Personal Mystery

“G&B, personals desk. How may I assist you?”

Rex listened listlessly, doodling out the message more than copying it. Three weeks of personals desk hell. Eighty percent of the calls were bunnies, either placing an ad or responding to one. Lycan only knew why. The ads were all about the same: cutesy word plays on something totally non-reproduction related in the paper the day before. After three weeks, he only needed to read the paper to get the gist of the next day’s calls.

Having written down the billing information very carefully—there wasn’t much point to this hell if no money could be collected—he very gently replaced the phone handset in its cradle. It seemed like hanging the thing up carelessly encouraged the really odd characters to give him a ring. It probably wasn’t true but there was no need to tempt fate. With that thought, the shrill chirping of his personal phone ringing pulled him from his moping. He glanced down at the screen, eyes going wide. He glanced around furtively, noting that the news room was deserted. He flipped his phone open, hesitantly.

“Hello?”

“Hey sugar,” she growled, making parts of his body stir.

“Un, hi… honey,” Rex replied, scrambling madly to put a face with the voice. There was no way he would have forgotten a voice like that. It was a smooth, feminine alto, just deep enough for the seductive play growl to trip every trigger in is canid-wired male brain. There was no way he would be sporting an instant, insistent hard-on from two words if he didn’t know the she on the other end of the line, right?

Her throaty chuckle skittered along his over-stimulated nerves, making every hair on his currently human body stand on end. The urge to shift and start mating struck like a mack truck. It was all he could do to keep his wolf contained.

“I’m not your honey, bunny,” the mysterious voice hummed.

“I’m not a bunny, honey,” Rex shot back inanely, proud he could even still for words at this point. What the hell? He was no new-turn, unable to control his urges!

“Mmm, no you aren’t are you, my sexy wolf. But I bet I could get you hopping and bopping like a bunny in no time at all.”

“Um, no, probably not,” Rex muttered, shifting so his erection wasn’t pressed quite so… firmly along the seam of his jeans.

“Wanna bet?” the voice purred teasingly.

“Um, who is this, anyway?” Rex asked nervously as he eyed the newsroom for any hidden co-workers of microphones. He was alone while the rest to the gazette was out for lunch, but if he didn’t wrap this up quickly, someone was likely to come back to find him doing a Nick on the personals desk. He so did not want to go there!

“I’m your wildest dream, sweet-thang,” she purred. Her follow-up throaty chuckle pushed him just a bit farther, almost toppling the self-control he’d always been so proud of.

“Ok. I’m going to hang up now,” Rex said, though he realized that was a lie. He knew he should just hang up, then call the police. Stalkers were more of a big city thing, but it wasn’t unknown in small towns for journalists to garner a less than healthy following. He couldn’t though, not till he got her name. And number.

“Hang up then,” she purred. “But make sure you go for your usual evening run this evening. I love watching you bathe in that out-door shower you have in your back yard. I watch you shift from wolf to man, watch all that golden skin as it shimmers in the setting sun with water streaming over it.”

“You know about that?” Rex asked gulping.

“Uh-hu. And if you go for your usual run, I promise to be there when you get back. I want to watch you wash off the sweat.”

“Lady, this doesn’t sound like such a good idea,” Rex said, chuckling nervously.

“Oh, don’t worry, my sexy wolf. I don’t bite. I just want to play.”

Just like that, she hung up.

Rex realized that he’d been sitting there staring at his still-open phone for close to ten minutes when Nick tapped him on the shoulder.

“Earth to Rex, come in Rex!” his boss said, snapping his fingers in Rex’s face. Rex blinked at Nick, then shut his phone.

“Sorry boss. Didn’t see you come in.”

“I noticed. You going to be able to make it to tonight’s poker game over at Louie’s?”

“Not tonight,” Rex said smiling vaguely. “I got a blind date.”