* * *

Sage allowed her body to be hurried across the battlefield, and she was thankful that Jules and Jackson already managed to escort Amy and Ronan inside. As Remus planned according since there were a few warriors who were lounging in the packhouse waiting for the signal.

"Luna, the Alpha said we should head to his office."
"I guess I can't fight..." Sage mumbled following after her Beta and Delta. Eli would join the fight in a moment, as he needed to know that his Luna was protected and set.

Amy followed short behind and they lingered in the Alpha's study, only for Eli to rush off towards the bookcase. Sage stood wide-eyed at the wall moving open like a door to reveal another door.

"Wow, secret door," Sage whispered, and before long the four wolves and two pups were ushered into the Luna's safe room. A failsafe that all packs would have in case of breakout like this.

Remus had it updated before the pups came, and it was stocked with emergency supplies. It was as large as their living room at home, and Sage went to work in getting Rue out from underneath the blanket.

"How about I set up the couch so you can lie down? Mama needs rest too," Amy said, a massaging hand giving Sage a sense of comfort as the elder wolf gestured to the couch, pillow and blankets.

And she didn't realize just how much energy she had used up in standing there beside Remus at the ready. The blanket she felt wrap around her was warm and the final product to her passing out once more.

But the others were relieved, especially when Jack was staying in tune with how the enforcers were doing. Realistically, they didn't want anyone to die. Even Alpha Nathan, who was targeted left and right.

They had the upper hand for sure, a vendetta and a pure need to settle of frustration of being constantly hated for something they shouldn't be at fault for anymore.

Remus was nothing more than a pup when the packs had been announced to war, his mate's tortured life ended up being a byproduct of Randel's ways.

Hayes and Remus had surrounded three of the most wanted in their mind.
Calvin, Nathan, and Miles.
While the two were outnumbered by one, the fear in their faces was enough to suggest that they were actually worried about the outcome.

With the pups out of the way, it was easy to focus on the fight. But the vial and cruel face that Calvin had made while he straightens his back from his fighting position...

"Funny how you're siding with the enemy, Hayes, when Crescent Moon is the reason your mate was traded into the Underground." Remus had never felt more elated at the fact that he had taken everyone's advice and told Hayes what the council theorized.

And while it solidified Calvin's fate, it also supported the theory further.
This was their ticking time bomb.

"Mate." The presence of Hayes' wolf caused the three Alpha's to ease back, thinking that they were safe from fighting their fellow council member. But Mystic defended Crescent Moon and its pack members since Randal's actions had reached his ears.

Did he have an epiphany that one of his pups would be mated to a Moon heir?
He had no clue, but his wolf was on a warpath now. And for someone who had been labeled as a hero for his deeds in finishing the war, he would make it known how he truly did it.

The wink that Remus received from his in-law gave him a bit of comfort, but the way he strode up in an attempt to set the scene was what nightmares were made out of.

With the three Alpha's smirking at the twist, thinking that they regained Hayes on their side, the tables had soon turned as Hayes turned right around and gripped Nathan by the neck and squeezed until his fingertips touched his thumb.

"You're the enemy now, and Mystic Grimm isn't going to be saving your asses again this time." Hayes roared, the knife coming into view as he sent it directly into the male's chest. Hoping that the silver would make quick work of the task.

Remus said if an Alpha died then perhaps the message would be cleared, but nothing made him feel more clarity than Nathan having his last breaths.

"Take that up with the council, Alpha Nathan. You slimy bastard, harassing my pup." Remus came instantly to Hayes' defense and kept the other two males off of them, the lack of constant training left most of them defenseless and hiding over however enforcers they had left.

And while the Council Members weren't all Alphas and Lunas, it was Jackson that was making the evacuation call to their side's Betas and Deltas. There was a sure-fire chance that they too would be held accountable for the actions, but they were on route to Silvertail, as it was the closest pack.

"Using your weakest link as a scapegoat, that sounds like you're tapping into my father's tricks," Remus growled, and while he received a blow to the stomach every once in a while. It was no use when Calvin had lost his last thread of humanity and shifted.

But a trick Remus learned, from his mate no less, was to catch an incoming wolf. While he hadn't done it before himself before, only watching Sage try to teach a lesson on it—It worked.

The headlock he had on Alpha Calvin was damn beautiful and he absolutely wished Sage was here to see it in person. But he'd inform her later, of everything.

Especially of how proud of her he is.

"ENOUGH!" Remus called out, and the will of an Alpha had been called to the plate. Leaving the enforcers on either side to stall their next kick and punch.

