As I drive through the pack lands, I can't help the fluttering that starts in the pit of my stomach. Excitement like a child at a theme park forms deep within.

The smell of thick pine and clean air captures me with an unforgettable familiarity I never tired of.
I take note of how the pack has developed since I left: there were more houses as well as the scent of more witches.

The thought of Aunt Katty makes my heart swell even more. She was by far the most amazing Aunt to have grown up with.
She's the one who got me Caspar and linked his life to mine. She knew before anyone else I was missing an inner wolf, and so she gave me the next best thing- a jaguar who's thoughts were only accessible to me and mine to him, with strength and durability to match my own. He was everything to me and I missed him more than anything these past few years.

I strain my neck out the window as I pass the second pack house out of our five. This was the one I grew up in when it was just me, Damon and our dads. When our family kept growing, we moved out and our parents built themselves a 'little' mansion to say the least.

That was now home and as I drove down the long, rocky driveway to it, I felt my heart pounding with relief, joy, anxiety all at once.

I park my car and the moment my foot touches the ground, the front doors were blasted open and my dads emerged. My dad, Julian, was running while Aiden just walked calmly with his hands in his pockets.

I open my arms sucking in a breath of relief as my dad jumps into me, squeezing me so tight I couldn't breathe. Immediately, his scent surrounds me. It blanketed me with the warmth that I'd grown to love since I was young and would never tire of.
He pulls back only to look at me, his smile wobbly but no tears... yet.

"I've missed you." He says with a large smile few had the pleasure of seeing. "So much."

"I missed you too dad." I say as my bear of a father finally graces me with his presence. Julian looks over his shoulder with an unimpressed look before looking back to me.

"You left me to deal with this imbecile for way too long." He says as we part, instantly earning him a glare from Aiden but no comment. He turns his attention to me, face still neutral for a long moment before he pulls me into his chest with a smile.

I loved hugging dad. I loved hugging both my parents, my whole family in fact, but with Aiden... with him, I never felt pain when he touched me.
I felt normal. Nothing hurt. No memories coiled my stomach. Nothing.
I didn't care about the reason, I just thanked Goddess there was one person on this planet who's touch didn't feel like acid on my skin.

"You alright kid?" He asks withdrawing slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine Po." I say making him roll his eyes.

"Ha. You still calling me that?" Dad asks rolling his eyes and I laugh.

The only reason I started calling him Po was because after Damon was born, his violent tendencies grew and they grew quickly. As an effort to get him away from his favourite show, Happy Tree Friends, I tried to make him watch Teletubbies. He hated it, of course, but the red one, Po, struck a chord with me. The red reminded me of mine and Aiden's eyes, so I sort of just started calling him Po.

He pats my back slightly before backing up just as Haden and Josey come running out, Peter walking just behind them.

"Levi!" They cheer as they jump on me and start climbing me like they did when they were small pups. But now they were fourteen and much, much heavier.

I look to my parents for help but they just walk away and start unloading my things, causing me to glare with an unspoken promise to get them back.

"How're you guys doing?" I ask when they finally jump off so I can hug them properly.

"I'm fine; can't say the same for this guy." Josey says making Hagen scowl.

"Still getting shit for the name?" I question him and he nods before glaring at Aiden.

"It's all your fault old man!" Hagen shouts, apparently picking up the nickname Damon started. Aiden only frowns in response.

"It's a great name!" He defends just as he did every time we had this conversation.

"No dad- it's not." He snaps back. "It's like you wanted to name me Harry and Ragen but couldn't decide so you merged them. Y-You can't even make a nickname out of it: Haggy, Agen, Haga. They all sound fucking dumb!"

I laugh at this cause it was honestly true. I could practically see the steam rising from Dad's head as he opens his mouth to reply, his husband beating him to it.

"I fought for you honey- I really did." Julian says making Aiden glare at him. "I told him it was a shit name, he wouldn't listen. He may not love you but I do."

"Hey!" Aiden snaps while Julian smiles up at him. "I love the kid, that's why I gave him such an amazing and unique name."

"Amazing and unique?!" Hagen exclaims.

"Dad, do you know the meaning of amazing?" Josey questions with her hand propped on her hip. And then they all dive into an argument I could never attempt to follow. From the corner of my eye, I could see Peter inching his way over to me.

