Ember (Cosmic Bonds #4)

1. Ember

Ember

W ith a few more finishing touches, my presentation would be complete.

I adjusted the photos and the graphic effects, purposely keeping it looking homemade.

With my PowerPoint skills I could make it look professional, but I was trying to convince my family my idea was the perfect next step for our matchmaking business, and I didn’t want to oversell it.

“Easy” by Olivia Ruiz came on, and I tapped my foot.

I was alone in the conference room and thus had control over the music. I had excellent taste in music and my family ceded control years ago. I was a benevolent dictator and let them use their own playlists from time to time. I wasn’t a complete monster.

The double doors opened, and my cousin Luna stepped in.

Her long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she looked tired.

The reason she was tired was bundled in her arms, wrapped in a red floral-print blanket.

Poppy, my second cousin, or cousin-niece as I liked to call her, was only three months old and kept my cousin and her pack up all hours of the night.

Halos, one of Luna’s alphas, came in with her. His black hair was messier than usual, and he had a matching set of bags under his eyes. He still managed to look deliriously happy and gave me a smile. “Still collecting lavender like it’s the secret to happiness?”

“Of course,” I said. I’d watched Halos and Luna’s courtship firsthand at the nursery, mostly involving them staring longingly at each other over shrubs.

My cousin accidentally got pregnant from a one-night stand in Vegas and she’d assumed Halos wouldn’t want her.

It was an adorable love story and made last year very interesting.

Luna had a pack now, and they had Poppy to keep them all on their toes.

“Fantastic.” I slid a box of donuts over to the bonded pair. “Is my favorite cousin-niece still having a party all night?”

“Yes.” Luna took the seat next to me. I made grabby hands, and my cousin put the little bundle of joy in my arms.

Poppy was adorable, a small tuft of brown hair at the top of her head. She was tiny, with the smallest little fingers, and her eyes hadn’t finished changing color yet. She made a grumpy baby noise that melted my heart.

“I can’t wait for her to get older so I can spoil her.” I’d already bought more clothes and stuffed animals than any one baby could wear, but that didn’t stop me.

Besides, the rest of our family didn’t show restraint, so why should I?

Luna gave me a tired smile. “I’m trying to cherish these moments as they come. She won’t be this little forever.”

The reminder of time passing hit me like a slap to the face, and it was all I could do not to burst into tears.

I looked down at the baby to buy myself some time, even though Luna and Halos wouldn’t have judged me for being sad.

Out of all of my family, Luna might have understood the best, but I wasn’t ready to talk about my jumble of feelings.

Last year, my cousins Stella, Luna, and Sunshine found their packs.

And I wanted that for them. But the more things changed, the more I felt the loss of our parents.

I pushed the sorrow away and focused on my objective. It wouldn’t be easy to convince everyone this was the next step for our business, but it was time.

Halos brushed his hand over Luna’s shoulder. “You need anything? I know your meeting starts soon, but I can grab you some tea or coffee?” He looked at me. “You too, Ember.”

“I’m okay.” I gestured at my cup of coffee. “But thanks. You’re a good cousin in law.”

Halos smiled. “Of course.”

I passed Halos his daughter, and he gave Luna a kiss on the forehead before leaving. He’d stick around the Welcome Center, probably showing the baby the crystal room again. She had a fascination for anything shiny, something I wholeheartedly approved of.

The door opened, and the rest of our family poured in. Stella with her swinging skirts; Sunshine with her bouncy walk; my older sister, Raina, with her hair in its customary bun; and my two brothers, Zephyr and Terran. Holly arrived last, a sister in all but blood. She’d grow up alongside us.

Terran took the seat next to me, the other computer whiz in the family. I gave him a fist bump, enjoying his soft beta scent of blue skies and fresh grass, like a warm summer day.

“How did the update go?” Terran gestured at my laptop.

I minimized my PowerPoint presentation, wanting to save the surprise. “Updates are working well so far.”

When Terran and I designed the computer program that allowed us to match people, we didn’t think it would grow this big. But Cosmic Bonds had over twenty thousand people in the matching software, bringing the company our grandparents started into the digital world.

“Are we ready to get started?” Raina looked around the room, her pink unicorn planner incongruous with her beige suit.

As the eldest and an alpha, Raina had barely turned eighteen when our parents, aunt, and uncles had died in a plane crash.

A plane crash I survived. I only remembered bits and pieces of the crash itself. The hospital stay and the years of physical therapy were brutal. I had been only thirteen at the time, and Raina took on raising the rest of us so we could stay together.

