Aidan Klaus was waiting for LaMeeka to finish getting dressed.  He looked at his watch, tapping his foot. “You know my parents will be more pissed off that we’re late than if your shoes match your cardigan or not, right?” he called up the stairs.

“I’m almost ready … I have to find my other earring.  You haven’t seen it, have you?” she asked, poking her head from around the wall at the top of the stairs to look down at him.

“Do you want me to come up there and help you look or can you find another pair that is just as good?”

LaMeeka frowned, “They are the diamond earrings you gifted me last year. You said your mom helped you pick them out. I thought it appropriate to at least wear them when I meet her! Sorry to be taxing your patience so much, Mr. Klaus.”

Aidan sighed and looked at his watch again. “Do you need me to come up there to help you look or not?”

“I’m fine,”  LaMeeka snapped back. 

Several tense minutes later, she was coming down the stairs, tight-lipped and dressed in a wool green turtleneck that clung to her body, showing off the log-roll of her small breasts, her flat, muscular stomach, and broad, weight lifter shoulders.  

She had her thick curls pinned up in a sophisticated bun away from her face with her baby hairs gelled down like black lace around her forehead.  Lipstick was a soft mauve to complement the earth tones of her dark brown skin.  

Her dark eyes were framed with thick mascara, and there was a golden hint of blush on her jaw and cheekbones.  Her long legs were covered in opaque tights with knee-high boots that were a hand’s width away from her faded denim mini skirt.  

“A mini skirt, Meeks? It's two below outside.”

She glared at him,  “You want me to go up and change? Why weren’t you outside warming up the car for me anyway instead of standing here tapping your foot and checking your watch?”

Aidan winced,  “Are we really gonna keep fighting the whole way there?”

She sighed,  “Did you remember to take the dish out of the fridge?”

“Yes. Got it right here.”  He lifted a duffel bag he was carrying. 

“What else did you put in there?”

“Presents — I have one for both my brothers and their wives. And a little something for my parents, signed by both of us, of course.”

“Right …”

“C’mon, let’s get there, it's at least a twenty to forty-minute drive up to the Lodge.”

“Forty minutes?!”

“Yes, with good traffic.”

“Forty Minutes, Aidan?!”

“Uh-huh, now you know why I was impatient.  Let’s go.” 

Aidan held the garage door open for her, used the key fob to unlock the door to his SUV, four-wheel drive, Expedition,  pine-green with seat warmers. Then, as they backed out of the garage and drove up the icy suburban streets, onto the highway until they took an exit that had them driving up and along the side of a mountain till they got to the top, where there was a ski lodge and an adjoining mansion. 

“That big mansion is not your parents’ house, is it?”

“Afraid so,” Aidan said, glancing at her with a slight smirk.  “Oh, c’mon, don’t give me that look,  you knew I came from money when we met.”

“Yeah, I guess I thought you were just saying that to get in my pants, or maybe just upper middle class, this is … like top 1% tier rich.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Oh, how far would you go then?”

“Maybe top five percent?”  Aidan joked with a chuckle.  

LaMeeka covered her face with her hands with an anxious groan.

“Hey, hey, relax, they’ll love you, alright? The woman who finally made an honest man out of their baby boy.”

“Oh gods, they're going to hate me~  We didn’t even invite them to our wedding!”

“That was my idea. I’ll take all the heat for that, alright? Besides, my brother already fucked up by getting divorced on live television and bringing shame to the family name.”

“What?”

“Ever hear of the Jack Frost Scandal a couple years ago?”

“No way! That was your brother?”

“Married into the famous Frost Jewelers Empire, and then fucked around on her — on live television on some reality show he was producing, and she crashed the season finale to throw her wedding ring in his face and demand a divorce.”

“So he took her name and then did that shit?”

“Jackson is a Feminist at heart. He also hates having the Klaus name. We got so many Santa jokes growing up.  It only makes things worse that our granddad kind of looks the part, big belly, long white beard.”

“Is he still alive?”

“Oh yeah.  You’ll meet him tonight.”

Falling into a tense silence as they drove closer and closer to that Lodge and Mansion. 

North Pole Ski Resort and Lodge was written on the sign as they drove off down a dirt road toward the mansion, a bit away from the ski lodge full of holiday tourists. Aidan turned until they were driving up the circular driveway in front of the mansion,  which had an island lawn for the circular driveway, a roundabout with only one road out.  

LaMeeka felt a drip of dread on how much this felt like walking into a horror movie, where she may or may not survive til the end.  The island lawn had an elaborate fountain that was heated and still spouting water from what looked like a sculpted figure of the zodiac sign Aquarius.

“Ready?” Aidan said, turning the car off and taking the key out of the ignition.  LaMeeka looked at him, at his light-skinned face, his gray eyes and nearly red, sandy brown hair, and freckles on his biracial, light brown, almost golden brown skin.  His lips were fuller than hers, but his nose was pointier, less broad. He was a portrait of racial ambiguity.  She’d seen photos of his family, but that was different than meeting them face to face.

She took a deep breath.  “As I’ll ever be.  Let’s do this.  You want me to grab the bag and carry it in?”

“Nah, I’ve got it.  Just breathe. They’ll love you as much as I do.  I promise.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Just be your awesome self, they’ll have no choice but to fall in love with you, as I have.” 

