Azalea

After they ate, Liam sent the boys to find Missy and Maddox so he could ‘make me stop leaking,’ as Leo put it. I thank the Moon Goddess every day that Liam isn’t as harsh as his father, and they get to enjoy their childhoods as children as long as we can allow them to. It’s a miracle that Liam is as sweet and compassionate as he is. We sat on the couch, and he held me close to him.

“Thank you for finding them,” I said. Liam kissed the top of my head.

“I’m sorry you were left to worry, Little Luna. They should have never taken eyes off them,” he said. I knew someone would be getting in trouble for this, and I guessed it might be Felix by the way he appeared earlier. Liam had asked him to arrange the patrols before he dismissed him to go spend time with Lacey. I hoped that pushing it off until morning would give Liam some time to calm down, at least.

“Liam, who was Leo talking about? The fast man?” I asked him. His arms tensed around me a bit, and I was confused.

“I don’t want you to freak out, okay? I’m already worried about the baby….” he said softly.

“Liam, what happened?” I asked, getting a little worried now.

His hands started rubbing my back gently. “They boys were climbing trees when they spotted a small group of rogues. They did the right thing and stayed put. They must have thought the patrols would help them,” he said in a gentle voice. I tried to pull away from him and sit up properly, but he held me still.

“Rogues almost found my children? Liam?” I began to panic again. When Liam ran off, I imagined them hurt. I didn’t imagine rogues finding them!

“Yes, Little Luna. Junior said he smelled the trash smell. But they stayed put, and no one saw them at the top of the tree,” he tried to assuage me.

“Did you get the rogues?” I asked.

“The patrol found them and took care of the matter,” he said.

“Wait, you didn’t find them? Liam, who brought the boys back?” Liam wouldn’t let me move away from him. He held me to him as I waited for his answer. “Liam!”

“The vampire got them away from the rogues,” he finally said. I stopped moving.

“Theodore?” I clarified. He nodded. “He rescued my boys from the rogues?”

“Yes, he got them away. According to Leo, they didn’t even know he was there,” he explained. A smile broke out across my face. I didn’t need to say anything more about it. Theodore had done more with his selfless gesture than he had during all the conversation at dinner. Liam wasn’t going to admit readily that he had been quick to judge Theodore, but that was alright. I snuggled closer to him, finally starting to relax after everything that has happened today. Tomorrow morning, I would thank Theodore personally for his help.

–

Gentle, pleasurable sparks float along my arm, starting at my wrist and slowly moving up to my shoulder. Then back down again. I’m so warm, and the smell of the forest surrounds me. I smile as my mind slowly wakes up. My face is cuddled close into Liam’s chest as we lay on our sides facing each other. He must already be awake with his fingers trailing up and down my arm gently.

“Little Luna, are you going to sleep all day?” his voice said gently in my head.

“Mmmm,” I hummed. I was comfortable and enjoying it. I didn’t want to move yet. I like my warm, Liam-filled bubble. He chuckled softly.

“I thought you were going to see Amy for lunch? If you sleep much longer, she is going to come to drag you out of here,” he tried again. Wait, what time is it? I tried to roll away from Liam a fraction, but my whole body felt heavy still. Liam’s face came down close to mine. His nose glided along my cheek. “Come on, baby. You have slept all morning,” he told me. He sounded a little worried. I managed to open my eyes and turn toward his face. He smiled down at me then peppered soft k****s on my lips.

“Are you okay, baby? You still look so tired,” he asked.

“Yea, I’m okay,” I whispered. I did still feel exhausted and wasn’t too keen to leave the bed and him. “What time is it?”

“A little past noon,” he said. “You were so asleep; even Leo and Junior arguing didn’t wake you this morning.” Oh no, the kids. I started to move at that, but Liam wrapped his arm around me. “It’s okay. Missy went shopping this morning with Lemon and will be back to go to Amy’s. The boys are with Maddox and Felix.” I relaxed again at his words. Liam moved, pulling us both into a sitting position. When I leaned my weight against him, he looked down at me, worried again.

“Maybe I should take you home and to the doctor…” he worried.

“No,” I said, trying to make my body cooperate. “I’m just a bit tired still. Yesterday took more out of me than I thought.”

“How’s my pup?” he asked, his hand coming to my stomach.

“Perfectly fine,” I told him. Liam reached his hand up under my shirt and started to caress my stomach gently. I sighed in content. My brain finally caught up to something Liam already told me.

“Wait, why is Felix with the boys? Shouldn’t he be spending time with his new mate?” I asked Liam. He gave me a guilty look. “He may be feeling guilty and responsible for the situation yesterday.” I was bewildered, and Liam quickly explained. “I blamed him. I left him responsible for coordinating the patrols before he went to be with his mate, and when the boys went missing, I made my frustration clear.”

“Liam, how could you?” I scolded. “That man has been the perfect bodyguard for years now. He never takes a day off. He went on our honeymoon! The patrols should have been wiser to realize not to leave the children unattended! You cannot blame Felix for this!”

