“It certainly is.” Leonie turned to rummage in a box of papers. “Give me a second while I find your orientation pack. How did you hear about us, by the way?”
“Oh, one of the kids at my school mentioned it,” Honey said, since the real answer would have made her sound like a crazy person. She groped for a way to change the topic. “I’m eager to get to work. Speaking of which, the director told me you assign pairs of counselors to oversee each group of kids. I take it I’ll be working with a partner for the summer?”
Leonie handed her a thin folder. “Yes, we pair up counselors here. Generally one male, one female, if we can manage it. The two of you will be jointly responsible for the same pack over the entire season. That way you develop a strong relationship with the kids, and each other.”
Honey could only pray her co-counselor wasn’t going to turn out to be one of the improbably tall, muscular babies she’d seen in the parking lot earlier. She doubted any of those young Greek gods would be thrilled at being saddled with someone old enough to be their mother.
“I can’t wait to meet my co-counselor,” she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “Has he arrived yet?”
“Ah.” Leonie tapped her pen against her clipboard. “Now that’s… complicated.”
CHAPTER3
Buck stared around the camp office, trying to spot the hidden cameras that were surely recording this hilarious prank. Finding nothing, he looked back at Zephyr, seated behind his desk with his hands folded. To all appearances, his nephew was completely serious.
“A counselor,” Buck repeated, still unable to believe his own ears. “You want me to be a summer camp counselor. For shifter kids.”
“No,” Conleth said from the other side of the room. The pegasus shifter never looked up from his laptop, fingers moving over the keys with a constant machine-gun rattle. “We do notwantyou to be a counselor. You are literally the last person on this entire planet that I would ever hire. The minutes of this meeting will record my formal objection to this entire plan. Just so that I can enjoy pulling it out and waving it at everyone while saying ‘I told you so’ when it all goes horribly, inevitably wrong.”
“Your business partner seems even less enthusiastic about this than I am,” Buck said to Zephyr. “Which, believe me, is quite a feat. Why exactly are you trying to give me this punishment disguised as a job offer?”
“Because I am out of other options,” Zephyr said. He gestured at the seat opposite his desk. “Look, will you please sit down? Hear me out.”
Buck remained stubbornly standing. “Make it fast.”
Zephyr sighed. “One of our regular counselors had to pull out at the last minute. That leaves us critically short-staffed. We’d be breaking state laws on the minimum number of supervising adults for a summer camp of this size. More importantly, it wouldn’t be safe. Many of our kids come here because they’re struggling with their animals, and need close, constant support. Ihaveto have another counselor.”
“So get one,” Buck retorted. “Spread the word that you have a vacancy. Go howl at the moon, or pee on street corners, or whatever it is you motherloving shifters do to communicate with each other.”
“These days, we generally prefer email,” Conleth said. The glow of his screen underlit his handsome features, highlighting the smudged shadows below his bloodshot green eyes. Buck had never seen him look so exhausted. “What do you think I’m doing over here? Scrolling Instagram for interior decorating trends?”
“Conleth’s been working around the clock, but he hasn’t managed to find a replacement,” Zephyr said. “It’s hard enough to recruit counselors at the best of times. We mostly have to rely on personal networks and word of mouth. It’s not like we can put up a job advert with ‘must be a shifter’ as a requirement.”
Buck folded his arms over his chest. “Then hire someone who’snota shifter.”
“What a good idea,” Conleth said. His keyboard clicked in sarcastic punctuation. “Why didn’t we think of that. Oh yes, because it would be financial suicide.”
“Unfortunately, Conleth is right,” Zephyr said. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have a problem hiring a non-shifter, as long as they already know about us and can do the job. But camp policy forbids it.”
Buck frowned at him. “You wrote those policies. Seems to me you should be able to rip ‘em up any time you like. Don’t you own this place?”
“Not entirely, in fact.” Zephyr’s mouth flattened into an unhappy line. “When I founded the camp, I had to build all the facilities from scratch. That wasn’t cheap. Thanks to Conleth’s connections, we managed to raise the capital, but that money came with certain strings attached. And our largest investor is… traditional.”
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘xenophobic,’” Conleth murmured.
Zephyr cocked an eyebrow at his business partner. “Aren’t you the one who’s usually telling me to show Lord Golden the appropriate respect?”
“No, I’m the one reminding you we have to suck up to the tedious ass,” Conleth corrected, attention still fixed on his screen. “But only to his face. So-called ‘Lord’ Golden is an arrogant, outdated relic from the Dark Ages, who still believes that dragons should be ruling over private fiefdoms of cringing human peasants. Unfortunately, he also has our collective ballsacks in an iron grip.”
Zephyr nodded in agreement, turning back to Buck. “Lord Golden would only invest if we agreed the camp would be exclusively for shifter children, and that all the staff would also be shifters. If he found out that we’d hired a non-shifter—even someone who was a shifter’s mate or relative—he’d immediately withdraw all his support.”
“Maybe that would be no bad thing,” Buck growled. “Better than taking dirty money from a bigot.”
“The money isn’t the only issue.” Zephyr spread his hands, jaw tightening. “The Goldens are one of the most influential dragon clans in America. If we get on their bad side, they could ruin our reputation. And without the dragons paying full fees, we can’t run the reduced rates for kids whose families otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to send them here. I don’t like it either, but we need to keep Lord Golden happy. At least until we’re more established, and don’t need his connections.”
It wasn’t in Buck’s nature to back down from bullies, but he had to admit that Zephyr had a point. “Well, if you can’t hire a human, then why are you asking me? I’m not a motherloving shifter.”
“You owe me ten dollars,” Conleth said to Zephyr.
