LOOK BEHIND EACH GIFT

I was still in bed unmoving when Savy's alarm rang. Savy had a radio clock, so it started playing music.

It's not the kind I usually listened to, which was whatever the radio happened to play. Savy's music was of a specific genre that required to be played at a decibel level no wolf can sleep peacefully with.

The first part was a lot of guitar and everything else and then a guy singing "Woohoo"... Repeatedly.

Woohoo...woohoo... I was about to get up and throw it out the window when it stopped. I sighed and rolled over. Finally.

And then the next song played... grrr...

By the time the song started going on about boys and girls I was out of bed. I've had it.

Savy came out of the bathroom at that moment, it only took her a split second to note my flaying hair.

"Mum!" She yelled over the music.

"Mum!" She yelled again. Louder now but it was too late.

I opened the sliding door to the roof top garden and threw the radio out, listening to it's blare fade off into the distance...

The bedroom door opened and Mum and Dad rushed in. Killion and Harvey stopped at the door. Ben was here too. He stepped just inside, his arms folded.

Grrr...

"Sam, threw my radio out of the window." Savy informed my parents.

"Grrr..." I said. Good riddance to stupid boys and girls and random woohoos.

Dad noted my wild appearance, "At times like these, I wished Bell was here."

"If Luna Bell was here, he would be waking from her bed, you know." Killion decided to point out.

Dad started growling too now. His growl was deep... Making mine sound like a cat purring in comparison.

"Not helping, dog." Ben walked over to the open sliding door, "I can still hear it, it might be downstairs."

He turned to Killion, "Go fetch, dog."

Killion pushed himself off the doorframe with a smirk and left.

Woah.

Ben just bossed Killion.

"We have long day ahead, Sam." Ben informed me.

"I don't wanna have a long day." I crossed my arms.

"Okay." Ben said, "Harvey will cancel out everything scheduled today."

What? No! My hair flared up even more. WTH. There's important stuff happening like... I can't remember.

"What's on today?" I asked.

Harvey took this as a cue to read out the day's agenda.

Grrrr... It was a long day. I'm almost packed back to back.

I put my hands on top of my head... I wanted to stop thinking and crawl back into bed, but...

"Schedule a call with Henry after breakfast for me. And then block out the rest of the morning till lunch for me to do my homework." I said.

I headed to the bathroom, "Can betas do my homework for me?"

"Yes." Ben answered without hesitation.

I was tempted, I wouldn't lie, but unfortunately, I knew better, "Forget it, you guys would probably do it perfectly, and my teachers would know it wasn't me. Plus I probably should do my own homework... unless you want to deal with a stupid alpha for the rest of your life."

"I don't think homework can change that." Savy told me.

"Savy, don't provoke your sister." Mum scolded.

Savy just smiled angelically. I knew if Harvey and Ben were not there, she would have cackled.

Killion returned with the radio. He had turned it off. Savy turned it on again to see if it still worked,

"Oh oh oh oh~"

I think the lyrics broke. Hahaha...

I shut the bathroom door to keep the noise out. I usually woke up and entered the shower before Savy's alarm, so I never had to suffer the abuse of being woken up by rock music until today.

Today being the day I washed with peach scented shampoo and the citrus body wash Savy left on the shelf.

Savy seemed to have stuck to the citrus products now that the novelty of variety had worn off. I'm still using a different scent every shower.

By the time I got out, my mood had improved considerably. Our bedroom was empty, but either Mum or Savy or someone had picked my clothes for me. A navy halter neck that was secured by a bow at the back, with a low cut grey sweater, a pair of cropped white skinny jeans, and white high top sneakers.

I'm guessing this was Savy's design. I knew I was right when I stepped out of my room. Savy was in a dark red halter of the same design, you could see it popping out from under the black sweater she wore. She had a short grey skirt, black leggings and red sneakers.

The other thing I noticed was the mountain of stuff. There was stuff everything, most of them still in bags.

"Did you go shopping again, Mum?" I asked.

"No, dear. We received gifts from our pack members when they heard about the fire." Mum answered, "Ki and I will have it all sorted out today."

I looked at the mountain of stuff. I guess better Ki than me to have to go through all this.

"Do we really need all this stuff?" I asked. We can barely walk around the penthouse as it is.

"When you look, you need to see the love behind it." Mum told me, "And lucky you, your penthouse will come fully equipped when you move in on your own after your Alpha ceremony."

"Can I move in with Sam?" Savy asked.

I was about to say yes, but Mum said, "Sam might want some privacy with her mate by then."

Dad started growling again.

I shook my head. No way! "That's yucky."

Dad stopped growling and patted my head, "Never grow up, Sam."

My dad's just joking, he's got to be joking. But oh, I know that feeling. I looked around me, at my family and betas... sometimes I wished I never had to grow up too.

"Alpha," Beta Lucas cleared his throat, breaking up the moment, "Hank reports that the Lorent Warrior Captain has received his men and the cars and are returning back to their pack. The Alpha sends his apologies for any inconvenience caused, and also there are gifts for your family. Should I tell him to bring them here?"

Everyone looked around the overcrowded house.

"Maybe my office." Dad decided, "Ki can collect it later when all this gets sorted."

Okay, first Mum and now Dad. I thought Killion was my assistant!

But better him than me.

That was the only reason I didn't protest. Sorry Killion.

I'm not sure how we did it, but eventually we managed to get out of the penthouse.

Harvey and Killion stayed back to clear paperwork and start on sorting out all the gifts and shopping.

It wasn't just me. Everyone else was tired. But we were still going for breakfast.

Dad squared his shoulders and led the way to the dining hall, holding Mum by her hand as he did.

"Need me to hold your hand?" Savy cackled.

"I need coke." I said, too tired to take her bait.

We took the lift down to the third floor and trudged down the steps.

{Delta approaches}

We met Hank and a couple of warriors on the first floor. They were carrying a large fruit basket, and a rather many boxes of cloth wrapped boxes.

He stopped to nod a bow at Dad and me. He took our a cream colored envelope from his coat and held it out, "I was told to hand this to the Alpha personally."

Dad received it, "Thanks, Hank."

Hank nodded another bow and started up the stairs with the warriors.

He nodded again to me on his way up.

I was sleepy and didn't feel like it, but I grinned and asked, "Anything for me?"

"Quite a bit, at least half the boxes." Hank told me.

Whoa, seriously?

"You've checked them thoroughly?" Beta Lucas asked.

"I checked them personally, Beta." Hank answered seriously.

Beta Lucas eyed the fruit, "Well, leave them in the Alpha's office for now."

"Yes, Beta." Hank answered. And he left with the warriors and presents.

"It would be best if we did not eat the fruit." Beta Lucas cautioned, "We can never be too careful. Even with Beta Lorent locked up, we don't know who else would cause trouble."

"Once bitten, twice shy." My dad commented.

Mum said to looked at the love behind each gift.

Sometimes we have to look for the poison too.