Wolf Bait (Perry and Jonas)

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Christmas is my favorite time of the year because I just love giving gifts and decorating. Annie is sitting in my study wearing y favorite Hello Kitty t–shirt and a pair of sweatpants. The decorations I got for this room are still sitting next to my desk waiting for me to put up. I haven’t been in here since we had to put Mack down the day before Thanksgiving. The door opens behind me and Natalia looks up at me innocently.

“Hey, Icrouch down to greet her. She runs into my arms and wraps them around my neck before looking over at Annie who is now crying.

“Why don’t we set up my Christmas tree and decorate for the season?” I ask them.

They both nod. I set Natalie down and she runs over to the couch next to Annie. She reaches up to wipe her face and pats her head. She is the cutest and the sweetest little girl ever. But that’s the thing about kids, isn’t it? They’re super cute when they’re small only to grow up and shatter not only your expectations of them but potentially become your worst nightmares. I wonder what Rain would have grown up to be.

A tyrant probably, Between Darren and me, the kid would have been as screwed as we were. I slide the boxes out and wave Natalie over.

You have to open all of these, 1 hand her a Labubu mystery boxes. “I need you to match the characters on the box and once we have all of them the rest will go on the Christmas tree. Yeah? She nods enthusiastically and then raises her hand. “What?”

-What is that?– she points at the brown box with the tree.

“It’s a Christmas tree. A fake one. The pokie thingies light up,”

-What is that?–

Right. She has no idea what the fuck anything is because she’s been in the compound her entire life.

“Christmas is the second bestest holiday ever. It’s a day when everyone you love spends time together doing fun stuff. But originally, during the winter solstice, witches would bring in evergreen trees from outside and decorate them as a symbol of nature and fertility. They would decorate them with the elements of their magic.

“So there are five kinds of witch magical elements and one of them was nature. It’s said that one nature witch wished for a son with all her love and she set up a tree as an offering to the moon goddess. She put the best of everything she could get her hands on and prayed with all her heart for a son.

“It’s said that the goddess was so moved by her offering and love that she had no other choice than to accept the offering. So when the little witch came down the next morning on December twenty–fifth under the tree was the most perfect baby boy to have ever been.

“That boy then grew up to be big and strong. Loved not only by his mommy but by the entire village and on his sixteenth birthday that love became so strong that the boy turned into a big beautiful silverback wolf. The very first alpha of his kind

“That boy went on to become the very first Alpha King and he freed the wolves from the evil Wraith King who tried to keep the wolves enslaved. We celebrate Christmas as a reminder of that. His name was Christian so, you know. Christmas,”

-You made that up- she signs.

“The name part. The rest is true,” I laugh. “I can’t pronounce his name. It’s too long.”

“I didn’t know that was why we celebrated Christmas,” Andromeda says and comes over with the box cutter 1 left on the table. “Ljust like that we get presents,

-We do!– Natalie signs.

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“Yes, we do. Are you excited?” I smile. She nods. “Good, so let’s hurry and open these up so you can help me put them on the

Tree. Yeah?”

-Yes, ma’am. she salutes me. She sits down and looks the boxes over before she starts opening them up.

I ignore my phone wanting to have a moment to ourselves, I know they’re both a little scared.

“Natalie!” Bunny barges into the room and lets out a heavy sigh of relief. “You scared me. I thought you”

“Christmas tree,” she points at the base Annie and Lare setting up Bunny shivers at the sound of her voice.

“Want to set up with us?” ask her.

“I got

bit a few

times. Oz told me to get some rest,”

“I can watch her,” I offer. Til put her down when we’re done,”

“Okay,” she nods. Be good for Perry. She’s the Queen and that’s the princess,”

-Of course

“T’ll find you in the morning,” she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and it looks like she thinks twice about leaving her here with us.

“You think they’re going to keep her?” I ask.

They can’t. Lillies and Bunny aren’t legally allowed to have children until they’ve joined. They can’t adopt her either. It’s punishment for breaking the law of rebirth, Annie whispers.

