“Aber sie sind Kinder…Nein, ich werde Kinder nicht töten…Sie haben nichts böse getan, wenn Sie diese Kinder töten möchten, schossen Sie sie! Ich werde es nicht tun!...Nein Sie können nicht! Kommandant! Nein, bitte! ¹” Josef shouts in his sleep, right before he shoots up into a sitting position. He pants fiercely, looks over at me and breaks down into tears, “Warum träume ich das? Immer die Träume mit den Kindern! Er…Er wurde nicht halten. einhundertfünfundzwanzig Kinder wurden von meinem Kommandant und seinen Männern geschossen. Ich kann noch ihre Schreie hören. Ich hätte etwas können machen und ich habe nichts gemacht, nur habe ich mich gesetzt und angesehen. Warum habe ich nichts gemacht?²”

I look at him for a half a second, this massive creature, 7’2” and 240lbs of pure muscle, is crying like a child. Crying over a mission that happened over several years ago is this hunk, my husband of fourteen years. “Shhh….Shhh… Es war nur ein Traum. Du hast nichts gemacht, weil du ein besserer Mann als er bist, weil du ein guter Soldat bist, weil du den Gehorsam nicht verweigern konntest, aber du hast niemand geschossen. Du hast nur deinen Gewehr hingewiesen, nie ihn geschossen. Ihn wolltest du stoppen. Dein Wollen, um diejenigen Kindern zu helfen, das ist, warum du ein besserer Mann als dein Kommandant bist. Irgendein sagt, dass du Feigling bist, aber ich denke dir brav, dass du versuchen hast, um ihn zu stoppen. Mindestens hast du ihm etwas gesagt. Was anderer Soldat kann das sagen? ³”

His teary eyes meet mine as he looks up. The ice blue of his eyes meets my golden and he gives me a giant hug and pets my head. I murr into the crook between his neck and shoulder. His musk fills my nostrils and I just end up murring louder. “Vielen Dank, meine Liebe! Ich könnte dies nicht machen, ohne dich in meinem Leben.⁴“He thanks me. He grabs the scruff of my neck and gently pulls me back to kiss me. He does so with much gusto. “Bevor wir wiederschlafen gehen, möchtest du Sex haben? ⁵”

“Let’s try and get some sleep. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow. Rafe has soccer practice, Tristan has ballet, Rob and Will both have football, and we got to help Jamie with his hours. Gozé Christú! ⁶”

“Good night, love.”

“Süße Träume, meinem Liebe.⁷”

***

A loud blaring noise wakes me from my slumber, much to my and Josef’s great displeasure. I look at my alarm clock and ask, “Fucking A! Josef, why did we set my alarm so early?” as I read <04:45> from the alarm clock.

“Doesn’t matter, we’re going back to sleep.” Josef grumbles and puts his super fluffy pillow over his head.

I turn off the alarm and lay my head down to sleep again. I look at the room, obscure from darkness as I think back to one of my first missions. I was only a Lieutenant, Junior Grade back when it happened. All I really remember is cold, bitter cold, and blood, lots and lots of blood. I can’t remember whose blood it was or what the mission was; all I remember from that mission were those two things. It perturbs me that I cannot remember a darned thing about what happened. I’m sure that I could ask RDML Adler if he has my debriefing from that mission and jog my memory, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Instead, I let the lead weights attached to my eyelids take hold and I drift off to a dreamless slumber.

***

“Dad, c’mon it’s time to get up. Practice is in a half hour…” Rafe complains. I look at the time, the clock reads <07:45>

I look over to Josef who’s still sound asleep. “Wölfchen, ich nehme Rafe zur Fußballübung. Kannst du sichermachen, dass Tristan zum Ballett geht? ⁸” I ask the sleeping wolf before me.

He grumbles at me and waves his hand in such a motion as to tell me and Rafe to leave. I chuckle. He’s obviously tired and doesn’t want to get up quite yet.

“Tschussi, Vati. Erzähl Tris, ich hab’ ihm gesagt, ‘Viel Glück’.⁹” Rafe says as he exits the room. I walk behind him out of the room and ruffle his blond hair.

“Das war nett, um deinem Bruder zu sagen. Ihr zwei seid so anders, aber ihr seid so nah. Es ist nett, zu sehen. Übrigens, wo ist dein Zwilling? ¹⁰” I say to the ten year old wolf.

He looks up at me and smiles, “I don’t know, dad, he’s around.”

The smile he gives me is one I know all too well. I’ve seen it when Rob and Will lured me into one of their pranks. I don’t know why, but the twins love teasing me. I turn around just in time to have Tristan try and stop himself midflight before smashing into my chest. I grab the pup first to steady him, and then I grab his scruff. “You know better than this, Tris. What the hell are you trying to do? You aren’t a pup anymore; you’re a youngling, act like it.” I say to him before setting him down, “Wake up your father when it’s time for ballet, or if you’re scared, ask Jay to do it.”

“Ok, daddy,” he replies and runs off.

I grab Rafe’s hand and head out the front door after checking that he has all his gear. I throw his gear in the trunk of the Audi and head off to his practice.

***

“So how was the deployment? Oh wait let me guess…Classified?” Ariel asks, she a giraffe that defies the stereotype, she iss actually only about 5’10”, very short for a giraffe.

“I’m sorry Ari, but—”

“You’d have to kill me, if you told me.”

“Right. Anyways, how’s that hunk of a bf?” I ask her changing the subject.

“I have no clue, Nick. Jayce dumped me a month ago. He’s a giant ‘A’ word if you know what I mean.”

“How’s Eric? Is he still helping take care of Nico?”

