Chapter 140 In the Grass
The morning sun did little to burn away the heavy, lingering exhaustion of the night before. Breakfast had been a quiet, hurried affair, the looming reality of the day pressing down on all of them.
When the last plates were cleared, Fennigan pressed a fierce, lingering kiss to Leela’s lips, buried his face briefly in the twins' curls, and reluctantly turned on his heel. Leela watched his broad shoulders tense the moment he began the long, heavy walk down the corridor toward the mahogany doors of the study, where Damon, Jax, and the Elders were already waiting to resume their war council.
Standing in the hallway with a babbling twin balanced on each hip, Leela paused at the fork in the corridor.
She knew she should probably head to the downstairs guest room. Ginny was stuck on bed rest, likely going stir-crazy, and Jax had just locked himself away for another grueling day of politics. But as Leela looked down the shadowed hall, the phantom chill of iron chains from her nightmare still crawled along her wrists. The walls of the pack house suddenly felt entirely too tight.
She needed to get out. She needed the sun, the soil, and the undeniable proof that her world was still safe.
Pushing open the heavy glass doors leading to the sprawling back courtyard, Leela stepped out into the crisp, bright morning air. She set Caspian and Briar down in the thick, dew-kissed grass, letting out a long, shaky exhale as the vibrant heartbeat of the Blackwood pack instantly washed over her.
It was beautifully, overwhelmingly normal.
Across the lawn, a group of older pups were laughing and chasing each other through a chaotic game of tag, their joyous shrieks echoing off the tree line. Near the training rings, the metallic clatter of sparring weapons mingled with the good-natured shouting of the warriors running their morning drills. A few omegas were chatting warmly by the garden beds, baskets of fresh laundry balanced on their hips as they soaked in the morning sun.
Leela sank down onto the grass beside her children, letting the rich, earthy scent of the soil ground her frantic heartbeat. This was exactly what she needed. She didn't want to think about Vane, or the High Council, or the dark magic trapped inside her husband's study. For just a little while, she wanted to completely forget that a war was breathing down their necks.
She watched Caspian stumble happily over a thick tree root, immediately distracted by a brightly colored beetle marching through the dirt. Briar was a few feet away, her chubby hands patting the ground as she happily babbled at a patch of wildflowers.
Looking out at the smiling, familiar faces of her pack, Leela felt the terrifying gray fog of her nightmare finally, permanently dissolve. Her people were happy. They were healthy. And as she sat in the sunlight watching her fiercely protected children play in the grass, she silently vowed that they were going to keep it that way.
Leela sat in the cool grass, taking a deep, grounding breath of the morning air. Before her thoughts could drift back to the lingering shadows of her nightmare, the sound of rapid, pounding footsteps caught her attention.
Racing across the lawn were Toby and Sarah, the two young, energetic pack kids she and Elder Thorpe had spoken to near the greenhouse just a few days prior. They came skidding to a halt right in front of her, their faces flushed and beaming with bright, wide smiles.
"Good morning, Luna!" Sarah chirped, practically vibrating with energy.
Before Leela could even return the greeting, Toby dropped to his knees in the dirt with a playful roar. He scooped a startled but immediately delighted Caspian right up under his arms. Sarah mirrored him, carefully but enthusiastically lifting Briar into the air.
The teenagers began to gently toss the twins up and catch them securely, making exaggerated, silly faces every time the babies came back down. The effect was instantaneous. Caspian and Briar threw their heads back, their pure, bell-like squeals of absolute joy ringing out across the courtyard. They kicked their little legs, demanding to be tossed higher, utterly enchanted by the attention of the older kids.
Leela watched them, forcing a smile onto her face. It was a beautiful sight, the exact kind of normalcy she had come outside to find. But the heavy, bruised exhaustion from her night terrors was still wrapped tightly around her shoulders, and her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
Toby caught Caspian one last time, settling the giggling toddler securely on his hip. As he turned back to Leela, his playful grin faltered. Even at his young age, his wolf instincts picked up on the lingering distress and the pale, haunted look on his Luna's face.
He exchanged a quick, uncertain glance with Sarah, who gently lowered Briar back into the grass. The two teens immediately shifted from boisterous playmates to fiercely protective, albeit very young, pack members.
They sat down cross-legged in the grass right beside her, the twins immediately crawling into their laps. Toby looked up at her, his brow furrowed with genuine concern.
"Is everything okay, Luna?" he asked softly, his voice dropping to a quiet, serious tone.
Leela’s heart ached at the pure, unfiltered care radiating from the teens. Even the youngest members of Blackwood were ready to stand guard over her. She reached out, gently brushing a stray piece of grass off of Toby's shoulder.
"Everything is okay, Toby," Leela reassured him, her voice thick with emotion but finally sounding steady. "I just didn't sleep very well last night. Seeing you two making Caspian and Briar laugh is exactly what I needed today. Thank you."
The heavy, suffocating shadows of the nightmare finally, completely broke apart. Leela let out a soft, genuine laugh as she watched Caspian and Briar ruthlessly climb all over the two young wolves, using Toby's shoulder as a stepping stool and tangling their sticky fingers in Sarah's hair. The teens didn't mind in the slightest, laughing right along with the boisterous toddlers.
Leela leaned forward, affectionately patting both Toby and Sarah on the hands. "You two just reminded me exactly why I love this place so much," she said softly, the deep, raw gratitude bleeding into her voice.