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Fuck, she looked so pretty.

I knew she was purposefully not sending any pics of her with Elias, but he was present in every photo anyway because he was the one taking them. And what Marlowe didn’t likely realize was that the ones he’d taken of the two of them were all over his social media accounts, framing this as some romantic getaway. Shots of just their hands entwined, coffee with hearts in the foam, him kissing her on the cheek…

Well, two could play at this game. As soon as she came back, I was taking her somewhere special. Just us.

Maybe Julian could come.

We’d go somewhere warm, so she could wear cute little sundresses, short shorts, and bikinis. Florida or Mexico, maybe.

My phone chimed again.

Marlowe: I miss you, baby.

I glanced towards Julian’s phone where it lay next to him on the couch. His didn’t light up.

She was making sure to write to each of us individually, sending us different pictures and messages. This wasn’t some group text to keep us placated.

Me: I miss you, too.

Ilooked up at the knock on my open door. “You have a meeting in ten,” Patricia said.

I tapped the screen on my phone to check the time. “Got it, thanks.”

Instead of leaving she took another step inside, closing the door behind her. “Did you scare James’s daughter away?”

She huffed at the confused expression on my face and continued. “You brought that poor girl in here and then she couldn’t seem to get away from you fast enough.”

“Trish,” I sat back in my chair. “Marlowe’s in my pack. We’re bonded. I appreciate your concern, but she’s fine.”

My secretary still didn’t look convinced. “Well, is she going to come in again soon? The girls and I wanted to take her out for lunch,but she hasn’t been back since last Wednesday.”

My chest constricted at the gesture. Poor Marlowe had been concerned she wouldn’t fit in and find friends, and here was Patricia, worried about her and wanting to make sure she felt included and welcomed. Sure, Patricia was twice her age, but she was a great person to talk to. “She’s out of town right now, she needed to wrap some things up at her old place. But she’ll be here for the holiday party. And I think she’d really like getting lunch with you all.”

Patricia turned to leave but stopped. “I worked closely with James for years,” she said. “You have no idea how many times I went into his office and found him staring off into space, or trying to hide pictures of his kids. Whatever reason he had for leaving them… just take care of her, okay?”

I grinned, and before I could even make a joke she stopped me. “Not like that, get your mind out of the gutter. You’re worse than your father.”

“Oof,” I cringed. “Yeah, I do not want to think those things about my dad.”

She waved her hand dismissively and I gathered my things to follow her out and to the director’s meeting.

I did a double-take when I saw Hailey, one of our accountants, waddling down the hallway.

“Hey, what are you still doing here?” I walked up and placed my hand on her belly. “You look like you’re due with Camden Jr. any minute now.”

She giggled. “Very funny. No, I still have another few months. I just look this big because I’m having twins.”

“Twins…” I repeated, rubbing her stomach. My mind drifted to thoughts of Marlowe’s brother. The pack had scattered so quickly that we hadn’t had a chance to really talk about him yet. He was strong, and his use of magic was… unprecedented.

But what he had told Marlowe seemed crazy. What was that shit about other realms and being descended from fairies or something? I would just write him off as a nut job if I hadn’t witnessed him burn a dozen vampyrs from the inside out with a flick of his wrist.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I felt a little kick against my hand. “Well, take care of Camden One and Camden Two for me. Don’t go pushing yourself too hard, got it?”

She gave me a mocking salute before walking away slowly. “Aye aye, alpha.”

I stopped by the kitchen to refill my travel mug with coffeeand headed to the small conference room.

With the fiscal year coming to a close soon, today’s meeting was mostly just the CFO going over the final budget reports.