Bonus Chapter Happy Halloween

(**Sebastion’s POV**)

I watch as all the mothers in my pack rush around the pack house’s party room. They are all working feverishly to decorate the room for tonight’s Halloween party. The children and most of the adults in my pack love this time of year. Arianna has made up game stations all around the room and a few more outside for the adults and teenagers. She is really going all out this year. I have an idea that it is to make the new wolves from Jade Moon feel like their lives can move forward after their devastating losses.

Even something as simple as a Halloween party can help them see that life moves forward despite our past.

Arianna set up a cookie decorating contest booth where the winner gets to have a day with the pack chefs to make many treats. Though what they won’t know is that it will include every child who takes part in the contest. There was a face painting booth where some new members volunteered to paint faces. I was happy that the new artists took initiative and came to Arianna with that idea. All those who helped paint faces last year will join them, making their booth the largest one.

Flynn set up a caramel apple dipping stand where they can choose all their own toppings to dip their apples in. That will be my first stop with Jace later if I can convince him to leave the house. I love caramel apples and I have noticed he does too. He likes them dipped in chocolate and walnuts after the caramel dip. This boy knows his treats. That happens to also me one of my favorite ways to dress up my caramel apples.

Justin and his mate set up the bobbing for apples station outside in the garden, and other games like pin the tail on the werewolf which made me laugh when they told me about it. Then there would be a pinata later in the night full of candy that all the younger kids will fight for.

Outside throughout the pack territory, jack-o’-lanterns are placed along paths to light the way for trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. For the older kids and teenagers, Flint and a few of his scouts set up a haunted house that they worked on for days. They set it up back behind the lake in the woods. I check it out before giving them approval to let kids go through. I am sure the screams will be heard from there to the pack house.

I am concerned now with how Jace will react when I try to take him to the party. He hasn’t left the house since they brought him home after what Gia did. I hope that with Callie, Arianna, and Flynn, we can all get him to go along.

I asked all the adults to not have costumes that will cover their faces. Everyone is aware of what Jace went through, so they all agreed. I do not want to force him to go, but I hope he will want to see all the other kids having fun and he will join them. He will have a blast at the party, I am sure. If only I can get him there.

Jace was making progress and I know that his recovery will take time. Yesterday I brought his teacher in for a one-on-one class. That went well, but she has other students and I can not keep bringing her to the house to teach just my son. I do have an idea about what I can do if he still refuses to leave the house for school. Sarah Murphy was doing her teaching courses online, but when she learned that Jace was having issues leaving the house, she volunteered to teach him one-on-one.

I will have to introduce them to each other to see if it will be a good fit. I hope tonight goes well and I will not need to have her take time away from her schooling. Arianna tells me I am worrying too much about tonight. She thinks once Jace sees his costume and the one that Callie is going to wear, the excitement of Halloween will take over. I hope she is right.

If she isn’t and he panics at leaving the house, I have a contingency plan in place in the basement training room. I had help with setting up the mini versions of all the activities that they will do at the pack house. Then I asked some parents of Jace’s friend if they would be ok sending their kids to the mansion to party with Jace. They all happily agreed and will bring their kids over when I mind link them.

I want my first real Halloween with Jace to be fun for him. Everything that happened with Gia was partially my fault and I know that Jace will pay for what she did to him for years. Every time he has a panic attack, it kills more of the love I had for Gia. I am still sad I had to kill her, but I am glad she is dead and can never hurt my son again.

“Ok, Sebbie, were are all done in here. We are ready to open the doors for our little ones. I am going to go get Callie into her costume. Want me to help you with Jace when I am done?” Arianna asks me as she steps up next to me.

They have cleared away all the clutter, and the room is now ready for the party to begin in a few more hours. Now is the time to get dressed and ready for the Halloween festivities. I nod my head and follow Arianna to the mansion. The smell of caramel, fresh sugar cookies, and pumpkin spice hit us as we entered the foyer.

Flynn had been cooking up a storm all day. Everything he is making will be for the adult party later tonight in the ballroom. The sounds of childish laughter had us heading towards the kitchen. Flynn is chasing Callie and Jace around the kitchen with a spatula. He is wrapped up in dirty white bandages like a mummy, his face is painted gray, and his hair has leaves and dirt clumps stuck in it. I am not even sure I want to know what the kids did for him to be chasing them around the kitchen. Knowing Callie, she probably snuck into his cookies when his back was turned.

“Alright you little fiend, it is time to get you dressed for the party,” Arianna told Callie as she scooped her up as she ran past.

“Yay party time,” Callie screamed. Arianna laughed as she carried her out of the kitchen.

“What do you say buddy, want to go get that costume on?” I ask Jace.

His little face falls, all laughter leaves him. I can see the fear written all over his face, “Will I have to go outside?” He whispers.

“Only if you want to, Jace. It will only be to go from here to the pack house and back. I will be with you the entire time,” I tell him as I kneel to his level so I can look him in the eye.

“What if she comes for me again?” Jace asks me.

“Buddy, Gia can’t do anything to you, she is dead remember. No one will hurt you, I promise.” I tell him. I will keep that promise to him or die trying.

“What about the man?” Jace demands.

