The boys finished their homework quickly, with Ludwig teaching his brothers. Emily busied away in the kitchen but kept an ear out for any shouts and tell-tale signs of arguments. Normally, the boys would get rowdy at least once. However, they were exceptionally well-behaved today. Was it due to Favian’s presence?
“Lunch is ready!” she called out. “Darren, set the table! Ludwig, tidy up! Oliver, wake Mr Beowulf!”
There was no need to repeat herself. The boys got into action quickly.
“On it!”
“Coming!”
“Ok!”
As the boys hurried in different directions, Emily started ladling the pasta and soup into different bowls. The
Richard sulked, and Favian sighed. The CEO thought he would catch a glimpse of his newest caretaker, but he only saw his secretary and pups when the car arrived. Feeling exhausted as he climbed into the passenger seat, Richard became deadly silent even though he would normally ask about the pups’ day.“Is something wrong?” Darren whispered to Ludwig. “Alpha isn’t talking today.”The blond boy shrugged. It wasn’t uncommon for Richard to have those days. The full moon was also approaching, so that could be it. Richard’s inner wolf could be depressed at getting cooped in a building the whole time without anywhere to run freely. If they did not visit the hypermart today, they might have climbed the walls or jumped out of windows to keep those instincts suppressed.Seeing h
“Welcome back, young howlers!” A boyish voice boomed as soon as Richard got out of the car. “Did you manage to fully win over the future Luna?”The CEO was still helping Oliver out of his baby chair, but Darren and Ludwig were already telling the Fenrir about their valiant trip to the hypermart and ability to do chores. Favian simply ignored the teenage version of their guardian god and dragged his suitcase for unpacking. He left the casserole from earlier in Richard’s hands.“I see,” Ambrose grinned. “Even Favian approves of her!”Seeing Richard approaching them, the teenager demanded to know when he would bring her to the Blue Moon Mansion to officially introduce her to the pack.Unamused, Richard merely dropped the
Who was he trying to fool? Richard ended his last meeting with smiles at four in the afternoon, and his secretary reminded him about the appointment with Emily. Almost at once, the pleasant vibes vanished and became replaced with nervousness.Richard still recalled how it happened. His overly capable beta wolf was trying to play matchmaker, and Ambrose had a hand in it. Thanks to the full moon approaching, Favian snatched the opportunity to make Richard run errands with Emily, saying that the official father of his children should get to know his caretaker and future mate better.When Favian confirmed Emily’s schedule for the shopping trip and informed her that the boys had to stay home because their grandfather was visiting for a few days, the nice lady did not want to take any time off. Instead, Emily rejoiced at the extra time to plan her future lesson
Grabbing the trolley less dramatically without the boys, Emily and Richard slowly made their way down every aisle to gather the items on the long list. As everything was scattered in different sections, Emily proposed that they split up to find the items so that it was more efficient.“It’s alright,” Richard reassured her. “I’m not in a rush. If it gets late, we can get dinner before I send you back to the dormitory and drop the rest of the items at the side house.”Hearing how the CEO wanted to take their time, Emily felt slightly bad for rushing. She was too used to urging the boys to complete their assigned task by a certain deadline that she forgot who she was dealing with. Richard Taleman was a grown man who did not need to be managed.Blushing and escaping with the trolley,
“Good morning, Emma!” Oliver cheered. They had been away for a few days, but already, the boys missed their copper-haired caretaker.“Good morning, Oliver!” Emily greeted and was promptly tackled at her legs by the shortest kid.In a few days that their grandfather visited, Emily worked on improving the side house so that they could have their home lessons adequately conducted. The patch in the garden was cleared, the stationery supplies were rearranged, and a reading corner was created in one of the spare rooms upstairs. Most importantly, they had a few more child-friendly furniture for the children to use.Seeing how Oliver beat them to the punch, Ludwig and Darren sulked. They were tasked with carrying the gifts Ambrose prepared and could not afford to damage them. The Fenrir insiste
