Covenant Series Extras

Aiden and Alex Christmas Special

Pures and halfs didn’t celebrate Christmas like the mortals do. We had our own super special holiday in February— Anthesterion. Pretty much everyone partied it up like Dionysus on spring break in Cancun. It was that… wild. But no Christmas tree, Yule log, cookies or mistletoe. No cheesy but fun songs.
Since I’d spent so many years in the mortal world, I’d grown to love Christmas and all that holiday cheer. So much so that for two straight weeks it was all I talked about when I was around Aiden or Seth. And as Christmas Eve arrived and everyone at the Covenant could care less, I was entering Downersville, population Alex.

Sigh.

I shuffled into my dorm room, dropping my bag on the floor. There was a truckload of Myths and Legends homework to be done, but I went to my computer on my little desk and booted up the beast. Bringing up YouTube, I started watching clips from National Lampoon Christmas Vacation. Several hours of Griswold family fun later, there was a knock on my door.

Smoothing my hands over my hair, I went to the door.

Aiden stood there, hands folded behind his back, his striking features expressionless. Those eyes, they were a gunmetal gray. Cool. Focused.

“Busy?” he asked, his deep, smooth voice doing funny things to my stomach.

I glanced around my room and arched a brow. “Not really.”

“Good. Come.”

Normally, I would’ve been all like hell to the no when it came to an order of “Come” with no explanation, but this was Aiden and yeah, he got a little more leeway than most. And I was also curious to why Aiden was searching me out. Curious. Hopeful. Warm and fuzzy…

Shutting the door behind me, I followed him down the silent hall. It was later than I realized. Cold, wet wind blew off the ocean, and I huddled down in my sweater. Back in the mortal world, everything would be covered in dazzling lights and people would be caroling.

Here, we had Guards and Sentinels patrolling the dunes. None of them were surprised to see us. Considering everything, they were used to seeing me with Aiden or another babysitter.

“So, what’s up?”

Aiden glanced down at me. “You’ll see.”

My brows lowered. “I’ll see what?”

“It’s just a few more minutes, Alex.”

Patience was a virtue I constantly struggled with. My mouth burned with questions I could barely hold back as we rounded the courtyard and headed toward the training facilities. My shoulders slumped.

“We’re training?” Geez, I got the fact that they didn’t celebrate the holidays, but it was Christmas Eve for crying out loud.

He said nothing, but there was a look to his gray eyes. Secretive with a touch of mischievousness mixed in. As he pushed opened the doors, my curiosity knew no limits. What in the world was Aiden up to? And would it involve something up the fun kind?

If so, there truly was a Santa Claus.

Now I was blushing like a goober.

Instead of swinging a left to the large rooms where all the training stuff was, he kept going down the hall dimly lit by recess lightning.

“Aiden, what’s going on?”

He brushed a lock of dark, wavy hair out of his eyes and sighed. “We really need to work on your patience.”

“Ha.”

His lips slid into a half grin. “Have you ever heard of the saying good things come to those who wait?”