* * *

The room had a familiar warmth that Sage couldn't rightly place, it wasn't cold or distant—Though it should be with the way it appeared. The room looked similar to what the fancy sitting area looked like in the Elwood house, the one where Casey wasn't allowed to play in or mess up the seats.

This hardly spoke friendly, and yet...Sage wasn't scared.

Did she know it was a dream?
Yes.

She was always very good at separating the two, checking if there are any smells, reading words around her to deeming them illegible or not.

She had a checklist, and just as she was finishing up. A voice called out from the back—
"The same as you were when you were little, hmm?" Turning around to see where the voice came from caused a chill to run up her spine, there was nobody there!

Not that she could see anyway, and with her nose not properly working she let out a huff.

"Who there? Come out." She growled, and the voice obeyed with a small bit of laughter coming about in an echo as the male revealed himself with a wave—Though his eyes were a deep onyx color that caused her to tilt her head.

Just as she was about to ask a question, his hand rose further and the entire room lit up with light. The floating candles and fireplace sparked a flame, but it hadn't excited the she-wolf as much as he assumed it would.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I apologize, I haven't been the best host in quite some time, darling. Please, take a seat." He sounded kind, or kind enough at least. But there was something odd, strange even. What was this room?

Where was she? Is the pup—

At the mere thought of the pup, she instinctively looked down only to see that her stomach's swell wasn't there anymore. Had her pup died?! Did Kelly—

"Your pup is fine, breathe Sage, it's me." As much as that phrase was meant to help her, it hadn't. The she-wolf categorized people with scents and familiarized those she knew to those she didn't, right now he is a stranger.

And once he realized that he let out a sigh.

"I've failed you, Sage, I'm sorry...Ever since you gained your wolf...I haven't been very helpful." She blinked at him, completely silent as he scoffed. "What am I going to do, you're a Lycan! I wasn't meant to shadow a wolf! And the silver bars, damn it all!"

"Are you okay?" She asked, and while the male seemed to be in an ever-changing rant, he smiled and nodded to the female across from him.

"Sweet as ever, wolfie." Wolfie.

It sounded so familiar, so familiar and strange all at the same time that she came closer to the male. Another smile crept further onto his face as he held out his arm, a universal sign for a wolf to sniff. And with it was she blasted with the recognizable scent of cinnamon and fireplace.

"Dar-i-us"

"You remember." He suddenly felt giddy, the male had wrapped his arms around her and spun her around. His warmth was light-hearted, that she recalled the coldness of her cell and wished to be elsewhere.

This was that elsewhere.

"I remember smell and room, where am I?"

"Oh, it's so good hearing you speak! I had to slowly call out to you, I'm sorry if it scared you. I know this place isn't that inviting but it's home." The problem was that Sage didn't feel that misplaced in it, especially when she looked at the chair behind her.

"You live here? So am I here?"
"So many questions, though I figured as much...My name is Darius, I'm a demon." That title flashed in her mind constantly, until she gasped put space between Darius and herself.

"Demon? Voice tell me not to trust demon."
"What? By who?"
"A voice."
"So you trust a voice but not me?"
"I don't know you or voice, so I trust nobody. Even if you smell nice." It was a win-lose battle for Darius to truly get anywhere with Sage, so he looked around the room in hopes of trying to figure something out.

"I knew you since you were...Well, I guess the correct term now is a pup, I couldn't visit you until now. Not with his blood in your veins."
"Who's blood...Master's?" Darius' face turned rather ridged at the sound of her enemy's title, but what else was she to call him? She didn't have any other type of identification.

"When my pup almost poisoned, voice tells me not to trust demons—And helps me find the she-wolves who did it."
"Oh, I already took care of that demon, fucking traitorous piece of shit he is. You'd think he sold his soul before we got here, but I guess...Price of admission." He lost her again as she returned to the silent state he knew her to be.

A quiet child.
But not because she was shy, but because she hadn't a clue how to talk.

"What's a demon, birdie says they're supernatural people too?"
"Yes we are dollface, we were friends or I tried to be friendly at least. You are my first shadowing."
"Shadow...I'm a shadow?"
"No, I shadow, I'm your shadow." She perked her lips and blinked once again.

"I always have a shadow." "
"Nope! That's me, or now it's me. With that vampire blood out of you, I'm back! So, how's that light—Mate of yours?"
Was he truly asking about Remus?

"My mate is good...Excited for pup."

