A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update, life has a way of interrupting... I would say I will try to update again soon, but we see how that has worked out lately.
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Harry curled into a tighter ball as his skin became more chilled and the sounds of his active pack began to penetrate his sleep filled mind. He pulled the small source of heat closer to his body before taking a deep breath and realized it was cooler evening air. He slowly opened his eyes to find that the sun was quickly beginning to sink behind the tree line and Lexxy was curled against his body still asleep.
As he sat up, careful to not disturb the child, who was obviously exhausted, he realized that the pack was a flurry of activity. Weapons were being cleaned and put away, wounds were being mended, laundry was being taken from lines and folded, he could hear the rattle of dishes, and the smell of cooking food caused his stomach to growl. He saw Fenrir's unmistakable form moving between different groups, probably making sure that all was going well.
"Fuck." He groaned as he realized that he had missed the rest of his classes and pack duties. He rubbed his hands across his face. "So much work to make up."
Stupid sun, making me all warm and cozy. Stupid Fenrir, telling me to sit with him for a few minutes and petting my hair, Harry's lip made a small, childish pout, treating me like a puppy when I'm now man enough to take care of the puppies. Guess I will be doing the evening jobs tonight.
He nudged Lexxy's shoulder, "Hey, love, time to get up." A small disgruntled moan followed his announcement.
He leaned closer to her ear, "Dinner's gonna be ready soon, you need to wake up." A small hand batted at his head.
"Guess I'll just have to tickle you awake then." Harry laughed as he ran his fingers over her sides. Small giggles escaped the girl's mouth and her eyes opened slightly. As soon as he removed his hands she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and let out another huff of annoyance.
"Now, none of that, it's time to get cleaned up." He slowly stood, Lexxy held securely in his arms. "Unless you want all that dirt and flower petals on your hands to be your dinner, save all that meat for the rest of the pack."
Her eyes popped wide open at this sentence. "No! Meat! Blithe said if we eat reeeeally good there's gonna be a 'prise!"
"Hmm... A surprise? Well, we better get you cleaned up fast so you will have plenty of time to eat all your food and get that surprise."
Harry carried Lexxy past the pack members that were actively preparing for the last meal of the day and into the warm kitchen that smelled like the venison and vegetables they had been preparing. The pair could not stop from taking deep breaths, enjoying the delicious scent, as they passed through the packed kitchen. They passed through the more relaxed and noisy living room, where many pack members were playing games and talking, and placed his hand on the wall to enter hidden the staircase.
As he walked up the stairs he could hear the sound of children laughing and water splashing; he put Lexxy down so that she could run to join her friends in the bathroom. He entered slowly behind her; looking for the adult who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the children. He quickly realized the pups had been alone long enough to create chaos in the bathroom. The soap was on the floor in a puddle of water, bubbles were on faces as well as walls, and giggling children standing in the middle of the mess. Harry shook his head at the sight; slightly exasperated, but also amused by the sight.
"Hmm.. Think we can get this all cleaned up before dinner? We might just have to skip it and clean until bed time." Harry said with a dramatic sigh.
The children turned with startled expressions at being caught. "No, we're hungry!"
"Oh, well, we may want to start cleaning up before someone else sees this and thinks you're a bunch of dogs instead of the nice clean pups we've raised you to be." His soft smile stopped the words from being too harsh, but his serious tone reminded them of the consequences they would face if they dismissed his orders.
He supervised as they worked to clean the area they had managed to make a mess of and then lined them up to make sure they were all properly clean for dinner. Harry used rags to wash off all the children's' faces and helped the two youngest, Lexxy and Bradley, wash their hands before leading them downstairs.
"Pups were upstairs alone, playing in the water." He announced abruptly to the room full of dominates and submissives.
The adults looked at one another, sure that someone was given the responsibility of watching the children, but no one confessed to leaving them alone. It was an unforgivable oversight. Harry looked down at the children who were watching the interaction of the adults while sniffing the air that smelled like dinner.
"Go on to the kitchen, someone will set you down at your table." He had to give Lexxy an extra nudge and waited until they were all out of the room before looking back at the group, most of whom were much older than him. "This is serious! Just because you're work is done does not mean there is no other use for you, those pups are our pack's future and some of you are their parents! Check on your kid before you just sit your ass down! Wait until Fenrir hears about how irresponsible you all were."
"Now, wait a minute, this is the subs' job, no reason to get mad at the men who have been busy all day." One dominant said.
"Maybe it was an oversight of one of the subs, who also work all day and try to make sure all jobs are covered, but we are not getting into this thing where all the doms think they don't have to spend time with their pups, you all work outside all day and don't even see your kids unless it's around meal time and the hour they have before bed." Harry took a deep breath to calm himself and collect his thoughts. "The point is, if one parent had went up to check on his kid or one dom had just gone in to make sure the boys are growing big and strong, then someone would have realized they were alone and none of this would have been a problem."
Some of the men, mostly those that were mated, looked slightly contrite; most of the men looked offended that a young submissive was taking them to task. Rain was the only one young enough to not understand that one does not voice objections to the alpha's mate. He could not seem to stop himself from asserting his position as a dominant. He also felt secure enough in his friendship with Harry that he did not believe his words could cause any true damage when he spoke.
