by Amelia Jade
Kase seemed just as taken aback by her wording. She watched him, noting the extra rise in his chest as he breathed in. Was that a swelling of his biceps? Were his knuckles looking whiter than before? She saw him struggling to choose what to say, and hoped like mad that he would take her up on the offer.
Wait, no! That he would decline it. Decline the offer! That’s what she meant. Michelle wasn’t about to give herself to him. She’d done that once before, and he’d run out on her.
Anger burned brighter. How was it that after so long, this jerk could just waltz back into her life and reignite the flame she’d held for him? All with barely more than a snap of his fingers to make her his again. She was falling for it, too—and the worst part was, she was aware of it!
“No,” Kase said, his voice surprisingly flustered. “No, I think you’ve done everything you can for me. I’ve, um, I’ve heard all that I need to hear. I’ll show myself out.”
Then just like that, he walked away, his legs moving at a pace she couldn’t hope to keep up with unless she ran. Michelle was far too dumbfounded by what had just happened to chase after him, though. Instead, she stood where she was, and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
This was twice now he’d done this to her.
“Is it me?” she asked the empty space, not coming up with an answer that satisfied her.
Chapter Four
Kase
His truck shook to a halt, gravel rumbling underneath as he stopped in front of his country house. Ignoring the other vehicle parked in the driveway, he slammed the door shut, forgetting to rein in his strength. The metal door warped upon impact.
“Great,” he snarled, even more pissed off and flustered than before. “Good job, Kase.” Now he’d have to use his other truck until he got that one fixed.
There was a reason he had multiple vehicles. It was extremely easy as a shifter, especially a dragon shifter, to forget just how strong you were compared to the world around you. Even the slightest urge to clench his fist could result in breaking something that would have laughed off a human’s attempts to hurt it.
Apparently, it’s also easy to forget who you are. What you are. Or where.
Flashbacks of his nightmare episode at Fort Banner came and went. A low rumble from deep in the back of his throat was the only external sign besides a flexing and unflexing of his upper body. Although his mind was starting to shut on and off without his permission, the contents of it were still rigorously organized and filed. Shifters had excellent control of their brains and memories.
It made dealing with incidents such as the one he’d caused easier to bear. Over the course of a millennia of life, things happened. That was too much time to spend dwelling over it. Kase had set up funds for the humans he’d hurt and their families, ensuring they were well taken care of and would have the absolute best medical care in their recovery. There was nothing else he could do for them.
Now he had to do it all for him. He needed to buckle down, fight the illness spreading through his brain, and retake complete control of himself.
Otherwise the asshole standing in his doorway was going to end his life to protect everyone else. Including Michelle.
“Hello, Kase.”
“Jerrik,” he grumbled. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
The existence of the dragon enclave was a closely guarded secret known by very few humans, and its location known by none. The tiny, neutral country that had been allowed to form in between the mountain ranges was home to a great many dragons, relative to their overall population, of course.
With that in mind, the enclave had assigned nearly twenty dragons to act as Magistrates to local communities, effectively splitting the country up into jurisdictions. The Magistrates oversaw the affairs of dragons, and the few other shifters allowed into their homeland. Jerrik was the local Magistrate.
“I came to check in on you,” he said lazily. “That is my job, you know. For once things are rather calm. You’re my only problem child right now.”
“Oh, yay. Lucky me, extra attention. Just what I always wanted. Now if you could just go back and tell my mother that,” he snapped, moving to push past Jerrik and go inside.
The big man moved to block his path.
Kase snarled, his eyes glowing silver.
Jerrik’s went pitch black, the onyx dragon not afraid of him. “I’m not here to fight you. Nor to yell at you. I’m here to ask you how your meeting with your mate went.”
“Are you serious?” Kase shouted, turning and stomping away. “Does everyone know that she’s my mate? It was supposed to be a secret.”
The Magistrate snorted. “If you say so, K. Do you have any idea how few dragons try to act like they don’t want mates? Word gets around.”
“I’m not acting,” he snapped, still hovering on the edge of striking Jerrik. It would be a terrible idea, and probably bring Coltaine, the Head Magistrate and a certified badass, down on his head. All that would be left then was a pile of cinders. The nine-hundred-year-old fire dragon did not have much in the way of patience for stupidity, which was precisely what striking Jerrik would be.
“You are acting,” Jerrik fired back. “We both know it.”
“No, I’m not. I don’t need one. I’m fine on my own.”
“Really? Because to me it sounds like you’re trying to prove something.” The anger was gone. Now Jerrik was challenging him, calling him out and daring him to respond.
So Kase did.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Jerrik said slowly, walking across the gravel entryway until he was standing at his side, “that if you weren’t trying to prove something, then you wouldn’t feel the need to go through your life without a mate. You’d be perfectly happy to take her, and enjoy the life the two of you will create together. Simply by saying that you’re okay without her shows that you aren’t, Kase. That you’re trying to prove a point that you don’t need to prove.”
