Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

E lliott's second day as the lion on loan was much less eventful than the first. The most exciting moment was early on when Dr. Kelly came by the enclosure, glared ferociously at him, and said, "I expect to see you after work," in a tone that he would ignore only if he didn't value his own life.

Otherwise, Aoife came by several times, but always leading a tour group, so she couldn't do more than smile at him through the glass-fronted enclosure. Elliott got up and paced around obligingly for her tour groups, although his lion complained about having to put so much effort in, and refused to engage with other visitors. On the other hand, it was willing to sleep in public, so at least people were getting their viewing of the lion on loan, even if said lion wasn't doing much.

Shortly before the park closed, he went into the den, shifted to human, and let himself out through the people door. It only took a few minutes to walk through the park to its business offices, and he met Aoife just before them, her expression nervous as she headed that way herself. Most of her worry fled, though, when she saw him, and to his joy, she came in for a hug and seemed to be reassured by it. "Ah, it's both of us getting given out to then, is it?"

Elliott hesitated. "I have no idea what ‘given out to' is, but I think so? Dr. Kelly made sure to stop by first thing in the morning so I could fret about it all day."

Aoife gave a grimacing laugh. "Me too, basically. Ah, well, it was nice working here while I did." She put her hand in Elliott's, and they climbed the short metal staircase into Dr. Kelly's office together.

The park director said, "Come in," sharply when they knocked, and scowled at them, jaw set, when they did. "You may sit."

It wasn't so much an invitation as an order, Elliott thought. There were separate chairs, or he never would have let go of Aoife's hand at all, but he had to as they sat. His lion, with great, calm confidence, said, We'll eat her if she's mean to our mate.

Elliott didn't know what kind of shifter Dr. Kelly was, but her human persona made him think she'd put up quite a fight. Hopefully it won't come to that.

" Bison-surfing ?" Dr. Kelly put ice into those two words.

Elliott's stomach sank. "Ah, you ah, you heard about that, huh?"

"What were you thinking ?" Dr. Kelly hissed. "Never mind that you could have been killed. You might have needed to shift in public, Elliott! We can't afford that kind of publicity!"

Aoife, audibly offended, said, "You'd rather he got killed than shifted in public? That would shut us down!"

"I'd rather none of it happened at all! I cannot tell you how lucky we are that there was no public there, except Aoife's tour group, who were apparently so involved in that child's tantrum that no one seems to have seen anything! The only people who can verify Elliott's indiscretion are the two employees who saw you riding a bison, Elliott!"

Dr. Kelly passed a hand over her face. "Fortunately, somehow, they seem to have accepted your absurd cover story. Circus acrobat, my…" She shook her head, either running out of words or choosing not to voice the ones she had available. "It's all over the park in terms of employees, but it appears that people either don't quite believe it or recognize that if it's true, it would be devastating to the park's safety record. There seems to be a general agreement that it will be discussed only amongst the employees, or not at all."

"Just like the disappearing elephants and orangutans," Aoife muttered. Dr. Kelly's eyebrows went up, and Aoife spread a hand. "Come on, Maureen. I'm not the only one sent spare by the short-term animal guests we have, but we all mostly try not to think about it, because it doesn't make any sense if we think about it. It's like there's some kind of obscuro spell on all of us so we don't really pay attention. And, I mean, you're shifters . Do you do other magic?"

"No," Elliott said when it became apparent that Dr. Kelly could only stare at his fated mate. "No, not like that. Our shifting doesn't video well, though, so…maybe there is some sort of obliviate thing going on."

"What," Dr. Kelly said faintly, "are you two on about?"

"You don't know what obliviate is?" Elliott hadn't thought Dr. Kelly was that old.

"It's just a spell to make people forget things," Aoife said, some of her tension dissolving into amusement. "Usually used against muggles. Or a notice-me-not spell," she said to Elliott.

He sniffed. "Fanon not canon."

Aoife straightened indignantly. "It's implied in canon, just not named!"

Elliott grinned broadly at her, and Dr. Kelly looked pained. "Oh. I see. Right." Then her eyebrows rose and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Perhaps you're right. Whatever the explanation, you're dead lucky, you two are. At least on that front." Her focus moved from Elliott to Aoife. "And then there's the matter of the grant."

Aoife winced apologetically, but also straightened, determined to defend herself or take her lumps, whichever had to be done. "I'm sorry, Dr. Kelly, but they were bloody awful. Entitled, spoiled, self-centered and rude. If I've lost the park the grant, I'll resign my position if that's what you'd like, but they were appalling ."

Dr. Kelly exhaled heavily. "Yesterday afternoon I received a scathing letter from ColCor outlining the exceptionally bad behavior of one of my employees, and the total lack of regret on the part of the corporation for not offering the Shamrock Safari Wildlife Park any funding now or in the foreseeable future."

"Ah, God." Aoife slumped, eyes closed.

Elliott's lion said, We must comfort our mate , in dismay, and Elliott fought down the urge to scoop her into a hug. She didn't need that right now, in front of her boss. She might need it as soon as they left the office, though.

"I'm so sorry, Dr. Kelly. I really will tender my resignation. I know how much we needed that money." Aoife pulled an unhappy smile together and sat up again. "I don't suppose they mentioned whether poor Doug and Graham's companies were getting the funding they needed? I'd hate to have painted them with the same brush I've wrecked the park with. Never mind that that didn't make sense as a sentence."

Dr. Kelly chuckled quietly. "I understood. And no, ColCor's correspondence didn't mention them. But I wasn't finished. This morning I received another letter."

