Small Paws

Nudging his glasses a little further up his nose... for the fifth time, Mina tried the calculus problem he was having trouble with again. He wasn't very good at it, but he did manage to get through the homework with a lot of extra studying.

Thank god Mr. Del lets me work on my college stuff while here. He thought as he finally figured out the answer to the problem he'd been pondering for at least twenty minutes, then continued onto the next.

Two people had come in during his evening shift so far, and while one was courteous and simply asked how he was doing and then was retrieved by someone from the back area, the other person had stared at him far too closely for comfort.

He, too, had been taken back after a few moments of waiting, but for some reason Mina still felt awkward. Unfortunately, that wasn't the last person to do such a thing.

His next couple of days came with a mix of people. There was rarely more than one person waiting with him in the lobby, and they never stayed for long. The number of people who paid him a little too much attention, however, seemed to be increasing.

It was never with words, but their eyes, they always seemed aggressively hungry when they stared at him.

Growling, Del threw the three folders back on his desk and pursed his lips tightly.

"This is getting ridiculous." He said as Buck leaned back in his chair with the two approved folders out of the five for the day's requests.

"He's a human! Yes, he looks like a decent hunt, but why is he attracting so many requests? It doesn't make any sense." He said as he opened one of the folders, offering nearly two-hundred thousand, for the chance to kill his new fake receptionist.

Buck gave a half smile and ran a hand quickly through his short hair. "I have to say, he does have a sort of draw. Even I sometimes want to pin him down, but you are right, this is getting out of hand. A normal human should not have such an effect on shifters, no matter their looks of demeanor."

Del sighed and shook his head, putting the folder back on his desk before pressing his fingers to his forehead.

"You know what, I'm going to go sit with him for a while. There is something going on that we have clearly missed." He said, getting up abruptly and stalking around the desk.

Buck stood, too, but waited for Del to pass him before following.

"I'll bring you down some dinner." He said, getting an immediate head shake from Del.

"It wasn't optional." Buck said, stepping up beside him and nudging him with his shoulder before stepping into the elevator beside the one Del was taking.

He grumbled at the deer shifter, but the guy never listened. It wasn't worth it. Mina would probably eat whatever Buck brought down, anyway.

Pressing the button to descend, Del slipped his hands into his pockets and waited, then stepped out as it chimed once arriving on the first floor.

The new receptionist was actually greeting one of their guests who was arriving a little early for her hunt. It was rare to get females who wanted to kill, but when they did, they could get even more aggressive than the males.

"Good evening, madam." Del said as he walked over, offering his hand with a smile.

She was a high-up banker. He couldn't really say which she worked for, but the woman's pockets were loaded, and she had one hell of a grudge toward a certain person they had waiting for her to tear apart.

"Oh my, a greeting from the owner. I am honored, sir." She said, an accent slurring her words slightly.

Del caught the woman's eyes glancing back over to Mina and felt a growl welling up in his chest. Thankfully, the entrance doors to the back area slid open, revealing one of his workers who came to retrieve her for her hunt.

Stepping back, Del let the man greet the woman and got her paperwork. Once he looked over it and verified her I.D., he lead her back. The moment the door slid shut Del turned his attention to Mina. He wanted to tell himself that he didn't feel a pull, but that would be a lie.

His wolf was nudging at his senses more and more the longer he looked at him, even though he was just staring back with a small smile, slightly bent glasses tilted on his face. The tension in his mind slowly began to rise as his beast considered trying to take over. It wanted to hunt.

"Del, I brought some food."

I'm so glad Buck is ridiculously fast at being annoying.

Blinking his focus away from Mina, Del took a deep breath and turned toward Buck.

Why is he carrying the large lunch box? He wondered, afraid of how much food he had actually put in it.

Buck just grinned and pressed the fabric lunchbox into Del's arms, then turned to smile at Mina.

"Everything going well here, kid?" He asked, getting a quick set of nods from Mina.

"Yes, sir. No problems at all." He replied, setting down the pencil he'd been holding a bit too tightly, likely because of the woman, then Del's, intense stares.

"I brought you some lunch, and Del wanted to hang out here for a little bit, too, if that's alright with you?" Buck asked, knowing that Mina had no real reason to decline. Nor should he, since Del was his boss.

Mina seemed confused, and a little bit startled, since he began cleaning up his mess of books and homework he had been doing. "Of course it's alright, sir." He said, quickly shoving most of the papers into his backpack by his feet.

"Don't worry about cleaning that stuff up, just push it to the side so that you can eat." Del said as he set the box down and unfolded a stool that was behind the counter near Mina, actually a bit happy that Buck had brought him the food. It would take away some of his uneasiness to have a full stomach, and Mina looked like he was eyeing it, too.

When Buck turned to head back upstairs, likely to complete some background checks on possible hunt targets, Del dropped down onto the stool and began opening the large lunchbox.

"Um, sir?" Mina said, fidgeting next to him.

