Chapter 3
Rudy
Wiping the sweat from my brow with my forearm, I shook the railing to test it. It didn’t budge, even after a little extra push, but then I’d braced it with enough hardware that it should be able to withstand a small bomb or a medium-sized supernatural creature.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text to the group chat.
Me: The railing on the rear stairs is fixed.
Maxime: Oh? I didn’t receive any complaints, so I wasn’t aware it needed fixing. What happened?
Me: Nothing happened… but it’s fixed now.
Maxime: If it was one of our guests, I can ask them to be more mindful.
Me: Uh, well, it wasn’t a guest.
Zee: What did you do now, Wolfie?
Me: I didn’t DO anything, I was just… caught off guard a little.
Maxime: Ah. I understand. Well, I appreciate your quick action. Thank you, Rudolph.
He shouldn’t be thanking me for something I did in the first place.
My cheeks warmed, and I looked around to see if anyone would notice, wishing I’d never brought it up, but I didn’t want anyone to complain about safety.
We were still new and growing our clientele and reputation, and I felt a lot of responsibility on my part to ensure our guests had a carefree stay.
Even the best vacation could be ruined by a maintenance issue.
After all the work it had taken to get the inn ready, I tried really hard to keep it running smoothly.
The high of purchasing the property wore off quickly when it came to getting down and dirty and doing the work.
I didn’t do it alone; it was a team effort, and we hired contractors for the big demolition and construction.
Maxime vetted anyone who came to Malterra to work, using his ability to influence to help protect what we were doing.
We’d had a few mishaps during the building phase with a few workers who disappeared and never came back.
We found out later that they chartered a boat in the middle of the night to get off the island.
Maxime had taken it personally, wondering if he’d pushed them too hard mentally, but I’d never seen him do that.
I always wondered if it had something to do with the curse on the island.
Though that was the only time I’d seen anything unusual.
Well, unusual for a place that was home to supernatural beings and a vacation spot for many others.
Not everyone who came here was inhuman, but most of our guests were.
Getting the word out had been—and continues to be—one of the hardest parts.
We did a lot of promotion on Ether, the social media platform designed to allow supernatural or supernatural-adjacent folks to connect in a safe place.
It was where we had all met, and our group chat began, circling around to where we were now.
As with most ventures, word of mouth was the best marketing, but it took guests to get guests, and, understandably, supernatural beings were more timid about new and unfamiliar locations.
It was Maxime’s idea to advertise to human travelers, too.
There was risk involved, but with his help, we were able to keep the secrets of the inn and our guests from the human visitors.
After six months of being open, business was becoming more consistent, making the dream feel attainable and keeping us busy.
My phone pinged, making me brace for more questions about the staircase railing.
Silas: Hey, Wolfie, when you have a minute, I could use some help in the salon. I have a sizable clog that might need to be snaked.
Zee: Snaked? And you need help with that?
Silas: Nobody asked your opinion, birdbrain.
Zee: Ouch. Touchy. Are your snakes coiled too tightly today?
Silas: (Middle finger emoji)
I rolled my eyes. Those two loved to give each other a hard time; I swear, they bickered like brothers. I jumped in with a response before it continued.
Me: Sure, I’ll be there in a few.
Silas: Thanks, Wolfie. I did what I could… but I apologize in advance.
Well, that sounded foreboding. I brushed myself off and grabbed my toolbox to head inside.
Before I reached the door, I felt a nudge on the side of my leg.
A smile stretched my lips at the sight of the familiar golden scales.
I knelt down and held my hand out, which was met with a head bump against my knuckles.
“Hey, Ellie. What have you been up to, girl?” I asked the small dragon.
She’d been here when we first toured the place, and here still when we returned as the owners and began the demolition.
The dragon kept showing up over and over.
She seemed especially interested in the workers who came to the island.
Though I remember her not being particularly fond of the ones who ended up fleeing.
Even still, she’d never left. Ellie, as I’d taken to calling her, had become our mascot of sorts.
Not a pet, because she wasn’t a pet, but she lived here as much as any of us, roaming about the facility as if she owned the place.
