Lacking Humanity|Crescent Moon

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

"Oh no..." Camilla whispered, looking back to her boys with the same dreaded expression. Sage didn't know what she was getting into.

It was as if the goddess herself was playing a trick. Sure, Sage had thrown a beautiful punch to rectify her anger, but the way the Alpha was standing there. Waiting.

This was just the start of their courtship, and to do it properly--Remus would have to allow her a proper headstart.

From where he was positioned, his beast felt like it was almost a game of cat and mouse.

"Alpha, she doesn't know anything about mates, she's—" Jack tried, as did the rest of the group as Kenzie had been the first outsider to hear this news.

After her people had taken Kelly to the infirmary, she went up to Luke and whispered softly to him. "Sage is the Alpha's mate?" As though she couldn't believe it herself.

Cruel.

It was cruel that the first-ever heartbreak that Sage had dealt with was due to her mate's selfishness.

But here he was, readying himself to shift and run after her in terms of a formality after finding one's mate.

"You think he's gonna catch her?" Camilla smacked Liam upside the head. This was a mother's business now, and she would need to do her daughter justice as she stormed directly up to the Alpha.

She was mated to the Master of Arms, and she wasn't going to allow her adopted pup to be played around like this.

"You listen here, pup, my daughter doesn't know what mates are, and I swear to the goddess above if you try to—"

"She didn't reject me." Liam scoffed at the Alpha's thought process.

"This is also the same girl who tried pizza two weeks ago. Alpha, please—" Luke shook his head for his brother to quit his teasing. He knew Sage was still angry about being subjected to leave, so he shrugged.

"If he thinks she's going to let him mark her, he's sorely mistaken," Luke grumbled, and it caught the attention of Remus' wolf. Anger crackling through the air quickly by his comment.

"Why?"

"Well, Alpha, it might be part of her being evicted? Bet she's halfway through the pack by now." Remus turned to gaze back to the edge of the woods and took a long inhale. The male had been correct in terms of speed. However, it stopped.

The she-wolf stopped.

Every single one of the Elwoods could not intervene. Their words of warning were one instance, but the interruption of their wolves would constitute a challenge for either Sage herself or the union.

As the Alpha awaited the commencement of a challenge, he grumbled happily as none had come. It allowed him to continue after his mate.

His wolf ripped through his skin as he took into his natural form, his paws gripping the earth. The aggravated growls and yaps were all in damnation.

His anger was partly due to the fact she had thrown a punch in his direction.

It stung, but he was upset about the offense than the physical pain, as his wolf wanted nothing more than to praise her for her defense against her title.

To not take any shit from the she-wolf standing in her place.

He rumbled with applause as he knew she would hear.

With their rocky start, Remus made sure to make his steps known. Offering out a gentle warning that he was close by. And Sage knew very well that his scent was starting to trickle in.