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  Tears spilled onto Ava’s cheeks as her face crumpled. God, it felt so good to hear those words from him. She hugged his neck tighter and made water spots on his denim shirt with her crying, but it couldn’t be helped. She wasn’t a crier, but he’d opened the flood gates. It was crazy how kind words could change the path of a life. How having someone who was uplifting in your corner could mean the difference in success or failure.

  She had succeeded in school back when she was a kid because Colton had sacrificed more than she would ever be able to understand, just so she could stay steady and make the grades. And now she was succeeding as an adult because her brother supported her in improving the quality of her life. And maybe Colt was right. Maybe it was high time she forgave Dad and took that power back. Not for Dad. Fuck him. The forgiveness was for her. It was an I love you to herself. It was the belief that she deserved better than wrestling with her past for the rest of her life. She did deserve better, and so did Trig, and so did Colt.

  So okay.

  Forgiveness granted.

  As she stared up at the rafters, hugging her brother, tears staining her cheeks, she let the hurt go. Oh, it would come back in bursts for a while as she was daily reminded of her past. But this was her time to accept she was going to work on her and move forward to a damn good future, not look backward to the past.

  She didn’t know what Christmas would bring, but she was now certain of one thing.

  Between her brother, Kurt, Gunner, and especially, especially Trigger…

  This was going to be the best Christmas ever.

  Chapter Nine

  Ava followed her nose into the kitchen, thinking Trigger would be there making the breakfast that was filling up the entire house with the scent of cinnamon and sugar. She was surprised to find Colt standing over the stove instead, though. He was frosting some raisin cinnamon rolls, and on the couch, playing a Grinch-themed monopoly game, were Kurt and Gunner.

  “Smells good,” she muttered, pulling a newly frosted pastry from the pan.

  “The only reason I’m not slapping your hand away is because it’s Christmas. That is your present,” he brother said without skipping a beat on frosting.

  “It’s hot,” she said as she switched the breakfast roll from hand to hand to save herself from burns. “Where’s Trigger? Out with the cows?”

  “You could say that,” Kurt said from the couch.

  “He’s doin’ a game!” Gunner said, smashing two game pieces together repeatedly like they were fighting.

  “A game?” she asked.

  Colt licked icing off his thumb, then grabbed a red envelope from the counter and slapped it into her empty hand.

  “What’s this?”

  His only answer was to stare at her and shove an entire cinnamon roll into his mouth. He couldn’t even shut his mouth while he chewed. Boys were gross.

  Ava took a bite of her breakfast, set the remaining part on a napkin, and rinsed her hands, her attention never leaving the envelope. On the front was drawn a sad, crooked Christmas tree and a heart with the letter A inside of it.

  Ava opened it, and inside was a holiday card with a picture of a snowman in a top hat. She pulled open the card and read.

  Ava,

  You made a deal and gave me this year to help you like the holiday again. I hope I succeeded, because it’s been the best December of my life. You make every month the best month of my life though. I have one last surprise adventure for Day 0, Christmas. I’m nervous, so go easy on me. Go put on your jacket and your warmest snow boots. It’s cold this morning. And when you’re all cute, because I know you’ll be wearing your pink mittens and beanie and looking so pretty, go look in the barn in the stall next to Harley’s. Don’t get too close to Harley though. He is a Grinch and his attitude has been horrible lately. Don’t get bit. I can’t wait to hold you.

  Yours always,

  Trig

  Ava read it twice because it made her feel fuzzy and good inside. I can’t wait to hold you. She knew exactly what that relief would feel like. It was the same every time he touched her after working all day away from the cabin.

  Shoving the card back in the envelope, she made her way to Kevin, grabbed the little wrapped present she’d made, and went to the front door in a rush. She dressed warm, and slipped her boots onto her feet, right over her fleece leggings. She put the card between her teeth to free up her hands to zip her jacket as she made her way through the front door. When she turned to check that the big metal door swung all the way closed and latched, the sunlight glinted off the house numbers. She called them wishing numbers because they repeated. 1010, and there were bear claw marks on the wood all around it. Trig had made those when he was out of control of his bear, but he didn’t do that much anymore.

  I love my life, she thought and touched the number with her mitten-clad pointer finger. I wish for Trig to have the best day.

  She turned and jogged down the porch stairs, shoving the holiday card into her coat pocket. The barn was a hundred yards off, on the other side of the clearing. It had been painted red at some point, but most of the color had chipped off to expose the gray, aged wood underneath. She’d always loved this old barn. In front, Queenie, her white, winter-furred nag, was leaned against the fence, sleeping with one back hoof propped up, her breath steaming in front of her face. Ava’s boots made crunching sounds in the crisp snow, and the song of bellowing cattle filled the clearing. The furry beasts were gathered near the barn, probably waiting on Trig to spread out hay for them.

