* * *

Remus didn't call the next day, or the day after. Hayes did his best to distract Hera since his leaving truly brought Remus to deal with his own issues, and he couldn't be the one to make up excuses for Remus.

Sure Mystic Grimm could help, but a pack to run sufficiently needed to operate on their own, this piggyback cycle was never a final solution.

Remus passed out at ten, and woke up filled with energy at two in the morning. His body was so used to little sleep that it deemed that he had enough, and of course, the first thing he was thinking of was Hera.

And he kept thinking about her.

Call mate. We miss mate.

"Can't, she's asleep. And Hayes will come straight back to kick my ass if I go out of bounds with that rule."

Mates dad understand why we need to talk to mate, Call mate. You have number.

It always felt strange to be called out by his beast, but damnit he was right. The first chance he got with Jackson's phone he pocketed Hera's number, and with that, he hurried to find her contact and called her before he could really regret it.

"Hey! It's Hera Mystic, I can't come to the phone right now, sure you know the drill. Leave a message after the beep!" Remus had been so excited to hear that she was awake but then huffed when he realized she was indeed asleep.

"I'm such an idiot." He proclaimed, failing to hear that the beep called out just before he spoke and thus he decided to wait for it. Only to realize he missed it.

"H-hey...Hera? Sorry, I know this is against the rules and everything and—I hate that we have rules and I get it. I just wanted to hear your voice. Maybe seconds times a charm? If not, this'll explain it, goodnight sweetheart—Or good morning I should say." He said, quickly ending the call to give it a few seconds and control his bearings.

Then he redialed.

He heard it ring once.

Then twice.

A third time.

And while it had been at the fourth he was just about to give up hope when Hera's voice graced him.

"Elenor Mystic you rude fucking bitch, I am trying to sleep! Goddess, do you ever go to bed? I thought I was bad but for fuck sakes, it's almost three in the morning and you heard my dad! My ass is gonna get beat in the ring if I don't get twelve hours of beauty rest. Goodnight!"

"I don't know how I feel about your ass getting beat, munchkin." He said, his voice still husk with sleep but he was more than happy to let out a growl.

"Remmy?... It's...It's like two o'clock in the morning."
"So I've heard, but twelve hours of beauty sleep?"

"Pretend you didn't hear a word of that, Ellie's always calls me in the middle of the night. So what's up, Alpha?" His side went silent fairly quick and Hera made a face on her end. "Bad day?"

 "I shouldn't complain about it, I'm the Alpha, right?"
"You have every right to complain if it's a bad day, that's why I always ask—Or try to. I'm like half asleep so don't mind me. It's like saying I shouldn't go to school if I had a bad day, there are some good ones coming around the corner." Her positive attuned shined through the phone, which is when he spotted the wolf stuffie she sent in the mail.

His imminent response was to grab the damn thing and hold it closer.

"I hope so, I have to talk to a few Alphas this week."
"Um...I did have something to ask you."
"Then I have something to answer to, and then we're going to talk about that class you're taking next semester." It earned him an adorable giggle but it soon got cut off.

"Hera? Sweetheart? Are you still up?" Remus remained completely and utterly still, goddess did it sound like he was getting caught as well.

"Yeah, Ellie called."

"You two live five minutes away, you can't sneak out?"

"Did dad make you come and check if I'm talking to Remus?" Damn, his Luna could surely read between the lines."I'M NOT TALKING TO REMUS, DAD, HE'S BUSY!" She screamed through the wall and while whatever was said was muffled he assumed Hayes had a similar sassy response.

It was almost three in the morning after all.

After Willow said her quick goodnights, Hera instantly got her headphones and hid under the blanket. "Making this sound like a secret undercover mission, Hera, I don't want to get you in trouble—"

"Nono, it's fine. I don't have training tomorrow at all, I just said that to piss her off."
"Ahh, alright. So what's that question you wanted to ask me?"

"Is it true you gave the other packs compensation checks?"
"How'd you hear about that?"
"So it's true?"
"Yeah, but it wasn't a lot. Not that we were that well off after everything because he took a lot of the pack's funds for his own thing. A lot of it came outta pocket from me...Not the pack."

"Oh, you have money?"
"Mom did yeah, I inherited hers. Then my cousin helped a bit. There are only eleven packs, and I only really had to pay fourish or five. Your dad didn't accept the check."

