* * *

With Sage laid out on the infirmary bed, not only was she given a herbal concoction from the witches that was approved by the wolf healers. But also another mixture of Andy's blood, straight from the source.

Alanna had checked in on the couple a few times already, and the tray of ready-made sandwiches in her arms seemed pointless. But she carried it with the hopes that Andy would eat something, it's been half a day so far, and he still refused to move.

"You know...In your letter warning us about Noah's attack, you never mentioned her."
"I thought Swift Tail attacking us was much more pressing than a mate bond that's not going to work out." He responded, his voice rougher than normal. But Alanna was not discouraged, not when she managed to get him to speak.

"Of course it will, she loves you."
"She loves her mate, whether he's alive or not—She loves him."
"I love my Mateo with all my heart, Julian knows this. And I know Julian loves and adores Emily, but we can't always have what we want. If her mate is still alive then...Then your agreement is off." Alanna's whisper of the settlement caused his eyes to flicker off towards her for a moment.

"You heard?"
"Hard not to, but I see the way she looks at you too. This was an act of jealousy, Andy, and she was right to feel worried."
"Where is Lu—"
"Chained outside, you know the rules. The victim gets first dibs on what is given as punishment." Andy nodded instantly, Lucy and her friend were chained outside in a blizzard. They wouldn't die, no, not when they were forced to shift to fur and then chained.

"What's your plan when her mate is alive?"
"Kill him, what else is there?" Alanna gawked that the answer fell so easily from his mouth.
"You'd kill him? The father of her pups—"
"I am the father of that pup, hers are young enough that they can adapt quickly. I did."
"I know you did, but you cannot expect her to keep her feelings for you if you do this."
"And her mate is going to open his arms willingly when he finds out she's marked and mated with another male? That there's a possibility that she's carrying another male's pup?" Alanna thought for a moment and shook her head.

"You're going to put Crescent Moon right back to its stone ages. Haven't you learned—"
"My wolf agrees, whatever happens after that, we'll figure it out then. America is easier to navigate than Canada." Alanna shook her head, silently showing her disapproval.
"You think you can take her and the pups away from Crescent Moon? Having Mystic Grimm as an enemy is—"
"The worst thing you could possibly imagine?... Nobody in my pack wants to give her up, and if we join her pack...Then what? What are we? I won't be an Alpha, she won't be a Luna. Sure maybe her brothers or mate's brothers will track me down to the ends of the earth. But that hasn't stopped me so far." He concluded, and Alanna let out a sigh, raking her hands through Sage's unkempt hair.

Though through this morning's chaos, it was well excused. "You'd hurt her like that...When she has so little already?" She whispered, her eyes tearing up at the damage her boy had seemingly caused. "How cold have you turned—?"

"I love her...I'm doing this for her!"
"If you really love her, Andy, you'd let her go back to where she belongs. I don't think you were meant to be with her. I think she was meant to bring you back to where you truly belong. Back home to—"
"I'm not staying, we're not staying."
"And where would you go? Because she won't be willing to follow you after that, this mark isn't permeant."
"Yeah, neither is the other one apparently. Stop trying to make me feel guilty, I've already planned it." Alanna retracted her hand from the unconscious she-wolf and shook her head.

"Then I'll pray that she doesn't kill you."
"She won't, we're—"
"Together? A team? How many times did she warn you about Lucy, clearly, the only one that was shocked about this was both yourself and I. I failed your Luna, and I'll admit to that, but when I killed Mateo's murderer, I never felt more joy. Not until I met Julian." Perhaps admitting to his plan was faulty, but he knew the remaining members would follow loyally behind.

The question now stuck with what the Black Crescent portion was meant to do. Off the top of his head, there were fourteen wolves—Or twelve wolves and two pups from Sage's side. Then the remaining dozen witches.

She was right, this wasn't a pack. A pack was more than a few dozen, not scrambling for numbers. With that he took hold of her hand, wrapping his fingers in between hers before letting out a faithful squeeze.

"Please wake up." He whispered, kissing the back of her hand all before he continued to stare at her—Hoping she'd wake up soon.

Alanna had left, she was Luna after all. And while she heard the pleas and concerns of Lucy and Kendra's parents. She didn't want to hear it. She was known to be strict and fair.

"Go ahead and release them, you'll join them five minutes after." She said with a daring glare, she would not tolerate disrespect, and she certainly could hold her own from the younger generations that were trying to undermine her.

This incident put a lot of things in perspective, starting with the identity of Hera, who was still slumbering away in the infirmary room.

