Calix
My elder brother Felix thought he was Chasity’s first kiss. Nope. Not technically. Technically, I was.
Past New Year’s Eve
Calix
I loved New Year’s Eve almost as much as I loved Christmas. I was seventeen and this NYE, my girlfriend, Junie, was eager to ring in the New Year’s with a Good Luck Kiss at midnight. Junie had pursued me relentlessly. She was a cheerleader. She was on the debate team. She was on the dance committee and in the honour society. She was ambitious and she was aggressive when it came to getting what she wanted. To be honest, she reminded me of my Mom a little. Sometimes, that creeped me out. Mom loved Junie.
“Maybe, she’s your mate. You’ll know in a year when you come of age. How great would that be?” Mom had asked.
As if Junie and I would last a whole year. Frankly-speaking, Junie was kind of insensitive. She was also so insanely jealous. She was jealous of almost every other member of the cheerleader squad for one reason or another. Avril was a “stuck-up know-it-all” for getting better grades than Junie. Sicily was a “bossy bitch” when she made captain and Junie was second in command. Amanda was “immature and manly” for bench-pressing more than Junie at gym and teasing her about it.
“Mom, please, Calix is on a roll here. He’s trying to date the whole calendar!” Felix had said. “April, May, Junie. When July or Julia comes knocking, Junie is done for!”
It was true. I had exes named April and May but I had dated May before April and then Junie. It was a coincidence and Junie was short for Juniper. It was just a nickname. Felix was one to talk. He changed girlfriends faster than me. He had a new “main squeeze” every six weeks. Some of my relationships lasted three months. Alex’s relationships ended around the two month mark. There was not a lot of incentive to get serious with a girl who might not be our mate. How awful would it be to be in years-long relationships and have to end them when our fated mate came along. For that reason, I wasn’t hard on my brothers or myself when it came to our inability to commit (for right now).
Back to the party: Mom was in her glee, greeting guests and ordering the servers about. Chasity was one of the servers. Mom had lent her a pretty dress. It shimmered with every move she made. Chasity caught me staring at her and I did not look away. Junie was hanging off of my arm. Chasity disappeared after a while. Where had she gone? I wandered up the stairs. I heard my Mom’s voice.
“Where is that girl?” Snapped Mom.
Chasity quickly appeared. She had been in her tiny bedroom. I wished they would give her a better place to sleep. I wondered about Mom sometimes. She was great to me but she had this…this mean-streak where Chasity was concerned. Why? Where did it come from?
Mom glared at Chasity. I could not help but admire the way Chasity’s dark gold ringlets shone and bounced every time she turned her head.
“You know you’re supposed to be helping downstairs,” said Mom sternly.
Felix and Alex came out of nowhere, almost as if they’d been looking for Chasity too.
“I heard the housekeeper send her on a break,” said Felix, actually defending Chasity.
I was pleasantly surprised. I was usually the only one who defended her.
“She didn’t just run off like usual,” Felix added.
I groaned. He just had to add an offhanded comment. Alex was staring at Chasity a lot less discreetly than I was.
“I like this colour,” said Alex, smiling at Chasity.
“Yeah, me too,” said Felix, gently extending a hand and trailing his fingertips along the material. Chasity backed away from him. He sneered at her.
Something came over me suddenly. I wanted to get Chasity away from my Mom, and Felix and even Alex. I felt her discomfort like it were my own. I walked over to them.
“Chasity, I have work for you to do,” I lied.
Mom, Felix and Alex looked shocked but they did not protest. I motioned for Chasity to follow me. It was about four minutes to midnight. I took Chasity to the back porch, the one that faced the frozen river. I could see it in the distance. We had a huge backyard with a river with an ice-fishing hole. I tried not to think of the horrid memory surrounding that hole in the ice. It was winter six months a year here in the north of wolf country. We had two months each of spring, summer and autumn. Autumn was too cold for swimming. The water’s surface was not frozen out back in fall but the water was very cold. It still felt like daggers if you fell in. Our autumn was much colder than autumn in other regions. Spring and summer were the only times one could actually go swimming but Chasity avoided the backyard like a plague. My brothers and I had not felt the same about it since the incident either. No one really swam out there anymore, not even Mom and Dad. Our girlfriends were always trying to convince my brothers and me to take them swimming out back. We always refused and we kept quiet about why. Only six people alive knew the real reason.
