Arlis winced as he stood up from the couch, grabbing his healing stomach. "Ugh. Regretting that entire fight right about now."

I nodded. "You did what you had to do." I replied courteously, helping him up from the couch.

Earlier I had tried to just get him to continue laying down and for me to do all his duties, but that turned into an argument resulting in me curled up in his arms on the couch and him saying that he'd mark me again if I tried to take away his manliness by doing all his errands.

I oh so wanted to try and take away his manliness. Just for the euphoria of being marked again. But now... now just wasn't the time.

He walked to the bar and stumbled forward, licking his lips as he downed another glass of water.

He wrinkled his nose and rubbed his temples. "I can't believe you let me fight him." He leaned against the bar.

"I did not let you. In fact I remember specifically telling you that you shouldn't but..." I trailed off and rolled my eyes. "Are we going to talk about what Haley said?"

"Yeah are we going to talk about what Haley said? All you did was flip me off." She sat on the opposite couch from where me and Arlis were sitting, her hair all over the place from the many times she ran her hand through it.

Papers were spread out in front of us, some from our pack and some from hers.

I had to admit, I almost wanted to hate her. But she was too bubbly for that. Not a Dalia bubbly where she was happy but also shielded. Or a Melloni bubbly where her bubble was thorny and easily petty. But like an actual bubble where she popped easy and floated around and brought joy to everything.

People came in and left. Jonah and Melloni stopped by for a couple minutes before leaving, a glass of wine and candles was left behind them as a present to us.

Leif came by with Maddie, both freshly marked and reeking of a smell I had never smelled. At least not that strongly. Everyone laughed at me when I brought it up but nobody would tell me what it was. Of course, shortly after that little joke on me I realized what it was.

Dalia and Travis stopped by once again and Dalia congratulated us on me being marked, something Dalia had forget to do earlier today.

But now, the sun was down and everything was quiet. We had been quiet for hours now. The TV played quietly, it was Saturday night and all that was on was Christmas movies.

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer played softly on the television as a blizzard raged outside, the cabin creaking every once in a while from the wind.

The fireplace was lit and the lights were all off. At a glance it was picture perfect. I was with someone I didn't ever want to leave, I was happy, and friends came by to check on us.

But in depth, the picture was very morbid. Arlis was healing from a near death experience. Our friend (the most powerful witch on the planet) has apparently gone Rogue in the witchy way, a new word to me but a familiar concept; dividus is the word the Witches used when one of them went Rogue. When they're witchy, demonic, animalistic, powerful side too control and their human side had no control over them. When their power overcame their body.

Along side that, Haley was now an orphan and had to learn everything about how to be an Alpha (I was supposed to be learning too). And I say "supposed" to be learning, because I wasn't paying attention.

I was too busy thinking about my parents and how worried sick they were. I'd been in the pack for nearly a month. It didn't seem like that long, but days either droned on here or past like a blink. The Christmas movies made me think of my mom and Chance, we used to stay up late and watch them. And the music reminded me of my dad, we used to sing all the songs together.

"You miss them a lot huh?" Arlis asked from the kitchen.

"Yeah." I responded with the same word at the same time as Haley.

Arlis raised his eyes at me. "That's why you're sad. You miss your parents." Arlis nodded. "Look you two seem to have a lot in common. Why don't you guys help each other?"

Because I couldn't even help myself?

"Arlis, it's 12 at night. Bonding between us can wait until I'm not tired from crying." Both of us could have said it, but she was the one who admitted it.

I wasn't going to say it out loud because Arlis looked like he could stay up another week, but I was too tired to know that Lunas had the power to remove the Beta and replace them without the vote of the people. Which, no matter how much I enjoyed the women power here, seemed a little tyrannical here. I mean a Luna could order a death penalty to whoever she wanted and judge her own court. She was practically allowed to be judge, jury, and executioner. Alphas were only allowed to be executioner. If the people voted against him, he had to follow. But if the Luna wanted to? Oh she could piss off her pack royally but she get in trouble for it. It was not the type of rulership I thought was healthy.

"Kate?"

"I'm so tired." I responded, laughing from practical sleep-deprived insanity.

