Haley

“I know you’re in there, Haley! Open the door, now!”

She sagged in relief. “It’s not the police.”

“It’s not?” the hulking shifter asked, having already moved his body between her and the door, his head lowering to look through the peephole. “Who is it?”

“My landlord Lonny,” she said.

The door rattled again, followed by his reedy voice calling her name once more, this time in a gentler tone, as if he could coax her to open up.

“Why is he so insistent? Are you behind on rent?” Maximus asked.

“No, no, nothing like that,” she said softly. “He just wants to sleep with me, and thinks it’s his right as the landlord.”

The growl that came from Maximus filled her apartment. She was sure it could be heard in the hallway. The banging on the door ceased for a moment, before renewing.

“Is that a dog, Haley? You know there is a strict no-pets rule!” he cried. “You’d better open up and let me in. I’m sure we can, ah, work out a deal so that you aren’t evicted. But you have to open the door.”

She giggled. “Look at that, you’re my pet now,” she told Maximus.

But the shifter wasn’t finding any humor in the situation. His fingers unlocked the door, and before she could stop him he’d flung it open, grabbed her landlord by the neck, and was holding him casually against the far wall, slamming the thin body so hard into the drywall it crumbled underneath the impact.

“Easy,” she said, finally catching up to him, putting her hand on his arm. “Set him down.”

Maximus resisted at first, but she growled at him, and he immediately set Lonny down. His fingers never loosened, nor did his face move more than an inch or two away from the other mans, but at least Lonny could draw in some breath now.

“Do not talk to Haley,” Maximus growled. “Ever. Unless it is about missed rent, or in regard to a complaint or maintenance issues. If I hear you’ve disobeyed that rule, I’ll come back again. Would you like that?”

Lonny shook his head as much as he could with the huge fist closed around his neck.

“Good,” Maximus said with false politeness. “Now get out of my sight.”

Lonny nodded frantically. The instant the fingers retreated from his neck, he scurried down the hallway, not even waiting for the elevator, instead taking the stairs to get away from them.

“You don’t think that was a little much?” she asked dryly, brushing a stray strand of brown hair from her face.

“No,” he said gruffly, his brown eyes looking stonily down the hallway where Lonny had fled. “It wasn’t enough. Nobody is allowed to think they have the right to sleep with you.”

She didn’t get a chance to reply, because he was already moving down the hallway to the elevator. Haley stared at his back for a long moment. She was beginning to see a pattern with Maximus. Her mind strayed back to the way he’d acted as they approached the front of her building, and a little smile forced her lips upward. He was being protective of her. Not that she suspected anyone would mess with her if he was around, but he was ensuring that nobody gave her any grief while she was alone either.

It was really quite cute. Haley could handle herself, but she found she didn’t dislike his actions. In truth, she actually sort of liked it, in a weird way. He wasn’t acting like he had a claim over her, which would have had her sending him packing almost immediately. Instead, he was just ensuring that nobody else tried anything with her.

Not that I want anyone else to try anything with me.

But did she want Maximus to make a move? Things had already gotten sort of crazy when they’d kissed in the mop room, and Haley couldn’t deny the electric connection she’d felt then. But once they’d escaped the studio and left the costumes behind, she’d had a moment to think and realize how crazy everything really was.

“Coming?” Maximus called, holding the elevator door open.

She scurried down the hallway. This really was crazy. She was running from the police! The people who were supposed to protect her. The longer it went on though, and the more she replayed the incident at the studio, the more Haley found herself believing Maximus’s side of things. It was insane, like the plot of some sort of movie. But the police had tried to force her to go with them, even when she’d said no, and they’d certainly not looked friendly.

There was still one large question remaining unanswered though. What did she do next?

***

“Do me a favor, turn on the radio?” she asked, turning onto the road that would lead them out of town.

Supposedly this was how they were going to meet up with his brothers. How exactly Maximus knew where to find them was beyond her, since he hadn’t used a phone at all since he’d come back for her. It seemed unlikely that they would still be waiting at any specific rendezvous point after this long a time, but perhaps he knew something she didn’t. She glanced in her rear view again, trying to see if any of the cars that were behind her seemed familiar. Between that and watching where she was going, it was several solid minutes before she realized there were no sounds coming from the speakers.

“The radio?” she asked, looking over at Maximus.

His face was tight, his expression focused on the dash. She risked a glance at it, and saw his hand moving from button to button.

“You don’t know how to use it, do you?” she asked, her eyes back on the road, though she kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye, seeing his lips move slightly as he read the controls of each button.

“We don’t have cars where I’m from,” he admitted somewhat sheepishly. “Technology is not something I’m confident with.”

Haley could feel his shame flowing through the words. To admit that he wasn’t perfect, that he had his weaknesses, that had to have taken a lot out of the prideful shifter. She’d never classify him as arrogant, but he definitely did not like having to rely on others. That had been something she’d picked up on right away. He was used to leading, to being the one in charge. So for him to tell her straight up that he needed help was a big step for him. Yet he’d not seemed to hesitate. Was it because he was with her? Or some other reason?

“Look for the button labeled ‘power’” she instructed. “There isn’t always one, but most cars use that for the radio. If you can’t find that, the next option is the one labeled ‘volume.’ Sometimes that one is a push for on and off, and then you twist it to turn the volume up or down.” She kept her eyes on the road and stopped talking, letting him figure out everything from there. He wasn’t dumb, just inexperienced.

A moment later the radio came on. She sighed.

“What, did I do something wrong?” Maximus asked.

“Huh? Oh, no, no. Not that,” she said, flashing him a smile. “It’s just that it’s near the end of the hour, which means commercials and news reports, not music.”

