Page 14 of The Vampire's Receptionist
“You’ve had a procedure since we last met.”
Tony twisted in his mates’ embrace, surprised, and a smile lit up his face when he noticed Kian standing nearby. “Kian! Hi!”
The mates looked at him suspiciously, especially the thunderbird, who wasn’t at all subtle about putting himself between Tony and Kian. Kian ignored it, though he silently wished he’d left the spell up long enough for that one to trip. He gave his focus to Tony instead.
“Hey, Tony. You okay?”
Tony wrinkled his nose in embarrassment. “Yeah. I just tripped. I’m okay. Thanks for stopping the fall. Again.” He grinned sheepishly. The first time they met, Kian had stopped him from being knocked over. This time was Kian’s fault, but he wasn’t going to admit to that.
“We’ve got to stop meeting this way,” he teased. It made Tony laugh, and one of Tony’s mates softened beside him. He gave Kian a once over before putting on a charming smile and thrusting his hand out for a shake.
“We haven’t met. I’m Taron, Tony’s mate.”
“One of them,” the thunderbird growled with a mock glare. It was easy to tell the distinction was a tease, and the thunderbird was only playing along.
Kian shook Taron’s hand. “Kian.” He glanced back at Tony. “So were you right that they won’t let you go anywhere alone?”
That got Tony a few looks from his mates, and Tony flushed lightly. “Yeah. They hover. I like it though. What are you doing here? I thought you hated the idea of working here.”
“I don’t technically work here,” he replied with a shrug. “I’m a temp in the medical innovations division. I’ll only be here a month. Besides, being a temp means I don’t have to wear a full suit.” He tugged at his clothes with a grin. He wouldn’t be caught dead in a full suit. Thanks to being a temp, he got to stick with business casual with a loose fitted teal button up and white slacks.
Tony pursed his lips, looking at his mate. “Am I supposed to be wearing a full suit?”
His outfit was close enough, all he was missing was the jacket, but he obviously cared enough to ask. Taron shook his head with a soft smile.
“No, a thaisce. You’re my secretary. You wear what you’re comfortable in. I don’t want you limiting your range of motion. If anyone has a problem with that, they can speak with me.”
The protectiveness was normal with mates, and something Kian had seen too many times to count. It wasn’t possible for him to have a mate himself, but it was nice to see couples, or in this case throuples, in such happy relationships.
“What did you trip over?” the thunderbird demanded, scanning the floors like he expected to find a banana peel or something else that might have tripped his mate.
Tony shrugged. “My own feet, I guess. It happens. Don’t you have a meeting this morning with the marketing team?”
The thunderbird pressed his lips together in an attempt to hide his smile. “You’re Taron’s secretary, baby, not mine. Don’t overwork yourself looking after me, too. But you’re right. I do have a meeting. Thank you for the reminder.” He leaned in, pressing a kiss to Tony’s lips before doing the same with Taron. It was only when his gaze flicked to Kian that he hesitated. He didn’t look happy with the idea of leaving his mates alone with a fae.
Kian never took kindly to that kind of discrimination, so he raised an eyebrow in challenge. He’d done nothing to the stupid thunderbird. Well… Nothing he knew about, anyway.
“Kian?”
A familiar female voice spoke behind him, and he was forced to turn around to acknowledge his coworker. He smiled at her. “Good morning, Poppy. Ready for your first day?”
She gave him a dry look. “Considering why I was called in, I’m not exactly looking forward to it.”
She was the main reason he’d decided to wait in the lobby, since he wanted to go up to the marketing office with her as a show of force. To show the creep that not only was she not receptive, but she had the full support of her supervisor to back her up.
“I’ll head up with you. Just a second.” He turned back to Tony and gave him a little wave. “I’ll see you around. Try not to trip over anything when I’m not around to rescue you.”
Tony flushed and grinned, but the thunderbird scowled at him in response. “We can handle it,” he said gruffly.
“Uh huh,” Kian replied dismissively. “Have a nice day, Tony. Taron.”
He didn’t offer the same courtesy to the thunderbird. He wasn’t going to let people discriminate against him and still give them kindness. He treated others how they treated him.
Turning on his heel, he went to meet Poppy, who was eyeing the throuple with narrowed eyes. After they walked away, Poppy leaned in close to ask, “What was that guy’s problem?”
“Thunderbirds don’t like fae,” he replied with a scowl.
Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s the only reason? Does he even know you?”
