AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m in my shop and have been looking out the large plate glass window that takes up almost the entire front wall. Ever since I got here, I’ve been talking to myself in a steady stream to keep my nerves calm.
I asked one of the guards to make sure the male knows he’s welcome to come back to work today. When he arrives, I have every intention of greeting Tyler the tiger-guy with a warm smile and a good attitude.
What I didn’t expect was for Colonel Slater himself to march in a direct beeline to my front door. By his grim look and the flat line of his mouth, this isn’t a social call.
Although I was expecting it, I shudder when the door slams open, the bell jangles, and the Colonel barges in.
Even if I didn’t recognize the medals and ribbons on his uniform, I'd have to be blind not to know he’s a ranking officer. The room shrinks two sizes with his presence. One flash of his steel-gray eyes makes me feel as though I’m ten years old and have been sent to the principal’s office. He may look fatherly, but make no mistake, Colonel Slater holds our lives in his hands.
“Miss Reece.” He gives me a curt nod, then launches. “My men tell me your first day with your mentee did not go as well as we’d hoped.”
When I try to explain, he grunts and presses forward. “We are paying you a large sum of money to do your job. Perhaps we didn’t make our priorities clear enough. You transforming this shop…” he glances around the shabby room with its old, brown shiplap walls, “into a going concern is secondary. Your first priority is to socialize these males.”
He strides from one end of the room to the other, fully expecting me to wait silently for pearls of wisdom to drop from his mouth.
“I’ll admit, I did not want this job,” he says without hesitation. “I thought I had better things to do than babysit a bunch of males I initially thought of as mutants.”
Carefully schooling my face, I try to hide my shock at his admission. Although I’d wondered if he felt contempt for the males in his care, I never thought he’d admit it out loud, especially to someone he’s never had a conversation with.
“But I’ve watched them as they’ve grown from animals who were abused and raised in cages. They learn everything we put in front of them at an alarmingly swift rate, and for the most part, they want to follow the rules. It’s only when their animal DNA gets in the way they give even a whiff of noncompliance.”
He clears his throat and spears me with a disapproving stare.
“That’s why I’m speaking to you right now and not giving Tyler a dressing down. I watched the video. He tried very hard to put you at ease—”
“I…”
The I-was-speaking-don’t-you-dare-say-another-word look he gives me makes me clamp my lips shut. This is a man completely unaccustomed to being interrupted.
“From this moment forward, you will do your best to mentor this male, teach him all he will need to know about the fashion industry and running a retail store in case he decides this is his calling. The internship doesn’t have to be long. We’ll rotate him out in a few weeks. But while he’s with you, you will make him feel… if not wanted, then accepted.”
Throughout his speech, the set of his face has been angry and all business. He softens a bit, then adds, “We have therapists we can call in should you need one, but make no mistake, Miss Reece, this isyourproblem and I intend for you to fix it. Immediately.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Thankfully, my scolding is interrupted—by a six-and-a-half-foot orange tiger-man entering the shop.
“Hi, Tyler.” I use my warmest voice and flash him my friendliest smile.
“I’m glad you’re both here,” he says without giving either of us eye contact.
It’s only now I realize he smiled for every second of our interaction yesterday. It’s obvious because he’snotsmiling now.
“I want to tell you both that I’m resigning from working here. Effective immediately. Colonel Slater? You want me to pursue my interests. I’ve discovered an interest I’d like to explore and it certainly isn’t at Mane Street Fashions.”
He purses his feline lips to ensure we fully appreciate how distasteful the idea is to him.
“I would like time to explore my new passion. Dance.”
Chapter Seven
Tyler
It’s a stroke of luck they’re both here. I didn’t want to say this twice.
“We don’t have an instructor, Tyler,” Colonel Slater says. “I’m afraid the process of vetting a dance teacher would take months before we could bring one on board. There are strict protocols pertaining to who is told about the existence of you hybrids.”
I expected him to reject my proposal. What I didn’t expect was his sincere regret that he couldn’t comply.
