Magnus

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Lachlan said. I caught his grave tone and looked over at him to see if his expression matched it. It only took a glance to realize that Lachlan meant for us to have a proper talk – the serious kind that had no place at such a lovely breakfast.

Of course, I knew better than to say such things, no matter how true they were. If Lachlan wanted to talk, we would talk. Besides, I was way too curious now to put it off until my waffles were gone. Just in case whatever he had to say took away my appetite, I scooped a massive bite into my mouth and waved a hand for Lachlan to continue while I rapidly chewed.

"You know that Luin is a good friend of mine," he started, and I sat up in surprise. I hadn't had any idea what to expect, but it sure wasn't this. I nodded my encouragement and he went on, "He's also been a huge help to us and never asked anything in return."

Finally, I thought I understood Lachlan's obvious nerves. "Has he asked for something now?"

Lachlan's eyes went wide and he shook his head. "No, but I think I know how we can help him."

I took another bite since I was confident now that nothing Lachlan said would upset my appetite. Of course I wanted to help Luin, and Lachlan wouldn't have come up with anything bad.

"What if Luin moved into the pack house?"

I stared at him and I had strange moment where I imagined I must look like a cartoon version of myself, all wide-eyed and dramatic. "What?"

"Luin needs a community. We can offer him one, and you know he could contribute a ton to the pack."

Mel spoke up. "Luin? That's your fae friend?"

I flung a bit of sausage at her from across the table. "C'mon, Mel, you've met Luin loads of times."

Lachlan put his hand on mine and squeezed gently in warning. "Yes, our fae friend," he told Mel. Probably trying to smooth things over.

"Hm," was Mel's only answer.

"What do you think?" Lachlan asked me.

I shrugged. "I can't see why not. Let me make sure Roy's okay with it, but I know we have room in the pack house and I don't think anyone would mind. Do you really think this would help him?"

Lachlan absolutely beamed at me. "It really will."

I turned back to my breakfast feeling so light I was almost giddy. It had already been a great morning, and now I felt even better. Figuring out how to help Luin had been weighing on me, and I trusted Lachlan when he said this would work – so that was one worry off my plate.

After finishing breakfast, Lachlan got up and started collecting dishes. I grabbed his hand to stop him and said, "Let me and Mel handle clean-up. You've done enough."

Lachlan set the plates he held down on the table without any hesitation. "Thanks. I should probably get upstairs. Let me know when you've had a chance to talk to Roy, okay?"

"Sure!"

Lachlan headed upstairs – off to work, probably – and I started picking up plates while Mel grabbed some storage containers for the leftovers. In my family, you always either did the cooking or the cleanup, so we were well-choreographed by now and had the kitchen clean within fifteen minutes.

My phone buzzed and normally I would have ignored it, but Mel was lingering, leaning against the counter and biting her lip thoughtfully as she did when she had something she wanted to say. If I pushed her, she might clam up, so the best play was to linger, too, and wait her out.

So I leaned against the table across from Mel and took a look at the e-mail that had come in. It was an application to join the pack. Now that I wasn't the sole alpha, Roy and I both had to agree on new pack members before they could be admitted. Since Roy was way better about keeping up on his e-mails and paperwork, I knew he would be ready to discuss this once I made it into the office, so I went ahead and opened up the application... and I froze.

The name filled in at the top was Jason Kinsella.

My brother-in-law.

Was this for real? What did it mean for his job with the Summit? It was possible to be a pack member without living here full-time, but people usually only did that when they were away at college. There wasn't much point in joining a pack without intending to actually settle there.

So... was he settling? Whatever his plan was, there wasn't any need for discussion with Roy. Jason's mate was in the pack, so he would be accepted. I kind of wished I had the opportunity to interview him, though. I had so many questions!

I glanced up and saw that Mel was frowning at me. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered, only my voice came out high-pitched like an adolescent.

"Are you sure?" she asked skeptically.

I nodded, feeling helpless. I couldn't tell Mel about this, not before I understood what was happening. And if Jason was making some kind of life change, he deserved to be the one to break the news. "Alpha business," I said when Mel continued to examine me.

