Instrumental tunes of a popular Christmas song could be heard long before we reached the front porch. When the front door swung open to reveal an omega, the music intensified, pouring through the door along with the blast of heat from inside. The omega ushered us in, waiting patiently as we stomped the clumps of snow from our boots. Kallie was extra enthusiastic with her snow removal, jumping around us on the rug until the souls of her shoes cleared.

"Right this way," the omega swept his arm forward to lead us down the grand hallway, past the elegant staircase and several closed doors — each with a wolf seal ingrained in the wood. It was a beautiful, yet inconspicuous way to announce where we were.

"Are we late?" I whispered to him, brushing off a few snowflakes from my skirt.

The omega smiled, "don't worry. No one has started."

My eyes slid quickly up to my right, where Xavier met them knowingly. That didn't answer my question!

Kallie skipped along, holding Xavier's hand with her left, and skimming the beautiful walls and doors with her right. "Everything is so pretty here!"

I laughed, but had to agree. The architecture, the engravings, the paintings, everything. I saw the exact moment Kallie caught onto the wolf designs on the door planks. She gasped and stopped in front of one, pulling us all to a halt as well. Reaching up with her delicate little fingers, she traced the outline of carved fur.

"Everyone here is wolves, aren't they?"

Quickly, I grasped her elbow and pulled her away from the door so I could be sure I had her full attention. "Yes, and the fact that you're not is not something we go around telling everyone we meet, okay?"

Her brown eyes blinked, the wonder faded and replaced with seriousness. "Okay, Mom." And then she grabbed Xavier's hand and we kept moving after the omega.

I couldn't help but smile at the feeling being called "Mom" still gave me, even after all these months of it being official. We adopted Kallie — according to the laws and court of the state of Virginia — back in August, just in time for her to start school with kids her age. She had been behind at first, having grown up in a prison cell, but she caught on fast and Xavier and I couldn't be more proud of how much she had progressed since.

While she was legally ours, the same court didn't work in a pack system. We were hoping Queen Natalia could help with that, but to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how it all worked either. Xavier wasn't helping much, either. The only thing he had told me was that for her to be recognized as our pup, according to the Goddess Selene and a pack's hierarchy, her soul had to bind with ours.

"Here we are." Announced the omega, pulling open a set of double doors, each adorned with a Christmas wreath. Kallie retreated to the shy version of herself as we walked in, tucking behind Xavier's leg.

The first thing my eyes laid on was the feast in the center of the large wooden table. It hadn't been touched yet, but the majority of the seats around it were occupied. A dozen or more sets of eyes found us as we headed over.

"April!" A shout broke the strangled silence and suddenly Sage was in front of us, throwing her arms around me.

I let go of Xavier's hand to return the gesture. "Sage! What are you doing here?"

"We're all here!" She giggled, glancing over her shoulder. I followed her line of sight to the table, and sure enough, I spotted the other six girls seated around the table.

"Rue!" I gasped, remembering how she hadn't been found after our rescues.

She beamed, standing from her chair to join us. I waited until she was the one to hug me, because we hadn't been close, but I was relieved to see her alive and well. More than well, actually. Rue's light brown hair had thickened, and it had a shine to it as well as the fact it had doubled in length. Her hazel eyes were brighter than I ever could have pictured on her. She looked healthy, and I realized I had never seen her like that. She was beautiful.

"Actually, my name is Riley."

"Oh yeah," Sage added, "and I remembered I'm Samantha!

"That's wonderful!" I exclaimed. "I'm so glad you guys remembered yourselves and could go home."

"We're all here with our alphas!" Ivy, er, Isabelle — it was going to be hard relearning their names! — piped up and joined the conversation from where she sat at the table. Next to her was a large man, his muscles still prominent in spite of the grey in his air showing his age. In fact, now that she had said that, I noticed all of them had strangers next to them. For some, it was a man and a woman, others just a man.

"What about your parents?"

Samantha shrugged, her blonde hair slithering over her shoulder. "Some of us were able to reunite and others didn't get so fortunate. But our alphas wanted to meet you and your mate, to thank you for helping to return us to our packs."

Speechless, I glanced at Xavier, and he grinned, looking just as dumbstruck as I was. Were we famous?

"It seems you are, yes." A silky voice said, standing up from the head of the table and announcing her presence to us. The queen.

Instantly I dipped my head in a submissive bow, shameful I'd said that out loud. She laughed, the echo of it floating around the high-ceilinged room. "No need for that!"

When she'd paced across the room to meet us where we were still standing, I met her eyes. "Thank you for inviting us here, Your Majesty. Though, I wasn't expecting an entire event!"

She laughed again, and my heart relaxed a little. I had never met the queen before, only her older sister, and while Eirenae was extremely nice, royalty could be a hit or miss after years on a throne. I was glad she seemed to follow the personality of her sister, and not their infamous mother. Or father for that matter!

"I figured you were only meeting our request."

"Well, I figured you'd want a little reunion, too. The child remembers them, surely?" She leaned to the side to try to catch a glimpse at Kallie, still hiding behind Xavier.

