* * *

Sage hadn't seen Mae the hours following, as she wanted to say sorry—Or at the very least to make sure she was okay. While it didn't look like it, Sage adored every one of her females. They had lived together for a month in confinement and the months following their escape.

Time had been on their side, and the relationships certainly built stronger by the day. However, when an accounted three she-wolves from the Black Crescent side of Half Crescent had claimed that they didn't see the Delta, it was clear that she didn't want to be found.

And Sage certainly knew what that entailed.

Instead, she went about her day with a much more diverse attitude, wanting to make good on the deal she made with Andy. Though it was strange, to go from being called her first name—to Luna—to Hera and then Alpha Sage—All the way back to Luna Sage? It felt...wrong, and her wolf was impassive on the entire thing.

Unsure.

By dinner, not much else had changed. She still sat beside her the pups as Andy didn't want them to feel the indifference just yet. Not when they were still young and getting used to the pack.

That and both Grey and Severin enjoyed the two, as listening to their day made it worth all the stress and work put into making the pack run smoothly.

However, when night started to fall, Sage had been feeling much more tired and run down than the night before. The spike in her head had rung all the way to the center of her skull, making her go and look for Andy as she wanted to go to bed.

But had no idea where his room was located.

"Severin?" She called out, and the large male stopped and turned around at hearing her voice.

Hello little Luna. Can I help you?

She nodded but then made a face of disgust. "I'm not little. I fight big bears and I fight you before. Not little."

Hmm, you're right on that, bear slayer. I retract the phrase.

"Thank you. Alpha's not in office. Where is he?"

He went to go on patrol. Sure he'll be back in a little while...Is something wrong?

"No. I want to go to bed. Where his room?"

Severin's eyes had gone wide at the question. He almost stuttered verbally with how she phrased such a comment.

I'll take you there. I didn't know you were moving into the pack house.

"Yes. Andy says I can sleep with him." He hummed along. His Alpha surely wanted that—For days now. But he did just as was intended and escorted the almost Luna to the best room in the pack house. Or that was his opinion, at the very least.

Judging by Sage's face, she too thought the same. Her head couldn't look that far up, but the better part of her knew that it was the lofted ceilings and windows that really gave it its charm.

Not that she knew much about houses or design. If anything, the room was bare and needed more carpeted fur.

But the bed was much bigger than the bunk beds being used elsewhere. That was an upgrade. And Sage placed her bag beside the window to look outside.

How's your head?

"Hurts bad. I go to bed soon. Better tomorrow." She deemed, but Severin had his own mixed worries as he called to his Alpha right then and there. While it wasn't a Beta's job to be this concerned with the Luna of the pack, it still rang necessary.

When the Beta left, Sage had taken off her bear fur. Letting it air out on the table with the window open, the only two rocks she brought forth to the bed were the pups. She couldn't bring Remus' stone when she laid with another male, it felt wrong, and her wolf had more respect for him than that.

Even when the connection is broken, even though the past sparks seemed like decades away.

She hadn't a clue as to what side she should take, but judging by the instinct of letting the male take the one closest to the door, she took the opposite end.

After washing up, letting herself be sprayed and dried with the water in her pouch—It made her feel more relaxed and ready to turn in for the night. However, undressing into her long nightwear felt odd.
Sure, she wore it when the pups were sleeping with her.

But the heat of today's tasks was starting to catch up with her, and thus she found herself wearing another nightwear. One with a halter top and a thin skirt.
A moan escaped her lips as it was a different pleasure to let her legs get a feel for Andy's covers and comfier.

She almost groaned once more when she felt herself melt into the mattress. The small luxuries were a thing of the past. And yet now she felt painfully aware of how spoiled she'd grown in Crescent Moon, even if everyone around her claimed it wasn't.

Even in the midst of it all, she felt the whole in her heart seep further—Sweet goddess, she wanted to be in the arms of her mate, to inhale his sweet scent and snuggle her pups.
Until her tormenting thoughts had finally hit her...

