MIDNIGHT
1971 Words
*EPISODE 13: MIDNIGHT*
---
*11:30PM. OLD MOONCREST MILL. NORTH TERRITORY*
Abandoned.
Rusted.
Smelled like oil and old blood.
Kade parked 2 blocks away.
“No backup,” he said.
“No backup,” I repeated.
He looked at me. Moonlight on his cut. On his jaw.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes I do.”
“Ava—”
“It’s me he wants. It’s always been me.”
He grabbed my face. Kissed me hard.
“Stay behind me. If I say run, you run.”
“Promise promise?”
“Promise promise.”
We moved.
---
*11:55PM. INSIDE THE MILL*
Broken windows.
Chains hanging.
Water dripping.
And Darius.
Standing in the center.
No hood.
No weapon.
Just smiling.
“Alpha,” he said. “Luna.”
“Where are they?” Kade asked.
“Who?”
“The kids.”
Darius laughed. “I don’t have the kids. I’m not a monster.”
“Then what do you want?”
“You.”
He pointed at me. “Her.”
Kade stepped in front of me. “You touch her and I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Kill me? Like you killed my brother?”
Silence.
“My brother died in the border war 5 years ago,” Darius said. “Your war. Your orders. He was 19.”
“That was pack business—”
“His name was Elian.”
Kade went still.
I remembered the name. From the memorial wall.
“This isn’t about revenge,” Darius said. “It’s about balance. You took from me. Now I take from you.”
He pulled something from his pocket.
A detonator.
My blood froze.
“What’s that?”
“C4. Under the floor. Under HQ. Under the bunker.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
Kade’s phone buzzed.
Thomas: *Alpha, we have a problem. Motion sensors tripped in sublevel 3.*
Darius smiled. “Tick tock.”
---
*11:58PM. HQ. BUNKER*
Thomas’s voice in Kade’s earpiece: “We found it. 4 charges. Wired to this frequency.”
“Can you disarm?”
“Not without the code. And not in 2 minutes.”
Kade looked at me.
Then at Darius.
“Code.”
“Ah ah. First, you give me her.”
“No.”
“Then everyone dies. The twins. Elena. The pack.”
I stepped forward.
“Ava, no—”
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “I got this.”
I looked at Darius. “Let them go. Take me.”
Darius tilted his head. “Bold. I like it.”
“Kade stays. You get me. We leave. You give Thomas the code.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because if you blow them up, you don’t get to see me suffer. And that’s what you really want.”
He considered it.
“Fine.”
He tossed a phone to Kade. “Code’s on there. 30 seconds to enter it once I’m gone.”
“Don’t trust him,” Kade said.
“You don’t have to,” I said. “Just trust me.”
I walked to Darius.
He grabbed my arm.
Knife to my throat.
“Last chance, Alpha,” Darius said. “Come alone, or I press this now.”
Kade didn’t move.
His eyes were on me.
On the knife.
On everything.
“Go,” I mouthed.
He nodded once.
---
*12:00AM. HQ. BUNKER*
Thomas’s hands were shaking.
30 seconds.
Code entered.
Nothing happened.
He exhaled. “Charges disarmed.”
Elena sobbed.
The twins were still asleep.
---
*12:01AM. THE MILL*
Darius dragged me to the back door.
“Kade—”
“Don’t,” he said. “One sound and she dies.”
We were at the car.
He shoved me in.
Got in the driver’s seat.
And then the door was ripped open.
Kade.
Gun to Darius’s head.
“I said stay behind me,” he said to me.
“I lied,” I said.
Darius laughed. “You think—”
The shot was loud.
Darius slumped.
Alive. Cuffed. Bleeding.
Kade pulled me out. Held me.
“I’m okay,” I said into his chest. “I’m okay.”
“I know,” he said. Voice shaking. “God, Ava.”
Sirens.
Guards.
Thomas.
It was over.
---
*1:30AM. HOSPITAL. PACK MED WING*
Darius in surgery.
Adrian in a cell downstairs.
Marcus still in holding.
Kade had a new cut.
On his arm this time.
From the glass.
I was bandaging it.
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s not mine,” he said.
“It is now.”
He caught my hand. Kissed my knuckles.
“You really would’ve gone with him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d rather die than watch them die.”
He pulled me into his lap.
Right there in the hospital chair.
“I never stopped,” he said again.
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
We stayed like that until dawn.
---
*6:00AM. HQ. KITCHEN*
The twins were eating pancakes.
Elena was crying and laughing.
Thomas was asleep in a chair.
Kade came in. Clean shirt. New bandage.
He looked at me.
At the kids.
At this mess we called home.
“The Council called,” he said. “Emergency vote. Tonight.”
“About what?”
“About making it official.”
He looked at me. “About making you Luna.”
I dropped the spatula.
---
*8:00PM. COUNCIL CHAMBERS*
Same 12 elders.
Different energy.
Elder Maris stood. “By unanimous vote, due to service, sacrifice, and the will of the Alpha...”
She looked at me.
“Ava Mooncrest, you are hereby recognized as Luna of the Mooncrest Pack.”
Silence.
Then Kade took my hand.
Squeezed it.
“Any objections?” Maris asked.
No one spoke.
“Then it’s done.”
Kade turned to me.
And in front of everyone,
He kissed me.
Not desperate.
Not scared.
Proud.
