Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
MATEO
While Dax and his family were willing to wait for introductions, Carmen was not.
Despite having met Dax already, she demanded to throw a party for them to celebrate officially being mated, and she invited everyone she could think of to attend.
His roommates were a given, especially since the party was being held at the condo—though Owen wasn’t allowed to help prep the food.
He was delegated to decorations instead.
A few did end up a little wonky when he fell on them, but no one was complaining, and he was just happy to participate.
Somehow, though neither Dax nor Mateo could figure out how, Carmen figured out how to invite Taron.
She said as the one who gave Mateo such a nice place to live, he needed to be there.
And Taron never went anywhere alone. He brought his mates and Jonah, since he’d been adopted by the shapeshifter.
Jonah had brought his mate, and who’d brought a friend because werewolves loved parties.
Dax of course invited Miles. He was still acting a little weird according to Dax, but he put on a smile when he showed up to the party and sat on the arm of the couch next to Jonah’s mate, chatting easily and relaxing.
Those two were friends, apparently. Mateo was realizing the company was a lot more interconnected than he’d originally thought.
The last people to arrive were Mateo’s parents.
They closed up their shop for the day to attend, wanting to be present for the celebration, and were eager to meet Mateo’s mate.
He led them over to where Dax was sitting on the sofa, conversing happily to the massive amount of people around him, and gave their bond a little nudge to get his attention.
Swinging around with a bright smile, Dax’s eyes lit up when he saw Mateo’s parents behind him. He launched off the couch, hurrying around it so he could come to Mateo’s side.
“Mom, Dad, this is my mate, Dax. Dax, these are my parents, Daniel and Lupe.”
With that warm smile that always made Mateo breathe easier, Dax greeted Mateo’s dad with a firm handshake, practically vibrating with excitement when his mom pulled him into a hug.
“It’s so nice to meet you. Mateo has told me so many great things,” Dax said as he stepped back, one tentacle going around Mateo’s waist like always.
It was so habitual by now, Mateo barely noticed anymore.
His parents did, but from their smiles, they liked the easy affection and weren’t at all judgmental about it like some human families were.
Mateo hadn’t thought he needed to worry, but he was the first in the family to find love outside their species.
There had been just a little anxiety in that regard, which had led to him deep cleaning Nylian’s room—with his permission of course—just to work out some of the energy before the party.
His roommates turned out to be far less judgmental about his fastidiousness about the condo being clean than he’d expected.
Not only were they more careful to clean up after themselves, but they were also willing to ask for help if they felt like an issue was beyond their ability or that they thought Mateo might feel better assisting with.
They didn’t take advantage, which was what Dax had admitted being a little concerned about, but they did invite Mateo to help with their private spaces if they could tell he was getting stressed and needed a distraction.
Owen, especially, let Mateo go after his room whenever he needed it since he admitted sometimes the space got away with him thanks to his PCR.
Mateo had needed that the other day. When word got out that he was mated, he got a lot of congratulations, but he also got some pushback from those who weren’t happy that a human was working in the office.
Including those guys from the other day who’d made those comments within earshot of Mateo while he was working, trying to get a rise out of him.
They’d come looking to cause trouble again, and got a lot more than they bargained for.
Just thinking about the interaction made Mateo grimace.
“Did you hear another researcher sunk so low as to mate with a human?”
“Again? They’re spreading like a disease around here.”
“Right? Maybe they’re doing it on purpose. Trying to get their power back by mating into it. Except they’re only mating the pathetic supes who would stoop that low. It won’t actually work.”
Mateo could ignore it when they were just talking about him.
It bothered him, sure, and it’d probably make him more cautious about who he interacted with in the office.
But what he couldn’t tolerate was anyone talking crap about his mate.
Dax was the perfect mate, always supporting him and loving him in exactly the way Mateo needed.
No one could call him pathetic and get away with it.
Shoving to his feet, he scowled at the group that was once again just far enough away to seem innocent when they were actually causing trouble. “Why don’t you mind your own business?” he seethed.
The middle one seemed almost gleeful that Mateo took the bait, stepping closer with his lip lifted in a sneer. “What’s the matter? Does the truth hurt?” He eyed Mateo up and down with disgust. “Who’d want to mate you anyway? Humans are disgusting.”
Dax came out of nowhere, a snarl in his throat and tentacles lashing out to put the asshole in his place.
Mateo only just managed to snag his arm and pull him back, his heels dragging a little on the laminate floor as he was pulled along.
He got the feeling it was less that he was able to stop Dax from going after the guy and more that Dax wasn’t willing to bring him closer that actually stopped him from attacking.
“Stay the hell away from my mate,” Dax hissed.
The guy raised an eyebrow at him, looking almost smug. “Or what? You can’t do anything to me. I didn’t do anything wrong. He was the one eavesdropping. Mate laws don’t let you get away with assault just because the pathetic human took offense to the truth.”
Mateo’s heart had pounded so hard, he’d thought he’d have a panic attack, and he clung to Dax’s arm, afraid if he let go, Dax really would get into trouble for trying to protect him.
It ended up not being Dax who put the guy in his place.
Mateo hadn’t noticed it at the time, but Deshawn was nearby and heard everything.
And the guy talking crap happened to be holding a laptop at the time.
It started smoking in his hands and burst into flames, burning him and causing him to drop it with a screech, sinking to his knees as he stared at the burned skin on his hands.
The magic sent his friends hurrying to get away from him, and when Deshawn marched over and squatted beside the guy still cursing and groaning on the floor, he whispered something that scared the guy enough to send him scurrying away.
