Page 2 of The Lynx and the Llama
When finally the time arrived, Quinn ordered his favorite, MMM—Maude’s Meatless Meals—to go. He rounded his shoulders a bit while in the pickup line and silently cheered when he saw that today featured Maude’s famous meatballs. Yum!
He paid and darted across the building as fast as his feet could carry him. Thankfully, Stan was just down the hall from Richard. This way, Quinn wouldn’t be late getting back to his desk and the mountain of paperwork that awaited him—because, of course, he’d barely made a dent in the CRAP so far that morning. He’d only tackled a little over a quarter of it before lunch.
But if the interview went right, he might just be able to tell Dick what to do with all that CRAP…
Thank God!
2
Stan peered at the clock on his desktop. It read 10:20 a.m. Quinn would be in his office soon.
Stan stretched his arms over his head and pushed his seat a little away from his desk. Quinn was a great kid who’d tugged at Stan’s heartstrings on more than one occasion after Stan had been part of the team who’d recused the boy from one of Zagan’s labs.
The kid had worked his butt off from the moment he’d been accepted into the cadet program. He’d proven himself more than capable of becoming an agent, completing his program at the top of his class.
But the FUCN’A director, Alyce Cooper, had insisted that he not be sent off to a field office. Stan had to agree. While Stan had felt responsible for the kid since he’d been part of the rescue team, Alyce had because she was a llama shifter, like Quinn.
“Our type can be great workers, but the boy is young,” Alyce had said. “If we allow him to bury himself in fieldwork now, he’ll never stop and develop the other parts of his life.”
Stan had agreed. A little time doing desk work was just what the boy needed to realize he wanted more out of life than work, to realize he needed to come out of his shell and—God willing—make friends. Form relationships.
If only there had been another llama, someone other than Richard, for Quinn to have for a mentor. Alyce certainly couldn’t kick out her own assistant, Eliza, so that left Quinn with Richard—who had regular turnover with assistants. Despite being one of the biggest WANC dicks Stan knew, there was more to Richard than he let on.
Too bad Richard hadn’t revealed that side of himself while he was supposed to be mentoring Quinn. Ever since his relationship with Carol had gone badly, Richard seemed just too far-gone. Unable to connect with anyone. In some ways, Stan had wondered if Alyce’s plan was meant not just to help Quinn but to help Richard as well, that the two grumpy llamas could help each other to come around. Too bad it seemed to have failed.
Richard was good at his job, and Quinn had proven to be a hard-working assistant, growing ever more competent under Richard’s—however rough—tutelage. The kid was strong and could handle anything thrown his way, but Stan saw that Quinn was becoming even more isolated working for the complete dick.
Part of Quinn’s closed-off behavior had to do with being a rescued experiment, but the other part had to do with being a foster kid. He was a product of two systems that were very good at making folks feel as though they didn’t matter. That they were expendable.
For his part, Stan had tried his best to help Quinn feel like someone cared, but Stan knew better than anyone that the best thing for making someone feel like they belong was a peer group. Even better, a mate.
Stan let out a breath and rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe he was doing this again. He raked a hand over his face and sighed. Would it happen again? How many times now had he gotten involved in a young person’s life and led them straight to their mate? He didn’t know why it happened, but he could no longer deny that it wasa thing.
At least this time, he knew it was needed. Alyce had agreed with him.
“That damn Dick is letting our poor little llama boy shrivel up,” Alyce had said, sounding more maternal than Stan had ever heard her. “If you think this mission is going to lead Quinn to his mate, then I say send him.”
“That’s not what I said!” Stan tried to object. “I said I have a good feeling that young Agent Taylor will thrive in this engagement.”
Alyce had given him a knowing grin and patted him on the shoulder. She sent him the authorization forms that afternoon.
Stan’s interview with Quinn that morning was just a formality. He’d already recommended Quinn to train with Bonafide Security when the Shifter Hellenic Island Talks happened, and he’d already confirmed that King Rayan’s assistant, Erika Jean, was available to team up with Quinn for this specific mission.
Because part of the assignment was for Quinn to have a fake girlfriend, and that girlfriend was going to be Erika. At least, that was what Carol suggested to him anyway when Stan gave her a call about the kid.
He groaned, thinking about the teasing that would come his way if Quinn and Erika ended up being another match for Stan’s scorecard. Sure, Stan was a bear shifter, but did they really need to compare his matchmaking skills to characters first used on American Greetings Cards some forty-two years ago?Stan the TLC—Tenderhearted Loving Caringbear.
He supposed he should be happy they compared him to the light brown bear rather than the pink bear, who apparently liked to be cheerful. Stan let out a growl. He was far from that, for sure. Especially if he was sleep deprived.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
“Hey, Stan!” Quinn entered his office with a hopeful grin. “They had meatless meatballs today, so I got some takeout for us both.”
“Thanks, kid.” Stan gave Quinn a half-smile as he clasped the yumminess. “I’m astounded that Richard made you do this interview during your lunch hour.”
“Well, you know him—he says work hours are for work,” Quinn replied with a shrug.
“Does the dick really think he can prevent you from moving on?” Stan cupped his mouth and then released his hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call your boss that. It’s just that I got so used to Carol calling him that for so long.”
