AZALEA

I bounced Azly in my arms, smiling at her sweet face. Even though I was aware baby smiles were involuntary at this age, she always seemed to smile when she looked at us. I slowly moved around her room, cooing and talking to her. “Are you ready for a nap? Is this tiny belly all full now?”

She yawned as if she knew what I was saying, scrunching her little eyes closed. I kissed her forehead and started softly rocking her as I watched her tiny lashes flutter closed. The Moon Goddess had really blessed us because Azly was an angel of a baby.

Once she was dozing peacefully, I laid her in her crib and grabbed the baby monitor. I headed to the door where Azeron was waiting for me, smiling fondly.

“Do you and your mate want pups?” I asked him. He tilted his head back and forth.

“There have been a few conversations,” he admitted.

I smiled at him. “Well, there’s no rush.” He followed me to my office, but Jacob caught me before I got there.

“Luna,” he said quickly. “We need you. Luna Jessalyn is on the phone asking for Alpha.” I nodded and motioned for him to lead the way. He rushed into Liam’s office and grabbed up the phone.

When he had her, he handed it to me. “Luna?” I answered.

“Luna Azalea,” she answered. “I am glad to get you. We need help immediately.” Her voice sounded serious and almost panicky.

“What’s going on? What happened?” I asked her.

“We were attacked this morning,” she said. “Vampires at our border. There were only a few, but I think they were sent to scout. I am worried more will come soon.”

“How many?” I asked her. “Did anyone get hurt?”

“Only three. And luckily no, no one was hurt or bitten. The head of my outer patrol happened to be with the wolves that came in contact with them. Your mate trained him well, and they were able to dispose of them quickly,” she explained.

“You have warriors here with us still, though,” I realized.

“Yes,” she said. “We may not be able to fend off a full attack.”

“I will find Liam right away, and we will call you back,” I told her.

“Thank you,” she said. I hung up the phone and looked up at Jacob.

“Vampires attacked her pack,” I said. “There were only a few, but that could just be ones sent ahead. She has warriors here to train.”

Jacob nodded. “We need to send them back right away. The other warriors can finish their training.”

“Where is Liam? Is he still training with Damien?” I asked.

“I am not sure,” Jacob said. “The first class of training for the day is out on the grounds, but I didn’t see them. They could be out on a run, or maybe they came back to the packhouse.”

“Can you go speak with the Red Moon Pack warriors? Let them know we will have to send them back early and to gather their things. Liam will want to go as well, and he can be ready in a couple of hours,” I said to Jacob. He nodded and left the room to carry out my request.

Azeron held the door open as I also filed out of the office. I needed to find Liam. I decided to look in the kitchen first, thinking maybe they came in for ice or something to drink after training. On my way down the stairs, Lily was headed up them.

“Hey, where are the guys?” I asked her. Then, I noticed the odd look on her face.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I was going to see if Damien was up in our room. My wolf is losing it. She is acting erratic, but I can’t figure out what is wrong. I am worried it has something to do with Damien.”

“Well, one of our allies has been attacked. I need to find Liam right away,” I told her. “Did you check the kitchen or dining room?”

She nodded. “That was my first thought.”

“Okay, I’ll go to the training grounds. Try linking Damien and telling him. I will try to get through to Liam,” I instructed. She nodded and continued up the stairs.

“Liam,” I tried but got nothing. I sighed and hurried down the stairs, heading out of the packhouse. As I rushed across the grass with Azeron dutifully following in my wake, I scanned the group of wolves working on various strength conditioning exercises. Damien and Liam were nowhere to be found.

“Liam,” I tried once again. Sean spotted me and headed over.

“What is going on, Luna? You look a tad frantic,” he said.

“I need Liam,” I told him.

“I think they went for a run in the woods,” he said. “Damien probably wanted to get his wolf out.”

“Of course,” I said. “Thanks, Sean.”

Azeron looked at me. “We can send someone to look for them if he is not answering your link,” he suggested.

“No, just give it a minute. I am sure Liam will realize,” I said.

“Why don’t we go to the patio and wait,” Azeron said, eyeing the training group carefully.

“What are you worried about?’ I asked.

“We had one ally attack you once,” he said quietly as he pushed me toward the packhouse. “Let’s not assume that this will not be a distraction to come for you again.”

I sighed heavily. I could not wait for this conflict to be over. The constant threat looming over our heads was making everything even more stressful. “Liam, I need you.”Belongs to - All rights reserved.

–

When Liam and Damien finally emerged from the woods, they were covered in sweat and filth. Damien looked like he was ready to fall over; I wasn’t sure I had ever seen him so out of shape and out of breath.

I jogged toward them across the packhouse lawn. “Azeron, help Damien upstairs, please,” Liam called as we approached. Azeron hurried over to him, letting Damien put his arm over his shoulder and lean his weight on him.

I got to Liam and watched Azeron half drag Damien back to the packhouse. “I thought you said you wouldn’t overdo it?”