I looked at Chasity. She looked more beautiful than ever with the moonlight shining on her. She shivered and hugged herself.
“Here,” I said, placing my blazer around her shoulders.
The party guests began counting down to midnight. I was usually in there with them, counting. I could hear them in unison.
“TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN,” they chorused.
I hoped Junie would not come looking for me. I knew how obsessed she was with the good luck kiss at midnight.
“SIX, FIVE, FOUR,” said the pack members
I hoped Mom did not look for me either. That would be even worse than Junie.
“THREE.”
“Baby blue suits you,” I said softly to Chasity.
She shrugged. My heart was racing. I had a plan and I could not chicken out now.
“TWO, ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
I quickly pressed my lips against Chasity’s, catching her by surprise. She was startled. She touched her lips. I wondered for a fleeting moment if she would slap me for kissing her like those damsels in cowboy movies. I ran inside.
Junie found me immediately.
“I missed my kiss at midnight. Now I’ll have bad luck all year,” she whined.
I knew I should probably just kiss her now even though the moment had passed. Junie looked up at me expectantly. I glanced behind me and Chasity was looking right at us. Junie tapped her heels on the floor impatiently. I backed away from her. I shrugged. I avoided her for the rest of the party. My eyes kept finding Chasity. I could barely take my eyes off of her. I kept trailing my eyes across her features and zeroing on her lips. She caught me staring at her. I smiled.
Felix
Boxing Day was boring. It always was. The day after it was Bikini Babe Chasity Day, a holiday in the Felix Calendar. Alex, Calix and I all took the day off from pack meetings to literally watch Chasity shyly model bikinis at a store in the mall. Priorities.
“She’s taking an awfully long time in there, isn’t she?” Asked Alex, furrowing his brow. His eyes filled with concern.
“Don’t rush her,” said Calix in hushed tones.
“I wanna see some bikinis!” I called.
“Felix!” Chastised Calix and Alex in unison.
I snickered at them. I wanted to make it clear to Chasity that I thought she was beautiful and I loved every curve, every dimple, every freckle and mole. When she eventually aged (we did very slowly), I would love every wrinkle, every silver or white or grey hair. Currently, I wanted to see her little blonde curly self out here. She was taking forever. We were sitting on a long bench directly facing the changing room she was in. Alex had rented out the store so we could shop in privacy for an hour or two.
Finally, Chasity made an appearance. She peeked out from behind the curtain and slowly stepped into view. She was wearing a blue bikini that looked scrumptious on her and matched my blue balls. I growled in approval. Alex blew her a kiss. Calix had gotten a score card that said “10” from somewhere.
Chasity giggled and hid her face. She knew how weak I was in the face of her giggles.
“Careful or you won’t be wearing even that much longer,” I cautioned her.
“Ok, I like this one,” she said softly. “Um, we can get this one and go.”
I snorted with laughter.
“Baby, you can’t wear one bikini for two weeks straight,” I said.
And I wanted a modelling show. One bikini. I needed to see maybe ten bikinis at least to justify bailing on the other pack leaders today. Thankfully, Keaton and our new Gamma could more than handle it. Keaton had been Beta for years so we trusted him just as Dad has trusted him before us. He was not ready to retire yet. There were rumours that he was training one of his teenaged nephews to take the position as he only had daughters.
“Luna, you really do need several bathing suits,” said Alex, taking her hand and leading her towards the racks of swimsuits.
“Here,” said Calix, taking his jacket off and putting it on Chasity so she would be more comfortable while she looked at some other bikinis.
