Christmas special Part 1

Grayson Pov

The first of December has finally arrived. This is the time of year that all of the small children look forward to. It is the same day as when the snow starts to fall.

When I woke up this morning, the snow already started to fall. The grounds were already covered in snow. I already heard some of the kids holding a snowball fight outside.

Today is also the day that we start decorating the packhouse and all the houses surrounding it. We start with our own houses then move on to the packhouse since the packhouse is the biggest.

We stood up early this morning to finish up the Alpha house. Now we are on our way to the packhouse.

The reason we only start decorating on the first of December is that my mother believes it is bad luck to do it beforehand. We tried through the years to convince her to do it right after Thanksgiving, but she is like a stubborn mule. Her human parent's teachings already stuck with her.

The decorating of the Christmas tree fell on the small kids. It was a tradition for the Alba, beta, and third in command to go in search of the tree that will stand in the packhouse. They will always go out and find the biggest tree they could find. It didn't matter if it was a real tree or a fake tree. The youngest of all the children had the job of placing the star on top of the tree. Every year there are new children born, so each one of us gets a chance to do it.

Ciara came to help me with the artificial garlands that we place on top of the mantels in the living room. The garlands are a mixture of white and green. Whenever we place the garland on the mantle it always looks like there is some snow covering it. The garlands also have red flowers and pine cones attach to them. 

When Ciara and I walk up to start on the garlands on the stairs we see that Evie and Damian are already busy with it. Well, more like halfway done already. I am quite impressed. Usually, you need to drag Damian, kicking and screaming, just to help with the decorating. I guess Ciara had the same idea as I had. We looked at each other and just slowly started to back away, too scared to make a noise. 

Once we reached outside we burst out laughing. 

"What do you think is going through Damian's head right about now?" Ciara says through her laughter.

"I don't know but you can see he is not happy. I think his girlfriend roped him into doing this." I say back breathlessly.

"Girlfriend? What girlfriend? I don't know anything about this." Ciara says now sobering up from hr fit of laughter. She went from laughing to serious in less than a second.

"My mother told me about a girlfriend a while ago. I cannot remember what she told me exactly. I cannot even remember if my mother told me if she met her."

Ciara nods her head and just walked off. That was suspicious. I need to find out what is going on, but first, we need to finish decorating the packhouse outside.

On the deck in front of the door are lights and more garlands. There is already a bunch of people that are busy with putting up the lights, so I grab a garland once again and start decorating the pillars and the deck swing. I keep my eyes on Ciara and see that something is bothering her. It almost looks like she has a cloud hanging over her head. 

My mother comes closer and puts a wreath on the door. My mother made all the wreaths that we use today. my mother brought a lot of Christmas traditions with her from the human world. Previous generations didn't like to celebrate Christmas since it was a human holiday, but my mother convinced them that its for the kids. 

The wreath symbolizes eternal life, but my mother hangs it up because she thinks it is pretty.

My mom makes the wreath out of artificial garlands and pinecones, with a red bow on top and some battery-powered lights that charge in the sunlight.

I look at Ciara once again and decide it is time to do something. She is going to ruin Christmas for everyone with that attitude.

I walk over and start pulling her towards the river.No one is going to be there right now. The whole pack is busy decorating. And besides, it is too cold for them to be wandering around there now.

"What the hell Gray? What is wrong with you?" Ciara exclaims just after she rips her arm from my hand. she is mad and I can feel it.

"No, you are going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you. Since I mentioned my brother it is like you have a cloud over your head." I fold my hands over my chest. I want her to realize how serious I am right about now. we need to sort this out before we go back.

"It's nothing. Honestly. don't worry about it." Ciara looks down and I can see she is embarrassed.

"No, it is not nothing. Tell me what is going on. What is the big deal if Damian has a girlfriend? He is young. He is still waiting for his mate. I can't see anything wrong with that. I have to worry if it is going to ruin Christmas for everyone. "

"It is a big deal. I am his mate! That is what is wrong with this whole situation." She is practically screaming at me.

"What did you say?" I ask confused. I am hoping that I heard wrong.

"I am his mate, Gray. I tried to ignore it but I can't. It hurts so much. He doesn't know and it stings." Ciara breaks down and falls to her knees.

"When did you find out?" 

"Two years ago."

"Why haven't you say anything?" I ask in disbelief.

"He is 6 years younger than me and I will only truly know once he turns 16. What if I am wrong? What if he isn't my mate?" She asks through her tears. She is looking at me like I have the answer to everything.

"Ciara the mate bond has already started. If he is going to cheat on you and he is your mate then you are going to suffer. Remember that omega a few years ago? When her mate cheated on her? Every time he touched another woman sexually, she was the one with the marks. Every time he had sex with another woman she would feel the pain like she was burning alive from the inside."

"Stop! Please, Gray. I can't take it anymore. I know what is at stake." Ciara was crying harder now.

"You need to come clean, Ciara. Not only for your sanity but for Damian too. How do you think Damian will feel once he finds out that his mate was under his nose the whole time? That you knew and said nothing? He is going to be pissed. And if he found out I knew." I rub my eyes feeling a headache forming.

"Fine, I will tell him."

"Don't worry, Ciara. I will be with you. Every step of the way."

Ciara looks at me defeated. She nods her head and gives me a hug. We make our way back to the packhouse. Even if Ciara doesn't look better the cloud now dissipated.