Kase growled. “What the hell are you getting at, Jerrik?”
“Go see her. Seriously, go see her again. Spend time with her. Let her into your life. I cannot stress that enough. Stop pushing her away, and this time try letting her in. You’ve done the solo thing. It’s not working, and we both know you can’t afford another outburst like what happened at Fort Banner.”
He looked away, ashamed of himself for what he’d done. Kase still couldn’t believe he’d actually imagined Outsiders, creating them out of nothing. What if it happened again? What if he had another episode while she was around? That wasn’t something Kase could live with, and he’d be happy for the meeting with Coltaine if he ever harmed Michelle. At that point he would welcome death. Anything was better than knowing that he’d hurt—or, even worse, killed—his mate.
Kase might have kept a physical distance from her, but he’d never stopped loving her. That was precisely why he couldn’t take Jerrik’s advice. If he loved her, he had to keep her safe, no matter the cost to himself. That was a burden he was willing to bear.
“No,” he said quietly. “I can’t. I already saw her today, and it was bad.”
“If you don’t, the next meeting you have is with Coltaine, and he’s gonna be pissed about coming out here. You know that, right?”
“That’s my problem, Jerrik. Not yours.”
The other shifter lost his cool. “No, it’s not, Kase! Don’t you get it? Your actions impact others.”
“Goodbye, Jerrik. Thanks for coming out.” He moved around Jerrik and headed for his door.
“Give me your phone.”
Kase pulled up. “What? Why?”
“Because as the local Magistrate I order you to, for starters, since that seems to be the only way you’ll actually listen.” Jerrik shook his head. “I wanted to come out here as a friend, but if you don’t want any of those either, then I’m going to have to do this the official way. Your phone. Now.”
&
nbsp; “What are you going to do to it?”
“Put a tracking program on it that you can’t delete,” he said simply. “So that way I can monitor your whereabouts.”
“I could just leave my phone here.”
“I already put one in your other truck, and I’ll be adding another tracker to the truck you just busted.” Jerrik glared. “I’m not doing this because I want to, Kase. Don’t fight me on it. It won’t end well for you.”
He wanted to snap at the other man, to tell him to fuck the hell off, but Jerrik was right. This was something he was going to have to live with. Kase had brought it upon himself when he’d attacked the battlesuits. Now he would just have to adhere to the rules around him.
Pulling out his phone, he gave it to Jerrik, watching as the Magistrate plugged something into it, tapped some buttons, waited, tapped a few more, and then waited a bit. The phone beeped and he pulled the unit out. “I’ll know if you fiddle with it,” he said quietly. “Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be. I don’t enjoy doing this either.”
“Then don’t.”
“I gave you your choice,” Jerrik said in that same quiet, disappointed voice that hurt more than being shouted at. “I gave you the chance to go see her again, and you said no. Now I have to make sure I can find you, for when things go bad again.” He gave the phone back.
Kase slipped it into his pocket, saying nothing. His mind was fixated on the last sentence Jerrik had said. For when things go bad again.
“You don’t believe I can do this,” he said.
“I’m not old by our standards, Kase. But after nearly four hundred years, you see some things. You’re not the first Quick to try to do this themselves. You won’t be the first to fail, either. It’s just a matter of time before you become a danger to those around you.” He walked past him.
Kase stood there.
Jerrik spoke over his shoulder as he headed for his truck. “Go see her, Kase. Otherwise you’re going to be in trouble.”
Rage as red as blood colored his vision. Kase spun, hurling a solid bowling ball-sized chunk of quicksilver at Jerrik. The other shifter was caught entirely unawares, thrown forward and down. Quicker than any human could move, he ducked into a roll, twisted and came up, extending a palm toward Kase.
A blast of acid struck him in the chest with more pressure than a riot-control hose. Kase barely had time to cover himself in quicksilver before he was flung backward, through a wooden pole that supported the awning over his front door, and then impacting upon the side of the log-cabin house itself.
He rebounded off, hit the ground and lay still, agony spreading out from his chest as the acid ate away at him, burning through his protection.
Jerrik took several steps toward him, stopped, waved his hand. The acid dissipated, leaving behind the wounds, which started to heal almost instantly. They weren’t deep—an hour or two and he’d be fine.
“I didn’t enjoy that,” Jerrik said softly. He walked over to Kase’s truck with the warped door, fiddled with it, then got in his own vehicle and headed out.
Kase just lay there in pain, staring up at the ceiling of the wooden awning, wondering why the universe was conspiring against him. All he wanted to do was live his life his own way. Is that too much to ask? The answer to that seemed to be a resounding “Yes”.
What was he going to do now?
Chapter Five
Michelle
“The newest batch are showing positive results so far,” Jacob said as they pored over the data on their computer, looking for the slightest hint as to how they could refine their formula, and where it was going wrong.
“So have most of our other tests,” she said glumly. “It’s only after day three to five that things start to go haywire. We won’t know until the end of this week, or maybe next, if things go wrong.