Deshawn never explained what he’d said, nor did anyone report him for it.
But he showed Mateo in no uncertain terms that he’d show up to have his back if he needed it, and Dax was so grateful, the mage got an invite to the party despite not really knowing anyone all that well.
He showed up but mostly kept to himself, but Mateo told himself he’d put more of an effort to get to know the guy.
After all, getting to know his roommates had worked out well.
Making friends at the office would be fine, too.
A crash made his head snap around and he winced as he noticed Owen lying on the floor absolutely covered in cake. He hurried over to help, getting him back on his feet, and grimaced at the mess.
“I’m so sorry, Mateo, I didn’t mean to–” Owen began, but Mateo cut him off before he could get started.
“Are you hurt?”
Owen blinked a few times, surprised. “Oh, um… I’m okay. I bumped my head, but–”
Putting his hands on Owen’s shoulders, he pushed him toward the kitchen where Carmen was overseeing food prep. She was a nurse, and would be able to tell if Owen needed help better than he could.
Carmen, who’d seen the crash as well, was already waiting for him, waving away Owen’s attempts at playing it off and pushing him onto a stool so she could look him over.
While she fussed over him, Mateo returned to clean up the mess, smiling when Dax arrived with a bucket of soapy water and a mop at the ready.
“Don’t worry. There’s an extra,” Taron called to reassure Owen when he kept looking at the mess he’d made. “Peri sent plenty.”
The mess was gone a few minutes later, and a second cake was brought out, this one carried by Zephyr, who took it from Taron, since apparently he was too easily distracted and couldn’t be trusted to carry it either.
He was sent to sit with Owen, a pout on his face until Owen patted him on the shoulder in understanding with his free hand, the other holding an ice pack to the back of his head.
Taron got distracted getting to know the human better, and the cake was served without another round of chaos.
“Did anyone pick up napkins?” Carmen asked as she started handing out plates.
Mateo looked around with a frown. He hadn’t been in charge of the shopping when prepping for the party. That had been split between the others. They said he did enough by cleaning the whole condo. But from the way they all looked at each other, no one had thought to buy the napkins.
“I thought Kaz was getting them,” Owen murmured, confused.
Kaz frowned. “I thought napkins were Louis’s contribution.”
Louis, who was fidgeting with one of his experiments, didn’t even look up to acknowledge the conversation.
Carmen put her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at the room. “Did no one check with each other on who was getting what when writing the list? Or think to ask while you were out?”
That got her a lot of blank looks. Mateo wouldn’t have thought of it either, so he didn’t blame them.
Carmen sighed. “You all need a group chat, or something. This should be obvious for a bunch of people living together.”
Taron sat up abruptly, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “Hey! That’s a great idea! We should make that happen!”
One of his mates, Zephyr, groaned. “Not another one.”
“Another what?” Dax asked curiously.
“Group chat. He’s got like five,” Zephyr explained. “They’ve all got weird names, and he’s active in all of them. I swear, his phone goes off constantly now.”
His other mate, Tony, patted his shoulder with an amused smile. They all knew once Taron had the idea in his head, there’d be no stopping it. It was better to let the guy get it out of his system.
“What should we name it?” Taron asked excitedly, bouncing in his seat.
“Can we have examples of the others?” Owen asked with a frown. “I’ve never been part of a group chat before.”
Ticking them off with his fingers, Taron recited, “I’ve got ‘OG besties’ ‘World’s best mates’ ‘The fun squad’ ‘The fun squad minus party poopers–’”
Mateo snorted at the last one. He almost didn’t want to know the story about that one.
And since he knew Taron wouldn’t stop until he got his way, he chose to focus on the original topic.
A group chat might be useful, especially since Owen had interrupted by calling him while Mateo and Dax were…
busy. A text would be easier, since not answering was a pretty obvious sign someone was busy and not just relaxing behind a sound ward like Owen had thought. Twice.
“Residential Pilot Program,” Nylian offered blandly. The man looked about as enthused about a text group as he did a dental procedure, and his suggestion made Taron wrinkle his nose.
“Oh, come on. We can think of something better than that.”
“Roommate Round Up?” Dax suggested, snickering at the way Mateo wrinkled his nose in response.
“Condo Besties?” Owen offered hopefully.
“Communication Bootcamp,” Carmen said with a smirk.
Taron grinned back at her. “Ooh. I like that one.”
“No!” the rest of the residential pilot program argued. Those two had found instant kinship with each other. Mateo would be surprised if they hadn’t exchanged numbers to cause chaos together already.
Before anyone could suggest anything too insane, Mateo threw out an idea of his own. “Home base?”
It was simple, effective, not insane like some of the suggestions he’d heard. And at this point, he wasn’t afraid to stick his foot in his mouth by making the suggestion.
“I like that one,” Kaz murmured, blushing when too many eyes looked his way.
Owen nodded slowly so he didn’t dislodge his ice pack. “Me too.”
Taron looked around to the rest of the group, getting shrugs or nods of agreement. He lifted a shoulder. “Alright. Home base it is.”
When Mateo glanced at Dax to see how he felt about it, his mate smiled proudly at him.
He agreed with Mateo’s plan to stick it out in the condo for a while, not make any more big changes for a bit.
They’d go back and forth between their places until Mateo felt ready to move.
This wouldn’t be his home forever. He was going to want his privacy with Dax eventually, but for now, he was happy where he was.
He’d found his mate while living here, learned to speak up for himself and not fear he was going to make things awkward, and even though he’d thought he’d be miserable, he found he liked having people to come home to a lot more than he thought he would.
And while he wouldn’t stay forever, right now this place felt like home.