A huge thank you to my editor Tex Beethoven for another amazing job and collaboration, thank you Tex you rock!!!
Book 1
Chapter 34
The days flew by as Lily and Dante performed all their duties and responsibilities related to their Pack and their business. Triple S had been in full swing for a while and Dante was always very busy with it, as well as Lily who was helping out constantly. Lily had also taken on larger roles with the O'Connor family businesses, and when they weren't working on Pack duties as Alpha Heirs or in training of some kind, they were working on business matters. The little free time they had, mostly in the evenings, was spent together just being Dante and Lily. They relaxed, made love, talked about everything and anything, as well as dreamed and planned for the future and for their upcoming baby.
It was their favorite time, even though they got so little of it. That's why their weekends at the Cabin meant so much to them, the time when their only priority was simply to be together and be mates. They'd spent much of the prior weekend decorating the Cabin for Christmas, and they had even hung lights inside and out. Dante had cut down a small Ponderosa pine and placed it in the living room, where they put on some classic Bing Crosby Christmas music and made spiked hot cocoa (Baileys made it extra yummy, though only for Dante since Lily was pregnant) as they decorated the tree and sang the classics together. It was a cherished time for them, and they soaked it in every minute they could.
Christmas was on a Saturday this year, and Alpha Odin and Madame Alpha Victoria had released the Pack from their duties, giving everyone an extra-long Christmas weekend beginning Thursday after lunch. Thursday afternoon Lily and Dante said goodbye and Merry Christmas to their parents and their friends, as well as handed out the presents they'd gotten for everyone, then they left for the Cabin to return the following Monday. They knew that shortly after they returned, they would have their first meeting of the Packs to compare notes and plan for the looming conflict.
They arrived at the Cabin in the midafternoon and decided to unpack the truck, including the gifts they'd brought along for each other, and then make the drive into town to stock up on groceries and essentials for their extended stay at the Cabin. They made it back to the house with a large load of groceries, since they would be eating a lot more meals before Monday than usual.
Lily's appetite was just starting to increase, so she contributed to a few extra groceries as well, though most of that was snacks; she had started snacking and munching more frequently. Most lycans saw an increase in their food consumption fairly early after beginning their pregnancies, and Lily was simply following the normal trend. She wasn't showing yet, being only two weeks pregnant, but nonetheless Dante had taken to rubbing and kissing her belly whenever he passed her, or they were relaxing together. His pride in having a child with Lily was evident for all to see, which made Lily happy and a bit emotional.
They unloaded and stored all the groceries before making dinner that night. After dinner they wanted to do some traditional Christmas activities, even if some of them were a bit frivolous and childish. Neither of them cared about impressing each other, just pleasing each other, and this yuletide they just wanted to make the most of it and be together. They spent a while making gingerbread houses, each constructing and decorating their own, while Lily ate plenty of the supplies and decorations, making Dante laugh as she always had an impish and playfully guilty look on her face as she pretended to be sneaking the extra treats, but taking elaborate care to look sneaky so he'd catch her out.
Afterwards they decided to watch a Christmas classic, so they retired to the bedroom with the big TV and loaded up How the Grinch Stole Christmas. They cuddled in bed smiling and laughing at the show they'd both seen many times before. It was a wonderful start to their long holiday weekend, and neither of them could have asked for better. When the movie was over Lily was feeling amorous. This, of course, turned out to be a contagious condition via visual and tactile exposure and feverish, they made sweet and gentle love before finally falling asleep with Lily once again in her favorite spot.
They awakened on the morning of Christmas Eve, happy and warm inside their cozy house in the snowy wilderness. Dante set about making coffee and starting a nice fire in the fireplace. With Lily being pregnant, Doctor Marc had severely restricted her caffeine intake. She could either have one cup of coffee in the morning or one cola during the day, and this morning Lily decided on coffee. They sat in front of the fire snuggling and waking up, drinking their coffee. They were talking softly, enjoying each other's company as they discussed how they saw the next several months going with her pregnancy, potential baby names, what they might want for the nurseries, and anything else that popped into their minds. They spent quite a bit of time just sitting together idly talking in front of the fire and snuggling. When they were ready, they got up and took a relaxing shower as they washed and caressed each other and played around a little bit as well, since they were in no hurry to do anything today.
