Kilma was the Moon Guardians Pack members' new friend.

He was laughing with them in the middle of the street, completely relaxed as Romeo pointed to a group of warriors just steps away from them.

Even though Kilma had proven to me time and time again that he was an idiot who enjoyed making other people's lives harder for his amusement, I would have never thought that he would go so far as to join our enemy pack.

I still couldn't understand it. A part of me wanted to believe that beyond his horrible personality, Kilma was one of the most loyal people to the pack. Why did he oppose me to defend Wild Fangs but make friends with the outsiders?

There was something strange about his attitude, and I couldn't have been the only one who thought the same, because as Almec and I passed near Kilma the sidewalk was filled with surprised murmurs.

No one crossed the street to confront Kilma, but they did ask each other questions under their breath as they watched him.

I thought the people's clear discomfort was enough for Kilma to start one of his famous displays of anger, instead he began to laugh harder and wrapped his arms around Gaspard's shoulders in a half-hug.

"That bitch was weak ever since she came to the pack with her sister, you should have seen her months ago, she was even more pathetic than now," Kilma told the Moon Guardians members with a laugh. His tone of voice was so high that it seemed like he was talking to me. "She will never be our luna."

"I like her," Priscilla defended me almost in a shout. "She has potential but this place is not the right place for her to bring it to light."

"Well, you can keep her if you want," Kilma answered before looking at me and winking.

There was something strange about him, his usual look of anger was not present and I could only find seriousness on his face despite his words.

"It's better if you ignore him," Almec whispered in my ear. He grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers and quickened his pace. "You know he likes to get under your skin."

"That's weird," I commented, tilting my head up to look at Almec. "What's going on here?"

For a second Almec opened his eyes wide, it was an almost imperceptible movement but I was used to paying attention to him.

"What are you talking about?" Almec asked me in a whisper, lowering his head to my level.

"Kilma insulted me and it doesn't seem important to you. It's not that I'm angry at your reaction, it's just that usually I would have to stop you from trying to cut off his head."

"I thought you didn't want to start a scene that might make you late for your test," Almec responded, shrugging.

"He also brought Faustina into his conversation," I insisted, releasing his hand.

"Is that what's bothering you? Because if you want I can go fight him now."

"No, that's not the point." I tried to keep my voice calm despite my frustration. At least we were far enough away from Kilma so I couldn't hear him. "It's the strangeness of this situation that's annoying. Why are you so calm all of a sudden?"

"I'm trying to hold back, I already told you to not cause more problems."

"I see you very relaxed, even happy I would say." I stopped walking, stopping in front of him. "And you're not the only one acting strange, I also feel something off about Kilma."

Almec's hands twitched, he hid them behind his back and gave me an awkward smile.

"Are you sure you aren't the one feeling strange today?"

"That's it!" I yelled, grabbing Almec by his wrist and pulling him towards a small alley formed by the space between two stores.

Luckily for me Almec was in the mood to cooperate with me or else I wouldn't have been able to move him.

"I'm going to ask you one more time. What's going on?" I cornered him against the wall. "And you better tell me the truth because otherwise I'm going to find Kilma right now and read his mind. I'm giving you the opportunity to tell me the truth."

"Can you at least let me keep this secret?" Almec asked me, reaching for his hand to grab mine.

I took a step back, escaping his touch. "Why? Can't you trust me? It's okay if there are things you can't tell me for the good of the pack, hell, I don't even have a problem with you keeping your personal secrets, but when it's something that concerns me too I believe I have the right to know."

"Just for this time?" He insisted.

"No. No, because it's not the first time it's happened, you barely tell me anything about what's happening in the pack. I'm like a fool doing the tests to be the luna and still you don't tell me anything. Do you want me to be your luna or your pretty ornament?"

"I would never think of you that way," Almec told me, trapping my face in his hands. "You are even at a higher level than me."

"Then tell me the truth. It's all part of your plan, isn't it?"

Almec brushed his thumbs against the skin beneath my cheekbone. His gentle touch helped me relax and I rested my forehead against his chest.

"Yes, it's part of the plan. I need someone who can infiltrate the Moon Guardians members and Kilma is the perfect one for that."

"Because he hates me," I said the words that Almec probably didn't want to accept. "But can you really trust Kilma?"

"I don't like having to depend on him either, especially with everything he says about you and Faustina, but if I had sent someone else it would be very obvious what my intentions were. Besides, Kilma may be an asshole but he loves the pack more than anything."

I couldn't deny Kilma's loyalty to the pack, what worried me was that he would act rashly because of his emotions.

"If you trust him, then I do too." I moved my face away from Almec's chest and gave his hand a squeeze. "I won't get in the way."

"Actually I need you to do me a favor and check on Kilma from time to time," Almec asked me, wrapping one of his arms around my waist. "Now that you know the truth, it would be very helpful for me to check if he is really fulfilling his mission."

