Chapter Eleven
Kase
He took her on a giant loop, one of the medium-length trails they could explore. If he took the shorter ones, she would make a scene about him just wanting to get rid of her. That would be true, but it would likely backfire and make her stay around even longer, if he knew Michelle.
“You just live with all this, all the time?” she asked, speaking up to be heard over the muffling from her helmet and the engine as it worked.
It had taken most of the entire ride for them to start talking, but she’d finally broken the silence.
“Yes.”
“Are we on your land, or public land that’s accessible from yours?” she asked, turning to watch the trees go by. Every now and then a branch hung low and she reached out to brush it with her fingers, protected by the gloves he’d made her put on.
“This is all mine,” he admitted. “There are other trails going deeper into the mountains that become Federal land.”
In reality, the enclave actually owned the land, making it his in a sort of way, but that wasn’t a discussion he was ready to have with her.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yes,” he said, glancing over at her, staring, even though the helmet hid most of her face despite the visor being up. “Yes, it is.”
He had to look back at the trail, but Kase was pretty sure she’d started to blush under the helmet. He hid a smile behind his own. Normally he would never wear a helmet, but in order to get Michelle to, he’d been forced to put the damn thing on. Now he was rather grateful for it.
Despite all his fears, so far the ATV ride was proving to be more relaxing than anything. Out here in the wild there wasn’t anything to bother him. It was just the two of them in a peaceful coexistence that, as long as he kept his mind in reality, felt rather nice.
Almost too nice, in a tantalizing sort of manner, but Kase was firm with himself. He could enjoy the ride, even as they neared the end of it, but no more. When they got back, he would send Michelle on her way and then head back out. It was better to be safe than sorry. Maybe this would give him a memory to hang onto if the times got tough, who knew.
“You’ve got some trees down,” she observed as they neared the house.
Shit. Kase hadn’t meant to bring her back this way. The evidence of his wrath from the other day would be quite clear. He’d yet to go back out and finish hauling in the downed trees.
“A lot of them,” she said, speaking slower now.
“Ah, yeah.” He swallowed, pushing down the lump in his throat.
“Did something happen? They look like someone cut them down.”
“I, uh, I did,” he said, staring straight ahead.
Michelle looked at him, but he continued to look forward, not wanting to tell her that he’d flown into a rage and taken it out on the dead—or almost dead—trees of the forest. That certainly wouldn’t look good on him.
“I see. Had some extra energy?”
“Something like that,” he admitted, tensing up. “Do you want a drink?”
There went the plans for getting rid of her right away.
They emerged from the forest and coasted to a stop near the outbuilding. He wasn’t going to put the four-wheeler away, since he’d need it again soon. Killing the engine, he got out, finally getting rid of the damn helmet.
“I could go for a drink,” she said, heading toward the house without waiting for an invitation. “Maybe we can discuss some things over it.”
He followed, suddenly unsure. “What sorts of things?”
“Like you funding the lab, perhaps?”
“No,” he said, not hesitating. That was too far.
Michelle kept walking.
“Maybe.” He tried to stay in one spot, but his foot lifted from the ground, pulled like a magnet in her direction.
To her credit, Michelle didn’t say a thing, just paused to wait for him next to the front door.
“I don’t know.” He hung his head and went after her in defeat.
This was not how he was planning on his day going. She should’ve been long gone by now. In fact, she never should’ve arrived in the first place! His entire plan was backfiring worse than he could’ve imagined. Instead of Michelle being farther away, she was closer. Much closer.
He opened the door and went in first, reaching back with one hand to hold the door open for her as they came into the foyer of his house.
“Nice place you have here,” she said, looking around.
Kase barely noticed. The only thing he did was take a subtle step forward, to put himself between her and the rest of the interior. Other than that, all of his senses were focused outward, into the house. Something was wrong.
He glanced around, but nothing appeared out of place. It all looked neat and tidy. So why was his brain screaming at him that something wasn’t as it should be?
All the stress he’d felt slip away during the ATV ride with Michelle came thundering back. It didn’t stop, increasing with the understanding that he would have to protect her from whatever it was that was bothering him.
Sticking his head forward slightly, he tested the air, letting his dragon senses come fully to the fore. His eyes likely grew brighter, and he was thankful that she wasn’t able to see. That was a conversation for another day far in the future.
“Is something wrong?”
