“Right. That,” Myra said as she handed them each a filled glass.
Cindy laughed and gave her friend another quick hug. “I won’t leave you in suspense. We’re staying.”
“Then we’re extra, super happy for you, and for us. Welcome to the pack, Jonas.”
“Thank you, I’m glad to be here. Mostly because being here brought me Cindy, but I’ve been liking what I’m seeing with the pack, as well. I’m honored to be part of the new adventure.”
They all drank, and then Myra and Adam officially welcomed him into the pack bonds. It was an odd sensation, being part of such a small group. With just four of them, and with his bond to Cindy being so intense, it was a much deeper feeling than the one he’d had with Mountain View.
He looked at his mate, smiling at her best friend as she sipped her wine. They had a rental and might consider buying land and building a house, but all of that was inconsequential. He was home.
Six weeks later
* * *
Jonas carefully lowered his end of the sofa to the hardwood floor, keeping pace with Adam at the other end. When it was safely down, they both flopped onto the leather cushions that they hadn’t bothered to remove. The couch had been the last item in the truck, so Jen, their new third, was now officially moved in. Her laugh drifted down the hall from the master bedroom, where she and his father were putting together her bed.
“Another one down,” Adam said. “How many to go?”
Jonas chuckled. Since moving to New Mexico, he’d given some thought to what he’d like to do with himself full time, but he hadn’t progressed beyond ideas. He was too busy helping the new pack members get moved in and settled into their situations.
He’d helped his parents find a place and both had taken jobs at a local restaurant, to see what they thought of the food business. His dad had claimed that learning the business from the ground up was the only way to go. Jonas wasn’t sure if they were really going to open up their own place, as he’d suggested, but they were having fun exploring the idea that they could do pretty much anything they wanted, so he figured he’d succeeded.
He’d helped Bill and Thomas, a couple in their forties who’d moved in from Florida, get settled into a trailer on a tract of land they’d decided to purchase. Thomas was a contractor and was going to build them a house when he had the time. Jonas had managed not to laugh out loud when Bill had rolled his eyes behind his husband’s back.
Then there was Joe, who had come down from Pennsylvania to join them. He was a teacher, and the local high school had offered him a position to start immediately, so Jonas, his father, and Bill had done all the moving for their new second so he could get up to speed on his class without the stress of moving.
Olivia and Tasha Keogh, the mother and daughter who’d previously been in the Mesa Pack, were due to arrive the next day. There had been some discussion about the pair being a good fit for the pack, but everyone had agreed that the daughter wasn’t thriving in Chicago, and Myra hoped they could turn the situation around with some TLC.
Cindy had told Jonas, privately, that she’d been concerned Adam might hold some resentment that Olivia hadn’t made any move, in her old pack, to seek help regarding the rogue pack that had harmed Adam. But once Adam had met her at the party, even though he hadn’t particularly liked her, he’d felt protective. So the invitation to join had been issued.
“Don’t pretend you aren’t loving building a pack from the ground up. I don’t believe your grumpy persona for a second,” Jonas said.
“Hmph. I’ll have you know I was a bona fide hermit not that long ago.”
“Yeah, but then you fell in love. That changes everything.”
“Well. You’re not wrong.”
Adam rose, and Jonas heard the recently plugged-in refrigerator open and close before a water bottle appeared in front of his face. He grabbed the bottle and opened it while Adam came back around to join him on the couch.
When he’d taken a long drink, Jonas eyed Adam. “Cindy said you got stuck handling most of the details of getting the Keoghs set up?”
Adam sighed. “I suspect that woman’s going to be a pain in our asses. Cindy was nice enough to give Myra some info from her landlady, and somehow that turned into me negotiating the lease and arrangements. Olivia is not shy about stating what she thinks, or what she wants.”
“Tomorrow should be loads of fun, then.”
“She’s not terrible. Just…not particularly socially adept, I guess you could say.”
“Which is saying something, coming from a recently reformed hermit,” Jonas said with a laugh. Adam lifted his bottle to him in salute.
Jen and Robert came down the hallway then, laughing. Jen put her toolbox down and looked around the room. “This is great guys, I really appreciate your help.”
Jonas checked his watch. “Kickoff’s in twenty minutes. You’ve got your bed set up, your fridge turned on and your TV plugged in. Abandon the boxes for tomorrow and come watch the game at my house.”
“Son, I realize you’ve only been mated a few weeks, but don’t you know better than to invite a bunch of people over for a game with no notice?”
Jonas smiled. “Trust me, Dad.”
