* * *

It was a hard day, goddess was it a struggle. They had tried to intergrade the reforming pups with ones born in the pack, as Sage' plan of putting them into a proper school setting hadn't turned out the way she hoped.
While the younger generation was a bit more accepting to their arrival—It was their parents who had the issues.

Meaning Sage defused a lot of hormonal and protective males wanting to keep things how they were, but what most of the pack members didn't understand was this wasn't their permanent home.
Maybe for some, but they all would have the choice to move elsewhere.

With all that aggravation, she might've lost it once or twice and yelled.
And when Sage yells and tries to argue quickly, her sentences start to lose it's competency.

Leaving her even more frustrated, causing Jack or Eli to come to her side and deal with it instead.

Making her feel useless.

After speaking with Ellie, the she-wolf recommended that when she felt this way, she would go home and take a nap. And Sage couldn't form the words to tell her friend how relieved and thankful she was in hearing her aggravation behavior was justified. That what she was feeling was normal.

However, the migraine she was facing was anything but normal.

Sage had been snoring away for five hours before Ellie and Jackson had gone to the house to check on her.

She flinched at the sound of the door opening downstairs, making her snuggle even further into her comforter—It was then that she realized then just how soaked with sweat the blanket had gotten.
Even when she was in the bare minimum of clothing.

After making a face, she took a sniff. Only to find out how awfully loud her scent permeated through the air, and although she did hear a few voices in her head trying to peek in.
Her wolf ignored them, making it inaudible for Sage to truly digest.

She felt thirsty, tired, sore, and damn hot all at once.

"Sage?! Up and at 'em Peaches!" Jack called out, taking the stairs two at a time as he knocked at the door. "Sage?" Letting a strangled growl of warning, Jack opened the door and regretted it within the instant.

The scent of his Luna's heat was mouthwatering, so much so that he curled his fist and forced his legs to move off and away.

"Goddess, what the hell are you doing?!" Ellie said, especially when she saw how deep the Delta's nose was in the flower bushes, trying to get the scent out of his mind.

"She's in heat." Ellie's eyes grew as she turned back to the house, the she-wolf had helped Jade when Harlow was away on an Alpha trip. In copying the same technic, she went ahead and took two trays of ice cubes she found in the freezer and hurried up to the Alpha's bedroom.

"Hey Sage...I'm going to run the bath with some ice cubes. When you get all washed up we'll call Remus. Yeah?" The Luna sniffled softly into the pillow as the feelings were starting to enact at the mere mention of him.

Jack was still at the side of the house, neck-deep in a bush as he needed to calm himself. He knew that his ass was on the line if the Alpha caught a whiff of him being in the same room with the Luna while she was on the cusp of receiving her heat.

If it was that addicting to Jack, he couldn't imagine how it smelled to the Alpha himself.

"Alright...I can't believe I'm the one that needs to tell you this, but you need to get laid." Eli teased, with a rather proud grin on his face. But it contorted the second he saw how serious Jackson looked.

"What's wrong?"

"Luna's in heat."

Eli's jaw had dropped much as Ellie's had...It was usually the time a she-wolf would be blessed with heat, in the near end of spring, the number of females this spring was low.

And some theorized the low number was why most families were against the added number of wolves in the pack, they saw it as the goddess slowing down the production of pups.

"Does the Alpha know, did you tell him?"
"Yeah, when was I going to tell him Eli?... Before or after I suffocate myself in some flowers." Eli groaned, only for him to wave it off and claimed that Ellie was in the house.

Ellie?

Eli? I guess Jack told you?

I'm out by the side of the house. How's Sage?

She's alright, I'm just going to wash her up a bit before we call Remus. Maybe we can get some she-wolves to make some meals for the week?

I'll get Gigi and Blake on it, will you be alright to stay?

To save himself, Jack hugged Eli and settled the scent up and away. Once word was out, mated she-wolves would make their way and try to get a whiff out the conjoined scent their Alphas settled her hormonal cravings.

Ellie certainly had her work cut out for her, not because Sage was being difficult. But she was certainly tired and feeling rather low on herself, until Luke explained that the last time she was in heat—Remus ran away and denied helping her.

Sage seemed to like the tub, especially when Ellie set up her tablet and put on some puppy videos to distract her. While Luke was quick about delivering a huge bag of ice. And a thankful smile formed on Sage's face as she felt the water's temperature begin to drop, she hardly been introduced to the chill the ice was meant to be giving off.
But Ellie made sure that the other bags of ice were stored in the freezer while Luke put one of the many dishes that Gigi handed off towards him.

