If anyone told me two years ago that I would have to walk into an Alpha meeting with a pup in each arm, I would have laughed and hung them by their toes for being unprofessional and completely unreasonable.
Like what Alpha would have trouble finding someone to watch his pups for a few hours?
Me, obviously.
Because I was an overprotective father who did not allow random people to pupsit without passing my examination.
After staring at the conference room door for five minutes to contemplate my situation, I exhaled loudly and looked down at the two little ones in my arms, "Okay, you two, I expect both of you to be on your best behavior. No crying, no diaper explosions, no puking, no chewing on random objects, and mind your manners when someone asks you a question. Understand?"
Mila stopped messing with my tie to babble and slap her palm against my cheek, probably telling me to shove my rules up my ass in pup language, and Felix was too busy with his pacifier to care that I had spoken.
They were turning into mini rebels already. Just my luck.
"Should I be concerned that you're speaking as if they understand?" An amused voice chimed in from behind.
I grunted as Conrad appeared before me, "It was worth a shot. We never know what terrifying idea is cooking in their little noggins. I am ninety percent positive they choose to coordinate their bowel movements with our private time. "
He chuckled and carefully took Felix off my hands, "I don't think you have to worry too much about the meeting. Your pups are pretty well-behaved compared to most, and this shouldn't be long. Worst case scenario, Reece or the pack warrior unit pop in and take them out. She said the raid on the pup trafficking ring went well so they'll be back shortly."
"Pray that it doesn't come down to that," I muttered, grateful for his presence as Felix began fussing.
Conrad had become an extremely close friend over the years, especially once Jaslynn got pregnant. He loaded me with advice and books on parenting and helped me in ways only another father would understand.
"Ready to go in?"
I wiped Felix's drool with the little towel on my shoulder and did the same with Mila before I nodded and led the way into the conference room.
The moment we walked in, the conversations stopped and the other Alphas were up out of their seats, bowing their heads slightly in greeting and staring at Mila and Felix curiously.
"Good afternoon, Alphas. As you can tell, we have two special guests joining us. My Luna had a last minute emergency, and I decided it would be best to bring these two along. Hopefully, this isn't an inconvenience for all of you."
There was a chorus of 'Not at all, Alpha.' and 'It is an honor to have them here.'
"Thank you," I smiled, taking my seat and gesturing for them to do the same, "Perhaps they will pick up a thing or two while they're here. Start them early, as they say."
Mila picked up the pen on the table and waved it around, and there were a few chuckles as I sighed and gently pried it out of her hands, "Or maybe not. But anyhow, let us begin. Alpha Quinton, you had a statement to make?"
The tense atmosphere of having thirty Alphas under one roof never disappeared, but it was definitely broken in the moments that Mila interjected the debates with her 'mama' burbles. She managed to command the attention in the room with a wave of her tiny hand, and the Alphas seemed much more interested in what she had to say from the way their eyes darted back and forth between the speaker and her.
Felix could care less about what was going on and was busy attempting gymnastics in Conrad's lap. He had his foot in his mouth and mean-mugged everyone who smiled at him.
– They were the exact representation of what Jaslynn and I looked like at the annual leaders meeting, except I didn't have my foot in my mouth.
But after two hours of discussion and breaking up arguments between the immature Alphas who couldn't get along, the meeting finally came to a close.
And one by one, the Alphas shook my hand, gave Mila a fist-bump or high-five depending on her hand, shook Conrad's hand, and tried to high-five Felix, who just stared, so they settled for patting his head or tickling his foot to try to make him laugh (which didn't work either).
The last Alpha to leave was taking his time trying to make Felix smile, and I intervened when Felix nearly kicked him in the face for scratching his foot.
"He's a bit of a serious pup. The only time you'll find him smile is when his mother feeds him or if he's in the mood to smile," I explained, picking up the diaper bag as a sign that he should make his exit.
The Alpha smiled and said his last goodbyes, and once the door shut behind him, I snorted, "That was fun. I should bring these two along more often if it takes the sticks out of their asses."
Mila hummed her agreement, and I chuckled, kissing the top of her head, "You agree, don't you? You like talking as much as your mama."
"And this one is more like you. Refuses to smile," Conrad said, ruffling Felix's hair.
"I smile a lot more now."
"That's true. When I became your Beta, I had to work for you for over a year before I finally saw you smile, and it wasn't even a nice one. It was one of those I'm-evil-and-I-know-it ones because you were gauging the eyeballs out of some wolf and trying to feed them to him when he wouldn't answer your questions."
I glared at him and covered Mila's ears, "Not around the pups, Conrad. They don't need to hear that."
"They'll learn someday."
"That someday is far away. For now, the biggest horror in their life should be the Teletubbies."
Conrad laughed loudly as we exited the conference room and passed Felix back to me, "I have to head to training, but I'll send Leon over if you need an extra set of hands."