“That shark can go to hell for all I care.” She wasn’t joking, Eric was a shark, a white shark, to be precise. And Nico, was a hybrid of a Giraffe and white shark. It shouldn’t have worked, but it did. His neck was about an inch longer than it should have been as a shark and he had hoofed feet like a giraffe’s. Rafe and Nico were good friends since birth, pretty much. So I was always checking up on him and his mother.

Ariel was always skittish around me, but she didn’t run for the sake of Nico and Rafe. I never even understood what she saw in the shark, her being so skittish around preds I thought for sure she’d never date one. However Eric wasn’t only her boyfriend and the father to her child, but he was her estranged husband. I couldn’t help but snarl anytime I saw the shark. He pissed me off, to no end the way he’d treated my friend.

“Alright, Coulter will you stop biting Del Rio? He’s a human not a chew toy…” The horse, who was Rafe’s coach, yells.

I look over at Rafe, he is indeed nipping at Jaime Del Rio’s ankles and giggling like a little school girl, whilst the human is trying to get away from the much quicker wolf. “Raphael Gabriel Coulter-Gutenberg, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Hör auf! Oder wir können nach Hause gehen. Ist das, was du möchtest? ¹¹” I yell.

The pup yips in response, and looks down at his feet, his ears plastered against his head and his tail tucked tight against rear. He goes to the coach, who looks back at me and nods his head. I nod back. Ariel laughs her head off.

“So that’s how you train your child?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.”

I raise my eyebrow, when it dawns on me. “German? Oh, no, They know that there’s only two situations in which I speak German: when I’m angry and when I’m talking to their father.”

“How’s he doing, by the way?”

“Still dealing with those nasty dreams.” I respond and then look to the sky. What I see, scares the shit out of me. RDML Adler is circling above my position. I grab my MilSpec VisAR from my pocket and put on the pair of glasses. “What is the situation, Goldilocks?”

“I’ve been tracking a thunder of dragons whose alliance is not with our government. Last I checked, they were heading toward this area. I’m providing my best with cover, DarkClaw.” RDML Adler replies.

“Understood.” I say, I don’t take off my VisAR, and I check my pocket for my concealed carry weapon. It’s there, but I know that if an entire thunder of dragons is heading this way I can’t hold them off on my own.

“What’s going on, Nick?” Ariel asks.

“Well, apparently Russia’s Drakon Corps has decided to pay California a visit. Get Nico home as soon as you can, Ariel.” I respond

“Gotcha”

I walk up to the coach and ask him to dismiss the kids early. He asks why and I just point up to the sky. He looks up and sees RDML Adler and responds in the affirmative. I look over at Rafe, “Rafe, komm her, bitte! ¹²”

“Jawohl, Papa.” Rafe says and sprints over to me.

“Geh mit dem Adler! Flieg nach Hause mit ihm! ¹³” I command the youngling as I point up, then to Adler, “I’m sending Rafe with you, talk to Gutenberg. I’m going to stay here. I’ve got enough armaments in my trunk to hold off ten thunders. What’s there current twenty?”

Rafe takes off and Adler replies, “32.67 North, 118.24 West. My, your kid’s grown up.”

“Take him home. I’m going to meet, their Commanding Officer.”

“Who’s whose Commanding Officer, Captain?”

“In anything I ask of you dealing with my family…Pull rank again and I will separate your head from your body.” I reply as I take off and head south by southwest.

***

“Ra sehkh há leks?¹⁴” I ask the leader of the thunder.

“Vi sehkh há u kir ran tess. ¹⁵” He replies vulgarly.

I laugh, “Huming spra ra leks? ¹⁶”

“Hé, we do, young wolf.” He replies in a very subtle Russian accent as he points an AK74 right at my forehead.

I laugh and bring up my M4A3 Carbine. “I have a gun too. You know?”

“Ah…yes, but you’re outnumbered.”

“And you’re about to invade a country that is among the top five military powers in the world. Why do you think that you can waltz in here without any resistance?” I ask.

He looks at me for a long while, then he re-aims his gun at my wing arm and fires.

I scream in pain and start falling. As I fall through the air I vaguely remember that wing being the wing broken in the car accident I’d had almost fifteen years ago. Then I passed out from the pain.

***

1. But they’re kids…No, I will not kill children…They’ve done nothing wrong, if you would like to kill them, shoot them yourself. I won’t do it!...No, you can’t! Commander! No, Please! <German>

2. Why do I dream that? Always the dreams with the children! He…He wouldn’t stop. A hundred twenty five kids were shot by my commander and his men. I can still hear their screams. I could have done something and I did nothing, just sat and watched. Why did I do nothing? <German>

3. It was only a dream. You did nothing, because you’re a better man than he, because you’re a good Soldier, because you couldn’t disobey, but you didn’t shoot anyone. You only pointed your gun, never shot it. You wanted to stop him. Your wanting to help those kids, that is why you’re a better man than your commander. Some will say that you’re a coward, but I think you brave that you tried to stop him. At least you said something. What other soldier could say that. <German>

4. Thanks a lot, my love! I couldn’t do this without you in my life. <German>

5. Before we go to bed, would you like to have sex? <German>

6. Holy Christ! <Wolfyr>

7. Sweet Dreams, my Love. <German>

8. Wolfy, I’m taking Rafe to soccer practice. Can you make sure that Tristan goes o ballet?<German>

9. Bye bye, daddy. Tell Tris that I say good luck.<German>

10. That was nice to say to your brother. You two are so different, but you’re so close. It’s nice to see. By the way, where’s your twin?<German>

11. Stop! Or we can go home. Is that what you want?<German>

12. Rafe, come here please.<German>

13. Go with the eagle. Fly home with him.<German>

14. What are you doing here?<Drak>

15. We’re here to kill you all?<Drak>

16. Do you speak English?<Drak>