CHAPTER 3

As day turned to night, Ivy began to stir. Jaxon was still sat on the sofa, he hadn't moved in the past four hours. Elle and Robert had never seen their son sit still for so long.

'Jax, you know you can move? Ivy isn't going anywhere,' Elle reassured her son.

'I need to be here when she wakes up, she'll be scared if she's alone.' Jaxon insisted stubbornly.

Robert shook his head, slouching in the chair as he looked at his son. He couldn't blame him really, Jaxon is as protective of Ivy as Robert is about Elle. Although Jaxon's wolf hasn't come forward yet, there was still something in him that told him to protect Ivy, and he was listening.

'Jax, you've sat there for four hours staring at your sandwich. I can hear your stomach growling from here, why don't you at least eat it.' Elle said, trying to convince her son.

'I don't want to drop crumbs on her head!' He whispered, outraged. 'I can wait until she eats hers, we can eat together.'

'Jax-' Elle was cut off by a scream, Ivy's scream.

Ivy sat up on the sofa, her eyes flying around the room, disorientated. Robert had leapt up from his chair, landing softly in front of his mate. Ivy screamed again, her hands covered her face as she pushed back against the sofa.

'Robert, get out the damn way,' Elle grumbled, shoving her mate over as she stepped out in front of him. 'Ivy honey, Rob isn't gonna hurt you, we aren't gonna hurt you.'

Elle moved forward to comfort the girl but Jaxon jumped in between, shielding Ivy from her.

'Don't,' he mumbled, he seemed unsure as to why he stopped his mum looking after Ivy. It just felt like he needed to, so he did.

Ivy was still crying when Jaxon turned around to see her. Her head tucked into her knees which were pulled up to her chest.

'Ivy?' Jaxon asked quietly, he reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder. No response came from Ivy, she just sniffled quietly before launching herself onto Jaxon.

Jaxon, unprepared for the launch of the small girl, was unbalanced and fell backwards. Landing on the soft carpet, he lay still when Ivy's arms wrapped around him.

'Jack,' Ivy whispered, holding onto his T-shirt.

'Yeah,' he asked, pushing up off the floor to sit up, Ivy still holding onto him.

'I'm hungry and I need to use the bathroom,' she said quietly, glancing up at Robert and Elle over his shoulder.

'Well mum made us sandwiches so we can eat those, do you want to use the bathroom first?'

Ivy nodded, so Jaxon stood up, helping Ivy up too before turning to his parents.

'I can take you to the bathroom, Ivy,' Elle offered.

Elle waited, her hand held out for Ivy to take, as Ivy looked up at Jaxon. A silent conversation was held between them, Ivy asking and Jaxon reassuring.

Ivy stepped forward but stopped, turning back to Jaxon, 'you'll still be here?'

'I'm not going anywhere, I'll be here,' he nodded.

Ivy gave a timid nod back, before walking towards Elle. She didn't take her outstretched hand, in fact, she stayed quite a distance behind her. Keeping space between them the whole walk to the bathroom.

-

Jaxon sat down on the sofa, waiting for Ivy to return so they could eat their sandwiches. Robert was returning with a big jug of water and four glasses when there was a knock on the front door.

'Jax, can you get that please!' Robert called, setting the jug on the coffee table.

Jaxon glances back at the door Ivy had left through, she shouldn't be done yet. He made a beeline for the front door, throwing it open quickly.

'Hey Jax,' Max greeted, walking in passed him.

'Hey Max!' Jax returned, high-fiving his friend.

'Hello Jaxon, everything still okay for Max to stay the night?' Mel, Max's mum, asked as she leant down to hug Jaxon.

'Hi Mel, everything is fine,' Robert cut in as he came to the door. 'Jax, Ivy's waiting for you.'

Jaxon panicked, rushing back towards the living room. Pushing the door open he could see Ivy standing in the middle of the room, looking around teary-eyed. Max was sat in the sofa watching the tv and Elle was standing behind Ivy, trying to explain that Jax would be back.

