Lacking Humanity | Moon Ridge

Chapter Fifty-Two

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With the sun setting within the past few minutes or so, Sage had embraced the cooling temperatures and decided to try and meditate. Both Aurora and Raven had offered it as a stress reliever, which she so desperately needed.

The tea was an added bonus, even if it was shared with a female that Sage was still fairly weary and suspicious —Given the last conversation she had with Remus, at the very least. That no mate suggested that Chloe was selected for an early death.

This was the fuel that allowed her to attempt to focus on her intuition, entering in with a list of burning questions.

All involved Chloe, Crimson pack, Lichen, Mom, and the two males that were somewhere in their campsite. Yet that pushed with ease as she felt Remus farther away than she had expected. Though the energy was far too familiar, suggesting that it was one of her brothers patrolling right beside him.

Yet for Andrew, his energy was moving forward and glowing bright with each passing second. So Sage had taken the moment to retract her growing thoughts and return back—Opening her eyes to see that Andy was indeed coming towards her area.

Even the first night, her idea of a bit of privacy had been respected by the rest. Here and now, however, was a different story—After the sadistic garden and the nearly disabling stroke was turning to make Andrew's beast antsy.

One that Sage couldn't help but feel guilty for making everyone's nerves skyrocket.

Not that anyone would believe her, but Sage didn't want to cause trouble—It just reiterated her father's saying that it was her best friend.

"Hey, Pumpkin..." The voice called her out of her overlapping thoughts as she turned and offered him a smile, uncurling her meditation pose to a more relaxing one as he joined her position beside her private fireplace.

"Hey, Chief." She replied, her risen knees supporting her head as turned to face him entirely. "Rem's on patrol...I thought we could—Uh—talk for a sec."

"About gardan?"

"No...Did you want to talk about it?" Sage let out an exhausted sigh as she shook her head and he huffed in agreement. "I didn't think so. But you're feeling okay, right?" That was certainly a loaded question, but Andy didn't know better regarding that this was not how to gauge the truth.

"That's what I thought, but we can—O-or I know Rem wouldn't mind if you talked to him about it...Maybe that's a better option." Whyever the male was here before her, it was clear he was stalling to the point of sharing all his thoughts out loud.

"You want to talk?" Sage reminded, only to catch his entire body to still at the sound of her voice.

"Yeah, shit, sorry...You probably want to head to bed." He groaned, hissing to the side in damnation that he dragged his hands down his face in irruption. Granted, the poor male's heart was starting to beat rapidly.

Catching Sage's attention and worry within the moment. "Andy?"

"I know we planned about talking when we head back to Crescent Moon. But let's face it, we're not going to be talking, not the way that we're expecting it at least. Your dad is just going to keep saying the same thing, that you need to pick." He was right there, just on the cusp of blurting out what he wanted to say since they landed in Moon Ridge.

But he hesitated, and he could see that worry and sadness already starting to form on Sage's face—So he turned away.

"He wants you to pick, and you chose him. You chose Remus. And I don't see myself sticking around for the long run. Not when things are—I can't, Sage."