Del looked up, raising one eyebrow slightly. "Yeah?"

When Mina stood up from his chair, Del mirrored his actions out of habit. He hated when anyone was standing over him. If people needed to talk to him for more than a few seconds, besides Buck, they needed to sit their asses down.

Mina looked a little confused by his abrupt movement, but slowly stepped away from his large desk chair and then gestured to it. "Take my seat? It feels odd seeing my boss sit on a small stool while I'm in a big comfortable chair..."

While he honestly didn't care at that moment, Del didn't want to argue or make the guy feel anymore awkward than he likely already did. So, without replying Del dropped down into the larger, more comfortable chair, then watched Mina quickly take the stool.

"Let's have some food, shall we? Buck tends to overpack, so feel free to eat what you want." Del said as he began unloading a ridiculous amount of food from the lunchbox.

Once it was all out, a plethora of sandwiches that Buck had to have premade earlier in the day in preparation for overfeeding him, Del leaned back and nodded to it.

"Grab at least three things. I'm not picky and I'm really not hungry, so take what you want."

The look on Mina's face actually had him fighting back a smile. It didn't take the guy long to pick out a turkey and Swiss sandwich, followed by two chicken salad ones. Not wanting to be the one not eating, since it was his own lunch, he grabbed a tuna sandwich and began nibbling at it.

He'd come down with the intention to talk a little and see if he could figure out exactly what was going on with Mina, but they ended up spending nearly thirty minutes simply digging into the food Buck had brought down.

Didn't realize I was so hungry.

He'd eaten four sandwiches and Mina was just finishing his third with a content look on his face. He had clearly been hungry as well. Del was just about to offer Mina the last sandwich when the front door opened and one of their long-time clients walked in.

"Bo." Del greeted, standing to shake the man's hand as he approached the desk.

It had been a while since he had requested a hunt, though he did sometimes stop by to chat. He was one of the few people Del had come to know through his business that he didn't mind speaking with simply to talk, on occasion.

"How are you doing, Del? I see you finally found yourself a new receptionist." The gruff man said.

He was clearly a lion shifter. His mane wrapped around his head, even in human form, and his nose twitched every so often as he took in different scents around himself.

Nodding, Del gestured for the man to follow him toward the elevator, but before they could move, Bo seemed to change his focus abruptly to Mina. His nostrils flared and his brow furrowed.

"You... what pride do you belong to?" Bo asked suddenly, drawing Del's lips down into a deep frown.

Pride? Mina is clearly a human.

As if to prove his thoughts correct, Mina frowned, too, and replied. "I live with a few lions, but I'm not a shifter. The genetics seemed to have skipped me."

He sounded sad, and Del could understand why. It would have been frustrating if he hadn't gotten his wolf and had just been a regular human when the rest of his family had gotten to shift.

"I smell them... but I also smell you, kid." Bo said, his words a partial growl as he stepped around the large receptionist's desk and suddenly grabbed Mina by the front of his shirt and pulled him closer for a deep inhale.

When a dark smirk lit up Bo's face, Del stepped forward to separate them. He wasn't fast enough, however, and Bo managed to push something between Mina's lips as Del was shoving him back.

Bo allowed himself to be moved, but not far. His grin also didn't leave his face as he watched Mina grimace.

"What did you just give him?" Del asked as he stepped over to Mina, who was coughing a little from having whatever it was clearly shoved partially down his throat.

Crossing his arms, Bo nodded toward Mina. "Just something to help him discover what he actually is... a force-change powder in a very easily-breakable capsule."

What!

He'd known people who have dealt in such illegal things, but he hadn't expected Bo to just force it down someone's throat! Especially someone who wasn't a-What the hell?

Del's eyes widened as he watched Mina hunch over, dropping to his knees on the hard tile floor as a high pitched growl, which sounded quite pathetic, slipped from between his clenched teeth.

"Mina?" He said as he took a hesitant step forward and knelt down in front of him.

Before he could reach out and place his hand on the boy's shoulder, he noticed that he was shrinking quickly and beginning to sprout tufts of soft tan fur.

"I knew it. Shame that he's a cub, but that answers why I wanted to tear him apart as soon as I walked in. Please tell me you had no idea, Del? You're lucky no one has tried to kill him yet."

They've definitely asked, but how did I not notice?

Either way, he couldn't really think about that stuff right then, because there was a tiny lion cub sitting in a pile of clothing, shaking like a leaf as it stared up at him with wide, terrified eyes.

Bo wants to kill you, I can sense it. My wolf wants to kill you, your shift is a predator's offspring. Instead of allowing either, Del forced his wolf back with as much effort as he possessed, then scooped up the cub, clothing, shoes and all, and hurried toward the elevator, ignoring the deep roar emanating from behind him.

I don't know what the hell I'm going to do about this, but I at least won't let Bo kill you.

Unfortunately, there was still a high possibility that his wolf might give it a shot, though.