The next morning, I was awoken by a hand massaging the back of my neck gently and stroking the top of my back that was exposed.

My eyes fluttered open, and I found Alrik sitting up with his back against the headboard as he stared down at me. He pulled a strand of my hair away from my face, and his lips curled into a small smile, "Morning."

"Morning. How long have you been awake?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes tiredly.

"For a while," he muttered, hauling me up and over to straddle his legs. I furrowed my eyebrows at his bloodshot eyes and cupped his face, "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"I had a bad dream," he sighed, admitting it reluctantly, "About Aleksei."

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

"What kind?"

"You thought Aleksei was better-looking and decided to have a threesome with him and his mate."

I blinked once. Then twice. But the expression on his face was one of a man who was extremely tramautized, and I couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"This isn't funny," Alrik snapped, glaring at me as I almost fell off his lap from laughter, "It was terrible. I almost had to watch it happen, but I woke up."

I pursed my lips to contain my snickering, but it was difficult to hold it in when his ears were turning red, "I thought it would be something serious like you and Aleksei having another fight. Not a threesome with him and his mate whom we haven't even met."

"I don't even know," he grumbled, raking a hand through his hair, "I think my nervousness about seeing him transported into my dreams and created the worst nightmare I have ever had."

I grabbed his face between my hands and stroked his cheekbones with thumbs lightly, "If it makes you feel any better, I don't like threesomes or taken men or anyone who isn't you."

Alrik rolled his eyes at my amused tone and leaned forward to kiss my forehead, "Please don't tell anyone about this. I'll never hear the end of it."

"You'll be lucky if I don't make at least one wisecrack about it when Aleksei arrives," I said, giving him a devilish smile as he groaned and rested his head on my shoulder.

"I really don't like you."

"This is payback for the number of jokes you made about my species. I haven't forgiven you for the broomstick-in-my-anus jab."

He raised his head and gave me a sweet peck on the lips, "Am I forgiven now?"

"Nope."

Another kiss.

"How about now?"

I almost wanted to sigh out loud. Despite the fact that we were acting like teenagers, he made my heart flutter more than a hummingbird's wings with his cute gestures. It also didn't help that he was a sight to behold in the morning – shirtless with messy hair, and a shadow of stubble that tickled me every time his cheek brushed against my skin.

I honestly wanted to hug him and rip his track pants off at the same time.

"Jaslynn?"

I snapped out of my lusty daydream and peered at him innocently, "Did you say something?"

"I was asking you what you wanted for breakfast," He said, squeezing my bottom lip between his fingers and tugging me forward, "But apparently you have other things in mi–"

"How about I make breakfast?" I said loudly, cutting off his smug response, "Do crepes sound good?"

"Great, but your pu–"

I smacked his head with a pillow and scrambled out of the bed, "I'm going to go brush my teeth. I suggest you do the same BUT in a different bathroom," I said firmly as he opened his mouth to protest.

"But–"

I ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, cutting off his curses.

***

The morning was slower than usual as if time was trying to kill us with anticipation for the arrival of our special guests.

Alrik had attempted to hide how anxious he was, but it was evident in the way he kept glancing at the clock on the microwave and clenching his jaw every few minutes. Eventually, I forced him out the door to visit the construction site for the new orphanage so I could have some time to pick up around the house.

And while I was wiping down the island, a knock on the door captured my attention. I lifted my head and noticed Reece waving at me through the window of the back door and motioned for her to come in.

"Is it true?" She asked excitedly as she made her way inside, "You forced Alrik to call Aleksei?"

I shook my head, "I didn't force him to do anything. He called Aleksei by his own will."

She grinned and yanked me into a hug that almost broke my rib cage, "Have I ever told you that you're an amazing influence?"

"You can't give me all the credit. I can push him all I want, but the actual changes come from him. You have to commend him for trying so much."

"Yes, but you pushed all the right buttons that no one else could touch. If I had known that all he needed was you, I would have forced him to the annual meetings at the Minister's house years ago, and Aleksei and Alrik would have reunited ages ago."

The joy in her voice was obvious as she spoke about two of her best friends reuniting. It must have been extremely uncomfortable for her to be stuck in the middle of a century-long fight between two people she loved dearly.

"Holy fuck, they're here!"

I jumped in surprise as Reece leaped out of her chair with a shriek and grabbed my hand, "Come on, border patrol just alerted us that they crossed the first line of security. Let's hurry before Alrik reaches there first."

We rushed out of the house and towards the training grounds, where the pack warriors were busy, unaware that their ex-Alpha was arriving shortly. Beta Conrad was the only one who knew, and he jogged over to us with a blinding smile on his face, "I cannot wait to see how this goes."

