Sebastian found himself lying awake that night in a way he hadn’t since the artefact took away his nightmares. He wasn’t dreading dreamland this time around, of course. He knew, more likely than not, that he’d just be transported to spend time practicing magic with Arte. But after today’s events, his mind was simply too awake.

Following Elliot’s leave, Seb couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

“Of course, he leaves as dramatically as he appears,” Sebastian remarked as he glanced over to Edmund. “Do you think that’s a vampire thing?”

“What? The disappearing or the overdramatic-ness.”

“The second one, though I guess the first one could be too.”

Ed shrugged and turned his attention to inside of the car. “Um, you guys, okay?”

Seb looked over and saw that Daisy and Luke had been sitting practically perched on the edge of the backseat, staring together through the gap between the front seats. Luke’s expression was blank while Daisy was visibly confused.

“Who was that?”

“A... friend of Persephone’s. We talked about him visiting the territory before, remember?” Sebastian asked.

They’d more talked about it while she was just present in the room, and it had been on her first day with them, so he wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t really remember the details of all that had happened.

Daisy seemed to recall the conversation though and nodded. “Oh yeah. Is he going to be moving into the territory with these new wolves?”

“We would need to talk about letting these new wolves into the pack first. How would you feel about it?” Edmund inquired.

Daisy tilted her head to the side curiously. “I don’t know. You’re our alpha, so whatever you decide is best.”

“I may be the alpha, but you guys are my pack, and I can’t decide what’s best unless I know how you feel.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this in the middle of the road though,” Seb suggested after a glance at Luke.

The younger teen looked lost in his thoughts, and while Sebastian was tempted to pull him out of them quickly, he knew that they all probably needed to absorb the implications of Elliot’s offer. The rest of the drive was silent. It was peaceful but bordered on restless. Seb never thought he’d get so used to having music playing in so much while driving. Ed’s truck didn’t have a radio and playing directly from their phones was hard since the sound of the engine usually drowned out the weak speakers.

Once they arrived back at the Kingsley home, Edmund parked the car and turned off the engine, but none of them got out. Somehow, they all felt that they should wait a moment. Then Luke spoke up.

“The first thing that Lance did, was do away with the weaker members of the pack.”

He’d said it so softly, Sebastian just barely heard him. But what struck him was the haunted look in Luke’s eyes. The kind of expression that really didn’t belong on anyone so young.

“My aunty wanted to do that too.” Daisy recalled with a deep frown. “She wanted... she wanted to send away some of the older members of the pack. She and Mama argued about it for a while.”

Edmund looked over to Seb with a mixed expression. There was grief and anger for these kids and everyone else who hadn’t made it. It was terrifying to think about what had happened to them. The things Luke said outright and what he’d hinted at. The memories that Daisy had accidentally shared with Sebastian.

But this, this memory they seemed to have in common, of the people who were meant to be protectors and leaders deciding to disown the weaker members of their packs- Shit, he was feeling sick just thinking about it. How could these people just abandon and/or kill each other?

Luke had shared a sympathetic look with Daisy before looking Edmund in the eyes. “I’ll trust whatever you decide. But... I’d like if we could give them a place. It wouldn’t be the same as... as the people Lance hurt. But it would be helping someone who needed it, and I think that could be good for us in the long run.”

Daisy nodded in enthusiastic agreement and the conversation had pretty much ended with that.

Once the four got inside, they’d had to sort out their purchases in Daisy’s room. After that, they had gone outside to relax for a bit in the fresh air, when Edmund decided to show off his archery skills to Daisy and Luke. This resulted in an impromptu archery class between the three, that Seb was more than happy to observe from the side lines. It was nice to just have this moment in between the chaos their lives had become.

That was honestly the main thing that weighed on Sebastian’s mind that night. He didn’t know how long he had laid there for before Edmund nudged him out of his thoughts.

“Should I worry about you staring a hole through my ceiling?”

