Page 46 of Witchwolf

Maybe I should’ve been offended I didn’t have the same effect on him.

Seth, for his part, snorted and stepped into the room, ignoring Kent entirely.

“Maia called down to the front desk. She wants an escort to a local karaoke place. I think they’re planning on taking Igarashi Minori out tonight?”

Ah, yes. Perfect. Crescent was going to force prim and proper Igarashi Minori into a night on the town. That was going to go just perfectly.

And Dakota? Was he going too?

“I thought you’d want to know,” Seth said, even as I was pushing out of my seat.

“This is too much, right?” I asked Seth. “They don’tneedto go out.” Certainly not without me. Who knew what would happen?

Seth shrugged. “They haven’t left yet, so...”

Maybe I could stop them.

Maybe Ishouldstop them.

Or—I didn’t know, but this felt like something spiraling out of my control, and I needed to get my ass down to HR and get a handle on it.

21

Dakota

It felt like a waking nightmare, at first.

Not doing my job, but trying to do my job and having Igarashi Minori make the world’s weirdest demands. She wanted to discuss the pay scheme for all employees, and how benefits worked? Fine. Totally in line with what anyone might have expected. She wanted to order sushi for lunch and go to a karaoke club with other employees tonight? What. The. Fuck.

At the very least, it seemed like we should be getting lunch from a place that specialized in local food. Seafood, sure. Sushi? There was almost no chance that could go well.

But Maia seemed almost smug at the request, and left us alone going through the employee handbook so she could make a call for the food.

Half an hour later, a spread of sushi the likes of which I’d never even imagined showed up, delivered by a smiling pair of employees and laid out on the center table. Igarashi Minori had frowned, and I’d expected her to start demanding to know why they’d ordered so much that some would almost certainly go to waste, but then the whole HR department had come around, a few people at a time, and... well, it turned out werewolves could really put away the sushi, at least as much as mages, and they seemed to relish it.

When a quarter of it disappeared in less than five minutes, Igarashi Minori seemed to realize nothing would be going to waste, and also that if she wanted some at all, she’d better jump in.

Come to think of it, me too.

So we both picked through the options and sat back down with heavy plates of food. After a moment of picking it over and nibbling on a few pieces, she sat back staring at it as though it were somehow confusing.

I did not. It was fucking delicious, and I wanted to devour it all. And maybe get some more... except everyone in the department hadn’t eaten yet, so that was rude.

She looked up at first me, then Maia. “This is... excellent.”

I cocked my head at her. Why was that confusing?

Maia, on the other hand, beamed. “Werewolf-run shop on the corner. Her family immigrated from Japan fifteen years ago, and they run the shop together. It turns out that a werewolf nose is very good for picking out the freshest seafood.”

Minori didn’t even pause in chewing the bite she’d taken, but cocked her head, considering, then finally nodded. “That makes sense.” Then for the first time since we’d met, she truly smiled, and it transformed her whole face. It turned out she was beautiful. “Delightful. I look forward to learning of your other food.”

I couldn’t stop myself from beaming, even though I probably looked ridiculous, with little chipmunk cheeks as I shoved more fish into my mouth. In my pocket, my phone rang out the text message tone.

Annoying, but I should check it, since it could be Jax.

Donnie: You need to come home for dinner tonight. You’re working too much, you’re gonna burn out.

What the heck? That was ridiculous. He knew I’d just started a new job, and he’d been the one to warn me how much work a corporate job was going to involve. He’d painted a picture of long nights of overtime at the office, and how awful it would all be, boring and?—

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