* * *

"Alpha Harlow is leaving within the hour once Haylee comes, is the tarmac cleared?" Blake questioned looking at his phone, but Sage hummed as Elena had gone ahead with the idea of an order being placed for the witches to aid them.

"So what else did I miss?" Warren questioned and Remus felt his knuckles turn white around his cane. He couldn't hold back much longer.

"You—You took a blood oath with a complete stranger?! How do you expect me to just accept the fact that you smell like him?!" Remus spat, his hands curling around the cain as he tried to sort through his anger. "Whose bite is that?!"

It wasn't the first outburst the room had heard from Remus, but with the way his chest was pulsating up and down caused the room to shiver. This wasn't at all good for his health.

"Remmy, I thought I felt you die in the facility. I drew pebbles because I didn't want to forget you...And I started to forget how you sounded. I didn't have pictures like you do, or a grave where I can pray. All I had was pebbles! If Half Crescent was alive and you were gone, Andy said I would have to come back with him." There, the truth of their blood oath had been let out to the room, and Andy, for what it was worth, could have asked for much more.

In the end, all he wanted in the beginning was a Luna. And all Sage wanted was help getting back home. They used one another, and Andy wouldn't shy away from thinking further than their oath. But alas, it didn't matter.

What did, was Remus steaming with a newfound rage that bounced between Sage and him.

Remus scoffed—"That doesn't change the fact that you're carrying his mark!"

"I'm not! This is not Andy's mark! He offered and I go through Heat myself!"

"He—" The interruption of Aurora had startled Sage to take a step back, bumping straight into Torin as she felt so disoriented.

"For Goddess's sake," Aurora cried, "I heard you yell and scream for days after you felt Sage die. You begged the Moon Goddess to give her back, to take you in her place. But now she's here! She's standing right in front of her, she did what she had to do—And frankly, she already suffered a Heat without you." It warmed Sage's heart to have Rory on her side, but that didn't still level out the guilt in her chest.

"I know you're not happy with me. But I broke out of Underground, made friends all over to come back home. I didn't forget you, I can't forget you...I just don't—didn't know if I was making it home." She said, her eyes not leaving Remus', but the cruel piece of the puzzle was that the bite hadn't left entirely, it just scarred...Right alongside the bite of a vampire.

The one she fully revealed to him as she whispered the single word of Vampire.

And Remus wasn't the only one dreading that story, especially as she tried to hide it again.

"When did you leave Oak Wood?" Julia questioned and Sage perked her lips, she was hardly good at dates. And if it wasn't for the Christmas tree in the corner and the attempt at decorating she'd seen around the house, then she would've forgotten about Christmas entirely.

"Just before the first week of December, snow slowed us down...And those red-eye wolves, but I'll let Torin explain that one." Andrew said, offering the floor to the Viking. And he said his thanks in his Norse tongue, which instantly rose Jackson's brow.

"Thank you, Alpha. As I said before, I am Torin, my Alpha has tasked me to investigate the disturbances of the Draugr—Or as he said, the red eyes." That certainly caught the attention of everyone in the room, especially as Eli stepped forward.

"They have a name?" The former stand-in-Alpha questioned, and it earned a hum from the tall Viking. "Of course, the legend stems from the Norse myth. Delta Grey, what did you call them?" Grey stepped forward with a bright smile.

"They're like zombies—or almost. They're stronger than the average Wolves. Their bites are toxic, more toxic than a sick Rogue's bite. If you don't get treated for it, you turn into one of them too." Torin patted the Delta on the back and grinned.

"I have come with a cure to the bite, but with the help of Half Crescent I've come to find out why they've been summoned." The singled-out Viking had been a blessing in disguise.

"And...they just picked you up? On their journey here?" Sage nodded to Leo before coming closer towards him.

"We were attacked by some Draugr, that's when we got attacked and met Torin...The paste works, see? It's still healing but it's getting better." She offered out her arm, showing the progress in the bite.

Leo had come forth and taken a feel to the bite. It definitely managed to stay on track in healing, but when Remus came closer—The lingering scars of injections and other horrors of the facility are what drove him to grit his teeth.

Aurora was right, he should be grateful that Sage was back.

"What are they doing? You said they were summoned, right? Who the hell would summon them?" Torin turned off towards Sage and she tapped her neck.

"Bad vampire man, he was at the facility in Canada. He didn't know it was me until we were leaving, I think he finds a way to try and get me back." She said with a slight quiver in her lip, leaving both Andy and Remus to come forth and try and comfort her.

She tried to smile, but the onset of two males was starting to throw her wolf to either side. Not knowing who to go to first, and instantly she gripped onto Papa Leo and breathed in his familiar scent.

Hoping it'd defuse the tension between the two friends.

