“Wait, she’s coming?” Patrick asked, pausing momentarily in serving himself the green beans. Jono nudged his arm to get him to continue.
“Nadine would come after all of us if we failed to inform her of your nuptials.”
Patrick snorted out a laugh, a fond smile on his face. “Yeah, she would.”
“Besides, she’s handling your suit fitting.”
Jono sighed, knowing that between now and whenever Sage had set the date for their wedding, he and Patrick would be at the whims of her schedule. “At least Nadine has good taste.”
Sage nodded. “You can both take a look at the guest list after dinner.”
The idea of putting on a wedding wasn’t exactly appealing to Jono, mostly because he’d be fine with going to the courthouse and calling it a day. But they had a lot of friends and family now, and despite his misgivings about putting on a show, he rather liked the idea of standing up in front of all of them to profess his love for Patrick.
Jono also didn’t doubt that Sage had everything under control. She was their dire for a reason, and she proved it once again that evening after going over everything she had planned.
“You’ve done this every year?” Jono asked as he scrolled through her spreadsheet.
“Since Patrick returned to us,” Sage confirmed.
There’d been that six-month period of gutting loneliness Jono had endured between the end of the Battle of Samhain and when Patrick came back from beyond the veil. Six months of living in the aftermath of a ravaged city while picking up the pieces of their pack. He’d never once wavered in his belief that Patrick would return, but Jono never wanted to live through something like that again.
Arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, and a chin duginto the top of his head. “I’m just going to do what she tells us to. It’s safer that way.”
Jono reached up to grip one of Patrick’s wrists, chuckling a little. “Yeah, love. Seems like Sage has it well in hand.”
Sage looked quietly pleased from her spot at the table, fingers resting on the base of her wineglass. Marek was doing the washing up in the kitchen while Wade and Riordan entertained Lillian upstairs. “Of course I do.”
“We’ve never doubted you. You always had better plans than Patrick.”
“Hey!” Patrick protested, pulling away. “My plans aren’t terrible.”
Jono sighed, reaching back to snag Patrick’s arm and pull him around. Patrick went easily and didn’t fight when Jono shoved his chair back a little so he could drag the other man onto his lap. Patrick went willingly, looping one around Jono’s neck and kissing the corner of his mouth. Jono slid his fingers over Patrick’s hip, slipping them beneath his T-shirt to seek out warm skin.
“Your plans,” Jono said, interrupting himself with a quick kiss, “are absolute bollocks.”
“They worked though.”
“The world only knows how.” Patrick rolled his eyes, but the smile playing at his lips told Jono he wasn’t annoyed. He leaned a little more against Jono, the bitter-tinged scent of him something that was always a comfort. “What made you ask this time and mean it?”
“I always meant it.”
“We talked about it. We never committed to it.”
“We’re already committed to each other. It seemed pointless.”
“So what changed?”
Patrick tilted his head, dark ginger hair catching the light. Jono could see a few strands of gray in the color these days, but not many. “It was something Aaron said, about how he’d do anything for his wife and that I couldn’t comprehend that because I wasn’t married.”
“So you’re marrying me to prove he’s wrong?”
“No, you idiot. I’m marrying you because I want to. But I’d already done everything he said I hadn’t, and I thought, why not finally makeit official?” Patrick offered him a crooked little smile, green eyes crinkling a bit at the corners. “We’ve earned a quiet epilogue, don’t you think?”
After everything they’d endured, everything they’d fought for, Jono wanted nothing more than to live a life not full of battles and heartache with the man he loved.
“Yeah, Pat,” Jono said, resting his forehead against Patrick’s, breathing in the scent of him. “We’ve earned this.”
5