LaMeeka gave an awkward smile but leaned in to meet Aidan’s lean forward to share a chaste, brief kiss.  Then they both made their way out of the car, Aidan with the bag in tow, and  LaMeeka walking behind him up the small flight of stairs that led to the red double doors of the mansion.  

Pressing the doorbell, Aidan then reached to hold LaMeeka’s hand.  It didn’t take long for the butler to open the door.  He was tall with reindeer antlers coming out of his head with matching ears.  His mostly humanoid face broke into a smile.  “Master Aidan, it is good to see your arrival this year.” 

“Good to see you too, Blitzen. Are we the first to arrive?”

“Not at all. Jack and Sonia arrived an hour ago.”  Blitzen, the butler, stepped to the side to let them inside the door.  He offered to take their coats and the bag. 

“No, I’ll take this to the kitchen myself. It has our potluck dish and the gifts that I want to put under the tree first.”

“Of course.”

LaMeeka was trying not to stare at the demihuman butler and failing.  Blitzen gave her a polite smile.  “Something I can help you with, Ma’am?”

“Ah … n-no.  Thank you. Mr. Blitzen.”

“Just Blitzen will suffice.”

“Right …”

Aidan tugged on LaMeeka’s hand as he guided them to the kitchen.  LaMeeka walked quickly to catch up.  “Is he —? Are those real antlers?” she asked in a loud whisper.  

“Yes,” Aidan answered quickly as two other demihumans, both reindeer hybrids, turned to look at Aidan’s approach.  They bowed their heads respectfully but were smiling widely with a familiarity and recognition in their dark eyes.  “Master Aidan.”

“Vixen, Comet, best cooks in the whole region.  How could I not drop by to taste a slice of your famous cinnamon pie?”

“Oh, ho, ho, ho, isn’t that the way,  feed a man and it keeps him coming back to visit you, what do I keep telling you, Vixxy?”

“Well, that wisdom only applies if the man I’m after has a sweet tooth as big as Aidan’s.”

“Or his brothers, or his father and grandfather, for that matter.  My cinnamon pie, and your gingerbread cookies.”

“And here I thought it was my smoked prime rib. You’re gonna break my heart and tell me I slave away on that grill all day and not a single soul comes here every year for my contributions?”

“Dancer!” Aidan beamed and actually let go of LaMeeka’s hand to go over and hug the demihuman whose apron was greasy and bloodstained but Aidan didn’t seem to care and hugged him heartily.  Dancer hugged back with a throaty chuckle. 

“See, you’re appreciated for your efforts, brother mine. Stop your bellyaching.” 

Aidan turned to see Dancer’s identical twin and beamed,  “Donner!”

“The one and only,”  Donner joked and winked at Aidan, who came in and gave him a hug as well.  “Your mother nearly broke our hearts declaring this year to be potluck, but when she said we can still cook our signature dishes for the family, we relaxed a little.  What did you bring for us?”

“Well, LaMeeka baked a Ziti for us.  I helped with mixing things and tasting the sauce … you know, so it is certified safe to eat and I can personally vouch that it is delicious.”

“Well, where is it?”  Comet asked. Aidan held up the bag and helped move the gifts inside it to take the foil-covered dish out to set it on the counter.  Donner was looking at LaMeeka, standing quietly, holding her wrists in front of her, looking nervous and overwhelmed by everything. 

“LaMeeka, is it?”

“Yes … uhm?”

“I’m Donner.  You know you’re the first woman he’s ever brought home for this holiday.”

“I am?”

“Yes.  You must be pretty important to him.”

“How many other girls has he brought over here on other holidays then?”

Donner smirked.  “It isn’t my place to disclose.  I better go check on the meat on the grill.  I saw him come in and had to come in and speak.  Lovely to meet you, LaMeeka,”  Donner said with a slight bow. Then he turned and left. 

While Comet and Aidan were fussing about the baked ziti, Vixen and Dancer were focused on LaMeeka.  She looked from one then the other.  “LaMeeka is an interesting name,”  Comet commented idly.

“So is Vixen.”

“This is true.”

Dancer turned at the sound of footsteps approaching from the second staircase, as a plump, matronly figure descended, wearing a long, white, flowy gown, with black pearl earrings and sparkling gray eyes, and thick gray hair in a chignon bun. 

“Well … what have we here?”  the matronly figure greeted.  LaMeeka’s eyes went wide.  

“Hi.  You must be Mrs. Klaus.” LaMeeka greeted awkwardly.

“I am.  And who might you be?”

“My name is LaMeeka Barhoum.  I’m here with Aidan, Mrs. Klaus.”

Mrs. Klaus gave a slow, unimpressed nod with an up-down affirmative tone slipping out from fake smiling lips.  The smile reached her eyes, but that only made it more terrifying that an ingenuine smile could reach her eyes.  It was doll-esque and practiced in a way that made LaMeeka’s bones hurt, like her ancestors were wincing from the displeasure this woman was masking so poorly in front of her.  

“Aidan.  And what is your relationship to my son, Mrs. Barhoum?”

“Uhm, well, I’m his …”

“She’s my wife, Mother.” Aidan stepped in, walking over to take LaMeeka’s hand.  

“Wife? I received no invitation to any wedding.”

“We eloped. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it.  So it was my idea to elope and I convinced LaMeeka that it would be romantic and she … acquiesced."

