For Lycans, Press One

Chapter 4: Uncovering the Dirt

II look over my shoulder to make sure Jeff is still schmoozing Donovan while I swipe on the Lycan Alert.

[ LYCAN Alert

| CENTERBURG Regency Mall:

| Vandalism//B&E//Burglary

| M//6'4"//210 lbs//Gray hooded sweatshirt//Beard

|Tuesday, 9:37am

I put my hand to my mouth to dampen my rising temper. Everyone gets an alert any time a Lycan transforms in public, but of course, we never get one when a Wolf Shifter does. Even worse, everyone also gets an alert when a crime is committed and one of the suspects may be a Lycan.

Keyword— suspect, not confirmed guilty.

Another keyword— may be a Lycan, not a confirmed Lycan.

I look it up and see that the videos just show a large man with glowing green eyes and a dark beard running out of a store with a gaming console. Comments are out of control.

[T-Roxxx LP

| Greed is the green-eyed monster. Be yellow, be mellow.

| 19.5k likes

Shifter's eyes glow yellow right before they shift, and I just wish that Lycans could be treated like them when this stuff happens.

I count slowly to ten to rein in my irritation at how unfair it all is. I can't remember the last time I got angry because I'm terrified about my eyes flashing green. Normally this stuff would just get an eye roll out of me, but after everything that's happened this morning, I'm just strung out.

I want to take a half-day and go home, but then I'd have to get a sick note to get full pay and I just can't afford it right now.

I put my phone away before Jeff catches me, and log back into the call queue. Immediately, a call comes through.

The customer begins to rattle off a story about how his car got impounded, so he can't pay his bill this month. When I try to explain that if he can't pay his bill, then there are p*****t options, he starts to yell.

No surprise there. Work may suck, but at least it's distracting.

I take three more calls and am on the verge of clocking out when D'Angelo spins around in his chair.

“Hey, Mack," the tall shifter with medium-dark skin gets my attention.

“I got a customer who requested you by name. Says you helped her with a fraud thing. Roxanne Santos. Can I transfer her?" D'Angelo points to his monitor.

My heart flips upside down, my emotions being ripped from one extreme to another.

Roxy's calling back in, and she requests me?

“Yeah, of course."

My mind is a tangled mess as the call connects through to me.

“Thank you for calling Centerburg Bank and Credit, this is M–Leigh, how may I help you?" I recite, almost giving my real name.

“Hey Leigh, how you doin'?" Roxy asks, her voice rolling like water over smooth rocks.

My posture relaxes and I take a breath.

“I'm fine, how about yourself?" I half-lie. At least now I can push my breakdown about Donovan Callisto to a corner of my mind to deal with on the drive home.

“Oh, you don't sound fine. I hope your day gets better. I've had one of those 'when it rains, it pours' weeks." Roxy says, and I'm smiling again.

“Well, I'm sorry your week was stressful, but you sound like someone who can handle anything," I reply.

We're encouraged to be friendly to customers, so I'm going to milk this oasis of a call for as long as I can.

“Oh, I wish. But yeah, sorry to talk your ear off, I had a question about getting a limit increase on my card. Can you uh, do that for me?" she asks, and I make a face into the monitor.

“I can look into that, Miss Santos, and no, speaking with you is a pleasure."

Oh. my. God. What did I just say?

“Let me put you on a brief hold." I mute my mic and just stare at the monitor.

“Did you just say…'speaking to you is a pleasure?'" Alyssa asks with perfect eyebrows raised to her hairline.

I turn three shades of red.

“She was…upset. Just trying to calm her down." I lie and the blonde next to me sees through me like glass.

“Uh huh…lemme see, Roxanne?! That's a hot name. I didn't even think women had names like that in real life. Now I know your type." Alyssa grins like she does when she beats Paul to his favorite parking spot.

“Yeah right. She wants a credit limit increase. She's a new customer, but a good one. She spends a lot on…" I trail off.

Regency mall, high-tech security shops, hardware stores, Centerburg shooting range, MMAgear.com, Wolfsbanetea.com.

Wait, what is with the wolfsbane tea, that's a powerful sedative for both Shifters and Lycans. It's one of our two common weaknesses, along with silver. Recently, some Lycans have been victims of wolfsbane tea attacks where either humans or Shifters load it into one of those tranquilizer dart guns. Why would she need something like that?

“Based on her charges, she looks like a hot James Bond, or maybe she's the sexy bond girl or the villain. I'm getting 'Zenia Onnatopp' vibes," Alyssa jokes, but I don't laugh.

She lives in my building and is buying some really scary stuff.

“Thanks for holding, Miss Santos. I found some other suspicious charges, like to Regency mall last week, along with wolfsbanetea.com and to MMAgear.com. Do you recognize them?" I take Roxy off hold.