“Azalea, if those rogues had spotted them-”

“No!” I said adamantly. “I am painfully aware of what could have happened if the rogues found them. But you aren’t going to blame him. Get someone else to watch them and tell Felix to go back to his mate!” All I could think about was the hurt look on his face when Liam stormed out to find the kids last night. Felix never looked hurt or scared.

“Azalea, whether you agree or not, he failed us yesterday. I didn’t command him to watch over the boys. He was at the door when Missy and Maddox were leaving to take them up to breakfast. He is punishing himself right now, and I do not disagree with it. I will speak with him later about the matter, but that does not mean that he did not endanger my pups,” he said in a stern voice.

I let out a forceful sigh. “Fine. When we leave to go to Amy’s, he is being relieved for the day. And I am inviting Lacey back to the packhouse with us. She should get a chance to know her mate. You may want to also start looking for someone else. He won’t be available at all hours of the day and night any longer.”

Liam nodded, clearly still frustrated but not wanting to argue any further. “Let’s get ready for the day. When Amy called earlier, she asked if you could be over at two.”

“Alright,” I said. “Help me out of bed?” I asked, hoping to soften his mood. It worked because he gave me a small smile and nodded. I reached up and kissed his cheek as he pulled me up into his arms. I didn’t enjoy arguing with Liam, but someone needed to tell him when he was out of line.

Missy

I sipped the iced coffee we stopped and got between stores. We were headed to one more store that Lemon wanted to check out before going back to the Inn. We were all supposed to go to Amy’s for lunch today, so this was only a short shopping trip. Lemon helped me pick out a couple of new summer dresses and a charming pair of overall shorts. We found her some new summer blouses for work, and I picked out a necklace and earring set for her.

“So, are you going to tell me about these boys?” she asked as we walked.

I choked a little on my drinks. “Boys?” I sputtered.

She laughed. “Yea. More specifically, how does Maddox fit in with Vlad?”

“He’s just a friend,” I said quickly.

“A friend who hangs on your every word and looks at you with goo-goo eyes,” she teased.

“No, he doesn’t!”

“A friend who you are always laughing with and smiling at?”

“It isn’t like that!”

“You’ve never brought Vlad out to the Inn,” she pointed out. I guess I never had. I shrugged. “You are allowed to change your feelings, Miss.”

“What do you mean?”

“How do I explain this?” she paused, thinking. “When you are young, you think you know everything. You probably feel like you are so ready to be a grown-up and move away from Liam and Lea. You probably hate how overbearing they can be. It’s natural. Most of us do it. I was the same way. I rebelled as hard as I could in this tiny, little town. Lea and Amy were around to keep me straight and make sure I didn’t mess up too bad, but I still tried. When you are young and think that way, you can get pretty caught up in one guy and ignore everything else. You can ignore when someone or something better comes along and hold on tight to those feelings, even if they start to change. All I am saying is, it’s okay to change your mind. Vlad may seem like the one, but it’s totally possible that he isn’t.”Content rights belong to .

“I’m not changing my mind….”

“Really? Because the last time I took you out, all you did was talk about Vlad. You haven’t mentioned him once since you got here,” she said. Lemon will always call me on my s**t. I usually appreciate it, but right now, it was just adding to the frustration of being conflicted.

“It’s Vlad. Maddox is just a friend….” I said, trying to end the conversation.

“Alright. If you say so, but I am going to give you my two cents: as far as guys go, that Maddox is a keeper. Not only are you relaxed and happy around him, but he also seems like a genuinely good guy. He happily offered to play with your siblings today while we went out. He even carried Leo into breakfast on his shoulders. Plus, Lea seems to adore him, and Liam doesn’t want to rip his head from his shoulders. Those are all good signs, my dear.” With that, we went into the last store. Lemon shopped around while I just followed her, thinking about what she told me.

Lacey

When I walked into the dining room for breakfast this morning, I immediately saw Felix sitting at a table with some children. His face tilted up, and we locked eyes for a moment before he looked down at his plate again. The girl at his table, who looked to be around 16 years old, looked over at me with a confused expression, her eyes toggling between us. I moved to sit with Jax and Theo. I would only be in town a couple of days to help get things rolling before I returned to the office. Felix never came back to his room last night. After sitting there for over an hour, I went back to my room. I found it difficult to sleep last night, though. I felt restless the entire time. I didn’t know if it was because of the mate bond or how he had left, but something wasn’t sitting right in my chest.

I picked at my breakfast, earning a worried look from Theo. Being a vampire, he already knew that Felix and I were mates, so I am sure we were confusing him. Jax rambled on and on about things that needed to be done as we began the remodel, but I barely listened.

Lemon came out and talked to the girl at the table with Felix. She jumped up and bounded out with her. I guessed that these were the Alpha children because they all seemed very comfortable around Lemon, and Felix was by their side. The three boys and Felix soon got up and left together. I looked up hopefully as he left, but he kept his eyes forwards towards the kids with him as they left the room. I shook my head, trying to push him from my thoughts. I would focus on work and get out of here as quickly as I could. If he wasn’t interested in being my second chance, I wasn’t interested in being his.