Peter was the quietest guy in our family; no, the quietest guy in the entire pack, maybe even the world.
He stuck to Julian like glue when he was growing up. It always confused me that he didn't want to play so much with Damon and me.
I mean, Damon never let me go for a minute. We even slept in the same bed for years cause he refused to be far apart. So I expected the same for Peter, but he was the total opposite. He stuck to our dad instead and on many occasions, Aiden ended up sleeping with Damon and me cause Julian slept in Peter's room.

He stops when he's right in front of me, his fingers twisting behind his back as he looked up with an open mouth before shutting it and looking down. He always had trouble finding the words to express himself. After repeating this about five times, he finally finds his words.

"Welcome home." He whispers and I smile. He slides himself slowly between my arms and hugs me, barely squeezing me at all as he gently rests in my chest. I smile down at him as he was much smaller than me, smaller than everyone. He inhales my scent discretely for familiarity before backing away. He then takes one of my boxes and goes back inside without another word.

Still carrying the argument, the rest of my family help unload my truck and we take everything inside. They dump them into my room before regrouping in the kitchen, where Peter was already cooking dinner.

"Where's the other one?" I question Josey as we all sit on the island stools.

"Waiting for you to come to him." She answers with a deep frown. "Self righteous ass thinks you should go to him. I say let him stew, stupid mutt."

"Josey, language." Aiden hisses before looking to me. "She's right though- let the mutt rot."

"We will not call one another mutts in this house." Julian snaps. "Imbecile, dimwit, dumbass, idiot, and even feline are acceptable, but not mutt."

"Sorry dad." Josey says while Aiden just shrugs.

"Where's Caspar?" I ask, itching to see him.

"Kat's doing her check up and witchy juju on him. He'll be back tomorrow." Julian says making me nod solemnly.

The room falls oddly silent and I hate that I knew why. Everyone was expecting me to come home with Matt and instead, I'm here alone. I was grateful they hadn't once mentioned it, but now I saw they're trying not to.

"You must be exhausted. Why don't you take a nap and we'll wake you up for dinner." Julian says, knowing that I wanted to escape the awkward silence.

"Okay." I said with an appreciative smile before making my way out the kitchen. I release a sigh once I'm not in earshot, my body sagging a little as I walked through this castle of a home.
The ceiling was obnoxiously high with stone pillars made of limestone, and there was slick marble flooring that led to the large staircase. It was like something out of a movie where it split off in two directions.

I turn right, heading to Peter, Damon and my section of the house. We all slept in the back right wing while the rest of the family was on the left.
As I walk down the long hallway, I take a peep into Peter's room. Nothing about his room had changed, except the presence of numerous new stacks of books.

I keep walking until I come to Damon's room, a big Fuck Off sign hanging from the closed door. I knew he wanted me to go to him, to hug him and say I missed him, but I wouldn't. Not because I didn't want to, because I did- fuck I missed the guy. But I was given the task of keeping Damon grounded until he met his mate and had her to do it for him.
Damon was a bit of a pompous ass sometimes with a head way too big for his shoulders. He believed most people should be grateful to be in his presence and responded with violence when they weren't. A small effect of him being the first born son of two alphas.

He was really just a big baby who had trouble making friends. His only friend was Amelia, the future beta who had zero problems knocking him down a whole lot of notches when no one else would.

They were seventeen now on their way to eighteen, and I knew Damon didn't want anything more in his life than for Amelia to be his mate. He'd never say it and acted like a complete ass when she was around, but he was completely and utterly in love with the girl and had absolutely no idea how to show it.

And so, I just kept walking until I reached my room. It was the exact same way I left it, although a bit cleaner, making me smile. Julian always cleaned it up for me when I was gone.
The room was a dark navy blue, almost black color with a way too big kind-sized bed in the corner underneath a large window that took most of the wall. On the other side, my books, paintings, tv and working desk.

I shut the door behind me as I walk deeper into the room, not at all surprised when a loud, dare I say... demonic growl filled the house.
I enter my bathroom to relieve myself as heavy impatient steps make their way to me.
The door almost breaks open with the force put behind it as Damon comes straight in the bathroom.

He'd grown taller somehow. His long dirty blonde hair caressed his shoulder as he stood shirtless with even more tattoos littered all over his arms. He simply glared at me with those dark blue eyes that scared most people.

I was not most people.

