December 2023 Newsletter
WOLF WITH BENEFITS
Available Now!
Unedited/Unproofed
Livy held up a color print of Bo Novikov trying to force a smile. “This is what nightmares are made of.”
“I know,” Toni agreed while she licked her spoon free of Greek yogurt. “That’s why we need you.”
“This isn’t really my thing, Toni. I—”
“If you say you’re an artist, I will hit you.”
Chuckling, Livy tossed the picture back onto Toni’s desk and ate more of the French fries she had purchased. After spending some time catching up, they’d gone to the Sports Center food court and had picked up their lunches. Fish and chips for Livy. Yogurt, salad, and a burger big enough to choke a rhino for Toni. She’d bypassed the fries, but now she was regretting it while she watched Livy eating hers.
“I was not going to say that. At least not to you.” Livy shrugged. “But I hate sports. I hate sports guys. I hate people. I hate dealing with them. Talking to them. And portrait photography means talking to people. I also hate—”
“Yes, Livy. I know. You hate . . . pretty much everything.”
“Pretty much.”
“But we both know you need the money. This will be good money. Clean. And God knows you can’t even think about trying to do another office job.”
“I’m a fast typist.”
“Yes. But then you throw the computer at the office manager and I’m bailing you out of jail . . . again.”
“He was rude.”
“You think everyone is rude. But with shifters, you’ll be right and they can fight back. At the very least they’ll be fast enough to duck a flying PC.”
“That hard drive did ram right into his head. He was out for, like, ten minutes.”
“Is that restraining order still in effect?”
“I think it expired last year. But I wasn’t planning on going back to Utah anytime soon.” Livy took a handful of her fries out of the newspaper they were nestled in and dropped them on the plate with Toni’s burger. “Honestly, though, how much money could this really get me?”
“A lot.”
“Really?”
“You really should think about it. You’d be able to live some place you’re paying for rather than just crashing on someone’s couch . . . even people you don’t know.”
“It’s called squatting and it has its place in society. And one paycheck isn’t going to—”
“I realized that. So I talked to a few of the other teams’ promotions people here and in Jersey.”
“Which means what?”
“I’ve got you other jobs with the local shifter teams.”
Livy smirked. “So you’re my agent now?”
“If I have to be. Clearly your agent doesn’t understand your true needs and skills.”
Livy thought a moment. “Well . . . it would be nice having a place of my own eventually.”
“Where are you living now?”
“Some guy left his window open on Thirty-Second Street and Fifth, so I—”
“Okay. That’s enough.” Toni shook her head to dislodge the image of her best friend climbing into some guy’s temporarily vacant home so she had a place to sleep for the night. It was in Livy’s nature, Toni understood that. But it was in Toni’s nature to put her siblings in burrows . . . she didn’t actually do that, though, now did she? “The family is staying in Manhattan for the summer, so you can crash with us. But come end of August, you’d better have your own, rented apartment, Olivia. You can’t keep living this way. It’s not right, especially when you don’t have to be homeless!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.” Livy smirked. “So emotional.”
“Shut up. I’m trying to help.”
“I know. And thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“But you do understand I have money, right?”
“I like to pretend you’re penniless, so that I can justify your need to live rent free.”
“I don’t need to live rent free. I just don’t like staying in one place when there’s all these available spaces I can fit into.”
“I don’t want to discuss this,” Toni insisted. “It upsets me.”
“Okay. Okay. So when do I get started?”
“Well—”
The door to her office opened—without a knock—and Ricky Reed walked in, pulled one of the chairs that sat against the wall to her desk—this one wasn’t bolted down at least—and dropped into it.
“Do you ever think to yourself,” he suddenly began, “ ‘How did I not know she was a delusional narcissist?’ ”
Livy stared at the wolf and replied, “Every day.”
Ricky focused on Livy. “Hi. I’m Ricky Lee Reed.”
“I’m Livy.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
Livy quickly looked at Toni, eyes wide, and mouthed, Ma’am?
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Toni admitted. She wanted to be annoyed with him about earlier, but she was having a hard time when he looked so despondent.
“My ex-girlfriend is running around telling my Pack that I ran away from her yesterday crying.”
“Did you?” Livy asked.
“No, I did not. I was just chasing her,” he said, pointing at Toni. “And if anyone was crying, it was her.”
“I was not crying. I was merely panicking.”
The wolf suddenly looked around Toni’s office. “I thought you were quittin’.”
“I had to put it off.”
“Why would you quit?” Livy asked. “This job seems tailor-made for you. Taking care of useless idiots.”
“My siblings are not useless.”
“Freddy’s not useless . . . and the twins are too young to know definitely about them yet. But the rest of them . . . pretty useless.”
“Shut up,” Toni snapped.
“You shut up.”
“You shut up more.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Excuse me,” the wolf cut in. “We were talking about me. Not y’all.”
“He has a point,” Livy kindly said, which only annoyed Toni more.
Reece Reed walked into Toni’s office—again, without asking if it was okay to come in—and threw his hands up at his brother. “I was trying to talk to you, Ricky Lee.”
“No. You and Rory were laughing at me, and I’m in too bad a mood now to sit around and listen to it.”
“Look, I told you Laura Jane was crazy back in high school. Don’t be mad at me now because I was . . .” Reece sniffed the air. “Because I was . . .” He sniffed the air again. Then he dropped to his knees and buried his face into the side of Livy’s neck.
Livy’s body tensed. She didn’t like to be touched . . . ever. “Could you get your redneck nose off me?” she deadpanned.
“What are you?” Reece asked.
Toni briefly closed her eyes, knowing that over the years that particular question had led to all sorts of bad situations.
“Don’t be rude, little brother,” Ricky warned.
“Smell her,” Reece ordered his brother.
“I’m not smelling anyone. It’s rude.”
“Seriously, though,” Reece pushed. “What are you?”
“Your worst nightmare if you don’t get away from me,” Livy said calmly.
“Are you a hybrid?”
“No, Livy!” Toni nearly screamed when she saw her friend’s hand come up and those deadly claws explode from her fingertips. “Don’t you dare. He’s on the hockey team and he needs his eyes.”
“Then,” Livy said, staring right at the much bigger wolf, “he needs to go away.”
“Reece . . . move.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Reece!” Toni pointed at another chair pushed against the wall. “Go sit down. Now.”
Grumbling, the wolf got to his feet and stomped across the room until he could drop into a chair. “I was just asking a question.”
“See?” Livy said to Toni. “You’re perfect for this job.”
“Shut up,” Toni said with a laugh.
“You shut up.”
“You shut up more.”