“Just trying to stay positive,” he said cheerily.
“I know, I’m sorry.” She bit her lower lip. It wasn’t like her to be that sour about things. This was science. A million different tries just to get it right once. But once was all it took. She knew that. So why was she lashing out at Jacob today?
“That investor guy really got to you yesterday, didn’t he?” Jacob asked, pitching his voice lower, like he was a friend she could confide in.
Which he was, and she’d done it before. How the hell did she explain Kase, and the odd way he seemed to infiltrate her mind at every junction if she wasn’t actively thinking about something else? Even as the years went by without hearing from him, vivid memories would still reappear in her mind far more frequently than they should.
It was one reason why she’d not dated since, because every time she flirted, all she could think about was him. Eventually she just stopped flirting, because it was easier to do that than to try to push aside thoughts of him. His presence in her mind was just as big and hulking as his physical one. No matter how hard she shoved, he never moved.
“It’s…a long story,” she said softly.
Jacob frowned. “He didn’t do anything inappropriate, did he? You need to go to the police, Michelle. Don’t just let him get away with it.”
She smiled gently. “That’s not what I meant, Jacob. It’s just…” She sighed. “That’s him.”
“Huh?”
“That’s Kase.”
Jacob’s jaw dropped open. “That’s Kase? The guy you went on a few dates with, let him into your house, and then had him vanish as you gave him a tour before you went to…you know, with him?”
She nodded. “Yeah. That’s the guy.”
“That’s one hell of a coincidence that he wants to invest in our lab now.”
“I know.”
Her desktop beeped softly. Another email. Lazily, she pulled up the program, wondering what it was now. Emails were rare enough that she usually addressed them right away, so that they didn’t become an unbearable pile.
“Well, fuck me,” she said, reading the title. “He wants to come back.”
Jacob was instantly at her side. “What? Why? Does he actually want to talk to any of the rest of us this time?”
She laughed, grateful for the humor. “It would appear so. He requires some more time to discuss his investment, and wishes to review the personnel, now that he’s reviewed the lab.”
“Reviewed the lab? He was here for all of half an hour yesterday and didn’t take a look at anything. I don’t like this guy, Michelle. If he’s the same guy, he really was mean to you. Now he’s back? Why? What’s his angle?”
Michelle had no answers to any of the questions. Kase hadn’t given her a reason, either. Nobody had.
“The way Molly worded this makes it seem like he wants to take you out for a business dinner,” Jacob said, reading the rest of the email.
“That was my first impression,” she said sourly. “I don’t have time for this. I have research I need to be doing.”
Her work was her priority. Well, family was her first priority, but these days those were one and the same. Michelle needed to be at the lab; she couldn’t let herself get distracted by Kase. Not when she was so close to achieving the goal they’d started working towards four years earlier.
“Dinner isn’t during work hours,” Jacob countered slowly. “He’s got you there.”
“If it’s not during work hours, then I’m not obliged to go,” she said firmly. “And I won’t.”
She intended to remain firm on it. This was a matter of principle to her. Going to dinner with Kase wasn’t actually something she’d be against, in a different setting. He was tall, handsome, well-mannered, and positively enjoyable to stare at. That was one of the reasons why she’d let him into her life, and her house, half a decade ago.
“Idea,” Jacob said.
“Yes?”
“If you take him up on the offer, and get him cornered in a public setting, maybe you could finally get an answer as to why he left you like that way back when? Finally have some clos
ure between the two of you.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea. Her only concern was that if she did go along with that, there would be anything but closure between them. Not with the way things had started to devolve yesterday before Kase abruptly fled the lab. No, there was still something there, some sort of ingrained chemistry that she knew they wouldn’t just be able to shake.
“I don’t know, Jacob. That seems like a bad idea.”
“We need the money, though.” And just like that, he dropped the hammer on her.
“Fuck.” He was right. They’d been lucky to have no funding problems since opening, but how long would that last? If she could get him to invest his money, then they could have some more stability.
A smile started to spread across her face.
“What is it? I don’t recognize that look,” Jacob said nervously.
“I think it’s time that Kase got a dose of his own medicine,” she said evilly. “I’ll go to dinner with him. I’ll play the part. Get his money, and then poof, I’m just Head Scientist Michelle Barden again.”
She laughed, and Jacob eventually began to chuckle with her.
“Let’s see how he likes that!” the other scientist agreed, and they high-fived.
“How he likes what?”
Michelle whirled in her seat. “Kase!” she gasped.
The big man standing in the open doorway from the outer hallway looked apologetic. “Sorry.” He knocked on the wall. “I forgot to announce myself.”
“What did you do to Lindsay?”
“Nothing. I think she was in the washroom or something. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Michelle cast Jacob a glance, wondering how long Kase had been standing there, eavesdropping. Jacob just shrugged at her. He didn’t know either. Shit.
“What are you doing here?” she asked suspiciously. “I just got the email from Molly that you wanted to talk to the personnel some more.”
