3

"I know you're awake, Beautiful."

"No you don't." The voice came out muffled from under a pillow. "Because I'm not."

"I think you are."

The Alpha felt a kiss on her shoulder, before warm lips moved to her neck. Groaning, Chesca tried batting his face away. "Five more minutes."

But her mate was persistent, and wouldn't be deterred. "Do you know what time it is?" Kaiden asked while tugging the pillow from her grip.

"Yep. It's time for Baby to begin his morning kicking routine," she replied while finally opening her bleary eyes, looking at her mate with envy. How come he always managed to look so good in the morning, while she stumbled from bed more often than not looking like a zombie? And everyone said she'd glow during pregnancy.

"Really? Let me feel it," Kaiden exclaimed, much too excitedly, and placed his hands gently on Chesca's stomach. His warm touch never ceased to send tingles across her skin, and as Chesca watched the awed expression on his face, she thanked God once again for the love and beauty of her mate and growing family.

"Does it hurt?"

"A little," Chesca admitted. "But it reminds me just how healthy he is."

"Or she."

Chesca laughed and placed her hands on Kaiden's cheeks, drawing his face close for a kiss. "Yes, or she. But you know I'm often right about these things. Call it maternal instinct or just a crazy shewolf high on hormones, but I gave a feeling it's going to be a boy."

"We'll see," Kaiden conceded with a lift of his lips before proceeding to kiss her deeply, his fingers tangling her already messy hair. "I still can't believe we made this little baby." His hands ran over her stomach, warming her and their pup from the inside out.

"Me neither. I still get amazed even though I've had months to prepare and get used to the idea. I love him so much already, as well as loving you more each day. I sometimes think my heart will burst," Chesca smiled languidly into her mate's caramel brown eyes, admiring the flecks of gold and the way they crinkled when he smiled.

"I'll be there to put it back together, don't you worry," Kaiden promised, sealing it with a kiss on her lips that she never wanted to end.

They were interrupted by a high pitched squeal.

"Momma, Dadda! I'm hungwy!"

Then two tiny fists pulled on the edge of the sheets, bunching them together as he hauled himself up. "Momma, I'm hungwy!"

"You're always hungry, aren't you, little fella?" Chesca helped her little pup over her stomach until he fell between her and Kaiden in a fit of giggles. "You take after your daddy."

"More like his mother. I think her appetite surpasses mine nowadays, right Isaiah? She just keeps eating and eating and growing fat!" Kaiden tickled his young son.

"Nooo!!" Isaiah squealed and giggled. "Momma not fat, she having a baby."

"That's right, my clever boy. Your baby brother or sister needs all the food he can get to grow big just like you!" Chesca kissed his chubby cheeks, his brown curls bobbing against his forehead.

"I grow big like daddy," he thumped his fists on his father's firm chest.

"Yes, you will, my little tyke. Now let's go find some breakfast, hey? This little pup is getting hungry," Chesca scooped up her little boy and crawled from the bed, her mate following close behind and managing to place a kiss on her neck just as they left the room together. Chesca loved this time of the morning, when it was just her and her family, with no distractions. Laughing quietly, they moved down the hallway with giddy steps.

And nearly bowled into a bleary-eyed little girl.

"Mommy, Daddy, have you seen Vannah? I can't find my teddy and I think she took him again."

"Good morning, princess Emerald, did you sleep well?" Kaiden lifted his daughter into his arms and brushed her dark locks back from her face, tucking them behind her ears and placing wet kisses on her smooth cheeks.

"Ouch, your cheeks are scratchy," Emerald pushed his face away from hers and squished it between her little fingers, staring at him intently as he carried her downstairs. "You need a beard cut."

"Well, what if I told you Mummy likes my beard?"

"Mommy!" Emerald called out, her green eyes growing wide. "Tell Daddy to cut off his beard, his cheeks are all scratchy!"

Chesca just laughed. No time soon would she tell Kaiden to shave. She loved the handsome five-day shadow on his face, and it made him look rugged and masculine. And especially, intimidating to other shewolves who might spare her Alpha mate a glance. Chesca was feeling even more possessive and jealous with all the pregnancy hormones flooding her system. "Why don't we find your teddy, hey Em? Did you ask Savannah were he is?"

"No, I didn't. Vannah wasn't in her bunk when I woke up. Do you think she took him and hid him outside like last time? That would be really mean, and I would—"

"I'm sure she didn't, honey. But we'll ask her anyway if she knows where he is. Just where is that girl? She is supposed to help brush your hair when you get up," Chesca's mind was already running through a million things as she rounded the last corner into the kitchen, the whereabouts of her eldest daughter being on the top of the list.

Savannah was always getting into scrapes and almost needed as much supervision as her active toddler Isaiah.

As soon as the kitchen came into view, Chesca heard a loud clattering noise, and saw Savannah standing by the bench, holding a whisk in one hand and a packet of flour in the other while a mixing bowl sat in front of her. A creamy substance was splashed on her face and shirt, and her brown eyes widened as she looked up and caught sight of them all staring at her.

"Whoops."

____🌹____

It took a good half hour to clean up the kitchen and lecture Savannah why it was not a good idea to make pancakes by herself for school just because her friend Justin had bragged he could make better ones than her.

