Chapter 3
2447 Words
Chapter 3
“What did Candy say?” Carter asked. He, Fury, Warlord, and Poseidon were having lunch together in the corporate dining hall at Shaw Security and Surveillance.
“She was understanding,” Poseidon replied, picking up a fry and dipping it into his ketchup and mustard mixture.
“Dude, I can’t believe that five years later, she’s trying to take back a rejection,” Fury said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“This reminds me of what happened with Alpha Jed,” Warlord noted.
“Oh, yeah—didn’t his first mate show up at the packhouse trying to take it back a few years after the fact, too?” Carter asked.
“It was six years after the fact,” Warlord corrected him.
“I’ll never understand that. If you’re going to reject someone because you want to be shallow, okay, fine, do that. But don’t be surprised when they move on and find someone who will truly value them,” Fury grumbled, shaking his head.
“How is it that we all went through some form of rejection?” Poseidon questioned, looking around at his friends.
“I wasn’t rejected,” Warlord countered.
“I wasn’t, either,” Carter chimed in.
“No, you just threw a hissy fit and moped around like a lost puppy before the Luna forced you to meet Sarah,” Poseidon retorted. “And Warlord, your mate basically played hide-and-seek with you when it mattered the most.”
“It was three days, and she did it for a good reason,” Warlord shot back.
“Sarah was also in the middle of a divorce, a*swipe,” Carter scowled.
“Regardless, Poseidon has a point. We all went through something rough with our mates, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Fury told his friends, his natural Alpha aura shining through. “Percy is the only one who was rejected outright, but now look at you. You have Candy, you just moved into your new place together, and things are looking up for all of us. Sarah and Carlie are healthy, Margot is progressing nicely in her pregnancy, and Arden has found her footing. There’s no reason for any of us to dwell on the past.”
“He’s right. We all have a great future ahead of us with the women we love and the families we’re creating,” Warlord stated, raising his soda can in a mock toast to his comrades. They all nodded in agreement.
“Speaking of Arden, you’ve obviously marked her, but why hasn’t she marked you yet?” Carter asked, leaning forward on his elbows and gesturing with a fry toward Warlord.
Warlord paused, his expression shifting from amusement to a more guarded, thoughtful look. “We’re still trying to figure out if she even can,” he answered, tapping his fingers against his soda can. “There’s nothing written in the ancient texts about her kind being able to leave a mating mark, or anything of that sort. We're in uncharted territory.”
“Is her bird still completely silent?” Fury asked, his tone dropping its earlier teasing edge, genuinely concerned for his friend's mate.
“Yup. Not a single word,” Warlord sighed, shaking his head. “We’ve tried everything. Dr. Quinn even looked her over and said it’s definitely not normal for an animal counterpart to stay silent for this long. It’s starting to weigh on her.”
Poseidon shifted in his seat, swirling a fry through the last of his sauce. “What if her bird just doesn't have a voice? Like a structural or spiritual blockage, rather than a choice?”
Warlord looked up, considering the thought. “That’s highly possible, and honestly, it would be a relief compared to her wolf or bird being broken. But we still need to do a lot more digging before we can know for sure. Fortunately, Malakor is buried deep in the research for us, so if there's an answer out there, he'll find it.”
“If anything, we can see if Margot and her family can find an answer, too,” Fury offered.
“We’ll take all of the help we can get,” Warlord nodded in appreciation.
“Speak of Margot, how’s she doing as the new assistant manager of the East Asian Marketing department?” Carter asked.
“She loves it. The Luna gives her just enough work to keep her busy without overwhelming her,” Fury responded with a relaxed expression.
“When does Sarah come back to work?” Warlord asked Carter.
“She starts work again in two weeks, but everything is going to be remote for a while. Thankfully, Lucas already approved it,” Carter answered as he took a bite of his chicken sandwich.
“Is Arden looking to work here, too?” Poseidon asked.
