The years since I married my little Howl have seemed like but a moment in time. I may be Alpha of the Aibek pack, but she is the ruler of me. Everything I do is with the aim of making her happy, and although I don't always succeed completely because I'm a man and I can be dense, it's my goal everyday to make her smile, make her laugh, make her thankful the Forces joined us together.

And to give her good dick every day, most important of all!

He's still a horny little fucker, my wolf.

My eyes are always on my Howl whenever I'm in the same room with her, and I try to make that as often as possible, unless I have pack business to attend to. Neera right now is making her way toward me and our three children are beside her, with their guards following them. It is like watching your very heart walk toward you. Darius, at a little over four, refuses to hold Neera's hand in the Den, which breaks my wife's heart, but outwardly she just rolls her eyes and blames me.

"He acts just like you, Night," she says, exasperated with his pint-sized Alpha attitude. "In every way possible -- he's arrogant, independent, ready to fight, and he struts around like the future Alpha he is."

I shrug, knowing she's right, trying not to let her see just how proud I am of our son, of his aggressiveness, of his need to dominate. He'll need those qualities to rule the Aibek pack someday. But I also know that he's still very much a little boy; Darius snuggles on what little lap Neera has whenever possible, his ear against her heart, letting the sound soothe him. His mother's heartbeat calms all that confusing need for dominance and control inside of him so I've asked Neera to be especially watchful for him wanting his heartbeat time. All wolf pups find it soothing, but future Alphas find it especially so.

Alphas, even from a very young age, are cocky, fearless, and much, much more aggressive than other boys their age, preparing for their future place in the pack. While most wolves shift at around age five, future Alphas shift even earlier -- Darius shifted for the first time right after his third birthday, and fortunately I was there because he took off after our cat. Neera would have a fit if her gray tabby, Sleek, became our son's first kill.

At that young age, the wolf and the human haven't learned to work together yet and the wolf is a primal creature going on instinct alone with no human to hold him back. So that day, I picked up the tiny little wolf by the scruff of his neck, and I fucking Alpha decreed his little ass to never hurt the cat. The little bastard still tried to nip me on the nose with a snap of those tiny jaws, but my wolf answered that unwise little challenge with a bone-chilling growl that made my son's wolf whine. My wolf might love our pups, but he knew when a lesson needed to be learned.

Darius occasionally forgets his mother's place in our immediate family pack, and when he does, I take him out to the woods where we shift and I remind him who is Alpha with a lot of snarling, growling and snapping my teeth at him, accompanied by the occasional nip on his flank or swipe of my paw. It's a language his wolf understands as I teach him about hierarchy. His mother takes precedence over everyone but me and, as such, she will be respected; Darius will settle for a time after a lesson in the woods...until his wolf pushes forward again and the lesson will be repeated. And it will continue to be repeated until he and his wolf figure things out between them and they both learn control and pecking order.

Neera probably suspects what really goes on when I suggest a walk in the woods with my son so we can talk, but she has never asked and I'll keep that from her so she doesn't have to worry about Darius.

She has enough to worry about with all three children and the baby who's almost here. Our fourth child in five years is starting to settle that need I feel to breed Neera, but she hasn't said a word about wanting to be done, and I'm happy to keep her filled with my pups. My wolf fucking struts around still chanting pups pups pups so I know there are more in our future. I already have an architect working on plans for an addition to our house, and even though she hasn't had this baby yet, Neera's already talking about our next.

My Howl's convinced our fifth child will be a girl, which she needs to balance out the testosterone in our house. The other three boys may not be Alphas like Darius, but they come from the Alpha line, so they are already more rough and tumble than most other wolf pups their age -- just not to the extent that Darius is. As the oldest, he's their leader and closest friend, and I encourage their dependency on one another because that family bond is critical.

