Order of Business

Dawn was fine, Mother hen Xander had her tightly secured in their home. Neither of them had been into the office for four straight days. Kennedy was off, taking vacation time to restore her health completely and Willow was back at work of course. Yes, Miami was hot and getting shot at sucks and we're not even going to talk about Flash-Bangs, yes, Faith was staying there a little longer...Buffy considered jumping out of the fifteenth floor window. If she had to keep answering the same questions from the office hens, she was going to have Graphic Arts print her up a sandwich board to wear. Xander's secretary Kevin was the worst of them all, sure he really seemed to be concerned for everyone, but every other comment was a whine about his job, dating life, or the summer's fashions not matching his complexion.

"Hey, Buffy, hold up," Riley Finn called out just as she was about to escape into the Fiancee Door and sweet oblivion.

"Who's your friend?" she asked back, shaking hands with the young sharp suit wearing man accompanying him.

"Vice President and all around legendary Slayer Buffy Summers, may I introduce Tyrese Collins, fresh out of Harvard, and your new executive assistant."

"Just Ty Please..." He fell silent, watching his new boss staring at Mr. Finn.

"Buffy...Giles, the board, hell even the SECDEF thinks that you need help for the paperwork side off the job." Riley knew she wouldn't be very thrilled about this. "You just do what you do and Ty here will process all of the work."

"I turn in my homework!" she spouted, miffed that the dinosaurs on the board didn't feel she was doing enough. Just wait until she saw 'Mr.President' Giles again.

"Buffy, you do a great job, but Giles thinks that with a little office discipline every other division wouldn't have to wait on you. Come on, Ty's got a great resume, he was vetted by the white house for God's sake. Give him a chance. Please?" Riley's large puppy dog eyes shone with satisfaction when she finally nodded, making a mental note to address this whole Let's manipulate Buffy thing the next time she had the misfortune to be at her chair in a board meeting. "Thanks, Buff, I've got to go, one of my new teams are getting loaded out to do their first Snatch-and-Grab for the NSA. See ya, Ty," he yelled running away from them.

"I was about to go do some VERY IMPORTANT work for the security of the entire world, but I'll give you a quick tour first. Over this way is my office." Walking into her glass door when it failed to open, she turned to her secretarie's desk. "Sharon, Why is my door locked?"

"It's Shandi and you wanted the door to auto-lock, Ms.Summers," the red frizzy haired fuzzy sweater loving administrative assistant replied.

"I wanted it to lock for other people, not me!" She pushed the door and then went over to the keypad on the wall and stared at it for a moment..

"1-1-1-1, Ms.Summers," Shandi spoke with a sarcastic smile lightly on her lips.

"Right...thanks." Unlocking the door she ushered Ty inside. "This is where the magic happens....Wow, nevermind that. This is my office, make yourself at home. If you want I'll endorse your work schedule and you can just stay home, I don't care...Well there we go, end of tour. Be seeing ya." She tried to get away, but no...

"Ms. Summers, what are the Shadow Roads? All of the orientation material mentions them but nothing says what they are. I understand this whole building being here, the company itself,and the relationship with the government is all because of them. It would be nice to know what I was getting involved in."
Sighing she gave up hope of getting Fiancee loving any time soon and went to her desk and sat down.

Motioning him to sit in one of the brown leather guest chairs, she began "First call me Buffy, or Your Majesty maybe but not Ms.Summers." She smiled putting him at ease. "There was a vampire with unique abilities the others don't have. He called himself Dracula blah blah blah, I know but just go with it...chasing him down to kill him, he leads Faith and me to this very spot. Now the Watcher's Council had knowledge of what the Shadow Roads were but no one had any clue that an easily accessible nexus to the roads was right here. Just consider it a permanent doorway to other realities, kind of like the West coast's version of the Gatehouse. One thing led to another, and here we are today. The roads have to be handled with care so we setup a deal to be the guardians of them. End of story."

"Like portals to other worlds, got it...one question though, what happened to Dracula?" he asked with a smile on his dark features.

