Page 11

11

Dakota

M agic.

I was magic.

Jax was a werewolf. I’d have still been laughing about the very idea, but he’d fucking changed, right there in front of my eyes. I hadn’t been popping hallucinogens, so there was no reason for me to have seen a werewolf who wasn’t there.

But that meant that Jillian was a werewolf too.

Alpha. Maia and Jillian had been going on about Jax being an alpha. They hadn’t been talking about some chinless brony red-pill crap. They’d been talking about a real-life alpha wolf. Were werewolf packs actually organized like that? I seemed to remember hearing that real wolf packs didn’t have an alpha and all that, but what the hell did I know? I hadn’t even known werewolves were real six hours earlier.

I dutifully stuffed all the paperwork and my notes into my attaché case before heading down to meet Charles at the car. He gave me a game smile, nodding as he opened the door for me.

The divider in the back of the limo was down, so when he got into the driver’s seat, I moved up near him. “So. Not to be nosy, but... you’re really a fae?”

He looked back at me, eyes twinkling with something that looked like mirth. “Yup. Not like one of those fancy court fae or anything. I’m just a delivery boy. Me and Jax hammered out the deal for my people to work for his, because we’ve known each other forever.”

“Your... people? Work for Crescent?”

His smile turned into a grin. “Universal Fairy Delivery, you know? The whole business was my sister’s idea. She’s a genius. An entrepreneur. The high courts always said we were useless, we lesser fae. But you know what we’re bloody good at? Running the hell away from those overpowered bastards. We’re fucking fast. So if you want something delivered ten minutes ago, we’re your people.”

He was so proud, I couldn’t tell him that I didn’t know a thing about fae hierarchy. I hadn’t even known fae existed until Jax had said Charles was fae, and I wouldn’t have believed it if Jax hadn’t proven beyond all doubt that werewolves were real already.

To say nothing of the disaster of my office supplies deciding to take flight. My poor pen was ruined, and I could only hope I didn’t end up with a replay of the same disaster at home. I could have hurt someone with a projectile like that, since it had gone all the way into the drywall in my office, leaving a neat round hole in the wall next to my door.

“It sounds like you getting together with the werewolves worked out well for both of your people,” I said.

He rolled his eyes, nodding. “Yep. They’re just like us among the earth-native magic folk. Treated like rubbish just because they are magic, rather than controlling magic.” He leaned toward me, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “I think it’s because the others are afraid of them, personally. Not like us fae. The high fae could kill us dead. They’re more powerful than us, period. But the wolves? One good bite and any mage isn’t a mage anymore. Scares the hell out of them. Most of them won’t even look at a wolf, let alone get any closer.” He stopped, cocked his head, then nodded to me. “Yourself excepted, of course, Mr. Morris. You must have nerves of steel, compared to other mages.”

Nerves of steel.

Because being bitten by a werewolf would make me... make me a werewolf. And this “controlling magic versus controlled by magic” thing seemed to be a big deal to everyone. Well, maybe not Charles, but it sounded like he knew class power struggles all too well and didn’t have a lot of patience for people who held themselves above others.

So I nodded to him. Then I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, what’s the worst thing that happens? I end up a werewolf? Oh how awful, what with the fangs and flashing eyes and the fact that they’re all incredibly hot.”

He laughed at that, nodding. “Well said. Seen a fair few ugly mages in my life, but never an ugly wolf. That super-fast healing of theirs means no acne, no scars, no diseases. Plus they live halfway to forever, and they’ve got strength. Most are so damn fast they could give me a run for my money. Pretty sweet life for a near-human if you ask me.”

It sounded like a lot of classism, pure and simple. I was sure there were other reasons for the attitudes that I didn’t know yet, but that didn’t mean any of them were valid. After all, I’d spent my entire life with everyone assuming I was good at math just because I was Asian, and I’d barely managed to get through college calculus, and that only because I had to do it to graduate. Plus a tutor had helped. Stereotypes were obnoxious, and I wasn’t going to fall for them in this new universe I’d stumbled into.

Charles got me home in record time, which I supposed wasn’t a surprise. Fae.

And he’d called himself a lesser fae, but that was... well, it was kind of a shitty thing to call a whole race, wasn’t it? Lesser? I was going to have to learn more about that situation before I made any decisions, but I suspected I was never going to be comfortable calling a whole people “lesser.”

“Thanks for the ride, Charles. I appreciate it.”

His eyes widened minutely at the thanks, but then he smiled at me. “Anytime, Mr. Morris. Happy to help out. Though I must say, I’ve never met a mage with good manners before. It’s nice to know they can do that.”

