The Triplet Alphas's Christmas Gift

Chapter 39 - First date with Ryan part 2

Teira's POV

As soon as the door closed, Ryan pinned me to the wall beside it and kissed me hungrily, "Angel, you are beautiful when you're feisty. That was amazing." he said as he leaned his forehead against mine. I smiled, relief flooded my chest, "You're not angry?" I asked, looking at him.

He pulled back and looked at me bewildered, "Why would I be angry? Mom overstepped again, but instead of letting her walk over you, you put her in her place. I'm proud of you." he said, holding my face gently in his hands. I smiled and pecked his lips, which he pulled away with a groan, "Let's go before I forget about taking you out and keep you in our room all to myself." he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to his car.

It was a nice car, a black Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT. It looked fast, but I trusted Ryan not to put us in danger. He opened my door for me and helped me to buckle my seatbelt, then climbed in the other side. As we drove away, I looked at him curiously, "Where are we going?" I asked. He smiled, "Well, I know you haven't seen much of the pack since you weren't allowed out of the house, so I thought I'd give you a personal tour. Starting with the town square." he said.

I squealed, and I couldn't help it. I had glimpsed the town square, maybe once in my life, there had been a festival going on. It had been at night, and Kyle had managed to sneak me out of the house early, saying he was going on some last-minute training. There had been people everywhere enjoying food, laying in the grass, and releasing paper lanterns in the sky. When the fireworks had started, Kyle took me to a nearby hill that overlooked the square to watch them without us being seen. It had been amazing and was one of my favorite memories.

We had tried to go again, but David had added more to Kyle's schedule, and he wasn't able to take me out again. I had always wanted to see the square in the winter, I had heard the other kids talking about it at school. It was supposed to be a beautiful sight with a big Christmas market where you could get all sorts of items to give to your family for the holiday. I couldn't wait to see it.

Ryan smiled at my excitement, and we drove in silence for a bit before I turned to him, "I've realized something, you know more about me than I do you. Other than you being the future Alpha and having brothers, tell me about you." I said gently. Ryan looked at me for a minute and then smiled, "Well, I like to travel. Seeing other packs, learning their cultures, or even seeing how the humans live their lives. It's always fascinated me. Whenever I get a free moment, I like to read or watch videos about different cultures in the world." he said in wonder.

I smiled, "That sounds awesome. Do you think you'll travel some when you become Alpha?" I asked curiously as he pulled into the square parking lot. He smiled a bit wistfully, "I hope to at least meet other packs, but probably not as much as I'd like. The workload may be a bit easier because there's three of us instead of one, but that doesn't mean that we'll be any less busy. Mom always wants to travel but with Dad being so busy the most she can do is take us to Moon Valley then parade multiple girls in front of us hoping we'll like one enough to choose a mate." he said a bit bitterly.

Before I could reply, Ryan shook his head and smiled at me, "Sorry angel, I didn't mean to talk about Mom. Let's go explore the square." he said as he took my hand and kissed the back of it before opening his door. I smiled at him as he walked around to my side. The Luna had such wonderful sons. Why couldn't she see that? Why couldn't she let them find their own mate?

I took Ryan's hand as he helped me out of the car. There were guards stationed on the outside and inside of the wooden archway that led into the square, and they bowed as we passed them. I could see hundreds of people walking around the cobblestone pathways going from stall to stall looking at the different items for sale, but that was nothing compared to the decorations.

The square was fully decorated for Christmas, lamp posts with brightly colored bows and ribbons wrapped around them lined the paths. Strings of icicle lights draped over the stalls. All that was missing was snow falling gently around us. I looked at Ryan beaming, and he smiled, "Would you like to look around?" he asked. I nodded excitedly and took his hand as we walked down the path.

There were so many stalls selling different hand crafted items that it looked more like a village than a market. We walked from place to place, looking around. At one stall, we stopped and tried on different hats, laughing at each other as we showed them off. Ryan snapped a photo of me wearing a Christmas elf princess hat, complete with pointed ears, and I blushed in embarrassment. "Come on, angel, you look adorable." he said as he tried to pay for it. I rolled my eyes but kept it on. I might as well let him have his way just this once.

We continued walking around when we came across a delicious smell. It was coming from a stall that was packed with people, and Ryan smiled gently at my look. "That's one of the most popular stalls here. It sells hot chocolate, cider, wassail, and the best chocolate croissants in the pack." I stared in awe, I had heard about the croissants. They were only sold during the Christmas market, so I had never gotten to try one, but Kyle always tried to make some for me on my birthday.

We'd get up extra early and eat the fresh croissants with whipped cream and drink cider while we talked about meaningless things. It was one morning I'd always looked forward to as it was the only time I had peace in that house for a couple of hours before reality set back in. I blinked as Ryan held a steaming styrofoam cup towards me. When had he left my side?

I glanced around and saw one of our guards disappearing behind a stall again and smiled. He had linked one of the guards to cut through the crowd so he could get me a croissant. I smiled and took the cup as well as the croissant, and we went and sat on a nearby bench facing the large Christmas tree in the middle of the square. "Thank you, Ryan. I've never had one of these before." I said as I broke a piece off and began to eat it. It was heavenly. Warm and soft and flaky, with melted chocolate oozing out of the center.

I tried to savor the taste and not pig out on it, but I couldn't help it. It was that good. Ryan laughed and used his finger to wipe chocolate from the corner of my mouth, "Good?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and smiled, "Amazing." I said, grabbing a napkin from him to wipe my mouth. He leaned in before I could and kissed me, deepening it with his tongue.

I gasped a bit but let him do it, savoring the taste of chocolate and simply him. When he pulled away, he licked his lips, "I agree, it was heavenly." he said, smirking. I blushed and took a slow sip from the cup. It was hot apple cider and complemented the croissant very well, but it also gave me something to do while my heart slowed down from that kiss.

Ryan stood and took my hand, throwing our trash away in a nearby trashcan, "Let's go angel, there's still plenty more to see." he said as he led towards the next row of stalls. I stopped at a stall that held what looked to be charm bracelets. They were gorgeous, and I ran my hand over a pretty set of charms. It held five wolves on it, each one a different colored crystal. I smiled at it wistfully but knew I'd never be able to afford it.

We moved on to other stalls, and I began to make mental notes of who sold what, I'd come back with Val or another guard so I could Christmas shop for Kyle and the triplets another time. I couldn't buy their gifts while Ryan was walking next to me.

We roamed for a while, ending up leaving the market and just walking down main street holding hands and looking at all the Christmas decorations. Ryan pointed out his favorite places to go as we walked past them, telling me funny stories about how often he and his brothers would escape from their parents and run wild acting like they were fighting enemies.

By the time we started to head back to the market, it was getting late. The Christmas lights started to turn on, creating a dazzling display of lights and color, and music began to play as we headed to the middle of the square again. Ryan stopped me at a bench before we got to the tree and had me sit down, "Angel, this has been one of the best dates I've ever had. I got you something to remember it, please accept it." he said, holding out a small cardboard box.

I took the box excitedly and opened it. There in the box on a velvet pillow was the charm bracelet I had seen earlier. The only difference was that there was an extra charm beside the gray crystal wolf, a small crystal angel. I looked at him, trying not to tear up. I was touched, "Ryan, thank you. It's beautiful." I said, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly.

He beamed, and we kissed passionately. We were so lost in the moment that we didn't even notice the tree in front of us light up in a dazzling display.

Or the face staring at us from the cafe window across the street.