* * *
Sage was still battling the pup cold, which meant that Remus spent the night in the art room—Shifted and at the end of her bed curled up by her side.
The A.C was blasting and ever so often she would wake up to either take off her blanket or snuggle back under it, making Remus stay put in not wanting to be shoved off the bed for being too warm for her.
Hayes had still not returned back from his run, and while it worried Remus, the scouts claimed that they were keeping an eye on his movement.
The last thing anyone wanted was for him to go rogue.
It was nearing morning when Sage had started to develop a cough, and Remus didn't hesitate to shift back into skin and start to give her some water.
"Thanks." She said, her voice raspy as ever.
"How're you feeling?"
"Head hurts a lot...Maybe I sit downstairs?" He nodded, understanding that she had enough of sitting in bed all this time, so he picked her up and settled her onto the couch comfortably.
The tv was on lightly in the background, but Sage couldn't focus on it all that well. Not when she could feel her dad's pain, or her pup's sickness.
A newly made mother Luna was susceptible to more than just the normal emotions.
Remus didn't bother getting dressed fully and instead hurried to make his mate a tea and some fruit, right alongside a cold glass of water with ice. She didn't ask for any of it, but the thankful smile surely spoke that it was indeed what she was craving.
"Have to keep your energy up Sage, Rue's too." She hummed into her tea, almost signing in relief that Remus chose one of the witch's brews to combatted the stress and fight off colds.
"I didn't think you could still get a pup cold hun, I should've—"
"I don't know too, it's okay...And mama's need to heal pups." Remus nodded right beside her, but then she poked his bare chest.
"But I'm not just mama, that's what you forgot."
"I didn't want you to worry." She huffed in response and shrugged her shoulders.
"Now I'm sick and worried—Double worried because I made a big mess." He leaned in, his arm coming to wrap around her shoulder, pulling out all the stops in the attempt to get her to see reason and ultimately, turn calm.
His nose seemingly traced the likes of her burning cheeks, he ended it with a small kiss to her cheek. The mere action caused Sage's eyes to flutter lightly, she couldn't understand why it always brought her comfort.
But goddess, it did.
The pups woke up within the hour, which meant it was Remus' turn to try and get them ready while he kept Sage planted on the couch.
Trying to get them to eat or even dressed was a nightmare and a half, the twins did not want to cooperate. Not until Sage threw in her own firm words in and the pups instantly listened to their mama's words.
"How did you do that?" Remus questioned as he held Ronan, who was scrambling to get a closer view of his mom. So Sage pulled her hand up for a moment and tickled right behind the pup's ear, earning a giggle and calming him enough to settle properly into his father's hold.
"I think they like my smell."
"Shouldn't they like my smell too?" Sage tilted her head and then shrugged, Remus feeling overwhelmed took it as a sign of the pups favoring their mother more.
Which, probably happened in his own case as well. Mom was everything at the early stages. Mom provided the food, gave cuddles, and was around for most of the day.
Dad was just a figure they woke up with and then went to sleep with, maybe a bit of playing here and there. Remus knew he would have to make a better standing, especially since they were growing up before his eyes.
They still had a few hours before the council was set to come and rescue Nathan. So the group of them managed to cuddle up on the couch, Rue haven fallen back asleep on her father with flushed cheeks, similar to her mother's.
They were both burning up and all Remus could do was really keep their temperatures under control.
The front door soon opened, but the sound of slight snores had caused Hayes to silence his actions. Though Remus turned over the couch and eyed the male.
"When's the council coming?"
"Within the next three hours." He nodded, and asked if he would be able to use the shower here. But he didn't leave until he snuck a kiss to his daughter and then headed up the stairs.
Sage stirred a bit and peeked an eye open.
"Do you want some soup hun? Maybe that'd make you feel better, chicken broth?" She nodded, and mumbled that Blake kept the recipes in a binder.
"When Council is done, are you going to tell me where Blake and Raven go?" She said, and Remus stilled like a deer caught in headlights.
"I'm not dumb, Remmy."
"I never thought you were. But you're busy and caring for so many things at once, it isn't fair to load everything onto you. He's with Raven and her coven, she needed to heal among her people." She pouted all the same and nodded.
