by Amelia Jade
Then he grabbed the gear he would need and headed off into the night, hoping that Jerrik would refrain from interfering with him. This needed to be done, for Michelle’s sake. The drive was long, and heavy of heart, but eventually he pulled up outside the same building he’d fled earlier in the day.
Knowing that if he went ahead with his actions it would be tantamount to admitting his own issues caused Kase to hesitate outside the lab. Just like he’d hesitated five years ago. “Be strong. Everything you do, you do for her. She can’t protect herself, least of all from you, so you have to be strong for her. To do what must be done, and to bear the burden yourself.
Gritting his teeth Kase taped the letter to the door and went inside. He’d found the strength once, he could find it again. Moving to her computer he used a login that nobody knew existed that gave him access to the entire system. He was, after all, the one who paid for everything, it shouldn’t be shocking.
He put down a hefty case that he’d lugged in with him and plugged it in. Backing up all the files to his own storage drives would take a few hours, but he wouldn’t be sleeping that night anyway.
Now when all he could think about was how pathetic it was that he couldn’t find another solution, a better solution.
Maybe in the future I can make this right to her.
Please forgive me Michelle, I’m doing this for you. I just wish I could tell you why, so you’d understand that I had no choice. There can’t be anything left that will keep you here.
Chapter Nine
Michelle
She made sure she came in an hour early the next day, to try to make up for all the work she’d missed the day before. It was only fair to her colleagues, most of whom—Jacob aside—had declined to mention her little incident with Kase. They were all great people, and she was hopeful that his investment would allow her to give them a raise, even if just a little bit. Anything to show her gratitude for how amazing they were to work with.
Getting out of her car, she grabbed her shoulder bag from the passenger seat, tossing it around her as she closed and locked the car. Today was going to be a good day, she could feel it. Kase was gone, and she was going to be able to get back to her research. A smile slowly spread across her face as she approached the door. Yes, today would be a good one.
That feeling of cheerfulness slipped away as she neared the door. “What the hell?”
There was a piece of paper taped to the doors, one of which had the handle bent all out of shape. Hurrying forward, she pulled it off and began to read, skipping over the formalities at the start. She recognized the shield and axe symbol of Scaler Holdings immediately, the company that owned and operated the lab. It was on all her official correspondence.
She wished she hadn’t been so eager as the words rang home with her.
It is with great regret that we announce the closing of the Modrin Laboratories facility effective immediately due to lack of funding. Personal objects will be available for retrieval in two days’ time under the supervision of Scaler Holdings security personnel only. Until this time, all access to the facility is strictly FORBIDDEN. As all contents belong directly to Scaler Holdings, any attempt to access the facility shall be treated as trespassing and appropriate charges filed.
Signed,
Scaler Holdings Board of Directors
CEO Molly G. Sims
“Oh no,” she whispered, feeling suddenly unstable. “No, no, no.”
This was her fault. She reached out to support herself, but the door gave way under her push and she stumbled into the reception area before sinking to the ground, the door swinging closed behind her. Why wasn’t it locked? What was going on?
All around her, the lab had been trashed. Walls ripped apart, chairs and desks smashed. One empty desk had been hurled through an entire wall, half of it sticking through into the reception area from the offices beyond.
Shaking, she got to her feet, staring around at the devastation. “What is going on?” she said to the empty space, trying to wrap her brain around everything that had just happened.
This had to be her fault. She’d screwed things up with Kase, and he’d decided not to invest in the lab after all. Since she didn’t control the direct funding, she hadn’t known they were so close to shutting the doors, that they were depending on his investment to keep going.
All her ideas of advancing their research, of finding a cure sooner and paying her employees a bonus, evaporated into thin air. Now she couldn’t even keep them employed. Tears fell constantly as she walked into the offices. Her chair was missing some wheels, but it didn’t fall over as she sank into it, overwhelmed. In the span of ten minutes, her world had gone from great, to disaster.
All because she’d kissed Kase. Or was it because she’d only kissed Kase?
“This makes no sense!” she shouted. “I don’t understand how this could happen.”
Her desk was shattered, but her computer looked intact. Reaching out, she hit the power button, and to her surprise it booted up. Logging in, she went looking for the data. If she could salvage the data, then maybe she could keep up the research. That was what mattered to her now. Finding a cure to what ailed her father.
She didn’t need this lab; she just needed a lab.
“Fuck you, Scaler Holdings. You can’t do this to me. I’ll take my research and go somewhere else then. You can suck it.”
A quick search showed that someone had come in and wiped everything, including the backups. It was all gone. Four years’ worth of data, vanished. She felt hollow inside. There was nothing left for her in the lab now. A few personal items, but nothing more. Like hell she was going to wait two days to collect it. Her former employer could suck a dick if they had any complaints.
Grabbing a drawer from her desk that was magically still intact, she emptied it and filled it again with her own things, and then headed for the door. She wanted to be gone before the others arrived. Michelle couldn’t stand to face them. In the lobby, she bent over and grabbed the piece of paper, taping it to the door as she exited.
