“I know the circumstances aren’t ideal, but I am afraid we won’t be able to avoid a war,” Liam said.

“No, I don’t think we will,” Langston said. “But rest assured we will stand with you. You’re a good man, Liam, and a good Alpha. We can’t sit back while your pack and family are targeted.”

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that, Langston.” Liam looked over at his clock. We had been talking about the vampire situation for well over 2 hours now. “This has been a lot for now. Why don’t we all head down for some dinner?”

Emma nodded her head sadly. “Felix should be taking the kids to the dining room any time now,” I said. Emma perked up a little at that.

“Liam, if it’s alright, I would like to have a quick word before dinner. I have something for you,” Langston said. Liam looked at me and then Damien. Oh no.

“Sure,” he said. “Lily, why don’t you and Emma head down to the dining room? Damien needs Azalea for a quick second before dinner, and Langston and I won’t be long.”

“Liam, Damien is not carrying me down the steps,” I linked him.

“Fine, I will carry you down and come back up then,” he responded.

“I can go down the steps once,” I told him.

“Bed rest,” he chimed.Belongs to - All rights reserved.

“We can do that,” Lily interrupted our silent argument. Damien gave me a sheepish and apologetic look. Lily and Emma got up and headed out the door, chatting about the kids. Damien looked down at the floor as he stood, knowing I wasn’t happy about this. Liam helped me stand and let me walk from the room with Damien trailing me. He shut Liam’s door after us as I started walking down the hall.

He caught up to me quickly, of course, my small legs not able to carry my round torso fast enough to evade him. He said nothing as he picked me up and started heading down the stairs slowly.

“I’ll set you down at the bottom if you tell Liam I carried you all the way to the door,” he said.

“Fine,” I huffed. I wasn’t angry at him, really; I just hated this in general. True to his word, Damien set me down gently as we reached the bottom of the stairs. Missy and Maddox were approaching, heading for dinner as well.

“Hey, you two,” I said.

“Good evening, Luna,” Maddox said. Missy rolled her eyes.

“Maddox, please, call me Azalea,” I said. With him attached to Missy’s h*p, I felt like he was family at this point. He nodded his head, but his look said he was too scared to address me informally. “How has your day been?” I asked them. We all moved towards the dining room, Damien hovering behind me like I would fall at any moment.

“Great,” said Missy. “We just came back from a run.”

“That sounds nice. Have you had any ideas about your birthday party?” I asked her as we entered the dining room. She blushed but wasn’t given a chance to answer when Emma swooped in.

“Missy!” she exclaimed.

“Luna Emma,” Missy smiled. Maddox looked a little nervous as Emma came over and pulled Missy into a tight hug.

“Darling girl, you grow more beautiful every day!” Emma said, holding her at arm’s length. Missy’s cheeks grew even redder, but I couldn’t help the tiny bit of pride swelling inside me. My daughter was beautiful inside and out.

“How have you been?” Missy asked, trying to redirect the conversation.

“Just a boring old lady. Your birthday is coming up, though. Seventeen is a big one,” she smiled.

“Yea, I know,” she said, biting her l*p. Emma finally noticed Maddox, who was still hovering close to Missy. Ever since Liam gave him another chance to watch over her, he has been diligently by her side unless he was training.

“Who is this handsome young man?” Emma asked.

“Oh, this is Maddox,” Missy said. “Maddox, this is Luna Emma from Serenity Waters.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Luna,” Maddox said, bowing his head respectfully.

“Oh, how sweet,” Emma said. “Are you two good friends then?”

“Uh, yea,” Missy said.

“Maddox and Missy are friends, and Maddox is training to become a warrior for the pack,” I told Emma.

“A warrior. That is a tough job, young man,” she said with an impressed expression.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said. “But there isn’t anything else I can imagine doing.” Maddox stood a bit taller, confidence lining his words.

“I like him,” she said to me, and Missy blushed. Liam and Langston finally joined us.

“He has a good head on his shoulders,” Liam complimented Maddox. It was Maddox’s turn to blush, although he otherwise kept his composure. Liam wrapped his arm around my waist, and Langston did the same with Emma.

“Let’s stop hogging all the children’s time,” Langston chided.

–

Emma, Lily, and I sat in the lounge after dinner. Missy and Maddox took the kids upstairs to play before bed so Felix could spend some time with Lacey. After dinner, Liam, Damien, and Langston headed out of the packhouse, saying they needed to look at something. Liam looked a bit excited and relieved, so I let him go without question. He was so distracted that he didn’t even try to figure out how to discreetly carry me from the dining room.

“So, have you decided on baby names?” Emma asked.