“I see. Well, your father will be displeased to hear that he missed such an opportunity to see his youngest son married off to this … this fine … specimen of womanhood. What did you say your name was again, dear?”

“LaMeeka Barhoum, Ma’am.”

“You didn’t take his name?”

“I did actually, but I assumed you’d eventually ask who my family was, so I figured I would introduce myself with my maiden name to fast forward past that part.”

“I see.”

Aidan grinned.  “LaMeeka graduated in the top ten percent of her class at Yale Law.”

“How fascinatingly dull,”  Mrs. Klaus replied, with another fake smile that barely veiled her anger and displeasure this time.  

“Why aren’t you spending the holiday with her family this year, or why have you not brought her family along to meet us properly as we are all, now, one family?”

“My family doesn't celebrate Christmas, Mrs. Klaus.”

“Why ever not?”

“Well, it’s just me and my dad, and he’s Jewish.”

“And you’re not?”

“Well, culturally yes, but I haven’t practiced in many years.”

“And what happened to your mother?”

“I don’t know. She went missing shortly after I was born. Cold case, no one knows what happened to her.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Yes. It is.”

“Well, now you get to share our shrew of a mom, lucky you,”   someone said as a long-haired, wiry figure came around the corner, holding a champagne glass.  

“Nicholas, when did you get here?  Blitzen said only Jack and Sonia were here. So far.”

“Oh, you didn’t hear? I live here now.” 

“What?! What happened?”

“Mm …”  Nicholas downed his glass and swallowed before speaking again,  “Bankruptcy.  Another son brings shame to the Klaus name.”

“Where is Elly? Is she staying here too?”

“Nope,”  Nicholas said with a bitter chuckle.  “Divorced me, cleaned me out. Took custody of the twins. I lost everything.  I’m lucky mom took pity on me or I’d be … who knows where.”  he motioned for his glass to be refilled and Dancer snapped to do just that.  

Hands empty, Nicholas’s dark eyes looked at LaMeeka,  “Well, you seem to have married well, baby brother, going by looks alone. What was your name again, sweetheart?”

“LaMeeka.”

“Nicholas Klaus. I’m the eldest brother, so any example of failure that my brothers emulate is all on me to bear.”  He held out a hand for her to shake, and then lowered his head to bow before her hand, before letting it go to accept his refilled glass.  Taking a swig of it, he moaned again,  “I’ll go tell Jack and Sonia you’re here.”

“Have a care and try not to spill on the carpet or sofa!” Mrs. Klaus called after him. Nicholas waved dismissively over his shoulder and kept walking until he was out of eye sight.

Aidan went over to his mother and gave her a hug that was full of obligation and duty more than love or affection. It was cold and tense.  It was awkward to witness, especially the way she held on to him when he signaled wanting to let go.  

“Where’s dad?”

She let go of him then, the action almost a throwaway gesture, like she’d been burned.  “Out hunting, as per usual.”

“You know when he’ll be back?”

“He’ll be back before dinner, but partaking in the dinner, who’s to say.  He said he was going to catch another boar for Donner to fry and grill, he does love his pork, which.  I’m sorry, dear, if we had known, we would have prepared something halal for you. That is the term, isn’t it?”

“Kosher.  But I haven’t kept Kosher since my bar mitzvah, so I’m happy to eat whatever is in front of me.”

Mrs. Klaus' eyes brightened in defiance,  “Is that so?”

“Yes. That's so,”  LaMeeka replied, giving her own fake smile and bright eyes, meeting the older woman’s challenge. 

“Well then.  What did you bring to our potluck?”

“Baked Ziti, it’s an old family recipe.”

“Really, I didn’t know Jews baked Ziti.”

“They do if they immigrated from North Africa to Italy back in the 1600s. If you want my whole family tree, I can print it off for you, from my ancestry dot com account.  That way you don’t have to keep sneering at me with your eyes, like you’re questioning whether my pedigree is good enough for your baby boy, Mrs. Klaus.”

The older woman pursed her lips and held her head up in the air a bit.  “Italian, Jewish and Black.  You can understand why I am hesitant to have you breed with my son.  You aren’t pregnant already, are you ?”

“If I was, I assure you the child would grow up healthy and loved and in a warmer house than you clearly raised your children in.  From what I hear, one is a public embarrassment, the other is becoming a drunk, and now you’re trying to shackle your third son with a different dose of shame because he married the outspoken Jewish girl from a broken home, is that it?”

“You think you have me all figured out, do you, LaMeeka? You don’t.  This is my house and I will not be spoken to so disrespectfully.  So watch your tone and take three steps back out of my face, young lady.”

Aidan tugged on LaMeeka’s hand, trying to offer support and tug her toward him, but she threw her hand away from his and scoffed before turning — leaving the way she had come out the door.  Aidan stared after her, looking back to his mother, who was shaking her head with a look of disappointment on her face.  “Go on then, run after your wife like a lovesick puppy,  go on.  Go!”  she barked.  

Wincing, Aidan stumbled his way out after LaMeeka.  “Wait, Meeks, wait, please!”

She spun around.  “They would love me, you said.  Is that what you think love is?!”