Reaching her car, she tossed her stuff in the backseat, got in, and then rested her head on the steering wheel and sobbed. Her entire body shook. She was a failure. Her father was going to die now, and there was nothing she could do about it, all because she’d been too proud to give Kase whatever he needed to invest the money.
Michelle was partially aware that her logic was skewed and mired in sorrow and pain, that she shouldn’t actually feel guilty for what she’d done, but that wasn’t going to console her now. Nothing could do that.
Nothing except…
Sniffling, she wiped her tears on her sleeve and pulled out her phone. Maybe there was someone. At the minimum, she could get some answers from him, to try to unravel the puzzle of how everything had gone to shit so quickly, without any sign.
She punched in the number and let it ring. This wasn’t worthy of a text message. She needed to hear the bastard’s voice. To see what he had to say for himself after he found out she’d just lost her job and was going to have to move back across the country to live with her parents until she found a new one.
“He—”
She didn’t let him finish. “They shut it down.”
“What?”
“The lab. It’s shut down. Immediately, without notice, due to a lack of funding.”
There was nothing but silence from the other end, punctuated by Kase’s slow, measured breathing.
“That’s why they wanted you to invest,” she continued. “So that we could continue to do our work here. Yet you chose not to invest. Why? What did I do wrong? What can I do to fix it?” She hadn’t meant to start begging, but this wasn’t just about her—it was about her team, and all the people they were trying to help with their research.
“It wasn’t because of you,” he said.
“Bullshit.”
“I’m not lying,” he growled back. “It was not your fault.”
She pulled the phone away from he
r ear, frowning at it. Why did he sound strained? This shouldn’t be that big of a deal to him. After all, he was going to keep his money now—that should be a plus, shouldn’t it? What would cause him to be bothered by the lab closing? Something was fishy.
An idea came to her.
“You never wanted to fund us, did you?” she gasped. “You wanted the research for yourself! Well, I hope you found what you were looking for, you heartless asshole!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Kase’s voice was ice, cutting through her anger easily.
“The lab.”
“It’s closed, I know. Why are you accusing me of wanting the research for myself?”
“You broke in last night and stole all the data and trashed the place. Why else would you do that if you didn’t want to profit from it yourself?”
If surprised silence could translate through a phone, that’s what she received.
“Someone trashed the lab?” he asked slowly.
“You know damn well they did. You did it!”
Kase snorted. “Michelle, there are so many things wrong with that statement, I don’t even know where to begin to tell you. I did not wreck the lab. Someone else did that, not me. Are you safe?”
The unexpected question made her pause before replying. “I’m safe, yes. I wasn’t in the lab when it happened. I came in early this morning and found the note from the board about it closing, and also the door unlocked and the place wrecked” The tears were long gone now, confusion taking its place. “What’s going on, Kase?”
“I’m not sure.”
He sounded honest, but she knew he wasn’t telling her the entire truth about everything. The big idiot knew more than he was letting on. The question was, what?
“I’m glad you’re safe,” he continued. “I’m sorry about the lab, but I know you’re smart. You’ll find something bigger, and better.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, coach.”
Kase didn’t reply at first, and his voice sounded pained when he did eventually speak. “I have to go now. Goodbye, Michelle.”
The line went dead.
“Well that got me nowhere,” she spat, tossing the phone onto the passenger seat.
She thought about going back to the house she rented, but that didn’t appeal to her. Driving several hours to show up at her retired parents’ place to tell them she was a failure appealed even less. Giving up wasn’t something she was fond of doing. So where should she go to continue the fight?
“Well, when you put it like that,” she said, turning up the radio to pump herself up and putting the car in drive, “there’s only one place to go.”
Look out, motherfucker, here I come!
Chapter Ten
Kase
He eyed the map spread out on the table, making sure he committed the imaginary barriers to memory.
“Wouldn’t want to bother Mommy and Daddy,” he mocked, thinking of Jerrik and Coltaine.
No, he would do as he was told, and stay inside Jerrik’s territory. Fortunately for him, the territory was rather large, and much of it was vast mountain wilderness, unoccupied by humans. A dragon could easily disappear into the deeper mountains and live wild without fear of being spotted.
That seemed like the best course of action for him now. He eyed the ATV in the middle of his outbuilding. It wasn’t a barn, since he didn’t raise livestock, but it was far bigger than a shed. The side-by-side machine wasn’t a speedster, but instead meant for hauling supplies long distance. It was loaded down now with extra cans of gas, camping supplies, non-perishable food and water, along with a few other fun toys. Everything he would need for a few weeks in the bush.
Kase could easily live off the land if he decided to stay longer, or stretch what he was bringing to last. Hunting wasn’t something he enjoyed, even if he’d learned to be good at it nearly seventy years earlier in another life. Fishing was fine, but he’d get sick and tired of fish rather quickly. He was prepared for any eventuality. Anything was better than endangering mass amounts of human lives.
