Song: Disney Piano Collection by kno Piano Music

"Not that I'm asking for details or anything." Flora glanced towards me with a playful glimmer shimmering over her hazel eyes. "But I wouldn't be opposed to hearing what it's like to have mind blowing sex for seven straight days."

Of course she wouldn't mind knowing.

I smirked at the giggling she-wolf, choosing instead to saturate each slice of bread well. The pan sizzled alive with heat as we laid out each slice of gooey bread to cook. Golden browns and crispy crusts emerged in no time with how high Flora had the heat.

"It's not like you have to wonder too much. I'm sure you heard and smelled enough to piece together how amazing it was," I said in reference to her many visits. She cheered Leo on, threw out some pointers, and left fresh food whenever she stopped by. Judging by our loud moans and less than quiet words, I was more than certain she had an idea of how great it was. "Tell me about what's been going on since we've been busy."

Even though it was almost midnight Alpha Draco's Pack was bustling alive with tons of activity. Werewolves that didn't smell like his people lingered everywhere. There were more White Witches and Warlocks occupying the Lycan Pack than I could count. I even spotted a few Vampires and Fair Folk running around as well.

We were only gone for one week but it was like an entire lifetime had passed.

"More Packs merged while you guys were away," Flora replied. She skillfully flipped each slice of French toast, slathering them in cinnamon butter. Our four plates were beginning to fill nicely as I set to cooking the sausage links as well. "The New Hampshire Pack, my Pack, and the Pack's from Rhode Island and Connecticut joined your Pack in Maine. There's over ten thousand Werewolves up at the Moon Warriors Pack right now."

"And your brother?"

"He made it there safe." Flora flashed me a quick smile and shut the heat off.

"That's good," I plated the sausages, "he's already home. No need to stop and get him when this all ends."

Her grateful smile widened and I felt my heart grow warm at the sight. The thought of Flora coming home with us made me giddy with excitement. I couldn't wait for her to meet Syrena and Mera. Now that would definitely be an interesting moment to watch.

"What else?"

"Alpha Draco brought in the nearby Packs from New York and Pennsylvania. Other people, Vampires and whatnot, came to pledge their allegiance to us." If the New York Pack was here then that meant my cousin Alpha Jericho was here too. For the first time in thousands of years, the descendants of Alpha and Luna were reunited. Lady Venus Brightdoom, Alpha Jericho Lightseeker, and Alpha Draco Glowingstone. Like it or not, this was definitely the safest place to be right now with our combined powers all under one night sky.

We moved the full plates to the dining room table. The sounds of Leo and Pride wrestling outside brought a small smile to my face. Their harmless taunts and grunts as they threw each other around lifted my mood even more. It was like we were all a real family.

Drawing her bottom lip between her teeth, Flora cast me an apprehensive stare. My happiness slowed at the slight worry filling her eyes.

"What is it?"

"Well, the Pennsylvania Pack came..." Flora sighed when I didn't catch on and said, "The Shapeshifters Pack is here."

Oh, no.

"Reign," I whispered. I peered at Flora curiously, wondering if she knew about Reign and his father. "Did Reign tell you about his dad?"

"No," she replied. "But he didn't need to. I know abuse when I see it. Reign locked up when his dad arrived. I'd never seen him like that, Venus. His eyes, they were worse than before. They were dead. And when he hugged Reign..."

Flora shook her head, dropping the silverware in the center of the table. "Beta Ryan attacked him. It took over thirty wolves to restrain him. Alpha Draco apologized, claiming Beta Ryan was overprotective because they're new Mates. But..."

"No one bought that?"

"Nope. If it weren't for the war then it'd be a serious issue. But since we are at war, Reign's old Alpha let it slide while we fortify our borders," she said.

"Maybe we should put him on the front lines," I snorted. "If the Dark Witches ever come back, then they'll have the perfect asshole to kill first."

Yes, I was claimed by the second star. Yes, I knew my warning was to never stop being generous. But a man that willingly abused his son for years while neglecting his other pup didn't deserve my kindness.

If I was his Luna he'd have never lived to see the light of day again. I'd have sacrificed him like the weak pawn he was. Only a coward would dare lay a finger on a child. If he wanted to be that type of person, then I would've made certain he met a befitting end.

Hm...

Maybe I still could.

I made a mental note to talk to my cousin later.

"Where's Reign now?"

"Most days he stays here and works on riddling out the prophecy and our warnings. He's made progress. But, other than that, he doesn't leave his room unless he wants to see Beta Ryan," she replied. I followed her gaze to the stairs leading upstairs. Knowing that Reign was probably up there alone made my heart ache. My feet were moving before I even knew what I was doing.

