They gathered their previously discarded clothing and stepped behind a large tree to shift back and dress before heading in the back door of the pack house, hand in hand.

“We need to do that more often. It felt great to get out and run.” Alyce grinned over at Tristan, tucking herself into his side as she often did.

“We can go out as often as you like so long as it is safe to do so.” Tristan wrapped an arm around her, holding her close to him.

“Sounds great.”

Mat, Kami, and Cedric were already sitting at their table and Alyce and Tristan made quick work of getting their food and joining them. Brandon, the Gamma, soon joined them.

“Well, well, look who decided to grace us with his presence.” Kami snickered.

“I wouldn’t want you all to suffer withdrawal by staying away.” Brandon retorted.

“I don’t think anyone would suffer withdrawal at the absence of your ugly mug.”

“Listen here pip-squeak, my mug is quite attractive.”

“Your ego is showing again.”

“Hey-!”

“Alright you two, that’s enough.” Tristan cut Brandon off, laughing at the two.

“They’re as bad as Alyce and I.” Mat snickered before shoveling some of his food into his mouth.

“Brandon even eats like you.” Kami grinned.

Alyce laughed, “I’m pretty sure that’s typical of most male wolves.”

“You’re right, it is.” Cedric chuckled and proceeded to dig into his own food.

Kami and Alyce both rolled their eyes at the guys as they ate, “Hey, where is your sister?” Kami asked Brandon.

Brandon stopped stuffing his face long enough to point at another table, “Over with her friends as usual.”

Kami nodded in acknowledgement and returned her attention to her food. Celeste used to sit with them, she and Kami had been pretty close when they were younger, and they were still friends, but they had drifted apart a little bit over the last couple of years as Kami had started to learn Luna duties from her mother on the off chance that she ended up mated to an Alpha. It was a high possibility as she was the daughter of an Alpha.

Alyce sensed a change in Kami’s demeanor though she didn’t know the reason. She nudged her and grinned as she spoke in a low voice, “When this whole Lucian fiasco is over, we’ll have a girls night. We can invite Celeste and the twins too.”

“Hey! What about me?” Mat pouted and Cedric grinned, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

Mat grinned and Alyce laughed, “Are you sure you’re still one of the girls, Mattie?”

“We can have a guys night while they have their girls night.” Brandon suggested, “Beer, pizza and video games. What more could we want?”

Mat glared at Alyce and playfully stuck his tongue out at her. “Guess I’ll be one of the guys this time. I never turn down video games and pizza.”

Tristan was just shaking his head at the group. What a mish-mash of personalities. All tied together through Alyce for the most part, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

“Cedric, have you gotten in contact with Alpha Killian yet?” Tristan inquired.

“Yes, I spoke to him while you and Alyce were on your run. He has promised that everything will be ready for our arrival in a couple days. So we will leave the day after tomorrow.”

“Do you want me to send a couple warriors back with you, just in case?”

“No, I think we will be fine.”

“Alright, let me know if you change your mind.”

“We will, thank you.”

Tristan turned his attention to Brandon, “Any luck tracking down which pack Jennifer is from?”

Alyce frowned a little at the mention of the she-wolf that had purposely dumped water on her when they were shopping. She had nearly forgotten about her.

“Yes, she is a member of Snow Moon. She’s the Beta’s niece, and apparently not a particularly pleasant she-wolf, but her standing has gotten her a lot of leniency.”

“I see. I will reach out to Alpha Noah tomorrow and see what can be done. If nothing else I will inform him of her blatant disrespect to our Luna and demand something be done.”

“I mean, technically, she attacked our Luna and that is punishable by death.”

Alyce shook her head, “No, that’s too extreme for her having simply dumped water on me. Although I wouldn’t complain if she were forced to apologize to both Tristan and myself.”

“That can be arranged.” Tristan smiled at Alyce, thankful to have a merciful mate.

“I’d still like to beat her face in.” Kami muttered.

“I’m with you on that one.” Mat murmured his agreement.

Cedric looked utterly confused, giving us a quizzical look, “Someone care to fill me in? If we’re going to hate someone, I’d like to know why we’re hating them at least.”

Alyce laughed softly, “A waitress at the diner in the shopping plaza purposely spilled water on me and gave me dirty looks because I was with Tristan and he was not interested in her. Kami told her to get lost in no uncertain terms. Apparently she had done it before. Got herself fired. It’s a rather anticlimactic story.”

“Perhaps, but I’m definitely down for hating her. She should have known better, and to pull such an act in public. Disgraceful.” Cedric scowled. He was fast becoming part of the group and was beginning to understand why everyone rallied around Alyce the way they did. She had this natural appeal that drew others to her and you couldn’t help but want to protect her from everything no matter how small a thing it was. She was truly the epitome of what a Luna should be, and to think she was actually an Alpha.

“We don’t have to hate her, we don’t have to particularly like her, but hate and jealousy do not breed any values or morals worth having.”

“You have yourself a wise mate there, Tristan.” Brandon was grinning a bit.

“Yes, yes I do. I’m a lucky man.”

Alyce was blushing, her empty plate suddenly very interesting. Mat grinned, “She has her moments, just wait until someone riles her up or messes with someone she holds dear.”

Alyce shifted her gaze to Mat in an instant, her eyes narrowing at him, “That truce I gave you earlier? Yeah… I can end that sooner rather than later…” She glared at him.

“Easy Half-Pint, you promised to break poor Cedric in easily.” Tristan chuckled, pulling her into his side.

“See what I mean.” Mat snickered, “Ouch!” Kami deftly kicked Mat under the table all while maintaining an innocent air about herself.

Brandon was laughing and Cedric was even grinning a bit. “It’s ok Tristan, I’m starting to understand their dynamic a bit. I realize they would never truly hurt each other.” Cedric chuckled a bit.

Mat was eyeing Kami like he was planning his retaliation. Cedric took hold of his hand under the table and gave it a squeeze. Kami just smiled sweetly, “What are the plans for tomorrow?”

“I don’t know about all of you, but I could use a boring hang out day after everything that’s happened recently.” Alyce suggested.

“That sounds wonderful. We could run into town and get the supplies we’ll need for Lucian’s visit too, maybe a little shopp–”

“No!” Alyce and Brandon cut her off.

Kami laughed, “Alright, alright no shopping, we can do it while Cedric and Mat are at Dark Forest.”

“Movie and snack day?” Tristan offered as an alternative.

There was a resounding group agreement, “Absolutely.”, “Sounds great!”, “Let’s do it!”

“Sounds like we have a winner.” Alyce giggled.

“Alright. Then we will be bums all day.” Tristan laughed.

“Does this mean I can sleep in?” Alyce’s eyes got as big as saucers at the idea.

“Absolutely my love.”

Alyce cheered and laughed.

With their plans made, the group went their separate ways for the evening. Brandon and Kami bickered between the two of them about what kind of snacks to have. Cedric and Mat headed for the rec room and Alyce and Tristan headed for their room.