Page 5 of The Jorogumo (The Sanctuary #2)

Haruto

Liam hadn't run off screaming yet, so that was good. Right?

I wished I'd talked to one of my supe friends before I came here today, preferably one who was mated to a human. I hadn't meant to reveal myself, but I also couldn't let Liam get hurt, and I'd reacted before I could think things through.

"So you're a half-spider, half-human supernatural being, and you use a wheelchair to hide your spider side?" Liam summarized, and I nodded quickly.

"I only need to use it when I visit the human world."

When he just blinked at me, I realized I'd skipped some important details.

"I live in a place called the Sanctuary. It's in a pocket dimension, and it offers a home to any supernatural who doesn't or cannot pass as human. "

Liam nodded slowly, and I could almost see his thoughts whirring as he processed everything I'd told him.

He brought his hand up to his mouth and bit down on his thumb, his dark eyes scanning my form for a long moment before he blew out a breath.

"You know this sounds absolutely crazy, right? I mean, I know you aren't lying. I can see it." He glanced pointedly at the webs he was sitting on before continuing, "But it's still so... surreal."

"Is there anything I can do to make it easier for you to accept?"

Liam pursed his lips, then nodded. "Can I see you? All of you?"

My brows shot up, but I nodded gamely. "Fair warning, though. You might find me... unnerving to look at."

Most humans seemed to have an inexplicable fear of spiders, and while Liam hadn't mentioned disliking spiders, he might still find me terrifying. At least I had eight legs instead of eight eyes. That would have been much worse.

Liam nodded, then straightened up as if he was bracing himself.

With an exhale, I pulled away the thick cloth that kept my legs hidden and stepped out of the magical pouch that made it possible for me to squeeze all eight of my legs into the small space.

When I stood upright, Liam followed, but now I was more than a foot taller than him, and I gazed down at him as his eyes roamed over my full body, taking me in.

While above the waist I looked completely human, my lower half was all spider. My abdomen ended with a bulb behind me that allowed me to create the webs I used to weave things, while my legs sprouted out of my sides, four on either. The front and back ones barely touched the ground, and I mostly used the back ones to spin and weave my webs, though I could do it with my hands in a pinch, like I had to keep Liam from falling.

My legs were covered in a fine coat of black silk, making them gleam like sharp blades when the light hit them even though they were actually very soft to touch. I wondered what Liam thought of them. Was he scared of me?

I hadn't yet checked to see his reaction, and I forced myself to look at him, finding him staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Liam?"

He jerked, then rubbed his hand over his eyes, looking me over once more. "This is wild."

I couldn't agree more. When I'd left the Sanctuary this morning, I hadn't known I'd be revealing myself to him. I'd planned on asking him out, and I'd thought I would tell him once we'd grown a little closer. Once I knew he wouldn't freak out and leave.

Yet Fate seemed to have other plans, because here we were, and we hadn't even been on our first date yet.

"I'd understand if you wanted to cancel now."

"Cancel?"

"Our date?" I reminded him, afraid his confusion meant he'd already decided the date wasn't happening.

"What? No!" Liam straightened up, shaking his head as his dark eyes met mine. "I still want to get that coffee with you. I just...I have so many questions. This is a big deal, you know."

Nodding, I slid my fingers through my hair, pushing it away from my eyes. "I understand, trust me. Some of my friends have human ma—boyfriends, and they all struggled to deal with it at first too. "

Liam's eyes widened; then he snapped his fingers. "Dustin and Touya, right?"

I nodded, smiling at how quickly he'd come to that conclusion. My mate was a smart man.

"So the big guy who didn't come into the store that day, he's a supe like you?"

"He's a supe, yes, but not like me. He's a half-troll. His mom was human," I explained, and Liam blinked.

"Wow. So humans and supes can have kids together?"

"Only in very particular cases," I hedged, not wanting to explain the whole mate thing just yet. He was taking the supernatural revelation pretty well, but I didn't want to overwhelm him by declaring we were fated mates, at least not until he had a chance to see how well we fit together.

Liam nodded, then made a thoughtful sound. "It's a wonder more people don't know about supes, especially if you don't mind dating humans."

"Ah, well, we're very picky about the humans we tell. That said, please don't tell anyone what I've told you."

"As if anyone would believe me even if I did," Liam said with a snort, then gave me a serious look. "But I promise I won't. If I've learned anything from comics, it's that humans can't be trusted with anyone they think might be more powerful than them."

Yeah, I wasn't going to argue that.

Liam glanced at his watch, then raised a brow at me. "So, you wanna go get that coffee?"

I nodded quickly, making Liam grin, and slid back into my wheelchair, adjusting myself until all my legs were firmly packed inside and the blanket hid everything from view. The blanket was heavy and imbued with magic so it wouldn't accidentally fall off, because Draven was a fucking genius and thought of everything.

Following Liam toward the front door, I took a deep breath and made a wish that this date would go well. I wanted to get to know Liam better, and I hoped he still felt the same.

Liam

Today had been unexpected, to say the least.

The man I'd been crushing on wasn't human. Instead, he was a mythical being with a half-human, half-spider body.

