Supe Guru Extraordinaire:Not rude to ask. Please do. And tell me what he says.
Why did that feel like bad advice?
“Jonah? Ready to go?”
Kian’s voice dragged his attention off his phone, and he stuffed it away while the little dots danced on the screen, letting him know Emmett was writing him another message. He got the feeling the next comment wouldn’t be helpful in the slightest. He felt a smirk pull at his lips as he joined Kian waiting for the elevator. He needed to come up with better comebacks. The wolf man was obviously teasing him, and when Jonah wasn’t terrified out of his mind, he could give it back. Maybe once he was sure Emmett wouldn’t eat him for the insult.
They stepped into a crowded elevator, and to Jonah’s surprise, people smushed themselves to one side to give Kian a wide berth and a few even jumped out before the door could fully close. Kian seemed amused by the response, but Jonah felt his hands itch to pull out his phone and ask Emmett why people seemed so terrified of him. He didn’t seem that bad.
When even more scurried out the next time the doors opened and those waiting hesitated to join them, Jonah gave in to the urge and stepped back to lean against the wall, texting Emmett as casually as he could.
Jonah:Why are people avoiding Kian? Should I be concerned?
Emmett’s response wasn’t teasing, and made Jonah think he wanted to be clear.
Supe Guru Extraordinaire:No. He’s not dangerous. Some people avoid him, because they are afraid of fae. He’s only half-fae though and a good person.
“Others avoid me because I play pranks on people who irritate me,” Kian commented, which was when Jonah noticed he’djoined him in leaning against the wall and was blatantly reading over Jonah’s shoulder.
Jonah winced. “Sorry. I noticed it this morning, and I thought it was weird. Emmett said I could ask him questions.”
Kian nodded. “Given how little you know about supes, I’m not surprised you have questions. And I’d rather have you ask than automatically assume someone is out to get you. Give me your phone. I’ll put my number in there as well. You can ask me anything.”
“Uh, sure.” He handed off his phone, watching curiously as Kian only plugged in his first name and his number. No last name. He shot a questioning look at Kian, who shrugged.
“My family name isn’t one I claim willingly. I’m in the process of taking my mate’s name, but it’s a long process when it comes to fae families. A friend of mine is working on it for me.”
That only gave Jonah more questions, but he decided to leave it be for now. He knew all about not wanting to be connected to blood family. When his dad had nearly been arrested for harassing a family of vampires who’d wound up in front of them at the grocery store, Jonah had wanted to disappear into the ground. The vampires hadn’t done anything wrong, their car had broken down during a road trip and they were just grabbing ice for their cooler while waiting for it to be fixed, but his dad noticed one of the kids had fangs and lost his mind about supes coming into human territory and ruining the neighborhood. He’d made some threats the supes hadn’t appreciated, and the cops were called to stop him before he escalated.
It was one of his first interactions with supes, and he’d only been sixteen at the time, but even then, he knew what his dad was doing was wrong. While he was distracted with the cops, Jonah used some money he’d saved up doing odd jobs around the neighborhood to buy the bag of ice and brought it to the family who were frightened and waiting outside, apologizing tothem. He’d gotten grounded for a month for it when his family found out, but it felt like the right thing to do. That was the first time he truly realized he was never going to see eye to eye with his family. No one else thought what his dad did was wrong.
As Kian handed his phone back, Jonah switched topics, asking, “What kind of pranks, and should I be worried?”
It was a tease, or at least he’d hoped it came out that way, and he was glad when Kian smirked at him.
“Nothing crazy. I’m not cruel like my family. But let’s just say the last guy who insulted my mate somehow ended up being pantsed by a spell every time he said something stupid. He said a lot of stupid things that day.”
Jonah snorted, pursed his lips in a poor attempt to hide his smile. “I, uh… I see. Remind me never to piss you off.”
Chuckling, Kian led the way off the elevator and toward the main building past the elevator bank. “Most of the people I prank are willing participants. They know what they’re doing when they pick a fight with me. Everyone else has just seen the aftermath and decided they’d rather avoid me than risk ending up on the receiving end of a prank.” He shrugged lazily. “I’m okay not being squashed in an overly full elevator.”
Jonah was going to ask more about the pranks, he liked having a little fun and he was curious what supes considered pranks, when they stepped into the doorway of an enormous room absolutely stuffed full of supes. He came to an abrupt halt, gaping at the room, and couldn’t make his feet move forward as his eyes darted around to every creature his parents warned him about in bedtime stories when he was a kid. There was a lizard person hissing at a goblin, slitted eyes narrowed in annoyance. Several orcs sitting at a table shouting at each other. Demons, lamia, medusas, and even spider people. Some of them he’d never even heard of before, and all of them were somehow bigger than he was. He wasn’t short for a human, a little under six feet,and still he felt like he’d be squashed by any one of them if he looked at them funny.
Kian had to doubleback when he realized Jonah hadn’t followed him. He studied Jonah’s face for a moment, then sighed, nudging him back into the hall and against the wall so his back was protected while Kian fished out his phone and his fingers went flying.
“Alright. I’m calling in reinforcements. I’m not having you too afraid to eat. I’ve got two friends who are going to join us, and you’re going to see that supes are just like humans.”
“There was a spider person,” Jonah hissed, trying to keep his voice low so he wasn’t overheard. Supe hearing was better than human hearing, right?
“The term is arachne, and they’re just people. Honestly, most arachne I’ve met have all been amazing at some kind of craft. One in the CEO’s secretary pool can crochet better than most professionals.”
The comment made Jonah blink in surprise. “I– What?”
Kian raised platinum blonde eyebrows at him. “They’re just people. You’re the one who wanted to be here so bad, so I’m not letting you chicken out and skip a meal. You’re meeting my friends, and we’re going to eat in the cafeteria.” He pointed a finger at Jonah. “Text Emmett if it makes you feel better. He can meet you here and protect you from all the scary supes while we eat.”
CHAPTER SIX
Jonah felt his face flush. He was doing it again. Making assumptions about supes just because of old stories. He understood why Kian sounded so annoyed, especially since Jonah had refused several times already to go back to Charmed Away for an easier assignment.