"You just gonna stand there and watch me piss like a perv?" I question with a smirk. I could swear his eye was twitching but he steps out, remaining in my room while I finish off and wash my hands.

I walk out to find him standing in the middle of my room, arms crossed and body tense. He wanted to hug me- I knew it, but he was trying so uselessly hard to appear like he didn't.

I guess I'd have to tease the guy a little.

"Why didn't you come down when I arrived?" I question as I dry my hand with a small towel. "I thought you missed me enough to come say hi; guess not."

His glare falters as his eyes immediately fill with regret and guilt before flashing back to the cold stare. His body shifting in its spot uncomfortably.

"Are you even going to say hello?" I question walking forward slowly. "Even Peter said something, can't you?"

He opens his mouth but nothing comes out making his frown deepen as he clenches his fist. Goddess he was helpless.

I stop when I'm right in front of him. Frowning a little when I realize I have to look up at him; somehow he managed to pass me. Now I felt like the kid.

"If you're not going to say anything, get out." I say finally holding his glare. I wouldn't succumb to his premature, alpha tendencies. I was an Alpha too and I didn't need an inner wolf to show him who was still in charge here. I ignore his release of pheromones as he tries to stand his ground. I wasn't giving up.

After a few long minutes, he finally gives in and pulls me into a hug. I laugh against him as he squeezes me tightly and inhales me deeply.

"I fucking hate you." He growls and I laugh as I pat his back.

"I think you mispronounced love." I say with amusement as he pulls back but doesn't let me go. "You good kid?"

"I'm not a kid!" He growls with a small pout. "I killed seven rogues today alone."

"Sounds like something a kid would do." I say making his frown deepen. "You didn't answer my question."

"I'm fine." He grunts as we part and I flop down on my bed. He immediately lies down next to me, our arms behind our heads. "Are you okay?"

"Not really." I say truthfully.

"You know I'm going to kill him right?" Damon questions and I sigh. He always did this when any of relationships ended. I'd managed to stray him from death to torture, which was no better in my eyes, but a big loss to him. He'd somehow find them and torture them at the very least.

"Please don't." I beg but he just smiles.

"I'm going to claw the skin from his body." He says with that sick happy voice he got when he thought about death.

"Even if I tell you I broke up with him." I say making his smile drop as he looks to me. "It wasn't working out- no spark... so I ended it."

"You're lying." He says after a moment before looking back to the ceiling. "So I'm going to kill him."

"If you do, I'm never talking to you again." I threaten and he just laughs.

"You say that every time." He counters making me frown. My body was building with useless frustration.

"If you do, t-then I won't come back next time." I stutter out frustratedly and he freezes. He sits up resting on his arm, hovering over me.
I knew he was always afraid of me leaving and never coming back, and he knew one day I wouldn't. I was an alpha- I couldn't stay here forever.

"You wouldn't." He says simply before flopping back onto the bed.

"How's Amelia?" I question, desperate to change the topic.

"As good as a bitch can be." He replies boredly and I laugh. In Damon language, that translated to 'she's okay'.

"I heard Hagen is getting bullied for his name." I say looking to him with a frown. "You're looking out for him right?"

"Yeah." He says swatting me off. "He just gives me a name, and I deal with them." My eyes widen at this and he rolls his eyes. "I don't fucking kill them, I just fuck them up a bit."

"Cause that's so much better." I say sarcastically before we dive into conversation. We recapped everything the other had missed in our time apart, despite the fact that we talked on the phone everyday.

Damon was my closest sibling without a doubt. He may be as tough as nails with a bite that killed but if anybody ever fucked with him, I'd make him look like the nice son.

"Dinner's ready you parasites!" Aiden yells loudly, causing both Damon and I to groan. "Oh, you don't want to eat?"

"Aiden." Julian calls in annoyance.

"No. If those two little shits are too bothered to come downstairs and eat, then guess what? You don't have to eat!" He shouts angrily before walking away with heavy steps and audible grumbles. "Stupid little pieces of... "

"Gotta love dad, right?" Damon says as we slide off the bed.

"Damn right you better love me!" He yells back as we walk down the hallway, causing us to roll our eyes.

When we finally make it to the dinner table, my stomach growls with hunger as my eyes took everything in. I almost forgot how great the food Julian and Peter made was. I'm practically salivating as I take a seat across from Josey, Peter on my left and Damon on my right.

