The Bite Before Christmas
THE GIFT Chapter Seven

Teddy woke up to find Katricia curled up against him, her head nestled on his chest and eyes open as she drew invisible little figures on his stomach with the tip of her finger. He didn't know how she knew he was awake, but a heartbeat after he opened his eyes she stopped skin-sketching and tilted her head to peer up at him.
"Hello," she whispered, smiling.
"Hello," Teddy murmured and slid his arms around to catch her shoulders and pull her up for a kiss, but paused as he became aware of a bad taste in his mouth. Morning breath . . . or afternoon or evening breath. He wasn't sure which, since he had no idea what time it was. Whatever kind of breath it was it was bad, he decided with a grimace, and rather than use his hold on her to pull her up for a kiss, he used it to set her aside and quickly sat up and slid out of bed.
"Did you bring my stuff over?" he asked, but spotted his suitcase on the floor beside the dresser even as he asked the question, and moved to it.
"What are you doing?" Katricia asked.
Teddy glanced over to see her sitting up, watching him as he opened the suitcase. He turned back to dig through it, answering, "Looking for my toothbrush and toothpaste so I can clean my teeth and then kiss you."
Katricia chuckled and he heard the rustle of her standing up, and then her legs appeared beside him. The sight of them made him pause so he could peer at them admiringly.
"You have legs like a young colt," he murmured, one hand instinctively moving to slide up the smooth skin of one inner thigh. Katricia shifted toward him then, her thighs parting a little, and Teddy leaned forward to press a kiss to the soft, fair hair between her legs. When she sighed, her fingers sliding into his hair, he started to urge her legs farther apart and angled his head to dip between them, but caught himself at the last minute.
"Toothbrush," he muttered, turning away to continue his search. She might not care if he had bad breath while kissing her there, but eventually he'd want to kiss her lips and she'd mind then. Honestly, it tasted like something had crawled into his mouth while he was sleeping and died there.
"I put it in the side pocket when I fetched it from the bathroom at the other cottage," Katricia said helpfully, bending to retrieve it for him. The action put her breast right in front of his face and Teddy couldn't resist leaning forward to catch the nipple in his mouth.
Katricia stilled and moaned at the caress, her hand gliding into his hair again, and Teddy turned, catching her arms to take her with him and then urged her to squat before him so that she didn't have to stay bent over. The position left her on her toes with her bent knees on either side of his legs and Teddy couldn't resist reaching to caress what she'd unavoidably opened to him. His caress brought a deep groan from Katricia. When she teetered on her toes, he slid his other hand around to hold her by the behind and help her keep her balance as he caressed her, then let the first breast slip from his mouth to move to the other, muttering, "I can see I'm not going to get much done for a while with you around."
"How long is your vacation before you have to return to Port Henry?" Katricia asked breathlessly as he claimed and began to lave the other nipple. The question made Teddy freeze.
Frowning now, he pulled back and muttered, "Forever, I guess."
Katricia blinked in confusion. "What?"
A bit distressed at the realization that had just struck him, Teddy shook his head, took the toothbrush and toothpaste she'd retrieved and still clutched in hand, then got to his feet, urging her up with him.
"I need to brush my teeth," he said distractedly and moved around her, only to pause uncertainly. He had no idea where the bathroom was. His gaze slid around the room. There were three doors in the room, one was a set of double doors, obviously the closet, but there were two other doors along one wall, one on either end. One, no doubt, led to the rest of the house, but the other might be a bathroom, he thought and tried the door on the right, relieved when it opened up into an en suite bathroom. He found the light switch, flipped it on, and then moved into the room. His gaze landed on the shower as he moved in front of the sink and he decided a shower was probably a good idea, too.
Teddy opened the toothpaste, squirted some onto his toothbrush, and was brushing his teeth when Katricia followed him into the room. She waited patiently as he brushed his teeth and tongue and rinsed. But when he turned off the tap and moved to the shower to turn on the taps, she asked, "Teddy? What do you mean forever?"
