[--Sep. 2005--]

"You know to tell yer mamma if she asks about this, I didn't do it, right?" Laird tapped the ash off the end of his cigarillo.

"I'm a grown-ass man," Dakota snorted, "I don't need her permission to get a tattoo."

Laird let out a raspy laugh. "Aight, well, gimme a second t'pull the truck out," Laird said, fishing his keys out of his pocket.

"How old were you when you got your first one?" Dakota asked, looking over at Slade, who was focused more on trying to keep Kaid and Nate from misplacing any of the tools in Laird's garage.

"Hah! Not old enough to go to the tattoo shop, that's fer damn sure." Slade laughed as his gaze drifted back to the boys over at Laird's tool bench.

Kaiden was working on replacing the ball bearings in an old skateboard he'd gotten while Nate 'helped'. Honestly, the old thing probably didn't deserve as much care and attention as Kaiden was giving it, but to Kaiden, it was as important as Dakota's car or his dad's motorcycle. He already had plans to replace the grip tape and trucks on it too.

After backing out his truck to make room, Laird pulled an old work stool over to Dakota, along with a worn-out desk chair that was missing an arm. "Make yourself comfortable, Strawberry."

Dakota's eyes narrowed, but he tested his weight on the ripped leather seat anyway.

"So, the generator an the gun are gonna make some noise," Laird said. "Don't let em' scare you."

"Hn..." Dakota paled a little when Laird actually started turning things on and sat a roll of dusty paper towels down on the tool bench next to them. "How bad's it hurt?"

"Oh, it'll sting like a bitch, but you'll be fine," Laird said, grinning. "Slade an I'll only make fun of you a little bit if you cry."

Dakota jerked his arm away from the alcohol wipe in Laird's off-hand. "Woah, wait."

"What?"

"You haven't even asked what I want."

Laird's slight beer gut rose and fell with his laughter. "Yer twenty. You don't know what ya want."

"But-"

"Trust me," Laird said, wiping the sweat off his brow just below the black latex gloves he'd put on. "I'll do ya somethin' that'll look good—even on your twig arms."

Dakota took a deep breath and tried to relax against the seat. His arms weren't that small.

A few hours later, the pups were about to the limit of their patience and were well past getting bored. Dakota also had hit his pain tolerance for one day.

He couldn't help taking the occasional peek under his bandage, though, to look at the designs inked into his angry, raised skin. He actually was glad he let Laird just do his thing because the result had been undeniably badass.

Part of the design even looked like an echo of one of Slade's, and he liked that. It would be the perfect memorial for his ascension into the adult ranks...

A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth as he covered it back up. He still hadn't heard a thing from Riley.

As much as his second oldest brother had tormented him, it still hurt that he hadn't returned a single call. He hadn't come to visit.

Didn't he wonder about Nate, or him, or Slade? No? Just... nothing? That was how it was gonna be?

It was hard for Dakota to wrap his head around. They were brothers, and it felt like he'd lost one... Fuck, for all he knew, maybe he had. The thought made his chest tight and twisted his stomach.

Then there was his messy relationship with Travis, who'd acted like nothing had changed for a few months, the same as the first time, at least... until Dakota would get another call.

The alpha was completely different on the rare occasions that they were alone, but the rules were always the same: No marks. No scent.

And although Travis said he was trying his best to provide opportunities where they could be alone, schedules and pack events just didn't always afford it to them.

Rose had booked them on a family getaway for a few months in late spring into early summer. Then Travis had been away to visit some pack members who lived out of state.

He'd gotten back a few weeks ago, but the pack had stolen every minute of the alpha's free time. So, it'd been a particularly long spell since Dakota and Travis had spent any time with just the two of them.

Unlike Travis, Dakota had what felt like an absurd amount of free time now. But the bitch of it was that when Dakota wasn't helping Byron, or doing other odd jobs for packmates around the ranch, it was actually hard to enjoy his lack of obligation-less mornings. More often than not, anxiety and guilt liked to come kick him in the teeth for not doing enough.

Especially since Kaiden had started school now, and Slade was home during the day to watch Nate during the week. And once both boys were in school, Slade said he'd switch back to first shift so Dakota would finally be free of babysitting duties in the evenings entirely.

When they got back to the trailer from Laird's place, Dakota volunteered to start making lunch.  could hear Slade talking to someone on the phone in his bedroom, which was normal, but it was what he'd thought he'd heard his brother say that caught his attention.

He slowly straightened his back and closed the fridge, setting the eggs on the countertop. A few steps brought him closer to the short hall leading to Slade's bedroom.

