ELLIE

I looked at the three of them and they all looked at me in shock. I folded my hands on my desk and continued to glare at them as I thought of how I was going to put into words what I wanted to tell them.

I didn't want them to hate me but I also didn't need them acting like they were better than me. I could treat them like my equals, I was more than happy to do that, but I was tired of being treated like I didn't matter and with people hating me for things I didn't even know had happened. It was honestly tiring and I had had enough of it all.

"I don't know. Where do you want to begin?" Luca asked sharply.

"Firstly, there is the issue with the way you keep talking to me, you act like you're better than me and you constantly treat me like you know so much better. And I am tired of it, Luca, I am tired of you treating me like I'm stupid and you telling me everything I do is wrong. You're my best friend and I don't want you to stop being that but I also need you to stop acting like you're better than me," I sighed.

"I don't act better than you. That's not fair," Luca replied angrily. His hands gripped at the side of his chair and he looked at me like he was going to kill me for speaking against him. I would have been pissed off with him but I knew it wouldn't do anything besides make the situation worse than it already was.

"Yes you do. You continually undermine all my decisions and you don't stop breathing down my neck. You protect me even when I don't want protecting and you seem to always be there, even when I don't want you to be there," I said harshly. I didn't want to argue with him but he was a stubborn bastard when he wanted to be.

"How? When?" he snapped.

"How about when I got back? You didn't even give Bradley a chance to explain before you were threatening to murder him and demanding that he leave the territory. You always have to think the worst in everyone because you don't want anyone around me unless they pass your approval test," I seethed. He didn't know better than me and I didn't need him looking out for me when I already had Blake to do that for me.

Blake was my mate and he was the father of my children. He was protective enough for all of us but loving enough that he didn't need to tell me that he loved me for me to know. He watched over me and held enough anger to start several wars all at once but I knew it was only because he cared about me and the twins. So I don't need Luca doing the same thing unless he was there to protect me.

"Now—"

"No. Even when we were kids you were always overly protective but I'm not that kid anymore. I had a shit life and I lost everything so I don't need protecting, not now I've seen the world for what it really is and I have come to realise that it isn't what you expect it to be. I have Blake for everything you continue to do for me. I just want you to be my best friend and to fulfil the position I've asked you to fulfil," I interrupted him.

"Blake is—"

"Her mate. That's who Blake is. It's his job to protect her and it's his job to be there for her. She doesn't need you trying to take the position when she's already got a perfectly good male who does the job wonderfully. Stop sticking your nose in, Luca, and concentrate on your own life," Elliot shouted at him before I even had the chance to defend Blake.

I noticed the way Jackson's arm was wrapped around her waist and the way he held her back when she tried to move forwards. The look on his face was passive and I was sure he was ready to punch Luca at this moment too but that's not only because he had pissed off his mate but also because he had insulted Blake, the guy he saw as his older brother who he cared a great deal about.

"You can either be my friend and respect my role as Alpha at the same time or you can continue with your life like I never existed and you shall simply become another member of the pack. I would hate to lose you, given that you are the father of my nephews, but I can't continue with the way things are. It's too much," I muttered. It was a harsh ultimatum but this is where he stood and this is the decision I had made with Luca.

He had been there for me and he had kept me out of trouble. He had been there for me when we were kids and he was the reason so many people never dared to touch me because they feared what Luca would do to them if they hurt me. He was my childhood best friend and he knew me better than most other people knew me; he even knew me better than I knew myself while I was growing up.

Link loved him and had often told me that he was good for me. Link had threatened him more than I care to remember because, as my brother, he didn't want to see me hurt and he would hurt anyone who hurt me. I really did appreciate everything Luca did for me, and he continues to do for me, but a line needed to be drawn and this was me drawing that line.

"I only want what's best for you El. That's all I've ever wanted," Luca whispered.

"And I understand that but I don't need you there all the damn time. I need space and you don't let me have that. You're always there and I don't need you to be," I replied.

"I need to go and see the boys," Luca mumbled. He pushed himself from the chair and walked over to the door. He offered his hand to Charlotte as he did and dragged her from the floor, muttering something about needing to ask the boys if they wanted anything to do with her, and then they were both gone.

