by Riley Storm
But she knew it wasn’t that. If that was really the case, he would have called her, or the clinic, and had them relay a message to her. But instead, he’d probably just overslept and then sped into town hoping to catch her in time. Nothing more, she figured.
“I’m sure you are sorry, Valla,” she said, acknowledging it. “I don’t think that you maliciously missed the appointment. You’re not an asshole. You’re just irresponsible.” She sucked in a deep breath. “And that’s not the type of parent I will have around my child.”
“It’s our child,” he growled.
“You can file for custody if you feel that strongly,” she said. “But I will be raising the child on my own. Without you. I will be going through this pregnancy. Without you. I simply can’t afford to keep giving you opportunities. The stress of it isn’t something I can take. Do you understand that?”
“I do,” Valla said, his shoes shuffling on the pavement. “I really do. If you would just give me a chance to explain though, I can—”
“No!” she cried, finally spinning, her anger getting the better of her. “It doesn’t matter what happened to you, because—oh my God, Valla, what happened?”
Valla looked like he’d been through twelve rounds with a professional boxer. His face was bruised, the sharp, angular lines that normally defined his classically handsome features hidden behind massive amounts of swelling. All his hair was a mess, instead of the perfect style that had practically come to define him the few times she’d seen him.
Her eyes noticed he seemed to be favoring his right side as well, his body language showing an uncomfortable lean to that side, as if standing up straight hurt. When he shifted, she thought she glimpsed some darkness on the inside of his suit jacket.
The most defining thing of it all, however, was the huge black line that ran across his face, nearly from ear to ear and right over the eyes, like a visor. It was thick, puffy and already turning a yellowish-purple-black in some places.
“Are you okay?” she gasped, involuntarily taking a step toward him. “You’re a mess.”
“I told you I could explain,” he said with a wry smile.
Chapter 16
“You shouldn’t be here,” Liz said, looking him over. “You should go to a hospital. You could have a concussion.”
“I’ll be okay,” he promised. “I heal quickly, trust me.”
She flinched at the words trust me, and Valla cursed himself. Of course, she didn’t trust him. He’d not shown her any reason to do so yet. Especially after he’d missed his first and best opportunity to prove to her that he could be responsible.
“Someone beat you up,” she murmured, her attention still mostly on his face. Thankfully, she hadn’t paid much attention to the rest of him, or she might have noticed the blood that had stained his fresh suit before the wounds on his side had closed. “But who? Why Valla? What was this all about?”
“They weren’t after me,” he explained. “They were after Victor.”
“Someone wanted to beat up Victor?” Liz said with more than a bit of sarcasm. “I wonder why that might be?”
Valla knew that Victor hadn’t been the most lovable character before he’d met Cheryl, and now he was getting some proof of it. Others thought he was a dick too, helping validate Valla’s opinion.
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I was all ready to be here too. Was going to leave two hours before the appointment. I was dressed, I had even pulled my car around front to ensure that it worked and that nothing would delay me. I was going to be here,” he insisted, trying to drive that point home.
“Is Victor okay?” Liz asked, ignoring his words.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” Valla told her.
Both of them would be fine. After the Ursa punk had suckered Valla with the metal support beam across the face knocking him unconscious, Victor had apparently decided he was done playing fair. He’d unleashed the full strength of his dragon powers on the Ursa shifters, sweeping them up in a tidal wave of water and nearly drowning them as he held them in a solid globe of it, until the leader had surrendered.
Valla hadn’t seen any of what happened of course, being that he was unconscious for the next hour and changed before he came around. After that, it had been another half hour before his head had stopped hurting enough for him to see straight.
As soon as he could after that, he’d rushed inside to change, tearing open the fresh wounds on his side in the process, and driving like a madman back into town, nearly killing himself several times in the process.
And still it had all been in vain. He’d gotten here too late. All because of Ursa.
“That’s good,” Liz said. “I’m glad nobody was seriously hurt.”
Valla didn’t know if the Ursa shifters would agree. They had limped home with a plethora of broken bones and humiliated egos, but that was neither here nor there.
“No, nobody was hurt at all. But don’t you see, I didn’t mean to be late? It wasn’t my fault. Don’t you get it?”
He expected Liz to understand. To believe his story and forgive him for something that truly wasn’t his fault.
“Oh, I get it,” she said sarcastically. “I get it indeed. Did these punks just waltz up behind the two of you while you were walking down the streets?”
“Uhh,” Valla recoiled at her anger, unsure of what to say in response.
“No, like you said, they came to your house. You let them in, Valla. Because you wanted to fight. Both of you. You like fighting. I know, Cheryl told me. None of you had to start throwing punches. You chose to.”
He wilted as her argument struck home. Although he wanted to argue against it, to tell her she was wrong, he knew even as she spoke the words that she was right.
“It wasn’t like that,” he tried to say futilely, knowing he was speaking in vain even as the words came out.
