Furnace: A Fated Mate Romance Read online

  “When we get back I’m going to have to leave you,” he said now, leaning across to her seat so he could speak quietly.

  “What? But we just found each other.”

  They’d used the waiting time to discuss her attitude change when last they’d seen each other. Petal had told him how it had just been something she was used to doing, a personality she’d donned as a mask, that at some point had simply become who she was. When he’d asked why she hadn’t come to apologize, but had instead fled town, her only answer had been shame and embarrassment.

  He forgave her on the spot, pointing out the fact that she’d realized her error, wanted to work on it, and had come looking for him to apologize in person. How was he supposed to stay mad at someone who would fly six hours away just to come see him, at risk of getting in trouble with her work?

  She knew it wouldn’t be that simple. It was going to take a lot of work for her to figure out who she really was, to discard her corporate persona and find the “real Petal” again. The fun-loving girl she’d been in college. The one who loved to laugh and smile. She would be different now. At thirty-seven years old, there was no way she could be the same. But what she could be was an older version of that. Not a robot. In time, she was confident she could be comfortable in her own skin again.

  Especially with Lex’s help.

  “I know,” he said apologetically. “It’s not the best choice, believe me. I don’t want to. But I have to, Petal.”

  “Why?”

  He grimaced. “I can’t tell you. Not yet at least. I promise you that at some point I will tell you everything, and you’ll understand that. But I can’t do that yet.”

  Her frown deepened, eyebrows nearly touching as they wrinkled her forehead together.

  The plane lurched as it touched down, taxiing to a smooth stop a few moments later.

  “Lex.” She was whining now and she knew it. But Petal didn’t want to let the mysterious power line worker go now that she’d finally been able to open up to him and to herself about everything. This was when they were supposed to spend days on end together, simply discovering one another and how amazing they found each other. She wanted that. Not to have to deal with another storm recovery while he disappeared.

  “I’m not happy about it either,” he told her, the plane coming to a stop at the terminal. “Trust me, I’m really not. But it has to be done.”

  “You promise you’ll tell me?”

  “Absolutely. I want no secrets from you. None at all.” There was an unspoken “but” at the end.

  “But you can’t reveal it all just yet.”

  He sighed unhappily, meeting her eyes and nodding. “Exactly.”

  Petal decided to speak what was on her mind. “There’s not another woman is there? Because if there is, I need to know that now. Because we’re done. I’m not—”

  His finger came up and across her lips.

  “Petal Olson,” he said fiercely. “There is not another woman. And with you, there will never be another woman. Do you understand me? That’s it.”

  The finality of his voice spoke of something more than a promise to never cheat. It spoke with something that to her ears sounded a lot like eternity.

  “Who are you, Lex Cronus?” she whispered.

  He smiled. “I’m all yours.”

  The plane doors opened.

  ***

  “VINCE! Get your useless ass down here!”

  The office was in full panic mode. The town had been hit again, destroying buildings and leveling trees for miles around. Some claimed that it had been a tornado that touched down, but if it had, Petal felt that it hadn’t lasted very long for how powerful it must have been. Plus, she’d never heard of there being tornadoes among the hills on the coastline like this. Occasionally a powerful storm would run itself aground from the Pacific, but by the time it reached this far inland it had usually lost much of its power.

  It doesn’t matter what it was. That’s not your job. Your job is to deal with the result.

  The annoying onsite manager came bustling over to her, looking beyond frazzled.

  “What the hell is going on here?” she snapped, letting herself fall back into her work persona, but this time recognizing that she was doing it on purpose.

  “Uh, well, we had another storm come through and—”

  She cut him off. “I’m well aware of that. But that storm dissipated nearly five hours ago as near as I can tell. Why is everyone still running around with their heads cut off? Have you not organized your teams and told them what their priorities are?”

  “Ah, um, well, you see Miss Olson, it’s more complicated than that and there are procedures that have to be followed.”

  “Vince, this is a state of emergency. Surrey has been hammered for the third time in a week. People are going missing out there, and possibly dying, Vince. The search and rescue teams need power so that they can communicate better. With power, cell phones will have service, which means people can call for ambulances and police. That is your responsibility, Vince.”

  He just stood there shaking.

  “Go into your office, and if I see your miserable hide again before the day is done I’ll fire your ass. You are hereby delegated to secretary. Answer the phones and deal with the public. Got it?”