"It's been almost five years Riley, he misses you, we all do." Slade's tone was low and controlled, somewhere between disappointment and understanding. "I know, but it would mean a lot to Nate, he's starting to ask about ya more these days."

Dakota pressed his lips together. Had Slade heard from Riley before this? He edged closer to the door, practically holding his breath to pick out the deep murmur of his brother's words over the hum of the fridge and the rattling of the box fan in the living room.

"I know, I'm not saying to drop everything and come back, but a card or a phone call might—Right, I getcha." Slade trailed off as if he'd been interrupted. The next few minutes were a series of "Mhm" and "Yeah," as Slade listened. "Alright, I'll let you go, Love-" Slade paused as the dial tone echoed in his ear. '-you." He sighed as he hung up the phone and rubbed a hand over his face.

Dakota opened Slade's door the moment it sounded like their call was ending, but it seemed it was too late to catch Riley still on the line. "Call him back," Dakota demanded. "I wanna talk to him."

Slade's disappointment mixed with surprise at Dakota's demand and at first, the big man seemed reluctant, before he sighed and picked up the phone. Slade keyed in star-six-nine and handed the phone to his little brother.

"Yeah?" was the first thing Riley said. It was dismissive, and hardly a greeting, but Dakota knew that inflection anywhere. It was him. It really was Riley.

"Where the hell are you?" Dakota asked, cringing at the break in his voice. It wasn't like his life had been unpleasant since their brother'd been kicked from the pack. Hell, if anything it'd been better in a lot of ways, but there was also Nate to consider. That frustrating, adorable, little ball of destruction didn't deserve to have the other pups hounding him about where his real dad was, or why he, or his mother for that matter, didn't want him. "And don't you dare fucking hang up on me," Dakota added, turning away from Slade to avoid him seeing the salty tears stinging his eyes.

Ascending to the adult ranks was normally a bi-annual event. All the young adults between 19 and 21 years old, who were still classed as pups, moved into the adult ranks of the pack. But this was the first time in the pack's history that only two members would be ascending. So, for Dakota and Mari, it was a lot of pressure. Normally, pups would have formed friendships and bonds with their peers, and have each other to look out for them. For them, this wasn't the case.

Dakota knew he could just keep his head and tail low and not have much trouble at all fitting into the lower ranks of the males, but if he wanted to stay close to Travis, or have any influence within the pack, he couldn't do that. Travis had spent the last few years teaching him how to posture for what he wanted, and growing up with Riley had taught him how to deal with the pain involved in a fight. He was pretty confident he could squeeze his way into at least the lower rung of Travis's inner circle if he tried hard enough.

Once all of the males had gathered in the field, Travis said a few inspiring things about coming of age and whatnot. Dakota's head wasn't in it though. He was purely focused on what he should do, who he should go for, who he should try to avoid...

When Travis finally shifted, signaling that the rest could as well, Dakota was ready to go. He'd not worn a single piercing or piece of silver jewelry today in anticipation. As soon as he shifted, he trotted towards some of the lower-ranking wolves. Some of them growled at him but dropped the act when he growled back, holding his head and tail high.

Laird was the first to offer Dakota any real resistance. He wasn't at all put off by Dakota's posturing. Instead, the older wolf snapped at his ankles—to which Dakota replied with his own snap at Laird's wider muzzle. To his surprise, though it really shouldn't have been, Laird lunged at him, throwing his front paws up to mount him.

Twisting, Dakota brought his mouth down on Laird's hind leg, which drew a surprised yelp out of the other wolf. Laird was quick to grab his scruff, however, jerking hard, and forcing Dakota off balance.

A sharp, startled cry from Dakota pierced the field. He could see Byron and Travis watching intently and his embarrassment fueled his struggle. After more snapping and tumbling, Dakota managed to slip free, but within seconds, Laird had gotten a firm hold on Dakota's scruff again. This time, Laird used his weight to subdue Dakota.

Once Dakota finally relaxed, giving up on his futile struggling, Laird released him, allowing him to lift himself up out of the dirt. He shook himself out before noticing the lower ranks had begun to shift back. It was over...

He hadn't done as great as he'd hoped, but he'd earned himself a place near Travis's circle, just below Laird. A bit of pride warmed his deep chest when it set in just how not shitty that actually was.

Dakota bound over to his brother in his excitement, shifting just before he got to him. He threw his arms around Slade in an ecstatic, tight hug.

That night, Travis and Rose invited Slade and Dakota over to have their own mini celebration for him, but it was also an opportunity to let the pups play together. Kaiden, despite being the oldest, was easily overpowered by Travis's pups. Hazel and Axel found the lanky black pup to be very passive and easy to get the better of, and there were occasions when Kaiden was overwhelmed and ran to the safety of Dakota or Slade when play got too rough.

