Chapter 6

Liam's POV

"I can't believe it," Dad said tiredly for the third time that night, massaging his temple as he set his glasses on the wooden surface of the table. "I really can't."

I sat silently across our dining table from him, the familiar setting of our dining room seeming very out of place with the unfamiliar, slightly uncomfortable topic at hand. Sage was next to me, with Aunt Eva between him and Dad, and Mom on Dad's other side. Paisley wasn't there; Uncle Nolan had offered to take her home to 'let the grown-ups figure it out'. As tired as she was, she agreed. I knew she would force me to give her all the information I had tomorrow, though- one could never truly be free from the grasp of a younger sister's claws.

"There's not a problem, is there?" Mom asked worriedly, placing a hand on Dad's arm. He sighed.

"No, there shouldn't be. It's just that it might be a bit... different. I'm not sure how the pack will take it."

"Ah, who cares what they think," Aunt Eva said flippantly. "As long as Liam's happy and Milo's happy."

The table fell silent despite her inspiring words. I was tired, my mind didn't want to think about the situation I was in, and frankly, I wanted to forget about this and sleep. Or watch a movie with Sage. Either would work.

"Why don't we all get to bed," Mom said cheerfully. "We can regroup and discuss tomorrow, but we should sleep on it before making any decisions."

"Sleep on it," Sage echod under his breath as we stood up from around the table. "Isn't that what they all say."

"Is it okay if Sage sleeps over tonight?" I asked the room, not missing Sage's half-smile as I glanced among the faces, worn with tiredness.

Aunt Eva shrugged. "Fine by me."

"That's okay, Paisley's sleeping over there anyway and I get the feeling she'll be a bit more of a handful than you two will be," Mom smiled. "You can head up now if you like, but don't stay up too late- there will be a lot of conversations tomorrow."

Sage followed after me as we hurried up the stairs. "Didn't wanna sleep alone?" he teased, poking my arm as we entered my room.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Maaaaaaybe."

Sage laughed as he took a seat on the floor. "Are we actually gonna sleep, or spend the whole night playing games?"

"Probably the second."

"Liam, you irresponsable boy, disrespecting your mother's wishes so carelessly," Sage chided me in a fake-sounding voice before we both dissolved into laughter. "Seriously, though, what are we doing?"

"First of all, I don't think I want to spend another minute in this suit. You know where the pajamas are, right?" Sage nodded. "Great, pass me a shirt and some shorts?"

"I'm not your mate," he grumped, sounding offended yet still obliging as he opened the drawer and chucked the clothes at my face. I laughed at his expression as we changed, before falling onto the floor and laying still.

"Wanna listen to music?" I offered. "There are some board games in the closet."

"Okay." Sage picked up my phone and began scrolling through the songs I had downloaded. "What do you have?"

"Monopoly, three variations. A deck of cards. Uno?"

And that was how I spent the rest of my night, playing board games with my cousin and best friend until four in the morning, when we both passed out, exhausted.

-

Mom poked her head into my room at eight. I wasn't fully awake, but I wasn't exactly asleep either, laying on my back on the floor and staring unblinkingly up at the ceiling. My thoughts were muddled and my mind kept going in circles, unsurprising considering I had gotten three hours of sleep. She raised an eyebrow at me but didn't comment on the mess of board game pieces scattered throughout the room. "Breakfast's ready," she whispered, nodding to Sage, who was still asleep. "Wake him."

"Sage," I said in a sing-song voice once she left the doorway, poking my cousin's side until he groaned and rolled over into a ball, effectively protecting himself from my attacks. "Get up, Mom made breakfast."

"Wanna sleep," he groaned, though sat up despite his words, scowling at me. I shrugged.

"Don't shoot the messenger."

"I can shoot the messenger as much as I like, since you tickled me."

"Whoa whoa whoa, throwing accusations around, are we?" I smiled patronizingly.

"Whatever," Sage grumbled, "let's go eat something."

"Good morning," we choroused as we descended the stairs into my family's dining room. Aunt Eva wasn't there, as she had left the night before, and Paisley was sleeping over at the Thompson's, so it was just us two and my parents- speaking of which, Dad looked as though he'd had a worse night's sleep than we had, which was impressive considering we had a total of two hours maximum on an uncomfortable floor.

"Good morning, dears," Mom smiled as she placed cinnamon rolls down on plates in front of us along with Dad. "Did you have a good night?"

I nodded. While playing board games instead of talking about my problems might not have created the most constructive of nights, it was always fun to beat Sage in Uno twenty seven times in a row before he gave up. We hadn't been able to have a lot of nights like those recently, probably because of the History essays that took up all of our free time.

"Good. Aunt Eva will be coming back soon with Paisley, Uncle Nolan, Robin, Bella, and Caleb, so later on you boys will be going back to Milo's house and seeing if he's open to talking about the situation. Your father talked to Daniel Scott last night so he'll be over as well."

I didn't bother complaining about the different reasons why that was an awful idea because, if there was anything my mother was, she was stubborn as hell when she put her mind to something. I just took a bite of my breakfast and smothered the rolling of my stomach.

I really wasn't looking forward to this.

-

Milo's POV:

I had really been hoping it was all a dream.

A bad dream- not necessarily a nightmare, but a bad dream nonetheless. Some parts were okay, but the sheer fright I'd felt was enough to overpower the good parts. But when I woke up, every part of the night before was the same. Bubbles sleeping on the bed next to me, the clock on my bedside table read that it was Friday, and Adriel's lump of blankets on the floor still remained. Adriel himself was sitting against the wall, seemingly reading a book quite intensely, with his pair of glasses that he almost never wore perched on his nose.