After drying off and getting dressed, they decided to go out on the snowmobile and have some fun. They had bought one when the snow first started to hit, thinking it would be useful in an emergency such as being snowed in, as well as a lot of fun at other times. There were some large meadows scattered around close enough that they could go bombing through them in the snow. They were out for several hours blasting around and laughing the whole time. It was a great way to waste several hours, and they had a blast.
They made it back to the Cabin midafternoon, where Dante made them a round of hot cocoa to warm up Lily and satisfy her sweet tooth a bit. Dante wanted to prepare a special Christmas Eve dinner for tonight, and had picked a medium-sized standing rib roast (having access to a massive cattle ranch had its benefits) that would feed both of them, plus provide a few leftovers to munch on over the next few days. He had prepped it and put it in the oven to roast slowly over several hours, and it would be ready that evening. He also started to prep Christmas dinner. They were going to cook their first Christmas Goose, and he was brining it overnight, so it would be as juicy and tender as possible for dinner tomorrow. He would be storing it in the garage overnight, since the garage was heated all winter long. It kept everything warm out there and made it pleasant instead of punishing when the temperature dropped to below freezing, as it so often did in Montana in the winter. When Dante had finished the dinner prep for tonight's dinner and tomorrow night's goose, he did the prep work for some of the side dishes, for the potatoes and veggies, and also the French onion soup he was making for an appetizer. He was going all out to make this an extra special Christmas Eve for her.
They had several hours before dinner would be ready, so Dante had moved them to the bedroom for the big TV, and they snuggled up and watched another Christmas classic, A Christmas Story. They both laughed at the movie, especially when Ralphie's Dad was trying to fix the furnace and was grumbling and cursing. It was always one of Dante's favorite parts, whereas Lily loved when Ralphie's Mom messed with the hated leg lamp 'award', driving her husband nuts.
When it was over they took another shower, and they teased and heated each other up, playing around. It would probably seem silly to others, but they wanted to dress up and have a nice dinner together as if they were going out, so after the shower they both spent time dressing nicely and getting dolled up. Dante was in a dress shirt, silver with black accents with the collar left open, showing off his mating necklace. He had on a pair of black slacks and the alligator belt Lily had gotten him in New Orleans, and a pair of Italian leather boots he'd purchased down there as well. He also wore the Richard Mille watch she'd bought for him. He had his hair in a tight ponytail with his wolf's head platinum ponytail holder as well. He cut a sharp figure and Lily smiled at him naughtily when she saw him finish getting ready.
Lily however, was an absolute vision! She had on a very tight and formfitting red silk dress with a deep plunging neckline cut down her front that went nearly to her navel, that was held together with a platinum chain just below her breasts to keep them from being too exposed. (Dante asserted that given the guest list for this party, there was no such thing as too exposed, but Lily refuted him by whimsically informing him buster, that tonight they were dining in a 'classy joint' and she didn't want to look cheap and have the maître d'hôtel look at her 'that way' again and make her wear a tie like the last time.) The dress, 'classy joint' or not, was very sexy, had a soft sheen to it and was sleeveless, held up by thin crossing straps and was cut above her knee. She wore four-inch red open-toed heels that stood her a bit taller, while pushing her perfect ass out. She had on her emerald bracelet and emerald earrings, and her hair was done up, held in place with the emerald jeweled combs, with delicate tendrils falling around her face and neck. She also wore her wedding ring and mating necklace. She was a goddess, completely to die for, and Dante's jaw was hanging open with his eyes hyper focused as he stared at her.
