The smell of coffee woke me. My bedroom door was slightly open, whoever put the coffee on had done it deliberately to wake me up. There was a soft snoring behind me. I tensed a second before his scent settled in my nose. His was a very male scent, with a hint of trees and wild grass, he smelled like summer and autumn a wild mix in my nose. I continued to breathe him in and felt better than I had in months. His arm was casually draped around me, my hand rested on his at my stomach. His other arm was also wrapped around me, although I lay on it. His legs were tangled in mine and his breath tickled the hair at my neck. I could sleep forever. The feel of his skin on mine was welcomed, the contrast between his rougher skin against mine somehow helped to calm me.

I started to untangle myself. The smell of my favorite drug was driving me insane. Logan stopped snoring and nuzzled my neck. "We need to sleep," he said in a dreamy voice. A rough voice that awoke my body instantly.

A groggy chuckle escaped me. "I thought you said sleep was overrated."

"That was sleep deprivation talking, not me." I turned around to look at him, he relaxed his arms enough to give me space and move. He blinked slowly several times and hugged me closer to his body. The lines in his face from yesterday night was nothing but a memory. I had hoped that some would stay, that his morning look would somehow be less appealing, no such luck. He was just as beautiful as always, but I let myself stare now. I put his face to memory, refusing to miss even the slightest detail. "Did you sleep well?" he asked and I heard that he was very content with himself. I slapped his chest in answer, moment ruined. "I'll take that as a yes." I closed my eyes and rested my head under his chin. A low sound of satisfaction slipped out of him before his breathing became heavier. Listening to him relax was one of the best lullabies I had ever heard. Knowing that he felt safe enough with me eased some of my own loathing and self-doubt. I listened to his breathing, and kept on breathing him in like a drug. He keeps on breathing life into my lungs.

We relaxed again and I felt myself slipping away. Well, until I heard Rylan yelling at the top of his lungs. "Anna! Your coffee's getting cold!" He just woke the whole house up. Logan growled in annoyance while I laughed at both of them.

I stood up, Logan reluctantly let go of me. I didn't bother changing my clothes. I still wore the same shorts and shirt that I slept in. And, it was only breakfast after all, hell not even that, I only wanted coffee.

"He's only jealous it was me sleeping with you. You know that right?" Like he needed to point that out.

I looked back at Logan, he was sitting up now. His knees were bent and his powerful arms were draped over them. And I kept my eyes on his face, I would never leave this room if I looked further down. "Really?" I made sure that my voice dripped with sarcasm. He glared back. "Maybe I should ask him to my bed tonight, in case he feels left out." Logan growled loud enough for Rylan to hear downstairs. "I'll take that as a no." I gave him an innocent smile, which he refused to return.

"That's definitely a no."

"Territorial much?" He took in my face, my skeptical look and raised eyebrow. And a smile started to spread in the corner of his mouth. It ended up as a crocked and very inviting smile, I hated that I stared.

"Not at all."

"Then you won't mind – "

"Do you want me to spell it out?" He sounded annoyed, although his face was set in an impassive way. "I enjoyed sleeping with you. And I will enjoy it even more knowing I'm the only one with that privilege."

"Was that so hard to admit?"

He looked sincerely dumbstruck, like he never would have thought about why I teased him in the first place. "No it wasn't. Why didn't you just tell me that you wanted me to say it?"

"Are you joining us downstairs?" I said instead. Food was a distraction Logan always fell for.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna put a shirt on." He stood from the bed and stretched his body. His back was to me, and the powerful muscles there danced in silent invitation. I instantly backed away, while having a hard time not staring.

"Don't do it for my sake," I mumbled as I got out of the bedroom.

"What was that?" he asked in a teasing voice.

"Nothing at all." I suppressed a shiver as I ran down the stairs. Wolves were often muscular, I was well aware of that. But few had the same shape as Logan and Rylan. Don't even go there. I nodded to myself as I descended the stairs. They're your pack brothers, keep that in mind. And I would, until one of them took their shirt off. And undressing was like a mating ritual for them. They hardly ever wore shirts. Not that I minded. I wasn't sure if they wanted me mindless with lust. I only knew that it was working, whether I wanted it or not.

I sat down when I entered the kitchen, at the head of the table. My cup of coffee was already served and waited for me, just as promised. I silently thanked Rylan. "Soooooo," he started and stood casually by the counter, "how did you sleep?" His eyes were hooded with sexual implication.

"Like a babe," I purred and sipped my coffee. I moaned when the taste hit me, Rylan made it just the way I liked it. Strong as hell and as black as Jonathans heart. He knew me well by now and kept quiet while I drank my first cup. I hadn't even put it down before he walked over with the pot in his hand. I smiled in gratitude, and raised my cup.

