**Moxie**

"So what is an omega like yourself doing away from that party?" Magna smirked softly with his eyes locked on me.
I looked around with a soft frown before my arms crossed.
"I'm not good at mingling with others, especially alpha's, even though that's the whole point for tonight." I sighed softly kneeling down at the pond and watched the leaves fall into the water.
Magna hesitated but walked over and knelt down next to me.
"What made you come out here if you didn't want to be someone's bride?" He asked me as I glared but he smirked, raising his hands in defense.
"Sorry, force of habit." He said as I frowned at him.
Letting out a heavy sigh my shoulders relaxed.

"To please my family I guess and to get out of that house, not being acknowledged by a parent is just too harsh for me." I confessed feeling Magna's eyes on me.
He was quiet before dipping a stick into the water.
"What have you done to not be acknowledged?" He asked me.
I held my knees frowning.
"Being born an omega." I laughed softly.
"It's such a stupid reason to be ignored, but I'm the last son and I guess it hurt my dads pride as a pack leader that his final son wasn't born as an alpha or even a beta, but an omega." I glanced to the other who was listening to me.

Magna arched a brow.
"I forgot how you wolves worked with those name tags." He smirked as I frowned at him.
"Name tags..?"
"Alpha, beta and omega, it's stupid those titles are what define you and how your future will turn out. So what if you're an omega?" He stood to his feet as my eyes followed him.
"That's easy for you to say, you're a vampire." I commented.
Magna grinned.
"You're right little wolf, I'm something that makes your kinds skin crawl." He said.

I stood up and looked at him.
"You are." I agreed with crossed arms.
"Which is something I don't understand the reason for."
Magna tilted his head amused.
"You don't understand why vampires and wolves hate each other?" He asked me.
I frowned.
"I only know you kill to kill and want blood." I told him.
Magna blinked before he smirked softly.
"Such a typical way to sum us up." He said as I made a face.
"Are they wrong?" I questioned.

He looked thrown off before rubbing the side of his neck.
"Well, we don't really kill just to kill nowadays.. I mean, sure some of us do? But we don't group each other in the same category where we're made to look the same. I don't like being compared to other vampires like I'm the same monster as they are." His arms crossed.
"It's an insult." He told me.

I frowned at him.
"So you're not a bad vampire?"
Magna stared at me before he smiled softly.
"No little wolf, I wouldn't consider myself bad, I have restraint and stay away from the drama. I have my family and I have my friends, I would rather be a stray if that'd make my life easier." He shrugged.
I nibbled my lip.
"Being a stray doesn't sound too bad." I admitted as Magna smirked softly.
"You're an Ellison, one of the well known wolf families, I'm pretty sure you would struggle being a stray." He told me as my eye twitched.

"You don't think I can be a stray?"
Magna grinned.

"Not when your life is simple, I think even with your daddy issues, you have a pretty comfortable life. I wouldn't try to complain too much." He told me.
I felt my face growing warm.
"I wasn't-"
"You were." Magna shrugged but he smirked at me.
"Talking about wanting to be a stray as if your life is that miserable-"

"The only one fixing to be miserable here is you if you don't get away from my brother." I felt my blood running cold seeing Mistral there with Dorian, Nathan, Maverick and Whitney.
All glaring harshly at Magna who stood in front of me as my brows furrowed.

"Mistral? What are you doing here?" I frowned.
Mistral frowned at me.
"I was told to check in on you, lucky for me I got here in time before this one decided to kill you." He growled glaring at Magna who was just grinning at them.
"No one is killing anyone, you wolves always have such a short temper. We were just talking." He shrugged.

Mistral glared.
"You think I believe that?"
"It's true." I stepped between the two with furrowed brows looking at him.
"We were just talking-"

"He could have made you say that, you know vampires tend to play with the mind since they have that compulsion bullshit on their side." Nathan commented as my eyes grew wide looking at Magna who sighed at him.
"Do you really think I would use compulsion on someone I didn't know?" He asked.
Nathan glared.
"You vampires are all the same, you rely on that compulsion to get what you want, unfortunately for you. This wolf isn't just any wolf, he's Ace Ellison's son." He growled.

Magna glanced to me as he smirked softly with knitted brows.
"Really? I had no idea." He shrugged.
Nathan frowned at him.
"I suggest you be on your way blood sucker, this is the night of the full moon ceremony and I'd hate to see you get butchered on such an important night." He said.
Magna blinked before his eyes fell on me and I frowned when Mistral stepped in front of me so he couldn't see me.
"Consider this our warning, stay away from my brother." Mistral growled at him.

Magna smiled at him.
"As I said before, we were just talking." He shrugged, stepping back with his hands raised in defense before his eyes caught me and my brows knitted.
"Don't be mad at these guys Moxie, at least they care about you." He turned away and I wanted to stop him, but when the wind blew, it took the other away into the night.

"What were you thinking?!" Mistral yelled inside the house later that night in front of the family as I stood in front of the fireplace glaring at him.
"I didn't think I would meet a vampire tonight." I glared.

"You met a vampire?" My mom was in my face with her brows knitted.
"Oh my poor baby, what did they do? Did they hurt you?" She asked feeling my arms and neck.
"Stop it." I stepped back from her with knitted brows.
"He didn't do anything to me, like I told Mistral, we were just talking." I frowned at her.
My mom frowned at me.
"I told you to run when you caught the scent of a vampire, what would you have done if more of his kind had shown up? You're just an omega, Moxie!" She screamed at me as my eyes grew wide staring at her.
It didn't seem like she regretted what she said either.
She was perfectly okay implying that I could not take care of myself.

