* * *

News of the little fight between the three she-wolves ran like wildfire, but all Sage concerned herself over was the idea that she'll be cleared to shift again, and after a full week?
She was starting to get restless.

It was early morning when Sage had gotten up with Arabella, and the two managed well enough before Camilla came over to pick her up for the day, and would come back around the afternoon. 

Sage, however, continued to sit at the dining table, sipping her morning kettle and read through her current obsession as she was only allowed to read for the past week.

She was surely going to enjoy a run later, once she's cleared of course.

What she couldn't understand was what that smell was doing to her body, it was faint—Well, not so faint anymore, but it was sweet and it clung. And while it was appetizing to her and her wolf, it wouldn't wash away, nor was it identifiable.

Even after a shower and a change of clothes, Sage was still in a mess of confusion. Leaving her to ignore it. Yet it was starting to get difficult, causing her to grow aggravated. In order to distract herself, she started to make Remus' morning cup of coffee in hopes that it masks the unknown scent.

The gurgling of the coffee machine and the aroma hit Remus and he rolled out of Sage's bed and trudged downstairs—And goddess, he sucked in a deep breath.

He missed the homey scent of his mate and coffee in the morning. "Morning munchkin, did you eat?"
"A little, Ara is with mom." He stopped his action of filling his mug as he felt—He felt like a parent.

"When is she coming back? I want to meet her properly."
"Later, she want to wake you up but I said no. And she said not to poke the bear." Remus snorted into his sip and tried to act normal but it was too adorable not to laugh.

"Poke the bear?"
"I was sleeping in my bear blanket and she woke me up, and I told her do not to poke the bear."
"It's dangerous to wake up a sleeping bear—Or a sleeping wolf." She nodded in confirmation, and then told him what she did the rest of the time he was away.

Until she followed up with a question regarding what happened at the meetings. "It was boring hun, just hours in front of that projector screen. Harlow was on my ass about not sending Eli and Jack instead." She shrugged her shoulders and looked back down at her book.

"It's over now, who hurt your face?"
"What, you don't like it munchkin? I think it's a new look." She shook her head.
"I don't like seeing mate hurt."
"Well, this is nothing compared to you getting shot...Which reminds me, we should get going soon to Kenzie. What are you feeling for breakfast?" He said nicking his head to the fridge.

"I try to eat when I get Arabella ready, my stomach upset."
"It's just nerves, hun. How about I cut up some fruit and you can eat some more later?" She didn't say no, so he made quick work in cutting up a few different things, such as strawberries and a good portion of a melon.

He placed the bowl in front of her, but the sour look she made caused him to sigh. "Just a lil, or I have to tell Kenzie."
"Nooo, I want to shift."
"I know, but you weren't supposed to shift before—Come on, just a nibble." She smiled, that word sounded so funny 'nibble,' and it was enough of a distraction as she managed a few bites.

But then the smell hit her again and she let out another aggravated huff as she got up to wash her hands. But even after, the smell was still there!
And when she returned from the bathroom, Remus was confused as to what happened to cause a shift in their bond.

However, Sage moved too fast and she gripped the wall, feeling her gag reflect enact, though she managed to hold it back. "Sage?...Hun? What is it?"
"I smell something and I don't know where it's from, and I can't wash it." She said, bringing her shirt to her nose and her nose twitched again.

Remus was holding a hand on her waist and pulled her shirt up to have a sniff as well.

And his wolf howled in the sweetness, it was so soft and pure that it caused a growl to escape his lips.

Pup.

His wolf confirmed, and Remus stilled. He almost forgot that Sage went through her heat, he almost forgot about the possibility—And he didn't even think to categorize her anxiety or sickness with the symptoms of carrying a pup.

Remus' nose had been called forth as he became a mess of sniffles in pulling up her shirt. "Remmy stop! It tickles!" She giggled, and thus he picked her up and settled her onto the couch in complete and utter caution.
But now he was able to get the perfect angel and sniffle her breasts—The source of the scent.

"It's you munchkin...You smell sweet, do you know what that means?" She shook her head, looking up to him so adorably that he couldn't help but kiss her.

