“Wanna help me with your new baby cousins?” I hear her ask my pup.
“Can I bring Van with us?” he asks, shocking all of us.
“Who is Van?” I ask my son, watching his brows furrow in confusion.
“Savannah, my baby sister.”
My eyes widen as I look at the sleeping pup in the small cradle beside me. For a week, we have been trying to give her a name, but nothing seems to stick, as she cries instantly if we use a new name that Julian and I like. Right now, she is quiet, her little lips in a pout.
“Savannah is sleeping, baby. You can see her when she wakes up,” I answer my son with slight hesitation.
He pouts at this but thankfully doesn’t fight me. With a nod, Miella whisks him away and closes the office door, leaving us to ponder the research in silence.
“So, Saben named our daughter,” Julian’s voice sounds through the phone, breaking the silence.
“That he did,” Aileen answers with a chuckle, and I smile.
“I like it,” I state before returning my focus to my screen.
“Anyway, I am going to see if we can find where the pups that were... birthed... went. Maybe we can save them and help them find a proper home,” I say, skimming through the hundreds of files that were sent to my laptop.
“Sounds like a plan, baby. Your wolves and I are going to search the research to see what they had done with the wolf–witch hybrid and what their plans for Savannah would have been,” Julian calls back.
With our plan set, the phone call ends, and I look up to find Greggory watching my screen while Aileen and Fabian wait with bated breath. I sigh, pausing my work to run a hand through my hair and grimace. I need a shower.
“What is it?” I ask.
“It looks like some of the files are in code,” Greggory answers first, an embarrassed blush on his face. Sure enough, after looking at the files, I find a few written in Latin, a language I do not know. But someone else here does.
“Greggory, work with Aileen to decipher those files. I will text Julian to leave them to you both,” I state, grabbing my phone and quickly typing what we found in the files, mentioning that Greggory and Aileen will take charge of this portion. Julian quickly sends back a thumbs-up emoji, and I give the two the go-ahead, Aileen pulling out one of the laptops I brought and taking over the small table in the corner while Greggory quickly joins her.
“I can help with running errands if you need it, Hannah,” Fabian offers, his brotherly concern making me smile.
“I know you—you get too absorbed in work that you forget to eat, and we can’t have that happen,” he continues before I can say anything else.
“Deal, but I want your help as well. You have a keen eye for finding small details, and I need you to pull up a chair and a laptop to help me track down the pups who were sold within the last fifty years. After that, we can start going further back to see if any of the pups are alive,” I say, watching Fabian light up.
He quickly scoots the chair he is sitting on over, and I pass him his own laptop. Within moments, the study grows silent, filled only with the sounds of keyboards clicking and the occasional sharing of what we found.
74
Hannah
“Hannah, are you guys still working here?” Jumping in surprise, I look up to find Julian watching us from the door with a disapproving frown as he observes Fabian and me diligently working on our respective laptops. Beside us are empty plates, and I wonder for a moment if Fabian and I actually ate, having been too focused on trying to find the pups sold by the hunters over the years.
“Uh… I think so,” I answer sheepishly, scratching the back of my head.
Julian growls in annoyance, stalking toward my desk. I manage to quickly save what I was doing before he takes the laptop away, handing it to Fabian without looking back. “You have been working all day. Saben, Savannah, and I need you now,” he says calmly, and I nod, getting up from my seat and rounding the desk to wrap my arms around my mate.
“Sorry, I’m just used to working hard without stopping to provide for Saben.” I sigh, breathing in Julian’s mango scent.
“I know that, Hannah, but you are not alone anymore. You don’t have to work so hard,” Julian reassures me, slowly rubbing my back. “Now come, we need to spend time with our pups and get our minds off the hunters and their little side project,” he adds.
Fabian sighs, and I blush, looking at my friend, who gives Julian and me an annoyed look that makes me giggle. “You two need to stop being so lovey-dovey. It’s annoying being a third wheel,” he mutters, making Julian and me laugh.
“Now you know how I felt when it was you, Miella, and I grabbing meals,” Julian shoots back cheekily, waving off Fabian and pulling me out of the office.
Fabian mutters something under his breath, but I’m already too far down the hall to catch what my friend says.
