Chapter 28

night before, and watched them as they left before escaping from Lane, who I had avoided except for a polite good morning while we saw the twins off. When I arrived back at our little house, Atlas shook his head at me, making me think he had been watching my nonexistent interaction with Lane and heavily disapproved, before mumbling something about going to the office, stealing a couple of my mouthwatering goods and kissing my forehead, a small smile on his face, before hurrying out of the house, leaving me alone. I shook my head at his antics, my heart warming at the smile on Atlas' face and his continued animation all morning. Our bond was rekindling, and somehow, now that I had the twins and this new hope within me, it felt like the right time for that to happen.

I decided to store away the goods that Elena had made for me after letting myself take a single one of the mini-muffins that were in the batch. They were as divine as they smelled and I promised myself that no matter how divine they smelled, I would savor the first treats my daughter had made me for as long as I could. It would obviously be an almost impossible task, but I feared hiding them from Atlas would be harder. After finding a decent hiding sport a while after searching, I grabbed the laptop that Lanthe had thoughtfully laid out for me unasked, and went into the small dining room to work.

Most if not all of the secondary and tertiary sectors of production that happened in Abattohn took place in Fort Ahbyss, the largest building in the lycan kingdom, that had also been Jason's first step into transforming Abattohn into a part business district. The building was over six hundred and fifty meters tall, with over a hundred stories. It was where all the governing and exporting business headquarters and offices were, along with a few of the fancier local service providers. Ahbyss Unlimited, the biggest company in Abattohn, had quite a few shareholders and I had been one of them since I was born. It was a no brainer that working there while I was in town was the best I could do to fill my time when I wasn't with my kids, because as much as I wanted to spend every second with them, it simply wouldn't be possible if we ever wanted them to build pack relations and get them integrated into Abattohn society. So I set out composing an email to the manager at Abattohn Robotics Sector, Mitchell Turner who had been a classmate of mine, asking him to set us up for a meeting for the next day and to prepare for me an office on the department floor. Then I went about, browsing on the files he had thoughtfully sent on the new goals and objectives set at the latest board meeting, along with their most pending big projects and research programs. The more I read, the more excited I got, because I was in my zone and in my comfort place.

After chemistry and pharmaceutics, robotics was my thing and would be nice to refresh my knowledge on it and learn from the many brilliant people who would be employed. I didn't have to do anything savvy here; I didn't have to make any serious business decision or go to countless events and press releases or to put out any fires. Just for a little while, I could be a guy, learning and working with a group of people I'd grown up with for the common goal of bettering and advancing our- their- homeland. It would be a nice break for sure.

I then spent the next five hours making phone calls to my numerous business dalliances at home, clearing my schedule for the next month and delegating to my mist trusted personnel before quickly wrapping up any urgent and pending business I could. I was in the midst of grabbing myself some light lunch when the doorbell rang once before the door was pushed open, and the familiar scent of berries about to burst, filled the room. Fletcher's grinning face filled the kitchen doorway before she ran up to me and jumped into my arms, hugging me tightly as I clung back at her.