Owned by the Alphas Short: A Werewolf Christmas

“I don’t get it. Why do we have to wear our nice clothes?” RJ sulked, tugging at the tied collar of his silk shirt. I smiled softly at him and readjusted it to be looser. Derik might tighten it later, but for now, it was fine.

“Because it is the day before winter sets. We have to honor tradition and leave our gifts at the sacred tree before the feast.” I had explained it a few times now, but RJ had ignored me each and every time.

I handed him his waistcoat and turned to see Zale already dressed and helping Alaric with his collar tie.

I smiled at that then readjusted RJ’s buttons that he had done up crooked.

Derik strode in, dressed impeccably in his finest clothes. He gave each of our boys the once-over, “RJ. The collar is meant to be on your neck, not hanging from it like jewelry.”

RJ grimaced, “It’s too tight like that. I doubt the tree will even notice.”

“We are not giving back to the tree. We are honoring the realm. We used to do it every year the day before winter in hopes the realm would give us the means to survive our lockdown.”

Zale came over with Alaric. Alaric was the same height, despite being younger, and at fifteen, he was looking more and more like Derik.

Zale was fairer than the others now, his hair more gray-toned—like a storm cloud—rather than the black hair he had been born with. It was long too, growing down past his shoulders. His white eyes stirred as he spoke, “But we have Mom. She keeps the wolves shifting through winter. And we haven’t ever had to have the honor ceremony,” he asked in a much nicer tone than RJ.

Brax came in then, his shirt untucked as he came to me, kissing me on the cheek. He turned to Zale and Alaric, “Because the winter is still harsh. We still need crops, and live animals, and it burns your mom out to keep us tame during winter. So we have decided that this year—and for every year thereafter—we will go back to our traditions and try to ease the burden.” Brax explained it again, leaving no more room for argument as he gave Zale a warning eye.

Zale pursed his lips and then went over to his dresser.

The boys always gravitated to Zale’s room. He didn’t seem to mind and it was cute to see them so close—when they weren’t arguing, of course.

He picked up a comb and started pulling his long waves back into a bun. Brax went to help.

There was a squeal at the door and I spun quickly to see Enzi grinning, running in with her velvet red dress on, her skirts bunched in her hand, Alvira trying to keep up with her.

Enzi dragged Alvira behind me with her, laughing and panting. Alvira had on a deep green dress and hid in my white skirts.

That meant that Kai wasn’t far behind.

Sure enough, my biggest mate barreled through the doorway, his grin wide as he searched for our daughters. He locked in on them behind me and rolled his eyes.

“Running to your mother is cheating.”

“You’re meant to be getting ready, girls. This isn’t a game,” Derik said in his dad tone.

Enzi pointed to Kai, “Uncle Kai bet us we couldn’t get ready before him because we’re girls. If we won, he said we could go to bed whenever we wanted tonight. We won, now he’s mad,” Enzi shrugged.

Alvira giggled and hid further into my skirts.

“How did you win, Enz?” Brax asked as Kai huffed, edging closer. He was only in his white underwear, so I was assuming that had something to do with it.

“Talent,” Enzi shrugged.

“Thievery,” Kai corrected.

Enzi grinned, “We won, Uncle Kai. You’re just going to have to accept it.”

“We won, Daddy!” Alvira grinned.

Kai smirked and kneeled down to stare at his daughter who was Enzi’s little shadow.

“You stole Daddy’s clothes and put them in the tub. That’s not winning, Sweetheart.” His eyes flicked up to Enzi, “That is cheating.”

She grinned wider, “It’s problem-solving. At best, a calculated risk.”

Kai looked at me, “Your daughters have learned your ways of playing a game it seems, Little Luna,” he smirked. I laughed and turned to Brax who just shrugged.

He walked over to Kai and patted him on the shoulder, “Shouldn’t have bet against the girls, Kai. They’re our mate’s proteges and know all her tricks.”

“Nikolai, go get dressed. The pack has already brought all the gathering items to the hall. We need to get down there so we can prepare the gifts.”

“Why do we give the tree gifts?” RJ asked, finger-combing his hair back in true Kai fashion.

“Because,” Kai started, “If we want to receive anything from the realm, we must give something first. A sacrifice.”

