Page 9 of My Omega's Miracle

I shook my head, trying to focus on the closet I was standing in front of. Inside were two totes stacked on top of each other, and on top of them was a pile of garland and other bright, colorful decorations in reds, greens, silvers, and blues. I didn’t recognize everything, but apparently, Noel did.

“I bet there’s enough stuff in here to decorate the whole place!” he exclaimed, and then he paused, spotting something behind the totes. “Look there’s more behind it! And a few games, like you thought.”

Noel brushed past me, stepping into the narrow closet with eager anticipation.

“Let’s get it all out and see what we’re working with,” I said.

To my surprise, he looked up at me, his eyes hopeful. “For real? You don’t mind?”

I shrugged. “We have nothing better to do. We can always put it all away before we leave.”

He shook his head, starting to say, “That’s just silly. We don’t need to—”

I placed a hand on his shoulder, and his words stopped.

“Let’s decorate for Christmas, Noel.”

His lips parted, and his tongue darted out to brush over his bottom lip. “Okay,” he whispered. “Let’s do it.”

You would have thought I hung the moon the way he looked at me with adoration. All I’d done was agree to put up some decorations. It wasn’t even a hardship. After all, we literally had nothing better to do. Yet, even if I was busy, I would have stopped everything just to see the smile on Noel’s face when I agreed to decorate for the holidays.

Noel grabbed the loose decorations stacked on top of the totes, while I hefted the tote itself. We piled everything into the living room. I managed to lift the plastic snowman and Santa decoration that had been shoved behind the totes. When Noel opened the first tote, he found lights, ornaments, and more garland.

“Oh, if only we had a real tree!” he murmured, a wistful tone in his voice.

I snuck a glance out the window, then turned to him. “Give me five minutes.” The snow was coming down, but as long as I didn’t go far, it would still be safe for me to go outside and find a tree.

If someone had told me that I’d be chopping down a Christmas tree today, I would have thought they were crazy. I was supposed to be relaxing, maybe brainstorming ideas for changes I might make as Alpha. But today, all I cared about was doing whatever it took to make this omega smile. And that, apparently, meant cutting down a tree so that the two of us could decorate it together.

The axe from the woodshed was dull, but in the end, it got the job done. The thick snow made it difficult to find the base of the tree, so it wasn’t a clean cut. I was able to locate a hack saw in order to make the bottom of the tree not crooked. There was nothing there to shake out the bugs or anything else out of the tree, so it was very likely that we were bringing in more than just a tree for the week. I ended up with more than one splinter, sap covered my hands and even got in my hair. But seeing the smile on Noel’s face when I carried the thing in the door made it all worth it.

He bounced on his toes and put his hands to his cheeks, his face radiating happiness and glee. “It’s perfect, Garrick!”

It was, because he was here.

Chapter 7

Noel

Within an hour of getting that tree set up, we were officially snowed in. Outside, the wind whipped by so fast that all we could see was a swirling wall of white. Garrick’s truck was covered, as was most of the porch and the steps. Getting out of the cabin was no longer an option.

Thanks to the fire Garrick had built (well, mostly him—I hadn’t exactly been much help), the cabin stayed warm. In the closet, we’d found an old tree stand, and now the tree stood proudly in the living room, filling the space with a fresh pine scent.

Garrick was lounging on the couch, watching me as I organized the decorations and started placing them on the tree. I couldn’t hide my excitement. My skin buzzed with it, and I couldn’t tone it down. It didn’t seem to bother Garrick, so I let myself enjoy it. This little Christmas surprise was everything. I’d never been allowed to decorate a tree before, though I had dreamt of doing one for years. I didn’t have my own ornaments or special decorations, but I’d thought about what sorts of things I would have if I were allowed.

I preferred blues and silvers, with just a hint of purple for holiday decorations. Red and greens were great, but blue was my favorite color, and it paired so nicely with a shiny silver.

“Does your pack have any Christmas traditions?” I asked, eager to know more about Garrick’s life back home. I was drawn to him in a way that I’d never experienced before. He showed me kindness in my moment of need. I was indebted to him. But it was more than that. Garrick was magnanimous in his presence, and the way he looked at me and listened made me feel like I was the only omega in the world.

With just the two of us in this secluded cabin, we could pretend we were the only two in the world.

“Actually, yeah. We have a few,” he said with a smile. “On Christmas Eve night, we always do a pack run, even if it’s not a full moon. The littlest kids all get new pajamas, and we convince them to go to bed early, all in matching pajamas made of fleece that everyone pitches in to sew.”

“That’s so cute!” I said, imagining a group of children all dressed alike. “It must take a lot of work.” Sewing was a skill I had but didn’t enjoy. I could mend a button or a rip with the best of them, but making clothes from scrap was not my forte.

“It does, but everyone enjoys it. We also have a big blanket, and each year we add a square of fabric from that year’s chosen pajama fabric. We’ve been doing it since I was a kid. My dad started the tradition.”

“I’d love to see that. It must be huge.”