And Sage sunk into the tenderness of her mate, yearning for him to be close. "We're having a pup."
"What?" She questioned instantly and he nodded.

"What you're smelling, it's your body making the milk the pup needs." Her mouth opened wide as she felt her breast, and it clicked. "That's why it hurts?"
"Probably, why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know...I thought hurts from bullet." His heart stopped, the amount of stress she was dealing with.

He was going to get yelled at by Kenzie, he just knew it.

"There's a pup?" He nodded, and while Sage was the one with the spastic emotions, Remus was the one crying. Crawling backwards he pulled her shirt back up and kissed her stomach.

While he didn't smell the pup as it was still early, he couldn't get over one crucial detail—he was the father, the father. Course Sage could smell it as it was her own scent and her nose was going to be facing some major changes in the coming weeks.

"We're having a pup?" 

"Yeah hun, there's a pup right here...The goddess gave us a pup." Sage couldn't handle it when Remus' voice couldn't manage to stay even. A happy cry escape her lips, and the two were laughing at one another's reaction that she felt blissful in having Remus settle his hand onto her stomach.

"Three months, and then we have a pup."
"That pup is going to need a name." She gasped, her eyes blinking as she tried to clear the tears.

"I don't know names..."
"That's okay, we won't know if they're a boy or girl until they're born. So we'll find a name for both."
"But we need 'R' names?" He nodded, and while some might think Sage hasn't adapted much, she did know how important this little detail was.

"Then the next pup will start with an 'S'."
"Remmy, I'm scared..."
"No munchkin, it's okay. I'm scared too. This pup is going to need us hun, but we're going to do our best, we'll learn." She wiped her eyes and agreed, yet her smile managed to break free.

"Really a pup?"
"Let's go and see what Kenzie thinks, she might not be able to smell it yet. Only me and you can smell it." Remus carefully removed himself from above her, and the second there was a knock at the door, he growled and nearly shifted in defense of his female.

"It's okay...It's Eli and Jack." She said, and thus she kissed him before going back to her tea.

"Doors open!" Remus yelled, and while the Beta and Delta didn't want to admit it out loud, they were thankful as ever that the Alpha couple looked normal at the dining table, and their Luna was smiling again.

Very brightly—Which was a complete turnaround since the last time they saw both of them together, especially Sage sitting on the Alpha's lap.

"What's on the agenda for today?" Remus questioned, a smile tugging on his face while waiting for an answer. "Uh, a few things need a signature—A few shipments that Jules looked over for me," Eli explained, and Jack learned forward.

"I can take the Luna to Kenzie," Remus smirked leaned into his mate, who wiggled in response.

"You want to tell them, Munchkin?" She smiled behind her mug and reveal it like a peek-a-boo moment.

"Are you two good now? I hate when you guys are fighting." Jack mumbled, his shoulders slumping, which caused Sage to glare at Remus—Even though he was still smiling, she was still peeved that he talked to Kelly yesterday.

"Not fighting, but I'm still upset." Remus pouted, his wolf reaching to the bond and she huffed.
"What did you want to tell us?" Eli segwayed, which caused Sage's smile to return.

"We're having a pup!" She squealed as Remus secured a hold on her and kissed her cheek while the Delta and Beta looked to their Alpha and Luna in awe.

"A pup?" Jack whispered, his voice so tiny because he looked so happy. He slapped Eli repeatedly on the shoulder. "They're having a pup!"
"Goddess—Congratulates!" Eli shouted, and while Remus had earned a slap on the back. Either Beta and Delta kissed their Luna's head in another sense of congratulations.

Earning them a protective growl.

"You know what, it makes a lot of sense now...Why the Luna blew up on you when you kicked Blake out or why you were so protective. So I just wanna say, I called it." Remus rose a brow, not believing what they were saying. But then Sage bit her lip.

"Pup make me feel funny?"
"Yeah, you're going to be craving all types of food and—" Remus growled to Jack to silence him.
"I rather hear this from Kenzie than an unmated male, Jackson." He nodded in confirmation, but either males were forced to secrecy and would cover for the Alpha until both of them finished with Kenzie.

