Whipping out his phone, Kian started typing faster than Jonah could track, but before he could send the message, it dinged, and he scowled at whatever had popped up. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he growled under his breath, shoving his phone back into his pocket and turning to look at Jonah. “I need to check on something. I’ll be back in a little while.”
Jonah nearly let out a squeak of protest. It was a very close call. Forcing a smile that probably looked more like a grimace, he nodded. “Okay,” he croaked.
Kian hesitated; he’d obviously heard the discomfort in Jonah’s voice. Jonah tried his best to project confidence. He probably failed miserably, but what else could he do?
A warm, claw-tipped hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “I’ll keep an eye on him. You go kick whatever ass that needs kicking,” the wolf man said encouragingly.
His response made Kian smirk, and he didn’t argue. Whatever was happening was more important than babysitting Jonah. Which was fair. He seriously needed to get himself together.
With a snap of his fingers, a portal opened, and Kian disappeared through it, letting it close behind him.
“Aha!” Wendell crowed in triumph as the server rebooted. “You were right, Jonah! Way to go!”
Jonah let out a slow breath of relief. He might not be comfortable around supes, but he knew tech. And if the issue with the server had been anything but the power supply, itwould’ve been a lot more complicated to fix. He’d been hopeful when grabbing the power supply, and he was relieved it was that simple.
Derrick grunted, and his tone was relieved even if his face was still all scowly. “That fixed it? How long will it take to fully be up?”
“Should only be a few minutes,” Wendell reassured him as he stood, brushing off his hands and grimacing at his palms. “Someone needs to clean up in here. I’m betting dust in the power supply did it, and that could be a fire hazard.”
“I can do that,” Jonah volunteered. At least cleaning the server room wouldn’t require him to interact with anyone. Hopefully anyway.
Wendell seemed to consider it before nodding. “Sure. I don’t have anything else I need you for right now. I’ll show you where the cleaning supplies are, then I need to get moving. I was in the middle of something when this issue popped up.”
The hand he hadn’t realized was still on his shoulder squeezed again, capturing his attention. “I need to get going too, I’m supposed to be meeting the security team, but I’m only two floors up.” He released Jonah’s shoulder, and Jonah immediately wanted to step closer. Why did he feel safe around the guy who had terrified him a few hours earlier?
Derrick the demon wandered off now that the issue was fixed without saying goodbye and the wolf man and Wendell led the way out of the server room to a smaller utility closet down the hall with all the cleaning supplies. Then Wendell hurried off, leaving Jonah and the wolf man alone. Jonah sighed, dropping his head again. He really needed to get himself together. He’d never find any work if he was too terrified to be around supes. And he refused to isolate himself the way his family had. It was all flavors of wrong to be that willfully ignorant.
“You okay?” the wolf man asked.
“Yeah,” Jonah breathed, though he wasn’t sure he believed himself yet. He’d keep trying, though. Hopefully, the wolf man was right and he’d get used to it soon.
When the guy didn't leave, Jonah finally looked up, offering him a smile that was more of a grimace. “I’m alright. You don’t need to babysit me.”
The wolf man, whose name he really needed to ask for, just hummed. “I can’t imagine how crazy it feels being surrounded by supes for the first time. Especially at your age. You’re what, twenty?”
“Twenty five,” Jonah corrected, feeling his shoulders come down a little. He couldn’t explain it, but the wolf man didn’t make him feel anxious like other supes did. He seemed chill, and any time he’d touched Jonah to stop him from getting hurt, he’d been gentle. He seemed like a nice enough guy.
“That’s a long time in a human’s lifespan to go without being around supes. Be patient with yourself. You’ll settle eventually. It’s not like there’s a manual for this out there.” He paused, cocking his head a lot like a puppy might when confused. “Right?”
The confusion made Jonah snicker, and he shook his head. “Not as far as I’m aware. A few of my university classes had supe history and stuff in it, but it wasn’t like they went through all the supe types and their behaviors.”
There had been a course about famous supes and their contributions to the world, which may have given Jonah more insight, but it had directly conflicted with one of the classes he’d needed for his major, so he hadn’t taken it. He wished he had. Maybe then he’d at least have a clue what he was getting into.
The wolf man eyed him for a long moment before putting a hand out. “Give me your phone.”
Jonah’s brows snapped together in confusion. “What? Why?”
Snorting, the wolf man rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to steal it or anything. Security, remember?” He pointed at the logo on his collared black shirt that Jonah hadn’t noticed before. He honestly hadn’t noticed the uniform at all. He’d been too busy staring at over seven feet of grey fur, huge teeth, and long claws. The guy even had a tail. There were no human features in him that Jonah could tell. Long snout, ears that flicked and moved around like a dog’s, and big paw-like feet with no shoes, which made sense because what kind of shoes would fit on paws like that? The uniform only registered now that he’d pointed it out. It wasn’t the logo for Spellbound on his shirt, and Jonah studied it a little closer with a frown.
“Moonfall Security?”
The wolf man nodded. “My pack was hired to help revamp Spellbound’s security. So if you see anyone with this logo on their shirt, they’re my pack and good people. They’ll help you out. Now, phone,” he demanded again.
Still confused, Jonah pulled out his phone and handed it to the wolf man, frowning at him as claw-tipped fingers typed something in. He wanted to ask if texting with claws was hard but that felt rude. He decided against it. He didn’t want to offend the people who had been nice to him so far.
“Here. That’s my number. Any questions you’ve got about supes, you can ask me. I’ll be your manual.”
Surprised, Jonah took back his phone, studying the new contact information for Emmett Moonfall. He’d even added a wolf face emoji next to his name, and underneath it said— “Supe Guru Extraordinaire?”