Aidan ran his hands over his head and made an anxious, exasperated sound.  “So I was being hopeful. Wishful thinking, ‘cos I didn’t want to add to your anxiety.  It’s been years since I’ve been home.  Normally, my dad is home to keep my mom in line.  I didn’t think he’d still be out hunting when we arrived.  Please, Meeks, let’s go back inside.  Enjoy a nice dinner at least.”

LaMeeka crossed her arms across her meager chest and glared at him before her attention was ripped away from him to the sound of wolves howling in the distance.  

“Were those wolves?”

“Yeah,”  Aidan replied flatly.  “There are a few packs in this area. They tend to keep to themselves.  They don’t typically come close enough to the house to be any real danger.  C’mon, it's cold out here, let’s go back inside.  My dad and granddad will be home soon, and you haven’t met Jack and Sonia yet.”

The wolves howled again and LaMeeka sighed.  “Fine.  We came all this way, might as well.”

“Thank you.”

***

Jack and his second wife Sonia were sitting at the table with Nicholas when they returned inside. The servants were setting the table and putting the food out along the center in order for each course but at the same time accessible to everyone to be eaten ‘potluck style’. 

Jack’s pine green eyes and charming, young face brightened when Aidan and LaMeeka entered the room.  “Hey, Jack, Sonia, this is my wife, LaMeeka,”  Aidan introduced. 

“Ooooh la la, went and eloped, did you, Danny boy? Well, I don’t blame you. You always did get all the wisdom in the family.”

“Danny boy?”

“He’s been calling me that for years.”

“Wait, so you all have Christmas-themed names?”

“Oh, Danny, don’t tell me you didn’t tell her …” Jack teased.

“Tell me what?”

Aidan looked nervous.  “You know how I said we got a lot of Santa jokes growing up?”

“Yes.”

“They weren’t unwarranted.  Our grandfather … well …”

“No. No way.  What?! How is … how is that possible?”

“Wait, wait, he hasn’t told you the best part.”

“There’s more?”

“Buckle up, Buttercup,” Nicholas commented as he downed his glass again.

Aidan glared at Jack, who shrugged.  “Might as well rip the band-aid off, brother mine,  you should have told her before you married her anyway.”

“Like you’re the paragon of what to do to have a perfect marriage, Jack?”

Nicholas chuckled as he refilled his glass.  Jack scoffed,  “Why do you even waste dishes?  Just chug the bottle.  You clearly aren’t sharing with anyone.”

“Portion control," Nicholas said with a sassy finger before switching to playfully lift his pinky and take a swig of the champagne from the flute glass.

“Aidan, what is this big family secret?” LaMeeka asked, trying to pull him back to task. 

“Uhm …”  Aidan scratched the back of his head and at that moment, there was a long wolf howl in the distance.  Jack chuckled.  “Speak of the devil …” he said.  “Why don’t we just show her? That might be the easiest thing to do.”

“Yeah. Show her like you showed me,” Sonia mumbled in a quiet but arresting voice.  Her voice was quiet yet commanding in a way that sent a chill down LaMeeka’s spine.

“What do you mean? What’s going on?”

Aidan sighed.  “Meeks, the real reason I brought you home this year — and the reason why my mother is so cold toward you is because, well,  she isn’t too keen on us marrying outside our species.  But we have no choice but to marry a human these days because we’re an endangered species.  We’re able to … transform a human into our species, but … it’s a painful process, and —”

“Wait, stop, hold on.  What are you talking about?  Wait, are you a demihuman reindeer too?”

“No, the demiprey are bound to serve our family for generations.  And in dire situations, they sacrifice themselves to keep the family they serve strong.”

“So what are you then? Just spit it out.”

“I’m a werewolf, LaMeeka.  A very old bloodline of arctic werewolf from the North Pole, the literal north pole, is where my ancestors first ran and hunted and lived in harmony … A long time ago now.”

“Bullshit.”

“She’s taking this well,”  Nicholas drawled with an amused smirk.

“No. It isn't.  It’s true.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve been turned.  And if you want to stay married to Aidan.  So will you,” Sonia said. 

LaMeeka frowned.  “What happens if I refuse?”

“Then we serve you alongside that delicious ziti you brought, Donner will cook you up nice and slow, rotisserie style,”  Jack said with a chuckle.  

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Aidan sighed,  “I didn’t want to lose you. I didn’t know how.  There was never the right moment.”

“You’re a coward.”

Aidan winced. “That’s a bit harsh.”

“It’s the truth.  You are a coward, Aidan Klaus.”

“Oooh, this one has fire, Danny boy.  I see why you chose her.”

“Shut up,” LaMeeka turned and spat her words out to Jack.  

Sonia stood up,  “Take care how you speak to my husband, human.”

“Or what?” 

“Or I’ll have your throat before dawn.”

“Is that a challenge?” Jack asked, eyes bright, like some sort of hype man.

“Challenge to what?”  LaMeeka asked. 

“I invoke the Rite of Transformation,”  Sonia said. And right as she said that, Mr. Klaus entered the dining hall with a big belly laugh and bright amber sap eyes.  “Well, well, well, I miss all the fun.” 

“Papa!”  Aidan said, and his two brothers just immediately bared their necks in deference. Sonia was staring LaMeeka down with vibrant bright amber eyes herself. “My claim has been witnessed,” she said with an eagerness to her voice.