When I'd asked to see all of him, I hadn't expected to find him so...fascinating. While his lower half did resemble a spider's, it suited him well, his torso seamlessly molding into the bulb that extended backward, with his legs coming out of the sides.

While he'd mostly just stood in one place while I took him in, I was sure he moved fluidly with those sleek legs, barely making a sound.

As I held the door to The Baking Bee open for him, grateful they also had a ramp, I shook my head and forced myself to focus on the present. I'd have time later to think about everything Haruto told me.

Closing the door behind us, I dragged in a deep breath, humming at the scent of coffee and chocolate.

The Baking Bee was a small, cozy bakery with walls the color of a latte and covered in cartoony bees flitting about. There was a mix of bench seats and cozy two-person tables, and music played in the background, loud enough to be audible but not so much that it'd disrupt conversation.

I could spend all day in this bakery if I let myself .

"Wow, it smells amazing here," Haruto murmured, and I grinned at him.

"Right?"

Reaching the counter, I grabbed a menu and handed it to him. "Something sweet with the coffee since we're skipping lunch?"

Haruto nodded with a smile, and took the menu from me with a murmured thanks.

I looked up to find Dawn watching me with a smile. She was the co-owner of this fine place, while her husband was responsible for all the delicious baked goods. Dawn, her husband Saxon, and I had been friends since I started working at the store.

"Who's your friend?" she asked curiously, pushing back her curly brown hair.

"Dawn, this is Haruto, my date. Haruto, this is Dawn. She's a friend, and co-owns this fine establishment."

"Hello," Haruto greeted her with a small smile, and she grinned back at him.

"It's nice to meet you, Haruto. Have you known Liam long?"

"Two months or so. I'm hoping to know him for much longer."

My cheeks heated up at his sincere words, and Dawn's smile softened. "I think you two will get along just fine. Have you decided what you want to order? The usual for you, Liam?"

'The usual' meant letting Dawn decide what she wanted to feed me, and I nodded, knowing she would never steer me wrong.

"I'll have a latte and a slice of the chocolate cake," Haruto said, shooting me a curious look .

"You got it. Go take a seat and I'll bring it over when it's ready."

Haruto and I took up a table in the corner so people wouldn't keep bumping into Haruto's wheelchair—seriously, Diego navigated better than half these people, and he couldn't see —and as we started talking, the bakery around us all but disappeared.

Our conversation flowed as easily as it had before today, and while I couldn't ask him any more questions about the supernatural world—I didn't want to risk anyone overhearing—there was still a lot I had yet to discover about Haruto.

Like how he hated movies or stories with insta-love or lust because he couldn't for the life of him understand how people could fall in love at first sight.

"I think it's more likely that there's a physical attraction and they realize there's a potential for romance. Like they can see themselves falling in love someday," I thought aloud, and Haruto hummed.

"I guess I can see that. I understand seeing someone and knowing you could spend your whole life with them if given the chance." The way he looked at me when he said that had me swallowing hard, and I took a grateful sip of the coffee Dawn placed in front of me and almost burned my tongue. Even that didn't stop my heart from thudding unevenly in my chest.

Dawn didn't linger to chat, which I was glad for, but it still took me a moment to speak. It wasn't that the thought scared me. No, I was surprised by how much I liked the idea.

We'd only known each other for two months, and this was our first freaking date. It was far too soon to be talking about forever, even hypothetically.

So I did the only thing I could think of: I changed the subject .

Glancing around, I lowered my voice as I asked, "So are they all real? Dragons, vampires, werewolves? Unicorns? "

Haruto smiled softly, then moved his wheelchair closer so we could talk without being overheard. "Yes, yes, yes, and maybe. I heard of one ages ago, but I'm not sure if he's still alive. If he is, he's the last of his kind."

"That sucks," I murmured, easily imagining how lonely it must be. I hoped he had good friends, like Haruto seemed to.

"Most supes can easily mix in with the humans. You may have even met a few without realizing," Haruto said, and I blinked. I hadn't thought of that before. I wondered if one of the regulars at the store was a supe? Well, other than the people Haruto knew.

"Damn, that's so cool. I feel like I've been thrust into a whole new world," I said with a grin, and Haruto smiled before growing serious.

"And it doesn't freak you out or scare you?"

"Hell no. It's just making me more and more curious. I want to know everything."

Haruto blinked, then smiled widely before giving me a thoughtful look. "Would you like to come visit the Sanctuary then? Meet the others?"

My eyes widened, and I leaned closer to him. "Can I really?"

He nodded, then amended, "I'll need to inform the headmaster. Er, Zephyr Morrigan. He's the sorcerer who created the Sanctuary, and he keeps it running on a daily basis. We treat him as a guardian of sorts, since many of the others came to live at the Sanctuary as a kid."

"That makes sense. So if he says yes, I can visit?"

"He won't say no, but yeah, once I talk to him, we can set up a date. Um, you should also know that some of the supes have...well, eaten humans in the past. "

I blinked at that, then shrugged. "Dustin and Touya live there?" Haruto nodded, and I smiled. "Then it's safe for me to be there too. Right?"

"Right," Haruto agreed with a smile, and I almost wriggled in my seat with excitement. I was going to get to see Haruto's home and meet more supes. It was going to be great.