“That’s good,” Megan said. “Post it all over the place. Oh, but can you-”
“Headhunt on Linkedin?” Bryan said. “Yes, I can.”
“Thank you,” Megan said, saluting him with a wave of her latte. “Okay. And back I go. It’s time to kiss some vendor ass. I wore my strawberry lip gloss and everything.”
Lane followed her to her office and once inside, she closed Megan’s door and turned to look at her, crossing her arms. “You gotta stop doing that.”
“Doing what?” Megan said, and once again realizing she did not have a desk chair, she sat on the desk as she drank her coffee. Her eyes strayed to her laptop.
“You delegate something to somebody and then you go help them do it,” Lane said. “You’re the alpha!”
“Sssh!” Megan’s eyes flashed and she glanced around through the glass walls of her office. Nobody seemed alarmed. “You want to not say things like ‘alpha’ at the office?”
Lane snorted and whispered, “I don’t think any humans are going to hear that and assume we’re fox shifters.”
“Still,” Megan muttered.
“My point is, you’re the CEO,” Lane said.
“Not officially. Yet.”
“You are the CEO,” Lane said again. “This is your baby and you’re the boss. But that means you gotta let people work for you. You can’t do everything yourself.”
“Okay, okay,” Megan sighed, before smiling at her best friend. “Got it. Thank you for your input.”
“Sure thing.” Lane folded her hands in front of her and stood there silently until Megan shook her head and shrugged.
“What?” Megan said.
“I haven’t seen you since last night,” Lane said. “How did the date go? Dan, right?”
“Ugh.” Megan scrunched up her nose at the thought of the disastrous date she’d wanted to forget while she was still in the middle of it. “ Dan. Ech. What a drip.”
“No good, huh?” Lane said.
Megan ran a hand through her hair, tugging on a lock for a moment. “Alright look, I’m not saying there aren’t any good, smart, interesting guys who would make a great mate for me and are also fox shifters. I’m just saying, I’ve been on a gazillion dates with fox shifter guys and I haven’t met one yet.”
“Well, you’re very selective,” Lane said.
“I am not,” Megan said, pointing a finger at her friend. “I just have standards. Very reasonable standards. Like, I need to be able to hold a conversation with the guy. Dan just stared at me. And when he did talk, it was all about how sometimes he wakes up with dirt in weird parts of his body after shifting.”
“Ew.” Lane made a face.
“I know. It wasn’t exactly sexy. Also, like...they’re just… I like a little give and take! I like somebody who lets me take charge sometimes but can also take charge themselves! Shifter guys either want to be an alpha to their mate all the time or they’re weak as hell. What is up with that?”
“We’re gonna find you somebody,” Lane said. She had that look on her face she always got when she was very determined. “If it kills us. And it might!”
“Your interest in my love life is both sweet and a little irritating,” Megan said. “Besides, I wouldn’t have time for a relationship even if I did meet somebody.” She closed her laptop and hugged it to her chest. “This app is my mate.”
“Yeah, well this app isn’t gonna keep you warm in bed at night,” Lane said.
“Success would keep me very warm at night.”
“Fine, fine, fine,” Lane said. “But if I get a lead on somebody for you, I’m taking it on your behalf.”
“Great,” Megan said, smiling a little. More sweet than irritating, she supposed. “But if all the fox guys keep disappointing me, I’m switching to humans.”
“Yikes.”
“Shhh. That’s not the end of the world.”
“Long as it’s not a wolf, I guess,” Lane said lightly.
Megan burst out laughing at that, beaming up at her friend now. “Oh my God, can you imagine? The clan would love that.”
“Mmm.World War Three.” Lane nodded and said, “Okay. I’ll leave you alone. Just let me know when you’ve done all your vendor lists and we’ll…” She locked her fingers together and wiggled them.
“Yep.” She watched Lane go and thought for the tenth time that morning that she really needed a desk chair. “BRYAN!”
Bryan appeared almost supernaturally quick and said, “Yeah, boss?”
