* * *
The three Crescent Moon members didn't know if they should mention the contests. Surely they could just slip it in later, besides...It would start half today and half tomorrow before they leave at night.
Hayes had decided that he hadn't been on Crescent Moon land in a long while, and although there had been semi-bad blood between his pack and theirs. It simmered once Remus' father died and the pack was passed to the next generation.
And who could possibly hate Sage?
Well, a quarter of the room could.
But they couldn't look her directly in the eyes as their wolves were too timid. It was simply the cockiness and temperament of their humans that did not allow for proper ratification.
Luke just hope all this would be settled during the contests. Which would start today, though the only ones Sage was relatively interested in was the race and one on one sparing.
So while everyone was off competing at other events, Luke and Liam attempted to teach Sage a sport. Basketball.
And it wasn't going well at all.
"Ball in hoop. Why?"
"Because that's where it wants to go, and—And you have to help it get there!" Liam had to make the rules sound a bit childish, only because she wouldn't understand this being entertaining without added instructions.
Better yet, they simply started to practice dribbling and shooting before letting her get any farther than an actual game.
"Alright, race starts soon." A devilish smirk rises on her face, and Luke claps her shoulder in recognition to it. "Don't let anyone scare you Sage, alright? You run here to there, just like we always do back at home."
"With Jack?" Liam scoffs and mutters under his breath that it wasn't always Jack that took her on runs.
An Omega listed Sage down for one of the contestants, and her three pack members had made a small circle for her to change her clothes and shift to her wolf.
One of which already wreaked of Alpha-Female within the first few seconds.
The only aspect that Sage wasn't aware of was that her Luna status made it possible for her to communicate with other Lunas. Thus allowing Enid to talk to her for a bit before the given race.
Hayes had watched from a distance, as an order from Remus himself that he didn't want his mate distracted during this time. But once he comes to their pack land then they could sort it all out.
Hello! I'm Olivia, and as the reigning champion three years running. I've decided on the course this year once again. It's a five-mile run, through the brush that surrounds the ground. An Omega traced it with bacon just now. We'll start at the sound of the gun!
Sage turned in confusion, and since Luke couldn't hear what she said, she caught his attention from just a glance.
"What's wrong?"
Gun?
Luke pointed off to the male Omega who held the gun in hand. "It's going to make a loud noise, you start running then." The Omega looked dumbfounded at the exchange and explanation, but he didn't have the high tier to question it.
"On your mark, get set, go!" The sound rang in Sage's ear for a moment, but she had already darted off to the smell of bacon. Her favorite breakfast treat. Her paws had barely touched the ground, and better yet—She couldn't detect a single scent trailing her.
"I guess that puts the question to rest then?" Liam smirked at those beside him. And Laura shoved his side.
"I'm trying to listen to what the others are saying." She scolded, and both received a sharp gesture from Luke who wanted to time the entire thing.
He heard it was five miles in the surrounding forest in the large circle, Hayes deemed it was safe as the witches enchanted it as a sign of peace.
Thankfully they could rest easy knowing that she wasn't in danger. But better yet, it was a shared confusion of how early Sage appeared, and Luke stopped the timer.
Four minutes and forty-eight seconds.
"Alright, so less than a minute for each mile?" Liam said doing the quick math, and Luke chuckled. "Congrats brother, took you long enough." He teased, going to greet his Luna who was clearly confused as to where everyone was.
"What was the last winner's time?"
"Seven something sir." Laura smirked as well, especially since the previous winner's group was starting to grovel over the sense that their Luna lost.
It seemed like there were all the same people who were winning these events, and surely if Sage knew the concept of tug of war then the four of them could manage.
But nobody wanted to push her more than she's been pushed so far. Laura had mentioned that the Alpha seemed tenser over the phone this morning, and that the pack bond was being effected by it.
Or so says her father.
Perhaps Sage would receive a mating mark when they return, as distance surely makes a male wolf—An Alpha wolf anxious.
