Payment To the Alpha

Before I bought Amber's gift, I told Lisa and Amber to have a coffee so I could do it in peace without her seeing.

I found a necklace in a jewelry store. It was a pendant with a Lilly on it and an eternity sign embedded in the flower.

Their mother's name was Lily, and their father's name was Augustus. So I thought the pendant was fitting. I also bought Amber an umbrella because she always bitches about getting wet whenever it rains but never does anything about it, and the umbrella is written on in big letters,

"It's not raining. It's the tears of my exes."

Which I thought was just too funny.

When we had eaten lunch, we decided to head back. I went straight up to my room to wrap the presents.

I had bought Christmas-themed wrapping paper with a Santa Claus print and another with white snowflakes and glitter on a gray background.

I wrapped all the gifts and put a bow on them and a little note on each gift.

I put the gifts back in the bags and decided to put them in my closet for now. It was a walk-in closet, so there was plenty of space. I didn't want any of them coming in and seeing them just yet.

I was about to put them in the back corner but noticed that there was a little hatch in the corner just above the floor.

I placed the bags down and traced the hatch with my fingers. I gently opened it. I placed the wooden piece on the floor and saw a box also made of wood.

It was beautiful with the letters L.K carved on the top.

I opened it up and saw a letter. And under the letter... I gasped at the sight.

'The Velveteen Rabbit.'

I ran my fingers carefully over the cover as a tear escaped my eye. Then I opened the letter, and another tear rolled down. I placed the letter back in the box and wrapped the box in the same Christmas paper. On the note, I wrote

'Merry Christmas, James. I hope this brings back some of the wonderful memories I know are in there.'

I didn't write my name on it because it wasn't from me. It was from her. From his mother. Lilly Knight. L.K.

I decided to leave the gifts under the tree right away, so I picked up all the bags with gifts, went down to the main room, and placed the gifts under the tree. Amber had also put her presents under the tree. Lisa and Alvin were going to Alvin's family for the Christmas celebration, and Jackson and Trish were celebrating here with us along with his family. I had bought a little something for them too but nothing too special since I couldn't afford it.

I was in the communal area playing foosball with Trish when James came barging in looking panicked. He looked around the room until his eyes landed on me and released a breath.

"Thank god." He said as he came up and hugged me tightly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. Worry was starting to build in my stomach.

"There were rogues in the woods around the village. I thought you were still there." I pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm right here." I said with a smile. His worry was sweet somehow. To see how much he cares.

"Why were there rogues, and how come we didn't know?" Trish asked, sounding annoyed.

"I don't know. The patrol guards didn't notice them coming in. It's weird, but it's been taken care of. Also... it looked as if they were searching for something or someone." James replied, looking down at me. "Did you kill them?" I don't know why I asked that; I just wanted to know.

"There were three, I killed two of them, and one of them is in the dungeons. Damon and Alex are trying to talk to him." I nodded and took his hand in mine.

"You hungry?" He smiled and squeezed my hand at my question.

"Yeah, let's go eat." I turned around and looked at Trish, looking at me quizzically, but she shook it off and smiled sweetly when I turned.

"You coming?" I asked her.

"Yup, I was leading anyways, so might as well quit when you're ahead, right?" She winked, and we all started walking to the dining room.

Once seated, Jackson, Lisa, and Alvin joined us. The only one missing now was Alex.

"So I heard you're really crazy about Christmas?" Jackson asked as he spun his fork in the spaghetti.

"yes, I am; why?" I chuckled while answering him.

"I'm gonna have to pick your brain later if that's okay with the alpha, of course. I've noticed how every male in this pack keeps their distance." It was meant as a jab against James. I sighed heavily. "Yeah, I don't really have any male friends here. They've all been scared off." I said, glaring at James, who only laughed and sat there looking proud.

Jackson laughed as well.

"I'm not surprised. I wouldn't want any males around Trish either. It would ruin my reputation as the nice Gamma male." Trish chewed on her food while side-eyeing her mate.

"And also, what I wanted to say is... it's nice to have someone with the Christmas spirit here again. You've gotten everyone else fired up as well. It's been a long time since anyone was really excited about Christmas." I gave Jackson a sad smile and looked up at James, who was eyeing his plate with sorrow on his face.

I carefully placed my hand on his, not sure if he wanted the contact right now. Finally, he turned his hand and intertwined our fingers. My eyes were on our hands, so I hadn't noticed that he was looking at me.

He leaned into where his mouth was close to my ear.

"Thank you." He whispered, and immediately, my cheeks started to heat. I hated when they did that.

Once we had all eaten, I was exhausted from the days of shopping and decorating, so I decided to head to bed early. I was walking with James up to my room; however, when I was about to stop by my door, he grabbed my hand and went to the door in front of mine. His room.

"I know it's not Christmas yet, but...." He opened the door, and I gasped at what I saw.

"James..."

He had put up pictures of us two around the room, and on the door to the walk-in closet were two robes hanging: one maroon red and one navy blue. On the bed, there were more pillows, and there were two desks with their own chairs down by the window. In the huge seating area he had in his room. There were candles and maroon red pillows with white blankets. Not at all how I remembered his room.

"You remembered my favorite color." I stated in shock while looking around the room in awe. I was shocked because during my and Liams three years together, he would always forget whenever I told him.

"Why have you done all this?" I asked him.

"Well, as I said, I know it's not Christmas Day, but I thought I'd give you an early present. It's no pressure. Just whenever you're ready, the room is ready for you to move in. But, of course, I would love it if you were here, with me." He said, looking a little uncomfortable. He isn't used to talking about feelings or sensitive things, so this was massive.

"Help me pack?" I asked, and his face lit up. Both with happiness and relief.

"It would be my pleasure." He said in a low husky voice. How can he switch like that?

James and I had moved everything from my old room to our room, and I had showered and was ready for bed.

I put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before crawling under the covers. James was in the office. He had some pack business to take care of. It was, after all, only 22:00, but I was drenched in energy.

Once I switched off the lights, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.