Chapter 4 Blood on Christmas Morning

Marian's wolf was growling, deep and loud.

She was sure that this looked aggressive to onlookers, but she knew that it was not aggression that Dinka was feeling.

She stared at Reyland as he held the cloth against his bleeding mouth.

Did I do that?

When did I do that?

I –

Her musings were interrupted by an enraged father.

"Seize her!" Alpha Dax bellowed, and three warriors pressed forward.

Dorien was standing beside his brother, a strange expression on his face as he gazed down at Marian, who was still crouched in an attack position.

Her eyes went around the crowd.

I'm the center of attention again. Damn it! She spat in her mind.

Marian felt it before she heard it. Her father, Corien, had moved to stand in front of her, facing her and blocking her from the approaching warriors.

The warriors stopped their approach as their former Alpha smiled gently at his daughter, his only remaining pup after Dax took over his pack.

His deep green eyes stared gently at her, his handsome face was relaxed, "Come, Child," he said, his deep, calm voice reaching the end of the hall, vibrating in the air around the whole room.

Every wolf below the gamma class, clan member or not, chuffed at the sound, feeling the sensation of someone petting their wolf fur.

All the others either shifted their weights or swallowed as they gazed at the former pack leader.

Alpha Corien rarely spoke. But when he did, people listened.

His pack members still remembered their lives under his rule, and the guests still remembered his leadership.

Everyone loved this wolf, every single one of them.

That love kept Dax from ripping off Marian's head right there and then.

Marian blinked at her father and stood upright, sliding up to him. He placed a hand on her shoulder and wiped her lower lip with his thumb.

She flicked her tongue to her lip just as his finger brushed by, and she tasted it - blood.

There is blood on my lip! She exclaimed in her mind, her eyes going wide.

She raised her fingers in alarm to check, while licking wildly at the same time, not wanting any of the delicious sensation to go to waste.

It felt as if her mind and her body were working from different commands, and her confusion made her stomach churn.

Marian tried to gaze around her father, to where Reyland was, still leaning, holding his mouth covered, pressing down.

She could sense it, not see it, as her father did not move and did not allow her to glance behind him.

She gazed up at him, and he looked steadily at her.

Calm yourself, Minnie, her father said gently, speaking to her in their mind link.

She saw her reflection in his eyes, her slightly scattered hair, and her wide eyes, green just like her father's.

She steadied her breath and arranged her hair and dress, using her father's eyes as a mirror.

He smiled at her, and she knew he was remembering how she had done this many times as a young pup when she would hunt with her father, without her mother's permission, and had to clean up before going to see her mother.

She would look into her father's eyes, insisting to him that they were the only mirror around.

Breath steady and appearance reset, she nodded at her father.

He moved to the side and turned to Alpha Dax and his brood, all surrounding Reyland and gazing at her.

Alpha Dax took a step forward, and Reyland grabbed his wrist. Dax looked down at his son, who was still on his knee. Reyland glanced up at his father and pulled himself up, using his father's arm as a support.

Alpha Dax did not move as he helped his son stand. Reyland's large human size was not an issue for a wolf who could throw a minibus with one hand.

The bleeding had not stopped.

Why hasn't it stopped?

It's been a full two minutes!

How weak is he?

...When did I bite him?

Marian mused, staring at Reyland as he whispered to his father, who reluctantly stepped toward his son, his lips pressed tightly together.

Gazing back at Alpha Corien, Reyland smiled, his mouth still covered, but his eyes crinkled. "I'm sorry, Alpha, I was so surprised that I bit myself. Sorry for the misunderstanding," he explained, still smiling, his voice muffled by the cloth covering his mouth.

"Sorry, everyone! I jumped a bit there! Sorry!" He called out, raising a hand and turning around.

He was taller than everyone, so he could see all their faces as he smiled and apologized.

Murmurs ran through the crowd, pack members and guests alike started glancing around, and the tension slowly came down.

"It's Christmas, everyone! Come on!" He yelled pleasantly to the crowd.

His eyes moved to the master of ceremonies, and he waved at him.

"We have fireworks coming, don't we?" Reyland asked, and the man he was gazing at nodded, a nervous smile on his face as the crowd parted in his direction, where Reyland's eyes were facing.

He glanced from Reyland to his Alpha.

Alpha Dax, still gazing at his son, said something to the man in the mind space, and his nervous expression dissolved. His lips broke into a wide grin.

"Well? What are you all waiting for? The mistletoe ceremony has not ended! You have five more minutes to kiss your partner!" The MC called out boisterously.

The MC signaled to someone, and the music started up again, loud and energetic, as Reyland pressed his father's chest and smiled at his mothers, brothers, and the guards beside his father, who had all come to stand around him.

He spoke quietly to each one as the crowd relaxed and everyone went back to what they had been doing – being shy, nervous, or curious about who they had to kiss.

Marian, holding her father's hand, stalked out of the hall, dragging her father with her.

"What was that, Dad?" Marian growled in a low tone, her wolf showing its black eyes again as she whirled around to face her father. She had walked them, hand in hand, to the edge of the clearing where the large pack hall was located.

"He taste–" She stared, but her father interrupted her.

"You haven't held my hand in a long time, Minnie," her father remarked softly, gazing down at their hands.

"Dad!" She huffed, rolling her eyes.

"I haven't seen you in eight months, and the first thing you do when you get back is try to eat Dax's son, right in front of him?" Her father continued, a mischievous smile on his handsome face.