I attend to my needs hastily under the hot spray of the showerhead, enjoying the inviting warmth of the steam that fills the small, stark white room. This room was much more enjoyable than the one we had in the hospital quarters, although not as spacious, it was much more comfortable.

 We were also able to adjust the lighting away from the stark fluorescents that lined the halls and illuminated every room. 

"Artifice," I call, stepping out of the shower. "Where is Verando Mercer?"

I hear the delicate chime. "Verando Mercer. Scanning. Unknown. It would seem that I have been asked to lose track of him." I hesitate as I scrub myself off with a towel. Quickly, I make my way to the door and peer into the bedroom to see that he's gone. 

"How can someone do that?" My heart leaps when Artifice answers.

"I have a manual. One could pull up the manual, enter my passcodes, and give me specific instructions. I am Artifice. I am eternally at your service." 

I glare towards the ceiling. Well, that's annoying. 

"Not very safe, is it?" I'm arguing with a machine; I must be desperate. My attempts did nothing to soothe my lust. Fingers were no longer enough, and attempting to stroke myself while I'm this upset was a losing battle.

 I'm grouchy and irritable, maybe arguing with Artifice was better for me than hunting down my sulking lycan lover.

"I assure you, Nicolas, I'm the safest artificial being there is. My passcodes are encrypted, if one took the time to figure them out then one must have a good reason."

"Or a crappy one. When did this happen, Artifice?"

"This morning. At 7:43 AM." I curse. 

Not long after we left, he had planned it this way all along. He doesn't want to go with me because he wants to be here. I run my hand through my damp hair; why am I surprised?

 He told me as much. 

"Artifice. Rename Verando Mercer 'asshole'. He'll think it's quite funny. Even if he tells you to stop, I'd like to have sole command over that." I giggle to myself as I pull on my pants, laying the foundation for possible use later. 

"I see this makes you happy. Alright, Nicolas. I will do as you ask. Ha. Ha."

I decide Artifice may not be so creepy after all as I button up my jeans and pull on a long-sleeved, pale V-neck. As I look at myself in the mirror, I lift the shirt casually to gaze at my abdomen and turn from side to side. 

Healthy?

Bastards. I look trim as I always did; my fingers trace the faint lines of my hips and slide up to the hardly visible lower abdominal muscles. While I'm not the meek man I was when he met me, my body has rejected the mass muscle tone a Lycan welcomes. I rest my hand flat under my navel and roll my eyes at myself, yanking my shirt down to storm out of the room.

Entering the living area, I note that Gary is cooking, and it seems this family eats much more casually than my own. They freely move around with plates, sitting or standing, perched or leaned. There's no formal etiquette, no casual chit-chat about trends or politics. I listen as Tonic hears about Silva's day, spying that Gary is making a rather sour face as he stirs a pot of rice. 

I casually make my way over to the tall, white-haired man. "Thank you for dinner. Do you like to cook?"

"I do," Legardo says roughly. 

He looks so much like Verando; it makes my heart skip a beat, the snow-white hair being a pretty exotic touch. His icy eyes glance towards me, and he does my favorite dramatic eye roll. I smile at him as any strange relative would.

"Can I help?" I ask curiously. 

Thinking it over, Legardo grumbles that I can chop an onion if I so please. I happily oblige, strategically facing out to scan over the group. Helen sits curled up at Tyler's feet like a loyal puppy, leaning against his knee as she listens to him talk. One might think it was a subservient role, but I recognize it well, as Verando often took the position whenever I read.

 It was a closeness, a bond, touching as much as possible while still occupying different spaces. 

The cool, inviting floor over the stuffy, hot couch. 

Tonic joins me, watching casually. I pull my lips into a thin line when I notice his robotic hand resting on the table so naturally. "You did well today.."

"You got me in trouble." I'm not pleased with him. 

Tonic tilts his head, watching me curiously. Now that I've seen Gary, I find that Tonic has fewer resemblances. Where he used to be Verando's clone, I could see his mother's influence, even if I didn't know her. That beautiful, sculptured nose didn't sit well on his face, more dished. He didn't share the same rugged jawline, softer through his chin, more so than his brother and father. 

His brown eyes brought back visions of when he was 'my Tonic'. Not this half-man before me. "The lube." I mouth.

Tonic chuckles, grinning at me so boyishly. "Well, I didn't think you'd bring it up."