"Venus?"

"Call the boys in for dinner," I said. "We'll be down soon."

The hardwood stairs were cold under my bare feet. The late days of October weren't holding back on its seasonal shift. If it weren't for the high tolerance to cold we wolves had I was certain I'd be a shivering mess right now.

Using my nose I followed the faint scent of sugar to a closed door. Knocking three times, I eyed pictures of Beta Ryan's family lining the wall with a small flash of envy. Some of the old pictures were grey with no color meaning this was a family home of his. Built from the ground up by his ancestors for him to dwell in today.

It hurt to imagine how many other houses were being burned down just like mine was. How many houses of wood, built on the backs of free slaves, were being lost in the midst of this war? I hoped it wasn't a high number. I silently prayed that there would be some lucky enough to remain.

To them, they were just houses. But to us, they were monuments of strength. We were our ancestors greatest dreams come true. We were free while living within their walls of hard work.

I wasn't lucky enough to experience that anymore. Nonetheless, I held out hope that others would still be able to. One day, hopefully soon.

"Come in," Reign's empty voice replied.

I squared my shoulders and entered the lighted bedroom with my chin held high. Reign was hunched over a desk, bathed in silver moonlight. Numerous papers were pinned to the wall with all of our names on it. A stack of new books sat beside him.

When his tired gaze met mine I smiled in greeting. The corner of Reign's lips curled upwards for a millisecond before crashing back down. It was as if he simply couldn't smile no matter how hard he tried.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to see what you'd figured out with the prophecy," I lied. Reign's beady eyes wavered before he motioned me over. I sat perched on the edge of his bed and waited for him to speak.

"You, Pride, Leo, and I overcame our warnings from the Moon Goddess," he replied. "Pride was warned to never give up. He chose to push through the struggle of being a Hybrid until he came to accept himself. Check. You were warned to never stop being kind which you overcame after using the dagger for the first time. Reckon Leo had something to do with that."

"He did," I agreed. "He reminded me who I was. After I almost killed that pregnant Dark Witch, he started opening up to me and tried harder to be my Mate. Leo gave me a reason to stay true to myself."

"Mhm. Then there's Leo." Reign pointed to Leo's sheet of paper with a haggard sigh. "The seventh star calls to you. He will try to take your stability and he will most likely succeed. That one was going to happen no matter what. Since you're Leo's stability, when you were taken away his claim kicked in and he went feral."

That made sense in more ways than one. It seemed like each time one of us came close to succumbing to our individual stars, the colder we became. The more wild, the more wolf-like, our personalities were twisted into. Yielding to the stars meant giving up who we were completely.

"Through his murder rampage he somehow managed to pull back and come back to us," Reign continued. "Now that you two Marked each other and are fully mated, I'm fairly certain his trial is over now."

Good.

"The animalistic urges within me, the ones that pushed me to egg on Sky, vanished once I mated with Ryan." A light blush overcame his sunken cheeks, a small smile lifting his pressed lips. "The Chronicle, my stories, none of them ever ended with me making it to the end. That's why I did what I did, Venus. I didn't see the point in drawing out my life. If it meant death by Sky's hands was impossible to avoid, I didn't see any harm in moving up the timeline."

But now that he had Beta Ryan, he had more than enough to keep on fighting for. I understood that.

"Jack's warning doesn't matter since he died before we got together. Now, there's only Flora and Sky left..." Reign tapped the desk absentmindedly. A deep frown creased his pinched face. "Flora will be alright as long as she doesn't let the blood of an innocent stain her hands. Most likely mine. Sky can be saved if she can find a family in our group. Maybe if they can beat their last two warnings, we'll have less to worry about when we unite the Two Lovers. Which is another headache to deal with."

Reign rolled his eyes, shuffling papers as he mumbled incoherently underneath his breath.

"Reign?" He hummed, never stopping his agitated movements. "Where is Sky?"

"Outside?" Reign looked at me wearily. "Why?"

"I know your dad's here."

The Beta's face was wiped clean of all emotion. Flora was right. This dead look was nothing at all like how he was before.

This emptiness was worse. This was an abyss. A void-less pit of black waiting to swallow him up entirely.

The hatred in my heart for his father grew tenfold.

"Has Sky been with him?"

"She was. For a while." Reign's eyes glazed over, detaching himself from this discussion. The way he spoke, his empty baritone voice, was robotic. "Always following after him like a kicked puppy. Wanting nothing more than his attention."

Reign chuckled darkly, pressing his pointer finger into his bottom lip. "I told her to stay away from him three days ago. Y'know what she did?"

"What?"

