Mates of a Human

Part Five. Chapter Two. Eric

Author's note; Thank you for the huge support and wonderful comments about this book, I really appreciate each and everyone of them x

Author's note 18+

"Sylvie!"

Upon hearing her name spill from my pouting lips, the woman's head, followed by body, appeared in open doorway of my office. Today's ridiculously high heels were navy blue and had a sprig of flowers embroidered along the side.

"What is it this time Eric?" my former personal assistant said with a heavy sigh. I glanced at her with watery eyes and a downcast expression from where my chin was perched upon my desk.

"I want to take another vacation," I complained.

She rolled her eyes upward and clicked determinedly into my office and somehow did not trip over her own feet. I inwardly applauded. "You came back from vacation just two weeks ago," she pointed out. "So what is your actual problem?"

"This woman is threatening to sue me," I tapped at the complaint letter in front of me. "She claims that the chlorine levels in our pool are too high and turned her hair green!"

Sylvie rose a single eyebrow.  "The water in the pool is regularly tested," she said, confidently.  "What likely happened is that the woman recently had her hair highlighted, went swimming and didn't wash the chlorine from her hair, which then caused the green tint to her hair."  She sat down upon my sofa bed and crossed one small leg with the other.  "You know this woman is just trying to gain a freebie of some sort and has no actual claim, so what is really wrong?"

"Really?" I said, ignoring the added question.  "You're amazing!  I've got a brilliant idea!  You should deal with the complaint letters!"

"Absolutely not," Sylvie replied, harshly.  "I may be your deputy manager now, but I still have enough work to deal with, seeing as you passed the supervision of the new administration staff onto me as well." Oh yeah, I gave her a promotion when I returned from vacation. Well, she had deserved it... not that it seemed to lighten my workload much.

"Ah, but I gave you a personal assistant...!" I reminded her.  We hired four staff members in the end, three men and the one woman who did not look at me as if I was a delicious salad.  I'd say steak, but none of them looked like meat had ever passed their lips into their stick thin figures.  One of the males was the cute little calico, who only felt comfortable at Sylvie's side, so we made him her assistant.

"I refuse to dump more work on Tommy's shoulders," she stated, "just so I can cover your sorry arse."

"My arse is not sorry," I mumbled.  "My arse is awesome, just ask my mates."

"How are your mates?" Sylvie asked, glancing at the new portrait upon the wall.  It was a particularly poignant moment taken on our wedding day, just before the pack run.  Alex was kneeling before Michael and I, we both in our beast forms.  His hands were on our bodies, his fingers splayed through our coats.  My forehead was pressed against his as his eyes fluttered shut and Michael's wolf was glancing up at both of us, his tail mid wag.  We don't know who took the photograph, but Alex's mother, Beth, was the one who helped me enlarge and frame it for my office wall.

I felt a sigh slip from my lips. "Michael has been working ridiculous hours since we came back," I grumbled. "Night shifts, double shifts, Alex says that he often doesn't have time for lunch with him. And Alex comes back tired, he says his work load has almost doubled, but that there's no overtime so he has to get as much done as possible in the time he has." I don't mention that he fell asleep after his first climax the night before, leaving me standing proud with only my hand for company.