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Chasity began picking out swimsuits that were not bikinis.
“What is this?” I asked, taking the one she was holding.
It was literally a top with short sleeves and a skirt in swimsuit material.
“This a whole outfit, Baby,” I said, disappointed. “I’ll get it for you but grab some bikinis also, please. That’s the goal.”
Alex give me a disapproving look. Calix laughed and Alex then gave him a disapproving look too.
“Chasity, you can try on a variety of…silhouettes,” said Alex encouragingly.
He was full of it. He knew he wanted to see her in some other itsy bitsy teenie weenie bikinis just as badly as I did.
“I’m going to pick out a few options,” I said brightly.
I grabbed a red bikini. That’s a must-have. Classic sexy.
Yellow bikini. Playful sexy.
Pink bikini. Girly sexy.
White bikini. Sophisticated Sexy before Labour Day.
Black bikini. Sophisticated Sexy after Labour Day.
Damn I was good at this.
Alex
“How are you guys doing?” Asked the girl helping us at the store.
I vaguely recognised her. She was a member of the pack of course and one of Sandra’s friends. I remembered her being a cheerleader with Sandra back when we were at Winter Moon High.
“Um, Lacy, right?” I said.
“Yeah!” She said, grinning.
“I only just recognised you,” I said.
“Well, of course, I recognised you right away, Alpha,” she said, laughing.
Chasity frowned.
“These are my picks,” said Felix pointedly to Lacy.
“You want me to put them in the changing room for her?” Asked Lacy.
Felix nodded eagerly.
“Ok, wow, you have a very specific look going here,” commented Lacy.
“Traditional,” said Felix nodding.
“Skimpy,” said Chasity, frowning.
“Skimpy is traditional,” said Felix defensively.
I browsed though the cover-ups. I picked out a few that would be so pretty on Chasity.
“Look at these! I remember you saying you wanter cover-ups!” I said, showing Chasity the items.
I did not really know what they were called but they looked like jackets and dresses that were specifically for the beach.
“Yeah, I want some kimonos,” said Chasity excitedly.
Lacy put the cover-ups in the changing room.
“What enthusiastic mates you have, Chasity?” Giggled Lacy. “I don’t envy you. I thought I had my hands full with two.”
“You have twin mates?” Asked Chasity curiously.
“Yeah,” said Lacy.
“They let you work here?” Asked Felix.
Good grief, Felix. Lacy laughed.
“They don’t like that I do but this is my mother’s store and I like helping out when she wants a day off so I spin it like that. I say ‘You want your mother-in-law to like you, don’t you?’” Countered Lacy.
Felix shook his head.
Don’t argue with the sales clerk about your chauvinism. Focus on the shopping! I grumbled.
You’re just the same as me! Admit it! You don’t want Chasity working either! He retorted.
I want her focused on school, I said defensively.
“These!” Said Calix triumphantly, handing over a monstrously large pile to Lacy.
“What the fuck, Calix?” Said Felix, raising his eyebrows.
I spotted a hot-dog patterned bikini in that pile as well as a sequin bikini and a pattern where cats and dogs were literally falling along with the rain but nestled in upside down umbrellas as they sailed downwards.
“Oh! Cute! The raining cats and dogs pattern is a big seller! Girls love it!” Said Lacy.
“It’s cute,” said Chasity, actually smiling.
Calix grinned. “And that one is technically a tankini so you can cover a bit more. I want you to feel comfortable,” said Calix.
“Awww,” cooed Lacy.
“Ugh,” groaned Felix.
I pinched Felix’s arm. He swatted me away.
“She should feel comfortable in bikinis. They look great on her!” Said Felix pointedly.
“I will get bikinis and tankinis and coverups,” announced Chasity, settling the dispute.
