Jingle All the Yay

Since the Feast clan had created their own set of holidays and days to celebrate them on, unlike most of the people out and about, Australis Feast was completely unbothered. She wasn’t looking for one gift, one sheet of wrapping paper, or ornaments because they celebrated Christmas in September, closer to Jesus’ actual birthday. Her job as an ethical hacker allotted her plenty of time to chill and she was taking full advantage of it by trekking to various dives in the area in search of good eats. And then she spied Jingle, a large breed dog who was clearly running from something. Using her snack to tempt him into her SUV, she used her skills to find out where he was supposed to be, which was seven states away in Idabell, Colorado. As Australis was sure she was going to need all manner of help to get into Heaven, she decided to make the drive. Seventeen hundred miles was a long trek, but she was a Feast and, therefore, it would be epic.

Like the creek he was named after, Medano was the most unpredictable but surprising Silverton brother. He was also the most bad-tempered, anti-social, and misanthropic. Yay for whomever was saddled with him in anything. Currently, the only female that could tolerate him was his mom but if she got to thinking on the 36 hours of labor required to bring him forth into the world, all bets were off.

When his dad’s beloved dog Jingle went missing, he was the first person to go looking for the Bernese Mountain dog. When they couldn’t locate him, he threw in twenty grand of his own money as a reward. His dad loved that dog and he loved his dad. And then he got a call from an unrestricted number at two in the morning from someone who had the unmitigated gall to sound chipper. And she claimed she had the dog. A few eff yous later, he was barreling down the road to meet this rude woman looking like f*ck all in sweatpants, cowboy boots, and a Stetson and raring for a fight. And then he saw Australis and all he wanted to do was f*ck. But first, he had to get Jingle settled. Second, he had to make sure the ornery woman didn’t shoot his balls off. Third, he had to figure out a way to get her in his bed.

Jingle had been lost, afraid, and hungry. On the lam for three weeks, he’d made his way to a college town. A working dog, he was smart and resourceful, which is why he’d been able to survive. And then he’d been found by Australis who’d guarded him, fed him, loved him, and assured him she’d get him home to his dad. That’s when he’d decided he loved her, despite her making him an accomplice in something called shenanigans. He was overjoyed to be reunited with his humans but that didn’t mean he was about to let Australis go. All he had to do was find a reason for her to stay. Medano was it, not because he was a great catch per se, but because he was the one Silverton son who could probably survive Australis Feast.