Chapter 30
“Come on! Wake up! It’s Christmas morning!”
I slowly peel my eyelids open to find Sienna straddling me with an obnoxious smile stretched across her face as she starts bouncing on top of me like an impatient little kid.
If I had grown up in a loving home, with a sister I was close with, this is exactly what I imagine waking up on Christmas morning would be like.
“Alright, psycho. I’m getting up.”
She rolls off me and yanks me out of bed, dragging me into the bathroom, so I can pull myself together. I take a look at the two of us in the mirror, wearing our matching pajamas and laugh at how childish we look.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” She pulls me along and bounds down the stairs like a kid hopped up on sugar.
The house already smells of bacon and maple syrup, making my mouth instantly salivate with thoughts of breakfast. Sienna holds the door open for me, and I walk into the dining room to see that the food has already been brought out.
“Merry Christmas, you two.”
I turn around and see Kole walking in with a coffee mug in his hand, still wearing his reindeer pajama bottoms.
“Merry Christmas!” Sienna skips over to him, throwing her arms around his neck while he looks over her shoulder at me with a smile.
“Merry Christmas,” I add, opting out of the hugging.
Both doors swing open behind Kole, and Thane strides in wearing a pair of sweatpants without a shirt on. Between the two of them, it suddenly feels like I’m on fire, and I pull my gaze, focusing on the food instead.
“Merry Christmas, Alpha!” Sienna chimes, walking over to join me at the table.
“Mhm,” Thane grunts, clearly still not in the holiday spirit.
“Looks like the scrooge is alive and well,” I mutter to Sienna, knowing Thane can still hear me.
A low growl rumbles from him when he sits down, and I flash him a taunting smirk before piling food onto my plate.
“So what’s on the agenda for the day?” I ask Sienna, knowing she most certainly has an itinerary planned already.
“Well after we eat breakfast, we have to open presents and—”
“Presents?” I blurt, cutting her off. “I didn’t know we were doing presents! I didn’t get anything.”
“That’s okay!” she reassures. “You didn’t need to.”
I set my fork down, slouching back in my seat. “I feel bad now.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Kole says, looking at me from across the table. “It’s not like you had much of a notice.”
“Does that mean you didn’t get anything either?” I ask hopefully.
“Oh, no. You’re going to like what I got you,” he says with a mischievous grin that only makes me feel worse.
“What the hell?” I toss my head back, releasing a sigh.
“If you really feel that bad about it, you can just make it up to us next year,” Sienna offers, giving my hand a comforting squeeze.
Next year.
I don’t know why, but hearing her mention something so far in the future is jarring to me.
My entire life, I’ve been living day by day.
Even before the Last War. To think that I might be here a year from now, celebrating Christmas with them, makes me feel all kinds of emotions.
Most of them good, but there’s also a little voice in the back of my head telling me to not get comfortable.
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that life is unpredictable, and just when things are starting to look up, the scales tend to even out.
I finish my breakfast in silence, letting Sienna and Kole do all the talking while guilt over not getting them anything and thoughts of the future eat away at me. I barely even hear Sienna tell us all to head to the living room, too lost in my spiraling thoughts to be fully present.
As I follow Kole and Sienna out into the hallway, I do my best to banish my anxiety, not wanting to let it ruin the day. I’m just about to chime into their conversation when Thane grabs a hold of my hand and stops me.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his eyes running over my face like he’s trying to find the answer there.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say dismissively, turning back around.
“No, you’re not,” he argues, whirling me back to face him. His thumb strokes the back of my hand as his grip tightens.
“This is all just a lot to process,” I admit to him, knowing he won’t let me go until he gets a real answer.
“I see.” His eyes drop to the floor, and he lets go of my hand, taking a step back.
“But not in a bad way,” I quickly add, getting the feeling I’ve said something wrong. “I’m just not used to thinking about the future.”
He scratches the back of his head like he doesn’t know what to say next, but instead of trying to fill the awkward silence, I take in the view of his tan skin and firm muscles.
Whatever we had just been talking about seems to vanish from my mind as I take a step forward, closing the distance between us.
“You don’t have to be scared anymore,” he says, moving my hair back so that he can see the mark on my neck.
“I’m not scared.”
His thumb trails along my jaw as his eyes follow the movement. “Then why is your heart racing?”
I swallow hard, trying to figure out what to say, but Sienna saves me when she yells for us to hurry up. I turn on my heel and scurry to the living room, eager to end the conversation before I say or do anything I can’t take back.
