Wolf's Bane

Chapter 8 Pt. 1

The following day was raining hard. The last thing Luna wanted to wake up to was the lack of sunshine. Instead of thinking about the rain, however, something else caused her to wake up. She smelt the air as she opened her eyes and sat up from the couch she was lying on. It smelt like bacon which caused her eyes to jolt to the kitchen. She saw Sam and was only confused as to why he was there. She looked from the kitchen to the side of the couch, where there seemed to be a makeshift pillow. This caused Luna to make a face of realization before moving her feet off the sofa.

When she moved off the couch, she stopped in a standstill position. She could feel a rash from falling asleep in wet clothes and sighed heavily. She soon went through her clothes in the living room before going to the bathroom to change into something cleaner. When she got to the bathroom, she noticed that Gage's clothes were tossed into the bathtub, so they didn't get the floor wet. She only shook her head before changing into her other clothes. She kept on Sam's shirt. Despite her size, the sweater still managed to be bigger than hers. She liked having it, so she kept it. She could also smell him on it. That's creepy, Luna.

She shook her head a bit before walking out of the bathroom. She had begun to put her hair into a bun when she saw Gage walking out of her room in her PJs. Gage had smelt the food and had already started running to the kitchen. "Bacon!!" Gage yelled as she ran across the house to go bug Sam. "Sam made bacon!" Luna laughed a bit as she finished her hair and followed suit.

Sam smiled as the girls woke up. He was flipping an egg when he heard Gage squeals. The kitchen was set with most of the breakfast foods. Pancakes of fruit varieties laid on a plate next to two bacon. Sam would have made an almost complete breakfast for the three with the eggs still in the skillet.

Gage kept sniffing the air violently as she looked at every single type of food. She wasn't used to waking up to breakfast and hadn't had meat in a long time. Luna was thinking the same thing as she stood at the entrance to the kitchen. "Wow, Sammy. Outdid yourself again." She smiled a bit at the food. She liked having a break from taking care of responsibilities but was starting to feel lazy.

Sam looked at Luna before winking. He noticed she hadn't removed his shirt and smiled about that. "This isn't overdone. This is how my mother cooks every morning." He placed the cooked egg on a plate and handed Gage a fork. "Use it, young lady." His tone was very Alpha and less Sam when he instructed her. He placed four pancakes on Gage's plate and allowed her to choose which style of bacon she wanted. Turning to the stove, he broke two more eggs and allowed them to sizzle. These would be for Luna.

Gage took the fork and pouted slightly before grabbing herself the most crispy bacon he had made. She did start to use the fork, and this caused Luna to raise an eyebrow. "Well, that's rare." She then watched Sam continue to cook. "Thanks, Sammy." After a minute, her mind went back to yesterday. This caused her eyes to drift toward the floor. She felt as though she had cut the fun short. This caused her hand to start rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm... I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't think that would happen at the time."

Sam flipped the eggs and looked at her. "Don't apologize for something you had no control over, my Moon. I'm sure the pack will worry until you explain it, but that is what Monday is for." He took the skillet from the fire and moved to her side of the table. Slowly, he slid the egg onto the plate and put her own stack of pancakes on it. He then repeated the egg-cooking process for himself. Looking at Luna, he smiled. "I don't have to go all alpha on you, too, do I?" He extended a fork to her after he had broken his eggs into the skillet.

Luna laughed a bit before taking the fork and her plate to her favorite spot. "You can bite me." She said in a sarcastic tone as she stuck the fork into the eggs. She froze for a second before sighing. "Not the best thing to say now, was it." She smiled a bit before taking a bite of her eggs. She was surprised at how well-cooked it actually was. She continued to eat before looking at her sister. "Did you have fun yesterday?"

Gage immediately got excited at the question. "Oh yes! I got to howl at the moon and go swimming, and I rolled in the dirt." Gage stuffed more food in her face as she swung her feet around. Luna laughed a bit.

"Well, that's good."

When Sam's eggs were done, he placed them on his plate and cut the stove off. Placing the skillet in the sink, he sat at the table and put his own piles of food on his plate. Looking at the two girls, he smiled. "I'm glad you had some fun. If you want, we can meet up again next weekend." He used a butter knife to cut into the yoke of his egg, only to dunk a piece of pancake into it and eat it.

