Chapter 14

Liam's POV:

"Uno," I declared with a grin as I laid the cards on the table, finding joy in the stumped expressions of Adriel and Milo. Sage, who was used to my winning strategies, simply threw his cards on the pile and started shuffling for the next round.

"The fact that you win so often, yet your strategy is so hidden it seems like you must have fifty for all different situations is crazy to me," Adriel muttered, gray eyes narrowed as he seemed to attempt to piece something together in his head. I just shrugged, smiling.

"I'm half convinced he's got no strategy and is just bluffing his way through it so that we'll think he does and therefore play worse," Sage confided. I made a noise of disapproval and elbowed my cousin in the side, causing his green eyes to slide to me.

"Maybe the real strategy is the friends we made along the way," I shrugged again. There was a moment of silence before they all started laughing.

"If anything, that proves my theory correct," Sage continued with tears in his eyes.

I just smiled. "Another round?"

"Kill me now," Milo muttered, but he accepted the cards handed to him by Sage. Adriel pressed a kiss to the ginger's forehead when his hand was dealt; I really hadn't seen them being the touchy sort of mates but in all honesty I hadn't seen them being mates in the first place, so maybe that was my problem. Sage's crush had been obvious but the feelings had never seemed to be reciprocated, at least until Adriel's birthday. Now they were together and I could only pray for my future self whenever they mated.

My own mate was watching them with happy eyes, so I couldn't be too upset.

"Who's ready for some very boring political talk?!" Aunt Eva shouted as she entered the house, approaching the table to place hands on Sage's and my backs. "Woo!"

"Aunt Eva," I complained as she reached to put the cards back in a pile and handed them to me to put back into the plastic bag. "I was just about to beat them for the thirteenth time in a row!"

"And nobody likes having their butt whooped at Uno, kid," she replied. "Come on, super fun boring stuff to talk about now. You're a grown-up, act like it."

"Milo and I aren't," Sage volunteered, causing Milo to wilt slightly at the mention of his name. Aunt Eva scoffed as Dad walked in.

"Not yet maybe, give it two months and I'll be a grandma."

"That's not how that works," Sage muttered, but the blush creeping up his neck gave him away. "First of all, pregnancy takes nine months, and second, Adriel and I are both guys-"

"Which is exactly what we need to talk about," Dad said. "Put away the Uno and let's get to the important stuff."

Only a few short minutes later, we were all spread out in the living room. Milo sat curled into my side on one sofa, Adriel and Sage on the other, and our parents in the armchairs. I might have preferred if we were all on the same couch, mostly because then I wouldn't have to look any of them in the eye during this discussion, but I digress.

"First of all." Dad made sure to meet every pair of eyes in the room. "What to do about those who... disagree with the Moon Goddess in the pairs of mates she's chosen to make."

"Fucking stupid homophobes," Aunt Eva muttered under her breath.

"It's never been a real issue before, since they could just stay out of the way of those who identified as... not straight, but now that both the alpha and beta are mated to males, we have an issue," he ignored my aunt. "It's apparent that they won't listen to you all because of who you're mated to, and we need a solution."

Silence filled the room as my heart filled with dread. The pack was my family; booting someone out would be like throwing a sibling into the wide, wide world to become a rogue, hunted for sport by some very lethal packs. It broke my heart because I knew all of them and they all knew me; we were friends. The fact that they'd turn against me because of Milo, who'd never hurt a fly, who just happened to be my mate.

I felt a hand squeezing mine from where our bodies pressed together and squeezed back, grateful for his support.

"I think we should try to not kick anyone out," Milo said in a whisper, drawing all of the eyes in the room to him. He shrunk back into me a bit before regaining his composure and going on, "If possible."

"I wonder if talking to them and trying to show them that these relationships aren't unnatural would work," Sage added, his eyes clouded as if he was lost in thought as he played with Adriel's fingers, a habit he seemed to fall back to time and time again.

Dad looked at Aunt Eva, who shrugged. "Sounds like a good plan to me," she said. "If that doesn't work, we could see if they'd be willing to move to another pack, or if they'd be willing to suppress their homophobic tendencies to provide a stable pack environment. Booting them should be our last option if they refuse to do anything else."

I nodded. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

"Sounds like a plan?" Dad asked, looking around again to a flurry of nods as Milo relaxed back into my side, tucking his knees up by his chest. "Great, we can see if there's a time to meet with them soon. Next order of business, heirs."

"Grandkids," Aunt Eva sighed. "I look forward to the day."