"But Becker. How did he go Dividus? We have to stop him, he could quite literally end the world." Arlis blinked. "And the fact that—"

"Arlis! It's twelve at night. We have no leads, we have nothing. I'm a two day old Alpha who doesn't know Eve from Adam. She's a Luna who— no offense— doesn't even know the difference between a Gamma and an Omega." Haley gestured to me. She wasn't wrong. I had no idea what either of them were, much less the difference between the two. "Seymour is gone off to Montreal in CANADA. And if whoever this Konrad guy is back and does try to end the world, I'll sleep through it so it really doesn't bother me." Haley grabbed her papers and tucked them into her binder messily. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pack to get back too."

Arlis nodded up stairs. "You can stay in the guest room." He offered.

The guest room was empty. Sam was at his house, alone for the first time. Leif and Maddie were at Leif's parent's house, doing God knows what. Constance was gone. Becker was gone. She could have the whole room to herself.

"Thank you but I have my own bedroom at home, a bed that I miss very much. It's a two days run back to it, so I need to hop to it. Goodnight you two, see you sometime throughout the week?" She swayed gently as she stood, looking as though she was going to pass out on the floor. I walked her to the door.

Arlis nodded. "Anytime Alpha Snow." He smiled gently at her. "You know, you are one of the few Woman Alphas."

I thought women could only be Luna's but no. The werewolf rulership system was one complicated piece of work. If a female is in charge without her mate, she's not a Luna and is in fact an Alpha and therefor has to follow all rules of Alpha conduct. It was these types of limitations that forced rulers to find a mate.

She smiled humbly. "I prefer, I'm one of the few strong and smart Alphas." She winked at me and I couldn't help but to wink back.

"See you whenever." She hugged me goodbye and left through the door.

The blizzard roared outside and it caused the door to slam, the wind pushing it shut with a loud bang.

"Will she be okay? Running in that?" I asked carefully, looking out the window but seeing only white.

Arlis nodded. "She's a strong wolf. She's young, but she's a smart person. She wasn't wrong when she said that." He took a deep breath and walked further into the kitchen, moving things around and pouring himself a bowl of late night cereal.

Finally, it was just Arlis and I, him in the kitchen and me walking to the living room. I turned the TV off, setting us in the dark. I kind of liked the dark in winter. I could see the moonlight reflect off the snow easier.

But the darkness was also silence. And silence could be terrifying. It made me think of the terrifying things in my life.

"Arlis." I said his name softly as I walked to him and set my arms on either side of him, trapping him so he had to answer me. "If Becker is the one who—"

"It can't be him, Kate. He couldn't be killing off Alphas." Apparently since Becker left, four Alphas and their mates have been brutally murdered. All have eye-witnesses that watched Becker himself do it. Four different packs. All are getting closer and closer to here. Haley's pack, the Rook pack, was on the Western border of North Dakota. They're all getting closer to us.

I nodded. "I know, I know." I ran my hand through his soft hair and sighed. "But what if it is?"

"Then I'll think nothing different of him and I'll try my hardest to pull him out of his dark place just like he pulled me out of mine. It's what friends are for, Kate." He popped his knuckles and closed his eyes. "Look. You're starting to change, my wolf senses it and I'm sure you do too. And I... well your parents... they should come over for Christmas." He said quickly, nervously.

He startled me not only by his randomness but once again by his morals. He was going to be there for Becker even though Becker was not in his right state of mind. In the other hand, he was inviting my parents over for Christmas.

"With a bunch of werewolves?" I asked, raising my eyebrows cautiously.

He nodded. "At my house, of course. Pack won't know they're here. Just my family."

I bit at my nails. "And how do I explain us?" I gestured between me and him.

We went from a conversation about Becker to conversation about my parents. I couldn't help but realize that these are both topics that Arlis would rather not talk about, but he's weighed the points and decided that my parents were easier to discuss than Becker. I wasn't done with the discussion about Becker, but if he wanted to switch the topic I was going to let him.

He shrugged. "Dunno. You can call them in the morning. Or we can go see them tomorrow."

I threw my arms around his neck. "Thank you." Even though in a way, it was extremely weird to have to have permission to see my own parents, it was also kind of sweet. In the normal world, I'm pretty sure he'd be psychotic. But this was the Supernatural world and he was just trying to keep my parents sane and safe.

