The Unmarried CEO with Kids

“Good evening, Mr Taleman!”

“Good evening, Mr Beowulf.”

“Are you heading home right away again, Mr Taleman?”

Smiling politely, the busy CEO nodded and waved to his employees. It might seem unusual for employees to treat their boss so endearingly. However, there was a good reason for that at the Taleman empire.

Almost three years ago, the young and eligible CEO who was once like an ice pillar started to break rapidly before their eyes. Nobody knew why their capable boss started making basic mistakes or had to run home in the middle of the day at times. There was a point that Taleman couldn’t turn up at the office for weeks on end, and he wasn’t on a business trip. His capable secretary, Favian Beowulf, handled most of the company’s operations back then. Most of the employees could only understand that CEO Taleman was going through a rough patch in his life with so many personal matters to address.

It wasn’t until the muscular alpha man appeared to work one day looking very much like a haggard middle-aged man with an unshaved jaw that everyone finally understood his difficulties.

One morning, Richard Taleman entered his office with a young toddler in his arm wearing a cute animal themed onesie. He had dark circles beneath his eyes. His ash brown hair, usually styled to perfection, was unstyled and dreary. The dreamy smile was nowhere to be seen, and he walked with a slouch, looking more bulky than hunky with his well-built body.

Nobody knew what to say, but they immediately understood something must have happened at home. There was no news about their boss getting married. However, where did the kid come from? Speculations flew in all directions, but neither Richard nor Favian confirmed anything. They were too busy juggling raising troublesome pups and the company.

The employees who stuck with the company for many years saw it all. They saw how two competent young men fell into such a sorry state that their private lives overpowered their ability to cope with busy business and demanding toddlers. Favian Beowulf might not be the typical hunk from the Hollywood A-listers, but he had a pretty face, lean build and usually impenetrable poker face. He was sharp, shrewd and stern - the ideal perfectionist. However, that image was shattered with the toddlers that CEO Taleman brought to work because of circumstances.

The toddler that CEO Taleman brought with him had both men in the palms on his hand as he pulled on Favian’s dark brown hair and chewed on his glasses whenever the secretary had to feed him. The toddler was fussy and refused to eat properly unless his father fed him personally.

The office ladies who saw this scene a few times couldn’t help but pity both men. While they were intimidating as bosses, their more vulnerable sides as inexperienced parents helped reduce the gap between them. Mustering enough courage, some ladies offered Favian and Richard advice about parenting and even offered to watch the child on their lunch breaks so that the two men could get some rest.

Initially, it was difficult for Richard and Favian to ask for help from others. However, the experienced parents managed to coax their troublesome pup with little effort, and some dads offered to babysit when the ladies weren’t around. It took a huge burden off their shoulders, and the word started to spread that the CEO and secretary actually had soft spots for children despite their domineering appearance. At the end of the day, they were still humans who might need help from others.

Karma worked strangely. The moment Richard started accepting help from his employees, his company became better. Even though he told his human resources to make more exceptions for employees who were parents, the productivity of these employees did not decrease. The off-days and work-from-home leaves increased, but fewer people abused the newly given privilege. Even fewer people cut corners in their work as they were told they could clock out as soon as they finished their work. Even for those without children, the policy helped to motivate them to leave early and spend more time with their loved ones.

It was strange for such a huge organisation to act as a family. In some ways, Richard thought that his organisation could very well be an extended part of his pack. By day, he was a respectable boss and a struggling dad. By night, he was the alpha of his pack and the werewolf of the prophecy.

Born on a new moon, Richard Taleman was the only wolf capable of breaking the witch’s curse on his dumb Fenrir ancestor. From the time werewolves existed, legends often depicted them as scary monsters. Modern tales spun them into muscled gods with epic bedroom skills and an animalistic sense of romance. However, that was far from the truth. Richard preferred to think of himself as a tired caretaker. Those kids weren’t even his. His dumb ancestor wolf simply pushed new pack members onto him.

As Favian and Richard headed to the parking lot, some familiar employees stopped by to pass some snacks for his children. It took two years for Richard to finally let the helpful employees know he wasn’t married and the children were not biologically his. He didn’t tell them details, but the rumours started spreading that their CEO was a kind man who simply adopted stray kids into his house.

