Chapter 3: The scary HR Lady

HR wasn’t a place Sue had been particularly looking forward to going again so soon. The elevator doors opened with a ding and she reluctantly stepped off. She kept trying to tell herself that they had probably only called her back down because there had been a mix-up with the paperwork she had signed that morning or something, and not because she was going to get fired.

She rounded the corner to the Human Resources department and stopped in her tracks. Coming out of the office was Knight West, looking unfairly hot in his dark gray suit and pale blue shirt. He looked seriously pissed-off about something, probably Sue, as he ran his hand through his dark hair.

Their eyes met and Knight visibly flinched. He looked pained to have to be breathing the same air as Sue, which was just plain rude. She frowned. What is his problem?

And without another word, Knight walked past Sue, making sure to keep as much space between them as he could in the hallway.

Sighing, Sue shook her head and knocked on the door softly, taking a deep breath as she waited. She was startled though when the door opened from the other side, revealing the same woman she had dealt with that morning.

“Ms. Andrew.” The HR woman greeted her with the same over-the-top level of enthusiasm she had that morning. “Thank you for coming down again.”

She motioned to the chair opposite her desk and she took a seat, trying for the life of her to remember her name. She was pretty sure it was Barbra but not nearly confident enough to call her by it.

“So, how’s your first day going?” she asked her as she sat down behind her desk.

“Um, well, it’s only been a few hours,” she told her, fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat.

“Right. I just wanted to invite you down here to talk about a few things.”

Here it is, she thought. I’m getting fired.

“We’ve been made aware of the fact that you might have been made to feel a little unwelcome on your first day here, and we wanted to check in with you and make sure that you don’t feel uncomfortable in the workplace.”

Sue stared at her, completely flabbergasted by the fact that she saw her as a possible victim, as opposed to the one conducting inappropriate behavior.

“No,” Sue insisted. She slumped back in the chair and put her hands to her face, then shakily put it down her lap, still shaking. “Look, I’m sorry that I sent that email. Sarah and I have been friends for years. I just wanted to email her, and let her know how my first day was going so far. I didn’t realize that the emails were monitored. I know it was really unprofessional and it won’t happen again, I swear. “

“Ms. Andrew, with all the new human hires that we’ve had here, incidents are bound to happen. That’s why I think it’s a good idea for an office relations workshop,” she said.

Given the way she was smiling, Sue could tell that she had been itching for an excuse for this. Sue slumped further down in the chair.

Great, she thought. Just what I need, everyone hating me for wasting their time.

* * * *

Knight could have really done without family night. All he wanted to do was go back to his apartment, pour himself a glass of scotch, and find a game to watch on the TV.

Instead, he had to see his whole family for dinner. The first Sunday of every month, the family usually got together at Knight’s grandparents’ house just outside the city. The dinner had been pushed back a day due to Jared’s fiancée being out of town. Sarah had been in New York buying pieces for a few upcoming photo shoots and had flown back to Seattle just that afternoon.

Knight parked his car on the gravel driveway outside of his grandparents’ large country house. He got out of the car and locked it. He really wasn’t looking forward to this, especially as Sarah was friends with the new girl. Knowing Leslie, she had already told them all about the way his wolf had reacted to the woman’s scent. He saw that most of his family was already there as the driveway was cluttered with an array of cars.

“Knight,” his grandmother, Eva, greeted him warmly. “Sweetheart, you get more and more handsome every time I see you.”

Knight couldn’t help but smile when faced with his grandmother. He had always been particularly close to both his grandparents. He wrapped the old woman in his arms, squeezing her tightly.

“Well, Grandma, that’s because I take after you.”

Eva laughed and gently swatted him on the shoulder. “How you’re still single, I will never know.”

Knight laughed and followed his grandma into the house. The house and the surrounding grounds had been in the family for generations. Every member of the pack spent time there, whether they were family or not. In the summer, they had cookouts and pool parties, in the fall they had bonfire parties, they went all out for the Christmas season, and in the spring, they put on Easter egg hunts for the kids.

