A Highlander For Christmas

Uggh Men

I started shivering and awoke with a start, we were parked in front of the stable. Mack was not in the car, Magnus was not in the car, and that jerk left me in the car to freeze. There was an old red pickup parked beside Mack's SUV and I guess that was Alexei's vehicle.

Stretching, I shuddered and shivered again. Snow was starting to pile up and the light was fading. Looking out the window I could see Magnus peeking out of a shelter watching his sheep. Pride swelled in me, he was such a young dog and most of the time it was never good to leave such a young dog alone with his livestock but he was doing such a great job.

Maybe I could just sneak in through the kitchen and go back upstairs. I really did not want to see Mack and even though I did want to see Alexei, I felt like I should at least look human and not like an extra from The Walking Dead. Weighing my options I decided to just face the music and deal with whatever crap show was going to come my way.

Hustling out of the SUV I slammed the door and resisted the urge to kick the door, it wasn't the vehicle's fault that the person who drove it was a first-class jackass. Stomping up the steps to the back door I heard laughing coming from inside, it sounds like they were all having a great time while I was out here freezing my tush off.

"Hi, honey I'm home." I kicked the door closed and everyone stopped talking to stare at me. Eugenia hustled to my side and started clucking like a mother hen. She was murmuring about jail and how I should not have been sleeping outside in the car.

Mack refused to make eye contact with me and I stormed over to where he was sitting and stared at him. He continued ignoring me and the mood in the kitchen was starting to become very awkward. Mack sighed and finally turned his attention toward me. He looked like I had just spit in his coffee, I was very tempted to do just that, but I was an adult and I could handle this in an adult manner.

"Why are ye staring at me lass?" He sipped his drink, his throat bobbing as the liquid traveled down his throat. He smelled wonderful and I could see a few gray hairs at his temples, the stubble on his face was darker than earlier. He was really hot, but his personality just ruined it.

"You left me in the car, it was cold. I could have froze to death." Alexei snorted and Mack smirked. Oh so now these two chuckleheads were best friends?

"Dear Mack knew you were exhausted he thought you needed to sleep. Besides, he said he left the keys in the car for you and you had a nice warm jacket." Eugenia patted Mack's shoulder and handed me a mug of hot chocolate. Mack was perfectly smug and Alexei was trying hard not to laugh.

"Oh is that so." Narrowing my eyes at both guys I smiled sweetly and put Alexei's jacket on the back of a chair and he was watching me to see what I would do next.

"Ye were perfectly fine lass, even if ye snore like a chainsaw." My jaw popped open and Alexei started laughing. Mack looked amused with himself and then went back to ignoring me.

"Well, at least Alexei managed to get me out of jail," I said the words with as much sweetness as I could, he watched me and I smiled at him, leaning in closer I patted his cheek and kept doing it a little harder each time until he started to wince.

"But thank you for getting Magnus out of doggy jail. I honestly don't know how I could manage without a couple of big strong men like you to bail my silly girly self out of trouble." I could see the suspicion on Mack's face and he worked his jaw as he tried to hide the fact that I slapped him a bit harder than I needed to.

"Well isn't this nice, will you boys stay for dinner?" Eugenia definitely could not read the room, I was ready to slap both these boneheads. I hit Alexei in the back of the head as I leaned on his shoulder and stomped on Mack's foot.

"I will be going back up to my room and will be down later to grab some food. I'm still jet-lagged. I am also sure the gentlemen have other things to don't they." I bared my teeth at them and gripped their shoulders as hard as I could. It was like trying to pinch stone but I wanted to make it clear that neither of these idiots was welcome right now.

"Yes, I have some paperwork for a case I need to do." Alexei was wincing as I gripped him harder.

"Aye, I have to go take care of some wee colts that are not feeding well from their mam." He was twitching under my grip. I slapped their backs and continued to grin.

"Excellent, good night everyone and I hope my chainsaw snoring doesn't bring down the house around our ears." Mack started rubbing his shoulder and exchanged a look with Alexei. Uggh men, I really could do without them in my life.