Song: Rainy Night Coffee Shop Ambience with Jazz by Calmed By Nature

"We have issues," Pride sang. Munching on a carrot like a starved man, he hovered behind Alpha Draco while he cooked a pot of boiling stew and meat. "We have so many issues. Also, you're burning our foooood."

"Please don't sing in my kitchen." Alpha Draco turned the heat up to the highest setting and a black char formed over the once yummy looking food. "And I'm burning dinner on purpose."

"What? Why?!" Pride froze, holding the carrot in hand like it was a blunt object ready to bludgeon the Alpha for burning his food.

"I want waffles for dinner but Cora said no," Alpha Draco grumbled. Tossing too much seasoning into the spilling pot, the older Alpha grinned devilishly. "If we mess up dinner then she'll cook waffles and sausages with the homemade cinnamon butter she made last week."

"But the food-"

"I'll just feed it to my dogs. They eat anything. Even my shit cooking." Alpha Draco shrugged, leaving the burning food to simmer on the heated stove. The big man crossed his arms happily, humming a quiet tune to himself. Immediately my ears perked up at the hollow song and I lifted my head from Leo's shoulder to hear it better.

"I know that song. What is it?" I asked.

Leo moved to the side so that I could see Alpha Draco better. Holding me in his lap, Leo tucked his head into the crook of my neck, breathing in my scent. I knew the wooden chair must've been uncomfortable for him but he never protested once. My Mate just held me while we took in the quiet bustling of Alpha Draco's kitchen.

"Some old family lullaby," he replied. My cousin dragged a damp cloth over his stained shirt to clean himself up. The splotches of red only seeped deeper into the white fabric as he frowned. "I can never remember the words for the life of me. But the tune I can never forget. Do you know it?"

"Yeah, Mother used to hum it to me when I was a pup. When I was-"

"Sick?"

"Yeah!" I rubbed the back of Leo's hands as a small smile overcame my face. "Your parents did that for you too?"

Alpha Draco hummed, stirring the boiling stew, and splattering sauce onto the floor. Every now and then one of his German Shepherds would run by and lick it up like it was the best thing in the world. My sensitive nose let me know that it most definitely was not.

The peaceful ambiance of the room ceased to exist when the front door slammed shut. The sugary scent came back and I knew who it was before they even entered the kitchen. The two of them together made the house smell like a bakery filled with sickly sweet confectioneries.

"I don't need anger management," Reign snapped. "I need people to stop annoying the fuck out of me."

"But everyone annoys you," Beta Ryan replied. His deep voice was light with teasing. I could only imagine the displeasure overcoming Reign's brighter face.

"Not everyone." Reign joined us in the kitchen with his faithful Mate hot on his heels. The bubbly Beta watched Reign with such fondness it was almost too much to handle. Reign's nose twitched in annoyance, moving his octagon frames lower down his nose. "And he was looking at you."

"He has eyes-"

"Yes, to see things like the moon and the trees. Not your ass which he stared at for at least a full minute." Reign's deadpan expression made their lover's spat all the more enjoyable to witness. There was a promise of waffles, Leo was holding me, and Reign being overprotective was amusing.

Tonight's conversation wasn't going to be an easy one to be had. But this little skit was enough to uplift my mood from the pits of despair Hemlock threw me into an hour ago.

"Whatever, I'm not talking about this anymore." Reign sat at the head of the table with a huff, crinkling his nose as he watched Alpha Draco poke at our ruined dinner. "What is that?"

"We're ruining dinner with the hopes of pancakes," Pride mumbled. He chopped the crunchy meat on a wooden cutting board. Flakes of black scattered all over the counter while a few pieces fell to the floor. Ever the dutiful followers, Alpha Draco's dogs made sure no scrap of dropped food went uneaten.

"Waffles," Leo corrected. His hot breath sent a thrill up my spine. Something he unfortunately noticed. I felt his lips curl against my skin as he pressed a light kiss just above my Mark.

Reign closed his eyes and leaned back into his chair. Taking three deep breaths, he sighed heavily and slowly opened his eyes back up.

"I taught him that," the blond Beta grinned. "Three deep breaths whenever he feels a Bitch Flare coming on."

"A Bitch Flare?"

