The Researcher’s Guide to Unexpected Mates (The Spellbound #1)

Prologue

MATEO

Email From: Taron Cunningham

Subject: Residential Pilot Program

Mateo stared at the email in his inbox, wondering if perhaps this was another test by Roz.

She’d been sending out more and more phishing attempts, trying to single out the employees stupid enough to click links that weren’t sent from someone familiar.

He didn’t think she’d send them to the security team, they weren’t that stupid, but she was also one of the more chaotic bosses he’d ever worked with and he’d only been hired a few weeks ago.

He couldn’t say he knew her all that well.

She hadn’t warned them that she was starting the phishing campaigns in the first place.

Jonah had to mention it in a meeting because the links she sent out locked the user out of their system until they took a course on online security and passed a quiz.

The phones rang off the hook for the entire day after that one, and no one knew what was going on until Jonah called the meeting.

As Roz’s second-in-command, he was the only one privy to what she was up to half the time and managed to get it out of her after one too many complaints from the team.

It was eventually decided that her original plan was too disruptive to the work environment and had to be toned down by a lot before it was approved by management.

Mateo cringed just remembering that particular day.

He’d gone home with the sound of the phones still ringing in his ears for most of the night and a tension headache that took hours to dissipate.

It didn’t help that the neighbors next door to him blasted music whenever they were home and the walls were paper thin.

He’d needed to go for a long walk to get just a little bit of peace and sleep with cotton balls in his ears and the pillow over his head to get any rest.

Deciding not to even open the email before checking in with anyone, he pushed out of his seat, purposely avoiding looking around his coworkers’ desks as he passed.

He couldn’t blame them for the mess, they were still in the process of moving in and Roz handed out projects like candy.

There was just something about a messy workspace that made Mateo’s stomach cramp.

Roz was missing, which he knew she would be given that music wasn’t pumping from her office like it normally was.

He assumed she was in a meeting and went looking for Jonah instead only to hesitate when he heard a groan through the door of the man’s office.

He took a big step back automatically. Jonah’s mate worked in corporate security, and if Mateo interrupted them, there was a risk he could get hurt.

Everyone knew to never get in the middle of mates unless you had a death wish.

Someone came up behind him and sighed heavily. When he glanced over his shoulder, Shayna, one of his coworkers who was hired when he was, stared past him at the door with a stoney expression. “Again? Seriously?

Mateo shrugged. “I’m not willing to knock and potentially interrupt them. Are you?”

She eyed the door, and he could tell she was thinking about it, but eventually shook her head. “They’re still newly mated. I’m not interested in losing a limb. They really need to find a better time to do this, though. Some of us have work to do. Did you get that email from the president?”

Turning fully to face her, he asked, “You got it, too? I was going to ask if it was another phishing thing or not.”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “It looked legit to me, and it came from the right email address, but I’m not touching it without knowing we aren’t expecting anything from Roz. I’m not willing to sit through those courses she’s been creating. Did you hear the first one was like five hours long?”

He hadn’t, but he wasn’t surprised. Roz was serious about security and deemed anyone stupid enough to click on a phishing attempt incompetent and in need of some serious correction.

If she wasn’t so good at what she did, he didn't think the higher ups would put up with her. But her security system was world class, and in the few weeks she’d been there, she’d eliminated several open backdoors, stopped two major hacking attempts, and completely tore apart Spellbound’s protocols on cyber security to put something better in place.

She was a veritable genius when it came to cyber security. She just wasn’t a people person.

The door to Jonah’s office opened, and his werewolf mate attempted to slip out, coming up short when he noticed the two of them standing there.

It was a testament to how distracted mates were that he hadn’t caught their scent before now.

Weren’t werewolves supposed to be able to scent literally everything with ease?

“Uh… hey…” he said awkwardly. “I was just… checking in on things…”

Shayna gave him a flat look in response. “We’re not deaf, nor are we stupid. Can you get Jonah for us? I’d rather not talk to him in an office that’s saturated in the scent of sex.”

Mateo wrinkled his nose. There was no way he’d be caught dead hooking up at the office. Too messy.

Clearing his throat, the werewolf leaned back into the room, calling out for Jonah. “Hey, you’ve got some people wanting to talk to you. Out here.”

He emphasized the last bit, making it clear they didn’t want to come in, and stepped aside when Jonah came out, his face bright red with embarrassment and an awkward smile on his face. “Uh, hey guys. What can I do for you?”

“Did Roz send a phishing attempt to the cyber security floor?” Shayna asked accusatorily. Her tone was a little sharp, but no one held it against her. Harpies weren’t known for their patience.

