WARWICK

“Two of them, sir,” my minion reported.

I sighed heavily. “And who exactly turned them? Are they even of my kin?”

“We aren’t sure just yet. But they entered the Inn that his mate owns, messed with the manager, but then we believe some of the wolves arrived before they could harm her,” he reported.

“And I assume Blackfur came running in shortly thereafter?”

“Yes, sir. He and his mate arrived within about 45 minutes.”

“It just isn’t like it used to be….” I drawled. “Oh well. I didn’t plan it, but they won’t get anything out of those plebians. I will take it as another small chip in Blackfur’s armor. I am sure the death of Greyback was troublesome enough.”

MISSY

Liam came into the office while Lemon and Lea were talking. Lemon was really shaken up by the whole thing but was glad Axel was around. I had a feeling that after this, Axel was going to be around the Inn a lot more, and Liam wouldn’t have to tell him to do it.

When Liam came into the office, I knew he had been interrogating the vampires because of the b***d spatter that was left on his shirt. He had clearly stopped to wash his hands, but there wasn’t anything he could do about his shirt.

I looked around him, looking for Maddox, but I didn’t see him with Liam. When Liam saw my confused look, he silently answered my question, “Maddox is with Axel questioning the vampires.”

Worried blossomed in my stomach. Maddox wanted to be a warrior, but that didn’t mean he had to do those things. “He will be fine,” Liam said before I could object. I bit my tongue, hoping Maddox would come through the door any minute.

–

We took Lemon home, and one of the patrol wolves stayed outside her house to make sure everything was alright. Lea assured her that Axel would come by later to check on her. Liam stayed at the Inn while Azeron drove us, but after Lemon was safe and sound at home, we headed back to the packhouse.

“Are we not going back to the Inn?” I asked.

“No,” Lea said. “Your father and Maddox will come back when they are finished, sweetheart.” Azeron gave me a sympathetic look in the mirror.

They dropped me off at my house with a couple of warriors hanging out around front. I guess that whole ‘never go off alone’ thing was being strictly enforced here. I went inside and spent an hour waiting patiently on the couch for Maddox to return. Then I spent the next hour cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the floors. The following hour was spent pacing in front of the couch, chewing my nails.

Finally, the front door opened, and Maddox came through it. “Maddox!” I said, rushing to him.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me to him. “Hey, darling,” he said softly.

“Why were you there so long? What happened?” I asked, quickly pulling away from him. He had a pained look on his face, and for the first time, I noticed the b***d on his shirt.

“Do you think I can take a shower first?” he said solemnly. I nodded, watching him with wide eyes. He gave me a soft k**s on my forehead before striding past and heading upstairs.

I watched him slowly disappear then listened for the door to close. As soon as I heard the shower start I pulled out my phone and called Axel.

“Missy, what’s wrong?” he answered.

“What did he do?” I asked. I heard Axel sigh.

“Your father wouldn’t have put him through it if he didn’t think he could handle it,” Axel reasoned.

“He watched his pack be slaughtered. Why? He doesn’t need to be a part of those things,” I argued.

“Missy, we are in the middle of a war. Your mate has a lot of ambition and is very skilled. He could very easily take over for Sean or me when it’s time. But he has to be willing to get his hands dirty, and you know that. I don’t like it, your dad doesn’t like it, but it is reality. We are werewolves, and this is our ways.”

“That’s bullshit,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but you aren’t a little kid anymore,” he said. I hung the phone up, done with his excuses.

Holland was whining in my head. I knew Maddox wasn’t okay. I went upstairs and sat on the bed, listening to the shower still going. When he had been in there well over thirty minutes, I got a bit worried.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

I knocked on the bathroom door first but got no response. I opened it and stepped into the room, calling, “Maddox?” I could see his silhouette through the shower door, but it wasn’t moving.

“Go to him,” Holland urged. I started to slip out of my clothes and headed to the shower door.

“Maddox?” I said. Still, I got no response. I opened the door slowly. He stood with his leaning against the wall, the water just falling over him. I stepped behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist; he was cold like the water.

“Sorry, I just…” he whispered.

“No,” I said, laying my head against his back. “I know…”

“I know what they are; I know they came there to hurt Lemon. I just…” he trailed off.

“My dad shouldn’t have made you do that….”

“They’re dead. They can’t hurt anyone else,” he said almost inaudibly.

“You don’t have to do it,” I told him. He shook his head and stood up straight. He turned to face me and brought his arms around me.

“I will do anything to protect you,” he said. “I’ll be okay. You don’t have to worry.” I looked up into his earnest face. He looked tired but serious. I just nodded and hugged him tightly.

After a minute, I finally asked, “can we get out of the cold water now?” Maddox laughed.

