Page 33 of The Human’s Heart

We walked back over to Quinn, and Jett opened his mouth to speak for a moment before I grabbed his arm to stop him. “Wait.” I stared at Quinn for a few seconds. “You’re a bear.”

Jett let out a choked sound, and Quinn laughed, saying, “Why thank you.”

“Oh, my god. Not that kind of bear, you butts. A bear shifter.”

Quinn lifted his glass of water at me. “You got it.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

Jett and I turned to each other and did a little dance. “Woot!” I shimmied, then threw my arms in the air as Jett twirled around me.

Quinn laughed at our antics, and after we finished celebrating, we settled back down to keep chatting with him before his break was over.

“What kind of bear?” Jett asked a minute later.

“Grizzly.”

My eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Like you said, little human, I’m big and muscly. You can’t be that surprised.”

“Does that mean if you shifted, I could pet a grizzly bear?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t mind, but I think you should ask your incubus first.”

I stared at him for a beat. “Why do you sound scared of him?”

“Because I know what incubi can do, and I definitely don’t want to get between one and their viramore. I wouldn’t want to get between any viramores, if I’m being honest. That’s the way you end up in the morgue.”

“Wow, morbid much?” Jett asked before he scooted over to serve a customer.

“Just sayin’ it how it is.”

I frowned at my friend. “Zay wouldn’t hurt you.”

Quinn snorted. “Hun, if you think that, you haven’t been paying enough attention.”

I went to respond, but another customer came over and grabbed my attention, so I went to help them.

When I came back, Arzu was standing beside Quinn looking decidedly uncomfortable. I cringed internally since I was pretty sure that was my fault, then sent them a big smile—hopefully not too big or I’d look creepy. “Hey. How’s your first day going?”

They stared at me for a beat, then sent me a tentative smile back. “I think it’s going well. I haven’t broken any glasses or anything yet, so I’d call that a win.”

I chuckled, and Quinn pointed at me, saying, “Hugo broke like six glasses his first week.”

I threw a towel at him. “It was three, asshat.” I shrugged at Arzu. “I was… worried and stressed, so my mind kept wandering. Not exactly the best first impression, but luckily, your uncle was awesome and gave me another chance… and I’m not even related to him, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

They snorted and took a sip of their water bottle. “I think being related to him makes him set higher standards.”

“Well, you’re doing a lot better than the last three people he tried hiring, so cut yourself some slack.”

“Did he fire those people?”

I shook my head. “Nope. They quit. One after a week, one after a few days, and the last one only lasted, what?” I looked at Quinn. “Four hours?”

“Two hours and seventeen minutes.”