Chapter 9
Hugo
Jett sidled up to me in the break room where I was stuffing my wallet and keys into my locker. “Did you see the new guy?”
I lifted a brow at him. “I literally just walked through the door.”
“You walked right past Drin’s office. He’s in there.”
“Oh. No, I wasn’t paying attention. I think I might’ve waved at Drin, but I don’t remember.” Drin was the owner and manager of the bar, and I really liked working for him. He’d been good to both Jett and me since my very first day.
Jett sighed dramatically. “You’re useless.”
I gave him a push as I laughed, then I quickly tied my apron on as he did the same. We wore server aprons, not baking ones, so they were only around our waists and had a billion pockets. They were very handy in the bar and restaurant business, if I was being honest.
As we headed for the doorway, I leaned in and whispered, “Hey, did you know that Drin’s a drow?”
Jett froze and looked up at me with wide eyes. “What?”
I nodded. “He’s a drow. Zay told me.”
Zaos had mentioned it in an offhand comment, and I’d been shocked. This entire time, I’d thought my boss was human.
As I’d told Sebastian a few weeks ago, I was really bad at sensing who was human and who wasn’t unless someone did magic right in front of me. Jett was just as bad as I was to the point that before we’d met our viramores, neither of us knew we had supernaturals in our lives at all.
“That’s… that’s… wow.” Jett’s eyes were wide for a moment before he closed them and shook himself out. “Okay. Let’s just… set that aside to gossip about when we’re… somewhere else.” He glanced around and lowered his voice. “I wonder if the new guy’s human or something else?”
“I dunno, but I definitely want to find out.”
I was determined to get better at this. I wanted to be a part of Zay’s magical world, and since I had no powers or anything to speak of, this seemed like a start.
Jett and I were definitely freaking the new person out.
We’d been staring at them… a lot. And whispering when they weren’t even near us since we didn’t know if they had super hearing or not.
And now that they were frowning in our direction, I was pretty sure we’d hurt their feelings.
Or maybe they just thought their new coworkers were a bunch of weirdos.
To top it off, the only thing we’d learned about them was that they were nonbinary and Drin was their uncle—we’d heard them call him Uncle Drin—but we didn’t know if that meant Arzu was also a drow or if they were something else.
After all, the only supe family I knew was Zay’s, and they had just about every type of supe in their family.
Quinn walked over and leaned on the bar, asking, “Can I have some water?” He was a human—I thought—bouncer that usually worked the door, and he was a cool guy.
He’d always been kind and friendly to the two of us and everyone who worked here, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Quinn had all our backs.
“Of course.” I glanced past him to see Nissa, one of the badass cooks, standing in for Quinn while he took his break.
Everyone took turns standing in for him, and I was glad today wasn’t one of my days.
I hated working the door because I was the least intimidating person on the planet, so turning people away when they were underage or carrying a weapon or whatever was… difficult for me.
I passed Quinn a glass of ice water with a straw, and he took a seat at the bar since it wasn’t crowded yet. “So… you guys wanna tell me why you keep eyeing up the new guy?”
“Person,” I said automatically, not really paying attention.
“Huh?”
“New person. They’re nonbinary.”
Quinn glanced at Arzu, then shot me a smile. “Oh, I didn’t know that. Sorry. They’re really cute.”
That made me grin to myself as I nodded my agreement. Arzu was really cute. Maybe I was taken, but I still had eyes, and wow. Adorable. “They are.”
Quinn turned fully back to me. “So why are you guys being asses to them?”
I cringed. “We’re not.”
He gave me a look.
With a sigh, I started wiping down the bar top. “We’re not. No, really, we’re not. It’s just… we’re trying to figure out if they’re human or a supe. Jett and I never know.”
Quinn stared at me, then looked at Jett, who was nodding his agreement, before he barked out a loud laugh and took a sip of his water, shaking his head at us. “Wow. Just wow.”
I discreetly flipped him off.
Jett let out a small whine. “Dude, we’re really bad at identifying supes. Like really, really, really bad.”
Quinn laughed again, shaking his head. “Yes, we’re aware.”
