2. Mai

Chapter two

Mai

F inally. Peace and quiet.

I curled deeper into the couch, tucking my feet under Ryan’s thigh as I cradled a mug of hot chocolate topped with a mountain of marshmallows. Gremlin, our tiny white kitten, was sprawled across my lap, purring. Ryan had built a fire, and the flames cast a warm glow across the living room of the Alpha House.

“You know Derek’s probably going to call any minute,” I murmured, though I desperately hoped I was wrong.

Ryan’s hand squeezed my ankle. “He won’t if he wants to keep breathing. I made it very clear that unless there is a house that is literally burning down, we’re not to be disturbed. We’ve earned this break, Mai. The Pack’s stable, the territory’s secure, and Derek can handle anything else that comes up.”

He was right. We’d been running ourselves ragged since the battle with Brock, trying to prove to everyone that the Three Rivers Pack was safe under our leadership. Every day brought new challenges—integrating Korrin’s rogues, dealing with Brock’s former enforcers who’d surrendered at the Pack Meet, navigating the delicate balance of power with the other local Packs.

And then there was Jem.

My chest tightened at the thought of my brother. Jem’s wolf still couldn’t stand to be near me, not since I’d killed Hayley. The bond between us felt stretched thin, fragile. He was trying—we both were—but every time his wolf caught my scent, I could see the way he tensed, fighting against his instinct to attack. Jem’s wolf blamed me for his mate’s death, and his wolf hated to be around me. I was struggling to come to terms with my new relationship with Jem. When I ran away from the Three Rivers four years ago, after Ryan had rejected me in front of everyone, I’d bounced from city to city; I’d been alone, without a Pack, without family. I’d desperately missed my brother. Then, when I returned, after everything that me and Ryan had fought for, everything that had happened with Brock, I’d thought that I had finally got it all back. Instead, with his wolf urging him to attack me each time he saw me, it felt like I’d lost my brother all over again. Jem kept his distance from me now; to protect me, yes, but it still hurt like hell. Ryan knew how much I was struggling with it, and last week had a blazing row with Jem about it. They were arguing a lot these days, about the Pack, about the decisions we were making as the new Alphas, about me. I hated it; hated seeing them at each other throats. They’d been best friends for as long as I could remember. Neither of them thought I knew about their latest fight, but Esme had filled me in on all the details. Ryan wanted Jem to spend some time with me. Jem refused. Esme had said there’d been shouting. A lot of it. I wanted my brother back, but maybe him not being part of my life was something I was going to have to accept.

At least Jem had Esme. Esme was a witch, the first who I knew of to be part of a werewolf Pack, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an adjustment for all of us having a witch here.

After our parents died and Jem got together with Hayley, he’d been so busy working his way up in the Pack hierarchy and plotting to take over from Oliver, that he’d left raising me to Hayley. To say she wasn’t interested in looking out for me was a massive understatement. I knew that guilty Jem felt about that; he’d told me himself when I came back. I got the impression that he felt Esme was a second chance for him. He loved her like a sister and looking after her was giving him a purpose again.

I liked Esme. She was just as protective over Jem as he was over her. Jem had been Alpha here for four years, used to being the one to make the decisions, to being obeyed without question. Ryan and I were the Alphas now, and it hadn’t been an easy transition for him or the Pack. As a Pack, we needed a clear hierarchy. But no one was entirely sure who they should obey, and it made them uneasy when Jem was around. Jem could feel it in the Pack bonds, and it chewed him up that his own Pack felt that way about him now. Of course, then Esme picked up on it, and for a shy girl, she had no problem telling people off because of the way they made Jem feel. Loudly and repeatedly.

“Stop.” Ryan’s voice was gentle but firm, and I knew he could sense where my thoughts were taking me through our mate bond. “It’s just us today, remember?”

I managed a small smile. “Right. Sorry.”

He set down his coffee and pulled me closer until I was practically in his lap. Gremlin made an indignant sound at being displaced.

“Two days,” he murmured against my hair. “Just us. No Pack politics, no family tensions, no emergencies, no territory disputes, no—“

A loud knock echoed through the house.

Ryan’s growl vibrated through his chest. “I’m going to kill Derek.”

He lifted me up and gently set me on my feet, then he strode to the door, murder in his eyes. I followed him, hoping this was something we could sort out in thirty seconds and then get back to cuddling.