“She’s not sure what she wants to do. She’s too preoccupied with the situation of her bird not talking. We need to find answers to that before she even considers working. But, I doubt it’s going to be here at the company.” Warlord answered.
“Why?” all three of the men asked in unison.
“She wants to be a guard for the pack. She can’t see herself having a desk job. She needs something that will keep her active,” Warlord explained.
“And Malakor?”
“He’s strictly Arden’s guardian, nothing more. The Alpha offered him multiple different positions in the pack, but Malakor turned them all down. He works for Arden, and only Arden.”
“And you, too, at this point,” Carter pointed out, a smirk playing on his lips.
“Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll absolutely deny it,” Warlord chuckled. The tension from their earlier serious talk evaporated, the others breaking into easy smiles and shared laughter.
“Come on, we need to hurry up and finish eating. Our lunch hour is almost over,” Fury said, checking the screen of his phone and frowning at the time.
“How the hell does an hour go by so fast?” Poseidon grumbled. He stuffed the rest of his fries into his mouth, prompting a sudden, chaotic race as the others began unceremoniously gorging on the rest of their food so it wouldn't go to waste. Shifter appetites were no joke, and leaving meat behind was practically a crime.
“We’re all salaried, it doesn’t really matter,” Warlord mumbled around his food, entirely unbothered as he practically inhaled a slice of cheesecake in a single, massive bite.
“Speak for yourself. At least Kai doesn’t care if you’re late by a few minutes,” Carter grumbled, swiping a napkin across his mouth before chugging the last of his Dr Pepper. “My manager is a total stickler for being on the clock minute-by-minute. It also doesn’t help that I had to use up all of my PTO to help take care of Sarah,” Carter added.
“You took FMLA, didn’t you?” Warlord asked, leaning back as he watched Carter clean up his trash.
“Yeah, but even then, Cliff is on my ass about getting everything caught up since my absence,” Carter replied, his jaw tight.
“It’s not his job to micromanage your personal life,” Fury stated, his voice dropping an octave as his natural protective instincts flared. “You were taking care of the mother of your child while she was recovering from a traumatic ordeal. There has to be some law against how much pressure he’s been putting on you since you got back.”
“I already spoke with the Alpha about it,” Carter said, letting out a frustrated sigh. “And though it’s heavily frowned upon, what Cliff is doing doesn’t technically violate HR policy. He’s careful not to retaliate against me outright, and the work he’s piling on is technically part of my job description. What he’s doing is expertly walking the thin line between professional and petty.”
“I hate managers like that. It makes me incredibly glad that my boss is a pack member,” Fury mumbled, gathering up his trash and tossing it onto his tray.
“Same here,” Poseidon agreed, wiping a stray drop of sauce from the table.
Warlord shrugged, completely unbothered. “Kai’s just too much of a wimp to push my buttons. Plus, I’m the only senior analyst on his team who actually knows what they’re doing. Even with the extended time off I took looking for Arden, I had my entire backlog caught up and done the same day I got back.”
Carter rolled his eyes, pushing his chair back with a loud scrape. “You’re an accountant by trade, asshole. You were doing this even before you joined the company.”
“And you were always great with computers before you joined, too,” Warlord shot back with a smirk, standing up to meet him eye-to-eye. “So, what’s your excuse?”
“My excuse is that I went from doing tech work I actually liked on my own sweet time, to now being strictly on the clock with a micromanager and outrageous deadlines,” Carter grumbled, the edge in his voice softened into standard lunchroom grumpiness.
The others chuckled, the brief tension dissolving back into the comfortable camaraderie of a shared workday. They all stood up, stacking their trays and falling into step as they exited the dining hall. With a few parting nods and shoulder nudges, they parted ways at the elevators, heading back to their respective departments to grind out the rest of the afternoon.
At the pack territory, the atmosphere in the pack daycare center was quiet and hummed with the soft energy of early afternoon. Sarah sat in a comfortable rocking chair, carefully cradling Carlie and guiding a bottle to her tiny lips, while Candy sat close by, offering quiet companionship.