"Maybe if you were doing something other than sleeping while everyone else was working someone would have been free to do their job." The room became completely silent; everyone was watching Harry's expression change between anger and hurt. "It's okay, don't let it happen again, 'cause we all have our jobs. Now go help in the kitchen."
"What did you just say?" The tone was deadly; even the noise in the kitchen came to a complete stop.
Rain turned to see Luther standing in the doorway, five little heads poking around his legs watching the action. Luther began to move further into the room and everyone put space between their bodies and Rain.
"You do not talk to anyone in this pack like that." Luther's lips pulled back to reveal his sharp incisors as he got closer to the boy.
Luther reached out with one clawed hand and wrapped it around Rain's neck with just enough pressure that the claws dug into the skin in warning. "You especially show respect to your alpha's mate. Any injustice shown to Harry is an injustice to our alpha... And I think you just challenged Greyback."
"No... No, it's just that he"
"Do you think you want to finish that sentence? If you do then you are stupid to the point that spells disaster for our pack and we should just put you down now for our own safety."
Rain went completely silent, he tried to breathe slowly, bared his neck more, and the entire room smelled like his fear. As he showed the right amount of submission Luther released him, dismissing him without further thought, and turned to enter the kitchen. All of the faces disappeared from the doorway before he took his first step in their direction.
"Greyback's on his way in; get to the tables and he will be told about all of this after dinner." He said without turning; knowing his order would be answered without problem.
As each pack member passed Rain they stood to their full height above him and he seemed to shrink more in size. It was very possible that by the end of the next full moon Rain would become the pack's new Omega, unless he proved his strength. Harry's own anger and hurt feelings kept him from helping his friend from the ground; instead, he quickly walked past the sight and into the calmer kitchen. He was upset that Fenrir was not already sitting at the head of the adult table; he wanted the comfort of his mate as well as to eat dinner and end the day. There would be no dinner without the alpha. He sat across from Luther, unsure of what to say to him.
"Umm... thank you for... you know." Harry nodded to the wall that separated them from the other room. Even as he said the words they felt slightly wrong, there was a part of him that did not feel as if he had needed any help and resented that he was interrupted in front of the pack.
"Just doing what Greyback would have wanted."
"Of course."
Rain came in and looked at the full table before slowly sitting at the opposite end from them, across from Bella, just as Fenrir walked in. He took note of where Harry's friend was sitting, which was several spaces away from his original spot and where Storm still sat, but decided it was not the time to address the situation. He ran his hand across Harry's hair as he moved behind him and sat in his seat. He picked up a plate that contained sliced venison, placed the best looking slice on Harry's plate, took one of the biggest for himself, and passed the plate to Luther. He did the same with the vegetables and the plates slowly made their way down to Rain.
It was a quit meal as the pack focused on eating their rare meat and vegetables, until the children finished their own plates. They began fidgeting, turning to see if the adults were almost done, and whispering about what the surprise could be. Harry looked at Fenrir to see if he had noticed what was happening and saw that the other man had a small smile.
"You know!" He said in an accusatory whisper.
Fenrir looked at his mate and his smile spread; making him look younger than he had ever seemed when they were on the run. "I am enjoying being able to take care of more than just pack needs."
When the pack had finished eating three of the women moved to the cool cabinet and pulled out trays of small bowls. One woman placed a bowl in front of each child as another stood next to Fenrir and waited for him to choose two bowls before both trays were passed down each side of table as the women sat down. Harry looked down at his own bowl to see ice cream, a treat that he had only ever seen Dudley enjoy, and understood the confused expressions of the children since it was not a treat the pack had enjoyed before. The children quickly got over their confusion after the oldest, Daren, took his first satisfying bite; though Lexxy did look back at Harry once before trying the new treat.
"Storm told me it was easier to just make baked sweets and before we moved here it wasn't safe enough to go into town to get something that we had no way to keep cold." Fenrir explained before watching Harry take a bite.
He watched Harry smile before happily taking another bite of his vanilla ice cream. That was me, I made my mate happy. He looked around. My pack is safe and happy, thank you mother moon.
XxXxX
Harry helped clean the dishes with Mark, who had also taken a short nap as the others cooked dinner and finished laundry. Sinicae had disappeared with Phil right after dinner, with a quick explanation that he had already worked earlier and Mark said something about getting his reward. Sinicae and Phil had left with laughter, while Harry was confused, but Mark's red face kept him from asking any questions.
"You okay after that whole thing?" Mark asked as he tilted his blond head toward the living room.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Do you know who was supposed to be watching the kids?"
Mark tilted his head and closed his amber eyes, as he usually did when he had to think about something, before shaking his head. "I'm not sure, I know Blyth and Raya were with them if that helps?"
"Not really, 'cause I worked with them, but thanks." Harry started drying off the sturdy plates. "So, how was your day?"