But when he yanked open the front door, it wasn’t Derek standing there.

It was Wally, pink-cheeked from the cold, holding the end of a trunk of what appeared to be an entire pine tree behind him. Behind that, the smaller of the two Ancestral Fires burned. It burned for every ancestor who had fought for this land, for every wolf who had ever called this place home and given their life to protect it. We lit the bonfire at the start of December, just like every Pack did each year, and it would continue to burn through the entire month.

The biggest Fire was always lit outside the Bottley Bar, but this year, we wanted to have one here, at the Alpha Compound. The walls that had once surrounded this place, keeping the Alphas and enforcers separate from the rest of the Pack, had come down earlier this year. I wanted our Pack to feel comfortable coming here, and I was hoping having an Ancestral Fire here that they could visit all month would help them get used to coming here whenever they wanted.

Ryan blinked at Wally’s grinning face. “Why,” he asked slowly, “do you have a dead tree?”

“It’s not dead, it’s festive!” Wally shouldered past Ryan into the house, trailing pine needles across the floor. “And we don’t have much time. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to get the whole Three Rivers decorated!”

Ryan glanced at me. I shrugged at him. I had no idea what Wally was going on about either.

“Decorated for what?”

“Ben’s birthday party! Ever since he learned that his birthday fell on the human holiday of Christmas, he’s been obsessed with it! Did you know that since their parents died, Amara and Ben have spent the last few years searching for food on his birthday? Can you imagine it?” He waved his hands expressively. “Well, we simply have to do something about that. I sent a call out to everyone I know, then stayed awake all last night researching Christmas.”

Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Wally—“

“Now, don’t you start with me, Ryan Shaw. Sam’s flying in from the Council, and Mason’s bringing Shya and Tucker. Thomas is stress-baking enough gingerbread wolves to feed an army, and Derek’s picking up decorations.”

“Derek knew about this?” Ryan’s voice was dangerously low.

“Of course! Someone needed to coordinate all this.” Wally planted his hands on his hips. “Now, are you going to help me with this tree or not?”

I couldn’t help it—I laughed. The sight of Ryan being steamrolled by our Pack’s most determined party planner was too perfect.

Ryan shot me a betrayed look. “You’re supporting this?”

I shrugged. “Ben and Amara have been through a lot. He deserves something special. We all do. This might be just what the Pack needs to bring everyone together.”

“But today? It’s our day. Our no-other-people-in-our-vicinity day!”

Wally heaved the tree past Ryan, its branches slapping him gently on the face as they went past. “You can’t choose when Christmas is!”

“I’m the Alpha. I’m pretty sure I can,” Ryan said, glowering at the tree.

“Fine. Well, you can’t choose when Ben’s birthday is! Are you really telling me you are going to deprive Ben of the best birthday he has ever had?”

“No, I’m not saying that. I just don’t see why the dead tree has to be in my house!”

Wally sighed and shot me a help-me look.

“It does smell nice,” I said, smiling as Wally struggled to get it upright. “And it might be good to have everyone here, not for business, but for something fun.”

I tilted my head to one side and looked at Ryan. He mouthed the words you owe me sex, and I grinned at him. I had no problem with that at all.

“Fine.” Ryan sighed in defeat and moved to help Wally with the tree.

“Darling, when you see how beautiful this place looks, you’ll be thanking me.” Wally beamed. “Now, where did I put those lights? And Mai, honey, you might want to hide that chocolate—Thomas is a bundle of nerves wanting to make this birthday good for Ben, and when he gets nervous, he binge eats everything in sight! Why do you think he is making so many cookies?”

“ Thomas is the nervous one about all this?“ Ryan whispered to me. Ever since Amara and Ben had gone to live with Thomas and Wally, they’d both been trying so hard to make their home a safe, welcoming place for the siblings. They loved having Amara and Ben living with them, and I knew both of them would do anything to make Ben’s day as special as possible.

“I heard that!”

I caught Ryan’s eye across the room and smiled apologetically. Our peaceful couple of days might be ruined, but I had meant it—this was exactly what our Pack needed, a reminder that we weren’t just about battles and takeovers, territory and power. We were family.

Even if that family came with an overly enthusiastic party planner who didn’t understand the concept of alone time.