“I need a desk chair like I need air,” Megan said slowly.
“Yep. I think a delivery came in last night. I’ll go hunt one down,” Bryan muttered, drifting back out of her office.
Okay, Megan said to herself. I will sit here on this desk. And let someone get something for me. Without doing it for them. She worried briefly that Bryan would pick out one of the secondhand chairs they’d used temporarily before the good ones started arriving and sighed, realizing she was doing it again. She focussed on her emails and minutes later, Bryan appeared again, this time rolling in one of the good chairs. “Thanks,” Megan said, yet again.
“You’re welcome, boss,” Bryan said happily. “Anything else?”
“I think I’m good for now,” Megan said. “As you were.”
By two o’clock in the afternoon, there were already several contenders for the position of staffing manager. Megan bit her tongue and took a deep breath, determined to trust Bryan with the hiring responsibilities. He was capable and smart and he understood the corporate attitude of WellDrop. He knew the kind of vibe they wanted and the devotion to the work that Megan believed in.
She tried to follow Lane’s advice and only concentrate on her own work, which at this stage involved sweet-talking a lot of vendors so they would agree to partner up with WellDrop and have their self-care goods and services delivered.
The rest of the day was a blur of activity and Megan didn’t get home until ten. The next evening, Bryan had already narrowed it down to a bunch of contenders, having performed several Skype interviews. He emailed the resumes and sent over his notes on each candidate and even though she’d promised not to step in, Megan figured it couldn’t hurt to take a look and see who she liked for the job.
“These are all terrible!” Megan had already emailed her way through more of her vendor contacts for distribution deals and passed on the firm yeses on to the legal team to start the paperwork. That had given her plenty of time to take a look at Bryan’s potential hires.
Megan was not pleased.
Bryan seemed to shrink in his seat as Megan loomed over him in her platform heels -since broken in quite nicely from hiking up the damn hill to the building the last couple mornings.
“What’s wrong with them?” He asked, sounding like a hurt puppy.
“They’re just…” Megan gestured helplessly with her arms. “Not...good.”
“Thanks for the constructive feedback?” Bryan said.
“They’re just a little too middling,” Megan said. “For the caliber of talent we’re going for. I want the best. You want the best too. Right?”
“Yeah!” Bryan nodded. “Okay. I’ll keep looking.”
“Okay,” Megan said with a firm nod. “We’ll find ‘em, then. I believe in you. Just keep me in the loop.”
“Will do, boss!” Bryan said, chipper as ever. The kid was so sensitive.
Megan smiled tightly and, feeling the need for more caffeine, headed to the area of the office that had been set up before anything else because, as Megan fervently believed, it was by far the most important thing.
“Espresso,” she whispered, smiling to herself as she whipped up a latte. She still liked them best from the coffee joint down the street, but she was getting pretty good at making them. She poured her latte, sweetened it and took a long sip. “Ah, that’s the stuff.”
“Is it good?” Jan asked. Her leashmate and close friend, the most bubbly of the fox shifters, appeared. Her eyes were bright, the swath of blue and silver
eyeshadow she always wore making them seem only brighter under the curtain of her long brown hair. “I haven’t tried the espresso machine yet.”
“Yeah, I’ll make you one.” Megan went to work again, only too happy to use her new barista skills. When she was done, she handed over the latte, and feeling a cramp in her leg she leaned down to rub her calf. “God, I’ve been so stiff. Not used to walking up this hill from the street, I guess.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s that!” Jan said, fluttering her eyelashes. She leaned and quietly said, “When’s the last time we went for a run? You know what I mean?”
“Oh man,” Megan muttered. “I don’t even know.”
“It’s important to make time for that stuff,” Jan said. “Or ya’ know, we’ll get all…” She wiggled her nose. “Foxy.”
“This weekend,” Megan said firmly. “All four of us. We’ll make the time for it. Go on a run up at Muir. I don’t care how busy we are.”
