Page 33 of Holiday Surprise

“What is this?” I asked.

“Merry Christmas!” they all cheered, then everyone went silent as they registered Sydney’s presence.

I laughed and bit back a grin. “Well, I wasn’t expecting all this tonight.” I looked down at Syd and she shrugged, biting her lip, nervous from all the attention as my pack gawked in our direction. “Guess we’re jumping all in tonight,” I whispered to her, then kissed her temple before readdressing everyone. “So, I guess I’d like to introduce you all to Sydney, my mate.”

Tom had already run off to play. I squeezed her hand in reassurance and she gave a small wave to the group with her free hand.

“Wait, is it official then?” Peyton asked excitedly.

“Not yet, but it will be soon,” I confirmed.

She squealed and ran over to hug Sydney. Nettie followed her.

“You guys, this is my cousin from Collier I was just telling you about,” Nettie said proudly.

Sid stepped forward and everyone quieted back down as they watched.

“Sydney?” he said.

“Uncle Sid?”

The old man nodded, and Sydney dropped my hand and ran to hug him. She had tears in her eyes as did most of those present and watching.

“It’s a Christmas miracle. Look at you, you’re all grown up,” he said.

“The real Christmas miracle is that Luke actually found someone to put up with him and his boring ways,” Kenneth teased causing all the youth to laugh and agree with him.

“Seriously?” I asked as I grabbed him in a choke hold and rubbed my knuckles across the top of his head. He laughed and pushed away.

“You did good, Luke,” he finally admitted. “For those of you that don’t know Sydney, she’s pretty cool.”

With Kenneth’s odd blessing the festivities picked back up. Everyone was in high spirits and I noted there was no alcohol, or any signs of drugs being passed around. It wasn’t long ago when that was all you saw walking around this place, and every person looked out for themselves. There was very little community in Larken, but you couldn’t tell that now.

It was like our nature as communal creatures craved this and it had been missing from our lives for far too long. I was proud of just how far we had come in such a short period. We were truly a pack now and for me, having my mate by my side completed us.

We stayed later than I intended making rounds to personally speak with each and every person. No one seemed put off by Sydney’s presence. In fact, they were very kind and welcoming to her in ways I had never experienced with them before. Maybe it was the holiday high, or truly a Christmas miracle. Or maybe Larken Pack had always been missing a Pack Mother and she was already filling that roll with her presence.

As the night wore on and I realized how late it was getting, I apologized for our dismissal and took my gorgeous mate home. We still had a tree to decorate before calling it a night.

I reached down and picked up her bag before we entered the house. When I switched on the light and she saw the bare tree and bags everywhere, she laughed.

“Did you really do all this for me?”

I grinned sheepishly. “Well, I sort of got the feeling that my new mate was a bit of a Christmas freak.”

“Hey,” she said, smacking me playfully.

“I’ve never actually decorated a tree and thought it would be more fun to do it together. I know it’s last minute and seems a little silly, but what do you say?”

“Do you have hot chocolate and cookies?” she teased.

“Actually, I do. I had an idea I wanted to run by you for tomorrow and I stocked up just in case.”

As I went to retrieve her requests, grateful I thought to grab them, she began poking around bags and pulling out decorations and lights.

“So what is this idea you had?” she asked.

“What do you think of hosting the Pack in an open house tomorrow?”

---