The Twelve Knots of Christmas (Knotty Streak Omegaverse)

CHAPTER ONE – Mariska

It was the most miserable time of the year. Snow on the roads causing accidents, people flocking to the stores buying junk, and Christmas music everywhere. Even in Miss Eloise’s utilitarian van I was subjugated to its torment.

From the front passenger seat, Lyla sang along with the radio in her sweet soprano, and Miss Eloise accompanied her from behind the wheel.

My earbuds were meant to cancel all outside noise, but like with most products these days, I was a victim of false advertising.

I could still hear the tinkling of jingle bells rattling around in my head.

“Sing with us, Mari!” Lyla bounced in her seat along with the music and glanced back at me, flashing her dimples.

Most of the year, she was the perfect blonde beach babe, but in December, she broke out her collection of holiday sweaters and leggings.

I’d say that it would help me not lose her in a crowded mall, but then half of everyone else was dressed like a crazy person too.

I gave her a death glare as she turned back around. Lyla was everyone’s biggest cheerleader, and I adored her, but I hated all things Christmas. “I don’t know the lyrics.”

Artemis, my Belgian Malinois, snorted from behind me and then pressed her nose against the back of my neck. I repressed a squeal and gave her a scratch under the chin. Her tail whacked against the side of the van.

“To Jingle Bells?” Lyla shot me a skeptical look and laughed, shaking her head.

“Emberlee knows the words.” I motioned to our friend beside me, desperate to throw the request onto someone else.

Emberlee raised her head, peering at me from beneath her curtain of fiery red hair.

“Everyone knows the lyrics. I need to finish this text. I’m trying to work out with my dad the best roads to take to pick me up this Friday.

He usually takes the highway along the east side of Lake Winnebago from Green Bay, but the roads are still pretty bad, and we’re due for more snow on Wednesday. ”

“Yay for more snow!” Lyla hooted. I silently screamed in my head. Of course we’d get a record amount of snowfall this month. Wisconsin knew I was about to leave to move to California and was trying to bury me under a tomb of snow.

“East side lake effect snow.” I nodded. “He should come down on the west side of the lake through Appleton. They don’t get hit as badly.”

“They don’t?” Emberlee raised her brows and smiled. “I’m texting that to Dad right now. We all trust you as our environmental expert. I can’t wait to get back home and see everyone.”

She had ten brothers and sisters. Ten! And she saw them less than a month ago at Thanksgiving. They were a tight knit family though. Whatever Alpha she chose as a mate would have a giant redheaded army watching his every move and making sure he treated Emberlee right.

I envied her in a way. My family was a lot closer when I was little, but when my grandma passed away when I was nine, there was no one to hold us together.

I’d see my parents and sister on Christmas day, but then Artemis and I were on a plane to California two days later to start my new job and our new life under warmer skies.

The van slipped on the road, and Miss Eloise corrected it with a flippant oops.

All I had to do was survive this holiday season and then I would have the life I’d always dreamt about.

“We’re here!” Lyla clapped her hands as we drove by a wooden sign half hidden behind the snow laden boughs of pine trees: Silver Tree Farm.

I’d worked nearly every day last December, so I didn’t have to be forced to pick out a tree with Miss Eloise and the other girls, but since it was my last year at Primrose House—Miss Eloise’s boarding house for unclaimed Omegas—she called my supervisor and got my schedule for the month to plan out the day.

Could I have refused to go? Nope, no way. Miss Eloise wouldn’t hear of it. I was hard headed, but I was no match for this sixty-something year old dynamo when she told us girls to do something.

I wanted to make her happy too. She’d given me so much the past few years I’d lived in her house.

Not only had she helped me get my current job, but she charged me lower rent so I could pay off my student debt quicker than I’d planned.

The new Omega who would move into my suite in January would be incredibly lucky to have Miss Eloise caring for her.

So here I was at a Christmas tree farm.

But I drew the line at singing Christmas carols.

The road was freshly plowed as we followed the winding drive which opened up into a big lot next to a cherry red barn.

A huge wreath with a festive bow sat above the open double doors, and blinking lights fanned out across the front of the building.

A slow stream of people came in and out.

Some had steaming cups of drink and others had bags of decorations.

Trees were being secured to the tops of cars and in the backs of trucks.

Families were helped by employees wearing red fleece sweaters with the farm logo on the left side over their hearts.

There was joy and laughter and, as Miss Eloise switched off the van, Christmas music being pumped through speakers in the barn.

Of course.

The second Lyla opened her door and hopped out, Artemis pushed between Emberlee and I to get outside. “Hold.”

No matter that my dog was full of energy, she was also well trained. She froze on the spot, her ears up and waiting for the next command. I attached her leash and opened the sliding side door. Only when I stepped out did I allow her to follow.

Artemis particularly loved kids and wagged her tail madly, but some people could be thrown off by how she looked.

Her breed resembled German Shepherds, but they were more like sheepdogs in character.

She was highly intelligent and a crucial part of my job.

We were a team of environmental warriors.

The bonus to having a big dog was I could put her between me and any Alpha that got too close.

She was the best escort an Omega could hope for.

“It’s so beautiful.” Emberlee gazed around with starry eyes. She was the youngest of us at nineteen, and still had so much of her childish wonder left. “Look at that other barn. It’s full of trees!”

There was a second bigger barn a little farther from the lot. Pre-cut trees sat in rows and people sipped their hot cocoa as they went along the lines searching for the perfect one. Farther back, I spied the tops of two more barns and the pointed roof of a farmhouse.

