by T. S. Joyce
“Your boss?”
“Yeah, he’s up near retirement age, and he only has me and Wyatt working for him.”
“You’re a good person. You know how I can tell?”
Kane rolled his eyes and buried his face on the comforter beside her leg. “How,” he asked in a muffled voice.
“Because you could get an all-day naked party with me, but you still won’t ignore your responsibilities to Martin. I like that.”
“He’s been good to me,” Kane said, resting his chin on her ankle. “He gave me a job knowing, or thinking, I was a dragon. Some people won’t do that, you know? Some companies don’t want to hire Supes. Martin hired two. Me and Wyatt.”
“Are you and Wyatt friends?”
Kane lifted one shoulder up to his ear. “I guess he’s the closest thing I have to one. Besides you. Do you need a ride home?”
“Will it make you late for work?”
Kane gave her a lopsided smile and nodded.
“Then no, I’ll make like a dragon and fly. Harper said I need to make appearances in the sky every couple of days to remind people the Bloodrunners are protected. Two birds, one stone and all.”
Kane pushed upward, his biceps bulging as he did. He stood to his full, imposing height and straightened his T-shirt—it was also black like his soul, as he liked to say. She giggled at the thought. Kane had a beautiful soul. He just liked to pretend he didn’t.
“I left breakfast on a plate in the kitchen.”
“You’re trying to secure a blowjob, aren’t you?”
Was that a blush on his cheeks? Kane grinned at the ground. “Uuuh. Sooo…” He ran his hand through his hair. He did that a lot when he was nervous or frustrated. He was being so damn cute right now Rowan had to pull the covers up to hide her smile.
“Maybe, do you want to go…eat food. Together? Like one of those…”
“Like a date?” Rowan scrambled up on the bed. She was wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts that hit at mid-thigh. “Are you asking me out on a date, Kane?” she asked too loud.
He hunched his shoulders like the pitch of her voice had hurt his ears. “I think I am.”
Rowan let off a squeal and leapt at him.
“Oh, shit!” he said, catching her and losing his balance. He reached back and steadied himself on the dresser and laughed against her neck. “Woman, give me warning. I have a bum leg, remember.”
“My sexy-ass pirate.” She kissed his lips and then nipped his bottom one as she pulled away. “Yes, yes, yes, I want to go eat food with you. Official date style. I’ll wear something cute. I’ll shave my legs! Can we take a picture together? This is a big deal, and a hundred years from now, I want to have a picture of the moment you asked me on our first date.”
“A hundred years? Woman, when did we become immortal?”
Rowan scampered off and returned, held the phone up, kissed Kane on his cheek, and hoped he wasn’t grimacing for the picture she took.
“Okay, I have to go.” Kane kissed her gently, a soft chuckle in his throat. God, she adored that sound.
He still felt dominant and scary, but she was getting used to it little by little. Her dragon was adjusting, and it made it easier when he gave her easy laughs and smiles. She hugged his neck suddenly, snuggled close, and closed her eyes at how good it felt when he rubbed his hand up her back and hugged her tightly, as if he didn’t want to let her go either.
“Does tonight work? I wouldn’t mind seeing you again after I get off work.”
“Will you pick me up like a real date and everything?”
“Yeah. I’ll even say hi to the Bloodrunners when I come get you.”
Rowan giggled and smiled so brightly at the wall behind him her cheeks hurt. He was going to try—for her.
“Um, Roe?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you not post that picture of us online? I need to make a few calls before we tell people. I need to make sure you are protected.”
Rowan frowned. Protected? “Will people come after me?”
Kane shook his head, rasping his whiskers against her cheek. “I get attention, not the good kind, and I just want to make sure that doesn’t blow over to you.”
“Okay.”
Kane eased back and lowered down, looked at her at eye-level. “It’s not because I’m not proud as hell to have you with me. I swear it’s not.” His charming-boy smile curved his lips. “I’m gonna call my mom on the way to work and tell her about you. She’s been afraid I would never find someone I cared about. She’ll be happy.”
