“You’d think we had a ton of kids.”

  He chuckled. “We’re kids at heart.”

  “I have to agree with you there.”

  After eating the melted-cheesy sandwiches and drinking their peppermint hot cocoa, they cleaned up.

  “What do you want to do now?” he asked, pulling the dish towel from her hand and enfolding her in a hug.

  “You don’t have any more work to do outside?”

  “Nope. Not for a while. Do you have anything you need to do?”

  “Yeah, before all the relatives arrive, I sure do.” She took him down the hall to their bedroom for some more Christmas cheer.

  ***

  That night for Christmas Eve, Josh and Brooke had a prime rib dinner at their place for Maverick, Weston, Gina, and their parents, Reggie and Faye. Gina felt so nervous, though they didn’t plan to change them until after all their activities on Christmas Day. Still, just thinking about it made her anxious regarding the change to her parents’ lives that was coming up and how they would feel concerning it.

  “So did you ever see any signs of Bigfoot on your last hunt?” Reggie asked.

  “Or werewolves?” Faye asked.

  Both her parents were smiling, but Gina’s sip of water from her water glass went down wrong, and she coughed. Maverick rubbed her back. Weston cleared his throat. Josh and Brooke smiled.

  “Uh, no Bigfoot,” Weston said. “We’re sure the wolf we saved from the lake was a werewolf though.”

  Gina gave her brother a caustic look. They weren’t supposed to change their parents until after they had the Christmas meal tomorrow. She didn’t want her parents shifting and having to eat their meal on plates on the floor. She was really sure their mother and father would not be happy about that. And she wanted the experience to be as pleasant as it could be for them under the circumstances.

  Her parents looked at Maverick and smiled jokingly. “Well, he’s one of the best-looking werewolves I’ve ever seen. We want to thank you for inviting us to your family gathering for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,” Faye said to Brooke and Josh.

  “You’re family now,” Brooke said, and everyone stopped eating and drinking. She knew she’d made a mistake mentioning it before Gina had told her parents they were getting married, the problem with being mated wolves and not being able to tell humans. But Brooke couldn’t take it back now.

  “Okay, we didn’t get the ring yet, but Maverick asked me to marry him. He wanted to wait to announce it after Christmas,” Gina said.

  “So sorry,” Brooke said, looking truly repentant and really embarrassed to have made the mistake.

  Josh smiled at Brooke, leaned over and kissed her cheek, and rubbed her back with the palm of his hand with reassurance.

  “No, it’s okay, really. We were planning to announce it tomorrow. Tonight is fine.” Gina smiled, trying to appear as though she really felt that way.

  “Well, this is great news. We couldn’t be happier for the two of you,” her dad said, but he didn’t sound like he really meant it, more that he worried about it.

  Gina knew he was shocked to the core, and she suspected he wondered if this wasn’t a little too sudden. If he knew what she did about wolves mating, he would know it wasn’t too soon for them.

  “Me too,” her mom said, recovering from her shocked expression. “So when do you plan to have the wedding?”

  “Next summer, and I want you and Brooke to help me with all of it.”

  “Absolutely,” Brooke said.

  Gina’s mother agreed. “I can’t wait to help,” her mom said, and she sounded relieved the actual wedding wouldn’t happen for several months, giving Gina and Maverick more time to get to know each other.

  What they didn’t know was that it was already a done deal.

  Gina took a deep breath and let it out. Well, that was a surprise reveal Gina hadn’t planned for.

  Maverick was smiling, quiet, but then he said, “I can’t wait to marry your daughter.”

  “Yeah, and we’re like brothers already.” Weston sounded proud to be part of the whole wolf family and didn’t have any qualms about it.

  “Me too,” Josh agreed.

  “What about your parents?” Faye asked. “How do they feel about it?”

  “Uh, we’re all orphans.” Josh ran his hand over Brooke’s back again.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear it,” her mom said, appearing to wish she hadn’t brought it up.

