Two years later.
"You look angry..." my girl flops down on the couch of the outdoor living room in our LA garden and she sighs tiredly, Ru jumps on her lap immediately while Charlie stands guard at her feet... my pets have become really protective around my girl these past weeks.
"I'm not happy..." I answer crossing my arms over my chest. "This isn't what I wanted... I don't know how I got into this mess without noticing."
Everything was fine in Australia and Tony was doing an amazing job, he keeps doing it in fact, and my mate was right: he's kind, understanding and has common sense. The pack respects him and he doesn't need to impose his will through fear like our father did, the old wolf behaves as stubbornly as always, by the way, carrying his oxygen tank everywhere and refusing to admit that their children have succeed where he failed. When my brother faces a difficult situation that requires a firm hand, he usually calls me asking for advice and I only needed to travel to Melbourne in two occasions to impose order and discipline while Iselen enjoyed the beach and my mum's garden. Even Dominic gave up, he's found a mate and lives in a farm in the countryside without getting into trouble and without disturbing Tony with his bully arrogance.
The rest of my life was supposed to be this easy but, for some reason I don't understand, several members of the Australia pack have moved to LA. They say it's because of their jobs and university studies but my mate is totally convinced that some of the weakest wolves need to live closer to their Alpha in order to feel safe. I've tried to ignore them, letting them living freely in this city while monitoring them from time to time to make sure they aren't a danger to us, but some of them have started calling me asking for advice and I can't help feeling responsible for them. They're respectful people who only reach me if they have a really important problem and I can't turn my back on them, above all when cubs may be affected by the situation.
And it's all right, I understand Melbourne's wolves are my responsibility, and I don't care if a handful of them want to live here but, little by little, some of the wolves that used to live in LA on their own without a leader have started calling me too asking for help, some rogues have decided to settle down here and Vancouver's wolves have started getting closer shyly during the months I spend there filming Batwoman because they feel that their boss, who lives in Toronto, is too far to exercise leadership effectively. And now my phone never stops ringing and I've become the Alpha of two big packs separated by more than 2,000 km. This is exactly the kind of problem I didn't want in my life.
It's a good thing that my mate is always ready to help me despite she works hard too, after one long year writing and checking scripts we spent two months in London filming the first episodes of her new show Whistler's Mysteries that will be released next fall, but she always finds some time to play her role as beta and both packs adore her and respect her. We have a three-week vacation for the first time in two years and I won't let anyone to ruin it, we're going to travel to a beautiful Caribbean island and we'll eat and rest, I'll be able to make love to her without a phone ringing every ten minutes and I can't wait.
"This isn't what I wanted and you know it..." I flop down next to her and take Chance in my arms.
"Do you regret having confronted your father?" She asks rubbing my nape with her soft fingers and her touch relaxes my tensed muscles immediately, after all this time she still has that calming effect on me and her perfume is still the most wonderful thing I've ever smelt.
"No, of course not. The old guy doesn't bother us anymore and mum and you are safe but I didn't want this responsibility... it's too much work."
"Well, according to what Tony has told me, he has the support of Athina and other strong wolves of the pack to help him. Maybe we can do something similar, I know you don't like to be social with werewolves so we won't turn our house into a royal court, but we could open an office with a handful of wolves to handle complaints or small disputes: this way, you'll only have to deal with the bigger problems that require personalized attention, we could stablish office hours and some phone lines..."
"Wolfish bureaucracy?" I ask with interest.
"Why not? Vancouver and Los Angeles are massive cities, too big for a single Alpha to control them directly but you can monitor the work of the group in charge of the routine cases. I'm pretty sure some of the problems could be solved with the help of pack members and they wouldn't need to call you."
"I guess it's worth a try..." I mumble pensively.
"Can we talk now about the reasons why I'm not happy? Well, I'm delighted, those were wonderful news but... do you realize what this means for us? If you think you're busy right now, just wait and see, you'll be taking advantage of every free minute on Batwoman's set to take a nap in around six months... It'll be crazy."
"Come on, babe, it won't be that bad... You know we're invincible when we work together, we can do this..." I kiss my mate's lips and she smiles against my skin before leaning her head on my shoulder.
"You could've warned me..." she growls before nibbling at my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.
"That there're more chances of having twins with a werewolf than with a human? You've been lucky, they could've been more..." Iselen raises her head and stares at me confused. "There're wolf litters of five or seven cubs easily..." I can't help laughing when I see her horrified face. "It's okay, my love, two is a perfect number... I promise you everything will be all right, you'll be a wonderful mum and I'll fall in love with you even more, although it seems impossible. Besides, I remind you this was your idea..."
"What? I only said that I'd like to have a baby girl with your eyes one day and months later you dragged me to a fertility clinic recommended by a friend of Tony and now look..." She points at her small belly, a human could hardly notice she's pregnant because of her oversize blue shirt but a wolf can smell hormones easily. I can't believe my puppies are growing inside my pretty mate.
"You look stunning..." I whisper cradling her face with my hands while smiling wider than ever before; despite I've become the Alpha I never wanted to be, everything feels perfect when my mate is around. "I love you so much... thank you for everything you've brought to my life, Iselen, the love, the safety, smiles, patience, hugs, your talent... delicious food." My girl snorts amused and kisses my lips slowly, cuddling closer to me. Minutes tick by while we both relax under the sunlight and my dogs start snoring.
"Ruby..." my girl sighs against my neck.
"Mmm?" I ask sleepy.
"Is it true that pregnant women climb up the ranks in the hierarchy of the wolf society automatically?" I open my eyes wide and grimace before nodding reluctantly. "So... if I'm the beta of our small pack usually, does it mean I'm the Alpha now?"
"You're going to enslave me for the next few months, aren't you? You're going to boss me around asking impossible things because of your cravings..." I ask dismayed.
"You deserve it..." she whispers in my ear pretending to be angry. "What if I start turning you into my slave... in bed?"
"Always at your service, madam..."
THE END
Well, it's over. I know you love these characters and will miss them, me too, believe me. But I have to finish some books in order to start new ones (I'm planning a new BDSM story if that makes you feel better) Before you complain about how short my books are, you should know that my chapters are 3,000 to 3,400 words average and my books have 80,000 to 100,000 words average, which means around 180-200 pages in Word for Windows. It's a regular novel, actually.
Thank you for reading and for your loyalty, you're the best readers ever. The world has become nuts these past weeks so stay safe everybody and I'll try to give you more chapters to cheer you up.
PS: Dear Ruby Rose, if you happen to read this book one day, you won't but just in case the stars line up, I want you to know that I really meant everything I said in that speech from a couple of chapters ago. You're a special human being, despite whatever happens in your life or whatever mistakes you could possibly make... because you're human and fallible... but also special. Don't forget it.
