Chapter 6: THE MATING GIFT
Alpha George's Christmas Eve Dinner Party was held at their family home which turned out to be more of a castle than a home and the dinner was more like a ball than a party.
Lots of fancy cars pulled in and out of the long porch. It was really cool. For the lack of comparison, it was even cooler than my highschool prom. I did say it was for the lack of comparison right?
Stepping into the ballroom space, I straightened my back and tilted my chin. And then because I felt the entire room look at me, I slipped immediately behind my dad. So much for confidently stepping up on the plate.
Alpha George welcomed us warmly. I noticed Henry staring at me, but quickly adverted my gaze. Play it cool, and polite. At least my undies were matching. OMG what was I thinking?
I shook my head letting the curls bounce around my face. Don't think about Henry. Don't think about Henry.
"So Luna, I'm curious, how are you and our young Alpha getting along?" A man with a thick mustache asked.
Henry? Too late. I looked! And immediately our eyes met. He was next to me in two clicks, exactly as Ki had predicted.
Henry picked up my hand and slipped it into the crook of his arm. I had never been put on a man's arm before. Held hands yes... But the human guys I've dated didn't usually put my hand in the crook of their arms. They didn't make my hand tingle when I touched them either.
"I was just asking your Luna how the both of you were getting along." The moustached man repeated to his young Alpha.
At this point, Charbear came over to the moustached man and grabbed his arm, "Hi daddy."
She was dressed in a white dress, it was cut like a Greek goddess' gown or maybe she was the one cut out like a Greek goddess, "Hi Hen."
To Henry's credit, he completely didn't seem to notice the Greek goddess 3D cut out, "We are getting along quite well, thanks. Her parents have consented to give her to us after a wedding ceremony. As you know, my Luna is human, and I am bound to honor her as both my mate and wife."
Charbear glowered, I could feel the hate radiating from her. Again Henry didn't seem to notice. I shifted slightly behind him. Okay... I was totally not following the script. I was supposed to be confident and seductive, but I realised since stepping into the ballroom that it was one thing to dress up like someone, it was a totally different thing to have to act like it too.
Face it, even though Henry was totally 100% romance lead character, I was really not quite there yet.
If I had known my life was going to suddenly turn into a webnovel werewolf romance one Christmas, I would have definitely studied the part a lot more seriously.
"Would you like something to eat?" Henry asked me. He nodded briefly, dismissing the mustached man immediately. By now, I realised that the man was Gamma Francis, Charbear's dad. He looked rather dignified and powerful, but again Henry didn't seem to notice.
Even as we walked away, I could feel Charbear's glare planting a thousand invisible daggers into my back.
I gritted my teeth together. Henry leaned over so that his face was way too close to mine, the smell of autumn leaves... I almost didn't notice it while faced with Charbear's death glare and her daddy's bushy mustache.
But now that I did notice it, I was unable to notice anything else. Mate's gorgeous smell of fresh autumn leaves, crisp and woodsy and addictive. I breathed in just a little bit deeper to fill my lungs with it.
It was then when I noticed that Henry had stopped moving. We both had stopped. Just stopped in the middle of the entire ballroom, the dancers and waiters giving us a respectful perimeter, but we were really stopped right in the middle of the party.
Henry was purring. And then he smirked, leaned over just an iota more, and kissed me on my lips.
At this point, I'm not sure who was more surprised. I was certainly not expecting this turn of events. According to the webnovel, I should have been cornered by the mean girls and pushed into the pond - and there was a pond just outside. I noticed it coming in. It was frozen though.
And I got the feeling Henry wasn't expecting himself to kiss me either. Much less in the middle of his family's Christmas Eve Dinner.
Or for such a long time either. Because it was like time stopped for an extra ten minutes.
But of course it couldn't have been that long.
Henry broke off the kiss and took a step back, he had a smile, a small one, but it wasn't a smirk, it was a real smile. That was a really nice look on him.
