* * *

For once, Sage didn't feel scared or uncomfortable in being in the infirmary. There were a lot of visitors but she didn't feel all that sociable, nor was she eating all that much.

All in fear that the food was toxic and could hurt the pup, so Remus would take a small bite of the mozzarella stick—And it let her know that it was safe to eat, and it stayed that way until she was allowed to leave the hospital bed.

Remus offered Sage one of the bottled ice teas when they got home—And the word tea was just spoiled now.
Though after a bit of persuasion, she took cautious sips here and there, but ultimately her wolf was just exhausted.

Her mate pampered her for three full days, and in those three days the two Snyder females had yet to be removed from the pole.

The first day they returned home, she spent most of the day on the couch sipping water. Her mate didn't understand the constant need in going to the bathroom every five minutes, but after a quick check on google, he soon realized it was a common pregnancy trait. Not having anything to do with the factor of almost being killed.

When they went to bed that night, Remus was hopeful that within the next day, Sage would start to feel at ease again. But it simply got worse, it was past noon and she still didn't want to leave the bed.
Even when Blake offered to cook her favorite meal, she simply couldn't get up.

Her body was experiencing enough trauma from the previous time she was poisoned, but those were by hunters, not by her own pack!

Blake kept her company upstairs while Remus was working on trying to figure out the new law in killing those accused. It was rather a dark topic to get through, but Leo and Hayes both proved useful advice in the matter and wanted this done with.

Neither male from Crescent Moon had added the fact that Sage is pregnant, it was a common practice to keep it hidden—And the only reason they knew about the Mystic Grimm heir was that Sage had been one of the first to point it out.

Remus had returned from the packhouse and was expecting Sage on the couch, but it was another day marked that she hadn't left their bed.

Did she feel unsafe?
Did she doubt his ability to take care of her and the pup now?

As he was contemplating an answer he realized just how exhausted Sage was, he could feel it bleeding over in their bond. Whether it was the poison or the act of her wolf coming out. 

But it was uncontrollable, any wolf can attest to the fact that suppressing their inner beast is difficult. And it was even harder for an expecting female who felt in danger.
Remus realized that he judged the situation too quickly, again.

Sage loves him, he's doing his job just fine. It was just a circumstance that he wasn't prepared, and the doubt his father put into his mind was starting to grow.
That his mate would reject him, that a female of any standing wouldn't want to be near him. So the comment of Kelly being an Omega never bothered him as much as it should've.

The idea of being with someone was enough for him, but nothing about it was practical.
If it was, he would've gotten this house fixed long before Sage came. He would've marked her without the council's consent—But he was still living in a complete shadow of his father that he didn't want to risk his title as Alpha.

And now here he was, bringing up a belly warmer for his aching mate. Crawling into bed beside her and placing it at the base of her back, earning him a moan of pleasure.

It was one of the many focal points he could feel the pain over the bond, and the heat numbed the ache, and Remus didn't hesitate to cocoon around her. "How're you feeling?"

"Better, really tired...Blake said my arms are being jelly—Are jelly." He laughed lightly behind her ear and she hummed once again, goddess, her voice was laced with pure exhaustion.

And she fell asleep once again, the same pattern had bestowed her, the whispers returned and while she woke up on occasion. No part of her wanted to actually get up and face the world, nor did her wolf.

Her wolf wanted to remain in bed until it passed, the bed was safe.

While Sage couldn't quite place it, her wolf was a little angry with Remus. It started out as an annoyance, that she didn't want to be touched. By now it was every time he walked into the room and asked if she needed anything, she'd have to bite back a growl.

It was close the last few times, she had to hide it as a cough and claimed she was okay. But nothing was okay, not in her dreams and the idea of not wanting to get up from the bed.

The death of two-pack members still didn't grant her the will to want to move, and Remus was sure that it would solve everything. So after trying for the entire morning, he pulled out the big guns—He called in Luke.

The future Master of Arms walked with a purpose towards the Alpha's house and gave a smirk off towards Blake, who was minding his own business reading downstairs. on the couch.

He felt pretty capable of fixing the issue, especially when Ellie said it was getting out of hand—And that was a day or two ago.

