Black Moon
When Scarlet and Nate arrived, dinner was ready and still hot.
Lara opened the door and found father and daughter with gifts in their hands. Scarlet had a big bouquet of sunflowers tied with a red ribbon.
The sweet scent of the flowers was covered by the roast in the kitchen, but Lara was sure the flowers were fresh.
Nate, on the other hand, was bringing a big white box. It looked like a package the best cake shops would use for their products.
«Just to make it clear,» Nate said, «the flowers are from me, and the cake is from Scarlet. We exchanged our burdens for a matter of convenience.»
«Oh, yes,» Lara chuckled. «Sure!»
She let them in, accepting the cake from Nate. Scarlet followed her in the kitchen, and the two found a glass big enough for the flowers. They didn't have a vase yet.
Then, with her free hands, Scarlet raised her arms and waited to be picked up. She hugged her mommy, inhaling her scent after a whole day without.
«Mommy has missed her girl,» Lara murmured, closing her eyes in the embrace.
Jaden was pouting in a corner, but he didn't complain. He knew he would have the same treatment when his turn to bear the man came.
«How has it been?» she inquired.
«Boring,» Scarlet commented. In the end, she watched a couple of cartoons before falling asleep on the sofa. She woke up late, just in time to meet the secretary before he left.
Nate then brought her out for a walk, but she got tired and made him carry her for the rest of the time. They searched for the cake and flowers until finally! coming home.
It wasn't as boring as she made it sound, all in all, but she still preferred her mommy and brother.
Nate sat at the table, waiting for his mate and their daughter to have enough contact for all the missing hours. He observed Jaden in the meantime, noticing his furry ears. The boy had turned halfway. His tail was tense behind him.
It was one of the effects of the Black Moon. Emotions were amplified, making wolf instincts more difficult to handle. It wasn't such a rare occurrence for pups to turn like Jaden.
Lara didn't seem to react at the show, so Nate assumed it happened quite often. The pups were too young to control their forms.
«You had your mommy all to yourself,» Nate pointed out. Why was the pup unhappy? He was the luckiest of all three of them.
«You came here,» he pointed out. «Why?»
«To bring your sister back.»
«Now that you've done it, you can go back home.»
«Not so fast,» Nate chuckled.
Since the girls had finished hugging, Scarlet sat at the table and waited for her mommy to bring some food.
The aromas were so mouthwatering that all three of the wolves were almost drooling. It was a mystery Nate didn't want to solve: his mate's dishes tasted better than anything he had in his entire life.
If only he could make her marry him, she could cook for him more often. Oh, but he didn't have any intention to make her work so much just to make him happy. Once married, he would have been the one taking care of her. He just needed to convince her.
After dinner, Lara sent the kids to brush their teeth. They complained and whined, but in the end, they listened.
She sighed, smiling proud as they walked away. They liked complaining, but they always listened to her.
«I hope Scarlet behaved,» she said. She had no clue how her cubs acted when she wasn't watching.
The first day at the kindergarten was an example that opened her eyes. She wasn't good enough as a mother, and she needed to work harder.
She had no excuses now that she had a good job with decent pay and morning working hours.
She would have spent more time teaching them how to behave. Still, she wasn't sure if just telling them until exhaustion would have been enough. In the end, their instincts would always prevail when it came to self-control and table manners.
«She was an angel,» Nate said. «She even slept during the afternoon.»
«Oh,» Lara sighed. «It will be fun tonight.»
«Is that so?»
«They have so much energy. I usually let them sleep during the day, an hour or so. But not close to the nights with the full or new moon. I prefer them sleeping at night, but I don't know if it's good.»
«As they grow up, the influence of the moon will increase. But, also, they will learn how to fight it. I will be here to guide them.»
His smile reassured her a little.
«I shall go now,» Nate said. His voice was filled with grief as if he was leaving forever.
Lara would have invited him to stay longer, but they didn't have a living room. Nor a sofa anywhere in the apartment. He would have had to sit on the chair for the rest of the time.
As he got up, the woman followed him to the door.
«See you soon,» she said.
Before opening the door, Nate curved his shoulders. He considered all the variables, deciding he couldn't leave just like that.
One pup had Lara for the whole day. The other got a long, long hug. He was the only one getting nothing.
He also wanted to feel her skin. And that night, the need was more pressing than ever.
He used to spend the night of Black Moon alone in his penthouse, drinking wine and cursing himself for letting his mate go.
That night, even if for just a few hours, he wasn't alone. He had no reason to go home to drink and curse. He was rather content. But he was also greedy.
When he turned towards Lara, a pair of wolf ears had taken the place of his human pair. He didn't release the tail, but the ears escaped his control for a second only.
However, when he met Lara's eyes, it was too late to hide them.