"Cole, you have to let me go." I giggle as I try and squirm off his lap, but Coles strong arms only wrap around my waist tighter as he pulls me back, hard up against his chest.

"Nope." He growls into my ear as he rests his head on my shoulder.

His low sexy voice sends tingles down my spine, forcing me to clamp my legs shut as Cole's mouth gently peppers kisses down my neck right over one of my freshly swollen marks. My eyes roll back into my head briefly before the sound of the heavy pack house door being swung open forces my eyes to snap open and I give my mate a big jab with my elbow to get him to stop. Cole's deep chuckle vibrates right through my body, I look over my shoulder to try and scowl at him and make him behave but all he does is give me a big, huge sexy smirk and pull me into a kiss.

"Cole." I whisper against his lips. "Behave, the Alphas are coming."

"As if I give a fuck." Cole smirks as he threads a hand through the back of my hair and pulls me in for a deeper kiss.

For a moment, I completely lose my train of thought as Cole assaults my lips with bruising force until I hear someone close by clear their throat and I push Cole away with all the strength I have.

Sighing, Cole loosens his grip on me, but still refuses to let me leave his lap. Heat quickly creeps up my neck and across my face when I see that it's Alpha Lucas that's stood next to us. His eyebrows wiggle playfully and a lopsided grin spreads across his face when his eyes drop down to my fresh mate marks then back to Cole and I.

"Good for you guys." Lucas smiles warmly and I can't stop my own smile forming on my lips.

"Well, well, well. My little Alice has gone and got herself a sexy mate I see." Laughs Oliver as he comes to stand next to Lucas.

Lucas growls at Oliver, disliking his comment about Cole. "You're sexy to babe, don't get all possessive now you've claimed me." Oliver says as he rolls his eyes at Lucas.

"Wait, what?" I frown as I twist around on Cole's lap.

"Voilà." Oliver grins as he pulls down his shirt collar showing off his own new mating mark. This time it's Lucas that rolls his eyes at Oliver before lovingly throwing an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in closer.

"Congratulations." Smiles Cole. "I'm happy for you both, I really am... but, have you broken the news to your brother and... well... your intended?" Cole questions.

Lucas and Oliver look at one another seriously. "Not yet, but I regret nothing." Alpha Lucas says firmly, but more to Oliver than to us. They'd obviously talked and argued about this at length from how they're looking at each other.

These two have become like big brothers to me these last few months, my heart literally swells at seeing them together. Deep down, I never believed Lucas could ever go through with the mating ceremony with Allannah. Not when he looks at Oliver the way he does, like no one else is in the room.

Even when I escorted the convoy with Allannah back towards the Black Mountains, I half expected Lucas to run down and stop everything at the eleventh hour. Alpha Lucas may come across as a terrifying beast to most, but anyone close to him knows he's like a big cuddly bear that wears his heart on his sleeve. Oliver balances him perfectly with his quick wit, loyalty, and frank nature. It's just a shame that they'll have to be returning to the cold Mountains soon where I won't see them again for some time as Cole and I plan to start the journey home to the Grey Crescent Pack in the morning.

"I think you've made the right decision. I really do." Cole says genuinely, as he extends his hand and shakes both Lucas then Oliver's hands one after the other.

"What's all this?" Grumbles Alpha Drake as he enters the large hall.

We all whip our heads around as we watch him approach from the far side of the hall with Lady Allannah at his side who looks to have been crying. I know little of Allannah, we barely had the chance to talk in the convoy car, but from what I can tell she's friendly and kind-hearted but extremely timid. By the looks of things, the last few days must have been hell for her.

As Drake strides forward, I spot a small smile on his face when he sees Cole. "I'm glad to see you're up."

Cole nods to him with a grin as he pulls me closer to his chest.

"I see you've had busy night Gamma. Congratulations to you both." Drake says as he gives Cole a big pat on the back before throwing me a friendly smile.

My eyes then follow Lucas as he takes a deep breath before nodding to Oliver then comes to stand in front of Drake and Allannah.

"Brother. I take it you slept well whilst I was busy bringing peace back to this pack." Lucas says to him with a playful tone.

"As if you needed my help. You and your warriors had it under control from what I could see." Replies Drake in his usual serious tone.

"Lady Allannah, are you well after everything that went down the last few days? We've not had the chance to speak properly as of yet, my apologises." Alpha Lucas says politely to Allannah.

Even from my caged position on Coles lap I can see that Allannahs face is blotchy, and her eyes are red as if she's been crying for hours. She sniffs a little before shifting on her feet.

"Thank you for restoring my pack, Alpha Lucas. You must forgive me, I'm not dealing well with the loss of my father that well this morning." Allannah says quietly before her eyes look downwards to the floor once more.

Drake rubs Allannah's shoulder gently as if to soothe her and I can't help but shoot a look to Cole to see if he's surprised by his friendliness to the lady of the Red River Pack. Lucas's eyes also watch the movement before he clears his throat making Drake look back at his brother.

"We need to talk." Says Lucas and Drake at the same time which makes them both grin at each other.

"You first." Drake says as he waves his hand signally for Lucas to continue.

Lucas sighs. "Drake. Lady Allannah. I'm sorry but I just can't go through with this partnership. You see, my heart belongs to another, and I'd be wrong to enter this union when I could never fully commit to it. I know brother, that you paid a vast amount of money towards this pack to help secure this union, I will endeavour to pay it all back." Begins Lucas.

A small smile blossoms across Allannah's face before she actually giggles making Lucas look back at Oliver and shrug his shoulders as if confused with her reaction.

"Is she pissed?" Oliver whispers to me which in turn makes me giggle and Cole stifle a laugh.

