“Thanks. Taran did it for me. He changed my life.”
That was my understanding. Fated mates changed your life. I’m still not sure I want mine changed. “Is he as protective as Nyve?”
“Mmm, yeah, not quite in the same way. The doula who delivered Charity had to throw him out. He was being ‘disruptive.’” Nosko air quotes with his fingers. “He was louder in the waiting room than he was in the room with me so they let him back in. He can be a handful. Sometimes more than his daughter.”
“She’s such a cutie.” I didn’t get any time to interact with her because of the whole video thing but I did remember that she was very quiet.
The car comes to a stop and dings to signal the seventeenth floor. While the doors open, Nosko pats me on the shoulder. “Good luck and see you shortly.”
“You, too.”
Daly smiles at me when I approach reception for the company. “Hi, Austin, it’s good to see you. Jamison is expecting you in his office.”
“Thanks, Daly. How did the honeymoon cruise go?”
“Oh, glorious,” she says effusively. “If you ever get a chance to go on one, I highly recommend it.”
Not like I can afford it. My mom didn’t leave much in the way of an inheritance, and what she did leave, my father took possession of to hold in trust for me and to use to help my aunt as she raised me. I’m not going to get into that so I smile and nod and keep walking.
My father is an imposing man. Where I’m of slim build due to my mother’s dragon nature, I seemed only to inherit my impatience and temper from my father’s wolf nature. He’s sitting at his desk typing on the computer when I shut the door. He holds up his hand to not interrupt him.
So months go by and we haven’t talked and that’s all the greeting I get.
I ease into the chair across from his desk and wait for him.
He finishes typing and picks up his phone. “Give me a moment to finish this up, son. I don’t want to break my concentration on it now.”
“Oh sure, there’s no rush. I’ll just graze on your paperwork until you’re done.”
My father’s dark gaze indicates he didn’t find that funny. Probably the wolf in him. They all seem so serious.
He starts talking business on the phone, shuffling papers around, and I sit there in the chair, fidgeting. I need to focus. We’re all here to look for something to help us figure out what’s going on. I don’t think my father knows anything, since the companies appear to be on two different floors. Surely they have very little opportunity to cross paths.
Still, it seems like a good idea to just keep my eyes open.
I stand and move to the side of his desk, acting like I’m looking out of the office window at the spectacular view of the downtown area. All the buildings rise high into the sky. The architecture is cutting-edge and new, a shining beacon to the rapid development of the past decade in Stelline City.
With a casual turn, I see papers strewn across his desk, tucked haphazardly into files, some strewn loose. Financials, a prospectus, reports, even a flyer for some building event.
As my dad talks, he pushes reports and folders around and it’s just by sheer luck I actually see something flash. I crane my head to get a closer look at it. I can’t see the whole thing but I don’t need to.
It’s the logo that was on the mugger’s hoodie. It’s unmistakable. It’s the exact one.
What is it doing on my dad’s desk? Does he do business with them? The salutation isn’t to the bank or to his position. It’s addressed to him personally.
What does that mean?
I’m startled when he hangs up the phone and pushes from the desk. “I’m sorry about that, Austin. It was last minute and of course an emergency.”
He pulls me into an awkward hug. Neither of us are sure where to put our hands and we fumble our way through the embrace before he steps back and sits down again. “I was surprised by your invitation to lunch. But I’m glad you’re here.”
How to ask him about the company… I wish I’d prepared better for this possibility. I was just too excited to be doing it, I didn’t plan further ahead than getting in the front door. “I… um… just felt like I needed to touch base.”
I need something to go off of, something to… of course. Of course.
“I’m still a little shaken up by what happened the other night and just needed to see you.” It isn’t a lie, exactly. More like an embellishment on the truth.
“What happened?” My father leans forward, and his fingers lace together and rest on his desk.
“There was another attempted mugging the other night.”
He doesn’t say anything immediately. He doesn’t even look concerned. In fact, he’s showing no emotion at all.
“This mugger seems to be targeting mythical shifters specifically. It’s all the shifter community can talk about.”
“Well, I suppose I should be sympathetic but I find it hard to muster any for them.”
“What?” I can’t believe that just came out of his mouth. “How can you say that?”
“Seems like they’re finally getting what’s coming to them.”
“The mugger is targeting shifters, Dad. That means they know who the shifters are and are singling them out.”
My father shrugs and stares down at his knuckles, his thumb rubbing over them. “It hardly affects me.”
“Wow. I don’t… know what to say. I guess it would hardly affect you since I’m a mythical shifter, too.”
That got a reaction from him. My father’s head snaps up. “What?”
“I’m a mythical shifter who was almost mugged the other night. Thankfully, I had someone with me and the guy ran off.”
He sighs and runs his hands through his immaculate hair. “I’m sorry you were targeted, Austin. But I can understand the backlash against the mythicals. They have an exaggerated sense of their own self-importance. Their superiority complex makes them think they’re above the rest of us. Not everyone likes them or looks up to them.”
I’m floored and not really sure what to say. “Not all of them,” I manage to say weakly.
