Page 65 of The Werewolf's Deputy
The words hit him like an arrow to his chest. He’d thought he’d cried all the tears he had, but his vision swam as he asked, “You’re… proud of me?”
Taron’s head tipped, his smile softening. “More than proud of you, kiddo. I’ve been alive for over a thousand years, and I’ve never seen someone with the kind of strength and constitution you’ve got. Not many people would turn their back on what they’d been taught their whole life and stepped into a whole new world without flinching.”
Jonah huffed a watery laugh, shaking his head. “Oh, no. I flinched a lot. Ask Emmett.”
Another twang in his chest made him wince, and he had to breathe for a minute to fight off another wave of tears.
“Wanna talk to me about him? Last night must’ve been a scare, watching him like that.”
Jonah’s shoulders lifted and self-loathing threatened to drown him. He hated that Taron was right. He’d been terrified, and it felt so wrong to think like that after everything Emmett had done for him.
Taron’s hand on his shoulder was firm and grounding, his voice filled with understanding. “It’s okay to admit you were scared, Jonah. You’re still new to this world. Seeing Emmett act like that was bound to be scary.”
“It feels wrong, though,” he croaked. “He’s been so good to me. He’s never given me a reason to be afraid of him. But when he attacked Kyle–” he voice cut out as he choked back anothersob. Gods, it wouldn’t stop, would it? He was going to be a dehydrated husk before this conversation was over.
A glass of water appeared in front of his face and he took it gratefully, the cool water like a balm on his throat.
“If you’ll let me, I can explain why he acted that way.”
He blinked his eyes open, frowning at Taron. “I know why. He was pissed that Kyle was intimidating me. But he didn’t have to go that far–”
Taron shook his head, cutting him off. “That was only part of it. If I’m right, and I’m pretty sure I am because I’ve been watching the two of you together, I’m pretty sure Emmett reacted like that because he thought his mate was in danger. Believe me, there is no supe in existence that can see their mate being threatened and not react. If someone intimidated my Tony, I’d rip them to shreds without a second thought. There are even laws about it. It’s considered self-defense to protect your mate, because mates are seen as extensions of ourselves. It’s only natural that we protect our other halves.”
Jonah stared at him, his mind going blank for a moment. “Mate– But– Humans don’t have mates,” he blurted.
Taron gave him an amused look. “Are you telling me Tony isn’t human? Because as his mate, I think I would’ve noticed. And what about Avery? I introduced the three of you for a reason. It wasn’t just to show you humans worked at Spellbound.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No!” Taron laughed, shaking his head. “That was only part of it. But thanks to my friendship with Avery and one of my mates being human, I know more about human behavior than I think most supes do. I know you were raised to believe humans didn’t have mates. Hell, Avery thought the same thing, and his parents weren’t the kinds of humans who isolated themselves from supes. Avery wasn’t raised thinking all supes were bad,but because his parents didn’t know any better, neither did he. Humans have mates. Human governments don’t want you to know that because most human mates are supes. They’d have a lot harder time controlling the narrative if human society knew true love was waiting on the other side.”
Jonah couldn’t argue that. He was open minded about supes even before he started working with them, but he would’ve been a lot more eager to meet them if he knew there was a possibility of finding his perfect half.
“And… you think Emmett is my mate?”
Taron shrugged. “It’s not about what I think. It’s about what you think. Does he feel important to you? Do you feel a pull between you, especially when you’ve been apart for a while?” His voice lowered, and his eyebrows raised when he asked in a significant tone, “Does the idea of walking away from him make you feel like you’re being ripped apart?”
His breath left him in a rush, and he saw stars dancing on the edges of his vision. Taron had to smack him on the back to get him to breathe again, and then he started hyperventilating, which wasn’t entirely helpful.
“Drink more water. It’ll help,” Taron encouraged, pushing the glass in his hand toward him again.
Jonah did as he asked, draining the glass and handing it back. The noise he’d heard before must have been Taron setting down a tray because there was a pitcher of water on the coffee table, and he used it to refill Jonah’s cup and hand it back. Jonah inhaled half of it before being forced to slow down as he was hit with a wave of hiccups. He had to set the glass down so he didn’t spill it.
Taron’s eyes widened, and he looked delighted by the sound. “Oh my goddess, that’s adorable. I need a video of this.”
Jonah shoved his phone away before Taron could lift it in his direction. “Stop, Taron. What am I going to do? I can’t be Emmett’s mate!”
“Why not?”
Jonah threw his hands up, his teeth gritted as he forced himself to say the thing he feared the most. “I don’t want to be the reason he loses his pack!”
Before he could panic and lose it completely, Taron put his hands on Jonah’s shoulders, drawing in a deep breath and urging him to copy. Jonah did only because he needed something to latch onto other than the spiraling panic that had gripped him ever since the fight the night before.
“Deep breath. That’s it. Just like that. Now, tell me why you think Emmett will lose his pack.”
“Because… I’ve already caused so much trouble for him. I heard them say he wasn’t acting like himself, and he’s fighting with his own pack members because of me and–”
“Everything you’ve mentioned can be attributed to finding his mate. It’ll ease up once you’re fully mated. What else?”
