Page 1 of An Omega Fox for Walker (Beartastic Summer of Love #4)

Walker

Some people thought bear shifters were lazy, at least in the winter. Lots of naps, eating honey toast, and sipping cocoa in front of the fire. Chilling in the warmest, coziest way. Some people thought that.

In fact, it was a standing joke at work that I was the opposite of any bear any of my coworkers had ever met. They all had a friend of a friend who were always on break once the days shortened and the temperatures lowered.

I wasn’t sure who those friends of friends were because they for sure didn’t have jobs, and all the bears I knew had to earn a living one way or another.

Some lived in the forest, but even they were generally lumberjacks or rangers.

And of all the hardworking bears in the world, I took pride in being one of the hardest working.

To the point that I hadn’t taken a vacation day in years.

Just racked them up for the day when something interesting came up that I could use all this time for.

Until then, I didn’t mind getting up and going to the office every morning.

It was fine. The firm had no limit on number of days that could be saved, either, and I sometimes joked to myself that all I had to do was hang in there and maybe retire years early and then life would be one long vacation.

All was good there, as I chugged along in my workaday life.

Until it wasn’t.

Arriving at work one morning, I got off the elevator and walked into a buzz of conversation around the front desk.

I checked my watch and, as usual, I was fifteen minutes early.

I did this to have a few minutes to pour a cup of coffee and settle in before the rest got there and things kicked into high gear.

“Something going on?” I asked, approaching the group. “Did I miss a call for an early meeting?”

As one, they all turned to face me, and their confused and worried expressions, I knew it was more than my having missed a text.

“Am I fired?”

That broke the stalemate, and the entire group began to explain to me what was going on. In a cacophony that made it impossible to make out what they were attempting to tell me. But I didn’t think I had lost my job or missed a meeting…something about being bought?

“Walker, get in here.” My boss’s voice carried over the uproar and gave me a reason to escape from whatever this was. “Now.”

“On my way.” I had to squeeze between a personal assistant and an accounting manager, but a moment later, I was seated in one of the lowish guest chairs in front of Arlen’s desk.

He managed to find some seats with shorter legs that made him taller than his guests—like in the old movies.

But, other than that, he was a decent guy, which made his expression even tighter and more worried than the rest of the staff. “I really am fired.”

“No, nobody is fired.”

I let out my breath in a whoosh. “I didn’t think my termination would upset them all that much. But I of course made it all about me. So, what is going on? Nobody’s sick or dead, are they?”

If nobody was being fired, what else could it be? Our CEO was older than most of the gods, and even shifters didn’t live forever.

“No. Nobody sick or dead. Nobody fired. You are making me feel better about all of this.” He chuckled, but it had a sickly note. “The company has been purchased by our biggest competitor.”

“Denton?” They were another property development firm locally who had bid on most of the same projects we did. “I thought old Grisby said he’d sell to them over his dead body.” If that made any sense, but it did not. “And he’s not dead, you said.”

“He’s not dead, but—” He glanced left and right, as if someone might be hiding behind the curtains or in the private bathroom listening to us. “You can’t say a word about this to anyone.”

I lifted my right hand and swore, “I will never divulge a word of what goes on in this office.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Here’s what has been going on. For the past year, Grisby’s sons have been trying to get control of the company away from him. They claimed he wasn’t up to the challenge anymore and apparently have managed to convince enough stockholders that they’re right.”

“That’s not really a secret.” At least, I’d known for some time. “And considering the stockholders are all relatives, but I thought he’d held back enough stock in his and his wife’s names to avoid this.”

“She sold her shares to her sons.”

Wow. What a betrayal. But that was not my business to delve into.

Even if I did wonder whether they would end up divorced over this.

Grisby and his wife were just that. Husband and wife, not mates.

She was certainly not his fated, nor did she even pretend to like him once she’d sealed the deal.

Unfortunately for him, the prenup had earned her enough stock to combine with their sons’ to outvote him.

“Cold.”

“She’s a snake.” He shrugged. “What can you expect?”

There were probably plenty of good snakes, but one like her made those who were speciest claim their stereotypes, held some truth.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for the old man. So, if nobody’s getting fired, are we being laid off?”

“The boss did manage to have some say in the sale, and all employees are being retained in their current positions.”

“Same location?”

“Yes. They like our office and plan to continue to use it. I imagine there will be some shuffling, but in general, there will be a minimum of change, and we can all go about our business as usual.”

I leaned back in the chair, as much as the uncomfortable back allowed. “How did everyone else find out so soon? Obviously they were all here early for some reason. Usually half of them are racing through the lobby a minute or two late.”

“I’m not sure, but you know how gossip is.”

Something I chose not to engage in and was rarely up on.

“Well, if that’s all, I guess I’ll get to my desk and start working. Assuming we’ll be told what changes we need to make when the deal closes…when will that be?”

“At the end of the fiscal year. But don’t go so fast. There is one matter that relates to you.”

“Me?” Alarm came back. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No and yes. You have four months of vacation saved up.”

“Right.” Like a deposit in a bank account, safely waiting to be used someday.

“And Denton’s policy is no more than a month can be accrued before it has to be used. So, it’s use it or lose it time, I’m afraid.”

My jaw dropped. The fiscal year ended in just over three months. “Can I sell it back?”

“Afraid not. So you can either donate it to the cause or take the summer off.”

I’d been banking my vacation days for years.

I didn’t have any big plans for them, but why use them if you didn’t need to?

At least, that was the plan before my company was bought out by our competitor and we were told any unused vacation days when the fiscal year ended would be lost. No way I was going to give those bad boys up, leaving me with my entire summer off and nothing to do with it.

I wasn’t going to “donate” all my earned hours.

They were part of the compensation for my work. But where to go?