* * * 

Was it the first time that Remus was awake at the ungodly hour of four in the morning because his mate had an epiphany? No.
But it was new for Andrew, who was nursing a glass of water while an Omega was making another pot of coffee between the four of them.

"So you and Sage took a walk through memory lane and figured out that the statue is by the same wolf as the one we found in the underground church?" Andrew questioned, and Sage shook her head, now having her phone in place.

"Not just the same wolf, I think it's missing wolf." She stated, showing the pictures that Rebecka and Enzo had managed after it was cleared of prisoners.

"How can you tell that it's the missing piece?" Andrew questioned, while Remus took a better look and zoomed into the picture.

"Art class."

"Art...Class?" Kendal questioned, looking for clarification from the males. "Sage took an art class at the high school, but what does that have to do for right now, hun?"

"Very hard to make rep-li-cas with same clay. But the style looks the same, and there are bumps on the bottom plate. Looks like it was together, now it's not."

"You think Crimson sold my grandfather the missing link to the one you have in Crescent Moon?" Sage blinked at the question Kendal was asking and perked her lips, wondering what her theory truly made her think of.

"Maybe it was a replica, who did your grandfather commission it of?"

"My mother. She's—"

"She was from Grey Hallow, wasn't she?" Kendal nodded instantly to Remus' question and found himself thinking. "Grey Hallow has a distinct she-wolf size and fur pattern. What if it wasn't your mom's wolf, but mine?"
"Well, then I wasted a lot of prayers for the wrong female, hm? Why don't you head over to go take a look for yourselves? I think the Luna needs more coffee." Andrew didn't feel all too keen to leave Sage alone again, but Remus had allowed it, and who was he to disagree with Sage's real mate?

In all honesty, he didn't know if his plan was to truly stay in Crescent Moon. It was clear that he wasn't as kindly remembered as he hoped, hell, full-grown males would look twice over what they were saying when they spoke to him.

It made him worry if he was being revered or feared. Either or, it didn't matter.
Alpha Issac had offered him to return to his mother's pack, and he was wondering if that was the right course of action now more than ever.

It was too crowded in the Moon residence, not to say he couldn't live somewhere else. But seeing Sage return to a life that he wished was waiting for him wasn't a possibility for him anymore.

Perhaps he could find a lovely female in Grey Hallow that would make him see that the world truly spins right and for a reason.

"You think this is a lead?" Remus questioned, trying to find any significant detail to make it out to be his mother's wolf instead of Kendal's. But Andrew had already spotted something of familiarity, considering he thought of Emery Moon as his second mom when Aria Clark died.

"I think this is something. I just don't know if it's worth parading on Crimson's graveyard." Remus claimed, and Andrew could see the truth in that.

"Aren't we looking for a place where that Vampire man could hole up though? Sage said it was fully operational. And the witches found that it was in the central United States...I think we're nearing it." Remus had stopped his pursuit of looking for the details and turned to face his friend, what he said was true.

But did he truly want to hurt the American packs like that again?
"You think he's hiding in Crimson?"

"I think he's hiding somewhere, not Crimson specifically—But what more could they be after? It's an established zone, witches already masked it from humans and it's a large piece of territory. Almond isn't dumb, right? Maybe we need to start thinking differently." Andrew claimed, eyeing the statue's eyes once again, and nodding. "Yeah, that has to be Emery."

"How can you tell?" Remus questioned, and the frown that grew on Andrew's face pained Remus. How awful is it that he couldn't tell?

That a son couldn't recognize his mother's own wolf?

"Yeah...But damn, thank goddess you had her take that art class. Would've missed this." Andrew said, pointing down to the base of the statue. Almost a perfect match to the picture Sage had shown them in Kendal's office.
 Of course, Remus was undoubtedly proud for Sage to manage on her own, he felt utterly behind—especially considering Kendal was the one to share what they'd managed.

And it was at this moment that Hayes had come through, sensing the commotion and his pup's scent moving about and not returning.

This was something Remus had to keep in mind, considering that they currently were sharing a wall.

With the two males attempting to catch the elder wolf up with Sage's latest feeling, it left Sage attempting to sip her tea and show Kendal all the photos she'd taken of the pups.

Goddess, he didn't expect Sage to be so likable, that an innocent question of 'want to see the pups?' To take control of their conversation.

"You want pups too?"

"What male doesn't want pups? And after seeing these two cuties?" He leaned back against the couch and eyed the female that made him oh so curious, but then a frown had taken route as he thought of the most unthinkable.

Was he jealous? Sure.

But that happened frequently, nearly daily considering there were mated pack members everywhere.

