BLAKE       I looked down at the twins who were sleeping in their cots and I couldn't help but feel a sting of pain right through my heart.   I thought I had lost Ellie. I thought that she was dead and that I was going to have to do this all on my own. I haven't got a bloody clue what I'm doing and I certainly proved that when I ended up hitting Michael; now neither of the boys want to speak to me and Jayson is still in the hospital.   I am a terrible friend and I would have been an even worse father if I was left to do this alone. I need Ellie by my side but she keeps doing things which are going to get her killed one day and, when that day comes, I don't know what the hell I am going to do with my life - she was only gone nine days this time around and I could barely cope without her.   I loved both the twins. I really did love them and being a father is a dream come true.

I was there for Nicole as she was there for me when I was a child. I did everything she asked of me when she wanted to find her son and I was the one she spoke to when we discovered Sean's body in the forests around our territory line. I was her Alpha and I was her friend at the same time but apparently that means nothing because Blake and the twins have been dragged through hell. "Because you have everything I don't anymore. Once you accepted Blake, it felt like you had taken him away from me, and then when Jayson disappeared, all I wanted to do was blame you for what had happened. And then Sean died so I had no one. I was all alone while your family seemed to continue growing," Nicole was holding back her tears as she spoke and I almost felt sorry for her. But then I remembered what she had done to me and I didn't feel as sorry for her anymore. "I named my daughter after you. Now, when she asks where her name came from, I can't tell her that it came from the woman

LUCA     I had managed to avoid pretty much everyone for the entire duration of the party. I had remained hidden in the corner and watched as everyone conversed with each other, the excitement from the pack of meeting their future Alpha was obvious from the way everyone crowded around Maxwell and Ellie. They all spoke about how cute he was and how proud they were of their Alpha and her mate for producing such a gorgeous looking child. The younger ones were especially enthralled with the prospect of meeting Maxwell because he was going to be their Alpha around the time they became important to the pack while not many people were interested in meeting Nicole. I hadn't seen her either. I had been looking out for Blake but he seemed to be hiding out of sight with his daughter. But I did want to see her just to see what she had been dressed in for the occasion and I also wanted to see Blake's outfit because Ellie's comment had me intrigue

ELLIE       I watched out the corner of my eye as Luca left the room. I don't know why Jamie opened her mouth and thought it was acceptable to comment on his skills as a father but she was in the wrong and she didn't have the right to make a comment.   Luca did his best for those boys. He tried to put them before himself and, when Charlotte didn't want anything to do with either of them, he was there to make sure they had the love and the care they deserved. He wasn't the perfect father, I don't think there was a thing such as the perfect father, but he wasn't terrible and he didn't deserve the comments which Jamie made.   She didn't know what he had been through. She didn't know the fights he had to endure just to make sure those boys never felt like they weren't wanted. She didn't even understand the pain he was in after finding out that they weren't really his children because his mate got he

LUCA   "So, let me get this straight, you want to break my mate up with her boyfriend by pretending that you've been sleeping with him?" I asked Ellie.   I know that she was only trying to help me but I didn't want her to ruin someone else's relationship just for the sake of my own happiness. She was my best friend and I know that she just wanted the best for me but I refused to let her do something she would live to regret in the end, especially when she came to live in the pack with me and Ellie had to face her every single day knowing what she had done.   "You got it," Ellie grinned proudly.   "Yeah. That's not going to happen," I told her without breaking eye contact and I noticed Blake nodding in agreement with me from the corner of my eye. I knew that he wasn't happy with the plan from the expression which he had been wearing and the look of murder which was in his eye as she spoke about anothe