"Well, that is a relief, because I do not wish to be mated to you either." Allannah smiles back, as Lucas eyes widen at the revelation.

"Well damn!" Oliver exclaims loudly.

"You see...I... umm..."

At this point Allannah pulls down the high collar on her dress revealing Drake's new mate mark which makes myself and Oliver gasp. Drake then pulls Allannah under his arm to hold her close as Lucas stares wide eyed and in shock at her neck.

"We should've got popcorn for this!" Squeals Oliver as he crosses his arms over with an amused look across his face.

Drake worried eyes land back on Lucas, he runs a hand across his top braid before sighs nervously. "Listen Lucas, I didn't plan for this to happen, but I fell for Allannah hard." he begins to say.

A huge grin spreads across Lucas's face. "You dirty dog, now we know why you knew all about the secret tunnels. Secret rendezvous with the Lady more like! I didn't think you had it in you." Jokes Lucas.

"Watch your mouth." Growls Drake. "I never touched Allannah before last night."

"Oh, how dull." Muses Oliver as Lucas nods his head with agreement.

"Jesus Drake, only you could make a secret meeting with the woman you love boring!" Laughs Lucas even harder.

Drakes rubs a hand over his face before sighing. "So, so you're not upset? I was worried you'd feel that... I'd betrayed you all over again."

Lucas pulls down his collar to reveal Oliver's mark, before Oliver follows suit and does the same.

Drake shakes his head before blowing out a big puff of air in relief . "I'm happy for you both. Congratulations."

"You too." Lucas says quietly but seriously to Drake who actually looks a little emotional.

"Well thank fuck for that, can we all go home now? I'm keen to get my mate back to where she belongs." Barks Cole before he nuzzles into my neck making my cheeks flush with red.

"I guess we're back to the Mountains in the morning babe." Sighs Oliver as he slings an arm around Lucas and pecks him on his head.

"About that, I have a proposition for you both that I hope you might accept. As Allannah will now be coming home with me to rule as Luna to the Grey Crescent pack, this pack needs an Alpha." begins Drake with his eyes fixed on Lucas.

"But they'll never accept me as I can't give them an Alpha heir." Interrupts Lucas looking puzzled.

"But I can. My offer is this, yourself and Oliver will rule this pack until my second born becomes eighteen. When he or she becomes of age, they will return to this pack and take over and you two will stay on as my child's advisors. You've already won over the Red Rivers wolves by bringing this pack back to peace and helping save Allannah. I feel confident they'll accept you both as their rulers." Drakes explains as Allannah smiles up at him.

"That's quite an offer." Lucas murmurs with a look of shock across his face. "You really think the pack will accept two male rulers? It's not been done before. The Black Mountain Pack was so small I didn't even have a Beta or Gamma. No one in the Mountains would've cared if I took Oliver as a mate or not. But here, well it's different."

"Anyone who doesn't accept it, will answer to me, right before they're banished." Drake says firmly as his wolf eyes turns gold for a moment before turning crystal blue once more.

Lucas turns to look at Oliver who looks as equally dumbfounded. "Well, what do you think?"

"Does that make me... a Luna?" Oliver asks with a big smile his face making everyone in the room laugh.

Lady Allannah nervously steps forward to Oliver offering him a warm smile. "I think you'd make a better Luna to the Red River Pack than I ever could've, but just don't wear any of my dresses. OK?"

Oliver barks with laughter as he hugs Allannah animatedly. "Oh babe, me and you are going to be lifelong friends." He beams at her.

"Maybe we should leave these guys alone to hash out the rest of their new pack details." Cole whispers in my ear making me smile.

"Perhaps we could go run our wolves out together." I turn round to smile at him as Cole plants another kiss on me. It appears my new mate can't keep his hands to himself.

"Perfect." He replies against my lips before finally allowing me to escape his lap so we can leave.

"Hold up. There's one more thing." Drake calls out after us.

Cole and I turn to look at him. "I'm down a Beta. What say you, Alice? You won the challenge against Jay, you're certainly smart and strong enough for the role. The rank is yours if you want it."

Cole turns to look at me with a huge proud smile on his face as I stand in the doorway speechless. "This is huge, Whatcha think little Wolf? You'd be amazing at it." Cole enthuses.

I chew my lip and look thoughtfully at Cole then back to Drake.

"Thank you for the offer, Alpha Drake. However, all my life I've always dreamt of being on Elites and being part of the defensive team of the pack. I don't want to spend my days alone behind a desk, especially where Jay used to sit. I've been alone long enough. I want to be at my mate's side running across the territory with the other warriors. My heart tells me that I want to remain as the Gamma Female." I say as confidentially as possible.

"I understand." Drake says with a sigh. "I'll open the rank up for warriors to challenge for it, as I know Cole would also rather be out in the forest rather than behind a desk also. You too really are well suited for each other." Drakes muses as he looks at us both.

I'm about to speak once more when Cole suddenly scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder. "Cole." I squeal as he strides out of the hall. My face quickly turns beetroot red as I hear the others laughing at us.

"Cole! Put me down!" I yell at him again as he starts to climb the staircase back to our room. "I thought we were going out for a run!"

"Do you have any fucking idea how turned on I am right now after what you just said. You're not going fucking anywhere apart from our bed. I want to show my 'Gamma female' exactly how much I love her." Cole growls making me laugh out loud at how ridiculous he's been.

"Cole, you're crazy." I yell out to him as he leaps up the stairs quicker and quicker making me belly laugh.

"That's right little wolf, keep yelling out my name. Soon the whole packs gonna hear you scream it once I'm done with you." He growls before slapping me hard on the ass as he races back to our bedroom to make good on his dirty promises to me.