Chapter 1

“So, uh, Ms. Tanner – you’ve worked for Harvey Snow for the last two years, is that right?” Bishop tugged anxiously at his tie as he scanned the paper in front of him.

Mal sighed. Bishop was sweating through his suit jacket and he looked distinctly uncomfortable. Calling Bishop the strong, silent type was the understatement of the century. Grizzly shifters were known for their fierceness and their strength – not their interviewing abilities. Bishop was the muscle of their small security company and rarely spoke to their clients. He wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty and while Mal trusted him with his life, he didn’t trust that Bishop would get through the interview without passing out or throwing up.

He wished for the hundredth time that Kat was here to spearhead the interview. She was a jaguar shifter and while not that talkative herself, she at least had the ability to ask questions without looking like she was going to faint. She had led the other three interviews but a client emergency had forced her out of the office.

He forced himself to concentrate on the slender brunette sitting in front of them. She was a tiny little thing. He doubted she was taller than 5’4” and if she weighed a hundred pounds he would be surprised. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun high on her head and her light blue eyes sparkled with intelligence and humour. He wondered idly what she would look like with that dark hair drifting down her back and frowned to himself. The woman was not his type. One - she was human and two – as a wolf shifter, he preferred to take bigger, stronger women to his bed. This one looked like a strong wind would blow her down.

“That’s right.” She smiled at Bishop. “Harvey is a great boss.”

Bishop pulled at his tie again and cleared his throat. “So, uh, why are you leaving?”

“Just looking for something different.” She said cheerfully. “I suspect that working for your security firm would be more exciting and challenging than working for Harvey.”

“Uh, right.” Bishop gave him a frantic look and shuffled the papers in front of him as he searched for something else to say.

“Ms. Tanner?” Mal figured it was time to rescue Bishop.

She turned toward him and gave him a dazzling smile. “Call me Willow.”

“I’m going to be brutally honest. We’ve never hired a human to work for us before.”

“So why are you interviewing me?” She asked curiously.

“Harvey highly recommended you and frankly, we’re a bit desperate. Our last receptionist had to leave rather abruptly and we’ve been scrambling to find her replacement. Our clients are mostly paranormal and you’re going to see a great deal of oddity if you work for us.”

“I don’t mind.” She said immediately. “I enjoy odd things. It makes the world more interesting, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yes. I guess.” He cleared his throat.

“Harvey has paranormal clients, Mr. Burke. I’ve dealt with shifters and the fae, even a vampire.”

He smiled thinly at her. “Harvey’s clients are a bit more refined than ours.”

She laughed, a soft and low vibration that made his wolf sit up and take notice. “I imagine they are. Harvey is a rather high-profile lawyer. His fees alone generally bring in a higher class of people and paranormals.”

“Right.” He took the papers from Bishop’s sweaty hand, smoothing out the wrinkles as he scanned her resume.

“So, why don’t you tell us what you know about our firm?”

She sat up straighter and smiled again at Bishop. The bear shifter blushed and stared at the floor as she cleared her throat.

“You and Mr. King started the firm seven years ago. Three years ago, Ms. Frost became a partner in the firm. You provide personal security for a large portion of the paranormals in our city. Which, considering how small our city is, there are quite a few paranormals living here. Wouldn’t you agree Mr. Burke?”

He shrugged. “I never really thought about it.”

“I have. It’s very strange the amount of paranormals that have gravitated to our city. I think it’s because of the fault line.”

“Excuse me?” Mal frowned at her.

“The paranormal fault line. It lies directly across our city. Haven’t you heard of the fault line?” She asked.

He shook his head. “The fault line is a myth, Ms. Tanner.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” She said cheerfully. “I can assure you, Mr. Burke, that I am excellent at my job. I’m organized, great with clients, and I type over a hundred words a minute. I understand that your firm will require working strange hours from time to time and I have no problem with that.”

