“Did you start that fire?” Kayla pointed at the steaming ruins.
Freida’s jaw dropped. “Hey! What did you do that for?”
“Because there is a freaking fire ban!” Kayla could feel whatever cool she had left slipping away. She threw her hands into the air and stepped back, willing herself to be calm. Her hands clenched and her nostrils flared. She let out a deep breath and pointed again. “Did you start that fire?”
“It rained yesterday.”
Bernie, probably seeing that Kayla was on the verge of strangling the Norwegian, stepped in. “That doesn’t matter. We’re still on a fire ban and you knew that. This is unacceptable behavior, Freida. You were told not to light fires unless—”
“It rained,” Freida said again. “There’s no danger of a fire now.”
God help me. Kayla inhaled deeply again. “You were told the rules. You don’t get to decide when there is a fire or not. That’s a matter of law. Do you have any idea what fine you’d have to pay if you did this again? And you were supposed to be on KP duty today and yet there is still a sink full of dirty dishes. You have been slacking off on your assigned chores ever since Esther left. We all have roles and—”
“You have more than enough rolls for us all.” Freida smirked as though she had said something clever. “Don’t blame me for your little camp falling apart. If someone with actual experience had been put in charge—"
Kayla didn’t know how she restrained herself from lunging at Freida. “I don’t care what you think. Bernie and I are in charge of this dig and if you don’t start shaping up—”
“I’m not going to take orders from a couple of tramps.” Freida sneered at the two of them and took another drink of beer. Was she drunk or did she think that because it was only the three of them, Kayla would let her walk all over herself and Bernie? The Norwegian’s sneer grew more pronounced. “Everybody knows that you and that other dragon are banging. I didn’t sign up to be part of a brothel.”
That did it. Kayla had all she could take. Maybe she didn’t have the explicit authority to send students packing but while she was in charge, this sort of behavior and attitude was not going to be tolerated. No. Freida had gone too far and Kayla wasn’t going to put up with it anymore. It was one thing to allow some leniency and not kick out someone because they didn’t see eye to eye.
This level of disrespect was something else entirely.
Besides that, she was just too tired to care. Freida had been causing problems and for what? Because she thought that Shane would step in and say that Kayla was no longer heading the dig? Because she thought that Esther would come back? Because she thought that she, an undergraduate that had only been to a half-dozen digs, deserved the position more?
“Pack your bags.” Kayla’s voice was cold with fury. “We’re going to drive you to the airport and you can just go home.”
Freida’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me. It’s clear that you don’t want to be here. So you can leave. That way you can sit around drinking beer and we don’t have to keep telling you to get up off your lazy ass and do your job.”
“You can’t do that!”
“After that?” Kayla gestured to the campfire. “You’re lucky I don’t call up the police and have them come deal with you.” She turned to Bernie. Her anger was still roiling hot inside and she wondered for a moment if smoke would be streaming from her if she had been born a dragon. “Go gather up everybody from the dig. I want them back here so we can have a meeting about responsibility.”
Bernie nodded, her expression grim. She ran off quickly back towards the ATV. Freida spluttered and choked on her words behind her but Kayla ignored her and headed for the roster dividing tasks. A few of the students had gone into town, and so she called them all to get them to come back. This was unacceptable.
It was only then that she remembered about the food in her car. Grimacing, Kayla went to it and started to haul everything out and put it away. They had small generators powering a refrigerator and freezer, and she quickly put away everything that needed to go into one of them before sorting out the other things to keep the bears and mice away.
By the time she was done, her temper had started to cool. Part of her wondered if she was right in kicking Freida out of the dig but she pushed those doubts aside. She wasn’t here to be Miss Popular, she was here to run a dig and make sure everything was running smoothly. That wasn’t going to happen when people like Freida acted in that way.
“Hey!” Freida stormed into the kitchen. Her hands were clenched and nostrils flared. “Hey!”
Kayla sucked in a deep breath and held it for several seconds before turning to her. “Yes?”
“You can’t do this to me.”
Kayla arched a brow.
“You can’t just come up to me and say I’m leaving. I paid to be here.” Freida’s face was so red it looked like she was about to burst into flame. “I paid to be here,” she repeated. “So you can’t make me leave.”
Kayla didn’t bother pointing out that her ‘payment’ was literally just to cover the expenses to get her out here in the first place. Everything in the camp–food, water, gas–was paid for by Shane. Normally students would have to pay a lot more to get their credits from a dig like this.
“I can,” she replied. “I’m in charge of the dig.”
“I need these credits!”
“Then you should have put in actual effort. You can’t just do what you want and expect to get the benefits. And that’s not even taking into account the rude, disrespectful way you’ve acted since you arrived.”
Freida let out an angry cry and hurled her beer bottle at Kayla’s head. Kayla dodged it. The bottle shattered on impact and Freida screamed again.
“Leave.” Kayla pointed at the door. “You have half an hour or I’m going to call the cops and have them escort you away.”
“You can’t do this to me!”
“I said leave.”
