Chapter Six
Once Nessa spoke with the men who would be standing watch, she fluttered down the shaft of the collapsed mine, her wings scraping against the walls. Yes, she’d told Kyle that she was just going to speak with those who’d remained behind, but that only took a few minutes. Not wanting to go back into that confining room for another few hours where she’d have to tamp down her desires, Nessa decided to follow up on something Kyle had asked her: if she found the spot where the explosives were placed, could she identify the person?
She didn’t know the answer, which was why she was at the semi-collapsed tunnel now. When the passageway turned too narrow, she dug her talons into the side and hung on. The problem with this method of descent was the instability of the dirt. A few times, a quick movement resulted in her sliding down twenty feet or more. Eventually, she figured out the technique of keeping hold while meticulously looking for evidence of the blast.
Nessa was about sixty feet down when she spotted a piece of explosive sticking out from the wall. This wire, along with an attached piece of paper, would hopefully point her in the direction of the culprit.
When Kyle saw this evidence, it would only add fuel to his already dim view of her species, but it couldn’t be helped. Facts were facts. Nessa dug into the wall and extracted more bits and pieces of the device. She lifted the paper and metal scrap to her nose and sniffed. Yup. It was the same kind Caspian mines used. Damn. She didn’t dare speculate who might have set this charge. It would be too painful to learn there was a traitor in her midst.
Once she was satisfied she’d found the majority of the device, Nessa crawled upward until the passage widened, and then she flew to the surface.
With her found prize in her claw, she returned to the office and shifted. Lunchtime had come and gone, so maybe she could convince Kyle to join her for a meal.
She also just wanted to spend some time with him—away from that small room—despite the fact he jacked up her libido something fierce. She not only lusted after him, she also liked the guy. His concern for his sister spoke volumes about him. Sure, he was a little one-sided in his thinking about dragon shifters, but if he learned more about her and realized she had the same hopes, dreams, and work ethic that everyone else did, he might decide she wasn’t that bad after all.
At the office, she headed down to the monitoring room. When she pushed open the door, she stilled. No one was there. Okay, that was odd. Either Kyle needed a break or he’d found something and had driven out to find her. He hadn’t come to the mineshaft though. Then again, Nessa hadn’t told anyone where she’d be.
She slipped her phone from her pocket. Because she didn’t have Kyle’s number, she called Vic, hoping he’d know where Kyle was.
“Hey, you guys finished?” he asked.
That wasn’t good. “I’m not with Kyle. I went out to do something, and when I returned he—oh, shit.” She suddenly caught sight of a man face down at the equipment building.
“What is it?”
“Something’s happened. Can you get back here and rerun the tape of building eight? I need to check it out in person.”
“I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
Fearing the prone man was Kyle, she raced down the hallway and jumped back into the elevator. Once she made it outside, Nessa shifted, took off, and bore down on the building. When she spotted his parked car, her heart sped up.
Please don’t let it be Kyle.
Nessa landed, shifted, and ran to where she’d seen the injured man. Her anxiety level shot through the roof when she realized it was him. Blood covered the back of his head, and her legs weakened at the implication.
She dropped to her knees next to him and placed two fingers on his neck. You can’t be dead. You just can’t be.
When a thin beat registered, she let out a breath. The dark pool of blood beside his head was quite large. If she thought Declan or Greer could get there quickly enough, she’d wait for them, but from the severity of the injury, it would be best if she took him to a human hospital right away.
By now, Vic should be watching what was happening, so she looked up and waved. A second later, she returned to her dragon form. Gently, she picked up an unconscious Kyle. I’m sorry you won’t be awake to enjoy your first ride.
Once he was securely in her grasp, she soared upward and headed into town. His limp body tore at her. Who the hell had done this to him? And why? Her intense worry morphed into anger, and by the time she arrived at the Emergency Room entrance, she had to work to control herself from tearing something apart.
Nessa landed off to the side of the entrance, set a still unconscious Kyle on the grass, and shifted into her human form once more. While she could have carried him to the front door, it would be more efficient if she found assistance and asked for help. She’d heard enough stories from Kaleena about the Emergency Rooms in the US to know they prioritized their patients depending on the seriousness of the case. She suspected it was the same on Tarradon.