“Even if it means working in the middle of the night to accommodate a vampire or coming in at dawn for the fae?”

“Yes.” She said pertly. “I don’t need much sleep.”

“You must have an understanding husband.”

He could have punched himself. Why the hell had he said that? His wolf panted happily as Bishop gave him a disbelieving look.

“I’m not married.” She raised her hand and wiggled her bare ring finger at him. “I can do what I want, when I want, with whoever I want.”

An image of her in his bed, naked and on her hands and knees with his hand wrapped in that long dark hair, flashed through his head and he cleared his throat roughly. “Okay, well, thank you for coming in Ms. Tanner. We’ll get back to you in the next couple of days.”

She blinked in surprise at his abruptness before standing and smoothing her skirt. He eyed her slender legs before his gaze drifted to her small, perky breasts in her silk blouse. Beside him, Bishop stood and extended his massive hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Tanner.” He gave her a nervous smile and she shook his hand firmly before extending her hand to Mal.

He stood and shook her hand, ignoring the little shiver that went down his back at the touch of her soft hand, and nodded to her.

“Nice to meet you both. I look forward to hearing back from you.” She chirped.

She left the room and Bishop punched him in the arm when Mal stared at her tight ass.

“Stop it.” He hissed at Mal.

Mal growled lightly at him as the door shut and sank back into his chair. “We’re not hiring her.”

Bishop rolled his eyes. “The way you were eyeing her, she’ll never agree to work for us anyway. Jesus, Mal, I thought you were going to try and mate her right in front of me.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Mal grunted.

“Whatever, man.” Bishop took her resume and scanned it. “She’s actually the best candidate.”

“She’s human, Bishop. We were only interviewing her as a favour to Harvey, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember. I don’t know what the big deal is about hiring a human, anyway.”

“Because humans and paranormals don’t mix.” Mal grunted.

“Racist bastard.” Bishop snorted.

“I am not!” Mal protested. “I’m trying to protect the humans. A human always gets hurt when they start messing around with paranormals. You know that. It’s why that asshole senator tried to pass that law forbidding us to have anything to do with humans.”

“Don’t tell me you supported that?” Bishop glared at him.

“Of course I didn’t. It was a ridiculous law created by an actual goddamn racist. But you have to admit he has a point. Plenty of humans have been hurt or killed when dealing with paranormals and some of them are out for our blood.”

“You think I don’t know that? Protecting our kind against humans is 85% of our business, Mal.” Bishop replied. “It doesn’t mean all humans are against us.”

“I’m not saying that.” Mal answered patiently. “I’m just saying that hiring this human female is a bad idea.”

“Is it a bad idea because she’s human or a bad idea because you want to mate with her?” Bishop raised his eyebrows at him.

“I don’t want to mate with her!” Mal snapped.

“Sure you don’t.” Bishop pulled his tie off and gathered the resumes together. “I’m telling Kat we should hire her.”

“The Gorgon! What about the Gorgon? She was great.” Mal said a bit desperately.

“Are you kidding? She has the voice of a lumberjack and she wants ten dollars more an hour than we’re offering. And what happens the first time it’s the Gorgon mating period? Do you really want to find yourself pinned against your desk while she tears your clothes off and has her way with you?”

Mal paled. “We’ll just give her some time off during the mating period.”

Bishop snorted and headed toward his office. “I’m recommending the human, Mal, and you know Kat will agree with me. She didn’t like any of the other candidates. Just keep your paws to yourself, alright?”

* * *

“Thank you so much, Mr. King! You won’t regret hiring me, I promise.” Willow hung up the phone and grinned delightedly at her best friend.

“I got the job, Ava!”

“Congratulations!” Ava hugged her tightly. “I knew you’d get it. When do you start?”

“Next Monday. Oh Ava, I’m so happy! It’s finally my chance to work with actual paranormals. Mama would be so pleased for me.”

“She would be.” Ava agreed. “Now, tell me about your new job.”

