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Sage had slept on account of nearly thirteen hours, even then, her eyes still felt heavy, but the sound of footsteps coming and going upstairs caused her to finally open them.

And instantly, the sun managed a rather annoying position in her window, causing her to shield her eyes from the blaring light.

She stared up at it in question until it burned small spots into her vision, and she was forced to look away. Though it still warmed her soul in feeling the deity opposite to the moon.

Attempting to shift the blanket away, she caught sight of Liam snoring right beside her. And although Sage was oblivious to the couch having an indent, the room still smelled strongly of Luke.

Neither brother could manage to sleep without her in the room, surely this will get easier with time, but it wasn't an issue for right now. It was why nobody had said anything or tried to wake them up.

Even if Casey begged and pleaded to bounce on the bed to get them standing. It was a blessing enough to have them home, but an additional family member will make for a beautiful future with eight wolves living under the same roof.

Sage remembered kindly as to where the bathroom was located in the house. After splashing her face with water, she was met kindly with the reflection of herself.

The now-familiar grey eyes were alive, reawoken. As they have been since she met both Luke and Liam, and they couldn't be more pleased with her personality beginning to grow.

Just as she was leaving the bathroom, Camilla had ventured up the steps to peek around the corner. "Good morning, sweetheart. You must be starving, come. Let me fix you something to eat." Sage didn't rightly have a chance to argue as she was lead down the stairs, and the only comfort beside Camilla's soft voice until she caught Luke sitting at the table reading over some papers.

"Mom, I told you not to—"

"She was up using the restroom. Now go and wake up your brother. There's no excuse now." He chuckled, taking another sip of coffee before he banged up on the bedroom door. But not before kissing the crown of Sage's head. She looked up with him with a smile, and he could already feel the happiness radiating off her small figure.

One of which was going to grow with their mother's cooking.

The girl was seated beside Luke's seat, and this morning she had gone ahead and bought Sage her own set of markers and her coloring book. They were thinner and finer than what pups would use, but the smile never faltered as Sage continued to find this little activity to pass the time.

They had plans that morning, having meant to go to the pack doctor as soon as they wake up, but Luke called ahead to MaKenzie that they would be coming later in the day just to catch up on much-needed sleep.

"I thought we were gonna get a few days off?" Liam groaned, and instantly Sage felt the emotion in the room drop as she looked up to him with a pout.

"Not you, hun. Was scheduled for patrols tomorrow morning." She whispered to herself the word 'patrols,' and it led to Luke trying to explain that pack members were put into shifts around the Crescent Moon territory to protect them, or else Rogues could come in undetected and cause trouble.

As Sage ate her meal beside Liam, her smile brightened at the fact that Camilla had tea readily available. And mumbled the term 'herbal crap,' as she knew her brothers had named it before.

But it gave the mother just another reason to adore her.

"Kaitlyn brought over some clothes for Sage to wear. Are you bringing your brothers?" Luke nodded into his coffee, but Sage tilted her head in confusion again.

What was happening?"

"You can't just go and hunt a bear, Sage. You have to get ready and learn how to hunt first." Luke's words had caused her wolf to feel offended, but the more she thought about it, she started to understand that a bear is a large kill. Especially by the size of Casey's toys showed her and the family pictures surrounding the cabin.

Before long, the she-wolf had finished her tea and gotten dressed. Her hair now braided down her shoulder, courtesy of Camilla as she saw them off as they began to walk towards the infirmary.

It was stationed just down the road, but the two brothers remained cautious of Sage's instincts taking over. No matter how many times she's taken them by surprise, they never gave her enough credit to the fact that she was just curious and wanted to learn. A few civilian wolves had offered their blessings to see the Elwood brothers return, as well as give a small hell to Sage, but it was clear that they didn't know her story just yet.

The politics in the werewolf community is complicated at best. They would judge the living daylights out of her in either direction of good or bad. And no matter what the Alpha chose to do, there would be a group that found fault.

When they finally neared the packhouse, that's when Liam caught just how much how Sage's anxiety sparked, even if either brother was walking at her side. They had to keep her from going off and following the new smells. Thankfully their buff figures were indeed perfect for covering her figure from the attention of others.

They finally arrived at the healer's office, and it gave Sage a sickly familiar feeling to cause a shiver to run down her spine. The aura of disinfectant screamed to her that scientists were nearby. But when she sniffed once again, the only people in the room smelled like wolves.

It calmed her quickly or did until a stranger came forward towards them. "Sorry, Kenzie, these two wanted to sleep in this morning." The she-wolf seemingly shook her head in amusement as she wrote something down onto the clipboard in front of her.

Then her attention finally landed on Sage.