Elliott could see Aoife bracing herself. "Go on, then," she said tensely. "I've already said I'll resign, so I don't see how it can be worse than that."

"You apparently had another person on the tour yesterday? Someone besides Elliott," Dr. Kelly said with a gimlet glare at Elliott himself. He made a motion of apology, but Dr. Kelly brought her attention back to Aoife, who nodded.

"A hippie girl. Woman. About my age. Her name was," and Aoife screwed her face up dubiously, "Kanvas. With a K. She flirted with Elliott." Amusement suddenly ran through Aoife. "And then with me, after I told Ms. Collins I wasn't going to put up with her nonsense."

"Well, evidently you made an impression." Dr. Kelly ran her tongue around her teeth like she'd gotten a strange taste in her mouth and wasn't sure how to dislodge it. "And evidently 'Kanvas' is Kanvasara Roth of the Rawth Industrial Cooperative," her eyebrows lifted, "of whom I'd never heard. So I looked them up."

She turned her computer screen to face them. A Wiki page was on the screen, detailing an international consortium whose subsidiaries included everything from food products to military industrial companies with a stop in entertainment, clothing, and housing. It was over a century old, and the family's money apparently went back generations before that.

"Jesus," Elliott said after a baffled moment of skimming the page. "They're one of the corporations that, like, owns the world."

"Including," Dr. Kelly said with a certain arch glee, "ColCor."

Elliott's lion, leaping to conclusions faster than Elliott himself could, roared, She ATE the weak queen! in delight.

Aoife, less prepared to make assumptions than the lion was, sat up straighter again, suddenly clutching the arms of her chair. "What does that mean ."

Dr. Kelly turned her screen back around, moved it to the side, and slide a piece of paper across her desk to Aoife. She and Elliott both scooted toward it, Aoife's hands actually shaking with nerves as she lifted the paper.

The old queen is enjoying this, the lion said accusatorially. Why doesn't she just use her words?!

Elliott muttered, Hush, as he leaned in, reading over Aoife's arm.

Dear Dr. Kelly, the letter read,

I enormously enjoyed my time at the Shamrock Safari Wildlife Park yesterday, and was particularly impressed with your employee Aoife Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher showed great presence of mind in unorthodox situations during my visit there, and dealt with recurring issues from unpleasant individual firmly, fairly, and with remarkable thoughtfulness toward others whose livelihoods could be affected, however unreasonably, by her actions.

My visit led me to understand that the Shamrock Safari park and places like it provide a critical element in worldwide conservation and education efforts. Furthermore, it showed me that the park's staff are dedicated, passionate advocates for not only the job at hand, but for generosity and moral clarity. I couldn't be happier with the day I spent at your facility, or with the people who are running it.

It is therefore my pleasure to offer the Shamrock Safari Wildlife Park an ongoing grant for the duration of my tenure as the head of charitable contributions at Rawth Industrial Cooperative. You will find the details on the following pages, and our foundation will be in touch with you soon.

Sincerely,

Kanvasara Roth

P.S. I wouldn't want it spread around, but rumor has it that Ms. Cindy Collins of ColCor is about to find herself up for job review, and that conditions of further employment may include her daughter attending an ordinary public school so the poor kid can have a chance at a normal life. She seems like a good kid, under it all, and just needs a chance to get out from that spoiled atmosphere she's in so she can thrive. To be honest, I should know. I'll keep an eye on her, and I think she'll be okay.

P. P. S. Doug and Graham's programs are safe. ;)

-KR

Aoife put the letter down and stared at Dr. Kelly. "Am I reading that right?"

Dr. Kelly cleared her throat. "The following pages outline an incredibly generous grant. Considerably beyond what we were hoping for from ColCor. Apparently you made an impression, Aoife. A good one," she added, just in case it needed clarifying. "I may have to give you that promotion to facilities manager after all."

A huge bloom of pride filled Elliott's chest as Aoife gave a quick, semi-hysterical giggle. "No, no, I'm good for right now. You wouldn't want to take me away from the job of charming billionaire heiresses into giving us loads of money, would you?"

"Evidently not," Dr. Kelly said dryly. "That's all, then. You two may go." She did catch Elliott with another one of those gimlet glares. " No more adventures. "

Elliott nodded hastily and waited until they were outside to scoop Aoife into a hug and spin her around. "You are a fierce lioness," he whispered into her hair. "And I hope to have lots of adventures with you, no matter what Dr. Kelly says."

Aoife laughed out loud. "I think she meant, in the park."

"Well, in that case." Elliott put Aoife down so they could walk down the steps together, then extravagantly gathered her hands in his and held them to his chest. "I know we've really only just met, and there's a lot of getting to know each other ahead of us, but Aoife, will you go on an adventure with me?"

"Yes. Absolutely. What kind of adventure?"

"Well, honestly, I was kind of hoping for dinner and a bus tour of Cork so I can find out all the touristy things that I want to go see?"

Aoife grinned, twining her fingers in his. "That's a pretty low-key adventure."

"Well, I do have another week of being the lion on loan before I can go on bigger adventures, and unless that grant from Kanvas includes three months of paid vacation, I assume you're going to still have to work, so, you know, maybe low-key is the way to go at first." Elliott beamed at her. "You were really incredible yesterday. You should be proud of yourself. I'm proud of you."

"I'm relieved." Aoife leaned against him, laughing breathlessly. "This is a lot better than being fired."

"It is." Elliott kissed her hair, still smiling. "Onward, to adventure?"

"Onward! Oh, damn , we're late for the train again—!" Aoife broke into a run, and Elliott bolted after her, toward a lifetime of adventure.