"I know something...And Remus tell me not to tell you, but I think it will help you help us." She instated, taking Kendal out of his looming thoughts and directly placing his attention into two solemn grey eyes that would most certainly cause him to whine out.

That the pain was too visible to ignore.

"What is it that you want to tell me?" He had hardly managed a croak as he leaned further and caught sight of the remains of her mating mark.

It wasn't common knowledge that Sage had lost her mark completely, but those in Summit knew now that Randal was playing with a concoction that separated mate bonds.

Leaving Remus and Sage to be one of the many victims—Having Kendal be reminded of the fact that it was like mother like daughter, in this case.

"I can see things, feel things. I know when Luke meets his mate. I know when my brothers, Beta and Delta meet mate. Blake too." The mere word of mate had caused this male's eyes to dilate instantly, and a smile played on her face as she nodded.

"I can see that I meet your mate soon, your color is yours. And when I find your mate, they have the same color." It was then that Sage pulled her hand over his eyes, to ease him into embracing the dark as she hummed.

"Soon. And I tell Remmy and Dad that I think this means I need to be here. To help you and to look for clues like statues."

"Y-you think you'll help me find them?" He hurried out, and Sage nodded. "I don't know time or who mate is, but I feel it's close. When I see them, I'll know." Kendal's breath was out of sync as his wolf started to break through the seams, and Sage could only let out a small smile.

Adoring that his inner beast had been summoned at the mere mention of their possible mate.

"You've met the majority of my pack, and I doubt they would be here...A rogue, then?"

"Maybe? It's someone new." Sage's voice remained humble and low, but once she heard her mate's voice coming closer, her body shifted. "Don't tell Remus I tell you. Shh." It had been a while since Kendal had been playfully shoved and told to shush by a female—Mainly his own mother, but he complied and laughed along before drinking the remainder of his coffee.

"Bubbles, why can't you wait until morning to do things properly?" He grumbled, coming closer to greet his daughter properly while Kendal was offered a prompt grunt.

"Because Almond doesn't sleep." The sassy reply did receive a few pathetic chuckles, but as the hours passed, the Alphas in the room started to gain a bit of fairness to their current situation.

And while their conclusion wasn't set in stone, they had offered a quick conference call to the other packs of the Summit, hoping to have a sort of agreement with the rest of them.

But it was clear what needed to be done. Which left the morals of a wolf to be tested and pushed. Even now, Sage was struggling with why everyone was 'tip toeing' around the idea—As her father had said a time or two.

"We come to Moon Ridge looking for answers and help. And here we are, with a clue and a direction. Papa said that Jade recognizes the color window in the Underground church Snyders have. Jade comes from Moon Ridge and shares sight of Oracles of the Holy Knot with Crimson and Lichen. They both fall because Randal is angry with them. Same statues in Underground church in Crescent Moon and here...We have to look for more clues." She concluded, but was ultimately greeted with silence.

From all nine individual packs.

"It's not that simple, Sage. That's a graveyard." Her father reminded, but it turned her gaze away from the screen in front of her.

"And America is going to be graveyard if we don't find answers. We will have three en-em-ies—Coldridge, Almond, and humans. I don't want my pups scared of humans. I don't want anyone scared of humans. We need to find answers before the tournament." She declared, and Alpha Troy from Moon Stone hummed in agreement.

"I see your argument, Luna Sage. But how can we trust that what we're doing isn't going unlock something unholy from the Goddess herself? They were strongly dedicated to their religious side, I'm worried they've left a trap for any soul that comes near it." That possibility had caused a few nods, but Sage didn't look all too worried.

"After that bear trap, I don't think Sage is too scared of anything," Blake mumbled, yet sure enough, it had been caught by the audio and sentenced the entire call to laugh at the whim. But it prompted Harlow to speak up.

"Why weren't you this helpful when you lived in Mystic Grimm?"
"Or White Paw?"  Drake followed with his own question.

"Because you bastards left me to do the grunt work. Clearly, Sage saw how amazing I am and made me Rogue General." He cheered, and Sage smirked at seeing her Charge take pride in his work and calling out her brother for given the lower-tier tasks.

"I like knife tricks." She declared, and Harlow groaned.

"Remind me to hide the cutlery when you visit again."

"What is cutlery?" Sage truly didn't know what was so funny about what she said. But if it lessened the conversation's tension, then it was a straight course for winning.

But with Sage having the floor, she felt the need to speak again..