"So Blake's not coming back?"
"The last time I talked to him, he said he wanted to learn the basics on Witches so Raven won't be so alone here...We're not equipped for a witch's needs." Sage nodded, but she still felt saddened that nobody told her.
And that she didn't get to say goodbye.
Remus should've realized that bombarding her with everything at once would act worse than telling her as they came, so as he stood in the kitchen trying to follow Blake's recipe—He spoke out loud on his plan to do better.
Yet his wolf felt like everything was working against them, which sent him to be threatened to the couch further.
Can you hear that wolfie? He's mulling it over.
Papa says that a lot, is that good or bad?
He's thinking about what you said, about keeping you involved. Which I a hundred percent stand behind, by the way. I know you were busy with the pups, but you were waiting for Blake for how long?
Too long, but I'm not dumb.
Not dumb hun, never dumb. Just busy. And with the council coming, we should practice what you're going to say, right?
Or if you say something sassy and smart and I repeated it? I think I need a lil more sleep.
Alright alright, I think we're better at winging it anyway. But that soup is smelling great, what a thoughtful mate.
Mate in doghouse.
She felt Darius laughing through their link all before Remus introduced her to a wealthy bowl of soup with a side of crackers. She smiled up to him and kissed his cheek.
"I learn to be wolf and we both learn to be mates. Now we're learning to be mama and papa, it's okay. Don't mull it over. You're okay." Hayes eyes burned for what could've felt like the twentieth time that morning, and sweet goddess did Sage look like Willow so much in her life.
His mate was never one to care much about her looks, so the messy bed hair leading up to the middle of the day was prime Willow attire. And now that he thought about it, her style was much like Sage's as well, mix-matched, and could care less if it was 'in'.
"I made sandwiches too, Hayes. You're welcome to eat with us." Remus called out, knowing that his mate's father was feeling rather out of place. Especially when he didn't know what to think of...Anything anymore.
"I'm good. You two need to eat, how about I take the pups outside for a bit. Give you two time to talk?" Hayes said, but Remus saw it as giving him time with his grandchildren.
And Remus couldn't fault him for that.
"Roe needs to finish bottle before shifting," Sage said, lifting up the aging pup who pouted in hearing what his mama had to say.
"I think I can manage that, and how's Rue doing?" The pup still had a very red tint to her cheeks and looked prepared for another nap, and while she was fussy in moving away from her mama's warmth, Grandpa did have a favorite place in the youngest pup's heart. So he held them both and Remus helped him get together a bag filled with the milk bottles as well as the bottled water that had Rue's medication in.
Though Remus did sneak in a sandwich at the bottom of the bag for Hayes, he needed something to eat too.
When Remus returned with his own meal, the two ate in silence for a bit to get the few bites in before Remus turned to her. "What are we going to do?"
"We're going to greet them outside the packhouse hun, the pups will have to be with us—We need to prove to them that they're our since they don't trust Hayes' say so or ours. Eli's having a few enforcers training out in the open if things turn south."
"Enforcers at the ready?" He nodded in confirmation and bit into his sandwich again before offering her a bite, and she hummed after taking it...Which had him settle the rest of it on her plate as he went to grab another.
"They're also providing more funds to the other portion of the packs."
"Not our friends?"
"No. Even when Moon Ridge is a neutral pack, what happens is we all put our earnings into the pot and it's divided by there. That doesn't include Arctic Crest though, and the biggest providers are us and Grey Hallow. And we're barely entitled half of whatever we've earned." That caused Sage to frown, going so far as to sit up and huff.
"Winter was hard with funds, we're a big pack. Bigger than them."
"Believe me hun, we'll get to the bottom of this."
"When Luke become Master of Arms, make Leo council member." That would certainly be a good compromise if they made it that far without a war.
"Remmy? What rank are other packs?" That was certainly a good question, so he got up for a minute and got a pad. As he started scribbling them all down.
"So remember I said we're third because I don't want to be first?" Sage nodded and cuddled closer to him as she read through the list.
