Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Jonah

Hi, Honey. Your baby brother is here.

The text confuses me for a moment. "At your place?"

She doesn't answer but Marvin, a lion on loan from a fire department on the East Coast, asks, "What at my place?" It's his first day here and I'm essentially his Company 417 guide.

I feel my cheeks grow warm and I imagine I blush a little bit. "Just thinking out loud," I say. "Last day of my four-day shift so I go home in a few hours." The two of us are sitting in the lounge area. All of the station work is done today.

We're essentially waiting around for a fire or for some new tasks that might be assigned. Until then, I'm the one assigned to bring him up to speed. I hold off on replying to the text so it won't be apparent that I spoke to a message instead of texting a reply. I put my phone in my breast pocket and ask, "So what do you think of this place?"

"It's crazy," he says. "A whole company of shifters. No hiding." He smiles and says, "I think across the U.S., there are probably more shifters in firefighting than anything else but you run across them just being a fireman. You don't see a bunch of them in the same place."

"Well, only a few people know that Company 417 is all shifters. So, it's not as open as you think but I get what you're saying. There are always extra clothes in the engines and trucks. You don't have to immediately change the subject when the wrong person walks by. Since non-shifters aren't stationed here for very long, though, yeah, you're right." I dial my brother's number. "Hang on, Marv."

"Are you one of the brothers who's dead to me or are you one of the brothers I love?" Benjamin says over the phone line.

"That's a tough question to tackle without a hello first," I reply. I'm his only brother. We have five sisters, all younger.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Of course, it is. When did you get in town? I'll be free in a few hours."

"I've been here," he says, "when did you come home?"

Nothing makes sense, and I finally say, "Hang on. You're not at my house?" I quickly scroll back to the texts. "Mara said you were."

"Tina and I were just talking about how we're glad you came to your senses about that girl." I don't respond. I'm too busy looking at the picture Mara sent. It's an Irish Wolfhound puppy. She's been talking about getting one for a while. "But I'm not there. No idea."

"No," I say. "you're not." I chuckle and say, "She got a puppy. She was teasing." Ben doesn't chuckle at all. He laughs uproariously.

"Laugh it up," I say. "I got to get back to work."

"You got a human girl who can tease you about being a wolf. She's your dream girl, man. You better get a ring on that finger."

"Yeah, okay," I say, "thanks for the advice."

"Don't you dare cancel Thanksgiving this year. You have to show up. Hannah will blame me. I don't need that drama." Hannah is our youngest sister. This will be her first time in charge of Thanksgiving. She's also the sweetest, most drama-free person you can imagine.

"I'll be there. You'll lose. Look, I have to get to work. I only called you because I didn't get the punchline of Mara's joke in time to stop myself."

"Get out of your head and marry that girl, Jonah."

"Now who's in whose head?" I laugh. "Seriously. Goodbye."

"Later."

Marv is looking at me in that guilty way a person looks after innocently hearing another person's conversation and wanting to understand what was going on but knowing it's none of his business. "You have a girlfriend, Marv?"

He smiles. "Yeah."

"Lion?"

"Yeah."

"Mine's pure human," I say, "and she sent me a text telling me my brother was at the house." I click on the picture and say, "And she sent this to show me."

He looks at the picture, laughs loudly, and says, "She's a human who teases you about your animal? Holy crap. I had a girlfriend back in college. Human. We met because… Well, who cares, right? She knew I was a shifter from the beginning, though."

He laughs. "Anyway, she treated it all so reverently, like it was inherently some spiritual thing." He points at the picture on the phone. That girl you've got is a keeper, no doubt."

"Yeah, well, my brother thinks you're right about that," I reply.

"Right about what?" Josh asks as he steps into the room.

"None of your business, Winnie," I say.

"Winnie!" He said with a giant, exaggerated, sarcastic laugh. "Wow! All my life and I've never heard that one before!"

Marv looks at him in confusion and then laughs. "You're a bear. Hi. I'm Marvin. Lion."

"Hey, the guy from Maryland." The two shake hands with a smile and Josh asks, "What are you right about?"

"His pure human girlfriend is a keeper." I groan. They both laugh.

Tony walks through now and grimaces. "You all need to grow up. Give the guy a break." There's a sudden awkward silence until Tony breaks it with a big smile. "We all know what happens when a wolf becomes domesticated."

"Haha, Tony. Very funny." My voice doesn't carry the disinterest I want it to have. In any case, I enjoy the camaraderie of the station crew. But my thoughts keep going back to Mara. Is she really the one to settle down with?

"Hey, Earth to Jonah." Tony sits down beside me. "In all seriousness, man, she really does seem special. I mean, you don't want to be one of those old dogs with more regrets than fleas."

I stare at him. "I know you did not just call me a dog."

Josh laughs. "You deserve it, man. Winnie, huh! You call me fucking Winnie!"

We're all laughing at that point. "Fine, I take it back."

"Damn straight!"

"Yogi."

The laughter gets louder, but under the noise, Tony says seriously. "Listen, bro, you really should marry that girl. You can't just find another jewel like that, know what I'm saying?"

I nod. "I hear you., but it's not just the human/ shifter thing, you know?"

"What else are you deciding is an excuse enough not to make this girl yours forever? Is it the commitment? Because I gotta tell you, if you wait too long for it to be perfect it'll be too late to commit to anyone."

"Tony, really, I get you. I just have to work out the age thing." I'm almost angry at myself for having put that out there. Saying it out loud, it just sounds so . . .

"Stupid, man, real dumb." Tony finishes my thought. "You aren't going to find anyone better, you just aren't, so stop wasting time." He gets up and stretches. "And shifters live longer so you guys will even out. Okay, nice pep talk. See you later, Jonah."

The other guys start to stray away. Jonah says, "You're with me now, Marvin. Lovestruck puppy's shift is over." I take a moment to thank Marvin and then headout of the station house. I really do love those guys. There's nothing like this brotherhood, both shifter and firefighter.

I look over at the training grounds I excavated earlier. I hear Tony's admonition and my thoughts race back to Mara and that picture.

A puppy. Mara really is something. I figured I should stop by the store and grab some dog treats and dog toys for my "little brother." I smile like a goof. I imagine if I were in wolf form I'd be wagging my tail.

I guess I really am getting domesticated.

And despite all of my attempts to prevent it, damn if I'm not loving every minute of it.