Page 386 of Alpha Mates

“I’ll be back soon!” I shout up to Aiden, who just groans from bed.

I smile to myself as I run after the boys and Levi’s already seated, buckling Damon into his car seat beside Emitt’s daughter, Amelia. As always, my heart warms to see her, and I give her a wave before I slip into the driver’s seat to scowl at her father waiting in the front.

“If you have time to ride along with me, you could drop them off some days while I sleep,” I grumble to Emitt before I pull out of the driveway.

“But it’s more fun this way,” he replies, making me roll my eyes. “We get to talk and bond.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I shush while I steer us through the packlands, glancing occasionally in the rearview mirror to make sure they’re all good. Levi reads silently to himself while Damon and Amelia chat each other’s heads off, as always.

“Twenty bucks says their mates,” Emitt murmurs as he steals a glance too.

“Fat chance,” I scoff, and he frowns with offence. “Fifty says you’re wrong.”

“You’re on,” he says, and we shake on it before he turns around to look at Levi. “Levi! Your birthday is coming up! Are you excited?!”

“I’ll be the same person I am right now,” he answers without looking up from his book. “A few seconds won’t change anything, so why should I be excited about being a little older?”

Emitt slumps over his seat. “It was a yes or no question, Levi.”

Levi glances up, squirming a bit before he mumbles, “I guess.”

That’s all Emitt gets before Levi returns his attention to his book. Emitt fixes his eyes on me, but I just shrug as we pull up to the elementary school, pouring with kids. It’s the same one Levi went to, but now it’s Amelia and Damon’s school and luckily, there have been no incidents since the last.

I’ll see you later for the party,Emitt says through the link before he gets out and helps the kids out the back.

I wave them goodbye, and Damon sends me an air kiss, which I catch and press to my heart. He grins widely and says his goodbyes to Levi before he follows Emitt and Amelia inside.

Levi and I continue on, and we both sigh with relief at the silence that follows. We share a laugh, and I slow to let Levi climb into the front seat. He buckles in, and we continue on, both shuddering as we pass the pack borders and head for his school.

“Do you think everyone hates me now?” he asks as his fingers dig into his book’s binding.

“Nobody hates you, Levi,” I promise while I drive us through the familiar roads. “It was self-defence.”

“I broke his leg,” he argues, and I know I probably shouldn’t smile, but I can’t help it.

When I got the call from Levi’s school that he broke that bully’s leg after he tried to touch him, I was proud. Levi was a soft child and I always worried that he wouldn’t defend himself if it came down to it, even if he could, but he had.

“He was a bully. One you were trying to avoid,” I remind him as I slip onto the highway. “They’ll all love you for it and if they don’t, you have Sammy.”

Levi grins at the reminder of his best friend and relaxes just a little. Sammy was Levi’s one and only friend, who’d decided Levi would be her friend from their first day in their school. But Sammy was human, and he hated lying to her about what he really was. He understood why he could never tell her though.

“I was going to tell you later, but I think I should now,” I say as I slow in the drop-off queue in front of his school.

Sammy’s already sitting on the front stops, poking a lizard with a stick while she waits for her friend.

“What?” he asks, frowning with suspicion.

“You can bring Sammy over after school today,” I say, making his face light up like a Christmas tree. “I already talked to her mom, she’s got permission, and the pack knows there’s no shifting so—”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he screams as he leans over his seatbelt to hug me. Laughing, I hug him back as tightly as I can.

In all the years they’d been friends, Sammy never came over because we didn’t want to risk her seeing something she shouldn’t, and I knew it killed Levi, though he never complained. But this was just the first of many gifts he’d be getting today.

“Thank you!” he screams again.

“You’re welcome,” I say, kissing his head. “Now go before she kills that thing.”

Levi laughs as he glances back before he grabs his things and jumps out of the car. He pauses with the door in his hand and beams at me. “Love you, Dad.”