"It's nice to meet you, Sage. I'm one of the pack healers. You can call me Kenzie." The healer greeted, a soft smile remaining on her face the entire time she spoke."Is there anything hurting or making you uncomfortable at the moment?" Sage took a moment to take in how her body was feeling before shaking her head, and it followed in the trend of checking her eyesight, her ears, throat, and everything in between.

When the questions started to grow more personal, Kenzie asked the males to leave.

And what she found was disgusting, not in the sense that it was Sage's fault, but it was indeed a finding.

The female took countless notes and eventually made the conclusion that Sage is drastically underweight for a werewolf. So when the healer left the practicing room for a moment, she led the males back to her office and leaned against the desk.

"She's underweight, very underweight. She's showing signs of malnourishment. I'm surprised she's not eating everything in sight. They must've given her a strict diet and never gave her enough to grow." Both Luke and Liam confirmed that their portions during their time in captivity were small for anyone, let alone a growing wolf.

"What happened to her hand?" Kenzie asked, unfamiliar with the pattern of scratches still healing.

"She punched a mirror in Mystic Grimm," Luke said, taking the initiative to give a quick summary of what happened. And this is how Kenzie had answered the questions she wrote down through her evaluation. And they continued in terms of questioning what happened mentally and physically in the facility. The notes only continued to build up, but the biggest question is why Sage is immune to Silver, unable to feel the burning sensation that it's meant to infect their kind.

"I did notice a few things that might've occurred during some experiments..."

Articical insemintation.

Liam instantly felt sick in his stomach after hearing such a thing. His wolf cringed, and one look off towards Luke was only sending him into further aggravation.

"Luckily, humans are ignorant of our fertility methods. She wouldn't have been able to get pregnant. And I don't believe she's ever experienced heat." Now that pushed the question of how old Sage might be.

"—Twenty. Twenty at the youngest, meaning she could be open to finding her mate. I know I already said this, but I do recommend keeping her from crowded areas in the pack. Not so much in fear of her finding her mate, but because she needs to build up a tolerance to pack members. We don't want her to be too overwhelmed." The two agreed but still felt the weight of what Sage would've been like if she had a pup in captivity.

It was another full hour of questions and concerns, one of which was easy for Sage to relegate in. Yes and no quests being her specialty, and when asked to see her wolf, the doctor was much more relieved.

"She's a strong wolf," Kenzie whispered, running a calming hand down her back in a gesture for her to lay down.

"Faster than light too," Luke spoke, causing her to pull her head up and lazily hang her tongue out of her mouth—Letting them know that she was starting to become bored and playful.

Soon after a fur evaluation, they were allowed to leave, more confident that Sage was in good health—Or would be after a new diet regulation was implemented.

Once again, the two brothers escorted their sister off towards the edge of the woods, one of which is where they met Leo and Caleb.

"And? Is she a clean bill of health?" The second eldest Elwood asked, and the frowns only grew from there.

"Not counting the fact that she's skin and bones—Or that they tried to get her pregnant, yeah, sure," Liam said with a huff, while Luke snapped in his direction for bringing the news back up.

"We'll talk about it late. Sage, go behind the tree and shift, yeah? We'll put the clothes in the tree for later." She silently followed his instructions and wandered off behind the tree and stripped down to nothing. With her clothes down in a pile, she leaned forward and allowed her fur to take over her skin, which meant bones were snapping into place.

Soon enough, she pranced out in midnight black form. A bundle of clothes dragging in the grass as she went directly up to Luke with her tagging wagging back and forth.

Luke took her clothes and placed them with the rest, but Leo came forward—Kneeing down to greet her himself. "Such a beautiful coat." He cooed, brushing his hands through the light fur, but then tapped at her nose. "I hear you have a strong sniffer, huh?" He questioned, causing Sage to lick her chops and allow a small yowl to escape her throat.

"Knew that Luna Jade is expecting a pup before her own mate. What do you count that as?" Leo smirked and found himself shifting off another way. While Liam's wolf managed to get the upper hand and tackle her out of the blue.

Come on, Sagey. That the best you got?

Liam's taunts worked wonders as she leaned forward and taunted back, silently as well. And before the male could even come up with an attack, she lunged. The two playfully nipped each other, back and forth before an ordering growl put them back into their place.

Leo's attention was fully set on the singled-out she-wolf as she was entirely a pup in action. Her head tilted absentmindedly, and almost instantly was he allowed entry in her head.

Then Caleb followed.

Alright, normal route. Two behind Sage and two in front. Luke, take the lead.

Leo ordered his eldest to start the run, then followed by Caleb. Sage knew that it was her turn to dart after them, and in no time at all was she closed to the front beside Luke.

Told you pops, she's a bullet.

The two males who were meant to be in the lead were nipping at her feet and tail, another form of taunting that she should've learned long ago.

Her reaching maturity without this type of playful behavior was unfortunate. But she didn't hold that into account and enjoyed her freedom.