Chasity then bashfully modelled all of our picks. She must have tried on thirty suits and she looked so fucking gorgeous in every single one. I was partial to the itty bitty ones. My wolf roared in approval of those. She actually did pick a few of the skimpy swim suits along a few of the more modest suits. There were about a dozen suits that she really did like. She and Lacy started matching them with coverups. I was happy she was finally letting us spoil her a little more instead of trying to refuse everything we wanted to buy for her. She was back in the dress she had come in. I kissed the top of her head and she looked up and gave me a chaste little kiss that left my lips tingling.
Calix
Chasity looked adorable in every single swimsuit especially the ones I had picked. I understood her style way better than my brothers, just saying. She liked cutesy prints and floral stuff. She also liked to be able to throw a jacket over something when her shyness got the better over her. I helped her pick beach clothes to cover her bikinis when she needed to. I often went shopping with Mom. I did not actually know a lot about fashion but I knew how to notice what girls liked. Mom, for instance, liked sleek looking clothes. She wore plain white, plain black. She wore those heels that were scarily thin like they would snap at any moment. She dressed like a retired supermodel that was mentoring girls on a show or something. Mom never dressed down and comfort was not important to her. Comfort was really important to Chasity, probably because she had been made to feel uncomfortable way too often. She had been our unofficial housekeeper so that would have been impossible to do in heels and a tight white dress or something like what Mom would wear. I wanted to help Chasity take her love for comfortable clothes and marry it with the fact that she was our Luna now. She needed to look the part. The Luna was the role model for all the girls in the pack. She needed to feel confident in her clothes and she would not feel that way if she found them too revealing.
“I need a cover-up for each bikini. I hope you guys don’t mind. I don’t want to overspend,” she said sheepishly.
“You don’t need cover-ups,” grumbled Felix. “That’s what towels and blankets are for. That and wiping you off. You’re gonna be all wet…and sticky.”
“Felix!” Snapped Alex.
“What Felix means is that we would love to get you matching coverups for each suit but we know you’re gorgeous with or without them,” I explained.
“Baby, I’d buy you the whole store if you wanted it,” said Felix with a wink.
Chasity smiled. She looked extremely guilty when the salesclerk told us our total.
“Relax, Chasity,” I said soothingly.
I stroked her curls out of her face. Mom had designer purses that cost someone’s mortgage. I knew Chasity would never spend money to that extent but I did not want her to see shopping as stressful.
“It’s ok to treat yourself,” said Alex reassuringly, grasping her chin and tilting her face upwards to that their eyes met. “You literally had no swimsuits before today.”
“I had the one I came with,” she joked.
“Your muppet swimsuit?” I recalled.
“Yeah,” she giggled.
“I doubt that still fits,” said Felix.
Chasity frowned.
“Not like that!” Said Felix quickly. “I mean…because you were like nine when you would have worn that,” he explained.
“Yeah,” mumbled Chasity, but I knew she had taken that as an insult even though Felix had meant it practically.
“Hey,” I snarled playfully, bumping my nose against hers.
“What?” She whined, swatting me away.
I grabbed her and pulled her into a bear hug.
“You haven’t bought a swimsuit in a decade! It was this or skinny-dipping! Speak now or forever hold your peace!” I said, gesturing towards the pile of suits and coverups on the counter.
“Ok, ok,” said Chasity.
The cashier swiped Alex’s card and put the items in three shopping bags. We each held one.
“At least let me carry them?” Said Chasity.
“What kind of douchebag would I look like with my woman loaded up and me walking with my two arms free and swinging,” grumbled Felix.
Chasity folded her arms. She looked down as we left the store.
“Thanks guys,” she said. “I really appreciate it. I know I wasn’t that fun in the store. Thanks for being patient,” she said. “I really am grateful,” she said, looking up at us.
“You were plenty fun in the store,” said Felix with a wink.
“You’re welcome, Luna,” said Alex.
“Don’t sweat it, Chasity,” I said.
Chasity scrunched up her little face but she exhaled and then smiled.
“Come on, Bikini Babe Chasity!” Said Felix, steering her towards the food court.
