Chapter 6 Kill Him with Kindness
KILL HIM WITH KINDNESS
RAYA
I stride into the office with my head held high, shoulders back, and a pep in my step. Alex is already seated at their desk next to mine, but Asher and Kendall aren’t in yet.
“Morning,” I say, smiling at my new coworker and hoping we can get some more bonding time in today. I always feel more comfortable when I know those around me a little better.
“Hey, how’d the rest of your first day go?” Alex asks, turning their attention to me.
“Oh, yeah, it was good!” I reply, perhaps laying the cheer on a bit too thick, but Alex doesn’t seem to notice. They flick a lock of dark hair out of their eyes.
“Nice. Well if you have any questions, I’m happy to help. I know it can be stressful settling into a new job and trying to find your place.”
“Thanks, that means a lot. Asher showed me around yesterday, but besides that I haven’t gotten a chance to do much yet, so I don’t even know what questions I might have.”
“No worries, you’ll be fine. Everyone’s pretty nice here and no one will mind if it takes you a minute to catch up on things.
” Alex smiles in encouragement, which I return before switching focus to my laptop, reminding myself not to go anywhere with the blood sucking, evil vampire if I can avoid it.
I settle in, checking my email and clicking through the first of the onboarding documents.
Kendall still hasn’t shown up yet when the vampire walks in, striding through the office like he owns the place.
Asher drops a sleek leather bag into the bottom drawer of his desk, then turns my direction, eyeing me up and down with an impassive expression.
“You’re with me, let’s go," Asher says with a chin jerk, blue eyes piercing mine as I blink up at him.
“I, sorry, what?” I stammer, trying not to feel stupid, but wondering what I missed.
“You’ve been assigned to shadow me today since we’ll be working on the Alpha-Med account together.
We have a meeting with the team to go over our plans in…
” he pauses to fling his arm out then pulls his exposed wrist up in front of him, checking his watch with a frown, “two minutes. Best not to be late on your second day.”
With that, he turns on his heel and starts walking out.
I frantically spin to Alex, a lump in my throat at my safety plan going sideways already, but Alex shrugs and tilts their head for me to follow him.
I jump up from my seat and take two steps before turning back around, stumbling into my desk as I search for a pen and notepad to take notes, then slamming the top drawer closed when I find one and rushing out after him.
I firmly believe people with long legs should be shackled when walking in public with people who have shorter legs.
It’s really not fair how Asher can appear to be casually strolling down the hallway toward the elevator while simultaneously moving at the speed of light.
I practically sprint to catch up with him, breath puffing in and out of my lungs when I stagger into the elevator and straighten my skirt, thankful he held the door for me, but also slightly concerned about being in such a small, enclosed space with him.
“Where are we going?” I ask, trying not to show that I’m breathing hard from simply walking quickly down a hallway, and entirely certain I’m failing in the endeavor.
He arches a brow from where he leans his hips back against the opposite elevator wall, arms crossed over his chest and feet planted wide like he expects me to cause problems. I’m not sure where he might have gotten that impression of me; I spend much of my life actively avoiding being any sort of problem, especially ones that involve other people.
“Conference room," he says, then seems to realize he’s being rude, and takes a slow breath before continuing with a slightly less scathing tone. “Likely the same place you had your interview.”
“Right, thanks," I say, flashing a polite smile as the elevator opens and trying not to let it sting when he looks away instead of returning it.
I step out to the side, allowing him to take the lead as we walk into our first meeting together and actively avoiding checking out his broad form in those fitted slacks and tight shirt.
Asher folds himself into one of the chairs along the conference table and promptly turns his attention to the overcast clouds outside the floor to ceiling windows that comprise an entire wall of the meeting room.
I have my most professional smile firmly in place as I follow and sit on his left.
I’m pretty sure his eyes flicker in my direction, but he doesn’t otherwise acknowledge my presence next to him, so I slide my notepad and pen onto the table and cross my legs.
Then uncross them. When I re-crosses them the other way, I notice his jaw clench, and while I’m not completely sure it’s in reaction to my fidgeting, I do my best to sit still anyway.
The account manager starts the meeting and introduces me as the Lead Trainer for the project, asking everyone to help get me up to speed as soon as possible. We’ll be heading to San Diego in a couple weeks to implement the changes and go live.
