Chapter 2

Two

What a fucking disaster. As first days stood, this one was probably the worst one Symon had encountered in his entire career.

He took the glass of wine Stan had poured for him as a pre-dinner relaxation technique and walked to the big picture window in the living area. He stared out at the mountains, a muscle jumping in his jaw.

He’d ruined a suit. Fired a mid-level manager who was no doubt going to cause trouble. And he’d met the most…fascinating omega he’d ever seen.

His phone rang, and he knew before he answered it who it was.

Rian.

He didn’t even have to guess.

“Hello, brother.”

“Sy,” Rian growled, “Quincy says you had a terrible day.”

“Quincy is an—” uncanny son of a bitch “—asshole.”

“Bah. He wanted me to check on you.”

“Why didn’t he call me himself?”

Rian chuckled, the sound like rusty gates opening. “Because he only gets one phone call, and I am the lawyer in the family?”

“Wait, what?” Quincy was in jail? “What the hell happened now?”

“Another fight. He apparently jumped over the bar and beat a man with a baseball bat for hitting an omega. He takes it personal.”

“He’ll have a way harder time in jail,” Symon pointed out. “Omegas tend to.”

Rian snorted. “One, I dare anyone. Two, he has your money and my brilliance. It’s never going to happen.”

“Yeah, yeah. This is just what I needed today, bro.” His brothers made him nuts. Like going to the nuthatch nuts.

“Oh, don’t worry about Quin. He’s a turd, but he knows his business.” Rian didn’t sound worried. “What about you?”

“I know my business.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Rian sighed dramatically. “Why are you having a shit day?”

He thought about just denying it all. But then he decided better to lay it on Rian than to bust out with something wolfy tomorrow at work. “First day was shit. Fired a manager for being a fucking bully. One of the bullied spilled an entire plate of food on my favorite suit?—”

“The gray silk?” Rian yelped. He shared Symon’s fashion sense.

“Yes! I have it at the cleaners, but?—”

“Oh, that is a travesty. Did you bite him, because that would be unfortunate.”

“No. No, it wasn’t his fault. And he’s…” Adorable. Sweet. Utterly confusing.

“Well, good. Not about the suit, of course, but the lack of biting. So, the new business, are you going to make it wildly successful for us?”

“I am. And I want it to innovate the whole scene.” Shifters needed to be able to feel secure. Dating was just a good place to start.

“Good deal. You let me know what you need from me. You want me to come growl at your mean manager? I know you don’t love growling in public.”

“No, he’s gone. Though he’s a mean-spirited ass. In fact, at least half the middle management at this company are fuckheads, which is not too surprising. The owner who sold to us was a pushover. Nice. Techie. He’s now designing the next app we’ll buy while he yachts around the world.”

“Yes, his lawyer was an ostrich. She wanted to have a torrid affair.”

“With you?” Rian and an ostrich. The picture made him snort. Then chuckle. Then laugh right out loud.

“I know!” Rian’s laughter made him chortle. “Can you imagine? Me and a dirty little bird? She wasn’t going to be able to handle what I have to offer.”

“No. Not unless you wanted her to bite you. Those birds can do damage.”

“No shit. She was…vexed.”

“Oh, damn.” That sent him off again, gales of laughter ripping him.

They might make him nuts, but they both could, in their own ways, make him happy.

“Anyway, you’re going to be fine,” Rian told him finally. “You know it. Get the worst day over at the first, and boom. The rest is gravy.”

“Mmm.”

“Gravy.”

They laughed again, but he sobered quickly. “Take care of Quin, huh?”

“I will.”

“Take money out of the shared account. As much as you need.”

“I will. I think I have an angle where I can get the guy to drop the charges.”

“You are the best lawyer on earth.”

“I know. Lunch a week from Thursday?”

“Text Stan. Tell him to put it on my schedule.”

“You do it. Love you, Sy. Ciao.”

“Love you, bye.”

When they hung up, he drank down the rest of his wine, then called out to Stan. “Going to take a shower before supper.” He’d changed at work, so now he wanted to get clean.

And if he relaxed himself enough to enjoy supper by jacking off to that worried little omega? Then so be it.

Are you okay?

He was in his sweatpants,in the dark, a box of pizza next to him on the sofa. He had a Coke and some reality show on TV, his laptop and an order from Insomnia cookies on the way.

He was fucking fabulous.

