Over the next few weeks, Alex became a staple within the family unit that they had created. He saw how happy Jared and Elizabeth were and he even envied Jacob and Cory's relationship. He longed to hold Elizabeth in his arms.
Alex had stepped up becoming a father to all 7 pups, sharing responsibility for them all. He took the pups to the park and provided support to the babies. He fed, diapered, washed, and any other tasks that needed to be performed for the pups.
Elizabeth kept gaining more and more new packs. She did not seek out any of them but they kept having more Alpha's appear at the house to request their addition to the united packs. She accepted all the new members and encouraging participation in large group functions to allow wolves the opportunity to meet their mates.
Elizabeth walked into the nursery where Alex was tending to the pups, "Let's go for a run." she said looking at him.
His heart rate increased and he looked at her. "Really?"
"Yes," she said nodding at him.
They had the guards watch the pups and they went outside to the forest. Alex stripped and shifted into his wolf and Elizabeth shifted into Goddess. She looked at him for a minute and realized she didn't know his wolf's name. His coloring was black, almost blue in color. Goddess looked at him for a minute and mind-linked, "What is your name?"
"Zeus," he mind-linked back, "Your name beautiful?" He said mesmerized by her beautiful glowing coat.
"Goddess," she said and took off on a dead run.
He chased after her as they ran through the forest. She ran for the lake that she likes to visit. He nipped at her tail which was moving as she ran, he tried to catch it. She ran faster but he also increased his speed chasing her until he jumped on her causing them to both falls into the lake. She laughed shifting back and Alex also shifted back. They swam around for a while splashing each other until Alex grabbed her arms and pulled her into his chest. Both of their heart rates increased being so close and the sparks were going off like crazy where they touched. She stared into his eyes and he locked eyes with her.
"Sorry," he whispered and backed off, never taking his eyes off her.
She smiled and shifted back into her wolf rushing out of the water, they raced back to the edge of the trees where she shifted and waited for him to shift and dress. Coming out of the forest, she smiled. "That was fun."
"Yeah, thanks for taking me," he said smiling at her. "That was the most normal I have felt in a long time."
She looked at him for a minute, pulled him to her and hugged him. "Thank you for taking care of the pups, you have been doing a great job." He was surprised and froze. Then he hugged her back.
A few days later, She had Jared and Alex go out with her to lunch for a discussion, they had a private room. "I think we should start having a spring and fall ball so people will gather and increase the chance of mates finding each other." They both agreed almost immediately.
"We need to make a decision about our situation," she said looking between the two. Neither of them spoke.
"We have talked about this," Jared said looking at her.
Alex finally spoke, "If you want me gone, reject me again." he said looking at the ground, he looked broken.
"I don't want you gone," she whispered
His eyes darted to her, he was holding his breath waiting for her next words.
"We will try this," she finally said. "Jared is my mate, we will see how you can fit in with that."
He nodded, "Thank you."
She looked at Jared, "Thank you for supporting me."
He smiled and pulled her close kissing her. "I love you."
"I love you too," she said hugging him.