Well, that did make her feel better. “So it’s okay if I tell my people?”
The smile dipped from his lips, and his eyes went serious. “Give me a day before you start making phone calls. That’s all I’m asking.”
She pulled his palm to her lips and kissed it. “Okay, Blackwing, you have twenty-four hours starting now.”
Kane winked at her—winked like a sexy-man!—and as Rowan stood there dumbfounded by his masculine beauty, he kissed her again, just a quick, affectionate peck, squeezed her ass hard, nipped her neck with a little growl, and limped out of the bedroom. Stunned, she followed him to the porch and waved him off as he sped out of the yard. He smiled in the rearview mirror at her and gave a two fingered wave out his open window just before he disappeared around a curve in the road.
It was in this moment, as she stood alone on his land for the first time, that it really struck her what had happened. Rowan stumbled onto the neatly mowed yard and rubbed the sore bite-mark on the back of her neck. She spun in a slow circle, stunned gaze on the surrounding forest and mountains. There was a chopping block and organized stacks of wood against one side of the house. An old tire swing hung from a towering white pine on the edge of the woods. From here she could see a babbling river running behind the house, and there was a hammock hung between two trees, creaking gently in the breeze. Birds chattered happily around her. Everything was lush, green, and beautiful. The run-down exterior of the cabin was what surprised her most about Kane’s territory. She knew what it looked like inside. Rowan had expected it to look dilapidated inside to match the outside, but it wasn’t. He was rebuilding it from the bones out. Last night, if she’d had her mind after being fucked so thoroughly by Kane in the front yard, she would’ve taken more time to appreciate the work he’d done.
Rowan padded over the sagging porch and pushed open the front door. The living room was stripped bare, down to the subflooring. The walls were open and exposed wiring hung from the rafters above. The couches were covered in plastic, and a TV was sitting on the couch cushions. But beyond that was a kitchen that had been remodeled from top to bottom. And she would bet her wings Kane had done all the work himself. It was small, but the wooden countertops were polished and the custom cabinets homey. It looked like a farm house kitchen with a big sink and everything. The bedroom and bathroom were also finished, down to the wood floors and polished log walls. The furniture was sparse, but tidy and well-placed, and made the rooms look bigger than they really were. The ceiling was sagging throughout the house, but already, Kane had written measurements and made notches all over the rotted rafters, and there was a ladder near the door with a measuring tape sitting on it.
What did it say about Kane that he only tackled one room at a time? It was apparent that he refused to move onto a new project until he was done with the last. Was it because that was how he handled his life? One day at a time? One obstacle at a time?
There was even a second bathroom off the only hallway. Rowan turned the knob and pushed open the door. Wait, this wasn’t a bathroom at all. She stepped into a dark room and flipped on the light switch on the wall. A single light illuminated an office space. This wasn’t like the rest of the house, though.
The floor was covered in dark carpet, and there were no windows. The ceiling was lower in here, as though this room had been some sort of add-on to the cabin. There was a massive three-monitor computer on a sprawling desk against the back wall. The des
k was covered in stacks of notes. On the wall was nailed three cork boards with scribbled pieces of paper stuck with black push-pins. A map took up a good portion of the wall to her right, dotted in red sewing pins with thread connecting several of them to create a spider web effect.
This room wasn’t homey. It was cold, like Damon and Clara’s bedroom.
This wasn’t an office. This was Kane’s lair.
There was a glass display case of awards and medals he’d received from his time serving, but it was covered in a layer of dust. Perhaps he had hard feelings about all of it because of his leg. Or perhaps he was angry about having to fight after his dragon had been cut from him. There were a few pictures in the display. Kane in his combat uniform, holding an assault rifle, sunglasses hiding his eyes. One of him with a few other men, sitting in bag chairs in the sand, playing cards, dressed in desert fatigues, dog tags hanging from their necks. They were all smiling—all but Kane, who looked dead-eyed into the camera. And all their eyes were glowing inhumanly. Rowan gasped and wiped her hand across the thin layer of dust to see it better. Kane hadn’t told her his team had been a task force of shifters. But really, Kane hadn’t told her anything about this part of his life.