However, on this specific trail, a foreign scent caught Sage's interest.

Causing her to slow down, and she broke off the carved-out path, whining out in the direction to alert Luke of her find. She sent the scent to him in an attempt to communicate without the right words.

She's not ready for a deer. I thought we were starting on squirrels and—

Liam attempted to stop this, but both Luke and their father were intrigued by how this she-wolf planned to handle an unknown prey. And so they allowed her to track the given animal without any hints or help.

Sage might've gotten lost at a turn away and rounded in a circle, but once she crawled under the underbrush, she spotted the large buck in the middle of the field.

Leo came forward past his sons and gave her a small lick on her head in both affection and reward.

A part of him was making his scent potent on his adoptive daughter, because a family that hunts together does indeed stay together.

Sage stared in wonder at the creature, sniffing to imprint the scent into memory. And once she was sure she knew what it was, she started to crawl on out of the given bushes, she darted after it.

Er—Are we just letting her go for it or...?

Caleb had always been the sensible son, much like his mother shaped him out to be. He was the second son, after all. His legacy would be that of the career he chose for himself.

Course, she'll learn from her mistakes. And if she needs help, we'll come in.

Leo rumbled his approval from behind. His own attention caught on how damn fast the she-wolf glazed across the land. Already she had made impact, tackling the buck head-on and going straight for the throat as she had done with her human kill.

With Sage being as weak compared to others her age and rank, it was prudent that her endurance and knowledge of fighting play an even bigger role. Her strategy was simple, go for the legs and go for the throat. Either of which had been the perfect engagement to taking down her first buck.

And all by herself.

The falling honks of the deer were short-lived, all before he plopped to the ground. Giving Sage her first victory against nature, screw starting off easy.

Sage had been so built up on the hunt that her wolf took over, and being so tuned in with her beast, she threw her head back and sang out her accomplishment to those who would listen.

And in support, her family at the tree lines joined her all the same, as they would when a young pup accomplished their very first kill.

But as much as Sage looked and acted like a wolf, some things would come from experience in terms of eating a kill. Her tongue continued to lop out to clean her snoot, one of which that Liam had gone ahead and attempted to help her with.

While Caleb looked around to see if she caught any injuries.

Nope, she's spotless...Goddess, that a beautiful takedown. Nice job, Sage!

Liam shared his agreements while Leo licked her once more to share his fatherly love. It was hard not to feel proud of such a kill, alone and inexperienced?

It gave him an idea of how to train her.

Luke shared that she had sent him the scent through their bond, meaning that she's never seen an animal like this. Sure, squirrels and bunnies were a quick snack, but this was a proper meal.

While all this was being set, Luke came over with the best piece for her to take claim of. The heart.

He dropped it down to her feet as he took a seat back down on his bum.

It's yours. Your kill, your heart.

It had been the first lesson of many, and she greedily took the hefty two bites of this bloody heart only to look back at the buck's body. She needed help eating it, and as she licked Luke's jaw in thankfulness. He knew what she was getting at.

Sage didn't hog a single ounce of the deer, allowing everyone to get their fill, a humble and family-oriented wolf. Leo already knew that she was a feisty little thing, granted she's spent the last two months with his sons, so that was a given.

But as they dragged the deer back to the lodge, it earned Sage respect as she fed them when she didn't have to.

"Oh, No! Not in my house! Outside shower, all of you!" Camilla screamed, gesturing to the fenced-in area. But the mother wolf simply held onto Sage's waist and led her into the bathroom in the house.

Special treatment for sure.

Instead of a shower, Camilla treated the she-wolf with a bath. A nice warm and relaxing bath for a job well done, the woman always loved deer meet, and the kill would definitely give them options for this week's dinner menu.

Building up the bubbles in the bath, Sage simply leaned back and allowed the mother wolf in washing her hair, as Camillia mentioned that her hair is far too pretty to leave it the way it is.

The two she-wolves discussed a few things, saying that a friend had given her more clothes to try on after dinner to see what might fit.

While tomorrow they would be getting a shipment of furniture for her bedroom, granted Sage didn't grasp much of the conversation. Or cared what her bedroom looked like.

Anything was better than her cell.

With Sage cleaned, the girl came down in simpler clothes— leggings and a tank as she blinked up kindly to Luke.

"Did good hun, real good." She leaned into his hold and hummed. Their sibling relationship was definitely making him soft.

But holding his little sister felt rewarding in itself, especially after the showdown today.

After dinner, they followed up with another night of stargazing. Still, it was the perfect example of what they attempted to share with her yesterday, that the moon has phases.

And Sage could only smile up to the beautiful deity high above the rest.

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Date: 11-16-2020

Time: 6:57

Words: 2804

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EDITED:
DATE 08-22-2021
WORDS: 3071