Alpha Tristan

"Maybe we should get out back there to order."

I glanced up at Tristan and lowered my voice to a very quiet whisper. "Half the restaurant are our wolves. They're so going to catch on."

He chuckled but humoured me and whispered too. "What? That their Alpha and Luna have a very loving relationship and couldn't keep their hands off each other?

"Haha, very funny, Tristan." I slowly turned around in his arms to face the mirror. My curls had slightly frizzed up and I sighed as I fixed it as best as I could.

Tristan kept his hands at my waist and watched me with a wide smile on his face. His hair was unruly from me gripping it so much so I combed my fingers through it to try and fix it. His hair was a lot easier to manage so it worked, which I was thankful for.

"It happened." He dipped his head to kiss my shoulder. "We had fun. They all have a fierce attraction to their mates too."

I wrapped my arms around him tighter. "You definitely showed me your fierce attraction." I slowly grinned. "So much fun."

He gripped my chin and mirrored my grin. "There's my girl." He rested his forehead on mine and stared into my eyes. "Now, we're going to go back out there and finish the rest of our date, okay?"

I bit my lip and nodded. "Okay."

He smiled and gripped my hand in his. Giving the bathroom a once-over to confirm we left it as we found it, Tristan unlocked the door and pulled it open.

One of the elders of our pack exited the other bathroom at the same time and when her gaze fell upon us, she smiled and bowed her head. My face was hot as we stopped in the hallway and Tristan was fighting a smile.

"We've all been there, Luna. Don't worry about it." She chuckled to herself as she glanced at both of us slyly before walking in front of us.

I squeezed Tristan's hand as a squeak of embarrassment fell from my lips. He brought my hand to his mouth as he laughed. "Yeah, don't worry about it, Luna."

Thankfully, our table wasn't too far away from the bathroom and I managed to make it there without making eye contact with anyone I knew. Ruben came a few minutes later with a sly smirk on his face as he jotted down his order.

I sipped on my glass of water as we waited for our food to come. Tristan held my hand again on the table and picked up his glass too.

He caught my gaze as he sipped on his water and I could see his lips curving upwards into a smirk. Gripping my glass tighter, I dropped my gaze back down to the table as my face heated up.

"Stop smiling so much, Tristan."

He chuckled quietly. "I've got a lot to smile about, αγάπη. I'm a happy man."

I heard a choked laugh from the corner of the restaurant and I rolled my eyes with a smile.

His azure eyes gleamed as he stood up and pressed a kiss to my forehead. 'I love you.'

I squeezed his hand. This date was turning out to be my most favourite one ever. 'I love you too.'

—————

After our date, Tristan and I decided to swing by the training field to see how everyone was doing. Christian was leading it in Tristan's absence, and he regarded us with a warm smile as we stood next to him.

"Afternoon." He bowed his head and Tristan clapped a hand on his back in greeting.

"Quite a good one too if you ask me, Chris." Tristan sneakily glanced at me before grinning at our beta and lowering his voice. "During the break, I need to bring you up to speed on the border situation."

Christian nodded sombrely and we turned to watch the training. Half the teens were in wolf form and were sparring, and the other half were working on dodging attacks.

I spotted Markus teaching his younger brother, Aama, a few moves and nudged Tristan. "Is everything okay with Aama?" I asked, remembering that the boy was only nine years old. He seemed very determined to know how to punch properly.

Tristan smiled fondly. "He wants to be like Markus—thought if I chose Markus to protect you, he could protect Alina when she gains her title."

"That is adorable!" I cooed, grinning brightly. When I caught Markus' gaze, I waved.

He tapped Aama on the arm and they made their way over to us. They bowed their heads and Markus wrapped an arm around his little brother's shoulders. "He's going to make an excellent fighter."

"It's in your blood," Christian replied, his blue eyes gleaming before he turned his gaze back to the field.

I set my gaze on Aama and smiled brightly. "Keep up the good work. I'm proud of your drive."

Aama was still as adorable as the first time I met him. He rushed forward and hugged me tightly. I laughed and wrapped my arms around him and leaned down to press a kiss to his head.

"Thank you, Luna!" he exclaimed happily as his brown eyes stared up at mine. "I want to always make sure Alina is safe."

Tristan ruffled his hair. "We really appreciate that, buddy."

I hugged him again and it was then that Christian called for a break. The wolves began playing a little game of tag and once Aama caught on, he immediately ran to join. He was a fast runner and I watched him fondly.

"We're still going to strengthen security." Tristan caught my attention by wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to him. He turned to Christian. "There was an accident with wolfsbane at Aren's pack, some kids were messing around and disposed of it by our borders. But my gut is telling me that border security needs to be a lot tighter, especially if they were able to dispose of it undetected."

