adjective ~ worried or slightly frightened

CHARLIE

Snapping out of my daydream, I stared blankly at the two men before me. Pollux was watching me with raised eyebrows but Sean seemed uncaring.

"We all going together?" I asked, clearing my throat.

Pollux smirked. "Yeah, meet outside at eleven?"

"Deal."

He and Sean departed fairly quickly after that, and once the door shut behind them, I relaxed back into the chair. My mind drifted back to the moments with Calida. Despite Nova's agitated reasoning for our conversation, it worked out well.

I shook my head, amused at the fact her temper-tantrum actually resulted in something beneficial for me. Admittedly, all my mate did was hold my hand and smile, but I felt the bond grow warm, which meant she felt something on her side. It wasn't just a spoof, she definitely felt something for me. If she didn't, or she hated me, then I would feel nothing.

After that moment, I memorised her every feature before she pulled me to stand. She had declared she was going back inside and I walked her to her destination before knowing I had to part ways. Phoenix had needed me that afternoon to prepare notes for his video call with the Royals. I had already been half an hour late.

Thankfully, he understood. As soon as I mentioned I was speaking with Calida because his mate was being mean, he let it slide. I may have taken that for granted, and used Nova as an excuse whenever I was caught slipping. I wondered if he realised, but it was Phoenix, so of course he did.

Calida had not spoken to me since that day and had made herself scarce in the pack house. I gave her the time, respecting her wishes and my words. I couldn't back down on them, not when I had to prove myself to her. She needed to know that I wasn't going anywhere, but I would not be pushy.

We had some good times, including when she had managed to get dye into my shampoo. She should've done it way sooner, though, because it was easy for me to track her scent. I knew she had tainted it, but used it anyway. She had gone through such a tough time that I wanted nothing more than to make her happy.

She would brush up against me with lingering touches, grin at me and crack jokes. But the moment she found out about her health, all of that life seemed to just disappear. The full moon was coming soon, and I wondered if she was thinking about that.

I flicked through my calendar at the thought, counting the days until it happened. March eighteenth; we had eight days. I wonder if she would choose during that time. My wolf yearned to be close to her; spring was a time for new beginnings, and most wolves often bore pups at this time.

I sighed, dropping the calendar to stare at the time, when my stomach grumbled. It was no wonder Sean came wandering in here; it was nearing eleven at night already. I had been in here since dinner time. Phoenix had no snacks in his office, and the top drawer that was locked didn't sound like it had any wrappers inside.

Tidying up the desk, I wrote a note about what I had to accomplish tomorrow. I had to be up for half-six to try to finish the final draft of my account of Donovan and Alessea. That, on top of inventory, patrol routes, emails and letters from adjoining packs wishing for things, and even the odd threat.

I eyed that top drawer again before curiosity got the better of me. Going into his neatly arranged stationary drawer, I scoffed at his organisation. I pulled out a letter opener and got to work on the desk. I could just break it; but then he would know I had got it open.

A few wiggles and jiggles, and the lock shifted and clicked open. I grinned, placing the letter opener down, and slowly pulled open the drawer. My face fell with disappointment when a white envelope stared up at me. Huffing, I rifled through the drawer just in case of sugar, but was just met with more letters and envelopes.

I just wanted sugar...

About to slam the door shut, my eyes automatically caught sight of a particular sentence;

If you do not give us the blood, we will take it from you.

My eyebrows furrowed, and I fought with my desire to keep snooping. Maybe if I just read the full sentence or paragraph, then I could leave it alone...

Pulling the envelope gently from the pile, I scanned over the paragraph. My blood ran cold, and unable to resist, I read the entire letter. A growl tore from my throat and I had a hard time not scrunching it up and tossing it aside.

Shoving it back into the drawer, I slammed it closed.

It was a threat of war, a threat of battle. Another pack was threatening Phoenix with his life and Nova's for Lycan blood supply. They wanted it for their own strengths, as they felt threatened by the power he had attainted. He was a royal, with two Lycan under his roof. He had all the power in the world. I knew people would hate that, but I didn't think he would receive official threats about it.

As much as I wanted to keep looking through his things and see what he had replied, I held back. I had already broken his trust and snooped through things he wanted to keep private. I didn't want to worsen it. I forced the letter back into the door and locked it with the opener again.

There was an entire pile in there. Just how many threats did he receive? How many people wanted Nova and Pollux's blood? How many people wanted his power?

The pack would be in danger if he didn't sort this, so I knew I had to encourage the conversation on somehow.

Sighing, I left his office and headed straight for my bedroom. I didn't want the pack to fall under harm, and I especially did not want Nova to get hurt again. My wolf growled at the thought of his Luna being under attack; he was fiercely protective of her as though she was his own blood family. She just had a way of crawling under his skin to his heart, purposely or not and Luna or not. He would do anything for her.

Forcing myself to shower and brush my teeth, I collapsed into my bed afterward. My room was too bright, and I groaned, forcing a pillow over my face as I went to sleep. I was tired from work and the thought of the next early morning had me snoozing in a matter of minutes.

***

Today is the day.

I was exhausted this morning, waking at half-six to force myself out for a run. I checked in with the patrol, following Phoenix's route and making sure they were all good. The night shift guards bowed as I passed, and I took note of how many more we seemed to have gained.

Was it because of the letters?

I shook out my fur, grumbling as I made my way back toward the house. I couldn't keep thinking of it because I would let something slip that I didn't mean to.

But since when did we have a guard every three hundred metres? It used to be two at each directional border. I think I counted at least fifty. That's nearly ten times as many!