Freida snarled at her but turned on her heel and walked away. Kayla stood there trembling for a moment. She looked at the shattered glass and clutched the table. Her head spun and in that moment all she wanted was to have Shane’s arms around her. To have him comfort her and assure her that she was alright. She closed her eyes, eyes burning.
Then she pushed herself straight brushed away her tears, and went out to make sure that Freida was getting ready to leave.
Chapter Ten
Shane
Shane woke to Tyler toeing him in the stomach. The older dragon jerked, throwing out his hands to defend himself. When he realized who it was, he flopped back onto the sleeping bag and glared at him. He and Tyler had been sharing Kayla’s tent since Shane had ‘recruited’ his brother to help protect the dig, although Tyler was gone most nights. Shane didn’t ask where. He was too busy trying to restore his reserves. And that meant eating and sleeping as much as he possibly could.
“You’re needed.”
Shane rubbed his eyes. “Needed for what?”
Tyler nudged him in the stomach again. “I don’t really know. But your mate needs you.”
“Kayla is not my mate.”
“Yes, she is.”
Shane rolled to his knees. His shirt lay on the floor and he quickly grabbed it. There was no point in arguing with Tyler over this. He was insistent that Kayla was Shane’s mate and nothing he could say to him could stop it. Especially when half the time, Shane wasn’t even certain of what he was saying. The other half, it felt like a lie to say that Kayla wasn’t his mate. At this point, he wasn’t even certain why he wasn’t pursuing her. It wasn’t as if anything was really standing in their way.
“Where is she?” he asked Tyler, pushing those thoughts from his head.
“The camper.”
Shane nodded once and headed off, his mind churning over what could possibly be so bad that his brother had to wake him up for it. A few of the students milled about the kitchen but fell silent when he went by. When he got to th
e camper, he knocked quickly and entered. Inside, he found Kayla sitting at the desk. Her head was buried in her arms and sobs wracked her body.
“Kayla.” He quickly moved to her side and wrapped his arms around her. “What happened?”
She threw her arms around him. Even though his position crouching next to her was uncomfortable, he didn’t readjust himself. He stroked her hair, mind dashing all over the place as to what might have happened to make her like this. Had she found out about the continued fights he’d had to participate in to protect her against Gordon? His blood boiled. Had Tyler told her? If he had, brother or no brother he was going to kill him. That was just unacceptable.
“Kayla,” he whispered again, keeping his voice low, not letting any of his anger in. “Tell me.”
“I kicked out one of the students.” In between bursts of sobs, Kayla told him what had happened. If he was at all relieved that she hadn’t found out about the fight, hearing about Freida attacking Kayla sent his fires roaring again. Kayla rubbed her eyes as she finished. “I don’t know why I’m such a mess about this. It’s not like she deserved to stay after what she did.”
Shane stroked her hair. He was surprised that his fires were being so uncontrolled with this information–it wasn’t as though this Freida was as big a threat as Gordon. Perhaps that was why; she was an easy target, someone he knew he’d be able to win against if it ended up in a fight.
“You did the right thing, sending her off,” he said, trying to sound soothing.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” she whispered back. “I don’t know how to run a dig. Who was I kidding when I said I could do this? You’d be better off shutting us down and sending everybody home until Esther can come back and take care of it. Freida was right, I’m not qualified.”
With everything else going on, Shane hadn’t spared much thought to Esther and Bryant’s plight. A pang hit him in the stomach. He could only imagine how horrible it must be for them, to have that wonderful, beautiful thing happen to them only for it to be marred by fear of what might end up happening.
“How is Esther?” he asked, still holding Kayla.
She straightened, which allowed him to adjust his position so his knees weren’t crying out anymore.
“Last I talked to her, they hadn’t found anything new. It didn’t seem like she or the baby were in any immediate danger, though. They had to run more tests.”
Shane nodded slowly. “So it could be that she could call up tomorrow and say that she’s coming back.”
“She can’t do it soon enough.”
The bitterness in her voice surprised him. That wasn’t the Kayla that he knew, the one who was so gung-ho about life and work that she was literally bouncing on her toes in line at the airport to bring them out here. Her eyes had been so bright and she’d been so excited. It physically hurt to see her so defeated now. He wrapped his arms around her again.
“I know things are a little crazy right now, and I know they look bad. But you’re doing wonderfully. There hasn’t been a major incident since Esther left. Just last week you stopped that one student from having heat stroke, remember?”
Her lip trembled. “They know we slept together. And I don’t want to regret it, it was beautiful but they don’t respect me anymore.”
His flames roared before he quelled them. “Well, then. I guess that you’ll just have marry me.”
Kayla’s eyes widened. A surprised laugh burst from her. There was a second, and then she laughed again.
The sound of her laughter was so sweet that if he found a way to bottle it nobody would ever go back to using sugar. He rubbed her back as she continued to giggle. Both of her hands waved in the air as she shook her head but what exactly she was trying to tell him, he wasn’t certain.
“I’m sorry,” she giggled. “It’s not that marrying you is a funny idea.”
Shane kissed her forehead. “If it’s funny enough to make you laugh, I’ll have to propose more often. I’m sorry that I haven’t been around that much. I’ve been dealing with business. I hope Tyler hasn’t made himself too much of a nuisance, though.”