After staring at him for a few seconds, he glanced up with a smile. "Good morning."

"Good morning," I heard myself saying. "Did last night actually happen?"

"Unfortunately, it did. What would you like for breakfast?"

I shrugged. "Toast." Toast had been my standard breakfast for the past few years. Before that, it had been cereal.

"Okay. Get dressed and I'll make us some toast." With that, he stood, made his way over to the staircase in the corner of the room, and descended the stairs.

I sat in my bed for a minute or so more, staring at the window in the wall, and at the blue sky outside, wondering how late I had finally fallen asleep. By the way my thoughts mushed together, I knew I hadn't gotten the full recommended eight hours.

Bubbles clucked softly and nudged my arm with her hand, so I realized I was supposed to be getting dressed and reluctantly standing up, depositing my chicken on the ground.

How am I supposed to confront all these problems I suddenly have? I thought wearily as I tugged a shirt over my head. If I can't finish what's already on my plate, why would the Moon Goddess give me more?

Once I was fully clothed, not wanting to spend another minute in the somber solidarity of my bedroom, I picked Bubbles up and left the room.

Adriel was putting the plates of toast on the table as I entered the kitchen. "Hello again," he smiled as I put the chicken down and sat in my usual spot.

"Hello," I replied as I bit into the toast.

"How did you sleep?"

"Okay, I guess. Not, um, not the best."

"I'd imagine so," he nodded along. "Quite an interesting turn of events last night."

"You can say that again," I sighed, sinking down lower in my seat. "I keep hoping it was all a dream."

After a moment of silence, Adriel responded. "Well, it's not the worst person to be mated to. Liam's a nice guy."

"I know." It didn't make me feel better about the whole situation, though.

"Well," Adriel said, "I assume they'll want to talk to you and possibly Dad at some point. I'll force my way into the group so at least you won't be alone. What would you like to do until then?"

I shrugged. "Whatever, I guess. I don't really have any plans other than... harvesting more carrots."

My best friend smiled. "Well, we can do that."

So, half an hour later, Adriel was crouched next to me as we worked rhythmically, twisting the carrots out of the earth as he hummed. The song wasn't akin to any I'd heard before; Adriel had a way of creating melodies out of thin air that I could only be jealous of; but it was still crafted in a way that made me feel instantly at ease as I listened for the recurring motif, a nice upbeat passage of notes.

I was so relaxed, in fact, that when I heard footsteps approaching from behind, it took me off guard and I whipped around, so off balance that I had to catch myself before toppling over, my eyes large.

Adriel cussed under his breath, also turning around to face the oncomers. "Hello," he said.

"Hi. Can we talk?" Liam asked, averting his gaze.

Adriel looked at me, so I swallowed. "Okay," I whispered, my voice barely more than a breath.

"Do you have a preference where?" I shook my head. "Is my house okay?"

"Okay," I whispered again.

"Let's put the carrots inside, we can finish up later," Adriel murmured to me. I nodded, my throat feeling as though it was closing up from the irrational fear coursing through my veins. I had to resist the urge to lock the door behind us and never leave as we reentered the house. I let Bubbles run around my feet for a few seconds before picking her up and stroking her head a few times, trying to calm myself by taking deep breaths, but it didn't seem to work very well. My heart was beating just as quickly as before and even Adriel looked concerned as he looked into my eyes before asking in a low voice if I was sure I wanted to do this.

I nodded, not trusting my voice enough to speak. I had to do this, even if just for myself. I could ignore the helpless feeling in the pit of my heart for an hour.

I hoped.

-

The walk into the pack was silent. The path wasn't wide enough for us all to stand side-by-side, though I don't think we would have done so even if it was, so Liam and Sage led while Adriel and I followed. It was a moderately nice day out, the leaves were turning colors and some even falling off even though it was only September. The air was breezy; clouds blowing across the sky and kids flying kites and laughing as they ran and played. No one paid much attention to us, which was a good thing as we made our way down the streets until the Alpha House came into view, the cast iron crescent moon on the roof's highest peak glinting in the sunlight almost maliciously. I swallowed and Liam glanced back at me, looking a bit concerned.

Daniel was already at the table when we arrived, his hair tousled and wearing his work clothes. He smiled at me, reassuring me that everything would be alright. I offered a shaky half-smile in response. I didn't want to even consider the possibility that he could be right- I knew getting my hopes up was the wrong response to his smile.

I sat down next to Adriel at the table and tightened my hands in my lap.

Caleb and Paisley, Sage's brother and Liam's sister, ran past yelling to each other and laughing wildly as Eva Thompson, the beta of the pack, took her seat on the side of Daniel that wasn't next to Adriel. He gave her a tight smile that she returned, only seeming way less bothered.

"Well," the alpha said, clasping his hands together on top of the table. I stared at them, refusing to look up and bring more attention to myself than necessary. My hair fell in front of my eyes, further shielding me from the gazes I could feel on myself. "This is a situation."

"You can say that again," Eva laughed brashly.

No one responded. "Now, of course we can't force anything onto anyone," the alpha continued, though his voice grew strained. "If Milo doesn't feel comfortable in a relationship with Liam, or vice versa, we can find another way to get an heir. However, I do ask that you at least try. This is the future of the pack on the line."

"Okay, stop that," the luna said, hitting his arm gently. "It's really not worth making such a fuss about. As long as everyone's trying, I'm sure it'll all work out."

As much as I appreciated her optimism, the part of me that knew it was impossible was stronger.

--

This is the chapter in which my friend told me she shipped Adriel and Milo. I still cannot get over that.