Azalea

I paced back and forth through the foyer. I had heard nothing back from the patrol yet and it had been almost an hour. I had already gone up and checked her bedroom to see if she somehow had gotten passed me as well. Where had she gone? Missy did not understand that she was just as much of a valuable target to anyone trying to get to Liam or me as Junior or Leo. She is our daughter all the same. I would never forgive myself if something happened to her because someone was trying to get to Liam and me.

My phone rang and my heart skipped. I looked at the caller ID to see Damien calling me. Why was he calling me so late? Surely, I was quiet enough not to wake anyone in the pack house up. “Hello?” I answered.

“Azalea, Missy is on her way home now,” he said. He had become much gentler since Delilah was born.

“How do you…”

“Sean on patrol linked me. He said you ask that Liam not be disturbed. I assume you told him to actually get some sleep,” he explained.

“I did. Where was she?” I asked. I was calming down a little now, but I was still concerned that she was hours late now.

“I don’t know. My guess? Probably the same place we found them last time. If you don’t want Liam to wake up and come looking for you, you should try to be calm,” he said. I let out a breath. He was right. During my first two pregnancies, it was like all my emotions were heightened and Liam felt everything. There were a few times I would panic in my sleep and Liam would wake up from it.

“I know. I’m sorry. I will calm down; I just need a minute. Damien, what is she thinking?” I stood facing the door, just willing Missy to come through it. I needed to put her to bed, calm myself down, and then climb in bed with Liam.

“I don’t know Lea. I didn’t even see her at the party this evening,” he said.

“I know. I figured she was just a little over it all. You know how teenagers can be. You all would sneak off away from pack gatherings too,” I said. I gasped as an arm snaked around me and a large hand came up to grab the phone. His forest scent surrounded me, relaxing me from my surprise. Liam took the phone and put it to his ear, as he held me to him, my back to his front.

“Damien,” he said in a chafed tone. I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but it was short lived as the front door creaked open. “She’s here. We’ll talk in the morning. Thanks,” he said then hung up the phone. He slipped it into the pocket of his shorts. We both looked at Missy who was standing halfway into the door.

“I’m so sorry….” she said.

Liam

I woke up from a dead sleep and all I could feel was panic. Azalea. I quickly looked to the clock on the nightstand that read 2:18. It’s after 2am; why is she panicking? I looked around the room, quickly realizing she wasn’t there. I quickly got out of bed and ran to the bathroom to check there. Nothing. “Azalea?” I called moving through our bedroom. Of course, there was no reply. I opened our door and moved down the hall to Missy’s room. The door was unlocked as I turned the handle. I opened it to find the room empty. s**t.

I ran down the hall and stairs to look for my mate. I knew she was still in the pack house but where? If she was waiting for Missy, she was either sitting in the dining room with a cup of tea or pacing the front foyer and I hoped it was the former. She didn’t need this added stress right now.

I went to the dining room first with no sign of her. I poked my head into the kitchen, the only sign she had been there being the mug sitting next to the tea pot. I dashed out of the kitchen and to the front. I calmed down slightly when I saw her facing the front door. She looked like she was talking on the phone. I approached her slowly, not wanting to spook her and I heard Damien’s voice on the other end of her phone.

I stopped behind her, gently wrapping my arm around her and taking her phone. I could feel her anxiety through our bond and hoped that I could calm her a bit. She jumped a little until she realized it was me then her body started to relax itself. “Damien,” I said, putting the phone to my ear.

“Liam, she tried not to wake you. I was able to link Missy and get her headed back home. She should be walking through the door any minute,” he said. Right on cue, the front door slowly creaked open and Missy’s face popped into view.

“She’s here. We’ll talk in the morning. Thanks,” I said. I hung up and dropped the phone into my pocket.

“I’m so sorry…” Missy squeaked standing only halfway in the door. Her hair was wet, and her clothes were damp.

“Do you know what time it is?” I asked, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.

“I left my phone in the car and we lost track of time. I didn’t mean to make anyone worry…” she said quickly. Azalea turned to me and rested her hand on my cheek.

“Not tonight, My Alpha,” she implored looking into my eyes with her giant green ones. I sighed before looking back to Missy.

“Shower and bed. 15 minutes, that is it. We will talk about this tomorrow,” I said. She nodded quickly and hurried past us.

I looked back down at Azalea. I could feel her anxiety receding just leaving her worried. “You should have woken me up, baby,” I said softly. I stroked her soft cheeks. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

“No, you needed to sleep. I am so sorry. It was the bond, right? I woke you up?” she asked.

“It’s alright,” I said, wrapping her in a hug. “She is back and safe and absolutely grounded.” I kissed the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around me.

“I’m sorry. It was silly to panic,” she said into my chest.

“No, it wasn’t. It was silly to pace around this hall for Goddess knows how long when you aren’t supposed to be on your feet for long,” I scolded. I unwrapped her from my arms and bent down to pick her up bridal style. “Now, Little Luna, I am taking you to bed and you are not allowed to get out of it again tonight.” She leaned against me, accepting my words. She had learned to pick her battles over the past few years. She only picked the ones she could win now.

