Chapter 2
“Collaboration is key to our success as a company, and every team member’s contribution is essential. Every team member is expected to work with the other departments to the best of their abilities.”
Entity Employee Handbook: R&C Edition
Alexys was the first one to arrive at the conference room, armed with a tin of cookies courtesy of Elliot Harman’s grandmother.
She hadn’t known baking ran in the family when she hired him, much less that his grandmother might be the best baker this side of Tennessee, but she was more than happy to discover it.
She had just settled into her seat and begun arranging her notes, when the familiar click of Natalie’s heels echoed down the hall.
“Hi,” she said as she walked in. She plopped into the seat across from Alexys. “You have makeup under your eyes.”
“I do?” Alexys tried to rub away whatever Natalie could see. When it seemed to linger, Natalie leaned across the table, tried to wipe it away with her thumb, and then tsked.
“Sorry, I don’t think it’s makeup.”
“Great, that’s just … great.” Alexys exhaled and took a sip of her coffee.
Natalie shrugged apologetically before kicking her feet up onto the conference table. Her dagger-point, red-bottomed heels narrowly missed Alexys’s meticulously organized paperwork.
“Trevor called again.”
“Trevor as in your First Quadrant Trevor?” Alexys batted at Natalie’s feet until she dropped them off the table. “That’s the third time this week, and it’s only Tuesday.”
Natalie nodded. “I know, but get this: he swears on his life it’s a Thunderbird this time.”
“A Thunderbird? In Maryland?” Alexys couldn’t help but laugh. The sheer absurdity of it!
Of course it was Trevor. It was always Trevor.
He had a reputation for consistently misclassifying monsters in District 16, which made him a Research and Cataloging Department nightmare.
The week before, he called Natalie to inform her that he’d spotted a beast in the Chesapeake Bay that looked exactly like the Loch Ness Monster.
When told it was probably Chessie, he emphatically disagreed and actually tried to imply the Loch Ness Monster herself might be migratory and visiting Chessie.
“Nat, that’s ridiculous. Did you tell him it wasn’t even worth a call to R&C?”
“Of course.” Natalie scoffed and flicked one of her long braids over her shoulder. “But you know Trevor, he never listens. I promise you, his call transferred for all of twenty seconds before they sent him back to me. He’s livid.”
“Did you tell him to just submit the case to your inbox?”
“Of course I did. I told him in the meantime I’d talk with Caleb down in R&C myself and get back to him.”
Alexys frowned. “But there isn’t a Caleb in R&C.”
Natalie winked. “I know.”
“Morning, ladies.” Kristin, the world’s most cheerful boss, strode into the conference room wearing a cat-print sweater. “How are we doing on this fine Monday afternoon?”
“Kristin,” Alexys said with a grin, “it’s Tuesday.” Kristin’s smile vanished. “Don’t worry, I already asked your assistant to send out this week’s newsletter on conservation zoning.”
Kristin’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Ah, you’re a miracle worker. What would I do without you?”
“Die, probably,” Nat teased. Kristin rolled her eyes as she settled into her seat.
“It’s this new schedule they have us regional managers on. Working every other weekend has completely distorted my sense of time.”
Alexys propped her chin on her hand and smiled at Kristin. “Yes, because you had such a great sense of time to begin with.” Kristin’s brow shot up. Alexys grabbed the tin off the table and held it out to Kristin. “Cookie?”
Kristin’s eyes widened. “Are these from Harman’s grandmother?”
“Yes, I can’t get her to stop sending them to me.”
“And don’t you dare stop her,” Nat said, plucking a cookie with her perfectly manicured fingers. “The woman can bake better than anyone I’ve ever met.” At Kristin’s indignant scoff, she quickly amended, “Present company excluded, obviously.”
“Obviously.” Kristin snagged another cookie and checked her watch. “I need to get this meeting going. I’ve got to get back to my mountain of emails.”
Natalie winced sympathetically. “I don’t envy you that. I’ve got enough of a headache just dealing with my Wardens. I can’t imagine running a regional office.”
Alexys shrugged and, without thinking, said, “Hey, look on the bright side, there’s the notable lack of death-defying incident reports to file.”
Kristin took a bite of her cookie. “One of these days,” she said between chews, “you’re going to run this department. You’re probably more cut out for it than I am.”
Alexys’s heartbeat faltered. She tried to stay composed, but Alexys had been hoping for a promotion for the last nine months.
“Just say the word, boss,” Alexys said.
“She’d have the whole place running flawlessly,” Natalie chimed in.
“As opposed to …?” Kristin asked, narrowing her eyes.
Natalie, foot permanently in her mouth, smiled brilliantly up at Kristin. “As opposed to the absolutely incredible, irreplaceable boss that you are, of course.”
“Of course.” Kristin turned her bemused smile to Alexys. “Well.” Kristin connected her computer to the screen on the back wall. “That day might come sooner than you think.”
A few other team leads filtered in, and Kristin was quickly drawn into conversation.
Natalie wiggled her brows at Alexys and gave her a wide, conspiratorial smile.
“Don’t,” Alexys whispered. “I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
“But you heard her,” Natalie said, shrugging. Alexys shook her head. “It wouldn’t be the first time she’s alluded to leaving.” Nat kept her voice quiet and plucked another cookie.
“Hey, save some for the others, will you?”
Natalie ignored her. “Just last week I overheard her talking about New Mexico.”
Alexys gave her a look.
“I mean it, I think she’s serious. There’s a position open in the Roswell office, you know.”
A smile tugged at Alexys’s lips. “Roswell? Isn’t that where her family lives?”
Natalie nodded. “And being near family is always nice. Well, some families.” She chuckled.