Especially when one of them was Michelle’s. She wouldn’t leave town immediately, he knew that, which meant he had to put some distance between them. The pull of his dragon to its mate was something he had a hard time denying and why Kase had spent so much time away from his home in recent years. One too many occasions of almost running into her “randomly” had left him scared.
The assignment overseas to Fort Banner to help fight the Outsiders had seemed like the perfect opportunity for him. Unfortunately, he’d screwed that one up, and wasn’t likely to be welcomed back anytime soon. Anger rippled through him at the memory of that night. It was that memory that spurred him now, encouraging him to get as far away from Michelle as possible, before it happened again.
Even just thinking about her conjured up an image of her in his head. Medium height for a woman, smaller shoulders, thick waist, and curves that went on for miles. Black hair long, thick, and untamable, much like its owner. Eyes of the darkest brown that sparkled wildly with a sense of humor that was as loud as it was sharp at times.
The perfect woman for him, if he could only get himself under control and learn to harness his dragon and its peculiarities of the mind.
He was daydreaming about her. Angrily, he shook his head, then smacked his palm to it, trying to get rid of the picture of her. Now was not the time for that. Kase needed to put her out of his head, to forget about her. That would be the easiest course of action.
The sound of a car engine and tires rumbling over gravel caught his attention, his head lifting in the direction of the driveway.
“What the hell do you want now, Jerrik?” he snarled, rolling the map up and stuffing it into a drawer. He didn’t want the Magistrate knowing where in the mountains he intended on going. This was a private trip.
The big doors were open in anticipation of him taking the ATV out, and now they gave him an excellent view of the driveway. A white compact came to a halt behind his truck. Whoever it was, it certainly wasn’t Jerrik. No dragon shifter could fit in such a ridiculous toy vehicle.
“No,” he gasped as the occupant got out. The first thing he saw was a mane of midnight falling from their head. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He looked skyward, muttering a few choices words directed at Fate, explaining how tired he was of its intervening in his life, and how it could go fornicate with itself. Not that he expected that to help, but it made him feel better.
“Kase!” she shouted as soon as she saw him.
“How do you know where I live?” he growled, loud enough to be heard.
“I told Molly I had to give you something you’d left at the lab.”
He frowned. “I didn’t leave anything.”
“No, but I wanted to give you this anyway,” she called, lifting a hand with her middle finger raised.
Despite everything, Kase found himself laughing.
“What’s so funny?” she snapped, coming closer.
“You drove all the way out here to give me the finger for not funding your lab?”
The dynamic between them was all sorts of screwy, and it was messing with his head. He should be terrified to see her, but he was happy. She should be miserable and pissed, without realizing it should be directed at him, but she was smiling. Everything they should be feeling seemed to evaporate around each another.
This is not good. Get rid of her, Kase. Make her leave. He didn’t want to be an asshole to her, though. Hadn’t he already done that by shutting down her lab? How much more could be asked of him? Couldn’t he just give her a few minutes of time, to perhaps help her come to terms with the sudden changes in her life? Would that be so bad?
His inner voice didn’t respond. That wasn’t a good sign. Okay, fine.
“I didn’t want you to think you could get off that easy,” she said crossly, arms folding over her chest.
“You need to go,” he said, coming perilously close to pleading.
“And you
need to fund the lab, Kase. Please. Not just for me, but for everyone else who works there. So many people are out of work now. We need you.”
“No, you don’t. Please, you can’t be around me,” he said, taking a step back.
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Apparently. And why not? What’s your excuse this time?” She took a step closer.
He mimed it, but his legs were longer, so his steps backward actually put more space between them.
“It’s not safe,” he said, deciding to go for the truth.
She snorted. “OooooO, are you some kind of baaddddd guy?” she mocked.
“Yes.” He stared at her straight on, hoping she would understand the depths of gravity in his voice, and just leave, before he did what his dragon was screeching at him to do.
Instead, Michelle peered past him at the heavily laden ATV. “Oh, I get it now. You’re heading out into the wilderness. Have to bury a body, do you? What’s the term… Put it six feet under, is that it? Have I seen too much?” she asked, waggling her hands back and forth at shoulder height as if she should be spooked.
“Yes, that’s exactly it,” he told her. “You got it in one; you’re so perceptive. Those bags actually hold multiple bodies. You see, I chop them up into tiny pieces, take them out into the woods, and scatter it around for my army of pet bears that I’m raising to take over the world with.”
By this point, Michelle was trying to cover her snickers. “You’re so full of shit, Kase. There are things you might be, but a bad person is not one of them.” She started to walk around him, but he moved to block her path.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not a danger to you.”
For whatever reason, that caused her to pause. Her eyelids lowered as she frowned. “You know, I almost believed that line.”
“You should,” he said, helpless, as she pushed around him and went inside, looking the ATV over.
“Planning on being gone awhile?” she asked casually, looking back at him over her shoulder.
Visions of bending her over the seat of the ATV flashed through his mind. Kase grimaced and looked away, but they didn’t leave. Dammit, he needed to get a grip. If he lost control now, the only person around was Michelle.