Phoenix was paranoid, or overly worried. His pups had drawn him to over protective measures. It would be interesting to see him being a father. I wasn't sure if I could conjure the image of him myself. He didn't particularly like children; I think... We didn't have children around here, so I couldn't say Phoenix being kind to a child was something I saw often.

Breakfast was a strong coffee and a sweet pastry, followed by three hours of finalising some paperwork before the time to go came around.

Groaning, I forced the tiny trees away. "I hate paperwork."

Stretching out my fingers, I rubbed away the ache in my fingers. Phoenix liked everything copied. Written and signed, digitally written and copied with backups. We had strong firewalls, but just in case we ever lost everything, he liked it physically. And if the house ever burnt down, there were files in an off-grid internet location. Untraceable.

He really was paranoid, wasn't he?

I smirked, rising from the desk to make my way outside. I was first there, and only a few minutes later did everyone else appear. When Calida appeared with Rose and Sean, I found myself drawn toward her.

"Hi." I mumbled.

"Hi." She whispered, smiling softly.

I grinned, happy with her reaction to me. Once we were all gathered, we began the short walk to the Alpha household. I had only visited twice, but Pollux said we had to go downstairs. Apparently Nova was fiercely protective and struggled to let anyone in her nest, or touch her children.

The thought had me on edge.

Pregnant Nova was scary. Would new-mamma Nova be worse?

I clenched my jaw, and hands as we walked around the house. My ears tuned into the inside, but the soundproof walls gave nothing away. Sighing, we waited on the lower porch and I mind-linked Phoenix that we arrived. Mere moments later, the tinted windows opened to reveal his figure.

I blinked. Once, twice, thrice...

Who was this man?

His dark hazel eyes narrowed down at me, his hand pressed into the sliding door. His skin was paler, the bags under his eyes dark, and his stubble had grown in thick and fuller. I ran my eyes down his figure to eye his clothing, displeased when I saw the joggers and socks instead of shoes.

"Sorry, wrong house." I clicked my tongue.

He rolled his eyes, a faint smirk on his lips as he grabbed my collar. "Charlie, get your ass inside before I change my mind."

I snorted, entering his lair. Looking around, I took in the homely touches. This appeared to be a living room, but there were drawers scattered with boxes of baby toys and clothes. I nosed my way through a couple before fiddling with some of his ornaments. Just as I went to pick up a particularly heavy glass sculpture, tan hands were snatching it away from me.

I scowled at Phoenix, huffing as he stole away my pleasure. "I was looking at that."

"It is glass, and you are you."

I snickered, shrugging. There were two large corner sofas down here, and it seemed that everyone had mixed up where they were sitting. Pollux sat on the left by himself, and Leo, the baby spawn, Molly, Sean, Rose, and finally Calida, sat opposite him.

Did Pollux smell?

I twitched my nose, finding out no-he did not. But my nose caught the scent of something sweet on Phoenix's shirt. I leaned in close, sniffing again to make it out. Was it sugar?

"What is that?" I wondered.

"Either breastmilk, spit up, or baby poop." Phoenix snorted.

I cringed away, moving to sit beside Pollux. "Gross."

"I will go get some drinks. We are all good with tea?"

Everyone chorused a yes, and I frowned, settling into the pillows of the sofa. "Snacks?"

Phoenix sighed as he moved toward the staircase. "Yes, I will find some snacks."

"Cake?" I wondered, wanting something sugary.

"I will see what we have."

I grinned, thanking him. He disappeared up the staircase, and the room fell into soft murmurs. I kept glancing toward Calida, happy to see her talking with Rose. My eyes drifted to the chunky baby on Leos' nap, the infant staring right back at me.

I had yet to hold it. Her... I had yet to hold her. She kept giving me weird looks. She looked a lot like her mother, and those dark blue eyes creeped me out.

Does she even blink?

I jolted my body to see if it would react, but the baby just grinned. My heart ached, and I bit down at the urge to coo into the child's face.

Footsteps echoed around the room as my nerves grew and just as I expected to see Nova with the drooling, pooling babies, it was Phoenix. To my disappointment, he did not have cake and instead set a single packet of digestive biscuits on the table. I looked at them and then looked at him with disbelief.

"Digestives?" I frowned. "Instead of cake, there are digestives."

"You can dunk them." He shrugged.

"I can dunk cake."

"No, you can't."

Crossing my arms, I scowled. "You could have at least got a Jaffa cake. At least that has cake consistency."

"Jaffa cake is a biscuit."

My eyes widened. "It is a hybrid. Do not insult it and call it a biscuit."

His mouth curved into a laugh. "This will do for now. Nova is asleep, but she won't be long before the twins wake."

"They're on a cycle already?" Molly wondered.

Phoenix looked at her, nodding. "Sure are. Every ninety minutes."

Ninety minutes? Of sleep? And I thought I had it rough.

"Are you guys all okay? Sorry I have been so distant."

"Nonsense." Sean waved him off. "You have been busy. It's only been a few days."

A few days and I was drowning in paperwork.

My back tensed when a baby stirred, and my eyes flickered to the one before me. Wasn't that sex prize, so it must be one of the others.

"Give me five minutes, guys." Phoenix excuse himself.

My nerves grew as he left. I wasn't sure how I would react to their infants, nor how Axel would. As I said, he was protective of Nova and Phoenix was his brother. I wonder what their children would do to him.

Would he eat them?

Would they smell funny? Scream all the time?

Did I have to hold one? What if I dropped it?

Phoenix would kill me.

No, wait, Nova would kill me and Phoenix would let her do it.

Oh shit, I'm fucked.

Question of the Day:
What song always gives you the energy to get up and go? Do you clean to a certain song?