"He didn't act like he was wanting to hurt me, he just wanted someone to talk to, honestly if it wasn't for him, I would have been freezing by now if I had fallen into the pond earlier." I frowned deeply at the other who stood in front of me.
My mom frowned deeply at me.
"Should I be grateful that he saved you?"
"Yes-"
"He's a vampire! Our enemy, Moxie! There is nothing good about them, they're monsters who are blood hungry." She growled at me.

"He said he was different-"

"All vampires say that to get what they want." Rhys commented at the door with Monty who walked up to us with knitted brows.
He took my hands looking at me.
"Are you okay?" He asked me.
I frowned at him.
"I'm fine Monty, but the thing that's really bothering me is, why was Mistral told to check on me?" I turned to our mom and my eyes fell on my dad who stood at a distance frowning.

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay." My mom's tone was softer now as I frowned at her.
"I was doing fine-"
"Obviously you weren't if a vampire had you in the corner like that." Mistral commented as I glared at him.
"There was no corner! The only ones who put someone in a corner were you and your alpha buddies!" I glared at Mistral who glared back.
"He would have killed you any second-"
"You don't know that! Not all vampires are the bad guys like you think they are." I glared at him.

"How do you know that?" I froze hearing my dad's voice.
His expression was cold looking at me.
"How do you know not all vampires are bad? Have you been around them without telling us?" He asked me.
I flinched before frowning at him.
"No, but-"
"But what then? You weren't gone for even an hour, your first full moon ceremony and you were targeted by a vampire, and you want to tell us that not all vampires are bad?" He stepped up fast and was in my face, his hazel eyes glowing as he stared at me.

"You know nothing about that race and yet you want to defend them over your own-"
"That's not what I was doing-"
"ENOUGH!" He roared inside the room as my eyes locked on the carpet with wide eyes.
"For the last eight years you have disappointed me for being born an omega, I've been working on ways to tolerate it, but what I won't tolerate? Is you defending vampires!" He caught my chin making me look at him as he glared.
"You are an Ellison, my second youngest and you will not go off on your own without someone with you-"

"What? That's not fair!"
"Life is not fair!" My dad yelled at me as my eyes burned glaring at him.
"Do you think life was fair when vampires came here and started killing our kind left and right just because?" He glared.
"Do you think life was fair when more and more animals started vanishing because those creatures could not get the blood they needed to feed on? Life will never be fair Moxie because those creatures exist! You will obey my words and you will not leave this house unless there is someone with you, you and your sister are the last omega's in this family and the last ones to carry offspring until your siblings children learn what they are. I will not allow you to play with your life like it means nothing, just because you think one single vampire is nice!" He was frowning deeply at me.
"Do I make myself clear?" He glared.

I glared at him as my face and eyes burned like fire.
"Yes." I said through gritted teeth.
He glared at me.
"We're done here, go to your room." He told me.
I glared harshly at the other before storming past him and ran past my siblings completely humiliated.

I slammed my door shut and slid down the door as the tears rolled down my cheeks.
I couldn't control the sobs that escaped me as my fingers dug into the sides of my legs while I buried my face in my knees sobbing.

It felt like hours of sniffling and crying before the sound of gentle knocking behind me, brought me from my emotional state.
I got to my feet and slowly opened the door to find Monty there, holding a tray with two glasses and cookies on the side.

"Hot coco?" He offered with a soft smile.
I hesitated but let him in my room as he closed the door behind him and sat the tray down on the dresser.

"Tonight's definitely been something, huh?" He smiled but I didn't.
He continued to smile as he handed me a coffee cup with the hot coco inside of it.
"This will make you feel better, and don't worry, no one sent me here to check on you. I chose to because I was worried, and I refuse to drink hot coco by myself." He shrugged, bringing the rim of his glass to his lips blowing it first before taking a sip.

I frowned softly at him.
"You mean you're not going to come in here and scold me like the others?"
Monty blinked before he smiled softly.
"I'll never understand romance Moxie, just like I'll never be jealous over it. Millie may be mated to a beta, but that is only because she wanted company, they know there will never be romance between the two and children are a hit or miss." He shrugged.
I looked at him confused.
"Romance- what are you-"

"I'm saying, I would never judge you on who you mated with, wolf or vampire. Yes, it's a real bad image not only for you, but for our family and it's possible you would be disowned by dad, but! I think you should see who you want, if you trust that vampire..." He hesitated on his words before his hazel eyes met mine.
"Then you should see the good in him like you think exists." He told me.
I blinked but frowned.
"But dad said I couldn't leave the house unless I had someone with me-"
"Lucky for you, I'm that someone." He grinned as my eyes grew wide.
"You are?"

Monty nodded.
"Mistral has his hands full with Devin and Rhys doesn't like going out, our sisters don't want to babysit so it fell on me and I gladly accepted." He told me.
I frowned at the other.
"You'd go behind dads back for me to experiment being around Magna?"
"Oh, so he has a name." Monty smirked as I blushed but frowned.
Monty smiled.
"I trust you know what you're doing and you've never been spoke up over anything, but you were serious about defending that one vampire, I just want to see if he's worth being scolded over if dad were to ever find out." He told me.

I sat there frowning at the other.
"I just want to prove our family wrong." I told him.
Monty grinned.
"Well I'm on your side one hundred percent little brother, it's gotten pretty boring here lately and if there's some kind of proof that not all vampires are bad then I want to be the one to witness it." He said.

I smiled softly finally taking a drink of my hot coco with a nod.

"Me too."

I just hope.
I don't regret this and,
Monty stays true to his word and stays quiet about this experiment.
Because.

If our parents and siblings find out what we're up to?

It won't end well.
Not for us.

And not for the friends we're about to make.