A couple of months later
"Hey! Guys!" Jasper yelled, "You've got to check this out- they've actually made a Welsh Christmas song!"
"What?!" Meinir replied, looking horrified, "Is it on the screen with the people in it?"
"The TV?" Jasper answered, "No, it's on YouTube."
"Oh, I watched it the other day," Melissa replied nonchalantly, "I didn't understand a word of it and neither did Daddy."
Arianne burst into the living room, Katana following after her.
"I think you do actually like it Arianne," Kat said teasingly, "I think you do actually like Ferbie."
"It looks like a Gremlin," Arianne replied, "From the movie. Those eyes are creepy and it never shuts up."
"I love it!" Kat yelled.
"Better or worse than the baby Annabel?" Jasper asked worriedly.
"Worse," Arianne replied, "Baby Annabel's batteries were easier to remove."
"Do you know where Mom is?" Adrian asked as he wandered in the living room, holding a stuffed teddy bear.
Jasper shrugged, "No idea but Auntie Maddy said lunch will be ready in about an hour and a half. We're opening presents first."
Adrian rolled his eyes, "I wasn't actually going to ask about lunch. James and Johnathon are driving me crazy. They just tried to dress Monty up in a tutu. And Helena and Mayra have decided to play hairdressers with Alexandra. I've left Tessa and Will to try and clean up after them. I wish I hadn't told Olwenna to go out with Dad to hunt. I can't cope, I don't know how she does it."
"It's called having to X genes," Arianne said.
"Hey," Adrian said, playfully punching her, "Don't smart mouth me."
Arianne stuck out her tongue, "I'll turn you into a frog if you don't shut up."
"The powers don't even work like that," Jasper said.
They was a massive crash and Adrian looked panicked.
"I told James not to put Monty in the Christmas tree," Adrian said before racing off with a sigh.
"Is everyone here?" Rhydian asked, trying again and failing to put a Christmas hat on Louis's head but he just kept on running away before he had a chance. At least Kat had agreed to wear her antler hairband.
Maddy looked around the room, "I think so. We really need a register."
"Ok," Tom said, "I'll start passing out the presents. There's no way we're going to get them to all sit still opening them one by one."
"Eight kids," Maddy whispered, "How do they do it?"
Rhydian shook his head, "They must use Prozac. Five minutes with James and Johnathon and I feel like I need three Red Bulls just to keep up."
The kids waited impatiently as the presents were passed out, trying to guess what they were going to get. They all agreed to take part in a secret Santa considering there were so many of them. Of course, their parents had bought them presents and they had opened them earlier that morning (in Jana's case at 3am) before arriving at Jana's house.
Most of the cubs and adults had understood the idea of Secret Santa with no problems at all. But Aran had been a little confused at first, thinking that it involved one of the adults secretly dressing up as Santa and delivering presents in the dead of night each of the children. Meinir didn't even know anything about a normal Christmas, she had only ever celebrating the wolfblood winter holiday traditions with Gregor and her daughter Elizabeth- which mostly involved eating stupid amount of red meat.
Elizabeth looked over joyed as she unwrapped her toy teddy bear and pressed its heart making it say 'I love you' over and over again. She showed it to her cousin Alis, who at seven was already a little too old for such toys but tried to pretend she was excited too, she was very happy with the cookbook she'd received- 'A hundred ways to cook with meat'.
"Ok, this is going too far, Jana," Aran said, holding up a sparkly leotard, "I agreed to go to one father and daughter ballet class with Melissa."
"Well I thought you liked ballet," Jana said, "At least I was told that you looked like you were enjoying it."
"Bad girls guide to the world," Arianne said with a mischievous smile, "Very funny, Jasper."
"How did you guess it was me?" Jasper asked in shock.
"That day I caught you with a book stuffed under your jumper," Arianne said, "And you were acting all strange. I knew."
"Build your own dinosaur!" Kat yelled, "Just what I wanted! Thank you!"
"No problem," John said.
"Adrian, you…" Cass began fuming, "How to overcome your control issues: a guide to letting go of the need to clean. I do not have control issues! I just like a nice clean house."
Adrian laughed, "You go too far."
"And you leave dirty dishes in your room for days and never have clean socks," Cass answered, "I can't believe I agreed to rent a house with you."
"Ew!" Louis said, "Cass is right."
"Bear Grylls Survival Guide," Xander said, "Thanks, Meinir."
"No problem, Hotpants," Meinir replied, "I'm glad you like it."
"A guide to veganism for the modern wolfblood," Olwenna said, "I guess Mom hasn't given up on trying raise us up vegetarian. I didn't know there were wolfblood authors though."
"There are quite a few," Ceri said, "There's only a couple of small publishing companies. You'll have to send some of your books to them. I'm sure they'll want to publish them."
"Gran," Olwenna said, not sure how to take the complement.
A bell rang and everyone went quiet.
"I think the turkey's done," Adrian suggested.
"Not yet, greedy," Maddy answered, "It's got at least another hour."
"I'll get it," Xander volunteered, hobbling towards the front door.
"Xander, no it's ok," Jana said, "You know the doctor said to take it easy."
Xander rolled his eyes, "He just meant no Krav Maga for a couple of months. I'm fine really. Help Ed with his present, before he eats the cellotape."
Jana looked back at the young cub who was pretending that the tape was taglitelli and about to start chewing on it.
"No, Ed!" Jana said as he began to grizzle, "Cellotape is bad for wolfbloods."
"-Ticky!" Ed yelled, trying to get the tape off his fingers.
