3. Mai

Chapter three

Mai

E ight hours later, Christmas lights twinkled as they lined the fireplace mantle, their soft glow reflecting off the shiny red and silver baubles hanging from the ten-foot tree that dominated the living room. Silver and gold tinsel wound its way around every available surface, and the smell of cinnamon and fresh pine needles filled the air. For a house that, more often than not these days, hosted meetings with our enforcers, along with their heated discussions about territory and defense, it was surprisingly cozy.

Cozy. I never thought I’d say that about the Alpha House. Usually, the place felt suffocating with its history handed down from Oliver, and Jem and Hayley. It was all about secrets and authority and responsibility. But now … now, it wasn’t just home; it actually felt like home.

From where I stood by the window, arms folded across my chest, I watched Ryan and his brothers bicker over the right way to hang mistletoe from the ceiling. Sam, grinning like the mischief-maker he used to be before he joined the Wolf Council, dangled it precariously over Mason’s head, lips puckered as if asking for a kiss, while Derek kept trying to flick it out of his hand. Ryan was getting more and more annoyed with all of them, and I was counting the seconds until he snatched it out of Sam’s hands and told them to all sit down while he hung it by himself.

I’d been surprised when Sam turned up; I hadn’t thought he’d come. He was so busy with the Wolf Council these days and tracking down the witches behind ripple, but he’d mumbled something about needing a break, a distraction, and that he needed to be with family for a few days. I don’t know what he was involved in at the Council, but it had bounced the joy right out of him. He was grimmer these days, with a look in his eyes that he had seen things he couldn’t unsee. But he’d thrown himself into the celebrations, and it almost felt like we had the old Sam back.

Since he’d been here, the whole Three Rivers had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland, with anywhere that Ben might go covered with tinsel and lights. We’d had to move the inflatable reindeer as all the werewolf pups kept using them for hunting practice and popping them. And I was going to have to wear sunglasses the next time I went to the Bottley Bar; it looked like a tinsel bomb had exploded in there. Wally was definitely of the there-is-no-such-thing-as-too-much-tinsel school of thought.

My eyes shifted to the figure sitting on the plush couch in front of the Christmas tree: Ben, small and still a little too thin, his wide eyes filled with awe, staring at every twinkling light as though the tree was spun from magic. He hadn’t stopped staring at the tree since he arrived with Wally and Thomas earlier, eyes shimmering under the soft glow of the lights.

“Is all this really for me?” Ben’s voice trembled slightly, still not daring to blink, as if it might all be gone by the time he opened his eyes again.

Wally, picking up Gremlin from the back of the sofa before she could launch herself at the tree, flashed him a grin. “Of course it is, Ben. Every bit of it.” He turned and winked at me. “And let me tell you—it wasn’t easy getting this lot,” he gestured vaguely at the Shaw brothers, “to hang Christmas lights without tangling up every single strand. You would think, given they are two Alphas, a Beta and a Wolf Council member, that they could do it without tangling each other in lights, but no, that proved to be too much for them.”

Gremlin glared at Wally. They’d been having a running battle all day, ever since the tree went up, and Gremlin had obviously decided it was the best thing ever to climb. She’d already brought the tree down once before all the decorations went on it, and now Wally was policing the thing like it was the crown jewels, in between helping Sylvie out in the kitchen. It had been Wally’s idea to have a family Christmas dinner for Ben’s birthday. It was supposed to be a big event where we could give Ben all his presents.

Ben’s small mouth grinned wide. The sight made something warm unfurl deep in my chest. Goddess, the kid deserved this. All of it. The gingerbread and orange smell wafting from the table, the snow globes hidden around the house, the stockings full of presents that everyone had brought to give to Ben. I glanced at Wally, who winked at me before giving Ben’s hair a playful tousle. Thomas, quieter but no less protective, sat down next to Ben and took a bite out of the gingerbread man he’d swiped from the table.

