CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Lyla
I was still in a cloud of bliss even after we made the freezing trek back home.
Ozzi had offered to take the packages I needed to mail to the post office while Jason pulled me on his now empty sled to Primrose House.
I protested, saying that I could walk, but they weren’t going to let me challenge what they believed was best for me.
And, if truth be told, I was thankful I didn’t have to walk back. I wrapped myself up in the blanket and hid my face from the freezing winds. It was nearly dark by the time Jason drew me up onto the porch.
My legs were still weak as we went inside. I cranked up the temperature in the house and soaked in a hot bath. I tried to convince myself I felt absolutely normal afterward, but it was a lie. A big fat Santa sack of lies.
Actually, that sack was full of hope and joy. I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling, but some of the emotions greatly resembled those things.
But it couldn’t be. I had so many dreams. I refused to live in anyone’s shadow, especially an Alpha’s. I would not lose myself to this heat, to these incredibly sweet and hot Alphas.
Ozzi’s kisses had altered my world, and being in Jason’s arms, I felt like I’d found exactly where I’d belonged.
It was time to lose myself to something much more productive. Christmas baking!
There was no danger there.
“Stay out of the kitchen.” I shooed Jason as he came up behind me while I put on my holiday apron. “I’ll cook up some macaroni and cheese with three cheeses and broccoli for dinner, but I need to make more cookies.”
“I’m an expert helper. I make the best naughty gingerbread men in all of Fond du Lac.” He grinned and waggled his brows at me.
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. He was the exact sort of person I imagined that would put boobs and dicks on cookies. And I kind of wanted to do that with him. Hell, more than kind of.
Jason had showered too, and currently wore an extra large t-shirt I sometimes slept in and a pair of basketball shorts which were super baggy on Emberlee, but clung tightly to his fine ass.
His uniform, which was the only clothes he had, had come out of the wash and was in the dryer.
He was mismatched and adorable. Which translated into still smoking hot.
Crap. There was danger in Christmas baking.
“All right. You can stay for now.” I gave him a stern look that meant to say this was just temporary, but the way his face lit up, I felt my resolve melting. I took out a recipe card from the box and put it on the counter. “You collect the ingredients and bowls. I’ll get dinner started.”
“On it.” Jason read over the card and went to search the cupboards with military efficiency. “Mac and cheese is one of my favorite cold weather comfort foods.”
I filled a big pot with water and put it on the stove. “Mine too. I use sharp cheddar for the taste, gruyere for the pull, and monterrey jack for the creaminess. The broccoli is me pretending to be healthy about it.”
Jason’s laugh filled the kitchen. “Mm, that sounds great. Ozzi does most of the cooking at our place, and he’s really good about making healthy stuff. Me, I add bacon to everything, or just have bacon itself.”
“Please don’t tell me you add bacon to cookies too.” I teased as I took out a box of elbow macaroni, and then lined up the cheeses from the fridge beside it on the counter.
We worked around each other with conversation coming easily.
Neither of us bonked into the other. Not even close.
It was a natural rhythm and flow as if we’d been together forever and instinctively knew how one another moved.
While so many things felt right when I was lying in his arms, this felt good too.
Danger, Lyla Berg! Danger! Don’t think about these things.
Jason had gathered everything and started mixing the dry ingredients once I had the water boiling and the pasta in the pot. I turned on the oven so it could pre-heat and glanced at the clock. My smile flattened.
“It’s been over an hour now.” I went to one of the windows where I could see onto the street. Darkness had blanketed our neighborhood. My usually merry inner voice was screaming at me that something was wrong. “Ozzi should have been fifteen or twenty minutes behind us.”
“No worries. I bet he placed every single package you had slowly and carefully into the drop box. He probably cleaned the snow from the front of the post office too.” Jason seemed to laugh it off, but he picked his phone up from the counter and his thumbs tapped across the screen, clearly sending a text.
It was faint, but his forehead furrowed.
He said no worries, but he was concerned.
Being too long out in this freezing weather would even batter the toughest of Alphas.
I added the butter in for the cookies with my stomach churning.
What if Ozzi had an accident? What if I stepped wrong and sunk down into a big snow drift and was trapped?
No one would be able to hear him calling for help. He’d freeze to death.
I dropped the wooden spoon and started to untie my apron. “I’m going to get a flashlight and go out to find him.”
“No.” Jason put his hands over mine, stopping me from taking off the apron. “Ozzi’s fine.”
“But what if he’s not?” I pushed his hands off and undid the laces.
“He grew up in Chicago. He knows how to deal with snowy weather.” Jason didn’t look at me as he said it. He was staring out the window.
Yeah, he was feeling it too.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s dark. Anything could have taken him by surprise.” Panic was starting to chew at my nerves. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Ozzi. He was making the mail run for me. I was so stupid to think we should go out in this awful weather.
