A Bath of Comfort

Metas had never felt so uncomfortable around another wolf before. Something about Amilla made him feel off - almost gross, like he needed a shower. Her scent was even sour in his nose, and he snuffed out air from his snout as though to push it from his olfactory sensors.

That changed the moment he rounded the corner and into the pod where his wife was sitting as a mortal with children who were also sitting in their fleshy forms delicately stringing their fingers along different strands of colors.

Her scent was sweet, and it immediately cancelled out the foul feeling he had. He too took to his skins and took a gentle seat next to Myranda where he gave her a kiss on the temple, which was secretly a way for him to take in the essence of her hair.

"Eeew"and "awww" were heard in a mixed chorus as the small eyes peered up at them both.

"Hello, little ones. I see you are doing important tasks here. How is our Luna doing?" He teased and gave his wife a soft wink with a matching grin.

"They've been excellent bosses, my Alpha," she answered with a smile and eyes filled with sunshine and the glow of the moon.

Metas' heart leaped as he beheld her expression. She was so beautiful. He was so in love with her, that sometimes it hurt.

"How are things going on the secret project?" She asked and leaned her head into the crook of Metas' neck as she finished up the second to last side of patchwork she was on.

"That's why I came to you, actually. I needed to escape." Metas whispered, and had to move her head so he could whisper into her ear.

"What? Why?" She laughed a little, and turned just a bit to give him a silly look, but she wasn't able to look at him for long as he turned her head again to access her ear.

The confused face plastered on the Luna's face make the kids giggle.

"This young wolf made me feel uncomfortable. Almost....mmm... I'm not sure how to phrase - creepy?" The Alpha's lower eye lids lifted as the thought of Amilla came back to his nose.

"Oh," Myranda mused out and chuckled. "Well. The best way to handle that is how I handled you when we first met."

"Complete and utter refusal? Deep hatred?" Metas asked playfully.

"You hated Alpha Metas?" One of the girls asked curiously.

"Oh- well - no. I was....stubborn. Things are different inside the mountains. It was complicated. I've never hated his majesty. He is slightly intimidating. Do you see how giant he is?" She teased back and gave Metas a little bump with her shoulder.

Once more, the children giggled, which earned them all the attention of the mothers and daughters nearby who were working with Lara.

The pair hadn't even noticed because they were so engrossed in the moment, and the only way for someone to not see the love and chemistry between the Alpha and Luna was to deny they saw it all together.

"Don't listen to her - she's the scary one. Nearly made my heart leap from my chest, this one," Metas retorted and gave her a gentle elbow to the shoulder. "Can you believe she made me chase her?"

"I'd make a boy chase me, too~" one small girl with sandy hair quipped out and then immediately stuck her tongue out at a boy nearby her.

"Well you have to have to want to chase you first," the boy replied and returned her gesture with a raspberry that made an audible noise for almost anyone to see.

"I'm sure you'll change your mind later little sir," Myranda chided gently and nodded her head towards him.

"Nope." The small boy refuted and shook his head rapidly in denial.

"Who wants to help me learn how to do this?" Metas asked and looked around the small group of children.

"Oh me!" "Me me!" "I want to!" The many voices echoed out together in chaos.

"Woah - okay, okay. Calm down before you scare off our Alpha," Myranda jested and reached over to put her hand on his arm as if to 'calm' him and play along with the gaggle of kids.

"I'm already terrified to tell the truth," Metas said and looked to his Luna with light in his eyes.

A few onlookers had turned back to their duties, but some kept at least one eye on the children that were playing along with the King and Queen to make sure they behaved themselves.

The others felt at ease now that they had personally been able to see their Luna in person.

They were absolutely light on time, and everyone knew that things were far more dire than anyone else let on, but no one stopped the children from being the inspirations to burn the bleak atmosphere away for a lot of them.

"Alpha Metas, are you going to beat up Silas?" One of the kids piped up as he looked up from his patch of cloth.

"Oh yes, very much so. He'll never hurt you or anyone else ever again after that. One way or another, he won't show his face around any of us again. I promise. Afterwards, we can have big feast and celebrate that despite Silas' plans - we are still here. We will still be here," Metas answered, but from what the kid's expressions displayed - he had been quite a bit too valorous.

He cleared his throat and shifted to Myranda to bail him out - which she did beautifully by pointing out how brave and strong he had to be. He felt in a deep peace now that she was at his side, and he was going to take Silas out of the picture. It was all wrapping up, and she was at his side as he had dreamed.

Together they would be a solid team, and now that a lot of the pack had seen it - all that was left was to prove his might, defeat Harbinger, and free their home from the tyranny it had spent far too long being smothered under.