14. Happy Holidays: Josephine's Pov
Chapter Goal: (for the scene where Josephine first finds out that Archer is her mate) 390 votes
QOTC- what do y'all think of Josephine's family members? (her parents, Nate, Elia, Scarlet, and Eric)
"So what do you want to know about Keaton?" I ask.
Archer doesn't hesitate to answer my question, "Everything. I need to know everything about him."
"Give me place to start, Archer." I sigh, knowing that I've told him before that I can't answer questions unless they're specific.
"Why did he follow us out of the pack territory yesterday?" he asks.
"Because my term with him isn't over and I still owe him money." I answer, hoping that he won't blow up on me if I keep explaining things about Keaton. "Ive been using the money you refunded to me to pay back my debts. Even though I've been paying him back, I'm still supposed to be working for him."
Archer narrows his eyes at me, not understanding anything coming out of my mouth. "The jobs that I did for him required a lot of training. Keaton had to spend a lot of money and time training me, and he's not going to let all of that go to waste." I explain, trying not to get into too much detail about the way I was trained. "I've had... personal training from Keaton-"
"What the hell does that mean?" Archer growls, obviously thinking with his mind in the gutter.
"Relax." I roll my eyes at him, not liking that he's thinking of me that way. "I didn't let him do anything like that to me."
"You didn't let him do anything like that to you?!?" Archer's eyes start turning black, signaling that his wolf is starting to surface. "He tried to touch you, didn't he?"
When I keep silent, Archer let's out an even louder growl. "Has anyone else ever try to touch you?!?" he asks through gritted teeth. "Josephine I need an answer."
"They're all going to die." All of a sudden, he stands up and walks over to his desk. Before he can pick up his phone to make a call, I ask, "What are you doing?"
"I'm about to let all of our pack members know to look out for Keaton. What's his full name?"
"You can't do that." I shake my head, flinching when he growls at me again. "Why do you keep trying to protect him?"
"I'm not being like this to protect him." I shake my head, starting to get frustrated that he and I are on different pages here. "I'm being like this to protect you and the rest of the pack. As I told you before, there are some loyalty issues in the pack right now. I don't know who they all are exactly, but a lot of your warriors, guards, and trackers work for Keaton. They're part of the reason I only go to the training center at night."
Once he hears this, he stands up straight and walks back over to me on the couch. "Are there people at the training center who have tried touching you too?" he asks, looking as though he's getting ready to kill someone. "Why the hell didn't you tell me these things sooner?"
"I didn't feel the need to." I say, starting to regret bringing up the topic of Keaton. I know that Archer is going to eventually find out anyways, but I didn't think that he would react like this. "All of that is in the past, so there's nothing you can do about it. And it's not like anything too intimate happened."
"You are my mate and I'm not going to let anyone get away with doing anything to you. I don't care what it is, they're going to be punished."
While he's busy making calls to people about preparing the pack cellars, I mumble, "We're suppose to be talking about Keaton, not this."
My words don't seem to go unheard because his head snaps up to me and he asks, "What did you mean by 'personal training'?"
"Well, Keaton usually has his more experienced workers train the new people who come in, but I got all of my training from him himself. I don't know exactly why it was like that-"
"He likes you." Archer cuts me off with a possessive growl. He clenches his fists and tells me, "Don't even try to say that he doesn't. A lot of other guys like you too."
"Like who?" I ask amused. Last time I checked, no one has ever thought about me as more than a friend. It took a lot of people to even think of me as an acquaintance, more than friends isn't even in the picture. "Alan." Archer answers, causing me to let out a laugh.
"That's funny." I chuckle, only making Archer growl again. Fucking growl machine. He's like a 'take it easy' button, but instead of that weird phrase he makes growling sounds when pushed. "I'm not playing." he says. "I can tell he likes you."
"He doesn't like me in that way." I shake my head, knowing for a fact that my best guy friend and I don't have those kinds of feelings towards each other. "He and Courtney are mates. They're just keeping their relationship hidden until we're all done with high school."
Archer seems shocked by my words, but a satisfied look makes its way into his face. "Now I don't have to worry about him making any moves on you."
"Alan and Courtney are kind of doing the same thing we're doing." I tell him, feeling like it's okay for him to know about my friends' secret relationship. "They're both keeping their relationship hidden because they know that people at school are gonna try to mess with what they have. They don't want other people to pressure them into doing things too early. And I thought that you and Alan are okay with each other? You said that 'he's not so bad once you get to know him'."
"That's true." Archer nods, confusing me even more. He said that he was okay with Alan, then he got all jealous, and now he's saying that they're on good terms again. "I just don't like seeing other guys that like you. Alan may not like you that way, but there are a lot of people I see checking you out when we're out in public."