Gage nodded happily. "I want to see Gavin again. He taught me to swim." The child started to hum a tune at its memory as she continued eating her food. Luna continued to eat until she looked at Sam. She wasn't sure how to thank him for everything he's done. It wasn't long till she was almost done with her plate when she began to speak again. "Hey, Gage. You put my key back after you unlocked the door, right?" The last thing Luna needed was to lose the key to the house.

Gage stopped eating for a moment. She only had one or two bites left when she put her fork down. Gage looked at Sam before her sister and smiled a bit. "The door was unlocked."

"What do you mean it was unlocked?"

"I didn't use the key. It is still in your pockets."

So she had locked the door last night. Sam looked from one sister to the other before resting his eyes on Luna. Nothing smelt different, and nothing is missing. He began to worry, though. "I'll have the adults do a territory sweep tonight. Can't have the teens out late tonight, though. School tomorrow and all." He wiped his mouth with a rag before pulling his phone out. Flipping the device open, he began to text the pack's adults. With the message sent, he put his phone back in his pocket and looked at the girls. "So, what is the plan for today?"

Gage had finished her food and quickly got up from the table. She felt like playing with her toys. Luna watched her walk away before looking at Sam. "Well, it's raining, so we will probably be stuck here. We have movies and card games. Can probably just binge for today. Not sure." Luna couldn't finish what she had left on her plate. She was worried about the door being unlocked when she knew she had locked it. She didn't want to make too big of a deal.

Through the silence, Sam had finished his plate of food and stood. "Rain is a good thing. It washes away scents." He picked up his and Gage's dinnerware and put them in the sink before moving to Luna. Standing behind her, he leaned down and gently rubbed his cheek against her neck. His voice was warm against her ear as he whispered, "You look excellent in my clothes."

Luna gave in to the affection and moved her hand to pet his head. His words caused her to turn slightly pink in the face. "Don't make things weird." She smiled a bit before looking towards Gage. "Gotta be kid-friendly." She laughed a little bit before putting her attention back on Sam. Her tone said she was making jokes, but something about it didn't seem like one. It was almost as if Luna constantly fought with herself without realizing she was. "What do you want to do today, Sammy?"

"You don't want to know." He finally said as he backed away from her. He didn't know why, but he enjoyed seeing her blush. "Since we have to stay kid-friendly, how about we see if Gage can change." He took her plate and moved it to the counter. Plastic wrap was pulled out only for Sam to begin to cover the remaining food. Leftovers were always welcomed in his eyes.

His moving away from her felt cold. There was now a breeze she didn't know was right by her ear. She sat back in her seat before pulling out her phone. Weirdly, one of her media accounts started to blow up with friend requests from pack members. Even people she didn't like had tried adding her. "I didn't think she'd be able to. Most of the other kids didn't" She looked away from her phone towards Sam, who was now putting out what she didn't eat.

Sam opened the fridge and put the plate in it. "Yes, but those children live what most would call normal lives. They have no reason to change early." Standing, Sam moved back to her and the plates on the table. One after another, he wrapped the leftovers with wrap. "Gage does." He didn't want to tell her what it meant to be the alpha's mate. He didn't want to scare her off, but he knew she would pry it out of him in her charming way.

Luna gave him a look of concern. She didn't know why her situation was different from anyone else's besides the fact they both grew up normal humans. "What do you mean? Something important going to happen or something?"

He had put the leftovers away and sat beside her. His hands took her own, and he looked deeply into her eyes. "Being the alpha's mate can be dangerous. More so if without a wolf." He seemed to be having trouble explaining. "When I'm not here, you're vulnerable to attack." He lifted her hands and kissed her knuckles. "If anything were to happen to you, I'd go crazy, and I may just be paranoid with him running around." He sat back now and took a deep breath. "But I would feel better with a wolf around when I can't be."

Her green eyes stared him down for a good minute. Did he forget that this was her sister? The only thing this "pep talk" did was cause Luna to feel even more useless than before. "Look, Sam. She's nine. Just because she can turn into a wolf does not mean I'm going to let her get in harm's way for my sake." At this point, Luna's eyes began to glow green for less than a second. She then looked away from Sam before standing. "I realize I can't do what you can, but I won't send my LITTLE sister to protect me. I protect her, Sam." She knew she might have overreacted to the situation, but she meant it. "I need a shower." Luna moved away from him before walking towards the bathroom. She felt like she hadn't taken one in a few days.