"She listened," Reign said. "Kicked puppy stopped trailing after him and came back to me. Did you know she wanted to use the Ring of Love on me? To make me like her?"

I stiffened and smiled awkwardly. "I might've heard a little something about that."

"Might've." Reign smirked softly, resting the side of his face in his open palm. "I don't understand her, Venus. I really don't."

Feeling a little bold, I leaned closer and placed my hand on his knee. He watched me like an eagle hunting its prey. Beady eyes widening when I dared to touch him.

I held back my laugh at his frightened cat-like expression and said, "She wants a family. A brother. The rest of us are just people she tolerates. Except Flora. I'm pretty sure Flora's the only person she genuinely likes here.

"Reign," I called softly. "Did you tell her what he did to you?"

Reign shook his head no, keeping watch on my unmoving hand.

"What am I supposed to say?" he asked. "How do I tell her that the man she's wanted the affection of for 21 years beat me for reminding him of his dead Mate? How do I tell her he'll never love the daughter of the woman who murdered his only love?"

Reign let out a distressed sigh, pressing his hand to his eyes to hold the tears back.

"I think finding Ryan's made me weaker," he mumbled. I glanced away when a lone tear trickled down his face. He hastily wiped it away, checking to see if I saw. I picked at my denim shorts, pretending to be aloof to spare him from further embarrassment.

"I think the opposite. I think finding Ryan's made you stronger," I said. "If you hadn't met him, I don't know if you'd have started opening up more recently. Shit, you might not even have smiled."

"I smiled before."

"Yeah, but you were being an asshole then," I pointed out. Withdrawing my hand from his leg, I grinned at the sight of his drying eyes and lopsided grin. "Come have dinner with us."

Reign cast his gaze over the open books and scratched out papers. "I don't know, I haven't figured everything out yet."

"What else is there to figure out?"

"There's the Two Lovers," he replied. "I figured out why Hemlock said we'd have to wait until Samhain to unite them. Samhain's when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. It'll be easier to talk to their ghosts without them fading in and out of consciousness. They won't be all thin and confused like Catherine was."

"The only issue is trying to figure out how to get her to take him back," I added.

"Exactly. And I don't see that happening after what he did to her." Reign pinched the bridge of his nose, drawing attention to the darkness beneath his eyes. "Would you take Leo back if he belittled you in life then murdered you?"

"Fuck no."

"Therein lies the rub." Reign tossed a stack of papers to the back and moved another to the front. "Then there's Hemlock. Another headache going on right there."

Reign passed me a sheet of paper detailing Hemlock's past and current condition. He wasn't eating or drinking. No matter what the White Witches and Warlocks tried they couldn't force him to consume anything. Regardless, he was somehow managing to maintain his strength.

Currently there were forty White Witches keeping him subdued around the clock. It took every ounce of their magick to keep him sleeping throughout the day. They kept him in a magickal coma, locked away in his best memories with Rowena, until it was time to try and make him eat. By the time he woke he was dazed, almost like he was drugged. But his power never wavered.

Everyday he shifted a little more, loosening the chains even further. From what I read his entire body was now wrapped in iron. However, even then it was doing very little to deter his attempts at escape.

Hemlock was smart enough to realize that the White Witches were purposely locking him up in his mind. He knew they were watching his memories which was why he'd only revealed his best moments with Rowena. None of them were able to pierce through the veil of his subconscious and see into his mother's plans. Nothing could be found out about his father, if he knew how things would end, or anything else about the Two Lovers.

He was even stronger than his adoptive mother was.

"Something isn't right with him. I can't explain it, but I feel it in my gut," Reign murmured. "There's something off about him."

"Well, being raised by someone like Rowena can do that to you." I handed the paper back to Reign. "He's her son."

No matter how much I hated to admit it.

"Maybe..." Reign pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and smoothed out the wrinkles in his all black attire. "But, Alpha Draco said you struck a chord with him when you compared him to the stolen pups. Do you know why?"

"He's a racist guy," I replied. "Comparing him to mutts is probably a blow to his pride."

"Or," Reign raised his pointer finger, "maybe you got in his head. I mean, he didn't react until you compared him to other stolen kids. He probably never even doubted being Rowena's son until you came in and wrecked that whole mentality. I know he misses his mom now that she's dead. But conjuring up every single memory he has of her is too extreme even in grief."

I nodded along, slowly piecing together the clues he dropped. "You think he's trying to convince himself that she's his real mother. Either that or he's looking back and trying to figure everything out for himself."

"Exactly." Reign smiled one of his rare smiles, digging up another paper. "Aha! It's like when you guys couldn't be up front with Catherine when you first met her. If you told her the truth, her reality would've broken and she'd have gone volatile."

