Page 66 of Deck the Skulls

“No, Joan’s shelter is still the best thing anyone could ever give me,” Rissa said.

“Then you're not sliding too far to Anatoly’s side,” Zan declared with an exaggerated relieved expression. “I was worried for a moment.”

“Wait until she opens the next gift,” Anatoly cautioned Zan.

Leaning over, Rissa grabbed it off the floor, squishing Zan’s head with her breasts. Anatoly could feel the contentment coming from the shifter. Having his head in Rissa's lap was probably going to become his new favorite lounging position.

“What’s in here? His fingernails?” Rissa joked, unwrapping the larger box. After opening it, she made a startled sound. “Oh shit, this is a human skull. I thought you said you didn’t kill the dentist?”

“That’s not from the dentist,” Anatoly said. “That’s your foster father.”

It was hard to put the emotions he was getting from Rissa into words, but if pressed, he’d say she was feeling a combination of triumph and satisfaction.

Picking up the perfectly cleaned and disinfected skull, she held it up and sneered at it. “You won’t be hurting anyone ever again, you fucking bastard.”

“If you’re not freaked out by that, then I guess we really do all belong together,” Zan teased.

Rissa dropped the skull back into the box and set it aside before leaning over to give Zan a kiss. Straightening up, she leaned into Anatoly with a happy sigh.

“Thank you,” she murmured, petting Zan’s head while snuggling against Anatoly. “After Mom was gone, I always dreaded the holidays, but not anymore.”

“There is nothing for you to ever dread again,” Anatoly assured her.

Love flowed between the three of them as Christmas music softly played in the background and the smell of hot chocolate mingled with the pine of the Christmas tree.

It was the first of many merry Christmases to come.