The Merry Moose’s Mates (Male-Order Mates #16)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Briar

New Year’s Eve was never something I celebrated. It wasn’t one of those holidays I considered important. In fact, I couldn’t remember a time I did anything other than stay home and stick to my normal routine. Part of that was because it was always cold, and I liked to be warm and snug in my house when night fell. Also, I wasn’t someone who started each year with new hopes, dreams, or plans. To me, they all blended together—not in a negative way, but just in that each day was a new day, and you kept moving forward.

But when Shay overheard Alice asking Austin what we were doing for New Year’s Eve, we knew we had to do something special. The two of us drove to the nearest mall—a trek and a half away—and looked for all the party favors we could get. We found hats, crackers, horns, glasses shaped like the year, and a glittery ball that was supposed to look like the one that dropped in New York City but honestly looked more like a homemade art project from an elementary student. Still…it was 100 percent glittery and fabulous enough to overcome it’s shoddy workmanship.

The two of us even stopped at an embroidery store and had shirts made for everyone. They had our names, the year, and a picture representing each of us. By the time we left the plaza, the back seat was completely full of New Year’s joy.

Did we need all of it? Probably not. Were we going to have a blast with it? Absolutely.

“We need stuffies.” I buckled my seat belt. It wasn’t a suggestion. We were making it happen. “Look on your phone and see if there’s a decent toy store.” The mall had nothing close to a nice toy store.

“And why do we need stuffies, exactly?” He might’ve asked, but he was also typing away, ready to put my plans into effect.

“Because Alice said she wanted all of her friends to come, and when she started listing them off…well, they weren’t exactly people.”

“Oh, right. Yes, stuffies it is.” He found a toy store, and we stopped to buy a moose, a bear, a fairy, an owl, and a gnome.

Were they perfect for her list? Probably not. But they were going to make her have the best New Year’s Eve ever, regardless.

We kept everything hidden until Alice went to bed that night and then we dug it all out, setting up everything for her to wake up to a full day of New Year’s Eve fabulousness. We heard her the second she walked into the living room, the thumping of her jumping up and down and her laughter filling the air.

“I think our little girl likes the surprise,” Austin murmured, kissing me and then Shay before climbing out of bed. “Let’s go get the cinnamon bread in the oven.”

We had shaped the bread to look like the year, though I wasn’t entirely sure it would stay that way through both rising in the fridge overnight and baking. But it was the thought that counted…or at least it would taste delicious.

When I came out, she was making faces at the glitter ball. I doubted she could see much of a reflection, but she was having fun.

“Will we drop this at midnight?” She was 100 percent serious.

“I don’t think any of us will be up then.” Shay grabbed the ball. “But maybe we could do it at noon?”

“If we do it at noon, can I sit on Briar and drop the ball all the way to the ground? He’s really, really, really, really tall.”

I looked to Austin, who gave me a nod. “We can do that, but we won’t be walking anywhere.” Having her fall off would be my worst nightmare, and I was too tall for either of the others to spot her safely.

“This is the best New Year’s Eve ever!” she squealed, hugging her new stuffies close. “After the ball drops, are we having a tea party? Please say we’re having a tea party. Mrs. Connolly and I used to have them when we played chess.” She was so young to play, but we’d already seen her in action, and Alice was very good for her age.

“Yeah, we can have a tea party.” I had enough tea, for sure. I didn’t have cute little fancy teacups, but we had plenty of mugs and would make it work.

During breakfast, she named her gnome, fairy, bear, moose, and owl—all in colors, which gave me hope of actually remembering their names.

“Can we go ice skating today, too?” So far she had added ball dropping, a tea party, watching Snow White , making cookies, building a snowman, and coloring to our day. There wasn’t room for much, if anything else.

“Probably not.” I grabbed another slice of our huge cinnamon bread. “The wind chill’s pretty cold out there, and we already have a couple weeks’ worth of activities to accomplish in one.”

“I’ll have to make a pretend ice rink inside for my new friends.” She handled disappointment like a boss.

Somehow, we managed to get every single activity on her list done and before bedtime at that. She was practically sleeping on her way to bed. The day of fun had worn her out. We didn’t even have time for a story.

I pulled the door to her bedroom closed.

“It’s still hours from midnight. Whatever shall we do to pass the time?” I pulled my shirt up and over my head, tossing it at Austin. “If only I could think of something.”

I unzipped my jeans and tossed them at Shay.

“I guess I’ll be waiting in our bedroom while I try and think of something.”

I was alone for 2.3 nanoseconds, which, in my book, was 2.3 nanoseconds too long.

“Happy New year, my loves.” I gave each of them a far-too-short kiss.

“Happy New Year, omega mine.” Shay scented my mating mark and then ran his teeth along it before doing the same to Austin.

“Happy New Year.” Austin nipped at my bottom lip. “Let’s get to celebrating.”

I wasn’t going to argue with that.