Page 13 of Emerald Moon (Pitch Mountain Pack #2)

ten

“Thanks for driving us,” Jo said, glancing over their shoulder from the passenger seat to check on Dolly in her carrier in the backseat — again.

The cat wasn’t meowing or causing a fuss, and Seraphine was driving carefully enough to not startle her with any potholes, but that didn’t mean they weren’t worried about her.

“Happy to help,” Seraphine replied. ”I’m looking forward to bringing home our new family member, too.”

They smiled. “Yeah, I can’t wait to see how she settles in, but I’m, like, a ball of nerves right now. She’s had quite the day already. What if she doesn’t feel comfortable? What if she doesn’t like it at the pack house?”

Coaxing Dolly into the carrier had seemed simple at first — it was easy to tempt the cat to go anywhere with some tuna treats — but then she’d put up quite a fight when actually going into the carrier.

Jo had some scratches to prove it. But it had all been necessary to not only get Dolly home, but also get her to the vet for a checkup before they brought her to the pack house.

After being poked and prodded, Dolly was in a mood, but she quickly calmed back down once they were in the car and the ordeal that was the vet was behind them.

“I’m sure she’ll need some time to adjust, but you’ve got plans in place that you talked over with Pari, right?”

Jo would never get over hearing Seraphine call Alpha Parisa by a nickname.

It was like a weird reminder that your two cool aunts that were roommates were actually sleeping together.

They were happy they were together, but thinking of two people they held in such high esteem like that was a bit uncomfortable.

“Yeah, we talked it over. Dolly will stay in my room and bathroom area until she’s a little more comfortable, then I’ll supervise when she explores outside of the room for a while until we’re sure she’s doing okay.”

“Sounds like you’re ready! Anything else you need at the pet store?”

“The trunk is full. I don’t think we could fit anything else if we wanted to.”

“Just goes to show how prepared you are!”

Jo checked on Dolly in the backseat again.

“It’s good to worry some. It shows you care. But too much will rob you of your joy. Can you tell me something you’re happy about?”

They didn’t even need to give it any thought.

“Everything! I wanted a cat so much growing up, but we were never allowed to get one. And when I moved out, I was in classes or working so much that I didn’t think it was fair to make an animal be alone for all that time.

Then I moved in with the pack and thought it was maybe too weird for a bunch of werewolves to have a cat, so I gave up on it until Dolly came around the bakery. ”

“Aren’t you glad you didn’t give up?”

“Yeah, super happy I got the nerve to ask Alpha Parisa.”

“And it just goes to show you, there’s never a perfect time. There’s just the time we’re given,” she said. “Sometimes you have to jump in and get what you want.”

As they chatted for the rest of the ride home, Jo kept checking on Dolly, but they also tried to remember to stay present and remember the happy parts of the day. Dolly had a new home — with them, with all of them.

They parked the car out front and walked up the stone steps to the pack house door. Diah was waiting on the other side and flung it open. “Is that her? Is our new baby home?”

“She’s heavy. She’s nervous. But she’s home.

” Jo gently placed her carrier on the floor so they could take off their shoes.

“Feel that, Dolly?” They asked, kneeling by her carrier.

“That’s air conditioning. It lets you get all the good parts of sunshine through the windows without melting outside.

I think you’ll like that part of living here. ”

The door to Alpha Parisa’s office opened, and she stepped out with a smile. “Welcome home, eshgham . And Jo and Dolly, of course. It’s a big day.”

“I know! Isn’t it wonderful? We have a pet now!” Diah bounced on the balls of her feet.

“It was a unanimous decision. Clearly this is something the pack wanted, but I never thought to bring it up,” Parisa said.

“It’s okay,” Jo said. “We were just waiting for the right cat to come along.” They picked up the carrier. “And now that she’s here, I’m going to get her settled in my room.”

“Can I come visit in a little while?” Diah asked.

“Of course,” Jo replied. “You’re her family, too.”

They carefully hauled the heavy carrier up the stairs and into their shared room. Wil was working at the bakery, so Jo had the place to themselves — well, the two of them did.

Yesterday, Wil and Jo had gone to the pet store to get the essentials. The rest was all in Seraphine’s car and would be brought up a little later. Jo had even deep cleaned their side of the room so that Dolly wouldn’t get lost in a pile of laundry.

They opened the carrier and held out a tube of salmon goop.