The edge of a picture on the first bulletin board fluttered in the breeze from the vent, demanding her attention. It was a picture of Kane kneeling down beside a wolf hound. The dog was giant and had his tongue flopped out the side of his mouth in a happy expression. Kane had his sunglasses on and was almost, almost smiling. The words Gray Dog were scribbled across the top in permanent marker. There was a yellow sheet of ruled paper underneath the picture with notes on it.
Killed June 11 by the Valdoro Pack
Drake – Deceased, ashes, Harper
Sam - Deceased, ashes, Harper
Ray - Deceased, ashes, Harper
Bryant - Deceased, ashes, Harper
Seth - dominant
Dustin - submissive
Jace – Second in the pack, dominant
Axton – Alpha, challenged outside of Drat’s twice, bested him both, injured by Harper’s fire, last seen outside of Tuscaloosa
Kane was hunting the pack. And rightly so. They’d killed his dog, and now the video cameras outside made sense. His explanation that he had to fight suddenly clicked into place. She hadn’t taken it seriously enough. She’d thought it was just drunk asshole humans wanting to say they’d fought a dragon, but there were shifters challenging him, too. And Kane was fighting without an animal to call on. No wonder he’d stood his ground and gone on the attack as soon as he was tripped in the diner that first night. No wonder he dared Weston to come at him in the River’s Edge last night. Showing fear would get him hurt or worse, so he’d trained himself to accept the brawl. To accept the chaos and pain because facing the challenger meant he had a chance at survival. Because shifters were different. If they sensed weakness, instinct took over. It was like this bloodlust, impossible to ignore. And even without his dragon, Kane was still here, still mostly whole, still holding his own.
She skimmed lists of names and places. Kane had constructed archives of all known crews within a hundred-mile radius and had write-ups on every member. He had pictures that looked like he’d pulled them off surveillance cameras at gas stations and street corners, and some of the logos on the pictures looked official.
Slowly, Rowan sat in the computer chair. She systematically read through the piles of notes. Time dragged on and on until the notes stopped making sense. The words became too big, and some were just sheets of numbers. She was stuck—a sponge left thirsty for more knowledge.
On the far edge of the desk was a large monitor with the views from two outside cameras, focused on his front yard and front porch. There were three others he’d put in the woods somewhere. One was a clear view of the entrance to his property, angled right at the full mailbox. The edge of one of the junk-mail magazines was hanging out and fluttering in the breeze. Rowan frowned at the blank computer monitor. When she bumped the mouse, a blue screen asking for a password came up.
She should stop here, but curiosity had sunk it’s long, sharp claws into her. She’d learned more about Kane in the last few minutes than she had since she’d met him.
One password, and if it wasn’t meant to be, she would take it as a sign.
Rowan leaned forward, fingers poised over the keyboard. It would be something he kept to himself. Something he wouldn’t have shared with anyone.
Fingers shaking, she typed thedarkness. Enter.
The blue morphed to a screen covered in open tabs, and she huffed a surprised sound. She couldn’t believe it had worked.
The front window had a picture of Kane, but he looked different. He was a teenager in it, his dark hair cropped close to his scalp. And his eyes…they were a soft brown. They looked human. This must’ve been taken before the genetic cleansing, when he and The Darkness still worked together and shared his body. Rowan squinted and read the official report. Apex Genetic Testing was typed into the logo along the top.
Kane Reeves
Age: 18
Height: 6’2”
Shifter Status: Intact, Dragon, Lethal
Cleansing by court order, one year maximum, put-down order in place
“Jesus,” she whispered. She minimized the screen and read the next. It was a list of medications. The next was a schedule of experiments he went through over a four-month slot of time. There were notes in bubbly letters from a nurse named Wendy Sanger.
