Page 4 of The Lynx and the Llama
Erika tried to stifle a yawn. Her eyes, though at half-mast, lifted along with her lips into a smile when she heard the familiar voice on the other end of the phone. “Hey, Stan! Good to hear from you. I’m just fixing Ray’s–I mean King Rayan’s—calendar for tomorrow. It’s still so hard to address him as the king when I’ve been working for a prince for the past five years.”
“Tell me about it! Listen? I hate to be the one telling you this, but they have finally approved the paperwork for Quinn to join the Bonafide Security team and undergo training with Carol. I know you wanted me to tell you the minute they approved it, but it’s so late there.”
Erika loved Stan to death. In fact, he was the main reason Erika got to see Carol so much. Ray was the delegate of Sambaina, Madagascar, and often traveled to the islands to advocate for shifters’ rights. Stan was the one who gave Carol the BS assignment last year, and Erika couldn’t be more grateful.
She often got to see Treasure, her other bestie, for the same reason. Her husband, Mateo, ruled in another territory of Madagascar. The Shifter Hellenic Island Talks were starting again soon, and they had all been scheduled to meet in the hub island of Skyros to plan security details for the event. Sure, this year, the SHIT would be on Santorini, but they had to plan the details ahead of time.
Zagan may not have shown his ugly mug since last year, but they weren’t taking any chances with the bull-griffon shifter. That man was pure dark magic. He seemed to possess ultra-healing powers and rose better from a nearly dead position than anything natural. The whole proverbial Scooby Gang—meaning Carol, Ray, Treasure, Teo, Harriet, and Lear—had to put their heads together to nab Zagan once and for all! And if it meant they’d get a newbie recruit, all the better. Erika was practically smiling into the phone with her voice. She’d have yet another gal pal, so there was no way she would say no to Stan’s request. The quicker Quinn got here, the quicker she’d be able to meet the new recruit.
“Am I not Ray’s personal best? I have my way of planning a trip to British Columbia and back here. In fact, I have all the preliminaries prepared. I figured someone would approve the paperwork soon.”
“You are just as awesome as Quinn! Richard will be sad to replace such an awesome PA, but Quinn is too good not to be on assignment. I’ll email all the paperwork you need after we hang up, Erika. See you once the SHIT is in full swing.”
“Sounds like a plan, Stan!”
She quickly hung up, giddy at the idea of seeing everyone again soon and adding another girlfriend to the growing list of their group. She probably shouldn’t presume they’d get along, but Erika couldn’t help it. This past year was such a change from her former lonely self. Erika spent most of her nights alone binge-watching Netflix when she started working for the then Prince Ray. She’d had no one to chill with, though, because of her drama-filled past. Moving to Greece proved to be a fresh start from her former life in Paris.
The more distance there was between her and Jean Claude, the better. The guy was a dog—and since he was a Siberian Husky shifter, there’s a definite double meaning there. A lynx like her should have known better. When she caught him cheating on her with her supposed best friend, Erika lost it. Like more-than-a-hissy-fit lost it. She went full-on cat-fight mode. Which led to said bestie getting Erika fired because her dad was Erika’s boss. UGH! Talk about drama!
When Ray needed a PA who specialized in the press, she applied and thanked the Greek gods that he’d hired her because, after that, she didn’t look back. She was glad the drama didn’t follow her to the Greek Islands, but she’d often wondered if King Rayan knew about the soap opera she’d left behind in Paris. She had her suspicions because getting the job had seemed too easy, somehow. He’d seemed too eager to hire her. Sure, they chatted via Skype for her interview, but the talk sounded more like he’d already decided about her. It seemed short. Shorter than any interview she’d had in her natural shifter life.
Plus, with Ray’s connections, she assumed he’d have a background check done on her, and for all she knew, he probably had and found out all the nasty things her supposed bestie did to her. But what Erika couldn’t figure out? Why Prince—now King—Rayan would have been so eager to hire her.
Back in Paris, she’d been blackballed, so she couldn’t get a job elsewhere. Her ex-bestie sure knew how to hit below the belt—and for what? It wasn’t like Jean Claude was a sex god! Erika had more personal contact with her vibrator than that man. Many nights she’d found herself taking care of her own business because he was too into his own needs to care about hers.
That should have been her first red flag that things were off, especially since that all started when she agreed to let him move in with her. It was like his personality changed overnight with her. They stopped going out altogether. Well? Scratch that. He went out but expected Erika to stay home and do all the cooking and cleaning. The alpha male also started complaining about her work attire. Who in their right mind thought a business suit showed too much leg? They had it out before she left for work, and she caught him with her ex-bestie when she returned home. And to hit even further below the belt, he kicked her out of her own condo using some little-known co-habitation regulation that ensured she couldn’t evict him! Her choice was to stay there with him—since she legally couldn’t get rid of him—or leave.
Erika let out a sigh and pushed the past away, focusing instead on the flight plan. There was no need to make a trip down her dippy lane from her past. She’d moved on and found some real friends. Friends that had her back and made her feel less lonely in the world–at least most of the time, anyway. And if things went well, she’d add Quinn to that mix. She didn’t need a man in her life. Not one with alpha tendencies who stopped at nothing to impress, only to break your heart once the chase is over. No, thank you.
Erika certainly didn’t need that.
Within an hour, she emailed Stan and carbon-copied Quinn with the itinerary. She closed her laptop, turned off the light at her desk, and headed home.
Tonight might be about binge-watching shows alone, but soon it will be the SHIT, with lots of fun girls' nights while we set traps for the bad guy!
4
Quinn pulled up the email Erika had just sent and was poring over it when Richard came into sight.
“Why is Stan informing me I need to replace you? And it’s effective immediately?”
“I signed up to become a BS agent and train with Carol on the Greek Islands. According to the itinerary just sent to me, I leave around six a.m. tomorrow. Once there, I’ll travel between the islands for various training so I’m ready for the SHIT.” Perhaps it was his excitement over the mission that caused him to provide Richard with so many details, but whatever the reason, Richard didn’t seem to care.
“But what am I going to do?” he whined, thinking only of himself, as usual. “You’re the best! I need you. You know I can’t handle the paperwork all by my lonesome. Plus, I get cranky without my scheduled naps. I wouldn’t want to bite anyone’s head off.”
“And that is why Stan is sending someone named Amira to take my place.”
“But you have to train her!” Richard’s eyes grew stormy and wide as he spat out each word. “She needs to be exactly like you! You’ve got to be the best FUCN’A has ever offered. So you can’t leave until she’s as good of a FUC as you are!”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Richard!” A voice in the doorway had both Richard and Quinn turning to look at Stan.
“What are you doing here?” Richard pivoted on his heel and marched across the room to come face-to-face with the other man.
“The boy is doing exceedingly well.” Stan shrugged, seemingly unbothered by Richard’s fury. “You can’t keep him from moving on just because you’ll flounder without him.”
Richard gave him an incredulous look. “Why are you talking about flounder? Now you’ve made me hungry! I’ll have to stop by the market before I get home. You are making me crave some sushi, of all things, and I’m a vegan!”
“Good god, Richard! You’re laying on the drama thicker than the honey I ate for breakfast this morning! Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?” Stan took a step back from Richard. Quinn knew from experience the dude could spit out his words when he was really mad. Richard gave new meaning to the “say it, don’t spray it” line, for sure.
