Lunar

Chapter 02

"So, are we really just going to sit here and eat our dinner while pretending that we didn't just smell an entire pack that decided to move in dangerously close to us?" Henry asked, still stuffing his mouth with a combination of a cheeseburger and fries.

"Henry actually kind of has a point for once, Shay, this is kind of big news; do you think that they have anything to do with the kidnappings?" Lilly piped in.

This made Henry's ears perk up and managed to take his attention off of his food for about half a second, until he pointed suggestively at the rest of my chicken sandwich until I gave in and pushed my tray over to him, stealing some of my own fries in the process.

"No, I don't think they're related to the kidnappings at all, if anything I almost feel like we should warn them about what's been going on and, while we're at it, warn them how close they are to the Roman Pack's territory lines."

"You really don't think there's any connection at all, Boss?" Henry asked, using my childhood nickname he had given me except, now, it was unexpectedly fitting – no matter how much I wish that it was still merely a joke.

"Think about it, the first member of our pack to go missing happened a month ago, if it were an entire pack that took her, we would have at least smelt them before tonight. And, besides, we can keep an eye on this new pack for the next couple of days – play the friendly neighbor to our new friends, you know? Who knows, if they're good people, or at least seem like it, they could intimidate whomever is kidnapping our people."

After a few more minutes of silence while Lilly and I watched in disgust – with a hint of admiration – as Henry downed his third milkshake of the night, I spoke up again before I could lurch at him from across the table for making that annoying sound with his straw that happens when you get to the end of your drink, "Alright, lets head home, I want to be able to tuck the kids in."

We all got up, putting our money on the table, and began to the short trek back to our house.

None of us had personally had our own children but the night of The Battle – the one that took the lives of our moms and dads – took away many of our warriors' lives, leaving an unsettling number of children parentless. Granted, a lot of them got adopted by many of the families in our pack, but we still took in four of them to live with us.

We have plenty of space and money wasn't an issue and other than the fact that we were children ourselves, we didn't see a problem inviting them in with us. I mean, they have honestly turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen to us.

We do have a nanny to help us out during the day because we do still have an entire pack to run but the three of us always keep our schedule clear during lunchtime. It might not seem like much time – which it really isn't – but there is something so refreshing about taking a few hours off in the middle of the day to spend with them. The worst part is, however, that we usually have to leave early in the morning before they've woken up and get home after dinner, a couple hours before they've gone to bed.

But, starting in a few days, they'll be going to school, which breaks our hearts a little because they've grown so much, but seeing how excited they are just mends it back together.

We're walking up the driveway when Henry, once again, opens his mouth, only this time it was to speak instead of shoving an alarming amount of food into it, "Can I say what I have a feeling we were all sort of thinking?"

"Well, you're going to say it anyways so why ask?" I answer while Lilly nods in agreement.

"Deep down, we all know that it's probably rogues that are kidnapping them, right?"