"Well." I mock him. "I did, and you lost me an opportunity. He was so upset he couldn't-" I pause, couldn't... didn't want to... Verando was an unusual animal. Maybe I shouldn't be telling all of this to Tonic; wasn't that what we were arguing about? 

Tonic's expression confirms my fears, and I let out a groan. "Tonic, please just go. I want to get laid sometime in the near future."

His body nears mine as I hear the groan of his metallic arm, taking his weight. "Is that so? Are you finding it hard to resist?"

"Very." I sigh, then pause, pursing my lips. "I feel like we're not talking about the same things."

"Oh, I feel like we're talking about nearly the same things. It's been a while for me, too, you know." I hesitate and clear my throat, realizing I've chopped the onions into nothing. 

Gary reaches over me, taking my cutting board and placing a tomato in front of me instead. 

"Leave him alone, Tonic. He's obviously fallen for our father's spell, disgusting as that may be. Perhaps don't speak so freely about fucking around the table, I'll lose my apetite."

Tonic rolls his eyes. I'm surrounded by Randy's, and my heart flutters as the masculine man presses me against the counter and then departs. 

Dear diary... 

"Please. Flings come and go. You didn't even get married."

"Tonic, I assure you I'm quite happy, thanks."

"Happy doesn't mean satisfied." He responds quietly. I feel him before I see him, and glance up to see the real thing before me, my original. 

"Randy." Tonic greets. I hear Gary scowl. 

"I assure you, he's quite satisfied," Verando says shortly, his tone low. 

Tonic shrugs. "Never said he wasn't. Just making conversation."

"Well, you have conversed quite enough." Verando comes around the table to stand behind me, resting his hands on the counter on either side of my body. I can feel his warmth pressed into my back, and I flush as I watch Tonic wide-eyed. "Talk to someone else, yeah?" 

Tonic bows out, and I hear the low growl grumble in my warlord's chest. He stands over me like a guard dog as I chop, and I bask in the heat radiating off of him. Casually, I shift my hips back and forth, pleased with my protector. 

"So why Gary?" He asks the white-haired male, trailing his fingers casually behind my ear to move the hair from my face.

"Legardo is too close to your calling." The white haired man grumbles roughly.

Verando rolls his eyes, dragging his fingers over me before resting his hand beside me once more. I exhale slowly, steadying my heart rate, and focus on cutting. "Your mother named you that. Could you not have picked Garth? Or Garith? Gardo?" 

I hear the growl from behind and feel the smirk on my instigator's face. I bump him with my ass and elbow him to wipe the smirk off his face. 

Rhea casually walks over, eyeing us all. "Gary," she says pointedly. "Has been going by that for a long time. I go with it. Baby, if I'd had my way, he'd have been named after you. I always thought your name was beautiful." She winks at my warlord, and I stiffen. 

Verando seems indifferent, unmoving from his position where I expected him to depart. 

"Mother, that's dreadful. It's a horrible name, almost as bad as Legardo." 

Shaking her head, the red-haired woman sits casually on a bar stool as I'm ground in oblivion from behind, he presses me so firmly into the counter that I can only push back to hold my own. Whether it was intentional or not, every time he moved, I could feel his body on mine.

"Darling, you know how fond I am of your father. Look at him; well, you do every morning when you look in the mirror. Just drop this petty argument; he's here now, in front of you, the flesh of your flesh." 

Verando scoffs at her as if she told a hilarious joke. The laugh resonates in his chest, vibrating through my body, and I find that I've destroyed the tomato much as I have the onion. 

Legardo replaces it with a potato as if it's a test, and I'm either passing or failing. How many more things can I chop? 

I start skinning, trying desperately not to respond to the immense heat of this sinful man against me. 

"You cheated on me, might I remind you?" My warlord insists. 

A sweet wink is her response, kissing her fingers and blowing it at him. "Mmm, but remember who cheated first? Did Marisol know where you were?" She brings my torment to a screeching halt, and I take the moment to catch my breath, yet I plead with him not to stop. 

"Kitten knew exactly what I was doing. That's why I married her."

Rhea wrinkles her nose in response. "You are gay, you're a real bitch, you know that?" 

But a slight smirk curls onto her lips, and she shrugs it off once more. 

"How do you feel about all this?" She's talking to me now and I shrink, I wasn't expecting to be brought in. Her thick, red locks are pulled up into a messy ponytail on top of her head, and she's dressed comfortably, unlike on the first day. Yet, she still has her face painted, and her breasts are front and center. 

