The Light in Us

8. Teddy

8

Teddy

“ F amily meeting!”

I bellow the words down the thickly carpeted corridor, ignoring the curious faces that pop out of the meeting rooms scattered down the hall as I pivot back to Emily.

It’s mainly for effect, to be honest. I’m not sure my pack is even on this floor right now.

I’m pouting. Full-blown, pushing my lip out pouting in the way only an omega can do. “You’re breaking my heart, Em.”

She clucks at me, a warm smile spreading across the older woman’s face. “You’ll be just fine without me, Theodore Quill.”

“I won’t.” It sounds suspiciously close to a petulant whine. “I need you. You’re my right hand. Better than my right hand.”

My secretary puffs up a little behind her little wire glasses. In her early sixties with a neat gray bob, Emily McMahon is a fiery ball of productivity tucked away behind the fa?ade of a kindly-looking grandmother.

I’ve seen her beat off alphas several feet taller than her with a baseball bat.

Several times, in fact. I even bought her an engraved one as a joke last year that she keeps behind her desk – for teddy-related-emergencies , as she calls them.

“Is it the money?” I ask. Possibly even beg. “Do you need fewer hours? Less stress? Better healthcare? A bigger office? You can redesign your whole package, Em. Whatever you want. I just can’t lose you.”

It took me months of searching to find her five years ago. Months of wading through applications from hundreds of people desperate to work with me. A little too desperate.

I can’t go through that again.

My scent actually thickens with my distress, and Emily gets up from her chair. Desolate, I follow her as she gently takes my arm and leads me into the meeting room we use for family meetings. Nobody but pack and Em is allowed in here. “Sit, Teddy. Before you pass out.”

I sit. My chin slumps into my hands as I watch her glumly. “You make the best coffee I’ve ever tasted. I can feel the dehydration setting in already. You’ve ruined me for anyone else, Emily.”

She laughs from where she’s handling the fancy coffee machine Rowan is addicted to like the absolute pro she is. “I’ll leave instructions behind, don’t worry.”

Because Emily McMahon is abandoning me in my time of need to waltz off on her undoubtedly well-earned - but highly inconvenient - retirement.

I glower down at the rich heaven she slides in front of me. Emily tuts. “Four sugars. How the hell you still have such pretty teeth, I don’t know.”

I flash them at her, offering my sweetest look. “I’ll quadruple your salary?”

“You already pay me more than I ever needed, Teddy Quill. There’s not a single benefit I don’t have. Now stop pouting. You have a busy day ahead.”

Sighing, I sit silently and stew in my devastation as she bustles around me, reading out my appointments. I can’t concentrate on any of them, but I force myself to take notes.

When the door finally opens, I’m on my feet before the scent even registers, diving toward my alpha.

“Teddy. You know I could feel you through the bond? I was in a meeting with an author. An omega author.” To anyone else, Fox would look as sleek and sophisticated as he always does, perfectly dressed in his tailored suits. But I can see the way he’s run his fingers through his hair, the tightness in his jaw as he scans me. “I had to open a damn window. And then Emily messaged too, said you needed me. I nearly bowled the poor omega over as I ran out.”

I bite down savagely on my lip at that. And my perfume floods out in a waterfall of melted chocolate, yanking Fox closer to me like an invisible leash. His face softens, arms opening.

Em slips out behind him, winking over her shoulder.

See? She knows exactly what I need.

I sink into him, my head nestled perfectly beneath his chin. Fox towers over me, always has, even though I’m not on the short side. His arms wrap around me as I breathe him in. “Emily is leaving me.”

He rubs his chin across my hair, absent-mindedly scent-marking as his hand smooths down my back in soothing strokes. “Leaving us . Yes. She’s retiring. We’ve known about this for three months, Teddy.”

Traitor.

“But I didn’t think she’d actually go through with it.” I tip my head up to pout at him. “I thought I could talk her out of it. But tomorrow is her last day!”

Fox studies me, his brows drawing down. “I thought you were reviewing the applications for a replacement?”

My eyes slide away guiltily. “I looked at them.”

Looked at them once, hid from them, buried them under paperwork on my desk - even though they kept annoyingly reappearing, thanks to the magical Emily fairy.

Who’s abandoning me. Tomorrow. And with it, leaving our pack without someone to keep our heads screwed on straight.

Mainly mine, if we’re all being honest.

Fox grips my chin, turning me back to face him. “ Theodore .”

My whole body shivers at his tone, a little burst of heat flickering to life in my stomach that is highly inconvenient. “Not now , Fox, I’m panicking.”

He sighs. “You’re incorrigible. I should put you on your knees and fuck that pout off your face. I thought you had this sorted.”

I swat at his shoulder before brushing my lips against his and pulling away. “Don’t threaten me with a good time. I’m trying to mope .”

Fox stalks after me as I settle back into my chair. Emily sweeps in with a tray of pastries, setting them down in the middle of the large wooden table. I glare down as she drops papers beside me and hands another set to Fox. “What’s this?”

“Applications,” she says crisply. “I dug your copies out of the trash, Teddy. For the third time. Stop wasting paper.”

The flush curls up the back of my neck as Fox swings his gaze to me, raising an eyebrow. Damn it. “ Et tu , brute?”

She only pats my shoulder as she walks past, dropping additional packs onto the table as Fox’s look heats my skin.

Oh, he’s definitely going to bend me over the desk later.

And I’m definitely going to let him.

But not, apparently, until I find a replacement for the sole female in my life. A female who is, quite frankly, irreplaceable. I grumble over my coffee as Wilder sweeps in through the door.