"If you gave them money why the hell is everyone still bitching on and on about it then?"
"That's what I don't understand either sweetheart, it wasn't me."

"Guess it's the older generation that's still pissy about it. That you ended it when they couldn't." "With the help of your dad, yeah. I dunno what snapped in me." Hera let out a breathless sigh before biting the inside of her cheek.

Usually, she was much more talkative and these odd breaks wouldn't happen, but Remus categorized it as her being exhausted.

"I'm taking an English class, maybe a business one...I haven't decided if I wanted to add it or not yet."
"Take whatever you want, and tell your parents that they don't need to worry about the bill. I'll pay for it."

"That's sweet but no. Besides, I'm paying for it."
"What?"

"Yeah, mom and dad always told me that if I want something I have to work for it...Though it's more them paying me themselves than the pack. Hopefully that makes sense. Oh, and bets. Harlow is shit at them." For some reason, he didn't doubt that most of her tuition was being paid by Alpha Harlow's inability to win a bet.

That sounded like Mystic for sure.

"So what's up? Why'd you have a bad day?"
"It was just overwhelming today and haven't been getting much sleep. And now that I have, I just feel too awake to stay asleep."

"And you swiped my phone number from Jack?"

 "Nothing gets by you, huh?"

"Nope, and it pisses off every male in the general facility. Me and my third eye." Hera then had the best idea, though she quickly fought the urge to try and make herself presentable...

Instead, she went for it.

She switched the call over to FaceTime and sure enough, the old male did not notice. "Boo!"

"Whoa, so scared." The two laughed and obviously he wasn't getting the hint.

"Goddess, Remmy look at your screen."
"Look at my—" His very shocked expression suddenly turned very soft and delicate, it hurt to know that he hardly got the chance to look at her properly.

"Hi." She greeted, but this time he caught the way her eyes lit up. Of course, it was not the same as in-person, but his heart was going wild. And this time she didn't take his silence for having said something wrong, instead it was him being in a daze that was catching her off guard.

"Alright Rem, you have a little drool right—"
"Hey beautiful." He said, his smile not at all the same as when she first met him. Not cocky at all, just purely Remus.

"I'm going to assume you don't wear a shirt to bed?"
"I don't wear anything to bed. Easier to shift if something happens."
"I was going to say red flags and that this is not a PG-13 movie but damn you saved yourself."
"Alphas always have to be prepared." This time he could see her reactions, the small smiles here or there or even the way she fumbled with the headphone cords.

"I don't want to get you in trouble,"
"I'm fine, I turned my fan on...Besides, if you're upset I want to know."
"Not upset just..."
"Overworked. I get it. Well, I don't, but I see it around me a lot. But that's what mates are for, I'd comfort you if I was there beside you right?"
"Goddess, I feel like a fucking pup, how the hell do you get me so worked up?" She shrugged her shoulders but he caught the rolling of her eyes.

"Alpha growls don't work on me, and I promise you that I'm annoying as can be at times. I think that's what you're referring to at least, your wolf likes that." It was so strange to see her actually talking, to see her lips move or the way that she'd get distracted for a moment only to look back at him.

"July is too far away."

"I know...But even at nineteen, I'm going to be the youngest Luna. I think that's what dad's trying to really do here. Age might just be a number but I keep hearing those fucking males talking about it. Like twenty-six is really that big and mighty?"
"I'm twenty-six, sweetheart."
"Oh. Fuck, okay, well backtracking you're not the one telling me I'm a pup or disregarding anything I said in my presentation. And you deserve the title, that asshole wouldn't listen to basic common sense."
"Who was it?"

"Fucking Alpha Conner." The dark grin that Remus started with suddenly caused Hera to shiver.

"What's that look for?"
"He has to call me...He's asking for help with rogues—Apparently, Moon Valley is getting hit heavy with Rogues." 

"And he had the audacity to not take into consideration what I had to say? Honestly, no wonder his dad beat his ass and didn't just give it to him."
"Yeah, saved the rest of us some trouble. But I can promise you, taking down an Alpha is pretty hard. Some are more seasoned than others." It was clear that what he said made her uncomfortable.

The way that she shifted caused him to sigh.

"I won't be offended if you ask any questions, Hera."

"I feel like it's an in-person conversation..."
"I don't mind, really." In seeing her shift he realized that the stuffed bear that he sent suddenly made an appearance for a second or two and he smiled. Knowing that it was giving her comfort was making it all that much better.

