Celestial and the Alpha

Chapter 11 P.2: Someone Really Special

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Celeste's POV

"Lesa!" Xavier gives her a big hug, my stomach continuing to tighten. "This," he grabs her hand which even Ancillary growls at, and takes her towards me, "is Celeste, my mate." His smile calms me down, bright as ever and full of care. "Celeste, this is Lesa. My sister."

My shoulders sag in relief. This is his sister. Ancillary stops growling.

"It's so nice to meet you, Celeste."

I pat down my hair, sure it's a frizzy mess from our outings today. "It's nice to meet you too, I'm so sorry I don't. . . look nicer?" I look down at Xavier's large sweater that swallows me and my gray leggings.

"You look beautiful, little one." Xavier puts an arm around my waist and I fight the urge to fall into him.

"You really do! You look so cute in his sweater!" I blush at her gushing. "And look at you two together, so adorable. The Moon Goddess sure does know what she's doing." I give her a smile. "Why don't you come inside? I'll get you something to eat."

"Maybe just a light snack?" I look up at Xavier as he speaks. His voice haunts my dreams. "I want to make Celeste lunch when we get back to the pack house." He smiles down at me. "I think you'll like what I have in mind." I give him a nod, although I'm unsure what he has in mind.

Lesa walks ahead of us and holds open the door, showing the inside of her cute house. The inside is a similar shade of blue to the outside of the house, with tan trims and yellow decorations finding their way into several spots of the room. Something about the house feels. . off. A smell lingering in the air that I can't quite make sense of yet seems somewhat familiar. Ancillary starts whining.

'What is it?'

'Something is wrong. You need to go,' she insists.

'We can't just go,' I try to reason with her. 'We're meeting Xavier's family. This is important to him.' She whines again but says nothing more.

Lesa leads us to a little table with four chairs and gestures for us to sit. Xavier pulls a chair out for me, I thank him softly. He pulls another chair to be right beside me, putting a hand on my back. I try to relax but my shoulders are tense to a point of hurting. "I'll go put something together," Lesa leaves us to go to an open kitchen not fifteen feet away.

Nonetheless, Xavier leans closer to me, "Are you okay?" I furrow my brows, nodding. "We can go back to the pack house after this." That sounds nice, safe. He brings his hand up to my neck and rubs circles with a soft pressure. My shoulders finally relax.

"Thank you," I tell him in a voice as quiet as he spoke. I'm sure Lesa can hear us regardless. She comes back with a gorgeous looking platter of fruits, cheeses, crackers, and meats. I thank her quietly and reach for a piece of cheese. It melts in my mouth, a tangy taste to it.

"So Celeste, I hear you've probably traveled a lot?" I feel my shoulders sag in relief at the light hearted question. I've been so anxious of meeting people and having to ramble about my sad upbringing. I nod, grabbing more of the treats as Xavier puts a few on a small plate in front of me. He puts certain cheeses next to different fruits and meats. I guess his sister's hobby has rubbed off on him as well. "What places did you like the best?"

"I don't know what was where," I reply honestly. I cough, letting my voice grow a bit stronger, "I didn't always have the recognition to know the places I was at but I've seen lots." Xavier casually scoots closer to me, leaning an arm over the back of my chair. "I've seen canyons and waterfalls, forests and cities. We tried to avoid more desert areas due to heat, shelter, and food but we made do with where we were and what we had." Lesa takes a few bites of food herself, leaning her head onto her hand. "I remember a beach. . . We had climbed over a rocky hillside and came across this expanse of water. It seems like it never ended. We played in the water that day, it was warm. . ." I trail off, remembering the sun that sparkled off the water. The smell of salt that lingered for a week. The seashells mom used to decorate a sandcastle we had made. It was more like a decorated lump of sand. . .