Kase had gone still, realizing now what the problem was. Someone else had been in his house. The scent was clear as day in the air. Whoever it was hadn’t bothered to try to mask it. It wasn’t Jerrik or Coltaine. Taking a deeper breath, he still couldn’t place the scent. This was an unknown, a new player.
Worse, they were also a shifter. A dragon, if he didn’t miss his mark, though just which kind he wasn’t entirely sure yet. There were no traces of their power in the air to give it away.
“Something feels off,” he said when Michelle prodded him with a finger. “I think someone was inside the house while we were gone.”
She leaned to the side of his bulk. He tried to move to keep her hidden, but Michelle wasn’t about to let him act as a shield. “Everything looks fine to me. Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“How can you know? Are there alarms going off?”
“Close enough,” he said, not going into detail. “Wait here.”
She sighed. “Fine. But this better not be some excuse where you go out the back door and take off on me. That wouldn’t be cool.”
“Shhh.” He held a finger up to his lips as he stepped out into the house. The scent was recent, but not immediately so. Whoever it was, they were likely gone, but they could still be in another part of the house, waiting for him.
Who was it, though? It smelled tantalizingly familiar, as if he’d smelled them before, but Kase couldn’t pull up a person in his mind. He definitely didn’t know them, that much was certain, but in the area surrounding the Enclave, it wasn’t all that uncommon to run into other dragons. They worked in all manner of industry, just trying to lead normal lives.
What he couldn’t understand was why one of them would break into his house? To the best of his knowledge, Kase didn’t have any enemies. He’d made amends with the few he’d wronged over the years—it was just the way he was.
He searched the house, but they were gone. It was clear. Moving back to the front, he shrugged at Michelle’s questioning glance. “Nobody here, but trust me, they were.”
“Everything is fine, Kase. Are you sure you’re not just losing your mind?”
“I’m not losing my mind!” he snapped.
Anger spiked up through his carefully laid walls. The room around him flashed and he backed away.
“Kase, I’m sorry,” Michelle said, coming closer. “I didn’t mean it seriously.”
“No!” he shouted, clamping his hands on either side of his head, shaking it violently. “I’m fine!”
Light blazed across his vision. Closing his eyes didn’t get rid of it. It grew in intensity until he began to moan in pain, falling to one knee as he tried to get himself back under control.
He knew she was coming closer and he tried to tell her to stay away, holding out his hand, palm toward her. Stop. Please stop. You need to go.”
“Are you okay?” The concerned words cut through the light assaulting his eyes and his mind like a sword, parting it briefly until he could see her. It was then that he realized the light was coming from within him. His skin glowed, casting off such brilliance like he’d never seen before, searing at his vision.
Michelle. She came closer, like a shadow, sucking in the light, forcing it to disperse, soothing his mind. Then she touched his hand, and the world stilled.
He stared in amazement as cool, soothing shadow boiled out from where they touched. It mixed and danced with the light that he was pulsing. Wherever it went, it calmed the brilliance, though it never put it out.
Without meaning to, he lifted his other hand. Michelle grabbed that too. Shadow pulsed across her body. It was moving in time with her heart. Kase didn’t know how he was aware of that, but he was positive it was. Michelle came a step closer and the pulsing became frantic.
The light in him responded as well, but wherever it rose up, it was countered by her shadow, keeping it in check. Keeping him calm. It smothered him like a blanket. Not strong enough to put him out, but giving him the strength to overcome the light that hurt him so much.
He could feel his heart now, feel it racing as she neared, her eyes locked upon him.
“Kase.” Once more he could hear her clearly. “Your eyes. They’re glowing silver!”
“Michelle.” He still couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing, or where his mind was pulling the images of light and shadow from, but he knew one thing was certain. He wanted her. “Come closer.”
She didn’t resist the tug on her hands, stepping close. With Kase on one knee from where the light had bowed him, she now stood above him—albeit not by much—looking down at him.
One hand released his fingers, slowing sliding up his arm, until it rested upon his shoulder. Kase tried to let his arm fall, but it moved of its own, the shadow guiding it to a resting spot in the small of her back, where he used it to pull her close.
“Kase.” Her voice was taut with uncertainty, but now was not the time for that.
Now was the time for action. He could feel it now, her heart beating solidly, and the heat as it rolled off her body. She was ready for him, and he was more than ready for her. Despite the weird things he was seeing, Kase had never felt more sure of something in his life. This needed to happen. Gearing himself up, he prepared to rise, so that he could take the next step and kiss her.
Today was all about Michelle, though, and once more she beat him to the punch, leaning in and kissing him before he could react.