Flint and his scouts lost Gia’s accomplice in their rush to get me back to pack territory before I died from the silver that was coursing through my veins. I highly doubt we will ever see or hear from him again. When Flint went back to collect the duffle bag of money it was missing. We figure the man can back to collect Gia, but when all he found was the cash, he took it and ran. I am ok with that.

“That man is long gone and will not hurt you. Come, let's get you dressed up and them I want you to try to leave the house. If you feel that it isn’t time, there are other things we can do tonight instead.” I hold my hand out to him and wait for him to decide.

Jace takes my hand with a frown, but then his eyes light up at the idea of getting into his costume. I scoop him up in my arms, giving him a gentle hug, then I head to his room.

I put together his costume down to the detail as he requested. He is dressing up as a construction worker. I laughed when he asked me to help him with his costume, knowing that he was enamoured with the crew who helped build his treehouse. When I returned from Arizona, I watched him sit on the side of the worksite to watch the crew work.

Jace told me one night that he loved the smell of the wood and the sounds of the saws. I have a little construction worker in the making, but he will be trained in the Alpha duties too when he is older. So I bought him a pair of cargo pants with a hook for his plastic hammer, a belt with little pouches for the measuring tape and other small tools I borrowed from the crew.

I found small pairs of safety glasses, leather gloves, and a hard hat online. Arianna found him a small lunch box that looks like the one that Ollie, Jace’s hero of the construction crew, carries with him to work. The work boots were a little hard to find in a child’s size, so I just bought him a pair of hiking boots in his size.

After an hour of getting him dressed and all his tools in place, Jace looks up at me with a huge grin on his face, his eyes so full of life, and I am beyond happy that I could put that smile on his face. I open the small makeup bag that Arianna left with me to make his little face look like it is smeared with dirt.

When I finished, Jace gave me a high five in approval, then we made our way to the foyer to wait for the rest of our family. Arianna and Callie are already waiting for us. Callie is dressed as a princess in a pale blue dress with shiny beads sown into the skirt to make it sparkle. Her face lights up as she sees Jace and I walk down the stairs. She is practically jumping with excitement.

To my surprise, Jace is the first one to the door, but he stops on the threshold to look back at me. I can see the fear slide back into his eyes. I walk to him to take his little hand in mine, then I set outside to let him know I will be right with him all the way. With a small nod, Jace takes one step and then another. Before I know it we are at the edge of the courtyard.

“I can do it, Daddy, just don’t leave me,” Jace says as stops on the edge of the driveway.

“You got this, buddy, I am right here with you. Callie is behind us with Ari and Flynn is right down there at the bottom of the hill waiting for us.” I say as I point to Flynn.

The normal five-minute walk to the pack house turned into a thirty-minute one. I had to stop every few feet to wait for Jace to catch his breath as he bravely fought off his panic. My brave little man really wants to party with his friends. I am proud that he is taking this step, but I worry how it will affect him later tonight after all the children’s festivities over for the night.

By the time we reach the pack house, Jace has calmed down enough to look around at all the kids with their parents as they go inside the house. I can see the smile on his face as the excitement takes over again. I laugh as he pulls on my hand to drag me inside to join the party. He made it here, and that is half the battle.

Score one for Jace.

The party is a success as far as I can tell. The sounds of children laughing filled the room as they went from booth to booth. As I predicted, Jace zeroed in on the caramel apple table straight away. I spent a good twenty minutes cleaning caramel off him and myself when we’re finished. The sugar rush hit him shortly after and propelled him to the face painting booth.

He insisted that I sit to have my face painted like Frankenstein. This made him laugh as he watched me squirm in my seat. We then did every activity that was set up. Jace got separated from me twice during the chaos, each time he would panic, but as soon as he saw me again he was fine. He managed better than I expected.

Arianna had the pinata moved inside so we didn’t push him to do more outside than he was comfortable with. That gave me time to pull Sarah aside to talk to her about teaching Jace until he could go back to school on his own. I want her to spend some time with him tonight so she isn’t a stranger to him.

Sarah surprised me too. She has a way about her that almost instantly put Jace at ease. He latched onto her and took her around to decorate cookies with him. Score one for Sarah. Seeing them together takes so much of my worry away. Jace will be fine with her during the day while I go into the office.

Hours later, I carry a sleeping Jace back to the mansion. He passed out as we sat listening to Halloween stories in the living room. He convinced Sarah to read him a book, and she had drawn a crowd, much to the delight of the parents. The down time gave the clean-up crew a chance to begin their work to put the house back in order. Sarah’s stories helped put the kids in a sleepy mood for parents to take home.

I say that tonight was an overall success for the younger pack members. I will make sure that all the years to follow this one are as good or better. My son and all the children of Redwood deserve to have fun on Halloween. Hell, even the teenagers and the adults are having fun too. Halloween is a fun time of year, now I will be bombarded with plans for Christmas no doubt.


**Author’s Note**

This chapter is a bonus chapter and is not tied to the story being told in **His Redemption**

AnyStories is having a Halloween Event, and I thought it would be a great time to show Sebastion’s growing relationship with Jace.

Happy Halloween, everyone and please stay safe out there in the world during these hard times. Please take every precaution for Covid and keep your loved ones and all others you cross safe.

**To My Aunt**

I love you always. Be at peace.