When I’m asked to step to the front to give a quick overview of my experience and what I will be bringing to the team, my fight or flight instinct kicks in.
Except when it comes to my particular instincts, I don’t fight or flight, I freeze.
Because I only started this job yesterday.
I’m not bringing anything to the team yet.
I stare at the Project Manager, eyes wide and unblinking, until a knee nudges mine under the table.
Jolting, I jerk my gaze to Asher, who is still staring out the window like the grey clouds hold the most interesting secrets and if he watches them long enough, they’ll spill.
Blinking rapidly now, I suck in a breath and stand, forcing myself to walk to the front of the room.
When I turn and see all the expectant eyes from coworkers I haven’t formally met yet, plus a few who have video-called into the meeting, my heart starts racing again, and I feel that tell-tale tingle beneath my skin.
No, no, no, no, no!
Asher’s head jerks around, a solid scowl on his face. His narrowed eyes catch mine just as I feel what I assume to be a rabbit tail pop into being.
Inside my pants.
Nestled into the top of my butt cheeks.
Stars, this is awkward.
My face flames, and I tear my gaze from Asher’s when the furrow between his brow deepens. It takes every single shred of my self control to stop my hands from grabbing my butt and feeling myself up in front of my new team.
At least it’s not visible. It could be worse.
I smooth my hair behind my ear in a surreptitious attempt to ensure nothing else shifted, then I remind myself I have plenty of experience talking in front of groups of people.
This is literally what I went to school for.
So I straighten my shoulders and introduce myself, share my previous work experience in coordinating with other teams and providing on-site training, then give a few quick ideas of how they can help me catch up to where I need to be on the current project.
When I sit back down next to Asher, I shimmy back and forth a bit, ignoring the side-eyed, questioning glare he shoots my direction. Who knew trying to sit with a fluffy rabbit tail invading my butt crack would be so awkwardly uncomfortable?
The remainder of the work week brings more of the same curt, aloof attitude from Asher, further dulling my hopes of things turning more friendly between us.
I continue to randomly shift, and everything from black cat ears to cheetah spots covering my neck and hands to slitted hawk eyes and furry wolf paws decide to make themselves at home on my body.
Each time it happens, I’m unable to control it, upping my frustration with myself and my inner shifter.
This, of course, only seems to make it worse.
I’ve had to work closely with Asher since he’s the one ensuring the new program will work as expected, so he’s essentially had to walk me through it as it’s a new software I’m not familiar with yet.
Despite how irritating I assume this has been for him, he hasn’t turned me away when I’ve had questions, though his responses aren’t always the friendliest.
He’s even commented on how “quickly” I’m picking it up. Of course, this was laced with sarcasm, accompanied by a smirk, and was said right after I asked a question he had already previously answered.
‘Deep breaths, you can do this. Kill him with kindness,’ has become my latest mantra.
Unfortunately, my inner animal has other ideas at the most inconvenient of times, and instead of just a toothy wolf smile, I get a whole wolf snout popping out of my face in the middle of one such “catch up the new girl” meeting.
Asher rears back when it happens, eyes wide as he blinks at me in consternation.
His sarcasm reaches unparalleled levels when he regains composure and his coolly controlled voice gripes, “Isn’t there anything you can do about it?
” while flicking his wrist in my direction—“it” of course, meaning the shifting.
“No. There’s not,” I snap at him, the words barely comprehensible through my snout, then slam my laptop closed and stride out of the office, snagging my coat and bag from the hook by the door as I go.
This vampire is not only morally corrupt, but completely intolerable.
I need a break from his relentless negative energy.
Once outside, I lean against the building in a small alcove, waiting until my shifted face tingles and reverts back to normal features.
When it does, I walk a few blocks to the park along the river, noticing as I go that I apparently tucked my laptop under my arm before fleeing.
I take in the fresh air, listening to the gentle lapping of the Willamette as the breeze ruffles my hair.
I’m not in the right headspace to go back into the office today, especially if I want to avoid triggering an evil vampire and keep all my blood inside my veins, so I call Noemi to ask if working from home for the afternoon would be feasible.
When Noemi agrees, my shoulders relax and fur that I hadn’t noticed along my neck and arms recedes back into my skin with a light prickle.