"Who?" I ask. Now that Alan's out of the question, there's literally no one else for him to name. "Pierce and Keaton don't count. They're evil."
"I'm killing both of them." he growls before continuing. "I can't believe you don't see it. Every time we go somewhere public, I always catch someone staring at you."
"Oh." is the the only response I can think of. I've never liked people staring at me and I still don't, even if most of my friends and teachers think that I like the attention. I would have prefer if he didn't tell me that people stare at me when I walk by. Knowing that I draw attention to myself is only going to make me feel more cautious when I'm in public now. "Are you expecting me to help you find Keaton and the other pack traitors?"
"Yes." Archer answers as if he's surprised I even asked that question. "Is there any reason why you wouldn't help?"
Clearing my throat, I awkwardly tell him, "I kinda made a promise a couple years back that I wouldn't do anything to expose Keaton to people of authority like you."
He doesn't verbally respond for a while, but I can tell by his facial expression that he's still expecting me to help him. "Some promises break." he says.
"I know." I mutter before getting up and walking over to his computer.
*** (one week later)
Archer's Pov
"You need to rest and heal." I tell my mate, gently pulling her back onto the bed when she tries to get up. When she tries to wriggle out of my grip again, I pull her towards me and hold her flush against my body.
She says something, but I don't catch her muffled words. "What was that?" I ask, pulling away a couple inches so I can hear her better. "I said, let me up." she grumbles, trying to sit up, only to be pulled back down by me. "Why are you acting like this?"
"Because I want you to heal properly." I answer, resting my head on the crook of her neck. "I get my cast off today." she says as if she thinks I don't know. "And I get my stitches removed. You need to let me go so I can get to the hospital and do all of that."
"I think you should wait one more day." I shake my head, wanting to be able to hold her longer. Plus, I know that she won't want me carrying her around anymore once she gets her cast off. She doesn't really like me carrying her around right now either, but I won't have an excuse to do that once she gets her cast off.
Sensing that I don't want her to get her cast removed, she says, "It's not like I'm going to start pushing you away when I get my cast off, Archer. Do you really think that I would do that?"
"I don't know." I shrug, pulling the comforter tighter around our bodies. "Just lay here for a little bit longer." I try to close my eyes and get comfortable, but Josephine keeps trying to get out of my hold. "Stop it." I growl, not opening my eyes just yet.
"You stop." Flipping us over so I'm hovering above her, I look down at my mate and stare at her. After a couple seconds of doing that, I grunt and lay back down, pinning her down with my body. "Archer, get off!" she growls, trying to push me off of her. "I need to get ready!"
"For what?"
"To go to the hospital." she answers in a 'duh' tone. "I can't go out in public looking like a fucking fetus French fry."
"Fetus French fry?" I ask, this being the first time I've ever heard that term. "You mean a potato? You think you look like a potato?"
"I know I look like a potato."
"You don't look like a potato." I frown, knowing that she isn't a fan of her appearance. "Yes I do." she laughs, but I can tell by her eyes that she doesn't think this is funny. "Can you get off now?"
"No." I smirk.
"Why?" she whines, seeming fed up with me. "I need to get ready."
When I don't reply, she sighs and relaxes underneath me. "Can I at least get a pillow?" I reach to the side for a pillow and gently put it under her head. "Thank you."
Feeling her move her legs and wrap them around my torso, I stiffen and ask, "What are you doing?"
"I'm getting comfortable." she answers, moving her arms to wrap them around my neck. With her completely holding onto me, she rests her head on my shoulder and snuggles against me. "If you aren't going to get off, I might as well go back to sleep."
"No, stay awake." I tell her, moving onto my forearms to hover above her again. "Hey, I just got comfortable." she grumbles when I pull away from her. When she rests her head on her pillow and closes her eyes, I shake my head, "Don't go back to sleep."
"Why?" she doesn't open her eyes.
"I want you to talk to me."
"I'm talking to you right now."
"I want you to look at me."
"I'm looking." she opens her eyes. After a couple seconds of neither of us doing or saying anything, she speaks up, "Do you wanna start a conversation now?"
"How has your day been so far?" I ask, not able to come up with another question.
"Good."
"Aren't you going to ask how my day's been?"
"No." she shakes her head. "I'm going on strike."
"What?"
"I'm not going to make conversation with you until you get off of me."
"Don't play around like that." I growl, getting irritated when she doesn't respond. "Josephine."
"Stop it." I say when she closes her eyes again and snuggles into the pillow. "Wake up."
