Accepted and Adored

Christmas Gifts

Lily woke up to the feeling of featherlight kisses on her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open as the kisses travelled to her neck and Finn bit gently on the lobe of her ear.

“Morning angel,” Finn whispered, and Lily could hear the smile in his voice. He lifted her hand and kissed the emerald and diamond-set ring on her finger, gazing down at the gold band with the same joy and pride as he always did.

Lily groaned sleepily in response, letting her eyes fall closed again as sleep tugged her back down. She wasn’t a morning person, which her mate should have learnt by then. She heard Finn chuckle at her, and from her half-awake state she could feel his fingers stroking through her hair gently.

“Lily,” he said softly, trying to wake her up again. “Babe, it’s time to get up.” When his words got no response from his tired mate, he resorted to other measures.

Lily was drifting back to sleep, but when Finn’s fingers trailed up her thigh and under the oversized shirt she was wearing, she suddenly felt wide awake. She opened her eyes to find his sparkling sea-blue ones gazing back at her. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe that she was lucky enough to have Finn as her mate, and on sleepy mornings like that, she often felt like she was stuck in the kind of beautiful dream that you never want to wake up from. They had been bonded mates for almost two months, but every day still felt just as, if not more, incredible than the last. The happiness that she found just by waking up next to him every day and seeing the adoration and love in his eyes, was the kind of happiness she had always longed for.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, stroking her hair behind her ear.

Lily’s eyes widened in surprise. She hadn’t realized what day it was in her sleepy haze. “Merry Christmas,” she replied happily through a small yawn.

Finn’s eyes crinkled at the corners in amusement at her sleepiness. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, tracing her lips gently with his thumb.

Lily’s lips tugged up in a shy smile and her cheeks pinkened in pleasure, still not used to hearing those words spoken to her.

“I love it when you blush like that,” he told her before placing light kisses on both of her cheeks. “And I love these lips,” he added, kissing her gently and softly, before pulling away to look into her eyes again. “And I love those green eyes,” he said.

“And I love you,” Lily replied, making him grin.

“With everything I have,” he agreed, moving his fingers higher up her thigh and causing Lily’s toes to curl in pleasure.

Their gazes stayed locked as his fingers traced the edge of her underwear, and he had to bite his lip to contain his mischievous smile when Lily drew in a gasp at the contact. Lily moaned when he let his fingers slip under the lacey material. She ran her hands through his short black hair and pulled him in for a fervent kiss as he showed her, yet again, how good he could make her feel. She raised her hips up as he tugged her underwear down and off, leaving her in only his old shirt that she had stolen from him to sleep in. When he touched her exactly where she needed him, it only took a few strokes of his fingers before waves of pleasure shot through her body and she was gasping his name against his lips.

Her breathless gasps mingled with his deep growl when she lowered her hand to his shirtless torso and ran her fingers over his stomach and down to the waistband of his boxers. Her fingers had just trailed under his boxers when a loud knock at the apartment door made the two of them freeze.

“Open up guys!” Matt yelled loud enough for them to hear him from the bedroom. “It’s Christmas!” he added with an enthusiastic whoop.

Finn sighed in frustration and muttered, “I’m going to kill my brother.”

“He does have a habit of interrupting us when things are getting intense,” Lily admitted with a light chuckle.

Finn groaned in annoyance as Matt continued to knock incessantly at the door, not leaving them a choice but to get up and let him in.

“You go shower babe,” Finn told her as they climbed out of bed reluctantly. “I’ll go let the brat in.”

“Just don’t kill him alright?” Lily teased him, grabbing some warm clothes to change into after her shower. “Penelope would never forgive you.”

“God knows how that poor girl puts up with him,” he remarked drily as he put on a shirt and went to go let in Matt, who was still banging on the door.

Lily showered quickly, not wanting to waste the little time she and Finn had left in Hood River. They had made plans to say goodbye to all their friends and family before they left for Seattle in three days, and their Christmas was going to be spent together with the Stevensons and the Taylors. Lily didn’t want to waste a second of her time with the two families, especially not when she and Finn would be leaving so soon.

She and Finn had decided to drive up to Seattle first thing in the morning on Monday, leaving them plenty of time to settle into their new home and meet their new Alpha and Luna. Lily had enrolled in a high school close to their new apartment, and Finn would be working as a co-owner and a trainer in the new gym that Greg and Damien had decided to open in the city. The two men had been struggling to make ends meet in such a small town, so Finn had suggested that they relocate their company. The three werewolves had agreed to open the gym together in Seattle, giving Finn the perfect job and Greg and Damien a great opportunity to grow their business.