"They'll be pissed but... I'm almost 20. They can't boss me around." They really can't. I'm allowed to make my own decisions. January 1st, my birthday, was coming up quick.

Christmas was 5 days away, my birthday was 12 days away. 12 days until I was an official werewolf.

"Yeah. Almost 20." Arlis smiled. "My little Luna." He leaned towards me and I let him kiss me until I felt drunk off of his lips.

His hand grabbed my hips and we both pulled away, our foreheads resting against each other's.

I wanted to bask in moments like these until my skin wrinkled and my hair grew grey. But... somewhere in between the kisses and flirts reality had to ruin it.

I sighed. "We should go to bed." I said, pulling away from him and breaking the moment.

He nodded. "Yeah. Bed." He didn't seem convinced that that's what we should do.

But I needed all the energy I could get if I was going to see my parents.

***

I woke up early, too early. Arlis was still asleep, and I wasn't planning on waking him up. I got up and went downstairs to use the restroom, as per usual.

However, when I reached it, I realized that my life just took another step down hill. My period. I groaned and dug around the bathroom for something. But there wasn't anything. Did werewolves have periods? Dogs had periods...

I really didn't want to wake Arlis up, he needed to sleep. But I wasn't sure what else I could do. I unrolled some toilet paper and folded it around my underwear, internally panicking.

This, of all things, had to happen. I groaned again.

Someone knocked on the door. I didn't answer immediately, just stood in the bathroom in my underwear and jumped up and down, panicking. "Just a minute!" I yelled.

"Is my brother still sleeping?" Dalia asked.

Dalia! I looked up to the ceiling and pumped my fist. I opened the door, hiding behind it. "Yes. I need help."

She rose her blonde eyebrow up, looking at me strangely. "What did you do?"

I bit my cheek. "I'm on my period." I admitted. I wasn't ashamed of it by any means. But normally I didn't have to ask for help. Asking a girl at school every once in a while for a tamp was one thing, but asking my soon to be sister in law if werewolves even had periods was different.

She chuckled. "Is your body hot?"

"What? No." I just needed something! Anything.

She sighed. "Hold on I'll be back." She walked away from the door. I shut the bathroom door and locked it, running my hands through my hair.

What? Did I think that because my life was changing and that because I was surrounded by werewolves my period would just stop?

I slapped my forehead.

The house was silent. And sadly, it gave me time to think. Was Becker okay? I didn't know him all that well, but I knew Arlis cared about him more than most people. I knew he was in a dangerous place.

I felt bad for him, more than anything. When I saw Becker I didn't think, "killer". And yet there he was... Were the rumors even true? Was he killing Alphas? Why was he doing that?

The hold situation with Konrad made me sick to my stomach.

Someone knocked on the door again. "It's just me." Dalia said.

I opened it. She pushed through the small crack in the door and handed me a box of tampons and pads. "I didn't know which one you wanted. I had to go to Vera, Chleo's sister. She always has a box."

"So werewolves do a have a period." I reasoned.

She laughed at me. "God no, we have something worse."

"Worse than a period?" I almost screamed. "Yeah, okay."

"I'm serious. We have a thing called The Heat, like normal dogs have." She bit her lip. "Of course, we only get it like once every four or more months depending on who you are. I get mine once every six months, but Mel gets hers once every year. Lucky girl."

I blinked at her. "Can I— uh—" I held the box up.

Dalia waved her hand. "Oh yeah. Sorry!" She smiled. "Are you okay? You seem a little sad."

I was just worried about the doom the world was facing. I thought about letting everything out to her but I didn't want to see her sad. "I'm fine, just tired. What did you need Arlis for?" I asked.

She blew air out of her cheeks. "To see if Haley was still here. I wanted to ask her something."

I narrowed my eyes. "She left. What were you gunna ask her?"

Dalia shrugged. "Just some stupid question about her younger sister."

"She has a younger sister?" I tilted my head.

Dalia hummed, tossing her head side to side. "Adopted, yeah. I wanted to know if her and her younger sister wanted to come for Christmas." She grinned. "But... anyways... I'll see ya."

I waved goodbye as she left, shutting the door behind her.

***

Chleo came in to the house too tired for his own good. He rubbed his face and groaned. "I haven't been up this early in seventy years." He yawned and sat down on the barstool.