“Something happened,” he said.

“Well, it appears today is the day for that. Red Moon Pack was attacked. Jessalyn called. She believes the couple of vampires they stopped were just the beginning,” I told him.

“s**t,” he said. “I need more time. We are only maybe halfway through training all these packs.”

“Let’s get you inside and cleaned up,” I said. “We can talk before you call her back.” Liam nodded, and we took off across the grass. “I have Jacob rounding up all their warriors to send back. I told her we would call her soon.”

“Good,” he said. “I should get showered and ready to leave. I need to help. This is the first time they have been bold enough to attempt to attack one of our allies directly.”

We made it into the packhouse and up the stairs before seeing Azeron again. “I left Beta with his mate,” he informed us.

Liam nodded. “Azeron, I need a word with my mate. Would you please wait down in my office for us? And call my father. Ask him to come as soon as he can. I need a word with him as well.”

Azeron quickly headed to carry out Liam’s orders, and we continued to our bedroom. When I closed the door, I asked the question that was burning my mind. “What happened with Damien?”

Liam was pulling his clothes off and shoving them in the hamper. “I honestly don’t know, but it has to be a side effect of the bite.”

My stomach dropped. Side effect? I thought he was okay. Liam stopped undressing when he got to his underwear and came over to me.

“Hey,” he said. “I don’t want you to blame yourself, okay? This isn’t your fault. He didn’t tell my uncle or me.”

“What happened?” I asked carefully.

“He had trouble shifting like his body didn’t remember how. I remember the first one being pretty rough, but it was like my body knew what to do after that. Damien acted like he was fighting it somehow,” Liam explained.

“So, his body doesn’t know what to do. But now it should?” I reasoned.

“It was more, though. As soon as he shifted, Damien lost control. Cage took over and wouldn’t communicate with me. He just bolted. I had to run him down. Eventually, I tackled him and forced him to shift back,” Liam said. His face grew more worried as he spoke.

“So he couldn’t control Cage? But there have been times that Gavin got the better of you, right? He just needs to fix that,” I said, my panic rising.

Liam shook his head. “He can’t communicate with his wolf,” he said. “He had no idea what was going on after he shifted.”

“Lily said her wolf wasn’t acting normal,” I whispered. Liam closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

“I don’t know if he will tell her, but she should know. My uncle, too. He can’t help us determine anything or fix anything if he doesn’t know,” Liam said. He pulled me close to him and hugged me tightly.

“What if it’s my fault? What if trying to wake him up did this?” I whispered.

“No, Azalea. I would rather have my best friend awake and figure out how to connect him to his wolf than still in a hospital bed,” he said into my hair.

“What if he wouldn’t?” I whispered. He kissed the top of my head, but the guilt was squeezing the air out of my chest. We stood like that for a few minutes; I didn’t care how gross he smelled.

“We will figure this out when I am done dealing with Jessalyn and the vampires, okay?” he said. “I am not going to let Damien suffer.” He released me and pecked my forehead before turning around to head into the shower. I took a deep breath before going into the closet to get him some things.

LIAM

When I was done in the shower, Azalea had a bag packed for me to travel to Jessalyn’s pack, expecting me to have to stay for a couple of days. She accompanied me down to my office with a reserved look on her face, but I could feel all the guilt that she was holding on to. I knew she wouldn’t accept that she had no hand in what was wrong with Damien, but I didn’t have time to sort out that mess.

Azeron was waiting outside my office. “Your father is here,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I said. I turned to Azalea. “I’ll come find you before I leave, okay?”

She nodded, then leaned up and kissed me softly. She left quietly, heading to her office. I entered mine to find my father sitting on the couch with his elbows resting on his knees. We hadn’t talked much since he admitted that Azalea and I are doing good as Alpha and Luna.

“Dad,” I said, greeting him.

“Why did you call me here so urgently?” he asked.

“I need to leave. I think vampires are about to attack our ally, and I will not let them hurt anyone,” I said.

“If you think it is wise to leave your pack,” he said, with a slight hint of disdain in his voice.

“I do because I am going to ask you to help watch things while I am gone,” I said. His eyebrows twitched for just a second. “Damien will not be back to his normal self any time soon, and I am mildly worried about his current condition. I cannot take Azalea with me. I need you to help keep an eye on things and help her in my absence.”

“You want me to step in as Alpha?” he asked incredulously.

“No,” I said. “I want you to watch over things and be there to help if needed. Azalea is perfectly capable of keeping things going alongside Austin and Jacob while I am away, but I would be foolish not to have a plan in place in the middle of a war. I know that whatever reservation that may linger about Azalea, you wouldn’t let anything happen to this pack. There is a possibility that this is a distraction to pull me away and attack in my absence, but I know the pack will be safe.”

My father nodded his head, not looking away. “Fine,” he said. “I will keep an eye on things.” He stood up and moved to leave the room.

“Thanks,” I said. I had this weird feeling in my stomach as he headed out the door.