If he would look at me like this all the time. I would definitely marry him.
"Alpha, Alpha!"
Henry blinked, and his usual stoney expression returned, "What the hell, Pete."
Pete bowed apologetically, "There is a call for you. It's urgent."
Henry looked at Pete and then at me.
I smiled and let go of his arm. Immediately my hand felt bereft, "Go on. I'll still be here when you get back."
Henry hesitated, and then he smirked, "I'll just be a moment."
Of course the moment Henry left, all the intoxicating scent of autumn leaves left with him, and I realised that I was standing alone in the middle of the ballroom in the middle of a dance. Hahaha.
What the hell did we just do in the middle of the dance floor? No way!
I looked around for my mum and dad. Mum gave me two thumbs up. Oh hell. No way. I had just been kissed very soundly by a guy I barely know right in front of my parents!
So instead of walking towards the safety of my parents, I fled out of the ballroom as quickly as I could without really running because my shoes were hard to run in anyway. But mostly, I tried to pretend I was headed to the ladies, and keep a semblance of normalcy despite my reddened face.
OMG. What just happened? Mating bond was crazy and sneaky and wow, that was probably the best kiss I've ever had in my life. OMG. He only touched his lips on mine and the sparks and tingling and OMG. I can't believed I did that.
I didn't regret it though. Maybe I shouldn't let a guy I just met kiss me in front of everyone. Yeah, probably not... But wow that kiss.
Just wow.
I stopped in front of a fountain. I was still somewhere in the mansion/castle... But this hall was empty, just a fountain... except it was a golden fountain, even the water was like liquid gold. But on closer inspection, it was a trick of lights.
But at the bottom of the fountain gold coins gleamed. Were they real? Was this a wishing fountain of some sort?
"Is the Luna lost?" Cue in the mean girls stage right.
No freakin way, right? Right. If it didn't happen to me, I would totally not have believed it.
I took a step back, felt the base of the fountain below my bum and took a step forward again.
It was cold in this empty hall. I was in a backless dress. If I got wet, I'd probably freeze to death and die.
"Hen used to come to this fountain everyday. All those gold coins were his. Everyday, he'd drop one in. I've dropped in one or two too, just to keep him company, until I realised that he was wishing for you." Charbear words turned into a snarl.
She calmed herself down and continued, now somewhat scarier than before, "This wasn't a wishing fountain. It was a love fountain. His dad gifted it to his mum for a birthday when she said she wanted gold that would never run out. Alpha George had replied that love could not be bought by gold."
As Charbear spoke, she walked towards me.
Her friends started to look nervous, "Charbear, let's go. We better not go too far."
Since these were the same girls who cut off my hair and then ran away laughing, I wasn't sure how far too far was. I swallowed. Scary.
"While I was wishing for Hen and I to be together, he was wishing for you!" Charbear suddenly lashed out her hand, but one of her friends caught it.
"Stop Charbear. Alpha Henry would kill you. Yes, even you." The girl on her right scolded.
"Plus she is our Luna!" The girl on the left said.
Okay... That totally didn't go with the webnovel script either.
It seemed that Charbear was the only one who read the webnovel because she was the only one continuing the tirade.
"I'm the Luna!" Charbear all but screamed, "Not this human girl!"
And then she picked me up by the collar and dumped me right in.
The water was so freakin cold I yelped.
And then I heard and gasping sounds and many feet.
"Chrissie!" My mum ran forward.
But it was two large strong tingling inducing hands that picked me out of the fountain.
Henry was growling. He was in a rage. I didn't even have to look at him to know it. I could feel it radiating off him. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 7 or 8.
I sneezed and started shivering uncontrollably. Henry took off his jacket and draped it over me. Ah the smell of autumn leaves.
"Go take a warm bath." He ordered me. He gave a nudge on my back towards my Mum.
The mean girls who turned out to be not so mean after all look terrified.
