Loving Luna - All Grown Up

Chapter Five - Sasha

❤Sasha – 2011

“Boy’s, please! Settle down!” Sasha yelled out as she tried her best to stop the chaotic situation, she had found herself in. ‘Don’t worry about us,’ she had said to Ayden just an hour earlier. ‘You have work to do as an Alpha, so go do it,’ she had added and just before her husband had left to visit another pack she had also said: ‘I’ll be fine,’ Well, the truth of the matter was, she was not fine. Far from it. Daniel, who was six, and George, who was five, was having a mud fight outside in the sandpit. When she had left them outside to play, there had been no water involved. However, after hearing their loud screams and constant laughter, she had gone outside to investigate. One of the terrorists had gotten a bucket of water and the two of them had decided that a mud war was a fun thing to do. Now, she was trying to get them to settle down as she had just managed to get the twins to fall asleep. She was already exhausted, and she wished Ayden was here to deal with it.

“Watch out!” came a loud scream and Sasha turned to face her two boys. SMACK. A perfectly formed mud ball landed right in her face. She stood still, shocked, for a moment before she reacted.

“Daniel Wood! You did not just throw a mud ball at me!” Sasha yelled out as she wiped her hand over her face. She tried to open her eyes, but it was useless. Sasha held out her hand and it wasn’t long when she felt a smaller one grab it tightly. “Take me inside,” she ordered. Daniel led her inside as carefully as he could with George’s unnecessary help.

“Ok mom, you are in the bathroom,” Daniel informed her. Sasha let go of his hand and reached out. Feeling around, she quickly turned on the tap and leaned forward. As she cleaned off the muddy sand from her face, she mentally counted down from twenty to calm herself. She could hear the sounds of the twin’s cries and she groaned as she finished cleaning herself off. Daniel and George both stood by the bathroom door watching her.

“You two, follow me,” she said before storming past them to get to the nursey. Ashton and Archie, just six months old, were laying on their backs crying their heads off. She immediately picked up Archie and cooed him softly as she held her free hand out for Ashton.

“I’m sorry mom, it was meant for George!” Daniel started to explain but Sasha quickly shook her head. The twins were exhausted, much like she was, so it didn’t take her long to get them to settle down. Sasha gently placed Archie back in his crib and smiled at her two precious pups. Their tired eyes were closed and their tiny chests moved up and down slowly as they breathed. They were asleep. Sasha turned to face her other two boys and the smile left her face.

“Office, now,” she whispered. Daniel and George hurried from the room and Sasha looked around the nursery to make sure everything was ok before she, too, headed to the office. Daniel had taken it upon himself to sit on the sofa whereas George was looking out the window. As young as they were, she could already tell that Daniel was the responsible one while George was the troublemaker. Granted, Daniel had been the one to throw the mudball at her but as he had already explained, it was an accident. “What am I going to do with the two of you?” she asked as she quietly closed the door behind her.

“I’m sorry mom,” Daniel said softly.

“We were just playing,” George added.

“Look, all I’m asking is that while your father is away to please just help me out, ok?”

“Sure, thing mom,” Daniel hurried to agree. George, on the other hand, was looking at her like she had lost her marbles.

“How can we help you?” he had the audacity to ask.

“By behaving and not waking up your brothers!” Sasha hissed out. Anger bubbled deep inside and threatened to spill over. Taking deep breaths, Sasha did her best to smile at George. “They are your baby brothers, please just behave, ok?”

“Ok,” he finally said, however, from the look on his face, he had no intention of behaving. She hadn’t thought that with Ayden gone, it would be this difficult looking after their children but right now all she wanted to do was relax.

“Why don’t we make some popcorn and watch a movie?” Sasha suggested. Both boys brightened up at the idea and soon the three of them were in the kitchen. Since the wolves had the day off, no one else was in the packhouse. Sasha made microwaved popcorn and Daniel took the tins of soda to the sitting room. George, of course, was going through the countless DVD’s to see what he wanted to watch. As Sasha placed the large bowl on the coffee table, she cringed at his choice. However, to keep the peace, she didn’t say anything as she settled down on the sofa. Daniel joined her and George put on the movie. Making sure the sound wasn’t too loud but not too soft, they started watching the irritating movie and the second they started singing, Sasha stuffed her mouth with popcorn and squeezed her eyes closed. She hoped that the next hour and a half went by quickly.

❤Ayden – 2016

Daniel hurried into the office, nearly bumping into the large bookcase. Ayden looked up from his laptop and sighed when he saw his eldest son stumbling around his office.

“What is it?” he asked the boy.

“Um, mom wanted me to ask you if you would be joining us for dinner?”

“Not tonight,” Ayden replied as he turned his attention back to his work. Ever since Lexa was born, he had fallen behind with the pack’s paperwork. The eleven-year-old boy shook his head sadly before leaving the office. Ayden paid no attention to his son as he continued working.

 ❤

“It’s well past midnight,” he heard his wife say. Ayden looked up to see Sasha holding Lexa in her arms. He had heard the baby crying earlier but hadn’t been bothered to do anything about it.

“I’ve been busy,” he snapped out, irritated at being interrupted when he was so close to finishing up.