“Oh, we have had a few conversations,” I admitted. Liam and I were not exactly seeing eye to eye about our baby names right now. Junior, of course, was named after Liam. Lily suggested Leo after me.

“Liam is insisting on Londyn for a girl,” Lily told her.

“Well, that is pretty,” Emma said. I scrunched my nose. I don’t know how all my children were automatically being given L names. Lily laughed.

“Lea likes Magnolia and Emrick,” she clarified.

“Or Lycidas,” I input. “I just didn’t want to pick only L names!”

“Your names are off the wall, Lea,” she argued.

“You suggested Levi. I looked it up: there are 24 Levi’s in our pack under the age of five!”

“It’s a cute boy name,” she said. Emma laughed at us.

“You will know when it’s time,” she said. “Speaking of, how are things going?”

“As fine as they can be. Just need to hang in there till after Missy’s birthday, and everything should be okay,” I told her.

Liam, Damien, and Langston came in, stopping our conversation. Liam came right to me and grabbed my hands to pull me up from the couch. He had a confident smile on his face.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said happily. I furrowed my brows and looked at Damien, who gave nothing away.

“Alright….” I said hesitantly. Liam looked back at Langston and nodded. Then, another person joined the room. He was almost as tall as Liam and Damien, with chocolatey skin and vividly green eyes. He had dark hair that was long and braided, hanging past his shoulders. He dressed much like Felix: a simple grey t-shirt with slacks. He stood next to Langston with his hands clasped in front of him; he gave a slight bow to Liam and me.

“Azalea, I would like you to meet Azeron. He will be with you when Felix cannot be,” Liam said with a smile. I looked between him and the man.

“So, no more Robert and Declan?” That earned me a snort from Damien.

Liam shook his head. “No, our fathers will be relieved of their duty.”

I looked back at Azeron, who was observing me carefully. Slowly, I closed the distance between us. Of course, he was still much taller than me, so he looked down while I looked up. “It is nice to meet you, Azeron,” I said, holding my hand out. I liked him already without speaking a word to him. He just became my best friend now that he has freed me from Robert and Declan.

“Luna,” he said, nodding and grabbing my hand.

“I will insist that you call me Azalea, though,” I said. His eyes widened a little, and I saw him look up at Damien and Liam. I saw Damien shrug in my peripheral. “We’re going to spend plenty of time together, so there is no reason for formality.” All he did was nod. I guess my bodyguards were going to be a type.

Liam came over, wrapping his arm around me possessively. “Langston combed through his best warriors to find us some help. Azeron has agreed to join our pack as well.”

“I always wondered when Felix would find something to tear him away from work,” Langston chuckled. “I think you will find Azeron a great compliment to Felix.”

“So, Little Luna, are you happy?” Liam linked me. I turned to him and smiled brightly. I leaned up on my tiptoes and gave him a soft k**s on his cheek, not needing any words to tell him how relieved I was to be free from Robert and Declan’s watch.

Missy

“She seems nice,” Maddox said.

“Emma is super nice,” I told him.

“And she really likes you,” he commented.

“I think sometimes she wishes she had a daughter,” I said. We were watching all the kids play with superhero action figures on the floor of Leo’s room.

“Does she only have a son?” he asked.

“Uh, no. Emma and Langston don’t have any children. Emma can’t have pups, I think.”

“Wait, then who will be their Alpha?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess Langston will just pick someone, right?”

“I bet that is hard,” he said.

“I never really thought about it. I mean, I won’t ever be an Alpha,” I said, joking.

Maddox rolled his eyes. “You might make a better Alpha than you think,” he said.

“Now I know you’re crazy.”

“So, what do you want to do for your birthday?” he asked, nudging me.

“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. I was a little worried about my birthday because of this whole Maddox versus Vlad thing. If one of them did turn out to be my mate, I was concerned about how the other would react. Then I realized something. “What do you want to do for yours?”

Maddox just stared at the ground. He was quiet for a few minutes. “I just want to know if you are my mate or not,” he finally admitted.

“How about this,” I started. Maddox peeked up at me. “I’ll let Lea and Liam throw a party or whatever if you celebrate with me.”

“Missy, no, I wouldn’t….” Maddox started. I shook my head.

“I don’t really want to be the center of attention, and everyone is going to be all hung up on who is the mate of the Alpha’s charity case. If the party is for you too, then it will make it better,” I told him.

He smiled. “So, you want me to be your shield?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “But also, because you don’t have a family to celebrate with now. I want you to feel special too because you’re special to me.” I stopped abruptly. Did I say that out loud? Maddox’s face broke into the largest grin imaginable.

“Alright,” he said. “We will celebrate together.”