"Of course. Kallie, come here, sweetie."

Kallie listened, only needing a gentle nudge from her dad to appear from behind him. She walked to me and grabbed my hand. "Kallie, this is Queen Natalia."

"Hi." She squeaked, raising her hand in a tiny wave.

The queen held her hand up for a high five, shocking me a little, but Kallie didn't deter, and bounced a little to reach it with her own hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Kallie. I've heard a lot about you."

"You have?"

"Of course!" Queen Natalia beamed, "I know all about why you're here today."

"Well I don't." Kallie deadpanned, taking the queen aback. I could hear Isadora laugh from her spot at the table.

"We hadn't actually told her." I muttered guiltily.

Her Majesty straightened, "well, no matter. We'll go over it later, anyway." She turned, and the ruffled ends of her red dress pranced on the marble floor. "For now, let's enjoy a Christmas dinner!"

We obliged, and Kallie gave a squeal of delight as she began to open up at the promise of food. Riley and Samantha sat down and Xavier and I found the three empty seats towards the head of the table. Next to the queen herself.

"It's an honor to be here, Your Majesty." Xavier said as politely as I'd ever heard him speak as he pulled out my chair for me.

"The pleasure is mine, Alpha Black."

From a signal I hadn't comprehended, omegas appeared from thin air and began dishing up the meal to each of the guests. A plate of traditional holiday foods landed in front of me and my mouth immediately began to water. It had been somewhat of a drive to get here today, and suddenly I was reminded how long it had been since our own pack's festivities of breakfast and gift exchanging.

Just as fast as they had appeared, the omegas dispersed when everyone had been served. And once the queen took a bite, everyone dug in. That made Natalia roll her eyes, and noticing that brought a smile to my face.

The table was lively the entire meal with chatter and stories as everyone caught up with each other, especially the eight of us who had been together at that pack. Eventually Kallie joined in, bringing joy and laughter to the conversation simply from being her normal bright and lively self again.

Long after we'd all finished eating, too stuffed to continue anymore, Her Majesty stood up and drew all the conversations to a close. "Sorry," she apologized for the abruptness. "I just think it's time." She met mine and Xavier's eyes and then Kallie's. "Are you ready?"

Kallie looked confused, but nodded all the same.

The queen addressed me and Xavier only this time, "would you like everyone present, or just the three of you?"

Xavier's expression told me it was up to me. I pondered for a moment. "Maybe all the girls that were with us?"

Queen Natalia nodded and started walking to the door. "Alphas, the omegas will show you to the foyer. Everyone else, come this way."

Murmurs spread across the group, and I realized most didn't know what this was about. But they followed the queen all the same. Kallie gripped mine and Xavier's hands in each of hers, and I could sense she was nervous. Suddenly I wished we hadn't kept it a surprise.

We were in the hallway, near the front of the palace, when a little boy tumbled down the massive staircase in a rush. He pushed his mop of brown hair away from his eyes and his jaw dropped when he saw all of us. His face turned beat red as he glanced down at himself to see he was only in Christmas pajamas and we were all done up for a fancy dinner.

"James?" The queen asked. Her tone was annoyed but her face showed concern.

"Um, never mind you look busy." His eyes stayed wide as they swept across the crowd that was following Her Majesty down the hall. But they lingered and turned curious when they found Kallie.

I tilted my head at him. She wasn't the only kid in the group that seemed close in age with him, so I couldn't understand what had caught his attention. When I looked to the right, Xavier's stare was fixed hard on the kid. And when he growled, the kid scrambled backwards in fear.

"Xavier!" I hissed, assuming we were looking at the prince.

"I am busy, James." Natalia said, either not hearing or not caring about Xavier's uncalled for behavior. "Unless it's an emergency, come and find me tonight."

The boy nodded, scrambling away up the stairs. But I didn't miss the one last look he threw over his shoulder at us before he disappeared from sight.

"Sorry about him." The queen muttered, ushering us into a room across from the stairs.

"Is he yours?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, even though the boy had looked nothing like the queen.

She smiled wistfully as she closed the door behind us. "I never got the chance to bear my mate's pups. Prince James is related to him, though. And he is the heir to my throne."

I opened my mouth, but thought better than to ask more questions.

"What are we doing?" Kallie tugged on the hem of my skirt.

Kneeling down to her level, I explained the best I could. "Remember when we adopted you? Well, today we are making sure you're our daughter forever."

Her face scrunched, "but I thought that's what adoption was."

"It is! By the human laws." I held her hands, "the queen is going to make you our daughter according to the wolf laws."

She looked past me at Xavier for a moment. "It's alright," he told her. "This will allow you to have the blood of an alpha, so that the Moon Goddess recognizes you as my heir."

"You mean, so I can be alpha one day?" Her eyes glimmered, as if that had never occurred to her before. We tried not to treat her special just because she was an alpha's daughter. I had explained to Xavier my upbringing and we agreed we wanted to keep her from that kind of isolation. Especially since it was already inevitable with her being a non-wolf shifter.

"That's right." Natalia said soothingly. "My job is to bind your spirits together so that Selene may recognize you as a full alpha family."