Should I feel threatened by this woman? 

Judging by his half-hearted responses, probably not. If the way he gawked at Roksana was anything to go by, his ship for Rhea had sailed. By the look on her face, she seemed to understand that. 

"Do you know he has four children? That he's infamous as in the bedroom as he is on the battlefield? Well.. judging by the look on your face, I'd say you know a lot about that." 

I'm embarrassed and humiliated all in one, yet the way he towers over me makes me feel strong and confident, as if he's claiming me, putting his stake on me. 

"Oh, I'm well aware. I had a terrible relationship with my father, so his brand of crazy suits me just fine." I respond shortly with a firm chop of my potato. "Fucked up and twisted make quite the company." 

It makes her chuckle, and I shudder at the tension behind me. I can hold my own; I can be catty when I want to be. 

Legardo snarls, causing all but my warlord to jump, as he tosses something down roughly. 

"This is not how I want my children to be raised!" He thunders, making us all go silent. "This man started all of this! Look around you! We are all products of him, save for a few, and we are celebrating it! Marriage is between a man and a woman, one and truly, not to be passed around like a collections bin.

 So, if you must sin, do so quietly and not in front of my children!" 

I glance down sheepishly as Rhea quietly gets up and slinks over to sit with Silvia, who's playing quietly. Verando exhales, leaving me to turn around and face Gary. 

"Legardo," He tells him pointedly. "All you can do is do better. Coming from someone who also hated their father, let it spur you to achieve more. Or does it more so bother you that I've chosen to lie with a man?"

The white-haired male wheels around, giving Verando a harsh look, yet no sound comes out; it's as if the wolf is blocked when I had only just heard it. 

"Do better? I didn't need glory, I've studied, I've graduated from multiple universities, I have three beautiful children and a wife. I didn't murder people for a living, rob people for the mafia, or leave a wake of destruction behind me as you did."

"You didn't." Verando agrees, watching the panting man warily. "But you have me to thank for your freedom." I can feel the heat building but it's muted, it's not the intensity of Alpha. It feels more like Marcus, uncontrolled, untapped, and, for the most part, out of reach.

To my surprise, it's Helen who speaks up.

"Daddy, stop it!" she says firmly. The room goes silent as small Helen stands before me, looking as determined as I've ever seen her. "Randy saved us, saved me, just as Nic did. He was called by something greater, just as I am-"

"Helen!" Legardo says sharply. "Do not bring this up." 

The threat is very real, and Verando takes a step to get between all of us and the white-haired man. The difference between my warlord and the majority is that often he stands the tallest, the one who steps into the fight, the one who stands between us and them. 

When I peer over, I see the same look mirrored in meek little Helen. 

I drop my knife. "You have a wolf, don't you?" I ask quietly. 

Legardo slams down his spoon. "No!" He bellows. "She ain't cursed with the devil. None of my children are."

Helen takes deep breaths, trying to control herself. "Daddy, I know you didn't want me to go because you were afraid I would find out... but there is something here. In me." She presses her fist over her chest as if it would be ripped out without her hand stopping it. "Something that comes alive whenever I see 'him'." 

She is looking at Verando now. 

I know it all too well. 

"Because he's an Alpha, and he can set it free," I tell her. 

I'm too busy watching her, my eyes taking her in as if I'm seeing her for the first time. It all makes sense: her timid nature, her omega-like personality, her submission, she was suppressed just as Reid had been when we found him.

"Don't you call my daughter an animal!" 

I hear the spat before I see it, and by the time I turn around, Legardo is on the ground. Rhea rushes over to tend to him as Tonya comes running into the room. I note Verando's cheek is scuffed and sigh, always the face. 

If I had a pound for every time someone punched this man in the face, it was a wonder he still looked as good as he did. 

Marcello approaches cautiously, "I'm not a lycan.. but I think that there's some powerful shit going on here that I don't want to get involved with. He's going to be pissed off when he gets up, I recommend you both go before that happens. I'll talk it over with him, calm him down a bit." 

I agree with him; I don't want to watch the two fight. This is a very sore subject for all involved, as Legardo was not interested in anything to do with wolves, and Rhea was drawn to what was mine. It seemed like what was happening when our pack at home had lost its leader. 

Dragging him to our bedroom, I'm glad that I'd managed to snag a few bites of tomato, though I'd have to remember to go back later and get real food. Shoving him down on the bed, I grab his face and check over his cheek, brushing my thumb over it carefully. 