"Josephine."
"Stop it."
"Fine." Knowing that she'll keep this up for a long time, I roll onto my side and allow her to get off of the bed. I watch as she disappears into the bathroom and wait ten minutes for her to emerge again. "I'm ready." she announces, standing in front of me dressed in a red hoodie and jeans.
'Mate's always wearing hoodies.' my wolf points out, causing me to wonder how many she has. "Is that another guy's hoodie?" I ask, noticing that it's not something you would find in the women's section of a clothing store. "That better be one of your family members'."
"It's my friend's." she tells me, looking down at the hoodie. "What's wrong with it?"
Without saying a word, I get off of the bed and walk across the hall into my bedroom and into the closet. Once I find what I'm looking for, I walk back into the guest bedroom and hold it out to Josephine. "Wear this," I tell her, waiting for her to take the hoodie.
"But I already have this one on." she outstretches her arms to emphasize the fact that she has another man's hoodie on.
"Wear this," I repeat. "I don't like you wearing things from other guys."
"But he's just a friend."
"Wear this," I reach out, grab her hand, and place my hoodie in it. "Look, you're already holding it, there's nothing else besides putting it on that you can do."
"I can give it back to you." she tries to hand me back the hoodie, but I growl and push her hand away. "Wear it." I tell her, not understanding why she's choosing to wear another man's hoodie over mine.
"I need to go put on shoes." she says, walking over to the closet with my hoodie still in her hand. Not long afterward, she comes out wearing shoes and my hoodie. "This smells like you." she says, scrunching up her nose.
"Isn't that a good thing?" I ask, making sure I have my keys before leading her out the guest room and down the stairs. "Now people will know you're mine."
"What if other people from the pack see us in the hospital together?" she asks once we're in the car. "I'm pretty sure people suspect things already, what's gonna happen when people find out about us?"
"Then everyone will know you're mine." I say, knowing that even if we try to keep our relationship hidden it's not going to work for very long. Pulling out the driveway, I tell her, "Sometimes I don't want the pack knowing about our relationship because of the pressure they'll put on us and all that, but sometimes I want to be able to walk around the territory with you without having pretend like I don't know who you are. If people find out about us, there's nothing we can do about it; and I think that Keaton's going to inform the pack about it."
"He's not gonna say anything about us." Josephine shakes her head. "Neither will Pierce or the rest of them. They don't benefit from telling the pack about us, so they won't do it."
Noticing the sudden negative shift in her mood, I reach over to her and take hold of her hand. "Are you okay with people finding out about us?" I ask, steering away from making the conversation about Keaton. Every time we talk about him, there's always a bad ending; that's not something I want for us right now.
"I guess," she shrugs, letting me hold onto her hand. "I just don't want even more people to hate me when they find out that we're mates." she says, her voice barely above a whisper. "I know a lot of girls who would do some pretty crazy things to be your mate."
Frowning at the way she's speaking, I raise our connected hands and place a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, "But they don't matter. You know that the only girl I'm interested in is you."
She doesn't say anything in response to that, but I see a faint smile making its way into her lips and a light pink tint on her cheeks. "Do you want to go swimming after you get your cast off?" I ask. "I know you haven't been in the backyard pool yet."
"That sounds fun." she nods as we approach the hospital. "Are we going inside together?" she asks once we're parked. When I get out of the car and walk over to her door, her question is answered.
The two of us side by side into the hospital building and straight to Dr. Eaton's office. "Alpha, Luna." she greets when she sees us.
"Just call me 'Josephine'." my mate casually tells her. I frown at her correction, but I add, "Just call her 'Jo'."
'You said that I'm the only person who calls you by your full name, I want to keep it that way.' I explain through our private mind-link. "Will she be able to go swimming after getting her cast removed?" I ask Dr. Eaton.
"No." she shakes her head, disappointing me a bit. "I would suggest holding off activities that require a lot of physical activity for another day or two, just to make sure that no more damage is caused by the ingested wolfsbane."
I see Josephine take a sharp breath when Dr. Eaton mentions the wolfsbane, but she doesn't say anything about the topic. "Lets get us over with." she mumbles when Dr. Eaton motions for her to sit on the exam table.
*** (a couple hours later)
"Why do you look so sad?" Josephine asks, looking genuinely curious.
"I wanted to go swimming." I sigh, turning my head away from the tv to look at her.
"Then go." she chuckles, sitting up straight on the couch. "I'm not stopping you from swimming."