“Tsk, don’t let Sylvie see you with that!” Wally grabbed the cookie from Thomas’s hand and stuffed it into his own mouth. “I’m saving you! They’re for when everyone is here!”

I smiled. This was it. My family. Pack. It was stronger than blood. These people—Ryan, his brothers, Wally, Thomas, Ben—they weren’t just individuals thrown together by circumstance. They were intentional. We were intentional. What we were building here, it was real. It was love and family and protection, all wrapped together like the brightly colored packages under the tree.

My stomach made a loud, unmistakable gurgle. I clutched at it, as if that would be enough to shut it up. Every head in the room turned to me.

Yeah, they didn’t need werewolf hearing to know I was hungry.

Ryan was the first to react, his blue eyes narrowing. He turned on his heel in a fluid motion, already halfway across the room toward the kitchen. Sam jumped down from the chair he’d been standing on as Mason pushed Derek back and they both went after Ryan. Thomas shook his head as Wally grinned at me.

“Girl, your little pea has the wolf’s appetite down.”

Didn’t I know it. It felt like every five minutes, I wanted to gnaw my way through big piles of food.

From the kitchen, I could hear the clatter of plates, the sound of drawers opening and closing, and the unmistakable shoo-ing of Sylvie. “Don’t you boys mess with that!” she scolded. “I’m making something proper for our Alpha. Don’t just go rummagin’ through my kitchen like squirrels on caffeine! Out! The lot of you!”

Ryan popped out first, a massive plate of chocolate cake in hand. His face was serious. He was taking my hunger as a personal challenge to feed me up. Next came Sam, who had somehow managed to carry three whole plates filled with an assortment of meats, balancing them precariously on his arms.

Mason followed, holding a platter of what looked like hastily stolen sandwiches. Derek was last, toting the extravagant shrimp cocktail that I’d seen at the back of the fridge this morning, its pink tails sticking oddly out of what seemed like a crystal punch bowl.

“Uh.” I blinked, watching the bizarre concoction of food pile up in front of me. Not even the little pea would be able to munch through all of this.

Wally laughed. “You do know Mai’s only carrying one baby and not an entire litter, right?”

“Oh, don’t discourage them,” Thomas said, reaching over and snagging one of the sandwiches as a knock sounded at the front door.

“Shya and Tucker are here!” Ben jumped up. He’d been excited about meeting Tucker all day.

Mason strode to the door and swung it open. Shya stood in the doorway, bundled up in a thick winter coat and her new brushed leather black Prada boots. Mason had bought those for Shya, and she’d spent half an hour on the phone with me last week, gushing about how beautiful they were. Mason yanked Shya to him and kissed her as Tucker burst forward in a blur, his curly hair bouncing against his face. It had been Mason’s idea to introduce Tucker and Ben. He wanted Tucker to have some friends outside of their Pack—and how weird was it to think of Mason having his own Pack?—where everyone saw and treated Tucker as one of the Pack princes. Tucker made a bee-line straight toward Ben, whose eyes went wide as Tucker tackled him in a fierce hug.

“You must be Ben! Happy Christmas Birthday!”

Ben blinked. “Uh … thanks?”

“You okay?” Ryan whispered into my ear as he held up the chocolate cake. He wasn’t going to leave me alone until I ate something.

I nodded, taking a bite and trying not to moan. Sylvie was a goddess in the kitchen. “I’m okay. I’m just sorry Jem and Esme aren’t here.”

Both of them had helped out with decorating the Three Rivers, but neither of them had wanted to come this evening. I hoped Jem’s wolf could forgive me someday, that they would both feel at home in our Pack soon, enough that they would come to evenings like these. I felt a pang in my chest at the thought.

“You sure that’s all it is? You had another nightmare last night.”

Damn it. I’d hoped he hadn’t noticed.

I was having nightmares several times a night now, and it was taking its toll. Thomas said it could be part of the pregnancy, with the hormones causing havoc with my subconscious. I knew Ryan was worried, so I was trying to keep as much of it from him as possible. Looks like I was doing a crappy job of it.