“Oh. I see.” It was obvious he was just believing whatever she said.

Haley started to tune out the background noise, but a beeping sound caught her attention.

“News Flash, Radio Longhorne USRB 1055FHCD. This morning at a local filming studio, the broadcast for the talk show Longhorne Local Today was interrupted by the appearance of shapeshifters. They took over the show to broadcast their message of persecution and they even mentioned a potential genocide by something called the Institute. What’s more though is after the show, the shifter who appeared on air seems to have taken the host of the show Haley Salvannah prisoner! She was last seen heading back to her dressing room. When police arrived on the scene to arrest the shifter, they looked for Ms. Salvannah to question her, but the two officers who were sent to her room were later discovered unconscious. There has been no sign of either Ms. Salvannah or the shifter who kidnapped her. Authorities are currently pursuing all leads. If you have any information, please contact your local police station immediately.”

Holy. Shit.

The world thought that Maximus had abducted her.

“Oh this is not good,” she said.

“What?”

“They think you took me along forcefully,” she explained. “They’ll never stop looking for you now.”

Maximus seemed to consider this. “You know your world better than I do. What do you think we should do?”

Haley frowned as she thought. There was one solution that popped up immediately, but she tried to ignore it. Maximus would never go along with it. In fact, he’d lose his cool completely if she suggested it. So she kept thinking as she drove along. They were nearing the outskirts of town, but she still wasn’t coming up with anything.

She swore. “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s only one option I can think of,” she told him. “But you’re going to go ballistic.”

He shook his head. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

Haley sighed. “I think I need to go to a police station and report that you didn’t kidnap me, that I’m fine, I just left work right away because I was traumatized.” She saw him getting ready to explode and hurried on. “I’ll go to a different station. There’s one not too far behind us. I’ll go there. I don’t think every officer in Longhorne is an Institute pawn,” she insisted. “I refuse to believe that.”

“No. Not only no, but hell no,” Maximus said angrily. “You are not going to just walk into a police station and hand yourself over to them. I won’t allow it.”

Haley was about to reply, when the radio broadcaster continued speaking.

“While Ms. Salvannah is missing, the internet can’t get enough of her segment with the mysterious Maximus Koche, a shapeshifter out of the large shifter territory of Cadia. The video of her interview with him is going viral. In just a few hours it’s already been viewed millions of times. Protest groups on social media are starting to appear, and activists have been making waves already. So far they’re only demanding more information and a public inquiry into the goings-on, but if there is any truth behind these claims, I expect that we’ll begin to hear about it sooner rather than later.”

“What? That’s amazing!” she yelped, ignoring anything else the broadcaster was saying. “It’s working!”

The big shifter was just staring at her.

“What?” she asked, confused. “Aren’t you happy?”

“You’re not going to a police station. Not by yourself.”

“Oh my God. You’re still on about that?” she asked, frustrated. “Did you not hear anything that was just said?”

“I did. I heard it all. I don’t know what any of it means, but your reaction makes it sound like a good thing. So I’ll take it as a good thing, that maybe it’s working. But you can’t go into that police station.”

“We’re not having this argument,” she said flatly, staring straight ahead. “At all. I’m an adult. I’m capable of making my own decisions.”

“No. You’re being irrational,” he said. “Have you already forgotten what happened at your studio?”

“Not everyone is evil!” she shouted. “Most of us humans are good, hardworking people. That includes the police. Just because you hate them, and want me to hate them, doesn’t make it right. There are good people here, Maximus. You’re just blinded to that.”

The shifter gave her an odd look, but he didn’t say anything else. Instead, he just folded his hands into his lap and looked straight ahead. She could tell from her quick glances at him that he was still angry, but there was something more to his posture as well. Reluctant acceptance, perhaps? She wasn’t sure.

“I’m going to drop you off here,” she said, pulling in to a parking lot. “Maybe this will help you relax.”

“A bar.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. Have a beer, try and relax. I’ll report, and then come back as quickly as I can.”

Maximus glanced out the window. “This place is a dump.”

“All the better,” she replied. “The police won’t look for such an upstanding citizen as yourself in a place as disreputable as this.”

Maximus stared at her for a long time. Then he blinked very slowly. “I…see. Listen, Haley.”

“I’m going, Maximus,” she said tartly. “That’s that. You might not like it, but I need to get the police off of your trail. Then you’ll just have to worry about the Institute. And I need them off of my trail as well.”

The shifter hesitated, his strong, proud jaw working slightly. “I was going to say be careful.”

She felt heat creep up her neck. “Oh.”

“I don’t like it,” he added. “But you know that. And despite that, I know you’re right. Just…be careful. I know you think stuff like this doesn’t happen in real life, but it does. So keep that in mind. You might be followed, or tricked, or anything. So be wary. Be smart. And most of all, come back.”

He didn’t add the two words on to the end that would have made that a more powerful sentence. But he didn’t have to. She knew it, he knew it. That was all that mattered.

She would come back. To him.

There was more to Maximus Koche than she knew, and more to whatever was going on between them than he was letting on. She was determined to come back, and to find out just what she’d gotten herself into.

“I will,” she assured him, meaning it. There was no harm in being paranoid while she went into the station, and if it made him feel better to know she was going to do it, then all the better.

“Thank you.” He opened his door to get out, but hesitated.

Haley was about to ask him what was wrong when he leaned over and quickly placed a kiss on her cheek. “Can’t wait until I see you again,” he said with a smile, and then got out so quickly she thought he was fleeing the scene.

“Neither can I,” she said, reaching up to touch her cheek as he walked into the dive bar.