"But I wanted to go swimming with you." I tell her, still disappointed that we can't enjoy the pool together. I'm not going to lie, the backyard pool is nice. Though, the only time I swim in it is when I have friends over because swimming by myself gets boring. Now that I have Josephine, I was hoping that she and I would be able to swim. "Now we have nothing to do."
"You don't look right when you pout." she says, not seeming to understand that I wanted to do something together. "Did you really want to go swimming?"
I nod.
"We can do something else instead."
"Like what?" I ask. "It's kind of too late for us to plan something outside the house."
"Who says we have to do something outside?" Josephine looks around the room for a couple seconds before she suggests, "We can put up a Christmas tree!"
I look at her skeptically for a couple moments, but after ten minutes, we find ourselves sitting on the living room floor with a Christmas tree box set beside us. "I had this tree for a couple years already, but I only put it up once." I inform, opening the box and pouring out all the pieces inside.
"Why?"
"I didn't see a point in putting up a tree since it was only me living here to see it." I tell her as the two of us start putting the pieces of the artificial tree together. "I'm gonna go get the decorations."
Josephine's Pov
As I work my way farther away from the bottom of the tree to and closer to the top, I start to wonder what's taking Archer so long. It's not until I'm completely finished assembling the tree that I finally decide to call out his name, "Archer?"
"I'm in the kitchen." he calls back, confusing me a little. Why would he be in the kitchen?
"Did you find the decorations?" I ask, getting up and heading over to the kitchen to find him. But when I get to the kitchen, there's no sign of Archer. "I'm at the tree!" I hear him shout from where I was earlier.
"Why'd you make me get up and look for you?" I ask, turning around and walking back to the living room to find him standing near the stairs. "Did you find the decorations?" I repeat my previous question.
He nods and points to the box near the Christmas tree. "Why are you standing right there?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to leave this spot." he says, motioning for me to follow him to the open doorway near the living room. Confused on what's going on, I still make my way over to him and wait for him to explain. "I found a mistletoe in the box."
"And?"
"I hung it up." I look above our heads and see that he did in fact, hang up a mistletoe. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" I chuckle, now understanding why he was gone for so long. Without thinking too much about it, I stand on my toes and place a quick kiss on his nose.
"I don't get one on the lips?" he asks when I start to pull away. "Isn't that the point of mistletoe?" Archer puts a hand on the small of my back and keeps me from moving away from him. He lifts his other hand to gently lift my chin so that I'm looking up at him. We both lean in, our faces only inches apart now. "I like y-" We both jump backward at the sound of the doorbell, Archer's words getting cut off before he can finish what he was trying to say.
"I'M HERE!" Derrick shouts, sounding like he's inside of the house now. 'Mate probably gave him a key.' my wolf sighs, obviously disappointed that our moment with Archer was interrupted.
"Why the hell are you here?" Archer glares at his friend, not seeming to happy about Derrick's intrusion either. "Hey, Derrick." I smile, moving out of Archer's hold to greet him with a hug. But before I even get two steps away from my mate, I find myself being pulled back against him. "He doesn't deserve a hug." Archer says a little too loudly.
"What did I do?" Derrick asks. "All I did was try to hug my friend-"
"You two aren't friends!" Archer exclaims, possessively tightening his hold around my waist.
"I've known Soph- Jo," Derrick corrects himself before continuing. "Longer than I've known you, Archer."
'I don't think your brothers would approve of him touching you like that, Jo.' Derrick mind-links me, looking at how Archer's arms are wrapped around my waist. I tense up a little when he mentions my siblings, but I manage to remind myself that Derrick doesn't know the what happened to my family. I think about telling him the truth for a couple seconds. He is one of the few people I'm able to trust with something as serious as that, but I don't think that this is the right time to do it.
'What's wrong?' Archer asks me in private, feeling me tense up in his arms.
'Nothing.' I dismiss, trying my best to relax. "Did you come to do pack work with Archer?" I ask out loud, ignoring Derrick's mind-link. He gives me a funny look at first, knowing that I used to always give replies, but he still answers my question, "I came here because Archer invited me over."
"Well..." I trail off when the room becomes silent. "I'm gonna go and let you two do your guy-thing."
"What? No, don't leave." Once again, Archer pulls me backward when I try to step away from him. "I want to spend time with you."
"Me too." Derrick joins in, waving as if to remind us that he's standing right there. "Did I interrupt something when I came in?"
"Yes." Archer says at the same time I say, "No."
"We were just putting up the Christmas tree." I say, finally managing to break free from Archer's hold. Pointing to the undecorated tree, I ask Derrick, "Do you wanna help us decorate?"