"It's what I'm calling his asshole remarks," Beta Ryan explained to me. Reign whined when Beta Ryan came behind him to rest his arms around his shoulders. Even so, the sulking man never strayed too far from his Mate's embrace. "I'm trying to get them under control. We can't have a Pack Beta telling people to remind him to kill them later for supposedly staring at his Mate's ass."

"Supposedly? I know what I saw." Reign narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms haughtily. "Why do I even like you if you're going to be like this? Go get the girls so we can all talk."

"I'm amazing. It's impossible not to like me." Beta Ryan smiled at Alpha Draco, reassuring him that the Pack member wasn't going to cause any issues. I worried for my cousin concerning Reign's ascension to his Court. There were definitely going to be some curveballs to deal with once all this was over with.

When Flora and Sky joined us we all settled at the kitchen table leaving the food to burn some more. It took a while but eventually everything was out in the air. All of the dreams I had with Alpha and Luna. Rowena's secrets, Hemlock's divulged information, and the dream I had of the Oracle and Dion. Everything we knew and kept from each other came to light until there was total transparency.

"I'm curious," Flora began. "Reign, you said the iron chains would keep Hemlock's magick contained. Yet, he was still able to do that lightning thing Pride does. And it hasn't stopped raining since then."

Therein laid one of the biggest questions. How had he managed to access his magick while under the influence of the iron chains? The chains should've weakend him like the silver chains diminished my own strength and power. So how was he able to do in two days what I couldn't do for ten days?

How had he gotten so close to ripping his chains off the wall? He wasn't a Hybrid like Pride. Things like that you could smell in someone's blood with regard to their mixed races. Hemlock was pure Warlock so it wasn't like he had an unfair advantage to dispute the power of iron restraints.

A clap of thunder brought Reign's dazed gaze some clarity. He played with Beta Ryan's fingers mindlessly as he searched for an answer to our burning questions.

"I have a theory."

I shudder whenever
he says that.

I smirked at Pride, mentally agreeing. Reign's theories, while helpful and often correct, weren't usually the source of good news.

"Venus, you said there was a lightning shaped scar on his stomach. Is there any way that could've been a birthmark?" Reign asked.

"I guess. Why?"

"Before Rowena blew up the cottage I was reading up on magickal history. Trying to make sense of why everyone seemed to bow down to the Pridesong family no matter what," he explained. "Their monarchy fell during the Werewolf uprising and no heirs survived. The four older magickal families were left with the most power afterwards."

"Like the Pridesong's," Pride said while pointing to himself. "Aren't we supposed to be the oldest family?"

"Supposedly," Reign replied. "According to the books I read, all of the older clans can be identified by certain physical traits. Green eyes for the Pridesong's, lightning birthmarks for the Runespell's, etcetera. With what Venus saw, there's a possibility that he's a descendant from two of the most powerful clans in the world. He's also descended from the Oracle. Combine that with someone like Rowena nurturing his magick, I'm not surprised he almost got out."

Well, that's just fantastic.

"How do we keep him contained?"

Reign shrugged, glancing at me with a blank stare. "Keep him knocked out? That seemed to work. Maybe if we keep punching him in the face we can give him amnesia and make him forget all about Rowena."

"Reign!"

"What?" Reign threw his hands up in defense, drawing a low whine from Beta Ryan now that they weren't holding hands anymore. "Would that really be so bad? He wakes up asking who he is, we say he's Hemlock Pridesong and his mother's name is Fray. He's got a little brother named Pride and no other crazy family members. The end."

"Other than that being morally fucked up," I glared at Reign, "I doubt that would even work. Hemlock is strong, I can tell. A few hard punches is gonna hurt like hell but I doubt that'd be enough to take his memory away."

Not that I'd even stoop so low to do something like that. I wanted Gamma Fray and Pride to have a relationship with Hemlock but not like this. We couldn't build our future on the foundation of more lies. That's the whole reason we were even in this mess to begin with.

"Leave that to me then," Alpha Draco butted in. He threw his silver hair into a low bun before flicking the stove off. Our mess was made and the food was no longer edible. I had a good feeling that we'd be getting those waffles like he wanted. "I've got some friends who are White Witches and Warlocks. I'll have my Delta's go and get them to see if they can help. They should be able to figure out something temporary while you guys recuperate."