"I'll be fine. I've handled the two of them by myself a couple of times before."
Felix chose that exact moment to fart very loudly.
"That better not be foreshadowing, pup."
***
"Okay pups, your mama won't be back for at least another two or three hours so we are going to be hard at work today," I said, kneeling so they could see me from their high-chairs.
Mila had tomato sauce all over her face from her pasta, and Felix had mushy sweet potato and carrot smeared across his mouth and cheeks. Looking at them, one would think they had just face-planted into their food and forgot they had hands.
"Mila, today you are going to learn to say "dada" because all you do is say mama, and I feel left out. Who changed your diaper and fed you today?"
"Mama."
I sighed and pulled the towel off my shoulder to wipe her face, "I don't get enough appreciation."
Mila lifted her arms up, and I took her out of her chair, kissed her cheek, and set her on the ground beside me so she could wander over to her toys. Then, I crouched down to wipe Felix's face clean.
"And what about you, young man? I think we're going to work on smiling. The world deserves to be blessed by that adorable one-tooth smile of yours," I said, playfully scratching his left cheek.
He gurgled, and I tugged him out of his chair and kissed his hair just as my phone rang. I whipped it out of my pocket and grunted into the call as Felix decided to yank on my hair.
"Alrik?"
"I'm here, kroshka. Your son wants to make me a bald man," I said, putting my phone on speaker so I could pull Felix away from my head.
"You would look hot bald...or maybe a buzz cut would look better," she said, trailing off as if she was imagining it.
I smirked, "If I did that, what would you pull on when I eat your–"
"The pups, Alrik!"
"Relax," I laughed, glancing at Felix, who was preoccupied with my wedding ring, "Felix doesn't have a clue and Mila is probably busy destroying the living room."
"Please tell me she's not messing with the couch cushions."
I walked into the living room and found all the couch cushions laying on the ground, "Not really. Nothing that can't be fixed. Anyway, did you find the cause for the fire?"
She groaned, "Don't get me started. It was so stupid. Apparently, two teenagers were trying to be romantic and lit candles all around their room – and not the little ones, the big ones – and somehow knocked them over in the throes of passion."
I tried to bite back a laugh but failed miserably and ended up muffling my laughter with my free fist.
"You're telling me," I choked out, "That two teenagers managed to burn down a section of the Coven because they were trying to be all cute and fuck with fire."
"It's not funny, Alrik," Jaslynn huffed, although I could hear the amusement in her voice, "I found the poor couple in the woods stark-naked because they ran out without their clothes."
"They took their burning passion for each other to the next level."
"You mean, they almost took it down a whole level. If the others weren't quick on their feet with their water spells, the house would now be three floors instead of four. Now, we're trying to restore as much as we can with magic before we bring in the professionals."
"Do you have any idea when you will be back?" I asked, wincing as Mila smashed toy cars together violently.
"I won't be long. Promise."
"We'll be fine here. Just take your time."
I could handle a few more hours.
Felix suddenly squirmed, and a familiar stench clogged my nose.
Or not.
"Great timing, son. Giving me a lot of confidence here."
***
How do pups shit more than they eat? It should not be possible.
Because Felix's bodily waste turned out to fill more than his diaper, I ended up in the bathtub with both of them.
And the one good thing about the bath was that both of them enjoyed it so there were no protests when I plopped them in the water with their rubber duckies, and I could spend some quality time to get Mila to say 'dada' without her running away.
"Come on, Mila. It's two syllables," I pleaded.
She flashed me a toothy smile and splashed the water.
"Okay, how about a challenge? Papa."
She stuck her fists in her mouth and hummed.
"Too easy, huh? What about father? Or male parental unit?"
"Why don't you just ask her to start speaking Russian? That seems a lot easier than the shit you're saying."
I rolled my eyes, "What are you doing here, Leon? And hand me a towel."
He stepped into the bathroom and threw me the towel I had left on the counter, "Conrad asked me to check on you to make sure there were no breakdowns happening."
"Well, no crying pups here. Everything is under control"
"He meant you, not the pups," Leon smirked, watching my face morph into a scowl.
"Shut up. But now that you're here, could you take Mila out of the tub? Her fingers are beginning to look like tiny raisins. All you have to do is dry her off and put her diaper on. I'll dress her."
He blinked and stared at the splashing pup before grabbing a towel and approaching her like she was a raging bull and he was the matador. I observed in amusement as he swooped and plucked her out of the water quickly as if he expected her to start wailing, but Mila was content with the duckie she was holding.
"Do your pups ever cry? Why are they so calm?" Leon asked with furrowed eyebrows, drying Mila off gingerly.
"Take that duck away from her. She has to leave it here."
He snatched the duck away, and Mila's lip trembled and her eyes welled with tears immediately.
