After a few tense minutes, the screen flickered back to normal. Lucio let out a breath and leaned back in his chair.
“Got them,” he said. “Blocked the intrusion. Our systems are secure.”
“Could you trace where it came from?” Knox asked.
Lucio shook his head, frustration evident in his expression. “They bounced through too many servers. I got close, but they disconnected before I could pinpoint the location.” He rubbed his eyes. “They’re good. Really good. But I’ll keep working on it.”
Knox nodded. “Good work, Lucio. Thank you.”
Lucio smiled humbly. “Just doing my job, Alpha.”
The meeting wrapped up after that, everyone assigned different tasks. Ryder was coordinating with his guards. Noah was handling internal communications. Hunt was runningbackground checks on everyone who had access to their systems. And Lucio was going to keep monitoring for any future intrusion attempts.
Knox stood, lifting me off his lap and setting me on my feet. He took my hand and we started walking toward the door.
That’s when the twins burst into the room.
“MOMMY! DADDY!”
Two small bodies launched themselves at us with the force of miniature cannonballs. Knox caught Rowan while I caught Thea, and then we exchanged, passing children back and forth in a practiced dance of parenthood.
“We were SO BORED,” Thea announced dramatically. “Grandma Serena made us practice our letters and it was TERRIBLE.”
“Learning is terrible?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yes! Letters are boring!”
Rowan, ever the more serious twin, just hugged Knox’s neck and buried his face in his father’s shoulder. Knox’s expression softened as he held his son, one hand coming up to stroke his dark hair.
Thea, meanwhile, had spotted Ryder.
Her gray eyes went wide with wonder. She wiggled out of my arms and walked right up to the Alpha of Moonfang, tilting her head back to stare up at him.
“You’re very tall,” she observed.
Ryder looked down at her. “I am.”
“And very pretty.”
A choked laugh came from Jasmine, who had entered the room behind the twins. Ryder’s face turned slightly pink.
“Thank you?”
“Can you turn into a pony?” Thea asked hopefully. “Because you’re so pretty, I think you should be a pony. A sparkly one. With wings.”
Knox made an offended sound. “Excuse me? You don’t think I’m pretty?”
Thea turned to look at him, considering. “You’re okay, Daddy. But he’s REALLY pretty.”
“I am wounded,” Knox said flatly. “Deeply wounded. My own daughter, choosing another man over me.”
“It’s okay, Daddy. You can be my second favorite pretty person.”
“Wow. The disrespect.”
The adults were laughing now, even Ryder cracking a smile despite his obvious discomfort with being called pretty and compared to a sparkly winged pony. Jasmine was practically doubled over, tears of mirth in her eyes. Noah was grinning broadly. Hunt was filming the whole thing on his phone, probably to use as blackmail later.
While everyone was distracted by Thea’s antics, I let my gaze drift to Lucio.
