The Hellhound's Un-Christmas Miracle - Zoe Chant Page 0,69

to wipe her face with a handkerchief. “Mum!”

There was a brief buzz of private telepathic speech, and both of Sheena’s parents turned their attention to Fleance. Not just her parents. He felt like he was being backed into a corner by a very large, very short mob.

Sheena drew herself up. Her cheeks burned with pride. “Mum, Dad, this is Fleance. Fleance, these are my parents, Heather and Mike.”

“Pleasure,” Fleance said, shaking their hands.

*Fleance is my mate,* Sheena blurted out, her telepathic voice ringing with mingled embarrassment and pride.

*You don’t need to tell us that, chook,* her father told her. He clasped Fleance’s shoulder. *I’m guessing you’re the one we have to thank for getting our Sheena out of whatever was happening here alive?*

Fleance looked down at his mate. Her love for her family was clear—as was her strangled huff of frustration as her dad suggested she hadn’t had anything to do with defeating Parker. She caught his eye and the mate bond twanged with—hope? A warning?

“Actually,” Fleance said, wrapping one arm around her, “Sheena’s the one who saved me.”

It was definitely a warning, he decided as his mind was swamped by a dozen shifters wanting to know the whole story.

Sheena gave him a wry look. *You would have been better off taking all the credit,* she said, slipping her arm through his.

He wasn’t sure who made the decision to drive en masse back to Silver Springs. He suspected it was Sheena’s mother, in some sheepish, non-alpha form of complete and utter control. The hotel staff were relieved to see them go, although they kept their relief professionally hidden. One midnight fire alarm—which Fleance had no doubt would appear on his room bill—was bad enough without adding an entire sheep shifter clan to the situation.

It was a clear afternoon—no, Fleance realized, it was morning again. How long had he and Sheena been asleep?

The flock drove in a single mob down the motorway to the Silver Springs turnoff, and jostled down the winding, decorative drive through the houses.

Or what was left of them.

Sheena’s dad hissed a breath in through his teeth. “What’s the story here, then?”

Heather clicked her tongue. “Weren’t you listening before? Poor Fiona, all the work she’s put in.”

“Was that what you were trying to dig out of her? I thought you were bothering her about Christmas again.”

“Well she’s hardly going to be able to host it now, is she? With the whole place gone up in flames.”

Squashed into the back seat, Fleance caught Sheena’s eye. Somehow in the crush to get everyone into various cars, Sheena had ended up wrapped in a blanket and clutching a thermos. She grimaced, tucked the thermos down the side of the seat, and took his hand.

*Just say the word, and we can phase out of here and go bush.* Her psychic voice had a hint of smoke in it. Not sulfur—woodsmoke.

He smiled. *I don’t mind.*

Sheena rolled her eyes and wriggled against him. *Did you consider that I might mind?*

*Shame.* He grinned and dropped a kiss on top of her head. *I’m glad to meet your family. You’ve seen where I came from—* He tried not to wince. *—now I get to meet the people who helped you turn out so wonderful.*

*I feel like I should resent the suggestion that I’m not responsible for my own wonderful-ness.* Sheena wrinkled her nose. *Except I’m pretty sure that’s my hellsheep talking.*

Her eyes slid past him to the wreckage outside, and fire shimmered at the edges of her irises. The texture of her parents’ conversation in the front of the car didn’t change; neither of them had noticed anything.

*We’re definitely going to have to do something about that,* Sheena murmured as the ruined houses passed by outside, and her psychic voice tasted like a bonfire.

The mob reformed outside the only house that had been left unscathed by Parker’s attack: her aunts’ patchwork villa. Fiona and Rena were standing together at the front door. Fleance watched them exchange an exhausted glance.

Heather tutted. “They could have left us a better park!” she complained, hauling the steering wheel around and blocking another car in as she found a spot.

Sheena squeezed Fleance’s hand and slithered into the tiny gap between their car and the next. *You can’t say I didn’t warn you.*

Fleance frowned as he opened his door. *What do you mean?*

He soon found out.

Relatives surrounded him in a swarm. All of them were shouting. Hands clapped him on the shoulder, none of them clearly connected to any of the people