Some of the Omega's had started to make portal changing rooms, but Sage felt the need to remain in fur. The warmth was confusing her heavy fur coat, but wanted to soak up the sun sooner or later.
Laura decided to sit with her Luna, and the others followed in pursuit. Not in fur, but it was a nice gesture as Sage hadn't shifted since...the day before they left? It was starting to be too long for her and her wolf.
Luke knew she wouldn't be able to go that long without doing so again, especially if she didn't want to shift now.
Apparently Olivia, the winner last year had finally come, with third and fourth place a few paces behind. She had wrongly assumed that she won, smiling brightly and all until the times were called.
"First place, Four minutes forty-eight seconds. Second place, Seven minutes twenty-two second. Third place, Seven minutes thirty-six seconds. Fourth place, Eight minutes twelve seconds." Olivia had given a high-five to her surrounding pack members until a thought occurred.
"Four minutes? But Rachel was right behind me."
"No ma'am, you got seven minutes and twenty-two seconds. And Luna Rachel received seven minutes and thirty-six seconds." The two Luna's looked to one another in confusion until they both gripped the clipboard to check the times.
Sage Elwood: Four minutes Fourty-Eight seconds.
"What?!" Olivia screamed, and Sage turned her head rather unamused that her thoughts were being disturbed by something so violently ear-wrenching. "Can we help you?"
"Four minutes?! How?" Sage knew, very well, what time is.
And she understood the idea of her time being better had won her the race, and so she looked directly into the Luna's eyes, and before Luke to rightly realize it—Olivia had offered a silent challenge.
"I want a rematch! I didn't even see her!" Sage growled in a low octave, one reserved for those who angered her to the core. Or for a threatening reason such as this.
"I suggest you take a few steps back, Luna Olivia."
"I demand a rematch." Sage shook her wolf's head, and it only advanced the foolish Luna's step, causing Sage to rise to four paws and stalk forward. Nobody had rightly seen how large of a wolf she was compared to those who hadn't shifted back to skin.
Hayes had noted that in question to who her original pack could've been, the black coat didn't aid all that much in terms of where it steamed from. The only colors that mattered were a reddish and specific splashes of white, as Sage had white tips to give her some color to her midnight black fur.
Luke couldn't rightly hold back his Luna as it would rather odd, so he attempted to find a rational side to the one who should have more competency in this situation.
Unless they were egging Sage on for a reaction.
Sage, you fight them...They win.
Why?
They want to get you in trouble with the Council. Calm down. Play it smart.
Play smart.
The hackles of Sage's back fur still hadn't gone down, but she sat down on her rump again. If this she-wolf wanted a rematch then so be it.
Rematch. Lose again.
"Not likely...Omega! Ready the pistol, Jay...Take one of her pack members to start of the brush. There and back." Sage looked to Luke, silently choosing him as her member.
Both he and Jay had undressed, certainly under the category of being untamed to what the goddess had given them with. But Luke wasn't interested in She-wolves, or not now at least.
He has a responsibility to Sage.
The two males had sat a good few feet apart, and Sage turned to Liam and Laura for a 'good luck,' before either she-wolf had planted themselves yet again in front of the starting line.
The Omega truly did not understand why the Luna in first, with an almost three-minute lead, wanted to accept a challenge. But he once again didn't have the tier to question and gestured the gun into the air.
"On your mark, get set...go!" Olivia realized her mistake on the starting stance Sage took, goddess have her soul, she was just 3/4ths of the way there while Sage tagged her brother and was halfway back already.
When she returned the clapping and cheers had rallied once again, and Liam offered her a light sweater as he popped it over her head and allowed her the decency to cover herself up.
She's livid, and this is hilarious.
Liam cheered into the groups mind. And Luke snarled at the idea.
They're baiting her. Waiting for her to—
"You're a freak! A god awful freak!" The woman had been offered a shirt as well, not caring about her nude for the split second it took her to put the shirt on.
