Page 6 of Born to Be Legends (Soulbound Universe)

Jono tossed Lillian in the air over his head, smiling as she kicked her feet and laughed uproariously when he caught her again. Even at almost five years old, she still enjoyed the game. “I don’t see why we need to fast-track anything. We just decided to get married.”

“If you think I haven’t had your wedding plans drawn up for the last few years, then you clearly don’t know me,” Sage retorted from her spot at the dining table, focused intently on her laptop.

“I can confirm I’ve lost deposits on wedding venues every summer,” Marek called from the kitchen.

“How do you even know where we’d want to get married?” Patrick asked from where he was slumped on the new couch Sage had bought last month when they’d redone the space. “What if we had a destination wedding in mind? We could have gone to Vegas!”

“Please,” Sage scoffed. “As if any foreign country would let you past their borders, and Jono has too much class for Vegas.”

“Barely,” Wade said before shoving a handful of crisps into his mouth and failing miserably at hiding his amusement.

“Hey now,” Jono protested as he tossed Lillian into the air again. “I have class. ”

“You grew up in North London. The only class you have is street class,” Patrick muttered.

“You like my street class.”

“My taste is questionable sometimes.” Patrick was smiling though, the teasing tone one Jono never took offense to.

He’d grown up poor in a council estate back in England and been cut off from his family after being infected with the werevirus.

Class was seen a little differently across the pond than here in America.

It was nice being around people who wouldn’t peg his accent as one from a lower socioeconomic and societal background.

Jono settled Lillian in his arms, cradling her close. She curled in and rested her head against his shoulder, drawing in a deep breath that sounded like a gasp. She was still comforted by the closeness and scent of her pack, something none of them denied her.

“Love you, Uncle Jono,” she mumbled.

Jono turned his head to give her a kiss. “I love you, too, sweetheart.”

“Listen.” Sage glanced over her shoulder at them with a stern look on her face that never failed to make Jono want to hide. “Do you want to get married this week or not?”

“This week ?” Patrick yelped, practically jackknifing up from the couch and nearly spilling his beer. Jono sighed deeply, unsurprised that their dire had once again ruthlessly set down their schedule.

“I’m sorry,” Sage said, not sounding sorry at all , “did you think I was joking when I said I was planning your wedding?”

Wade cackled, nearly falling out of his chair.

Riordan saved him from face-planting on the floor, the selkie shaking his head fondly.

Riordan had certainly made a mark on their pack by the way he treated Wade.

The love and care he had for Wade was something Jono was eternally grateful for.

After everything Wade had lived through when he was younger, he deserved to be happy now.

“Don’t make it too extravagant,” Jono warned, walking over to deposit Lillian onto Patrick’s lap.

“I won’t,” Sage promised sweetly, with a glint in her eyes that told Jono it probably would be extravagant—for them—and she’d expect them to like it.

Jono winced and looked away, catching Patrick’s eye. His lover looked back with a desperate expression on his face and mouthed Elope? at him.

“I’d like to live to see our honeymoon,” Jono said.

“Don’t even think about eloping. I will confiscate every last form of ID you both have,” Sage promised, clearly a mind reader, a talent she’d picked up once Lillian started walking.

“What’s eloping?” Lillian asked.

“It’s when we escape your mother’s clutches,” Patrick said blithely.

Lillian let out a dramatic gasp she must have learned from Wade. “Why would you want to escape Mom? She’s the best!”

Jono threw back his head and laughed at her clearly affronted tone. He shared a fond look with Patrick over her head. “That she is.”

Marek came out of the kitchen just then, holding a pot that smelled like the fried zucchini pasta he’d been eating often since he and Sage had returned from a weeklong vacation in Italy the other month. Jono had no idea what it was called, but it was good.

“Honey, stop terrorizing your alphas and put your torture instrument away,” Marek said.

Sage sighed but did as asked. She and Marek always made it a point to share at least one meal a day as a family, and half the time, it included someone from the pack at their table. “You both have suit fittings tomorrow afternoon. I’ll email you the location. Don’t be late.”

“What if I had work?” Patrick asked, getting to his feet and carrying Lillian with him to the table.

“I’m throwing enough money at the designer they’d have stayed open until midnight if I asked.”

Being married to a billionaire meant Sage had access to an amount of money that was still difficult to comprehend sometimes.

That she had her own successful career as an attorney outside the pack was impressive as well, her expertise in the law something that had gotten them out of plenty of corners over the years .

Patrick set Lillian in her chair next to Sage.

Wade immediately took the other spot, grinning at her and pretending to tickle her to get her to laugh.

He sat down opposite them, and Patrick joined him.

Marek came back a second time with a platter of baked chicken breasts, and Sage followed him with a casserole dish of steamed green beans.

“Do we get to help with anything?” Jono asked as he set about serving himself some of the pasta before passing the pot to Patrick.

“I have it covered,” Sage said.

“What about the cake?” Patrick asked.

“That’s my job,” Wade said.