In order for the medics to take her seriously, she smeared some of his blood on her hands as well as down the front of her shirt. Leaving Kyle safely in the grass, she ran into the Emergency entrance and acted rather hysterical. Truth be told, it wasn’t far from the way she felt.
Once she told them what she believed had happened, the attendants rushed outside with a gurney and placed Kyle on top. As much as she wanted to go with him, she had to fill out paperwork first.
As they wheeled Kyle into a curtained room, she approached the front desk. The insurance forms were rather problematic since she didn’t know where he lived, what his cell phone number was, or how to reach Lily. She did the best she could, filling in her own information in places. After she gave her SinCas insurance card to the hospital to pay for Kyle’s stay, Nessa settled back to wait.
Her stomach grumbled, but she wasn’t sure she could eat even if she found a vending machine. Poor Kyle. What had possessed him to leave the monitoring room?
Needing answers, she called Vic again. He answered on the first ring. “Nessa, how’s Kyle?”
“The doctors are treating him now, but I don’t know if he has regained consciousness. Did the tapes indicate what happened?”
He explained about seeing a man at the equipment building who was trying to gain entrance.
“I take it you didn’t recognize him?” she asked.
“No. He kept his face away from all of the cameras. It was almost as if he’d cased the place beforehand and knew where not to look.”
Right now, she had to worry about Kyle getting better. Once he recovered, she’d get even. “Then what happened?”
“Kyle was checking out the building when he collapsed.”
“He didn’t just collapse. He has a huge gash in the back of his head, which was not the result of the fall. He landed on his face.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Maybe the assailant cloaked himself.” She kept her voice to a whisper. Sure, everyone knew about dragons being able to shield themselves, but the extent of their magic was often kept on the down low so as not to frighten people.
“That’s what it seems like.”
That would mean he was either in his dragon form when he hit Kyle, or he was a powerful dark lighter imbued with the ability to become invisible. “That could explain why Kyle might not have heard him approach. Did you see the guy go into the building?”
“No, but I’ll keep looking.”
“Thanks, Vic.”
Once she disconnected, she slumped in her chair. This was worse than she thought. How in the hell could they catch this person if he possessed so much magic? In her mind, she recreated each of the accidents. Stealing the explosives while invisible would be easy to accomplish, as would speeding up the metal cart that jumped the track, crushing Ed Hollix’s leg. As for the incident that involved collapsing the mine where she’d been trapped, the security had been lax in that area since the mine hadn’t been fully operational yet.
So who was the guilty party? As far as she knew, none of the Royals possessed that ability. Even though they received some of their power from the dark lighters, she believed she would have heard if any of them had the ability to become invisible.
“Ms. Caspian,” said a deep voice.
She jumped up. “Yes?”
“We’ve finished treating Mr. Harper. His wound was deep and required stitches. He’s regained consciousness, but he has a major headache from the concussion.”
“When can he be released?”
“Not until tomorrow. We’ll need to monitor him overnight.”
“May I see him?”
“For a short time.”
Nessa wasn’t sure what to expect, but she doubted it would be good. When she entered Kyle’s room, his eyes were closed. A patch was taped to the back part of his head, and an IV was hooked up to his arm. Even in his injured state, her body exploded with not only concern but overwhelming need. If she ever doubted Kyle Harper was her mate, this erased it.
Nessa waited at the end of the bed, not sure if she should disturb him. Then the unthinkable happened. Her nails began to grow, and her scales glowed. Damn. She didn’t know how to stop her body from reacting in such an erotic way.
He must have sensed her because he opened his eyes, but then closed them right away.
Great. He didn’t want to see her, and she couldn’t blame him. Nessa turned to leave.
“Stay,” he said in a wobbly voice.
She hadn’t expected that request, but maybe he wanted to tell her about the attack. She dragged over a chair and sat next to the bed. Too bad moving so close to him made her body react even more violently. Seeing him wounded must have ratcheted her need to protect him. That or her horny dragon just wanted her to slip into bed next to him and hold him tight.
“How do you feel?” She rubbed a hand down his arm, wanting to show her support, but that only pooled heat between her legs.