"Ah, you know, I had breakfast duty." He made a face, because breakfast duty meant rising before the sun to cook for patrol as well as the alpha and staying up to make sure that the entire pack received fresh food. Depending on the day you were either the most appreciated member of the pack or most disliked because you were the first person everyone had to see.
"That's right, seems like a long time ago; well no wonder everyone was in such a good mood before I ruined it." Harry smiled up at the other man who was only a few inches taller than him. "We all had your delicious food and someone in a good mood giving it to us."
Mark's cheeks heated with a blush. "Thanks, Harry. And you didn't ruin anything, Rain did."
"Hmm... You're probably one of the few that actually think that."
Mark frowned and shook his head. "No, I doubt it; you should know better about pack life."
"I am just beginning to realize enough about this while alpha submissive thing to know that no one will say anything... At least not out loud."
"Right, you have never seen an actual submissive alpha." Mark smiled slightly as he thought. "You're gonna grow into you're own and it will be so fun to watch... Especially for Sinicae."
Harry shook his head, not sure he agreed or even understood what Mark meant. How much power could a submissive wield? However, he decided to not voice his doubt and changed the topic to more banal conversation while they finished their job by putting the dishes away.
XxXxX
Fenrir came in from checking the perimeter and making sure all the men had eaten. As he entered the kitchen he smelled his beta before the other could even make a sound and turned to find him sitting at the table with a glass between his hands.
"I have something you might wish to discuss." Luther stated before nodding his head toward the alpha's seat. "May take a while."
"Go ahead, it's late, no need to get too comfortable when I have a bed and a mate waiting upstairs."
"Well, Harry.."
Greyback interrupted. "Is this Harry's story or a story to tell on Harry?"
"Well, it's about what happened to Harry."
"Then he can tell me. Anything else? About the pack?"
"No, sir. We have plenty of meat to last a couple days, the entire pack is becoming much better at combat, Harry should be able to tell you anything else." Luther congratulated himself for keeping any resentment out of his tone.
Fenrir left without another word, just wanting to get to his room and rest. He greeted the few men that were still awake on the second floor, walked quickly through the third floor, and let out a sigh of relief when he reached the floor that held his room.
He entered his room and was not surprised when his mate's voice came from the darkness; Harry had been staying with him since he had announced his room was too cold and big to be comfortable in soon after they moved in.
"So, what took you so long tonight?"
"False alarm, patrol thought they saw some activity on the west side. We went pretty far into the woods before we decided that they had been watching too long and just needed sleep if wind in the trees seemed like a planned attack. Had to find the other men to relieve them." Fenrir stripped off his pants as he finished his explanation.
"Mmmhmm." Harry nestled further into the covers of the large bed that Fenrir had built for this room.
Fenrir sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Harry to turn towards him before asking, "What happened today?"
"Luther didn't tell you?"
"You're getting older, it's not Luther's job to tell me everything anymore."
Harry smiled slightly at that and then frowned as he thought of the events that Fenrir had missed. "The pups were left alone and I don't know for how long, but they were alone at least long enough to cause a complete mess in the bathroom, long enough that one of the younger ones could have gotten hurt and no one would have known. It's just so... ugh... All these adults were sitting downstairs and no one knew and even their own parents didn't check... it was just so Dursley of them all! And then I was just outside sleeping and maybe if I had been taking care of my chores or even awake I could have noticed or someone else would have been free to check on them."
"Hey, no one should have left the children alone and we have plenty of people in the pack; just because one of us is not working does not mean that an important job is totally skipped." Fenrir ran his hand across Harry's hair in comfort.
"And then I went down and I told them all that even the dominants need to care about their children and how the pups are the whole pack's future. I mean most of them do not even see them outside of meals, even the fathers only have, like, an hour or two with them." Harry looked out of the corner of his eye to see how Fenrir would respond to this observation.
"Maybe they do need to take more of an interest; it's important for children to have the influence of a man. My own father taught me to hunt and fight while I was still young; helped me develop my skills, made me strong enough to be alpha."
Harry nodded, relieved that he had not misled the rest of the pack. "Then Rain said some things about me just being a sub and tried to send me to the kitchen."
Fenrir let out a deep, animalistic growl. "That fucking teat sucking puppy dog dared to demean my mate in front of the pack?"
Harry shrugged, unsure of how to respond, before moving closer to Fenrir's warm body in comfort. "Luther came in and pulled that Beta thing, said he was challenging our alpha, and the rest of the pack is beginning to assert dominance."
Because Fenrir was watching him so closely he noticed the faint look of disgruntled embarrassment that flashed across Harry's face. "Didn't like it did you? Luther interrupting as you tried to exert your authority and take your place in the pack."
"Is that what it was? Hmm... No, I didn't, but I also don't like confrontation."
Fenrir chuckled slightly at his words. "You do when you think you are right and you are going to like them more when you are protecting your mate, especially when you win them."
He laid down next to Harry, pulling him closer to his body, and pushing his nose into his hair so that every breath carried the scent of his mate. I will take care of that asshole, Rain. When Harry comes into his own strength the boy will be sorry he ever gave my boy grief.
XxXxX
So, I hope you think it was worth the wait!