Jaxon felt bad, he had told her that he would be there. Smacking himself in the face, he rushed forward into the room.

'Sorry, Ives, I had to answer the door,' he blurted out quickly, stopping in front of her.

'Thought they got you too,' Ivy said quietly, wrapping her small arms around Jaxon's waist.

'Who got him?' Max cut in, walking over to the pair.

'Bad guys,' Jax filled in, before turning back to Ivy, 'nobody got me, I'm fine.'

Elle felt like she was looking into the future as she sat in a chair, watching her son. It was like a snippet of what life would be like. Jaxon, Ivy and Max. Alpha, Luna and Beta.

'Ivy, this is Max. He's my best friend. Max this is Ivy.' Jaxon introduced the two. Max held his hand out but Ivy jumped back into Jaxon.

'It's nice to meet you,' Max said, putting his hand down and giving Ivy a small grin.

'Nice meet you too.' Ivy responded, a small smile of her own creeping through.

Robert came back into the room, three sandwiches and a selection of other snacks on a tray. He placed the tray on the table with the water, setting out the food before stepping back to his chair in front of the tv.

'Eat up guys,' he insisted, gesturing to the food.

Max jumped into his beanbag, sliding it up to the table, putting as much food in his mouth as possible. Jaxon pulled the other two beanbags up to the table, waiting for Ivy to sit in one, before sitting in the other.

Jaxon picked up his sandwich and began eating, glancing over at Ivy who was taking small bites out of the sandwich that looked bigger than her head.

Once the trio had finished their sandwiches, they made quick work of the other snacks on the table. Jaxon was stuffed, Max looked like he could eat another whole sandwich and Ivy looked like she probably should have stopped eating ten minutes ago.

They spent the evening watching cartoons on the tv, once they'd decided on what to watch anyway. Max and Jaxon had even fallen out over which cartoon to watch.

'We always watch Spider-Man!' Max argued, folding his arms and frowning.

'We can watch Spongebob this time,' Jaxon responded, glaring at Max.

'You don't ever watch Spongebob!' Max huffed, changing the channel to the one showing the yellow sponge.

Robert and Elle watched quietly, chuckling to themselves. They knew Jaxon hated Spongebob but once Ivy said that was her favourite he demanded it was played on the tv. Max wanted to watch Spider-Man, he just didn't understand why Jaxon didn't.

After watching cartoons, Elle began the task of getting all three kids to bed. Ivy was shown to the spare room opposite Jaxon's and Max had already pulled out his camp bed from the cupboard and began collecting his pillows and sheets. Jaxon had changed into his pyjamas and had even given Ivy a pair of his pyjamas for her to sleep in.

Elle made sure everyone was settled, before heading back downstairs to her mate. Robert was sat in the living room, he'd moved to the sofa, kicking his legs up onto the cushions. Elle made her way over, settling between her mate and the back of the sofa as Robert's arm came up to wrap around her shoulders.

-

At around midnight, Robert could hear movement upstairs. Elle had fallen asleep against him about an hour ago, still pressed safely to his side. He didn't want to move her but he needed to check what was going on upstairs. Sliding out from under Elle, he put a cushion where he was sat and laid Elle's head down gently.

He made his way up the stairs, heading for his son's room. Opening the door slightly he poked his head inside the room, both the bed and camp bed were empty. He turned quickly, making his way across the hall to where Ivy was sleeping. Opening the door, he paused.

'What're you doing?' Elle mumbled, coming up behind him.

'You're going to want to see this but I don't want any screaming,' Robert said to his mate as she stepped up beside him. He pushed the door open again and Elle's hand flew to her mouth.

There on the bed were all three of them. Ivy was curled up against the wall, knees tucked up against her body. Jaxon lay beside her on his back, one arm over his eyes, the other holding onto one of Ivy's small hands. Max was passed out across the bottom of the bed, face down with one of his feet near Jaxon's face.

Why they were all here, Robert didn't know. All he knew was that if this was how they were now, these three would be an unstoppable trio when it came to running the pack.