“Who’s they?” Ronan asked, his tone patient and not at all judgmental. He was a good alpha, and he knew when to push and when to back off. He wasn’t going to make demands when calm questions would do.
“My family,” Jonah murmured, frowning at his napkin as he toyed with it. “They don’t like supes, and when they found out I’m working at Spellbound, they threw me out.” He sank a little farther into himself. “I didn’t plan on coming here. I can go if I’m not supposed to be here–”
“No one is asking you to do that,” Ronan interjected. “I just needed to know if there was a safety concern we needed to be aware of.”
Jonah nodded, still not lifting his gaze. “I get that. I don’t think they’d come looking for me. They made it pretty clear last night they wanted nothing to do with me.”
The heartache in his tone made Emmett whine, and he couldn’t help wrapping his arm around Jonah’s shoulders, tucking the smaller man under his chin. Jonah was stiff for a long moment before he relaxed into the hold with a shaky sigh.
Werewolf packs were tied to their alpha through a bond that let Ronan feel how his pack members were doing and who needed his attention. It didn’t often go both ways unless the alpha was feeling strong emotions. Emmett felt the fury flash along their bond, making everyone in the room flinch for a second before Ronan took a deep breath and let it out slowly again. Harlem rubbed his mate’s chest, a worried frown on his face, and Emmett mimicked the movement on Jonah’s back. Both men settled, and Emmett shot Harlem an appreciative look for the help. He wasn’t entirely sure what he could do to help Jonah, and helping like this settled him a little.
Clearing his throat, Ronan turned to Jonah again. “Jonah.” He waited for Jonah to look up. “You’re welcome here as long as you need. I have a guest room in my home if you’d like—” He rolled his eyes at Emmett’s disgruntled noise “—or you can continue to stay with Emmett. Whatever you prefer. My only request is that if you ever feel your family is threatening you or that you’re unsafe that you tell me immediately. It’s my job to keep my pack safe.”
“But I’m not part of your pack,” Jonah pointed out, his voice a little shaky with emotion.
Ronan raised an eyebrow at him, gesturing to the room. Emmett looked around as well, finding everyone from Spellbound’s security team standing nearby, their expressions ranging from angry on Jonah’s behalf to concern for their friend. Behind them were a few parents from last night, their pups in their arms already struggling to get free and go to Jonah’s side. Even the pack members who didn’t know Jonah, but had heard his story, were giving him encouraging smiles and nods. He might not be a werewolf, but he was already becoming part of the pack.
“Consider yourself an honorary member,” Ronan said.
Emmett’s tail managed to wiggle free to wag wildly, he was so excited, and he wasn’t the only one. The security team swarmed Jonah, patting him and ruffling his hair, making sure he knew he was wanted here. When Jonah glanced at Emmett, his eyes were swimming with unshed tears, but a smile finally broke free, and Emmett knew with enough time and reassurance, he’d feel like part of the pack.
When Axel and Miguel got a little rough, trying to tug Jonah and claim they were closer, and therefore better friends with him, and Emmett saw Jonah wince, the snarl that ripped out of him was similar to the sound he’d made the night prior. It startled him and the rest of his pack, who all looked at himlike he was crazy. Axel and Miguel immediately dropped their hold on Jonah, putting their hands up in surrender. Only Ronan looked at him more consideringly before jerking his chin at the rest of the pack.
“That’s enough. Be gentle with the human. And get ready to go. We need to be at Spellbound in twenty minutes.”
They all dispersed to finish getting ready for the day, leaving Emmett and Jonah with Ronan and Harlem. Emmett grimaced.
“Sorry, alpha. I don’t know why I did that.”
“You did it because you care about Jonah, and those dummies were being too rough,” Harlem replied airily. “I saw Jonah flinch, too. Jonah, all you need to do is tell them to stop. They won’t take it personally. They had to learn to be gentle with me, too. Werewolves like to wrestle, it’s how they play, but they forget sometimes that not everyone is okay with that.”
Jonah, who had been busy frowning at Emmett, turned to the alpha’s mate and shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, I don’t mind wrestling, I grew up with an older brother. I don’t need them to treat me like glass.”
“No one said you did,” Ronan agreed. He reached for Harlem’s hand, tugging him around the island so they could all leave together. “But Harlem is right. They need to go easy on you.” He pursed his lips, tipping his head thoughtfully. “Think of them like big dumb puppies. Sometimes they get a little rough, and you have to correct the behavior or they’ll think they can do it again.”
“Hey!” Emmett whined, offended. “We aren’t puppies!”
Harlem leaned closer to Jonah, his whisper loud enough that Emmett could hear him when he said, “Notice how he didn’t argue with the dumb part?”
Jonah snorted, and while Emmett complained, he was glad for the teasing. Jonah looked more like himself as he and Harlem compared notes on learning werewolf behavior. Andwhen they got into Jonah’s truck to head to the office, the smell of heartache was only a low level thing. It wouldn’t be fixed in a day, Emmett wasn’t naïve enough to think that was possible, but if he could, he’d do what he could to make Jonah’s day easier.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
They arrived early to the office, which Jonah seemed to appreciate. It was required for Emmett, he had to get there early enough for handover from the night shift, but Jonah looked glad to not have to interact with people too much. He leaned against the back of the elevator with his eyes closed as they made their way to the Cyber Security office, and his smile was a little strained when Emmett dropped him off, but he seemed okay, and Emmett got the feeling he wouldn’t appreciate it if he hovered.
He took the stairs to the security office just to work off some excess energy. He considered asking a few people for a pack run sometime soon, he was getting snarly and that wasn’t like him, but then he thought about Jonah and the idea of leaving him all alone while he went out with his family felt mean. Maybe he could convince Jonah to join them? That’d be fun.
Shaw and the rest of the night shift guys were reporting to Ronan, but Shaw stepped aside and spoke quietly enough not to interrupt, asking, “How’s your guy?”
Emmett’s chest puffed up a little at Jonah being referred to as ‘his’. He’d work on making that official. Jonah deserved to know he was wanted.
“He’s…” He trailed off, considering his answer. He couldn’t say Jonah was okay, he still smelled like sadness and pain when he wasn’t distracted, but he was better than the night prior. “He’s going through some stuff,” he hedged. “He’ll be okay.”
Emmett would make sure of that. He started by seeking out the happiest person in the building the minute the meeting was over, skipping past the line into Peri’s Place since he had no intention of buying anything. He was on a mission.
“Are you skipping the line?” an accusing voice asked.
Emmett looked down at the goblin near the front of the line who was scowling at him. “Good morning, Mr. Martell. No, I’m not ordering anything today. I just need to talk to Peri really quick.”