“Okay, open mine first!” she demands, handing me a silver bag with snowflakes on it.
While the two of us sit on the floor, Kole and Thane sit on the couch, both of them watching me in a way that makes me feel even more anxious.
“It’s perfect!” I tell Sienna, wrapping the black scarf around my neck. The fact that she knitted it herself only makes it that much more special.
“You really like it?” she asks, shifting to sit on her knees.
“I love it! It’s so soft!” I rub it over my cheek, appreciating the yarn she used to make it.
“Oh, I’m so happy!” She falls into me, pinning my arms as she squeezes me too tightly.
“Thank you,” I say when she finally releases me. “This means more than you know.”
Tears begin to well in her eyes, but she blinks them away, waving her hands in the air. “Okay, Kole, you go next!”
He holds up a knitted burgundy sweater, and I have to smother my laugh as I watch him mask his repulsion with a tight smile. It’s not even that it’s ugly. It’s a good looking sweater, but it’s definitely not something Kole would ever be caught wearing.
“Put it on!” I yell. “Let us see you in it!”
“Yeah!” Sienna claps beside me. “Let’s see it!”
Kole flashes me a look that says he’ll get me back for this later before slipping it on over his head. It’s actually annoying how hot he looks in it, and I’m kind of regretting that I insisted he try it on.
“Thanks, Sienna,” he says, shrugging it off to reveal his deliciously toned upper body.
Okay, maybe he should put the sweater back on.
Unlike Kole and me, Sienna gifted Thane a nice watch that Kole is clearly envious of, judging by how many times he’s asked to see it.
“Here. Open mine,” Kole says, taking his eyes off Thane’s watch long enough to hand me a large box that looks like it’s been wrapped by an eight year old.
“Kole!” I gasp, picking up the bow and running my hands along the length of it. “This is too much!”
“It’s nothing,” he says, crossing his ankle over his leg. “I know you don’t have to hunt anymore, but I thought you might like to still shoot, so I set up a target out back for you.”
“You what?” I jump up from the floor and sprint over to the window, looking out past the maze of rose bushes to see a giant bullseye.
“Whoa! That’s awesome!” Sienna says, walking up beside me.
“I’m glad you like it.”
I spin around to see Kole standing behind me and throw my arms around him, unable to hide my excitement. “Thank you!”
A warning growl sounds from Thane, and I drop my arms just before he darts over to pull me away.
“Chill, brother. It was just a hug.”
“Yeah, what the hell?” I bat his hands off me and sit back down on the floor.
Thane settles back on the couch, not saying a word, while Kole hands Sienna her present. When she opens it, she squeals so loudly that I think she may have busted my right eardrum.
“Oh, Kole. They’re perfect!”
I lean closer to get a better look. “What are they?”
“Karambit knives.” She slips her fingers through the loop at the bottom and spins them around, catching the handle.
“They look like giant claws,” I say, taking in the curved blades that have clearly been altered to add pink and green swirls.
“That’s because they were inspired by tiger claws,” Sienna says, twirling them effortlessly around her finger. “I’ve been wanting a new set!”
“I think I’ll stick to my bow and arrow,” I murmur, leaning back on my palms.
“Probably best,” Kole says with a teasing wink that makes heat rush to my cheeks.
What is with me today?
“So what did you get Thane?” I ask, trying to draw his attention away from me.
“Yeah, Thane.” Kole turns to his brother. “What did I get you?”
Thane opens a small box and pulls out an egg-looking thing with a vicious snarl.
“I thought you could replace it with the stick you’ve always got shoved up your ass,” Kole taunts, right before taking off in a blur.
Thane jumps over the couch and shifts into his wolf form, racing after his brother with a threatening howl.
“What was it?” I ask Sienna, as she walks over to the couch.
She falls to her knees, laughing so hard she can’t even answer me. “Alpha is going to kill him,” she finally says, drawing in a breath as she hands it to me. “It’s a butt plug!”
I slap my hand over my mouth, dropping it on the floor. When I look back up at Sienna, I completely lose it. “He’s so dead,” I say once I finally stop laughing long enough to pull myself together.
“Look,” Sienna says, holding it up. “It even has a cute pink gem on the end.”
Sienna and I nearly die from laughing, but when Kole walks back in covered in blood, we both fall silent.
“Oh my god!” I race over to him and see that his wounds are already healing.
“Relax, Grey.” He takes my hands in his, releasing a breath of laughter. “This is just what we do.”
“He’s lucky I went easy on him,” Thane taunts, walking by us in a different pair of sweats.