"It's nice having everyone together again." Julian says while glancing around the table from his seat, which was placed at one head of the table and Aiden at the other.

"Yeah, just amazing." Hagen says beaming around. "The wifi gets slower, a warm shower is a fucking luxury from the Goddess above and best of all, we get to share all our food."

Aiden nods in agreement causing Julian to glare at him. He stiffens at this before he smacks Hagen upside the head. Hagen winces as he rubs at his scalp while Josey snickers and Damon chuckles.

"Now, what are we all grateful for?" Julian says making everyone else groan but me smile. A couple years ago, I would've groaned too but after being away for so long, I kinda missed this.

"Shut it and say what you're grateful for so we can eat." Aiden snaps looking to Damon to start but someone beats him to the punch.

"I-It makes no sense saying i-it tonight." Peter stutters out with a voice much quieter than usual, even for him.

The room goes absolutely quiet as we all take in the rare moment of Peter actually talking without being pressured to.
He looks around the room nervously before his eyes land in his lap.
His biggest fear was probably being yelled at but nobody ever yelled at Peter, ever.

"Only b-because we're all thankful f-for the same thing." He explains quickly before rushing out the rest. "I didn't mean to be rude."

"And what is that Peter?" Julian asks gently with a smile that immediately calms him. He looks around the room for a while before his eyes settle on me.

"Levi." He says as if it were obvious. "W-We're not a family.... unless he's here too." He says making my eyes widen at his words. "A-And he's finally back home... so we're a family again."

Smiles quickly spread around the table, mine the biggest of them all. I try my hardest to keep my tears back as I give him an appreciative nod with the intent to squeeze the living daylights out of him later.

"Dude, are you crying?" Damon questions making me shoot my head back as I physically will the tears to go away. "I don't remember you being this fucking emotional."

"And I don't remember you being this fucking ugly." I snap back as my eyes catch his, a deep frown taking his lips as his eyebrows knotted together.

"I'll have you know Le-Vi," Why'd he same my name like that? "that I'm sexy as hell." He finishes with so much confidence I almost puked. Sometimes I wondered where it all came from.

"You're welcome." Aiden says with a smirk. Yep, that's the source. Everyone groans their disgust but Dad just shrugs and we all dig in.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Josey asks me while holding a roasted drumstick in-between her fingers.

"Nothing." Damon replies and she shoots him an unimpressed look.

"Wasn't talking to you mutt." She spits making Damon growl almost as loudly as Julian. Josey apologizes silently but the conversation continues.

"Call me that one more time, see if I don't show you who's Alpha." Damon threatens leaning over the table making Josey smirk.

Goddess, didn't he know by now you never pick a fight with that girl. The kid would fucking annihilate you without even blinking.

"Oh you don't need to show me." She scoffs before tearing the meat off the bone with her teeth, flashing her canines in the process. "I already know who's Alpha. Dad is alpha." She says pointing the drumstick to Julian. "Grandpa is alpha." She says pointing to Aiden who mutters profanities under his breath. "Levi is an alpha." She says pointing it to me before redirecting it to Damon. "You... mutt... you're no alpha. You're just a little boy running around in daddy's shoes, but they'll always be too big for you."

"Ooooo." Aiden says with his hand over his mouth as his eyes dart between Damon and Josey.

Josey may have been only fourteen but when she got like this, Jesus Christ. Let's just say it reminded me of why I tried to remain on her good side.

It didn't help that Josey and Damon had one weird ass relationship. They were always fighting; always trying to demean the other or embarrass each other in the worst way possible. But at the end of the day, they'd be in the gym working out side by side.

I didn't get it at all.

Damon's eyes glow a dark blue with as he opens his mouth with the intent to kill but was quickly interrupted.

"Julian." Dad says suddenly before licking his fingers. "Why did you bare such demonic children? Why didn't we adopt?"

"Firstly, you carried two of them and secondly, we did adopt." He replies, the two of them having a conversation as if we weren't all right here.

"Yeah and he's the only tolerable one." He continues making everyone frown, though we all had a twinkle of amusement in our eyes. "We adopted one tolerable son, made one demonic one, a perfect one, and two... I don't even know."

"But we love them." Julian says with a smile and dad nods.

"We love them." He says as if that were a sin before he looks to us. "It's a pity they don't love each other."

"Oh, we love each other." Hagen confirms while we all nod, his mouth full of just about everything on the table.