Remus couldn't get enough of touching his mate on the walk down to the infirmary, yet he forced himself to stop as Kenzie checked the Luna's progress in healing.

Sage was honest that her wolf needed to shift, but didn't explain the details of what happened other than she slept in her wolf and rolled around in bed.

Which is technically what happened just not over-explaining what really happened.

"I'm happy to say you have the all-clear, but please take it easy, Luna. If you're running and your shoulder starts giving you trouble, you'll have to stop and take a break. We don't want to risk it, alright?" Sage smiled and thanked Kenzie before putting her shirt back on.

And while the healer was about to leave the room, the Alpha called her back. Explaining what happened this morning in terms of smelling Sage's breast milk.

"Oh! Of course, let me get a pregnancy test. It might be too early to tell, but we can take a blood test too. It'll have the results in a few hours." Sage shivered at the idea of needles, however, when she was handed the pregnancy test she looked directly at the healer and rephrased the directions.

"You want me to pee on stick?" Remus laughed into his hand beside her.
"It's to test if there's anything different, and then Kenzie can tell us what to expect." She nodded and went to the privacy of the bathroom, wondering if she peed on it long enough or if she had done it right at all.

But she did follow along and put the cap straight on, though she felt the need to wash her hands.

Kenzie and Remus were talking about a few things that Remus needed to understand, but she paused and smiled back at Sage. "I was just telling Remus that your appetite is going to be changing, that means you're going to be craving foods you wouldn't normally think to eat."
"No more mozzarella sticks?"
"Of course you can eat those, but in the mornings I want you to make sure you're eating. The pup can start giving you morning sickness. Remus told me you didn't feel that well this morning?" Sage nodded, her hand resting on her stomach as she tried to defuse the tension.

She didn't want the pup to be at fault for any of this, but she also didn't know that having a pup would bring on this many changes.

Kenzie continued to explain that eating healthy and remaining active would be good for the pup, but no sparing and no endurance runs. Which caused her to pout.

"We don't want to risk hurting the pup munchkin, and soon they're going to start showing." Kenzie nodded to what her Alpha was saying, but it was time to get to another topic.

Giving birth to an Alpha offspring.

"Sage knows she won't be giving birth in skin, correct?"
"Yes, I shift to fur for birth." The healer nodded in confirmation and explained that Remus wouldn't be there for the birth, but he would be right outside the den as his job was to protect her and the pup from outsiders and curious pack members.

"When pup start to grow?"
"In the next few weeks, we'll monitor it all, Luna. But I want you to start coming in at least once a week to—" The sudden beating of the pregnancy test rang through, and Remus grin shined ever so bright.

The test confirmed that Sage is indeed pregnant, and while Kenzie was shocked—She had to remember that this was an Alpha pup.
There were different standards being applied.

The day flew by after that, and neither Remus nor Sage managed to spend more than a few feet apart from one another. Course Jules and Elenor didn't notice the difference, thinking that they simply made up.

But the Beta and Delta made a pact to their Alpha not to share the news until later.

*

Sage spent the majority of the following days talking with Elenor, Luke, and Julia over the construction of a pup ceremony, it was clear in Remus' mind that perhaps he should've given her the opportunity to decide if she wanted to do it or not.

The problem is that none of the she-wolves planning knew the customs that Crescent Moon follows, as they had their own versions, hence why Luke was there—In addition to the fact that Remus had asked either Jack and Eli for help.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the attic was still filled with things belonging to his parents and himself. When his father died he just stuck everything up there and refused to acknowledge it and the house, it was one of the reasons why it needed to get fixed up.

Remus had let it rot away.

Course he recalled Kelly wanted to fix it up, after the talk of potential pups—All on her side of course, while Remus had to work his damned hardest into not allowing his wolf to kill her on the spot.

It didn't seem like the right thing to do then. But when he met Sage, all he could think about was a home for her, and luckily it wasn't tainted with Kelly's resistance or his father's.