"Sure." As the three of us move over to the Christmas tree, I catch Archer glaring at Derrick and mumbling incoherent things under his breath. "Soph- Jo," Derrick clears his throat in attempt to cover up his mistake. "I'll get it right next time, I swear. It's just weird calling you that."
Also feeling weird being called that name by Derrick, I take a deep breath and tell him, "You can still call me Sophie." I bite my lip and look at the ground wondering if I just made a mistake. I haven't allowed anyone to call me that for years and whenever someone does call me by my old nickname, I start thinking too much about my past.
None of it is Derrick's fault, though. He doesn't know about the situation yet. "So, are you living here with Archer now?" he asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I nod, not really wanting to elaborate on why I'm living here. "Did you make plans for Christmas yet, Sophie?" Surprisingly, Derrick using my old nickname doesn't have as big as an effect that I expected it to have on me. Maybe it's because I've never been called anything else besides 'Sophie' by him.
"I'm probably just gonna stay here." I answer, knowing for a fact that I'll be staying inside the house on Christmas day. "What about you?"
"I'm staying at home too. My parents are on a cruise until New Years, so I'm here for the holidays." Derrick informs as he hangs an ornament on the tree. "You can come over to my place on Christmas if you want. We'll find something to do."
"Sounds like a plan." I smile, happy that I'll have someone to spend Christmas with this year. The past two years I've spent Christmas working. Since I didn't have anyone to spend the holiday with, I went ahead and took up extra shifts at the training center. But because of all the things that have been going on lately, I wasn't able to get myself that distraction. "What are you doing for Christmas, Archer?" I ask my mate, feeling like he's being left out of the conversation.
"I'm going to my parents' place." he answers in a weird rushed tone. "Is it just going to be the two of you alone during Christmas?"
"Unless your siblings are coming, Sophie, then yeah." Derrick says, looking at me expectantly. "They aren't gonna be in town." I shake my head, trying to come up with a believable excuse. "Everyone's caught up with work and other things."
Archer opens his mouth as if he's about to say something, but the doorbell rings before he can do so. And not even a second after the doorbell rings, my phone goes off too. 'I dropped it off outside.' the text message reads. "Do you mind helping me carry something in, Derrick?" I ask, getting up from my spot.
"I got it." Archer tries to stand up with me, but I shake my head and say, "You can't do it, Archer. It has to be Derrick."
"What? Why?" he growls, sending another nasty look to his friend. "I'm stronger than him."
"You'll find out soon." I say, hoping that I didn't offend him when I asked Derrick to help me instead.
Leaving him in the living room to continue decorating the tree, Derrick and I open the front door and see a bunch of boxes standing in front of the doorway. "What's all of this stuff for?" he asks, shocked at the sight in front of us.
"I ordered stuff for Archer online." I whisper, knowing that Archer is able to hear us from the living room. Picking up two of the smaller boxes, I gesture for Derrick to follow me back into the house carrying the largest box. "I want his present to be a surprise, so I'm gonna wrap everything right now and then put it under the tree."
"This is one hell of a gift." Derrick comments as we pass Archer and the tree. "What's all of that?" he asks, getting up and jogging over to us.
"You'll find out soon." I repeat, now walking up the stairs and into the guest room. "I'll go back and get the rest of the boxes." Derrick says, placing the big box in his hands down on the ground and going back down the stairs. "Thanks, Derrick!" I call after him, now left alone in the guest room with my mate.
"What's in those boxes?" he asks, walking closer to inspect the packages. "It's a surprise." I tell him, moving the boxes so he can't read the tags on them. "Just wait, you'll figure out what's inside later."
He lets out a huff, but doesn't push with more questions about the boxes. "About Christmas plans, Josephine," he starts off. "Are you really going to spend Christmas with Derrick at his house?"
I nod.
"You can come and hang out with me on Christmas." he offers. "My family won't mind, they kind of know you since your sister was friends with mine."
"They don't know that we're mates, Archer." I shake my head. "And I don't think that holiday season is the right time to break the news to them. I'm fine spending Christmas with Derrick, he's one of my friends too."
"But I want to spend the holiday with you." he sighs, wrapping his arms around me. "I can do that, right?"
"I don't want you to blow off your family just to hang out with me, Archer." I say. As much as my wolf I would rather spend the holiday with our mate, we both know that we can't take him away from his family like that. We were put in the same situation during a Thanksgiving; I took a lot of time to convince Archer that I was okay with staying in the house while he went to spend the day with his family. "We live together, we have a lot of time to hang out together. Spending a couple days apart isn't very long."
"I'm only spending half of Christmas Day at my parents' house. Where'd you get 'several days' from?" he asks.
I shrug, "I just thought you were gonna spend a couple nights at your parents' place."
