Alpha Nicholas Three weeks later I close the main door to our floor and instantly I'm met with silence, its a sound i'm not used to anymore and one that i thought i would enjoy tonight but i was wrong, so wrong. since the day Wade was born this place has been constantly filled with noise between everyone visiting to meet Wade and then coming back to offer their help or bringing us prepared meals and my family constantly being here, it feels like the only time we have any peace is at night once we finally get to bed and even that doesn't last long, but still, it being this quiet seems wrong. I can't win with myself, I really can't. I love my boy more than he'll ever know but that boy does not sleep and while I wouldn't change any moment of his life for anything, I can't deny that im fucking exhusted. Nonetheless, tonight is the first night that Bonnie and I have allowed anyone to mind our son overnight, and as hard as it is to let him go and be without him for so long, underneath, I know that it's needed. He needs to bond with family, and Bonnie and I need time together as a married couple. I love us being mom and dad, but as my parents reminded us both this morning when we still refused to let him stay anywhere, we aren't just parents we are also a couple, man and wife and between running a pack and being parents we can't forget to take some alone time for ourselves. We both quickly agreed that they were right; hence, Wade is now being looked after by Rosie and Tony while Lottie spends the night with Robbie. I know that both of my children are being looked after, so it's time to relax and give my wife the attention that she so rightly needs and deserves. When I don't find her in the lounge or kitchen, I head for the bedroom and smile when I find her curled up on our bed, snoring her heart out. I'm not the only one who's exhausted, she is to, not that she ever complains about it. She's loving being a mom and she's an incredible one at that but now that Wade is being taken care of else were it appears that she's finally let herself crash and hard, so hard that even after several attempts at calling her name she still doesn't even so much as move a muscle.As much as i want to wake her up right now I can't, I won't because all of my reasons for wanting to wake her are selfish with the biggestst reasn being that I want to worship her body and be inside of her all night and while I still plan on that happpening leaving her be right now so that she can sleep for a few hours seems like the right way to do things even if she does pick this moment to throw her leg over the blanket and show me that she's completetly naked. Fuck! I groan as I turn and walk out of the bedroom before I change my mind and wake her up. "Nick, she's naked! Why are you leaving her all alone?" Storm whines in my head, sounding like a puppy. "Don't start, twat bag!" "We are child-free for the first time since Wade was born, and our mate is currently naked, and yet you're walking away from her instead of towards her!" His whine has turned to a growl, but his words make me smile. That wolf always refers to my kids as his own, and while it may seem weird to some wolves, it doesn't to me. He loves my kids more than anything, and if I were unable to protect them, he would, with his life, and I couldn't ask for more."We will be child-free till tomorrow morning. Hell, knowing Rosie, we won't get him back till she's forced to give him up, so we have plenty of time, and we will make it all count, but for now, we are going to let our mate sleep for a while. She's exhausted and a sleep will do her good." I don't add that sleep will also give her more energy, and she's going to need it for what I have planned for her tonight. "Yeah, she has been... fine, we'll let her sleep." I laugh at his once again whiny voice before closing the link and letting him sulk for a while as I head for my office. I have paper work coming out of my ass and now would be the perfect time to get some done but I know that I wont. As soon as I get to my office, im pouring myself a very large whisky and im going to take my time savouring it. As I round the corner to get to my office, I spot Robbie walking out of the communal lounge area. I go to call his name, but I'm silenced when I see Aria and Lottie walk out behind him. He turns to Aria, saying something that makes her laugh, and I freeze. That's the first time that I've heard her laugh, and it's incredible to hear. Only the moment the girls wave goodbye and walk down the hall, Robbie's shoulders slump, and I watch as he goes back to the quiet, sad version of himself that he has become lately. I walk over to him, cup the back of his head, and gently squeeze, showing him my support. "I'm heading to my office, got a large glass of whisky with my name on it. I'm sure I can find one for you too." He looks at me for a few seconds before nodding as he looks back at the hallway where Aria was just seconds ago. We move into my office and sit down, then I pull out a favourite whiskey of mine and pour us both a very generous serving. "Wait, Rosie and Tony have Wade. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Bonnie?" "She is sleeping. I want to let her have a few hours before I wake her. She's worn out." He smiles before taking a large sip of his whiskey, but doesn't say anything else, just sits there sipping his drink, seeming to be in his own world, and I decide to let him be for a moment. As he stays lost in his thoughts, I can't help but reflect on the last year and how much our lives have changed. It's gone from all of my brothers and me being mateless to all of us finding our mates. Hell, even Tony has found his mate. I'm now married and have another child, and with how quickly my brothers have found their mates, I can only imagine that more pups will soon be arriving, and I can't wait for the moment, to be an uncle. As for my brothers... well, everything seems to be going smoothly with both Shane and Will and their mates. Of course, the same can't be said for Robbie and Aria. Robbie is struggling, which is to be expected, but I don't know how to help him. My brothers and I were onto a good thing with helping him. For a while there, it was going as best as it could, but then the news came that set him right back to the very beginning. The news that is slowly destroying him. Aria has found her original pack, and she's leaving us in a few days to be reunited with her family, and I'm not sure how he's going to survive it. I do know that I will be there for him every step of the way, we all will. I just hope it's enough until she's of age and he can go and get her. Most of the women and children that were rescued from the cult have either made it back to their homes with help from the pack or will be leaving us soon while several of the other women either didn't have homes anymore or were rogues before but now want to stay with the pack and several of the children didn't have homes or have lost their families and have stayed with the women that stayed here. Some of those women even found their mates at the pack among my warriors, and while they all have a long recovery road ahead of them, I have complete faith that they will all be ok. My warriors are good men, and I'm here to help whenever they need it. Oh, and Harriet, well, after a lot of nagging and begging on my part, she agreed to come back as the main pack doctor, well, temporarily anyway. It turns out that two of the women that we rescued worked as doctors before they were kidnapped, as well as another one of the women being a nurse before she was kidnapped. Harriet agreed to work as our main doctor until the other women got back into their roles and were comfortable here, and then she will leave again. While I wish that she would stay as our doctor full-time, I get why she won't and appreciate her helping us out right now more than she will ever know. As for all of this shit thats going on involving this cult business well, its still fucking going. We found two more cults since the wedding and ended them, but we know that we are nowhere near being finished with them, but we won't give up. We will keep fighting this battle until every single one of them is gone and all of the women and children are rescued. Tony and Rosie are doing well together as they continue to search for their boys, as we all search for them. We haven't had any luck yet, but any time we get even the smallest of chances that they can be found, we check it out. We won't ever give up on those little boys, not until they are home with their family where they belong. And as for all those wolves who thought it was ok to turn against me... well, let's just say that they paid for that mistake, and the message is being spread loud and clear. Fuck with me or my pack and you're done. It's game over. Right now, I'm confident that we have cleared all of our back-stabbing traders, but that doesn't mean that I'm not on alert. Until we end these cults, I can never be too sure that there's someone in my pack who's turned against me. It's a sorry state to be in, but unfortunately, it's just my reality right now. After spending some time with Robbie, he heads out to find Lottie, and I head for my floor, more than eager to see my mate. I've left her sleep long enough, and now it's time for some adult fun. I reach our floor and step into the bedroom to find the bed empty, but I can't help but smile when I see light coming from the bathroom. It's one of my favourite places to find my mate, especially when she's naked and wet.... I step inside to find her standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around her body. Instantly, I wrap my body around hers as she smiles at me through the mirror, taking my breath away. What I've done in life to deserve her, I'll never know, but I'll spend the rest of my life making sure she doesn't regret being with me. She is my Wife. She is my Luna. She is the mother of my pups, but more than that, she is my soul mate and best friend. "I love you, my Luna." "I love you, my Alpha."