TO RULE RED RIVER

EPILOGUE

FINN

"One more round, I'll kick your ass for sure this time."

"Bullshit." I chuckle as I throw my knuckle guards off before taking a big gulp of water from my bottle.

Turning back, I shake my head laughing at my cousin who's still stood in the ring waiting for a rematch, waggling his eyebrows at me. He's my perfect sparring partner as he never holds back. My Beta and Gamma are ferocious warriors for sure, but when I spar them it's always more technically challenging to try and counter their top speeds to stop them throwing me on my ass, whereas with Theo it's pure strength versus strength. For the last ten years we've had this ongoing joke of who would've actually won our match that day in the tournament and we regularly hang out at the training gym together. I like having him around, to say he's an asset to my pack is an understatement.

The truth is, Theo would be an amazing alpha to some other pack if he desired it, but it's just not what he wants. He officially joined our pack almost a year after I became it's Alpha due to the fact he had to keeping going back and forth to Italy to be with his little sister Ophelia whilst she got settled. Which was probably a good thing as he and Cassian wanted to take things slow when they first found each other, as Cass was only seventeen and Theo's five years older.

Theo was right, not all of our family are assholes, Ophelia is a sweet girl, but as she fell in love with living in Italy and refused to come back to the states even when our grandfather was imprisoned for life it left Theo struggling to know what to do. But when your wolf calls to another, that connection just can't be ignored. I learnt that myself the hard way.

So, luckily for our pack, Theo put his request in to become it's lead healer, it was a no brainer for me, and he was sworn in on Cassian's eighteenth birthday, the same night they marked one another. I know Theo misses his sister, but she's thriving out there and he and Cass go over to the Dolomites where her pack is to visit her twice a year. The only downside is hearing Cassian trying to learn Italian from his office that's next to mine, even after all these years he's still totally shit regardless of how clever that fucker is.

"Fine, fine. Run and hide Alpha, run and hide." Theo laughs at me as I roll my eyes at him, he's a good fighter but his trash talk needs some fucking work.

"Right gotta go if I want to make it on time and not piss off my Luna. You sure you don't wanna come, you know she always packs enough food. Cass won't be back until tomorrow from the Grey so if you're at a loose end..."

"Nah, thanks, bud. I'm gonna catch some z's before tonight. I think it will be an all-nighter for me as it's a big group this month. You still good to come down for a few hours?" Theo says as he finally gets out of the ring, dry's his forehead with a towel and gulps down some water now himself.

"Yeah, for sure. Wouldn't miss it. I'll be there from about ten, but Dax will no doubt get there two hours earlier than needed like usual, you know what he's likes. How big's the group?" I grin as I grab my gym bag and towel.

I've got to admit, seeing pups going through their first shift is easily one of the highlights of being an Alpha for me, that might make me a soft motherfucker for saying it, but it's true. It's tradition in a pack for the Gamma's to lead the shifting process so he can get a good look over the new wolves and flag any issues. However, as it's a bit of a painful process for them, I always have our healer on hand to make sure there's no complications which unfortunately from time to time can happen.

"Looking to be about twelve in total." Theo grins back as I whistle with surprise, that's the most we've done in one sitting all year.

"There's a couple that might not be quite ready, but we'll see how it goes." Theo shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, but I know that he's hinting towards my eldest daughter, Harper.