“I’m not getting turned into anything, so you can keep your fur inside your skin or go hunt one of your little deer friends, ‘cos you ain’t coming anywhere near my neck or any other part of me, blondie.”

“And how do you think you’re going to escape our territory in one piece?  There is a pack of us, and we know this land better than you, human. The second you run, the rite begins.  And we’ve all got your scent now.”

LaMeeka looked from one Klaus to the next, finally settling her eyes on her husband, Aidan.  “You’re just going to let her take my humanity away, Aidan?  I thought you loved me the way I am?”

“The rite has been claimed and witnessed.  There is nothing I can do. Short of challenging that claim and rite, and turning you myself, but I’m only an omega.  I’m probably not strong enough for that.”

LaMeeka scoffed.  She turned to where she could feel Sonia still staring at her.  “Fine.  You want my soul?  I’ll make you earn it, little wolf.  And don’t think it will be so easy to rip my humanity from me, I will fight to the very end to keep it.  I don’t care how many fangs or claws you have.”

“You’ll be a worthy hunt then,” Sonia said with a predatory grin. 

The floorboards creaked as everyone turned toward the image of Mrs. Klaus.  Still a portrait in her white gown.  “Well, get on with it then.  I’m sick of her human stench fouling up my house,” she sneered. 

Aidan reached toward LaMeeka, who recoiled away from him.  He sighed, “C’mon, we have to get you changed out of these clothes first. Unless you want your outfit to get ruined, and those pretty earrings lost in the mud somewhere?”

Reaching up to take her diamond earrings off, she then looked up at Aidan, her expression a cross between vulnerability and betrayal.  And this time he didn’t smile.  He just took the earrings in both his hands. 

 “It’s almost good that you’re mad at me about this. The anger will help the transition go smoother. And the fact that you’re angry and not afraid means you’re highly likely to transform into an Alpha, and then when I go into a heat, you can breed me properly and I’ll be able to finally carry my first litter,”  he said with a slight smile that barely wavered when LaMeeka glared at him harder. 

“Get her stripped down.  The night is almost gone, I want to taste her humanity die in my gums with my teeth pinning her scruff to the earth,” Sonia said as she took Nicholas’s glass of champagne midway to his mouth and downed the drink herself, handing him the empty glass. And smiling smugly as she took off her velvet dress while she made her way out the back door stark naked — shedding skin for fur in seconds with a long howl that faded in the distance as she started to run.

***

The night was vibrant even in its silence as LaMeeka was escorted out to the terrace of the mansion, where they had a forest-sided yard.  The distant smell of smoke and meat greeted her as she stood outside, wrapped in a red wool cloak, otherwise naked.  “What am I? Little red riding hood?”

“Where do you think all those myths around wolves at night came from, hm?”

“Is this where you tell me every wolf story I heard growing up is actually about a werewolf family or something?”

Aidan lowered his head solemnly.  “One day you’ll understand … those stories … they are all we have left.  We’re almost extinct, Meeks. Me and my brothers, we’re the last of our kind.  You should feel privileged to be a part of helping us survive.”

“Yeah, sure, but I have to give up my species in order to help yours survive, is that it?”

“We lived in harmony once.  But Humans have a way of fearing and envying everything they don’t understand or can’t have.”

“That’s pretty rich.  The legacy of Santa Claus chastising humanity about being mad about what they can’t have.”

“It used to be that those on the naughty list were hunted.  And those that survived became like us.  It would give them a second chance to be good.  To do good for the world.  But …” Aidan sighed and shook his head.  “It doesn’t matter now.  You better start running.  It’s better to undergo the first transformation under the light of the moon,” Aidan said.  

LaMeeka frowned as he turned away And then she looked back to the forest yard, and stepped out into the cold winter air, when she heard the sound of a gunshot and it was enough to get her to start running.  

She heard another and another and another, and one clipped her shoulder, putting her blood into the wind. Running past the trees, heart heaving in her chest, in her throat, she suddenly had no idea where she was, or where the house was.  It was just trees in every direction she turned.  Trees upon trees upon trees, stretching tall into the moonlight and the deep dark of the night. 

***

Sonia’s maw was already bloodied with her first kill of the night, some bird, judging by the feathers in her fur.  She caught the scent of LaMeeka’s blood on the wind and hunted it down till she found her ripping through the dense trees of foliage. 

LaMeeka’s brown feet were caked in a darker brown of the muddy earth. There was a light drizzle on the air that threatened to turn to sleet if the temperature dropped any further.  The red cloak she was wearing hardly provided any warmth as she ran, looking up at the patches of sky she could catch amidst the branches of the trees to see the winking gibbous moon waning from full.  

“I thought wolves could only turn on the full moon,” she muttered to herself.  “This is some bullshit … has to be.”

The sound of howling cutting the night’s silence in half like a knife speared LaMeeka’s heart like a cut of meat on a kebab.  She looked around in every direction.  The howling continued,  louder, or closer this time.  LaMeeka was so terrified that urine started to weep down her thighs, and she swore — knowing on some level that would only give away her position. She wiped the mess from her body with the cloak, and then ran in one direction to ditch the cloak before rolling around in the dirt to mask her scent, and going in a different direction. 

Sonia led the pack toward where LaMeeka had redirected her scent.  They found the red cloak and then growled — the scent seemingly gone cold.  Another howl pierced the sky, quickly joined by others of the pack.  The night was infused with the sounds of the hunt.  