"I mean I can hardly go back as I am," he said quietly, adjusting the taps until he had the temperature where he wanted it. Stepping into the shower then, Teddy caught her hand and tugged her under the spray with him, adding, "It would be a little hard to explain my suddenly youthful appearance."
The realization was a rather distressing one to him. He'd expected he'd have another year as police chief of Port Henry and then he'd retire to live out the rest of his days in the small town where he'd been born, raised, and lived most of his life.
"But why?" Katricia asked with true bewilderment as he picked up the soap and began to rub it between his hands to create lather. "I mean I thought the people in Port Henry knew about our kind?"
Her words ended on a gasp as he began to run his soapy hands over her body. Teddy smiled faintly at how her nipples immediately pebbled up and her breathing became rapid and shallow at the simple touch. This life-mate business was some pretty powerful mojo. The worst lover in the world would be a star with this backing him, he thought. Fortunately, he was nowhere near a bad lover. At least he didn't think he was. He could be wrong, of course, Teddy acknowledged, finishing with her chest and letting his hands move down over her stomach before one slid around to her behind while the other slipped between her legs. He didn't dally there long. Touching her was exciting both of them and he had no desire to pass out in the shower.
"Teddy," she said, framing his face with her hands when he withdrew his hands to grab the soap again. "Don't the people in Port Henry know? I thought they did."
Sighing, he quickly built up more lather and began to wash himself as he admitted, "Some people in Port Henry do know. Some don't. The ones who know would be all right, but as police chief I serve all of them. I couldn't keep this a secret."
They both fell silent then. He was busy soaping himself up now and Katricia had picked up the shampoo to wash her hair. Teddy had no idea what she was thinking, but he was thinking he didn't have a damned clue what he was supposed to do now. He'd been a cop most of his life and police chief of Port Henry for almost half his life. It had been a nice steady paycheck and he'd socked money away for his retirement, but not enough to carry them through several centuries or even a millennia or two. Besides, he liked working. He liked having a reason to get up in the morning and- His thoughts died abruptly as he realized he'd have to avoid getting up in the morning from now on. Immortals avoided the sun, as a rule . . . well, except in the winter, when they were all bundled up against it, he thought as he poured some shampoo into his own hand to wash his hair and watched Katricia rinse hers.
"But you love that job," Katricia said suddenly as she finished rinsing off and moved out of the spray.
"I do. But I'll find something else I love," Teddy said quietly as he switched places with her to rinse the soap from his own hair and body. Then he closed his eyes and let the water rinse the soap away. He wished it could as easily rinse away the sudden depression settling over him. He was grateful as hell to be a life mate, to have a chance at all the joy and happiness Katricia and he could have together, but suddenly finding himself unemployed was a bit distressing.
Teddy heard the shower door open and close and knew Katricia had left the glass enclosure. Somehow it felt as cold and depressing as his thoughts, without her in there. Sighing, he turned and shut off the taps.
"You might not have to find something else," Katricia said quietly, handing him a towel as he stepped out.
Teddy took the towel, but then simply held it and watched her dry herself with her own. "How's that?"
"There's a way you can still be police chief of Port Henry," she said, running the terry cloth briskly over her body, and then she bit her lip briefly before saying, "But to keep it, Teddy Brunswick might have to have a heart attack and die on his Christmas vacation up north."
Teddy was so startled he dropped the towel he was holding. Eyes wide, he asked, "What?"
"Teddy Brunswick would have to die and you'd have to return with a different name," Katricia said, pausing to peer at him solemnly.
He stared back silently, considering the suggestion, but then shook his head. "I couldn't just walk in and take over the job under a new name, Katricia. There are hiring processes and paperwork and I don't have any I.D. except my own, which says I'm sixty-four, and-"
"Lucian would see to it," she interrupted quietly, beginning to dry him off now. "We have people who take care of this kind of thing, Teddy. You could be supplied with new I.D. and the appropriate background. Then a little mind-control here and a little finessing there and voila, you could be Teddy Argeneau, the new, young police chief of Port Henry."
