"Pass me a cookie, Levi. After that job, I've earned a few extra carbs," Ezra said.

The bossman shook his head. "You boys did good work on this one. Who would've guessed that Melvin Thompson would turn out to be a damn county sheriff? But you did it, and you did it clean—that's all that matters."

"I just wish it hadn't taken two months to catch the bastard," I grumbled. "Hell, Cody's already just about mastered playing his flute again in the time it took for us to track down one fucking county sheriff."

Noah shook his head. "You can't look at it that way, Levi. It's not about how long it takes to catch these douchebags, it’s the fact that we do it at all. If it weren't for us out there policing our own kind, think about how much worse things would be."

"Yeah, that's fair. So, now that we've taken care of Harold and Melvin, when do we go after this Tony Phillips?" I asked, reaching for a cookie.

"Holy shit. Guys, I don't know if we can." Jonah looked up from his tablet, his eyes wide. "This new name you got from the trafficking ring? He's an FBI agent. It's gonna take some time to figure out how to take him down."

The bossman nodded calmly. "Sometimes we can't solve these things overnight. We'll take care of the man eventually, and everyone above him. Team A.L.P.H.A. always gets its justice, boys. Remember that."

Noah glanced up at the clock on the wall and stood quickly, shoving his chair back in his haste. "We have to end this meeting, Dad. I can't be late for my own daughter’s first birthday party, and I wouldn't advise anyone else in this room being late either."

"How exactly did you get out of being there for the work part anyway?" Ezra asked.

Noah rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me? Between Papa and Cindy, even Preston was lucky to be included… Although, I would dare either of them to keep him away. Not even Papa can tell him no if he's determined.”

We all chuckled knowingly. Preston was definitely not to be trifled with… kind of like my Cody, now that I thought about it.

"Happy Birthday to you," we sang. Papa P finished with a long, drawn out, "...and many more."

"Okay, Amy—Amelia, it's time to blow out your candle." Preston flashed us all a glare as he hissed under his breath, "Dammit, now you've got me saying Amy, too."

We all laughed while Noah and Preston helped their daughter blow out her single candle. While Preston hustled the big cake away to slice it with Papa P and Cindy's help, Noah slid a personal-sized cake onto Amy's high chair tray.

"Here you go, princess. Have at it," Noah said.

Amy's little fists plunged into the cake and she played with it for several long moments. But then she got a taste of the icing, and the kid went nuts. Papa P and Preston came walking in with slices of cake, Cindy at their heels. Preston took one look at Amy, then turned and leveled a glare at Noah.

"Would you care to explain why my daughter’s pretty pink birthday dress is now a complete mess? I don't recall giving her a special cake of her own to play with, so perhaps you might explain this to me?"

Papa P gasped when he saw his granddaughter, then turned to stand shoulder to shoulder with his son-in-law in solidarity against the bossboy. With his arms crossed over his chest, Papa P glared at his son. "Make sure to speak slowly when you explain it to your mate, son. I think this one is gonna be hard for me to understand."

While Noah stuttered and stumbled over his explanation about why he'd wanted to do that special treat for his daughter, Cody came over and straddled my lap. I glanced around to see where our babies were, but Cody placed his fingers under my chin and turned my face back to him. His eyes sparkled as he spoke.

"Eyes on me, alpha. Don't worry, the twins are fine. In fact, their twin uncles are currently holding them. Ezra said something about twins needing twin time, or some lame shit like that."

I smiled at my mate, resting my hands on his hips. "I don't doubt the twins are fine; you wouldn't be here relaxing if they weren't. I just wondered which of these guys were holding them. I want to keep them out of Preston's line of fire."

Cody rolled his eyes and gave a lighthearted giggle, something I was starting to hear more and more these days. After six months of freedom, Cody was starting to find his wings. I saw his eyes flash and realized that I hadn't been paying attention.

"I'm sorry, baby. I was distracted by your beauty," I said sweetly.

"Try that again, Levi. But this time with sir, and a little more honesty," Cody said with that flash of dominance that I loved so well.

"I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't paying attention," I said.

"Much better. See? It's not hard to be honest. Now what I was saying was, I don't mind if you do that for the twins on their birthday—just don't let me have them dressed up in a seventy-five-dollar outfit when you do it."

I sucked in a breath. "Preston paid seventy-five dollars for that dress? He does know that she's a baby, right?"

Cody's eyes twinkled. "And you do realize Preston's background, right? A seventy-five-dollar dress to him is barely a step above Walmart."

"Well, I can promise that I won't make that mistake. I mean, I'd hate to earn a spanking at our children's birthday party," I said.

Cody wrapped his arms around my neck and leaned in close to whisper in my ear. "If you thought you could get a spanking out of it, you would do it in a heartbeat—and we both know it."

He leaned back and rubbed his nose against mine before resting our foreheads together. "I don't know if I've ever actually thanked you for rescuing me, or if I tell you I love you often enough, but just in case, I wanted to say thank you for rescuing me. And that I love you.”

Cody gave me a sweet kiss, then pulled back and smiled shyly. I gazed into those gorgeous green eyes and shook my head. "No, Cody… You're the one who rescued me. I had no idea how lonely my life was until you came into it and took me in hand."

"That's right, alpha. I did take you in hand, and if you’re a good boy, I might just take you in hand again before the night is over." Cody grinned. I growled playfully and nipped at Cody’s throat, making him laugh before he hugged me tight. "Easy, boy. I won't be pleased if you get me all excited at a baby's birthday party."

I hugged him closer and whispered, "I love you too, Cody. So damned much."

Cody reached up and placed his hands on my cheeks as he looked searchingly into my eyes for a long moment before smiling softly. "I'm about partied out, what would you say if we just gathered our babies up and headed home? If you dawdle, you might earn a spanking. If you hurry up about it, you'll definitely earn one."

I leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the mouth, then stood and set him down in front of me. "You grab Irene while I grab Allan. Don't even bother to say goodbye, we'll text them on the way home."

Cody giggled, and stood on tippy-toes to wrap his arms around my neck until I leaned down for one more kiss. "I really do love you, Levi. You’re perfect for me. Now tell me one thing to think about until we get home. What color are you wearing?"

"You're the perfect one, and I love you too. As for my underwear, it’s the green satin jock you bought me. Now can we go? I'm in a rush to get home all of a sudden."

I grinned as the sound of Cody's giggles followed me while I went to rescue my son from Ezra. I had my mate, I had my children, and I had a good team—life couldn’t get any better than this. Could it?

An hour later, Cody took me into our bedroom and showed me just how much better it really could get.