Because it was like that. Victor must have known that the bear shifters would come for him eventually, after the way he’d beat them up outside of the restaurant Leblanc months ago. Valla had heard all about that; his brother loved to brag about it. The only surprise was that it had taken them so long to work up the courage to come and do something about it.
Which meant that when they had arrived at Drakon Keep, Francis had let them in, knowing why they were there. It would have been no secret, and Victor would have been prepared. If he didn’t want to take the fight, he wouldn’t have. He would have politely refused and shut the door in their faces.
Or he could have just shifted and wiped the floor with them in his dragon form.
No, Valla knew the truth of it all.
“See,” Liz said. “I can tell you know what I’m saying is true. It’s written all over your face. You wanted to take that fight. You probably couldn’t have refused, and you’ll likely chalk it up to your pride, or honor, or some other ridiculous pseudo-masculine bullshit.”
The fury in her voice cut the deepest as she showed her contempt for a lot of his way of life.
“You don’t understand,” he said, frantically scrambling to find a way to explain to her why he couldn’t just up and leave.
I’m a dragon shifter, and in my world, we operate by a different code. One of honor and respect, just like in the animal kingdom. Yes, I could have turned down the fight, I could have left Victor to suffer their wrath on his own. Technically. But if I did, then I would have lost all respect from everyone who knew I was there. Nobody would want me around or trust me to have their backs when more important things happened. I don’t expect you to understand because you don’t believe me, but if you come with me, I’ll show you.
That was what he desperately wanted to say. To explain to Liz what he was, the world he inhabited, and what that meant for their child. Yet try as he might, the words just wouldn’t come out. They remained stuck inside and he just stayed quiet.
“Don’t understand what, Valla? What are you trying to say here?”
“You think so little of me,” he replied instead, switching the top
ic back to the issue at hand. “As if I’m some child with no sense of responsibility. Yet here I am, Liz. Before you, trying to show you that I want to be here. If I truly were irresponsible, I would have run away the moment I realized you were pregnant. I wouldn’t have fought so hard to get you to change your mind about me.”
Liz took a step back as he let his pain and anger mold into one, flowing into the words he spoke now.
“Look at me Liz. Look at me. You tell me I should be at a hospital.” He pulled open his suit jacket, buttons popping off, revealing the dark stain on his right side. “See what kind of condition I’m in. Maybe you can’t understand the reasons I did what I did that made me late—but look at me. I am here. Right here. As soon as I was conscious, I started making my way here. Tell me how that’s irresponsible? Tell me how I’m not trying to do the right thing, that I don’t want to be a part of this child’s life. Because you’re wrong.”
She stared at him for a long time, running one hand through her curls, giving one a nervous tug. Then at last, her face hardened and she began to speak, having found the words.
“And in that speech, you just showed what’s wrong, Valla. I know you want to be a part of its life. I never questioned that. What I did, and am still saying, is that you aren’t fit to be a part of that life. Like you said, look at you. Is that the sort of face you want your child to gaze upon? The sort of actions that you want to raise your son or daughter up thinking is okay, and right?” She shook her head. “Because I don’t, Valla. And any good parent would say the same. And that’s why I’m saying I don’t want you to be a part of its life. Regardless of your wants. I need you to understand that. And respect it.”
Before he could respond, she pulled open the door to her car and got in. Valla watched in stunned silence as she drove away, leaving him standing outside the clinic.
Worst of all was the painful knowledge that he knew she was right.
Chapter 17
“Brilliant idea,” she whispered to herself.
It was silly of her to be talking, she knew that, but despite tens of thousands of years of evolution, humans had yet to learn how to see in the dark. That inability to see when there was no artificial light to guide the way lent the darkness a threat level that simply never went away.
There was plenty of artificial light at the construction site, but it never strayed far outside of the circular pools where the lights were directed. Past that, there were shadows, and beyond that, nothing but darkness.
Liz talked to herself to keep the darkness at bay, the sound of her own voice a soothing reminder that everything was going to be okay. Yet she whispered, just in case someone or something was out ‘there’, in the darkness beyond, watching her.
The human brain was weird like that.
She clipped the little camera to the fence, double-checking the angle as best she could, and flicked the power switch. The on-board memory and battery would last approximately forty-eight hours or so. Enough to cover the rest of that night and the next two nights.
If something was going to happen, she hoped it would be within that time span, else she would have to come back, reset and recharge the cameras, and try again.
Still, it seemed easier than trying to interview all of the people who had access to the office and the security camera system. Liz was not suited to that job at all, and besides, she had her own work to worry about. This would allow her to find out who was taking the supplies—and how they were doing it—and also stay on top of her own work. Hopefully.
Nobody was around at night, which meant they wouldn’t see her putting the cameras up, and therefore they couldn’t tamper with the images they would record. Whoever was behind this was going to get caught, all without any issues on her end.
Truly, it was a brilliant plan. If she couldn’t trust the current security system, just set up another one.