"Teddy Argeneau, huh?" he asked with amusement, tugging the towel from her hand and dropping it on the floor as he pulled her against him.
"Or Teddy Smith or Johnson, or even John Hancock," she said, leaning against him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Whatever you want. I just like Teddy because it's how I think of you now, and I picked Argeneau because it's my name. We could switch back and forth between Argeneau and Brunswick over the decades, or choose another name altogether. I don't care. But you could keep the job you love."
"But won't people recognize it's me?" he asked quietly.
"The ones who know about immortals will, and can be told the truth. But the ones who don't know won't recognize you. People see what they expect to see, Teddy," she said solemnly. "And they won't expect to see Teddy Brunswick, forty years younger."
"Hmm." He smiled, his body relaxing, and then bent to nuzzle the side of her neck. "I could have you and the job I love, too, in the town I love. Nice."
Katricia smiled and pulled from his arms, then caught his hand and led him back into the bedroom and straight to the bed. She let go of him then and started to crawl onto it, but stopped and glanced over her shoulder with a yelp of surprise at a sharp nip on her behind. Her eyes widened incredulously when she saw Teddy straightening from biting her butt cheek.
"I've wanted to do that ever since first seeing you in those damned leotards of yours," he admitted with a grin, one hand at her waist to hold her in place as he used his other hand to rub the spot soothingly.
"Yoga pants," Katricia corrected with an arched eyebrow, but his biting her reminded her that he would still need a lot of blood, and she shifted and turned at the same time, escaping his hold to sit on her behind and slide to the edge of the bed. "You probably need more blood about now. We should feed."
Teddy grimaced at the thought and stepped between her legs to prevent her from getting up. "Later. I have other, more pressing hungers right now," he assured her, and pressed the proof of those hungers against her.
Katricia wiggled against his hardness, but avoided his mouth when he tried to kiss her. Managing to catch him by surprise, she pushed him away to slip off the bed.
"I forgot to brush my teeth," she announced, moving to the cooler to retrieve a bag of blood. Tossing it to him, Katricia then turned and skipped quickly into the bathroom.
Her toothbrush was there beside the sink where she'd placed it the day she'd arrived, and she'd squirted toothpaste on it and begun to brush her teeth when Teddy suddenly appeared behind her in the bathroom mirror, the bag of blood still in his hand.
"I don't know how to . . . er . . . well, my fangs don't seem to want to- Do I have fangs?" he finished with a frown.
A strand of dark hair had flopped onto his forehead and he looked so bewildered and heartbreakingly young that Katricia smiled around her toothbrush, but merely nodded and quickly finished brushing and then rinsed. She then turned to face him.
"There are two ways to bring them on until you learn to control your fangs," she announced.
"How's that?" Teddy asked warily.
"I could bite or cut myself or you. The smell of blood will usually bring them on," she explained, but he grimaced at the suggestion.
"I'd rather you didn't hurt yourself or me. What's the other way?" he asked.
Katricia hesitated, but then decided it would be more fun to show him than to explain and simply dropped to her knees in front of him.
"What-?" he began with surprise, and then sucked in a hissing breath as she took little Teddy in hand.
"Excitement will bring on your fangs, too," she said with a grin, and then took no-longer-so-little Teddy into her mouth to show him.
Katricia opened her eyes to find Teddy leaning over her, simply staring down at her face. She smiled uncertainly up at him and whispered, "Hi."
"Hi yourself," he said with a grin, but when she reached for his head, he caught her hand and asked, "How old are you?"
Katricia stilled and blinked, but answered solemnly, "I was born in 411 AD."
She then waited nervously for his reaction, worried about how he'd take that news, but he considered it for a minute, then smiled and said, "Sweet sixteen, this year, huh?"