He was a little worried about how close his mate would be to Sage, would it enact her heat? What was the plan?

"Hey, Bunny?" He adored the way Ellie would act like a rabbit, her head jumping up to look at him. Even if she didn't like the nickname, she was starting to accept it.

"I don't know how accurate the rumor of being near a she-wolf in heat is...But—"
"Oh." His wolf howled in causing in pain for insinuating and implying something he wanted to ask.

"We haven't talked about pups...Do you—"
"Yes." He smirked at the idea of having a pup with her, more of a life with her.
"So I guess I can throw that protection out the window huh?" She found herself biting her lip as she eyed the door, she was sure Gigi was going to deliver more food soon.

But there was no escaping this conversation now.

"How many pups do you want?" Ellie questioned.
"Two? Three?" She instantly agreed with the number, there were rarely any pups who were their parent's only offspring. Not counting the ones who's lost their mate.

"I was thinking four—" Luke growled and nuzzled her neck insight of the idea of her swollen with his pup. And already with this lingering thought, he prayed that the goddess above grants them the ability to try.

Evidently, the deity above smiled softly on her throne, the Elwood brothers had secured their Alpha's mate and brought peace to Crescent Moon. She accepted his prayer, but only time will tell if his female would find herself with a pup.

While Ellie went to go and check on Sage, who was enjoying the floating ice cubes and puppies playing with one another on the tablet, asking if she should wash her hair at the idea that it smells.

"All your senses are heightened, Sage."
"That's smell and sound?"
"Those are two of them, yeah. So your hearing and smell make everything louder. I'm sure you can hear Luke downstairs trying to stuff things into the fridge. And you don't smell bad, it's your scent changing louder. It's loud for us too." A small gasp escaped from Sage as she looked down at Ellie's stomach.

"You want a pup too."
"Hmm, Luke and I were talking about it downstairs."
"I want a pup, I told Remmy that if I get heat we try for pup." Ellie saw the happiness radiate off of Sage in the thought of being pregnant, she would just need to get through this portion first.

"Maybe we're both blessed and will have pups together." Although it caused the Luna to smile, tears started to fall down her cheeks as she was feeling a range of her emotions.

"Will Remmy come home?"
"I just wanted you to get washed up and comfortable. Do you want to get out?" She nodded her head and Ellie wrapped her in a robe to get dried off before starting to dry her hair a bit.

"Remmy didn't come home last time."
"I know hun, but remember you both want to try for a pup? He'll come, I bet he'll run back home once we tell him." She let out a small grin before letting the towel run through her hair.

Luke knocked on the door, cautious in even taking a step inside would make the Alpha enraged. But Sage was all bundled up in a robe in the bathroom, and of course his mate made her feel better by putting on some pup videos.

"We should get going soon," Luke dwelled, but Ellie continued to get everything prepared in order for their Alpha's to not worry about a thing.

While Sage didn't bother in getting redressed, clothes felt too hot. And the only reason she remained in a robe was because it was soft and comfortable.

She grinned up towards him with a knowing smirk, and Luke absolutely hated when she did that.

"What's up, hun?" He said, wondering if she was happy for another reason or his presence.

I want a nephew.

Luke's wolf had felt a sense of pride swoop in, was it Sage's intuition again?
Did she know Ellie was going to get her heat?
All these questions hadn't managed to come out of his mouth before Ellie lead him out.

"The Alpha's on his way, we better go." She whispered, wishing Sage a grand old 'have fun!' Before leaving entirely.

"Goddess Ellie, my sanity is at an all-time low."
"She was feeling a little sad, her wolf is scared Remus won't come." Luke hadn't gotten that sense when he saw Sage, but then again the Luna was always uplifted at the idea of pups.

However, before either of the mates could speak again. They caught a car speeding down the road and stopping just a few feet from the door—His wolf automatically turning to look at the pair that just left his home.

"There's food in the fridge! Sage just took a bath!" Remus nodded robotically, and once again Ellie's childish banter rose once more as she yelled 'have fun!' To another Alpha.

"Have fun? Oh, I'll show you some fun Elenor!" Luke laughed, scooping the she-wolf up and over his shoulder before departing towards their own cabin. She was in a bundle of giggles, but the eldest Elwood couldn't stop thinking about what Sage had said.

And it almost knocked him off his feet once he smelled the beautiful aroma of his own female in heat was like...

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Date: 07-08-2021

Time: 12:15

Words: 1935