by R. J. Blain
“Yeah, I do part-time work. What I do is none of your business.”
“I am rather impressed you have time to sleep and have a part-time job in addition to the number of hours you put in at your regular job.”
I had time to sleep? I snorted. “I work efficiently.”
“I guessed as much. If you have been forced to work in evening entertainment, you will be given assistance to get out of that line of work.”
I choked on my salad, wheezed, and pounded on my chest to dislodge the rogue piece of lettuce. “You think I’m a prostitute?”
Wayne stared at me, and I gave him credit; his expression remained a neutral mask. “You’re certainly lovely enough to be successful in that field, and it would offer you an opportunity to pay your bills despite limited hours. We tried to come up with other part-time work a young lady might do on limited time, but we weren’t able to think of any beyond evening entertainment.”
How nice. Wayne thought I was lovely. My virus particularly liked Wayne’s attention, and she wanted to find out how lovely he thought I was. If I let her have her way, I’d be reduced to enthusiastically working as his evening entertainment for the rest of our lives.
Ugh. Could my night get any worse?
“We?” I asked.
“My pack. We’re lycanthropes, and we tend to become easily offended by such things.”
“And why would you become offended?”
“Nobody should be forced to work in evening entertainment merely to survive.”
Right. I dealt with protective male lycanthropes. “Well, you can rest easy tonight knowing that I have not been working in any form of evening entertainment, nor do I need to be rescued from my part-time job.”
“Excellent. As I already have spoken with your current landlord, I won’t need to run a credit check on you or even ask for a pay stub. I will be basing your income on different criteria. Shall I bring the contract over for your evaluation?”
“Email it to me and give me a week to think about it, then we’ll talk.”
Wayne chuckled at that. “Should I be grateful you’re only making me wait a week?”
“Absolutely.”
Chapter Two
Forgetting to give Wayne Barnes my email address counted as ruthless, but I assumed he could get it from my landlord if he pressed hard enough. Satisfied the wolf would be distracted for at least a few hours, I tested my luck in the bounty hunter system, which had public and private job offers.
To my delight, I had three private offers; one I automatically rejected, as I didn’t play at being an assassin. The other required someone to clean house, and while I disliked theft in general, I rejected that one, too.
The third bounty wanted me to move a male lycanthrope in my area and keep him busy for a period of three days. I’d bag twenty thousand for the work, which caught my attention. Before I could learn more about the target, I needed to sign an NDA, which would prevent me from discussing the job with anyone outside of my hire, and oddly, the target, who could be told limited amounts of what the job entailed, including a confirmation of his safe return after a period of three days.
I could only assume the hire wanted the target out of the way for a few days to make a move on a female wolf they both wanted. Why else hire a female, unmated lycanthrope to remove a male from an area for such a short period of time?
Sometimes, I hated being a single female lycanthrope. With twenty thousand, I’d be in a better position to deal with Wayne Barnes—or not. An extra twenty thousand would help. No, it wouldn’t just help, it would completely change my life.
I’d only have to take a single day off work to make the bounty happen. I’d happily accept a scolding from my boss with twenty thousand extra in my bank account. Depending on who my target was, I might even opt to allow my status as a single female lycanthrope to go public.
Every single male lycanthrope in the city would chase me if I removed my perfume and made my presence known.
With a lot to lose but twenty thousand to gain, I accepted the NDA to learn more about my target, plugging in my digital signature to confirm I’d review the target and keep my mouth shut if I didn’t want the job.
A rather familiar and handsome face greeted me on the next screen, and if I’d checked the bounties before my unwanted guest had brought me dinner, I would’ve had the easiest bounty ever in the history of all bounties.
To sweeten the deal, I would be paid five thousand in advance to make the man disappear for three days, and the payment would be processed immediately upon acceptance as a deposit.
Wayne Barnes did tend to annoy people and keeping him busy for three days would amuse me, although I’d kiss my nice new bathroom goodbye along with having to bail town with my twenty thousand, as nothing complicated things more than kidnapping my future landlord.
Then, because my life could have silver linings, sunshine, and cookies, a flag on the job caught my attention.
The CDC had vetted the bounty, declared it legal, and authorized use of controlled substances to make containing the target, one Mr. Wayne Barnes, easier.
True evil would be accepting my new leasing agreement before kidnapping the wolf and doing whatever I wanted with him for three days.
My virus liked the idea so much I made it to my phone before I reeled her in. I stared at my phone for ten minutes before grabbing the business card he’d given me and dialing his number.
“I haven’t even had a chance to email you the contract yet. Did you have a question?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I have a question.”
“How can I help you?”
My virus wanted him to help me by getting naked and jumping into my bed. She’d be disappointed when she realized we’d be taking him, but we wouldn’t be taking him in a way that led to mating or marriage. “Where might I find you if I want to talk to you in person about the contract? You will be sending it to me tonight, right?”