  “That means you’re going to have to adopt all of them,” Gina cheerfully said.

  “That’s a given,” her mom said. Reggie agreed.

  Gina loved her parents, and both of them seemed to relax, and they all enjoyed the meal together as one big, happy family.

  Thankfully, neither Weston nor Gina had any issues with shifting during the Christmas Eve dinner. She did worry about them shifting in the middle of the night and running into their parents in the house. They had wanted to have their parents stay somewhere else because of the shifting issue, but they couldn’t very well suggest it without making their parents wonder why when they had plenty of room for them at Maverick’s house. Weston had even suggested earlier in private to Gina that he could stay at Josh and Brooke’s home tonight just in case he shifted, but they agreed it would seem strange if they split up the family like that for no good reason. If they had gone with the plan, Gina would still have to be careful. Especially with her sleepwalking issues, though she hadn’t sleepwalked since that last time.

  After dinner, they had Christmas cocktails, and then they all wished each other a merry Christmas Eve. Faye, Reggie, their son and daughter, and Maverick all walked to his home for the night, crunching across the snow.

  “Remember to wear red shirts or sweaters and blue jeans for pictures tomorrow while we’re opening Christmas presents,” Gina said.

  “Yeah, we’ve got them,” her mom said.

  “If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask,” Maverick said as he showed them to their guest rooms before they all called it a night.

  “Congratulations again to the two of you,” her dad said, giving Gina a hug and shaking Maverick’s hand.

  Gina’s mom gave both Gina and Maverick a hug and told them goodnight.

  Weston wished everyone a merry Christmas Eve and headed off to his guest room. At least he had never sleepwalked, so Gina wasn’t worried about him as long as he didn’t leave his bedroom or howl or bark in there.

  “Did you tell Brooke and Josh to wear red shirts and blue jeans for the pictures?” Maverick asked, kissing her in the master bedroom.

  “I did. And Weston too. How are we going to turn my parents?” Gina asked, helping Maverick get undressed as he worked on her clothes too.

  Then when they were naked, they climbed under the covers and cuddled together in the bed for the night.

  “I don’t want them to think of me as the big bad wolf,” he said.

  She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his mouth. “You are the biggest baddest wolf I know. And the sweetest and kindest too.”

  “We normally don’t tell people what we’re going to do first if they don’t know what we are, but in your parents’ case, like with Bromley and Patterson, I want to give them a choice.”

  “Okay.” She could just imagine worrying about it all night long.

  “Come here,” he said, kissing her soundly. “It will turn out fine. Somehow.”

  But worrying about this and not sleeping wasn’t a good thing for Gina and her sleepwalking business. With the moon still mostly full, she thought she would have to shift, and really, she hoped she would get it out of her system tonight before all the festivities tomorrow.

  Chapter 20

  Maverick was having a difficult time getting to sleep tonight, as if he was excited about opening Christmas presents in the morning. Instead, he was more concerned about both Gina and her brother shifting tonight or sometime during the activities tomorrow and being caught by their parents.

  He got out of bed, pulled on a pair of boxer briefs and a robe and cinched the tie, then left the bedroom and walked down the hall to check and make sure everyone was in bed in their kerchiefs and caps. Everything was quiet, and no one was running around in wolf coats or otherwise. He got a glass of milk, finished it off, and put the glass in the dishwasher, thankful that Gina was his mate and that her brother and friends were already turned and were glad for it.

  He just hoped that everything would work out fine with Gina and Weston’s parents tomorrow.

  That’s when he heard scratching at Weston’s door. Oh, great.

  Maverick walked down the hall and opened the guest room door. Weston raced out of the guest room past him as a red wolf and down the hall to the wolf door.

  Damn. Maverick ran after him. “You have to wait until I can—” Weston barged through the wolf door. Damn it. They hadn’t locked the wolf door.