With Ludwig’s tutoring, the boys completed all their assignments in time for lunch. Emily occasionally walked over to give the boys some pointers. Oliver’s grip on the pencil was getting better, but he still kept colouring outside the lines. Emily taught him how to colour slowly closer to the edge of the lines before filling the colour on the inside of the picture. At the same time, she taught the young child how to shift the paper’s angle and colour in different directions to speed up his colouring progress.Ludwig was reading a book when he wasn’t helping his brothers with homework. He also sharpened the dulled pencils for Oliver and Darren, earning praise from Emily. The home tutor challenged Ludwig to find five words with meanings he did not know from the book to write down. She knew that the blond child was smart and taught him to use the internet to facilitate his learning. Th
Receiving a text from Emily during working hours started becoming normal for the busy secretary. Hence, he ignored the first text from the caretaker. They were in a meeting with the managers of the company.However, when his phone kept going off non-stop with Ludwig sending him messages, the shifter in him knew that something was wrong at once.“And now, I shall pass the time to Richard to let everyone know the direction for our next six months.”The change was so abrupt that many managers showed concern for the secretary, who dropped everything onto the CEO and excused himself to make a call.After checking his email and messaging app, Favian did not know who to call first. He read Emily’s text spam and realised that something huge had happened. It sou
Dressed in little gardening hats, gardening gloves and little green gardening boots, the boys stood in the garden holding up spades, watering cans and rakes.“Smile for the camera!” Emily grinned and snapped a picture. This would be an adorable addition to the collection of their growing years that the CEO and his secretary could look back on.After getting dressed for their late afternoon gardening, the shifters looked at each other. They smelled like Emily now with this outfit. The smell of wet soil felt more natural to them. It was as if they were taken back to the forest behind Blue Moon Mansion, and their excitement could barely be concealed.“You look funny,” Oliver commented to Ludwig, who struggled to keep the hat out of his eyes.“Y
In a blink of an eye, two years passed quickly. Richard and Favian deliberately took some off time from work to attend the important occasion that afternoon with the boys who took special leave from the boarding school.Oliver, William, Ludwig and Darren sat proudly on their chairs as the presenter announced the names of the graduates. One by one, they watched the cohort’s graduates walk up to the stage and shake hands with an old man before posing for pictures and walking down the stage with their certificates.“Where’s Emma?” William asked, and Oliver pulled his brother to sit on the chair properly. The youngest of their pack was still rather ill-mannered.“Patience,” Ludwig smiled. “They will call her name soon. You’ll see.”
The purple sunset on the horizon made a beautiful backdrop for their candlelit dinner date. Richard outdid himself and arranged for a romantic beachside set up on the sand and under the sky so Emily could enjoy the sea breeze and sound of waves during the low tide. The venue looked like something out of a magazine, giving off a magical atmosphere.“Enjoy your meal,” the waiter smiled and left after serving the couple some fancy seafood pasta.Richard grinned at how Emily marvelled at everything. It took him a few days to organise this with some string-pulling after Ambrose insisted he put more effort into wooing his mate. Things were gradually changing in their lifestyles for the better with each day Emily was around in the Blue Moon Mansion. The Fenrir changed so much around Emily. The werewolves could hardly believe their lazy and bigoted founding
Two months passed quickly after the family meeting. Emily was slowly getting used to the shifter lifestyle, although there was a lot of compromise and arguments between her and Ambrose over the children’s education.Today, it was no different.“They need to learn how to defend themselves!” Ambrose growled, and Emily raised a brow.“There will be no robbers with guns in the boarding school that they need to disarm or kill,” she reasoned. “Rich- Mr Taleman doesn’t choose schools with poor security. If it happens, they will have to go out of business. If anything, they need to learn how to eat with proper dining etiquette more than disarming a robber. You might not care about it, but bad dining manners signify inferior upbringing among humans.”