"I'm only planning on staying a couple hours over there." he explains. "I've been doing that every year since I moved out. Are you sure you just want to hang out with Derrick on Christmas? My parents won't mind you coming, they'll be more than happy to find out that you're my mate."
"Don't worry about me, Archer." I assure him. "I'll be fine."
"These are the rest of the boxes." I step away from Archer and turn to Derrick, "Thanks for bringing them in."
"No problem." he replies, setting the rest of the boxes down in the guest room. "You two go finish decorating the tree, I'm gonna take care of the boxes."
*** (a couple hours later)
"You're sure you don't like Derrick, right?" Archer randomly asks, dropping his fork down on his plate.
"No." I shake my head, knowing that we've had a similar conversation about this before. "Why do you keep asking me if I like him? I told you already, the only person I'm interested in right now is you."
My words seem to make him feel a little better about the situation, but he still says, "Because every time we're near Derrick, you pay more attention to him than you do to me. And today you wouldn't let me help you with the boxes. You got him to help you instead."
Sensing that he's still offended that I asked Derrick for help instead of him, I ask, "Do you want to see why I didn't want you to help?"
He eagerly nods and follows me to the guestroom when I gesture for him to follow me. "I didn't want you to help carry up the packages because I didn't want you finding out what was inside." Before he can ask why I didn't want him finding out what was inside the boxes, I open the closet and pull out a five-foot tall box.
"This is why I didn't help you and Derrick decorate the tree." I point to the wrapped gift and smile at him, "This is your Christmas gift."
"What is it?" he asks, a spark of excitement in his eyes. "It's a big present, isn't it? Because it's in a big box?"
"I don't know." I shrug, laughing at his childishness. "You wanna bring it downstairs to put under the tree?"
"Just don't shake it, Archer." I warn him when he picks up the wrapped gift. "It's kind of fragile."
"Can you give me a hint of what it is?"
"Nope."
"What if I give you a reason to?"
"What reason?" I ask once we're downstairs.
"How about..." Archer trails off, setting his gift down under the tree and walking over to the hallway closet. "How about I give you a hint about your gift and you give me a hint?"
Archer's Pov
"You got me something?" Josephine asks, actually looking shocked when I pull her present out from the closet. "Of course I did." I say, smiling when I see her face light up with excitement. "Thank you!" she squeals, throwing her arms around me.
"You don't even know what it is yet." I chuckle.
"I know, but there's still something in here, right?" she asks, pulling away to look me in the eyes as if she thinks that I would give her an empty box for Christmas.
"Of course there's something in there." Handing her the box, I turn around and pull two more wrapped presents from the closet. "There's something in these two boxes right here too."
"Who are those for?" she questions, still not looking up from the first gift I handed to her.
Placing the two boxes on top of the one she's holding in her hands, I tell her, "These are for you too."
"Really?" she gasps, looking up at me in disbelief. "You got me three?"
"Four, but the fourth one is a surprise."
"Then what's inside of these?"
"Those are surprises too."
After we put everything under the Christmas tree, I look at the wrapped gift that Josephine got me and ask, "If I give you a hint about your present, will you give me a hint about mine?"
She shakes her head.
"Why not? Aren't you curious?"
"I'm curious."
"Then let's give each other one hint."
"I can wait 'til Christmas."
"I can't!"
*** (5pm, Christmas Day)
"Why do you look so gloomy, Uncle Archer?" Vivian, my niece asks me.
"Yeah, Archer." my mom chimes in, gaining the attention of everyone else in the room. "You've been acting weird all day."
"Are you sad, Uncle Archer?" Vivian turns to Camille and says, "Uncle Archer looks sad. Why is he sad?"
"He's just tired." Camille covers for me, knowing exactly why I've been kind out of it today.
My plan was to come over here around noon and to drop Josephine off at Derrick's, but my parents woke my mate and I up with calls and texts saying to come over. I had to leave my mate at home early and head over here. "Let's just finish opening presents." I sigh, putting my phone away in my pocket.
"Are these from you, Archer?" my mom asks when I hand her, my dad, and my sister their wrapped presents.
"They're from me." I answer, shocking them all even more. It's no secret that I'm not the best gift-giver, that's why I always give everyone cash for holidays and birthdays. This is the first time I've given my family real presents. Technically these are from Josephine, but she told me to tell everyone that they were from me.
I didn't even know that she got my family members gifts. She just handed me boxes before I left the house and locked the door before I could ask her what was inside. "There's a gift and cash?" my mom questions when she sees the money that I taped to the side of the box. When she unwraps the gift, her jaw drops when she sees the gift that Josephine got her. "This is gorgeous." she gasps, holding up a black leather purse given to her by my mate. When she gives me a thank-you hug, I can't keep myself from thinking about how much that bag must've costed Josephine.
