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Trinity
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Later, after my failed meeting with Reece, I was finally reading in the library, but I just couldn't concentrate on any of the stories I tried to read. I was upset about my conversation with Reece that morning. And to top it off, Noah came to tell me that Reece hadn't yet managed to get my exam situation figured out, so I was about to fail all my classes. Great.
I was aimlessly looking through the books trying to find something interesting to read and trying to identify some of the other books as quite a few didn't have covers on them. I had just picked up what looked like a journal on a shelf by the far window when a picture fell out of it.
I didn't recognize the people in the picture at all. It showed a man and a young boy, about ten years old, playing guitars together. They were smiling happily at each other. The boy had black hair and honey-colored eyes. The man had black hair and bright yellow eyes.
The more I looked at the picture, the more I felt like I knew who they were, but I would have to ask Lila if I was right. I went looking for her and found her on the third floor. She had turned a sitting room into an art studio for herself. I have a feeling that Reece had gotten rid of every trace of his parents from the house because their memories were painful for him, but Lila was going to bring those memories back.
"Hi Lila." I called out to her.
"Hi there, Trinity, sweetie. How are you?" She asked as soon as I came into the room, she acted like she hadn't just seen me at breakfast.
"I found something that I wanted to ask you about." I told her.
"Really? What's that?" She seemed excited.
I showed Lila the picture, it had been folded and was badly creased across the middle, but it was clear that whoever had kept it in the book had done so with love. The book that had looked like a journal had been empty, so I wasn't able to get any clues from it.
"Oh my, look how young Reece is." She cooed as she touched the boy's face in the picture. "He was always so handsome. Don't you think so?" She looked up at me with a happy smile and tears brimming in her eyes. I knew that's who it was, and the man must be his father.
"He was definitely a handsome little boy." I agreed. "Is the man with him your husband?" I asked.
"You didn't know?" She asked, me confused.
"No, I was never really allowed out, unless it was a mandatory thing I never went to meetings. And usually my family kept me hidden at the back. I had never actually seen the previous alpha. It was purely coincidental that I had seen Reece's face prior to forming the mate bond." I looked at the floor in shame as I confessed how my Grandfather had forced me to be raised.
"That's a shame." She seemed saddened. "My husband was a kind and gentle man. He would not have liked the way you were treated."
"We can't change the past."
"No, but we can stop it from being repeated."
"What are you talking about?" I asked her.
"No one should treat you, or anyone else in the pack, like that." She seemed angry, did she and the former alpha not know how people in the pack viewed me when I was growing up? Or was I mostly ignored until I was old enough to be a topic of discussion? The previous alpha died when I was eleven, so maybe most of the pack didn't know much about me then. I wasn't even old enough to start trying to get my wolf at that time, so it was possible they didn't know.
"Trinity, have you talked to my thick headed son yet?" Lila asked me, her voice changing from saddened ponderings of the past to annoyance. Was she angry at me too, or at Reece?
"We tried to talk to each other earlier, it didn't go well."
"Was he mean again?" She asked as if she expected this.
"Not really, I'm sorry to say that I let my typical response to him come out, but I think it's become a defense mechanism to him now. I can't help it. Plus, he acts like a jerk so much that it's just natural for me." I told her. "I'm afraid I was a bit too snarky with him." To my surprise she laughed.
"That's fine, he needs someone to humble him, he's been holding himself too high for so long, do me a favor and knock him a little lower will you. Once you think he's fallen enough, come talk to me, I have something I want to tell you."
"Can't you just tell me now?" I asked her, curious as to what it was.
"No, I think it best to wait. But just know, he's not all bad." Her knowing smile seemed a little devious at the moment. I didn't know what she was hiding, but I was definitely curious.
Christmas was coming up. I hadn't even thought about it until just now. But I only have about two weeks. I shouldn't be heartless and ignore him, I needed to get him something. The problem was, I couldn't go to the store to pick anything out. So, I was stuck shopping for him, and everyone, online.
I had already picked out gifts for Aunt Eve, Uncle Wesley, Carter, Noah, Nikki and Grandfather, which were the usual crowd. New to my shopping list this year was Juniper, Paul, Cedar, Vincent and his family, David, not to mention Shane and Shawn. Then there was everyone at the estate. I needed to shop for Lila, Abigail, Peter, get something small for the rotating housekeepers, and of course Reece. I had never had to shop for so many people in my life.
Most people were easy, I knew what types of things they wanted because I had either spent my entire life around them or they were open and friendly, so they were easy to understand. The only person who was hard to shop for was Reece.
"UURRGGHH!" I screamed in frustration as I tried to think of what to get the jerk that seemed to have everything and wanted nothing to do with me.
I had figured out almost everyone's gifts in no time at all. But here I was spending hours trying to figure out what to get that jerk. Most of what I knew about him had to do with his personality, which sucked.
"What do you get a man with a superiority complex that hates you?" I asked myself. "I can't make myself invisible, which is probably all he would want from me." I was talking to myself, that's how mad he was making me. I growled to myself as I continued to look at what to get him.
I started to think about What Lila had said earlier. She said he wasn't all bad. I guess she might be right. He saved my life twice now. And he had managed a few conversations with me that didn't end in disaster, or that didn't go south because of him. He wasn't the only one to blame here.
Then I remembered the picture that I had seen. I remembered how happy he had looked in it, and I realized that I hadn't seen a single guitar in the music room. Did he get rid of them when his father died? Would he get mad if I got him a new one? Would he be fine with a memory of his father now that his mother was back?
I had a plan, I just hoped it didn't backfire on me. I started looking for the items I wanted to order. This plan needed two things to make it work. But I wanted to get him something else too, just in case they didn't go over very well.
In the course of my searching I found a watch set that looked like it would be perfect for him. It was masculine and screamed alpha to me. The band was made mostly of platinum but with a line of black gold in the middle. The face of the watch was platinum ringed in black gold. Instead of digits for the numbers, they had small black spinel stones embedded in the face of the watch beneath the crystal. The constant contrast of black and platinum was mesmerizing to me that I just felt drawn to it. It also came with a matching bracelet, it was a thick, army style id type bracelet, best of all, I could put an inscription on it, but I would do so on the bottom not the top.
I had 'Alpha' engraved onto the watch for him. As for the bracelet, well that inscription read 'Reece "FIDO" Gray'. I just knew he would love it. There was one other gift he was going to get. I just hoped I didn't laugh too hard when I gave it to him. This last one was how I was going to start letting him know I might forgive him, if he was willing to try to behave himself and start over with me. I couldn't wait for Christmas now.