I carried her upstairs. When we passed Missy’s room the light was already off. I took Azalea into our room and laid her down on the bed. I crawled up on the bed and she laid over me. Her hands lightly stroked my skin and she relaxed. “We can’t take away Vlad, Liam. She will just push us away more. She is convinced they are mates,” she whispered. I stroked her hair gently.

“We can talk about it tomorrow, baby. Sleep,” I said. We both needed to get some sleep. Leo was an early riser and now Azalea had been up all night.Belongs to © n0velDrama.Org.

–

I woke up to my phone ringing. I answered it quickly so I wouldn’t wake Azalea. “Yea?” I whispered.

“Lily grabbed the boys. You should take the morning off and let Azalea sleep. We’ll have some brunch brought up later,” Damien said softly.

“Thanks,” I said before hanging up. Although it had woken me up, I was a little relieved to have a few more hours to lay in bed with Azalea. She needed to rest after last night and I was still a little tired after the last couple weeks. Plus, when she woke up, we could discuss what to do about Missy. Azalea stirred next to me. I wrapped my arm back around her, snaking my hand into her shirt to rest it on her tiny bump.

“Mmmm,” she sleepily hummed.

“Shhhh. Go back to sleep, Little Luna. Everything is handled,” I said softly in her ear.

“But Leo should be getting up soon,” she grumbled.

“Nope. Lily got him and Junior. They are all taken care of this morning. Just relax, sweetheart,” I said.

“So, we’re alone?” she smiled. Her eyes blinked open as her head turned back to look at me.

“Just you and me,” I told her with a smirk. I started to feel her desire through our bond.

“You know, there was something that I didn’t get to do on my birthday,” she said. She raised an eyebrow at me, and I knew exactly what my Little Luna wanted. Fortunately for her, I intended to give her everything she wanted.

Missy

When I went down to breakfast, Liam and Lea weren’t there. Delta Austin grabbed me and pulled me aside before I could sit down. “What were you thinking? Coming back that late and keeping Luna up? Missy, what is going on with you?” he chided. I had the biggest crush on him growing up. That all ended when we learned more about mates at school. I was devastated at first that my crush could never be mine, but I also realized pretty quickly that it was all sort of absurd. But we had grown into good pals over the past few years. Austin was one of the more down to earth wolves in the pack and his mate was super nice.

“I lost track of time, okay? I didn’t know Lea would wait up for me like that and freak out!” I told him defensively.

“Missy, you are their daughter. Of course, they are going to wait up to make sure you are home safe. Luna would be beside herself if something happened to you. And I get woken up in the middle of the night by Damien to go looking for you? I was almost to the that little clearing we found you at last time when he told me you were back,” he said, his face covered in worry. Why was everyone freaking out so bad about me being late?

“I didn’t know, okay? I’m sorry. I left my phone in V’s car and we were just hanging out. We came back as soon as Damien linked me!” I defended myself.

“Missy, I am worried about you. These last few months…” he trailed off. “Look, I need you to be a little more responsible. Maybe you should hang out with someone other than just Vlad for a while too. Lily made you some time. She grabbed Junior and Leo this morning so Alpha and Luna could sleep a little more. But you better have the best apology ever when they come out of that room.” He gave me a sad look and shook his head before walking away. I sighed as I walked over to get a plate of food.

I wasn’t trying to disappoint anyone, but no one gets it. All the other kids my age love to talk about how my mom didn’t love me and went off and killed herself. And that Lea and Liam only adopted me because it looked good for them. They don’t care that my mom lost her mate or how amazing Liam and Lea really are. They just want to gossip, and I hate it. I didn’t want to be friends with people like that. Vlad wasn’t like that.

After we first met, he had upset me once. He had called me ‘Orphan Princess’ not knowing how much it still hurt. I had run away crying because I had started to like him and thought that I was finally going to get a break from all of that. I thought I didn’t have to be defined by it with him. He had come to find me and apologized. When I explained it to him, he immediately regretted it and has only called me princess since.

I sat down alone with my food and ate slowly. I felt bad the whole way back to the pack house knowing that Lea had waited up for me, but it was ten times worse when I saw her face. She was pale and had dark circles under her eyes. And Liam was just silently seething. He was pretty good at hiding his anger, but I knew. I could also tell that he was just worried about Lea. We were all worried about this pup.

When I was finished eating, I decided I would go hide in my room for the day. I had plenty of homework and studying I could do anyway. My phone chimed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from V.

Hope you didn’t get in too much trouble. Wanna go to the lake?

I sighed trying to decide what to do. I did want to go with him. I want to spend as much time as I could with him. But I felt like it would only make things worse if Liam and Lea came to find me later and I was gone with him again.

Can’t go. Talk later?

Hopefully, this would suffice for now. I continued up to my room when I got V’s reply.

What happened?

I got to my room and sat down at my desk before replying.

Nothing yet. But I know it won’t be good. I will let you know more at school.

I put my phone down and grabbed my backpack, fishing out my chemistry homework.