Moving on and growing up
Over the next week, Theo began to make changes around the pack. Seph and Kayla watched proudly as he stood up in front of every pack member and announced that there would no longer be any consequences for wolves who identified as anything other than the expected norm in any way. “If anyone experiences any prejudice or unwanted differential treatment after coming out to the community, you should approach me, your luna or my sister.” He told the gathered wolves to a smattered applause. It was hard to know if people were that unenthusiastic about the change or were still annoyed about the announcement that training would be doubled. Theo wanted every pack member to be able to defend themselves if they needed to, and he wanted the warriors to be ready to handle anything that might be thrown at them.
Thursday afternoon, Theo summoned them into his office. They could see just how much being in the dog house affected him. Theo took a deep breath as they walked in, his eyes closing and his shoulders dropping by 2 inches. He seemed determined to enjoy the feeling because he didn’t speak for ever such a long time. “Seph baby… please… I need you,” he whispered with an edge of desperation. “I swear, I will always be on your side. You are the most important thing to me in this world. Please forgive me,” Theo begged, his eyes wide as he crossed the room carefully to where the girls were sitting “you haven’t touched me for a week now; I’ve barely seen you. You don’t answer my calls or my mind links. You just text me. My room smells nothing like you, not even that shirt you left behind once. I’m losing my mind, baby. Please, please, forgive me?” Theo stood just in front of them, his hair a mess, his tie off centre, his shirt wrinkled and his nails bitten down as far as he could manage. He was a mess, Seph had to admit. She and Kayla had had a lot of fun together, just the two of them, and Seph knew that she would have to make time for Kayla and Theo in the future, but they had to decide if Theo had been punished enough.
“And just what am I, Theo Galloway? Scotch mist?” Kayla demanded.
Theo glances at her briefly before nodding. “OK, OK, I’m sorry, Kayla, I won’t do it again, better?” Kayla huffed at him and folded her arms.
The girls looked at each other; they didn’t really need more than a glance to know what the other was thinking at this point; the amount of time they had spent together had only strengthened their bond. Kayla had been ready to forgive her brother after one night; it was Seph who pushed it this long. She knew it was uncomfortable for him, but perhaps she had let it go a day too long. Eventually, she looked back up at Theo, who seemed more anxious than she had seen him in so long. “Ok then, Theo, but just remember this the next time you let idiots be such dicks to us.” Seph had barely got the words out of her mouth before Theo had wrapped his arms around Seph and picked her up, bridal style, cradling her body close to his chest as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck.
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Theo sank into the sofa, Seph pressed tightly into his chest. He was silent for a long time, his face pressed to Seph’s hair, his body so still anyone would be forgiven for thinking he was dead. Seph shifted uncomfortably after about 10 minutes; it felt like she was being held in a vice. Theo’s head flew up, and his eyes opened, only it wasn’t Theo looking back at them. Archer was staring at Seph through Theo’s eyes. “Oh hey, Archer… you’ve been just lying on me for a while now, and you’re holding me pretty tight,” Seph told him before gently kissing his nose. The confusion on his face was priceless. Kayla couldn’t help but laugh.
“He’s lost in you, like when we first met you… he forced Theo aside and took over; you’re pretty lucky he hasn’t ripped your pants off to fuck you,” Kayla told Seph. Archer growled loudly at her. And Seph giggled, shuffling off his lap to sit at his side.
“Archer knows better. We need to speak with Theo to know why he wanted to speak to us. We can have some time later, Arch.”
It looked like it was physically painful for Archer to hand control back to Theo; he seemed lost in the joy of being able to hold his mate again and torn between ignoring her request to keep holding her or doing as she asked and making her happy. “Later? Mate promises?” He asked carefully, trying to keep the growl from his voice.
Seph smiled at him and nodded. “Yes, I promise.”
Archer nodded a little before slowly slipping back into Theo’s head. After Theo had reacquainted himself with his mate’s scent, Seph was getting sick of being used like a perfume sample and had told him so. They finally got to talking about what Theo had asked to speak to them about in the first place.
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“I am planning expansions in the businesses that help support the pack”, Theo began, “and I can’t deny what you two have done in our loft. Everything goes together despite us all having different tastes.” He paused and turned on the sofa to look at Seph at his side and Kayla on a nearby chair. “Well, I want to start doing some interior design ourselves, to begin with, on our show houses. Eventually, for actual customers too, maybe when we build projects, we can offer a design service which will find decoration ideas or just do it for them if they want… and, well, I wanted you two to head it up. We can set it up as your own company if you want or a branch of the construction company.” Theo sounded nervous as he posed this idea to the girls; though he did an excellent job trying to hide it, Seph could feel it. He watched as the girls looked at each other, some kind of silent communication going on between them. Theo shuffled anxiously in his seat as he waited for their answer. He wanted to be able to spend more time with his mate and his sister, and if that meant he had to have them working with him, then so be it. In time they would be able to have a team and take a step back. They would all need to, he suspected, sooner rather than later. Seph’s words shook him from his thoughts of their promised visit to Seph’s coven and what exactly being the Sanctorum might mean for Seph.
“Sure, we’re in. When do we start?” Seph replied for both of them. It was never really in question, was it? Of course, they would set up this branch of the business, it was their job to look after the pack, too, and the pack needed financial security just as much as it needed a robust set of warriors to defend the borders.
They discussed the options for the new branch for a while naturally. However, the conversation drifted to their upcoming visit to Seph’s coven and their duties as the Sanctorum. “Do we have to go and make every group stop being dicks? I mean, do we have to find every bloody dragon, unicorn and pooka and make them all be friends? And what about the centaurs? If we have to make them more accepting of the rest of the world, we will never win!” Kayla told Seph the enormity of the potential task looked like a scary prospect.
“I don’t know, Kay, I don’t get it entirely either, and I’m supposed to be the Sanctorum. I think we should start by being a sanctuary for anyone who needs us. Anyone who can’t stay at home, anyone who needs protection, anyone being mistreated. We should be on the lookout for anyone who might need rescuing from a bad situation, whether it’s something like mine or their group has taken against them for any other reason. We should get as much space as possible here and have houses for them. I think that is the best place to start, and in any group we have to take a member from, we go in and try to deal with the issues. Then it is up to the rescued party if they want to return or stay here or move on, and we support them no matter what.” Seph told the other two.
Theo grinned widely; he looked reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat when he said, “These sound like you problems; I’m just the muscle of the operation”, and he cackled like a stereotypical movie witch.