The Gift

There was no way he was pregnant. Santa turned the thought over and over as he went through the motions in Perth's kitchen, mechanically wiping a counter that was already clean. He had always been on birth control. It was a non-negotiable, especially after being given to the GMMTV Pack.

The three minutes for the test result were the most excruciating wait of his life.

Once time was up, Santa quickly snatched the stick from the edge of the marble sink, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs.

Two small lines stared up at him from the pristine bathroom, as if mocking the very foundation of his carefully controlled life.

He was pregnant.

Santa had been sent as a 'gift' to clear a debt, a transaction between packs. He never imagined his role would evolve so horrifically: from Perth's reluctant housekeeper, to his toy, to his emotional punching bag, to the silent body pillow chased from the bed by dawn. And now, apparently, to the mother of his child. All while holding the official title of Perth's live-in housekeeper, a duty that kept him perpetually close and underfoot.

The secret, like the life growing inside him, could not stay hidden forever.