* * *

Sage stood beside the given set of pack members that were strong enough to continue fighting, the witches stood a decent step back, and Torin was intrigued by not only their fighting style, but the unity of both species into one elected unit.

"Tell me you're thinking the same thing," Grey spoke aloud, though his words were directed to both Andy and Severin. "And what would that be?" The Alpha dug further, because at this point the conversation would be anywhere.

"That the walking dead aren't coming to hound us because the Luna said that vampire's name, could a name be cursed?" Sage hummed along, but it was Torin who confirm Grey's suspicion.

"This vampire you're referring to, Luna Sage, it must be the one who summoned them...They're coming." This called for the wolves in the skin to fasten their stance, while it was the Viking that fired the first warning shot into the air. His arrow lightened the ways and gave a much more detailed battlefield—As they were relying heavily on the moon and her natural light to spot the oncoming fleet of undead wolves.

"Don't go for the heart, it needs to be killed by an impaled brain or detached." Andy felt a sense of pride when his pack members howled their agreements to the order from the viking, he was the expert after all.

Torin had been the first to yell out the demands of war, and Andy should've expected this little female to feel the same rage. Though it was met with the same furious temper as the rest of the females had, giving the Alpha a once over to his highest tiers in question.

"Have to give it to the Viking, he has a way with the ladies," Grey said, swirling the handle of his sword around to gain a sense of weight to balance out within his next movement.

The rest of the males flanked the enraged females, and it was as if they had taken the spirit of Sif herself—They reigned havoc with the assault of seething wolves ready to pass their disease and onward.

Yet Sage managed to slash and impale every opponent in her path with Thalia and Bree just beside her, making it nearly impossible for them to be surprised from behind.

Both of the males were correct. The sword was heavy, but the adrenaline and rage coursing through Sage and the rest made their weapons light as a feather. Given that they were all to eager to get this done and over with.

The smell of both Draugr and their blood resided as fuel for their temper, and once they were all finished and dead—Sage had fallen to the floor in a sense of failure. This was not a victory, not with the way the males and those from Half Crescent were treating it as.

This just meant the fight wasn't over with Armond, and the name itself had been linked to these beasts.

Both Thalia and Bree had dropped down to catch Sage, but her troubled sobs in seeing another sign of Armond's symbol caused them all to quake in fear.

Andy felt distraught in seeing his female in such an array of agony, and instead, he lifted her up and carried her inside—Not caring about her fallen weapon nor the mess outside their shelter for the evening.

Sage clung to Andy with all she was worth, but fear laced her every breath. It was as if they hadn't run far enough, that their escape meant nothing if these Dragur beasts were out searching for them—For her.

Torin had offered up one of the dozens of rooms this inn offered, truthfully he hardly checked the majority of the place and made his home spot in the main room.

Yet he hardly managed to let go of Sage with the way she held onto him.
Or would've had, he not stripped down and engulfed her in a proper hug.

There was something always so emotionally raw about hugging a dear loved one bare and open to the world, yet the winter's air didn't agree with that. Instead, they found shelter underneath the dusty blankets for their combined body warmth to fight the cold air.

"He's not going to touch you again, Sage. I promise you. He'll never—"
"Mate says that too. Says I won't go back to cage. You can't promise me that, Andy."
"Well I can sure as hell try, I'm not your mate. Sure, yeah, fine. But I'm the father of this pup, which makes me responsible for your safety from the moment I took care of you for your Heat. Do you understand that?" She nodded into his chest, breathing in the softness of both his words and his promise.

As Sage had fallen asleep in a fit of tears, Andy kept tabs with the rest of the pack through Severin and Grey. Black Crescent's females were shaken up, and nobody was forgetting the fact that the Vampire's name had issued another attack.

Nor would they play around with said curse.

It would take a day or two to fully heal, and that was if they were diligent with the paste. Though Torin didn't hesitate to make more batches, the male had an endless amount of supplies—And to make it feel much more comfortable, the witches went ahead to prepare a feast.

As it was a sort of thank you for the hospitality and saving in the last few hours.

Severin had been the one to knock on the Alpha couple's door, delivering a hefty serving of stew for each. Along with half a kettle left of tea.

Sage held no appetite, but made do with her tea and nibbled on the few pieces of potatoes and meat that she fished out. Andy knew she wasn't one to be picky, and blamed it on both the hormones of the pup and the situation that was bestowed upon them.

He too felt sick to his stomach, the idea that this vampire—Who captured, tortured, and betrayed almost half of the pack—managed to call upon an actual legend to come and aid his terror?

It was difficult to place his thoughts, and thus he snuck out that very morning to catch Torin up stoking the fire.