“Yeah?” Jan bounced on her toes. “Sounds good! I’ll tell the others.”
“Good,” Megan said to herself. She found herself suddenly feeling lighter even at the thought of it. A nice run with her leashmates in the woods, she thought. All she had to do first was survive the week.
Chapter Two: Delilah
“C’mon man,” Delilah said, her mouth full of sourdough bread. She watched through the office window, squinting at Bryan, the well-meaning human who was completely failing to hire Gunner Dylan as WellDrop’s new staffing manager. “I put the guy right in front of you.”
Her job, as an angelic agent for the Department of Soul Matery, was to pair up the destined beings, in this case, a fox shifter and a wolf shifter. The challenge was making it happen without being too intrusive about it. She had to be a kind of invisible agent of matchmaking. She couldn’t just go up to them and tell them they were made for each other. That would have been a lot easier. But humans always wanted to do the opposite of what you told them to anyway.
On her last mission, Delilah had gotten in a little bit of hot water for interacting too directly with her targets. She wasn’t exactly precious about rules generally. But if possible, she supposed she would try not to get on the wrong side of the Council of Three, the powers that oversaw the Angelic Dimension.
But sometimes, it was a real pain in the ass.
She’d thought she’d planted the perfect seed for Bryan to become the catalyst for Gunner meeting Megan. He’d already come across Gunner’s resume on LinkedIn and hovered over it. So when he’d looked away, Delilah had made it a little splashier, using her Oracle device. The Oracle could control things and had the potential to affect reality. That was assuming the Council of Three felt like bestowing enough power upon her and Oracle wasn’t deciding to break down. So far though, Oracle had held up pretty well.
Delilah examined Gunner’s LinkedIn profile, displayed across her Oracle. She could change it however she wanted. She thought she’d done a pretty good job. But his resume and background were already perfect for WellDrop’s needs. Bryan just had to find it first.
According to Delilah’s dossier on Gunner Dylan, he currently worked for Likt, a struggling social media app where he made an obscene amount of money and was miserable. He wanted to leave but he hadn’t started looking yet. Delilah was confident that if WellDrop made a solid offer, Gunner would take it, even if it was for much less money.
“Oh!” Quickly, she typed in some nice sounding comments in Gunner’s description to make it seem as if he cared deeply about the culture of self-care and wellness.
Which, presumably, he didn’t. At least not as far as Delilah knew.
But according to the profile Delilah had just tweaked, he sure did.
She watched now through the window as Bryan turned his head back to the laptop screen and read the profile.
“Hey,” he said, and his eyes got wider. “Heeeey! This guy’s perfect!”
She watched Bryan pound away on his keyboard and she smirked to herself when she saw that Gunner responded to him immediately. She could see the email come in on his laptop.
“Think I got it!” Bryan said, hopping to his feet. He clapped his hands and pumped his fists. “Think I got it! Whoo!”
“Okay, calm down, sport,” Delilah muttered, as she watched him through the window. “Clearly, I got it.”
Chapter Three: Gunner
“I...hate...this...job.” Gunner tapped his pen on his desk in time to his words. He smacked his lips and looked through the open door of his office out at the huge bullpen of cubicles. The place was noisier even than usual these days. It was noisy, it was claustrophobic and it was starting to make him want to jump out a window.
He saw his boss, the CEO, walking by and muttered, “Fuck you.” The assistant to the CEO followed him and Gunner muttered, “And fuck you too.”
He’d worked at Likt for three years. When he’d started, it had been a booming photo sharing app with some video. He hadn’t thought it was particularly special, but for some reason, it had taken off. He’d been more than happy to hop on board and get paid six figures just to hire people and manage staffing issues.
Now, there was a glitch every week and the developers kept making weird changes that were pissing off the users. Gunner didn’t know why and he didn’t really care. Even the money was not enough to make him want to stick around, not when his boss loved to blame their high turnover in development on his supposed lack of staff management skills.