"Alright Sagey, you had your nap..." Rubbing her eyes she turned to peek over and see Luke, and she smiled. "Remmy tells you to come, I'm in trouble."
"Yep, up to it." She simply laid there expectedly, what was a male suppose to do?

"I have today off, how about we go for a run?" A soft smile erupted on her lips as she thought back to all the times she would take runs with her brother. But then she shook her head, and the once determined male had suddenly deflated.

"Really? You don't want to run?"
"Bed's com-for-table."
"Is the pup giving you trouble?" He said, coming to bend down and put a hand on his sister's swollen stomach.
"Pup likes to kick."
"Really?!" Luke said with a spike in attitude, his hands attempting to feel for it and she shook her head. "Hand can't feel."
"Does the Alpha know they're kicking?" She shook her head and leaned back into the pillow.

"I think that's why I'm tired, wolf doesn't want to get out of bed."
"Cause the pup's being a little pain in the ass?"
"Luke!" She scolded, and he had to break the tension with a laugh and a smile.

"Kidding, kidding...Is it about Snyder? Is that why you won't leave?"
"No. They're dead, my wolf is happy they're dead."
"Your wolf wants to stay in bed then, why?"
"She's mad."
"Mad at what? Come on hun, it's not healthy to stay in bed so long. Have to move those legs around sometime." She huffed, aggravated but also not wanting to talk about the fact that she's angry for no reason at all.

"Wolf mad at Remus."
"Uh oh, what'd he do?"
"I don't know, not because of tea or because of Snyder, I don't know why she's mad. She's mad and wants to wait." Luke slapped himself in the forehead, of course!

Her wolf was waiting for a gift!

Alpha, I know what's wrong with Sage.
Luke called out, and he could already feel the flood of relief Remus emitted.

It's about Snyder right...?

Nope. Seems you forgot that a male is supposed to gift the female a—

FUCK!

Hmm, I better get mine ready for the near future so I don't forget either. I'm surprised Sage's wolf even knows about it. Must be a universal thing.

How mad is she?

Sounds like her wolf is the most affected than Sage herself, better be a damn good gift, Alpha. She denied a run with me and I'm offended. I'll take Blake with me out, could use his help with the new batch of reformed.

The link connection broke and as Luke made his way downstairs, he slapped Blake on the shoulder. "Free from babysitting duty, want to spar with the new reformed?" He had made an excuse about staying with the Luna and it earned him a laugh.

"Unless you want to be here when the hormones start sticking up the place then—"
"Is that why she's angry?" Luke narrowed his brows, how did he know that she was mad?

"Sometimes I get her emotions, but I can definitely feel that she's pissed. I'm surprised her lil mate can't feel that she's—"
"She's pissed?!" Remus said completely out of breath, and Blake held his hand up to itch the back of his neck.

"Uh...Well not skin Sage, but yeah wolfie Sage is pretty pissed."
"And you couldn't tell me that?!"
"Well sorry sir, I just assumed it was about the Snyders like we all did. And she's a big girl, she can use her words." Blake said looking back towards Luke, the two were right beside one another in level of trust that Sage bestowed upon them.

But now Remus was a jittery mess, he had only one chance to get this right, or else her wolf would lesson the bond between them. He had prepared for this long before Sage's first heat, he knew what his plan was.

Yet now his mate was expecting their first pup, the challenge was different. Usually, the gift would be offered after a year of meeting, but the addition of her being pregnant had rushed it further.
As mates wouldn't be blessed with a pup this early.

So when Remus had gathered up the gifts, and a few orders that trickled in over the last few days, he beamed with excitement at the thought of making his mate happy again.

Peeking the door open just a tad earned him a light growl and a movement under the sheets. "Nooo, sleep."
"Sage, you can't be brooding anymore, come on, talk to me." He said taking a small kneel down beside her on the floor. Mimicking the position that Luke had in the last ten minutes.

"Alright...How about you up in here, I haven't heard from you in a while." He said with a smile, but address Sage's wolf enacted her eyes. Sage no longer had control over her wolf as she glared at him, and he smirked.