"Look," Jana said exuberantly, "You got some animal biscuits. Look that's an elephant, and that's a cat. Do you know how the cat goes?"
"Moow!" Ed yelled, "Ow!"
Jana winced, "Yeah, Monty does say that a lot, doesn't he?"
Xander reappeared in the doorway looking a little flustered, "Erm, I have a surprise for everyone."
Xander stepped away from the doorway to reveal Ellie who smiled a little as she saw everyone but looked overwhelmed. She leaned heavily on Xander and looked up at him nervously. The whole room had gone silent- no one had expected Ellie to turn up for Christmas, they thought she wouldn't allowed out of the centre. The torture she had faced the hands of the Howling Rage had changed her personality and she rarely talked. Where she had once thrived in social gatherings, she was now afraid of them. The injuries had affected her coordination too, and whilst she could walk, she still felt very unbalanced.
"Mummy!" Alexandra yelled, but Cass hugged her tightly to stop her running to her Mum.
"Come on everyone, only fifty minutes till turkey time," Adrian said, "And if I'm even a second late to the table, none of you cubs are getting any pigs in blankets. Let's keep opening these presents!"
"Adrian!" Maddy yelled in horror, "Don't speak to your cousins like that!"
"Just being honest," Adrian said with a shrug and smile warmly as he noticed his Auntie Ellie's gratefully smile.
"Let's go through to the kitchen," Xander suggested to his sister, "It will be quieter in there."
"No, Ed," Jana said to her nephew, "We have to wait until after dinner."
"Yeah, there'll be turkey and chipolata sausages and Christmas pudding," Arianne continued.
"Stop making me hungry," Adrian complained, "At least Katana knows how to treat me with respect."
"Vouchers for Nandos," Cass said, with an eye roll.
"The snuggle is real?" Tessa said, as she held up her fluffy pink onesie, "It's really cute. Thanks Auntie Maddy."
"Green tea and chamomile," Xander said passing his sister a mug, "Sorry about all of that."
Ellie smiled, and nodded in thanks.
"They said you were doing well," Xander began, "The staff at the centre said you might be ready to go home by May. They told me Bryn still visit every day and that John visit most weekends. I'm on better terms with him now. Jana convinced me to invite him over for Christmas. He's a part of the pack now."
Ellie smiled, before sipping her drink. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"About what?" Xander asked puzzled.
"For not saying more," Ellie said, "It's hard to talk to people. They all think it's because I can't, physically."
"I know," Xander said, "But I understand. I know you don't want to talk about what happened to you. I know that's why you don't speak around them."
Ellie shuddered uncontrollably, "Just even mentioning it."
"I know," Xander said hugging her gently, "You'll get better. I know you will."
"Physically, yes," Ellie agreed, "I don't know if I could ever really get over it though. I just don't want anyone asking me if I'm ok. With everyone else I just feel like the elephant in the room. I just want to disappear."
"I understand," Xander said, "And they all do as well."
Ellie began to cry, "I'm so scared that I'll never be the way I was before. That I can never be like that again."
"You just have to take baby steps," Xander said to her, "You're stronger than you think. And we have our pack. They'll help you."
"I know," Elllie said with a smile.
"I'm starving," Louis said as he sat down at the table.
"I'm hypoglycaemic," Adrian added, "I need emergency turkey now."
Cass rolled her eyes, "Adrian, don't be such a baby."
"Steggy needs to wait until after lunch, Kat," Jana said to her daughter, "Why don't you put him up on the windowsill so he could look outside?"
"He can't look outside," Kat said, "I haven't put his head together yet."
"Gods, Mommy," Xander said jokingly.
Jana hit him playfully, shaking her head.
"Are we all going to fit?" Melissa asked, as she sat squashed between Arianne and Charli.
"Yup," Arianne reassured her, "We all fit in last year and this year Arianne sr. and Uncle Pedr, aren't here."
"Why not?" Melissa asked innocently.
"It's a little too soon after everything," Tom said, "Your Uncle Rhydian isn't ready to talk to them yet?"
Melissa nodded but didn't really understand, "Fair enough."
Adrian looked up expectantly at his Mom as she placed the turkey in the centre of the table.
"Go on," Maddy said with a sigh as Adrian began to carve the turkey.
"Look, there's falafel," James announced, "That must be for Mum."
James elbowed his twin who passed the dish to Ellie.
"Thanks," Ellie said with a smile.
"It's good you're back home, Mummy," Alexandra began, "Even Monty missed you."
Ellie smiled, "I hope you weren't too rough with him."
"I was good Mummy," Alexandra answered, before pointing at James and Johnathon, "It was those two who put him in the Christmas tree."
"He looked like he wanted to climb it," James said shrugging, before digging into the turkey.
"I wish you'd leave him alone," Jana replied, "He's not a little kitten anymore. He needs peace and quiet."
"And catnip," Jasper said, "He loves catnip."
"Olwenna, could you pass the sweet potatoes to your mother, please?" Bryn asked his daughter.
Ellie smiled in thanks, before whispering to Xander who was sitting next to her.
"Are you sure?" Xander asked.
Ellie nodded and then stood up.
"I just wanted to toast to all of us, to our pack," Ellie said as confidently as could.
Every smiled at her, and nodded for her to go on.
"We've been through a lot together," Ellie continued, brushing tears out of her eyes, "But we're family and we're always there for each other. Wherever we are, wherever we go, we'll always be a pack."
Everyone clinked their glasses together and let out one loud howl of joy, knowing they'd always have each other.
THE END