"Alpha Nathan is dead! From this day forth Crescent Moon is no longer a part of the Council. You have half an hour to get off my land or I will set the kill order!" Remus calimed, as he couldn't be the voice of the other packs—But surely after Jackson gets to the rest of the packs.

They would be able to settle this matter, the council will fall.

Remus' head twisted just in time to hear a shot, followed by another.

Just a few feet away he could see the extended pistol in the hand of Alpha Miles. But the confusion in his face caused Remus to look at his own chest, the blood starting to stain his shirt.

The shock fueled him, but as did his mate bond starting to wind thinner as he sunk down to his knees.

"ALPHA!" Eli roared, finishing off the said enforcer before managing to run the distance between him and the other Alpha's.

Eli?! What happened?!

Feeling Jules in the back of his head was a blessing and a curse, but the pack would feel the pain of the Alpha regardless of where they were.

The Alpha was shot, he's—

Sage broke out of the panic room! She's—

Keep her in the house!

With the order set in place, Jules shouted off to some warriors acting as a defense with Amy and the pups. She should've known that Sage would try something like that, but to actually break out of the secured metal door that's bolted into the wall...It was the declaration of war.

 And with the ability of an Alpha coursing through Sage's veins as she found the will to plow through the packhouse and straight into the battle.

Jules watched at the front steps helplessly, her eyes gazing down at all the separate attacks that the council's enforcers were trying to stick together. And what was worse, from what the Beta Female could tell, was that they were mostly from the conjoined packs who've betrayed their sense of trust within the American packs.

Sage shifted mind-run, not caring that she tripped and partially tumbled. Her mind was throwing sirens this way and that, something was wrong and would end badly.

And it wasn't without proper reason, as Remus felt the burn in his side grow. The pain was trickling up his body as he wasn't immune to silver as his mate is.

But in seeing the barrel of the gun positioned in an execution-style, Remus could hardly stumble a growl as he coughed up blood. "I should've done this the second you came into power, Moon...Your line will end here today. Starting with you and ending with your pups." At the mention of his family in danger, he moved forward—But that created another burst of pain.
The bullet wasn't out, it was festering deep inside, slowly killing him.

While the Alpha's vision was suddenly growing patching and dark, he caught sight of Hayes—His body laying on the ground and his stomach violently pumping up and down.

He was shot as well.

"Who do you think sent the hunter?" Miles confirmed as he whispered it just beside Remus's ear. And he never felt more anger or hatred in his life than the male who he thought was one of his supporters for such a long time.

"Goodbye, Remus. May the goddess rest your—"

For Remus, it felt like a flash that blinded him.
A black furry one to exact, and in the ruling of fate—Another shot fired at the surprise tackle he had felt.

Yet it was an easy takedown and kill, as Remus was not going for a tally.

And Sage didn't let her jaw settle until Mile's head was no longer attached.

Which is when Sage's next match was reaching for the gun, Calvin hadn't been killed when he was caught by Remus. But the chokehold had given him a lack of oxygen for a good few minutes, leaving him tapped out.

Yet the male stood fully nude in an attempt to grab the said gun.

Sage's roar erupted once more as her paws covered the distance, Eli nodded to his Luna and kicked him forward just as she leaped into the air.

This was not the Beta's kill, not when his Alpha was the one choking on his own blood—His life lining ticking bit by bit. Even when the healers had been summoned, there was no telling what the Council's enforcers would do in the off chance they saw a healer on the grounds.

There were no boundaries when the council assumed they had jurisdiction over everything.

Eli had used the better part of Remus' shirt to try and stop the bleeding, but the dark blood mixed with a strain of silver caused him to shake in worry.

"STOP NOW!" Sage interrupted, much like her mate tried to do. But as she stood tall and proud in nothing more than the dirt she managed to gather up from her tussles.
It wasn't just the order that caused those around her to halt their next action.

No.

In her hands was probably the darkest damn thing Eli could ever witness.

Especially from his sweet Luna.

She held the deceased Alphas by the hair on their heads and nothing more. Her chest was beating rapidly, her eyes dark and her face smeared in their blood.

This was not a sight for the faint-hearted, and surely wasn't when she let out a parting scream. The bond was tearing at the seams as she waited for the surrender of the rest of the enforcers.

And the three Lunas that remained had already been detained, leaving the enforcers of the council to have no leadership.

The dozens of soldiers standing had soon lost the battle with their wolf, especially when they shifted back into skin and fell into said submission, as they all bent down on one knee and tilted their head.

Sage had never been more thankful in seeing Kenzie with her kit than now, especially when she sat across from Eli to see the damage.

