Alexander woke up the next morning ready to go see Kai. He had so many questions running through his head and the pull from the tattered connection, while weak, was still making him uneasy. He quickly got dressed and made his way out of his apartment suite heading towards the Omega’s house.

Once there he was completely taken aback by the events that were taking place. The house no longer seemed empty and abandoned like it had when he visited a couple of nights prior. Children were running around the yard chasing one another in human and wolf form. A large picnic blanket was laid out on the yard where Tasha, Kyle and their wives were sitting and chatting like this was a typical weekend outing for them.

Alexander walked over to the group and impatiently said, “what is going on here?”

The group of adults stopped midconversation and stared up at the looming Alpha. None of them really knew what to say and for a few long seconds they just stared at each other. That was until they heard laughter coming from the doorway into the house. All five heads turned towards the doorway as Kai came walking out holding a baby that was goo-ing and gaa-ing at the laughing Omega.

Upon realizing the awkward situation, Kai looked towards the group of adults, briefly making eye contact with the Alpha before completely ignoring him and walking over to Tasha.

“Damn Tasha, your child sure knows how to release his inner demons! What are you feeding this kid?” Tasha just stared at the Omega with her mouth slightly hanging ajar…

“Excuse me!! What the hell is going on?” Alexander said again, this time everyone could sense the anger in his voice.

Kai looked straight into the Alpha’s eyes before replying, “a picnic. What, you’ve never been to a picnic before?”

Kai then handed the baby over to Tasha and walked over to the Alpha all while keeping direct eye contact. It was then that Alexander registered what the Omega was wearing. A long sleeve sweater and a pair of jeans. He looked normal compared to what he was wearing the day of the trials. In fact, Alexander couldn’t help but reminisce that this is the way that Kai used to dress when he was a teenager.

“Sit,” Kai said with a demanding voice as he pointed over towards the picnic blanket.

All the dejected alpha could respond with was a quiet “okay” before walking over to the blanket. The four other adults and baby moved over to make room for the six foot man child that now was sulking as if he had been told off by a parent. 

“Stay,” Kai said. The tension that was now present was so thick that it could be cut by a knife. Luckily for the adults, four children came burling towards Kai, knocking him over into a pile of skin, clothes, and fur.

“Uncle Kai, Uncle Kai!!! Come play with us,” the children said in unison before all running away. All the other adults could do was stare in amusement as the Omega got up, wiped the dirt off his clothes, and chased after the kids with a huge smile on his face.

“What the hell is going on?” Alexander once again repeated.

“Well… we have been hanging out almost everyday waiting for you to wake up… Kai is good with the children so we have been having picnics.” Tasha responded apprehensively.

“You do realize that he is a trained assassin right? Not to mention he is not a pack member and he is here on a job. What are the other pack members going to think if they see an outsider playing with some of our pups so openly like this? Did you guys even think of what could happen?” 

“Alex, you know Kai isn’t going to hurt the children. He is my family. He has been around my kids before,” Kyle responded angrily. “He isn’t an outsider to me. He never was.”

“I understand, but he is an outsider to this pack and he is on a job, not a vacation. You are my Beta and you need to stop being so emotional about this situation. The pack comes first. It always has and it always will. He is not a pack member. Tasha, I thought you of all people would understand this.” Alexander said, his voice rising with every word, making the baby in Tasha’s arms start to cry.

Tasha handed the baby over to her wife before saying, “maybe we should take this conversation inside and away from the kids.”

“Fine,” Alexander said before getting up and walking into Kai’s house. Tasha and Kyle followed him inside, closing the door behind them. The Alpha walked right over to the armchair and sat down as Tasha and Kyle sat on the couch.

“You might not want to sit there…” Kyle started to say before being interrupted by the raging Alpha.

“Or what? I’m the Alpha and I will sit where I damn please. Now please explain to me how you thought this was a good idea?”

“Please Alex, just calm down!” Tasha said before continuing, “we just thought that it would be good for Kai to have some social interaction with the pack considering he came from here. We didn’t just want to leave him alone here by himself.”

“I am calm considering my Beta and one of my best warriors are out here making decisions without consulting me first! I realize that he was a pack member in the past, but it has been a decade since he has stepped foot in this pack and he left on his own accord. We cannot be slack when it comes to this situation. We have to do things by the book for our pack’s safety. It was already bad enough that he was given basically free range to live here.”

“God Alex, can you please shut up and listen for a second. We understand that this is a sensitive topic, but you are the only person who is acting like it is the end of the world. All we are doing is socializing him into the pack so that he has an easy time while being here. It wasn’t easy for him to come back,” Kyle stated.

The Alpha was so angry that he didn’t hear the door open as Kai stepped into the house.

“If it is so hard for him to be here, maybe he should leave! He already left once. He is not a member of the pack anymore and we don’t need someone who left ten years ago to come back and protect us!”

“Why are you sitting there? Get up now!” 

At the sound of Kai’s voice, Alex deflated quickly. He had let his emotions get to him, causing him to have an outburst and he immediately regretted what he had said.

“I-” but before the Alpha could continue, Kai walked over and grabbed Alex by the back of the neck.

“Get up or am I going to have to physically remove you from this chair?” Kai threatened, tightening the grasp he had on Alex’s neck. The Alpha quickly got up, swatting Kai’s hand away before walking towards the front door. “Did I tell you to leave? Kyle and Tasha, I am sorry to cut our picnic short but it seems like the Alpha and I have something to discuss.” 

Alex immediately stopped in his tracks. He had never been treated like this in his entire existence. Nobody has told him what to do with the ferocity and command like Kai had done, except maybe his father. He was immediately confused. Why was he letting this Omega tell him what to do? Kyle and Tasha got up and headed towards the door. Before leaving, Kyle stopped and looked at the Alpha, saying a little “good luck” under his breath before walking out and closing the door behind him.

Kai let out a sigh before walking into the kitchen and turning on the stove.

“Sit at the island Alex. We are going to drink some tea and have a little chat.”

The Alpha quietly went over the island and sat down. He was ashamed of how he acted and the words he had said. He was also intrigued about what the Omega was going to talk to him about.

“I’m sorry Kai… I didn’t-” 

“Stop. This isn’t about you and me. I don’t really care what you think about me or my place in this tribe. I stopped caring about that a long time ago. However, I do realize that I didn’t really give you the proper opportunity to understand why I am here.” Kai said with a sigh.

“Let me start from the beginning…”

Author’s Note:

Hello!! Wow it feels so good to write again! I read through the story and like the way I wrote it so far so I am just going to keep on writing! That means I am ahead of schedule and will be posting on a weekly basis again! Please support my story with likes and comments! I love reading your comments and will be responding to them more frequently!

I forgot how much I absolutely love these characters! I was rereading my story and I swear I squealed so many times at how funny Kai is at tearing Alexander down a peg! Alexander is an ass, BUT he has his reasons. Not an excuse for his behavior but he is a sweet person on the inside. He has been through a lot and it will take him some time to fully unpack and address his trauma.

Also I know this is a shorter chapter but I needed a way to transition into the next portion of the story. The next few chapters are going to be flashbacks of what Kai has been up to the last ten or so years. It’s going to be a lot to unpack, but we will finally get more details on our big bad Nikolai!