No Laughing Matter.

Chapter 8

hey guys its come to my attention a part has been missing i will upload it here and fix this mess later i'm really sorry

We had been in the pack for over a week now. All had been going well I was slowly learning all of the pack habits and how I can help out with them. I help the mothers look after the kids and pups now. Everyday whilst Thatcher goes about his alpha duties of border patrol and treaty signing, I'm helping the mothers with the children and teaching them things. I have also learned to cook some considerably basic foods.

I could tell however that today would be the day that Aria and her brother would be shifting. It had been coming along slowly and is actually later than I thought. I had discussed the naming and shifting process with my mate and he had decided on a name for the little boy but was yet to tell me.

I felt a nibble on my hand and looked down at my unnamed male cub as he happily cackled and attacked my fingers. I knew why he was so excited today he could feel it too, his shift was happening today, he and Aria had sent their feelings through the mind link we share.

Their bones were beginning to hurt, and they had a deep itch under their fur, that how it begins with hyena shifts. As soon as the sun begins its descent in an hour or so their shift would be upon us. I hoped Thatcher would be free by then, we still had not established a mate's mind link because we hadn't mated yet or had an extreme emotional connection.

I still slept in the other room anxious to be away from my cubs, but I believe that will change after their shift they will stay in that room and I might join Thatcher. I longed to be closer to him emotionally and physically my animal soul longs for the connection a mate brings, along with the safety of not being alone anymore, an alone animal is a dead animal.

My hyena and I decided that we would be the luna of this pack and not join or create another due to me being the sole adult survivor of the hyena clan. We had yet to inform our mate of our decision so that would also have to happen soon. I hadn't really seen a lot of him lately he had been super busy with pack and council things trying to let the council know I was alive along with the regular duties of running a pack. I missed him, I miss the first few days I was here where he didn't leave me alone except to sleep. He still helped with the cubs when I asked but he had been distant, and I was hoping he wasn't regretting being my mate and was just in fact busy.

Currently I was babysitting a few pack kids that were playing with my cubs. Zar has been a little terror recently and so I thought if he ran himself into the ground with other kids h might sleep a bit better tonight. I can't blame him though he hasn't had kids his age to be around in so long.

I was just waiting on the mothers and fathers of these children to come get them and then I was heading to the bedroom to ready the room for the shift. I would also have to be in hyena form which I had not let out in a few days, I was trying to still get used to human form walking was a lot easier now and so were finding the right words for things, I still messed up however but that was to be expected.

Around 15 minutes later the rest of the pack kids had been collected so I gathered up my cubs and we headed up stairs. I was carrying the tucked out Zar and the two youngest were running around my feet, the shift giving them a lot of energy.

My plan was to put Zar to bed for a nap and then try to find Thatcher to help me with shift of my youngest's. I carried Zar to our bedroom and tucked him into the plush blankets, he was complaining that he wasn't sleepy whilst his eyes were falling shut.

I leave him in the room and bring the cubs with me to find Thatcher I went to his room, but it was empty along with his office that was also empty. I tried to sniff him out, but his scent was faint all throughout the pack house. I was beginning to get worried the kids were panting and wailing through our link expressing their pain. I quickly pick them up and race them back to our room. Zar was asleep so I went into Thatchers room and pulled his blanket off the bed and laid on the floor.

I shifted into my hyena form and gathered the cubs closer to my body to soothe their human and animal soul that sees me as their mother. I tried to reach out to Thatcher in hopes that he would hear me and come to help me.

Thatchers POV

I was doing border patrol with my betas, we were taking a little longer because we had found on odd scent in the east end. We couldn't decipher the old scent as any pack member or known lone wolves that we house in the east end. The lone wolves are welcome to come and go as they please as long as they inform me beforehand. They are also welcome to bring their mate if they first meet me, the alpha and my betas and warriors.

This however was an unknown scent and we currently weren't housing any of our lone pack members. It worried me so I catalogued the spicy scent in the back of my mind to check again in the other borders.

We were on the way back when I felt an ache in my soul. I couldn't tell what it was, but it caused me to speed up a bit. My betas questioned me through the pack link, but I couldn't explain it until I felt a nervous cackle that seemed to fly on the wind around me and I knew that my mate needed me.

I ran as fast as my paws could carry me until the pack house was in sights. I swiftly changed back to human and shoved some shorts on before dashing into the house and right up to my mates' room until I smelt his scent coming from my room instead running into there.

As I entered, I could sense pain and distress from both him and the kids that were beginning to shift. Fuck. I can't believe that this had happened when I was furthest from the pack house, he must have really needed me if I could sense his distress without being mated or having a secure mate link.

I laid down beside me mate and began to let out my alpha aura so the cubs would feel safe. It was good to do that when a child was going through their first shift so that their animal would feel safer in the presence of a dominant figure to protect them in their time of vulnerability.

The cubs settled down a little bit after I did this and were moving closer to my body along with their mothers. I began to talk to their human forms that were trying to come out, guiding them through the pain and stress of changing your entire form. I was helped with this by my mate who was releasing motherly aura whether aware of it or not that is exactly what a luna would do as this time.

After several hours of speaking to the cubs in a firm but soft tone Aria was now in her human form being coddled by Casius whereas the little male hyena was still struggling to shift, and his body was beginning to give up on the shifting. Aria had long black hair and tan skinned, what was interesting though were her bright grey eyes that were blinking up at her adoptive mother.

"Maybe he just isn't ready Thatcher and that's perfectly fine." Casius said concern for his cub clear in his voice.

I nodded his head, my wolf crying out for the cub we see as our son. It was very strange for siblings to not change at the same time as one another. On closer inspection the male cub was also much smaller than his sister, he must have been a runt. In was common for hyenas to have a dominant cub and a submissive one if they had more than one, usually only the dominant one survived into shifting age because the smaller were shunned, and their body couldn't handle it.

I picked up the smaller cub and held him close to my heart telling him that it was okay that he wasn't ready to shift yet and we would try again soon, whenever he felt his body was ready again.

At that moment I felt a small wiggle in my mind and looked down at the cub in my hands who seemed to be trying to establish a link with me, I kept on encouraging him along with my wolf, I felt the small wiggle develop into a proper link and sent all my praise through the newly formed link with my son.

I looked over at my mate, tears in my eyes, "He made a link with me Cas, we have a family link."

Casius smiled softly at me and said he was grateful to be mated to a strong wolf like mine, which made my wolf strut proudly in my mind. He loved hearing his mate talk about him in such a way. I leaned over and kissed Casius's and Aria's forehead.

I looked down at my first son to accept me into a family link and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much, I now had to gain the trust of the other two children and of course establish a strong link with my mate.