My Shifter Boss

 *****

Lucy hurried in to the Guard’s headquarters. She was more than ten minutes early, but she rushed anyway. Being late was one of her biggest pet peeves, and besides, she still needed to impress her future boss. She checked her reflection one last time in the elevator doors before stepping out and heading for the Head’s office.

He was waiting in the lobby for her, smiling. He shook her hand and ushered her into the office. “Welcome back, Lucy. I guess you’ve made your decision. I hope it’s in our favor?”

Lucy smiled at him as she sat in the cushioned chair across from him. “Yes sir. I’m here to let you know that I would love to take the job.”

The Head clapped his hands and rubbed them together in happiness. “Fantastic! I’ll have a contract drawn up for you to look over tomorrow. When can you start?”

“I work at a café near my apartment. I would like to give two weeks’ notice so I don’t put them in a bind,” Lucy explained. “Would that be all right?”

“I’ll do you one better. Start in three weeks. That way you’ll have time to move.” The Head grinned knowingly at her, as a father would who knew her secret.

Lucy stared at him mock suspiciously. “Move?”

The Head chuckled. “Nathan stopped by earlier. We’re very close, Nathan and I, almost like father and son.”

Lucy smiled. “I knew he had a lot of respect for you. I’m glad he has someone to confide in.”

“We’ve been working closely together for years. I want him to take this job when I retire,” the Head told her.

Lucy’s brow furrowed. “I think he likes the position he’s in, sir.”

The Head nodded. “I knew you were perfect for him. You’re a truth-teller.”

“I do try. I hope that wasn’t offensive,” Lucy asked.

“Of course not. I need someone who is willing to tell me things I don’t want to hear,” the Head said. With a sigh, he added, “Marissa used to do it. Now I guess that will be part of your job.”

*****

On the detention floor, Marissa waited patiently in the nude so she could swiftly shift into her werecat form. Bobby and one of the guards would open the door at precisely 3:30, and they would shift together before putting their plan into action. The rest of the weres who would be joining her waited upstairs, and a dozen more waited out front to be let in by the security guard who had chosen her over the Head. All would be in were form by 3:35 and ready to attack.

Marissa rose to pace as she ran through the plan again in her mind. She had three weres who would help her get to the Head’s office. Bobby had encouraged the rumors of a werebear who was homeless and had managed to move into the zoo on the other side of town. This would require Nathan’s presence as he investigated, and it would take him all day. Marissa felt sure that he would be her biggest problem if he were here; she’d had to get rid of him for the entire day.

She stopped pacing as a thought occurred to her: Nathan would be the one who temporarily took over after the Head’s death. After her downfall, he was next in line, sort of like second in command. She smiled. He wouldn’t like that one bit, and he wouldn’t be good at it because it wasn’t his passion. Hopefully the Guard would be in chaos the way she planned after the Head’s death. She’d be able to create a new group and take over the city with ease.

The door clicked open precisely on time. Marissa looked up and smiled at Bobby, already in his were form. Behind him, a werebear stood, watching, waiting for her signal. She smiled as she shifted.

Time to begin.

*****

The Head and Lucy were laughing. He’d told her a story about Nathan, a story from his first year with the Guard as a young man. He had been assigned to the detention center, where most young weres began their careers with the Guard. A beautiful werebear had been detained for shifting in the middle of a mall while drunk. She had tricked him into believing she was sick and needed a doctor. He’d opened the door to check on her, she’d shifted before he could take one step, and she attacked him. He managed to shift and hold her off, but it had taken three weres to get her back in her cell.

Lucy shook her head. “He’ll be so mad at you for telling me about this! But if you have more, tell me!”

The Head waved his hand and laughed. “I saved him the trouble of telling you himself. That would have been more embarrassing, don’t you think?”

Lucy shrugged her shoulders, giggling anew. “Who knows?”

An alarm went off somewhere outside the Head’s office. They looked at each other. Lucy opened her mouth to ask him what was going on when his secretary burst through the door.

“Sir, we have to get you out of here! We’re under attack,” she screeched, rushing to his side after bolting the office door.

The Head had risen when she’d come in. He shook his head in bewilderment. “What? What do you mean, under attack?”

“I’m not sure what’s happening, but there is fighting on the ground floor, and someone tripped the alarm. I called down but got no response.”

Together, the three of them moved to the bank of security screens hidden behind a panel to the left of the Head’s desk. Werewolves, werebears, and werecats were fighting. Lucy watched, astonished at the violence on the black and white screens.

Breathlessly, she asked, “How do you tell who is fighting for the Guard and who isn’t?”

No one answered her. The secretary grabbed the Head’s arm. “Sir, we have to go. Look.” She pointed at one screen. A group of weres were fighting their way to the elevator. A werebear and werecat, obviously members of the Guard, fell under their onslaught, and three of them stepped into the elevator. The Head tapped a button and the view changed to the inside of the elevator, where one shifted into human form. She looked into the camera and smiled maliciously.

The Head growled deep in his throat. “Marissa.” She shifted back into her werecat form as the elevator doors opened.

Lucy’s eyes widened. She pulled out her phone and texted Nathan.

*****

Across town, Nathan’s phone buzzed. An hour ago, he had just about decided he’d been sent on a wild goose chase for the werebear who had decided to live in the zoo. He’d been to the zoo, but the bears there had been natural bears. But a zookeeper had stopped him when she heard him talking on the phone to one of their information people. She told him that a werebear had been living in the zoo, but the owner had kicked him out when he realized he wasn’t a real bear. She’d heard rumors that he was now living on the street, homeless. She gave him a couple of places to look for him, but so far he’d only been given more information that might lead to him.

He glanced at the homeless man who had told him he’d seen a bear just last night, a big purple one. “Would you excuse me, sir? I have to take this.” The man nodded, and Nathan used the excuse to walk back to his car. He read the text message.

Lucy: Get back to headquarters now! Marissa has broken out and has an army of weres. They are attacking!

Nathan had to read the lines twice before he clearly understood the meaning. He cursed and sent his reply that he’d be there as quickly as possible, but he was almost an hour away. By the time he got there, whatever damage Marissa planned, would be done and over.

He rushed to his car and jerked the door open. Behind him, the homeless man yelled at him to find that purple bear and put him back in the zoo. Nathan rolled his eyes; he was beginning to tire of these ridiculous assignments.

His tires screeched as he peeled out of the parking lot where he’d found the homeless man and his imaginary bear.