"I a freak? What are you?" She questioned back, and the fact that she was not displaying any emotion was firing up Olivia another tenfold.
Sage had seen it coming a mile away, and while the Luna before her had made it bluntly obvious what her attack was going to be, it had been intercepted twice. Where Sage caught the actual fist, and having broken a finger or two on impact. Or the second grip of Luke attempting to stop said attack.
"Hands off my Luna." Jay interrupted, and Luke looked between Olivia and this wannabe warrior and smirk.
"Then control yours." He scoffed, but as he let out—It let go of the pressure he held onto the wrist, and Olivia had felt the broken fingers and cried.
"That hurt...Then you not strong." Sage deemed, eyeing her audience and making firm eye contact with Hayes. He withheld a growl, as he didn't want to cause another incident like yesterday.
"Luna Olivia, you are suspended from any further games. And since that is all we have left to offer, you should ready your plane." He had threatened yet again to send someone home on account of them targeting Sage.
But the onlookers had gotten a good look at Sage's form, how skinny she looked. The difference between her skin to fur ratio had been.
Better yet, they caught the scars that lingered around her body.
So everyone, especially Hayes knew that broken fingers were nothing but an easy pain that Sage probably faced.
Some of the other she-wolves, Haylee for instance had laughed.
I think you did wonderfully.
She echoed in the back of Sage's mind, and it earned her a beautiful little smile directed to her. Better yet, it caused her to come over.
"We need a few more people for a scavenger hunt, do you want to join our team?" Sage blinked in complete confusion.
"Scav hunt?" She turned to see Luke now semi-dressed, and it surely caught the eye of Haylee's she-wolves.
"Do you remember when we took Liam's shirt and hid it?" He questioned, and she nodded carefully, confused as to how that meant any relation to a 'scav hunt'.
"You have to look for things that's been hidden. Thank you for the invitation, Luna Haylee." Hayes chuckled as they surely were making friends with another pack, but said Luna heard.
"Dad do you want to play too?" She questioned, and the former Alpha denied it.
"That's for you all, besides...Three Alphas on one team? We'll cause another uproar." Luke hadn't known that Haylee was Harlow's sister, and neither did Sage.
But she smiled non the less.
"Your wolf is beautiful...I'm visiting my brother after Christmas around the time he said you were coming. Maybe we could arrive closer together?"
"Visit pup?" A nervous laugh escapes Haylee as she nods.
"Do you know when you're going? I'll try and come closer to your date." Luke remained silent, he of course knew the answer as he would be flying with them. But he waited for Sage to find the answer.
"1/5." Haylee's smile had slowly crept up, Sage wasn't too difficult to understand. She connected to things she knew, and it was up to others to figure out what she was trying to get across.
January the 5th wasn't difficult to process.
"I'll come then too, haven't seen my grandpup yet." He decided, a family reunion is exactly what his wolf needs. But then it happened...Again.
Yet this time it caused Sage to hold her temple. "Come on Sage, let's get something to eat yeah...Excuse us." The group soon found themselves encasing their Luna away from wandering eyes.
"That's the second time I think I've scared her."
"Yeah well, you're horrifying." The father gawked, but nudged his daughter. "I didn't know that you were going to see your brother."
"I'm seeing my nephew, he just happens to be there." Hayes sighed, they were still having a hard time—either of them—returning back to Mystic Grimm.
"We don't have to stay long." Haylee felt guilty in doing this, but she rightly didn't forgive her father for what he's done. And she'd have to go and warn her brother now about the arrival of their father.
It was sure to put everyone on edge.
So it didn't surprise her if Sage picked up on the eeriness of Hayden. That the aura was as strangled as their family tree, Haylee was lucky to find her mate in another pack. As it brought her away from the horrors and history hiding in Mystic Grimm.
______
Date: 12-12-2020
Time: 11:48
Words: 2445