"Hm," she said, and I knew she wouldn't press the issue. She understood there were some things I just couldn't tell her. "Do you have to go?"

I could have sighed in relief. "Not right away." I slipped my phone back in my pocket and turned my full attention on my sister, waiting for her to broach whatever topic had her lingering here.

"I guess... I've just been worrying about Jason," Mel said.

I absolutely panicked for a few seconds while I fought to keep my expression smooth. "Did something happen?" I asked when I thought I could keep my voice under control.

She shrugged. "No. I don't think so, anyway. He's been acting weird on the phone and he keeps cutting our conversations short. I mean, I get that he's busy, but I want to figure out how we can, you know, actually see each other. I can't do that if we hardly talk."

I couldn't have this conversation right now. Not knowing what I did. What I wanted to say was that he might have been busy making arrangements or maybe he was afraid he would say too much if they talked for long. I knew I'd be worried about that if I was trying to surprise my mate – if that's even what he was doing.

Then again, you wouldn't apply to join your mate's pack without telling her if you weren't trying to make it a surprise, right?

"Magnus?" Mel prodded.

"Yeah, sorry. I know that must be tough. Maybe you can ask him to set aside some time for a longer conversation? I know it would help me to have something on the calendar if I was that busy."

Mel's expression twisted and I thought she was going to do that stubborn, irritable thing where she'd scoff, roll her eyes, and argue. Instead, her eyes filled with tears and her lips trembled. "I shouldn't have to ask my m-mate t-to put me on his c-c-calendar."

Mel bit her lip as tears spilled down her cheeks and her chest started heaving as she tried and failed to control her breathing. I hurried across the space between us and pulled her against me. Mel cried and I held her tightly. I was too busy arguing with myself to say anything, but what was there to say anyway? I couldn't, as I kept reminding myself, tell Mel about Jason's application.

I could, however, call him later and demand that he move up his timeline, or at least that he do something to make Mel feel more like a priority.

A few minutes later, Mel pulled away. She had mascara running down her cheeks and when I glanced at my chest, there were black streaks running down it, too.

Mel laughed and said, "Sorry."

I shrugged. I didn't care how ridiculous I looked if it made her smile. "It's going to be okay, you know," I said.

She rolled her eyes, but the smile didn't disappear. "How do you stay so positive all the time?"

"Easy. I just saw how many wrinkles all your frowning gave you and made a different choice."

"Hey!" Mel shoved gently at my shoulder, but she was laughing, so I knew I wasn't in real trouble. She wiped more makeup smear onto her sleeve and said, "Well, thanks for talking. I'll let you get ready for work."

Once Mel was gone, I pulled out my phone again and took another look at Jason's application. He'd filled in a transfer date of tomorrow. Hopefully that meant Mel wouldn't be waiting long.

--

I hardly slept the next night. I was too excited about the next day.

Not only was Jason moving to the pack – a short conversation with him yesterday had confirmed he had quit his job and was surprising Mel with the change. That would have been plenty of excitement, but Lachlan and I were having lunch with Luin today to formally invite him to join the pack.

I mean, he wouldn't be a true member. No ID card or registry with the Summit. He would, however, get his own suite here and I was certain everyone would be really welcoming. Roy hadn't been even slightly concerned about letting him in. His exact phrasing was, "We both have our strengths, Magnus. I'm good at organization and detail work. You're good at seeing the best in people."

Roy's acceptance had boiled down to the simple fact that he had seen how Luin stepped in to help in the past, and he'd seen him around at a few pack functions. Roy had praised me unnecessarily and embarrassingly, saying he didn't know any other alphas who ever would have given a fae the chance to prove himself. Now that I had...

Well, I'd seen the calculating glint in Roy's eyes. I knew he was thinking of all the ways having Luin with us could benefit the pack and he didn't even know half of Luin's abilities. I might not even know half of them. But it wasn't hard to imagine how Luin might help. Even just his ability to compel people into answering his questions honestly could be a game-changer... if I were willing to abuse him like that.