Sometimes, I even impress myself.
She had two more cameras left to place, and her strides carried her toward the entrance, one of the few places she had yet to place any cameras. The lights up here were dimmer, and Liz caught herself glancing around with an increasing frequency as the darkness closed in.
Should have brought a flashlight.
The light might have given her away, but then again, if someone was there with her, she would already have been spotted. It wasn’t like she’d tried to hide her presence. In hindsight, perhaps she should have made more of an effort to move around the site without being seen.
“Because I’m really good at sneaking around,” she muttered under her breath, reaching up to clip another camera to the front gate.
Something scraped against stone behind her and Liz spun around. The chain-link gate rattled and shook as she pressed her back up against it.
“Hello?” she called, eyes darting around frantically while trying to pierce the gloom behind.
Please have just been an animal. Please just be an animal. A raccoon maybe. I could deal with that. Or a squirrel. Even better, please have been a squirrel.
When no more noises sounded, she slowly turned back around to set the camera. Shaky fingers made it difficult, and a dull roar in her ears was all she could hear, the sound of blood rushing as her heart hammered against her chest.
“C’mon,” she said, the word coming out amid a hiss of air as she tried to steady her hands, to stop the trembling long enough to clip the camera in place and turn it on.
She flicked the switch and turned to go, but the camera just tumbled from where she’d set it and clattered to the ground. The noise startled Liz, but she managed to keep from crying out.
Fumbling around on the ground for it, she snatched the black plastic casing up and tried again, putting all her attention onto the camera, ignoring whatever was going on behind her. It just didn’t matter. It was an animal, nothing more.
This time, the camera stayed in position. Happy with her success, Liz looked down at the lone camera remaining in her hand.
“Nope,” she muttered. “Just nope, nope, nope. Not happening.”
It was time to go. She was leaving. Back to her car and getting the hell out of there. Whatever had made the noise had spooked her and she wanted nothing more than to get out.
Walking back across the site, she stuck to the pools of light as best she could, hurrying through the shadowed areas in between, eyes moving left and right, scanning everything she could.
Behind her, something chittered in the dark. Liz spun, unable to prevent a quiet yelp from breaking the silence that followed the noise. Something was out there. And it was watching her.
That, combined with the chilly breeze that was picking up, was more than enough to spur her on to even greater speeds. Gravel crunched underfoot as she abandoned any pretense of trying to be sneaky and just made best speed for her car.
This was not how she’d imagined the night going. It was supposed to be easy in and easy out, no trouble whatsoever. Now she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, as if whatever was out there had its eyes set on her.
Taking out her phone, she pre-programmed 9-1-1 into it, thumb hovering over the ‘call’ button. Just in case. No sense in being unprepared. It was probably nothing at all, just her imagination getting the best of her. Nobody was out there; the site was empty after all the workers went home.
“Almost there, Liz. Almost there.”
Her car came into view and she hurried forward, eager for the perceived safety of the vehicle interior.
What she saw as she came closer stopped her in her tracks. Clear as could be on the passenger windshield was the fading outline of a human hand. Someone very recently had had their hand pressed up against the window, the heat transferring and leaving the impression.
Liz spun fearfully, almost pressing down on the phone button. Someone was out there. That noise she’d heard hadn’t been an animal. They could be just out of her vision now, hiding in the dark, waiting for her.
She continued to turn as she headed for her car, wanting
nothing more than to get in and drive off. Why was someone else out here? Had they been watching her? What was going on here?
Those questions and more raced through her mind, but she had no answers, unable to focus on any one of them long enough to solve it.
Nobody came at her as she got near the car, however, and a quick search of the interior showed it to be empty. Whoever it was, they weren’t around any longer. Liz jumped inside and gunned the engine, spewing gravel out behind her as she took off for the side entrance that she’d come in through.
Now that she was away freely, a thought came to her.
Whoever it was, she now had them on camera.
But I’m definitely not going back during the night to get the footage, that’s for sure!
Chapter 18
“What the…”
Liz pulled into the parking lot of her doctor’s office slower than normal, her attention distracted by a very familiar-looking red sports car. She drove behind it, but nobody was inside.
It couldn’t possibly be…Could it?
Finding a spot, she parked her car and got out, still side-eyeing the sports car. Valla most certainly did not know about her appointment today, and so there was no reason for him to be present. It must be a coincidence, someone else with a very similar-looking vehicle. It couldn’t be him.
The elevator opened on the fourth floor and she walked down the hallway to the entrance. Before she could turn the handle, however, the door opened for her.
“No.”
Valla smiled gently. “Hey, um, I got here a little early.”
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, not wanting to speak loudly. “I didn’t tell you to come. Or tell you about this at all.”
“I know,” Valla agreed.
The proud look on his face had Liz scared stiff about what he was going to tell her next. Had he been the one at the site several nights before? Was he now following her around, and that was how he’d learned of her appointment?