Charlotte was in tears again as she tried to make Luca listen to what she had to say but he wasn't having any of it. He had rejected her and with good reason, she was a bitch to him and he didn't deserve it, but she should have thought about that before she did what she did to everyone.

I didn't know what Luca was thinking. He had never been one to openly express his feelings but I was hoping that he didn't hate me. I didn't want him to kick me out of his life and pretend that he never knew me because he had always been there for me. But I would understand if that was the decision he made given what I had said to him.

"Do we get the same lecture?" Jackson finally said after what felt like hours of silence.

"Do you think I made the wrong choice? With Bradley?" I replied. He was my Beta and I probably should have spoken to him before I made the decision but I wanted to prove a point and I do believe I proved that point very well.

"I think he deserves the chance to prove himself and, if you left him, he would never have been given that chance. But I don't think he's going to cause any trouble. Especially seeing the way he was with those boys when they took him from the room. He was shocked but there was also something broken and pained about his expression," Jackson replied. His hand was running Elliot's stomach and I knew he was going to be an amazing father from the way he had been with the twins and the boys.

"I don't think he's a bad person. I just think he had a bad start in life and he wants the chance to make a proper life for himself," Elliot added with a slight smile.

"And you don't think I was too harsh on Luca?" I sighed.

"I think you doubt yourself far too much. Considering you never wanted to be an Alpha, you've done an amazing job and there are so many changes you have made to this pack which had improved it for the better. For the few people who do hate you, there are so many more people who love you, and I wish you would see that rather than questioning everything you do," Jackson told me honestly with Elliot nodding in agreement.

"Michael and Daniel already love you. They never stopped asking about you while you were gone and Daniel cried himself to sleep more than once at the thought of never seeing you again. Even Michael, a kid who never cries and doesn't tell Luca that he loves him, was hurt that he may never see you again and he never stopped trying to convince Blake that you were coming back," Elliot spoke with a smile and I couldn't help the smile which graced my own face.

I loved Michael and Daniel. I was proud to be their aunt and I would never stop being proud of them as they grew into the wonderful men they are going to become. They are both so easy to love and, for all the faults in Charlotte and her lack of ability to be a real mother, they have both turned out better than anyone could have ever hoped for.

"You are an amazing woman, El. You just need to believe that you can do be an Alpha and you will see what everyone else already sees. I love you like a sister and I consider you my best friend. I hope Luca comes to see this too and that he also comes to realise what a fool he has been," Jackson chuckled.

"I hope he does too. He has been there for me for so long that, if he wasn't there anymore, I wouldn't know what to do. I don't want him to stop protecting me but I do want him to stop doing it all the time, especially when it's not needed and Blake is there to do it for me," I sighed.

"Michael and Daniel will have something to say on the matter I think. I don't think either of them will allow him to be a stubborn fool," Elliot laughed. She threw her head back and leant against Jackson's shoulder and he placed a kiss on her cheek which made her go an impressive shade of red.

I couldn't help the chuckle which escaped as I looked at the both of them together. Given that Elliot was the daughter of an Alpha, Jackson had been pretty lucky with her because she wasn't that much of a handful and she didn't act like she had Alpha blood in her system. Though I think that may change as her pregnancy progresses and Jackson will finally understand all the complaints Blake had about me.

Jackson often laughed at Blake's complaints about my mood swings. I would go from telling Blake how much I loved him to telling him that I hated him to crying on his shoulder as I begged for forgiveness for shouting at him. Now the roles would be reversed and Blake would be the one laughing at Jackson while I would be the one trying to get Elliot through the entire process since she would need someone who had already been there and knew how to keep their cool.

"They're both good kids. It's a shame about their mother but I know Luca will be amazing and he will be the one who matters to those boys when it boils down to it," I replied. I thought for a moment about everything which had happened recently and I did wonder if there was any way in which my life could be different but I think my life was always destined for this path. There was nothing which could ever change that. "I just had a thought. Where the hell is Nicole?"

"In the cells. I thought that's where you would want her so that's where I put her," Jackson replied. The entire tone had dropped even further than it had done before with that one question. But I needed to know that she wasn't running around the pack and that she wasn't going to cause any further harm to me nor the people who were important to me.

"How bad is it that, even though she's the reason for everything, I don't want her dead?"