"We chased him into another wacked out reality and ran him to ground and killed him, I met my future fiancee along the way, Giles found a whole new ocean of information to lust over and the threat demonstrated was huge enough that the white house let us write our own ticket just to keep it all under wraps. This nexus is the only entrance to the roads that we know of within two thousand miles. That's why it's pretty strategically important for us to maintain this place. Okay?" Barely waiting for his nod, she was on her way out of the door.

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"No, the way things used to be was a joke," the tall man's voice grumbled out to the telephone. "This is the real deal now, if you join...you join all the way. I'll need tithes immediately on any income you can bring in." These chicks are crazy, they want to come back but they want things the way they were. So not going to happen. Haven cleared his throat and let a little of his beast's rumble flavor the sound of his voice. "Look, Melinda, you know how weak this Pride was; you're not some newborn Cub, you had other Pride experience. Whether you agree with what Anita did or not, you have to accept that if it was a real pride, a healthy pride, I would have never been called to come back here and Anita wouldn't have had the power to just replace the Rex whenever she felt like it...I AM THE REX," He growled letting his dominance be felt, even over the telephone. "Your lioness knows, I'm the male strong enough to protect you, I'm the male that would kill for you. Having to help build this pride and serving me as a lioness should is a small price to pay for the security I'm promising...Good! Look, I'll have Princess book you a ticket online. You're making the right choice, Melinda...Alright, see you then." He roared out load as he put his phone away.

Every lion within hearing distance instinctually lowered their heads slightly, and every lioness felt the urge to lower her shoulders. That is what being the Rex means, Haven thought with satisfaction as the pride members went back to whatever they were doing. Not all, but most of the females that had left had been convinced to come back. When those that stayed behind told them what it felt like to have a real king, most of the wanderers had decided that money, sex, and submission weren't that big of a price to pay. Not that his slayer-babe fiancee and future Regina, if he could talk her into it, let him receive their servitude unless there was mutual fur involved.

That had been a fight, literally, getting his headstrong huntress to understand that a Rex couldn't be the king of a pride if they didn't build the physical bonds with the females in it, was a long hard journey. Blood, bruises, and broken knuckles were nothing compared to the savage, brutal, insane sex they had, right there in front of the pride. Smiling with his favorite memory of her, Haven checked his list, only three more girls to go. The males that left could go screw themselves for all he cared. He had his crew from Chicago and with some of the women here, they made a powerful force. Enough to back down most any trouble.

Yup, life is good, he thought as he watched his smoking hot sex kitten Hildie walking up the stairs to his office in the back of the small club that served as the pride's base. Tight leather pants, a nearly see through top and her long straight platinum blond hair framing her angelic face now leaned suggestively over his desk.

"Boss," She had the most amazing ability to whine and purr at the same time. "since Buffy wont let you play with anything on two feet, I want Walker to have access to me. He could be a good mate for me."

"I haven't even considered yet who has access to my girls. And if I let you all choose, Princess is the top huntress, she'd get first pick. She'd take the pride's Leo, the second in command, it's her right. Sorry, Babe." Smiling at her adorable little pout, he added,"It wasn't that long ago when I first got here and met the meek little cat you were and now look at you. You see what I meant when I said about being underneath a real King?"

"I'd like to be underneath you, Boss."

"Back off, Bitch, or you're going to be underneath six feet of gravel!" Buffy threatened as she walked into the office. Staring at Hildie until she lowered her shoulders, Buffy then smiled and gave her a hug, surprising her. "It's just hormones and your Beast making you crazy, with him being a stud muffin and all. But If I have to pee on him to mark him as mine, I will," she said mock-severely causing Hildie to laugh out loud. She really did like the little freak for some reason, maybe I should hook her up with Riley, I wonder if he'd survive that? she thought as Hildie finally left and she had her Big Bad Lion Daddy all to herself.

"You know, Babe, we could always have a threesome." He leered at her.

He swallowed hard when his woman let the slayer shine out...and he gave a little girly scream when she pounced.