"I don't like going to graveyards, but look what happens when I visit the graveyard in Crescent Moon. We find Delta John and wolves from pack. People hide things in graveyard because they know it is wrong to go and look. We don't want to anger Goddess, so we go and then leave something—To say sorry." The Luna spoke, looking directly into the computer's camera before her attention flickered to her father, who couldn't look any happier in that regard.

Or would have, had Kendal's grandfather, Shawn, growled at the construct. "I appreciate the invitation, boy." He claimed, looking directly at his grandson, making Kendal sigh.

"I did. You said you wanted to sleep in."
"I wouldn't have if I knew what you planned on doing. Going on sacred ground!" The roar had caused Blake to twitch, but that had been the only one affected because the rest held far too much Alpha blood to feel the command.

"Then you should wake up early," Sage spoke, eyeing the male once more, just showing how unaffected she felt in his presence. Which issued a new target for him to speak to.

"An unmarked bitch dares speak—" Sage's head tilted to the side with a smile. "Yes. And you're old and need sleep." She had finished her sentence by going to pick up her tea, eying him over the rim of the mug to blink softly.

Testing his patience.

"Pff, I won't fight a bitch."

"No? That's no fun." The growl rumbled once more and Hayes sighed. "Sage, stop baiting Alpha Shawn. And goddess, please, we don't use that term anymore."

"Fucking pity, where's the coffee?" With that in mind, Sage had made him up a cup with a smile before turning back to her brother and the rest of the chat.

"It's unethical in any sense, Sage. We have enough going on with the tournament in a few months." Alpha Chris repeated.

"Was there a date set yet? The summer would give enough space for things to pick up—Right?" Andrew questioned, and the better part of Summit didn't have an answer.

"I vote for the summer, it'll give us enough time to count the numbers of how many Alpha wolves we have and can enter in. Fourth generation and above, seems doable enough." Alpha Issac spoke, turning to his female and nodding in reaction. Granted, there wouldn't be too many she-wolves in this instance, but it did raise the stakes just a bit more for Summit to feel at ease.

"I will be sending some of my Enforcers with Remus' decided group. I want to give them the numbers. If we're in, we might as well be all in." Kendal offered, and it seemed as though the male who was the most religious of the bunch had changed the perspective the rest of the packs were rallying behind. He wouldn't dare do anything to gain the Goddess' wrath, and that is when the packs started to agree.

"I don't know...What if this is a trap? I get we're looking for something, a clue. This is just giving me a bad feeling, and by all means, I don't have Sage's sixth sense, but I really don't want to send my males into a sandpit when I know it's a sandpit." Drake said, and it was clear that Haylee was eyeing her mate with the same look she gave her brother and sister.

"I don't know what sandpit is, but I know what trap means. If it's a trap we will be careful, we leave some wolves outside pack grounds and with us. Safe."

"I trust you, Sage. I trust you with my males and all. But it's the situation that's raising my hackles. Hoping for the best doesn't mean the best will come out...And quicksand is just nature's fluke in creating pits where a person can get stuck and it sucks the person into the ground." The definition of a sandpit caused Sage to smile and thank her brother for it. But that still hadn't gotten White Paw's approval.

"Well hold up, I'm going to put my say in this. You don't want to send your Enforcers? That's fine, send the Reformed our way. They'd want to help without question." Blake offered, and Hayes caught the male's line of sight, making the former Alpha of Mystic Grimm nod.

"I do have a few lined up as Enforcers, but that feels wrong—"

"Nuh-uh, I have one title as General and I'm using it now. All the Reformed that Crescent Moon trained are getting called. And you know damn well that if we find something involving the Underground that they will want to retaliate with us. Besides, they'll listen to me and Sage." With that, it had finalized the conversation as the better part of those on call had pups that were calling for their attention.

Causing Sage to leave the room to go ahead and do the same, her phone pressed against her ear trying to talk to both Rue and Ronan in the speaker, but it didn't get any more than babbles.

But it made the aggravation of the conversation she just went through worth it.

______

Date: 05/05/23

Time: 10:04

Words: 2917

Author's Note:

Okay, Monday snuck up on me, I swear I thought it was Sunday night!

So it looks like we have another clue, and it sounds like Summit has given the green light in sending a group of wolves to the Crimson Moon Territory. 

What do we think? Is it going to be worth it or another dead end?

All I can say is that I'm proud of Blake for making a stand, knowing his Luna/Mentor wanted support--He thought of an alternative and it stuck with everyone.

Now we just have to wait for the graduated Reformed to come from the offering packs.

If anyone is going to go up against the Underground, who better than those who experienced it firsthand?

Alrighty, I'm calling it an early night. I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I'll see you Friday!!