"We're still third, your brother's pack is second and that leaves Arctic Crest as first. Their head Alpha's are Irene and Xavier, but they are made up of three packs and are farther away from anyone, which makes it hard to make any move on them." Sage nodded, which prompted Remus to continue.
Arctic Crest
Mystic Grimm
Crescent Moon
Grey Hallow
White Paw
Silvertail
Moon Stone
Moon Ridge
Eclipse
Moonlight
BlueMoon
Shadow Pack
Moon Valley
"Moon Valley is at the bottom..."
"Before Hayes went on a run, he mentioned that their pack is falling. And if a pack falls that leaves the Alphas without a pack to lead...If we were booted out hun, they'd—" Remus hardly got the chance to finish his statement as Sage growled in defense.
"If we go to war I want Blake back on pack grounds."
"That's reasonable munchkin, but we're not there yet. War is a scary thing, Sage, we don't want war."
"No. War is to scare them, council doesn't want war. Not when we friends—We're friends with strong packs, look..."
Sage had made a line separating the packs by who would fight on who's side, and it was a partial maybe one whatever enforcers the council had managed throughout the given years—Much like the ones that are in the cells now.
The ones who attacked Sage.
"We are un-rep-re-sented, but we're stronger than them. We'll make this work, ask for change and if no change then we ask for war." Remus' smile tugged at the side of his face as he truly thought about what his mate was saying.
This wasn't Randal Moon going against all the packs, this was half the packs and plus a few going against a corrupt system that was meant to help them all.
Unfortunately for them, the incoming call of the council's plane being half an hour from landing wasn't all that shocking. They informed the group and set the stage, though Remus had allowed his mate to finish eating and packed a water bottle for her.
Kenzie made it painfully aware how dehydrated Sage really was, and she certainly was feeling the second dose of medication as she sat at the pack's steps with Rue wrapped to her chest.
The lucky pup was resting after Grandpa tired her out from playing outside. While Amy remained at a close distance with a twin stroller at the ready and Ronan in her arms or playing in the patch of grass beside it.
And no, he wasn't wearing shoes. Much like his mother, he hated them. Yet even the pup knew that something was wrong, that something was bothering his parents as to when his father and Eli said something that made the other go rigid—Ronan turned to look at them.
"Little Alpha's interested." Eli teased, and Remus was already smiling down to his son who was trying to crawl through the grass but ended as a butt scootch close enough to his dad to hold up his hands.
"Alright bud, come here." He cooed up to his papa and put his little pudgy arms around his dad's neck and cuddled further. Sage took her phone out of her back pocket and smirked as she held the camera at the ready.
"Remmy?" She called out, and when he turned around she snapped the photo. Ronan's instant giggle commenced at the sound and Sage looked proud of the final product as she held it up.
"Sage..."
"But you look so cute with Roe." She said with a pout, hiding her phone away so he couldn't delete it. Yet that moment would be cut short, as the incoming set of SUVs finally brought the given group of Council members.
So many for one male? Smells funny.
Sage engaged those around her and Jules had to hold back a smile, her Luna was definitely cunning when it came to spotting the finer details. Remus had kissed the top of Ronan's head and returned him to Amy before walking a given few steps forward with a smile.
The best he could manage.
"If I knew I was hosting the entire council, I would've had my kitchens prepare a bigger lunch." He offered out, but the smiles in greetings and polite were all strained.
Sage was right, and it was making much more sense the further they looked at it. Everything about this smelled funny, especially the onset of enforcers from the council that arrived behind them.
"We've come to investigate what happened with Alpha Nathan, but also investigate whether or not Luna Sage was actually pregnant—Or pregnant to begin with." Alpha Calvin had prompted, and he spoke without a hint of a smile.
Sage's eyes locked to him rather quickly, he was the former Alpha of Moon Valley—Of course, he would be the one to speak first.
______
Date: 01/14/2022
Time: 11:11
Words: 2668
Author's Note:
Things are getting intense! The council is here, but are they ready for Crescent Moon's plans?
Chapter Eight is the last chapter in this Moon phase, get excited!
Any thoughts on what you think might happen during the council's visit? I'd love to know!
Have a great weekend and be prepared for Monday's chapter👀