Neither of us were able to get out of bed in the morning. My back and ass were protesting vividly against every motion I made and I was pretty sure Drake was just exhausted after last night's stint. After all, he did keep his promise.

Not only did we not sleep at all until the break of dawn, but I'm pretty certain we were very close to breaking the bed at one point.

I think he broke my back anyways...

Rolling over with some difficulty, I cast one disgusted glare at the alarm before flopping on Drake's chest. The man sleepily gathered me closer with a mumbled "Five more minutes... I swear..."

If I had the energy, I would've laughed but instead just nuzzled closer and sighed. Mentally searching through the pack links before finding the fairly new bond with the Council's assistants.

"Skylar, we're taking a day off." I murmured tiredly, knowing I wouldn't be getting any protests from her or the pack members. In fact, they had all been encouraging for us to relax and take some time off, considering the huge amounts of work constantly heaped on our plates.

Pushing us to take some time to ourselves so that we wouldn't become overworked, overstressed and burnt out. They had all banded together, claiming that we could put our trust in them and know that the pack would still be standing if we took a few days off.

Plus it helped greatly that our Betas were extremely talented and capable of dealing with most pack matters. I was quite certain that the Council assistants would be more than capable of aiding where needed.

Even without the council here, our own Betas would reassure us time and time again they got things handled. The pack was working in unison and didn't require their Alphas to constantly handle every single thing.

It only took a moment before Skylar replied with a sweet "Naturally. Take as much time as you need, we've got it covered honey. We'll brief you guys if anything important happens but until then, enjoy."

I hummed pleasantly, stretching against Drake and feeling him pull me closer even in his sleep. Inhaling his scent deeply and sighing as my own wolf purred contently. Sunlight creeping slowly into the room, warming my bare back and Drake's chest in a pleasant way as I could hear the pack slowly rousing.

Nightshift stumbling to their rooms, their voices groggy compared to the chipper early birds who greeted them pleasantly. All around was the sounds of life, of comfort and family. I even detected a faint hint of cheering from the betas, making me smirk. A soft breeze wafted through the opened window, ruffling bedcovers and hair alike until I took another deep breath and sighed.

It felt good to be able to relax. Amazing to lay there, knowing there was no rush to wake up, no office filled with papers waiting for our arrival. The betas would do todays work and then some, judging from their eagerness to have us take leave.

There was a buzz of excitement coming from them, making me smile at their eagerness to prove themselves. In their minds, if they succeeded now without any issues left in their wake, we'd be much more easily inclined to take a break now and then.

And they were right. Even though we had never voiced any complaints or showed hesitation, there was always that innate reluctance to hand of work. Not wanting to bother or burden the people we had sworn to protect with work that was technically ours to claim.

So for the Betas to now get free reign, to learn that we were taking a break? I grinned as I heard the chatter on the link, could feel their elation and drive.

I couldn't even recall when the last time was that we took a break from being Alphas. Not like we fled the pack territory and abandoned everyone to their own grievances, but when was the last time we gave reigns to the Betas and relaxed for a few days?

"Our mating." Drake supplied softly, making me lean closer to press a kiss against his throat. He hummed pleasantly, fingers brushing over my bare back as contentment filled our personal link. The scents in the air were soft and warm, content and pleased.

Now that we didn't have to rush out of bed to get to work, it felt oddly pleasant to just lay there and enjoy each other's presence.

"That long ago?" I murmured against his skin, slightly shocked that we didn't have a break for this long. Half a year has passed since that day and ever since we had been diligently doing our job, though providing and protecting our family could hardly be called a job.

Still, it created stress on our minds and bodies so it was only natural that we needed a break from time to time. And it wasn't like the pack was going to go up in smoke if we did nothing for a single day.

Something that our Betas had to remind us of time and time again. It was just hard to give the work out of hand, especially if we knew how important the job was. But the Betas and the Council had proved their point; if we both fell out of commission without preparing our Betas and assistants for the fallout, things would be a mess.

No wonder they've been on our case, demanding we take more breaks.

"What should we do today?" I questioned lazily, enjoying the heat of the sun on my back and the gentle warmth of Drake at my front. Shivering at the slight caresses of his fingers before chuckling when he hummed thoughtfully.

Licking his lips, he slowly squinted his eyes open before pulling me down for a kiss. It was a soft, languid one without any pressure to change it into anything more. I smiled against his lips, a gesture he copied before he replied, "After we've both recovered, I feel like going on a long run along the border."