LaMeeka was getting tired.  And hungry.  She felt her energy waning.  She thought about Aidan — about what this would mean to be turned to be like him, and the life they built together and how that would change.  

She felt her eyes sting with angry tears as she remembered that he’d kept this from her, that he’d been too much of a coward to tell her this before he married her.  And that tonight was her last night to be human. Either she’d be turned into a werewolf or she’d be turned into a holiday roast for that werewolf family to devour. 

As she was lost in her thoughts, she heard the sound of heavy breathing and a snap of a branch from a paw stepping on it. Peering around the thick tree she’d been resting against, she saw six pairs of bright red eyes. Did werewolves have red eyes when they changed?  Could it be all of them hunting her and not just Sonia?  Were there six of them? Six Klaus wolves hunting her on this Christmas Eve night?

Mr and Mrs. Klaus, their three sons and Sonia, their daughter-in-law. Yep, that made up six wolves, alright.  And they had caught up with her, staring at her.  Until one wolf with sandy blonde fur stepped forward, growling and licking her maw.  That had to be Sonia.  LaMeeka stepped forward from around the tree.  The scene was almost picturesque as the naked wild human stood facing the growling wolf pack, with streaks of moonlight witnessing the standoff. 

Sonia advanced toward LaMeeka, running fast toward her. LaMeeka had one chance to run and time was quickly running out, and that option would no longer be available. She looked at the wolf pack behind Sonia and found the set of eyes that had to be Aidan’s.  He met hers back, and something about those eyes touched a primal part of her heart that wanted to make sure that he was hers and hers alone to protect and nurture; that any children, or pups, that he’d have would be only hers. LaMeeka gave him a nod before turning to face the advancing white wolf of Sonia. She got down on one knee and then the other.  Swishing her hair from her neck to bare it before her.  

The bright bite of pain as Sonia bit down on that exposed neck.  Blood wept down LaMeeka’s breast and her scream was joined by the howling of the pack, until the night invaded her vision and there was only darkness and the feeling of weightlessness — the fading note of the wolf song seemed to catch her.

The grounding taste of salt in her mouth — reminding her of her mortality as anything human about LaMeeka became a distant memory and the feeling of ‘home’ became bound inseparably with the cry of the wolf, the free feeling of the Hunt, the kiss of Moonlight, and the cold winter night blanketing her like a red wool cloak.

***

Warmth deeper than she’d ever known was around her in fur-coated breathing.  LaMeeka awoke to the scent of the pack around her, in some den somewhere. She moved and adjusted to find that her body was still human-shaped, but she felt heavy, drugged, like something slow and sluggish was inside her skin, making her lethargic and sleepy.  

A wolf raised his head and looked at her. And something in her heart told her that it was Aidan.  His fur was as reddish brown as his hair, with flecks of gold like his skin, his eyes dark as the night, vulnerable, almost domestic in how submissive his eyes were looking at her.  Omega eyes.

“Aidan …” her voice was growl-hoarse, and painful.  

He moved to her and licked at her wrist, whimpering. 

Tilting his head at her, something fuzzy like his voice gave a suggestion, ‘Rest,’ and she felt her body recline back on the grass among the fur pile and let sleep overtake her. 

As she rested, as she slept, she dreamt. She dreamt of the Change she was to experience at some point.  Her fur jet black at night and eyes to match, the feeling of the Howl ululating from her throat, the freedom of the Run, the power of the Hunt.  

***

The next morning, Christmas day, LaMeeka woke up in a big fluffy bed, surrounded by four other naked people.  She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.  There was what looked like Aidan,  and his two brothers, Nicholas and Jack, and Jack’s wife, Sonia. 

Bits of the night before returned to her memory in flashes and shards of scenery spearing her body with heat and pain.  Shaking her head like a snow globe, to get the images to fade, to no avail. She gasped when someone in the bed stirred. 

“It won’t hurt every time.” 

LaMeeka turned to the sound of that voice and saw Nicholas looking at her, lying on his side, his golden brown eyes the same shade of golden brown of his skin, his jet-black, long hair loose and tangled around his shoulders and down his back as he lay on the pillow, the fluffy red and white blankets scrunched down to his hips.  He was beautiful in a way she hadn't noticed last night with the way he was knocking back the champagne and hiding behind his pain. Or was it now that she was turned, she saw him differently? She didn’t know.

“What won’t hurt every time?”

“Turning. It starts to feel good the more you do it. Really, really good,” he said with a yawn and a stretch as he rolled over to his back.  “Better than sex,” he added.

His stretching pulled the blanket lower, and of his body revealing the bush of hair that covered the mound of his sex, as he lay naked and in the open.  He turned to look at LaMeeka. 

“You know. It is common to seal your transformation with sex after your first turn.  So what you’re feeling and thinking right now is perfectly normal and expected.”

“How do you know what I’m feeling and thinking?”

“Because I can smell it. Werewolf senses, your senses will sharpen soon.  It helps if your transformation is sealed, like I said.  And I think Sonia may feel a little slighted if she isn’t the one you seal your turn with. As she claimed the rite.  And Aidan will never forgive me if you impregnate me instead of him.”

“What?”