Dad ignored her. "The most pressing issue about children is the fact that you are all males, and you're mated to each other. Well, not all of you. You get what I mean."

"Surrogacy is the best option I see," I volunteered dutifully.

"One problem is that we don't know exactly what the Moon Goddess wants," Aunt Eva replied. "She mated you guys for a reason, and it's hard to say what that reason is without, well, asking her. And there's no good way to do that. She could be great with surrogacy, or she might want magic to come into play somehow."

"She is a deity after all," Dad grinned. "I highly doubt anything we try to ask her will go clearly answered."

"Surrogacy between wolves is kinda iffy too," my aunt continued. "The possessiveness and all that, wanting to be around the unborn kids all the time, anger about them being in someone else's stomach... Plus it kinda sucks for whoever the surrogate mom is."

"Whether they're a human and get absolutely torn apart by the kid, or a werewolf and it ruins their chances with their own mate," I sighed, looking down to see why my mate's hand was immobile in mine.

I saw Milo staring across the room, at his adopted brother. They seemed to be in the midst of an intense mental discussion, by the way their faces shifted expressions rapidly. Sage was looking back and forth, obviously confused.

Any idea what it is? I asked him over our mind link.

Nope, he replied with a sigh. If I had to guess, I'd say it's got something to do with when you mentioned the Moon Goddess. He always gets a bit... strange when she's mentioned.

That's weird.

Adriel sighed loudly, breaking the silence in the room, glaring at Milo who just smiled. "Fine," he said. "Fine."

"What?" Sage asked.

"I have something to say," he continued, looking around the room, his glare hesitating on Milo for a moment before moving on to Aunt Eva, who scoffed.

"We gathered that," she told him, "get on with it."

"However," he added to groans, "I'm going to call my dad here to help explain. I don't know all the details. I'm not sure if I want to."

"You've got me on edge now," I admitted to him. Milo laughed lightly into my side.

"It's not bad. Well, not too bad. It's nothing he's done."

"Stop narrowing the options down for them, Milo, I want to see them freak out in the fullest," the taller brunette said with a frown and crossed arms. His stance had changed; where he had once sat on the sofa in an open position, now his legs were tightly closed and his back rigidly straight.

"I'm here!" the man I'd come to know as Adriel's father rushed into the room. "Sorry about barging in, I knocked but no one answered."

"That's okay," Dad smiled, but his features were tight as he gestured to Adriel. "Are you ready to show us whatever it is now?"

"Do you have a room without windows somewhere?" Adriel asked, his voice monotonous. "The last thing we need is a spectacle."

"This does not give me hope for whatever this is," Aunt Eva drawled, but she led us in standing and walking downstairs to the basement, a mostly-finished chill area. There were no windows to be seen, so that made it the perfect area with plenty of hiding spots in case anything went wrong.

"Son, are you sure you want to do this?" Daniel asked Adriel softly, the two standing alone by the edge of the room. The taller scoffed.

"I'm barely involved, just the kid that was thrown into the middle of this familial mess. I've done nothing wrong. Do you want me to do this?"

"I'm okay with it if you are. If worst comes to worst, we can just move away."

"Worst won't come to worst," I interrupted them, my blood temperature rising. "Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. No lasting repercussions, at least that I've noticed."

"There have been so goddessdamn many repercussions," Adriel muttered under his breath, but nodded thankfully alongside his father. Sighing, he sat down on the floor, Sage immediately walking over to sit next to him and the rest of us sitting in a strangely shaped circle. One side was much longer and it formed more of a triangle shape, really, but it was a circle by the terms I was okay with and that was that.

"Are you going to tell them anything about it, or are you just going to throw them into the deep end?" Daniel asked with a shaky smile. Adriel tilted his head for a second.

"As much as I'd love to go with the second option, I get the feeling at least half of everyone here would faint," he sighed, looking around the circle. "Okay. You're going to think Dad and I are crazy, but I swear we're not. Just listen to the whole thing and then I'll show you."

"Why does part of me feel like we're about to get ambushed?" Dad whispered under his breath, his hazel eyes wide. Adriel smirked at him before taking a deep breath.

"Basically, the Moon Goddess is my mom," he said quickly, closing his eyes as if anticipating shouts. Instead, the room fell into a disbelieving silence. I couldn't believe my ears, but they'd never been wrong before, so had Adriel actually said what I thought he had?

I let out a shaky chuckle, the first noise in the room. "You're right, I don't believe that," I admitted.

