Liam

Azalea and I entered the packhouse. She was pretty quiet after I immediately denied her suggestion of calling the vampire for help. He is still alive and in my territory because he saved my children, but if I find more vampires in my land, that courtesy will end.

Azalea paused at the bottom of the stairs, and I knew she was battling her own fatigue to force herself up them. Without asking, I scooped her up into my arms and began carrying her up to our room. She let out a defeated sigh and slumped against me, closing her eyes.

“We are going to discuss this,” she muttered. As we reached the top floor landing, I noticed Leo walking dejectedly towards his room. Lily linked me to tell me she got all the kids to bed early tonight, so Leo should be in bed.

“Little L, what are you doing?” I asked him. He looked up at me with a pouty look.

“Sissy is having a sleepover, so I can’t sleep in her room,” he grumbled.

“Is that right?” I said. Azalea didn’t move in my arms at any of this.

“Can I sleep with you, Daddy?” he asked.

“I don’t think Mommy would be very comfortable if you came to sleep with us,” I told him.

“But Mommy napped with me today. She likes when I cuddle her!” he argued. We noticed the boys were climbing into bed with Missy every night; we were hoping this was just from the attack and would go away with some time.

“Why don’t you go climb into bed, and I will come read to you? Let me just go set Mommy down,” I suggested.

“Okay,” he said, sadness still evident. He padded away to his room. I moved closer to Missy’s room and peeked into the doorway. Missy was lying on her side facing the opening, and there was a tanned arm wrapped around her waist.

“Let them be,” Azalea whispered. I looked down to see her watching them as well.

“There is a boy in my daughter’s bed!” I hissed.

“And they are clearly just sleeping,” she said with a small smile.

“And? they are teenagers and almost mating age!”

“I think you should have some trust in her. You have raised a good girl, My Alpha. But what happened left some wounds for all of us, Missy and Maddox included. They might just need each other right now.” I looked back towards the bed. Missy did look like she was sleeping soundly for the first time since the attack.

“Alright, but this isn’t going to become an every night sort of thing or he is moving out of the packhouse,” I relented. Azalea patted my chest lightly as I brought her to our room. I set her down on the bed gently.

“Go read to Leo; I’ll wait here,” she said softly, adjusting herself against the pillows. Her eyes were droopy as she reached for the book from her nightstand.

–

I wasn’t surprised at all to find Azalea sleeping soundly when I finally got Leo to fall asleep. It took three stories before his tiny eyelids finally drooped. When I got back to our room, Azalea hadn’t moved from her spot, the book laying open in her lap. She was slightly curled onto her side and leaning against our headboard.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

I went to her side of the bed first, retrieving her book and setting it back on her nightstand. Then I slipped her shoes off and put them on the floor. I went to the closet, shedding my clothes and pulling on a pair of shorts. I grabbed one of my shirts before heading back out to the bedroom. She would wake up grumpy and uncomfortable if she slept in her clothes all night.

I jostled her slightly to wake her. “Hey, Little Luna, let’s get out of these clothes,” I prompted her softly.

“Mmmmm,” she hummed softly. I sat on the bed and shifted her slightly. Her sleepy eyes fluttered open for a moment, a sanguine smile tracing her lips.

“Arms up,” I told her. She sleepily obliged, lifting her arms so I could pull her blouse over her head. I reached behind her, quickly releasing the clasp on her bra so I could slide it from her arms. I took a short moment to appreciate her full, swollen breasts that have grown heavy with pregnancy. Before I could let my mind wander too far, I pulled my shirt over her, managing to get her sleep-heavy limbs through the holes slowly.

“Do you want your shorts off, baby?” I asked her.

“Mmmhmm,” she answered, still in her sleepy fog. She slid down the bed slightly, lying back more. I reached up and gently tugged her shorts down her short, slender legs, leaving a couple of soft k****s on her thighs. I discarded her clothes onto the floor and crawled over to lay next to her. As soon as I laid down, she rolled towards me, throwing one leg over mine and wrapping her arm around my waist. I settled her into me, kissing the top of her head and breathing in her luscious scent.

I tried to relax, letting her weight against me comfort and calm my body. Gavin was restless; neither of us was very happy about the vampires being among the rogues. In hindsight, I should not have let Gavin just completely decimate all the rogues in the camp or the vampires. We should have kept a few alive, but Damien and I both were seeing red. The vampires were also a surprise. They could not have been too old because they were slow and unsure of themselves. If my knowledge of the bloodsuckers is correct, they get stronger with age.

“I want Little Mate,” Gavin griped at me.

“She’s sleeping,” I said.

“I will make her forget about that,” he assured.

“No, let her sleep. She is growing our pup,” I scolded him.

“No reason we cannot start on another one,” he retorted.

“Not how that works….” I thought.