"Reaffirming our scents during a border patrol is technically still working." I pointed out with a playful flick to his nose before my fingers were caught in his hand. Laughing as his fingers brushed over my side, tickling until Drake relented as I flopped off his chest and squirmed away.

He instantly followed, tugging me back against his body as if he couldn't bear to be a moment apart. "You know what I mean, you brat." Drake scolded playfully, pulling me into his hold with a low growl and a soft sigh when I chuckled, squirming as his stubble scraped over my sensitive skin. "I want to be able to just run, experience it for what it is. To let our wolves out and stretch their legs, maybe even hunt something."

My own wolf perked up at the idea, an eager wag of its tail showing it was more than content with this suggestion. While I had shifted plenty of times and had run alongside Drake during patrols, it had been a while since we actually ran without purpose.

Run to feel the breeze in our fur, to let our muscles burn as the wolves ran for as long as their hearts desired. To let our senses overtake us and just... live.

"A run it is." I agreed, stretching my legs and groaning as my muscles still complained a tad. Yet I was more than grateful with our species healing abilities, given that humans would spend several days suffering if they had mated the same way we had.

Both our stomachs chose that moment to gurgle audibly, breaking the silence before we both chuckled whilst I started pushing up and out of the bed. "Shower first, then breakfast." I murmured, stretching fully and groaning when my back let out a satisfying pop as I walked towards the bathroom.

Drake hummed in agreement, muffling a long yawn behind his hand as he followed my lead. "Perhaps after our run we could catch up on watching some of those shows we recorded." He suggested whilst grabbing two large towels for our shower.

"God, how full is that recorder going to be?" I wondered out loud, remembering the moment where we had briefly watched some tv and even marked our favorites to be recorded. "I wouldn't be surprised if the poor thing was filled to the brim with the latest recordings being canceled."

As steam started filling the room, Drake grabbed our favorite shows before he made a face. "I'm pretty sure recordings only last for 60 days... so yeah, we missed a lot."

"Shit. I really wanted to watch that crime series too but we never really had the time." I bemoaned, stepping under the hot stream as Drake chuckled at my expression. "Well technically, we never made the time."

My eyes fluttered shut when Drake's fingers gently scratched through my hair, applying shampoo before I returned the favor to him. "To be fair darling, if there's any show out there you want to see, I'm pretty sure you can buy it on DVD."

As we rinsed off, I couldn't help but protest "It'd be such a waste of money though; my mood to watch series is fickle at best. Remember when I wanted to watch that anime series Brian suggested?" Drake snickered, making me playfully smack the back of my hand against his stomach, "It's not that funny."

My mate shook his head with a smirk as he pointed out, "You got into the first 12 episodes without issues, binged it in fact until Brian told you that One Piece was not only still ongoing but you had quite a bit of catching up to do."

"A bit of catching up." I mocked with a growl before sighing contently when the conditioner was smoothed over my hair. "Fucking over 1000 episodes to watch. Do you know how long that would take me?"

"About a little under a month, if you watched it diligently."

Turning to Drake, I had to squint my eyes shut to avoid any soap getting in my eyes but I huffed nonetheless. "And if we don't have the time to watch it diligently? Like we have the past few months?"

I could just hear the smirk in Drake's voice as I rinsed off before jumping as his soaped up hands pulled me closer. "I guess we'll be stuck watching it forever then." He snickered before I yelped when his fingers got a bit too adventurous.

"Drake, we just recovered." I protested halfheartedly yet not really pushing him off either. His smile was soft and tender as he chuckled, leaning closer to give me a tender kiss. Nuzzling closer for a moment as we ignored the spray of water and the soap sliding over our bodies.

His voice was a deep rasp as he replied, "Trust me, I know. I'm still aching but seeing you like this-" He groaned, closing his eyes as his forehead came to a rest on my shoulder, making me laugh as I patted him on his back. "Shower, breakfast then a run. After that-"

A yelp escaped me when his teeth scraped over his mark, instantly letting a flush bloom over my face. "After that, I think we're going to make the Betas extremely happy by taking a few days off." Drake unspoken promise made me shiver before he released me once more.

Luckily our shower finished without any more distractions because like Drake had pointed out, both of us were still healing. Even if we were more than willing to dive back into bed or find any other interesting position to entertain us with, our bodies needed a little time to heal.

With damp hair and fresh clothes we slowly ventured to the kitchen, greeting several of the surprised pack along the way. A smile curled on my lips as the wolfpack started howling their usual morning greeting, their declaration of claim on their mountain. The sound made me listen in for a moment and share a look with Drake before he nodded.

