CRESSA

It just had to be a hot summer day for moving. I giggled to myself, grabbing one of my boxes out of the moving truck.

I walked upstairs to my room and placed the box beside my bed.

“Hey, Cressa, I got one of your boxes mixed up with mine,” my twin brother said while placing it next to the one I’d just put down.

“Thanks, bro. Sorry for not labeling it better.” I smiled shyly up at him.

He smirked down at me playfully. “Yeah, if we move again, please do better at it.” He lifted up the lid to the box, revealing panties and bras.

“OMG, Cage!” I hit him playfully, blushing like crazy.

“Hey, I wasn’t the one that didn’t label it as hers!” He chuckled, raising up his hands in surrender and leaving my room.

I sighed heavily once he’d left, falling back onto my bed. I couldn’t believe him. I blushed slightly, thinking to myself.

***

It was late in the afternoon by the time we got everything the way we wanted in the house.

I went down to help my mom in the kitchen after fixing my room.

“Hey, baby! Wanna help me with cooking?” she said, pulling out a big pot.

“Yeah, sure. What we eating?” I asked, sitting down on one of the chairs.

“I was thinking spaghetti!” She smiled brightly while getting the noodles out of the cabinet.

I giggled slightly, walking over to help her. “All right. Sounds good to me.”

My mom and I had a good relationship; she was very bubbly. At times, I forgot she was my mother. My family was kinda goofy crazy.

I’d gotten a lot of my traits from my dad, who I was very close with. For as long as I could remember, I had always been a daddy’s girl.

We were a good-sized family. I had an older brother named Tristan, who would take the beta title once dad retired. Yep, I was the daughter of the pack beta.

I had a twin brother named Cage, who actually took after Mom. Then we all had a little sister named Tala; she was our pride and joy.

After Mom and I got done cooking, we called everyone in to eat.

“Ooo. It smells so good, girls!” My dad came in and hugged both of us.

“It better taste as good as it smells,” Mom teased him.

I smiled and rolled my eyes at both of them while setting out the plates on the table.

Both my brothers came in, chuckling at each other. “Oh wow, Ma, that smells good,” Tristan said, taking a seat at the table. “Hey!” I playfully hit the back of his head.

“Your sister helped too,” she said sweetly while helping Tala make a plate.

“Yeah, Sis is just as good as Mom!” Tala said cutely, taking a seat next to me. I kissed her cheek softly, making her smile happily.

Both my brothers laughed softly as they started to dig into their spaghetti.

“It definitely tastes as good as it smells,” my father said, which made everyone laugh together.

Once I finished cleaning up after dinner, I went back up to my room and lay on my bed. That was usually how dinner went in my family. I smiled to myself, thinking about how much I loved all of them.

As I thought to myself, the door to my room opened. “Hey, baby girl.” My dad walked in and sat next to me on the bed.

“Hey, Dad. What’s up?” I leaned up and smiled at him softly.

He smiled back, saying, “I wanted to thank you for helping out today.”

I made a face and giggled slightly. “You don’t have to thank me, Dad.” I nudged his shoulder with mine, causing him to chuckle.

“I know, but I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you and how proud I am of you.” He looked at me softly, his eyes showing love. His words warmed my heart.

“Thanks, Dad. Means a lot.” I smiled softly and hugged him.

He hugged me back tightly. “You’re welcome, baby girl.” We hugged for a bit before he moved to stand up.

“All right, get some sleep. We all have a big day tomorrow.” He smiled down at me before walking to my door.

“All right. Night, Dad.” I smiled at him before he left, nodding.

I got up and put PJs on before getting in under the covers. I hope tomorrow goes well, I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep.

***

The next day, I got out of bed and took a shower. Today, the pack was throwing a big party for my dad, who was taking back his position as beta. I know, I’m a little overboard, right?

But our alpha was best friends with my dad, so he wanted to throw a party for his return. My family and I had just moved back into our pack.

We had been having trouble with the human government, so in order to avoid appearing as a threat, all the betas from all the different packs had had to fill in for their alphas.

Which took a year to work out; it had been crazy.

So since we were finally back, they were throwing us a welcome-home party!

After I got out of the shower, I went back to my room and put on a green, simple-looking dress. It showed my figure very well; it also complemented my reddish-brownish, curly hair.

Once I’d checked myself out for a bit, I grabbed my makeup bag and got up close to the mirror. I grabbed both my mascara and clear lipstick. I wasn’t that into going all-out on makeup.

I put both on, fluttering my lashes as I looked at myself in the mirror. I’d gotten my freckles from my mom; they were like splatters of paint across my nose. I smiled to myself as I thought of hers.

“Stop checking yourself out and let’s get going. They’re waiting on us,” Cage said, leaning on my doorframe and smiling at me playfully.

“All right, I’m coming.” I rolled my eyes, walked over to him, and linked our arms together.

We both headed downstairs arm in arm, where the whole family was waiting for us by the door.

“Took you long enough,” Tristan said with a playful smile spread across his face.

“This one here was checking herself out,” Cage teased in response.

“No, I wasn’t.” I nudged his shoulder slightly as we all laughed.

“Everyone ready then?” my father said. He was in his nice suit, smiling at all of us happily.

We all said together, “Ready!” With a nod, he opened the door.