*****

*Jayden*

"Corey, where are you going?" I asked walking into the kitchen. I had been woken by my alarm clock to find his side of the bed empty, which wasn't unusual, but he wasn't supposed to be doing anything that would require him to be up early.

"Sean called. We have to –"

"No." I cut him off with a frown, "We agreed that today we were spending some time together. Some time with the kids. You're supposed to take time off."

"This is an emergency." Corey said placing the bowl he had just finished eating out of into the sink, I tried not to be irked by the fact that he did not even attempt to clean it, "And wait, why do I have to be the one that takes time off? Why can't you?"

"You know why. I just started work." I said.

"And before that, you were studying and interning –"

"Yeah, trying to get this job." I cut him off.

"The point is that you're always busy. Even before you started, you were barely home. Why is our schedule planned around you?" He said.

"Around me? You're the one who has to work at random times that we can't even plan around –"

"You know that I can't help that. It's not like people attack the pack between nine and five and I'm only needed during working hours." He said. I don't know when our voices began rising, but it was only making both of us more aggravated.

I was too frustrated to try to calm our speaking. "You're not the only leader in this pack, why can't someone else handle it for once? You're never here, Corey!" I was getting frustrated.

"You can't tell me I'm never here when you're at work 24/7, Jayden. It's like you don't even want to be here! At least I'm still nearby and did not get a job as far away from here as possible!"

"Don't yell, you'll wake them up!" I exclaimed. As if on cue, Eli's crying erupted from upstairs before Tamia quickly followed.

Corey and I frowned at each other before we ran upstairs and I took Tamia from her crib. I tried to soothe her, bouncing her gently as Corey did the same to Eli. I glared at my mate and he looked upset as he tended to Eli. The kids did not need the hostile atmosphere we had between us at the moment... I sighed before looking at Tamia as she began to play with my shirt once she stopped crying. I stuck my tongue out at her because it always seemed to get a laugh and she returned a sleepy smile that instantly made me squint at her cheek. Is that a dimple? How... but she didn't have... How did I not notice...?

"Jay? Wait, I'm sorry." I lifted my arm to wipe away tears with my wrist as Corey walked up to me, "Please don't cry, I'm sorry." He said softly.

"I work too much," I said through my tears.

"No, no. Um –"

"She has dimples." I cut him off.

"What? No, she doesn't..." Corey looked at Tamia just as she pouted up at us and he swallowed, "She has dimples..." He mumbled before at me with glistening eyes. "How the hell could we miss that?" He whispered.

"We're so selfish."

Corey sighed. "We barely see them." He said. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled a number.

"Who are you calling?" I asked.

"Corey? Where are you?" I heard Sean's voice.

"Something came up. Have Jason fill in for me." Corey said.

"What do you mean 'something came up'?"

"Something came up with the twins. I'll call you later."

"The twins? Are they okay? Um, yeah – I'll call Jason. Call me when you can."

Corey thanked Sean before he hung up. "Jayden, I'm sorry." He said.

I shook my head lifting the arm I wasn't using to hold our daughter to give him a hug.

"I'm sorry... We both need to work less. It's not just us anymore." I said looking down.

"Yeah... How do you think Tammy would look –?"

"You're not putting our kids in those stupid hotdog Halloween costumes." I glared up at him. He had pictures of these really lame costumes on his phone and I had decided against it as soon as I saw them.

"Fine, no hotdogs... So... how about hamburgers?" He asked before we laughed as I punched his chest. "Ice cream?"

"Core – actually, that sounds cute..." I drifted looking at Eli.

"Good thing I already ordered all of them." He mumbled.

"What?" My eyes quickly returned to my mate.

"So – we should feed them, I'll make the bottles." Corey had disappeared out of the nursery with Eli before I could say a word and I chuckled shaking my head before heading to follow him.

=====

*Corey*

I bounced Tamia on my knees gently as I watched Ashton and Eli wrestle around. All of them had been really busy since they learnt how to crawl. I wondered if the scene on the carpet was a preview of their many matches to come in the future. Ashton was getting beat up by my boy despite being older, well... not much older but he was still losing. Okay, not exactly beat up. Eli was practically pinning him though, albeit not on purpose. My son was trying to reach for a toy car and had decided the easiest way to get it was to crawl over a half-asleep Ashton causing him to wake up and try to shove the weight off of him while Eli seemed completely unfazed at the attempts to push him away. They were fricking adorable to watch.

I placed Tamia on the carpet when she began reaching towards it and she giggled immediately grabbing a teething toy, shaking it a couple of times before tossing it at the two boys. I reached out to tell her not to throw things at people. She could be a little mischievous sometimes. Ashton looked at her before he seemed to completely forget about his tussle with Eli and began crawling towards Tamia. I watched as he picked up a big toy truck and held it out to her. She took it before banging it against some blocks. Eli didn't exactly know how to use toys yet either. They both just played by banging things everywhere, occasionally they would stack a couple of blocks.

"Aw, look. They're playing better than Eli and Ash did." Izabella swooned.

I narrowed my eyes watching Tamia drop the truck and forget about it as she grabbed a blue block. Ashton tried to take it from her and she let out a scream before he did the same.

