Page 2 of A Pact for Porter

“If only we’d been each other’s mate,” he muttered.

“It would have been extra hard because one of us would have had to pass on a great job.” I offered him smile. “But, if we’re both single when we turn thirty, maybe we should do that.”

“Pass on a job?” He sounded confused, and my cheeks heated at what I had suggested. We’d never been more than friends.

“No. Mate each other. We could do worse.”

“Yes we could.” He held out his hand. “Let’s shake on it.”

Chapter Two

Chip

Eight Years Later

If you had fur, feathers, or scales part of the time, you knew about Animals. It started as one club and now was three, maybe four locations. Animals was the end-all, be-all of places to go when you wanted to socialize with other shifters. Where else could you go and meet a dragon, a unicorn, a zebra, or, in my case, a capybara? Nowhere.

And as great as that all was, the parties and events they threw were chef’s kiss and the talk of all of shifter-kind. Some were invite-only. Some were ones you accidentally showed up for when you went out to grab a beer. Some were for charity, but all were considered the best of the best no matter the theme or the location—especially the one I’d just been hired to work at.

I’d been to two Animals, but never this one. My first was in Louisiana, called Crossroads although it was part of the chain, and it was fun. If I’d lived near there, I’d have gone back. My second Animals, I’d been to a few times. It was in San Diego and I’d had some jobs there over the years. Today would be my first time at the original Animals and I could hardly wait.

I was here for work, and it was a project unlike any I’d done before. A location in the desert meant that the climate wasn’t ideal for some of the beasts of the shifters who worked at the club. The owners wanted an indoor space for the employees who lived there to be able to get away in their animal form.

They already had an area and were apparently pretty wonderful from what I could tell, but they were ready for an upgrade. I never put in a bid so fast.

My task was to completely redo their current habitat, which had an indoor pool that was more like a lake. It didn’t have the smell of chlorine and was perfect for animals. I tried to be professional when Karma called to tell me I won the bid and asked when I could fly out to discuss the plans further. I was not successful. I squealed a lot. She just laughed and told me that I was welcome to use it during any stage of the project.

I was so taking her up on that.

There was nothing my capybara loved more than taking a nap in the water, and that wasn’t something I could do in most places. A pool? Yuck, too much chlorine. Plus, people seeing me float around would probably attract attention. Lakes were great with the exception of boats and fishermen. Unless I won the lottery and could buy an entire lake, the options were minimal.

This project was the highlight of my career. It was doing something I was passionate about, and they were paying me a lot. Knowing I was going to be able to relax in that space only made it better.

I headed straight there from the airport, leaving my suitcase in my rental car. I could check into the motel later. Karma met me at the door and took me in through the kitchen. The place was mammoth.

“Here’s the room we’re fixing now,” she said. “As you can see, the greenery is from the local landscape store and doesn’t really fit with the atmosphere we were going for. And a lot of it’s kinda dead. My mate loves to swim in here, but that’s more because of the water filtration we use than the actual space around it.”

My capybara could see why he loved the water. He was pushing at me to get out. What a pain in the ass.

On the flip side, I could see why the rest of it needed some serious updating. I took out my tablet and started taking notes and snapping pictures, and she described the vision that she had for the place. There was a lot of sun and shade, thanks to the way they did the windows in the ceiling, but it was definitely far too landscape-store-like than anything else.

“What’s on the other side of this wall?” I asked.

“Storage closet, extra tables and chairs, that kind of thing. Why? You think we need to expand?”

“I’m thinking if we can knock out the wall, depending upon how large the space is, we could morph from one habitat to another to another and get three solid habitats in here at once. It would make it more welcoming to your staff with its diversity.” It would take some creativity when it came to heating and cooling systems, but with the shape of the room and the ceilings being filled with windows, I has a feeling we could accomplish something great.

“Well, the budget is definitely flexible,” Karma said. “Let’s go into the office and sit down with my mate. We can go over the details, give you the specs, and then maybe we can get back together in a couple of days with a plan. Is that enough time?”

My brain was already going a mile a minute. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to sleep before this was done. When she said the budget was flexible, she meant it. Basically, her mate said that as long as I was accomplishing what needed to be accomplished, he wasn’t worried about the bottom line. In all my time doing this, I had never had someone give me carte blanche, not even in some of the brownstones in Chicago whose owners wanted courtyards fit for their status.

“Where are you staying?” Karma asked.

I pulled out my phone and showed her the motel I planned to stay at.

“If you don’t like it there, let me know. We do have an open apartment.”

“I think this will be fine for now.” I’d paid for a week already, so I wasn’t going to give that up. But if this went long-term, I might take her up on it.