Job Offer
Rudy returned shortly after with a rental he'd gotten, courtesy of the FBI.
"I can watch the kids," he said, grinning at me. "Believe it or not, I used to be a pro at this."
"Bet you still are," I joked, but a look flickered across his face, one that seemed a little too close to home for me. Something's happened, I thought, but then Rudy was moving past it, pretending it never happened.
"Get yourself over to the Auto Repair," he said, waving me off. "I've got the kids. They'll be just fine. It's around the corner," he added, "so it's in walking distance."
I hadn't really had a chance to actually look at Werewolf Hollow, even if we'd driven through it to get to the house the day before. The trees had that crispy hint, and the lighting of the sun had changed; the air was charged with a cool chill, and the smells... good God, the smells.
As I walked, I pulled my jacket around me a little tighter. I'm going to have to go shopping for clothes for the kids, I thought distantly. Let's see... scarves, probably new socks, thicker pants, long sleeves, and their coats from LA are just not going to cut it. And then there's Collin...
I shook my head. Collin was going to need an entire new wardrobe. If I was totally honest, I couldn't really afford to fight Aegis on the whole job offer. Maybe it was getting handouts, but honestly, I needed handouts. I didn't have a house payment anymore because it was all paid off, but I still had bills, food, clothes- and school books.
I needed Aegis and his job offer.
I arrived at a squat building with brown siding, a massive and now-familiar logo of a howling wolf, and a long garage packed with every car imaginable, plus a few motorcycles. I could hear music blasting- metal, currently- and the sound of tools I didn't know enough about, car engines, and voices rising and falling in either conversation, or laughter.
When I walked into the building, there was a ringing sound, but no one was at the front desk. I paused there, wondering if I should walk around to the garage, but a second later, the door dinged again, and I looked up to see Aegis stepping inside.
It was stupid how objectively good looking the man was. My past notwithstanding, the man was an all around stud. He had a wild mane of black hair, and he was wearing a black tank that perfectly displayed a hyper-fit physique, which was definitely not out of the norm for werewolves. In his black ripped jeans and boots, it was just stupid and unfair.
It also made me feel extremely out of place, because I had no makeup, my hair was up in a messy ponytail, and my clothes were probably three years past needing to be replaced.
Super attractive. I was the picture perfect model of self-care and beauty.
Not.
"Saw you through the window," he said, pointing behind the desk to a clear wall looking straight into the garage. "Glad you could make it."
He had that piercing gaze that he'd always had, which made it feel like he was looking right through you. Like most werewolves, his eyes were bright, like little amber lanterns.
"Soooo... you got a car ready for me?"
He snorted. "Unfortunately. Plus the job offer."
"What, uh... what did you have in mind?"
"I'll waive your repair fees if you take it," Aegis said, crossing his arms and leaning against the front desk. "We need someone here, in the office. Folks come in all the time, and they're not always as lucky as you are. They wind up standing in here for ages."
"You don't have a front desk person?" I asked, surprised.
"No."
"I'm surprised. Surely someone would take the job?"
"No one good," Aegis grunted. "I need more than just a pretty face. We got a lot of records over the past two decades that are only on paper; there isn't really enough time to learn the software we've got for keeping our customers in a database, so everything's currently being housed in this."
He leaned over and thumped a large, gray filing cabinet that looked like this was not the first time it had been thumped.
"All of your customers are on paper?" I said, eyes widening. "Like... everything?"
"All our sales, too. Makes tax season hell, but we can't seem to get someone willing to be serious about the position."
"I mean, if all we're talking is customer service and data entry, I can handle that," I said, feeling more than a little hopeful. "Do you have a manual for the software?"
"Ah..." He pushed up and moved around the desk, yanking drawers out to rummage through them. A nigh-untouched manual as thick around as my stack of debts thumped down on the surface of the desk like it weighed nothing. "Yup. This one."
"All right, good starting point, if any."
"I'm flexible with hours," Aegis said, moving back around to lean against the desk again. "I know you got kids, and you need to take them to school. Parent-teacher conferences, all that. To make things easy, I'll take you on as Salary. No fiddly hours, you can leave when you need to; plus, the pay's fixed."