“You know, Leigh, you can just call me Roxy," she says, voice like warm satin sheets straight from the dryer. “And yes, those are mine. I was even at the mall this morning, what a mess that was. I expected a ruckus like that in Las Palmalto, but not in a small town like this."

A mess? She must be talking about the Lycan attack.

“Oh, I'm sorry you had a bad shopping experience." I try to get her to talk more about it while I put clues together, just like in my mystery novel.

“No, the mall was fine, but there was a guy there causing a huge scene and spooking people. It was as if he was acting out just to act out because he didn't even steal anything valuable from the store. Either way, those security guards had their hands full. In fact, right after that attack, I got a call for a new job because they're so afraid of Lycans. What a mess," Roxy explains, her voice sounding strained and baffled.

Was she implying the poor Lycan was just going crazy for fun? What did she mean by 'got a new job because they're so afraid of Lycans'?

Roxy said she was at the Lycan Rights parade, and there was an attack, and she's got a lot of fighting equipment on her account, and she just admitted to being at the mall this morning and said the whole thing was a mess.

And the top comment on that Shiftok video was T-RoxxxLP, and she admitted to at least knowing the big city of Las Palmalto

Was she a member of LyCan't?

“Well, I'm sorry you had to go through that. We can approve the credit limit increase," I say with a voice as dry and heavy as cement.

I process the increase as my chest constricts like someone had clenched my lungs in their hands.

“Oh, awesome, thanks, Leigh. This helps a lot," Roxy replies.

I can hear the cheer in her melodic voice, but I stamp out any fondness. If she knew I was a Lycan, I bet our conversations would probably be very different.

“I'm glad it does." I remove all traces of warmth from my voice. “Is there anything else I can assist with today?"

“Uh, no…I'm good. Yeah." Roxy sounds hesitant on the phone, and I know she's reacting to my complete change in attitude, but I just can't be nice to someone like this.

“Thank you for choosing Centerburg Bank and Credit, have a nice day." I finish, and I hear Roxy say something like 'bye' before I end the call and log out.

My stomach is churning, and I think I may actually be sick. I stand up so fast that I get the spins, and I brace myself on my desk. I need to get out of here.

Tuesday is Hannah's day off from the salon, so screw it. I'm taking half the day off.

“Mack, where you…" Alyssa starts, but I just can't deal with anyone right now.

I grab my purse and my phone from my drawer and rush from my cube like it's about to catch fire.

“Hey Jeff, I'm not feeling good." I point to my entire appearance. “I'm taking a half-day. Sorry, I think it's an allergy or a stomach thing or both."

I don't even wait for him to respond as I weave out of the cube farm, and out the back door to my car. I'll probably get written up, but I just don't care. Once behind the steering wheel, I crank the ignition and pull out of the parking lot.

I wipe my eyes so I can see through the windshield and call Hannah.

I put the phone on speaker as I get to the intersection where I either go straight to get to her place or turn right for mine. I really hope she's free because I don't want to go home and drown my sorrows in corona and a pile of nachos the size of my head by myself.

The phone rings three times before Hannah picks up.

“Heyo, heyo, heyo, heyoooo!" Hannah sings into the phone.

“Hey…Hannah…are you listening to 'No Diggity'?" I ask, hearing the familiar beat in the background.

“Uh, obviously… but you don't sound good and it's too early for your lunch break. Did your d*ckhead co-workers talk s**t about Lycans again? Because I got nothing to lose, and I'm not above slashing tires. You know what I did to my ex's Camaro." Hannah says, the music stopping.

“No, it's not that…are you free? Can I swing by? I'm fine I just…" My voice breaks like a dam as I sniff, wiping my nose with the back of my hand, which is gross but whatever.

“Girl, I am HERE for you. Come to mine, and I'll order us Mexican, and you can tell me all about it." Hannah vows in her tone that doesn't take no for an answer.

“Ok, I'll be there in fifteen," I say, and we say our goodbyes.

My insides are twisted into knots that prick and stab and leave me with no appetite. I don't even understand how this happened in one day. For years, my life had been the same mundane routine until recently when I finally moved out and got my own place. I would've taken a roommate, but I can't risk it being a Lycan, and Hannah lives with her mom.

I pull into her apartment block and bolt up the stairs. Hannah opens the door before I can even knock.

“Come here," Hannah says, wearing a fuschia maxi dress that pops against her dark skin. I launch myself into the shorter girl's arms.

“I don't even know where to begin. This was the craziest day of my life, like maybe even crazier than when they said my dad would never really walk again." I break down into Hannah's curly dark brown hair.

“Come in, my mom's pulling a double today, so she won't be in till late." Hannah begins to walk back through the doorway. “And just this once I'll let you get snot in my hair, because I love you so much."

“Count us even from that one time you gave me a mullet training to cut hair," I chuckle in between sniffing.

“I told you, never bring up the m-u-l-l-e-t again," Hannah says and closes the door.

Then I spill all the tea.