Alanna's limit on Andy's obsession had lasted just up until dinner time, when she clapped her hands together and startled the said Alpha. Yet Sage remained undisturbed.

"Alright, that's enough of that. Go get some dinner and wash up. Sitting around doing nothing, I never liked a lazy male."
"I need her to wake up."
"And you think the first thing she wants to see is you, two-face. Get a move on." He chuckled. It's been a while since someone referenced his comic book nickname.

"Call me when she wakes up." She nodded and extended her arm off towards the door once more and slammed it shut. Once Andy was out of hearing range the Luna allowed her forehead to connect to the door.

The honesty that her adopted son had given was too brash, too extreme. Before they all left her pack's territory, she needed to put in a warning somehow.

The kind Luna had gone over and resumed the spot Andy had taken up for the majority of the day. "You've changed him, and I'm worried that he'll lose himself if you...If you don't recover, sweetheart, if you and the pup aren't alright—Andy and his wolf might be lost. He's suffered so much. Come back...You need to come back." She whispered faithfully into the she-wolf's wrist. But unfortunately, she remained slumbering. Though Alanna couldn't blame her, the stress and the idea of losing a pup was making even herself nauseous.

Andy's heavy boots had alerted her of his approach, and when their eyes met, he knew without asking that Sage didn't wake up yet.

"I'll sleep in here. I don't trust Lucy's parents not to try and retaliate...Did the Healer come?"
"Yeah, if she doesn't wake up soon—He suggested flying her to Arctic Crest."
"What the hell would they be able to do that you wouldn't?" Alanna sighed. "We're not much more advanced since you left, but her heartbeat gained just in the last hour. Just relax, it'll—" The goddess heard their desperate prayers, and suddenly Sage's body jolted forward in a fit of panic as she tried to catch her breath.

"Sweetie, sweetie—Listen to me, look at me. You're alright. You're safe." Alanna's voice hardly mattered, not when Sage's eyes were pitched black. Andy used the strength of his scent as he engulfed the entirety of her body into his. Her nose tickled his neck, and she continued to shiver and cry towards him.

"Get the healer." Alanna had been pinned to her chair and only jumped at his voice, not soon after they had been left alone. Andy had barely managed to push the trash can in front of Sage as she vomited whatever was left in her stomach from breakfast, but most of it was bile. Causing her to groan at the pain in her throat.

Once she had finished, Andy pulled her back into his embrace. Allowing his breathing to be an example for her to follow along with, she did just that—Though another sob pierced through.

"P-pup's gone." Her voice had turned into a violent hoarse, and goddess have mercy on those girl's souls, even now Andy was attempting to stop himself from shifting. But the cries of torture were beckoning on his female's ears, a reminder of what this morning brought in.

"Shift, Andy. Your wolf will heal her better," Alanna whispered right beside the Healer. It was all Andy needed to hear as he shifted, thankfully, the necklace had left his clothes on unscathed, but that didn't matter.

Nothing mattered.

He and his wolf simply craved two things, his female to be alright and those she-wolves heads on a spike.

His entire body pinned itself on top of her, his nose working overtime in sniffing at her neck and licking at the mark he made—It was fading just as everyone warned him...If he remarked her, would there be a chance?

The healer remained impassive, while there was no doubt in the intuition of a female and the possibility of a fetus starting to form in them. But there could be a chance, and when he locked eyes to Andy, a nod had urged him on.

"You're thinking about that too, the old laws? Marking a female both in skin and fur, there isn't proof, but it won't hurt to try it." Andy's snoot pulled away, only to lick up the raw redness of Sage's face that was crying in pure agony.

He growled, hoping that he could catch her attention. But there was no need, she tilted her head to the side—A look of submission, with pure eagerness to try anything.

There would be no evidence like the previous time, the fetus wouldn't be large enough that it would simply just stop the process before it managed to get a start. Had Kelly's attempts been successful, the evidence would fall between Sage's legs.

While either Andy or his female was distracted by fangs pricing through her tender skin, Alanna had made her way to look between Sage's thighs and found nothing.

However, the image that Alpha Julian had walked into had caused all eyes to turn him, though Sage's was distracted by the pure pleasure and accepted that rather than the pain coursing through her heart.

"We have a problem," Julian admitted, holding up a slip in his hand, and Samuel laughed. "That can't be real. It's forged."
"It was on my desk non the less. I believe that Lucy's plan was to poison Hera and challenge her." That caused Sage's head to perk up in hearing her almost name used in the sentence.

"It's not valid. We're not savages to poison an enemy! That won't hold up in court."
"And you're too close to this situation. You acted without allowing any type of explanation to the rest of the pack. You know the rules, Alanna." The harsh growl caused Andy to shiver, his adopted mom held just as much rage as Sage.