Fine, Isaac. You all right?

Yeah. Carl got fired.

His eyes widened when he saw the text.

Whaaaat?

What the hell? Carl had been deeply entrenched in management.

True fucking story. Like walked out by security fired. Can you believe it?

NO!

Oh, that was pretty damn cool. Carl was an asshole. He was surprised. The man was one hell of a salesperson and had gotten away with shit for years.

Yep. He had a meeting with the new boss, and apparently he threatened the guy

Isaac sent all kinds of emojis about mirth.

I got nothing. That is just wild, man.

A single cat could take down a wolf, even a strong one.

Well, as long as you’re cool

Isaac sent a little ice cube image.

Yeah.

Goddess, no.

He was going to have to work hard to never, ever be in the presence of that wolf again. Never. He was—intense. Sexual. Wolfy. Adrian would probably dream about him. But he didn’t need that in his life.

He was a lone wolf, dammit.

Want to play?

They had a few first-person shooters that they played together, and lord knew he didn’t want to work.

Fuck yeah.

Cool. Let’s do it.

They picked a game, and he grabbed his controller, joining in immediately. This was simple. Easy. And it kept him from thinking.

He sighed softly, rolled his shoulders. He needed to get his shit together. He loved his job. Shiftr.com was to the lycan community as Facebook, Tindr, and Instagram was to the humans.

He’d been working with his team for months to rework the code to make the interface faster, easier, more logical. More end-user friendly. And they were doing amazing things.

Why they had to sell out now…

Rabbits were too easy to freak out. Seriously. Not cool.

He was just going to have to suck it up and?—

His phone rang, making him jump a foot off the couch. He landed hard and looked at the phone, but he didn’t know the number. It was work related, though, because it just said Shiftr Inc. on the caller info.

“Dammit.” He picked up with a frown. “’lo?”

“Adrian Blaidd?”

“This is he. Who is this?” He never just said yes. He was in tech; he knew better.

“This is Symon Lukos. I’m sorry to call after work hours, but it took a while for my new assistant to get me your phone number.”

“Oh. I…” Fuck, he was fired, wasn’t he? “I’m so sorry about your suit. Honest.”

“No, no. Don’t worry about it. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I don’t tolerate the sort of behavior you endured today.”

“I—I couldn’t let anyone hurt Isaac. He’s little.”

“He is. I appreciate your initiative. I will call him as well. But I wanted to let you know, I looked into what your team is doing, and I’m very impressed.”

“You are?” Oh. Oh, thank the moon. “We love what we do, you know? We really do.”

Not fired. So not fired.

“I can tell. The interface is so much smoother with this rollout.”

Wow. That was more tech speak than he’d expected from the new boss, too, and he warmed to it. “We worked hard on the flow. And the algorithms. We wanted people to be able to see what they want, not just random posts.”

“That’s obvious. I’ve spent a long time with the software, putting it through its paces.”

“That’s cool. I mean, I’m really glad.” Shit, he just needed to shut up. He was about to say that his old boss had written the original software and then just kind of stopped caring. But that was trash talk, and not professional. “We love it. Please don’t shut it down.”

Oh fuck.

Shut up.

“I have no intention of it. I think we can expand it without bloating it. And hone it in at the same time.”

“Good. Good. I know I have lots of ideas. Lots of them.” He bounced a little on the sofa. “I meant, my manager does.”

“Helene is in no danger, Adrian. I promise. She’s a good manager and a shrewd businessperson.”

“Oh. Good.” Whew. “Well, I really appreciate it. She rocks, and she’s great to work for.”

Dude, are you okay?

Fine. THE BOSS IS CALLING ME

Helene?

The new guy

He didn’t even remember the guy’s name… Symon?

Holy shitballs. Are you fired?

No.

“At any rate, thank you for your hard work and your bravery.”

“Sure.” What else did he say?

“Good night, Adrian.” Something about the way the boss said his name made him shiver.

“Um. Night.”

Whoa.

Whoa, that was…

A little perverse, if he was honest.

He texted Isaac one more time.

He’s calling you next. I’m gonna go take a shower.

OMG. Calling me? I’m logging off. BYE!

Bye

He put his controller away and took the pizza leftovers to the fridge. Cookies. Hmm. He should wait for them to?—

The doorbell rang, and he laughed. Right. Cookies, then a shower. A guy had to have priorities.