Would they smell the same?
Would they still smell like pups?

These questions lingered as her body soon started to give out to the impending exhaustion. She felt herself slowly drifting, however, the noise of the door caused her to peek an eye open—Though in that moment, she trusted scent more than sight.

It was just Andy, who came over to her side and sat just at the edge, causing her to hum in greeting. "Hey...Sev said you weren't feeling good?" It earned him a huff this time, causing him to chuckle. Though his impatience for her to take some medication from his own pack healer was starting to weigh thin, so much so that he motioned for the water.

The thought of cooling water and refreshing, making it worth take the offering, until the whiff she caught of whatever chemical was in there instantly caused her to make a face. "Water smells funny."

"Healer said it'd help, hun, no reason to suffer through a cold...You told me you and the rest of your females all got sick a few weeks ago? Maybe you're not healed up enough." That was surely a possibility, but Sage did not want to be labeled as helpless, and thus she drank the water until there was nothing left before snuggling back into the pillow.

"Sleep soon?"
"Miss me that much, bear slayer?... Alright, alright, sorry. Yeah, the bathroom's through that door. I'm gonna take a shower." She hummed, and the smell of the hinted medication was just on her breath. He was thankful that she'd feel this comfortable, knowing full well that a she-wolf of her status would simply dismiss his attempts.

The shower helped reign in his beast, trying to recall the last time he caught a feeling for a she-wolf. He wasn't this in tune with his wolf nor grown as a male.

Though it did help that Sage didn't really hold back on how she saw him, the first comment of being 'pretty' didn't pertain as strongly as it does now. Before, Andy didn't know how much she struggled with communicating in skin—Though he had to admit, he did like her speaking in Latin.

She sounded much more sure of herself in comparison, but right now, he was anxious. There was hardly any enjoyment in his shower, and that was usually the time of day when he relaxed under a warm nozzle.

Yet here he was, quickly drying off and hurrying to join the female in bed—Even if it was just to sleep.

This idea that he conjured up of normalcy brought Sage to play an important role, and when she peeked her eyes open to see why the bed had sunken on his side. He smirked. "Go back down for me, sweetheart. It's just me." Andy couldn't tell if she meant her huff or not, and instead, she scooted closer to him—Closer to his warmth and inhaled his scent.

"I miss you ..." The Alpha couldn't understand her through her mumbles, but if he needed to play the lost mate for her, he could surely do it for the nights she was ill.

The arm that she'd been clutching onto so tightly had been claimed, so he managed to maneuver himself up and around. Going to gently hold her, he realized that she was hardly wearing any clothing.

It was easy to misread the signs.
That in their day and age showing skin was a part of their daily routine. However, it stirred his beast further. His fingers trailed her tattoos in pure sync with the lines.

He'd studied them before, but never enough to be this close to feel them firsthand.

Something enacted in him, and perhaps it was what the mated males of his old packs had attempted to share with him and their experience—Yet he never had the chance.

Andy had felt protective that any footstep within the house had him on the verge of growling. It was a new sensation building up in his stature that he did indeed growl out towards the door when one of the nightly patrols made his way back to his own room at the end of the hall.

Sage had only woken up a bit, startled, of course, but otherwise prepared to snuggle further into his bare chest—And instinct proved well enough as he wrapped his arms around her, securing her in place.

"Sleep. Nothing comes." She whispered, her cheeks heavily pressed against his heart. And goddess has mercy, his chest quickened once she mewed softly in her sleep.

It was at that moment, Andy found himself adoring the likes of Sage Elwood. But he was going to be damned to learn that she was not actually Sage Elwood.

She is, in fact, Sage Moon. Luna of Crescent Moon.

______

Date: 08/29/2022

Time: 9:24

Words: 1736

Author's Note:

Now is the perfect time to reiterate that Sage's and other characters' choices aren't the best or what we ourselves would pick in her situation.
Perhaps it will end in a full circle, or perhaps not.
Though it will end on a cliffhanger.

Happy Monday, and I hope you all have a great week!