"That's just you El. Some people don't ever need to kill those who betray them, they simply find other ways of dealing with them, but the traitor will still be made to suffer," Jackson smiled. Since becoming Alpha and seeing as many deaths as I did beforehand, I didn't understand the requirement for murder nor did I understand the use of excessive violence, there were other ways of dealing with problems and it was Blake who had taught me that one.

"My father would be happy to take her. He's got a secure prison beneath the pack house and he's got some pretty awful people in there," Elliot piped up. Alpha Mason was highly resourceful like that and I knew he would take care of Nicole Stone appropriately without the need for killing her.

I also didn't want Jayson to hate me. And, if I was to have his mother murdered, he would hate me and he would never forgive me for allowing it to happen. He may say that he hates her and that he wants nothing to do with her but I know that's a lie and Jayson is always going to need his mother – she was the most important person in both his and Blake's lives when they were kids and, it doesn't matter what she does to me nor what she says to Jayson, he is still going to love her and he's still going to want her around.

I can't risk keeping her on my land though. I had already been lenient in allowing Charlotte to leave but I wasn't going to be that generous twice. Nicole needed to be punished and being locked up for the rest of her life seemed like an appropriate way of punishing her for her crimes.

"You should invite him to the party. I haven't seen your father in a while and I do believe a meeting is long overdue," I smiled at Elliot. I knew how much she loved Mason, being his only child meant that she was naturally a daddy's girl, and I knew how much he loved her in return. Inviting him to the announcement of the twins' birth only seemed fair. "I shall ask him about Nicole. And he can even spend the night too if he wishes."

"He helped with the search when you disappeared. I think he's rather fond of you and will be willing to do anything he can to help you out," Elliot replied happily.

"Your father is a wonderful man. I have never made a secret of just how much I admire him and it would be an honour if he was here so that I could personally thank him," I replied. The smile on Elliot's face told me more than words ever could and I would do anything to see other members of my pack smile like Elliot did at the mention of her father.

The introduction of the twins to the pack was for myself but it was also for the pack itself. I wanted to show them that I was thinking of their future and, everything I did, I did to keep them safe not because I wanted to change them into something they're not. My family would always come first but my pack would always be right below that with every decision I made.

"Baby. How about you go and see what those boys are up to? I bet they've eaten all those cookies and are waiting for some more," Jackson smiled at his mate with a kiss on her cheek.

"I should never have told them it was me who baked them cookies. Now they're never going to leave me alone," Elliot joked.

"You love it. And you love those boys. You'll do anything as long as they say please and give you a huge, cheesy grin," Jackson chuckled. Elliot stood up from his lap and put her own kiss on her cheek as she walked out of the room with a shrug of her shoulders. She didn't speak another word when she closed the door behind her and, when Jackson was sure that Elliot was gone, that was when he spoke again. "Nicole wants to see you. She wants to speak with you about everything which has happened."

"I don't think there's anything to be said. I thought she cared about me but, instead of talking to me like a real adult would do, she put a high price on my head which involved you almost dying, Luca losing his mate and my pups being kidnapped," I replied pointedly.

"I told her you didn't want to see her but she almost insisted. Begged me in fact," Jackson sighed as he leant forward slightly and looked at me with a grimace on his face.

"She used a broken man against me Jackson. She used other people to do her dirty work for her and she used their weaknesses against them. I don't want to see her just for her to sprout a whole load of bullshit," I slammed my hand on the desk in frustration. I didn't want to see her and nor did I wish to speak with her.

She was a cold-hearted coward who wouldn't know what the truth was if it slapped her in the face. She never wanted my blood on her own hands and so she used people who were easily manipulated to do it for her. I didn't want to sit opposite her and listen to the lies she'd had all the time in the world to come up with.

"And this is why you're the Alpha my friend. You don't take other people's shit and you know when to put your foot down," Jackson smirked.

"I want you to find Luca and then I want you both to organise a new patrol rota between the two of you. I want double the security we've got now and I want more regular shifts. I don't want anything like this happening again and I certainly don't want anything happening to the pups in this house," I told him with a smirk of my own.

"Oh, but El, th—"

"That will teach you to try and be funny with me, Beta. Now, off you pop, you have work to be doing," I continued to smirk. I sat back in my chair with my hands folded behind my head and watched as he groaned to himself. He pushed himself from the chair and put his hands on my desk so that he was looking me right in the eye.