  She grunted as she pushed the sliding barn door open. Inside, dust motes swirled in the air, and the scent of animals hit her. It was much warmer in here. In the back were the living quarters for Kurt and Gunner, and at the front were two rows of stalls with different colored horses sticking their faces out expectantly. Every stall was full this morning except for one, the second on the right, the stall near Harley’s. The sound of jingling bells rang prettily from it. Something was moving in there.

  Slowly, Ava made her way past Harley’s stall, careful to stay out of biting distance, and with only a moment of hesitation, she gripped the cold iron of the handle and slid the heavy door open.

  What she found inside stunned her into stillness. A tiny brown and cream, lanky-legged animal stood inside, staring back at her with big, blinking brown eyes. It didn’t have antlers yet, but she knew what it was immediately.

  A baby reindeer.

  Trig had gotten her a reindeer. Slowly, Ava shut the door behind her and dropped to her knees by the little critter. Soooo cute. He startled when she touched him, and she had to scoot to it again on her knees closer. He finally allowed her to pet him, which made her cry like a total wiener. Trig had really gotten her a reindeer. There’s no way he would’ve separated it from its mom, so maybe it was a little orphan, kinda like her. She was going to take such good care of it. Trig had listened when she’d told him what she wanted. When she had first come back to Darby and was falling in love with him, she’d mentioned this, and he’d made it happen. For her.

  Overwhelmed, she scooped the baby into her arms and sobbed, shoulders shaking. Trig had fixed her broken pieces before today, and now he was filling her heart with joy just because he could. Its little hooves bumped against her legs, but he didn’t try to get away. The baby was patient, or maybe he’d been hand-reared until this point and liked cuddles. He wore a collar of jingle bells, and there was a small green card attached to it. Sniffing, she plucked it off and opened it clumsily. It was hard to read through the tears that blurred her eyes, and her voice shook as she read it aloud in shock. “Marry me.”

  The door slid open loudly behind her, and there he was—her mate. Her Trig.

  He wore his favorite cowboy hat, but took it off and set it against his chest as he dropped slowly to one knee beside her.

  Ava lost it. Shoulders shaking, she thought no girl had a right to this much happiness in one moment. She cradled the reindeer to her chest as her face crumpled.

&nbs
p; Trig pulled out a simple gold band. The color matched his eyes.

  His voice was thick and full of emotion when he said, “Ava Dorset, I’ve loved you since we were kids, and I never thought you could be mine. I don’t deserve you, but I’m gonna work to make you happy. I told you about a tradition I had with my father, where we made each other a single gift each year. You deserve so much more than this, and someday I will get a pretty diamond, but this year, this is what I can do. I bought the gold raw, and I made the ring. You are the heart of this place. You’re my heart. This is the easiest question in the world for me because I can’t imagine my life without you. I want every minute with you. I want to grow old with you. I want to see you holding our cubs. I want to take care of you and build my life around you. You. Make. Me. A better man.” He swallowed hard, and his eyes were rimmed with moisture. “Ava Dorset, will you marry me?”

  Kneeling there in the hay, she was crying too hard to answer. He’d busted her heart wide open, and thank God for him, because she’d lived a half-life before he’d kissed her that first time. Not anymore. He was offering her something she’d only dreamed about—infinite happiness. Crying too hard to get a single word out, she nodded.

  “Yeah?” he asked, his dark eyebrows arched up high. “Yeah?” he asked louder, a smile spreading across his lips.

  “Yes,” she croaked out. “I’m yours.”

  Trig slid the ring on her shaking finger and then palmed the little reindeer’s stomach to lift him and set him aside in the hay. “Sorry, Norman,” he murmured. “I need to hug my lady,” he murmured, squeezing her tight against his chest.

  She couldn’t breathe, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Over Trig’s shoulder, she saw Kurt standing in the open stall door, holding Gunner. Colt was beside them, leaned against the frame, a soft smile on his face, raw emotion in his eyes. He nodded like, You done good, girl.

  The hardest thing she’d ever done was to open up to a man. To Trigger. But she’d let him make her brave, and look what had happened?

  He’d given her everything.

  A home where she felt safe and warm.

  Her brother back.

  Kurt and Gunner.

  A Clan.

  This rough-and-tumble group of boys would always have her back. Of that, she had no doubt, and they’d earned the same fealty from her.

  He’d given her a little reindeer named Norman and a life she could be proud of. A life that fulfilled her.

  But most of all…very most of all…Trigger had given her his heart.

  And that was the best Christmas gift of all.

  The End.

  For more of these characters…

  Check out T. S. Joyce’s bestselling Outlaw Shifters series

  (Amazon US buy links)

  Outlaw Shifters

  For the Love of an Outlaw (Book 1)

  A Very Outlaw Christmas (Book 2)

  For the Heart of an Outlaw (Book 3)

  For the Heart of the Warmaker (Book 4)

  For the Soul of an Outlaw (Book 5)

  GRIM CHRISTMAS

  By T. S. JOYCE

  Grim Christmas

  Copyright © 2018 by T. S. Joyce

  Copyright © 2018, T. S. Joyce

  First electronic publication: December 2018

  T. S. Joyce

  www.tsjoyce.com

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover Image: Wander Aguiar

  Cover Model: Jonny James

  Chapter One

  The Reaper was being hunted.