Two years ago, the company had gone public. Now it was tanking. It was right on the brink of being bought by a bigger media company which would inevitably cannibalize it. He needed to get out while he still could. He knew that. He was just bad at summing up the will to go look for something new. Everyone he saw around Silicon Valley these days either seemed nuts or incompetent or miserable. It would be nice to find some fresh-eyed people who aren’t jaded yet, he thought.
It would be nice if some of them were beautiful women.
It had been a while.
A gorgeous fellow wolf shifter from his clan had dumped him a year ago. He’d thought they were destined to be together forever, mates for life. Apparently not. She’d run off with a human who owned a casino out in Vegas. It had not made him feel great. And he was normally very confident. Thus, there had been nobody significant since then, only a few dates and some random women in his bed to help him process and move on from the break-up.
The job was stressing him out so much, he’d hardly slept the night before. He got up to fetch some coffee from the breakroom. The only virtue of working at Likt anymore was the quality of the coffee. When he returned, he sat in his big, leather desk chair and cradled his mug in his hands. He needed to go on a run. He’d let work swallow him up, always trying to put out fires before they started and that was nearly impossible. He hadn’t made much time for himself lately and that meant no time for shifting. The wolf inside was getting restless. He well knew that a restless wolf soon became an angry wolf. He promised himself he’d go running in the woods on Friday night and stretch his legs.
Gunner was blazing through his backlog of emails, resolving staffing issues one message at a time. When he opened the letter from Bryan, he hadn’t bothered to read the subject line or notice the sender. For a moment, he didn’t know what he was looking at. Then suddenly he was reading about a start-up that delivered chamomile tea and slipper socks and massages to people on demand. His instinct was to dismiss the thing. Start-ups were a dime a dozen. But something kept him reading. It was as if a little voice in his head was telling him this was the answer. Gunner banged out a reply and said he wouldn’t mind hearing more. They went back and forth a little bit. Bryan sounded like he was very eager to hire somebody. The start-up sounded like it was headed in a good direction. He asked Gunner if he was interested in scheduling a Skype interview. Gunner, who always rather enjoyed job interviews, figured it couldn’t hurt if nothing else. The guy was practically falling all over himself to entice Gunner to WellDrop. At best, it wou
ld be a nice confidence boost to have somebody tell him he was great for an hour.
Gunner found work a little less stressful over the next couple of days. The bulk of his brain power was given over to imagining a new job. There was still every chance that WellDrop was just another garbage start-up run by incompetent people that would tank inside a few months. But he wasn’t worried about being duped. He was pretty good at reading that energy on Silicon Valley types. He’d see it all over Bryan’s face during the Skype interview. Yet, until then, he could dream. So he let himself imagine happy people and beautiful women and maybe, just maybe, an espresso machine.
On Wednesday, Bryan interviewed him. Gunner knew he did well, he also knew that hiring was not Bryan’s forte and likely not in his job description. But that was to be expected. Staffing was always chaotic in the beginning. That was why they needed Gunner.
He did think it was strange that Bryan insisted Gunner had something on his LinkedIn profile about an intense interest in self-care and wellness. The last time Gunner had even heard the term “self-care” he was pretty sure he’d rolled his eyes. But he wasn’t going to correct Bryan if he was getting his profiles confused. Instead, he was confident and just funny enough to be charming. Bryan seemed charmed anyway. Gunner walked away from it feeling good. WellDrop was legit, Gunner was sure. He’d read it in Bryan’s intelligent but enthusiastic attitude.
The next couple of days crawled by. Gunner was starting to get excited about the prospect of WellDrop, if only because it was something new. Being a staffing manager was not the most exciting job in the world, but he enjoyed organizing people and if the people were happy about what they were doing every day, his job became more fun. He could tell that Bryan was a believer and that spoke well of the place. Even the term “self-care” was no longer making him roll his eyes. The anticipation made the hours trickle like molasses.
On Friday, Gunner left work early. His wolf was losing its little mind within him. He needed to go to the woods.
Starcrossed Shifters Page 2
