for Christmas.”

  Cade winced. “Emma Grace isn’t going to be happy.”

  “I know.” He hated any situation that put a frown on his little girl’s face, but the situation couldn’t be helped. Hunter and Alan had personal business they had to see to. His friends needed answers about their mother so they could put the past behind them once and for all. “Hunter said they’d call her tonight and explain. Emma Grace will understand.”

  His brother grinned. “Yeah. She’ll worry though. She loves to two giants.”

  Declan chuckled. “All the little cubs do.” It never ceased to amaze and amuse him when he witnessed a cub climbing one of the large imposing men like a tree.

  “I know right?” Cade’s expression grew thoughtful. “I hope at least one of their leads pans out. Answers and closure is the only way they’ll be able to move forward. They can’t live in limbo forever. They deserve a family. They’d make excellent fathers.”

  “I have faith it will happen, brother. The Fates work in their own time.”

  Cade grunted. “Truth.” They watched Fiona in silence. Both of them basking in the happiness that radiated off their mate. “Emma Grace is still trying to figure out what’s in that big wrapped box Hunter and Alan dropped off before they left. Her guesses are getting a little crazy.” Cade glanced at him. “Did you hear her prediction this morning?”

  “No?” Judging by the amusement playing across his brother’s face he’d say it was a doozy.

  “A dog cage with a puppy inside.”

  Declan snickered. “Are you serious?” Cade nodded. “Your response was…?” He knew his brother too well for it not to have been a good one.

  “I told her I hoped not, because a decaying puppy would be a really bad and extremely smelly Christmas present. She thought about that for a few minutes. Then she informed me her guess couldn’t be right. It wasn’t a puppy because he had no place to go to the bathroom.” Cade shook his head. “The fact it would have been trapped in a box with no air, basically buried alive didn’t register. Peeing and shitting where it ate and slept? That’s the variable that didn’t make sense.”

  “Ah, the innocence of youth,” he joked. Declan hoped she possessed that innocence for at least another decade.

  Cade turned to face him, shot a quick look at their girls, then leaned in. “I actually came up here for a reason other than to ogle our mate,” he muttered. “I saw Traynor down by the gate with a couple of hands when I pulled in. He told me two strands of bulbs went out on the gate as well as one on the guard house.”

  Declan’s muscles tensed and dread knotted his stomach. “Shit.” His head whipped around in their mate’s direction. “That’s not good.”

  Cade snorted, and he reached out a patted Declan on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, big bro. Tray said he bought extras this year and stashed them in the loft. He doesn’t want what happened last year to happen again this year and he sure as hell knew we didn’t.”

  Declan blew out a breath. Truer words were never spoken.

  Before Fiona, Declan and Cade only put up a tree in the common room. It was more for the cubs who frequented the pack house than for them. They’d never saw the point in decorating after Amelia left for college where she’d met her mate. Then Fee crashed into their lives along with her love of all things Christmas, which ended up being contagious. Everyone who had a house on the pack land had gotten into the spirit of the season.

  His poor mate exhausted herself last year turning the ranch into a winter wonderland and it had never looked so damn beautiful. The Double C looked as though Kris Kringle himself had puked Merry Christmas all over pack land. Word got out around and the next thing they knew neighbors and townsfolk began driving by just to catch a glimpse of the holiday lights extravaganza. Fiona convinced him and Cade to open up the gate and allow people to drive through. It had been a logistical and security nightmare and that was before all the changes they made this year after Craden Speer decided to show up on his land looking for Nick and Leo.

  Then one day, about a week before Christmas, a cell of thunderstorms rolled through the area. The lightning had been particularly bad, but that happened in Texas. So, after it was over nobody gave it a second thought, which was unfortunate. Because once the sun went down and it was time to light up the ranch, they were faced with a horrible reality. A third of the light strands and various lighted, inflatable, and mechanical lawn decorations didn’t work. They’d gotten fried when lightning struck a tree. Cue Fiona’s epic meltdown. Both he and Cade had been confused by her hysterics. Fiona wasn’t a crier. They carefully questioned, and she finally admitted what all the craziness―the go big or go home decorations and her tears―was really about. Fiona fulfilling never realized childhood dreams while she made sure her daughter didn’t suffer the same fate.

  “We looked at the security footage,” his brother explained pulling Declan from his musings. “Seems as though the Hutchinson boys from up the road were testing out their air rifles. I already called John. He’s sending them down here with their allowance and volunteered them to muck out stalls for the next week as punishment. I told him we wouldn’t be too hard on them. They’re good kids, just typical boys getting into mischief.”

  “You should know,” Declan quipped with a grin. “You have quite the extensive knowledge of mischief and trouble.”

  “Hence the leniency. Duh.” Cade stuck out his tongue at Declan like he used to when they were cubs. “The guys will have everything replaced before sunset. Fee won’t be the wiser.”

  “Good.” Relief washed over him, but was quickly replaced by annoyance. Declan frowned when their mate dragged a stepladder over to the tree.

  “Oh, hell no,” Cade growled.

  He
pressed a hand to Cade’s chest. “I got this. You go take care of the mischief makers.”

  “Alright.” Cade nodded.

  “Before I forget. I confirmed the snow machine. It will be here Christmas Eve.” He informed Cade before heading toward their mate and stopping her before she endangered herself and their cub.

  Cade rubbed his hands together. “Sweet. I’m going to meet the Hutchinson boys at the gate. I’ll catch y’all later.” Cade blew a kiss to their girls.

  Declan waved him off then took the pretty glass ornament from his mate’s hand. “No way, love. You could fall. Tell me where you want this.” She looked unsure about his abilities to do the job right. He wanted to ask her how hard she thought hanging an ornament would be, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t the act itself that was the problem. It was doing it right according to Fiona’s specifications that had her worried. “Just point. I swear I’ll place it exactly where you want it or move it as many times as needed to get it right. I won’t even complain.”

  Fiona gave him a beatific smile. “You get me. You really do.”

  He cupped her cheek. “Of course I do. You’re my mate.” He gave a slow lingering kiss then pulled away. “Now. Where do you want this?”

  “Da’s a good listener, Mommy.” Emma Grace smiled up at them. “I think you can trust him to do a good job.”

  “Thanks, baby girl. Your confidence in me is overwhelming,”

  “I know that was sarcasm, but you’re welcome, anyway.” She flashed him a dimpled grin before crawling under the tree and straightening the skirt until it was perfect.

  Chapter 2

  Kell waited with Gunnar in the checkout line at the local home store. He kicked the large box that sat next to various smaller boxes of indoor and outdoor lights on the large blue dolly. “Tell me again, why we can’t go to the tree farm and buy a real freaking tree like the goddess intended instead of this manufactured monstrosity of just plain wrong?”