“I’m not talking about you. Your heritage puts you in a different category than them. You’re only half dragon.”
He says that like it’s a disease.
I never knew he felt this way.
“Please, Austin, I don’t want to argue about this. I have my reasons for how I feel but know they don’t project onto you.”
“Is that why you have a letterhead with the logo that matches a logo worn by my attacker the other night?”
My father looks up at me, his brow deeply furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“This thing.” I get up from my chair and tease the letter out from beneath the scattered papers on his desk. Before I can read it, my father snatches it out of my hand.
He adjusts his glasses as he reads it. “I have no idea. This is a letter asking for donations to some charity they’re supporting. I don’t have time or the money for that.” He folds it and shoves it beneath a pile of documents. “Are we going to keep arguing or go to lunch?”
I am hungry and I really hadn’t intended on coming to lunch to argue with him so I nod. “Yeah. Let’s go to lunch.”
“They have prime rib in the restaurant in the Sky Watch today. My treat.”
Our conversation goes as well as could be expected. Meaning, it’s stilted and awkward. As much as I’d wanted it to lead to something productive, I’m not sure it did. But we both manage to muddle through and I glance at my watch as I’m leaving his office. I’m about twenty minutes late meeting everyone so I call Nyve on my cell to let him know I’m okay and I’m heading to meet them now.
He’s outside the building when I step through the glass doors.
“Is everything okay?” I ask when Nyve turns toward me. He takes my hand and we walk away from the building before he speaks.
“They’re waiting for us at the meeting place. I was worried when you weren’t there
so I was heading in to find you. Is everything okay?”
I’m not sure how I feel about his worrying. On the one hand, it’s like he thinks I can’t handle myself. On the other hand, it’s kind of nice to have someone who does worry about me who is not my aunt. “As much as can be, I guess. We fought, which is nothing unusual.”
“I’m sorry.” Nyve drops his arm around my shoulders as we walk.
“It’s okay. He told me a little more about my mother’s death. Not that he actually said anything useful about it, but she died under mysterious circumstances. The police never found the killer and it eventually was packed away with all the other unsolved cases. He’s pretty bitter about it and I guess he feels as helpless as I do. But it was a big step for him. He usually changes the subject when I want to talk about her.”
I glance at my shoulder and roll it up beneath Nyve’s hand. “I showed him my tattoo.”
“How did he handle that?”
“Better than my aunt will.”
Nyve laughs along with me and we stroll a little in silence. “You’re not as tense as when you went in.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I guess I’m okay. I’m still trying to sort through a lot of the stuff he said while I was there. I need some time to process it.”
We see the guys ahead and Nosko waves at us. “How was your fact-finding mission?”
“I may have something. I don’t know. I need some time to chew on it,” I confess.
Varos glances around, then gestures to the bus stop stand. “We may have something but here isn’t the best place to talk about it.”
Nyve stands behind me with his hands on my shoulders. The comfort of his presence behind me keeps me grounded. “Let’s wait until we’re back at the shop,” he says.
“If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to head home. I need to take care of my eye in the sky,” and I gesture to the ever-present drone hovering close by.
“Son of a bitch, I completely forgot about that little bastard.” Sako covers his eyes to look up at it and gives it pistol fingers.
“Yeah. Until I’m sure that Ronnie and I have the feed interruption down, I like to keep a close eye on it. So I’ll come by tomorrow and we can talk?” I feel bad about ditching the guys, especially when they may have something important, but I really need the alone time to gather my thoughts.
The bus slows to a stop at the curb and the guys climb on. Nyve looks like he’s about to protest but he just presses his lips into a line. “Call me when you get home,” he says instead.
I tip onto my toes to kiss him chastely. “I will. And I will see you tomorrow.”
With a final nod, he climbs on the bus. I watch as the bus pulls away before I text Ronnie that I need to talk to him, and then call up a taxi to take me home.
I need some time to think and do more research. Something just doesn’t sit right with me over my conversation with my dad in his office.
I can’t shake the feeling he’s hiding something.
6
Nyve
Varos and Sako made the decision to hold off on any conversation until Austin and Nosko can be present, which doesn’t sit well with Taran. By the time Austin comes in the door, Taran is ready to fire all of us.
Nosko hands off Charity to Taran so he can sit while he lets Taran deal with the grumpy girl. Another wave of longing sweeps over me as I watch father and sleepy daughter. His swaying side to side is enough to send her right off to sleep.
Bronaz is sitting by the counter to warn of customers coming in while we have our meeting.
Sako lifts his hand in the air. “We have to go first, you guys, because we found what’s probably the most interesting bit of information in this whole thing.”
Austin stands next to me and gives me a smile. He looks like he didn’t get much sleep last night and I make a mental note to ask him about it later. I motion for the chair so he can sit and he accepts it with a short nod.
Taran growls softly. “Well, start telling us, or I’ll beat it out of you.”
“Easy there,” Varos says. “We’ll get to it.”
“So, like we figured out, Genadyne has offices on the fourteenth floor of the building. From what we could see, it was on the up and up.” Sako leans back in his chair with a drawn-out pause. The little shit enjoys the captive audience.