“Right, well, so have I but you don’t see me being a total b***h,” she spat out as she left him alone once again. Ayden let out a large sigh as he stared at the spot she had just left. She was right. She had her hands full with their children and he had basically locked himself up in the office. Joshua would be scolding him right now and he would have every right. Ayden shut down his laptop and stood up. Stretching his sore, tense muscles, he headed to the bedroom he shared with his mate.

“I’m sorry babe,” he said as he went over to Sasha, who was sitting on the bed.

“I know but…the kids don’t understand,” she pointed out. It was clear that a simple apology wasn’t going to cut it. Not this time. Ayden nodded in understanding and sat down next to her.

“I’ll make it up to them over this weekend,” he said.

“You better, especially Daniel, he looked heartbroken when he came back into the kitchen,” Sasha got up and left the room and Ayden didn’t have to ask her where she was going as he could hear Lexa’s cries coming from the nursey. Instead of going to take a hot shower as he wanted to, Ayden followed after Sasha.

“Here, let me,” he said as he entered the nursery. Sasha gratefully handed over the tiny pup and kissed his cheek. He knew she would go and get into bed now. Ayden gently bounced Lexa until she stopped crying. He held her gently against his chest as he sang a soft lullaby. He would have to seriously rethink his tactics.

❤Sasha – 2020

“How is the planning coming along?” Lilly asked Sasha as she pulled out the tray of freshly baked biscuits from the oven. “Ouch,”

“Careful,” Sasha called out as she continued to ice the cake. “The twins don’t want it to be a big deal, you know,” she said answering Lilly’s earlier question.

“Yeah, after the last birthday bash you threw for George, I can understand that,” Lilly said with a giggle. Sasha couldn’t help but laugh as she thought back to that disastrous day.

“Look, none of that was my fault,” she defended herself. The animal party she had decided to throw for George’s fourteenth birthday party had been an utter disaster. Who knew that animals could pick up that they were a bunch of wolves?

“Well, the twins are turning nine, so what have you got planned? Aside from cookies and cake?” Lilly asked as she put the next batch of biscuits in the oven.

“Ashton is so sporty already, but Archie is such a nerd, so I’ve had a hard time coming up with something new, but then Ayden said that they both enjoy the water,”

“Ah…”

“So, I’ve ordered a water slide that will fit the swimming pool and some blow-up toys for them to play within the pool,” Sasha finished off the cake with blueberries before placing the two-layered cake in the large fridge.

“And when is all of that supposed to be arriving?” Lilly asked as she glanced out the kitchen window.

“Well, it was supposed to be here yesterday, but the delivery service let me know that they were running behind. So long as they are here before tomorrow, I’ll be good,” Sasha sat down by the kitchen table and grabbed one of the chocolate chip biscuits. Lilly raised her eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“And how is Daniel doing?” she asked.

“Honestly, Daniel is great. It's just his relationship with his father that isn’t,” Sasha sighed as she thought about the strained relationship between her husband and eldest son. “It seems the older Daniel gets, the worse their relationship gets,”

“Any idea why?” Lilly asked curiously.

“Oh, come on, you know very well why,” Sasha suddenly snapped as she stood up. “Daniel is my baby, my firstborn and just because Ayden wasn’t around while I was pregnant has nothing to do with it!” she angrily munched on the biscuit as she tried to calm herself down. Daniel was barely fifteen and already she could tell that he wasn’t Alpha material. He was too soft, too caring, and far too understanding. George dominated over him all the time and Sasha blamed herself. She was close with her eldest boy and that had a lot to do with the fact that she felt he had been deprived of something. She couldn’t think of what and she wouldn’t dig deep enough to explain it, but she babied her eldest and Ayden hated that. He favored all of their other children over Daniel. Especially George. Ayden had no problem in telling Daniel that he will never be Alpha. As sad as it sounded, it was the truth and Daniel knew it. His whole life he had been living in the shadow of his younger brother. Maybe that was why Sasha felt so protective over him. She had grown up in Felicity’s shadow. Hell, so had Emily. Felicity had always been the golden child and it would seem that George was following in her footsteps. It wasn’t a bad thing. It just wasn’t how she had wanted to raise a family. And that was why she had never dared to discuss it with Ayden. As far as he was concerned, the situation with Daniel is and always will be Sasha’s fault.

“No one is judging you,” she heard Lilly say and Sasha snapped out of her thoughts. “Is there any way to fix it?” she asked.

“No,” Sasha stated clearly. “Ayden is stubborn and there is no changing Daniel. My boy will need to find his own footing in life,” Sasha said. She could only hope that he would find it sooner rather than later. She would hate to see her eldest boy get hurt because of it.

“Mom!” she glanced over her shoulder to see five-year-old Lexa running towards her.

“Hey sweet pea,” she greeted as she bent down to catch the hyper pup.

“Dad said that chocolate isn’t good for me!” she cried out. “Is it true?” Sasha smiled at her daughter in her arms and shook her head.

“Daddy just doesn’t want to share,” she whispered. It would seem that she was right. Ayden didn’t want to share and right now he was giving all of his attention to George. Not good. Not good at all.