Néron remains my closest friend, with Aymeric a close second, and I would have Darius surrounded by strong wolves he can depend on. So far, my two other boys, Taggart and Forje, show every sign of being sub-alphas, and I suspect that Forje will become the Alpha's Teeth. He's going to be a big boy, almost as big as Darius, and he's only three but is willing to take on Darius. Watching them fight in the yard, I observe the way they take each other down, and there is much in Forje that reminds me of the way Aymeric moves as my enforcer. My Father always told me that an Alpha's Teeth is obvious from the way he moves in a fight.

Of course, when Neera comes out of the house all huffy and exasperated that the boys are fighting yet again, I pretend that I was just about to break up the fight. Knowing me better than that and not fooled one bit by my pseudo-anger at the boys, my little Howl just rolls her eyes at me and marches them back in the house so she can clean them up.

Sometimes she won't look at me if one of the boys is a little bloodier than she likes, and I'll shift and whine at her, nudging her with my snout. Then, if I'm still being ignored, my wolf will roll onto his back and give her his belly, his tongue hanging out of his mouth in such a ridiculous way that Neera immediately caves and scratches his belly. At that point, I shift back, sending the boys outside to be watched by their guards while Neera and I go to the bedroom to read books.

When my parents pulled this shit and disappeared into their bedroom, I had to imagine them reading books for my own sanity, but since this is my Howl, the truth is I take her in the bedroom and fuck her six ways to Sunday.

"You know I love you?" I always said when I could finally find my words again.

Her little hand would cup my face. "It's right there in your eyes, Night, every time I look," she always said back. Then she'd put her lips against my ear and whisper how much she loved me...and life would feel so full and complete, I never needed anything more.

She was right, though, and my feelings for her were right there in my eyes, for her to see, for everyone to see, because my pack members always commented on how besotted I acted with my Howl, how I ran to her like a little boy with his first crush whenever she was around, how I always had to be touching her if she was within arms' reach...and if she wasn't, I would move until she was.

Their teasing didn't bother me. The relationship between an Alpha and his Howl was critical for a pack's well-being. Much as touching my hand soothed and settled pack members, the pack was also calmed by the affection I showed Neera and that she showed me. The years since Neera and I had Taken the Blood had been good ones for Aibek pack. In the bleak years following the war, when our pack had suffered so many losses, we'd been a bit lost. I had been a young Alpha, prepared by my father...yet wholly unprepared for assuming the mantle of Alpha at such a young age.

Since Neera had become my Howl, I felt my pack members settling into a more peaceful existence. One night, the Forces favored me with a dream that I was given permission to share with Néron. It was the same dream in which I learned Neera was carrying my pup and what his name would be.

I'd opened my eyes and found myself outside, bathed in the light of a full moon, and my parents, whole and healthy, were together, holding hands as they always had, looking at me. Both of them were smiling, their faces happy.

"You've done well, son," my father, my Alpha, had said to me. "You and your Howl are strong and good together. The pup Neera's carrying, Darius, will one day lead Aibek pack, the strongest pack in the land."

Father's practical message, pack-focused, was exactly what I'd expect from the man who taught me to be Alpha and the responsibilities it carried. Lead the pack. Take care of the pack. Prepare the next generation to lead the pack. And most of all, love your family so well that your happiness upholds the pack.

But my mother's message was as she had been. Sensitive. Loving. Understanding.

"Let it go, Night," she said softly, and I knew exactly what she was referring to. "Let that vision of us go and remember us like this. It's OK to be happy, son, and we'll be watching to make sure you are."

I woke from that dream and turned to look at Neera, slumbering peacefully beside me, her body holding a secret that would be very welcome news to her. I would wait until the next day, our wedding day, to tell her the news.

"Neera Karis, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you," I'd whispered to her.

Her eyes opened sleepily, a soft smile curving her lips.

"And why is that?" she'd asked me, her voice husky.

I trailed a fingertip down her soft cheek.

"Because I love you."

Such a simple statement of truth carried such weight that it seemed like it should take longer to say.

"Good to know," she said, her eyes lifting to meet mine. "Because I love you...Alpha."

Oh, yeah.

Sometimes, life was so good, you just had to howl your pleasure to the moon.

So we did.