Missy

I’ve been grounded for over a week now. At first Vlad was sensitive about it. He apologized when I told him what happened the next day at school. He promised when I was able to do things outside the pack house again, he wouldn’t let me be late again. He was busy with his dad that night but came over the next day. We went up to my room to study right after school. We were laying on my bed with our history books open when Felix barged in. Liam sent him to make us go downstairs. I went to Lea’s office to see if she could talk some sense into Liam and V ended up leaving because of the drama. Now he didn’t want to come over trying to use the excuse of not making the Alpha mad.

I closed my locker door and hiked my backpack onto my shoulder. I was not even going to bother looking for V before I left school. The only good thing that has come out of being grounded is that I am way ahead on schoolwork and studying for now. Without having V to occupy my time, I have nothing better to do than study or play with the kids. I made my way to the front doors. I didn’t feel like riding the bus and because I am intentionally ignoring V, that meant walking back to the pack house. I didn’t mind much though. I walked down the front steps and headed to the sidewalk. Before I left the lot though, V pulled up next to me.

“Princess, what are you doing? I was looking for you!” he said through the driver’s window.

“I wasn’t looking for you,” I said, continuing to walk.

“You aren’t really mad, are you?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes, V. I am mad. I was late because I was out with you, I get grounded, and now you won’t even come over to hang out. I’m stuck in that suffocating pack house all the time and you just keep coming up with excuses,” I told him. I picked up the pace a little. My wolf was getting frustrated. When I got back to the pack house, I intended to ask Lea if I could go for a run. I needed to let off some steam.Belongs to - All rights reserved.

“Missy, don’t be like that…” he said.

“Be like what V?” I said stopping and turning to him. He stopped the car and got out. He stood close to me, looking down at me.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to make more trouble for you with the Alpha. I know he is your father, but he doesn’t seem to like me much,” he said. He brought his hand up to cup my face.

“It doesn’t matter if Liam likes you or not. We both know we are mates! Let me deal with Lea and Liam. You basically just deserted me,” I said. I was getting so frustrated I wanted to cry.

His face softened at me. “I’m not deserting you. If you want me to come over so bad, I will,” he said. “I’m sorry princess.”

I pursed my lips. “Fine,” I said.

“Will you let me take you home then?” he asked. I let out a sigh before nodding. He gave me a small smile. We walked around the car and he opened the door for me. I rolled my eyes and got in. I wonder if Liam ever frustrated Lea this much. Mates sure could be a pain.

V took us to the pack house. When we got inside, I took us to the kitchen first to grab some snacks. Lea had completely changed the pack house over the years. Now, there were wolves paid well to cook most of the meals, but everyone was expected to clean after themselves and help around the pack house if they lived here. I always knew when she was really stressed out because I would find her obsessively cleaning areas of the pack house, she never used like the Omega floors.

After I grabbed us some fruit, chips, and waters, I took us out to the back patio to do homework. I was almost done with our final English paper, but I knew V wasn’t even close. There was bound to be people in the lounge around the TV and I didn’t feel like dealing with the nag of taking V to my room, so I settled for this. It was nice outside anyway.

When we sat down, I started getting my books out while V grabbed the bowl of chips. “How do you possibly still have homework? Every time I call you, you are studying,” he said.

“Well, it’s not like I have much else to do. Get your essay out. It’s due this week and I know you aren’t done,” I said.

He rolled his eyes at me. “Yes, princess,” he said with a playful smirk. When he got his things out, I stole his notebook and flipped through to find his essay draft. I scanned the page astonished.

“V, you have like 2 paragraphs here! This is a ten-page paper. The timeline told us to have the first draft done a week ago!” I exclaimed.

He shrugged. “I’ll finish it,” he said looking bored.

“Do you want to sit through summer school?” I asked him.

“Won’t matter much if your warden doesn’t release you before then,” he countered.

“That’s not fair!” I said. We were interrupted by Delilah and Junior running out of the back door.

“Missy, Missy, Missy!” they yelled running over to us.

“Missy, play soccer with us!” Junior jeered.

“Please! We need more on our team. Delta is on Leo’s team!” Delilah whined. I sighed.

“Guys, I am busy with V right now. Why don’t you go look for Jacob or Hunter? Or maybe your dads?” I suggested.

“Uncle Liam has the Gammas doing something important!” she whined.

“Daddy took Mommy to the doctor,” Junior said. V immediately snapped his head towards me. I knew exactly what he was thinking: Liam and Lea weren’t here.

I turned to him and shook my head. “No way,” I whispered. I turned back to the kids.

“Where is Beta?” I asked.

“Daddy said he had to have a talk with Mommy and to go play until dinner,” Delilah said. That made me giggle a little. I don’t think they were talking much. I sighed.

“Let’s play with them,” V said next to me. I turned to him a little surprised. He never voluntarily hung out with the kids. He was always wanting to go off alone together.

