Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The condo they’d gone to apparently belonged to Taron once upon a time. He’d moved in with his mates a while back, but it was fully paid for and close to the office, so if the throuple ever worked late enough that the trip home was too much, they came back to the apartment instead.
“I was also considering subletting it,” Taron commented as he served lunch.
Because not only did Taron take Jonah to his apartment so he’d have a place to fall apart in peace, he was also feeding him a meal he made from scratch and answering any question Jonah could think of about mates.
He hadn’t been able to think of many yet, he was worn out and his mind felt foggy, but Taron didn’t mind that either, filling the silence with chatter about his mates and their lives together, giving Jonah insight without demanding anything from him.
“To who?”
“Well, first I was thinking to you,” Taron began, sliding onto the stool next to him.
He’d made actual fajitas with home made tortillas that were warm and fluffy and better than restaurant quality in Jonah’s opinion.
Jonah paused mid-chew, frowning at him, and Taron continued like he hadn’t just said he was going to let Jonah stay in a penthouse in the middle of the city.
“But now that I know you belong with the pack, I’m thinking I might make an outreach program for humans in the company.
After seeing both Avery’s and Tony’s apartments, I’ve been worried about how our human employees are living.
There are three bedrooms, so I think if they needed a place to stay and were willing to do a roommate thing, we could fit at least three in here. ”
Somehow, it didn’t surprise Jonah that Taron didn’t even think of selling the gorgeous apartment and making a profit from it.
He didn't have to ask if Taron would charge rent. He knew better. Instead, he asked, “How would you even figure out who would be interested? You can’t just approach every human in the company and ask about their quality of residence.”
“Why not?” Taron protested. “It’s for a good reason!”
Jonah sighed, a smile tugging at his lips. “Because they’ll get offended. Chill out. I’m sure we can brainstorm something. Maybe it should come from SR?”
While they discussed Taron’s idea, Jonah felt himself relax little by little, and by the time they cleaned up, he was eager to head back.
He wanted to speak to Emmett, he needed to know if what Taron said was true, and he wanted to apologize for avoiding him.
He’d gotten overwhelmed but that didn't mean he had to take it out on Emmett. He should’ve stuck around and talked about it first. Emmett deserved a conversation at the very least.
Taron put an arm around him, squeezing his shoulder gently. “He’ll forgive you. I know all he’ll care about is that you’re okay. Now, do you want me to stick around, or would you prefer privacy?”
“Privacy, please. I owe him an apology, and I don’t need an audience.” He paused just outside the doors to Spellbound. “Thank you, Taron. I really needed that lunch. You’re going to make a great dad someday.”
Taron’s face fell, and he looked close to tears for a second.
Dragging Jonah into a hug, he squeezed him tightly.
“Thanks for saying that. Sometimes I wonder,” he murmured quietly, then jerked back with a frown.
“Wait a minute. What do you mean someday? You already said I could adopt you. You can’t take that back!
No takesbacksies! You’re stuck with me! Get ready to call me Daddy Taron and–”
“Nope!” Jonah ducked out of his grip, darting away from him. There was no way in hell he’d call Taron ‘Daddy’ anything.
“Hey! Get back here! I’m not done scolding you yet!
” Taron insisted, chasing after him like the chaos gremlin he was.
Jonah laughed as he ran inside, crashing into Emmett just on the other side of the door because he was too busy looking over his shoulder at Taron to pay attention to where he was going.
Emmett must’ve seen him coming because he barely swayed, big arms wrapping around Jonah’s smaller frame as he caught him against his chest. He growled a low warning at Taron, squishing Jonah tighter against him.
Jonah stiffened, worried for a moment that Emmett would hurt Taron like he’d hurt Kyle, but Taron was smart enough to not get too close, his voice singsonging as he said, “I’ll see you later, Jonah!
Paperwork needs to be signed. Have fun!”
Jonah groaned quietly. He’d been joking. Sort of. Okay, so maybe not, but now that he wasn’t falling apart, he got the feeling Taron would go a little nuts if he actually signed those papers.
“Are you alright?” Emmett growled.
Jonah straightened and took a step back, nodding. Emmett felt the separation like a knife to his gut, and it took everything in him not to snatch Jonah back. “Yeah, he was just playing. Are, uh… Are you okay? I keep running into you.”
For a minute, Emmett smirked, his usual playful response flashing across his mind before he remembered everything that happened.
His smile fell, and he took another step back, putting more space between them and sticking his hands into his pockets.
“I’m fine. Sorry, I know you asked for space. I saw Taron chasing you, and I just–”
“I don’t want space!” Jonah blurted out.
Emmett froze, his mouth falling open as Jonah started rambling, everything he was thinking spilling from his lips.
“I was really freaked out, and I thought I was driving a wedge between you and your pack, so I told myself it was better if I left. But being apart from you sucks, and it only made me feel worse, and Taron said he thinks we might be mates. I didn't know humans could have mates, and if he’s wrong, that’s totally fine, but–”
Emmett was going to reach for him, the poor human looked like he was going to pass out, but before he could say a word, someone came racing toward them. His instincts flared, and he snatched Jonah close, twisting to put himself between Jonah and the mage who approached.