“It’s just a reception position, I could probably do it in my sleep, but once I show them what I can do, I’m hoping they’ll move me further up in the company.” Willow replied.

“I’m sure they will. How big is the office?” Ava poured herself more tea and followed Willow into the small and cluttered living room. She moved a pile of laundry from the armchair and curled her curvy body into the seat.

Willow flopped down on the sofa, resting her feet on a pile of papers on the coffee table, and took a sip of tea. “There are three partners, Bishop King, Katelyn Frost, and Malcolm Burke. They have a dozen employees that are in and out of the office, according to Mr. King.”

She pulled absentmindedly on her lower lip. “I didn’t actually meet Ms. Frost, just Mr. King and Mr. Burke.”

“What were they like?”

“Well, Mr. King is a bear shifter and he was massive. He’s the biggest man I’ve ever met in my life, Ava! I wouldn’t be surprised if he was over seven feet tall. He seemed really nervous. I don’t think he’s very comfortable around women.”

“What about the other one?”

“Mr. Burke? He’s a wolf shifter and he seemed - I don’t know - grumpy. I’m pretty sure he didn’t like me.” She laughed.

“He doesn’t even know you.” Ava said indignantly.

“I know but you know how some paranormals are. They don’t like humans. He made sure to point out that they had never hired a human before. It’s why I was so surprised that – “

She stopped as her breath plumed out in front of her like smoke. Ava shivered and leaned back in the chair as Willow turned and stared behind her.

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” She said softly.

The room was growing steadily colder and Ava looked around anxiously. “Willow? Who is it?”

Willow shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t talk to me.”

Ava clutched her tea mug and stared at the corner that Willow was looking into. “That’s weird.”

“Yep, it is.” Willow said cheerfully. She stood and approached the corner, holding her hands out in a friendly manner. “Will you at least tell me your name? Don’t be shy.”

Ava watched as Willow inched closer. “I want to help you. Let me – no! Don’t go!”

She sighed discouragingly and turned around. “He’s gone.”

The room was warming up again and Ava shivered before curling deeper into the chair. “God, I hate it when that happens.”

Willow grinned. “I love it.”

“I know you do. You’re a weirdo.”

“Oh c’mon, Ava. It’s not a bad thing. Think of how many spirits I’ve helped cross to the other side. They’re hurting and I can help them. How is that bad?”

“It’s not bad. It’s just creepy.” Ava replied firmly. “And what happens when you run into a not-so-nice spirit?”

“I’ve been seeing the dead for twenty-four years and not once have they ever been malicious or evil.” Willow laughed.

Ava shook her head. “What about that girl two years ago? She didn’t seem so nice.”

“Courtney? She was perfectly nice!”

“She broke every dish in your house, Willow!”

“She was just misunderstood, that’s all. She was angry and upset and she didn’t know how to express it.”

“So she expressed it by shattering all of your dishes?”

“Hey, you’d be angry too if your boyfriend cheated on you with your mother.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I’d need to have a boyfriend for that to be a possibility and with a body like this, we both know that’s not going to happen.”

“Oh hush, Ava. I hate it when you talk badly about yourself.” Willow frowned at her. “Besides, it has nothing to do with your body and everything to do with your self-confidence. You’re gorgeous and sweet, and you just need to get over this ridiculous idea that all men want a skinny stick in the sack.”

“Says the girl who wears a size two.” Ava muttered.

Willow snorted. “I’d gladly take your curves.” She grabbed her small breasts and gave them a shake. “You think these little molehills are grabbing any man’s attention? I’d kill to have your mountains.”

Ava blushed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, and my carrot coloured hair and pale, freckle-covered skin.”

Willow laughed. “I only wish I could pull off red hair. Now, let’s go shopping. I need a couple new outfits for my new job.”

* * *

“Willow and the Wolf” will be available at www.smashwords.com in May of 2015.

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