Chapter Ten
Grant
Not good enough.
The meeting with “Tim” the HR manager had been a nightmare. When I first arrived, he’d assumed I had complaints about one of the staff and had offered me a seat with a superior attitude I’d wanted to slap off his face.
“Please, sir, come in. We do our best to employ only the best people, but when it comes to omegas, they can be unpredictable, as you probably know.”
I settled in one of the chairs in front of his desk and waited while he walked around to the back. Already, my wolf’s hackles were up, but once he was settled and had his hands resting on his keyboard, I closed mine in fists and tried to breathe slowly.
“Name of the troublesome omega?”
I forced my fingers open and laid my hands in my lap, studying the person who was in charge of the welfare of the employees of this hotel.
Making sure they had their rights and benefits and received correct pay.
A person to listen to grievances and who presumably had a say in hiring and firing.
Overall, at least in my companies, they worked more for the employees than me.
But something told me this was not what we were going to experience here.
“The troublesome parties were the males in the villa adjoining mine. I believe one was your customer and the other was his security or employee of some kind. I heard a commotion, and when I went to ask them to please keep it down, I found the door open.”
“You didn’t walk in, did you? Because our guests’ privacy is paramount. How would you like it if someone entered your room uninvited?”
Bite him. Or I will.
Let’s see where this goes. Maybe he just needs more information. Not that I believed it. But the omega really didn’t want me here and certainly didn’t want to lose his job, so I had to try. “Please let me continue.”
He gave a casual wave that made biting him looked better than ever. “Continue, sir.” At least he had the brains to use the honorific when dismissing me.
“I did go inside because of the obvious distress of someone in there. I knew there was trouble, but nothing prepared me for finding the ‘troublesome omega’ bound and gagged and terrified.”
He didn’t type anything, finger hovering over the keys as if he would make a note if anything worthwhile came up. What could possibly qualify as being worthy of his attention if what I’d just said did not? “Is that it?”
“No, but it’s a start. You planning to write any of this down for your report?”
He shrugged. “There are a lot of kinky things that go on here. Technically, the omegas are not supposed to fool around with the guests, but unless a guest objects, it’s usually swept under the rug.”
“This was not a kinky encounter, and the omega certainly did not intend to ‘fool around’ with anyone. He was held against his will, naked, and his body is covered with the marks of the ligatures and bruises from mishandling.”
“I see.” He tapped on the keyboard a few times. “Thank you for your report.”
At that point, Ches and a friend came in, and things went downhill from there. It ended with Ches fleeing, his friend lingering long enough for me to let him know with a quick word in his ear not to worry. It would be handled.
Tim the HR manager watched me, one brow arched, no doubt expecting me to leave. “Will there be anything else, then?”
“The owner’s name. And contact information.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I am not in the habit of repeating myself.” Or punching people, but I’d already made one exception to that.
“Oh, the manager, sure. He’s right down the hall, usually, but today he’s off the property.”
“That was not what I asked for.”
“You were serious?” His tone held disbelief. Fool. “Oh, I don’t think—”
“That’s the biggest part of the problem.
Now, if you don’t want the human authorities swarming the grounds in the next half hour, you will provide me with the information I requested before I step out and make arrangements for the closure of this place.
Nothing the humans like better than investigating shifter-owned properties. ”
“H-he doesn’t take calls.”
“Name?”
“Gregory Sinoff. And I don’t even know how to—”
I already had my phone out and hit contacts. The phone rang twice before I heard a familiar voice say, “Grant. I heard you’re at the desert resort this week. I hope everything is to your satisfaction.”
“It’s excellent. In fact, if you’d name your price, I’d like to take it off your hands.”
He named a price about 10 percent higher than he should have, but at this moment, I didn’t care.
“Deal. Let’s have our people get started on the transfer. Oh, by the way, I’m firing your HR manager now. I’m sure you have someone else who can fill in while we get all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”
“There has to be a story there, but if you’ll promise to tell me what led to this moment next time we run into one another at a club, I’ll have my headquarters staff handle HR from here. I imagine it will only be a week or so.”
“I bet we can do it faster.” I hung up and met Tim’s horrified stare across the desk with a friendly smile. “Get out.”