by Riley Storm
“There’s no way that’s a coincidence,” he said, still holding onto her phone, his mind whirling as he tried to parse it all together. It can’t be. Impossible.”
“Hey. Asher. Yoo-hoo. Earth to Asher! Care to clue the naked girl in on what’s going on?”
It wasn’t often that he was distracted from the sight of a beautiful woman in front of him.
“Lars,” he said quietly. “Is the same name that was given to me outside the cave vault by the hunters as being the one behind it all. The one who stole my treasure, locked us in the vault. Everything.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God!”
He nodded, some more pieces of the puzzle starting to fall into place. Slowly, yes, but they were.
“And you think that it’s the same person, don’t you?” she wanted to know.
Asher was still nodding, not even realizing it at this point, too lost in thought. “How long ago did he buy the mine?”
“Three weeks ago, maybe? Not long after you…”
“Not too long after I crashed into your house and ensured that you and I would be interacting with one another more often,” Asher rumbled. “There’s no way this is a coincidence. Not at all.”
“So, you think my new boss is the guy who stole your treasure?” she moaned. “Dammit!”
“Certainly seems that way,” he said. “Here, go get clean and dressed. This day just took a dramatic change, that’s for certain. I don’t think you’re going to be calling into work.”
“Asher,” she said quietly.
“What is it?”
“You should know that I told my boss what happened. Um. He’s the one who suggested the law firm that I used to, you know, to sue you.” Emma cringed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know!”
Asher shook his head, going over to her, stroking her head, holding her in one arm. “If there is one person in all of this who is innocent of any wrongdoing, Emma, it’s you. I hold you to no account, on that you have my word.”
“Okay,” she said sheepishly. “I just thought you should know.”
“There is no possible way you could have known that he was out to get me,” Asher pointed out. “Quite literally none. I didn’t either, not until later. Don’t blame yourself. I don’t.”
Emma just stood there, looking embarrassed. Asher returned to his senses, turning the shower heat up and gesturing for her to get in. She gave him a smile and slipped in as he pulled the curtain across, leaving her to wash herself.
It irked him to not be able to join her, to spend time washing her down, time that they could learn to be around each other in a more intimate manner. But he knew that his mood was such that it would be a wasted effort.
Anger had washed aside anything else he was feeling, all his other emotions, and it raged like a roaring fire inside him, heated and growing.
“What are you going to do?” Emma wanted to know through the curtain.
A wistful smile crossed his face. She was on his side thoroughly, and he appreciated that. Perhaps, after everything was said and done, the two of them would have a chance to spend more time together. A lot more time together.
Asher thought he would like that. He hoped Emma would too.
“There’s more going on here than I can figure out,” he told her. “Something else is at work, but I just don’t know what. This has all been a setup, designed to…to do something. I just wish I could figure it out.”
“You will,” Emma told him, peeking out from the curtain. “You will. I believe in you.”
“Thanks,” he said with a smile, restraining the urge to pull the curtain back to ogle her some more. “I hope so too. I’m getting tired of Lars pulling all the strings, Emma. I hate operating in the dark, only reacting, never being the one to steer the ship. So, I think it’s time that I changed that up.”
“I see.” Emma frowned. “Am I going to lose my job over this? I kind of like it there, you know, and I want to keep working there. My staff are great. I don’t want any of them caught up in this.”
Asher frowned. She had a valid point. “I’ll buy the quarry then, if I need to. Once he’s dealt with. You will still have your job. I promise.”
There was a soft sigh through the curtain.
“What’s that for?” he wanted to know.
Emma pulled the curtain back again. “Well, I’m not sure I want to replace one mean boss with another.”
It took him a long moment to realize she was joking. Asher laughed, thankful for her sense of humor at such a tense time. It helped to clear up his mind.
“I’m sure we can work on some sort of arrangement, so you have a good boss.” His smile faded. “In the meantime, though, I know what I have to do next.”
“What’s that?” she asked, eyes alert and curious.
“I’m going to drive you to work.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Emma
“Does your boss usually travel with assistants? Are any of them larger, maybe a little muscular? Possibly ex-military or anything like that?” Asher asked as they pulled into the parking lot. “Does he have a private driver?”
Emma knew why he was asking the questions. Asher was trying to determine just how much danger the situation ahead had, and what sort of precautions he had.
“Nothing,” she said. “The man’s actually kind of a loner. I’ve never seen him with anyone really. He comes into the office most days in the mornings, heads out back to the quarry itself, and then is gone by two. Like clockwork almost. He drives himself, a pickup, like you.”
Asher was nodding, taking it all in. “What about the men who work the quarry itself? Have there been any new hires lately? Firings? Anything that would get new personnel in place that might be there for…ulterior motives?”
“No, not at all. We’ve been looking for people since before he took over, but applicants are few and far between,” she said. “At least with experience that we could use. I don’t know what else to tell you, Asher, I’m sorry. As far as I know, the man has no friends, no contacts, nothing.”