"Do you want me to read his mind?"

"Yeah, although I don't think Kilma is going to betray us I want to be as careful as possible." Almec grabbed my face by the chin and pulled until our lips joined in a soft, short kiss.

"Is this how it works now? I had to beg you to tell me what was going on and suddenly you need my power," I told him, smirking.

Almec sighed and let go of my waist.

"This is not the best time to bother me, sweetheart."

I scowled at him. "Why? Are you going to start another fight?"

"You're going to be late if we don't get back on the road now," Almec said, ignoring my question.

The big dark circles under his eyes and the tiredness in his gaze stopped me from continuing to argue. No matter how pleasant my comeback sounded in my head, it wasn't worth it if I ended up walking away from my mate.

Without saying anything, I held his hand and led him to the main street to resume our walk.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Almec broke the awkward silence when we were in front of the nursery. "Lately all I do is be a jerk to you."

I brushed my fingers against his mate mark and smiled at him.

"I'm not going to lie and say that it doesn't bother me when we fight, but I also understand that you're going through a bad time right now and I can't expect you to move on like nothing happened."

"I promise you I'll be better," Almec whispered in my ear after hugging me. "I'm trying."

"I know." I stroked his hair and kissed his cheek. "We can talk about this when we get home today."

"I would really like that." Almec kissed my forehead before letting me go. "Now go, I don't want you to get in trouble with Adira because of me."

"It's okay, I think Adira has a soft spot for me." I pecked his lips and ran towards the entrance of the nursery before I regretted leaving Almec behind.

A quick glance at the daycare reception clock confirmed that I was ten minutes late. Luckily for me, I wasn't lying when I said Adira liked me and I didn't even get a warning.

Of all my jobs for the pack, babysitting had to be my favorite. The daycare environment lifted my mood in a matter of seconds.

The simplicity of the place reminded me of the school in my old pack. The nursery had only a small hallway, two classrooms, a kitchen, and bathrooms, it wasn't much but the children seemed to love the place.

"You're good with kids," Adira told me after I helped a little boy tie his shoelaces. "I'd say you have the gift."

"I like kids, and I also have experience with Faustina," I replied, without stopping observing the group I was in charge of.

"I think you will be a good mother in the future if you want to have children."

"I'd love to, although I'm not sure it'll work." I shrugged.

"Why not? I can see the way you smile when you're with the kids. If that makes you happy, don't give up."

"It's not just my decision, I can't be selfish."

"Almec doesn't want children?" Adira asked me, holding my hand.

"I'm not sure, the few times the topic came up he directly asked me not to talk about it. I don't want to make him uncomfortable."

"Perhaps that wasn't the right time." Adira smiled at me. "Who knows? Maybe in the future he'll change his mind, but you'll never know unless you ask him."

"I guess I can ask again when we resolve the problem with the Moon Guardians Pack."

"That's the attitude, don't lose faith. For now you have all these wonderful kids to practice with," she told me before letting go of my hand. "Come on, it's time to eat."

***

"How did it go with the kids?" Almec asked me, taking off his pants to get into bed. "I wanted to go pick you up but there was a new ambush on the northern border."

I already knew, one of the children's parents told us what happened, so I wasn't surprised not to find Almec when I returned to the mansion.

"I heard what happened," I told him, without moving my gaze from the mirror on my dressing table as I took off my makeup. "I started to worry when you didn't arrive for dinner."

"You have nothing to worry about, it's already solved." Almec stood behind me, lifted my hair, and kissed my neck. "So, how did it go?"

"It was perfect, the children are adorable, although after spending an entire afternoon with them I feel like they sucked all my energy out of me."

"I'm glad you had a good time," Almec told me before moving towards the bed. "I have to confess that today's work also left me exhausted. I need to sleep before I pass out, you can tell me the details another day."

"I can tell you tomorrow at breakfast. I have a lot of stories, you would be surprised by all the crazy things children do."

"I have to leave early tomorrow." Almec lay down and closed his eyes. "Maybe another time, when I'm free."

"Are you ever going to be free to talk about kids?" I murmured, hoping Almec wouldn't hear my complaint.

"What are you insinuating?"

I cursed myself for not having stayed silent.

There was no point denying it when I had already dropped the first bomb, so I turned my body in the chair to see Almec.

"I'm not implying anything, I'm saying what I observed. Every time I mention children or having children you always change the subject. I don't want to push you into doing something you don't want to do but I would at least like to know the reason."

"Do I need a reason?" He asked me, raising his voice.

"If you're trying so hard to avoid it, I imagine there must be one," I insisted calmly.

"I just don't want to talk about it, period!" Almec yelled at me. "Do you want to hear that I hate the idea of having children? Well, I do."

"You know what? Forget that I mentioned the kids. I'm too tired to fight right now." I stood up and walked to the door of the room. "I'm going to sleep with Faustina, that way I won't bother you anymore."