"So, you're saying I broke Hemlock's reality?" I asked.

"In a sense. Some of the White Witches were able to show us his dreams with Rowena," he continued. "I don't know for sure, but it's almost like he's trying to remind himself of his loyalty to her. There's a lot of love there too. It's powerful. Even I could feel it through their magick."

I wondered what that meant for Hemlock in the future. Did that mean he did have a chance at recovery? Was there hope for him after all? There was only one way for me to find out.

"I wanna see him in the morning," I said. "The next time they wake him up to eat, I wanna see if he'll talk to me."

"I'll come with. See if we can get anything more out of him regarding the Two Lovers," he sighed. The clock beside him struck midnight, changing the day to October 24. "We're running out of time, Venus. I don't know how much longer our people can take this."

"It'll work out," I promised. Patting his scruffy head, I grinned at the irritated scowl lining his soft features. "Come on. Let's go eat dinner."

"It's 12 in the morning."

"That's irrelevant."

Reign's frown softened. I watched as his hand moved to cup the spine of a crisp new book. "I don't think they'd even want me down there to be honest. It's not like we're friends."

I want to eat.

Now, please.

Give me a minute, I told Leo.

His low whine filled our mind link and I rolled my eyes at his childlike annoyance. Turning back to Reign I jerked my head at the door and tried one last time. "Come eat with us. I want you there."

Reign's eyes lit up the tiniest of fractions and the death grip he held on the book was released. He left the book on the table and looked up at me with what only could be described as a hopeful gaze.

"Ok."

I beamed and led him out of the room before he could change his mind. The loud chatter of Pride and Leo's arguing never ceased when we joined them at the table. I split my plate with Reign, tuning into the brainless argument of who was better in bed.

"Hey!" Flora winked at Reign before turning back to Pride with a sour face. "I'm not fucking you just so you can break a bed too. If you were good enough to break a bed, I think it would've been broken by now."

"Exactly!" Leo high fived Flora, looking like an elated pup. "Look's like that sentence from my apology letter needs to be redacted since I'm more superior at sex."

"Nope." Pride flat out refused his claims as he scarfed down his and Flora's sausages. "I reject that notion. You had an unfair advantage when you broke the bed. Get back to me when you're not having your rut and the sex dries up like your di-"

"Pride!"

"Who's side are you on, Flora?"

Flora glanced at me with her syrup red smirk and said, "Venus's."

"Who is naturally on my side. That's me, Blue Eyes, and Flora against you and who else?" Leo teased.

Pride's bright eyes flashed as he zeroed in on Reign. "Be on my side."

"Excuse me? No," Reign replied. "This is dumber than the apology letter."

"Hey." Pride pointed a buttery finger at Reign with what had to be the most serious expression I'd seen in a long time. "That apology letter was amazing and so was everything that followed. Now, if you're going to sit here and eat the food we worked so hard to cook-"

"You played outside," Flora interrupted.

"-then," Pride glared at Flora, "you have to pick a side. Now, I'd like to make my case."

"This should be good," I muttered. By the time I devoured half my plate Pride was finally finished with his long winded speech. Most of it could've been boiled down to, I'm awesome and I have old magick, but whatever.

"So?"

We all watched Reign for his reply. His dark stare swept over all of us before settling back on Pride. He cleared his throat and replied with a gruff, "No."

"This isn't right-"

"You lost, just take it like a champ and go." Leo clamped his hand on Pride's shoulder.

The annoyed Hybrid shook it off with pursed lips. While waving his sausage around he declared, "This is a hate crime. You're all just ganging up on me because I'm a Hybrid."

"Pride-"

"Hate!" His loud shout cut Leo off immediately. "I don't feel safe in my own home!"

"This isn't your home and this isn't your food," Reign grumbled. "This is Ryan's and-"

"I am a guest and I expect to be treated better." Pride sniffed, turning his nose up at us. "I didn't save two of your lives just to-"

"I wasn't aware that throwing us into the side of a mountain counted as saving." Sighing, Reign took a dainty sip from his glass of milk and smiled. "My mistake. I'll remember to always thank you for sending me plummeting hundreds of feet-"

"YOU. ARE. ALIVE!!!"

I hid behind my glass of milk as Pride launched into another speech about ungrateful people. I could've sworn that, for a moment, the corner of Reign's lips curved upwards into a real, genuine smile.

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Vote and/or Comment if you enjoyed this part!

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QOTD: Do you think Reign will ever be able to tell Sky the truth? How do you like the groups changing dynamic now that they're evolving? What do you think about Venus getting into Hemlock's head like that? Any thoughts on Reign's "gut feeling?"