Page 59 of The Werewolf's Deputy
“For what?” Emmett grumbled, shifting closer because if he couldn’t pace, he wanted to gather Jonah up and snuggle him until he stopped smelling like sadness.
“For standing up for me,” Jonah said, resting his palms on Emmett’s chest. “I appreciate it.” Drawing in a deep breath, he let it out slowly, forcing some of the tension off his face.
“You shouldn’t have to thank me, Jonah,” Emmett argued, letting out his own breath as he pulled the smaller man into his arms. Jonah didn't argue with him, but he didn’t agree either, resting his head against Emmett’s shoulder when he wrapped him up in a hug. Emmett bit back another snarl. He didn't want to upset Jonah by getting so worked up, but the next time Kyle came near him, Emmett wouldn’t be so patient.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Kyle’s words played on repeat in Jonah’s mind, no matter how much he tried to block them out. Several times that weekend, when he’d finally summoned the nerve to leave Emmett’s house and rejoin the pack, Kyle sought him out. Always when Emmett was busy and wasn’t paying attention, and always quiet enough that no one would overhear him and call him out. He’d whisper in Jonah’s ear about how he didn’t belong, how he only caused trouble for the pack, and how he was only temporary and eventually Emmett would move on.
He tried to ignore it, he knew Kyle was only trying to chase him away, but the jerk seemed to know exactly what to say to cut Jonah down in the most painful way possible.
Temporary. He was just temporary. His time at Spellbound: temporary. His fake relationship with Emmett: temporary. His time with the pack: temporary.
By the time he returned to work on Monday, he felt almost as low as he had when his parents kicked him out. Emmett noticed, he wasn’t blind, but whenever he tried to ask about it, Jonah shut down on him. He didn’t want to talk about it because if he did, he’d have to face the fact that his stay with the pack wouldn’t be forever. Kyle was right. He didn’t belong there.
“Jonah! You’re with me today,” Roz called before he could head to the storage room where the computers he’d been setting up were waiting. He hesitated, almost wanting to argue since he didn't feel like he would be good company today, but Roz didn’t wait for him to speak, waving a hand at her six screen computer set up without looking at him. “I showed you how to watch for breach attempts, right? I need you to watch the system. Apparently I’m required to be there during the hiring process for the new security analysts.” She rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed at the prospect. “I left a manual on the desk. Study it if nothing else is going on. It’ll tell you what to do if a problem pops up until I can get back. Alright?”
She finally looked at him, raising an impatient eyebrow in his direction. Since she apparently wasn’t going to be around, he figured it was fine and nodded once in agreement. “I’ll keep an eye on it and text you if something happens.”
“Send me a screenshot first before asking me to come back. Newbies always panic before they need to. I’ll check in before lunch. Don’t let anyone mess with my stuff. Bye!”
She was gone in a flash, leaving Jonah to watch her go, feeling the weight of the silence she left behind. He growled, annoyed with himself.
“First you don’t want to be near her, then you’re upset she left. Pick a lane, dude,” he muttered to himself.
His attempt to shake off his desolate mood failed miserably, but he forced himself to push it aside, focusing on the task Roz gave him instead. He considered dragging a chair in for himself, but decided to try out her weird chair instead. It was built for fairies, but looked comfortable, and he’d been secretly dying to try it since the first time he saw it.
It was a little awkward at first, but eventually, he got comfortable and rolled himself closer to the screens, studying each one carefully. Her lesson the other day had been rushed,and he was pretty sure she’d only taught him because she was trying to distract him last time, but he recognized some of it. One monitor had the network traffic panel pulled up. Any unusual spikes had to be flagged and investigated. All looked normal for now, so he moved onto the next monitor.
The second one was more simple. It logged all login attempt failures. If it happened more than twice, an alert would flash, and he’d have to call whoever the login information was tied to and see what was happening. There were only a handful of failed attempts so far, but each login was a different user name. Probably user error, then.