"But I am injured, Alpha. I should be on bed rest," Jackson said seriously.

"Then take Luca to your room with you. I'm asking you to talk and plan. Not fight an entire war on your own," I replied smugly. He wasn't getting out of this and he knew he wasn't going to but that didn't stop him from trying.

"But, Ell—"

"Elliot is busy with my nephews and Bradley. Now, off you jolly well go, I haven't got all day," I clapped my hands together. I stood up from my chair and walked over to the door, opening it and pointing out of it in a gesture which told him to get the hell out of my office. Though I would be more than happy to throw him out if he wanted to me do so. "And, if you're good, I might even let you attend the party rather than guard the party."

"Yes Alpha. Of course Alpha," Jackson said with mock enthusiasm when he walked past me and came to a stop outside my door with a miserable look on his face. It was almost comical that he had an answer for everything and thought they he knew better than I did.

"Yes Beta? Was there something you else wanted?" I grinned. I leant against the doorframe with my arms folded across my chest and look of interest on my face.

"Why do we have to do this now?!" Jackson complained quickly.

"Because I am the Alpha and what I say goes," I shrugged. That was part of the reason but the main reason was that I wanted to know that it was sorted before the party in honour of the twins. I didn't want anything happening on a day they would be out in the open and therefore more susceptible to attack from whoever else Nicole still had out there working for her.

"Whatever," Jackson mumbled before he finally disappeared down the corridor muttering to himself that I was a bitch and he hated me for taking his afternoon away from him, time he could be spending with his mate rather than locked in a room with someone he wasn't even sure liked him anymore.

I smiled to myself when I closed my office door behind me and walked out into the kitchen. Blake and Link were sitting at the table, Blake holding Max and Link holding Nicole, while they were in deep conversation with each other over something which was making the both of them burst out laughing every so often. Elliot was covered in flour as Daniel tried his best to help her with the cookies but he made more mess than he did mixture for the cookies. Jamie was reading a book to Michael in the corner of the room and I caught her glancing over the top every so often in the direction of Link with a smile on her face.

"Your nephews are quite the pair," a voice from beside me made me jump. I turned to see a laughing Bradley beside me and I didn't hesitate in hitting him on the arm with my other hand over my heart as I calmed my breathing and forced my heart beat to return to a normal level. "I got the grand tour of the house from the both of them before they showed me the room I would be staying in."

"My family is a little mad. But I don't think I would change them for the world," I smiled as I looked at the scene in front of me again. They were my family and I would give anything to have this every single day of the week for the rest of my life.

"You've got an amazing family. Make sure you never let them go," Bradley replied. I could see the sadness in his eyes but he tried to cover it up with a smile. But he couldn't fool me that easily and I knew how hard it was to watch someone be happy with a family while you had nothing.

"You are part of this family now Bradley. So you had better get used to the craziness," I told him with a smile. "But, if you so much as try anything funny, I will let them deal with you. And it won't end well for you."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Bradley chuckled. But I don't think he would try anything. He had his chance to kill me or injure me and he never took it and, the only reason he was out to get me in the first place, was because Charlotte and Nicole wouldn't stop threatening the guy. I wasn't going to push him to the road just because he hadn't had the best start in life.

If I had never been given a second chance, I would never have met Blake and I wouldn't have the life I had now. I would either still be a rogue or I would be dead – either way I wouldn't have the life I've now got and am very happy to have. I am giving Bradley a second chance on his life and I am giving him the means to an end which I hope is the right thing to do.

I hope my trust hasn't been misplaced and he isn't going to screw me over when I least expect it to happen. Because, if I have made a terrible mistake, everyone will be there to protect me but they will also be there to brag about how I was wrong and they were right.

"Now. Do you want to meet them all properly?"

- So, this story is now fast approaching the end, I think there are about three of four chapters left to go. I would just like to thank you all for reading, voting and commenting, it means a lot to me. It means a lot more knowing you have enjoyed reading it too.

- If you would like something to read once this book is done, then I have another werewolf story on my profile. It's called 'His Troubled Mate' and it's something a little different from this book - so check it out if you're looking for a new story to read.