Christmas With the Alphas: A Claimed Novella by Viola Rivard Page B

her second favorite hobby, even though she vacillated between excitement and dread over their inevitable arrival. In the past year, she’d grown extremely attached to Mila, and although she had countless assurances that her father would still give her buckets of love and attention, it distressed Dawn to know that her mother wouldn’t have as much time for her with two pups to look after.
    As Caim came to a stop, Dawn tilted her head to gaze up at Mila through tired eyes. Smiling, Mila pinched her nose.
    “Hey, sleepyhead.”
    “Are we home now?”
    “Almost,” Mila reassured. “We’re just gonna stop to take a little nap first.”
    Caim crouched to let them off. Dawn slid down gracefully, while Mila did so with considerably more effort.
    As soon as he shifted, Caim immediately lifted Dawn into his arms. The little girl eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck.
    “Papa.”
    Despite how attached she was to Mila, ‘papa’ was her first and favorite word. In fact, ‘mama’ had been her eighth word, behind ‘no’, ‘meat’, and ‘squirrel’. Yes, her daughter had learned ‘squirrel’ before ‘mama’.
    Mila smiled at them. “Don’t mind me, lovebirds. I’m gonna go use that bush over there.”
    After relieving herself, Mila came back to find that Caim had yet to go into the den. Leaning against the stone that made up the cavern’s façade, he held a quiet conversation with Dawn.
    “Are there squirrels at the new den?” she heard Dawn ask.
    Caim adjusted her so that she rested on his hip. “Yes.”
    “Chipmunks, too?”
    He plucked stray twigs from her hair. “Yes.”
    “And rabbits?”
    “Yes.”
    “Can we have rabbit soup?”
    “Of course.”
    As Mila waddled over to them, they both tilted their heads to regard her. Their resemblance was uncanny. Although Dawn had Mila’s colorings, she looked like a tiny, cute version of her father. Dawn and Caim had the same wavy hair and the same tan skin. Their facial structure was also strikingly similar, though where Caim was sharp angles, Dawn was soft corners.
    Mila opened her arms, prepared to embrace the two of them, but Caim turned and moved to duck into the den.
    “Hey, wait,” she called out.
    He stopped and glanced back. “What?”
    Too proud to admit he’d hurt her feelings, Mila quickly thought up an excuse.
    “It’s been years since anyone’s been in there. You should really check it and make sure there aren’t any snakes or spiders before taking her down there.”
    Caim looked annoyed, but like he did so often these days, he complied without protest. After passing Dawn off to Mila, he disappeared into the den.
    Mila felt very heavy, not only with the weight of three children, but also with Caim’s distance. He’d been fine when she’d gotten pregnant the second time. In fact, he’d been in a good mood for weeks, mainly because Dawn finally began talking. But as soon as they found out she was having twins, a small part of him had withdrawn. Mila suspected it had to do with Asch’s gloating.
    She could hardly blame Asch for being proud. He’d spent nearly a year listening to Caim brag about his daughter and had taken it all in stride. He deserved to take a little pride in siring not one, but two pups. But as if having twins wasn’t enough to boast about, Asch would often needle Caim by saying that both of his pups would be boys. That was the only time he could really get a rise out of the otherwise detached Caim.
    “It’s clear.”
    Mila gave a slight jump as Caim emerged from the darkness. He plucked Dawn from her arms and headed in. She followed behind them, feeling no less heavy.
    The den wasn’t as dark as she remembered it being. Over the years, she had grown accustomed to low lighting and could see that someone must have been in after the mating thrall. The center of the cavern had been tidied up. The furs that had made up their pallet appeared to have been laundered and neatly folded in a stack against the wall. Beside it