"Thank you for everything you're doing. I don't know where we'd be if you hadn't brought us into your Pack," I said.

Alpha Draco smiled one of his megawatt smiles, crinkling the corners of his blue eyes. "It's no problem." His eyes glazed over and he smiled even wider. "Mission accomplished!"

"Waffles?"

"Waffles," he confirmed. Him and Pride high fived and the pair started clearing the mess as per Luna Cora's command.

Hemlock Pridesong: Check.

Next topic.

"Sky, what can you tell us about the Two Lovers?" I asked.

The quiet she-wolf raised her doe eyes to meet mine. They were greyer than I remembered them to be, but brighter much like Reign's. Being somewhere safe seemed to be doing her some good too.

"Alpha Sirius and Luna Cassiopeia? I know what everyone else knows." Her small button nose twitched much like Reign's did when he was thinking. "One day they were in love and the next day they weren't. Alpha Sirius became toxic and possessive. He wouldn't let her be around males, he controlled her every movement, and he treated her like a toy.

"My Pack didn't do anything to help their Luna when she reached out," Sky continued. "One day Alpha Sirius caught her with an unmated wolf. He was trying to help Luna Cassiopeia escape but it was too late. The Alpha killed both of them and then killed himself. Afterwards the Werewolf God cursed the Pack for going against the sanctity of the Mate bond. He allowed us to keep a shred of humanity due to the one wolf that tried to help. We've been the Cursed Pack for the last couple hundred years."

And that's why I had little to no faith in our last task. According to the prophecy we had to unite the Two Lovers to prevent Leo's sacrifice. But what Luna would ever consent to being reunited with a man that treated her like dirt? Even worse, a man that was supposed to be her Mate?

No Luna would agree to such a thing.

Ever.

"I don't understand," Flora sighed. "How could someone do that to their Mate? Such a monster..."

"Monsters rarely sleep under your bed. More often than not, they're the soul standing besides you promising a forever." Reign's ominous words caused Sky to snap her pondering gaze towards him. Their button noses twitched in unison making Reign look away first.

"I've heard that before," Sky said. "Where have I heard that before?"

Reign shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere else but at Sky. "Dad used to say it a lot when we were younger. When he used to read fairytales."

"Oh..." Sky smiled softly at the mention of their father and it made me feel sick. If only she knew the type of man he was. She wouldn't be trying so hard to be a part of his family then.

But that was Reign's responsibility to deal with on his own. I agreed not to meddle so I wouldn't. My only hope was that Beta Ryan could get through to Reign so that Reign could fix things with Sky.

Preferably before it was too late and she killed him like the stars said she would.

"How do we unite them after what Sirius did?" Flora asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "But we've got, what, two weeks to think about it? We'll figure something out. Pride can talk to the people coming to see what he means about not being able to do anything until Samhain. Until then, we wait."

We wait.

The Two Lovers: Half check?

Leo's breathing fanned over the back of my neck, stirring me from my deep slumber. I groaned as I opened my eyes to the silver moonlight. Glancing over my shoulder, I was surprised to see his eyes were already open.

"What is it?"

"You came back," he humbled. Leo kissed my cheek, causing a smile to rouse me even more from my sluggish movements.

"I always will."

When we kissed I felt the fire in my stomach spark alive. It was dull and placid, but it was there. I rolled on top of Leo and his hands latched onto my waist. He was careful with the way he held me. Gentle, like he was too afraid that I'd break.

Heat pooled within my core as our tongues danced in a slow ballet. His hands never went under my shirt. Nor did he touch my back. I felt his fear and his hammering heart in the soft caresses he gave me.

My heart felt full at the sweetness of his careful nature.

I thought these tender touches would be enough to sate the brewing hunger I harbored for Leo. But when that fire within climbed into a steady inferno, my whole body flamed alive. I knew then that Pride's little potion didn't work as long as he'd hoped it would.

Pulling back from his luscious lips, I fell into Leo's burning red eyes with the last shred of self control I had.

Leo's rut and my heat were here.

🌙

Vote and/or Comment if you enjoyed this part!

🌙

QOTD: How do you think Beta Reign will fare in his new Pack if he survives this war? Hemlock is powerful, do you think he can be subdued? Why do you think they have to wait until Samhain to attempt reuniting the Two Lovers? Are you ready for the next chapter 😉