“I was going to wait until your mother arrived to go into my whole spiel, but I feel like you deserve a preview,” Jo said as they crossed one leg over the other.
Emory opened his mouth to respond, but Jo silenced him with a gentle hand on his forearm. Their grip was gentle, but the warmth of their hand was a welcome balm to Emory and his lion, who was still anxiously scenting the air. He didn’t like being faced with people or situations he couldn’t figure out. It put him on edge, which put Emory on edge as well.
While his heart knew without a doubt this was his beloved cousin, his brain was still trying to figure out what had happened all those years ago and what had transpired since then to create this enigma of a shifter in front of him.
“So, I introduced myself with they/them pronouns because I’m nonbinary. Given that you didn’t bat an eye when I said that, I’m assuming you know what that means,” Jo said.
Emory did, in fact, know what nonbinary meant, so he just nodded. He’d done a lot of research since meeting Cameron, and he was happy to put those late-night study sessions to good use. He placed his hand on top of Jo’s and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Jo stared down at their hands for a moment before lifting their head. Their face was serious, and their honey-brown eyes glowed amber around the irises. Emory could finally see what Jo had become. A founding partner and CEO of not one but two companies.
“I’m also what some people refer to as nontrinary,” Jo said, their voice firm and commanding, as if they were used to getting pushback. “To me, that means I’m not an alpha, an omega, or a beta. I’m some fourth thing, or perhaps a mix of the three…or a mix of two—who knows, really? Gender, both primary and secondary, is a beautiful mystery to me, and I have come to love and cherish that about myself.”
Their voice was a strong tenor that flowed up and down, adding an androgynous quality that made sense given their explanation of their genders. Emory could picture their voicecommanding boardrooms–even wearing their punk clothes, piercings, and what Emory was now pretty sure was eyeliner around their eyes.
“Not that it’s necessarily your business, but because I can sense your lion’s confusion and I know he means no harm by it, I’ll share that I am on alpha hormone blockers as well as a low dose of estrogen, which dulls my scent. It’s taken me a long time to get here, but I’m very proud of the person I am now.”
Emory’s mind raced as he tried to keep up with each new revelation. Before he could say anything, or even figure out what to say, Jo smirked, and Emory once again saw a flash of his revered cousin from childhood. Jo had always been stoic around their parents and elders, but sometimes, when it was just the two of them, Jo would let their mischievous side out.
“Micro-dosing HRT also does wonders for my hair,” Jo said, flipping their head to the side. It caused their silky locks to flop out of and then immediately back into their face.
Emory found his head doing that “kind of adorable, inquisitive feline tilt” as Cameron so helpfully liked to call it. He quickly righted it before responding.
“Your hairisquite lovely,” he said. “Also, just in general, Jo, you look great. This is obviously not how I would have pictured you as an adult, given that I nearly ran into you in the hall without recognizing you, but you look so very…you. I don’t know how else to put it.”
Jo’s smile seemed to crack down the middle, morphing into something almost vulnerable. “Are you disappointed?”
“In you?”
Jo inclined their head in a half nod.
Was he disappointed? He was definitely still hurt. It would take a lot more than an apology and a long overdue hug to mend the decades of distance between them. There was also so much to catch up on in each other’s lives. He was desperate to knowif Jo had known they were nonbinary and nontrinary growing up. However, he thought about Cameron, not feeling safe to come out for years because of his biological parents and then his abusive ex. Emory wasn’t close with either of Jo’s parents. They had left the pride years ago, but from what he remembered, they didn’t exactly seem like accepting folks.
“I think I’m disappointed in the family,” Emory said, and Jo’s achingly familiar eyes widened. “I thought… Well, I guess I was too young to really understand back then, but I thought you were happy in the family. I thought you wanted to take over the company and lead the pride and…clearly, you weren’t. We must not have done a good job of making you feel safe, and I’m sorry for that.”
Jo flipped their hand, so they were now the one holding Emory’s hand. “You did absolutely nothing wrong, Em. You’re right, you were so young—hell, so was I. I barely had the words I needed to explain why I wasn’t happy and why I couldn’t imagine leading the family, let alone an entire company, as the proudalpha maleof the pride.”
“Because…you’re not an alpha male.”
“No,” Jo said, and their eyes pinched in thought. “My parents would never have accepted that, and to be blunt, I don’t think yours would have either at the time. Things have changed a lot, though. When your dad died, I know your mom took over—something that never would have been allowed when we were kids. Then you found your fated mate, and he’s not a lion or even a mammal.”
“He’s definitely not what some of the family would have chosen,” Emory said, thinking of all the ways Cameron was exploring his gender identity in public now. He was wearing clothes that made him glow, and his playful, sometimes flamboyant octopus was showing through more and more each day in small gestures and mannerisms.
“I think you’d be surprised by how many have come around,” Emory added. “Mom, Corin, and Ariel loved him immediately.”
Jo laughed, a bright sound that transformed their face into someone decades younger. “Of course they did. God, I miss them.”
“The rest of the family has been a little slower, but mother kicking Leslie and her partners in crime out of the pride went a long way.”
Jo’s head tipped forward, and their mouth dropped open in shock. It was such a ridiculous expression, reminding Emory of their teenage years when he would try to get a rise out of Jo with colorful jokes and probing questions just to get them to make that face. “What…why?” Jo asked. “I mean, it’s been a long time coming but…why?”
Emory probably shouldn’t have shared that piece of information without his mother there, but she had already told Emory it was okay to share the news with Jo. Leslie was their aunt, too.
“Let’s just say some things have come to light that are unforgivable.” Like her paying off one of the butlers for inside information on Emory and Cameron’s conversations with his mother, as well as blackmailing her maid to comb through Cameron’s social media.
For a moment, Jo seemed frozen, their fingers paused mid-tap on the table. Then, like an iceberg cracking, their brow furrowed, and a frown tugged at the corner of their lips, revealing lines that hadn’t been there all those years ago. “That’s understandable. I hope that one day the family that’s still here will be able to forgive me. Just like you, they were never part of the reason why I left.”
Emory squeezed Jo’s hand, hoping it would provide comfort like it did for Cameron. “I think nothing has happened that can’t be forgiven, in time.”