"Sixteen centuries," she agreed with amusement.
Teddy grinned and bent to kiss her lightly, then murmured, "Don't worry, you don't look a day over fifteen centuries."
Katricia gasped at the words, then swatted his arm and rolled him onto his back. She came up on top of him scowling, and began to poke him in the stomach and ribs, but he just chuckled and caught her wrists. Holding on to them, he tugged her down until her breasts rested against his chest and he could reach her lips. Then he kissed her passionately, his hips moving under her so that she felt the hardness pressing against her.
By the time he broke the kiss, they were both breathing heavily, so Katricia was a little surprised when he nibbled at her ear briefly before asking, "When is your birthday?"
"December twenty-fifth," she answered breathlessly, and then gasped in surprise when he suddenly rolled her off of him and rose up over her.
"Christmas Day?" Teddy asked with dismay.
Katricia nodded uncertainly. "Yes."
"Damn."
Much to her amazement, he was suddenly off the bed. Katricia sat up and stared at him where he'd gone to rifle through his suitcase. When he retrieved a pair of jeans and began to drag them on, she frowned and asked with confusion, "What are you doing?"
"Getting dressed," he said, doing up his jeans and frowning when he found them a little loose. Shaking his head, he dug out a sweater next and asked, "Those fellows who came to help out didn't happen to clean off my pickup, did they?"
"Teddy-"
"It doesn't matter. If they didn't, I'll clear away the snow myself. What are you doing?" he asked, pausing to frown at her where she still sat on the bed. "Get up. Get dressed. We have to go to town. You-" He stopped and blinked several times, then shook his head. "On second thought, don't. It's better if you wait here anyway. I won't be long."
"Teddy," she said with exasperation as he hurried for the door to the hall. She started to slide off the bed, but paused when he swung back halfway there. He wasn't responding to her voice, however, he simply rushed back to his suitcase for socks. Straightening with them in hand, he turned back the way he'd come.
"Teddy!" Katricia bellowed, getting off the bed as he started for the door again. "Dammit will you-"
The words died in her throat as he suddenly changed direction, heading for her instead of the door. He stopped in front of her, caught her upper arms, and pulled her up on her toes for a quick but very hard and thorough kiss. Then smiled wryly as he released her. "Sorry. Forgot. I won't be long."
Katricia blinked and simply stared as he turned and hurried out of the room. The stupid man thought she'd wanted a kiss good-bye. Which she would have wanted had he been going anywhere, but he wasn't going anywhere. She had no doubt he would realize that as soon as he ran into Bricker and Anders, but sighed and moved to the closet to retrieve her robe and don it before following him out of the room just in case the guys were still sleeping.
The house was silent as she moved out into the hall, and Katricia could see the door to the room at the far end of the hall was open, revealing a stripped bed. The door next to it was open as well, but didn't face in her direction. Still, she didn't doubt that bed would be stripped, too. Bricker and Anders were up and would stop Teddy, she thought with relief but continued on anyway.
The setup here was similar to Teddy's cottage, but bigger and arranged the opposite way. She stepped out of the hall into a large room with the right side an open living area separated from the kitchen and dining room on the left by a long counter. Her eyes landed on the twinkling lights of a large Christmas tree in front of the windows on the living-room side, and she stared at it for a moment, a slow smile spreading her lips. Bricker and Anders must have set it up. It hadn't been there before. They hadn't done a half-bad job decorating it, Katricia decided and then glanced toward the kitchen, spotting Teddy at once. He stood in front of the refrigerator, reading a note stuck to the metal front of it with a magnet.
"What does it say?" she asked, moving around the counter to join him.
"Woke early and decided to head back to T.O. Hoping to make it in time for Christmas dinner with Mortimer, Sam, and her sisters. Little elves peeled potatoes and turnip, stuffed the turkey, and popped it in the oven for you. Merry Christmas, your favorite elves J.B. and A.," Teddy read with bewilderment and then glanced to the stove and muttered, "I can smell the turkey. It must be nearly done."
