Page 74

“Are you objectifying me in that pretty little head of yours?” Jaxon jokes, crossing his arms over his sculpted chest, which is sadly covered by a black t-shirt.
I huff out “maybe” in annoyance and then walk past him and into the room with my family.
Maisie is sitting on the couch, kicking her legs out as she waits for the gift that Jaxon promised us. I’m not sure what gift would be good for all three of us, but I’m starting to get a little excited. Because he is so nice and giving, Jaxon seems like he would be a great gift giver. I hope he didn’t spend too much money…
Jaxon tells me to sit on the couch, so I slowly sit down next to Maisie, who is now between me and my mom.
“Wait here; I’ll be right back,” he says, and then he walks down the hall to who-knows-where.
The surprise makes my stomach feel like it’s full of bubbles of excitement. Jaxon bought me a snow globe from one of his trips to Canada as his last gift. He was so nice to remember that I told him about how my mom used to bring home a snow globe from every place she went for work as a flight attendant.
I give my mom a curious look, but she just shrugs. It looks like she doesn’t know either.
Jaxon comes back with a box that I recognize. It’s the same one he brought to my house that terrible night we were supposed to have dinner. We found out that the coven had kidnapped Maisie, which ruined the night. Seeing this makes me a little sad as I think about what happened, but I push those thoughts aside because I want to focus on how happy Jaxon is to get this gift.
The gift is a thin, simple rectangular box that is about the same length as an envelope. A shiny red ribbon holds the lid on.
I have no idea what it is this time; it’s definitely not a snow globe.
Jaxon gives the gift to Maisie, who is already reaching out with her hands in a “gimme, gimme!” gesture.
“Before you open it,” Jaxon says, stopping Maisie from tearing off the ribbon, “just know that I can trade it or return it if you don’t like it.”
He nervously scratches the back of his head.
My mom says, “I’m sure we’ll love whatever it is.”
Jaxon just nods, and a light blush spreads across his face.
Maisie then pulls on the ribbon to open the box. She just stares at what’s inside with her eyebrows scrunched.
Maisie pulls out six rectangular pieces of paper and asks, “What’s this?” When I realize what it is, my heart drops.
I take one of them from her and read the words.
My friend just bought me and my family plane tickets to Paris.
I just look at the paper and read it over and over.
I stand up in shock without saying a word. My mom seems to be acting the same way, but she is smart enough to tell Maisie that Jaxon paid for all of us to go to France. She laughs and cheers in excitement, but I know I shouldn’t take this gift.
I finally look up at him and whisper, “Jaxon.” He stands in front of me with big, hopeful eyes. I don’t want to hurt your feelings by saying no to this gift, but it’s too much.
“This was so, so nice of you, but we can’t take this. It’s too much money and—”
“Too bad if that’s the reason you’re trying to turn down this gift,” he says, cutting me off. He takes my shaking hand, which is holding the plane ticket, and rubs his thumb over the top.
“Remember when I said I would take you around the world? I have more money than I know what to do with.”
I remember sitting in his car and pulling into my driveway, which seems like a long time ago. He asked me to move in with him and said the most beautiful things:
“Pick a place on the map and we’ll go there together. As soon as this coven stuff is over, I’ll fly us wherever you want to go. In Paris, we’ll ride in gondolas. In the Great Barrier Reef, I’ll take you scuba diving. At Machu Picchu, we’ll see the ancient ruins. We’ll stay in a bungalow in Bora Bora or go to any castle or cathedral in the world. We’ll get a crappy snow globe from every place we visit so you’ll always remember the fun we had there. You can have anything you want.”
I bite my bottom lip to keep from crying happy tears. It’s number one on my list of places I want to go, and I really want to go to Paris with him.
“Come on, Calla,” he says as he gently puts his big, rough hand on my cheek. You wouldn’t think someone so big could be so kind, but the way he treats me shows that thought wrong. He treats me like I’m something special.
“Say yes. I’ll do this for you and your family.”