And it earned an entire remodeling to rid itself of the past, or in this case, hide it al away in the attic.

"Crib's a little outdated, Alpha."

"We'll order a new one, I just want Sage to get an idea of what the room will look like and...Wow." Remus had landed his flashlight off to another box, and inside was the small peek-a-boo of his childhood bear.

It was worn out of course, and it was broken and sow back together multiple times as it was his father's favorite punishment. But his nanny always returned him back to his former glory.

Remus was breathless, seeing all his old things just sitting up here—A moldy scent ingrained into the fabric. Eli and Jack knew that this was hard for their Alpha to have to battle demons in order to create a nice gesture for Sage.

But he wanted to make the effort, an agreement from both him and his wolf.

"Damn, alright...This is pretty cute." Eli said holding up some of Remus' old pup onesies and he rolled his eyes.
"I don't know how much of this is actually useable," Remus said after seeing the state of another onesie that was partially ripped.

The three males had made their way with the final picked boxes to see Sage standing at the end of the hall, her head in a tilt.

She didn't know what question to ask first.

"It's the attic, munchkin."
"A-ttic. What's a-ttic?"
"It's for stuff we don't need anymore. The Christmas ordainments are up there." She nodded, but then her eyes lingered on the box in his hands and she came forward to peek on in.

"Pup clothes?"
"Yeah, I thought we could look through and make a list of what we'd need." Remus didn't think it would scare her that much to run away, but when she returned with a new onesie with little paw prints and a similar one with the silhouette of a howling wolf, Remus couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh.

"These are cute, where'd you get these?"
"The mall, I have blanket but it's high in the closet. I can't reach it." He pulled her in closer to his chest, his wolf rumbling at the idea of being close to her as well as seeing how tiny the pup would be.

"What do pups need?"
"We can figure that out tonight, soon other wolves are going to be able to smell the pup. We'll have to tell the pack before then." She nodded, but then smiled off towards Jack and Eli.

"Managed with the boxes and stuff, anything else Alpha?" Eli questioned, but Remus shook his head.
"Nah, we're all set. Thanks, guys." Thus dismissing them for the night, but Sage didn't forget to say her own thanks and a goodnight.

However, in entering the room now filled with a decent few boxes caused her stomach to flutter. She used to sit in the room, her wolf daydreaming about a pup and what the future would hold.

And now she's in the room, a pup growing in her and a crib against the wall. A smile grew on her face as she turned back to Remus, he was just a few steps away before he came over and wrapped his hands around her waist and kissed her temple.

"We might need a new crib hun, we'll need a lot of new things."
"Pup needs toys and books."
"They'll get everything hun, don't worry." One of the many things that Kenzie warned Remus was that Sage's emotions were on a thin wire, or that's how she worded it.
So when she a sniffle erupted into the room, Remus could only run his nose against her neck in a sign of affection—A reminder that everything is okay.

"I don't remember when I'm pup...But I want this pup to have good life." It earned her a kiss that she worded what she needed to say, that the mention of what needed to be planned for their pup, resulted in her thinking of how her own childhood was like.

"I don't remember that much either munchkin, and all the good memories were before mom died. Everything else is..." He stopped himself from continuing, though it did earn him an adorable kiss on the cheek, it meant Sage understood.

"We give pup everything."
"That sounds like a plan hun, let's try and find what can be saved, yeah?" The two made it quick work what could be reused to what couldn't, course Sage loved all of it. But it was clear that some were just too old for the pup to use.

Old blankets and things like that could tried to be washed and put as backup, but they wouldn't rely on just that. Instead Sage was interested in the types of toys a pup would want, everything she knew was based on her younger brother, but Casey is older—She was thinking more of the types of things that Hardin has.

That was on the list for sure.

It made Remus think of the necessities. Besides a new crib, they'd need a changing table, a high chair—A long list of things that he was close to having a migraine. And would've, had Sage not let out an adorable squeal when she saw Remus' old toy bear that he uncovered earlier.

"He's so cute! And he smells like you!"
"Yeah, that's Artie." Sage hugged him tightly and couldn't stop smiling...This whole night had been bittersweet, especially when Sage said the pup could have her big bear she got for Christmas.

