Ajax

Sunlight glared brilliantly against the perfectly clear windshield. The burst of heat followed a split second later as the sun moved out from behind one of the rare clouds in the sky.

Fingers found the keys without having to look, killing the engine and slipping them from the ignition. Metal jangled as keys bounced against one another, the noise dying away as he shoved them into his pocket. The door to his truck remained closed while he eyeballed the building that lay across the parking lot in front of him.

What had once been a mansion for some reclusive wealthy person had long since been renovated into a sprawling complex of outbuildings, including a large underground cavern that he couldn’t see from his current vantage point, but that was now exposed on the road up from the town below. Trees had once shielded it from view, but a fight between two massive dragon shifters had leveled many of them, exposing the entrance ramp and cavern to the naked eye. Even now teams worked to remove the trees and plant new ones, but it would be a long time before they grew as large as their predecessors. The cavern was only a part of the underground warren of tunnels and offices that existed.

Lionshead Mining Consortium, his employer, owned it all now, just as they did most of the land for miles in every direction. It was a good job and a good place to live. The pay was extremely generous, and he couldn’t imagine a more beautiful landscape to wake up to every morning. Trees stretched as far as the eye could see, and white-capped mountains rose high in the distance. Gently rolling hills surrounded the slight depression that had been named Genesis Valley, giving it a picturesque quality that never faded, even after a decade plus of residence in the area.

But despite all of that, he needed out. Perhaps not permanently, but for now, Ajax needed a break from his role. Considering he was the Alpha of the Emerald Crew, a group of bear shifters that mined the nearby mountains, a vacation wasn’t really something that was in the cards. In the ten years since he had been made Alpha, Ajax had never left his post. He couldn’t, because his crew had been too rowdy, too unstable to be without his guidance and—if necessary—his firm hand of leadership.

Things were different now, he told himself. Some of his crew were mated, and there were even several children living at Silverlake Resort, the wooded area just outside of town that his crew called home. They could live without him for several weeks while he did something he hadn’t been able to do in a long time: relax.

First though, he had to tell his bosses.

With a shake of his great head, he climbed out of the truck, his booted feet crunching on the gravel. The pavement had been destroyed beyond use some time ago, so the LMC had ordered it torn up to be repaved. The dry day caused a swirl of dust to accompany his footsteps as he crossed the distance. Taking the steps two at a time, he slowed his stride to push the door open in front of him.

“Hi Ajax.”

He nodded politely at the woman behind the counter. “Afternoon Mya,” he replied, not waiting to be shown down the hallway. He knew his way around.

“Valen is waiting for you,” Mya said as he pushed one of the swinging doors open.

“Thanks,” he replied, letting the door fall closed behind him.

Valen Kedyn and his twin brother Marcus owned Lionshead Mining. Ajax would need their permission to leave. He all but stalked down the hallway, his eyes focused on the mission. He knocked once on the door that simply read “Kedyn” on it.

“Come,” came the crisp female voice from inside.

“Hello Caia,” he rumbled, flashing the woman behind the desk a smile.

“Hey Ajax. He’s ready for you,” she said, pointing at the two wooden doors in the corner, using the pen she had in her hand as an arrow.

“Thank you.” He repeated the process, knocking firmly on the door and waiting for the voice on the other end to tell him to enter.

He slipped inside, pushing the door closed behind him.

“Ajax.”

He froze as the voice sounded from the middle of the room. He hadn’t yet turned to see where Valen was, but he knew he would be sitting behind the big desk that occupied the center of the room.

“Valen,” he said calmly, turning around at last.

“Everything okay? You seem a little uptight.”

Ajax wasn’t fooled for a second. Valen might appear to be relaxed and asking in a nonchalant manner, but he truly cared for his employees. He wanted them to be comfortable and happy, especially the various Alphas of the mining crews. Ajax was rarely ruffled by what went on around him, and he had picked up on the change in his employee immediately.

Which means I’m not hiding this nearly as well as I had hoped.

The big Alpha sighed. “Nothing is wrong. Not in the typical sense,” he said without preamble.

“But?” Valen prompted, recognizing his cue and humoring Ajax by asking.

“I need a break.”

That got Valen’s attention. “A break?”

Ajax nodded. “I need to get out for a bit.”

Valen tapped the pen he was holding against his bottom lip thoughtfully. “Why do you feel this way, do you think?”

“After everything that has happened recently, between the battles fought and the increase in number of females amongst us, I find myself feeling lost,” he replied, having expected such a question already.

“You are unmated, correct?”

Ajax snorted, his only reply. Valen knew full well that he was unmated, and he knew why as well.

“Fair enough,” Valen said, sitting back with a small smile. “Are you off to go find yourself a mate then?”

“I...” he paused. That hadn’t occurred to him at all. A mate? Him? He shook his head. “Not my intent, no. I’m not sure I could, not after…” He trailed off, looking around the opulent office. The Kedyns rarely showed their wealth, with the one exception being their office. Thick rugs covered much of the floor, with expensive, antique-looking tables, desks, and chairs occupying much of the space. On the wall large tapestries hung from ceiling to floor, depicting scenes and views from places the Kedyns had lived during their long lives.

“I understand,” Valen said, waving a hand as if to say “Forget I said anything.” “Where will you go?”

“Possibly the city,” he said with a shrug. “I’m really not sure yet. I just know that I need to be somewhere new for a bit.”

“Okay,” Valen said simply.

Ajax’s eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously. “Okay?”

“Yes,” Valen replied.

“Just like that?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“No strings attached?”

Valen paused.

“I knew it,” Ajax said, frustrated. “What is it Valen?” His voice made it clear he was in no mood to play games.

“I need you to look into something for me.”

Ajax sighed. “Look into what? Just spit it out please,” he growled.

“I will need you to go to King City to look for someone.”

He frowned. “I’m not a detective, Valen. That’s not my job.”

The man behind the desk put his hands up. “I’m not asking you to open a police file on him. Just go to a couple of places—I’ll give you the locations—and ask if he’s been seen lately. See what you can find out, and let me know. That’s all, I promise.”

Ajax relaxed. “That’s it? Promise?”

His boss nodded. “Just ask around. He’s an old friend, and he hasn’t been heard from in about a week now. That’s very unlike him. I’m worried something might have happened. Depending on what you find, I’ll take it from there. I just can’t afford to leave right now.”

He considered the request, understanding where his boss was coming from. Everyone was busy right now, trying to rebuild Genesis Valley after all the calamity that had befallen it over the course of the previous year. A lot of damage had been done, both in physical destruction and via mental stress. Valen would find it hard to leave just then.

Even Ajax was supposed to have gone on a mission for the dragon shifter Ferro. But when the shifter-turned-bartender had returned with a mate, he had told Ajax not to worry about it, that things were okay, and would sort themselves out now. He hadn’t volunteered more information, but Ajax was okay with being released from his duties. It was that conversation that had spurred his desire to get out of Genesis Valley for a bit.

“Okay, what can you tell me about this man?” he asked with a sigh.

“He’s a shifter,” Valen said. “And he was looking into something for me.”

Ajax arched an eyebrow at the tone there. “This something doesn’t sound very…legal,” he said skeptically.

Valen gave him a humorless smile. “No, it is not. Let’s just say its existence on the open market would provoke a lot of anger between humans and shifters.”

“Great,” Ajax said, pulling up a chair to listen to what he was getting himself into.

At least I’m going to be doing it out there. That’s something, I suppose.