Nosko’s shoulders sag. “So we don’t have anything?”
Varos doesn’t stand for Sako’s dramatics. “Oh, we have something. This is key. We figured out that Genadyne looks to be doing well. They do genetic research and the like, but this is just their corporate headquarters. Their labs are in Rainer Park, down on the south side of the lake in that industrial area. Nothing interesting to really see. Their logo is on the wall in their reception area but that’s about it. So we decide to take the stairs down. That’s when we discover you can’t get onto another floor from the stairwell. It’s locked, which means you access the floors in the building by the elevator only, or if you have keys as part of maintenance or housekeeping. Anyway, about three floors down, we run across two guys who are heading down and guess what they’re wearing?”
Austin leans forward. “The sweatshirt?”
“The sweatshirt.” Varos smiles triumphantly.
“I was able to slip in the door before it shut and locked behind our friends. We poked around and you’ll never guess what else we found.” Sako laces his fingers behind his head and kicks his feet out in his chair.
“If you don’t stop that—” I say in a low warning voice.
Sako holds his hands up. “Alright, alright. The floor is supposedly under construction, right?”
I nod. “Varos texted me to ask about it at reception. The entire floor is undergoing construction. They couldn’t tell me which company is taking the lease for it.”
Varos picks up the narrative, for which I’m grateful. Otherwise, I’d be forced to shake Sako until his brains rattle. “Right. Well there was some construction activity but not as much as you’d think. And there were several sweatshirts and t-shirts sporting our suspicious logo.”
“Wait.” Taran eases the sound asleep baby into his chair. “You mean Genadyne isn’t claiming possession of the floor?”
“Incoming,” Bronaz says from his stool by the front door.
Seconds later, a young man bursts in, breathing as if he’s been running. “Austin, did I miss anything?”
We all turn to look at Austin, who gives me a sheepish smile. “Hey Ronnie. Not much but you might want to come in and let me introduce you before you say anything more.”
He’s still huffing and waves his hand for Austin to continue.
“This is Ronnie Bould, a long-time friend and one of the best hackers I know.” Austin points to each of us in turn. “That’s Bronaz you just raced by. This is Sako, Varos, Taran and his husband, Nosko, and their baby girl, Charity.”
Ronnie waves to each of them.
“And this is Nyve.” My introduction is different. I’m singled out. Briefly, I allow myself the hope that maybe Austin is warming to the idea of us being together instead of continuing to assert his independence.
The icing on this cake is when Austin slips his hand in mine and squeezes it gently. I smile and squeeze back.
Now that Ronnie’s caught his breath, he waves around. “So, can I tell my thing now?”
“Tell your thing,” Austin says. He’s still holding my hand. My dragon wants to sing.
“So… Genadyne is a straight up legit company. They do biological gene therapy and the like. All sorts of genetic testing, some DNA testing for law enforcement, but mostly cutting edge splicing for industrial shit. And legit. I said that, right?”
I don’t want to lose my patience but so far we don’t know much more than this is getting bigger by the minute. “And that means?”
“Behind every legit façade is a not so legit shell company that people use to move money around. I’m not some financial whiz, but I was uncovering a lot of crazy shells and pass-throughs with t
ies to some big company overseas. Tucked away in that, however, is a small, secret organization that seems to have some fingers in the civil unrest pie. And,” Ronnie pulls out his phone, “I looked a little closer at your logo on camera and while it looks at first blush like the Genadyne logo, that little secret club I just mentioned? Well, look at this.”
Ronnie holds his phone up and we crowd around. “Looks the same to me,” Taran says after a few moments of frowning at it. I have to agree.
Ronnie clucks his tongue. “Look closer. See that bar that drops down on the outside of the G in Genadyne? On our secret club logo that I dug up, the bar drops down on the inside of the G.”
“Not sure what that proves.” I use my hold on Austin to drive him closer. He steps in and his arm slides around my waist. Now my world feels a little more stable.
“That I think this secret club is part of Genadyne. I dug up information about the company in your dad’s building,” Ronnie says as he points to Austin. “Their lease is only for the fourteenth floor. That construction area? One of the shell companies for Genadyne that has ties to our little secret club.”
Ronnie rests his hand on Austin’s shoulder. “And it gets worse, dude. I uncovered some old news articles that show your dad being really active with our secret friends in Genadyne. Goes back a lot of years. I’m guessing right around your mother’s death.”
Austin’s expression grows dark. “Shit,” he hisses through his teeth.
“I’m really sorry,” Ronnie says.
With a shake of his head, Austin shrugs it off. “Not your fault. It puts a lot of stuff into perspective for me, though. I saw a letter on his desk when I was there. It had the Genadyne logo—I don’t know which one—but it was addressed to him personally, not to him as an officer of the bank.”
He walks away from me, pacing the floor between my chair and the counter. “Damn it! I’m not letting this go. This is bullshit and I want answers.”
Austin heads for the door, and the set of his shoulders says that he’s furious, giving credence to his words. He’s mad enough that he will actually go to his father. I catch up with him before he reaches the door. “Austin, wait.”
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