"Are there any details of the night you wanna share?"

"Not with you," Logan answered behind me. I suppressed a smile and buried my face in my cup once again. Rylan kept standing beside me, pot in hand. I could feel Logans glare even without turning. The two of them kept on with their pissing contest while I drank my coffee in peace. Rylan eventually moved, an annoyed growl escaped him while he retreated to the counter. Logan took a seat next to me, his eyes never leaving Rylan. There was a hidden warning in them, one I recognized easy enough, she's mine. It didn't bother me yet, males were after all males. I wasn't all too surprised when Logans arm appeared on the back of my chair. I still said nothing, waiting for the two of them to work it out, quite curious to see which one of them would win. Logan was an alpha by blood, you could tell easy enough. Rylan was not, even though he tried his hardest he always yielded at the end. And one of the would yield eventually. And it won't be Logan… I thought with a shiver.

I smelled Adam before I saw him, and I heard his light steps, even though he was trying to creep up on me. "Good morning baby," I greeted and heard his tired sigh of defeat. Adam walked into my line of view, a cold stare on Logans arm. I bit my lip to keep my smile to myself. Even Rylan snorted with laughter, either Logan ignored it or simply missed it. I pushed Logans arm away, his whole face set in a confused frown. Adam fixed him with yet another stare as he climbed into my lap. Adam frowned and snorted, I didn't mistake his hidden message. He didn't like that I smelled like Logan. I bit my lip harder.

Adam had become quite independent since we came here. It was unusual for him to seek me out like this. But I knew why he did it, even though the others still blamed it on Jonathan. My little brother was jealous. He wasn't used to this, my attention had always been his from the moment he'd been born. Amadeus and Andy hadn't had a chance, even though they tried their hardest. My mother had always encouraged it, and Adam had always looked to me like a second mother.

My brother settled and leaned back against my chest. I rested my face against his soft hair and cuddled against him. He moved in my lap, seating himself on the side so he faced Logan. He then deliberately leaned into me and buried his face in the hollow of my throat. I laughed and put my arms around him, enjoying this moment to its fullest. I didn't even care that he was jealous, I was too happy having Adam in my arms.

"I don't like the way he looks at you," my brother told me in Swedish.

I looked down at him and into his annoyed green eyes. "How so?" I asked back in our native tongue. I wasn't sure what his answer would be, but I had never expected what would come out.

"He looks at you like Jonathan did," Adam growled. Logan recoiled at my brother's words, he might not understand his words, but he understood his meaning. Logan was a smart man. I looked down at him in shock, and not because of his words. I took his face in both my hands and smelled his skin. "What are you doing?" he demanded and tried to push me away.

My heart beat wildly, but eventually calmed down. "I'm sniffing you." I kept on smelling him, I arched his neck, where his scent would smell the most. I slumbered back in my chair and kept a tight grip on my brother. My head started spinning from breathing in too much air.

"Why?"

I stared down at my beautiful baby brother and smiled. "Because you, my little pup just growled." His eyes widened at my words, and a big fat grin appeared on his face.

"I did!" he yelled in happiness and threw his arms around me.

That was the first sign in my family, the growling. Adams change wasn't close yet, but it was beginning, it would take years before it actually happened. His scent would eventually change, becoming more masculine. He would grow, shoot into height quicker than I would've liked. His body would change before his first Change, he would grow bigger, like my brothers had. Tears tried to materialize but I held them back. Don't think about it. But of course I did, how could I not? How the hell would I be able to keep him safe until them? And how the hell would I be able to teach him everything he needed until then?

Adam stared into my face, and he must have seen the doubts there. He carefully put his hands on my cheeks, and smiled. "Don't worry. You'll teach me everything I need to know. And you'll keep me safe until then." I crushed him to my chest and Adam wheezed in answer. I lightened my grip around him and damned myself for crying. It was uncanny how he always seemed to know what I was thinking. But I thanked whatever God existed for my baby brother. "You're the best mom ever," he whispered against my neck and I cried as I smiled. He didn't say it because he'd forgotten about our mother, but he knew of the responsibility she'd given me when she died: Him. He'd become my pup after her last breath, and he knew it.

I composed myself and kept on looking at my brother. He was still small, a boy. But he was already one of the biggest men I had ever known. I stroked his cheek and he leaned into my touch, suddenly craving it after weeks. "I love you Adam." And I will go through the fires of hell to keep you out of harm. He was my brother, my mother's son, and I knew with certainty that I would gladly sacrifice myself again for his sake. I would lie, cheat, kill, maim, hurt, I would to anything to anyone who ever threatened him.