“Oh, we’re all omegas, all three of us.  And omegas are the only theriotype of wolves that can carry young to term. That’s truthfully the reason why Aidan didn’t turn you already -  we can’t. Omegas are only good for one type of breeding. Alphas can bring more to the pack through tooth and claw, but the only maw that I can bring new life with is this one right here …” Nicholas said as he grasped himself between the legs with a throaty chuckle.

“How did Sonia get turned then? I thought Jack --”

“No.”

LaMeeka turned to the sound of Sonia’s voice. 

“No?”

“No, I challenged his first wife.  She turned me and then I killed her to seal my transformation and gained the right to all that was hers. Her positions in her own pack, and the mating rights to her mate.”

“What if Jack refused you?”

Sonia blinked at LaMeeka, sitting up in bed, her perfect tits exposed. The blankets pooled down to expose the top of the erection of her morning wood, perfect, uncut, foreskin wrapped around the pink head like a budding rose.   “Why would he refuse me?” Sonia asked, tilting her head, genuinely confused by the question.

“Uh … well, you'd just killed his mate,  Grief?”

Shaking her head chidingly,  Sonia replied, “You’re still thinking like a human. That will fade in time. It will fade faster, of course, if you were to seal your turning …” Sonia said as she moved in the bed, closer to LaMeeka. 

“You’re beautiful, Sonia, but I'm just not attracted — what are you doing?”

“I’m going to go down on you.  The only other person I’d allow to seal your turning is your mate and he’s still asleep.  Consent to this, LaMeeka, I can make you feel good, I promise, and it is better I do it now or you’ll get too confused and … well, it wouldn’t be good,” Sonia replied as she moved further down under the blankets. 

LaMeeka gasped as she felt Sonia pull her legs apart and kiss her legs up and up and up. 

“Sonia … this … there has to be another way.”

Lifting her head up out of the blankets, “You can kill me. I don’t recommend that. You’re already mated to Aidan, you want to be responsible for giving Jack pups too?”

LaMeeka took a deep breath as she looked at Sonia between her legs, her morning wood,  not protesting in the slightest. “That’s it. I have to seal my transformation through sex or death?”

“Yes. What is your choice?”

“I have no time to think about this?”

“No. It has to be now. Your cells are still adapting to things.  You need to seal your first Change as soon as possible after it happens.”

LaMeeka looked into Sonia’s light-skinned face, the heat of her body so close to her own. “I suppose a little morning head never hurt anyone.”  LaMeeka acquiesced almost reluctantly.  Sonia grinned.  And dipped down under the blankets, easily taking that thick girlcock into her mouth.  

Groaning at the way Sonia knew how to suck her shaft just right. LaMeeka didn’t even care after a few pumps of that perfect mouth that Nicholas was clearly watching. Because he was.

His hands were rubbing his chest as he watched the two of them, toying with himself before he sank his hand down between his legs. He exhaled in pleasure as he wiggled and arched up to his touch. He had a wiry, long body,  but his sex,  his cunt was a tumescent, meaty mound - with glistening wet folds and a protruding clit the size of her index finger. LaMeeka’s eyes went wide. “Shiiit … “ she hissed at the sight of him stroking his finger-long-clit.

Nicholas whimpered, looking puppy dog, omega pleading eyes up at her.  As his hand stroked himself furiously, watching the way Sonia’s head bobbed up and down on LaMeeka’s girlcock. 

LaMeeka stared and found herself licking her lips, wanting it in her mouth. And a very canine whimper escaped her lips and Nicholas’s eyes went to hers and he whimpered back — like it was a language.  He moved closer to her, taking in her scent, letting her take in his. His long hair moved to the side and LaMeeka instinctively went to sniff and lick at his neck. He whimpered again, chuffing an exhale against her. She was still looking at his thick length and licking her lips, wanting it, needing it in her mouth. She whimpered again, pleading.   

Nicholas looked at her. “Yeah?” he asked.  

LaMeeka looked at him. “What?”

“You asked to suck me til I cum.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You did. Those whimper noises … they’re words. The Therian tongue isn’t a cognitive language like you learn in school, it’s instinctual and intuitive.”

LaMeeka could hardly focus on what he was saying; she was whimpering that question again, louder now, and Nicholas answered his consent by moving up in the bed to lift and straddle his leg over her head, putting his meaty cunt within range of her mouth. Without thinking or skipping a beat, LaMeeka took as much of him in her mouth as she could.

And this was the sight that Aidan woke up to. He was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and once his vision was clear, he saw Sonia between LaMeeka’s legs and Nicholas in LaMeeka’s mouth.  He smiled, knowing exactly what was going on and why it was happening.  Slipping out of bed, over the mound of snoring blankets that was Jack, he put on his robe and headed to the kitchen. They would be hungry by the time they were finished,  so he’d make sure that breakfast was ready. 

Lost in Nicholas’s juicy hole, LaMeeka deep-throated his clit in between tongue laps and slurping sucks of his slick, long labia.  He kept whimpering his assent, consent and approval of how her tongue was treating his body. Sonia looked up at the sight of Nicholas’s hairy leg blocking LaMeeka’s face and growled.  She moved up LaMeeka’s body, looking at the Omega crowding in on her ritual. 

“She wanted me to join,” Nicholas whimpered, so submissively.  Sonia could hear the way his ears flattened against his head and tail tucked between his legs in his voice as his current form didn’t have the ability to express those behaviors.  He backed away, moving away or trying to, when LaMeeka growled and gripped his leg to hold him down over her shiny face to continue sucking him.  