But Roy and I didn't talk about my limits. I got his approval and assured him that I would help Luin find his place in the pack and that was it. Roy was a good guy, so I trusted that he wouldn't try to abuse what Luin could do.

I went home for lunch and found Luin and Lachlan working at the kitchen counter and laughing. Lachlan was chopping tomatoes for a salad while Luin worked the panini press.

Lachlan saw me first and he grinned at me, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Luin glanced over and smiled, too, though his was more sedated – just a slight upturn of his lips. "Hi, guys!" I said cheerily. "Anything I can do to help?"

Lachlan waved me toward the table. "You stay out of our way," he said. "We're just about done."

Instead of sitting, I poured some lemonade for everyone, and by the time I set down the last glass on the table, Lachlan and Luin were finishing up.

I kept quiet while we all tucked in and waited for Lachlan to start, but whenever I looked over at him, he was looking uncharacteristically hesitant. He shot me a pleading look, so I cleared my throat and focused on Luin. "I'm glad you were able to join us today," I began.

Luin finished chewing and set down his panini – I had a feeling you'd never catch him talking with his mouth full. Next to him, I was a heathen. "It was good of you to invite me. I'm happy to be here."

"We had an idea," Lachlan said abruptly. I waited for him to continue, but when I glanced at him, he was biting his lip nervously.

Okay, my turn again. "We were thinking... what if you moved here? Into the pack house? There are suites available and I think you might really like it."

I knew Lachlan had been aiming for something more elegant... but if that was important to him, he shouldn't have left it to me. I badly wanted to stare at my lap, I was so nervous about Luin's reaction, but I needed to know what he was thinking so I looked up.

Luin's eyes weren't something I thought I would ever get used to. Their natural state looked like pools of liquid metal, bright and strange and captivating. They dulled when he let his unhappiness show and almost seemed to glow when he did magic, but no matter what they were doing, they never looked natural. Now, they were so bright that I almost had to look away. It was a relief that Luin's gaze was focused on Lachlan, since I wasn't sure I could handle it myself.

"Do you mean it?" Luin asked. His voice was soft but full of emotion. He sounded almost... desperate. And so touched.

"Yes," Lachlan said simply.

Luin's eyes watered and I did look down. I heard Lachlan shift and he quietly said, "You're my friend, Luin, and if there's anything I can do to help you, I'm going to do it. I really think you could be happier here."

"Is this allowed?" Luin asked, and it took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me.

I looked up and found that his skin was brighter now, too. I wanted to examine it closely, to see if it would shimmer like I imagined, but I made myself focus. "Yes. I've already spoken with Roy and he's agreed. You could move in whenever you wanted." I pause to let Luin absorb this before adding the necessary condition: "We would expect you to contribute to the pack in some way, but I'm sure we can figure something out."

Luin was nodding almost before I finished speaking, and I was entirely unsurprised to see that Lachlan had been right when he came up with this idea and said it would help Luin. The way he looked now... this glow and this eagerness, and the hint of desperation in his eyes... well, it all made me feel kind of terrible for not thinking of this sooner.

But who would come up with inviting a fae into a pack of werewolves, other than Lachlan? I glanced at him now and saw that his eyes were teary, too. He grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed, and I could feel a gratitude I didn't deserve coming from him. He gave me too much credit here – all I'd done was say yes.

"I accept," Luin said.

Lachlan jerked his hand away from mine and stood, running around to the other side of the table to fling his arms around Luin. "This is going to be so great!" he said.

Luin didn't seem to know what to do with Lachlan's enthusiasm, and he was making what was possibly the funniest expression I'd ever seen. Finally, he settled for patting Lachlan's arm and I snickered.

"Let's go look at the suites!" Lachlan said, pulling away.

"Now?" Luin asked, darting an uncertain glance at me.

I shrugged and smiled at my mate, loving seeing him so excited. It took a lot to work him up so much. "Why not?"

And so the Tourmaline pack gained a fae member.