He moved over to open the oven door and frowned when he saw the browning bird inside. The smell was heavenly, to Katricia's mind, but it just made Teddy frown harder. Slamming the door closed, he straightened. "Where did the turkey come from? And why the hell would they put it on a day early?"
"The blood courier brought the turkey and a bunch of other food," Katricia explained. "He had a trailer on the back of the snowmobile with that, the gas, the blood, and another snowmobile for us to use. But Bricker and Anders brought desserts and more food with the extra blood they brought up."
"Well, that was nice," he said grudgingly, and then asked with irritation, "But why the hell would they put it on today?"
"Because today is Christmas," she said gently, and when he glanced to her with horror, Katricia sighed and moved to slip her arms around his waist, explaining, "You were out for more than twenty-four hours, Teddy. It's Christmas Day. Well . . ." She smiled wryly as her gaze slid to the windows that made up the front wall of the cottage and she saw the darkness outside. "It's Christmas night now, I guess."
"Damn." Teddy sighed and slid his arms around her, his chin coming to rest on the top of her head. He hugged her tightly and then simply held her and muttered, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" she asked, pulling back to peer at him with surprise.
"I don't have a Christmas gift for you, or a birthday gift," he said sadly, and then shifted with frustration and muttered, "You've given me so much, I wanted to-"
"It's okay. I don't have anything for you, either," Katricia said soothingly.
Teddy stopped and peered at her with surprise. Then he snorted with disbelief. "You're kidding, right? Sweetheart, you've given me everything. You saved my life and much much more. You've given me a body that's young and healthy with not a single old-age ache or pain. And you've given me a smart, sexy woman for the rest of my days, not to mention a second chance at life."
"A second chance at life?" she echoed with surprise.
"I never married or had kids as a mortal, Katricia. Now I can. With you," he pointed out and then smiled crookedly and added, "And there won't be any more charity Christmases. I'll be spending them with you and our child when we have one."
She had no idea what a charity Christmas was, but was distracted by the other thing he'd said. "Our child."
"Yes . . . well, if you want kids," Teddy said uncertainly. "I do, but if you don't, we can-"
"I do," Katricia interrupted quickly and smiled when Teddy relaxed and grinned. She did want children. It just hadn't occurred to her until he'd mentioned them. She'd been too busy marveling over having a life mate to have moved on to the children part. But she did want them. Just maybe not for twenty years or so. Katricia figured in twenty years she should be used to having a life mate and not be trying to drag him off to the bedroom every five minutes. Maybe. She was certainly fighting the urge to do so now.
"I wish I had a gift for you. A whole passel of them for your birthday and Christmas both."
That fretful mutter from Teddy drew her attention to his unhappy expression, and she tightened her arms around him briefly.
"Teddy, you are a gift," she said solemnly. "I've been alive a long time and was starting to suffer the dark thoughts and depression that often lead to going rogue. But that's all gone now that I've found you." She leaned back and smiled. "You're a life mate. That's the gift every immortal prays they'll find under their tree at Christmas."
He peered at her silently for a moment and then his gaze slid past her and his eyes began to glow. Still looking past her, he asked, "With or without a bow?"
"What?" she asked with confusion and then gasped when he scooped her up into his arms.
"Did you want your life mate under that tree with or without a bow?" he asked, carrying her around the kitchen counter into the living-room area.
"Without," Katricia said with a laugh as she saw he was carrying her toward the Christmas tree. He set her on her feet once they reached the tree and immediately undid her robe, but when he reached for the lapels to remove it, she stopped him by clasping his face in both hands. When he raised his eyebrows and met her gaze in question, Katricia said solemnly, "You really are a gift, Teddy Brunswick. The best gift of all, one that promises many, many Merry Christmases and Happy Birthdays to come."
"For both of us," he vowed, and then bent his head to kiss her as his hands pushed the robe off her shoulders.