Seb chuckled. “Really? How would I even manage that?”

“I don’t know. You’re the magic user, not me.”

“My magic relies on spells, which I need to use words for, not my eyes. Meaning that I would technically be speaking a hole into your ceiling.”

Edmund rolled his eyes but laughed anyway. “Fine, do I need to worry about you speaking a hole through my ceiling?”

“Hmm. Not tonight.”

“Good... Do you want to talk about it though?”

“Your ceiling?”

“No, idiot. The reason that you were staring at the ceiling.”

Sebastian was silent for a moment. “I think you should take in the wolves. It’s a risky move, considering how few of us there are right now. And housing twenty people, even in this big house, is going to be a challenge. Especially if you consider the amount of cooking, cleaning, and everything that will be added to daily life.”

Edmund raised an eyebrow in bemusement. “You're listing cons right now, yet you still think we should take them in.”

“Yeah, I... I keep thinking of Luke and Daisy. More specifically what you’ve been able to do for them in the short time they’ve been with us. I know it’s too early to really say, but Luke isn’t the same kid I met at the beginning of Home Ec. Hell, he’s not even the same as he was two weeks ago. He's happier, more relaxed, and even a little bit confident. Daisy’s just been with us a few days and she already thinks the world of you. She’s energetic and curious like a normal kid, despite the fucking mess she’s still dealing with from her memories.”

Seb paused a moment, to catch his breath and allow Ed a chance at voicing his option. But he was silent, so Sebastian continued. “This afternoon, this morning, hell, even last night, those kids were able to have fun and laugh and be... normal. It’s nothing life changing but they have a safe space here. A home where they can heal.”

“I haven’t been the one to do that. Not alone anyway. You’re the one who first brought Luke into our circle. And the person that broke the curse that would have driven Daisy to ultimate madness.”

“You’re their alpha. You're like... their adoptive dad.”

“Technically, you’re the one with legal custody, so you’d be their dad too.”

“I guess Collin was right about us basically becoming parents.”

“You mentioned Luke and Daisy to him.”

“Kind of. He’s a part of the supernatural shit too apparently. A loreli.”

“He... I have no idea what that is.”

“Think freshwater mermaid.”

“Okay. Huh. We’ve really been surrounded by the supernatural for our entire lives without knowing.”

“Yep. He kind of laughed after I finished explaining everything, and said Lucy owed him money for a bet they made about who in our old group would have kids first.”

“Did he bet you or me?”

“Both of us, together. I don’t think he ever imagined us making a pack in high school though.”

“We’ve always been good at going above and beyond expectations. Especially when we work together... But I’m... I’m a bit unsure. Going from the two of us to four was crazy enough. Going to twenty more people seems a bit...”

“Crazy? Like you said though, we’ve gone above and beyond expectations before. A month ago, we were talking about looking for a safe place to call home. Then you fought for us and made one. Now we have a chance to share it with these people and... You feel it too, right?”

“Like it’s the right thing to do. Like it’s absolutely insane, but it would be just wrong to do anything else.”

Sebastian nodded. As silence stretched between them, he studied Edmund’s face. His expression was thoughtful. His own brown eyes were watching Seb. They had that slight golden tinge at the edges that he remembered from that first full moon night. It felt like ages since then.

Just like then though, they were close together. They'd been lying in bed, so it was a given, but their faces were very close right now. Sebastian could feel the warmth of their breaths mingling between them.

He moved his hand up to cup Ed’s face before he spoke again. “We could do it. We could do anything together.”

Edmund nodded. “And we’re together, no matter what, right.”

“Exactly. No matter what.”

They feel silent again, but this time Ed’s eyes darted down to Seb’s libs. Sebastian almost convinced himself that he’d imagined it, but then Edmund looked down again, a little slower, before looking up in a way that felt like he was asking for permission. Seb didn’t trust his voice to give it. And maybe he was jumping the gun, but he moved forward anyway to close the space between them...