Emily called in the cavalry. I feel slightly guilty. Everyone is so busy at the moment. But I’m stressed, and I need my pack.

Wilder swaggers past me, his hand brushing my shoulder before he chokes. “Jesus. It smells like someone farted hot chocolate and s’mores in here. Who upset you, teddy bear?”

I sniff. “Emily has broken my heart.”

She rolls her eyes as she offers Wilder a coffee. Even Emily blushes, though, when he presses a kiss to her cheek, his smile soft and genuine. “Only one more day until you’re free of our chaos. What are we gonna do without you, Em?”

He winks at her, but I can see the tightness on his face.

Emily is safe.

Emily doesn’t trigger anything in him.

Shit. My eyes slide back to the applications. Now I feel really fucking guilty for not thinking of that sooner.

It’s not all about you, Theodore.

A hand lands on my nape, massaging it, and I shoot Fox a miserable glance. He sighs, holding up his pack of paperwork. “That’s why we’re all in the building, Teddy. To go through the applications, and to pick a few to interview.”

I straighten. “Even—,”

“Even me.” Rowan sinks his hands into my shoulders from behind, and I lean back into my beta, breathing him in. Cherry gum, the faintest traces of ink and general yumminess. “If we’re replacing the irreplaceable Emily, do you think we’d leave you to it alone?”

“I thought—,”

“We were just giving you a head start.” Rowan drops into the seat on my other side, pushing his glasses up his face as he pulls the paperwork toward him. “Fox figured it might take you a while to adjust to Emily leaving.”

My alpha at least tries not to look too smug when I glance at him.

“And I knew you wouldn’t want anyone new coming in while Em was still here.” Fox’s voice rumbles beside me, low and soothing as my pulse finally begins to settle. “So we’re going to find some possibilities together, and you can interview them tomorrow. We’ll be happy with whoever you pick, as long as the scent works for Wilder.”

“It’s been in your diary for a month,” Emily observes drily from where she’s picking over the pastry selection. She cheerfully selects a flaky pain au chocolat and picks up her own coffee.

“Oh.” I’m not the best at checking my calendar. I stare down at the set of applications.

I should have been more prepared for this. I’m the damn CEO.

My scent turns heavier, rich chocolate and marshmallow entwining with the warm scent of the pastries in front of us.

“It doesn’t matter.” Wilder murmurs the words from across the table. “You’re a phenomenal CEO, Teddy.”

Something in my chest loosens at that, at the way that he reads me so easily. “I am? Really?”

He rips off a piece of his croissant and throws it at my head, and I break into a smirk as he rolls his eyes. “Fuck off, Theodore. You know you are. Don’t let it go to your head.”

I can feel my chest puffing up.

Hell yeah, I am.

Ink & Quill is the largest romance publisher on this side of the Atlantic. Our revenue dwarfs our nearest competitor by close to forty percent.

We’re both grinning when Wilder leans back in his chair. He rips off another piece of croissant and tosses it into his mouth. “Where’s Zeke, anyway?”

“Here. Sorry. I got caught up - issue with one of the accountants on my team.”

I turn in my seat. Zeke ducks his head and twists to get through the door, his heavily muscled body broad enough that he struggles with anything less than custom-made. Our quietest pack member is by far the largest.

Frowning, I tilt my head, momentarily distracted from my pain. “We need to get that door replaced. I’ve said it before.”

He shrugs, offering me a small smile as he collects his own coffee from Em with a murmured thanks and sits beside Wilder. “Doesn’t bother me. Most doors are the same outside of home.”

But it bothers me. This space – more than any other space in this building we own – is just for us . It doesn’t sit right with me that one of our pack struggles to even get inside. My lips draw down - and Rowan runs his hand over my knee, soothing and calm in the barrage of scents that fill the room now that we’re all here. “I’ll arrange it.”

I tangle our fingers together. With my beta on one side and my alpha on the other, my packmates opposite me, I take a calming breath. “Thank you.”

I don’t have meltdowns often – although they might disagree – but when I do, they have a tendency to reach truly epic omega strop levels.

Emily leaves us, waving off my offer to stay. “I have a lot to get done before I go, so I’ll leave you be.”

My mouth snaps shut at her words. Rowan has a small smile on his face when I glance at him. “I’ve never known anyone so bad at handling change.”

“I’m not bad,” I mutter. Just traumatized . “You remember what happened last time, Ro.”

His smile vanishes, eyes flickering past me to Fox. The tension in the room ratchets up. “That’s not going to happen again.”

“No.” Fox’s words are icy. Rage swirls beneath them, and I push my chair closer to his, leaning into him until he settles. “One of us will be with you for every interview.”

I nod. We learned the hard way to screen every applicant carefully. Especially the alphas. “No arguments from me.”

Wilder is flicking through some of the applications, his forehead worried in a deep frown. “Can we still ask for a scent test? It’s not too intrusive, right?”

“I put it in the application,” Rowan murmurs, and Wilder nods, gratitude flickering over his face. “We’ll find the right person. And if it takes a little time, we can manage.”

“I can help,” Rowan offers, but I shake my head.

“You’re way too busy for that.”

Smiling, he brushes his fingers over my cheek. “Never too busy for you.”

Awh . My cheeks crease.

Blowing him a kiss, I sigh and pull the application forms toward me. Resigning myself to my fate. A future without heavenly coffee and goddess-level organization skills.

We will find the right person for our pack.

But they won’t be Emily .