"I'm so excited too! I wish I could've come sooner but with you in heat and everything...I wanted to learn about Lycans before I came back so I'm a wealth of knowledge now."
"So you my shadow, and we friends—We were friends before?" He nodded eagerly and smirked in seeing her correct her own sentences.

"Yep! And before you make the whole Darius the Demon joke, I've heard it a million times before. Literally."

"I don't know what a demon is." She soon regretted that question as his entire being was soon covered in flames, or so she thought.

His hair was set into a flame, his skin turned into an ember-like crackle. While his eyes appeared even darker than before. If that was even possible.
But Sage wasn't at all scared, and he was surely thankful for that.

He didn't want her scared of him.

"You look like fireplace."
"Oh, that's uncalled for!" He said, but she giggled as even his mouth had the same effect on the inside as well as the outside.

"So what do demons do...Just shadows?"
"We help those who died to find peace, have you heard of the underworld?" She perked her lips again and tried to search her mind for an answer.

"Three-headed dog?"

"Okay okay, I can work with that, that's Greek mythology. It's close, well you're right he's who I asked about Lycans."
"He talks?"
"Yeah, big man let me speak to him. You're a bit of a special case." She huffed in annoyance, as it was tiring being a 'special case'.

"So not a dream?"

"No, it is. It's the easiest way to communicate with you without traveling entirely up to earth. But as our connection grows a little more, you can talk to me more frequently.

"How do I talk to you?"
"Just like the linking you do with pack members. I'm a part of your shadow up on earth."
"So you protect me?"
"From now on, yes. I'm that angel on your shoulder, if you will." She nodded, having missed the joke he made about his counterpart up in the sky.

"But voice tells me not to trust demons."
"Of course there are bad demons—Well technically, I'm just here to help you. So if you all of a sudden want to take over America and be Queen Luna then I'm on your side regardless."
"You help if I'm bad?"

"That's the beauty, dollface, demons have changeable morals. Where do you think you got the courage to put those she-wolves on the pole?" A growl flared, especially to her wolf as she hadn't liked his evasive behavior.

"So why are you my friend?"
"We're assigned actually, by the big guy on the throne. It's just how the world spins."
"I'm not allowed to know, that's what Remmy does when I ask a question. He talks but doesn't answer question."
"Alright you caught me, I'm bound to my Lord not speak of it. It's like Alpha's orders, can't defy the Demon Lord." She nodded, and for a while, she felt uncomfortable in not having her regular stomach out, but now she was able to sit with her legs up to her chin and wrap her arms around her shins.

"Can you help me with master? Or is that a nono."
"That's not a nono, but he has his own defenses. I can't do much here." She nodded, her friend couldn't help her all that much.

"Does Remmy have a demon?"
"No, Lycan's don't have shadows."
"That's what you mean for me being special?" He hummed along and started to do a small little show of power as he played with a spark of fire in his hands.

"That's cool."
"I hear you have some powers too."
"Intuition?"
"Hm, anything else?" It was apparent at that moment, that while the things he was saying were kind and funny, Remus said not to tell anyone about the healing Luke or Mary.

That was meant to stay hidden.

"The more I know Sage, the more I can help you. And while I can't say it out loud, I can push you in the right direction."

"I heal Mary's eyes...And my brother's cut." Darius leaned forward with his hands over his face in contemplation of sorting this information.

But Sage spoke up first. "And silver doesn't hurt me."
"That the witches were right about, that's a mutation from what that ugly vamp did. The intuition and the healing blood...That's something else."
"Birdie said that too, she's looking what my blood says I am. And wolf council is finding my parents." Darius knew that the witches were indeed working on it, that much he's heard through the grapevine.

It was the wolf council that was strict, Lycan's didn't really associate with other supernatural creatures. Witches were the most diverse in the sense of making alliances with vampires, demons, and others alike.

A distant mumble caused Sage's ear to twitch off to the right, and it had appeared in the following second. An inch that she couldn't obtain, but something was wrong with the way her wolf panted and whined.

"I think I have to go."
"You're a busy Luna. If you need me wolfie, just look at your shadow and link me. Now go help the pup." Just as she was about to question Darius, she felt an uplifting feeling from her head and shoulders and—

Instantly she was transported back to her and her mate's bedroom, she inhaled the scent lingering in the air with pleasure. Until her hand fell down underneath the blanket and she hummed having felt her pup return to her figure.

Yet her hum had been returned by Remus wolf, who was always more awake than his counterpart. Sage felt guilty that he was working so hard so that when the pup did come, he wouldn't leave the workload to Eli, Jack, and Shawn.

