Forever Luna

Affectionate

adjective ~ readily feeling or showing fondness or tenderness

PHOENIX

My feet pounded against the ground, claws digging into the earth and propelling me forward. The present blurred around me, heading straight toward the future. Time sped up. My lungs constricted with every breath as I ran. Low growls escaped my jaws, creeping closer and closer to my target.

My teeth scraped their hind leg moments before they snarled and pushed themselves further. I huffed, shaking my head with frustration as I picked up the pace.

I was an alpha wolf. I could catch them any time, place, day, week...

As Charlie would say, fucking get it together, Nix.

My growls amplified as I took a shortcut and cut the grey wolf off. He yelped in surprise as my body collided with his, and we rolled through the dirt. He fought me off, kicking and clawing his way out before shooting up to his feet. I didn't let him get away, unhesitating with my next attack. Within seconds, I had my jowls around his throat, forcing him to submit.

Got him.

'Fucking get off me you oaf, I submit!'

I retreated my teeth, my breathing heavy as I took a step away from Sean's crumpled form. He huffed, standing and shaking out his fur. His tongue curled into his fur, grumbling about catching him with my canines.

'Tell me why this was necessary again?' Sean grunted, facing me.

I have to keep in shape, Sean. You are the beta now; it is your responsibility to train with me. I mused.

He knocked his head to my side. 'I know, and I appreciate you giving me the temporary honour, but geez, you're heavy.'

I barked a laugh, nudging him back. Wait until you get the paperwork in October.

He groaned, keeping pace as we jogged around the borders. Since Charlie left, I had to rearrange a lot of my pack workings. It was difficult to weigh all of my options, and we ended up mixing tasks with responsibilities. I simply raised Sean to beta and Leo to gamma, but with that came difficulties of teaching each other the other's jobs. Leo was training with Sean the best he could to get to grips with patrolling, but Sean still handled a lot of the work. And to take the ease from Sean, I took on more beta work.

Nova insisted we should search for a new beta, or a delta, to help, but I refused. I would not let a stranger into our pack, not when so many people were at risk. Not when my family was growing once more.

I suspected the pregnancy when she told me she couldn't shift to fight against Calida. Then she kept having difficulties, ones that seemed too familiar. From there, her scent changed, but I assumed it was the twin's influence. But then her period didn't come, and I didn't want to jump to conclusions when she was already under so much stress.

After talking with her family about harnessing her power, Aldren agreed to weekly sessions over video call to help her control her visions. Weirdly, it has proven successful so far. In the seven sessions they've had since, she has handled a total of five visions. That was over a fifty percent success rate, and I call that impressive.

I think with the weight and fear of not knowing what was wrong weighed her down. Now, with reassurance from her family about her wolf and gift, she feels better. Oh, and discovering it was 'my fault', she couldn't connect strongly with Celimene definitely helped.

Yep.

My fault.

I can't help it; it takes two to tango.