“What kind of gifts?” Alaric asked, standing as straight as Derik. His navy eyes were just as wise.

Derik turned to him and went over to make sure he was dressed impeccably. He was.

“Some wolves will give a drop of blood. We usually do because of our alpha blood. Some will give magic like Cain and your mother. Others will give ornaments made of the realm’s nature.”

“I don’t understand why,” Alaric frowned.

“Once we give these things, placing them under our sacred tree, we go home to sleep. When we wake up in the morning, we go back to the tree and see if the realm has accepted our gifts.”

“How do we know if it has been accepted?” Enzi asked, picking up Alvira in her arms and going to sit in the chair by Zale’s desk. It faced the window that was already frosting.

We didn’t have long before the snow settled. It was already starting to fall.

“There will be food and herbs we need to survive the winter. The volume will depend on how the realm felt about our gifts and sacrifices. If it was happy, we will get enough to see us through.”

“If it is not?” Zale asked.

“Then it is a rough winter,” Derik said solemnly.

Brax sighed, “But that was before your mother. Now we do this to honor what the realm gave us then and to remember how much we still rely on that balance. So, get your clothes on properly. We will make some gifts, feast, and then go out to the sacred tree.” Brax never failed to lighten the mood.

He kissed me as he went past, on the way to the door.

He was in a white tunic and loose white pants. He had a blue braid in his long blonde hair that was in a neat bun at the back of his head.

Zale followed him out in a white fur coat over his white tunic and white pants. His hair was a stark contrast, but his mannerisms were identical to Brax.

“Come on Vira, let’s go see what mess we can make of these decorations,” Enzi grinned, taking Alvira with her out the door.

Enzi had her long dark hair in spirals at the back of her head. It was neat, and her body was adorned with white gem jewelry that reminded me of her twin’s eyes.

Alvira had a puffy dress on in green and wore a red-gemmed tiara that I knew came from Enzi’s collection.

Alvira had dark hair, and her eyes were a deep green. Not as light as Kai’s and not as dark as mine. Somewhere in between that made them look so different every time I looked at her.

She grinned and nodded as they left.

Rowan Jr. dragged his feet out the door, but Kai pulled him back, “Sulking is for your sister, RJ. She’s three. You are thirteen.”

“Do we have to make gifts and give them to a tree?”

“You’re giving them to the realm,” Derik answered before Kai could.

But Kai ignored Derik and knelt in front of RJ, “Is there someone else you would rather give a gift to? Is that the problem?”

RJ blushed, going wide-eyed and stammering. I eyed Kai and smirked; we both knew who it was.

“You know, RJ,” I smiled, walking over to them, “We invited the humans this year. They want to give back to the realm too.”

RJ lit up, “So the humans will be at the feast and the ceremony?” he asked with a grin.

I nodded, “Yes. Nana. Galen. Ryleigh. Vaughn.”

“And Althea?” he asked quickly.

“And Althea,” Kai grinned. RJ returned that grin.

“So I could make something for her too and give it to her. Then I could say it was for the ceremony so it wouldn’t be weird.” RJ rambled. Kai and I looked at each other. RJ was already gone, off to make his crush a winter gift.

It was adorable. But it could also be trouble.

“I thought Zale had asked Ryleigh and Vaughn if he could date Althea?” Derik frowned.

Kai just shrugged, “Then Zale better make her a gift too or my little RJ might swoop in—”

“I think I might also make her something. See you there, Dad. Mom. Uncle Nikolai.” Alaric strode past, a thinking face on, leaving us with his words like they didn’t make us all tense.

Derik was still frowning—so was I—when Kai let out a booming laugh, “This is going to be fun.” He left the room, still in his underwear. Hopefully, he was off to get dressed but I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t.

I turned to Derik who held out his arm. I looped mine through his and leaned on him as we walked down to the hall.

“I think Althea might have her hands full with our lot,” I sighed. Derik just grunted. He wasn’t entertaining the idea of our children dating for at least another five years, apparently.

Zale and Enzi were fifteen, though. Alaric, fourteen. They were getting old enough to know what it was.

“Let’s just focus on the honor ceremony before I decide that a lockdown winter might be better after all,” Derik smiled. I laughed and walked with him but I didn’t say anything more about it because I wasn’t sure if he was truly joking.