But from the pain she was feeling in her heart, she realized that there wasn't much time. After dropping the male's heads, Sage fell right beside her father's body and began to cry.

Her body started to get off the Alpha high it was feeling in awaking to something so traumatic as Remus being shot.

After extending her teeth she cut the inside of her palm, dripping the likes of her blood to her father's wound. As he was much closer to death than Remus, she felt it.

She bent down and kissed her father's head, trying to make it back to her feet as she stumbled and fell...Crawling the rest of the way as she let out a sob over Remus' body.

"Remmy...Remmy, please. No." She begged, her hands coming to hold his as she began to beg in pure whispers that she needed him.

He was pushed to his side, allowing the blood to be exit from his mouth properly while Kenzie had to operate on-site to extract the bullet. Which was a blessing in disguise as his back showed the bruises of where the bullet was pushing again.

"Keep him still, the bullet's almost out." Kenzie worked diligently, but the time restraint was there.

Sage, you can't heal the wound closed if the silver is still in there.

Then what do I do?!

Think sweetheart, don't listen to your wolf. Listen to the part of you that knew about your blood. What is that shouting at you to do?

Eli watched as his Luna continued to whisper into Remus' wrist before kissing him—All in an attempt to remain calm.

Or so he thought.

The pure sweetness of Sage's blood wafted further over the pack houses' front yard, but she didn't dare move her position until the silver infestation had seeped out.

Something that even Kenzie knew to do, and for whatever reason she couldn't explain scientifically, but thankful for non-the-less.

Eli helped with an extra pair of hands, still holding him to the side and checking the Alpha's pulse when asked.

The infirmary truck had offered more than enough supplies for the rest of the injured.

It seemed like the two leftover council members were the Lunas, Alexa and Mia, either of which were a seething mess—But Eli simply waved anyone who wasn't co-operated to the cells.

Lunas and enforcers alike.

"I-I don't know if the silver is all out, we need to get him to the infirmary if—"
"Silver's out," Sage said with full conviction as either cut palms had pressed themselves against either side.

Remus instantly began to twitch, which prompted both Eli and Kenzie to fight to keep him still as Sage's blood did its job. The Beta nor Healer knew the extent to what their Luna's blood could do, but it was clear that it had worked well in the past with Luke's wounds.

It was only a matter of what it could do here and now.

She had hardly given up the Alpha position the second Remus' had been shot, she still was reigning in as acting in her mate's title.

"Sage. Sage pull away." She shook her head, leaning closer as her determination was strong-willed—But foolish.
Completely foolish.

"Sage pull away!" Kenzie shouted, and Eli looked to his Luna, seeing how pale she had been—As well as the blood tears her eyes were expelling.

"What the fuck—Sage?!" Eli yelled, either stuck in the position of holding Remus up and even pulling her had only caused her to plant herself further.

One of the biggest misconceptions was that an Alpha couldn't be killed by anything but another Alpha. The Beta jerked as his stomach tighten, only then he understood what he was feeling—the bond between either Alpha and Luna was starting to dwindle at an equal pace.

Sage was dying in an attempt to save Remus.

Julia didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around her Luna's waist and yank her back. Separating the palm from the wound, but thankfully—Remus' breath had returned to an even statue while Sage was mist of painful sobs.

The trauma of feeling her mate under those conditions was causing her to fight and wither—Jules was starting to have trouble in restraining her Luna.

"Sage. Calm down, sweetheart." The voice broke the sound barrier for her, and she stilled in Julia's lap. As she close to instantly found herself tackling her father.

Stuffing her face into his blood-ridden chest, even if the smell itself was daunting—There was still plenty of comfort in his touch. And if anyone knew what it felt like to lose a mate, it was Hayes.

Never did he assume that the meeting would end this way, not in the death of three Alphas and a Luna. Nor did he assume that there would be a gun in the mix, which again...Caught Hayes' attention off in the distance.

Sage was shaking, bleeding, and crying all at the same time in his hold. But never did Hayes feel more at peace, because the familiar scent of sweetest that basked his nose—Reminded him of Willow downright.

And if there was any time he wished for her to be present in spirit, was right in this very moment.
When both he and their daughter needed her the most.

______

Date: 01/22/22

Time: 3:02 AM

Words: 2974

Author's Note:

What an absolute roller coaster! Goddess, what do we think of all this?!

Three Alphas and one Luna dead, the truth of the council's actions revealed?

Miles sending the hunter to eliminate Sage from the second story--Seems like the council was just waiting for the chance to turn sides.

But this marks the end of Waxing Crescent, let's pray for Remus'!

See you all Monday:)