Moving on such short notice was a pain, but Yara was given the time up until her transfer to get her things arranged.

She paid off the next month to her landlord along with her moving notice, made numerous phone calls to find a new location in her new town, and finally the day arrived. Yara had all of her belongings boxed up, men came and picked them up, and then she left one city for the next.

Yara had this strange fondness for moving. It always represented a new start, a new life. Every time she moved it seemed to mark a transition up in the world. It wasn't like she usually left much of anything behind either. Socializing outside of work had never been her strong suit.

Although this time she was undeniably nervous.

She had a weekend to get her apartment arranged and it seemed to fly by because the closer Monday lurked the more dread she felt.

Then, just like that, her first day of work was upon her and she was dressed in her best dress suit but still felt terribly, terribly inadequate.

Yet there was nothing she could do.

Xander Knightley was a name she had ended up searching online and while there wasn't anything obvious that stuck out about him there were a few photos that gave Yara a bit of a start. For one, the man was beyond attractive, with a good smile, crisp blue eyes, and immaculately styled dark brown hair. He had broad shoulders and a perfect posture. Her new boss looked like the poster child for 'good business representative' and Yara wasn't quite sure she enjoyed the image of herself stumbling around trying to serve that kind of man.

In addition to that, a couple of uploaded videos proved he had an immense amount of charisma.

Yara felt both attracted and severely out of her league. And that plagued her as she prepared for her first day, an awkward bundle of nerves and inadequacy.

***

Arriving at the office building, she ended up taking a moment to marvel over it. It was larger than the one she had come from, towering up into the sky, and she stood there, gawking on the busy city sidewalk before starting up the elaborately designed steps.

Unfortunately, her momentary distraction meant she wasn't looking forward and she ran straight into someone's back.

That someone was taller than her and had been speaking on a cell phone. They whipped around with a venomous, "Watch where you're going, idiot." Then, without another word, they were off towards the front entrance.

Yara felt a lead weight drop into her stomach.

That had been her new boss.

Definitely. Him.

There was no mistaking those blue eyes—now confirmed a frigid ice in color—set beneath brown bangs. The glare had pierced through to Yara's soul and for a second she found herself turning around and heading down the steps, away from the building.

Then she remembered that she was going to work and had to turn around again.

She felt shaken, which was so remarkable to Yara that she wondered if it wasn't too late to call her old boss and get a transfer back to her old city. But that would be cowardly, wouldn't it? And it would reflect so badly upon her that Mr. Knightley would probably pull some strings and get her fired just for the hell of it.

No man had ever gotten to Yara so quickly before, however, no matter how rude or gruff or disgruntled they seemed. Sure she'd been nervous, but that was only because she wanted to do a good job. Now? Now she actually felt somewhat scared.

It was surreal. She was just a man! And not only that, but Yara was a werewolf! Where that confidence came from?

But if she thought about it. Even though she's a small woman in her human form, she was still stronger than this Xander character, right? So there was nothing to be worried about. The guy was just a normal, average human and what wolf was skittish about that?

It wasn't like she'd ever actually do something, but if she truly wanted to, she could eat him. The thought sort of cheered Yara up a little, even though it sounded so foolish.

So she cobbled together her confidence and strode into the building, back straight and head held up high. So what if she had run, quite literally, into her new boss? She was apparently an imperative cog in the corporate machine and her boss needed her to do certain errands, however mundane they were. It was important.

Well, maybe it wasn't important but it paid well. And that was really all that mattered at the end of the day.

Yara put on her best performance as she went up to meet Mr. Knightley. She even smiled at the women manning the information, tried to turn up her charm with the floor's general secretary, and willed as much importance into herself as she could when she finally rapped on that fated office door.

"Come in." A voice called.

Some of Yara's confidence withered but she tried not to let it get to her as she turned the knob and opened the door. "Hello, Mr. Knightley? I'm Yara Samuels, you're new—,"

The man sitting at a posh desk in a beautiful side-corner office didn't even look up from his paperwork, instead cutting her off with, "Coffee. Two cream. Go."

Yara faltered momentarily before, "Sir?"

"Secretary?" Xander Knightley said, again not looking up. "Go."

Shutting the door, Yara felt a little bit like she'd been slapped in the face. Their meeting had been, if nothing else, anticlimactic.

This was her job now, however, so she sought out a nice-looking girl who helped her figure out what it was that Mr. Knightley wanted, showing her the coffee room but then explaining, quite apologetically, that Yara's new boss wanted his cup from an independent shop across the street.

So Yara went and returned twenty minutes later with a hot cup of coffee and the hope that maybe this would win her the honor of her new boss' momentary attention. Knocking again, she entered as she was allowed to and handed off the coffee to Mr. Knightley.

The man tasted it, made a face, and then shoved it back towards Yara. "It's wrong."

"Oh… how so?" Yara asked.

"Two creams, no sugar. Go get a new one."

Yara did, feeling a little more agitated this time, especially when she returned to find her boss was sipping at the apparently wrong coffee as though he could tolerate it but just didn't want to. Putting down the new cup, Yara waited for whatever complaint would come next.

Mr. Knightley grabbed the cup, took a sip, and then nodded, "Better."

Then the man dropped the old cup into a side waste basket, nearly full. Somehow that bothered Yara more but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just the needlessness of it. Or maybe it was the fact that that cup had cost her six dollars.

Yeah, actually. It was probably the latter.

"... You're still here." Mr. Knightley commented after a minute, as Yara stood there, and the new employee jumped.

"W- well, I'm your new secretary and I—,"

"Yes, I know."

Finally, finally the man looked up from his paperwork, eyes just as icy as before, but this time they lacked the bite. Yara braced herself for when recognition would hit his boss, but none seemed to. It was as though the man didn't even recognize her from their having run into each other less than an hour ago.

And Yara wasn't sure if she was relieved or insulted, to be honest.

"Well, I… figured that we would go over the details of my job and—,"

"You want me to hold your hand?" Mr. Knightley asked with such disdain that Yara tensed.

"... No?"

"Okay." And then back to the paperwork. Now Yara was pretty sure she was being outright ignored.

When she exited the office and meandered listlessly to the desk outside that was clearly marked for her, she wondered at the wisdom of jumping into this position headfirst. A pay raise like the one she had gotten was suspect at best and she had known that. Her boss had outright told her that this was going to be a tough job. But what had Yara done? She'd seen the dollar signs and thought with her purse.

Well, if she could tough it out then at least there would be money in it for her. And who knew? Maybe this would make her a stronger person.

Looking around at what Yara had before her, she tried to get to work, walking into the whole thing blind.

Really. The things she would do for money..

              ************