The Patient Wolf (Wicked Urban Fantasy #1) Read Free Page B

department.
    The contrast between Monica and Ana was so great, not only physically but also in their personalities, that people who had just met them often wondered how they managed to be such good friends. Monica was short and curvy with blond curls, and blue eyes, while Ana was tall and slender with straight, dark brown hair, and brown eyes, and a complexion that lent truth to the family rumor of Native American ancestors somewhere in their background.
    Monica loved make-up, the latest fashions, and the highest heels. Ana had never had much time for fashion, even before her budget as a single mom had made thinking about the latest fashions all but impossible. She leaned towards simple basics that could take her through the many roles she played in one day—admin to a dean at a small, conservative university, student, and mom. Monica’s irrepressible sense of humor often got her in trouble with Dr. Tormisano. Ana was more quiet and thoughtful. Friends of the pair knew she often kept Monica’s impulsiveness in check.
    “What’s Dr. Fontaine doing in here? He’s anthropology. And you know how Dr. Tormisano feels about those people,” Ana said.
    The dean’s condescending views on any department that wasn’t history were well known to everyone who was the least bit familiar with him.
    “It doesn’t matter to me why he’s here. I just like looking at him. My god, he is so hot,” Monica fanned herself exaggeratedly. “And the word is he isn’t married.”
    Ana rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter if he’s married or not. I’m sure no full professor is going to look at a lowly admin, Monica. To them, we’re just the help. They’re the masters. Just ask Dr. Tormisano.”
    “Well it doesn’t stop me from looking—or dreaming.”
    At that moment the office door opened and Dr. Tormisano, a stereotypical college professor wearing a rumpled dress shirt, bedraggled tie, and stained khakis, ushered his guest out. “I think this event will belittle the stature of both our departments,” he was saying. “We are academics, sir, and our subjects are serious. We are not here to entertain the students, but to teach them.”
    “But if we engage the students as they are learning, they are more likely to be interested and retain what they are taught. And besides, Dean Chassin agrees with me. He has personally approved the plan.”
    “Yes, yes. I’m well aware of the dean’s feelings on the subject. He always has liked his publicity. That’s why they hired him, as far as I can tell. It certainly wasn’t for his academic expertise. So I suppose I will have to go along with this, but my disapproval is on the record.”
    As the two men entered the room Ana and Monica quickly made themselves busy at their desks, which faced each other, the door to the chairman’s office centered on one side of the room and the door to the hallway on the other. At Dr. Tormisano’s words, Monica rolled her eyes and made a face at Ana, who had a difficult time not giggling. They had each spent many an hour typing up Dr. Tormisano’s letters of disapproval of everything on campus from the quality of the menu in the faculty cafeteria, to the placement of his faculty parking space, to increasing the budget for athletics—or, for that matter, of any department other than history.
    “I will need some assistance from the history department. I would very much like some of your professors to participate. They will give the historical counterpoint to the legends I would like to discuss. And can you spare one of these ladies?” Dr. Fontaine waved his hand casually toward Monica and Ana. “Anthropology is a much smaller department than yours. We have only the one admin, and she is quite new to the department. As we talked about earlier, I will need someone who is familiar with the resources of the university and the community.”
    Ana silently acknowledged the astuteness of the younger professor’s tactics. He had stroked Tormisano’s ego by