Chapter One
This job was going to be the death of her.
Clara Maddison’s cerulean eyes narrowed in on the stack of papers on her desk that seemed to be growing instead of shrinking as the day went on. All she was supposed to do was go over the accounts from the past quarter and put them into the system, and yet, as the day wore on, her coworkers continued to show up with files they had found buried in their desk.
It looked like it was going to be another late night for her.
Clara had been working for Snyder Inc. for over two years as a project manager. Her job was to develop and manage the construction of new restaurants, clubhouses and stores under Snyder’s growing veil of influence. It was not to work on files that should have been processed the previous quarter.
Unfortunately for her, the woman who was supposed to have done the work she was completing now had been fired two weeks before, and she was left cleaning up the mess that was left behind. Her direct supervisor had insisted that it be her that completed the project because she was the most likely to get it right.
She should be flattered, she told herself, but she wasn’t. She was just irritated that her plans for the night had to be canceled so that she could work well into the night.
Groaning softly as she sat back in her chair, Clara reached back and pulled her shoulder-length, chestnut brown hair free from the tail it had been constructed in since earlier that morning. She was a powerful woman in the company, working her way up the ladder quickly, and soon she was hoping she could work her way onto the board of directors. She always believed that her strong, curvy body looked better in pantsuits than it did in street clothes, and if she had her way she would be running the corporation before she turned twenty-eight at the end of the year.
That did, unfortunately, mean she had to do a lot of extra work around the company.
The last of her fellow employees had left over an hour ago, the groups chattering about their after-work plans. She had been invited to join several of them, but of course, she needed to stay behind and finish her project or risk the wrath of her supervisor, Mr. Snyder’s personal assistant Jeremy.
She wasn’t sure why, but she was pretty sure that Jeremy hated her. The man seemed to make it his personal goal to keep her at work late or ruin her weekend plans. On top of it, she had caught him staring at her out of the corner of her eye on multiple occasions. It was never in a friendly or even flirtatious way, either. It always seemed to be threatening and angry.
It took all she had to convince herself that she was just crazy.
Jeremy was the least of her worries at that point. If she wanted to get out of work before midnight she had quite a bit to get done. Her plan was just to keep working until the files were all digitalized, but unfortunately, she hadn’t eaten all day and her stomach was starting to sound like a war zone.
Grimacing as her stomach rumbled, Clara let out a grumble and pushed back her chair. She could at least go around the corner and find herself something to eat. Snagging her purse where it was hidden away under her desk, she quickly exited the workspace and headed for the elevator.
It was getting dark by the time that she exited the building, the sun dropping down behind the buildings. Waving at the security guard and explaining that she would be right back, she rushed to the nearest fast food restaurant she could find before making her way back.
The moon had risen completely behind her, and a cool breeze moved through the street, making Clara wish she had thought to bring her coat. Grimacing, Clara made her way up to the front doors, only to hesitate when she thought she could make out a shape trotting through the halls inside.
Moving closer, she felt her eyes go wide when she saw the shape disappearing down another hall. It looked like a dog of some sort, probably a stray, but how had it gotten past the fences and into the building?
“What in the world?” she whispered, slowly pressing open the doors. Holding her bags close to her chest, she moved into the deserted building once more. “Hello?” she called, making her way down the hall where she had seen the dog disappear.
Maybe she was just seeing things. After all, if there was a dog in the building that would mean that someone would have had to let it in. Otherwise, there was no way that it could manage to not only sneak past the guard but also pull open the doors and move inside without anyone noticing.
Maybe it was somebody’s pet that they snuck into the building, but somehow got loose? She doubted it, though. The only time she’d ever seen an animal brought into the building was a kitten that had been too small to be left at home alone. The woman who had brought it in had even gotten special permission to keep the kitten at her desk.
A sudden crash left Clara whirling.
Gasping as she quickly located the room that it came from, she bit her lip and slowly moved towards the open door. Peering inside, she felt her eyes widen as she spotted a massive, wolf-like dog pulling open one of the filing cabinets with his teeth before starting to paw through the papers inside.
That wasn’t normal. Something was going on here and she didn’t like it one bit. She had to go tell the security guard that there was some sort of demon dog going through their files. Her eyes wide, Clara reached out and pulled the door shut, locking it just as the beast whirled around in confusion.
Rushing away as the dog leaped for the door and started to shake at the lock, she quickly moved to go find the security guard. He would be able to do something about the beast.