As an Alpha pup was definitely much more difficult to handle than a normal pup.

Sage had taken the given moment to understand her surrounding, and she felt rather safe in the position underneath the moon's light. It was that sense of calmness that every wolf felt for the full moon.

Yet her own wolf's ears began to twitched and turned, hearing the oncoming sound of someone else outside. It wasn't that strange of course, Sage would get hot flashes during the night and with the window open it left the night's cool air to come and keep her body temperature down.

However, this was not just someone, this was a pup like Darius said.
So she rose up ever so carefully—Not wanting to wake Remus up and be questioned. But with all the overtime he was working, it proved to be useful as he wasn't a light sleeper anymore.

Being out of the bed she quickly wrapped a large robe over her body and waddled down the hall and the flight of stairs before peeking out of her door. And just like she felt in the dream...There was a pup curled up in a ball and whining.

"Mikey?" She whispered, looking back into the house before coming down to sit beside the adorable. It was clear he and his wolf were crying, so she bent down as carefully as she could to run her hands through his fur.

It earned her a confused growl as he had been woken up by the female, though she hadn't any clue how long he was out here.

"Mikey, what are you doing here?... Late." She whispered, and it followed by another painful whine and a small lick to her hand.

I didn't want to be home, everyone's sad. Mom died today ten years ago.

"Meet me in backyard?" She questioned and the young pup wasn't about to question nor defy his Luna after waking her up at this time of night, so he had risen up to his feet a little shakey but followed her request.

While Sage had returned back into the house and shrugged off her clothes as she slowly walked through the living room, dining room, and past the kitchen to finally approach the backdoor.

She embraced the cool air and Moon's light with a calming breath, and a few moments later she leaned down and began to shift into fur. It was inappropriate for a pup or any male to watch a she-wolf shifting.
Especially when they are mated, and even more so when they're pregnant.

When she finally morphed to her fur side, she shook out her coat and let out a small yelp for Mikey to peek out his head and returned the sound.

She came down the stairs and stood tall in front of the young male and pawed him.

Dad know you're outside?

No, he's drunk.

Sage didn't know what the term drunk meant, but by the way the boy had said it, it wasn't supportive of his father's actions.

So she licked his jaw and returned back towards the stairs of her porch, it was where she usually relaxed when she wanted to be in fur, outside and away from the pack population.

When she laid down, Mikey did the same right beside her and of course, her arm had wrapped around him. Encasing him into a cuddle as she started cleaning his coat. It was slightly embarrassing but it warmed Mikey's heart.

Most of his life lacked a female presence, and while he loved his dad and appreciated all that he does for the family and the pack. He wanted his mom back, badly, and having his wolf now only returned these feelings.

Max promised he'd come to my ceremony to visit, but he didn't come.

You have brother?

Yeah, he found his mate in another pack and left to be with her...He's older than me.

Her affection had stopped as she wanted to listen to what he said, and hearing that his brother left caused her to whine out for him.
Goddess, she didn't know what to do.

I don't know who my mom or dad are, and I don't know if I have siblings...Sometimes I get sad too. I wish they here too.

I'm scared to call him, the last time I did he couldn't get off the phone fast enough.

He's scared to talk to you.

Max can't be scared, can he? He's the one who left, he left us.

Time for him to come home. Want me to help you call?

Dad's not going to like it, he's disappointed too.

He comes back to Crescent Moon, you'll be happy.

Yeah, and Michelle doesn't really remember him that much.

The plan was made but it needed to wait until morning, instead she wrapped herself around his form. Earning her a flattened ear—Not in annoyance but in pure embarrassment.

Like any pup would have when a mother would smother them with love, and while he felt strange in accepting her comfort. He still felt safe as ever and fell asleep properly now that Sage was with him.

You are a very sweet wolf, aren't you? I'm sorry I missed these past years with you, Sage. I promise I will make it up to you.

Darius' voice had been a mild comfort, as had the movement of her shadow—He was right that he was indeed her shadow.

Hello?

I can hear you loud and clear, I'll wake you up if someone comes.

She hummed out loud to Darius' offer in keeping an eye out. Though it was hardly a nap as Sage felt the panic over the mate bond as Remus had awoken.

And what was worse was that he found the trail leading to the sliding glass door.
"Sage."
This wasn't the first time she attempted to get a breath of fresh air during the night, so she huffed—Hoping that it wouldn't wake up Michael but that failed tremendously.