“I can meet you somewhere if you’d like to talk. Pick the place, give me a call, and I’ll let you know how long it’ll take me to get there.”
“I have a second question.” Unlike the first, which would allow me to bag him for twenty thousand, I genuinely wanted to know what he’d meant to do if I had taken up evening entertainment. “Just how had you been intending to help with my non-existent evening entertainment problem? Did you have a work opportunity in mind?”
“Yes, there’s a potential work opportunity.” Wayne hesitated. “I should apologize for not just extending the offer considering your current work situation. We can discuss it tomorrow should you have questions about the contract.”
I could swing by a CDC office for the materials needed for my job, skip the perfume, allow my virus to get a little rowdy and encourage her for a change, and wait for Wayne to show up. Any other day, I’d feel guilty about the ploy, but the CDC had vetted the job, and when the CDC vetted a job, they had some reason to do so. The NDA didn’t bar me from questioning my target and finding out why the CDC would have interest in a snobby wolf of a businessman.
Then again, maybe the CDC was tired of supplying my damned perfume and wanted me to get caught by a lycanthrope. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the CDC concocted such a plan to take care of two birds with one stone, since the CDC didn’t like single lycanthropes.
Single lycanthropes caused problems for everybody. I suffered from a shorter temper when around eligible males, and uninfected but flirtatious human males tended to annoy the hell out of me on a good day.
Single lycanthrope males viewed uninfected women as prizes almost as precious as a single lycanthrope female.
“Joyce?”
Shit. I’d gone straight to woolgathering while still on the phone with Wayne. “Sorry. It’s been a long day.”
“I expect so. At least thirteen days in a row of twelve hour days is enough to wear anyone out, even a lycanthrope, and you’re no lycanthrope.”
I loved and hated my perfume. How would Wayne have treated
me if he knew I was a wolf, too? “I’d make a terrible lycanthrope.”
“I’m sure you would make a lovely lycanthrope.”
My virus wanted me to read a lot into his statement, whereas I knew better. From the day he’d come into my life, we’d annoyed each other. I resented he wanted to evict me from my home so he could continue to build his fortunes. He resented my ability to prevent him from building his fortunes.
Of the two of us, I’d inevitably lose, but if I pushed on the contract, I might win for a few years. Five, to be specific.
“Did you fall down the steps after leaving my apartment?”
Wayne chuckled. “I did not.”
“You’re talking like you suffered from a severe head injury since we last spoke, which was not very long ago. You shouldn’t drive your fancy car after hitting your head on something. You might get into an accident. You’re not talking on the phone while driving, are you?”
“I pulled into a parking lot when I saw you were the one calling me.”
How did that rate me among other people who called him while he was driving? “How’d you know it was me if you weren’t checking your phone while driving?”
“My phone is hooked to my car, and instead of ringing, the car announces who is calling. When it said your name, I pulled over. Do you have work tomorrow?”
“I’ll be doing my second job,” I admitted. “But I should be able to make the time to see you about the contract and that job offer.”
“When was the last time you had a day off? An actual day off, not one where you worked a second job.”
Something about Wayne’s tone annoyed me, as though he implied I hadn’t been able to accomplish enough with just one job. Growling might reveal my secret. I took a few calming breaths so I wouldn’t expose my second nature. “It’s been a while.”
“I can promise you’ll be able to afford all of your bills in addition to paying your rent on normal working hours with the arrangement I’m bringing you tomorrow. I’ll have to talk to someone about realistic income figures. It seems my version of reality is greatly different from yours.”
“Well, you can afford to buy out entire apartment complexes. I can barely afford my apartment.”
“And you can only afford your apartment because you’re working the equivalent of three or four jobs,” he replied.
Ouch. While accurate, did he have to say it? “New York isn’t cheap.”
“No, it’s really not. And while I do well enough at my businesses, I’m by no means one of the wealthier men in the city.”
“Says you, who can buy an entire apartment complex, tear it down, and turn it into what?”
“A skyscraper,” he confessed. “The building of the skyscraper will make my financial situation interesting for the next few years.”
I stared at my apartment, wondering how the building could possibly become a skyscraper. “The building is too small to be a skyscraper, isn’t it?”
“I own the entire block except for your unit,” Wayne confessed.
Wow. “I’m costing you millions, aren’t I?”
“The project will cost more than a billion dollars to complete. Fortunately, I am wise and anticipated your stubborn pride. Construction on the skyscraper isn’t scheduled to begin for another six months, as I figured it would take that long to get you to leave that apartment. When it’s done, I’ll be offering a mix of luxury and standard commercial stores and offices. The first five floors will be a mall complex for retailers. The rest will be offices.”
“A five-story mall? Here?” I demanded.
“Yes, there. There’s a strong market for it. I have tenants for half of the building already.”
“I’m expecting you to add at least one extra incentive as a reward for successfully disrupting your plans to take over the world for as long as I have.”
Wayne chuckled. “I will do so, and I will flag it so you know what prize you have earned. So, you’ll deal?”