  Maverick turned to run back to his room and grab his phone to call Randall, but then he saw Gina loping down the hall in her wolf coat. “Wait until I get some clothes for you and your brother.” He ran down the hall to the room and grabbed a bag of her things and his phone and then came back out, but Gina was gone. He should have locked the wolf door!

  He raced to Weston’s room and went inside to hastily grab his clothes and then got on his phone and called Randall. “They’re running as wolves.”

  “Now?” Randall asked.

  “Yeah, I’m off to chase them down.”

  “I’m headed out that way. One of us has to join them as a wolf to make sure they don’t stray into the woods,” Randall said.

  “Yeah.” Maverick tossed their bag of clothes into the truck, jumped into it, and tore off, his high beams catching Gina and Weston’s wolf forms off in the distance, racing through the snow.

  Maverick just hoped none of their actions had woken their parents and they were up now, wondering what had happened to all of them. The bedroom doors had been left ajar. Everyone had disappeared into the night. And who knew what Maverick would be coming back with. Wolves or humans?

  Then Randall was driving the Jeep behind him, and Maverick parked, stripped out of his clothes, and shifted. He needed to take care of his mate and her brother, and that was easier when running as a wolf so that he could get close and steer them the right way. He wondered then why Gina had run off like that. Weston was more reckless, but he didn’t think Gina would have done so. Why not stay in the bedroom and wait for him? He understood the need to run as a wolf, but he also knew she was worried about her parents seeing her and her brother as wolves, so it didn’t make sense that she would race off. Unless she was worried about her brother and trying to keep him out of trouble.

  Maverick howled at them, and Weston turned and stopped and looked at him and then howled back. But Gina kept running. What the hell?

  Sleep-running? Not again! She wasn’t taking care of her brother. He was trying to watch out for her now.

  Maverick joined Weston and raced after Gina. It was his fault. He should have closed the door to the bedroom when he left it to get a glass of milk and heard Weston scratching at the guest room door to get out.

  Next time, he was making sure he shut the master bedroom door. He suspected she wouldn’t have scratched or barked or howled to get out but would have curled up and gone back to sleep. Hopefully.

  Then he was thinking about what it would be like when their parents were turned. What a nightmare. He’d have to have them all padlocked in their rooms at night, or he and Randall would never get any sleep—at least not during the fullest phases of the moon.

  Still, any chance he had at running with his mate was good. He was going to have to make sure that Gina got enough sleep from now on, but giving up making love to her wasn’t something he was ready for. Rather, he needed to make sure she got an afternoon nap instead.

  Twice, he had to steer her away from the river and three times from the woods. Then, as if his stopping her was frustrating her or wearing her out, she turned and trotted back to the ranch homes and Maverick and Weston joined her, running on either side of her.

  As soon as they reached Randall’s Jeep, Maverick naturally thought that both Weston and Gina would get into his vehicle as he opened the doors for them, but Gina didn’t, so Weston didn’t either, protecting her all the way.

  Maverick appreciated that her brother would. Maverick kept bumping into her to keep her on track toward his truck then, just in case she turned and needed her clothes. But as soon as he reached his truck, she ran on past. Damn!

  There was no reasoning with a sleepwalking wolf.

  Her brother got in Maverick’s truck though. Maverick suspected he was shifting, and he would follow them in the truck since Maverick had left the keys in it, but Weston didn’t.

  Maverick sighed. The house was getting closer, and he hoped her parents were fast asleep. He’d have to take her to bed and then return to pick up Weston if he hadn’t shifted back.

  Maverick continued to run with her and was glad she at least wasn’t veering off to go anywhere else. Maybe she was ready to return to her warm, comfy bed and snuggle with him.

  When she reached the house, she barged through the wolf door, and he went in after her.

  Her mother was in the kitchen getting some milk, and she shrieked and dropped her glass when she saw Gina and him racing down the hall as wolves to the master bedroom.

  “What’s wrong?” Reggie asked, coming out of the guest bedroom wearing plaid pajamas and a robe.