“Are you sure? What about your essay?” I said. He stood and set the bowl of chips down. He leaned over and gave me a peck on the forehead.

“I told you, princess. I will get it done,” he said. He looked at the kids and gave them a smile. “Alright, let’s play some soccer,” he said. They cheered loudly. I resigned myself to this and went along.

Liam

We sat in an examine room waiting for my uncle to come in. Azalea was fine for the first few days after her party but then she started getting pains in her sides. She tried to hide it from me, but Lily spilled the beans. Everyone was worried about her and watching her closely. I knew we were all driving her crazy since she hated being the center of attention but we all couldn’t help but be worried. I forced her to come get checked out today after calling my uncle to make sure he had time. I left Felix with the kids, so she could have no objections.

“Pregnant women have pain, Liam. I am literally growing another life inside of me. This is not necessary,” she complained. Her bump was starting to be noticeable in her clothes now. Every time I looked at it, I swelled with pride. I love seeing her carrying my pups.

“Baby, I know that. But we both know that we need to be extra careful this time around. If you’re having a problem, we need to get it checked on,” I told her. I stood next to her and rubbed her lower back gently.

“You are really lucky that I like you so much,” she huffed. That made me laugh. I gave her a mock pouty face and she rolled her eyes at me.

Finally, my uncle came in. “My favorite Luna,” he said warmly. “Nephew.” he nodded his head at me. Azalea and my uncle were close. She seemed to like him far more than my parents even though we all had an amenable relationship now. My Uncle had even helped her track down information about her wolf and White Moon heritage after she took the Luna title. It was the first and only time she had ever shown me she was disappointed about not having her wolf. My mate had really been special for a reason. Her wolf was one that was reincarnated throughout her bloodline and it was supposed to be incredibly powerful. She had been upset for a while thinking that she was not good enough to carry that mantle along. A former White Moon member had been the one to cheer her up. The woman was a nurse now working with my Uncle and was well versed in White Moon history. She told Azalea that her wolf would simply wait to emerge in the next worthy heir of her bloodline.

Since then, Azalea has not been upset about not having a wolf, just occasionally frustrated at her physical weakness. But what she lacked in physical strength she more than made up for in other ways. She was an incredible businesswoman. The Inn ran like a top even without her presence. The pack house was a whole different place compared to our childhood. And she attended to the needs of our pack members with exceptional grace. To top it all off, she was the best mother to our pups. She was nurturing and attentive, but they were not spoiled. They were strong willed and curious children that were well behaved and had decent manners.

“I hear there has been some pain happening around the pup?” my Uncle asked.

“It isn’t anything really,” Azalea said.

“She’s lying,” I told him. She shot me a careful look.

“Why don’t we go ahead and just take a look and just make sure it’s nothing,” he said pulling over the ultrasound machine.

“Fine,” she said. I helped her shift back on the bed and she lifted her shirt, displaying her cute, round bump.

I held her hand while my uncle squirted the cool jelly on her stomach. She shivered a little. He quickly moved the wand over her, spreading the jelly around. He watched the small screen on the machine as he moved the wand around. We waited patiently for him to look at the baby.

Finally, he turned the monitor around to us. “I can’t see anything concerning now. Hopefully, this pain is just due to you growing around the baby. Like the last couple pregnancies, you are having to adapt to a much faster growing baby then your body wants to. Without wolf abilities to help you, we are going to have to manage some of these pains. But I can show you this,” he said pointing to the monitor. There was the smallest outline of a face and hand from a side perspective on the screen. My heart picked up speed. My pup. Gavin hooted in my head. He loved pregnant Azalea, every aspect of it.

“Why don’t I print this for you then?” he said smiling at Azalea. She gave him a warm smile and nodded. Her irritation with me forgotten. At the last checkup she had, he gave her a picture of the baby but it was still mostly a dot. That photo was currently sitting against the base of the computer monitor on my desk so I could see it all the time. We got her cleaned up and Uncle Ron handed us the photo.

“Should we be worried?” I asked him.

“As long as you stay on lite duty for now, I don’t think so. I will give you something for the pain that won’t hurt the baby, but you must take it easy Azalea. No picking up those kids you are always chasing around. Don’t stand or walk for long periods of time. No excessive chores,” he told her sternly. We both knew she was too strong willed to sit still without someone forcing her to. She rolled her eyes at him.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “Am I free wardens?” she asked us sarcastically. He just chuckled and nodded.

“Come back to see me in about a week or so.” he said as we left the office. She held the picture up smiling.

“Still mad at me, Little Luna?” I asked and I wrapped my arm around her waist.

“Mmmm. A little,” she said. She looked up at me through her eyelashes and I could feel her desire through our bond quickly. “But you can take me to our room and make it up to me before dinner. You might have just enough time, My Alpha.”