"I fucking hate funerals," I mutter to Cain once we're back in the pack house.
"Hopefully this is the last one for awhile," Cain says, his eyes sad, hair disheveled.
"You didn't have to do that," I whisper, finally realizing. "You took my pain, didn't you?"
Cain is silent, but his hollow expression answers for him.
"I can handle it," I say confidently. "You have enough on your plate without dealing with my pain too."
He shakes his head. "I will never let you be in pain, Ares. Not when I can stop it."
While I appreciate the sentiment, I found it completely unnecessary. However, now that I'm an Alpha, there's no reason I wouldn't be able to take his pain, as he had done for me now, and when Carter had died.
I focus on the bond, and imagine lifting the weight of his emotions off of his heart. Instantly, I can feel the crushing impact on my chest.
Gasping, I clutch at my chest. It feels like a part of my soul has been ripped away from me, and like my heart is being pierced with a thousand needles.
"Fuck, Ares," Cain swears, and the pain is immediately gone. "Don't fucking do that again."
"It's not fair to you," I say, catching my breath and straightening my spine, having been hunched over from the pain. "Just give me my half, it's only right."
"I said no," Cain growls. "I saw how it was for you dealing with Carter's death. I'm not going to have you go through that again."
"I'm stronger now," I insist. "Surely, you know that."
Cain sighs, and cups my cheek with his large, calloused hand. "I know that you're already dealing with the Transformation. You don't need this on your mind too. Just let me take care of you, okay? You don't have to fight me every time I try to make your life easier."
I nod, defeated. He wouldn't let this go, and if taking my pain gave him peace of mind, then far be it from me to fight him on this. There were way more important fights I wanted to win.
"I want to be put on the patrolling schedule," I tell Cain as he lays on the bed, his eyes closed.
"No," Cain says simply.
"It wasn't a question," I state. "I'm merely letting you know that I will be helping with the patrols. You can put me on the schedule and know where I'll be at all times, or you can have fun trying to track my whereabouts."
Cain is quiet, and he finally opens his eyes and sits up, meeting my gaze intensely. "You want to help guard?"
I nod, surprised he seems like he's going along with it. I definitely thought I would have to cut him up a little before we would come to an agreement.
"Okay. You'll have your first shift tomorrow," He says with a mischievous smile, and I wonder what he's planning.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
I groan as Axel takes me to the section of the territory Cain scheduled me to guard. "You've got to be joking," I whine as I look at the school.
"What? Cain said you wanted to get a patrolling shift," Axel says, but his smirk tells me he knows exactly how Cain has managed to pull one over on me.
"Yeah, I meant like guarding the Northeast border," I mutter, rolling my eyes. "Not watching kids wipe boogers on each other."
Axel laughs. "It won't be too bad. You like training the pups, what's so wrong with visiting them for awhile? I'm sure they'd love to see their Luna... you know, not soaked in blood."
My ears perk up at the mention of training. "You think their teachers will mind if I give an impromptu training session?"
Axel rolls his eyes. "I'm not sure if Cain would be pleased to know you interrupted their learning to teach them how to dismember someone. Stop stalling, let's go inside."
"Fuck," I swear under my breath.
"Might not want to say that in front of the pups?" Axel suggests, and I flip him off. "Probably won't want to do that either."
I take a deep breath as Axel opens the doors. Why the fuck do I feel so nervous? I feel more uncomfortable around children than I do murderous rogues.
"Your heartbeat is going insane," Axel whispers.
"Shut up," I hiss back.
We go down the hallway, and see a woman I vaguely recognize. She's wearing a pencil skirt, blouse, and low heels. She turns around to look at us, her eyes lighting up as she waves and walks to us.
"Luna, Beta," She greets, her grin wide. "Alpha Cain told me you two would be stopping by today. It's good to see you both."
I shake her hand with a smile, and Axel does the same. "The children are having their recess right now, I'm sure they would be thrilled if you joined them."