“I want Little Mate,” he repeated. I sighed. With everything going on, neither of us was getting much quality time with our mate. Gavin was even less than me. And tomorrow, I was just going to ignite a time bomb when I told her that Declan and my father would be sharing the responsibility of guarding her for the moment. My father and Azalea have an amicable relationship, but they will never be close, and Declan is sure to talk her ear off. She is going to grow steadily irritated with them until her patience finally snaps. She will inevitably demand they be replaced, and I am hoping I can find a permanent solution by then.

Gavin’s irritation was keeping me from relaxing completely, despite Azalea’s presence. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply while I stroked Azalea’s soft orange hair.

“Alpha,” a voice in my head disturbed my attempt at peace.

“Yes?” I replied. It was too late in the night; this was important.

“We found another group of rogues,” Sean said. I stilled. I couldn’t move quickly without disturbing my sleeping mate.

“How many?” I asked.

“Eight. One adult and the rest are children,” he said.

“So, they are peaceful? They aren’t attacking?” I clarified.

“No sir. Should we bring them to the packhouse?”

I sighed and ran my hand over my face—another group of displaced wolves. “Yes, bringing them here. I will meet you at the front doors.” I looked down at Azalea, deciding to let her sleep. I extracted myself from her grip and left to get this group settled.

Azalea

I woke up to an impatient bladder needing immediate relief. I rolled out of bed and reluctantly waddled to the bathroom. When I entered the bathroom, the shower was running, temporarily straying my thoughts from my needy bladder.

I peered through the door to see Liam Looking up into the stream of steamy water with his eyes closed. Tension defined his muscular body, and melancholy gripped my heart. His attention snapped to me. He shut the water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his h**s.

“What are you doing up so early, My Alpha?” I asked him. His hands came to rest on my h**s.

“I never went to bed,” he admitted.

“What happened?”

“We found another group of misplaced wolves at our borders last night.”

“You could have woken me up,” I scolded him. He gave me a weak smile and kissed my forehead.

“No, Little Luna. You were tired and needed rest,” he said. I reached my hand up to cup his cheek.

“So do you. You can’t lead this pack if you never take a minute,” I reminded him.

“How about I take this afternoon off when we go to your check-up?” he said.

“Alright,” I agreed. With one last k**s, he left me to get dressed, and I promptly remembered my urgent bladder with a small kick from the baby.

–

Liam and I were sitting in his office. We needed to discuss a few things, but he seemed nervous about it for some reason. I patiently waited for him to finish reading through last night’s patrol report, letting my mind wander aimlessly. Felix and another warrior took the kids to the park while Missy and Maddox went on a run together. She convinced him to take the day off from training after spending every waking moment of the past few days working out.

Someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” Liam grunted, not taking his eyes off the paper in his hands.

Lacey popped her head. “Luna, there you are!” she said with a smile.

“What can I do for you, Lacey?”

“Do we have any more spare clothes for teenage girls? There are two in the group that arrived last night,” she asked.

“Oh yes, I am sure we have something. Ask Lily to take you downstairs to the storage room off the laundry,” I told her. Lacey dived in and started helping this morning with getting the new wolves situated, which I was grateful for. We haven’t given her an official job, so I wasn’t sure if she wanted one or not.

“Great. Thank you,” she said, smiling. “If you need any help with things, please don’t hesitate to ask. I worked for my former Alpha for a long time.”

“Actually,” Liam said, looking up. Her attention moved to him. “I need some help compiling all the different information we have on some possibly related occurrences.”

“Easy,” she said.

“Lacey, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I told her.

“No, no, no. I would love to. It will give me something to keep busy with while Felix is working,” she said with a bright smile.

“I’ll have Damien get you everything this afternoon,” Liam said, going back to his report.

“Perfect,” she said before heading out the door.

I let silence permeate the room once more, but then my impatience won over. “Alright, what is it that you need to speak with me about? And we never discussed requesting Theodore’s assistance last night.”

Liam sighed and set down his paperwork. I stood and slowly moved over to him. He turned his chair and opened his arms so I could awkwardly sit on his lap. My round belly was becoming a hindrance to intimacy. “You were asleep, so we could not discuss all the reasons why I should not willingly invite a vampire so close to my packhouse and so far into my territory,” he said.

I glowered at him. “He is knowledgeable about both his race and ours. He may know what to expect and what we should do to help Hiram,” I argued. Liam shook his head.

“Let’s discuss this later. Your new bodyguard will be here any minute,” he said. My eyebrows rose in interest at his words.

“And who will that be? Do I know them?” I asked. Liam didn’t get to answer because a heavy knock sounded on the door before it swung open. Robert was standing in the doorway with a stern look on his face. I turned to Liam, trying to mask my shock and simultaneous rage.

“Liam!” I linked him.

“I had no choice. My father and Declan will be taking turns watching over you for the time being,” he replied.

“So, you waited until moments before I arrive to tell your mate?” Robert said dryly.

“Thanks for coming,” Liam said. His father just nodded. I plastered on the best Luna smile I could muster. Liam turned to me. “I will see you this afternoon. I will come to collect you when we need to leave for your appointment.”

“Don’t think this discussion is over, Alpha,” I linked him before rising from his lap and breezing from the room.