Chapter 71
“The end.”
Looking up from the book I see half of the kids asleep curled up under their blankets. Hot cocoa mustaches stain their mouths. The snow slowly stopped falling as I shut the book. Having locked the castle up for the night we left the pups to sleep where they lay. The rest of us not staying to watch over the sleeping kids head to our rooms. Tomorrow my father will wake up early and stuff himself in the Santa suit. Sally and I will pull in elf outfits and we will try to sneak into the throne room accidentally waking kids as we drag in the gifts.
Waking before my alarm I feel so overly excited. Between the season and the joy, I will see soon as kids rip into presents.. showering as fast as I can I slip on the red and green tights. My evergreen satin skirt with white fur along the hem. A tight white turtle neck with candy cane striped suspenders. Green curl tied with bells on the tips slipper shoes. Fashioning the little black buckles. Gathering my hair up in a tight ponytail I use bobby pins to keep my green elf hat in place. The end of the hat has the same fur that lines my outfit. Finishing off my look by adding a hint of pink blush on my cheeks and nose.
Opening my door Sally is standing in the hall watching Brit adjust Santa’s beard. “you know next year it would be easier if you just grew your own beard. This fake one sucks.” Brit fusses. Bumping Sally’s shoulder we Snickers at our father's face. Sally is wearing the same outfit but in red.
Giggling all the way to the throne room where the warriors stacked all the gifts on a wagon well the ones that fit on the wagon. Some were too big and will be brought in with us. Grabbing the big velvet bag we had filled with stockings for the kid's father throws it over his shoulder and nods. Brit opens the door in her miss clause outfit. She sprayed herself with a freshly baked cookie scent. I have to hand it to my parents for not celebrating the holidays growing up they are embracing it now.
The gasps and squeals of pups were music as we walked in. What was a shock was every pup had a stocking in hand and a candy cane sticking out their mouth. Where did those come from?” well guess they get two. Putting it to the back of my mind we go about handing out gifts to all the kids.
The throne room is covered in piles of wrapping paper and boxes. Wrappers ripped apart and left discarded on the floor. Kids playing and running about are spilling out of the throne room filling the castle with life. Something about today just makes me smile. After a while, the fabric of the tights is getting annoying and the straps of the suspenders keep rolling down. Sneaking off to go change I catch Sally and Michaela sneaking off hand in hand. Oh please let them be each other’s everything.
Smiling as I open my bedroom door. On my bed are a black envelope and a box. Picking up the card I set it to the side and open the box. The scent of cranberries fills the air. My mouth waters at the smell. Looking in the box is a piece of fabric with rust stains. I can’t get the smell out of my mind. I need this scent close to me. Where did it come from? Sniffing the air I don’t smell anyone other than me in here. No new scents are in here other than this cloth. Picking up the scrap under us a piece of black silk. Picking it up my heart stopped and my lungs forgot how to work. These are my underwear. Dropping the box.
Grabbing the envelope I open it. The front of the card is red with a black velvet rose raised in the center. Opening it slowly.
Athena,
In this season of joy and love, I thought you could use a gift. I do hope you enjoy your gifts as much as we enjoyed our gifts.
I hope you find the return of something you lost along with something you will crave to find would be fitting.
Yours truly
Young lord alpha Hades Skadi
PS. I do hope your pack enjoyed the sweets we sent for them.
My blood went cold. What gifts. When pack links start coming in with panic in everyone’s voices. All the kids are dropping into a coma. One second they are smiling the next falling to the ground frozen.
Sprinting to my secret room Loki has to know something. Busting through the door I find Loki’s painting is a scorched pile of ash. Fern is staring at the pile in shock. “fern what happened?” “i….I…I don’t know. I got a summons to come to speak to master Loki and this is what I found. What has you in a panic?” “the kids are all in a coma. I got this.” Thrusting the card at her. If possible her face paled more as she read it. “what did you do?” “you said not to hurt any of the wolves in the black rose. So I didn’t hurt one wolf.” “What did you do?” “I hit them where it hurts.” “fern for the love of everything, what the fuck did you do?” “I sent a parasitic bug through the water to their water supply.” “and” “it might have had an unforeseen side effect.” “What did you fucking do?” “I didn’t do it. All it should have done was cause all the cows to become lame and half sterile. It shouldn’t have caused the death of so many or the loss of babies the cows were carrying. They were just supposed to get sick. The ones carrying babies would give birth to sterile babies.” “well what did happen” “the pregnant cows all lost the babies and the younger cows died leaving a lot of older cows but no younger than ten years old.”
