* * *

Sage had shot down any and all attempts to get her something for Christmas. All the she-wolf wanted was a nice dinner, and to cuddle with her pups. Of course, that didn't stop her family from chopping down another Evergreen tree for the pups to decorate, or building gingerbread houses to humor the pups.

But Sage was enjoying it all—Almost as much as the ones outside.

The following day after Alpha Issac and Mary's departure, there had been a Summit meeting.

While Alpha Chris didn't seem like the biggest fan of returning to this type of communication, on holiday no less, the surprise of Sage's return had caused an uproar.

Creating an even slate of it being good news and bad.

The war was not entirely her fault, it had been a long time coming. But most packs had been reliant on the council and enjoyed the humanist trait of leadership, however, this gave both Remus and Sage the chance to discuss their proposal with Summit.

It had been met with a more positive response from those who were still a little suspicious of Sage, and were more in tune with what a future could look like.
Following the holidays, of course.

With the council no longer in the picture, there was no need to consult them for teaming up with witches for what they planned. But as for now, Sage was required to relax and enjoy the fact that she made it. Though the guilt she felt didn't feel as normal as it once did, she wanted to stay friends with Andrew.

Even asking if Half Crescent needed anything on her behalf, the look she'd receive from Remus gave her was clearly filled with sadness and a little bit of suspicion.

Remembering Hayes' rules, they moved the office couch into the master bedroom for Andrew. Most mornings one of the pups would use Andrew's bed as a boost to jump into bed with their parents.
Yet, once in a while, he'd get the same attention.

This morning, however, was an important celebration for any pup in any pack. Usually, the pups were silent in their sneaking, but this morning's alarms of shifted pups running up and down the second floor's bedrooms caused a similar groan to follow both fathers.

Remus rubbed his eyes and rose up to take a peek out the door. Only to see Hardin had been in the lead with his three cousins in tow.

"All pups up?" Sage said into the pillow and Remus nodded as he quietly closed the door. There was no way they could possibly pretend that they didn't hear the small trample just outside that very door.

Course, it piqued up even further as the whines turned to yips, causing Sage to panic as she too rolled out of bed to check.

Only to see her father dressed up in a red jumpsuit with a white beard strapped onto his chin. "Oh goddess, Harlow! Get your camera!" Remus shouted, and that certainly caused the father of one to come stumbling out of the room off to the side.

Yet nothing could've prepared him for that, and he wasn't the only one who started to squeal with excitement over the playfulness of someone titled as dominant as Hayden Mystic.

"Santa..." Sage whispered, her eyes widening with the childlike excitement that Hayes had strived for. While he was overrun with the licks of his grand pups, part of him did this for Sage as well.

He would do this when they were Dillon's age and for the years following. This marked a new milestone as this was Sage's first experience right beside the rest of the pups, and he didn't fail that excitement for one minute.

With everyone downstairs, Andy hid away in the kitchen with Drake, Jade, and Remus—Clearly, it was a Mystic family moment, but they were all sipping their coffee and enjoying the show.
Especially Sage's excitement.

"Do you think Sage knows Santa isn't real...?" Drake whispered to Andy and the male looked between him and the scene before them. "Hey, if she does or doesn't—think she gets a free pass." He whispered back, and Remus simply kept his thoughts to himself behind his sip of coffee.

It was a sight to see the Mystic family finally have some good in their lives, mates could only do so much. It was the start of the branch off family, and while everyone in the house was considered family to one another—Besides Andrew, though he felt a little bit more involved considering the pups were starting to like him—Hayes needed the extra reminder that there was a reason to fight for.

Rue had wandered into the kitchen, calling for her papa and Uncle Andy. Though it came out much more chaotic considering she was gifted another teddy bear to add to her endless collection.

She presented it up to them, leaving her father to kneel down and poke her stomach and the stuffies. "That's a pretty strong-looking bear, Rue...Sure you can handle it?" The daughter blinked up at her father and nodded with pure confidence.
"Mama help me. Mama takes down big bear." She said before hurrying towards her brother, but not before looking back and urging her father to follow.

"I've been outmatched by my own mate..." Remus said with a groan and Jade laughed into her hand. "I'm not surprised, even Harlow hasn't taken down two bears before. That's a trophy to be proud of." That didn't help the male's ego at all, but Jade wasn't about to give him much credit for anything.

She knew that being a mother was difficult, having long talks with Sage—And she had two to raise!

Remus had followed in pursuit, but Andrew lingered after seeing Jade and Drake look at each other. "Careful...Sage can pick up negative thoughts." The former Rogue warned and the both of them stood up straighter.

"That's what I thought...Look, neither of you lived in this house growing up beside Remus. I did what I could but it wasn't enough, I meant what I said about getting him actual help, instead of taking the pups away."
"What else were we supposed to do?" Jade hissed back and Andrew had given her a pointed look.
"I dunno, get him sober, let him visit your pack or any neighboring pack—But your best option was to take away his wolf? You heard Torin, that's a fate only dished out by the Moon Goddess." "You weren't there, you were out—" It was Christmas and frankly, the celebration had always been much more work than Andy thought was needed.

In Half Crescent, they would hunt extra to secure food on the table—But that meant eating smaller portions for the two weeks that followed to manage a bigger feast than average.