"The Luna was actually just telling me how much she wanted to play with them," Axel says, his eyes glowing in mischief.
"That's wonderful, Luna!" The teacher beams. "Come on, I'll show you the playground."
I nod with a fake smile as she turns around leading the way, and I kick Axel in the back of the knee so hard he stumbles.
The teacher turns around. "Is everything alright?"
"Axel is just a little clumsy," I apologize, and the teacher gives a knowing smile as she turns back around.
I'm totally going to get you back for that, he threatened via mindlink.
You started it, I bicker childishly with him.
Before we step outside, I pull down my mask and hood, revealing my face and hair. No point in freaking out the children. Especially now that I don't look like the monsters they see in their nightmares.
"Luna!" Kids immediately squeal and surround me, nearly toppling over each other to get near me.
"And Beta," Axel mutters, pouting slightly.
"We were just about to play duck duck wolf!" A gap toothed boy says with a grin. "Will you play with us?"
"Duck duck wolf? That doesn't even make se-" I start to point out, and Axel wacks the back of my head. "I mean, sure. Sounds like a blast," I say with fake enthusiasm.
The kid grabs my hand with his much smaller, stickier one, and I inwardly shudder, not daring to ask why the hell his hand feels like he's been washing it with glue.
The kids form a circle, and the kid who grabbed my hand pulled me down to sit next to him. "What's your name?" I ask him.
"Callahan," He says with a wide grin. "My friends call me Cal. I don't like my name," He rambles, a wind-up toy with no time limit. "Your name is much cooler. Luna sounds awesome."
I laugh. "Call me Ares, Cal. That's my name, and I like it much better than Luna."
His eyes widen. "My mom told me to call you Luna or we would all get in trouble."
I can't help but smile. "It'll be our secret, okay?" Cal nods his head seriously.
"I want to go first!" A girl with pigtails screams, and I wince, my hearing far too sensitive for the high pitched sound.
"Duck, duck, duck," She says as she goes around the circle, pausing as she gets to me. Unsurprisingly, she screams, "Wolf!" and smacks the crap out of my head.
I get up slowly, and run after her, acting like I'm trying my hardest to catch her, but she sits down before I do. The children laugh, delighted by the game.
"It's okay, Luna," One girl with big glasses whispers to me. "I'm not very good at this game, either."
I give her a reassuring pat on the head and go around the circle saying duck. Axel stiffens as I pause when I get to him, and I pause before saying, "Duck."
I continue around the circle, until I get to the girl with glasses. "Wolf," I say, and she scrambled to her feet. I jog, staying slightly in front of her, and she taps my back, giggling.
"Shoot," I say, and the kids giggle. I go around the circle again, this time choosing Axel. I sprint quickly around the circle, and Axel isn't able to catch me before I sit down, making the kids tease him.
"Ooooh, the Luna is faster," Callahan laughs as he points at Axel.
Axel rolls his eyes and mindlinks me, I'm not going to go easy against them.
I scoff. Men and their egos.
As he goes around the circle, saying wolf to one pup who chases him, I subtly stick my hand out as he passes me, making him fall to the ground, face-first.
He groans as the kid jumps on him. "Got you, Beta!"
"Yes, you did," He groans, glaring at me before quickly smiling at the kid and ruffling his hair.
We play a little longer until the teacher claps her hands together and tells them it's time to get back to class.
The pups whine, and take turns hugging me goodbye, some of them sniffing me as they do so, unaware of their primal instinct to seek comfort in the smell of their Luna. They don't know why they do it, they only know it calms their wolf.
Axel and I stare at the empty playground when they're gone.
"There's no fence around the playground," I note anxiously.
Axel shrugs. "They're fine. We're pretty far from the border."
But they weren't fine. Not as long as the wolves who killed Phillip were still out there, no doubt waiting for the next time to strike.
And I would do whatever it takes to keep these pups safe.
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