Nate, on the other hand, was a ball of energy that loved to roughhouse. The rougher things got, the more enthusiastic and snappy he became. Even the alpha wasn't off-limits to the nippy black pup with white toes. When Travis snapped at him, he just snapped back and wagged his tail. At one point, he was even bold enough to nip Travis's tail but quickly scrambled away once he had the big white wolf's full attention.

"He reminds me a lot of a certain someone," Travis snorted as they sat down to eat dinner.

"Who?" Nate wondered as he climbed into Slade's lap and grabbed a fluffy dinner roll off his plate.

"Heh. I think he's referring to yer, dad," Slade said gently, as he tussled Nate's orange hair.

"Oh... I thought you were my dad," Nate said, turning to look up at Slade, who swallowed thickly and cleared his throat.

Dakota had stopped eating, and his full attention was now on his nephew and brother.

"No," Hazel said in a superior tone, "Your dad got kicked out of the pack. Duuuuh."

Nate was still staring, his strawberry blonde brows pulled into a deep frown.

Dakota paled a little, frowning at Slade as he slowly resumed chewing, looking between him and Travis.

Slade knew he should have told Nate sooner, but he'd had a hard time finding the right way. When was a good time to explain something like this to a pup? He certainly hadn't expected it to come up out of nowhere like this.

"Ahem, well... You're like a son to me, and I promised yer dad I'd look after you, just until he comes back," Slade assured with a warm smile.

"Is he allowed to come back, Dad?" Axel asked, looking up at Travis. "I thought rogues weren't allowed to come back."

"They aren't," Hazel said.

"Shut up," Dakota growled, earning a shocked look from the five-year-old pup and her mother. This was exactly the kinda shit he'd been dreading. The same kinda situation he'd tried to get through to Riley when they'd spoken on the phone last week. But Riley hadn't fucking listened. No one ever fucking listened.

"Dakota," Rosemarie balked.

"Well it's none of her fucking business," the redhead muttered before setting down his fork and getting up from the table. He didn't dare make eye contact with either alpha as he took Nate from Slade's arms.

Rose shot a stern gaze at her husband after watching the young wolf retreat to the living room with his nephew.

Travis's hand lifted slightly from the table, gesturing at his mate to hold. "Let's give him a minute," Travis said, as he turned back to his meal.

In the living room, Nate was watching the others from over Dakota's shoulder, until they rounded the corner. "Stupid, know it all, Hazel," he grumbled. "What's she know anyway? My dad could come back... if he wanted to... right?"

Dakota's heart ached as he sat down, resting the pup's weight on his lap. "That would be between him and Travis, Nate," he said. But Nate looked more like Slade than Kaid did. It was no wonder he'd always thought Slade was his father. "But you know what?"

"What?" Nate pouted, his furrowed brows now accompanied by his jutted chin.

Dakota's expression softened. "You're a pretty awesome kid." He glanced back towards the kitchen before adding, in a conspiratorial whisper, "Only an idiot wouldn't wanna come back to see you." To be honest, he was definitely an idiot for popping off at a dumb pup... and at one of Travis's kids at that. 

Nate's frown remained, though it looked more pensive than angry—as if he was trying to decide if Dakota was right or not. "Maybe..." Nate said, which was about as agreeable as the four-year-old got.

Glancing back down at him, Dakota raised a brow. "How's that roll?" he asked, a small smile making its way back onto his face now that he was feeling calmer and his head was clearing a bit. For as much as they pissed him off sometimes—or a lot of the time—being with his nephews when they weren't acting crazy did tend to make him feel a little better.

Nate looked down at the roll with a big chunk missing. "Good," he murmured back while fiddling with it a little.

"Are you two going to be rejoining us, for dessert?" Travis wondered as he came into the living room.

Dakota's ears heated up when his gaze met Travis's. "Yeah," he said before quickly clearing his throat and standing up, shifting Nate in his arms. "...Sorry, Alpha," Dakota added as he carried Nate back towards the dining room.

Travis's hand caught Dakota's shoulder before he got past him. "This party is for you, so I'll let it slide this time."

Dakota tried to swallow the lump that was suddenly in his throat.

"But tell my little girl to shut up again, and I'll give you something to be sorry about," Travis whispered in Dakota's ear before releasing him and smiling at Nate who just stuck his tongue out at Travis.

Dakota nodded—desire twisting his stomach in knots despite the threat laced in the alpha's tone. "Understood."

So excited to have gotten out another chapter of this story! I know it's been a minute, but we hope you enjoyed it!

Shout outs to ateez_x, meunieraschl, and mxbeebz! Thanks so much for your support!