"You're going to make her respond to challenge slip when the poison killed their pup?!" Julian's eyes rose tenfold, his eyes analyzing Sage's dizzy body and tear-stained cheeks.

The Alpha had missed the last five minutes of panic and desperation.

"Luna Hera, you have the option of following through with this challenge and dealing your own punishments to Lucy in the ring—Or you can go to court like my mate is suggesting. How do you want to go about this?" With the strain in her throat completely blinding her as she tested out her voice, she nodded.

"What are fight rules?" She issues, and Andy shifted within the moment—His hands holding him up just beside her head. "You can't be serious. You can barely stand!" Her smirk rose up a small bit, while her head turned back to Julian.

"Well, to this standard, all bets are off—As I've heard your pack say, claws? Fangs? Half shift? Whatever you please. Lucy didn't specify what type of fight she wanted." She nodded and leaned further back into the pillow.

"I heal first a little more, then fight." She deemed, and Julian claimed that a challenge had a shelf life of five days.
"Absolute fucking not. I thought I lost you—You—I can't. No. As her mate, I veto it." Julian rolled his eyes, but it was Alanna who calmly told him that that wasn't how it worked anymore.

"So you're condoning the fact that she still has the right of a pack member. We're your guests! For goddess sakes, Hera could've bashed the she-wolf's head in like she wanted to all this time but you're—"
"I'm defending the right a pack member has under the law she's lived her entire life. That's my duty as her Alpha, and what I explained to Alanna, the duty of a Luna. We don't know if your female is pregnant, and we don't know if the pup is lost...But judging by the look she's giving me, I can expect a good match." Sage shook her head and leaned further into the pillow.

"Expect a short match." She said, her voice highly determined and filled with a gentle bit of spite. And from the short time Julian has spoken with Hera, he couldn't expect anything less.

"Oh I do bearslayer, Andy's told me all about that story." While it strained her to smile, she managed to do both and close her eyes. A very wolf trait to be seen in skin form, and Alanna simply leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Rest, I'll come with dinner, and I expect you to eat it all." The stern look resembled similar to what her father would do, it was the kindest way to give out an order.

And thus, the room had turned silent—Only with Andy's heavy breathing weighing it to shift. "Sage I—"
"I know. Nobody listens to me, and I keep getting in trouble. You're not the only one. It's not okay right now, but I'll be okay, I think." She said, her eyes flickering everywhere, just not to his figure.

He pinched her chin with his fingertips to gain her attention outright. "I'll make this better. I promise you that, female. Whatever it takes." She hummed and held onto his hand to kiss his knuckles. "I know...I'm still learning how to be a wolf too. Can't always be saved from laws."

"Yeah? Did you get special privilege back in Crescent Moon?" She nodded quick enough, and that confused him.

"Yeah, I guess the Elwood name would get you some leeway. And that survival story, goddess. My dad would've loved to hear that one."
"What happened to your mom and dad?"
"They're dead, Sage. Simple as that." She remained silent, and when his eyes turned up to see what she was doing with his hand—It turned out that she was tracing out the small scar lines.

"We're leaving soon. Just remember that."
"But I like Alanna, and Julian is a good Alpha. It's hard to pick, and I'm a stranger. Even if I'm your female." The feminine laughter reign loudly into the room as the sound of clattering plates echoes into the room.

"Don't give him too much credit. He could've sided with me instead of Lucy's parents. But I doubt she's up for a challenge after tonight anyhow."
"What's tonight?"
"Blizzard. Out of mercy they put up a tent, but I think Julian only allowed it because he knows the outcome." Sage nodded along, but her eyes wandered off toward the tray that Luna Alanna was carrying in, and it earned her another laugh.

"Alright, alright, eat up. And if any of Lucy's family—"
"Better get one of those slips ready with my name on it, Luna Alanna." She growled her confirmation, and he grinned a final goodnight.

______

Date: 10/14/2022

Time: 10:33

Words: 2881

Author's Note: 

Andy plans to do WHAT?!

Just to recap, he thinks that Sage's mate is Luke Elwood--Hence the name that she had given to him in the first place.

There are only two more chapters of this phase, so prepare for a challenge in the upcoming week! I'm so excited. And we're nearing the end!

I'm trying to get the new cover for the next story ready for when this book is completed. But I've rewritten the blurb a few times now and it's not coming out the way I want it to.

Hoping I can figure it out in time for the cover release!

Anywho, I'll see you all Monday for another update.
Have a good weekend!