Alexys bit the inside of her cheek. There had been rumors about Kristin leaving before, but it’d been nothing more than office gossip. Alexys wouldn’t allow herself to get excited until the position was actually open. Prepared and qualified, sure, but not excited.
“I like Kristin,” Alexys said, her voice quiet. The room was filling up now and a few colleagues greeted her as they sat down. “She’s a great boss, and she’s good at what she does.”
“So are you.” Natalie gently tapped the toe of her shoe against Alexys’s leg under the table.
“Hello, everyone. Shall we get started?” Kristin clapped her hands as she opened the first slide on her presentation.
The meeting kicked off with the usual round robin of departmental updates, and by the time it was Alexys’s turn to speak about her District, she updated the group on Elliot, and how since joining, he’d been tackling the concerning increase in Jackalope cases.
She barely got the last sentence out before she was interrupted.
“Sorry to jump in, but actually, we believe the increase in Jackalope populations to be an anomaly. We’re already looking into it.” The familiar, icy voice with the irritatingly charming English lilt shouldn’t have caught her off guard, but she instantly lost her train of thought.
Nic Dyre.
Entity’s pet encyclopedia and kiss-ass extraordinaire. Head of R&C and the absolute bane of her existence. He just couldn’t keep his mouth shut for more than ten minutes.
‘Actually.’
She despised the way he said it, as if he was doing her some sort of favor.
Alexys turned to fix her gaze on him. He sat, perfectly relaxed, in a sharp white button-up, round, wire-rimmed glasses and dark, tousled curls. The corner of his mouth quirked up.
Smug asshole!
“Thank you, Dyre. It’s good to know R&C is looking into it.”
Nic barely acknowledged her with a nod of his head. He dipped his eyes back to his laptop, where he started typing furiously.
Interrupting and interjecting was part of his nature. He resembled something more of a professor at an elite university, with his myriad sweater vests and houndstooth blazers. She imagined he would have lectured on classic literature, or something even more pompous like philosophy.
His gray eyes flicked up and caught hers, and she clenched her jaw. They were such a lovely shade of gray despite his intense stare. How irritating.
Pretty, rude, and pretty rude, if you asked her.
Working with him as the head of R&C came with its challenges, namely, his insufferable talent for lecturing.
She tried, oh how she tried, not to let him get under her skin.
But every time they worked on a case together, it was only a matter of time before his know-it-all commentary sparked yet another argument.
Her knee bounced under the table as she resisted the urge to make a snarky comment.
“Speaking of,” Kristin segued, choosing to ignore the storm cloud forming over Alexys’s head, “everyone needs to ensure they’ve scheduled time with Nic and his team in-person so they can sign-off an agreed Plan of Action for your evaluations.”
“What?” Alexys’s question slipped out before she could stop it. She whipped her head between Kristin and Nic, frowning.
Nic, of course, didn’t bother looking up.
“You need to collaborate with Nic’s researchers,” Kristin explained. When Alexys didn’t reply, she continued, “You know, so you’re fully equipped with the case information before going into the field, to avoid repeating last year’s incident. Alexys, I thought you knew this.”
Alexys shrank into her seat, cheeks flushing.
This was news to her. Previous years’ evaluations didn’t require sign-off, exactly.
It was more a courtesy, hey, we’re planning this for our Wardens.
She had heard about the incident. Everyone had.
But why did everyone have to suffer as a result of one territorial Sea Serpent?
“I did … I do.” She cleared her throat. “Wouldn’t an email suffice?”
“No,” Nic said simply. He finally lifted his head to look at her, icy gray eyes amused. “Emails are so impersonal, don’t you think?” He was mocking her.
“I find them quite efficient,” Alexys insisted. “Phone calls are much more time-consuming.”
“I have to approve test cases to ensure everyone’s safety in addition to my team preparing research, all before signing anything off,” Nic drawled. “It’s how we’ll manage all evaluations from now on.” Alexys wanted to protest, but Kristin nodded in agreement.
“That’s right, each HR team lead is required to present a vetted case to their Wardens to ensure protocols are being followed. We’ve been given very clear instructions from upper management,” Kristin added somewhat apologetically.
“Yes, the safety of our staff is of the utmost importance. We have standards to uphold,” Nic remarked wryly. “No customer is safe unless our Wardens too are safe. Section four, page eight.”
She glared at him. “You’ve memorized the employee handbook?”
“Indeed. It’s all up here.” He tapped his head and smiled.
Alexys looked helplessly at Kristin, as if she might somehow make him disappear
“Schedule your meetings, if you haven’t already,” Kristin said, pursing her lips.
“You’re expected to have your first round of in-person evaluations completed by the end of next month.
” There were groans of acknowledgment from her peers.
Alexys shut her laptop and gathered her papers with a bit more force than was necessary.
She shot Natalie a knowing look and waved Kristin off.
Nic waited by the door expectantly, absently twirling a pen in his left hand. He was fully aware she needed to catch him, much to her own annoyance, since she was clearly one of the few team leads who hadn’t pinned him down yet.
At the sight of her, he tucked the pen behind his left ear, pressing down a thick curl.
Stupid pen. Stupid curl.
“Keane,” he said politely, reminding her that no one was worthy of being on a first name basis with him.
“Dyre,” she spat. “When are you free?”
He smiled, tilting his head down to meet her face. As his gray eyes wandered over her features, she fought the incredibly irritating urge to make sure her auburn hair was still in a tidy bun.
“Hmm.” He checked his watch. “Tomorrow morning. Say, nine o’clock?”
“Fine,” Alexys snapped before brushing past him.
“Oh, and Keane?” he called after her. She resisted the urge to ignore him and spun on her heel, fists balled.
“Yes?”
“You have a bit of cookie on your chin.”