As Chesca stirred oatmeal in a saucepan, adding some honey and milk, she watched her three pups playing together in the loungeroom, the morning sunshine streaming through the glass windows and landing on their pretty heads.

Savannah, at eleven years old, was growing up to be a strong and spunky heir to the Alpha lineage despite her tendencies to act before thinking. She was already the natural leader of her group of friends, even if there was a certain boy she'd break a bone in her body just to impress.

Emerald was seven years old and felt it her job in life to keep her older sister from accidentally getting herself killed before adulthood. She was much more sensible, calm, and thoughtful than her sister, yet could be just as mischievous.

Chesca and Kaiden's son Isaiah, the baby of the family until number four came along, was like any other inquisitive and active toddler of three years old. He was always running off, wanting to learn how this worked or what made that go, or where does all the water go when you pull the plug in the sink? She'd found him curled up in the kitchen cabinet listening to the pipes in the wall one afternoon, then she showed him the basement where the pipes led to the septic tank underground.

Chasing her precious and rambunctious pups around the pack house was tiring, but Chesca loved them to bits and wouldn't want it any other way.

She and Kaiden had decided to split the family life with pack life, the male Alpha taking most of the pack's responsibilities on his shoulders while she cared for their children. A large office building had been set up in the middle of their new large territory of ForgedHearts, and he worked from there most days with Beta Benjamin and Gamma Roman, along with the rest of the command. They had decided to use her residence as their primary family home, as Kaiden didn't want to spend much time at his old childhood residence, full of more bad memories than good. The arrangement suited Chesca perfectly, and she was never far from her beautiful forest, sparkling lake, and rolling green countryside that she grew up in, and now guided her own children as they flourished in the loving and supportive community of their pack members.

"So Lexi's coming over later today?" Kaiden asked as he ate a bowl of breakfast, Emerald hanging onto one of his arms while Isaiah sat in his lap trying to intercept his spoonfuls of porridge.

"Yes, for a checkup and catch up. Did you know her little Ariella turned eighteen recently? She's grown up so fast. Just where does the time go?" With one hand on her belly to calm her active unborn pup, Chesca sipped on green tea and ginger.

"Wow, a proper young lady. I wonder if anyone else here will grow into a beautiful lady one day?" Kaiden tickled his daughter who hung from his arm and nudged his other one who was trying not to spill porridge on her shirt while balancing the spoon on her nose.

"Not me! I'm a little monkey," Emerald sing-songed and swung back and forth.

"Not me. I don't want a mate," Savannah said the word and screwed up her nose like she was talking about a toad.

"A mate?! Heavens no!" Kaiden eyes widened in shock. "If any boys try to claim my little girls or even look at them, I'm going to have to run after them and chase them far away into the hills. Far, far away where he can't even think about you. Nobody touches my little girls." He finished his declaration with a loud kiss on each of their cheeks.

"I'd just punch him and tell him to get lost in the neighboring pack forest. I heard it's haunted, you know?" Savannah said blandly, now trying to balance a blueberry on Isaiah's head.

"Hmm don't believe everything Justin tells you, Vannah," Chesca laughed at her antics and picked up Isaiah from her mate's arms before her daughter could rub peanut butter in his sippy cup.

Beta Benjamin and Kira's son Justin was only a few months older than Savannah, and he spent his days running with her and filling her head with amazing facts and stories, always roping the girls into the boys' pranks and games. Or maybe Savannah was the brains behind all the pranks and practical jokes they played on each other? Either way, at the end of the day, Savannah always had a hundred things to say about the boy. Chesca wasn't sure if her daughter loved or hated the kid. Only time would tell.

After Kaiden had finished getting ready for the day, he pushed Chesca lightly against the bench for a kiss, wrapping his arms firmly around her before in turn kissing his children.

"You behave for Mommy now, okay?" he raised an eyebrow at them. "I'll see you all later."

Savannah leapt up on to his back before he could exit the front door. "Mom, can I please go with Dad today?"

"But you've still got that math test to do. And Ariella's coming later, don't you want to play with her?"

"But Daddy's not going far. I can be back before lunch and do the test later. I want to go with Dad for the training! Please please please?" She pleaded while wrapping her arms tighter around her dad's neck, nearly strangling him.

"I could send her back early," Kaiden said. "We're training the new warriors down by the lake. I'll make sure Savannah runs home in a couple hours."

"Okay. Just as long as she doesn't spend more time distracting the poor recruits than helping them," Chesca frowned at her daughter with an unspoken command.

"Don't worry, I won't. Dad and I have been practicing a new move, haven't we Dad?" She tugged on his hair and began steering him out the door like he was her noble steed.

"Sure have, my little Alpha. You'll knock 'em dead," he agreed with a mischievous grin, and Chesca just shook her head with a smile on her face as she watched them jog down the path, a little boy joining them before taking off running, Savannah hot on his heels.

A few hours later, after Chesca successfully got some house cleaning done and started Emerald on some easy English writing activities while Isaiah played in a playpen, she heard a knock on the door and felt her heart skip in delight at the thought of seeing her best friend again. Though Kaiden had become her deepest and best friend who knew her like no other, there was still something special between the girlhood friends that neither time nor distance could break.