"Hey, munchkin." She huffed, one filled annoyance but managed to return the polite greeting.
"Is it the pup? Is Rue giving you trouble, hun?" She remained still but he caught the small flinch that Sage gave, and soon his hand smoothed over the bump and let out a hum.

"Un-com-for-table."
"I might have something to help, I bought it a while ago but it just came." He said, not leaving the room entirely to bring in a rather large pillow.

She eyed it in suspicion but he lifted the blanket and settled it exactly as he saw the pictures before. Females liked something in between their legs when they slept, which made sense why she would latch onto him at night—Even before she was pregnant.

A thankful whine escaped her, returning her natural colored grey specks. And soon a smile erupted on her face. "Helps me sleep?"
"Yeah, it should. It helps prop up the pup. But this is only for nights." She let out a playful growl as she snuggled it further.
But then a thought popped into her mind.

"Why is my wolf mad at you?"
"I forgot to do something hun, it's our anniversary soon."
"Ann-i-ver-sary? Like a birthday?"
"Yeah, kinda. But a birthday is for when we're born. Anniversary is the date we met, or we mated." Understanding washed over her and she nodded, but then frowned.

"And wolf is mad because we don't have cake?"
"It's not our anniversary yet, but I'm suppose to give you a special gift—Your wolf wants it now because this pup is early—Early for a relationship." She perked her lips and blinked at him, trying to understand the concept.

"I don't have gift for you." He tapped his finger on the swell of her stomach, and she realized that her gift was a pup. That the entire celebration was in showing that a male appreciates their female, a sign that she is being cared for and loved.

That way the Moon Goddess knows to bless them with a pup.

"Pup can't be gift."
"No, you carrying the pup is hard, that's why you're getting gifts." He could feel her wolf rumble in approval, she lacked the words to inform her counterpart in what she wanted.

So when he presented up a box her smile grew instantly. No matter how many times Sage claimed she didn't want or need anything, there was always an amount of excitement that came with seeing a gifted box.

That was definitely one of the pup traits Remus loved about her.

"Expensive?"
"Since you started looking at the credit card bills, hun? Gods no...No, I had this for a while actually." She ran through a list of the possibilities of what the gift could be, only to move aside the tissue paper and see a pair of antlers, her anticipation soon rose as she pulled out the deer's skull and giggled.

"Deer head."
"Our first deer. Goddess, I can still see you tackling this poor deer to the ground. I never saw a female hunt like that before." She was now sitting up and held it in her grasp, admiring the kill and shivering in content.

"Wolf likes it."
"I'm glad you like seeing your kill turn into a prize on the wall...And it might not count, but I did order more maternity clothes for you from birdie's store." That word confused her, sure she's heard it before, but he motioned to her shorts and borrowed shirt.

"Clothes that'll fit you and the pup." He said, motioning up to another box and she frowned. "Birdie came?"
"Y-yeah...When you were in the infirmary?" He wasn't all that surprised that she didn't remember when Aurelia came with a few members of her clan. Sure Remus asked for the clothes, but Birdie was very quick in providing them.

Each present lead her further out of the bed, and finally, she graced him with a kiss on his lips. And his wolf was thriving that she accepted him and the gifts.

It made the stress of the last few days diminish, the deaths of Kelly and Tina Snyder turning into old news.

Being so quickly forgotten by the pack was the worst sort of karma these two socialites would have in the afterlife.

______

Date: 08-26-2021

Time: 11:41

Words: 2656

Author's Note:

Hey! Did you miss me😂
Sorry about the leave of absence, power usually goes out in storms but thankfully it came back quicker than estimated.

With that in mind, I had my first day of class yesterday and it was pretty awful. 
This semester is going to be a whole lot of stress, and I'm also heading back to work soon.
Chapters should still be posted Mon/Fri while Wednesday is going to turn back into a maybe day.

I'm working on the next book in the series, but I'll probably have to take a break from posting just to give myself plenty of time to plan ahead...

That's right! Sage and Remus' story is far from over😗

Any theories on what might be in store for Book 3?👀

Alright, see you all tomorrow!🤗