The two months after Lily and Finn’s mating ceremony had been nothing short of perfect and she would miss everyone in Hood River who had come to mean so much to her, but she was excited to start their new life in Seattle where the memories of Kyle and her father would no longer be clinging to her like sludgy oil, and her new pack members wouldn’t look at her with either pity or disgust– she needed a fresh start away from all of that.

After her shower, Lily got changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a warm and festive red knitted sweater, dressing warmly for the winter chill that would await them outside. She left most of her long light-brown hair down but tied half of it up into a messy bun to keep the strands out of her face.

“Hey Matt,” she greeted Finn’s brother, giving him a hug as she entered the kitchen. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas Lily,” he responded, crushing her to her in a tight bear hug. “I’m on my way to Penelope’s house, but I just wanted to pop in here first,” he said once he released her. He and his mate were happy as ever and would be going through the mating ceremony in a few months.

“We’ll see you both at your mom’s house later though, right?” Lily asked him. Without her needing to ask, Finn handed her a mug of coffee and she sent him a grateful smile as Matt responded to her.

“Yeah, we’re just doing breakfast there and then we’ll head over,” he explained. “I actually wanted to bring you guys your gift before then though,” he said, pointing at a rectangular-shaped present on the kitchen bar counter.

“I’m sure we could have waited a few hours to open it,” Lily teased him, walking over to pick up the gift.

“He claims it’s the most brilliant gift in the world,” Finn told her with a chuckle. “He’s too impatient to wait for our reactions to it.”

“Well in that case, it makes perfect sense,” Lily laughed.

“You guys are joking now, but it’s all true,” Matt told them smugly.

“Open it babe,” Finn said to her, pulling her in so her back was to his chest, and he was looking over her head as she unwrapped the present.

Underneath the festive gift wrap was a picture frame, and when she turned it over it was to see a photo of her and Finn at their mating ceremony. Their hands were joined together with the light blue and red ribbons, and the ring that Finn had given her was sparkling on her finger. She and Finn were looking into each other’s eyes with huge grins on their faces, and Lily’s eyes were shining with happy tears as the sun set in the background. It was the moment right before their bond had snapped into place and just before their first kiss as bonded mates. Lily didn’t think there were any photos of that day, but Matt must have taken one without them noticing.

“You were right, Matt” she whispered, threading her fingers through Finn’s hand which was pressed against her stomach. “It is the best gift in the world.”

“I know right,” he replied, clearly proud of the gift. “Anyways, I need to get going but I’ll see you two love birds later,” he said, letting himself out of the apartment.

Finn kissed Lily affectionately on the top of her head once they were alone again. “It really is the best Christmas gift,” he said, hugging her closer to him.

“Our gift for Matt suddenly seems really lame,” Lily pointed out with a wince. They had bought him the DVD of the Notebook, a box of tissues and a large box of chocolates. It was more of a joke than a gift, but they had thought the goofy werewolf would love it. After his sincere gift though, it didn’t feel like enough.

“Nah, he’ll love it,” Finn told her. “My family and I always get him funny gifts, so it’s nothing new.”

“Are you sure?” she asked him uncertainly.

“Definitely,” he insisted, taking the picture frame from her and putting it down on the counter. “Now, where were we before my brother interrupted us?” he asked her, trailing gentle kisses down her neck.

“Finn,” Lily half-groaned and half-moaned. “We really should get going. Your parents are expecting us soon,” she told him.

“How about this. Since I need to shower anyway, why don’t you just join me in there?” he whispered temptingly in her ear.

“I already had a shower,” Lily pointed out to him cheekily, already knowing that she would cave and join him, but wanting to tease him a bit.

“One can never have too many showers,” Finn argued, running his hands under her sweater and over the skin of her waist.

“I suppose that’s true,” she admitted, biting her lip to keep in her smile.

She shrieked in surprise as Finn picked her up and flung her right over his shoulder, leaving her hanging upside down as he carried her to the bathroom.

“Finn!” she yelled through her laughter.

“Quiet woman,” he said with mock severity as he slapped her ass. “We’re on a serious mission to save water.”

“With what I have planned, I don’t think we’ll be saving much water,” Lily told him after he put her down in front of the shower.

With her words, his patience snapped, and he attacked her lips desperately as he unbuttoned her jeans and started tugging off her sweater.

“f**k,” he swore under his breath once she was down to just her underwear and he was taking in the sight of her in the new matching red lace bra and panties she had bought the other day. It had been a spur-of-the-moment buy, but with the way he was looking at her, she was glad she had done it.

“Merry Christmas,” Lily teased him, gesturing to her festively colored lingerie.

“Now that’s the best Christmas gift ever,” Finn said with a groan before he pulled her in for another hungry kiss.

As Lily had suspected, their shower was a long one, but she wasn't regretting a single second of it. “I love you Finn,” she said as he brought her closer to another c****x.

“With everything I have,” Finn replied right before they both went over the edge.