Everyone knew that Mr Taleman was a mysterious and private person who had never let anyone know where he lived. He had an apartment in the city where he often hosted parties, but that wasn’t where he lived. His employees knew because there was no sight of children toys anywhere. The apartment looked like something out of a showroom and did not feel homey at all. Richard only ever had business meetings there, and whenever his secretary drove them home, it was in the opposite direction of that penthouse.

The rumours that CEO Taleman was a kind-hearted person behind the businessman mask started to attract many ladies who wished to become the mother of his adorable children. However, Richard and Favian often rejected those offers. Most of the ladies offering to become the mother of his adopted children had ulterior motives. Even his loyal employees knew that and often turned them away on behalf of their kind-hearted boss.

Three years passed quickly, or everyone and the gossip mongers found out that their boss adopted more children over the years. Currently, CEO Taleman is a father of three, and the family might continue to grow. 

Once Favian and Richard thanked their colleagues for the gifts that included new baby clothes, some shoes, a few educational toys and even stationery, they tossed everything at the back of the car and headed home.

“Why do they continue to give you things you could easily buy?” Favian asked with irritation as he drove. Evening traffic was always the worst.

Richard sighed and shrugged his blazer off, loosening his tie to reveal juicy chest muscles. Unfortunately, nobody was around to appreciate the view, and Richard finally relaxed after a long day.

“I don’t know. However, they don’t mean any harm. The kids can use more of these human things anyway. Our ancestor has been neglecting their human studies in favour of hunting in the mountains. How will they attend school if they cannot act like proper humans?”

Favian sighed. As the beta of Richard’s extremely rowdy pack, he wondered why he hadn’t handed in his resignation letter. Oh, right. He felt obligated to assist his batch brother, who seemed ready to commit suicide at any point without someone by his side. 

Their ancestor wolf was quite the troublemaker himself. Ambrose Fenrir was quite the lady-killer and womaniser ever since the existence of time. However, five hundred years ago, the Fenrir made a mistake causing him and his descendants to be cursed. He dated a witch, a very powerful and jealous witch. Then, he cheated on her with other females and was even caught with his lower half undressed.

Naturally, the witch didn’t like what she saw and cursed her ex-lover’s entire clan to only have male offspring and not a single she-wolf until the curse was broken. Favian didn’t know if that witch was kind or cruel. The only way to break the curse was to have a pup born under the new moon to find a Luna.

Werewolves are usually born under a full moon. To be born under the new moon could only mean they were full of ‘defects’. These wolves had dulled senses, could not transform, could not hunt and were natural omegas. How does a werewolf as passive as this find a Luna and become alpha of a pack? Favian had no idea.

In any case, having a werewolf born under a new moon was rare enough. Ambrose Fenrir did his best for the last five hundred years, but no wolves were born under the new moon. Even Favian was born on a waxing moon. He wasn’t a powerful wolf, but he was intelligent.

When Richard was finally born shortly after Favian was, they were raised together by their ancestor wolf. All the other werewolves decided to leave the ancestor home and start packs of their own in the human society. It made little sense to stay in a mansion full of hot-blooded males. Even the gay wolves preferred the company of soft human mates instead of stinky furry wolves.

Ambrose Fenrir was very protective over the prophesied child who could break the curse for the entire clan. However, Favian watched how Richard broke a little with each passing day. His eyes lacked life, and the smell of depression grew to the point that Favian had to do something.

No matter how Richard tried to transform or hunt, he couldn’t. His body was a product of rigorous physical exercise, and it wasn’t his natural build. According to human standards, Richard was stronger than most people. However, he was as weak as a paper puppet in the werewolf society.

No other natural alphas were willing to serve under such a weak wolf, prophesied or not. Hence, Favian took up that role as Richard’s guardian and assistant as he made his name in the human world.

Thankfully, Richard was a child full of charm. With Favian’s intelligence and Richard’s charm, they climbed their way to the top of the business world in the human society and excelled.