---
*10:00PM. MY ROOM. HQ*
Official Luna quarters now.
Bigger bed.
Same me.
The twins were asleep between us.
Kade’s arm around all three of us.
“Friday,” he whispered.
“Still on,” I whispered back.
“Even after midnight?”
“Especially after midnight.”
He smiled.
Closed his eyes.
For the first time in 10 episodes,
There were no sirens.
No threats.
No past.
Just us.
Just home.
*12:03AM. THE MILL. AFTERMATH*
The sirens were still ringing in my ears.
Darius was zip-tied on the ground. Bleeding from his shoulder. Conscious.
Guards had him surrounded in 10 seconds flat.
Kade didn’t let go of me.
Not even when Thomas ran in.
Not even when the paramedics came.
“Luna, are you hurt?” Thomas asked, scanning me.
“No,” I said. Voice hoarse. “It’s not my blood.”
“Good. Alpha, we need to move. Now.”
Kade finally looked at me. Really looked.
Checked my throat where the knife was.
Checked my arms.
His hands were shaking.
“You scared me,” he whispered.
“I know.”
“Don’t ever do that again.”
“I won’t.”
“Liar,” he said, and kissed my forehead.
They loaded Darius into an ambulance.
He was laughing through the pain.
“Did you see her face, Alpha? She chose them over you. That’s what mates do.”
Kade slammed the door. “Shut him up.”
---
*12:20AM. IN THE SUV*
I was in Kade’s lap.
Don’t ask me how we fit.
We just did.
His jacket was around me.
His face in my hair.
He was breathing like he’d just run 10 miles.
“The bunker’s clear,” Thomas said from the front. “Charges disarmed. Kids are fine. Elena’s with them.”
“Good,” Kade said. But he didn’t look at Thomas. He looked at me.
“Talk to me,” he said.
“About what?”
“Anything. So I know you’re real.”
I laughed. Shaky. “Burnt grilled cheese?”
“Best grilled cheese I’ve ever had.”
“Promise promise?”
“Promise promise.”
He held me tighter.
---
*12:45AM. HQ. MED BAY*
Standard protocol.
Vitals. Bloodwork. Psych eval.
The nurse tried to separate us.
Kade didn’t move.
“Either she sits on me, or I’m not leaving.”
The nurse sighed. “Fine. But Alpha, you have a cut.”
I cleaned it myself.
Antiseptic stung.
He didn’t flinch.
Just watched me.
“You didn’t hesitate,” I said quietly.
“When?”
“In the mill. When you shot.”
“I would’ve taken the bullet for you.”
“I know.”
“That’s why I couldn’t let you go with him.”
He pulled me into another hug.
Careful of the bandage.
---
*1:00AM. HOLDING. THROUGH THE GLASS*
Darius was awake.
Shoulder bandaged.
Cuffed to the bed.
He saw us and grinned.
“Look at you two. All bloody and in love. Disgusting.”
“Why the mill?” Kade asked.
“Because it’s where Elian died,” Darius said. “Thought it was poetic.”
“You could’ve just asked for a trial.”
“And miss the show?” He looked at me. “You were brave, Luna. Stupid. But brave.”
“Why me?” I asked.
“Because hurting you hurts him most,” Darius said simply. “And because someone has to remind this pack what happens when an Alpha puts a rejected girl above tradition.”
Kade stepped forward. “I’m done listening.”
“Wait,” Darius said. “One last thing. I’m not the only one.”
“What?”
“There are others. Who think like me. Who are waiting.”
Thomas: “We’ll deal with them.”
We walked out.
Darius’s laughter followed us.
---
*2:00AM. ELEVATOR TO LUNA QUARTERS*
Silent.
Tense.
Safe.
Kade leaned against the wall. Eyes closed.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Tired.”
“Of what?”
“Of almost losing you.”
The doors opened.
Our new room.
Bigger.
Luna’s crest on the door.
Mooncrest colors.
Kade stopped in the doorway.
“This is yours now.”
“Ours,” I corrected.
Inside:
A crib for the twins.
A big bed.
Photos on the wall. Me and him. 5 years ago.
He must’ve put them up while I was at the hospital.
He kicked the door shut.
Turned to me.
And just... broke.
Not crying.
But his shoulders shook.
“Hey,” I whispered. “Hey. I’m here.”
“I know,” he said into my neck. “That’s why I’m scared.”
I held him.
Alpha of the Mooncrest Pack.
Held together by me.
---
*3:30AM. BED*
We didn’t make it to the bathroom.
Didn’t shower.
Didn’t change.
Just collapsed.
Twins in the crib next to us.
Kade spooning me.
His heartbeat finally slow.
He murmured in his sleep.
“Stay.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
---
*5:00AM. BEFORE DAWN*
I woke up to him watching me.
“Can’t sleep?”
“Can’t stop looking at you.”
“Cheesy.”
“True.”
He traced my jaw.
“You were incredible today. At the mill. With the Council. With everything.”
“You were too.”
“I shot a man.”
“You saved everyone.”
He kissed me.
Slow.
Deep.
Like he was memorizing it.
When we pulled apart:
“I want that wedding,” he said.
“What?”
“The wedding. I want it. Soon. Before anything else happens.”
“Kade—”
“No speeches. No Council. Just us. And the kids. And Elena.”
I nodded. Crying and laughing. “Okay.”
“Promise promise?”
“Promise promise.”
---
- Writer