“There’s never an excuse not to have good manners,” I answered. It was something my childhood nanny had said all the time, and I quite agreed with her even now. There had also been comments about how strangers hadn’t created your bad mood, so they shouldn’t be subjected to it, and well... Sato-san had practically raised me. She’d been the only Japanese influence in my early life, and while she hadn’t taught me Japanese or anything about active culture, I thought maybe I’d learned subtler things about what it meant to be Japanese from her. Or maybe just about what it meant to be Sato Akari. Either way, I thought she’d taught me well, and I was comfortable with who I’d become under her influence.

She’d died in a car accident when I was twelve, and I still missed her constantly. More than I’d ever missed my parents after moving out of the house.

When I finally got up to the apartment, Donnie was sitting at the dining room table eating something from a foil container. It smelled of tomato sauce, so I assumed it was from his favorite Italian restaurant. I’d only been there once, and it was out of my budget, so I never ordered it with him.

“Hey Kody,” he said, smiling up at me. Then he scrunched his nose. “You look like death warmed over. What’s up?”

I almost laughed. Or maybe cried.

Of all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, what was I supposed to bring up? Losing my virginity, the fact that he’d turned out to be my boss, the fact that I worked for a bunch of werewolves, or worst of all, that apparently, I was a mage. A mage who had no idea how to magic. Frankly, I wanted to collapse and maybe cry some.

But Donnie was wearing his club clothes, so clearly he was planning on going out. Again.

I didn’t know where he got the stamina for it, other than the fact that he didn’t have a job, so he didn’t have to do anything other than dance all night and sleep the day away. I was a little envious, but also... I wasn’t. Dancing was fine, but I’d never enjoyed it all that much. I liked things that engaged my mind, not just my body.

“Started the new job today,” I reminded him, plopping down at the table and pulling out the bag with my burger in it. It was one of those ridiculously huge burgers, this one with caramelized onions and blue cheese, my favorite. I just hadn’t been able to think about it while sitting across from Jax. A real live werewolf.

I took a bite, and once I’d done that, I realized I was ravenous, scarfing the whole damn thing down in no time flat.

When I was licking the juice off my fingers, I looked up to see Donnie giving me a mildly horrified look.

“I forgot to eat lunch,” I lied. I’d had a perfectly respectable lunch. But I was still hungry, now, and I doubted the fries had traveled as well as the burger.

He shook his head. “Well don’t let them overwork you. You’re entitled to a lunch break and all that jazz.”

The fries were indeed mushy and cold and gross. So I got up and went to the fridge. Mostly empty, of course. Donnie only ever ordered in, so the most I could expect from him was leftover takeout containers. Well, and some cocktail onions for his disgusting not-martini drink I’d only made the mistake of trying once. For myself I had half a jar of olives, some pickles, and a bunch of sauces and condiments. Somehow, I didn’t think a nice bowl of gochujang and green olives was going to hit the spot. I sighed and sat down, pulling out my phone. I was too tired to order groceries and then cook. I didn’t have money for a lot of delivery meals until I got my first paycheck from Crescent, but for tonight, it would have to be enough.

I could order tacos from the place on the corner. That wasn’t too expensive. Normally, I’d even go down and pick them up myself, but tonight, that sounded like far too much effort. I was exhausted and starving and... just entirely drained of all things. Energy, emotion, the will to stand up again... whatever.

Donnie heaved a sigh. “Well, I’m headed out. I’d invite you along, but you’re a total downer tonight. Can’t have you rubbing that off on the whole club.”

I mumbled something about him having a good time as he dropped his empty containers in the trash and headed out, locking the door behind him. Next thing I knew, someone was knocking on the door, and my tacos were there. I’d over-ordered, easily dinner for two, but somehow, I ate every single bite and still found myself disappointed when I reached into the bag and found it empty.

I wanted to pull the papers out of my case and get back to work, because it had been seriously interesting, going over the nuance of the language and... well hell, now I realized that some of it was because magic fucking existed , and I was going to have to go back over all I’d done that afternoon to figure out if I’d missed anything in my ignorance. Heck, maybe I should wait until I knew more about magic and werewolves and... mages.

The Igarashi were mages.

That was why they had been assholes and Jax had been so willing to accept it. Probably also why the woman who had seemed to be second-in-command had given me a few confused looks during the meeting. Because I was a super special mage, and I was supposed to think myself better than Jax and his people.

Ridiculous. Jillian and Maia and Jax and... they had all been amazing, and I’d rather work for Crescent for free than deal with the Igarashi douchebags for a million dollars.

I just hoped they still wanted me back when they realized I was the worst mage ever, who didn’t even know what the hell he was.