The third monitor was the most complicated, and not something he wanted to touch if he didn’t have to. Roz had insisted on full access to the IT department’s ticket system. She set up a tracker on it, monitoring each logged ticket and flagging anything that included words like ‘virus’ or ‘malware’ or even ‘security’. Jonah wasn’t entirely sure the IT department as a whole was aware she was poking around, and he didn’t have the authority to redirect tickets, so he hoped nothing came up with that while she wasn’t around.
The only other monitor with a screen pulled up was a process monitor. Roz hadn’t gotten around to explaining that one, so he wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking at. After he was sure everything else looked normal, he flipped through the book Roz had left, skipping to the section that would explain the process monitor and what to look for when it came to cyber security.
He was switching between checking the monitors and reading the book when Roz came back, grumbling to herself. She leaned over his shoulder, checking the monitors first and pointing at an alert on the screen.
“Did you check in with that?”
She was pointing at a multiple log in failure that happened about an hour prior. Jonah nodded and explained, “New guyin marketing apparently got the wrong log in information, but instead of asking someone for help, he kept trying to use the same bad information until his computer locked him out. I unlocked it for him and sent him new log in information, then emailed his superior to check on him. It was a stupid mistake, not anything to worry about.”
She made a face, taking Jonah’s place when he vacated her chair. “Gods, I hate it when new people do stupid shit like that. It’s like, you look more stupid making a mistake multiple times than you would if you’d just asked for help. A few of the interviewees gave me that vibe that they’d be too cocky or too stupid to ask for help. It’s irritating that I only get a vote and not the final say. I would’ve thrown out half the stock they brought in if I could’ve. One of them didn’t even have any experience in tech! They just wanted to try something new!”
She continued to rant, sliding Jonah’s book toward him and waving him toward an empty desk. He moved where she pointed, finally going to the storage closet to grab a regular chair to sit on. The reminder that she was hiring new people to work on the floor bothered him. It reinforced that ‘temporary’ feeling he’d been fighting all morning. He managed to block it out while he was working, but once she brought up the new hires, it all came flooding back.
He had considered maybe asking to apply to one of the open positions, but if she wanted him to stay, she would have asked already. Roz wasn’t the type to beat around the bush. She was straightforward and a little crass, but that was what Jonah liked about her. He could trust her to be honest, at the very least. And if she wasn’t asking him to apply, she obviously didn’t want him around long term. It made sense, he was only human, and his lifespan was shorter than supes by a significant amount. Why hire a human and only get like twenty to thirty years from themwhen they could hire a supe who could be there for hundreds of years if they wanted to be.
Jonah’s mood hadn’t lifted at all by the time the work day was done. He followed Emmett and the rest of the pack to the parking garage, only half-listening to their banter as they joked and teased each other. His mind was a thousand miles away, and he only realized they’d arrived at his truck when Emmett put an arm around his shoulder.
“Why not let me drive today? You look like you could use a break.”
Axel snorted from beside the sedan the rest of the pack had carpooled in that morning. “That’s a human truck. You’d break it with your big feet alone.”
“Man, shut up,” Emmett snapped. “It’ll be fine.”
They continued to bicker, so Jonah slipped around him, unlocking the truck and climbing into the driver’s seat without a word. He waited for Emmett to jog around to join him in the cab, then started the engine and turned up the radio a little. Not too loud, werewolf hearing was sensitive, and he didn't want to be an ass and hurt Emmett’s ears, but loud enough to make it obvious that he wasn’t in the mood to talk.
Emmett didn’t push, though Jonah could see him sneaking glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He wished he could think of something to say to make him feel better. Emmett had watched out for him since he showed up in the supe world, and he hated making him worry. He just didn't know what to say anymore. He was afraid he’d say the wrong thing, and Emmett would figure out how badly Jonah wanted to stay. He didn’twant to put that on the werewolf. Emmett had done enough for him. He didn’t need to babysit Jonah forever.