“She’s here!” Ambrose announced tipsily as Favian sighed in frustration at the chaos.In the short span he left to find the home tutor, Richard managed to engage in a drinking competition with the other alphas. They might be going easy on him by choosing a less destructive method of competing as alphas but dealing with a drunk Richard Taleman was almost as troublesome as having ten Ludwigs high on sugar.“Emily!” Richard beamed and waved uncoordinated to the copper-haired human.Almost at once, everyone turned their attention to the little protection squad around her. Emily nearly froze on the spot. If it wasn’t for Favian acting as a shifter barricade, she might have suffered a heart attack from how predatory everyone looked.Ev
“Stinky one-eyed bastard!”“Old furless mutt!”“Bring it on, you fangless faggot!”Of all the things Emily mentally prepared for, the slew of vulgarities and flying furniture was not one of them.The front yard that was brilliantly decorated was reduced to a mountain of trash with shifters growling at each other. The expensive handmade tapestry was torn, the special ordered outdoor carpet was ruined with mud, the steel chairs were bent at different angles, and Ambrose was organising a gambling den for the makeshift fight ring full of rowdy shifters.Emily wasn’t even fazed by the sight of wolf ears, swishy tails or exposed fangs during the day. They reminded her of the boys when she f
Escorting Emily from the beauty parlour was a whole new experience. Although she looked wonderful whenever he saw her, the beauty parlour lived up to its reputation and turned Emily into a goddess. Richard almost dropped to his knees there and then to worship her but remembered that they were still among humans.He stood before her and said nothing, taking in her scent and appreciating the difference good clothes and makeup did to her. Wolves were particular about strong human scents, so Richard was happy how the beauticians did not use products that hid Emily’s earthy scent. He liked how the colours complimented her natural beauty without changing who she was. It was perfect!“You look stunning,” Richard finally breathed after his mind caught up. The wolf inside was howling in delight at the fine mate they had.
Richard was nervous. He had reasons to be. Favian shared his pack brother’s feelings as well. Ms Gwayne was more than a roommate. According to the more detailed private investigation, the older lady took Emily in when she was homeless for months and treated her like a daughter. Ms Gwayne was Emily’s foster mother in some ways, and making a good impression on the future mother-in-law was a higher hurdle than winning the approval from all the packs at the family meeting this weekend.“Are the preparations ready?” Richard whispered, fiddling with his seatbelt.Favian sighed. The excitement from the pups through the bond did not help Richard ease up. If anything, the CEO checked his hair for the fourteenth time since they left the company. He texted Emily to let her know they would be back soon, and she replied that her foster mother was get
Family meeting…Emily had no idea what she should do at the meeting. As someone who was considered an outsider to their secret society, Emily did not want to make enemies. Richard was the prophesied child who was constantly under Ambrose’s protection. There would be countless shifters who might be envious or simply unhappy with Richard, right? Would it truly be alright for her to attend such an event when she wasn’t fully ready to give Richard her reply? What if she could not give him a reply to his confession before this weekend?The more Emily thought about it, the more confused she became. Even if she liked her boss in a romantic sense, Emily did not know what to do with those feelings. Richard had children even if they were not biologically his. Ignoring the supernatural secret, they were too different. What kind of funny fate tied
As whimsically as he decided to come, Ambrose finished his promised egg tarts and disappeared into thin air. He kissed her copper strands and promised that they would be seeing each other again rather soon over the weekends at the family meeting.“Don’t forget to bring some treats. I’m sure the other packs would appreciate your gifts!”As Ambrose dematerialised, Emily stood dumbly in the kitchen. The fridge door was still wide open, so she closed it, feeling as if she had aged ten years from the brief encounter with the mysterious Fenrir. Exhausted, even if it wasn't even time for dinner, Emily dragged herself to the living room to check on the boys’ homework.From upstairs, four pairs of curious eyes studied Emily. Their tutor had been staring at the same page for the last five minutes