"And we love you guys." Josey says looking to Damon who nods. "You either adopted us or made us and now you're stuck with us, and for that we apologize."

"Sincerely." I fill in and they all nod once more.

"But you have to understand, we're stuck with you guys too." She says turning the tables on them. Their eyes widen with smiles tugging at their lips.

"I never thought that Goddess would be mean enough to give me to a pair of lunatics who hate each other as parents." Damon says with amused eyes.

"Hated." Dad quickly corrects.

"Because that's so much better." Josey says sarcastically. "And day and night we suffer through your failed attempt of a bond."

"Ouch." Julian says holding his chest with a smile.

"But it's okay." Josey says quickly.

"Because we love you." Peter finishes, leaving all the kids smiling while our parents struggle to hide their own.

"Goddess I love you guys." Aiden finally says with a chuckles as he smiles at us.

"We love you too." We all say in unison.

Our family dynamic was a weird one, I admit. Few understood it and even less approved of it, but we didn't care. Because at the end of the day, we had each other and that was all that mattered.

------------

"No, Pizzaman come back!" Hagen groans in his sleep while clawing at my chest. I wince but ignore it as I carry him on my back. Josey laid in the same state of deep sleep but in Damon's arms.

We lay them down in their beds, tucking them in under their large covers before closing the doors behind us and returning downstairs to the large lounge where everyone else was watching movies.

Julian was seated comfortably in Aiden's lap while Peter sat in his designated armchair. They look up to us when return after putting the snoring twins to bed.

"Is it cool if I go hang out with Amelia?" Damon asks and our parents nod. He tosses them a small smile before he turns to go, stopping as he rests his hand on my shoulder. "It's uh... it's really good to have you back Levi." He says without meeting my eyes. I open my mouth to reply but he's already out the door and gone.

"He really missed you." Julian says making me look to them.

"I missed him too." I say with a smile before I snap out of my little haze. "I'm going to sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Me too." Peter mumbles as he stands up and quickly walks over to my side.

"We'll see you two in the morning." Julian says with a smile.

"I'd say sleep tight but that doesn't make any sense." Aiden says making dad roll his eyes. "How can you sleep tight?- it just doesn't work. So I'm going to say something more logical... sleep."

"Thanks, dad?" I say as more of a question. I throw my hand over Peter's shoulder and lead us out of the room. It burned a little to hold him but it was totally worth it the way he snuggled into me. He didn't show it a lot but he liked his hugs and cuddles.

"You doing okay?" I question, taking the opportunity to talk to him- just the two of us. "I know the house can get a little crazy."

"A little?" He counters softly and I smile.

"But you're fine?" He nods. "And school? No one's bothering you right?"

"I'm fine Levi." He says as we go up the stairs. I look down at him to make sure and he rolls his eyes before nodding once more.

I decide to trust him for now as we keep walking, unusually slow as if we were trying to extend the time we had together. It's silent for a long time before he says something.

"I meant what I said earlier." He whispers and I quirk my eyebrow. "We're not a family unless you're here."

"When did you become so fucking cute?" I question as I squeeze him tighter, pressing him into my chest as an effort to hide the emotions rushing to the surface way too quickly. He pushes against me after a while, muffled groans showing I was suffocating him again. When I let him go, he frowns at me as he rubs his nose before a small sneeze comes out.

"I'm not cute." He mumbles as he speed-walks to his room. I follow after him, holding the door before he could shut it and lock himself in for Goddess knows how long.

"Thank you Peter." I say seriously. "I really appreciate that."

He gives a small nod and I release the door, allowing him to close it. I walk to my room, diving straight onto the black sheets that were freshly washed. I roll onto my side so that I'm facing my large window, the moon shining down on me in all its lunar goodness. I stare at it until I slowly drift to sleep under the comfort of the night sky.

--------------------------------------------

I LOVE THIS FUCKING FAMILY!!!!!!!!
I used to say Damon was my favorite but fuck that QUEEN JOSEY ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!

Fuck only the second chapter and I'm living for my boys as parents and their babies!!! UGH THEY GROW UP SO QUICKLY!!

Thoughts?

Make sure to drop comments and vote up if you liked. I'm so happy to see so many of you return to read my book, especially my day ones who were reading Alpha Mates when I was screaming at getting 1K reads. Lol, love you guys.

Anyways,
Until next time,
Byeeeeee Humansssssssssss