I look over at Natalie to watch her open the boxes and match the little characters to the pictures on the box. I want the whole collection for Violetta. I even had a few other gifts for her. She always spent Christmas by herself ever since she was disowned by her family. I tried to take the holidays to her every year, but I missed four of them. So, I’m hoping the extra gifts make up for that a little.

These Lycan laws are insane to me, but it’s not like wolf laws are any better. I’ve just always been a fan of ignoring them or trying to find a loophole. James comes in fresh out of the shower and looks us over.

“Can I stay?” he asks.

“Sure. Make sure Natalie doesn’t cut herself, I agree.

“Hello, Beasty,” he says and sits next to her. “What do we have here?”

-Decorations- she signs.

“Christmas is my favorite holiday. Even if it is a dumb wolf tradition,” he says taking a toy from her. Her little hands sign quickly for him and he laughs. “You made the Christian thing up he glares at me. “But it was a nice touch. I’m going to tell everyone that,”

We all laugh and continue to decorate my study. This is how the King finds us whear fie’s ready to head out for King shit. Natalie runs up to him and bows before holding up a little white fuzzy doll for him.

Thank you,” he says taking it. She runs back to the little clothes got to dress them up and then goes back to him to hand him an outfit. She then points at me. “You’re right. It does look like her,” he laughs. “The clothes are perfect. Is this for me?” he crouches down for her. She nods and signs something for him “It’s Merry Christmas,” he teaches her the sign and she beams. “It’s my favorite holiday. We’re going back to Cliffside to celebrate Christmas Eve. There will be food and music. The greatest light show ever and finally presents.”

“Tool, James scoff’s under his breath when she jumps up and down excitedly clapping her hands

14:55 Sat, Jan

“What are these

Those are for ones for?” Annie asks pointing at the ones Natalie put aside.

Π

“Those are for Violetta. These are her favorite,” I say as I continue to dress them up in KNAVE gear to represent the team. “She’s been collecting them since Popmart first dropped them. I got her a few after I snuck into her apartment to see which ones she’s missing.”

“That’s kind of cute,” Annie laughs. Valentina appears at the door and waves Natalie to her.

-Bedtime- she signs. Natalie lets out a disappointed sigh.

1. r. She waves back at us.

“You need some rest. We all do,” I tell her. She nods and reaches for Valentina’s hand when she offers it. She

“Rose is going to fuck her up worse than the twins,” James says as soon as she’s out of earshot.

“Jordan tried to bring up adoption and Rose laughed in his face, Annie says as she helps me clean up the plastic wrap. “The only way she can stay is if one of you guys adopts her.”

Both the King and I shift uncomfortably. I even take a step away from him because while I like Natalie and would love to have her hanging out, that’s a big responsibility for someone who is just learning to be a new kind of beast. I don’t know if kids will ever be in the cards for me given the history, but I one hundred percent don’t want the responsibility at the moment. I was so relieved when Roy said he’d be Hunter’s father

“Don’t jump too high at the opportunity,” James laughs. “Loophole,” he stands looking between us. “I can adopt her. She’d be registered as ours but Jordan and the twins are going to be here all the fucking time. I can’t leave by order of the Queen so they still keep her and I pretend to be her guardian at court or when they come around to check on her,”

“You’re a criminal,” I blurt out. “A goon to be exact,”

“The courts don’t care as long as the child is safe,” the King stares at his brother suspiciously. “If I pitch this to Jordan, you will not try to use her as some kind of bargaining chip to get away with shit. I will fucking take her from you and put you back in the box,”

“Jo, it’s a piece of paper so they can get what they want. I don’t care about the kid. I just have a soft for the twins. They were my first,” he shrugs.

“Don’t tell Jordan that’s why he’s doing it,” I point at the King. “And thank you, James, for contributing to our delemas as of late. You’ve been a good boy,”

“As your brother–in–law. Fuck you, Perry. As your goon, give me pay raise. I need a new car. Yours is a little low budget for

me

“I

“Your mom customized that for me,” I growl at him.

a

“I especially hate being a fucking car that bitch had anything to do with,” he scoffs. “Let’s go, Your Majesty. You have people to fire and it’s two days until Christmas. You know I love it when they beg,”

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