Milo pushed against my shoulder with his. "He's telling the truth," he whispered to me, leaning his head on my shoulder. "She really is."

"Okay, let's say we believe you guys," Aunt Eva said slowly. "We're going to need more details than that."

"I met her at a club one night when I was nineteen, and having no idea of her status, well... I was drunk and stupid, and probably made a lot of stupid decisions, but nine months later the same lady showed up on my doorstep, handed Adriel to me, and explained everything. Why she couldn't be in his life." Daniel spoke slowly, as if expecting repercussions.

"She came again when I turned ten, to explain things herself," Adriel added. "Milo and his family had come to the birthday party, and so then they were in on it." Milo nodded against me.

"And do you have proof about any of this?" my father asked, lacing his fingers together on his lap, looking much calmer than I bet any of us felt.

"She gave me this necklace," Adriel revealed, grabbing hold of the silver (but probably not really, considering that stuff hurt like hell) chain around his neck and tugged it out, showing a pendant shaped like a crescent moon. "I'm supposed to use it in emergencies, like if there was a hunter or anything. But I guess this situation works just as well."

Sage was the only one who hadn't spoken a word at this point, staring at his mate with rounded green eyes and a mouth slightly agape. Adriel turned to face him, a gentle smile he certainly hadn't spared anyone else on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, and I looked away, feeling as though I was intruding on a personal moment.

Sage took a moment to respond. "My mate's a magical deity thing," he squeaked when he found his voice.

Adriel laughed, leaning over to kiss him. "Yeah, I guess," he smiled, "I'm part magical deity thing. That's the official title, I'm sure."

"So you're saying you could call her here to answer our questions," Dad said once their moment was over. Both Adriel and Daniel nodded, causing my father to sigh. "Well then, I suppose we'd better see if you're insane or not."

Adriel looked at Daniel and over at Milo before sighing and taking the pendant in his hand again, opening it up like a locket and holding his thumb to it. I frowned at the strange maybe-contraption; it seemed too small for electricity and wires, but if they were all telling the truth and not insane, it was probably powered by magic, anyway.

For a moment, nothing happened and the room seemed to relax, shaking the entire conversation off as a joke, but then-

"Boo."

I tensed and Milo jumped beside me, my arms instinctively going around him as I searched for the source of the noise. Looking around, I realized that there was a strange woman standing right behind me. As I tilted my head back, she leaned forward above me, grinning with a sharp-toothed smile.

"Hi, Mother," Adriel sighed from the other side of the circle. He looked unamused, but not as terrified as the rest of us.

"Hi," she said, looking around the circle as she stood up straight before moving to sit in between Sage and Milo, both of whom seemed to shy away from her. "I've been here for like the half hour it took you all to call on me, by the way. You really do talk forever."

"You're... the Moon Goddess?" Dad asked, the wrinkles in his forehead seeming more pronounced as he seemed to try to piece together the situation in his head.

"Bingo!" she smiled at him. "We have a winner." She looked around the circle, her gaze finally landing on her son and his mate. "Adie, I heard you found your mate! Congratulations! And also happy birthday!"

"Right," he sighed. "This is Sage. Sage, this is my mom."

"I have... so many questions," was all the ginger said a moment later.

"I've got time and answers. Maybe not all the answers, but quite a few," the Moon Goddess shrugged. "I'm just happy one of my kids finally survived until adulthood. Now I get to finally think about the prospect of grandkids!"

"So ma'am, Miss Moon Goddess, are you here to help us with our problems?" Aunt Eva seemed to snap out of a trance.

"Firstly, call me Moon, the whole goddess thing has gotten a bit out of hand and honestly, I'm not here for it," Moon rolled her eyes, tucking a strand of almost glowing silver hair behind her ear. "And secondly, yep, and also to catch up with my son and his mate and my other son and his mate."

She smiled warmly at Milo, who smiled weakly in response.

"So Milo's your kid, too?" Dad asked with creased eyebrows.

"Well, not directly. Not like Adriel is. But technically, I created all of you, so I can call whoever I like my kids," she shrugged. "Plus, Milo's the only one here without a parent present, so I volunteer as tribute. May the odds be ever in your favor during game night."

"Is Adriel your only child?" I asked her, unable to hold back my curiosity. "How often are these... flings?"

The goddess—Moon—grimaced. "Right now he's the only one, since the toddler I had over in Turkey got killed a few years ago. And I get pregnant whenever I want to get pregnant, thank you very much, but that's typically every few years. No one's caught my eye recently, though."