"It's 9am." Arlis noted, sipping some coffee while he stood in the kitchen, flipping through a newspaper. On the front showed a dead wolf.

Chleo nods. "Exactly my point. Why did you wake me up?" He asked, stretching and popping his back.

Arlis holds out his hand. "I need Lucille." He said quietly.

I scooped up another bite of eggs and narrowed my eyes. "Who's Lucille?"

Chleo shook his head, both of them ignoring my question. "Hell. No. Lucille is mine."

I closed my eyes and shrugged. Whoever she/it was, I didn't care. I was going to see my parents today and nothing could ruin my mood. Not even the terribly cooked eggs that Arlis made.

How has he been alive for so long and not learned to cook? Seriously.

"I'm going to make a proper introducing of myself to Kate's parents." Arlis raised his eyebrows. "I'm leaving you in charge of the pack while I go. All I ask for is Lucille."

Chleo gave in with a huge groan/sigh and dug in his pockets. He produced a set of keys with a keychain wooden bear on it. "Fine. How long will you be gone?" He shook his head and sniffed the air. "What were you cooking with lemons?" He asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Nothing? Arlis made breakfast but I don't think we used lemon."

Chleo shook his head again and handed Arlis the keys.

Arlis gave him a strange look and put the keys in his pocket. "If anyone from Rook comes around, which they shouldn't for a couple days, tell them I'll be back around 9pm. I'm taking the pack cellphone for emergencies too. The phone number is written down in my office."

Chleo narrowed his eyes. "Why would anyone from Rook be here?" He questioned.

"The alliance between us right now is dead." He frowned and Chleo gave him a look that said that it was okay to tell him the bad news. "Apparently... Becker went Rogue and is now killing Alphas. He killed Alpha Snow and now his daughter is taking over. Look out for Becker, will you? And if you see him... run." Arlis hung his head. "Be careful, Chleo."

Chleo nodded and looked worriedly around the house and shivered. "He killed Alpha Snow? He was your father's friend. Killing Snow would've been a hard task. It's not something you can just do." Chleo took a startled step back, gripping the counter.

Arlis held a gaze with Chleo. "Chleo... Becker is Rogue right now. He went Dividus. He could kill me. Or Kasparov Dawn. Or even Seymour. Alpha Snow is nothing compared to Becker. You have to understand that."

Chleo gulped. "It's Just hard to think that Becker... could do something like that. How did he kill him?"

Arlis set a hand on Chleo's shoulder. "You don't want to know." He whispered. "I doubt he'll come but if he does... get out. Don't attack him. From what I hear he's only killing Alphas."

Chleo shuddered. "Would he kill you? Could he?"

"Rogue wolves have killed their mates. I'm sure a Rogue Witch could kill his best friend." He answered honestly and I grabbed his hand, which had started shaking with fear and sadness. "And yes. He could. I'm powerful but Becker... Becker is more-so. He humbles himself but Becker can wipe out the entire Hunter Species with a single word, he can level a mountain and cause a tidal wave the size of the Empire State Building if he had the right training." Arlis nodded to Chleo and smiled at me unconvincingly. "Ready?" He asked, his voice shaking.

"Level a mountain." Chleo repeated, muttering to himself as he walked to the couch and sat down, deep in thought.

I nodded and together we headed out the door.

We walked a total of two steps before I turned around and ran inside.

I burst trough the door and I think I gave Chleo a heart attack.

Arlis shut the door and looked at me wildly. "Are you okay? Did you see something? What happened?" He looked around me, inspecting me, and I rolled my eyes.

"It's like negative ten degrees outside and I'm wearing skinny jeans and a flannel." I said and he looked at me like I was the biggest drama queen he had ever met. Maybe I was.

He sighed and took a jacket off the hook. "Werewolves barely feel the cold. Here's a jacket, let's go."

"You should probably wear one too. Kind of weird to walk around Montana in the snow with a button down on and a pair of khakis, brother." Chleo said, chuckling. "At least to humans."

Arlis nodded. "You're right, you're right." He took another one off and put it on. "Are we okay to go now?" He asked nervously.

I nodded. "Yes. We can go now." We walked outside hand in hand.

We walked out of his snowy white drive way and I pulled myself close to him and he chuckled.

"Cold?" He joked, rubbing my arms up and down.