We all pitched in where we could, but it was still hard, taking on the family business after losing our parents. Looking back, I wasn’t sure how we’d all made it through, but we did.

We were thriving, if my cousins being packed up and having a baby was any sign. But we were moving on, and part of my brain wasn’t ready to accept such clear signs of finality.

It was stupid.

Our parents were gone, were never coming back. But seeing us move on, getting bonded and having children, made it feel more real than it had in years. Not since the first Christmas without them, when we struggled to fill in the holes of our family traditions.

Raina started the meeting by asking Zephyr about maintenance, and he replied with numbers and figures I immediately forgot. Stella sounded off about the client intake being on the rise, and Sunshine and Holly talked about the event planning portion of the business booming.

My turn was next. I readied myself. When my older sister looked at me, her lemon scent a sharper note than my own lemon vanilla cake, I gave my family a big smile.

“Terran and I have the rest of the bugs worked out of the latest update. But while we’re here, I wanted to discuss our next big project. ”

I flipped the laptop around, open to my PowerPoint presentation.

Everyone groaned, just like I knew they would, and my omega instincts beamed. “Cosmic Bonds needs a turtle pond in the North Meadow.”

“You were serious?” Raina looked half-exasperated, half-amused.

Last year I’d floated the idea of having a turtle pond.

It was sort of a joke, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew it needed to happen.

Once I got stuck on an idea, even if it started as a funny banter to lighten the mood, it was hard to let go.

The instinct felt like when I was nesting, but not quite as strong.

“I am so serious.” I flipped through the slides, pausing on the adorable photos of turtles happily swimming. “A turtle pond in the North Meadow would add to the aesthetics.” I looked at Luna, who was in charge of the flowers. “We could add another pollinator garden, maybe some more lavender.”

“You and your lavender fixation,” Luna muttered, but she perked up at the idea of getting another flower bed.

I looked at Zephyr. “Your meditation classes could be held near the pond. The sound of running water is very soothing.”

My older brother looked intrigued but tried to hide it. His thick brown hair was in a ponytail this morning, and he had a sweater on, completing his mournful poet look. “I could move my tai chi classes there.”

I mentally gave myself a high five. I was wearing them all down. It was only a matter of time before they said yes.

Raina huffed. “Shouldn’t we be talking about the next software upgrade? Or patient intake?”

Raina was a psychologist and used her degree to make sure our clients were being matched well. In addition to technology, we used Raina’s skills and our own beliefs in New Age modalities. Stella helped them pick out crystals and I made sure everyone got a tarot reading, sometimes several.

“Sure, sure.” I closed my laptop, making sure to “accidentally” email everyone the serene photo of the turtle pond with the adorable yellow ducks.

“I wanted to mention this before we got down to brass tacks.” I paused.

“Whatever brass tacks are. Why would we want to get down to them? Wouldn’t that hurt? ”

“No,” Raina said, changing the subject before I could completely derail the conversation. “How’s your case load this week?”

“Great.”

I was in charge of running the front desk, greeting new clients and getting them integrated into the system. As an unbonded omega, it shouldn’t have worked so well, but I was good at making people comfortable during the process.

Luna was too shy, so Stella, Raina, Terran, and I were the ones walking clients through every step of the process.

Terran brought up repairs he was making on the grounds, and the conversation moved on. We had staff that helped managed things, but overseeing what needed to get done and when was almost a full-time job.

We finished up the meeting and headed off to our respective workdays.

I gave my older sister the thumbs-up, and she shook her head at me, looking amused. “We’ll think about it.”

“Awesome,” I said, smelling victory. “I’ll go make us some more money so we can afford it.”

“You do that.” Raina rolled her eyes and headed down the opposite hallway toward the offices.

A new duck pond wasn’t the expense we should probably be considering, but the resort was doing well even though it was the end of January and not the busiest time of year to be a resort in California.

In addition to matching services, packs and companies could come to stay at the lodges or cabins on the property.

I took the opposite hallway and rounded the corner for the lobby, ready to start my day. Another flash of sorrow hit me, and I ignored it.

It was okay to be happy that life was going well and still miss that my parents weren’t here to see any of it. It was a part of life, and if that meant I wanted more than I could have, I was an omega. It was basically the price of admission.

Biology would argue that my pack would give me all the things I wanted and more, but I didn’t have a pack and biology could stuff it. It was up to me to make my life what I wanted it to be. Alphas had done nothing but let me down. I didn’t need that sort of disappointment in my life.

I had plenty where that came from.