“We, who? What do you mean?” Jett frowned at him.
It only made Quinn’s smile widen. “Everyone who works here.”
I stared at him for a long time before I blurted out, “Holy shit, you’re a supe.”
It was more a statement than a question, but Quinn answered, “Sure am. So is everyone else who works here besides you two.”
“What?” My jaw dropped.
“Seriously?” Jett wore a similar expression.
Quinn nodded. “Seriously. We’ve all been wondering when you’d realize.”
I dropped my head back and groaned as I spoke to Zay through our bond. “Oh, my god. Everyone I work with is a supe. Besides Jett and me.”
“Um… yes, I’m aware.”
I pouted. Of course he was aware. He would’ve known it the second he walked in here since every supe I knew had some kind of magical ability to be able to identify other supes. What the hell.
“Rude.”
“What? How am I rude?”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t know you didn’t know.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Ass.”
“My lovely mezelie.”
I snorted at his sweetness overload to get me back rather than calling me a jerk or an ass too. “I love you.”
“I love you too, my sweet Hugo.”
“You nailed it until you added sweet.”
I heard him laugh in my head.
Shaking my head at him, even though he couldn’t see me, I returned my attention to Quinn and Jett. Quinn said to my bestie, “I’ll give you three guesses.”
“Three guesses for what?” I asked since I hadn’t been paying attention.
“To guess what species I am.” Quinn shot me a huge grin.
Before Jett could say anything, I blurted out, “Gargoyle.”
Quinn laughed. “Nope. What made you guess that?”
I shrugged. “Some of my contractors are gargoyles, and they’re all big and muscly like you, so…” I trailed off with a shrug.
That made him grin at me. “Good guess. Next try.”
Jett said, “Vampire.”
I shot him a glare. When he’d first met his viramore, he’d been convinced the bat shifter was in fact a vampire. He seemed to have a strange fascination with the creatures—probably more so now that we were drinking vampire blood—so I shouldn’t be surprised by that guess.
But it was a wasted one. I didn’t know how I could tell, but I knew Quinn didn’t have the same magic as Toby, Julius, or Emrys.
Quinn shook his head. “Nope. Last try.”
Jett and I stared at him for a long moment before I pulled him to the side to discuss. “What’re you thinking? What else is naturally big and muscly?”
“Um… I dunno, a centaur?”
I glanced at Quinn before shaking my head. “No, I don’t think that’s it. What about just a witch? They can be any size.”
Jett and I turned to Quinn, who winked at us, looking mighty pleased with himself, before we looked at one another again. “Nope,” we both said together.
Jett hummed. “What about some kind of shifter? Like a wolf or whatever? They’re usually pretty big, aren’t they?”
“Oh, good one. Yeah, let’s guess that.”
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.”
My eyebrows rose. “Seriously? You timed him?”
He shrugged. “We had a bet going, so yes.”
“What? Why wasn’t I asked to bet?”
Quinn waved me off. “You won three times in a row, so we decided to give someone else a chance.”
I threw another towel at him, making Arzu laugh. “That’s cheating.”
Quinn shrugged, giving me a shit-eating grin, and all I could do was shake my head at him.
“Oh, duty calls,” Arzu said, getting up from their seat and pointing at a table that needed to be cleared.
“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” I said, and they grinned at me.
“Thanks.”
After they walked away, I leaned in toward Quinn. “I like them.”
“Me too.”
We shared a smile before I went to help another customer.
By the time I finished serving them, Quinn was getting off his stool to head back to the front. He sent me a friendly wave as he walked by, and I returned it. But I couldn’t help but wonder if he was right about my viramore not wanting me to pet a grizzly bear shifter or whatever.
Sure, Zaos had saved me more than once by taking down the people who were after me, but surely, he wouldn’t hurt one of my friends just because I wanted to pet them.
What a weird fucking sentence to think.
But seriously, Zay was the sweetest person in the world.
He wouldn’t hurt a fly… unless that fly was trying to hurt someone he cared about. And giving grizzly pets was far from threatening.
…Right?