Page 6 of Chased Bear

In that way, we were both practical. I needed an omega mate, and he liked the idea of being part of the Alpha family. It was a win-win in as much as that kind of thing could be.

“So, sometimes with small packs or dens, it’s hard to fill every position that you need all the time. Sometimes the post office needs an extra person, sometimes the diner, sometimes the mechanic shop. You know, that kind of thing.”

“That still doesn’t explain what you do.” Even if he had been spot-on. That had been one of the most difficult things to navigate. We didn’t have work enough for a ton of new people, but also we had more than we were able to comfortably handle.

“I float. If the post office needs me, I work there. If the hair salon needs me, I work there. If Corey needs me to crunch numbers, I crunch numbers. Someone needs me to drive a garbage truck? I drive a garbage truck. Split wood, bake cookies—a floater. A temp.”

Huh. That sounded… it sounded exactly like what we needed.

“So you just wake up in the morning and go wherever you’re needed? Is there, like, a three-month schedule you follow?” The logistics were confusing, but the idea was a good one. There was no denying that.

“Oh, no. Sometimes it changes hour by hour. Like last year, we had a whole ton of snow all of a sudden. So, while I was supposed to be working at the salon, filling in for a member who had just had a baby, I had to cancel that whole day. Everyone had toreschedule their appointments. It was a mess.” He stretched to the side, his shirt riding up even more. Kill me now. “The snow needed to be plowed, but in the middle of plowing snow, the power went out, so I had to switch gears and hook up people’s generators. It was a long day. I had to do so much, but I learned a whole lot.”

Different things every day. No set schedule. It was chaos. The very thought made my teeth itch. But also, it would solve some major stressors in my life, that was for sure.

“Here, you will find a regular job. We have schedules and plans. We don’t need floaters.” Even as I said it, I wasn’t confident I meant it.

His nose wrinkled. “Everyone needs floaters. Schedules are boring.”

“Schedules make the world go round.” And now I was just being stubborn.

“I’m pretty sure that the earth’s rotation predates time and would continue to work whether it was scheduled or not.” His tongue darted out, and for a second, I thought he was going to stick his tongue out at me.

I pushed my chair back. “How could it possibly predate time? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Time is made up.”

I threw my hands in the air. “I cannot talk to you. You are impossible.”

His brow furrowed. “Because I think that time is silly?”

“You can’t think that time is silly. Time is constant. It is never-ending.”

“Right. But the way we measure time is what I’m talking about. Seconds, minutes. It’s all made up. We could just as easily measure time in anything else.”

“I’m not having this conversation. I’m busy. I have things to do.” And I was pretty sure he was wrong. Time was math, wasn’t it?

“Yeah, I peeked at your schedule. We’re supposed to go on a tour, and I figured maybe I’d shower again or talk to Rissa before I try to visit Corey. Or I’ll have to visit Corey outside. I don’t really want to stink up anywhere else.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe we should postpone your tour.”

“No, we can’t do that. It would disrupt your schedule.” He winked. “I can’t just hide until this goes away. That could take months.”

Oh, gods, it could take months. He wasn’t wrong. “Let’s go talk to Rissa,” I said. “We’ll start the tour right after.”

Jayce checked his watch. “According to your schedule, you have twenty-seven more minutes of paperwork to do. Do you want to finish that?”

I let out a low rumble.

He giggled and turned away. “See you in twenty-seven minutes, Alpha.”

Chapter 5

Jayce

The kitchen in Aydan’s house was absolutely to die for. It was large and spacious, with not just a double oven, but three ovens. I knew that many of the den members used it to bake for the pack, since there wasn’t a community kitchen besides the diner, and I could definitely see why. This place was the bomb. I could see myself spending countless hours in here.

Not that I was staying here. Even if I stayed in the den, this wasn’t my forever home. It was a guest bedroom until I got on my feet. Nothing more. I still loved the kitchen.

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