Kallie's eyes landed on mine again, and they started to swim with tears. But she was smiling. "So it will be real? For sure this time?"

I laughed, sweeping her into my arms. "Yes, sweetheart. It will be real this time."

The other girls formed a half-circle around us against the walls of the parlor we were in. Natalie had the three of us sit on the floor with Kallie between Xavier and me. She crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap, looking up expectantly at the queen.

Without warning I was cast into darkness. Feeling as though I was suspended in the air. I hadn't remembered Natalia saying anything or doing anything to begin. I couldn't see or hear anyone or anything, but I didn't dare move in case I would ruin something.

A force shoved me from behind. "Oomph!" I gasped, not understanding or even fully aware of anything. And then I saw it, seeping out of me like I was melting. What started as the white smoke of a breath in the cold of winter, slowly morphed into something more solid. I sucked in a breath as the last of it left me, stumbling in the dark for something, anything to hold onto. Weak, I began to shiver in cold and fear, and I felt. . . empty. Like something was missing.

Wasn't I supposed to feel whole when Kallie became my daughter? And where was she? And Xavier?

I didn't understand, I didn't-

I froze, my eyes wide as they took in the sight before me. The white smoke had taken a form, a four-legged creature with a narrow snout, a bushy tail, pointy ears. . . I fell backwards when I realized I was looking at myself. Well, myself when I shifted.

The fox pranced around me, glowing to create the only source of light wherever I was. It circled me several times, leaving a trail of some sort of dust or smoke or something in its trodden path. Then it barked. At first I thought it was at me, until a howl responded in the vast nothingness.

Moments later a wolf appeared, made of the same glistening vapor as the fox. It barked twice, bounding around the fox in circles, not even paying attention to me. Glancing down at myself I realized why.

I wasn't even there. I couldn't see myself in the darkness. It was like I were just a pair of eyes watching the animals, but not actually physically there.

I watched the fox and the wolf nuzzle each other and I began to comprehend it. I was the fox, Xavier was the wolf. Neither of us were actually here, but our shifted spirits were. And these souls were already tied together through my Luna ceremony last summer. That's why it didn't surprise me that the tiger that joined us was a completely different color. It was made of the same vapory substance, but was a muddled blur of blues and grays. It reminded me of the emotion of being lost and alone. Without home.

It mewed at the fox and wolf until they realized it was there. Excitedly, the two of them bounded through the blackness to each touch noses with the tiger kitten. And then they pranced around it until all three vanished behind a cloud of vapor and smoke and sparkly dust. When it settled, the tiger was a shimmering white, like the fox and wolf.

The three of them tumbled around in circles as free spirits until two of them finally went off into the darkness, leaving me alone with the fox. It saw me again, and bounded over to me. But it didn't stop, and instead went right into me. It spiraled the way it had originally come out of me and then I was stumbling backwards and I was falling, and falling. Unable to scream, or shout for help, or do anything, I let myself be suspended in the nothingness, closing my eyes and waiting to reach the world again.

My eyes snapped open with a flash, and the breath I drew in was impressive. My heart thudded against my rib cage and my head spun from the overwhelming amount of senses that flooded my system after being suspended in the blank state for so long.

"April?" Xavier asked, his voice rising when I didn't respond, "April!"

"Wha-" but I was already being pulled onto his lap with his head burrowed against my neck, where the scar tissue of his mark sat nestled in the groove of my clavicle. It tingled from the sensation of his nose tracing it to calm both himself and me.

"Where's-" again I didn't finish my question because Kallie's hand was already grabbing mine.

"I'm here." She said, "That was the coolest experience ever!"

I blinked at her, finally regaining my focus to see her fiery hair pooled in my lap as she leaned over me. Her bright eyes were dancing with wonder and amazement as she stared up at me. Xavier's head remained ducked against my shoulder.

"Did you see?" Kallie asked expectantly. "Did you see the wolf? And me? And the fox?"

I grinned. "I saw all three of us."

She looked puzzled. "I couldn't see you guys though."

Xavier managed a laugh, muffled by my neck. "That was us, you goof!"

Understanding dawned across Kallie's expression like a sunrise, and her wonder grew even more, if that were possible. "Woah." She whispered.

I realized then that we were alone. I wasn't sure when everyone else had cleared out, or what they had seen during the whole thing. I probably wouldn't ever know how the process of joining souls truly worked, but that was okay, because at least I knew I'd have my family with me forever, and Kallie could be recognized as ours.

Xavier lifted his head and cupped my face. "We're a family."

We'd always been a family, I knew, but I understood what he meant. "Under Selene," I added.

"Forever." Kallie whispered, throwing her arms around both of us and putting her head in my lap, sort of forming a pile, as I was still occupying Xavier's lap.

He leaned into me and kissed me, with tenderness but also a passion he'd been refraining from since I'd come home, for my sake while I recovered from the trauma. But that was mostly gone now, especially when I was with him. And I kissed him back harder, never tiring of the electricity that floated around us almost palpably.

Breaking apart from Xavier, I stroked Kallie's hair and she looked up at me. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too."