"Have you seen Alrik?" I asked, checking all directions for a sign of him.

Beta Conrad chuckled, "He was sprinting in his wolf form towards the border. If my calculations are correct, he should have reached Alpha Aleksei by now."

My eyes widened, "Well, in that case," I started sprinting down the hill as well, praying that I hadn't missed out on this monumental moment.

***

I skid to a stop in the middle of the woods and whirled around to face Reece and Beta Conrad, "Do you see them?"

"No," she whispered back, "But why are we whispering?"

"I don't want to disturb them if they already saw each other."

Suddenly, there was a rustle of branches from behind us, and a border patrol wolf jumped out of the tree and bowed his head at us, "Luna. Commander. Beta."

"Cesar, have you seen Alpha Alrik?" Reece asked.

He nodded and pointed his thumb to the left, "He went that way, Commander. Toward the main road."

I thanked him and began running in the direction of the main road. It was a couple of minutes before I could see the gravel path, but when the trees stopped blocking my view, my eyes were immediately drawn to a black car stopped in the middle of the road.

I skid to a stop and gaped at the two men standing feet away from each other as they stared the other down.

It was almost as if it were a scene from a movie where the two characters gazed at each other while everything around them disappeared.

The Kuznetsov brothers didn't even acknowledge our presence as we quietly broke through the line of trees and stood a little distance away, behind Alrik.

I almost felt the urge to rub my eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving me.

I had expected to see a carbon copy of Alrik standing before us, but instead, the two men were like night and day.

One brother had neatly combed silver hair that covered a part of his forehead while the side of his head was trimmed close to his scalp, while the other brother had messy jet black strands of hair that was swept back in a messy quiff.

One brother had warm earthy, brown eyes that resembled melted dark chocolate while the other had piercing gray eyes that reminded me of a storm that never stopped raging even when the sun was out to shine.

And one brother had piercings in his nose, eyebrow, and ear while the other had none.

The only parts of the appearance they had in common were their nose and lips.

Reece noticed my shell-shocked expression and opened her mouth to comment, but I quickly slapped my palm over her lips as Alrik stepped toward his brother.

"Aleksei," he breathed out so softly I almost didn't hear it.

Aleksei's face broke into a bright smile as he dropped his bag dramatically and rushed toward Alrik, tackling him into a hug.

My eyes were stinging with tears as they embraced each other tightly, whispering in each other's ears and patting each other's backs. I could see Alrik nod and release a deep breath as he rested his head on his brother's shoulder.

I was about to walk away to give them their privacy, but Aleksei opened his eyes and narrowed them at us.

"Who do we have here?" He asked, a mischievous grin forming on his face when his eyes traced my neck, "Is this the kroshka who turned you into a big püssy?"

Alrik pulled away from the hug, and Aleksei strode over to me, picking my hand up and planting a light kiss on my knuckles.

"Aleksei Kuznetsov," he introduced himself with a twinkle in his eye, "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, my love. My eyes have been blessed."

There were two growls behind him, and he rolled his eyes, "Excuse my mate. He's a little shy, but he does not hesitate to make his presence known when he thinks I'm getting too close to other men or women. Come here, Yerik, and Alrik stop pouting, I'm not stealing your mate even if she's stunning."

He moved aside, and my eyes widened at the first glimpse of his mate– if I thought Alrik and Aleksei were huge, Yerik was Hulk. He could have snapped me in half with one hand.

However, after Aleksei introduced him to Alrik, he came over and shook my hand with a surprisingly soft grip despite the rough texture of his callused and scarred hands.

"It's very nice to meet you, Luna," he said gruffly in a thick Russian accent.

My heart immediately melted, and I shook his hand happily, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Alpha Yerik. You can call me Jaslynn."

He gave me a small smile and turned to greet Reece and Beta Conrad with Aleksei.

An arm curled around my waist, and I leaned back into Alrik's chest as he kissed the top of my head, "This is better than I could have imagined."

"Are you still worried about your fantasy?" I asked quietly, jumping a little as he pinched my ass cheek hard, "They're two beautiful men, but not my type."

"You have a type?" He whispered in my ear.

"Yeah, hard-headed assholes."

He grunted and squeezed the other cheek discreetly, "Hard is right."

I rolled my eyes and removed myself from his grip, "Go spend the day with Aleksei. I'm sure you two have so much to catch up on."

"I will. I have a project in mind," he trailed off slowly,

"But first, we're surprising my parents."

😂