At the Shadow Moon Pack,

It was late and many had gone to bed, those up and awake were mostly the guards on patrol. Darren stood in the dimly lit Alpha’s office staring out the window overlooking the pack. The day had come quickly to an end, reducing the number of days left to just two. He was thinking of what would happen and how he could stop it.

As much as he would wish that all of this would be avoided, he knew that it would only prolong their fate and lose more lives. Then there was his mate who was pregnant and would be due anytime now. The timing was so wrong that he wished he could change it. He sighed and shut his eyes. Being in charge was really hard.

"You are sighing so much, is everything alright alpha?" Luncuda appeared behind him.

Slowly opening his eyes, he turned to face her. "How did it go?" He asked, revert g where she was meant to be.

"They are awake," she replied leaving out every other thing that happened.

"You can rest now, Lucinda," Darren said. All he wanted to know was if everything was going as planned and now he had gotten the news he wanted, she was free to do whatever she loved until she was needed again.

"May I check on you?" she asked inching closer to him. He looked alright but one could not be too sure when all he had been doing was trying to hide his pain.

Darren over to the couch and sat down so she could do whatever she wanted and leave him alone. He still had work to do before returning to his home. Lucinda walked and stood in front of him squinting her eyes to properly examine him.

"It’s a bit dark Alpha, you don’t mind me turning on the lights, do you?" she asked walking to where the light switch was to turn it on.

The room got frightened and Darren had to shut his eyes to get them adjusted to the sudden brightness. She walked back to him and asked him to off his shirt which he did without complaining.

"I wonder what this would have been like if you didn’t have tattoos already," she wondered out loud and Darren raised a brow. She gave an awkward smile when their eyes met. "It just blends so well with your tattoos that no one would believe that something is wrong. It seems to be taking advantage of them too, spreading them even in places where they were never tattoos before, like your neck and wrists and it also darkness ned rye already dark ink."

"Is it that bad?" he asked to know if he should avoid Kora tonight. He didn’t do anything that would make it worse than how he left, so he didn’t want to be blamed for something he did not do.

"No. Luna did a wonderful job. I hope it is not draining her," Lucinda said. She wanted to check the rest of him but that part was not for her to see unless his feet leg and feet were to be affected. Besides, she could already see that it was under control so there was no need to check any further. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Tell me, Lucinda," Darren said after she stood up and walked to the window he stood before staring far beyond the pack. He didn’t need to guess where she was looking at. "Do you like him?" Darren asked. He stood up and walked to stand beside her.

"I don’t know," she replied honestly. She didn’t know whether she liked him or not.

"Do you hate him?" Datrrn asked again.

"I don’t," she replied again now turning took at him. "I don’t hate him, Alpha," she said truthfully. He was not annoying to be around and she did not hate the fact that he would tease her or try to touch her with the slightest opportunity that he got. He had shown that he cared for her... in his own way, and she appreciated it but she was still unsure if the feeling was mutual.

"What do you think of him?" Darren asked, he looked away from her and stared in the same direction as her. He was surprised when he learned of the vampire’s interest in her within the short time he had known her but at the same time, he was curious to know what Lucinda’s reaction would be.

"He is not as bad as though he was," she said no k king what else to say? She can’t exactly spend enough time with him fi know much about him. The times they were together were just like earlier, Ky when they met at a place that needed them to work and prefer for the fight the humans were brought to them or that they were sent on errands and still could not talk much with each other.

"Why don’t you take a break tomorrow and sort yourself out? Remember, a war is coming and anything is possible, Don’t miss getting what you want now that there is still time." Darren said and Lucinda turned to look at him. "What?" he asked as she stared at him as if she could not believe he would say something like that.

"It was just unexpected," she tried and smiled. "I will tell her that I have a day all to myself and see what her reaction would be," She rubbed her chin as she pictured her sister’s expression when she told her.

"You just want her to demand for hers too don’t you?" Darren asked. He walked over to his seat behind the desk and finished some last-minute plans before he left.

"I just want to see her annoyed face, that is all. You are not giving her a day off like this, this should be just for me so I can sort things out," Lucinda said walking to stand in front of Darren across the desk.