I nodded as I looked around the pack. Kids played in the snow, parents watching in jeans and T-shirt's. The kids were covered tremendously don't get me wrong.

A snowball hit my face and Arlis growled but I only laughed. I wiped it off and turned to find the culprit.

A little girl, probably eight or nine, stuck her tongue out at me.

Melloni came out from behind a tree. "No no no, Laney, I told you to hit Arlis." She slapped her face and smiled at me. "Sorry, Kate." She bent down and got some snow in her hands. She threw it in Arlis's face, who wiped it off and growled.

She held her hands up. "Sorry not sorry Arlis. Had to do it."

Dalia laughed and I looked up to see her with Maddi, both of them screeching as they slapped their knees.

"HIT THEM!" I heard and I spun to see Travis, Leif, Jonah, and Sam all holding snowballs.

They pelted them at us at once, throwing them and throwing them in an endless war.

"Oh that's it." Arlis growled and bent over to pick one up. "You are done!" He ran over to them and then suddenly turned and threw it at me.

"What!?" I screeched as he guys laughed.

Something hit Leif in the face and he stopped his laughter, looking over to see Dalia high-fiving a triumphant Maddi.

I took a step back. "Oh you're ON boys!" I yelled and joined the girls on the other side of the yard.

"Yes! Kate. You got him to throw snowballs. This hasn't ever happened." Dalia said as she rolled up another snowball and threw it at Travis, who groaned as it hit his stomach.

"Traitor!" Arlis laughed and threw a snowball my direction. I dodged it and threw one back.

Soon, it was an all our war. Girls against guys. Kids and other pack members joined, everyone laughing as snow fell on their noses.

The cold was brittle, but the fun so much out weighed my shivers that I didn't care.

Someone grabbed my waist and tackled me down. I looked around and saw that Melloni, Dalia, and Maddi had also been tackled.

Snow poured down my shirt as Arlis laughed. "I win." He laughed and kissed me. "What's my prize?" He smirked.

"This." I went in for a deep kiss and filled his pants with snow as I did it.

He stood up and jumped around like a hooligan. "Cold cold cold!" He shook his leg and snow melted down his pants. It looked like he peed himself if I were being honest.

I looked over and the other couples laughed as they sat next to each other.

"Alpha Arlis wet himself! Even I don't do that anymore!" A little boy laughed as he threw snow at Arlis, smiles and laughs erupted around the huge yard.

Arlis gave up, looking down and laughing. "You, my angel, are in a lot of trouble when we get back." He helped me up and wiped out the snow from my clothes.

I let out a breathy laugh and kissed the tip of his nose. "Oh yeah?"

He nodded. "Most definitely."

He palmed the keys. "But we have to go. Jonah, we'll be back. We're gunna go say hi to Kate's parents, invite them over for Christmas dinner."

Jonah's mouth dropped but he didn't intervene with us as we walked further.

When we finally got the car my mouth dropped. "You've got to be kidding me." I laughed as I ran to it, jumping up and down. "This is Lucille."

Arlis chuckled. "Yeah. 1967 Pontiac firebird. You like it?"

I almost slapped him. "Do I like it?" I mocked, feeling the spongebob meme. "It's gorgeous!"

"You're gorgeous, this is just a car." He chuckled and opened up the driver's seat for me, handing me the keys.

My face reddened and I took the keys carefully, preciously, as I sat in the front seat.

This was going to be a long ride, but I had no doubt that destination was going to make up for the adventure.

***

AGSHSKKAKX
SO, a little note real fast. In the (I'm about to go change it) cast list I have Arlis as Matt Bomer. But as much as I love Matt Bomer, Arlis just.... Matt Bomer doesn't SCREAM Arlis ya know? So I went looking and I found HIM—

Oh dang yeah, so apparently Clint Eastwood (I have the same birthday as Clint btw) has a son and this is him. I have a boyfriend so I won't go further into details but yis. Scott Eastwood (who was in Fast and Furious 8 And was in Suicide Squad (took me a moment to figure out who he was in SS) so Yih) is like the cast for Arlis because why not.

He still doesn't SCREAM ARLIS but this is a lot closer than Matt Bomer. I mean look at him. He's perfect. Not as perfect as me boy (because duh) but still pretty close.

ANYWHO

Yeah. Just thought I'd bless your day.