"It's been a bit since we've interacted with our wolves. And that was usually after work for a very brief moment. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Shadow is going to lay on top of you during the next visit just so you can't leave him again."

That made me snort, amusement bubbling through my system though I knew Drake wasn't joking. The massive wolf that had bonded with me had behaved like an admonished pup begging for attention last time we visited and it had taken forever to leave the room without Shadow trying to sneak out with us.

"Why can't they roam free on the pack actually?" I questioned out loud, motioning to our surroundings. "It's not like they're going to suddenly run for the hills if their territory got expanded beyond the enclosed mountain range."

Drake's coffee paused in front of his lips as he hummed thoughtfully. "In theory, it's completely possible. They're not bound to attack us or flee like you said. To be completely honest, I don't worry about the pack being an issue."

It only took a brief moment before I sighed. "Poachers."

My mate shared in my distaste as he growled lowly. "While pack patrol can keep an eye out on the edge of our territory and alert if anyone suspicious is spotted, we can't expect our family to run after the wolves if they were to chose to leave our territory. And enclosing our entire territory with fences would make our pack feel more than a prison instead of a safe haven for the rejected and abandoned alike."

I grimaced at the picture Drake painted. Even if we expanded the wild pack's territory by letting them roam free, I could only imagine the utter heartbreak if for whatever reason, Shadow never returned. And the absolute rage I'd experience if I were to find his blood in the air and poachers spotted on our turf.

Drake nodded as our thoughts intertwined as he handed my plate of eggs, bacon and bread along with my own mug of hot tea. "Then again, poachers wouldn't know a wild wolf from one of us to begin with, which still presents the same issue." He pointed out, huffing slightly before he stilled when both of us received a message from Skylar.

"Dear Alphas, isn't the whole point of taking a day of to stop working?"

"Busted." I chuckled along with Drake as we received a proper scolding from Skylar before being urged to take the day off, both physically and mentally and enjoy ourselves.

A grin slid on both our faces when we heard Shadow whimper and whine in excitement as we approached the walls of his enclosure. I had to brace myself as soon as Drake opened the door in order to not be bowled over by the massive enforcer, who's wagging tail was nearly making him wobble as he approached.

"Hey big guy." I coed at him, brushing my fingers through Shadow's fur as he grumbled and rubbed his body against mine. He even gratefully accepted any pats from Drake without his usual dismissive huffs, making us both look up with a sheepish smile.

Especially so when Drake's own pair of wolves ran up to him in order to greet him like a long lost member of the pack that finally returned. "We really didn't visit them all that much, did we?" Drake guiltily asked, taking a step back to sit down. Not even a second later, he had two wolves vying for his attention, both attempting to claim his lap as theirs.

Shadow was no better and I had to actually stop fighting to hold my balance, laying down to allow the big brute to nuzzle up against me. That along with their content whines and yelps was rather heartbreaking, making Drake and I silently vow that no matter how busy things got, we'd make time to visit these poor pups.

"Let's take our run with these guys." I murmured while patting a happily panting Shadow's flank. "They'd love to spend more time with us and that way we can actually do our run with a slight inspection of their turf."

Drake smiled warmly before giving a rather boyish grin. "I won't tell Skylar if you won't."

That made me groan, realizing that I was still thinking of work instead of fully relaxing. "Deal." I simply stated before managing to squirm out from under Shadow before walking to the storage lockers to put away our clothes. "Plus if we come across any deer, we might help the pack with their hunt."

"If they're hungry, sure." Drake commented before undressing and shifting when he tucked away his own clothes. Stretching with a loud yawn as I followed his example, instantly having to avoid the inquisitive nuzzles from the wolves.

They eagerly followed us out the door, where we were greeted by the rest of the pack with playful nips and pup like whines. It made our hearts melt as the pack greeted us like one of their own and eagerly followed us into the woods, tails happily flicking through the air.

"We need to do this more often." I thought to Drake, who nodded in agreement. Not just running with the pack, but taking breaks and relaxing. Just the few moments spent like this, running through the woods whilst our noses followed whatever scent it picked up, was liberating.

Especially so when the pack invited us to play, nipping at our tails and getting us to chase them around before returning the favor. It made me feel like a pup again, bringing up memories of when my parents did this for me.

It just reaffirmed that I've finally found a place I could be happy at, a place I considered home. And a place that considered me just as much as family as I did. The happiness and contentment that flowed through the pack made me realize I wasn't quite keeping my thoughts to myself, but there was no shame following the realization.

We were more than a pack. We are a family. And we would always stick up for one another, no matter what we faced.