I saw where he was coming from. There were around-the-clock patrols by the borders of our territory. It was the most important part of our security, especially since our pack was large, incredibly strong and not viewed in a positive light by all.

Over the years, Tristan and I had squashed many rumours together but the fear that surrounded him and the pack didn't disappear altogether. A side of the story had been told and it was hard to shake.

"Can I be a part of border security?" Markus chimed in and addressed us both. "If the pack needs extra protection, I'd be honoured to step up."

Tristan laid a hand on his shoulder and nodded. "That's much appreciated, Markus. I'll speak to Salik and put you on the rotation."

He smiled and bowed his head.

I went to reply but my mother's voice filtered through in my mind.

'Are you busy, sweetheart? Alina drew a picture of you three and wants you to see it. I sent you it.'

My phone pinged and I pulled it from my pocket to see the drawing. I instantly smiled. She had drawn Tristan and me holding her hand on each side. She drew spirals for my hair and hers and even used a blue colour pencil for Tristan's eyes.

My mother helped her by writing 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' above the stick drawing and she replicated it as best she could with her scrawny handwriting. It was large and barely legible but I was still incredibly proud.

Tristan glanced down at my phone and spoke. "Did our daughter just draw us?" he sounded in awe and I looked up to see his bright grin. "She never fails to amaze me." He stared at the picture for a few moments more until I typed a response back to my mother.

"We're so going to be the parents that frame everything." I shook my head with a laugh and the three men joined in.

Christian combed his fingers through his dark blond hair. "Elle and I are the parents that film everything. I'm pretty sure I have about twenty videos of Leo just grabbing air."

My smile widened and I heard my mother's voice again.

'She's asking to see you if you're not too busy.'

Tristan was in my mind and as soon as he heard that, he took a step back from Markus and Christian. "We're going to go see her. Markus, I'll speak to Salik so meet him at six o'clock later today by the northern border. Christian, we'll have our meeting tomorrow at eleven o'clock."

Bidding everyone goodbye, we made our way to my parents' house and my mother helped Alina opened the door before we could knock. Tristan grinned and lifted her into his arms before throwing her up into the air slightly.

She giggled as he spoke. "There's my little Picasso!" he kissed all over her face and her laugh lit up the room.

I hugged my mother before hugging my daughter tightly. "I love the drawing, Alina!"

Alina smiled shyly and reached for both of our hands. She pulled us to the table where she and my mother had been drawing and lifted her drawing for us to see. To me, it looked even better in person.

"I even drew our curly hair, Mummy. Look." She pointed to the spirals and grinned up at us.

"It's beautiful, χαρα μου. You're so talented." Tristan kneeled down in front of her and held his hand up. She gave him an enthusiastic high-five and hugged him again.

My mother collected all the colour pencils and spoke to us. "We were just about to eat lunch. Do you want to join us?"

I didn't know about Tristan because he could eat like nobody else but I was still full from the brunch we had. I had eaten a lot because s.e.x with Tristan always worked up an appetite.

"We ate already. Thank you though, Dahliah." Tristan stood up and faced me. "I need to sort out what we talked about. Do you want to stay here and I'll come by later to pick you up?"

Alina had only been away from us for a few hours and since she was starting preschool in two days, I needed her to get used to not being with me all the time. So I shook my head. "I'll come with you."

Tristan nodded but Alina frowned. "I don't want you to leave, Mummy and Daddy."

I mustered up a smile and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "You're spending the day with Grandma and sleeping over, remember? We'll see you tomorrow and you can tell us all about it."

At the reminder, she perked up. "Baking!"

Tristan laughed and c.a.r.e.s.sed the back of her head. "Yeah. Baking. Give me a goodbye hug."

She wrapped her arms around his legs and he kneeled down again to hug her properly. She hugged me next and I cheered when she spoke in my mind. 'I love you, Mummy.'

'I love you too, Alina.'

Tristan grinned and reached for my hand as Alina followed us to the door. She waved goodbye as we stepped out into the snow and began walking. When we were out of sight, I spoke to Tristan.

"What's your gut telling you about security?"

He squeezed my hand. "I know we have nothing to worry about. I just don't want people in Aren's pack to see our borders as a place to be used by them, kids or otherwise. And it keeps the pack safe. Better safe than sorry right?"

I nodded, knowing that if the kids thought they could dispose of wolfsbane at our borders, they would use it to hide other potential accident from Aren if they didn't learn the lesson. This way, Tristan was right.

We were better safe than sorry.