"I take it back!" Leon said over her shrill cries, throwing the duck in the tub and bouncing her in his arms. He rushed out of the bathroom, hugging Mila to his body as he comforted her and left me with my ever-so-calm son.
"What about you, Felix?" I asked, raising him above my head, "Dada?"
He kicked his legs excitedly, "Mumumum."
I narrowed my eyes, "Your mother taught you this, didn't she? I'm going to spank–actually, you don't need to hear that," I muttered at the end, standing up and climbing out of the tub.
After drying Felix and myself off the best I could with my wet boxers still on, I headed into the nursery to find Leon watching a YouTube tutorial on how to put a diaper on.
"This lady is going way too fast," he muttered, fiddling with the diaper.
"Did you rub her lotion on first?"
He stared at me blankly before huffing, "And people wonder why Reece and I don't want pups yet. Too complicated, and they don't come with manuals."
I chuckled and handed Felix over to him, "Watch and learn, dragon."
***
If Jaslynn didn't come home soon, I was going to strangle a dragon.
He was holding up two onesies and nodding his head as if he was impressed by them.
"My pups are not wearing that," I stated, frowning at the insulting onesies.
"These are great," Leon defended.
"Yeah, because you bought them. They were placed in the last drawer for a reason."
"Humor me. If they wear them one time, I'll stop harassing you about it," he said, waving them in my face in a taunting manner.
I growled under my breath and snatched one away, "Dress Felix. He'll be sure to kick you in the face."
As I turned around to dress Mila, I overheard Leon whisper, "Your dad's just jealous he can't wear these masterpieces."
With a roll of my eyes, I got to work and a few minutes later, Leon piped up behind me, "So what now?"
"Now, they take a nap," I said, smirking as his eyes widened.
My pups may eat well and bathe well, but if there was one thing they could suck at, it was nap time and everyone knew it.
"You know, I would love to stick around for that, but I just remembered that I have to go work with the warriors now. Practice is starting soon," Leon explained, placing Felix in my arms, "Have fun!"
He practically sprinted out of the nursery and I shook my head, "Well pups, it's just us once again and we are going to try to go down for a nap as quickly as possible."
***
An hour and a half later, Mila had finally dozed off, Felix was wide awake, and I was exhausted.
We were sitting in the rocking chair with their noise machine on, and I had read every last book on their shelf to try to lull them to sleep. Mila took the bait and leaned her head against my chest towards the third to last book, but Felix was happy listening to me read from what I could tell by his quiet gurgles.
Now, I was stuck humming lullabies that were putting me to sleep more than him.
"Aren't you tired yet, Felix?" I whispered, stroking his soft wisps of hair that tickled my fingertips.
He stuck his foot in his mouth again.
I sighed, feeling more tired than I had in days.
I was an Alpha, leader of all werewolves, someone who was able to work nonstop without a dent in my energy levels.
But give me my two pups for less than a day, and it was like I hadn't eaten or slept in weeks.
I stopped rocking for a moment and looked at Felix, "Perhaps I don't spend enough time with you and Mila or maybe I'm just not good at being a parental figure. That might explain why your sister can't say 'dada'. I mean, I couldn't even put the two of you down for a nap."
The crappy feeling I had intensified for a moment as I put my efforts down.
Felix mumbled incoherently, and I continued rocking, "But you don't look upset even if you don't smile, neither does Mila, and I successfully made it through bath time and feeding time so I got something right."
I adjusted the pups in my arms as I continued to think about the day, "I also made sure your Uncle Leon put your diaper and onesie on properly. You know what? I might not be so bad at this after all. I've had losses and I've had wins like any other parent, right?"
"Right," a pleasant voice whispered from a distance.
I looked up as Jaslynn approached us and bent down, giving me a sweet kiss before she pulled back and smiled softly, "I love you, you know that? You are incredible, especially as a father. You reassure me all the time that I'm doing things right, but I want you to know that the same goes for you. You make me proud to be your Luna."
My lips twitched into a weary smile, "Have I told you how much I appreciate you?"
She chuckled and pecked my lips again, gently transferring Mila to her arms, "You have plenty of time to do so later. Let me put Mila in her crib, and I'll take Felix so you can get some rest."
I watched her leave for Mila's nursery and turned to Felix again, "Your mama thinks I'm doing good. How about you? What do you think?"
His face broke into a wide smile as he pressed his little palm against my lips, and my heart grew three sizes.
It got a little cheesy, lmao, but that's what I'm all about so I hope you guys enjoyed Alrik being Dad of the Year! He tried his best. Did he win you over? 😉
I'm going to try to post the last bonus chapter at midnight on the 28th, but it depends on if I make it home before then. I also have a special announcement that I can't wait to make that day (some of you prob won't care lmao but it's important to me). Anyway....
LOVE YOU ALL *MWAH*