Page 3 of Sealed With A Kiss
Cheers went up in the breakroom as my friend Vincent entered the room. He was the latest in a long line of agents who were moving away from the Global Shifter Council now that he met his fated mate. It seemed the GSC was experiencing a blessing/curse from the goddess as of late. A blessing to the shifters and witches lucky enough to meet their one and only true mate while out on assignment. A curse to the agency which was losing another agent to pregnancy and mating.
“Oh, my goddess. You didn’t have to throw me a baby shower. Thank you.” Vincent wiped tears from his eyes and began hugging everyone within touching distance. “I am going to miss each and every one of you.”
“Don’t be silly,” Marrion scoffed. “We have all seen your alpha. You are going to be too busy making adorable babies and living out your happily ever after to think twice about any of us here.”
“We couldn’t be happier for you,” I cut in before she said something rude. Marrion was known for awkward overshares and talking too openly about things most of us kept inside our heads. No one needed Vincent’s happy tears to turn sad because those left behind started to think we would never find our one and only. “Have you decided on a name yet?”
“Oh.” Vincent blushed and put a hand to his rounded middle. “We are going to name the boy Patrick and the girl Penelope.”
“Oh, that’s adorable,” Cynthia squealed from behind me, causing me to flinch. I hated when people made high-pitched noises. Unfortunately, that was her typical tone.
As the party progressed and my co-workers shared stories of mates and raising children, I realized one important thing. I needed a break from this place.
If I was honest with myself, I would say the realization came a few weeks ago when I started secretly wishing it was me who was meeting my mate and making cute babies. I began to scowl when I heard of another co-worker leaving the council to live out their picket-fence dreams. I started dreading coming into the office each morning. Those were all my cues to ask my manager for a leave of absence so I could get my head on right once more. I loved my job. I felt fulfilled working for GSC, yet lately, I felt that I was missing out on something more. Plus, my last few cases had been a little hard for my stomach. Abuse of omegas, especially at the hands of their own alphas, was not the type that left my mind easily. Having several back-to-backs wore on me mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The following morning, I scheduled the meeting with Travis to discuss my revelation.
“I need a vacation.” I practiced this speech a dozen times in the bathroom mirror that morning, but my nerves still had my leg jiggling under the desk as I spoke with my manager via video call. He was out of the office on assignment and couldn’t meet inperson but was still the man in charge of my department. “I am at that point where if I don’t take a vacation soon, I may burn out and end up like Elliot Luxe.”
My manager Travis O’Neil visibly shivered. “I don’t think—”
“Trust me on this.” I steeled my composure and pointed straight at the screen. “I’m at my breaking point after that last case. My whole life feels like a waste, and I need to get away from chasing criminals or rescuing omegas in need. It’s just for a little bit. Put me on desk duty if you need me to still show up, but I am not going back out in the field until this feeling passes.”
Travis shuffled through a stack of papers on his hotel room desk and smiled. “Got it. Listen, this is out in the field—”
This was another problem with the council; they didn’t always listen when we tried to tell them that something was wrong. “I just said—”
“I know what you said, Milo. Trust me, after Elliot, I won’t ignore signs of trouble again when an agent tries to come to us for help. But this assignment has nothing to do with rescuing shifters in trouble or chasing down rogue witches.” Travis typed something on his keyboard. “I just sent you the file. Look it over yourself. The training center just messaged me earlier in the week asking for a few agents to test out some new training courses. I was making a list of people I thought would be good choices to send over and was going to put together a team when I came back next week. But why don’t you head down early? I think this might be a great choice for you. Look it over and let me know what you think.”
Okay. We can do a training course. That will get us out of this slump.
I was a strong believer in listening to your instincts and to your shifter. Usually, if my seal was telling me to go a certain way or to act on an offer, it was because our inner magic was telling himto follow that path. So, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped in without even opening the file.
“When do I leave?”
3
Nikolai Survolar
Knocking on my brother-in-law’s office doorframe, I smiled and tilted my head to the tiny bundle of giggles I held. “Willow and I thought we would stop by and visit Uncle Rayne for a bit before we head back home.”
“I was waiting for you two to stop by ever since I heard you were at the training center today. I began to wonder if I had to track you down myself.” Rayne stood from his chair and took Willow out of my arms. “You know I need some Willow time, or I’ll go insane.”
My daughter let out a fit of laughter as her uncle made faces and squeezed her.
Placing her bottle down on his desk and the diaper bag on the floor beside it, I sat in the chair he had for visitors and rolled my shoulders. Today had been a busy day of socializing with everyone at the center, and I even worked on a few spells with Wolf while Zander took care of Willow. It wasn’t the first day I’d been back. I started training with Wolf again last month,but today was the first day we went for ten whole hours, and I was expected back tomorrow. Between training with Wolf and teaching the GSC agents that signed up for the coven dynamics class, I was exhausted. “It’s nice being back here. But I didn’t realize how exhausted I’d be after a few hours. How do you do this daily and then go home to all your minions?”
“Trust me, at first, I was just as tired and worn out as you. But having them here in the daycare center helps. I know they are safe and well taken care of.” Rayne took a gray metal canister out from his desk’s top drawer. “Then Hendrix was able to mix me up a few tea concoctions that helped with my endurance and energy. If you want, I can speak with him about making you a special blend of your own.”
“I might need that.” I examined the ingredients list Hendrix had handwritten on the back of the tin. Hendrix was a phoenix shifter who had some of the most powerful magic I’d witnessed. If anyone knew what mixture would have the best results, it was him. “I know it’s time to return full-time to the training course again and get everything under control, especially with having to teach Willow how to control her powers now. The thought of leaving Willow is not sitting right. I know she’s ten months and most of the family have their kids in the daycare long before that, but I just want to spend every minute with her.”
“I get that.” Rayne nodded. “Have you chosen to go with a nanny or to use the daycare here? I know you were playing around with that idea.”
“The girl I was using before got into her dream university, so I must find someone else. I interviewed a few candidates and have a beta who will stop by occasionally and help take care of Willow while I do a side project or need to clean the house, but I am not sure I want a full-time nanny raising my child. If she is here, I can go down and see her as often as I like.”
“That is a plus for sure. If you do hire a nanny, they are welcome to use your office here while you are in training, to take care of Willow. That way, you aren’t leaving her,” Rayne offered. As the co-founder of the Survolar-Romano Training Center, he would be the one to give me permission to do such actions. “But we will be starting the new childhood training class very soon. With her abilities, she might be able to be added to next year’s round of classes. We were starting with preschool age but by next year, I think we might add a toddler class a day or two a week. With the newer generation being born, their powers need to be honed earlier. They have so much potential and if left untrained, it could prove dangerous. Imagine Willow here in a puberty fit being able to levitate objects and hurl them across the room. We need to teach them control as soon as they can start learning it. It is important to ensure the future of the covens. Without the covens, packs, and clans, the future generations of witches and shifters would lose their powers. We have already seen that in the shifters who chose to live in big cities and conform to human normality. When you refuse to shift or grow your craft, you lose your abilities. Seeing these young children with innate knowledge of magic weaving has restored my faith in the future of our covens. Unfortunately it also has shown that we need to come up with a plan for keeping them safe while they are too young to fully understand their powers and the ramifications of misuse.”
“I agree. I am not ready to put a block on Willow but that is what the clan has been pushing for.”