"That doesn't seem very... diplomatic," Adriel muttered under his breath, poking the bear since he was probably the only one of us who could do that without getting torn to shreds.

"Excuse me, child, but life is fucking hard without a mate," she complained, "I'm a family person which is why werewolves are the way they are, but I don't have a mate of my own. And everyone I'm ever with eventually dies, which sucks, so unless I wanted to date a vampire, which I don't because ew, I get to suffer and just have lots of kids to fill the void in my heart."

I blinked. Okay, then.

"There are more serious things to talk about," Aunt Eva said, seeming to more or less get over her fear. "What were you thinking for heirs for the kids?"

She still calls us 'the kids' even though we're eighteen and almost eighteen, Sage complained in my mind. I held back a smile and blocked his link.

"I dunno, surrogacy seems cool," Moon shrugged. "I mean, unless... you know, I can do a good lot of things with this magic of mine." To demonstrate this point, three bursts of light appeared in the center of our circle. Once they were gone, Moon grinned and continued, "Well, I guess you could also try to find some alpha and beta-blooded orphans somewhere and adopt them. That would probably work."

"I honestly don't know what to say," Daniel spoke up. I couldn't remember, had he said anything before? His eyes were sheepish as he scanned the room, and I realized he must be embarrassed for having a one-night-stand with the Moon Goddess, of all people.

"Say 'welcome to the family, bitch', because I'm back and I'm fucking here to stay." Moon grinned almost evilly, her eyes glinting before she winced and her eye twitched. "I've gotta go now, tonight's the mate planning night of the week and Star always gets pissed when I'm late. It was lovely meeting all of you, call me back again soon or I'll just show up and ain't nobody want that. I want invites to all the weddings and baby showers; I'm going to be a grandma if it's the last thing I do." She gestured to Adriel. "I know I said that charm was single-use, but that was a lie to make sure you didn't use it unnecessarily, use it again. Got all that?" she asked, scanning the faces.

To my surprise, and evidently the surprise of everyone else in the room, Milo was the one who first smiled and offered a small wave to the woman now in the middle of the circle. "Bye," he said.

For a moment, her impenetrable gaze softened. "I'm sorry about what happened to your family, Milo," she sighed, looking genuinely regretful. "Star was pissed off and took it out on those whose lives I liked watching play out."

"Bye, Mother," Adriel waved at her, almost calling her to leave. She snorted.

"Fine, I'm leaving. See you all soon."

With that, white smoke flooded the room for a split second and when it faded, Moon wasn't standing there anymore, leaving us all blinking like idiots in her wake.

Milo was strangely unresponsive to my touches, so I whispered, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled back, "it just kind of hurts to know that the lives of my entire family were ended because someone was upset at someone else." He grimaced. "Which I guess is how a lot of lives end."

"Well, that was a fun adventure," Aunt Eva said in a forcibly cheerful tone before I could get another word in, standing up and tightening her ponytail. "Come on, boys, let's go eat some ice cream and plan out how we're going to talk to the homophobes in the pack."

"We could just call down the Moon Goddess and scare them into obedience," I offered, grinning. I heard echoed laughter in the room and recognized Moon's distinct tone, faint but unmistakable.

"Great idea, Liam, let's expand on that upstairs and out of this dark room," Aunt Eva smiled broadly in response before turning and tugging on Dad's arm until they both left the room.

"Are you okay?" Adriel asked Sage, poking his side. The younger had his head in his hands and seemed to be thinking something through very deeply, or maybe just leaning into the angst.

"What a hell of a way to meet the in-laws," the ginger muttered darkly in response. "I can't believe it. You're seriously the son of the Moon Goddess."

"I thought it was called a half-magical-deity-thing," the brunette teased. "Come on, let's get some ice cream."

I smiled at Milo as they also left, standing and offering my mate my hand. "I think we'll be alright with that woman on our side."

"She's pretty scary sometimes," Milo agreed, and hand in hand, we ascended into the light of the world above.

--

Oof

Meet Moon I guess? She's very cool in my humble opinion

vote/comment/share/follow

-bloom

--

edit 7/22/22: hi so this chapter REALLY bugged me in terms of some of the dialogue so I just went in and edited a few things, nothing major. just thought i should. let you know why it's different for any rereaders. this is the last planned edit of this story, unless i decide to do another draft at some point in the (far) future!

-bloom from the ~FUTURE~