Page 72 of The Werewolf's Deputy
Emmett glanced at Jonah and seemed a little uneasy when responding to his dad. Jonah wasn’t sure why until he explained his reason for not introducing them sooner.
“Jonah first arrived after getting kicked out by his own parents. I didn't want to rub my family in his face right after something like that. And we hadn’t technically said we were together until today.”
Well, he had a point there. But he felt bad thinking Emmett was avoiding his family because of him. He couldn’t say he was wrong, though. Those first few days, if Emmett had brought him to see his family, Jonah would’ve had a hard time with it. The jealousy alone would have been suffocating.
“Emmett and Jonah have been working things out together,” a familiar voice spoke as they stepped inside. Emmett’s parents hadn’t bothered to close the door, and Jonah could see a good number of people milling about outside, like they were justwaiting for them to come out. Ronan didn’t shut the door either, his arm around Harlem as they came to stand by Emmett. “I’m sure he would have told you if he felt it was a good time. What I’m wondering is why I didn’t even get a conversation before you made a claim.” He turned a bland expression toward Emmett. “A courtesy text would have been better than nothing.”
Emmett’s smile was sheepish, but he didn’t look like he regretted it in the slightest. “Sorry alpha. I hadn’t actually intended to bite him. It just kind of… happened.”
Harlem snorted, poking Ronan in the side. “That sounds familiar. I thought you were just getting rough because I’d riled you up. I didn’t realize you were claiming me until afterward.”
Ronan, the pack alpha, and the steadiest werewolf in the bunch, visibly winced. Jonah’s mouth twisted as he attempted to hide his grin. The poor alpha looked embarrassed to be called out like that, and Harlem had a look on his face that said he did it on purpose to make things a little easier on them. When he noticed Jonah watching him, he winked, lifting on his toes to kiss the side of Ronan’s snout. The alpha melted under his mate’s affection and his tone turned soft when he said, “I, uh… suppose I can let it slide. We had a conversation the other day, at least. I knew it was coming.”
Jonah couldn’t help it. He started laughing. Maybe it was the adrenaline from the sudden arrival of Emmett’s family and the pack leader, or maybe it was the realization that they weren’t in trouble and Emmett’s pack truly accepted him, but Jonah felt giddy and a little lightheaded at the same time. When Emmett joined in, chuckling as he drew Jonah against his side, Jonah leaned into him, his shoulders shaking as he tried to get himself under control.
Rex looked between Jonah and Emmett for a moment before nodding once. “I can see it now. He’s a good match for you, son.”
“I thought so too,” Ronan agreed. “They’ll make a good team at Spellbound.”
That caught both their attention and Emmett’s head cocked curiously. “Alpha?”
Ronan explained, “I was discussing things with Alistair. He thought it might be best to have a small number of our pack on staff permanently to make sure people don’t slide into old habits. I agreed with him. And since your mate is on the Cyber Security staff, you’ll work closely with one another to ensure all aspects of Spellbound’s security are well maintained and follow our protocols. Tasha has already agreed to remain as well, keeping her leadership position and taking my place on the first floor, and Nikki will join the Cyber Security team itself since she’s got the background for it. You’ll still rotate like everyone else, but I figured you’d appreciate being in the same building as your mate at the very least.”
Jonah had honestly forgotten that the Moonfall Pack was only at Spellbound as consultants. Their positions there were just as temporary as Jonah’s as a temp. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about Emmett leaving right after he got offered a full-time position. When Jonah looked up at him, Emmett looked thoughtful, nodding slowly.
“Sounds good. But do we really need to rotate? It might be better to pick a floor and stay put.” He glanced toward the door, then leaned closer to whisper, “It might prevent some people from running into certain someones who would definitely cause issues.”
That was vague as hell, but Ronan seemed to understand him just fine. His eyes narrowed, and he dipped his chin once. “We’ll talk later with Tasha, see what’s best. Now, after you’re done groveling for your parents’ forgiveness, come see me. Official introductions to the pack need to be made, and we need to fill out the paperwork for the local pack registry.” He turned toJonah next. “I assume we won’t have any issues with your family when you’re officially adopted into the pack?”
Jonah shook his head, opening his mouth to answer in the negative, then froze. “Uh… Well, technically, I’m being adopted by Taron. He might put up a fuss.”
Rex frowned. “What’s this now?”
Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Jonah explained, “A friend of mine decided since my family didn’t want me and I was new to the supe community that he was going to adopt me. I kind of told him he could.”
Ronan snorted, raising an amused eyebrow at him. “Taron? Really? Do you enjoy chaos in your life that much?”
Shrugging, Jonah admitted, “He helped me through some stuff. He’d make a good dad. Better than my parents at least.”
Ronan seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding. “Okay, I can see that. Luckily, parental adoptions and adoptions into packs are two separate things. It won’t get in the way of you joining Taron’s family. We’ll need to invite him to the pack for introductions, though.”
Jonah and Emmett exchanged matching looks. Was it a good idea to invite the king of chaos to the pack? No, probably not. Were they going to do it anyway? Absolutely. Jonah got the feeling it was going to be hilarious.
EPILOGUE
They ended up waiting a few weeks before inviting Taron to the pack. Not only because Jonah was up to his ears in adoption paperwork, trying to get settled in his permanent position at Spellbound, and experiencing his first werewolf holiday season, but also because while doing said paperwork, Emmett realized that Jonah’s birthday was only a few weeks away.
Jonah had honestly forgotten; his parents stopped celebrating his birthday when he was sixteen, and even before then, they didn’t do anything huge for it. It was right after the holidays, they were tired from all the family gatherings, and it was too much effort to throw together something when they’d just seen the family a few weeks prior. Jonah hadn’t had a true celebration of his birthday since he was a little kid.
Emmett, however, refused to let the day pass without a fuss. Werewolves were apparently big on birthday parties, and the idea of skipping it was so foreign to him, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. Instead, he went behind Jonah’s back, pointed out the date to Taron, who was leaning hard into the parenting thing, and together, they started planning a big celebration that would also be used to introduce Jonah’s office family to his new pack.
Jonah wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but when the day finally came, he decided it was best to just roll with it. The best way to handle the pack was to roll with the punches. They were a rowdy bunch, with a chaotic energy that always got them into one shenanigan or another, but always kept the good times coming. And Emmett was right, they never once gave Jonah the impression that they’d kick someone out. Even when a werewolf got drunk and went streaking through the middle of downtown, getting arrested for public indecency, and attempting to ride a civil officer. Because yes, they tried to climb onto the centaur officer taking their statement. Jonah had laughed so hard hearing the story from Harlem that his sides hurt, and Emmett had to catch him before he fell onto the floor.
He woke up on his birthday in his favorite spot, half-buried under Emmett’s large furry bulk, warm and so relaxed, he couldn’t muster the energy to get up until someone started knocking at the front door and woke up his heated blanket. Emmett’s snarl gave Jonah goosebumps, but he didn’t get up when Emmett did. He listened as his mate grumbled and stomped down the stairs, his voice sharp as he barked at whoever had woken them.
The conversation was short, and whatever the news was, it seemed to put Emmett into a better mood because he came bounding up the stairs and crawled over Jonah, pressing his nose into his neck as he made a happy grumbling noise.
“Happy birthday.”