I’d taken a liking to her immediately, and she seemed to enjoy being around me, too.
Either that, or she was keeping an eye on me.
Whichever it was, I appreciated the company.
I didn’t usually do well with animals, but the dragon didn’t seem to be bothered in the least by my wolf side.
In fact, she found me more in that form than in my human one, often at my most vulnerable moments.
Ellie stomped her front feet and made a hissing, chittering sound, and looked up at me expectantly. It was adorable, but I never really knew what she wanted. My version of smile-and-nod with her usually involved food.
“I’ve gotta head down to my supply closet, which will take me past the kitchen. Do you want to come with me? We can stop and see if Zee has anything.”
Her horned head bumped against my pant leg, and her wings fluttered before she tucked them back in. “Okay, I take that as a yes.”
I held the door open, and she walked proudly ahead of me. There was nowhere off-limits to Ellie. She was welcome inside, outside, wherever. I mean, it wasn’t like any of us were going to stop her; she was a dragon after all. Besides, doors and walls didn’t seem to stop her.
The guests sometimes startled when they first caught sight of her, though they usually adapted quickly when we explained she was a resident.
It also didn’t hurt that no one knew she was a dragon.
Ellie usually kept her wings concealed, and with Maxime’s help, everyone who saw her simply saw a bearded dragon lizard, not an actual dragon.
A few people even greeted her as we passed by.
Greeted her more than me, but just because this place was a supernatural haven didn’t mean guests paid any more attention to the handyman than they did anywhere else.
Not until they had a problem that needed fixing.
Which was fine most of the time, and I was used to it.
I would rather not be noticed than be noticed for the wrong reason.
On the main floor, we passed the dining room and headed for the kitchen.
A sign on the outside of the swinging door read ‘Employees Only.’ I pushed the door open to find Zephyr with his white-feathered hair held back by a fabric headband.
His sous chef was busy chopping and dicing and whatever else a sous chef did, while Zee was looking into a pot with deep concentration.
As I opened my mouth, he held out a hand to stop me from saying anything, his intense gaze never leaving the pot in front of him.
“Just a minute.”
It always amazed me to see the shift in him when he was cooking.
Almost more of a change than when he literally shifted into a griffin.
His focus was so intense, I could practically see the raptor in him, as if whatever was in his pot was his prey.
Zee looked like he was about to dive out of the sky to snatch a rabbit out of a meadow.
“Almost there. Almost there,” he muttered. “There!” With swift motion, he scooped something out and dropped it into a bowl of ice water. He rattled off some instructions I didn’t understand to the sous chef, who took the bowl of mysterious, wiggly tentacle thingies.
When he looked up, he met me with a questioning look. “Wolfie! I thought you had a hairball to take care of.”
“Yeah, I’m heading that way, but I wanted to see if you have something for Ellie.” I angled my head toward her, where she stomped her front feet.
Zee crossed his arms over his chest, giving me a stern look. “What did I say about animals in the kitchen?”
My brow furrowed with confusion as my eyes went to the long feathers on Zephyr’s head. “Uh…”
He smirked. “Chill, Wolfie, I’m just playin’. I’m sure I can find something for her. What about you? We’re getting ready for the dinner crowd, but I can whip something up if you’re hungry. It sounds like you’ve had a busy day.”
There was a gleam behind his eyes, his amusement likely stemming from my earlier… incident. Even if he was always the first to laugh at the misfortune of others, he had a big heart.
“Thanks, but I think I’m good. I don’t want… whatever that is.” I tried not to grimace as I saw his assistant cut into a tentacle that was still squirming.
Zephyr let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, that’s a special order for one of our guests. They have very particular tastes and require special preparation. I’ve got some leftover meatloaf; I could make you a sandwich.”
I felt my lips tug up at the offer. Two years later, and I was still getting used to being around such close friends in person. People who actually seemed to like having me around and were kind to me. “Can I take a rain check? I really should go check on Silas first.”
“Sure thing, Wolfie. I’ll have it ready for you. Now, let me see… for Ellie, I have…” He examined the bowls and jars on one of the counters. “Ah! Here we go. How about dried anchovies?”