"Mama Willow was there too." Sage croaked, though anyone in the room understood her. Any animosity that Remus had been feeling had suddenly evaporated. "Moonlight...?"

"I don't know what was wrong with her, but I woke up with my mark hurting, and she was there holding me—She was real. Everyone in the facility knows her. She was with bad vampire man, she help me escape." Leo cupped her cheek and whispered softly to her and brought her into a hug.

"I think that's how I loose Darius, I did what Donald did. I awake the Halliwell, but I don't know where she—Oh, maybe Darius went with Mama Willow!" She said with a bit of excitement on her face, though it didn't match the falling tears.

"I'm sure that's what happened, Alpha...I'm sorry ma'am, all the tents are set up." Sage turned to see Isla and she smiled.

"This is Isla; she was my Delta female in Black Crescent," Sage said, introducing her to the room, she simply nodded forth towards the rest of the room, but her eyes landed on Blake.

"I'm a taken man, but I'd like a word with the Witches," Blake said, coming closer to the female, "Sagey mentioned that they need to contact their coven?" Isla nodded eagerly and thus, that portion of the pack had been settled.

"I just linked Gigi and the kitchens, they're cooking up a feast for Half Crescent. We'll figure out everything after the Holidays. Guess Mystic Grimm is coming to us after all." Eli spoke and that caught Andy's attention fitfully.

This allowed both the Beta and Delta to take their leave while the rest of the party remained. Or would've if Julia had nudged Eli to start getting a move on with the tarmac.

"How about I get that tea for you?" Remus said, hobbling over towards the counter, but Sage shook her head, "I got it, it's okay, you sit down."

"Sage, you traveled for weeks. Please go sit down." He eyed those off behind him, and while Leo wasn't that pleased with Andrew—Nor were the rest of the Elwoods, they had missed Clark the same as Remus had when they thought he died. "Look...I won't pretend to be happy about you making a deathly pact, alright? But you're back and it's clear you're exhausted. Let me take care of you."

"But you're hurt. I'm not hurt." Sage said, her shoulders falling as she could see just how exhausted her Mate was.

"Those bites on your neck and arm say otherwise." She pouted and just remained by his side to help him.

"I'm happy Rue said 'beep-beep,'" Sage whispered, and Remus smirked— "I was pretty proud of her too when I finally flew to Mystic Grim...I don't remember much from when our bond broke, that and the bullet wound I just...I'm just..." Sage leaned up on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. "It's okay, we'll be okay. I'm sorry I hurt you."

"You didn't cause this Moonlight, it's—" She shook her head and brought her hand to his chest. "I hurt you here."

It had been such a Sage thing to say that he couldn't help but kiss her hand and nicked her forward. "Do the Wolves outside want coffee?" Remus questioned, and Andy chuckled.

"Unless you have eight coffee machines at once Rem, it's gonna be a lot of work." Remus then took the peek outside to look just how many members there were in the Half Crescent pack.

And he was impressed to say the least.

"We lost a few members when Swift Tale attacked and then a few left when we landed. We have fifty-four out there, and two pups." Andy dwelled right beside Remus as he looked fondly at those he called his pack members.

"Look at you...An Alpha. I always knew you had the same blood as me."

Andrew's eyes soften as he turned to face him fully, but Remus' eyes widened at the sight of his scarred face. "I know...It's hard to get used to. Alpha really let me have it."

"I found your room up in the mountain," Remus mentioned, "I tried to understand your notes and stuff, but it was mostly a dead end."

"Well good thing I stuck around, 'cause I know more than I wish I do." Remus had almost flinched when the hand had come to pat his shoulder.

"Sage is already being hard on herself, I don't think that's ever going to change...But when she'd talk about herself as Luna here—Fuck, what'd she say—I asked her how she liked the Luna, thinking you finally found someone to deal with your stubborn ass, and all she would say is 'she's okay, she's trying her best,'"

"She was a beautiful Luna..." He whispered out, but he shook off the thought.

"I thought—I thought she was dead. I thought you were dead."

"And we're back, back with a lot more problems than what Crescent Moon might've ever faced. I didn't meet this bad vampire man, and Sage rarely wanted to talk about him...So I didn't put together until we were on our way here, but your dad was in contact with him. We need to find out more about him, just as soon as everything settles." Remus shook his head, a painful spike started to swell into his chest as he tried to find the right words to explain all that's happened.

But it was no use, so he repeated himself: "I'm not the Alpha anymore." He spoke clearly and simply.

"Your Mate is, she won it outright," Andy claimed, "In record of that, you better get ready to retain—"

"I can't. After I lost the pups I—Hayes wasn't easy on me. I don't...I don't have my Wolf." Andy's eyes had grown tenfold at the reveal.

"That's why she couldn't feel you..."

______

Date: 11/19/24

Time: 12:22 PM

Words: 1951