Asher drummed his hands on the steering wheel in thought. They sat in the parking lot of the quarry now, unmoving, car still running. She could see that he was thinking everything over, though Asher hadn’t as yet informed her of his plan.
“Do you think he’s in the offices or out back right now?” Asher asked.
Emma looked around until she spied the black pickup near the exit. That confirmed Lars was there at least. The clock read almost ten-thirty.
“Good question,” she said. “He could be either at this point.”
“I guess we had better find out.” Asher turned off the engine and started to get out.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, following suit.
Asher waited until they were both out, doors closed and locked before answering.
“I need to ask him some questions. Find out why he’s stealing from me and where my treasure is. If he answers them and doesn’t make it difficult, then I’ll be gentle, and turn him over to the police as a thief. If not…” Asher shrugged. “I’ll find out what I need to know the hard way, then hand him over to the police.”
Emma shivered. She’d not heard Asher talk like that before. Even when interrogating the crime boss, there hadn’t been that undertone of complete and utter willingness to do whatever it took to get what he wanted. Now it was, and she couldn’t help but wonder what Asher had done in a past life. Or what he did in this one, for that matter.
They walked across the gravel parking lot and up into the squat building that housed the offices and staff for Five Peaks Quarry & Limestone, her workplace.
“Morning, guys,” she said, pushing open the door. “Sorry I’m late.”
Heads came up and faces smiled. A few hands waved. There were only a dozen of them who worked in the office, and Emma was careful to only hire people that would fit in well with the team. There was no politicking, no backstabbing to rise up the ranks. Just people who did their jobs and di
d them well.
The looks of welcome turned to surprise as they looked past her. Emma followed the stares. They were all directed at Asher. Right, of course. They had never seen him before, and he did somewhat command the room due to his height, and size.
Emma’s face started to turn red as almost in unison all the gazes returned to her, eyebrows raising a hair or two as everyone asked the same question.
Who is that?!
“Is Lars here?” she asked, trying to quash her nervousness. It was tough. The new owner had gone from being a dick, to terrifying, in a manner of hours. This man hadn’t hesitated to hire armed thugs to lock her and Asher in a vault, and to steal his treasure. What else might he try when confronted?
“Out back,” Steve called from his desk over in the corner where he handled shipping. “Talking with the guys, doing his usual rounds before he heads back to wherever it is he usually goes. Schmooze with buyers in town, who knows.”
“Then we need to head out back,” Asher told her. “Before he leaves. If he finds out we’re trying to track him down, then he might just cut and run before we get to him. I need to strike now, while he’s not aware of anything.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s go.” She pointed across the open office to a set of stairs at the back. “That leads down and out to the quarry itself.”
Asher took the lead, his head sweeping across the office as they went. He was acting very protective of her.
She followed him down the stairs and out the back. The quarry sloped down and away from the office, which was perched on the edge. The stairs took them down a little over two stories to where they reached ground again.
Then they had a bit of a walk ahead of them. The office wasn’t in direct line of sight from the quarry, to help keep the noise down for those working in the office, so that they could focus on their job, but also because over the years they’d dug further and further in as they excavated product. It was the natural result.
Meaning that she and Asher had a walk ahead of them. Looking up at the sky, she noted the clouds hadn’t gone away. In fact, they might be getting worse, though it didn’t look like the storm was going to arrive just yet. They would have enough time, she figured, to get in, talk to Lars and get out before yet more rain arrived.
“Can I ask you something?” Asher said, speaking up without warning and surprising her a little.
“I mean, sure? Of course.” Emma frowned, wondering what the sudden formality was about. After all, they had spent the morning, ah, together. Certainly, he should feel a little more comfortable around her now.
“When I first met you. That day after the damage to the house. I offered to pay for the repairs. I told you it would be covered. Why wasn’t that good enough for you, Emma? Why did you decide to come sue me, sue us, for all that money?”
She cringed.
“Was it Lars who pushed you to do it? Is that also part of his plan? Or was that your decision?"
Emma sighed. She was surprised this question hadn’t come up earlier. It was a valid one. But how did she explain it so that he would understand what had happened to her?
“No, he didn’t,” she said, answering the first part. “He put me in touch with the law firm, and they probably gave the case far more attention than they would have because of him. But no, I had already made up my mind to sue you. In fact, I’d done so the moment you left that first day.”
“Why?” Asher was looking at her now, his eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out a puzzle that had so far eluded him. “It makes no sense.”
“I was…upset,” she said. “Very upset. I’ve worked so hard to maintain his house, to keep it as shipshape as possible, just the way he left it. Then you come along, and destroy it, and move on, as if it’s nothing.”
“But…” Asher clamped his mouth closed, shaking his head.
“What is it? Spit it out,” she said as they walked along the road, piles of castoff debris rising high on either side. This was the worst part of heading back into the quarry. The walk. She’d pestered the old owners to get them a work vehicle, or even a golf-cart like machine, but with no such luck.
