"Perfection is unattainable. It's stained by the suffering required to chase it." -Emery Winthrop (Devious Lies)

"Zane! Go help Hiro set up the tables!" Alessandra shouts at me. She stomps away to go yell at someone else for whatever they must be doing wrong and Hiro shoots me a look conveying that my mate has gone crazy.

"Ricardo! Have you always been an idiot? I told you to hang the lights on the gazebo, not the tree!"

"Who you callin' an idiot? You might be Luna but I'm still your older brother," Ric says.

Wrong thing to say, my man.

Alessandra's face turns an angry shade of red I've never seen before.

That's my cue.

"Amore, let's go inside and look at what your mom is cooking up."

"You're right, I have to check if she's using the right recipes," she says, before turning around and speed walking towards our house.

"How about we just taste test?" I ask as I approach her in the kitchen.

"Fine."

Her hand grasps a wooden spoon that she uses to scoop up a small dollop of marinara sauce. She blows some air onto it before bringing it to her lips. She must only taste it for a second before her face contorts into a grossed-out grimace.

"Ay! This is terrible! What did you put in this ma?"

I resist the urge to slap my palm against my forehead. There are a lot of things you do not say to an Italian woman. Insulting her cooking is definitely at the top of the list.

"Excuse me? My sauce is perfect!" Valentina shouts. Her eyebrow quirks and her hands go to her hips as she dares her daughter to say anything negative regarding her cooking.

Handling one angry Romano woman is a challenge in itself, but two? That's impossible.

"Really? It tastes like dirt to me," Alessandra remarks.

"Alessandra, come on, that's not nice," I tell her.

Her eyebrows furrow.

Goddess, please just get me through the day.

"Try it, then," she says, bringing the spoon to my lips. I want to argue because there is no way this will end well for me, no matter what I say.

Gingerly, I taste the sauce and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's heavenly. I open my mouth to voice my opinion but Alessandra's eyes stop me. They have that I-dare-you-to-argue-with-me look that always scares me but Valentina Romano also scares me.

"It's good," I croak out. It seems like the answer that will get me in the least trouble with Alessia.

"Of course you would say that, you're never on my side," Alessandra snides, before stomping away.

I tilt my head back and pray that the rest of the day goes by in supersonic speed.

"She does this when she's stressed, don't worry she's not actually mad at you," Valentina says, quickly coming to her daughter's defense even if she's angry with her.

"I know, but it seems like nothing I've done today has been right in her eyes."

"Oh my poor Zane, it's okay. It's a Romano trait, I'm sure you can ask my husband for some pointers on how to deal with it," she says before patting my cheek and walking away.

Ricardo waltzes into the kitchen just as I'm about to leave. His eyes light up at the counter full of dishes ranging from Italian, Mexican, Afghan, Indian, and Chinese food. He goes to grab some naan and I decide to stop him.

"You can't have any food until the rest of the pack arrives," I tell him.

"Seriously? Where is all the nepotism? I am the brother of the Alpha-Female and I'm not even given eating privileges?"

"She's the one who insisted on it. I'm just the messenger."

"Are you going to get her name tattooed on your balls next?"

He laughs like it's the funniest joke he's ever heard.

"At least she sees my balls on the reg, when's the last time a girl looked at yours?"

His eyes get angry real quick.

Sometimes I forget that one of my best friends is also related to my mate so he does not want to hear about that shit.

"Talk about my sister and balls in the same sentence and I will cut your throat, De Luca," he says, before grabbing a piece of naan and ripping off a portion with his teeth like an animal.

I'd like to see him try.

He stomps off in a similar fashion as his sister. That family has it out for me.

Mentally, I count to ten and head off in the direction that Alessandra went. As the days pass, her scent gets more and more remarkably easy to track down. The sweet smell of vanilla leads me to the gazebo on the outskirts of our property. It's old, but with some lights and flowers, it looks as good as new.

Unfortunately for me, the sweet smell of Alessandra is mixed with another disgusting smell, eucalyptus. Okay, eucalyptus smells fine but Jaden (I can't remember his last name) ruins it.

I watch as his neck falls back and he lets out a belly-deep laugh. Alessandra chuckles and I have the urge to go over there and snap his neck so he can never make her laugh again.

Killing a member of your pack is illegal.

Killing a member of your pack is illegal.

I will always hate the fact that he's been a part of her life longer than I have. That at some point in their lives they shared feelings for one another and that they will always be friends. It's selfish, but I want her to myself and myself alone. However, that's not fair to her so I paste on a tight-lipped smile and walk over to them.

"Amore, is everything alright?"

Alessandra looks up at me and a quick array of expressions cross her face.

"One second," she says to Jaden.

Her hand clamps around my wrist and she ushers me over to the stream that's beyond the hill our house is on.

"What are you doing?"

"I was checking up on you," I say with confusion.

"Why does your face look like that?"

I blink.

"I've got to say I've never had a woman say that to me before and it's really killing my ego," I reply.

She rolls her eyes.

"That's not what I mean! You had a creepy smile on your face," she whispers, even though the stream should block out our conversation to Jaden.

"That's my I'm-trying-not-to-rip-off-your-head smile," I tell her with a smirk.

"You're too much."

"Well, you're stuck with me for the rest of our lives," I smile.

A grin stretches across her face, a real one not the small one she had with Jaden, and I feel myself reciprocating.

How has she slowly turned my dark life into one with smiles, laughs, and family? All the things I rarely experienced in my 22 years of living and she's given them all to me in a span of months.

Family.

The word had me looking down at her stomach wondering what it would look like if her belly stretched to accommodate my baby in her womb. Werewolves only get pregnant during heat and Alessandra has only had one so far.

"How many kids should we have?"

My question catches her off guard.

"Where did that come from?"

I shrug.

"Hmm, I would like three to four kids. That way they can all play together and never have to be lonely. But no kids yet! We're too young."

I pull her to my side.

"We are too young I'm not sure I want to share you with a bunch of little brats yet," I say.

"Did you just call our future kids brats?"

"If they inherit your attitude, I'm not sure there's a better word to describe them."

She laughs and playfully slaps at my chest.

"My attitude? I'm 100% sure our kids are going to come out with a permanent scowl because of you!"

"You're gonna regret that little wolf," I say. My arms reach out and I tackle her to the ground, making sure to hold back all my weight so I don't crush her.

"Zane! Oh my goddess it's muddy," Alessandra yells.

"Aw shit, my bad I didn't mean to get you dirty," I tell her.

"It's ok-"

Her words are cut off when I smear mud across her face. The dirt clings to her cheek and neck as her face takes on a shocked expression.

"You asshole!"

Alessandra grabs a handful of mud and plops it on top of my head because it's the only place she can reach while she's pinned beneath me.

I smirk and bring my head down so my now mud-covered hair is directly in front of her face.

"No!"

I rub my hair against her face and down to her neck as she goes from screeching to giggling.

"Goddess you are terrible," she says, her voice out of breath.

I smile at her before rolling over to lay next to her. My arm reaches out and brings her closer to me so that we are spooning.

"Lay with me for a bit."

"I can't there's so much to do and it has to be perfect, I haven't even-"

"Alessandra, give yourself a moment to relax okay? Then you can go back to planning."

She nods before dozing off on my chest.