She nodded.


    “You’re a good man, Leonardo,” she said kissing my cheek once more.


    I smiled and pulled her back into my arms, just as we heard a small pair of footstepse down the stairs.


    “Ss, is that you?” E asked.


    A few secondster, a small blond child appeared in front of us. Ss was only six years old and wore his little checkered pyjamas and clutched a teddy in his arms as he looked up at us with his big blue eyes.


    “I woke up and wanted to see, Papa,” he said.


    I reached out and pulled him into my arms next to E.


    “Have you missed me or something?” I asked, showering him with kisses as he giggled.


    He nodded before I hugged him tight and he wrapped his little arms around me.


    “Mama said you went to the city with Luca,” Ss said. “And, and next time me, Mathias and Cato want toe too.”


    “Oh, Si,” I said with a slightugh, “You don’t want toe. I was doing boring Alpha stuff.”


    Ss looked disheartened and E smiled sadly and ran her hand along Ss’s head.


    “Maybe one day your Dad will take you boys to the city,” she said. “But you know that can’t happen at the moment, don’t you?”


    “Because of the bad man,” he said with a frown.


    E nodded, “Yes but as soon as he is gone and the pack is safe and peaceful again, he can take you to see Seattle.”


    Ss nodded and smiled, “Yeh!”


    I squeezed him again and kissed his cheek.


    The three of usy on the sofa for an hour more until both E and Ss were asleep. Unable to move without waking both of them, I epted that I was spending the night on the sofa and kissed both their heads before switching off the TV and then themp before closing my eyes too.


    This is how we used to spend our evenings before everything happened. We’d fall alseep on this sofa or upstairs with one or more of the kids. Sometimes all of them if we were lucky. And once every blue moon E and I would get a second to ourselves which we savoured far more than we ever did before this house became overrun with little humans. But we didn’t mind because we loved them so much and although it was hard at times, like during the tantrums and arguments or bumped heads and midnight screaming, we would never even dream of going back. Overall, the house was a happy one.


    For a moment, it felt like we were back to those times and oh how I wished for every moment to be like this.


    E’s POV


    I woke the next morning practically being crushed by Leo. His leg had found it’s way over my stomach and his arms were wrapped firmly around me.  Ss had somehow wriggled between us and both of them were sleeping soundly.


    I would have left them to sleep peacefully but Leo’s leg was basically just one huge chunk of muscle and consequently incredibly heavy. He was also holding me in a way that trapped my hand and the numbness was intense.


    “Leo,” I said prodding his cheek. “Leo.”


    He grimaced and then slowly opened his eyes.


    “Can you free me?” I asked. “Only I can’t breathe and you’re lying on my hand.”


    He smiled and rolled, cing his hand on Ss’s back so that he moved onto his chest and stayedpletely dead to the world.


    I was then able to sit up and yawn.


    “Fuck,” I said stretching my arms out, “I forgot how much room there isn’t on this sofa.”


    Leoughed, “At least we only had Ss tonight.”


    “It’s 6 am. Cato will be up and demanding breakfast soon,” I said getting up and stumbling into the kitchen.


    “That kid certainly has an appetite,” Leo replied.


    “He’s grown about an inch in thest month. That’s probably why,” I said.


    “I should get up too,” Leo said, “I’ve got to be at the base at 7 am.”


    I looked at him and furrowed my eyebrows, “Why?”


    “I realised in Seattle my men need more gun training,” he replied. “We need to be as good as Martinez’s men who have been using guns since before they could walk.”


    I sighed, “Oh yes. The impending doom. How could I forget.”


    “I’ll need to be there all day so Max will be here but I mighte home at lunch,” he added.Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.


    I nodded as he stood up, Ss still in his arms.


    “Now… what do I do with the sleeping child?” He said.


    Iughed, “Put him in his bed. Cato will undoubtedly wake him up within half an hour but he looks too peaceful to wake now.”


    Leo kissed him on the head before carrying him up the stairs, leaving me to start making enough pancake mix to feed an army of hungry children and one hungry Alpha.


    Leo’s POV


    At 7 am sharp, my men were lined up neatly and silently at the training camp in the base, awaiting my instruction. They had been given their guns weeks ago but today was going to involve intensive practise and they needed more ammunition. So ir, Luca, Ollie (the head armymander), a dozen othermanders and I walked along the lines of soldiers, handing out magazines and cartridges.


    “Today is going to be different to your usual training,” I said as I reached into the box and handed a solider two magazines for his shotgun before moving onto the next, “Usually I look for improvement. Today, I want perfection.”


    As I handed him his ammunition one of the soldiers looked up at me and I briefly made eye contact. I vaguely recognised him from enrollment out of the junior training programme and into the army a few weeks ago meaning he had only just turned 17. His face was youthful and his eyes nervous and jumpy. He was just a boy stood amongst all the other men.


    I reached into the box and handed him an extra round.


    “With hard work and practice, you will get there,” I said to the army but looking him in the eye with a reassuring smile.


    I then continued along the line.


    “There are five stations focussing on: long-distance targets, moving targets, defending yourself from a shooter, fast reloading and finally, shot-wound focussed first aid. You will spend two hours in each and at the end of the day will only be released if you have perfected all five,” I announced. “Anyone who hasn’t will stay until they have.”


    Some of my men were deployed around the territory guarding the borders and outer viges in case of an attack but that still left a thousand men here today. That meant 200 men at each station and the entire camp at maximum capacity. It was arge scale operation and within two minutes of ordering the men to the station, the ce was filled with the firing of guns.


    “Do you really think we’ll get them good enough in one day?” ir asked me as we watched over.


    “They’re all fit, young, intelligent and disciplined,” I replied. “If we can be the best army in the world with knives and fists, we can do the same with guns.”


    “But Martinez’s men have years on us,” he replied.


    “Years of using guns, true. But they are just a gang of thugs. They don’t know teamwork and strategy and initiative. When the ammunition runs out, what will they do then? Who will have the upper hand?”