"Are you sure? Should we have a safe word—I don't want you to get upset with me."
"A safe-word?...Hera, sweetheart, please go look that word up." He caught her frown before she started a good search but of course, her laughter only fueled his wolf to suffer in his hormones.

"Alright, well, excuse me it's been a hot minute since I watched fifty shades, goddess save me." "We should still have one."

"You're an asshole, Moon." 
"And from what I saw, you have a nice ass, Mystic. Just ask the question hun...Promise there's nothing you can say that hasn't been asked before." The words were on the tip of her tongue and while she hid behind the stuffed animal, Remus sighed.

"I don't know what changed, my dad's always been that way and something must've clicked. And I know it really clicked when mom died—Rogue attack, but dad blamed everyone else other than himself. That's what Leo says anyway. I—I try to block it out."

"Remmy we don't have to live in your old house, I'm sure anything is fine—"
"No your mom changed it a lot, it hardly looks the same. Really." It was clear by her face she didn't believe him, and so he sighed again.

"My dad's always hated Mystic for some reason too, I just never understood it. It's not like a vampire hatred either, he just made it seems you guys were savages—Not that you are. It's just the way he painted the picture, and when mom died he had the perfect idea on how to settle it with Mystic Grimm."

"How?" And that is what Remus realized where Hera did not know most if not any of the story he was about to tell her. "Sweetheart, maybe you should ask your parents, it's clear they didn't tell you."

"Remmy, the only talk I had was when I was eleven and the war was over, dad sat with me in between the parties and told me what was happening." It was true, the Mystic family tried to shield the children's names but with Haylee and Harlow being that much older than Hera it made it difficult to equally explain it when they were all on different levels.

"Dad was targeting your mom, thinking that Hayes wouldn't be able to keep up with everything if she was captured or killed." 

"I don't remember that." 
"It was before you were born, sweetheart." Perhaps it was an existential crisis, but the fact remained clear.

If something happened to her mom then there would've been a strong chance she would've never been born.

"Is that why I couldn't leave my house? O-or hang out with other pups?"
"Hera—"

"No, Remus, I need to know. Please you're the only one who actually talks about it. Jack wouldn't and every just walks on eggshells. I'm sick and tired of it." He sighed, the shiver riddling his spine as he couldn't find it in himself to deny her.

Though he wish he could.

"My dad found out about you, maybe when you were four or five...I told Hayes that my dad was trying to kidnap you." The line went silent, and sure enough, he caught the silent tears rolling down her face.

"Hera..." 

"I'm so fucking dumb."
"No, you're not. Goddess no, your parents protected you and they thought it was best to keep you out of the war. You got a childhoo—"

"I didn't. I wasn't allowed far, and if I was I had twenty guards surrounding me. That's not a childhood, I couldn't run on my own and who wants to hang out when a guard followed me around school?" Remus heard it from Jack and Hayes a few times, that Hera struggled with wolves her own age and now it was all becoming clear.

And what was worse was that she couldn't get her breath under control.

"Hera. Listen to me. Listen to my breathing sweetheart, inhale...That's it, keep it going. Hold it...Exhale." The issue of all of this was that there were so many arguments that Hera threw her parents all resembled the same consensus.

That she didn't have friends. That she couldn't do anything normal from one age to another.

"Mate need to calm down. No crying. Hurts to see mate cry." She sniffled and started to laugh at Remus' wolf joining the conversation.

"Thanks, snuffles, I appreciate it." Though she threw in a curse after wiping another tear away. Which Remus and his wolf didn't hesitate to whine out, and it caused her to smile.

"D-dad always used to cuddle in fur with me when I have anxiety attack..."
"Do they happen often?" She had to be honest, and so she nodded and tried to find something else to look at other than her phone. But it was proving to be difficult when she was hiding under her blanket.

"Yeah...That's why I think my parents are so overprotective, and I know it's not ideal in a Luna but I—"
"That isn't something you can control sweetheart, it's just something we'll work through. Right? And I can certainly cuddle in fur with you, that won't be a problem."
"I think that's what made me feel better, hearing wolfie."
"He's always listening munchkin, he's actually the one to push me to call."

"Well then he's a good boy too, I missed you."

______

Date: 03/23/2022

Time: 11:06

Words: 2761