Nicholas whimpered, wincing away from Sonia’s territorial glare.  She looked in the bed to find Aidan gone and growled at the way Nicholas was cowering away from her. His breath was hitching in pleasure involuntarily as LaMeeka sucked his clit just the way he liked and he was fighting his guilt and his need to cum — it was only making the pressure to squirt more and more likely.

He looked so helpless under her gaze, pinned and pitiful, and Sonia wanted to mount him herself.  He was abandoned by his mate, and she could smell how close to a heat he was. She squeezed LaMeeka’s cock until she bucked away from Nicholas’s body with a yelp. Then, pushing the omega back onto the bed, she looked down on LaMeeka with a lewd thought in her head. 

“What?”

“Mount me, while I mount him?”  Sonia offered as she nodded at Nicholas whimpering on the bed now. Holding the blanket up to cover himself protectively. 

Looking around the bed, LaMeeka frowned.  “Where’s Aidan?”

“Probably being dutiful in the kitchen with the servants.  I’ll ask again, you want to mount me while I mount him? So we can finish this?”

“Do you have any lube?”

“No need,” Sonia said, and then went over to  Nicholas, pushing him back, she turned and put her ass in his face.  “Get it wet, be quick about it,” she commanded. With an eager whimper, Nicholas obeyed, licking Sonia’s crack and then tongue fucking her hole with a practiced speed.

LaMeeka got up to move toward them, stroking her spit-slick shaft as she moved between Nicholas’s legs.  She looked up at the jaw-lack look of pleasure on Sonia’s face as she got rimmed. Staring down at Nicholas’s spread legs, his open cunthole between long, hairy legs. 

Stroking steadily as she imagined what his hole would feel like on her cunt, her loving husband the farthest from her mind. The changes of her body started to callus into an Alpha’s knot at the base of her dick and before she could help herself, LaMeeka was plunging her hard length inside Nicholas! 

Sonia froze atop her and the two women locked eyes for what felt like a long moment before she looked down at the Alpha’s knot forming on LaMeeka’s cockbase and smiled knowingly, slowly, with a kind of swaggering solidarity. 

“You are a fellow Alpha. That’s why you were unable to resist the pull of an omega’s presented breed-hole. He’s days away from a heat. I can smell it. They all are.  You’re going to impregnate him, you realize this.”

LaMeeka growled as she gripped his hips and thrust inside him hard enough that Nicholas whispered a mini-howl into Sonia’s asshole that it woke Jack. The mound of blankets moved as he wrestled his head free from them. Pillows tumbled to the ground. He looked at his wife squatting over his brother’s head.  He whimpered at her, throwing the blanket aside and opening his legs, presenting himself to her, whimpering again. Sonia growled low in her throat at the sight of her mate’s display. 

“I think he wants you to mount him,” LaMeeka said cheekily to Sonia.  The other woman barely broke gaze to glance at LaMeeka before she was making her way over there.  She flipped him over, and lifted his ass up, so he was on all fours as he felt his wife take him from the back — her long length in his man-cunt, and her finger in his ass as she pressed his face into the remaining pillow on that side of the bed — muffling the howls he started to sing as Sonia fucked him. 

Watching the command in how she claimed her mate made LaMeeka long for Aidan. She looked back down at Nicholas.  As beautifully sprawled as he was under her, he wasn’t her mate.  He sensed the rejection even while she was still balls-deep and whimpered sadly.  Something about that whimper, whatever he said, touched the wolf inside her and warmed her heart. She leaned down, wiping his face with the tail end of the sheet on the bed.  “What do I say to claim you as mine? What rite do I have to declare?”

Nicholas’s eyes went wide.  “The Rite of Breeding,” he whispered.  “Are you sure you want to do that?”

She took in the sight of him, strong cheekbones, big dark eyes, long dark hair, long lean muscled form.  And his big meaty cunt.  “Yeah, I’m sure.  You have no mate, and if I’m allowed to have two, I want you as mine.”

“You’re an Alpha, you can have as many omegas as you want. Though it is more traditional to take a few beta to help with the caregiving of the — ohhh …”  Nicholas howled abruptly as LaMeeka thrust into his hole; his howl tapered off into a whimper of consent.  

“I …”

Thrust

“Invoke …”

Thrust.

“The …”

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. 

“Rite …”

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.

“Of …”

Power Thrust. 

“Breeding!”

LaMeeka declared right as Aidan entered, carrying a tray full of plates of food for breakfast.  He stood at the doorway, watching his mate claim his eldest brother as her secondary mate and felt his body react before he could find words to say, as he got so wet and aroused that his arousal started to drip down his thick thighs. 

Gawking as he watched LaMeeka grip the headboard to continue fucking and pounding into Nicholas whose legs were wrapped around her powerfully thrusting hips.  On the other side of the bed, Sonia was breeding Jack as he wailed screams and howls into the pillow.   

“May the gods bless us, each and every one of us,” Aidan said as he stood in the doorway, patiently holding the breakfast trays.  He had insisted on serving everyone in bed himself so that the servants could cook the bigger meal for the heads of house, his parents and grandparents who were returning at this moment, judging by the sound of the sleighbells he could hear on approach.