The Alpha's Burning Flower

Chapter 4

Birthday Wishes 

Annabella POV 

“Ready to go Bella Rose?” He asks after we’ve both finished eating. 

The ride back home is just as silent as the ride there and just like every other weekend morning when we get home, we both head in our own directions to get ready for the day. I take a longer shower than normal because I want to wash my new hair extra well. After drying myself off, I walk into my room and closet to find an outfit for today. I decide on a dark green dress that goes to my knees and has white polka dots around the bottom of the skirt. 

I run a brush through my new silver hair then walk back downstairs. I see dad standing in the kitchen. One hand is on an already half-drank mug of coffee while the other is on his head: his thumb rubbing his temple and his first two fingers supporting his forehead. His eyes are closed and I can feel the stress coming off of him. 

“Daddy?” I ask a little tentatively and his eyes snap open to find mine. 

“Hi princess,” he smiles at me but it's tight. I'm sorry, I know I promise you the whole day on your birthday but is it okay if I do some important work for an hour this morning?” My dad asks me. 

“Sure daddy! That’s okay,” I respond with a genuine smile. None of the step family comes out of their rooms until the afternoon and it’s only eight right now so I can easily wait an hour. I head to the couch in the living room and flip on the tv, relaxing on the couch. 

         “Annabella,” I hear my name being called from somewhere far away, “Bella Rose.” Closer now. Then I feel a hand shaking my shoulder and I realize I must have fallen asleep. Groggily I peel open my eyelids and see my dad standing next to the couch. 

         “Hey daddy,” I say sitting up and rubbing my eyes. 

         “Sorry work took me longer than I said.” I glance over at the clock on the wall. 

         “It's only 9:30, it's fine. Apparently I needed a nap anyway!” I tell him giving him a big smile that he thankfully returns. He looks a little less stressed now. 

         “I have your birthday gifts,” he says handing me aa small box. I proceed to rip off the wrapping paper. I pull out a black Nikon digital camera. 

         “This is awesome thank you!” He continues to smile warmly at me. 

         “I was thinking that we could go test it out in the woods today? Spend all day outside before the weather starts getting cold. Maybe we could even find a nice clearing to have a bonfire at.” 

         “Daddy that sounds like so much fun!” I nearly yell throwing my arms around his neck in a tight hug. I pull away and start to get up but dad grabs my arm. 

         “Hang on, I have one more gift for you.” I just nod and sit down a little confused. It's always been tradition for dad to get me one really meaningful gift on my birthday then we just spend the day together. He's gotten me two a couple of times but never three. He pulls a small black box from his pocket and hands it to me. I flip the lid and it opens with a snap. 

         “Oh,” is the only word I have when I look at the crown-shaped ring inside this box. It's bright gold and has the clearest, shiniest, and biggest diamond I have ever seen sitting in the middle. Seven smaller diamonds surround the top of the big one. The gold curls around the diamonds connecting them to the bottom of the ring with a single diamond set at the end of each curl. The bottom starts at a sharp point right at the bottom center of the center diamond then curves just slightly to connect to the curls then goes straight around to make the full circle. More small diamonds trails around the bottom. The whole ring shines so brightly I never want to stop looking at it. I finally slip it onto my right middle finger and hold it up in front of me. 

“It was your mom’s,” dad says quietly, staring at the ring, “I gave it to her the night that I asked her to marry me. I was going to wait until your thirteenth birthday to give it to you but something felt right about giving it to you now.” 

“It's beautiful, thank you.” I try to make my words as sincere as I can to show him how much this ring means to me. 

“Okay, so let’s get this camera set up then we can start our adventure today,” dad declares grabbing my new camera off the couch. The rest of the day goes just as he suggested. After he got my camera set up he went upstairs to pack a bag for the day and told me to make us some sandwiches to eat for lunch and dinner. Thirty minutes later, we were off to the woods for the second time today. I must have taken nearly a hundred pictures of anything and everything. Dad even took some on his phone of me using my camera. We laughed and talked the whole time. 

We did find a clearing to have a small fire and dad surprised me with smores. I took even more pictures as the sun started going down. Then we packed up and began our walk back in a comfortable silence. 

A couple of hours later, we are both showered and ready for bed. Dad is in my room saying goodnight. 

“Goodnight Bella Rose,” he says. 

“I want a story tonight,” I tell him, “it's the only way to end the perfect birthday.” And it was probably the best birthday I have ever had. 

“Okay, what do you want to hear about tonight then?”

“Mates,” comes the whispered word in my head. And although I'm still not sure what is going on with that weirdness, I couldn’t agree more.