"Are you alright?"

"I'm furious."

 Really?

 He isn't vibrating like he usually does. Pressing the back of my hand to his forehead, gauging his warmth, I'm reminded of how he ground against me when I realize just how close I'm standing to him. I'd slipped between his thighs, and I can't help but imagine his mouth on me as he simmers under the surface of his control.

 "The wolf is under control. We've come to an agreement." 

"I didn't mean to cause a fight. I haven't gotten to see you like that," I comment, unsure if this was even the appropriate time for such matters. 

"Angry?" He asked in disbelief. 

I roll my eyes, shaking my head at him. "Territorial, I guess. Standing over me like that."

"Ah. Well, Tonic needed to be put in his place. You don't have to let him come to you like that, darling; you can tell him to piss on."

 Truthfully, I don't even think about it. Tonic had been my friend for so long that the divide was sometimes hard to notice. Did Tonic mean what he was saying, or was he joking around? 

I would have thought that he would have made a move way before now if he had feelings. However, he had had four hundred years to think about it. I casually run my hand through Verando's shorter hair, enjoying the thickness between my fingers. 

"You know what's happening, right?" He tilts his head, questioning my sudden enlightenment. "The Alpha effect," I tell him, for I'd dubbed it myself.

Verando answers with a frustrated snort, and I slowly start the process of healing his cheek. "Shut up and listen. Every time you get around wolves, they go insane until you show your medal, then they fall right into place. You're an Alpha, my love. I've been following you around for quite some time; strangers kneel at your feet. Helen jumped to your aid, Tonic is out of line, Reid is in purgatory. These wolves need their Alpha."

"Retired." He tells me, unimpressed. 

I take his face in my hands, watching those light eyes. 

"That's a curse word. You are way too snarky, arrogant, and high energy to ever retire." I bend to kiss him, tangling my fingers in his hair casually as the fire ignites within me. "How many retired men grind on their lovers in front of a house full of people?" 

I give his hair a firm pull and shiver at the response I get: a low, rumbling growl.

 "You stake your claim because you are a leader." I kiss him once more, tasting him, claiming his mouth with my tongue as I climb to straddle him. "You are Alpha. My Alpha." I feel like we're starting over all over again; my body pleads for contact as I begin to unbutton his shirt slowly.

 I stop my hands as they travel to his neck, biting my lower lip as I press my forehead to his. "What're you going to do about it?"

Verando shoves me back onto the bed, climbing on top of me as he kisses my neck, hooking my leg over his hip as he rolls his hips into mine. "You've gotten good at giving speeches."

 I moan sarcastically. "Tell me more about my speeches!" I sigh and grope him through his pants. "Shut up or growl it at me; you're losing your edge."

 The challenge is very real, and he doesn't disappoint. Verando flips me over onto my stomach, and I gasp as I'm firmly spanked. He shoves my hips into the air, yanking my pants down. My hips sway as my body shakes with anticipation. 

"So you like talking to Tonic about lube, hmm?" 

I groan, crossing my arms in front of my face and clutching the bedsheets. "Answer." He smacks me firmly. 

I inhale sharply in response. "Yes, Alpha."

"You only talk to me about what goes on in our bedroom. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Alpha." I moan, shivering as I feel him press against me. 

"Only I know your pleasure. Only I know your desire." 

I cry out at the intensity as he enters me in one smooth motion, the slippery sensation overwhelming and mindblowing all at the same time. "You've been meuling after me for weeks, do I not serve you adequately?"

I curse under my breath and feel his hand in my hair, craning my head back. "I will always want you, Randy." I groan, catching him off guard. He hesitates, and I press back against him, desperate for the relentless abuse to continue. 

Verando pulls me up to rest my back against his chest, holding me to him, his palm wraps around my throat possessively as his nose skirts over my hair.

"You're mine." He exhales.

 His fingers angle my face as he kisses me, claiming my mouth as he takes me with an air of desperation. I cling to him, shutting my eyes as my body shakes and I climb. "Mine and mine alone." He growls against my lips.

 His words are my undoing, and I arch against him as I finish, crying out his name as he follows behind me.

I fall to the bed, panting, my chest heaving and my body covered in a thin layer of sweat as I wait to come down off the afterglow. I purr in satisfaction, stretching in a pleased manner. 

"You're a god." I sigh, stroking his ego, praising my good fortune. My eyes widen when I feel him grasp my knees and pull me back to him. 

"I'm not done with you yet."