"Damn." I turn to my dad and see him trying on a new watch. "Thanks, Archer. This is really nice."
"You're welcome." I mutter, trying to figure out how Josephine got the money for all of this. She hasn't gone to work in a month. There are the pack refunds that she's been receiving, but I thought that she was going to spend that money on paying other things off, not buying my family gifts. "These gifts are amazing, Archer." Camille says, also holding a leather purse in her hands. While my parents are busy awing at their gifts, Camille mind-links me, 'What's wrong?'
'Those gifts aren't from me.' I answer, earning a confused look from her. 'The purses and the watch are from Josephine.'
"Oh my goddess." she gasps out loud, looking at me with wide eyes. When everyone pauses what they're doing to look at her, she quickly adds, "I just love this purse."
"I think these are for you two." I stand up and hand Robert, Camille's mate, and Vivian their presents from Josephine.
I stay in the living room with everyone to see what Josephine got Robert and Vivian, only to be shocked even more when I find out that she got them a watch and an expensive toy. "I'm going to the bathroom." I announce before anyone can ask me where I'm going.
"Are you alright?" my mom asks, concerned.
"I'm fine." I grumble, trudging out the living room and stepping out into the hallway.
I pull out my phone and think about texting Josephine to ask about how she paid for the gifts, but I decide against it when I realize that it might ruin her day. Instead I text her, 'Everyone loves your gifts, you're amazing 😁❤️'
'Do they know who they're from?' she responds only a couple seconds after I send my text.
'Camille knows and I think she's about to tell Robert too.' I answer. 'Is it okay if I tell everyone about us?'
'I told you it was fine already 😶 It's your choice, Archer'
'I'm going to tell them.'
'K' she texts before adding, 'tell me how it goes later 🙃'
'Can I get a hint about my present first?'
'It's in a box and wrapped in wrapping paper 🎈'
I stare at our text messages for a couple seconds, trying to figure out what the emojis she sent mean, but I eventually give it up and put away my phone. "Thank you so much, Uncle Archer!" Vivian runs up to me and crashes into my arms.
"Do you like your present?" I ask, chuckling when she exclaims, "I love it, Uncle Archer! It's the best present ever!"
"I'm happy to hear that." I smile, bending down to pick her up. "You want to know why?"
"Why?" she asks, looking at me with wide curious eyes.
"Because a really special person bought it for you."
"You?"
"Not me." I shake my head. "But someone really, really special to me."
"Who is it?"
"You're about to find out." With Vivian still in my arms, I walk over to where everyone is sitting and say, "I have something to tell everybody. It's another present."
"Uncle Archer told me that somebody really, really special got me my toy!" Vivian blurts out. She turns to me and asks in a quieter voice, "That's what you were going to say, right?"
"Kind of." I chuckle, looking at everyone in the room. Robert and Camille already know about my mate, it's just my parents and Vivian who don't know. "Who's this 'really, really special person'?" my mom asks, sharing a confused look with my dad.
"So, um..." I nervously laugh, not understanding why I'm hesitating to tell my parents about Josephine. "I didn't buy those gifts. The cash is from me, but the purses, watches, and toys aren't."
"If it's not from you, then who's it from?"
"My mate."
*** (three and a half hours later)
"I like her, Uncle Archer." Vivian says, sitting next to me on the couch.
"I like her too." I smile, looking down at the five year old beside me.
"Does she make you happy, Uncle Archer?" Vivian asks. "You look happy right now, but you didn't look happy when she wasn't here."
"She makes me really, really happy."
"Aunt Sophie's nice." Vivian whispers, leaning against my arm. "I'm tired."
About five minutes later, I'm carrying a sleeping Vivian into the kitchen. "She fell asleep." I tell Camille, handing her her child. "You doing okay?" I ask, coming up behind my mate and wrapping my arms around her waist.
"Yeah." she replies, turning away from my mom to look at me. "We were talking about what I got you for Christmas." she tells me.
"Do you know what it is, mom?" I ask, hoping that she'll give me a hint or something. "Josephine won't tell me what she got me."
"I'm not telling you anything." my mom shakes her head, sending Josephine a wink. "You are very lucky to have her." Mom says to me. "Don't mess it up."
"I won't." I chuckle, kissing my mate on the cheek.
After announcing to everyone that I found my mate, my parents instantly understood why I wasn't exactly in the best mood earlier. And after I telling my family that my mate was just spending Christmas alone at our house, my parents immediately told me to go home and pick her up. 'Everyone loves mate.' my wolf states.