AZALEA

Things were going downhill fast. We were so hopeful at the close of the summit that we would be able to get to Warwick and stop him before he could do any more damage to any of us.

Now Mr. Greyback was dead, and vampires were starting to attack human areas. A constant stream of warriors from other packs came in and out of our packhouse to train with Liam and Langston. Liam was looking more and more stressed every day.

They got nothing from the vampires that came to the Inn, and Austin was convinced they weren’t actually working for Warwick, or at least not sent by him. Other packs were starting to see evidence of vampire activity around them. Andris and Karsyn managed to catch one, but they got nothing from it either.

A few days after the incident at the Inn, Austin knocked on my office door. “Hey, Luna, have you seen Maddox today?”

“No, I haven’t,” I said. “But I have a question for you.”

“Oh, sure,” he said, stepping into my office. “What’s up?”

“I saw Abraham at the clinic yesterday, but he sort of ran away as soon as he saw me,” I started.

“You are wondering about Vlad….” Austin sighed. I nodded. Liam had been so busy with training and tracking vampires that I wasn’t sure if any decision was ever made about the boy. “He’s still in prison, although Abraham is regularly asking for us to release him.”

“Has no decision been made about his punishment?” I asked.

“Well, Alpha and Beta were going to base that decision on if you and Missy were found alive or not. But then…”

“Damien and I came back in a coma,” I finished for him.

“Yes,” he said. “I was actually looking for Maddox because Vlad is getting a little more insistent in his requests to see Missy.”

“He wants to see Missy?” I asked. No one had mentioned this to me yet. Austin scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Maddox and Missy may have fought about it a couple of times,” he admitted.

“I can only imagine,” I sighed. I’m sure there was never much resolution for Vlad; he may have contributed to what happened, but I could tell he did have feelings for Missy.

“Luna, can I be honest about something?” Austin asked.

“Absolutely, please,” I said. Austin took a few more steps into the room, shutting the door behind him. He gave a glance to Azeron before looking back at me and continuing. “When Vlad was found after the attack and confessed everything, I was almost as angry as Liam and Maddox. I just could not imagine how the kid could be so stupid. But then Abraham told me about his mate, and it filled in some blanks. Vlad was just a kid, a scared, stupid kid. Growing up around Alpha Robert sort of gave us all this sense of confidence that I am not sure was right. Vlad didn’t have that. He was trying to survive, and I don’t think he wanted to hurt you or Liam, honestly. Warwick took advantage of a scared stupid kid, and I don’t know if he should pay for that for the rest of his life or even with his life. I don’t know; I want Damien to be awake, but I can’t blame what happened all on one kid.”

I watched Austin as he talked. He was genuinely concerned about Vlad. I chewed my l*p thinking about his words. I still hadn’t worked out my feelings about what Vlad did, but I could acknowledge that Austin had a point. Not every 15-year-old werewolf thinks they are invincible, just most of them. Vlad wasn’t an ordinary 15-year-old werewolf either. He was struggling with the loss of his mother and his wolf when he became a target.

“Thank you, Austin,” I finally said. “Don’t worry about telling Maddox. I will handle it, okay?” Austin gave me a tight smile and nodded before leaving my office. I looked at Azeron, who was watching me.

“You think you are going to see the boy in prison, don’t you?” he asked.

“Of course, I am going to see him in prison. I am just deciding if I should talk to Liam first or ask for forgiveness later,” I said. Azeron just raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh, shut up.”

–

Liam was in his office after dinner. When I came in, he was reading something from a folder. He looked up from it as I came around his desk. I closed the folder and pushed it down onto the desk as I sat in his lap. “Hello,” he said.

“I want to talk to you about something,” I said.

“Okay,” he replied hesitantly.

“I am going to go down to the prison and speak with Vlad.” I decided just to lay it out quickly. There was no reason to beat around the issue.

Liam’s eyebrows dipped. “No,” he said.

“I was not asking permission,” I clarified.

“Azalea, absolutely not. You won’t go anywhere near him, you or Missy!” Liam argued.

“Well, according to Austin, he asks to speak with her frequently,” I said.

“He was spying on us for Warwick!” Liam growled.

“I know. But he was a child, and I think we need to consider that. He has been sitting in that prison for weeks, and all I want to do is have a conversation with him,” I said. Liam leaned his head back against his chair and closed his eyes.

“I don’t like it,” he said.

“I’ll bring my shadow,” I offered.

“You didn’t have a choice,” he corrected. I grabbed his face and pulled him back to look at me.

“I love you, My Alpha,” I said. With a sigh, he leaned forward and kissed me.

“I love you, too, Little Luna.”