  “The…the wolves ran into Maverick and Gina’s room. You know, the ones that Gina said were red wolves on the newscast.” Faye sounded shaken up.

  Then Maverick shifted and shut the door. He paused. Okay, so he’d dress, leave the room, reassure Gina’s parents, and take off outside to get his truck and Weston.

  Gina jumped up on the bed with her snow-covered paws. He’d have to clean them and the comforter, but after he returned with Weston.

  He got dressed, took a deep breath, shut Gina in the room, and then headed down the hallway to the kitchen where Reggie and Faye were cleaning up the broken glass. “Hey, is everyone okay?”

  He wanted to get Weston, but he couldn’t just leave now when their parents had to be still shocked over the wolf situation. He was surprised they hadn’t brought up the fact they knew about the wolves at the reindeer ranch during the Christmas Eve dinner.

  “So sorry about this,” Faye said.

  “Don’t worry about it. I can handle it in a minute. Listen, I’ve got to take care of something. I’ll be right back.” Maverick headed for the front door and heard his truck park at the house, figuring Weston had finally shifted. But then Weston dashed through the wolf door as a wolf, and his mother screamed. Weston ran down the hall and into his guest room and the door shut closed.

  A knock sounded on his front door, and Maverick opened it. One of his ranch hands was standing there with Maverick’s truck keys. Randall parked next to Maverick’s truck, got out, and handed him the sack of clothes. Then both Randall and the ranch hand smiled and got into Randall’s Jeep, and they drove off.

  Maverick knew they’d be chuckling about tonight’s activities. But he still had to deal with Gina and Weston’s parents. He headed for the kitchen. “Did you need anything else?”

  “Uh, no,” Reggie said, the floor all cleaned up, and he had his arm around Faye’s shoulders. “We’re on our way back to bed.”

  “Merry Christmas Eve.” Maverick grabbed some paper towels, wetted them, and returned to his bedroom after Reggie and Faye had gone back to bed.

  Maverick entered the bedroom, set the bag of clothes on a chair, and shut the bedroom door. He would have to return Weston’s clothes to him sometime tomorrow. With the damp paper towels, he cleaned Gina’s paws and the comforter. Then he removed his clothes, climbed into bed, and pulled his she-wolf under the sheets and comforter. With her back to him, he wrapped his arms around her.

  He was glad he hadn’t had to try to explain what was going on with the wolves and all the rest that had happened tonight.

  Not much longer after he was cuddling the wolf, he was snuggling with his naked mate. Now this was perfect. And then he managed to finally fall asleep, waking later to her kisses, and he smiled and kissed her back.

  “You sleepwalked as a wolf again,” he said.

  Gina’s jaw dropped. “No.”

  “Yeah.”

  She ran her hands through her hair. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about. It was my fault you ran off as a wolf.”

  “What? Oh, no way. Not again. With my parents in the house?”

  He explained what had happened, and her face was flushed. “Do you think they suspect anything?” she whispered.

  Then they smelled coffee brewing in the kitchen.

  “No. They probably figured it was just our rambunctious red wolves. Anyway, are you ready to get up?”

  “Yeah. Hopefully, Weston and I got this out of our system last night then, and we won’t have any problems today.”

  “I agree.” They got up and dressed. But after they turned her parents? Tonight was bound to be chaotic.

  “What about the reindeer and llama?” she asked.

  “The ranch hands will take care of them this morning. I’ll take care of them after we eat our late-afternoon meal,” Maverick said.

  “What are we going to say to my parents about the wolves?” She pulled on a red sweater over her red-lace bra and blue jeans over her red-lace panties.

  He was searching through his things.

  “Get a red sweater or shirt if you have one. And blue jeans.”

  “Oh, right, for family pictures. We’ll say the wolves were boisterous last night, and I went out to make sure they were okay.” He pulled out a red shirt and put it on, and she buttoned it for him, kissing his chest on the way up.