Chapter 1

Frank’s bed jostled, waking him. He opened his eyes and looked around while waking up. He had slept face down, his face partially on his pillow and partly on the mattress. He was looking toward the door, at the phone on the nightstand that glowed in red showing that it was 6am in the morning. Frank’s mind tried to figure out why the clock said ‘6am’. He wasn’t going to wake up until 8, why does his phone say 6?

The jostling continued forcing him to roll over with a groan.

“Hi daddy.” A young male child snuggled next to a beautiful woman who was not his birth mother, but had loved him just like a mom.

The male child was 6, not yet in school, but will be next fall. The bed jostled some more as a second male child did the same thing with another beautiful woman who was also not his birth mother, but loved him just as if she was.

Frank, awake now, recognized the first woman as his mate whose name was Jane. The second woman, who was cuddling another male child, her name is Lisa. The third woman in his bed was the male children’s birth mother and her name is Veronica. Veronica was sound asleep as her pack mates tended to the children.

“Why are you two awake?” He grumbled with fatherly annoyance.

The boys didn’t answer, but snuggled into the embrace of their moms and stuck out a tongue at him, showing him that snuggles were good no matter the time.

“Oh, I see how you are. Trying to steal my women from me.” He said menacingly, moving toward them, his hands outstretched toward them.

“NO!” A female voice cut through the room. Veronica woke up and sounded like she was not in the mood for play at this hour.

Everyone froze. The boys froze, knowing that tone, as did Lisa, Jane and Frank.

She got out of bed, wearing nothing but cotton panties and a frown. She rubbed her stomach and stomped to the bathroom and closed the door a little too forcefully making it thump.

Frank reached for her through his WE and found that his third mate was experiencing the devils waterfall today.

He looked at Jane and Lisa as they had done the same thing and found the same thing.

“Execute plan ‘chocolate!’”, Jane said as the whole pack jumped out of bed and moved downstairs to the kitchen.

The little boys got the pancake mix out while Frank Lisa and Jane got bowls, pans and mixing utensils ready. Someone got bananas out and mashed them while someone else got walnuts and chopped them up and added them to the pancakes.

Veronica finished in the bathroom, put a robe on and trudged downstairs. When she sat down heavily in the kitchen chair, one of the boys brought over a cup of coffee, extra sweet with cream, to her. She kissed her little man, “thank you Lucas.”

“You’re welcome mom.” He said as Leonard brought over a glass of orange juice. “Thank you Leo, my baby.” Veronica kissed her other son, toddled his hair.

Then, the others brought over three banana, chocolate chip and walnut pancakes with extra butter and maple syrup.

Veronica looked up at her loving pack and started to cry at their love and care for her. “I love you guys so much.” She said, standing up then hugging and kissing each one of them.

Veronica ate her breakfast, letting the love of her pack soak into her soul as the warm pancakes did their job in her body.

The other three kids came down minutes later, closer to seven, and got fancy pancakes as well.

The whole pack sat together eating, chatting and just being together.

Once breakfast was finished, Frank looked outside and saw nothing but snow. It had started sometime overnight, and several inches had already piled up.

“Lisa, did you look outside?”

“I did. I’ve got to make a few phone calls—I’ll be right back,” she said, heading for the bedroom.

Frank turned toward the couch, where his eldest son sat, phone in hand, scrolling through something important.

“Ez, how about helping me shovel the walk?” Frank asked, slapping his knee with a grin.

Ezra looked up and tilted his head. “Do I have to, Dad?”

“Sure would be nice.”

With a sigh, Ezra tossed his phone aside and stood. “Fine.”

As the two got dressed to head outside, Sofia and Isabella snuggled deeper into their shared blanket on the couch. Lucas and Leonard, though not asked, got ready to help anyway.

Sofia, only a few months older than Ezra, was glad to be a girl today—no one had asked her to go outside. Isabella, several years younger, scooted closer to her big sister in agreement.

Meanwhile, Lisa confirmed the staffing for the day. The doorman would be there, along with most of the waitstaff. The club would open, though she wasn’t sure yet how many dancers would show.

After showering, she dressed in thermal yoga pants, a sports bra layered under one of Frank’s hoodies, thick socks, boots, and topped it off with a long puffy coat.

Grabbing her purse, she stepped outside. “Ez, I’m taking the Jeep. That okay?”

“Sure, Mom. Drive safe,” he said, pausing for a warm hug. Lisa kissed him, then kissed Frank and the twins before heading out—Frank’s kiss, of course, was much deeper than the others. City streets were slow going—snowplows clogged intersections, and cautious drivers moved like snails. Closer to the lake, the snowfall thickened. In the club’s parking lot, hired plows worked hard to keep up but were clearly losing the battle.

Lisa pulled her coat tighter and hurried through the snow to the front door. Once inside, she stomped the snow off her boots, unzipped her jacket—and was immediately hit by the chill in the air.