Wolves of Haven : Lone

Black Moon

"Did you want me to carry her to bed?" Varg asked. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Akia in the week she's been home, and it was starting to piss him off. He wasn't sure if she was purposely staying at the precinct late in order to not have to see him at home, and that she showed up back to the estate when he was on patrol or following up on something for Beowulf was purely coincidental, but he had a feeling that it wasn't.

Beowulf shook his head, his attention on the sleeping woman using her plate as a pillow. "Akia is mentally and physically exhausted. She needs to run, but she won't."

He snorted under his breath. "It's far too dangerous for anyone to run. The woods are filled with assholes with guns salivating to kill anything that moves. Kid needs to be put on house arrest before he gets himself killed."

Louvel sighed, shaking his head. "I will talk to him again. He is young, and he longs to follow the lunar calendar. You cannot blame him for hearing her call," he said longingly, looking out the window towards the sliver of a moon that hung low in the sky; one more night before the black moon, and his skin already tingled with anticipation.

Gunshots in the distance echoed through the night air, stealing their attention.

Beowulf sighed. "Son, check on the others, do a head count, then check the perimeter. Stay within the fence and take a lantern with you so there are no misunderstandings."

Varg softly growled under his breath, his attention staying on Akia, hoping that the gunshot would have woken her up so he could finally talk to her, but she continued to snore in her plate. "Yes, Sir," he said then left the room.

"Lou, tomorrow can you and the boys make sure that the amenities in the cellar are ready?" he asked, his attention on his daughter as her eyes darted back and forth behind her closed eyelids.

Louvel nodded. "Of course. Does she still require such drastic means?" he asked, surprised.

Beowulf shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. But she's stubborn, so that leads me to believe that she still fights with her. I pray that I live to see the day that she can embrace Eve instead of fight her."

Connell chuckled, joining them from the kitchen with an apple in hand. "Don't count on it. Those two are like two pissed off tomcats in a bag," he said before pressing the back of his hand against Akia's cheek. "She's warmer than she should be; this is kicking her ass in every way, shape and form. Last night she pulled an all-nighter at the office. I was there to keep an eye on her, took a nap in the hole next to the third victim in the meat locker before she caught me, hence the lovely bruising on the side of my face from her right hook. Akia's been going non-stop for a week. I don't know if she's trying to stay away from the annoying Viking or if this is how she works a case, either way it's kicking her ass."

They nodded their understanding.

"I'm going to take her up to bed," he said. "We'll sleep in my room tonight."

"Son," Beowulf said, motioning for him to sit, "what is going on with her? She keeps popping pills. Why?"

Connell licked his lips, fighting with what he knows to be the right thing to do in the family and what his oath says he has to do. "It's not my place to say, Dad," he said. "Akia is fine and is more balanced than she has been in years. She's finally learned how to balance the two, Dad. I can't tell you the specifics because the oath I took prevents me from doing so, and before you ask, yes I've seen her over the years."

Louvel's eyes widened, but Beowulf was already well aware of that.

"Akia doesn't trust people, so having a doctor in the family, as awkward as it was at times for the both of us, helped to get her to where she is now. Every three to six months, depending on how she's feeling, or if she's had any unexpected visits from you know who, we meet up, and I do the needful as a doctor and adjust her medications and make sure that her hormone levels are where they should be. She's a woman, Dad, and that's completely uncharted territory. Okay?"