“Will there be any left for the wedding?”

“Oh ha, ha.”

“I’ll be with him,” Riordan said.

“I have a plan,” Sage said firmly. “It will go exactly how I want before the news gets wind of it. I want you both to have some peace during the ceremony.”

Jono reached beneath the table and gripped Patrick’s thigh for a moment.

Neither of them liked dealing with the media, but that was their role as alphas of a god pack.

After the Battle of Samhain and then when Patrick returned, they hadn’t gotten a moment of peace for months.

The media had followed them everywhere for a while, making it difficult to help the packs under their protection like they were supposed to.

Things had eventually settled down, but Jono could see interest ramping back up again once people found out about the wedding. It didn’t help that the hostage situation yesterday had made national news, and they were once again playing hide-and-seek with the paparazzi.

Sage must have seen something on his face because she offered him a soft, comforting smile. “Don’t worry. It will be a private affair if I have to sue people into bankruptcy to get it.”

Patrick snorted, but the scent that came off him was quietly pleased and relieved. Jono gave his thigh a gentle squeeze before letting go to finish serving up his plate as the food got passed around.

“We appreciate your help,” Jono said .

Sage waved off his thanks. “That’s what pack is for. Oh, and Patrick? You’re picking up Nadine tomorrow morning from the airport.”

“Wait, she’s coming?” Patrick asked, pausing momentarily in serving himself the green beans. Jono nudged his arm to get him to continue.

“Nadine would come after all of us if we failed to inform her of your nuptials.”

Patrick snorted out a laugh, a fond smile on his face. “Yeah, she would.”

“Besides, she’s handling your suit fitting.”

Jono sighed, knowing that between now and whenever Sage had set the date for their wedding, he and Patrick would be at the whims of her schedule. “At least Nadine has good taste.”

Sage nodded. “You can both take a look at the guest list after dinner.”

The idea of putting on a wedding wasn’t exactly appealing to Jono, mostly because he’d be fine with going to the courthouse and calling it a day.

But they had a lot of friends and family now, and despite his misgivings about putting on a show, he rather liked the idea of standing up in front of all of them to profess his love for Patrick.

Jono also didn’t doubt that Sage had everything under control. She was their dire for a reason, and she proved it once again that evening after going over everything she had planned.

“You’ve done this every year?” Jono asked as he scrolled through her spreadsheet.

“Since Patrick returned to us,” Sage confirmed.

There’d been that six-month period of gutting loneliness Jono had endured between the end of the Battle of Samhain and when Patrick came back from beyond the veil.

Six months of living in the aftermath of a ravaged city while picking up the pieces of their pack.

He’d never once wavered in his belief that Patrick would return, but Jono never wanted to live through something like that again.

Arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, and a chin dug into the top of his head. “I’m just going to do what she tells us to. It’s safer that way.”

Jono reached up to grip one of Patrick’s wrists, chuckling a little. “Yeah, love. Seems like Sage has it well in hand.”

Sage looked quietly pleased from her spot at the table, fingers resting on the base of her wineglass. Marek was doing the washing up in the kitchen while Wade and Riordan entertained Lillian upstairs. “Of course I do.”

“We’ve never doubted you. You always had better plans than Patrick.”

“Hey!” Patrick protested, pulling away. “My plans aren’t terrible.”

Jono sighed, reaching back to snag Patrick’s arm and pull him around.

Patrick went easily and didn’t fight when Jono shoved his chair back a little so he could drag the other man onto his lap.

Patrick went willingly, looping one around Jono’s neck and kissing the corner of his mouth.

Jono slid his fingers over Patrick’s hip, slipping them beneath his T-shirt to seek out warm skin.

“Your plans,” Jono said, interrupting himself with a quick kiss, “are absolute bollocks.”

“They worked though.”

“The world only knows how.” Patrick rolled his eyes, but the smile playing at his lips told Jono he wasn’t annoyed. He leaned a little more against Jono, the bitter-tinged scent of him something that was always a comfort. “What made you ask this time and mean it?”

“I always meant it.”

“We talked about it. We never committed to it.”

“We’re already committed to each other. It seemed pointless.”

“So what changed?”

Patrick tilted his head, dark ginger hair catching the light. Jono could see a few strands of gray in the color these days, but not many. “It was something Aaron said, about how he’d do anything for his wife and that I couldn’t comprehend that because I wasn’t married.”

“So you’re marrying me to prove he’s wrong?”

“No, you idiot. I’m marrying you because I want to. But I’d already done everything he said I hadn’t, and I thought, why not finally make it official?” Patrick offered him a crooked little smile, green eyes crinkling a bit at the corners. “We’ve earned a quiet epilogue, don’t you think?”

After everything they’d endured, everything they’d fought for, Jono wanted nothing more than to live a life not full of battles and heartache with the man he loved.

“Yeah, Pat,” Jono said, resting his forehead against Patrick’s, breathing in the scent of him. “We’ve earned this.”