"You're giving up Honey?"
"Honey can live in pup's room." Sage was surely a giving person, she always offered to paint or help others and it was clear at this moment that her devotion to the pup was going to increase the closer they come to the due date.

"Does pup have to be male?" Remus closed his eyes, letting out a rather delayed sigh as he didn't know how to manage this properly.

"The first pup of an Alpha is going to be the next in line for the title. Usually the first pup should be a son—Could be a son. But times are changing, I'm sure there's a few Alpha-Females who will run the pack in a few years." Sage nodded, though it was up to fate to decide the gender of the pup.

"Remmy? When you turn into Alpha?" He realized a while ago that he didn't have to explain himself all that much in terms of his past, besides Kelly as that was still a thorn in his side.

But explaining a previous war to Sage when she first arrived at the pack wouldn't have worked, she was constantly confused and still learning to be a proper wolf.

However, he didn't allow himself to shut down, not when Sage was carrying his pup and needed to know the harsh legacy that was connected with the Moon name. So he folded up the blanket in his hands and turned to look at her properly. "I was eighteen munchkin, my father was declaring war on all the packs. You know Issac is older than me, he was already Alpha—Everyone knew he was losing his mind." Sage's eyes widened at the fact that her mate has been Alpha for so long.

Almost nine years.

"Kelly Luna for—?"
"Almost two years, but she wasn't Luna, munchkin. The Council didn't allow it, and I couldn't mark her. My wolf wouldn't have let me." Sage whined out a small thanks towards Remus' fur side.

"Alpha for long time."
"It's not that long, and I had to wait until I was eighteen for Hayes to—Yeah, I had to wait."
"Until eighteen?"
"You have to be at least eighteen, sometimes Alpha's won't give up the title until their pup proves themselves. Harlow had to fight his dad for it." Remus allowed her to take in all he said, but then she crossed her arms over one another.

"Are you going to fight pup?"
"If they can't beat me hun, how can I trust them with a title?... Besides, by the time they're eighteen I'm sure their mom has trained them for two full bear hunts to beat their dad." It wasn't the explanation that caused her to feel better about it all, it was the fact that he referred to her as mom and himself as dad.

"Okay...Can we have lots of pups?" Remus laughed as he let out a nod.
"However many you want Munchkin, we can build more rooms if we have to." She snorted out a laugh, she was getting so excited that she was pushing herself because she was invested in learning.

There were a few piles, one for the laundry, one for the trash, and one that needed to be cleaned before being properly put away in toy boxes.

But Sage wouldn't give up Artie. "But I like him."
"Yeah, and he's really dirty hun. He's been away for years." She pouted and he couldn't deny her, not when she's pregnant.

In the end, she reluctantly gave him up on the promise that she could paint the pup's bedroom wall, and in all honesty, he wasn't against the idea.

He actually really liked it, especially when she said she wants a Crescent Moon behind a mountain. That he readily approved of.

______

Date: 08-02-2021

Time: 11:02

Words: 4388

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Oof this was a long chapter, but congratulations Sage and Remus!
Lil baby Moon will be here in three months!

A quick reminder, wolves in my story goes as follows:
-She-wolves can only get pregnant during a heat
- Usually they are pregnant for around three months
-Normal pack members stay in skin for the birth, and rely on pup ceremonies (Like the one Sage is planning right now) to be able to shift into their wolf for the first time.

✨✨✨

-ALPHA'S on the other hand, do not need to wait until they're 11-13 to shift, instead, they are born in fur and will live the first few weeks of their life getting used to their fur side, before gaining the strength to be able to shift to skin.

-Alpha pups shifting to skin is very important, and it isn't uncommon for a pup to die during this time. This weeds out the strongest and weakest Alphas.
-This all is located on pack land, on Sanctuary grounds. Nobody is allowed on this territory except the Alpha and Luna.

________________

I know it's an information dump, but Sage is learning all of this too!
Please let me know if you have questions!

See you Wednesday🤗