“Like I got run over by a truck.” He gave her a brief smile, and her pulse rose.
“Do you remember what happened?” she asked. Needing to put some distance between them, she stood, walked over to the window and looked out at the garden behind the building.
He told her about seeing someone acting suspiciously, and how after watching the news on the burst dam, he got it into his head that this person might be up to something.
She twisted to face him. “No offense, but you’re only human.” When his jaw clenched, her heart dropped to her stomach. “I mean, most of the people working for us are shifters, and most of them are dragons.”
“I’m a mining inspector. It’s my job to investigate.”
She was blowing this. Wanting to change the subject, she returned to the chair, determined to keep her focus. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I trust you didn’t see the person who hit you?”
“Only on the monitor. When I got there, he was gone, or so I thought.”
Wanting to give him some hope that the culprit would be caught, she told him about her find. “I located evidence of the explosive caps, and as I suggested before, only a dragon shifter could have put them there.”
“What?” He winced. “You went to the site again? That’s dangerous. It’s cordoned off for a reason.”
“Sorry, but I was careful.” Or so she believed. “I couldn’t get the question you asked me out of my mind.”
He raised a brow. “What question?”
“About whether I would recognize the signature of the shifter who placed the explosive. I had to check it out.”
“Did you figure it out?” he asked.
“No.”
He shook his head and then winced. “Nessa. When will you learn this is my investigation?”
Fuck. “I won’t go again. I promise.”
“Good.” Kyle tried to sit up but then grimaced and dropped back down. “Did you take the evidence to my office so we could document what you found?”
“As for getting the evidence documented, if I had been in my human form, I would have taken pictures. Dragons do have some limitations.” She smiled, but he didn’t return the cheer. “But I will do that once I get back to the mining office.”
“Thank you.”
Nessa stood, in part because she was way too tempted to lift that one strand of hair that had flopped over his forehead. Thankfully, she refrained from touching him again. “I should let you rest. The nurse said to stay only a few minutes. I can come back later if you’d like.”
“Yes, please do.” His eyes closed, and a second later, he was snoring.
Nessa chuckled. Kyle Harper was all male. Even a few feet outside the room, her body continued to vibrate.
All during her short flight back to the office, she tried to sort out why someone had attacked Kyle. This person could have let him walk around the building, and when Kyle saw no one, he would have left. His attacker must have believed Kyle was close to finding out his identity. It was the only thing that made sense.
Back at the office, Nessa headed straight to the monitoring room to watch the incident on tape, hoping she’d spot something Vic missed. Then she planned to check out the warehouse to see if anything had been taken. She told herself she wasn’t investigating a crime, but merely keeping the mine safe.
Vic was inside the room when she entered. “Did you find anything else?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I played the video over and over again. The man was there just like Kyle said, but then he disappeared into thin air. It took me several rewinds to notice some dust kicked up behind Kyle.”
“What does that mean?”
He stopped the tape. “Take a look at this big rock.”
“What about it?”
He fast-forwarded for two seconds. “It’s here one second, and then it’s gone. The man or dragon must have picked up the rock. When it disappeared, he hit Kyle with it,” Vic said with a fair amount of sureness.
“It has to be a dragon shifter who’s also a dark lighter.” That scared the crap out of her.
“Know anyone like that?” Vic asked.
“No. I’ll ask a few men to keep a close watch on the area. If the perpetrator didn’t get what he wanted the first time, he might return.”
“I’ll note any suspicious behavior too. Did you call the cops yet?”
Shit. “Not yet, but I will.”
Nessa stepped outside and called her cousin Detective Anderson Caspian. She told him what happened.
“How is Mr. Harper?”
She explained about the stitches and that the hospital was keeping him over night.
“I’m glad he’s going to be okay. As soon as someone is free, I’ll send him over to investigate.”
“Thanks.” She’d also give him the evidence she’d found. She trusted the police more than Kyle’s office.
While she waited for the police to show, Nessa wanted to keep busy, mostly to keep her focus off her desire for Kyle. It was always possible this attack was aimed at her and the mine and not at him. After all, the explosion that collapsed the gold mine occurred first.