It could be a pain in the ass having so many people around, all of them thinking they had a right to butt into his business, but it could also be pretty great.

He followed his grandma through the foyer and into the kitchen, the real heart of the house. His mom, Julia, was with Leslie standing by the counter. Leslie looked like a younger version of his mom. It was kind of spooky, actually. She looked more like Knight’s mom than she did her own. The two women were pigging out on some of the food his grandma had already made.

“Leave some for the rest of us,” Knight joked before going over and placing a kiss on his mom’s cheek. It was just the two of them in their immediate family. With his mom being a West, Knight had taken her last name as opposed to his father’s.

Given that the man hadn’t been in the picture since Knight was nine, he had to say that he was glad of that.

He raised his eyebrows at Leslie, as if daring her to mock him some more for what had happened earlier. His cousin just smiled at him sweetly.

“Where’s Grandpa?” he asked, turning back to his grandma. Even when his dad had still been in the picture, Knight had always looked to his grandpa as a role model. He was the one who had taken Knight fishing on the boat and taught him how to control his shift.

Eva rolled her eyes. “Probably in his office. I keep trying to get him to slow down, but you know how stubborn he is.”

“Please,” Julia said as she took a buttered bread roll and bit into it. “The day Daddy slows down is the day we bury him.”

Knight had to agree with his mom there. His grandpa had so many different business ventures and he worked so hard to ensure that they were all a success. Knight thought the old man loved it, though.

“I’m gonna go say hi,” Knight told the others. He kissed his mom on the cheek again and went in search of his grandpa. As he passed the living room, he saw his cousin Jared with his fiancée Sarah sitting on the sofa. He waved and said a quick hello before he kept going.

“Grandpa,” he said as he knocked on the door to the old man’s office.

“Come in, Knight.”

He let himself in and smiled when he saw the old man. The man was sitting in his lounger with a glass of scotch and a cigar hanging out his mouth.

“Don’t tell Eva. She hates having the smell in the house.”

Knight shook his head in amusement and went to sit in the chair opposite his grandpa. “You know we’re all werewolves, right? There’s no hiding that smell,” Knight pointed out.

“Yes, but by the time we sit down to eat, the cigar will be gone and it’ll be too late for her to take it away from me,” Lenard countered. He reached into the side of his lounger and pulled out a silver case, offering a cigar to Knight.

“No thanks.”

Lenard shrugged and put the case back.

“So, what’s up? You running my magazine into the ground yet?”

“You mean my magazine?”

Lenard chuckled and put his cigar down in an ashtray.

“And as you well know, sales have been up since I took over,” Knight told his grandpa smugly.

“Yeah, yeah. What did you wanna talk to me about?”

“We want to send a human writer to your new hotel to do a piece on how it feels for a human to be in a werewolf-only hotel,” Knight told him. “It’s basically a fluff piece, and you know I wouldn’t okay it if I didn’t think the hotel was human-friendly. Think of it as good publicity.”

Lenard nodded as he considered Knight’s proposal. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. Since they started springing up, these hotels have got the ‘humans first’ nuts in a frenzy. It’s not like humans aren’t welcome, if you’re accompanied by a wolf. It’s just that they cater more to a wolf’s needs.”

Knight nodded. “Yeah.”

“All right. This writer of yours’ll need a wolf to go with them. I can give you a suite for a night,” Lenard said.

“She’s not mine,” Knight heard himself insisting before he could stop himself. “I mean, she works for the magazine. She’s new. Just started today. I don’t even know her.”

Lenard raised his eyebrows at his grandson. “If you say so.”

Knight coughed into his hand and got up from the chair. “Well, thanks. Just let me know what day works for you.”

Lenard nodded, an all-knowing smile playing on his face. Knight turned and left the office, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.

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