“Perfect timing. Care to take these to the table while I get us some coffee?” I grinned at him as I turned to him with the plates, handing them over to him.

“I’d be happy too.” He took the plates and headed for the same small table we’d eaten at the evening before. I rinsed the dishes I had used to cook, planning to wash them after breakfast. I poured two mugs of coffee, adding vanilla creamer and flavored syrup to mine. To Tristan’s I added only flavored syrup, but his was english toffee.

I took the coffee out to the table and set his mug in front of him before taking a seat across from him and sipping mine. “Mmmm, the sustenance that keeps me from murdering people on a daily basis.”

“That’s a bit much don’t you think? You’re far too kind and caring to kill people on a daily basis. Weekly maybe, but not daily.”

I pretended to think about his statement for a moment while sipping at my coffee some more. “That may be a fair assessment.” I grinned playfully at him.

He laughed and enjoyed some of his own coffee before starting in on his omelet. “We both know being one of us means that sometimes killing is necessary, but in all honesty I can't see you - murdering- someone. I have a hard time even picturing you killing someone, despite the fact that I have no doubt that you are 100% capable of doing so.”

“As much as I love the picturesque bubble you’ve built around me, I fear I must burst it. I absolutely can and will kill someone, without hesitation or remorse, given the proper reasons and/or situations.”

“Couldn’t even let me have the bubble for 5 minutes?” He smirked, shoving a forkful of food into his mouth.

“No Sir. I wouldn’t want you to get attached to an image of me that will disappear just as soon as I can get my claws into Lucian with as little collateral damage and injury as possible.” I started on my omelet, eating as we spoke.

His eyes softened a little as he watched me. I easily slid back into my emotionless mask, without even realizing it. It was as natural to me as breathing these days.

I shoved some of my own breakfast into my mouth as he spoke. “No Aly. Don’t do that. Not with me.”

I gave him a slightly perplexed look. “Do what?”

“Put that mask on. Pretend like nothing gets to you, like you’re some robot with no emotions rather than the complex, beautiful soul that you are.”

I blushed at him and smiled softly. He was nearly to the point that he could read me like a book. “I don’t even know I’m doing it half the time. I’m sorry. I would never intentionally shut you out.”

He reached across the table and held my hand, squeezing it gently. “I know.” He stood and pulled me out of my seat and into his arms, holding me close and saying nothing as he rested his head on mine.

I nuzzled my head into his chest and smiled, enjoying the moment. He truly was one of the sweetest people I had ever met, not that I had met too many people in general, but he was nothing like any Alpha I had ever heard or read about.

Eventually I pulled away from him, lifting onto my toes to kiss him softly, “I’m going to go check over Mat and Cedric’s suite and then I’m going out to Jake and Faith’s to give it a once over as well.”

“Mmm, I have some Alpha duties I need to attend to. As much as Father enjoys the busy work, I should actually do some of it myself.”

“That’s fine. I’ll come find you when I finish. Oh! And before I forget, Mat and Cedric are making better time than anticipated. They will be home between noon and one. He’s going to mind link me when they’re about an hour out.”

“Perfect, let me know when you hear from him so we can greet them together when they arrive.”

“I will.”

We headed for the door and as I reached to pull it open, he held it shut, leaning down to steal a few more kisses before letting me open it. I giggled and slipped out the door with him. We headed down the hall, hand in hand, only parting ways as I headed into Mat and Cedric’s suite while he continued to head down to his office.

~Tristan~

It was easier said than done to part ways with Alyce. My Alpha genes wanted nothing more than to have her tucked into my side 24/7. I moved slowly, watching her enter Mat and Cedric’s suites, not getting my own ass moving until she had shut the door behind her and I couldn’t see her anymore. Then I booked it down to the fourth floor, heading to my office. Since Mat was away, Brandon met me there.

The plan for the morning was to go over the pack financials. Thankfully my mother had been very good at staying on top of them and at this point it was little more than going over the bank statements for the last couple of months and comparing them to our records of items going in and out.

“Thanks for stepping in while Mat is on his way back, Brandon. I really appreciate the help.”

“No thanks needed Tristan. You’re my Alpha and my buddy. I’m always happy to help.”

“Alright, so I went ahead and organized all the charges in one spreadsheet by date, and deposits on another. I think this will make it easier and faster to compare to the bank statements. I can just read down the bank statements and we can tick off corresponding items on the spreadsheet and bank statement so that if anything is out of place or unaccounted for we’ll know pretty quickly.”

“I see you inherited your mother’s organizational gene.” Brandon chuckled at me.

“Yeah, yeah. More like my desire to spend as much time with Aly as I can is motivation to find the most efficient way to get my responsibilities done.”

“Where is she anyway? I would have thought you’d ask her to help you with this.”

“I was going to, but she has been busy with getting the two new residences ready, and putting us to work while she was at it. She’s doing a final check through of them both before Mat and Cedric get back. They’re arriving between noon and one by the way.”

“Of course she is.” He laughed a bit, “She’s going to make an amazing Luna.”

“She’s an amazing person. I really got lucky with her.”

“Mmm, I hope my future mate is as amazing as yours. I’m a little jealous, man. I know you waited longer than I have been thus far, but I can’t wait to find her.”

“I’m sure she will be.” I grinned over at him. I was pretty sure it was Kami. The way the two were drawn to each other and interacted with one another. It was like the bond was bringing them closer before it was even fully active.

“Great, now I’m imagining my future mate and it’s making it hard to focus.” He rolled his eyes and smirked.

“I don’t wanna hear about your fantasies, dude.”

“Not like that you jerk!”

“Who knows, maybe she’s closer than you think.” Now I was the one smirking.

He looked at me sideways, an eyebrow quirked at me in question. Then it dawned on him, his eyes widening. “You think you know who she is!?”

“I do think I know who she is. Alyce pointed it out the other day.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me then?”

“A couple reasons. One, I don’t want to jinx it, not that you can jinx a mate bond but you know what I mean. Two, I don’t want to tell you and end up being wrong, and three, she’s not of age for another couple months.”

“The person you’re thinking of is from this pack then?”

“Yes.”

“Well shit, now I’m gonna be making a list of she-wolves that come of age in the next 2-3 months. Asshole.”

I laughed, “How am I an asshole?”

“You said something to begin with.”

“Eh, technically I didn’t. You drew your own conclusions and I simply responded to your questions.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “Come on, let’s get this done so we can greet the boys on time. Or Alyce will have both our heads.”

“You’re right. Let’s get started.” We organized our stacks of paperwork and started working through the lists over the next couple of hours.