“Well, you told me your grandfather died. A number of years back.”
She nodded. “He did. While I was still in college.”
“So, if it’s been that long, why haven’t you made it your own? I looked around in there, Emma. It looks more like he lives there than you do.”
“Because it’s his house,” she said. “I’m honoring his memory.”
“No, Emma, it’s your house now,” Asher said. “He’s gone. It’s not his anymore, he left it to you.”
“It will always be his house. I used to stay with him all the time when I was young you know.”
Asher shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, now you do. My dad was a military man. He was always getting deployed. My grandfather was retired, and he offered to take care of me. In the summers I basically lived there. He did so much to raise me. So much.”
“He sounds like a wonderful man. But that still doesn’t explain the house,” Asher pointed out.
Emma bit her lip and looked away. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Asher sighed. “Right.”
Tilting her head, Emma tried to focus as her brain suddenly spoke up, trying to tell her something.
“What is it?” Asher asked, immediately picking up on her change of mood.
“Something’s not right,” she said quietly. “But I can’t tell you what it is. Everything looks normal so far. It’s just…” she trailed off. “But it doesn’t sound right.”
“What are you talking about?”
They cleared the last pile of debris and the quarry was laid out in full glory in front of them.
“There’s no sound,” she said quietly, coming to a halt. “No equipment running. No truck engines. People shouting.”
Asher was alert now too. “You’re right. It’s quiet. Too quiet. Where is everyone?”
Emma shook her head. She could see excavators, trucks and more, but everything was still. Nothing was running.
“It’s not like this normally, is it?” Asher asked.
“No,” she said softly. “No, it’s not.”
“Shit.”
She looked over at Asher. “What?”
“He knew we were coming,” the big man hissed, looking around. “Lars planned for it. We just walked into a trap.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Asher
“Hello there!”
He froze, putting out an arm to stop Emma from moving any further. The voice had come from everywhere and nowhere. Looking around, he tried to spy it.
“Loudspeakers,” Emma said in his ear. “All over the quarry. For announcements, emergency sirens, things like that.”
“Is that him?” Asher wanted to know.
“Yes. That’s him. That’s Lars.”
“I wondered when you would finally show up,” the voice said again. “Come to borrow some money from your mate, is that it? Sending her to work so she can be the one that provides for you now?”
Asher frowned. “I’ve come for my treasure,” he shouted back. “I hear you’re the thieving asshole who took it because he couldn’t make any money on his own.”
“He probably can’t hear you,” Emma whispered. “He’s likely in the control hut.”
Asher followed her gaze to a rectangular trailer off to one side, surrounded by a few parked quarry vehicles and a radio tower.
He pointed a finger at the little hut and raised his voice. “Are you going to come out, or continue to stay hidden?” The boom of his voice carried down across the quarry.
“You’ve got a loud voice,” Emma remarked from next to him. “Wow. Remind me not to get in a shouting match with you.”
Asher stifled a chortle of laughter, thankful that she could remain more aloof than he was at a time like this. Of course, it wasn’t her treasure on the line.
As he looked at her, admiring her and
wondering how he’d gotten lucky enough to get on her good side after their horrific introduction. He would never let her pay for anything if he had his way about it, unlike what the man on the loudspeaker said.
He stroked his chin suddenly, lost in thought. There was something about what Lars had said. Something that he should be picking up on…
The only response his comment got was laughter.
“So, you’re taking the coward’s way out, are you?” Asher called back. “Hiding and avoiding confrontation because you’re too scared of what might happen? I should have known you wouldn’t be manly enough to come out and face me.”
This time, he was only greeted by silence. Asher was fairly confident that he’d goaded the man into coming out and revealing himself. Very few people who thought themselves the best were willing to admit to being cowards. Even if that was the smart play here. After all, there was no way the man could win against Asher. No human could.
“Very well,” Lars hissed over the loudspeaker. “Have it your way.”
Asher crossed his arms in smug victory. Now he would get his treasure back and be able to fix Emma’s house, and then they could—“What the actual fuck?” he asked, stunned by what he was seeing.
“Asher? Asher what it is it?” Emma was grabbing his arm, giving him a shake as he stood stock still. “Asher, you’re scaring me, please. What’s going on? What is it?”
“I know him,” Asher said under his breath.
Not well, mind you, but as well as one could be expected to know a dragon from another clan. Asher’s arms dropped as he watched the man he knew as Doran of Clan Teres stroll out from the trailer and present himself for Asher, arms wide. Inviting him onward.
Asher had so many questions. None of it made any sense to him anymore. Why would Doran—he no longer thought of him as Lars—want to do something like this to a fellow dragon? They were supposed to be on the same side!
The last conflict between clans was centuries ago, but by his actions, Doran would inevitably stir up anger and distrust between them. Stealing another dragon’s treasure was an absolute no-go.