Asher

The next five days passed like a whirlwind. Each night he snuck out to see Quinn. Most nights they ended up naked in bed, but not always. One night they went up to the roof and gazed at the stars, content just to be in each other’s arms. The experience of being with a human in such an intimate setting had forced Asher to do a lot of reorganizing of everything he’d ever thought he knew about them.

It was clear he’d been doing some of that ever since Quinn practically fell into his lap, but the more time he spent with her, the more apparent the gulf between reality and his knowledge was. He laughed to himself, realizing he still had a lot to learn it would seem.

Speaking of learning, this should be interesting.

The cadets had earned a half day of leave. Asher had thought he wouldn’t be included in it, but to his surprise, Daxxton had overruled Blaine and let him leave the Academy. He’d almost headed straight home, but then decided to check in at the Immigration building to see if they had approved Quinn’s forms yet. He wanted to be able to take them back to her as a surprise that night.

He approached the building warily, his last excursion there fresh in his mind.

“Can I help you?” the elderly lady behind the same counter asked, looking bored.

“Yes, I filled out some human immigration forms over a week ago, and I hadn’t heard back yet.”

“Name?”

“Quinn Bryant,” he supplied, trying to sound cheerful.

The woman looked at her screen for a moment. Then, if it was possible, he would have sworn that her expression soured even more. “Permission denied.”

“What? Why?” Asher tried not to sound too angry, but the clinical disinterest she showed was wearing thin on him. What possible reason could they have for denying Quinn access when he requested it? Most internal requests were supposed to be approved without issue.

“Says here that a background check found evidence that her motives might not be as clear-cut as the form you filled out.”

Asher frowned. “Can you be more specific? Perhaps I can address them.”

The woman sighed, and looked around him as if wishing there were another customer. Asher tried not to growl, but it took a lot of effort. The woman—a leopard shifter, unless he missed his guess—was really getting on his nerves.

“They provided a link. Let’s see what it says.”

Then there was silence as her eyes scanned the screen. Asher watched, and felt his nerves grow as her eyes widened slightly.

“Son, are you sure you met this woman through an internet dating site?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m positive.”

“Well, did you know she runs a blog where she talks about sneaking into Cadia to photograph, and I quote, the ‘exotic wildlife’? The whole thing makes it seem like she’s just trying to come here to get a picture of us for some photo contest. That she sees us as no more than animals in the background of a picture.”

“You’re lying.” It was an automatic response, but Asher said it without vigor.

His mind was back to the large camera Quinn had been carrying. She’d claimed she took it anytime she went out into nature, that she liked shots of the trees and the landscape.

And he’d believed her. Instead, this entire time, she’d been using him to try and get a shot to win a contest? What about her mother? Was that all a lie?

He sagged against the counter, the wood ledge groaning as it tried to support his weight. “You’re positive?” he asked weakly.

The woman eyed him, then nodded unhappily. She turned her screen around for him to see. Asher read the first three lines and then shook his head. “Okay. Enough. Thank you.”

The woman for once seemed sympathetic as he gathered himself together. “I’m sorry. It never feels good to be lied to,” she said softly.

“No,” he said, his voice gaining strength as anger infused him. “No it does not.” His spine straightened and he left the office behind after thanking the elderly shifter.

Long, powerful strides took him toward the nearest stone circle. Asher barely noticed as the other shifters scattered from his path, not wanting to get on the bad side of a dragon. He vaguely recalled passing by Loran at one point, but even the gryphon wisely kept his mouth shut, though he did give Asher a long, suspicious look.

Asher ignored him.

Foot-long icicles shot outward in a sphere as he shifted, sending several nearby people ducking for cover, lest they risk being impaled upon the missiles. Asher didn’t notice. He wasn’t sure he even felt the change as the frost enveloped him, coalescing into his dragon as his form changed rapidly.

Two beats of his wings and he was into the air. It wouldn’t be until hours later that he remembered how easily he’d taken off, his fastest and most vertical ascent ever. It was a shame it was fueled by anger and betrayal. He winged his way westward, angling in on the ranch-style house that belonged to him.

Talons grated across the rock as he swept in for a landing, starting his change before he even came to a halt. His forward motion never stopped and he walked right up to the back door, unaware of how impressive what he’d just done truly was. Even if he had known though, it was unlikely he would have cared. His anger was up, and he needed to know if it was justified or not.

“Put the knife down,” he said, striding in through the back door without slowing down.

Quinn, just rising from the couch, looked at him strangely as she put the knife—her near-constant companion when he wasn’t around—down on the table and stood.

“Asher, is everything all right?” she asked cautiously.

He snorted. “I don’t know; you tell me. You’ve been here for two weeks now, and you don’t have what you came for. Is that okay? Are you going to manage?”

She reared back, shocked at the vehemence in his tone. “What do you mean? I knew the search for my mother was going to take some time. Why are you being so callous?”

“Why?” he barked with a harsh laugh. He strode over to her bag and opened it, pulling out the camera components. “This is why. You haven’t been able to photograph the ‘exotic wildlife’ in Cadia. To see them in their ‘natural habitat.’” He snarled. “We’re not a fucking zoo, Quinn.”

“Asher, what are you talking about?”

He held up the long lens of her camera in one hand, and started to squeeze.

“I saw your blog. Stop lying to me,” he growled.

She hesitated, and he increased the pressure of his grip. The metal began to protest under the force.

Quinn looked like she was going to protest again. Her eyes searched his, and then she took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Asher,” she started to say, but he shook his head violently.

“Yes or no,” he forced out through clenched teeth. “Did you come here just to win a contest? Did you lie about your mother being missing?”

He looked into her eyes, brown orbs that until an hour ago he had considered to be beautiful. Now though, they filled with tears as she broke down.

“Yes,” she said at last, the sound barely audible. “Yes, but I didn’t k—”

He chopped his hand viciously through the air, cutting her off. He shook his head.

“I don’t want to hear it,” he said. “I have to go back to the Academy now.”

He put the lens back down on the table, all his anger gone. In its place now was a void, sucking up all his emotion. After the night they had just shared, this was not the way he had expected things to happen. His mind was overwhelmed, and he needed to be alone to sort it out.

“Asher, wait,” Quinn said, moving after him as he headed for the back door.

He kept walking.

“Listen to me,” she all but shouted.

His steps slowed slightly, but he didn’t stop. Why he even did that much, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was because he wanted it to have ended differently. To have gone along a different path, and so he was desperate for any chance to let that happen. But he couldn’t do that now.

She’d been using him. Plain and simple.

“I may have come to Cadia for that reason,” she said as he moved to the center of a circle. “But that doesn’t mean it’s why I stayed. When I met you, everything changed. I realized that my perceptions of everything about your reality were so different than what I’d been led to believe. That I had been blinded. But you made me see the true world you live in.”

He looked back at her, the change coming over him. Tears streamed down Quinn’s face as she was momentarily obscured by the mist. Her hand flung up to block the icy blast that always accompanied his shifts, and he was thankful afterward that it hadn’t been nearly as powerful as his shift in town. A blow from one of those icicles could have killed her.

“Goodbye, Quinn,” he said, and launched himself forward and into the air, leaving her standing on the grass just outside the circle, red-eyed and with a constant stream of tears on her cheeks, where they dripped onto her shirt.

He felt bad, but it had to be done. Quinn had lied to him, and had tried to exploit his entire species for her own gain.

Asher would be staying at the Academy permanently now. Quinn was on her own.