I jerked back in shock. "Hey, hang on, you don't have to-"
"It's partly to make things easier on me," Aegis said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm currently the one handling payroll."
"Do... do you not have a finance department, either?"
"Not currently, no."
I shook my head. "Damn, Aegis, how is this business still running?"
He burst into laughter, deep and rumbly. "I guess the same way your old junker is."
"Hey, that thing's a classic!"
"A classic dumpster fire."
I rolled my eyes. "Once I get the system in hand, I can try to pick up the payroll, too, if you want."
He grinned. "You're a blessing."
"We'll see if you think so after I start working. Which, ah, is...?"
"We'll make it first day back to school for the kids," he said. "Keep things simple. That's two days from now, yeah? I'll get you on the payroll, get you set up and registered, and you can start on Monday."
I felt a flicker of hope in my chest. "All right. Count me in. I'll be here."
"Sylvia," he said suddenly, and I froze in place. "You're coming tonight, right?"
I blinked. An energy I wasn't used to at all was rolling off of Aegis, and suddenly, it was hard to tell him "no". His eyes were overly bright, and his entire aura was filling my vision, my mind, the entire room- suddenly, I realized what was happening.
"Oi," I said, pointing at him. "I'm not part of the pack. Don't you 'Alpha' me."
Startled, Aegis blinked, and the entire aura vanished at once. Guilt flashed across his face. "I'm sorry. I mostly deal with the pack. The whole 'Alpha' thing doesn't really turn off; when there's something I want, it just sort of clicks on."
I shook my head. "Why do you want me to come to the Bonfire so bad? No one's rushing to see me."
"You'd be very wrong," he said wryly. "But also, it's healthy for you, whether you want it or not. Get you back on your feet, feel a semblance of humanity."
"You're not my Alpha," I reminded him. "I'm human, Aegis. I don't belong to a pack." I don't belong anywhere, anymore.
He cocked an eyebrow and shifted his weight. "You live on my turf, and you work directly for me, now. Your family's always been part of the Black Lake Pack, even if unofficially. Besides- you need to start thinking about Collin's werewolf state. He needs a pack, eventually, and an Alpha to keep him out of trouble. That would make you part of the Pack, easy."
"I'll... get to that," I said, a little defensive, because frankly, I had no idea what to do on that front. There was so much to cover, I felt like I was drowning.
"I'm not trying to force you," Aegis said, holding his hands up. "If I ask aloud again, the Alpha thing will start up."
I rubbed my face. In reality, I knew what he was saying was right. Both he and Ivy were right; of course they were. But to let everyone see just how far I had fallen as a person...
"All right," I said tiredly, dropping my hands. "Just don't expect to see the person you all knew a decade ago."
"Didn't cross my mind," Aegis said evenly, dropping his hands. He looked very obviously pleased with himself. "I just want you there, Sylvia. You and the kids." He paused. "And Rudy. He's become a recluse."
I frowned suddenly. "Hey- do you know what's up with him? I feel like something's wrong- like he's hiding something."
Aegis hesitated. "Rudy... has suffered a lot, these past few years," he said, finally. "Have a little patience with him. I think he's finding closure with your family."
"So you know, then."
"Yeah... but it's not my story to tell. It's too personal... too sad."
I groaned, guilty and more than a little anxious. "All right, keep your secrets. Is this thing at the usual place it's always been in?"
"Of course," he said breezily. "The heart of pack territory. Ivy will be there, too, so you won't be alone."
"Great," I muttered.
----
I walked out the door with some paperwork I had to fill out for proper payroll, but I also left feeling deeply unsettled.
I wasn't the only one who had changed. A lot of things had, but there was this hue of familiarity that made it all feel... strange. Life's just kept going while we were gone, I thought, and the weight of that realization hit hard.
Life had kept going, but my mother, father, sister, and brother-in-law were all frozen in time, buried beneath dirt. The world kept on spinning without them. People here had grown up, created lives, and my family's disappearance off the face of town had not stopped any of it.
I need to get home, I thought, feeling dizzy. The weight was crushing. Life goes on. Get over it. Time moves forward. This is not news.
But it felt hard to breathe, hard to think. The world tilted, turned fuzzy at the edges, and there was a ringing in my ears...
And then it all went black.