'Why wouldn't they?' I reply to him. My parents and sister recognized Josephine when she walked through the door, but luckily no one asked her about her family or where she's been the past two years. Everyone thanked her for the presents and offered to repay her in the future, but Josephine kept declining saying that it's just a Christmas gift. Seeing everyone here open their gifts only made me more curious about what she got me for Christmas. All I know for sure is that she didn't get me a watch like she did for Derrick, Robert, and my dad. "Hey, mom, I think Josephine and I are going to go ahead and head back home." I say, standing up.
"It was nice seeing you again, Ms. Laura." Josephine stands up and embraces my mom in a hug. Turning to me, she says, "I'm gonna go say bye to your dad before we go."
After she leaves the kitchen, my mom says in a quiet tone, "She's an amazing girl, Archer. Very respectful too; your dad and I definitely approve."
"Thanks, mom." I whisper, knowing that my mate can still hear us from where she's standing with my dad. "I would've told you about us sooner, but there a couple other things I had to take care of first."
"It's okay, as long as you weren't planning on keeping this a secret forever." she dismisses, walking with me to the front door where my dad and Josephine are standing and talking. "Ready to go?" I ask my mate.
"Yeah." she answers. "Merry Christmas!" she says to my parents as we walk out the front door.
"Let's go home and open presents!" I exclaim, grabbing her hand and rushing her to the car.
*** (sorry for so much time-lapsing y'all)
"Open this one first." I tell Josephine, handing her the smallest box. "This one was the first gift I got you before I bought the other ones. There's a gift receipt in there if you don't like it-"
"Ooh, there's a candle in here!" Josephine cuts me off, excitedly pulling out the contents of the box. "I love this scent." she whispers, looking at the Bath & Body Works set that I got her. Before she can thank me, I hand her the other two boxes and say, "I think you'll like these even more."
Watching her unwrap her present, I smile when I see her face light up with happiness. "Archer!" she exclaims, seeing what's inside the second box. "Open the other one too." I say, reminding her that she has another unopened present.
"Oh yeah," she laughs, smiling at me before quickly tearing the wrapping paper of the third box. "There two." she states, holding both of the gifts in her hands. "You got me two! Thank you, Archer!"
Letting out a laugh when she crashes into me to give me a hug, I place a kiss on her temple and tell her, "I always see you wear hoodies, but I noticed that none of them were yours. I figured you would want a couple of your own to wear."
"Thank you, Archer." she whispers, happiness shining in her eyes as she stares at the two hoodies in her hands. "Open your present now." she says, pulling away and leading me over to where my gift is near the Christmas tree. "Rip the wrapping paper and then pull on the ribbon underneath." she instructs when I start ripping the wrapping paper.
Quickly tearing away the material, I'm met with a brown cardboard box wrapped with ribbon. Glancing at my mate before I untie it, I pull the ribbon and watch as the walls of the box fall to the ground. "You did all of this for me?" I ask, staring at the sight in front of me in awe. Now I know why Josephine didn't want the box being moved around too much.
The cardboard box now lays flat on the ground under a beanbag chair big enough to comfortably fit two people on it. Full-sized bags and boxes of my favorite snacks sit on top of the chair along with two stacks of movie DVDs. "These are all the Rocky movies." I say, looking at all the DVDs. "And all the Adam Sandler movies. And The Giver."
"I know you like them, so I got them all for you." she shrugs, acting as if all of this is no big deal. I only mentioned those movies once, I didn't expect her to remember that information. "These are full-sized bars!" I sit down next to the beanbag chair and look at all the snacks she laid out on the chair next to the movies. "Thank you, Josephine." I pull my mate towards me and wrap my arms around her. "Your last present is above us right now." I say, quickly grabbing the mistletoe from behind the tree and holding it above us.
Just like she did last time, she leans in and kisses me on the nose before pulling away. "I want one on the lips too." I tell her, putting my hand on her cheek. The both of us lean closer so that we're only inches apart, her eyes glancing down to my lips before meeting my eyes again.
"Merry Christmas, Archer." she whispers, pressing her lips to mine.
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I AM SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR NEARLY AN ENTIRE MONTH!!!!!!! And I'm sorry that this holiday chapter is late. I've been busy with a lot of other things in my life and that has effected the time I have to write on Wattpad.
How do y'all feel about Derrick?
Nate?
Eric?
Scarlet?
Any other characters?
Chapter Goal (for the scene where Josephine finds out that Archer is her mate): 390 votes
xoxo Priscilla