DAMAGE CONTROL
1167 Words
LENA'S POV
The call came at 3:47 AM, dragging me from the first decent sleep I'd had in weeks. My phone buzzed against the nightstand with the persistence of a fire alarm, and I knew without looking that it was the office. Nobody called at this hour unless the world was ending.
"This better be good," I muttered, swiping to answer.
"Lena." Marcus Webb's voice was tight with panic. "We have a situation."
I sat up, instantly alert. Marcus was the kind of man who stayed calm during congressional hearings and celebrity s*x scandals. If he was rattled, something was very wrong.
"What kind of situation?"
"The kind that makes careers or destroys them completely." Papers rustled in the background. "How fast can you get to the office?"
"Twenty minutes." I was already reaching for my clothes. "Marcus, what happened?"
"Logan Blackwood just confessed to being a werewolf on live television."
I paused, one leg in my jeans, phone pressed to my ear.
"I'm sorry,what?"
You heard me correctly. Professional hockey player, nationally televised interview, full confession. The clip has already gone viral. "Twitter's melting down, the stock market's in free fall, and every news outlet in the country is losing their minds."
I finished getting dressed, mind racing. "Please tell me this is some kind of elaborate publicity stunt."
"I wish it were." Marcus's voice was grim. There's video evidence. His eyes literally glowed gold, Lena. Whatever this is, it's not fake.
Twenty-five minutes later, I burst through the doors of Carter Communications to find the office in chaos. Every television screen showed the same clip: Logan Blackwood, sitting across from a terrified sports reporter, casually admitting to being a supernatural creature.
"Jesus," I breathed.
Nina Rodriguez, my assistant, appeared at my elbow with a steaming cup of coffee and a tablet full of breaking news alerts.
"It's insane," she said. The Pentagon called an emergency session. The CDC is issuing statements about 'potential biological threats.' And get this, the NHL suspended him indefinitely about an hour ago.
I took the coffee gratefully, watching the clip play a dozen times. Logan's transformation was subtle but unmistakable. His eyes shifted from human amber to something definitely not human. The reporter's reaction was pure terror.
"What's our angle?" I asked.
Marcus appeared beside us, looking like he'd aged five years in the past hour. "Three firms have already turned this down. Reynolds & Associates won't even return his agent's calls."
"And you want me to take it?"
"I want you to consider it." His expression was serious. This is either the biggest disaster in sports history, or the biggest opportunity. If you can somehow spin this…
Spin what? "That werewolves real?" I laughed, but it came out hollow. "Marcus, this isn't a DUI or a steroids scandal. This is..."
"Impossible," Nina finished. "Which is exactly why it's perfect for you."
I looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?"
"Come on, Lena. You built your reputation on taking the cases nobody else wanted to touch. Remember Senator Williams and the alien conspiracy theories? Or when you got that oil executive cleared after the environmental disaster?"
She was right. My career was built on the impossible cases, the ones that made other PR professionals run screaming. But this was different. This was...
"This is insane," I said finally.
"So was everything else you've fixed." Marcus pulled up a chair. Look, I won't lie to you. This could destroy your career. But if you pull this off, if you somehow manage to rehabilitate Logan Blackwood's image, you'll be the most powerful PR executive in the country.
I studied the frozen image on the screen. Logan Blackwood was undeniably handsome, but there was something else in his expression. Pain. Loneliness. The appearance of a man who'd been carrying a terrible secret for far too long.
"What do we know about him?"
Nina consulted her tablet. "Twenty-eight years old, she had been with the Silver Ridge Wolves for six seasons. No family on record, which is weird for a professional athlete. Clean record, no arrests, no scandals, no social media drama."
"Too clean," I mused. "What else?"
"Orphaned at twelve. Bounced between foster homes until he aged out of the system. Started playing hockey in high school, and got a scholarship to the University of Montana."
"And before that?"
"Nothing. It's like he didn't exist before age twelve."
"I felt a chill run down my spine. "What about the claims he's making? About hunters killing his family?"
Marcus shifted uncomfortably. "There have been reports. Unexplained animal attacks, missing persons cases in rural areas. Most people assumed it was just regular wildlife encounters, but..."
"But maybe they weren't."
The room fell silent except for the murmur of televisions and the buzz of phones. I could feel everyone watching me, waiting for my decision.
"What about his representation? Agent, lawyer, publicist?"
"All dropped him within two hours of the interview," Nina said. "His agent released a statement saying they were 'shocked and dismayed' by his 'mental health crisis.'"
"So he's completely alone."
"Completely."
I walked to the window, looking out at the city lights. Somewhere out there, Logan Blackwood was probably sitting in a hotel room or his apartment, watching his entire life fall apart on national television. The loneliness in his eyes during the interview suddenly made perfect sense.
"Lena," Marcus said quietly. "I need to know." Are you in or out?"
I turned back to the room, my decision crystallizing. "What's our timeline?"
The NHL is holding an emergency board meeting tomorrow. The Players' Association is considering expulsion proceedings. And there's talk of a congressional hearing."
"A congressional hearing?"
"If werewolves are real, it's a matter of national security. Homeland Security's already involved."
The weight of the situation hit me fully. This wasn't just about rehabilitating one man's image. This was about the potential existence of an entire hidden population. The implications were staggering.
"Nina, book me a flight to Montana. First thing in the morning."
"Lena," Marcus warned. "Are you sure about this? If this backfires…"
"It won't." I was already moving toward my office. Get me everything we have on supernatural folklore, military reports of unexplained phenomena, and any research on lycanthropy. I want to know everything about werewolves before I meet with him.
"You're really going to do this?"
"Someone has to." I paused at my office door. "And if werewolves are real, Logan Blackwood just became the most important person in America."
My phone buzzed with a news alert: "BREAKING: NHL SUSPENDS BLACKWOOD INDEFINITELY."
Nina appeared at my side, tablet in hand. Lena, three other PR firms had already turned this down. "What makes you think you can fix this?"
I was about to answer when another alert flashed across every screen in the office simultaneously. The color drained from everyone's faces as they read the breaking news banner.
"Oh God," Nina whispered
The headline made my blood run cold: GOVERNMENT SOURCES CONFIRM: WEREWOLF POPULATIONS BEING TRACKED NATIONWIDE.
- Writer
