Lacking Humanity|Crescent Moon

Chapter Twenty-Three

And now, the true colors had shown.

"Sage, I didn't mean—" Remus had taken a step forward, but the newcomer had flinched back. The same female who could rally a tie with just about anyone in the room suddenly felt scared.

More than scared, she was shaking.

And there was only one person she felt she could go to for help.

Lu?

I missed dinner, didn't I? It's alright hun, I'll be there in twenty minutes.

The conversation was short-lived as Sage sent an image of what had happened, causing Luke to rally against Liam to demand an explanation.

Had Luke been in skin at that moment, he would've facepalmed.

Instead he called a friend to finish his rounds as he rushed in the direction of the Packhouse, hoping to calm his sister.

But he was halfway across the pack, and with how panicked she felt over their link--He needed to hurry.

"Sage, let's sit down and talk about why the Alpha put Kelly into a cage." Leo attempted to settle this, and it was meant to be a helping hand as her father figure. But it started to go in an entirely different direction as she remembered what she found.

"No. No cage." The word was a trigger, and it once again broke Leo's heart to hear how much torture came with that damn word.

"No, no cage. Come, little flower, let me get you some tea, and we'll do what Leo says and sit down." Sage was struggling against her wolf. In times of pure anxiety, she would usually shift to fur in hopes of battling out whatever else was surrounding her.

And when black eyes emitted to the audience in front of her, Leo jumped into gear.

"Everyone leave. NOW!" He ordered, thus having both Eli and Jack pull the Alpha back as Leo went and kneed down to his daughter in an attempt to settle this.

She had fallen down to her knees as she couldn't contain her wolf, her claws were gaining visibility, and her teeth were starting to peek out up and behind her lips.

"It's alright, Sage. Breathe, sweetheart. Look, Kelly's fine, isn't she?" Leo looked up to the stray she-wolf, and the woman nodded. She had been grateful to be let out, and in that instance the woman let Leo know that Sage was planning on letting everyone out.

Remus, how many are in the basement?

About fifteen waiting for trial and a few pups who lit—Oh. Shit.

The Alpha had finally understood the entire reason why Sage was starting to feel unsafe. So when he tried to speak with his mate through the bond, he was met with a block that threw him out.

More than that, actually.

It finally triggered the shift she begged her body to suppress and fight against.

Everyone in the room, minus Kelly, knew that Sage did not favor hurting anyone. Especially when she was this rallied up.

She managed to burst through one of the closest windows and darted into the direction of the woods.

"What do we do?"

"She'll be off pack territory in twenty minutes if we don't hurry." Both Liam and Caleb were forming a plan, but the Alpha took the first approach in following after his mate.

He didn't hesitate to shift and jumped through the same window in hopes of gaining some proper path that his mate had taken.

His wolf was in dire need of settling his mate, as his own heart was palpitating at an ungodly rhythm that he couldn't even imagine how hers must be feeling right now.