Especially when Remus stormed down the porch steps and growled seeing how she was outside, with a male no less.

Mikey crying at front door. I can't leave him alone. His mom died today.

It wasn't relief that washed over Remus, but the explanation was better than what his hazy thoughts were.

I'm sorry to bother you, Alpha. I didn't mean to wake the Luna up...Dad was crying and I just...I couldn't stay in the house anymore.

Remus knew the feeling. He knew it all too well.
So who was he to deny him a safe haven?

"Alright, but it's cold and I'm worried about three pups now so how about we get dressed and into an actual bed." Sage had started to rise up to her feet and once again she shook out her fur.

Remus had run upstairs to grab a change of clothes for Mikey as Sage set him up in her art room to sleep. She thought the pup looked adorable in a pair of shorts that needed to be triple tied to fit him at the waist, but what the Alpha thought was adoring was Sage tucking in the pup and making sure he was all set.

With a final goodnight, she left the door open a peek before following her back into bed. Good goddess was her feet starting to get sore, so when the breathless sigh escaped her—He knew what that meant.

"Foot." He ordered, his wolf still very defensive in terms of waking up without her. But when she settled her back up against the pillows she maneuvered her foot up into his lap, allowing him to work out the kinks and knots that started to form.

"What happened?" He whispered, wanting to know the full story and she cuddled further into the pillow behind her. "I wake up from dream, I feel him coming to the house...Don't want him to sleep alone."
"And I don't want you sleeping outside alone either." He said, his hand movement stopping to get his point across before restarting the process once again.

"I'm not alone." She growled, thinking about Darius, but it caused Remus to roll his eyes.

"A pup doesn't count. Blake—You're brothers yeah, fine. But alone? Goddess, Sage, it took you almost five minutes to get redressed again." Her wolf snapped at that comment, while she was indeed pregnant it didn't mean her wolf liked all these invalid jabs that she wasn't capable of doing anything by herself.

And one lookup he understood he offended her.

"Sage...After almost a full year of knowing you, you've had a pup cold, an unknown allergic reaction, a dozen rogue attacks, two challenges, the entirety tragedy that they pass off as a Luna meeting. The bear hunt, the bear trap, and bounty hunters and more recently in getting poisoned. So excuse me for being an overbearing and protective mate when Hayes' comment of trouble being your best friend is true."
"Not true. Trouble's not my best friend." Remus rolled his eyes, but earned himself a hum as he dug his thumb deeper into her sore feet.

"Who's your best friend the,n munchkin?"
"I don't know, brothers not count. Blake, Eli and Jack don't count." Was it wrong that he expected himself to be the answer?

So he pouted after she forgot his name. "Does that mean I count?"
"No...You're my mate. I guess Jade and Mary are my best friends, and Raven. You have best friend?" Remus hadn't been prepared for that question, who was his best friend?

"Um, Andrew...Well, I called him Drew, he died a while ago, munchkin."
"You tell me about him?" He shook his head, having finished with either foot before crawling up towards the bedpost to turn off the light and tuck his mate in now.

"No, I don't talk about Drew that much. The wars killed him, he was just a few years older than too."
"I'm sorry...That's your Raven, I lost her and you lost Drew." His nose nuzzled into her cheek and neck, kissing her sweet skin and trying to send calming thoughts to the bond.

"Michael tells me about brother Max, he moves to other pack...I want to call and he can move back."
"That's...That's asking for a lot hun. I know you mean well but they have a life in another pack."
"Oh, hard to move?" Remus nodded, and truthfully it was a lot of paperwork in joining a couple to the pack. But his explanation claimed that it should be easy considering Max was born in Crescent Moon.
It left Sage hopeful, and while she wanted to tell Remus about her new demon friend.
Something told her not to.

That Darius would be safer if she simply kept quiet. So she whispered a soft 'goodnight' before closing her eyes and even out her breathing.

Thank you dollface, we'll talk again when you get the chance.

______

Date: 09/05/2021

Time: 12:16 (Dang it)

Words: 3839

Author's Note:

Welcome back, Mikey!
I missed you🤗

So what do we think of Darius?
In my head I'm kind of hearing him have an old-timey accent, and maybe it's because I started watching The Walking Dead again, but I'm picturing Jeffery Dean Morgan as Darius, but you're free to envision anyone you want!

Which leaves me with this question...

Who is your casting for some of the characters?
I'd love to know who you're imagining when reading!

See you Monday!!