It just wasn't worth the aggravation, and with Jade in his ear, the coffee instantly turned sore with the way she was speaking. "They teach you that over in Moon Ridge? That everything is hanky dory and that it's always going to be sunshine and rainbows? I saw the way you looked at Sage after you found out she might be pregnant, she doesn't need that type of guilt. Especially from you."
"It is wrong! You had no right to mate with her!" Andrew smirked down at the little she-wolf.

"Yeah? It's not like I earned a little happiness for once in my life, right?" Drake's eyes shot warnings to Jade, she was already on thin ice as is. But saying someone who's faced a similar situation to Sage did not deserve to be judged. "Jade..."
"No, let her be a judgmental bitch. Not like she's had one hardship in her fucking life."
"I—"
"You what? Did your parents die when you were a pup? Did your Alpha beat you? Sell you to an Underground facility? Tell me, Jade, the farthest your pack goes is a slap on the wrist."
"Enough! Moon Ridge is just as strong as—"
"Please, they weren't threatening before and they aren't threatening now. The only thing that's changed in the last fifteen years is Moon Ridge made a few right choices on who to side with and have decent resources." Harlow had heard the commotion, and his permeant smile had suddenly dropped.

Hearing the conversation caused him to settle his wolf, while he knew he needed to defend his mate—It came out more in the form of standing in front of her. "It's Christmas for Goddess's sake, could you two control yourself?" He growled, and Jade gawked.
"Thanks for the backup." She grumbled and her mate simply huffed with impatience.

"What's done is done, Jade, we can't control whether or not Sage is pregnant. They aren't together anymore. She made a pact and honored it."
"Honored it? It was wrong! It was—" Drake had had enough, with being the third male to disagree with her, Jade had taken up her cup of coffee and stormed back upstairs.

Feeling utterly shunned.

Yet that didn't stop Andrew from feeling the pressure in his nose, he had always thought that she-wolfs, especially Lunas, would be more understanding than what he'd just endured.

But frankly, he shouldn't have been that surprised. Moon Ridge was essentially upheld by a thread, one that valued a positive spiritual frame, their customs were faulty at best. Yet they still managed to have a keen eye to point out what was wrong with the world.

Sheltered, they were completely and utterly sheltered from the true horrors lurking about.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Moon Ridge took the neutral side during the tournament, again." Andy spoke, but Harlow had turned to him after a long case towards the staircase his mate had escaped to.
"Moon Ridge is doing just fine. And they'll be in good hands once Kendal finds his mate and has the chance of an heir. You know how these things work, Drew." The male hummed, yes, he knew better than he should.

On the other side of the room, however, Sage had been in complete bliss—but when looking off for her brother and Jade, she was met with an empty space in the kitchen. Her Santa hat had slanted off to the side, leaving Andrew to tilt it back into place. "What's up, Pumpkin?"

"Where's Jade?" She questioned and Drake shook his head. Then her eyes turned to her former partner. "Uh, I think I scared her away." His honesty hadn't earned him a safety net, instead, her lips parted in shock. "What?"

Drake realized that Sage took it the literal way, and soothed her worries that Jade wasn't scared of how Andrew looked like and how a small argument had taken her to run upstairs away from everyone.

"Andrew..."
"Look hun, I'm going to be defending you and this pup as long as I'm standing." Her eyes had continued to dance between the two, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with what she had walked into. Yet the sudden push of Ronan wrapping himself around her leg and whimpering. Clearly having felt his mom's distress.

"Why is Jade mad?"
"Cause nobody's agreeing with her, that's why," Andrew said with a slight growl as he came forward toward the coffee machine to refill his cup.
"...If I could go back in time I would've brought Sage back the second I knew who she was, but that didn't happen because we weren't honest with each other. That's what they do. But I have that faith that the goddess didn't just give her that Heat for no reason." Drake's eyes turned up to the ceiling in thought for a moment while Remus had come on in.

"A party in the kitchen or what?" He called out, plucking his son from the floor back into his arms. But Sage shook her head while Drake fumbled with the start of his sentence. "Maybe that's where she's stumped, the goddess gives Heats and it doesn't make sense in her head."

"That's just how Rogues operate, what's Moon Ridge's views on Rogues?" Remus began to shake his head, not wanting to worry Sage that it wasn't the best reputation.

"I don't think we've labeled Rogues correctly, that'll be the first new council meeting. Huh?" His mate's smile wandered back up, leaving Ronan to squeal and brighter her further. Though that didn't stop the looming problem of the pup, of a future royal family, and the lingering option that the witches had offered to locate Willow.

______

Date: 03/17/23 🍀

Time: 9:23 (Dang it)

Words: 2219

Author's Note:

Wouldn't be a family gathering without some family Drama!

What do we think, is Jade right for getting angry with the situation, or is she still a little salty that she didn't get to keep the twins👀

Either way, Andy isn't putting up with it. Neither is Sage.

Next chapter we are going to see what the Witches have in store in order to locate Willow!

Important... in the chapter following Monday (3/24/23), it will have a trigger warning.
I think it's best it now as well as mention it at the top and which type.

If you prefer a vague summary, please let me know I will add it somewhere in the comments section OR privately message you. 

Well, that's it for me today!

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Will see you all for Monday's chapter, have a great weekend!