"I love you too." I could tell that he saw it all in my eyes. My little brave pup. He held my gaze and I let him see everything. A smile touched the corner of his mouth, seeing him smile made my heart sing in joy. He might be a pup, but he has the heart of a wolf.

"And I would move heaven and earth to keep you safe." I felt the need to say it out loud. To once and for all tell him that no one and nothing would ever hurt him again. Is this how mother felt when she saw Jonathan? Was that why she refused to hand me over to him? It must have been her fierce instincts. The heart of a wolf.

"You already did," he answered and nestled in close to me again.

The pups were out in the back with us while their parents were off in town getting groceries. All of the pups were competing for Logans and Kates attention. Their little brother, Jamie sat between his siblings, showing the other pups they stood no chance. I recognized it easy enough and laughed as Adam sat down in my lap. The two of them were staking a claim. Mine, keep away.

Logan kept staring at Adam. And Adam kept casting glares back. Adam knew that Logan was…well, I wasn't really sure what he was doing. But I knew that friendzoning him would be hard. Adams instincts told him that Logan was courting me, and it fell upon him to protect me, and to test the male. Adam would be the one to decide his worth, if he thought Logan weak…well, then nothing would happen. He might be my baby brother, but he held the saying in this. That was how it had always was in my family, the others had to approve. I smiled as I thought about Felicia, a girl Andy had brought home. She'd been a low class half-demon a Tripudio, and she'd been furious when none of us had known what the fuck that meant. "Do you remember Felicia?" I asked Adam while the twins and Rylan watched us.

Adam snorted a laugh. "She was useless."

"She was," I agreed. I crouched over, so my head was beside Adams. "Do you remember why I thought so?" He nodded with a smile. "And do you remember how I tested her?" Adam laughed loud enough to draw the attention of all the pups outside. And I knew by his laughter that he did remember, quite clearly.

"Come on, what did you do little viking?" Rylan asked with gleaming eyes.

Kate leaned back, Jamie was quick to follow. "I can tell this will be good."

Adams eyes were big and excited, he looked back at me, silently asking me for permission to tell them. I chuckled and inclined my head in silent agreement. "Andy brought a girl home, and Anna kicked her ass!"

Kate and Rylan laughed out loud, while Logan chuckled, his eyes on me instead of my brother. "And why did I do it?" It was important that he heard this, why was a question I rather not answered.

Adam frowned, like it was obvious. "Because she wanted to mate Andy."

"Hold up," Kate interrupted with a raised hand, "you mean to tell me that your family decides who you can mate?"

"They would need the approval of our family, yes."

"Strength and cunning," Adam said and echoed out mother. "'Anyone willing to try are welcomed, but we don't take in strays,'" he quoted and I had to laugh at that, he was our mother's son that was for sure. Kate bit her lip, trying to hold her laugh in while she gave her twin a knowing look. "She was a nobody, a half demon and not even a good one," Adam snorted. My body shook with laughter. He'd adapted my hostility against the poor girl, she never stood a chance. But Adam spoke true, she'd been too weak for my brother. No mate of yours will survive if they're weak, my mother had often said. She knew that firsthand.

"She was a Tripudio," I said before they could ask.

"Weakest of the teleportation demons," Logan filled his twin in.

"I know what a Tripudio is," she growled and we all heard the lie in her voice.

"Sure you do, sure you do." Rylan said and patted her hand. She growled a low and vicious sound.

"Anyway!" I said and raised my voice, the pups had settled with us, intently listening to the story. "She wasn't strong, her teleportation only stretched a few inches and she was quite predictable."

"Anna challenged her to single combat, so she could prove her worth. She kept on moving around, trying to smack Anna and then disappear again. That kind of nonsense," Adam said and rolled his eyes. "Felicia was in one place and then BAM!" he yelled, making the pups jump, "she teleported away. But Anna say her patterns." He looked back at me, a silent pride in his fantastic green eyes. "She only had to beat her once and Felicia fell to the ground." I couldn't keep my smirk to myself and the others laughed at my satisfied look. "Mom sent her away."

"Just like that?" Rylan asked with raised eyebrows. I could understand their surprise, most people wanted their family's approval, we took it up another notch in mine. Once tested and proven unworthy? There was no coming back after that, that had been our golden rule.

"She proved she wasn't worthy of my brother," I said with a shrug. "Wolves usually live a hard and short life." The twins and Rylan nodded with grim looks. Rylan knew that more than anyone, his father died when he was little. "Out mother wanted to prevent that and make sure we mated with people that could hold their own and help protect us if the time came. She obviously couldn't."

"What did your brother say about that? I mean he had to have cared for her if he brought her home."

"Not really," Adam answered for me and I chuckled again. "Andy always brought home girls for Anna to test."