Once she left the office, she shifted and flew to the area where Kyle had been attacked. Before she landed, Nessa hovered slightly above the building to see if anything was out of place. No telling if the person Anderson sent to investigate would be a dragon shifter or not. It took her three sweeps before she noticed recent marks of a dragon landing. The tracks changed to human footsteps halfway across the top of the building. Because the roof hadn’t been cleaned in forever, it aided in seeing the tracks.
Considering the person’s extensive talents, she had to scratch off the Royals as possible suspects, unless they’d hired some powerful dragon shifter to do their bidding.
Nessa landed alongside the building and looked for clues. It didn’t take long before she located the bloody rock ten feet from where she’d found Kyle. Her stomach churned at the thought of his head being cracked open. While she doubted the attacker left any of his own evidence, she’d let the police make that call. Hopefully, the shifter’s ability to become invisible caused him to be overconfident.
After entering the warehouse that contained the mining equipment she had planned to use for the gold mine, Nessa mentally ran through a list of what was there. After a thorough search, nothing seemed to have been taken. If they ever did excavate again, she’d be sure to check that nothing had been tampered with though.
The only leads so far were the rock and the small piece of explosive. As much as she wanted to go back and check on Kyle, she didn’t want to overstay her welcome. Right now, he needed to rest.
After an hour of waiting for the cop, she called Anderson again. “It’s Nessa. I was looking over where Kyle was injured and found a rock that has some blood on it. Is your man going to show up or would you like me to take it to the station?”
“Did you touch the rock?”
Damn. “I did. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Then you might as well bring it here. Sorry about my man not showing up. There was an incident outside of town, and I needed the whole crew to check it out. I’m heading out there now, but I should return in an hour.”
“Not a problem. I’ll see you soon.”
With the rock safely in her grasp and the piece of explosive in her pocket, she hopped in Kyle’s car, knowing he would need it when he was released from the hospital. Because of her bloodied shirt, she had to stop at the SinCas building first to change. No way could she waltz into the police station like that. It would cause too many questions.
Once on the bottom floor of SinCas, Nessa headed to the changing room where she placed the evidence in a bag in her locker. She then slipped off her bloodied top and put on a nice white button-down shirt she kept there in case she needed to attend a meeting. She’d change her pants later.
Anderson wouldn’t be back at the station for a while, so Nessa decided to spend a few minutes confiding in Greer about what had gone on with Kyle’s attack. Nessa found her sister hunched over the jewelry counter at the front of the store.
“Hey!” Nessa called.
Greer jerked upright and smiled. She was dressed in a black pencil skirt and a rather conservative white silk blouse that hugged her body. Her reddish blonde hair was pulled back into a bun, making her look elegant yet approachable at the same time.
Her sister’s eyes widened. “This is a nice surprise. What are you doing here?”
“The mine is closed, and most of the men, including Dad, are over in Grindale, helping out with the emergency from the break in the dam.”
“I heard about that. It’s terrible. I donated to the cause, but I wish I could do more.”
Greer was such a caring person. “If you want, you could tell people that since the mine is basically empty right now, they could drop stuff off there and we could fly it to Grindale. Or the humans could drive the donations to the next province. I know everyone wants to help.”
“That’s a great idea.”
Greer came from behind the counter and placed a hand on her arm. “I don’t think you came here to tell me that. What’s really troubling you?”
Her sister wasn’t psychic, but her ability to heal made her highly intuitive. There was no use lying. “It’s Kyle.”
“The mining inspector?” Nessa nodded. “What about him?”
So much had happened today, Nessa had forgotten to tell anyone, other than Anderson and Vic, about the incident. “He was injured today.” And I’m really upset because he’s my mate.
“Oh, no. How?”
Nessa went through how they were watching tapes to determine if anyone around the gold mine looked suspicious. “I needed to speak to the men who were there to protect the mine, so I went outside. I also wanted to take a break from being around Kyle. He jumbles my brain.” And my body.
Greer shook her head. “Since when do you take breaks—especially when you’re on a mission?”
Nessa hadn’t come here to spill the beans, but she needed to explain herself.
Oh, damn. There was no use keeping it a secret from her sister. Greer would find out soon enough. “As hard as it was to accept, it turns out Kyle is my mate.”