“Tyler’s been great. He’s been keeping spirits up and helping out. It’s been really good, actually.” Kayla wiped her eyes and grabbed a Kleenex. “I’m the one who hasn’t been doing much good. Running around like a chicken with its head chopped off, not getting any actual work done. I’m so behind on paperwork and forms and—”
“Shh.” Shane hugged her again.
Now would be the perfect time to shut down the dig, though. To eliminate Gordon’s threat once and for all. He said he’d protect her at any cost but what was he doing now except putting her in more danger. His ribs throbbed suddenly and he let out a sigh.
“If you are feeling overworked, then maybe… I mean, it’s not the job you signed up for, after all. If you think that it’s best, then perhaps we can take a break.”
Kayla’s tears renewed. She dragged her palms over her eyes but they kept coming. “Maybe, yeah. I’ve wanted to do this more than anything. More than anything,” she repeated. “I just feel so useless right now. Like I’m a failure. I know that it’s not the end of the world but it damn well feels like it.”
Shane flinched. He couldn’t let her feel like a failure. He couldn’t let her just give up. He opened his mouth to tell her everything that had been happening, everything with Gordon and the fights but it got stuck in his throat. No. He didn’t want to burden her with that. He glanced away a moment, collecting his thoughts.
“You’re not a quitter. I know that if you decide to put the dig on hold, it’s not because you’re giving up. It’s because you want to do what’s best for these students and the site and the Native tribe you’re working with. I believe you can do this but I also think that you know more about all this than I do.” He clutched her hand. “You’re not useless, Kayla.”
Her lip trembled again.
“You’re brave and kind,” he continued, voice softening. “I love the way you see the best in people, even after they’ve kidnapped us.”
She giggled. “Technically Bryant didn’t kidnap us, just held us prisoner.”
“Same difference. The point is that you were quick to forgive him and you helped me to understand why I shouldn’t beat him to a bloody pulp for what he had done. You’re an amazing person. You can do anything you set your mind to and I… I love that about you.”
She cupped his face in her hands. “Thank you. You don’t know how much I needed to hear all that.”
Shane wiped a tear from her face. “I think I have some—”
Kayla cut him off with a kiss. Gentle and sweet at first. Her hands moved back around his skull and tangled into his hair. Her lips teased his open and he took full advantage of it. His arms wrapped around her, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. He pulled her tight as her legs moved to either side of him. He wanted to tear off her clothes, to lay her on the floor and make her scream with wave after wave of hot pleasure.
Oh, he was an idiot.
Shane broke the kiss. He rested his forehead on hers, eyes closed, as his mind darted around. She wasn’t a quitter. If he didn’t shut down the dig, then of course she wouldn’t. He needed to end this, to get her far, far away from Gordon and this horrible situation.
And yet… he wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to look in the mirror with confidence. If he took the dig away from her now, then what? She would think that everything he had just said to her was lies. She’d think that he didn’t believe in her, that she really was useless. And he had to protect her from that as well as Gordon. So he couldn’t tell her about the fights because it would make her feel unsafe. He couldn’t shut down the dig because it would make her feel useless. He had to protect her from everything.
His ribs throbbed again but his fires burned hotter. God help anybody who tried to hurt his mate.
Shane’s eyes snapped open. In that moment, he knew it was true. Kayla was his mate. Maybe he’d known since the first moment t
hey had met. Maybe not. But the fact of the matter was, she was his mate and he would never let her down.
“You can do anything you want,” he repeated to her fiercely. He wanted to tell her that he loved her but the words caught in his throat. Humans were easily scared off by dragon’s intensity. “You are going to change the world, Kayla. Starting with this dig.”
Determination flared in her eyes. “Thank you. Now let’s go play in the dirt.”
Chapter Eleven
Kayla
The student beside her didn’t look too bad but Kayla wasn’t going to take any chances. It was extra hot that day, and this particular student had accidentally cut themselves on a shard of metal in the dirt. It wasn’t a big cut. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take him to the hospital to get it cleaned up. Tetanus was too serious an issue to play around with.
“Keep that hand up,” she said as she pulled the ATV up to the camp. She took another look at the wound and shook her head. “I’ll just grab the keys to the car and we can get out of here.”
The student nodded, looking pale. Kayla passed him a water bottle and headed for the camper. When she got closer, she heard… groans and grunts. And the camper rocked every once in a while. She froze just outside the door, hearing Bernie call out Tyler’s name. A grimace crossed her face. Then came a wave of anger and she knocked hard on the door.
“Oh, shit!” That was Bernie. “Put your clothes on.”
“But we haven’t finished yet.”
“You two had better be finished,” Kayla spat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, having sex in the middle of the day when there is work to be done?”
There was the noise of people scrambling, and then Bernie opened the door. Her hair was tousled, cheeks flushed. The smell left nothing to the imagination. Kayla’s fists clenched.
“Look, I don’t care if you have sex but it’s gotta be on your own time,” she hissed, glaring at Bernie. “I’m going crazy trying to keep everything going and you’re just sitting around here having fun? God, Bernice. I need backup here. One of the students got hurt and I have to take him into town.”
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