"He brought them home before it got to serious," I explained. I felt the need to protect my brother in his absence. Andy wasn't heartless, far from it. He brought them to me early so he wouldn't get his heart broken. Well, the girl might have gotten their hearts broken, but I never looked out for them. My brothers had been my charge and I'd guarded all of them like I still did with Adam. Although it had been different with my older brothers, but not by much. "He knew he wouldn't be able to let go of a girl he loved just because she couldn't fight." They all nodded, even the pups.

"Was Sam tested?" Jamie asked. He usually kept quiet around me, I gave him a small smile.

"No," Adam said with an exasperated sigh.

It was Logans turn to frown. "Why not?"

"Because he would have burned my brothers to crisps. I thought it unnecessary, as did my mother."

"Ah, a fire demon," Kate said with a suggestive purr. Logan gave her his mean glare, which she shook off. Rylan howled with laughter, I was glad that the pups missed the point.

"Exustio," I answered with a hungry smile. "I was never cold with him." And good God I never was. He had flames hot enough to melt the whole Arctic.

Kate laughed with Rylan while Logan mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. "Fjant," Adam said as he looked at Logan. I roared with laughter, he just called him a busybody, and Logan narrowed his eyes at him. I growled back and I didn't need to see Adams face to know he was smiling in triumph.

"Stop trying to pick a fight with someone thrice your size Adam." The others looked at us expectantly, like we were going to translate our conversation, which none of us did.

"He's not that big," he huffed back, I caught the lie in his voice. Logan was big, no matter what my brother said. He just wasn't near Jonathans size, to whom Adam was comparing him to.

I took a firm grip on Adams chin. He tried to pry my fingers off, with no success. "He's bigger than you."

"You're smaller too, and you still kicked his ass," Adam reminded me and smiled. It was hard being a parent, trying to pretend you were mad while your child said or did something awesome was hard.

"So you're eager to take a round with him?" Adam pouted and eventually shook his head. "That's what I thought." He still smiled like the devil, my words hadn't helped at all. "Don't even think of it," I warned him.

He shrugged, an innocent gesture that didn't help at all. "I'm not doing anything. He's the one that keeps staring." I fixed a glare at Adam, I didn't even need to say anything. "Okay," he exclaimed, "I won't do anything."

"Damn straight you won't!"

Adam exhaled loud enough for everyone to hear. "I miss Amadeus and Andy, they would've kept him on his toes." Adam said in English and finished with a growl meant for Logan. None of us missed his hidden meaning, yes, our brothers would have tested Logan a long time ago.

Rylan and Kate roared with laughter, while the pups looked at us in confusion. Even Logan laughed. "Lucky for me they aren't here then."

"Don't worry, they'll come." Adam said it with such confident that I almost started hoping. But I smothered it down before it could bloom. They won't come, because our brothers are dead my sweet sweet boy.

"I look forward to meeting them," Logan said and everyone could tell that he meant what he said. "Are they stronger than your sister?"

Adam snorted, like Logan had insulted him. "No."

"Bigger?"

"Of course they're bigger," he said, and made it sound like Logan was an idiot for asking. But I knew that Logan was trying to get on my brother's good graces, and making him talk about our brothers was a safe place to start. "They're males."

"Are they faster then?"

Adam smiled in a feral way and I snorted a laugh. "No." Adam kept on looking at Logan and I could tell that the next thing he said would be something rude. "Anna is the best fighter in my family. But my brothers could still take you."

"We'll see."

Adam huffed in annoyance. "That's enough, both of you." Both smiled back at me, equally guilty but with matching innocent smiles.

The breeze came, and goosebumps bloomed. I took a deep breath, taking in all the hidden details that the wind offered me. Logan noticed it, as did Rylan and Kate. I glanced at the house in hidden meaning.

"Time for a snack!" Kate shouted and the pups were quick to follow her as she stood up. I swear, if the boys were wolves, their tails would've wiggled. Even Adam stood up at the promise of food and I exhaled in relief and followed.

"Go," Rylan said to me and Logan, "we'll take care of the pups."

I practically ran through the house, with Logan at my heel. The pups payed no notice to us, not even my brother. "What did you smell?" he asked as he ran beside me.

"Mutt."

He gripped my arm tightly, a vein at his neck was already standing out. "Are you sure?" His voice was furious. I glared at him, it was answer enough. A deadly growl vibrated from him, the need to keep his territory safe was starting to become overwhelming. I could see it in his eyes, the need to kill was strong. The mutt was trespassing on his territory. I couldn't even have cared less about that, my heart beat for another reason. "What's the plan?" he asked through clenched teethes and murder in his eyes.