“While there are pretty trees in there, we’re doing this the old-fashioned way.

” Miss Eloise locked the van and pulled on her snowflake patterned gloves.

Already her warm breath puffed out like little clouds in the cold.

“We pick up a flag by the barn, and we can either drive or walk out to the area where they’re growing the kind of tree we want. ”

“My family always gets a white pine. The needles are long, but so soft.” Emberlee was the first over to the barn and grabbed a neon green flag on a long plastic pole.

“I think my family gets a Scotch pine?” Lyla shrugged. “What about you, Mari?”

I walked beside Miss Eloise as I tried to block out the holiday pop music from the barn. Artemis was looking at everything, but she didn’t pull on the leash or try to yank me in any direction. “If my parents remember to put one up, they have a fake one.”

“A fake one,” Miss Eloise tsked. “Nothing makes a home smell more like Christmas than a real tree. And while the pines are lovely, I’m particular to the Fraser Fir. We’re going to search for one eight feet tall with thick branches for all the decorations.”

I bit the side of my tongue knowing how expensive a Fraser Fir of that size would be.

We didn’t have a big tree at Primrose House last year.

I had a feeling that Miss Eloise was doing this for me, one last big celebration before I left the state, and because I’d miss her just as much, I didn’t protest.

“Excuse me!” My landlady waved down an employee who had elf ears on. “Hi. Which part of the farm will we find the Fraser Firs?”

The woman smiled and motioned to the north-west. “If you take a left out of the lot and follow the road nearly a mile, you’ll find the section. There should be someone out there ready to help you when you find your tree.”

“A mile?” Emberlee gasped. “How big is this place?”

“We have over seven thousand acres. We’re the biggest tree farm in the state.”

That many acres dedicated to growing just evergreen trees? Oh, I had opinions. Many strong opinions. But no one wanted me to go on an environmental tirade.

We were looking for a Christmas tree. It was festive and fun.

It was a farm set on destroying the land with monoculture!

“Thank you, and have a Merry Christmas.” Miss Eloise clapped her hands together, but it was muted by her thick gloves. “Let’s get back in the van, girls.”

“I think I’m going to walk.” They all turned to me as I said it. I motioned to my dog. “Artemis needs a walk.” And at their continued incredulous looks, I added, “I’m warmly dressed. I’m used to being outside all day. You know that.”

Miss Eloise sighed and stroked Artemis’ head. “It seems like a long way to me, but I know it isn’t for you two. I know this sweet baby needs her exercise or she’ll be running laps around the yard like a crazy pup. But we’re not deciding on any tree until you get there. So make it a speedy walk.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded. I needed this walk as much as Artemis. I wouldn’t ruin this outing for any of them, but I had a habit of launching into fight mode on environmental issues. The walk would calm me and zap me of that ready-to-battle energy. “It’ll take me twenty minutes tops.”

I walked through the lot with them and waved to them as they set off. Rolling my shoulders to ease some tension, I followed down the road they disappeared down. As soon as I rounded the first bend, the noise from the busy lot disappeared and I was embraced by the soft hush of winter.

This is what I loved. The quiet of a forest. Winter songbirds chirped and water dripped from branches under the afternoon sun. My boots crunched on the snow while Artemis stuck her nose everywhere she could reach, sniffing at every other tree.

Neat rows of evergreens lined the road on either side of me. The farm sat on gently rolling hills and looked like it went on forever. It was pretty covered in snow, if I ignored my moral objections to this type of tree farming.

I worked as an environmental technician for the county’s wind turbine fields, and I spent the majority of my days outside doing surveys on site.

My studies produced results that the energy board didn’t want to spare the money to fix, and so I submitted them to the biggest wind farm in the States.

They appreciated my work and forward thinking, and offered me a job.

In the new year, I’d finally be in a place where my colleagues would listen to me.

A gust of wind whooshed over me, and I pulled my beanie down over my ears.

Feeling the warmth of the thick knit cap had me smiling.

Lyla made it just for me. No bright colors or frills or puffballs on the top.

My heart ached with how much I’d miss her, Miss Eloise, and the other girls in Primrose House.

We joked around and called ourselves the Primrose Pack, because the closeness we felt was that immense.

And I was moving away. As excited as I was about my choice, as much as I rationalized it to be the best thing for my career, it tore me apart to know I was leaving them.

Behind me, the purr of a motor grew louder. I moved off the road and reined in Artemis, telling her to sit. Another blast of wind blew up snow, and I covered my face with my hands.

Peering through my gloved fingers, I spotted the snow machine as it came around the corner. I had to blink a few more times because my mind was comprehending who was riding it. A monster of a bear became a monster of a man. I’d never seen any man as huge as him.

Or as ruggedly gorgeous. The snow dotted beard, the black coat barely containing his muscled arms, and long lashed eyes as green as fresh pine.

Too bad I was moving away later this month. That was a mountain of a Beta, and one who looked like he loved the outdoors as much as I did. And I did enjoy mountain climbing!

The wind whipped up over him and toward me. My hands covered my face, but it didn’t stop his musky masculine scent from slamming into me. It traveled with a shiver down my body to light all my nerves on fire.

Oh God, an Alpha.

Though it wasn’t typical of Alphas to do the grunt work, it was stupid of me to assume he was a Beta. So absolutely stupid. Alphas and I didn’t get along.

And he was slowing down to stop right in front of me.