The road back to the mansion was long and would take almost two hours. They had to change cars to reach it. For outsiders, nobody knew who owned Mount Ambrose and the forest surrounding it spanning as far as the eye could see outside the city. However, that was where the werewolves lived. Heck, some might even name it the holy land of wolves because it was the only place under the Fenrir’s protection where new wolves were born since ancient times.

Unlike the natural creation process, werewolves from the direct lineage were born from the Fenrir’s mana and the moon’s blessings. Simply put, they were manifestations of the Fenir’s magic harmonising with the mana of the forest, nurtured by moonlight.

Unlike werewolves from the tales humans told, they were not allergic to silver and did not regenerate infinitely. They were the same as humans with the additional ability to become one with nature, often taking the form of wolves when they did so. Shapeshifters, they were called. The young shifters had no control over the emotions and form, but they would learn as they grew older. Once they were able to stabilise control over their emotions and form, they could mingle among humans.

Sadly, with humans polluting the environment and destroying the earth, shifters and the race’s ancestors became fewer. The last hundred years was particularly bad as humans raided the environment without replenishing it. From two hundred years ago, when batch brothers could go up to five per year, the Fenrir could now only produce one pup at a time. Moreover, he had to rest for longer intervals before creating the next pup. After taking two decades of rest, Ambrose decided it was finally time to liven the mansion again with little paws. Hence, increasing the burdens on Richard’s shoulders as a forced alpha of the pack.

As they left the city centre behind them, the rest of the journey became less tense. Favian relaxed and glanced at his chosen alpha. Richard was tired but not tired enough to sleep, so he decided to bring up what he couldn’t ask at the company.

“The hotel heiress, Ms Visconti, sent me a text earlier telling me that she would be waiting at her hotel’s grand suite for you to have dinner together. Do you want to go?”

Smirking without humour, Richard replied with a question as always.

“Is she Luna material?”

Favian wrinkled his nose. 

“As Luna as a dirtied rug. I can smell her lewd pheromones whenever she sees or thinks about you. Even without my nose, the ladies in the administrative department told us that she was like an overripe fruit, sweet but rotten. At least she’s not after your assets, the one that can be cashed out.”

Uninterested, Richard simply returned to his work, scrolling through the thousands of emails he didn’t have time to read after attending meetings for a whole day. Honestly, she wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last. Ms Visconti was the latest woman infatuated and obsessed over CEO Taleman after seeing him once at a business meeting with her father at their hotel. 

“Let her have dinner by herself. I’m busy, and the kids are waiting. Ambrose hasn’t been teaching them anything useful, and I received another text from Ludwig tattling no Darren for biting his tail. He sent me a picture. It looked rather bad. There was a bald patch in his fur, and the reason for their fight was over who spotted the squirrel first.”

Hearing how the pups were up to mischief again, Favian sighed. From the incident summary, the beta wolf deduced that none of the children did their homework while they were at work. Thanks to Richard’s new expansion to the eastern European market, business was picking up. They had less time to oversee such trivialities.

“I’ll handle the pups. You can finish looking through the new legal contract for shipping terms, then get an early night.”

Shaking his head, Richard frowned. It wasn’t fair on his secretary and older brother to handle so much. Favian wasn’t only a capable assistant who managed the company in his absence. The beta wolf was also the nanny when he was home with the pups and their personal tutor for human etiquette and schooled them whenever he had the time. The CEO felt bad that Favian was always taking on so much alone. Not to mention, Favian still had to go through tomorrow’s guest list for the huge board meeting to introduce our plan to expand its service line.

“I can bathe them later,” Richard suggested. “It’s been a while since we had bonding time in the bath. You can take that time to unwind and finish up what you need for work. Don’t pull an all-nighter again. I need you at your top form for tomorrow’s battlefield. The old bastards won’t make it easy for me because they have more shares than me in the company.”

Hearing that, Favian shot his boss a glare. “As an alpha, you should be able to handle those old fools. Silence them if you must, with or without me. Bath time is not an excuse to escape your duties tomorrow. I’m not always going to be able to play the bad cop. You have to do it sometimes too, or people will start to think you’re a pushover.”

Richard wanted to retort that he actually was quite the pushover. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be struggling to discipline a few pups.

The rest of the drive to the side house in a suburb remained silent as both men retreated to their own thoughts about the uncertain future.