It wasn’t meant to sound mean, demons were just growly in general, but the human took it that way. He went pale, practically shrinking where he stood, and the fear in the air came back in a rush. Emmett’s eyebrows shot up. The human was terrified.
“I– uh, I was–” he stammered, eyes wide and locked on the demon.
Emmett looked between them, confused. “Did something happen between you two?” He glanced at the demon, who frowned at him. “Why is he so terrified of you?”
That seemed to surprise the demon as much as it surprised Emmett. He whipped his head back around, frown deepening almost into another scowl when he demanded, “What did you say to him? I didn’t do anything to you.”
The human shook his head, wide-eyed, but couldn’t seem to say anything. It wasn’t until a familiar half-fae menace swept into the room that the situation finally became clear. Kian took one look at the group, narrowed his eyes on the human, then sighed heavily.
“Derrick, ignore Jonah. It’s his first day around supes. Emmett, what are you doing here? He didn’t call you, did he?”
“Nah,” Emmett shook his head, pointing one claw-tipped finger toward the hall. “Ran into him in the stairwell. Got curious. Is it seriously his first day around supes?”
That was a little insane, honestly. The guy looked like he was at least mid-twenties, so he was an adult according to humans. How had he managed to avoid supes for that long?
“Yes. And he wouldn’t take my suggestion to go back to Charmed Away for an easier assignment. Jonah, did you find what we needed?”
Jonah seemed to snap out of his terror, glancing down at the box, then around the room before scurrying over to another table and offering a few things to Kian. “I found a spare power supply. I was looking for spare drives just in case.”
Kian looked down at the electronics, then back at Jonah, raising an eyebrow at him. “I don’t know what to do with those. You said you did.”
Jonah blanched, looking toward Derrick again before jerking his gaze away. Derrick’s expression flattened.
“Grr.”
It was said so sarcastically that Emmett couldn’t help laughing. Kian joined in with a snicker, while Jonah looked downright confused.
Shaking his head, Kian ushered Jonah closer. “Come on, human. You’ve got work to do. Try not to offend the demons. They’re not dangerous, but they do teleport people just to mess with them when they’re annoyed.”
Emmett’s ears perked up, and he swung a wide grin in Derrick’s direction. “Wait, really? That’s hilarious. Have you done that?”
Derrick rolled his eyes at Kian. “It was one time, and you were being annoying. Besides, I teleported you to your mate’s office. You can’t complain.”
Kian just raised an eyebrow at him. “Was it worth it?”
Derrick’s crimson skin darkened on his cheekbones, and his scowl came back. “No. If you’re gonna be afraid of anyone, kid, be afraid of Kian. His pranks are downright evil.”
Their banter was entertaining and made Emmett curious, but he shot a glance at the human as they headed out the door to see how he was handling it. He looked confused for a while, but listening to them argue seemed to help a lot with his anxiety. When that faded, shame took its place, and he looked like he was beating himself up, eyes locked on his feet as he followed Kian’s lead.
Emmett nudged his arm, giving him a friendly smile. “Relax. We’re not that bad. I’m sure after a few days, you won’t even notice it anymore.”
CHAPTER THREE
Jonah wanted to believe the wolf man’s words more than anything, but he’d already offended two people since he started; plus, he ran like a coward when he saw a snake person coming down the same hallway he was in, and wound up colliding with the wolf man again in his haste to get away. He was making a fool of himself, and it’d only been a few hours.
He kept his head down as they entered the server room. There were people scurrying in and out, but the only person who cared about his arrival was a satyr named Wendell, who snatched the power supply out of his hands without a word, crouching to switch it out with the old one.
“Let’s hope this works,” Derrick, the terrifying demon from before, muttered. “We can’t afford to wait much longer.”
“Tell me again why IT couldn’t be here?” Kian asked.
Jonah listened to the conversation without looking up. He didn’t want to freak out about something else and embarrass himself all over again.
“This isn’t the only one that went out. Two servers crashed in Medical Innovations, and since it happened first for them, the employees qualified to fix crap like this were all over there.”
Kian sucked in a sharp breath, and it was such an intense reaction that Jonah couldn’t help but lift his head to look at him. The fae actually looked concerned, instead of his usual bland, disinterested expression he’d worn all morning. “Medical Innovations? You’re sure?”
Derrick nodded. “Yeah, I was the one who called for IT. They said they’d get here as soon as they could, but it’d be a minute.”
