Chapter 4

Jasper POV:

My hands flipped through page after page of the documents in my office. Bank statements, hospital checklists, item checklists, warrior statuses. I growled in frustration as I buried my nose in these papers. The added task of omega tasking and party planning has also fallen to me since my Luna was in the hospital delivering her twins. I couldn't wait to see them, or smell them, so I would know exactly who to make an example of to the pack.

When the pups were born, I stayed away, I wanted nothing to do with the little shits. They'd both be warriors, as my mate and I agreed upon, so I didn't care for them one bit, no matter how innocent they were in the matter. Though I do appreciate that my mate has been constantly offering to warm my cock recently, likely, that would not happen for a few months. I did not want to hurt her too terribly bad, she still has to have my heirs after all.

I stood slowly when my mate called me to the hospital. I walked without truly looking where I was going, not that it mattered, no one would ever get in their Alpha's way. Upon entering the hospital, I was smacked by my Head Warrior's scent immediately, despite no one else being in there. "So then," I began, "They're the bastard children of Donovan Wells." I watched my mate freeze and look up in terror.

Seeing her eyes well with tears made me second guess my original plan of torturing Donovan, not to mention he's never truly betrayed me before. His loyalty continues even now. He mated her before he knew I wanted her, so I wouldn't punish him for that, but my mate clearly cared for him. He had to go, lest she leave me and go to her baby daddy.

"I will not harm him," The words slipped out of my mouth as smooth as always. I would not harm him, but who knows who would harm him once he's been exiled, "Nor will I harm them." I inclined my head to gesture towards the two tiny males, wrapped in bundles and suckling on their mother's chest. This one... this one I meant. No harm would come to anything that brings my mate such joy.

'They are not ours, they reek of him' Rerin says in my mind.

'Indeed, they are not ours, they do not need to be. They will be warriors, nothing more.'

'At least our mate is happy. Look at her' I was looking at her, I hadn't stopped since the moment I walked in. Nothing but love on her face and tears of joy in her eyes as she held her little bundles. 'She earned this happiness. Our contract'

'No, Jasper. You would not have harmed those little ones despite having no contract.'

'I do not harm the young'

'You love her. And she loves them.'

'She loves Donovan too, so your point is? Rerin?'

'It is funny how Donovan's life is also going to be spared.'

'Only because he wasn't aware he was betraying me'

'Wasn't he?'

'...'

I looked up at my mate as she waved her hand in front of my face, "What?" I asked, the word coming out sharper than intended. "Oh... nothing... I was just... making sure you were okay..." She lied. I hummed in thought. What were we talking about last? Right I was saying that I would not harm Donovan or his bastards.

"Donovan is going to be exiled." I finally said, making her head fly up and her eyes look at me. It was easy to see she was heartbroken. That's good. If she's going to feel for that man then he needs to get out of my pack. "I'll send him with enough food and water for a week." I found myself saying before I even truly registered it. I watched her relax and felt a pulse of gratefulness through our bond and all of a sudden whatever I had said was completely worth it.

"Thank you, Jasp..." She whispered. Great Mother Moon Goddess her voice was like heaven to my ears. It was the finest melody that had been fine tuned to reach my heart and squeeze. I watched her giggle and noticed that she had been trifling in my mind a second ago. I smiled and began walking closer, "The things you do to me." I say, and she repeats what I said back to me, but with a sultry tone, "The things you do to me~" I stopped dead in my tracks and clenched my fists, if she didn't stop talking like that we would have problems. Big, hard, aching problems.

She giggled again and I realized she was teasing me on purpose. I wondered what was happening to the woman who had claimed she would rather die than be with me only 9 months ago. Perhaps the mate bond is stronger than I thought.

~9 years later~

I sat in my office, scratching my head and fluffing my hair out. I growled loudly in frustration when my mate came in unannounced. When I realized it was her, however, I relaxed immediately. "Lilian, Dahlia." Rerin purred at them. She smiled, holding our young girl on her hips. "I'm going to be induced today, My love."

She placed our girl, Katelyn, on my desk. "Will you watch over her and Alex? Avery wants to see how the birthing process works." I felt my eye twitch. I didn't hate that one of the boys wanted to be a doctor, it wasn't a terrible job and it wasn't truly ranked so that was fine. What I did hate was that the one who wanted to be a doctor, had such great potential as a warrior.

Avery's wolf arrived earlier than his brother's and had showed great promise as far as fighting went. He was fast and strong like his father was. Alexander's wolf would no doubt arrive on his tenth birthday like every other pup, and Alexander, unlike Avery, was extremely eager to have a position as a warrior. I tried my best to hold some form of liking towards the bastard children despite them both looking exactly like their biological father, I really did, and I was glad they made my mate happy, but watching over them as a father figure irked me.

"Alright, Lilian. Go have our son. I'll find Alexander." Finding Alexander was easy, even with Katelyn on my hip. His favorite place to be has always been the warrior training center. It pleased me that he did well when placed against the other pups, even the older ones with wolves. I oversaw his training for about three hours and let three years old Katelyn roam around the padded acrobatics area until my mate screamed for me in the mind link.

'JASPER! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! THE BORDER PATROL IS DEAD AND THE HOSPITAL IS BEING RAIDED!' In an instant I sent a howl of alarm up and raced to the library. I tucked our pups in the saferoom designed specifically for them and my Luna.

'Our pups?' Rerin teased

'No time! Shut up and shift!'

'I'm telling Dahlia' He snickered as he pulled our shift and threw us headfirst into battle.