I don’t have any flowery words to share. There are no beautiful sentences that can fully express how thankful I am for Jaxon’s kindness. I grew up in a household where we lived paycheck to paycheck, so I never thought I could ever save enough money to go on a trip to Europe or anywhere else that cost a lot of money. And here is my boyfriend, offering us and my sister and mother the trip of a lifetime.
I jump into Jaxon’s arms without thinking, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his body.
What the hell? Let’s go to Paris.
I start to laugh like a bad Disney villain.
I kiss every part of his face that I can and say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” His hands are on my waist and back, holding me close to him.
His low laugh makes my skin crawl.
He whispers, “I love you, baby,” and then kisses my cheek.
“I love you too,” I say, moving away from him just enough to see the wolf-like glow in his blue-Jaxon eyes.
I bury my face in his neck again and kiss it every now and then as I think of all the things I want to do when we get there.
“Are you sure about this?” my mom asks, looking back and forth between the plane tickets and Jaxon’s smiling face.
“Yes, I’m sure. I think we all need a break. The tickets are good for any time, so just choose the dates and we’ll go.”
That’s when the party really starts. My mom thanks Jaxon a lot, but he tries to brush it off and says it’s “no big deal.” Maisie does a little dance, and we all join in, even Jaxon. I wish I had my phone so I could record how funny he looks trying to learn the chicken dance from a six-year-old.
My mom takes Maisie with her to get a computer so they can start looking up things to do in Paris. We still have some time before dinner. Jaxon said he would pay for the hotel and restaurants too, so all we have to do is tell him what we want to do and he’ll take care of it.
My mom hugs Jaxon before she and Maisie leave the room. He stiffens for a moment when my mom shows him affection, but he quickly hugs her back.
Before she pats his shoulder and walks upstairs with Maisie to the room they’ve been staying in, I hear my mom say, “Thank you for making my daughter so happy.”
I think Jaxon is a little surprised by how my mom has been acting. Since she found out he wasn’t human, she’s been careful around him, but now she seems to have really warmed up to him and is comfortable with him again.
I’m so glad that my mom and my partner are getting along again.
Jaxon points to the stairs, so I pick up the box with all the tickets and go up two flights of stairs to the third floor, where his bedroom is.
I jump onto Jaxon’s bed, a little out of breath, and enjoy the soft mattress and silky comforter. I go through the tickets, but I get confused when I count six of them. In my head, I count: Jaxon, Maisie, Mom, and me… Who else is coming?
Jaxon sits down next to me on the bed and leans back on his elbows when I ask him that.
“Your mom and sister, the two of us, and I were thinking about Skyler and your other friend Natalie.”
Things have been rough between Natalie and me for the past few weeks. She thought I had basically disappeared when I quit my job and didn’t answer her texts or calls for weeks. It was hard to explain to her why I didn’t care about our friendship because she clearly doesn’t know about any of the supernatural danger in my life.
I had to tell her part of the truth: that I was sad about losing my friend. Yes, I was dealing with Felix’s death, and I couldn’t give her any more details.
She forgave me, but she was mad that I didn’t tell her. She wanted to help me.
I told Jaxon about what happened between me and Natalie, so this must be his way of making it up to her. He knew I was upset.
“Skyler and Natalie can come too!” I shout. “Hold on, what about Ezra?”
Jaxon shakes his head. “Ezra and I can’t both be gone from the pack for that long. At least a Beta and a Gamma need to be in charge. Ezra wanted Skyler to leave for a while, so as long as Skyler wants to come and is okay with being away from Ezra for a week or so, he’s welcome.”
I feel dumb for not thinking about how the pack will go on without Jaxon. He keeps everyone together and leads them perfectly. He shouldn’t go just so my family can go on vacation.
Jaxon can tell that I’m feeling down.
He says, “Hey,” after grabbing my chin tightly. “Don’t think about those bad things. You’re new to being a Luna, so it will take you some time to learn how things work. I’ve been doing this for years. Don’t expect too much from yourself all at once. We’ll get there.”
I shake my head. He always says the right thing. I know I’m the luckiest woman alive because he is looking at me right now with such attention. I love Jaxon Rowan more than anything else. He’s my other half, my joy, and my savior.