  A twig snapped behind Grim, and he yanked the ax to a halt mid-swing. With narrowed eyes, he glared over his shoulder at the snowy woods, but just like every other time he’d stopped his work to punish whoever was fucking with him, the woods were quiet and still.

  Too quiet.

  Too still.

  “Rhett, if this is you playing some stupid game instead of working, I’m going to murder you.”

  No answer.

  The tree Grim was hacking at with the ax would hold, so he turned all the way around and lifted his chin, scented the air. He gripped the wooden handle until it creaked in complaint. He couldn’t smell anything but snow and pine. His mate, Ash, was in town interviewing for a job, Juno was in town with her, Remi was working on winterizing the beer shed, Kamp was on the next mountain over loading logs, so the closest one to Grim would be the jokester slash country singer of the crew, Rhett.

  When a pair of ravens suddenly flew up from a tree, Grim tensed and watched their escape into the sky.

  There was something red on the ground ahead. It looked so bright against the snow. God, he wished Ash was here. He’d been on edge for days and couldn’t figure out why. The whole Crew swore he was being crazier than normal, but he was actually trying to be the Alpha they deserved. That was impossible to do if Rhett kept messing with him.

  Grim crunched through the snow and came to a stop right in front of a red Santa hat lying crumpled on the ground.

  He hated the holidays. Hated them with a passion ever since his second lion, the Reaper, had come to be. Holidays had never been the same after he lost his mind.

  And now Rhett, that twathole, was shoving it in his face.

  Punish him.

  Grim stooped and picked up the hat and, choking both that and the ax, strode east for Rhett’s jobsite. The Reaper didn’t like being teased, didn’t like being taunted, and there was no stopping the anger roiling in his blood now. Rhett should’ve been working instead of playing pranks on Grim. If Ash were here, she would be the only one who could stop him from what he was about to do.

  But she wasn’t, and so the Reaper was free to be the Reaper—the rip-roaring, vengeful, dark-souled monster everyone knew him to be.

  Rhett’s games ended now.

  Chapter Two

  Ash bit back the burning tears that threatened to paint her cheeks with weakness. She yanked off her fanciest boot, the right one, the one without scuffs all over the toe from where she’d fallen on the curb at her last interview for Barney’s Furniture Mart. The nicest boot she owned. She ripped that little knee-high smexy shoe right off her foot. Or she tried to, but the dang zipper was still done up on the inside of her calf, securing her in an ankle-cage like it had been Super-Glued to her leg. With a little high-pitched screech, she unzipped it—twice on account of the zipper getting stuck on her skinny jeans—and then she finally, finally, anti-climactically, yanked it off. Now she super wanted to cry.

  After setting the pair of “interview boots,” as she called them, to the side in a pile of freezing snow, she pulled on her fur-lined snow boots one by one. She wouldn’t slip on ice in these. They had tread as thick as tires.

  Gah, that was the worst interview she’d ever been on. Embarrassment heated her cheeks, and she shrugged into her jacket to ward off the frigid breeze. She needed some magic, so she reached into her pocket and pulled out a half piece of gum, a tuft of lint, and a penny she’d found heads-up on the snow as she’d walked into the library for this interview. The fountain where she sat on the edge was turned off for the winter, but that didn’t stop her from tossing the penny over her shou
lder and making a wish as the dang copper coin bounced off the frozen water behind her.

  I wish I could get a job before Christmas.

  It wouldn’t be as potent as a 10:10 wish, but it was 11:13 a.m. right now, a loooong day ahead of her to make that wish tonight.

  She wasn’t going to be able to get her mate, Grim, what she really wanted to buy him for Christmas. Sure, she had a credit card, but she didn’t feel comfortable charging to it when she had no way to make the payments at the end of the month.

  Ash huffed a frozen breath and frowned at the bustling street in front of the library. Everyone was in town doing their last-minute Christmas shopping. Usually, she liked people-watching, making up nice stories about the passersby, but today, she just wanted to climb in the passenger’s seat of Juno’s car and wallow in her disappointment.

  Gads, it was colder than a beer on ice out here. Her nipples were like little marbles. Grim would approve.

  Ash’s lip pouted out, and she didn’t even try to tuck it back in. She’d done everything right. She’d made sure she was qualified to work in the library, she’d sent in her resume, got two references, dressed nice, and had even dyed her blue hair red to coordinate with Christmas. Yeah, it was still not as subtle as her natural black hair, but it was quieter than bright blue.

  Where in hades was Juno?

  Blowing out a toot noise with her lips, she pulled her phone out and typed, Interview is done, can you pick… But before she finished the text, an engine revved down the street, and here came one of her besties, blaring a hip-hop version of “Jingle Bells” out the open windows of her car.