The Christmas Curse (The Christmas Curse #1)

Epilogue

I t was the first Christmas morning Griffith woke up next to Calyx, and he hoped there would be many more.

He watched as Calyx slept, completely relaxed for once. When he was awake, he was always flitting from one thing to another, but here, he was at peace, at least until he woke up. When he did, it would probably be to find that someone had left. Yancey would no doubt be gone, but Griffith wasn’t sure about Justin and Shelby. Hopefully, their presence would be enough for Calyx to forget that he and Yancey still had an unsteady relationship.

Calyx had been trying, but the work to fix it had to come from Yancey as much as it came from Calyx. Calyx had taken the first step. Now, Yancey needed to take the next, and Griffith wasn’t sure how long it would take him.

Calyx groaned and blinked. He opened his eyes and looked surprised for a second, possibly because Griffith was in his bed. Griffith smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. Calyx didn’t resist.

“Morning breath,” he mumbled.

“Do you care?”

“Not one bit.”

“Neither do I. I’d kiss you even after you’ve eaten garlic.”

Calyx laughed. “That’s how much you love me.”

“It is. I do love you, Calyx.”

Calyx’s smile turned sweet. “I know. It’s going to take me some time to wrap my mind around it, but I believe you.”

“And you love me ,” Griffith said, crowding closer.

“I’ve loved you for a long, long time,” Calyx confirmed before kissing him again.

They were both still naked. Griffith smiled as he ran his hands up and down Calyx’s back. He dipped lower, grabbing Calyx’s ass, but a loud noise made both of them jump.

“What was that?” Calyx asked with wide eyes.

“Shelby or Justin probably dropped something.” Or maybe Mynor or Travis. Who knew what the demon was up to?

Griffith wasn’t sure what Travis would do now that Yancey was gone, but Calyx had told the man that he was welcome at the house, and from the looks of it, Griffith thought that Travis would take him at his word. He’d appeared a little lost when he’d first arrived, but not anymore, and it made Griffith wonder about his family.

Travis was here on Christmas day. Why wasn’t he celebrating with his parents or siblings or friends? Did he have them? There was no way to know, but he was welcome here with them as much as anyone else from their family.

Calyx pushed the blankets away and shivered. “I’m going to go check.”

Griffith tried to pull him back into bed, but he wasn’t fast enough. “I’m sure they’re fine. Come back here. I haven’t even said Merry Christmas to you yet.”

Calyx’s expression brightened. “It’s Christmas.”

“And your best present is in this bed.”

Calyx laughed again. “Bold of you to think you’re my best present.” He leaned closer to press their lips together. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”

Griffith tried catching Calyx again, but Calyx shook his head and stepped away. Griffith pressed back against his pillow and watched his boyfriend get ready. He didn’t want Calyx to go downstairs on his own because he wasn’t sure how Calyx would take Yancey’s absence, so eventually, he got out of bed, too. He made sure that Calyx knew how annoyed he was that he had to, but it didn’t really matter. He’d be happy to do anything with Calyx, even getting up on Christmas morning to deal with their brothers.

He saw Calyx tense when they got downstairs, so he pulled him close and kissed his forehead. “It’s going to be fine. Even with Yancey gone, I’m sure that Shelby and Justin have stuck around.”

“I can hear voices coming from the kitchen. I think Travis is there, too.”

“Mynor is also probably there.”

“I don’t think either of them is going anywhere.”

It was a bit intimidating in Mynor’s case, but they could deal with it. It was clear that Justin cared about the demon, which made him part of their family, too. It wasn’t what Griffith had expected from Christmas morning, but he’d learn to deal with it.

He and Calyx walked into the kitchen together. The first thing Griffith noticed was that Yancey was sitting at the table bickering with Travis. Justin and Shelby were at the stove, poking at something, while Mynor hovered close as if he was afraid that whatever was in the pan would attack Justin.

They were all here, even Yancey, which didn’t make sense.

“What’s going on?” Calyx asked with wide eyes.

Shelby shrieked when he saw him, startling all of them. He rushed to Calyx to throw his arms around him. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas. What’s happening?”

“Well, you organized everything else, so we thought we’d help you with breakfast this morning,” Travis explained. “Merry Christmas.”

“To you, too, but you didn’t have to do this.”

“We did,” Yancey said quietly.

He and Calyx had everyone’s attention. Griffith hoped that whatever Yancey was about to say wouldn’t hurt his boyfriend. He and Yancey would have words otherwise.

Yancey got to his feet, and Griffith could have sworn that everyone sucked in a breath at the same time. They watched as Yancey moved closer to Calyx, stopping in front of him. “Merry Christmas,” he murmured.

Calyx beamed as if Yancey had offered him the world. “Merry Christmas.”

Griffith breathed easier when Yancey yanked Calyx into a hug. They all relaxed, and Griffith allowed himself to step away. Yancey and Calyx needed to talk, and while they might not want to do it here and now, he would give them space anyway.

He was going to have Calyx for the rest of his life. He could stay away a few minutes, especially when those minutes with Yancey would make Calyx happy.

Calyx couldn’t believe this. He hadn’t expected Yancey to stick around, let alone to want to talk to him. “I thought you’d leave early this morning,” he murmured.

“I was planning to, but someone convinced me to stay. I’m not saying it’ll be permanent, but we can spend Christmas together as a family.”

“You think we’re still a family?”

“We are. I’m sorry I made you feel that we weren’t and that you had to be alone and lonely for the past year, but you’re my brother. I'm not going anywhere, no matter how much we might fight.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for the way I behaved after Caitlin died. I was hurt and grieving, and I said things I shouldn’t have said. I didn’t understand her decision, but she cornered me the day we got Justin back and forced me to listen to her, and I do now. It makes sense that she left the house to you. After all, this is a mage’s house, and you’re a mage. You’re the best out of all of us to carry on her legacy.”

Calyx pressed a hand against Yancey’s chest. “It doesn’t matter where you live now. You’ll always be welcome here, and I won’t touch your room. I’m not going to start changing things just because the house belongs to me now. As far as I’m concerned, this is our family home, not just mine.”

“You’ve always been too good for this world.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m me, and I’m happy we finally talked. I’m even happier that you decided to stay today.”

“I don’t feel I deserve your forgiveness after the way I treated you.”

“I’m the only one who can decide that, and I don’t want us to fight anymore. I lost Caitlin, too. We all did. We all reacted differently, and I won’t hold anything you did when you were hurting against you.”

“I think I’ll always be grumpy, but you guys are the most important people in my life. I couldn’t spend Christmas away from you.” He pulled down the collar of his sweater. “And look. I’m a normal color again.”

“Which is kind of sad because the colors suited you,” Travis teased from his spot at the kitchen table.

Yancey turned to him, already scowling. Calyx had lost his attention, but that was all right. He liked listening to Yancey and Travis bicker. He liked watching Shelby and Justin trying to cook breakfast without setting the house on fire while Griffith pushed them away from the stove because they all knew that those two shouldn’t be anywhere near it. He even liked watching Mynor hover by Justin, ready to defend him from the pan on the stove. All of this made them a family.

Calyx had no idea what had happened to Yancey over the past year, but he looked lighter these days, especially when he was with Travis. Mynor and Justin had gone through a lot together, and it was clear they were each other’s support. Calyx was glad Justin hadn’t been alone in the underworld. He deserved to be happy—they all did.

And just maybe, they finally were.

In the mood for more Christmas paranormal romance? Check out Krampus Miracle and How the Bigfoot Won Christmas !