“I need to speak to Jonah Mills,” the mage said breathlessly. “Roz is looking for him. She said it’s an emergency.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, since the only emergency Emmett could think of for the sassy fairy was a cyber security breach, he spun around to look at Jonah.
Jonah’s gaze flicked between the mage and Emmett, and he seemed to hesitate for a long moment, like he couldn’t decide which thread to follow.
Emmett melted a little. He wanted to talk.
He knew they were mates. The rest could wait.
“I’ll go with you. We can talk once you figure out what’s going on.”
Nodding sharply, Jonah laced their fingers together, hurrying to follow the mage who spun on his heel the minute Jonah agreed and took off again.
They got lucky, slipping into a crowded elevator before the doors shut and Emmett used the proximity to clock Jonah’s scent just to get a better read on him.
He smelled like salt and heartache, like he’d been crying, but he also smelled like relief and joy and anticipation, along with a healthy dose of anxiety, probably because of whatever was happening with Roz.
The heartache was duller, fading, and when Emmett rested his head on top of Jonah’s because he felt like he needed to steal a cuddle or he’d go insane, the happy scents got heavier and more pronounced, along with a new one Emmett hadn’t tracked on him yet.
He didn’t have a chance to figure out what it was before they arrived at the Cyber Security floor, but he’d figure it out eventually.
Once all this was over, he and Jonah were going to talk. He didn't care if he had to go all caveman and toss Jonah over his shoulder to steal him away, he was done waiting to have the conversation they should have had weeks ago.
The Cyber Security floor was almost finished, a few desks already set up, and the computers being moved on top of them, but the floor looked empty, and it was only when he heard cursing from Roz’s office that he realized where everyone was.
“No! Don’t touch that! I swear to the gods, if you touch that, I’ll hurt you! How do you not know the basics? Where the hell is Jonah?”
Jonah rushed into the room, moving to Roz’s line of sight so she could see him.
She latched onto him immediately, dragging him over to a desk next to hers that was already set up with a computer, an employee Emmett hadn’t met yet sitting in front of it.
Roz shoved him away, pushing Jonah to take his place.
“There’s a breach, and these idiots don’t know how to handle it. And they keep talking behind me! Sit. We’re working this together.”
Jonah looked startled, his mouth opened in protest, but Roz wasn’t looking at him, which made it impossible for her to hear him even if he did.
“We need to block them in first, stop them from getting anywhere. Look for failed login attempts, spikes in activity, that kind of thing, then cut off access.”
Jonah hesitated for a long second, taking in what she said, then, to Emmett’s surprise, he nodded sharply and spun in his seat, facing the monitor in front of him.
His fingers flew across the keyboard, monitoring windows pulling up and disappearing in quick succession.
He tapped two fingers on Roz’s desk, catching her attention, then pointed at his screen.
They didn’t speak, but they didn't have to.
She pulled up the same information, and they worked in tandem, doing whatever crazy techno science they needed to do to stop the attack.
He realized belatedly that he needed to inform Ronan about the breach attempt, so he stepped back a few feet, pulling out his phone and putting it to his ear.
“Yeah?” Ronan murmured, his voice sounding distracted.
“Ronan. We’ve got a cyber security breach attempt happening right now. Roz and Jonah are on it, but I thought you’d want to know.”
Ronan’s voice sharpened, his full attention on Emmett now. “How long has it been going on? Did they get in? Do we need to pull the plug on anything?”
He relayed the questions to Jonah, who answered without pulling his gaze away from the screen.
“They’re trying to go for Research. They’ve gotten into the system, but so far we’ve kept them out of confidential files.
Do not unplug anything. They’ll just try again once the system is back up.
” He tapped the desk again to get Roz’s attention, turning his head enough to speak to her without looking away from the screen.
“I think we can corner them with enough firewalls, at least block them long enough for us to get ahead of them.”
Roz nodded. “Let’s do it. Shut down all access.” She glanced back at Emmett for a second. “Might want to tell the higher ups. Research is about to get locked out of their system.”
Emmett grimaced. That sounded not fun. He spoke into the phone again. “Ronan?”
“I heard. Alistair is already informing Elijah. You’re with Jonah, right? Run upstairs to IT. They’re going to get bombarded with calls and tickets in a second. Then I want you back in that office. I want to know what’s happening.”
“Done,” Emmett agreed, hanging up. He put a hand on Jonah’s shoulder, squeezing for a second, and hope started bouncing around in his chest when Jonah paused what he was doing long enough to reach for Emmett’s hand and squeeze it back. Then he went back to typing.
“I’ll be back. I need to inform IT.” He turned, looking at the other people in the room. They all looked a little shell shocked and confused. “What are you guys supposed to be doing right now?”
They shrugged. “There aren’t enough systems up right now for us to help. We were setting them up in the main room, but they’re not fully done yet.”
“Go do that,” Jonah instructed over his shoulder. “As soon as one is up, someone hop on and start gathering information. We’ll need to know how they got in and what they were looking for.”
They didn’t argue, taking off at a fast clip back to the main room to get the job done. Emmett shot one last proud look at Jonah’s back before running upstairs. His once terrified mate was now calling the shots. Once the chaos was over, he was going to make sure Jonah saw just how far he’d come.