"Hey, play nice, Ash." Sean said kneeling down beside our kids, "Use this one. It's also blue." He held an identical block out to his son. Ashton ignored his dad and tried to grab my daughter's again before he began crying when she threw it away and kicked his truck. Sean looked at me, his disapproving eyes showcasing that he thought Tamia was being a bully.

"She's exercising; the truck is in her way," I explained watching my daughter kick her legs out repeatedly kicking Ashton's truck. Sean frowned at me.

"Whoa, he's getting rejected so hard," Jason said shaking his head pitifully.

"What?" Jayden looked at him.

"He was trying to give her a toy she'd like. This isn't the first time he has tried to give her his toys either. It's kind of like giving her flowers or something, don't you think?" I immediately shook my head.

"No, I don't think that." I frowned.

"Oh my God, you're right... That is adorable." Jayden's eyes widened as he looked at Ashton.

"What are you talking about?" I asked my mate, "There's no way he would do that."

"If you asked me, I would say he already recognises his mate. They're definitely mated." Zeke said leaning over the couch.

"No one asked you – or you, Jason. Like hell they are mated." I carefully grabbed Tamia to lift her into my arms away from Ashton and for some reason that caused the little weirdo's tantrum to explode and then Tamia began to cry as well. Eli, set off by the noise, also began bawling and my head instantly began to pound at the chaotic noise. I was certain the situation was a real torture method, right up there with Chinese water torture. "Look what he did!" I hissed at Sean before placing Tamia's pacifier into her mouth trying to make the noise stop.

"You're overreacting, put her back down, Babe," Jayden said as he tried to get Eli to quieten down by distracting him with a musical box and some blocks.

"Near him? No." Tamia had stopped crying now.

"Near who? Ashton, her mate?" Sean held Ashton closer to Tamia and Ashton's crying seemed to go down a notch as he noticed her.

"Hey! Keep that away from my baby girl!" I said stepping back and Ashton, obviously being his father's son, began to cry again. They were both so annoying. Jayden shot me a disapproving look as he picked Eli up because the blocks and music weren't working – it had been before Ashton began crying again. Eli quieted down a little as soon as he was snuggled against Jayden's chest. I couldn't help but smile at the pair.

"Did you just call my son a 'that?'" Izabella's voice drew my attention to her as she glared at me.

"Of course not! I... called Sean's son a 'that'" I replied simply.

"Sean's son is my son." Izabella snapped at me. I nodded reaching out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know, and for that, I am really sorry, Izabella." She gasped and I laughed quickly running out of the room while calling out that I was getting Tamia's bottle as I held her against my chest tightly.

'She's going to kill you.' Jayden linked to me, 'She better not do it while you're holding our daughter or you will be reincarnated just so I can kill you again.' His voice had the opposite effect of what I'm sure he was hoping for as I grinned.

Our daughter. I looked down at my little girl as I rocked her in my arms gently. She just stared back up at me with wide-eyed innocence and the same gorgeous brown eyes Jayden had. My chest felt overwhelmed with happiness just watching her. I fell so much more in love with our kids every time I held or looked at them...

"Papa. Say 'Papa'." She didn't try to respond. I knew she was still too young to, but it was worth a try. I laughed at myself afterwards. "Papa's getting some milk for you," I informed her. I looked down hearing a small giggle before she grabbed my shirt as she spat her pacifier out onto her bib. I chuckled. "You don't like that? Tastes like plastic? I know, Sweetheart." I said placing it on the table but not moving away from her. Eli hated when someone took his pacifier away even for a second. For an Alpha, he was a surprisingly whiny baby. It seemed his Beta was the same.

Mate? Please.

None of my kids would ever be mated to anything that came from Sean. It was not even a possibility.

"Ashton's yucky, Tammy. Always remember that." I said. She giggled patting my chest with her little hands. "You agree! You're so smart already." I kissed her forehead before grabbing the bottle I had already made earlier. I furrowed my brows seeing Eli's already empty bottle. Hadn't we just refilled that? He seriously ate like an Anime character... Where was all that milk even going to?

I turned to leave but heard more crying break out.

You're kidding me. He cannot be hungry again.

"Corey..." I heard Jayden groan.

"I'll make it." I chuckled.

"I'll take her." Rita giggled as she took Tamia from my arms along with her bottle. I thanked her as I moved to reach for Eli's.

I watched them walk out and listened to Izabella talking to Ashton in the living room. He was a cute kid; that was undeniable... I snorted. They were too young to be mates. I decided to just tell Tamia her pull was dangerous. Hopefully, that would cause her to be afraid of Ashton until they turned thirty – at which point I would have figured out how to make him and any other people that developed any interest in Tamia or Eli disappear.

I nodded to myself.

"What are you planning?" I could hear the frown in Jayden's voice before his face even came into view as he walked up and took the bottle from my hands, "You're taking forever." I chuckled turning around and hugging him as he began to uncap the bottle.

"I love our family. I love you." I mumbled.

He chuckled. "Where's this coming from?" He asked.

"Nowhere. It's always in my head." I said. It was true.

"Aw. I love you too." He chuckled kissing me lightly, "Now get the milk." He added.

"Ugh, fine," I whined letting him go.

"And you say you have no idea where Eli's constant whining comes from." He shook his head. I laughed telling him to be quiet as I turned to get the milk.

*****

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