"Do you ever sleep?" Andy asked with a low growl in between his question, and the Viking chuckled. Which sounded like a heated wave with the way he clicked his jaw.

"There's too much to do, we'll be snowed in by morning."
"Perfect time for you to show us how to properly kill these things then." It was clear that neither male truly liked one other, but under the conditions that they were being led on—They needed one another.

"Your mate is a strong female, you must be proud of her." Andy hummed, and Torin clearly had enough as he showed his neck.
"Now you can stop glaring at me, tåpelig mann." [Foolish man] The mating mark featured on Torin's neck indeed caused Andy to stop his heated stares, but that still didn't take away the common attraction others had with his female.

"Hun får meg til å oppføre meg tåpelig." [She makes me act foolish] That certainly caused Torin to raise a brow. He hadn't expected much from this group of Rogues, though they weren't at all like the other travelers he's met.

They were put together and held motivation, clearly, or else the little Luna wouldn't have been so fired in killing the Draugr.

"I didn't take you for a—"
"Anything. Most of my pack escaped from human facilities, others are born Rogues. You don't know anything more than that." This caused the Viking to throw his hands into the air in a slight agreement and white flag.

However, either male's attention had shifted when Sage had peeked her head out, her bear fur strictly around her shoulders—She certainly didn't look all that happy that Andy left, though when he opened his arms in an offering, she took it within the moment.

"I heard you didn't eat your dinner, why?" Torin questioned, and it earned him a light-hearted gruff as she rubbed her eyes in Andy's lap. "Nauseous." She claimed, and that led to Andy asking a sure-fire of questions in the event that it could possibly be a pup.

"May I?" The newly acquainted male, and a light smile popped up on Sage's face as she made room for both Torin and his pebble necklace. Andy knew bits and pieces of what he was doing in detecting a pup, but he shook his head.

"It could be early symptoms, my mate was the same."
"You have pups too?" Torin nodded along. "They aren't pups anymore, Luna, they're fully grown." She smiled lightly and thus she came over with her own pebbles, handing off her two favorites of the twins.

"My pups. Ronan and Rue."
"This isn't your first pups?" He questioned and she shook her head. "No, I have mate. But the facility with the vampire took away mate bond. I meet Andy after I escape with my females." She explained, and a squeal followed as Andy tightened his hold around her.

"I couldn't help myself, she's a beautiful she-wolf." Torin admired the pups, complimenting on the name but having frowned at the rest of the explanation in its entirety. "Where is your mate?" Andy truly hated when others asked Sage that question, he felt his wolf wanting to respond to the question, but he remained silent.

"Crescent Moon, Andy promises to bring me back to find pups. But now we have to tell them about the Draugr." She explained, and Torin's eyes widened in excitement.
"You're traveling to a pack?"

It earned him a nod once more, and that caused the Viking to sigh in relief. "I'd like to accompany you. My mate and I have tried countless times to get close to a pack. But they won't accept visitors or any form of nomad in the vicinity." That certainly didn't sound all that great, now did it?

"What packs did you try?"
"Moon Ridge, Silvertail—I was going to try eventually Crescent Moon, but I was tracking this larger pack of Draugr that I managed to get off course. Grey Hallow failed as well. All these packs are keeping their borders tight and enchantments high." The explanation caused Andy to smirk.

"Well, we have a pass right here, plenty of witches to settle any enchantments. You're more than welcome to join us...If—" Andy claimed, yet the gesture of being a 'pass' caused Sage to wiggle in torment. "You teach our pack how to properly kill them."

This earned him a round of approval from Sage, but the male shook his head. "I'm not sure how much there is to teach. Your female looked like a natural. All of them did."
"I need to learn how to hold them better, it was heavy. You were right." She shared, gesturing to the redness still etched into her hands.

Clearly there needed to be a bit of manufacturing and Severin knew exactly where they could head off to.

"Off North East, sure we can find some dulled silver—Best to get it fresh from the source. It'll make it easier to kill, easy to clear." That sounded like the beginning stages of a plan, or would've been until Andy mentioned one of Sage's favorite words.

"Any chance there's bears in that direction?"

______

Date: 10/31/2022

Time: 9:03

Words: 2008

Author's Note:

Happy All Hallows Eve everyone!!

I tried to get this chapter in early but of course it's nearly 9, and I apologize it's a lil shorter than normal. But we're closing this phase out on Friday's chapter.

What do we think of Torin?
Could he be trustworthy or is he still on the suspicious list?

I say it's still a lil bit of both. Same with Andy.

Alrighty, I hope everyone has a great week and I will see you for Friday's chapter!

Time for candy😋