“You still can’t breastfeed her?” Candy asked softly, her gaze shifting from the nursing infant up to Sarah's tired face.
“Not yet,” Sarah sighed, a heavy weight in her voice. “The doctors still have me on pain meds from the recovery, and I absolutely hate it.”
“Which part?” Candy pressed gently. “Being dependent on the medication, or not being able to breastfeed Carlie?”
“Both,” Sarah admitted honestly, her shoulders dropping as she stared down at her daughter.
Candy watched her for a moment, sensing the deeper ache behind the words. “You still wish Carter had turned you, don’t you?”
Instead of giving a direct confession, Sarah looked up, her eyes wide with a mix of vulnerability and defensiveness. “Is that wrong?”
“No, Sarah, it’s not wrong at all,” Candy replied, her voice overflowing with genuine sympathy. She reached over, placing a comforting hand on Sarah’s arm. “It’s completely understandable that you want to be one of us, to heal the way we do. But more than that, I know you hate being trapped in pain and blocked from doing what should naturally come to you as a mother. That would break any woman's heart, shifter or human. Don't be so hard on yourself.”
Sarah nodded, a knot of tension easing in her chest, deeply grateful that Candy understood exactly where she was coming from. She had promised Carter that she wouldn’t bring up the idea of being turned while her body was still healing from the trauma, and she had kept that promise. But keeping the silence didn’t mean the desire wasn't eating away at her every single day.
“Hey, guys,” a soft voice called out, breaking the heavy silence.
The heavy daycare door clicked open. Sarah, Candy, and a few of the other caregivers looked up to see Arden stepping inside.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Candy asked, her face lighting up as she gestured for Arden to join them.
“I was at home and got so incredibly bored, I figured I’d come by and see if I could hang out,” Arden replied, shifting a bit sheepishly on her feet. “I hope I'm not interrupting anything.”
“Of course not! The daycare is always open to anyone in the pack,” Candy smiled warmly, waving away her hesitation.
Arden took a few steps further into the room, her eyes scanning the quiet, brightly colored space. “Where is everyone? It’s so quiet.”
“Out back,” Candy replied, pointing a thumb toward the large glass windows leading to the fenced yard. “It’s recess time, so they're burning off some of that pup energy.”
Arden nodded and quietly took a seat next to Sarah, her gaze dropping to little Carlie, who was blissfully focused on draining her bottle.
“She’s so precious,” Arden murmured, a soft smile tugging at her lips.
“Thank you,” Sarah replied, looking down at her daughter as the baby's eyelids began to flutter shut.
“How old is she now?” Arden asked curiously, leaning in just a bit closer.
“Two months and a week tomorrow,” Sarah answered, her voice laced with a mother's pride.
Arden shifted her focus back to Sarah, noticing the tight lines of exhaustion around her eyes. She reached out, placing a warm, comforting hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “And how are you feeling?”
“Still in pain, honestly. Recovering from everything that happened is taking a lot longer than I’d like,” Sarah said. She offered a small, weary shrug, trying to sound completely accepting of her reality, though the frustration still simmered underneath. “But it is what it is.”
Arden studied her for a moment before an idea lit up her face. “Sarah, if you want, I can help speed up your recovery with some heat therapy.”
Sarah blinked, turning her head to look at her. “You can do that?”
“Yeah,” Arden smiled, a spark of confidence in her eyes. “Phoenixes have a natural healing capability. I can channel localized heat to hasten muscle and deep tissue recovery.”
“Is that safe?” Candy asked with concern.
“It’s completely safe,” Arden assured them.
Sarah’s eyes went wide, a mix of disbelief and comical betrayal washing over her face. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?!” she whined, though her tone was entirely playful.
“Sorry!” Arden chuckled, lifting her hands in mock defense, which had the three of them giggling.
- Writer
