Gift Wrapped My Mate For Her Novels & Stories

I continued, still faking a warm smile to hide my state of panic. “I don’t do small gifts,” She replied with scorn as she rolled her eyeballs. “Why don’t you open it mother?” Matthew said with a laugh, trying to reduce the tension amongst all of us. Madam Hildegard signaled her personal assistant to hand over the gift. Her face immediately brightened as she opened the box and saw a van cleef bracelet. “Lovely. How did you know I love van cleef bracelets?” She replied with a smile. “I had to do some research just to please you madam,” I chuckled nervously.

Was I mistaken? I took out the parcel he gifted me the next year. It contained a diamond ring with the word mate engraved on it. I smiled at the gift and wore it too, gasping at the perfect fit. Next, I tore open the third one and found a photo frame with our photograph stuck on it. The photograph was taken when we were stranded in a house trailer in Wrigley. The memory brought more tears to my eyes. Those were the best moments of my life, and I wished I could get them back again.

“Anyway, happy birthday.” “Thanks.” I open the box. It’s a necklace with a moon carved from wood, rough and handmade. Clearly from an apprentice’s hand. Syd blushes slightly. “I know you like looking at the night sky, so I thought you especially like the moon... I carved this myself...” I look at him, and he averts his eyes uncomfortably. “How did you guess I was giving you a present?” “Of course I did.” I sigh, stroking the still unpolished back of the carved moon. “Because I’m your mate.”

I felt moved and touched. This was the first time I received something from a mate. Hayden had never given me anything. Well... Except for that exquisite jadeite bracelet that he shattered into pieces in the end. He just gave me an unlimited black card and asked me to buy anything I wanted using that card. Being given a gift and asking me to buy and choose things myself was two different things. How I had longed for Hayden to give me anything, even just a bunch of cheap flowers, but of course, he always disappointed me.

I can’t say I’m not jealous, because I am. As I lay in bed that night, I thought about Matty. I miss him and his smart attitude. He doesn’t take any crap off any of us. The thought of him opening the birthday gift I got him makes me smile. An adult’s magazine and some lube, with a note ‘for all those lonely nights at Beta Academy until you find your mate.’ Matty’s belief in the mate bond is worthy of admiration. We make fun of him for being a virgin at every opportunity. But he doesn’t care.

After surviving a kidnapping and being diagnosed with severe PTSD, I became the family's top priority. Every sharp object and glass item in the house was removed. The furniture was wrapped in thick foam padding, until not a single hard edge remained. My parents canceled all business trips. News broadcasts and violent movies were banned from the house. To help me feel safe, they even forced my younger brother, who had just earned a full scholarship to a top university, to stay home and keep me company around the clock. Everything changed on the night of my brother's lavish eighteenth-birthday celebration. When fireworks erupted across the sky without warning, I hallucinated instantly and grab

She meant the world to me and she was that sibling that I never had. The gift I got for her was… different. Not just something cute or playful. This one had meaning, purpose, and if I was honest, a layer of quiet fear was built beneath it. It was a two-piece gift: a sleek smartwatch and a delicate gold chain with a pendant that had both our initials, 'A&E'

What had I lost? No. The question was wrong. What had I thrown away? I hadn't just lost my mate. I had gift-wrapped the Moon Goddess's most perfect creation and handed her, bound and ribboned, to another Alpha. I had done it. Twice.

I did not need that conversation in person, and neither did my mate! “Always. Though there is a gift for Mari, I believe.” Hudson offered another grin. My eyes narrowed. My friend knew more than he was letting on and I didn't like it. Their last gift had been some herbal crap meant to help conceive. Delivered to my office in a beautiful gift box, addressed to Mari. But, the thing was, we, as a couple, had not even properly discussed children yet, let alone with my family! So where the thought of the gift had come in, I had no clue.

He tilts his head slightly. “A necklace,” I finish. The word almost sounds ridiculous—but the idea unfolds in my mind like a battle plan. And the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. “If it’s a cuff, she’ll see it coming,” I continue. “She’ll fight. But a necklace? A gift. Something beautiful.” My brother’s lips curve slowly. “Especially from her mate,” he says. “A mating gift.” His smile deepens. “Women love gifts,” he adds with a dismissive chuckle. “Wrap chains in gold and they’ll call it romance.”