Page 6 of A Wolfe in the Woods

Then…her violet eyes suddenly twinkled, darting back and forth. I knew that look better than anyone.

“You know what…we’re gonna sue. You have a strong case. I’m calling Father.” She gasped, excitement lighting up her violet eyes, straightening. “And I’ll call theGazette! I know someone there. That hot vampire I used to date, with the glasses? I’ll give him an exclusive all about Skoll Corp’s toxic ‘work environment.’” She made air quotations with her fingers at those last words, then gave a mischievous grin and clapped her hands together in delight. “Oh, I can’t wait to see that pompous mutt squirm when he reads his own headline. And I’ll make sureeveryonereads it just in time for the Wings of Hope gala.”

“No!” I exclaimed. “My gods, Meg. No fathers. No headlines. No vampire exes. I’mfine.”

My friend pouted. “Well, the gala?—”

“I’ll cancel that blind date,” I threatened.

Meg pursed her lips, chuffing a sharp exhale from her nostrils, but it was half drowned out by my old AC jolting to life. She’d been trying to set me up for months. “Whatever.”

“I’m serious. Erik would have my head.”

“Fine,” Meg bit out. Then she flashed an impish grin. “But no one would havehis. Because I’ll spread a rumor so big that hehas a raging case of gonorrhea…you’d have to feign ignorance, of course.”

My laugh sounded like a wheeze from my dry throat. “He’s a Lycan—wouldn’t he be immune?”

“Not after I’m done with him,” Meg informed me, her tone delighted like we weren’t discussing STDs or wishing them on my boss. “I’ll send his sorry mutt ass back home limping with his tail between his legs.”

I fretted if Erik knew I was friends withtheMegan Banks. He would connect the rumors, surely. With the rate he was firing and hiring, I’d be a goner in no time.

“Hewascute though,” she chirped suddenly.

“Erik?” I asked, feeling mildly ill at the alarming image her words conjured in my head.

“No. The vampire,” Meg clarified. “At theGazette.”

“Billy?” I asked, relieved.

She nodded, then bumped my shoulder. “I mean, I know they’re known for their fangs, but that tongue…”

Those last words made her eyes roll upward, a wicked smile crossing her features. My deep laugh stole nearly the last of my energy.

“Gods,” I groaned, settling more deeply into the couch when I caught my breath. I glanced down at the bright neon orange strip around my wrist. My ER admittance band. I ripped it off, tossing it onto my coffee table. “What an awful day.”

“Look, I didn’t want to mention it before because this entire event has been awful—for the both of us—but I’m assuming…” She gave me a wary look, then continued with, “Presentation went well?”

A jolt of dread speared through me. The presentation. I’d almost managed to forget that part of my day, to bury it under everything else. But Meg, in her usual uncanny fashion, knewexactly when to land a gut punch when you thought you had one last breath to take. It hit harder than it should’ve.

“Icompletelybombed it.”

“Completely?” my friend asked, aghast confusion in her tone, her eyes widening. “But I don’t understand—you had it down. Your pitch was perfect on the phone last night. I’m a hard sell, and even I was convinced Skoll Corp was worth going into business with.”

“I wasn’t nervous with you. I woke up late and…and it was a disaster from the beginning! Nothing went right. And Erik…” The memory of his cigarette smoke returned to me, and I thought I would be sick. Saliva flooded my mouth, and I took a hasty sip of cool water from my glass before pressing it against my cheek. “Let’s just say he wasn’t happy. I have to take off a full week. Who knows if I’ll even have a job when I go back.”

“Wait, what?” Megan said, spreading her hands in front of her to stop me. “You’re actually off for a week?”

“Eldritchstronglysuggested it,” I said, my lips lifting at the corners in a humorless smile. My head dropped into my hands and I pressed the heel of my palms to my eyes. “A workplace injury is a company liability. HR’s words. They put me on a leave of absence. Apparently there was a big fight about it between Eldritch and Erik. Lots of people heard it.”

I could only imagine what had been said. To be a fly on that wall.

“But that’s great!” my best friend said as I raised my head again. “Finally, you get time off. So, why aren’t you happy?”

“Because it’ll only beworsewhen I get back,” I argued, my vision bleary when I looked over at her, scowling. “People call me at all hours of the day and night. You know this. Emails pile up. Meetings have to be rearranged, schedules need to be accommodated like one big jigsaw puzzle. And whenever Accounting or Acquisitions or Public Relations havean issue, who do you think they call?Me. Not Erik. I’m the little messenger to the big bad wolf, like a sacrificial lamb for slaughter because no one else wants to deal with him. And so itallfalls on me!”

I took in a deep breath, already feeling my blood pressure rising.

“I hope it is worse when you get back…because you can do his job, but he can’t do yours. It’ll show them how much they need you,” Meg grumbled, her manicured hand smoothing down my spine. “Deep breaths. You just got out of the hospital, not the frontlines of a war—though with Erik, I get the confusion.”