Jonah’s brows snapped together in confusion. “No? We’ve been busy with setting up the devices for the downstairs security teams.” He gestured at his mate in emphasis. “We don’t have any plans for more phishing runs until next month at the earliest. Why?”

Pulling out his phone, Mateo pulled up the email and showed it to Jonah without actually handing it to him. He really didn’t want to even think about what might be on Jonah’s hands after what he heard earlier.

Leaning closer, Jonah read the subject line, realization flashing across his face. It made Mateo feel a little better that Jonah recognized it. Maybe it wasn’t a test after all.

“Ohhhh. No, that’s not a phishing attempt. That’s legit. Taron told me about that.”

Mateo turned the phone back around, finally opening up the email, while Shayna started ranting about Roz’s phishing attempts and how they shouldn’t need to question every email that comes through the system.

Jonah let her vent because he was an easy going kind of guy, and Mateo tuned her out, reading through the email.

Subject: Residential Pilot Program

Hello Team!

I’m pleased to announce the launch of a residential pilot program to explore the possibility of company-owned housing in the future.

We currently have a designated corporate residence being prepared for a select group of employees who may benefit from a secure, consistent, or community-based living arrangement.

This program is volunteer-only and open to all departments and staff. There is no requirement to explain current housing situations, and any information shared will remain confidential.

Those curious about eligibility, amenities, expectations, or timeline are encouraged to complete the interest form below.

In cases of possible emergency placement, please reply to this email directly so that assistance may be provided.

Yours,

Taron Cunningham

Co-Founder and President

Spellbound Corps

P.S. This is not a prank. The head of SR, Brennus Brightbeak, has been CC’d, so you all know it's legit.

He huffed a small laugh at the postscript at the bottom.

That definitely would have made him think it was a prank if Jonah hadn’t confirmed its legitimacy.

The company president was known for his pranks, though he wasn’t ever cruel about it.

It was just something Mateo never wanted to be involved with, so he avoided the man at all costs. He wasn’t interested in pranks.

The head of SR had been CC’d, so the pilot program was likely legit like Jonah said, but it wasn’t something Mateo was interested in.

The email mentioned only one residence, which meant it was likely a roommate situation.

He felt like that would somehow be worse than his living situation right now.

A bunch of strangers all living in the same space? It sounded like a nightmare to him.

Trashing the email, he politely excused himself without interrupting Shayna’s rant, heading back to his desk. He had a mountain of work to do and never enough time to do it. Now that he was certain he wasn’t being tested by their illustrious leader, he could get back to his work.

The email from Taron was pushed out of his mind throughout the rest of the day. He made a dent in his task list, assuming it’d be just as long or longer the following day, then packed up his backpack and headed for home.

It took two trains and a bus to get to the human side of the city, and once he stepped off the bus, he had to keep his head down because a few of those unhappy human groups that were vocally against supes would target the bus stops and scream at everyone who exited for working in the city around supes and betraying their own kind.

Mateo didn’t believe their rhetoric for a second, but he wasn’t about to argue with them.

It was just easier to pretend he couldn’t hear them and get home as quickly as possible.

His apartment was blessedly quiet for once when he arrived.

He closed the door gently, not wanting to break the silence, and dropped his bag by his feet, leaning against the door and scrubbing his hands over his face.

He wasn’t sure what was worse, the commute or the building he lived in but could barely afford.

Living in the human side of the city hadn’t been his first choice.

It’d just been the only thing he could afford when he left home.

His parents’ place wasn’t close enough to a portal station for him to commute, and there was nowhere in the supe part of the city that he could afford on what little money he’d had at the time.

His parents offered to supplement, but they barely made ends meet as it was, running a tiny grocery store in a paltry human farming town several hours away. Taking money from them felt wrong.

He ended up in this tiny cramped apartment in one of the worst sections of the human part of the city, surrounded by inconsiderate neighbors, sharing one bathroom at the end of the hall, and commuting for over an hour to work all day just to make ends meet.

He’d taken the job at Spellbound because he hoped with the pay bump that he’d be able to afford to move out eventually.

Unfortunately for him, given how much the shady landlord charged to live here, that wouldn’t be for a while.

His mind went back to that email, and he fished out his phone, opening the trash folder to read it again. Living with roommates would be awful, but would it really be worse than living here? At least here he had his own space…

As if to prove him wrong, the neighbors arrived home with a clatter of noise and loud laughter, and seconds after their door closed, the music started pumping, rattling the windows and ruining the quiet moment.

The neighbor on his other side started pounding on their wall and shouting, always assuming the music was Mateo’s fault and punishing him for it.

He slid down the door, covering his ears with his hands, and frowning at his phone in his lap, the open email still glowing on the screen.

Maybe it was worth a shot. Anything would be better than here.