Page 2 of Ember

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

---