Double Booked for the Holiday
by
Leo
I love my friend group to pieces, even if there are a few drama-llamas in the bunch. This year has been a bit much though, between hearing about their constant relationship woes and party planning calamities and dealing with my own workplace catastrophies. Taking a break to refresh and recharge seemed like the perfect plan, until I arrived at the cabin I’d booked for one to find two snow leopards cuddling on the bed.
Maverick
Another year and no mate in sight. It’s not that I haven’t looked, I’ve tried matchmakers and even a few online dating sites that resulted in some frustrating and occasionally embarrassing hookups that left me smarting after they ghosted me. All my efforts have landed me was more chastisment from my folks who can’t stop wishing I’d be more like my older siblings. If it wasn’t for Briar’s brilliant idea for a little getaway, my outlook for this holiday season would have been worse than last years.
Briar
Booking a holiday retreat for me and my best friend has plenty of benefits, including the obvious ones. While we’ve never had mating marks appear on our skin, neither of us can picture ourselves with anyone else, no matter how much our families protest the break from tradition. Booking it in a snowy paradise, well that’s just a bonus when you’re both snow leopards. At least until our cabin for two turns out to be a cabin for three.
Double-booked for the Holidays is a multi-author mpreg shared setting Christmas series. The winter holidays are hard on single shifters. Instead of going home to yet another barrage of "why haven't you found your mate yet" questions, some prefer to book lodging and ride out their depressing time off between Christmas and New Year's.
Except this year, their cabins are double-booked with unsuspecting humans.
Genres:
Pairings: M-M-M
Heat Level: 3
Romantic Content: 5
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 26-35
Protagonist 2 Age: 26-35
Protagonist 3 Age: 26-35
Tropes: Alpha Character, Fated Mates / Soul Mates, Forced Proximity, Friends to Lovers, Menage, Mpreg
Word Count: 55,000
Setting: Cabin Retreat
Languages Available: English
“Oh shit!” I yelped, scrambling so fast I fell off the bed. “Is he dead? Did he have a heart attack? Oh my goddess, what do we do?”
“Mav…”
“He’s dead, isn’t he? We’re gonna get arrested and have our faces splashed all over the front page of the newspaper back home, and it won’t be for our cookies this time either!” I screeched. “What are our folks gonna say? I just know mine will try to blame it all on you when I’m the one who scared the poor guy to death. Number 723 in the long list of reasons they have for why we shouldn’t be friends or business partners, you just watch.”
“Mav, I don’t think…”
“What are we gonna do now, Briar? Do we move the body? Hide the body? Eat the body? Oh eww, please say we don’t have to eat the body. I don’t think I can. I’ll puke, Briar, I know I will.”
His arms slid around me, and he hugged me tight, lips tickling the shell of my ear as he spoke directly into it.
READ MORE“Relax, Mav, breathe. Just breathe, okay?” Briar cooed. “He’s not dead. He just passed out and hit his head on the floor. We’d better call up to the reception desk; they’ll know what to do.”
“What the hell was he doing in here anyway?” I squeaked, clinging to the arms he’d wrapped around me. “Why break into our cabin? This better not be another of Pasqual’s attempts to steal our recipes, ‘cause I swear I will eat him and deal with the heartburn later.”
“Just relax and put some pants on,” he said, nudging me in the direction of the dresser where I’d unpacked our clothes. “I’ll call the receptionist, and we can take it from there.”
“How are you so calm about this?” I asked as I yanked the drawer open so hard, I pulled it out completely and dropped it on my foot. “Owe! Fuck! Dammit! Son of a fucking bitch!”
Now we had a passed-out human on the floor and me hopping around on one foot, cussing up a blue streak.
“Shhhh, shhh, it’s okay; let’s see what you’ve done to yourself,” he said as he sat me on the edge of the bed and took my foot in his hands. “Hardly even a bruise; it will be gone in a second, sweetheart. Just slow down. We’re not going to get into trouble for this, I promise. He’s the one at fault for breaking in here, not us. As soon as they look at him, they’ll see that we didn’t lay a claw on him.”
“Why didn’t you? Why were you just lying there staring at him when I woke up?”
Pain made me angry. Fear amplified it. I was usually the chill one, while he tended to go off half-cocked and threatened to claw people’s eyes out and feed them to them.
“I don’t know,” he said as he picked up the drawer and slid it back into place. “I just didn’t sense a threat from him. He seemed more curious than dangerous, at least until you scared the shit out of him.”
“Me?” I squeaked; glad my foot had stopped throbbing so I could help him pick up the rest of my clothes. “I scared him? How do you think I felt seeing a stranger standing beside our bed watching us? Not that there was anything to see, but…you don’t think he was looking for a thrill, do you?”
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