Flashlight. I started pulling open drawers. “Where did Miss Eloise put the flashlight?”
“Lyla, you’re not going back out there.” Jason’s words had that Alpha hardness to them. He wasn’t commanding me yet, but he was on the verge.
He couldn’t tell me what to do. No one could order me around! I spun to face him with my hands on my hips. “I’m going to find a flashlight and then find Ozzi. You can’t stop me. It would be nice if you came along, if you even showed an ounce of worry for your friend.”
“You don’t think I’m worried?” He grunted and breathed out a hissing breath. “Of course I am. He’s my fucking pack brother. But I also know he would be majorly pissed off if I let you back out into the cold.”
“Well then he can just be pissed off. I’m still going.” I went back to yanking open drawers. Where was the freaking flashlight?
“And what happens if you’re hit by another bad bout of pain from your heat? What if it’s worse? You have to stay here.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” I snapped and tossed aside a dish towel that was in the drawer. My hands shook and my throat thickened. No. I didn’t want to cry. Stupid Omega hormones! “You can’t make me stay here just because I’m an Omega. I’m stronger than you think.”
Jason’s jaw worked back and forth. “I’m not making you stay here just because you’re an Omega. It’s safer for you—”
“Because, in all your big Alpha glory, you’re trying to protect me.
Your Alpha instincts are prowling around making you act like an overprotective ass.
I don’t care that we shared a bed. It gives you no authority over me.
I need to go find Ozzi!” My words were growing shrill, and yup, my tears broke free.
But it didn’t matter. I couldn’t just bake cookies while Ozzi could be dying out there.
Jason gathered me to him and pressed me to his chest. His heart pounded, echoing in my head, taking the reins of my own racing heart and breaths. He rubbed my back. His voice came out more slowly, low and measured. “Where did you grow up, Lyla?”
“What?” I wanted to pound my fists against him. We were wasting time, but fuck, I couldn’t seem to move away. “Everywhere. Mostly in the south. I was in New Mexico before I moved up here.”
“So you didn’t grow up in Wisconsin.” He continued to run his fingers up and down my back, making slow circles. “I did. Ozzi grew up in Chicago. We know how to deal with weather like this.”
It didn’t matter. Ozzi was out there somewhere…
“I’m going to get changed and go looking for him. You’re going to stay here,” he said firmly.
“No!” I pushed back from him but he didn’t let me rip free from his arms. Our gazes locked.
“You’re going to remain in the house because one of the basic rules of survival is to always have someone at home base.
You need to stay here in case he makes it back and needs some help.
” He nodded his head once. “I’m a trained paramedic.
It’s my job to rescue people in treacherous situations.
If he needs it, I’m the best person to help him out there. ”
Dammit. He made sense. I didn’t want him to make sense!
“You have no clothes.” Ha ha! Take that!
“My uniform should be almost dry by now. And I’ve got that wonderfully warm sweater you made.”
I wiped my cheeks and shook my head as my shoulders sagged. “What if something happens to you too?”
Jason gently nudged my chin up and flashed me a smile. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I was born here. I’ve got snowflakes in my veins and the winds off Lake Winnebago reside in my lungs.”
I wanted to go, but he was right. What if Ozzi returned to the house and no one was here? I’d leave the door unlocked, but what if he needed help? I sniffled and felt my panic ease as I gave in. “So you’re like Fond du Lac’s own Jack Frost?”
“The one and only!” Jason grinned wider and kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to get dressed. Can you find me a flashlight?”
“Yes.” I tore through the kitchen and finally found the big LED lantern flashlight in the pantry. Once I was sure it worked, I hurried to get Jason dry gloves, hat, and socks. Since he didn’t have any snowpants, I also brought down a pair of leg warmers from my collection.
“My legs are going to look like candy canes.” He complained, but he put the leg warmers on. “I thought these went out with the nineteen-eighties.”
“I’m bringing them back into fashion.” I helped him wind a scarf around his neck and lower face. Just before I covered his mouth, I tugged him down to me and kissed him. “Please, come back. And bring Ozzi with you.”
Jason caressed my cheek with a gloved hand. “Nothing will keep me away, baby. There’s mac and cheese and cookies waiting. I’m ready to party hard.”
I laughed, but I was ready to cry again too. Hugging myself, I watched him leave the house and disappear into the snowy night with the bright beam of the flashlight. I stood in the same spot even when I couldn’t see it anymore.
He’d be fine. Ozzi would be fine. We’d eat and laugh about it, and I was never going to let them leave my sight again.
Fuck. I was in trouble. So much trouble.
I rushed back to the kitchen and put myself to work. Christmas cookies cured everything. No worries, no tears, no falling for two gorgeous Alphas.
But the magic was ruined as I cried into the dough. So I decorated the gingerbread people with boobs and dicks and stared out the windows into the darkness.