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Catie shook her head then and exited the bathroom.
“Hey Catherine,” Catie turned at the sound of Tiffany Striders’ voice. The overly hyper teleprompter editor quickly made her way over to Catie. Despite the irritation Catie was feeling about the lack of ac and stories, she couldn’t help but to smile at the bouncy blonde haired woman.
“Hey Tiffany, call me Catie girl. Everyone else does,” Catie said and Tiffany shook her head.
“No can do, Catherine. If you didn’t notice, I hate being like everyone else.” Tiffany was right about that one. Everyone pretty much dressed in suits and professional wear at the station, other than the cleaning crew, but Tiffany wasn’t like everyone else. She’d happily put on her everyday clothes refusing to conform. Today Tiffany wore a ‘pretty in pink’ frilly blouse with blue capris.
“I guess,” Catie said shaking her head. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to see if you wanted to grab a late lunch?” Tiffany asked and almost like on cue, Catie’s stomach growled. Catie grinned at that and nodded her head.
“Sure, I’m starving.” Catie said and the two of them started walking towards the entrance of the building. Catie didn’t want her bad mood to interfere with the entertaining stories that Tiffany would have read as she edited the Teleprompters’ news reports.
*****
Even though Catie had had a long day at work; that didn’t stop her from going straight home and doing some research because after work was when she was at her peak. Catie decided to travel around some areas to where known shapeshifters frequented and questioned some of the people who worked in the area. She was trying to find something newsworthy that can show humans how horrible shapeshifters were. Unfortunately, nobody was able to give her any useful information.
“Well if a local interview won’t work, it’s time to try to see what other people are saying.” Catie logged into Facebook to look for anybody talking about shapeshifters. There was some talk about them, but none of them caught her eye until she saw a post from a Ms. Alexa Steele;
Today I found out my boyfriend of five years is a shapeshifter. A shapeshifter!! I’ve never accepted the fact that people were able to do this, then again I don’t truly think their people. I found out when I came home from work way earlier than I expected and what do I see when I walked through the door? A large bear trying to get something from a cabinet that my boyfriend nor I would have been able to get to. He looked at me and I looked at him before releasing an ear shattering scream. I would have never started dating him if I knew this, so needless to say I dropped him quick. Officially single!!!
Catie read that post several times with a deep scowl on her face. She couldn’t believe someone would lie about who they were like that. Catie shook her head feeling sorry for the girl.
“These monsters would do anything to mess with humans’ heads.” Catie mumbled. This wasn’t exactly newsworthy, but Catie thought it was something. Anyone could lie, people did it all the time, but if Catie was able to get a few moments of Alexa’s time, then it was a possibility that Catie would be able to figure out information that Alexa didn’t disclose in her post. Standing up quickly, Catie went into the kitchen to turn on her Keurig. Something told the woman that it was going to be a long night and since it was going to be one of those nights, it’ll be best to get some work down.
As Catie waited for coffee to brew, she made herself something to eat quickly. Once everything was ready, she went back to the computer and dropped a message in Alexa’s inbox. It wasn’t too long before Alexa responded back to her, and Catie couldn’t help but to grin when reading the message. Alexa agreed to an interview over coffee the next day and gave Catie a time that she was ready and what places she frequented. Alexa lived about an hour and a half away from Catie, but Catie didn’t care. She travelled from the west coast to the east coast just to have a thirty-minute interview so this was nothing.
“Alright, here’s to possibly some good information.” Catie said and drunk the remainder of her coffee. Catie decided to think that this meeting wouldn’t give her any valuable information, but that didn’t stop her, she just didn’t want to get her hopes too high. In the back of her mind though, Catie believed that this interview might lead her to a sure gold rush.
Chapter Two
Lucas Curtis walked out of his pristine office bathroom and made his way to the Mauhaubi conference room. He ran his hand through his sandy brown hair as his golden eyes scanned the wide hallway. He could feel the women’s eyes on him and he couldn’t help but to smile.
“Hi Luke,” the pretty red head by the name of Susan walked over to him blocking his path. Luke was irritated that he was stopped, because he was already running a little behind for a meeting, but he smiled and greeted the woman.
“Good afternoon Susan. How are you today?” Susan’s green eyes looked up at him and he could see that she was watching him deeply. She wanted him and Luke knew it.
“I’m fine Luke, do you have a moment?” Susan asked as she twirled a red lock on her index finger. The woman was a knockout standing at five feet four inches. Her body was slim, but athletic and she had breasts that would make any man salivate over her. Luke wasn’t one of those men though, the woman just didn’t do it for him.
“I’m actually running behind on a meeting. Can it wait?” Luke asked looking at his watch with a frown marring his handsome features. His strong and chiseled jaw clench slightly when Susan took a little too much time with her answer. C’mon woman, I don’t have all day! Luke thought to himself. Almost like she felt his frustration, Susan flinched and nodded her head quickly.
“Yes! Sorry about that. I’ll talk to you later.” Luke could tell that Susan was slightly embarrassed as she hurried around him. Luke smirked and continued down the hall. Any man would be lucky to have Susan under his arm; however, Susan wasn’t someone that Luke would want to take back to his pride.
*****
“Kevin always had a temper. He’s never hit me before but when he felt like he was threatened, he’d show his true colors.” Alexa said as her bubblegum pink lips wrapped around the straw of her strawberry banana smoothie. “I’ve been around many aggressive guys, don’t get me wrong, but Kevin’s aggressive attitude definitely topped theirs.”
“Would you say it’s because of the bear blood running through his veins? Bears in general are docile creatures until they feel threatened. This is when they become deadly.” So far Alexa wasn’t telling Catie anything that she’s never heard, but she still decided to keep the tape recorder running. Alexa thought about it for a moment before answering.
“I don’t know too much about wildlife, so I guess that could be a reason why.” Alexa shook her head and looked deeply into Catie’s eyes then. “There were times when Kevin got so angry… I swear I thought hair was starting to grow everywhere on him. And his eyes… his eyes were different for just a split second… thinking about it now, I think he was about to change into a bear, but he sometimes stopped suddenly. Have you ever see a shapeshifter transform in front of your eyes?” Catie thought back to when her sister was killed and nodded her head with pain shooting through her heart.
“Unfortunately I have…” Alexa moved in closer then and started whispering. Catie informed the woman that she was being recorded in advance, so she didn’t know why Alexa felt the need to do that.
“One of my friend’s friend died last summer… this isn’t public knowledge, but he was real close to a shapeshifter when he transformed and POW! The impact of the shapeshifter’s transformation completed destroyed the guy’s body.” Catie’s eyes widened at that. She never knew that a shifter’s transformation could be deadly if they’re too close to someone.
“Did your friend see this happen? Or is this just a rumor?” Catie asked eyes wide in interest. This was definitely something that could turn her dry spell around. As far as she knew, there had been no documented cases suggesting that shifter’s transformation could be dangerous.
“The family of the guy that was killed had a closed casket because of it.” Alexa said still whispering. Catie didn’t want to be like those news reporter that tracked down stories like hyenas starving for cattle, but she couldn’t just leave this information alone.