Not working. Dragon is fighting. Hardest case so far.
Kane attacked the therapist today. Changed and nearly killed him. Placed in seclusion for one week.
The next window was the list of experiments he endured for the next four months. They looked more intensive, and there was a follow-up picture. Kane looked skinnier, his cheeks hollow, and his eyes…one was frozen green, one was soft brown. He stared at the camera with a look like he wanted to die.
Bile crept up the back of her throat, and the first tear streamed down her cheek. Her heart felt like it was ripping in two inside of her chest cavity.
Another list of experiments and meds for the last four months. Wendy’s notes had gotten desperate.
In seclusion full-time. Out of control. Changes constantly. He’s getting too big for the facility. Too strong for the chains. His shifter healing is slowing, but the put-down order is coming up too quick. He’s a good kid, I can see it. The dragon is fighting so hard. Killing him. This one will hurt. We lost Brandon last week, and now Kane? I’m doing everything I can but if his dragon doesn’t give up, he will be gassed two weeks from tomorrow. I’ve put in my resignation. I can’t do this anymore.
That was the last entry from Wendy. The next window was a picture of Kane with his hair shaved and a trio of deep scars down the side of his head. His eyes were dead and blazing green, and he was leaning back on the wall, chin lifted, staring at the camera like he hated everything. He looked exhausted and emaciated. He looked like he had nothing left to lose. Nothing to live for.
The next note was in new handwriting—block letters, all neat and perfectly kerned. Apex has cleansed its first dragon. Success. Kane will have a shot at a normal life now, and Apex was given a sizable grant by the government to continue the program. The team and I feel good about the work we’ve done here.
Rowan clicked out of that one as fast as she could because the words ripped her guts out. They’d done good? He could lead a normal life? They’d tortured him until his dragon was made so small, and so weak, that Kane couldn’t find him anymore.
The next screen was a typed list of names.
Holly Dunes – lion, killed in transition
Brandon Fastmen – wolf, killed in transition
Meghan Stewart – grizzly bear, killed in transition
Dawn Evener – grizzly bear, no trace of animal, married, two human children
Kannon Dayton – wolf, deceased, took life
Kiera Pierce – lion, no trace of animal, never married, never
registered to a pride, no children
Caleb Porter – panther, killed in transition
Ben Porter – panther, last seen in Bilk Creek Mountains. On the move. In hiding. Married. Mated? Animal? One child. Human? Shifter? No established contact.
Where the fuck are you, Ben?
LSKDJFLSKJFDLKF
The last line looked like it was typed in anger. In utter frustration. Kane was looking for Ben Porter, but why?
“It wasn’t all bad,” Kane murmured from behind her.
Rowan startled so hard, she nearly fell out of the chair. “Kane! Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry.” She patted the stacks of notes around her, trying to organize them.
“It’s fine.” Kane’s eyes were dead, though, like his picture at Apex Genetic Testing. He stood leaning against the door with a bag of take-away food in his hand, arms crossed over his chest like a shield. “You guessed my password.”
“Kane, I’m really sorry. Please forgive me. I didn’t come in here to invade your privacy.” She approached him slowly, held her hands out, palms open. “I-I thought it was a bathroom, and I wanted to see the work you’d done on the house, but it was your office. I started looking at your pictures, and it felt like a connection to you. Like the pieces you hide from me, but it’s not right what I did. I took pieces of you before you were ready to share. Please, Kane. Please forgive me.”
He cleared his throat and wouldn’t meet her eyes, and now her heart hurt even worse somehow.
“I came back hoping you would still be here. Have you been in my office this whole time?”
“This whole time? What time is it?”
“I left four hours ago.”
“Shit. I completely lost track of time.”
Kane huffed an angry breath and chewed on his bottom lip, gaze still on the wall. The air felt so heavy and thick it was hard to breathe. When a warning growl rumbled from him, Kane shook his head hard, cut off the noise. With a deep frown, he said, “I think you should go.”