“I’m still going to make you wait a week unless you offer me a really excellent incentive tomorrow.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with. It would be excellent if I could move my construction plans forward.”
I bet. Hopefully, a three-day vacation wouldn’t screw up too many of his plans. “Expect my call sometime after noon tomorrow.”
“I shall. Any idea where we’ll meet?”
“It depends on where my second job takes me,” I admitted. “Send me the base contract as soon as you can. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Hanging up on the man made my night. Then, as I’d need a lot of energy to deal with taming a single male wolf, I rampaged on my salads.
I could afford it for a rare change.
The contract from Wayne counted as both heaven and hell, and it amazed me how seriously he’d taken my financial situation. He’d gone from a questionable year of survival to five years of luxury, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out the catch beyond not being able to see my new living accommodations before signing.
In good news, the favorable nature of the contract gave me a lot of wiggle room in terms of questions, which took me an hour to write into a notebook to help my cause—and create the illusion I meant to meet with him about the contract rather than kidnap him.
After seeing the contract, I’d get my hands dirty, sign before kidnapping him, and enjoy the ride.
I had issues.
Having a good home for five years with an angry landlord would be one of those issues, and I’d love gloating over Wayne for being kidnapped by a woman he believed to be a regular human. My virus would love me forever, as she wanted nothing more than to spend a great deal of time with the wolf, and she’d take anything she could get.
As my bounty authorized me to make use of two potent and rather illegal substances, I had to head to the main Manhattan headquarters to receive final authorization for the job and take a two-hour course on how to administer both drugs. The influencer, which I would deliver through either a needle, a dart, or a powder added to his food or drink, would ensure his obedience and turn him into the equivalent of my slave. As the job required me to take him out of New York for three days, they gave me enough to last for four days. Then, because life could go my way sometimes, I was given top-grade pixie dust so he’d be happy about his stay with me.
The instructor had a sense of humor and could do math as well as I could; he gave me a few extra doses on a prescription under my name, told me to have fun with my new male, and had me sign off on the drugs and confirm I would be beginning my work as soon as possible.
Then, as a sign that somebody truly loved me and wanted me to be happy, he gave me an exemption card stating my ban on pixie dust was waived for a period of two weeks and issued a prescription so I could acquire pixie dust at any authorized vendor.
The CDC wanted me to have Wayne in my possession and onto the mainland by nightfall. They didn’t even mind if I kept him in the state as long as I removed him from Manhattan and Long Island for three days starting at midnight.
If it took unleashing the cuddle bug menace to accomplish my job, they’d look the other way. As long as I kept my cuddling activities limited to other lycanthropes, specifically Wayne Barnes, I could enjoy pixie dust without consequence.
While Wayne would get the top-grade stuff, my vials were a far lower grade, not that I needed the good stuff to become a snuggling fiend.
Grinning over my good fortune, I used the CDC’s phone to call my boss, as he would have a hard time refusing my request to take some time off when calling from a CDC number.
Once I took a few extra days off work, I considered my options. As Wayne had business operations in Manhattan as well as Long Island, I headed to Central Park, found a place to park near a cafe, and made use of a nearby hotel’s phone to call Wayne.
“Hello?” Wayne answered, his tone puzzled.
“It’s Joyce. As I don’t have a cell phone, I am calling you from a hotel. Can you meet me at Central Park? It’s a
nice day, and I had an appointment in Manhattan today. I’m done with my morning work, so I have a few hours before I have to go back to work.”
“Where in the park?”
“Are you going to drive or take a cab?” I asked.
“I’m going to cab, as I would rather not give myself a stroke dealing with traffic today. I’ll pay someone to deal with the traffic for me.”
Excellent. “Meet me near the Met. We can walk to a cafe to talk or walk into the park.”
“I didn’t take you to be the outdoorsy type,” Wayne confessed.
“That’s because you take me to be the workaholic type. In good news, while I’m the workaholic type, I’m also the outdoorsy type.” My virus demanded time outdoors, and she got pissy when life became all work and no play.
After an entire morning without the perfume, she was ready to romp, and Wayne’s voice alone tripped her trigger and made her want to banner her tail and play coy with him.
If I let her have her way, I’d be negotiating for the man rather than for an apartment. I waited for Wayne’s answer, smiling at the odd turn my life had taken.
The next three days would be fun, although I expected I’d make an enemy of him before it was over.
“This is true. I’ll meet you at the Met. Have you been through it before?”
“No,” I admitted.
“What time do you have to be at your job?”
“It depends on the client, but not until late. I might be able to reschedule.” In reality, he was my client, I’d be keeping him as late as I wanted, and my virus couldn’t be happier about the situation. “I’ll take care of it if you want to have extra time.”
“The Met makes a good place to talk business, and then we can, if you’re interested, potentially sign the paperwork?”
“You can bring the paperwork, and I’ll even consider signing it.”