"On your knees." Beta Peter's command came like a whip and all three of them dropped to their knees.
A woman started sobbing, "My baby..." Her mate turned her face into his shoulder, his eyes never leaving his daughter on the ground.
Henry nudged me again towards my mum, "Go on."
I wanted to leave. I was wet and cold. I could barely keep my teeth from chattering. I dare not even begin to imagine what my hair looked like.
But I could still hear the mother sobbing. By now, the girl on Charbear's right was crying too. And I could feel, just the overwhelming sadness around me.
Charbear did not once look up, not at Henry nor at her father. Gamma Francis made no expression behind his big mustache but I think his eyes looked regretful.
Was Henry really going to kill them?
And the smell of Autumn leaves... Did you ever, just for once, wish you could be more beautiful? More daring? More of anything at all in your entire normal life?
Maybe you were more extraordinary than me, but as a very normal person, I did wish... The way I would wish I dared to jump into a pile of leaves - but never did. My family always lived in high rise apartments, so we had no garden nor leaves of our own. But even though there were piles of leaves everywhere every year, I'd never jumped for fear that someone would get upset about having to rake again, or that my skirt would fly up and my panties show, or that the other kids would laugh at me, or just because who knew what was under those leaves... might not be leaves at all. I've never jumped freely onto a pile of Autumn leaves ever.
And before I gave it another thought, I jumped into the Autumn leaves, more precisely, I threw myself into his arms.
Henry caught me by instinct. The tingling wouldn't stop. And I knew from his body heat that he was also getting soaked.
"F***, you're freezing." Henry growled. He was purring too. Heh heh. I liked that I could make him purr like that.
"Ppplease let it go." I said. My voice came out tight. It was hard to talk with my teeth chattering. And then I was crying, "I'm not hurt. Please don't hurt them."
Beta Peter had picked up Henry's jacket that had fallen from the floor and replaced it around my shoulders. Mackenzie appeared with warm towels which Henry took and wiped the wet off my face with.
"Why are you crying?" Henry looked perplexed.
"A mating gift." I remembered Ki telling me to ask for something expensive, "Just let it go this time, please, as a mating gift for me."
There was silence. Oh boy. I totally said something wrong, didn't I? I wondered exactly how wrong?
And then Henry's deep voice asked, "Is that what you really want?"
I nodded. A crying blubbering mess. Nothing more beautiful or braver than my usual self.
Henry's warm hand touched my head and brought my face into his shoulder but I jerked away. He froze.
"My makeup will ruin your shirt." I explained.
And then he laughed. It was the first time I heard it. A beautiful sound... I don't think any instrument could make a nicer sound. (Later on, Mackenzie told me it was the first time she heard it too.)
"Christa, I don't care about the f***ing shirt."
Did I mention how I liked the sound of my name when he said it?
The smell of Autumn leaves, the sound of his voice, the feel of his warmth and the tingling sensation of his touch. It was too much. I peeled myself away.
"Then it's settled, right? Henry, you're going to let this go right?" I looked worriedly at the three girls. They did not even look up.
"Yeah. Alright then." Henry agreed, he gave a quick command at the not so mean girls' direction, "Get up."
The girls sat up. They had all been crying too.
"Thank you Luna!" The woman who had been sobbing called out, "Thank you so much."
The other wolves started clapping. Someone shouted, "Long live our Alpha, true and wise. Long live our Luna, pure and kind."
What an weirdly old fashion thing to shout... Like something from a medieval era... And I was right. Later on, I found out that those were the very words inscribed on the Silver Moon Pack's coat of arms... in ancient Lycan of course, so there was no way I could read the words.
Whoever was cheering for us that night had been kind enough to translate it to English for me.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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katisnow NEXT CHAPTER: Christmas morning! See you there!
PS: Serene's story is out now. 20 chapters, a bit bittersweet, but with a very happy ending. Check out MY CEO IS A CAT. (He's really a werewolf though)
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