Unlike the way she usually ran for it, Dolly slowly emerged from the carrier, cautious of everything, before carefully licking the treat.

After the treat was empty, Jo sat on the edge of the bed with the intention of giving Dolly a chance to explore everything she wanted to on her own.

The cat kept tapping her paw on the floor before stepping, like she was testing every inch of her new environment. It took a few minutes, but eventually she started walking more confidently and sniffing everything.

Jo’s heart felt like it was going to burst. It’d been a while since they’d felt this happy.

Sliding from the edge of the bed to the floor, Jo sat next to Dolly’s new bed and reached for more treats to put in their hand.

Dolly raced over at the sound, and they felt comforted knowing that she was getting a little back to normal.

“Welcome to your new room. Wil’s going to be here in a bit, so you can see her again, too.

Do you like it here? It’s different from outside. ”

Jo paused as Dolly bumped her little head against their leg. “I wonder what your life was like before we met. Were you someone else’s cat or were you born outside? You’re so friendly around people. Makes me think you lived somewhere before, but I don’t know.”

The cat bumped her head against their leg again and settled down next to Jo, curling up beside their outstretched legs.

“Wherever you were before we met, I’m glad you’re here now.”

Jo sent yet another picture of Dolly to Krista.

They’d been sending pictures for half an hour at least, and Krista kept asking for more.

The object of all these cat photos was stretched out across Jo’s lap like she was flying through the sky, legs stretched out long.

Jo was getting sore from the position Dolly had trapped them in on their bed, but they weren’t about to disturb a sleeping cat.

So, they took yet another sleeping cat photo and sent it to Krista.

Wil was home, too. About an hour ago, she’d carefully opened the door and made sure everything was good before squeezing in.

Recognizing her, Dolly had trotted over to her for pets and some playtime until Dolly’s pounces and swats grew lazier and lazier and it was clear she’d had a big day and needed some rest.

Along with Krista’s endless exclamation points, another incoming message popped up on Jo’s screen. It was Cass.

Thank you for all the cat pictures. She is very adorable. I’m glad you worked up the courage to ask your Alpha. She seems very happy, and I imagine you are, too.

Super happy!

My heart is exploding

Without context, I wouldn’t know if that was good or bad.

Trust me

It’s a good exploding

Please send me more pictures of her when you can. They’re a nice treat during my work day. We only have fish in our pack. And one of them bites. A customer is coming. I’ll see you soon.

“See you soon?” Jo stared at the text and willed it to make sense. Cass had never ended her texts like that before. Did she mean it literally? They didn’t have plans to meet up, but Jo never was quite sure with Cass.

“Wil, what do you think ‘see you soon’ means?” Jo asked.

“Is that a trick question?” Wil chuckled, glancing over from where she was working on her laptop.

“Maybe?”

Another incoming message popped up.

I’ll bring you flowers from work.

Only if it’s okay to come over and see Dolly. And you.

Yeah! Sure, that’s fine!

“Cass is coming over?” Jo said, more questioning than telling.

Wil raised an eyebrow.

“Not like that!” Jo sputtered. “But also she’s bringing flowers from work? But she told me. So, it’s not a surprise. So, it’s nothing. I think.”

Whenever Jo attempted to sort how they felt about Cass into a tidy, labeled box, there was a reminder that Cass had maybe tried to kiss them that night in the tent.

Jo couldn’t imagine outright asking what that had been, so they were stuck guessing based on how Cass acted and between all the “you’re cute” and “I’ll bring you flowers from work,” they weren’t sure how to sort her anymore.

“I need to make my side of the room less weird before she gets here,” they added in a sudden panic.

Wil turned back to her laptop. “She already knows you’re a huge nerd. No sense hiding it now.”

“You’re not wrong, but there’s knowing someone’s a nerd and, like, really knowing what type of nerd they are. I can at least hide the really sexual art and books.”

She snickered. “Don’t want anything suggestive around when Cass is here, hm?”

“It’s not like that!” Jo repeated.

“Then leave it out.”

Jo pointed towards two prints of half-naked anime men that were well on their way to doing dirty things with each other. “That! That doesn’t need to be out with new friends. That is the kind of thing you let other people see eventually, once you’re sure they’ll understand your brand of weird.”

She shrugged. “I say leave them up. Knowing Cass, she won’t comment on anything. And I say let your freak flag fly.”