  “Yes, Miss Olson,” he said, turning and scurrying for the perceived safety of his office.

  She turned to survey the staffers all manning computers situated around the huge map of Surrey.

  “Okay, people. You know your town better than I do. I need to know where the most critical areas are, and I need to know now. Who can provide me that information?”

  A tall lanky man approached her with a list. She noted his limbs weren’t shaking. Good.

  “I have it all right here, ma’am.”

  “Okay, start dispatching the crews then. You have three, right?”

  “Yes. I’ll get right on that.”

  “Good. Then I want you and the others to start working on a list of other areas. I want it classified in five levels. Level one is the most urgent and critical—think hospitals, clinics, water stations, old folks’ homes. That sort of thing. Downward through level five, which is unused or redundant lines. Let’s go, people!”

  All around her the room burst into action. Petal was stunned. She turned to the nearest worker. “Was all everyone needed just the command to get stuff done?”

  The freckle-faced kid blushed red. “Vince is very particular about no one doing anything without his say-so, ma’am.”

  “I see,” she said, waving him back to work. And she did. Glancing over her shoulder, she glared at Vince through the glass windows of his office. The little man saw her looking, swallowed so hard it was visible to her, and snatched up the phone.

  Petal wasn’t even sure it had been ringing.

  All around her Vince’s immediate subordinates were barking out orders to their teams, and the chaos was soon broken down into effective action. Petal couldn’t make sense of it all, but then it wasn’t her job to do so. Apparently everyone else in the office had been forced to be good at their jobs to make up for Vince. In minutes none of them were coming to her, simply finding problems and handling them on the spot. She was effectively worthless.

  “Ma’am?”

  She turned to see the same lanky male approaching.

  “Yes?”

  “I just thought you should know. Everything is being handled, but I had a question on how you wanted to proceed on one particular area.”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  He guided her over to the map. “It’s this.”

  Petal looked at the map. He was pointing out an area to the north of town. “What about it?”

  “Well, we’re not getting any reports from the system. It’s not even registering the power being out to those lines.”

  She frowned. “What does that mean?”

  The man shrugged. He looked at a total loss. “I don’t know. I’ve never experienced it
before. The system should be up there. It actually has an unbroken chain. So I can’t fathom why the system is doing what it is.”

  Petal eyed the route. “Can we send someone over there?”

  “All we have are our repair teams. It would have to be someone from here.”

  Now she understood why he was approaching her. “And you are all needed here to coordinate things. But I’m not.”

  He shrugged. “I know what happened the last time you went out, ma’am. Nobody will fault you for not wanting to. I certainly would keep my rear end parked right here if I were you. But I thought you should know.”

  Petal sighed. She felt the same as him. There was no way she wanted to go back out in that. Not after what had happened the last time. And yet, she was the supervisor. The boss. It was her job to make sure that everything went according to plan.

  “What’s the damage like out that way?”

  “Minimal. It hit the town itself and curled southward. The north was mostly spared.” He hurried to continue. “And this is a main road. It goes right through Surrey from north to south, on flat land. Nothing like what happened the last time could happen there. It’s mostly farmland once you get past the north end of town, so very few trees either.” He shrugged. “It’s not critical, but I could see the look on your face that said you wanted to help. We’ve got it all locked down here, so…”

  She smiled. “Thank you. I’ll look into it.”

  Petal was amazed at how calm her voice sounded. She didn’t want to look into it at all. Not even in the slightest. But being the ranking member on site sometimes meant she had to do things she didn’t want to. In this case, that meant going out and exploring some funky lines.

  I’m just going out to take a look I suppose, right? No harm in that. Just drive out there, look around to see what’s going on, and then report back. I can do this.

  “All right, get me a truck. I’m certainly not taking the rental out. Not after what happened last time,” she joked.

  He nodded and gestured at another employee who disappeared and returned a moment later with a set of keys.

  “Thanks. I’ll call in when I have some more information.” She looked at the map once more, memorizing her route, and then she left the building, trying to calm herself.

  This is not going to be like last time at all. This is a major road, with plenty of cell service and on flat ground. You’re fine.

  She made a pact with herself that if she even saw a hint of nasty weather, she would turn around and head back for the shop immediately. There would be no pushing anything this time.

  21. Coming to Conclusions

  Lex

  He finally returned to the shop, wet, bedraggled, and bone-weary tired.

  That was what happened when he spent hours running through the hills to the east of town at top speed, trying to track down what he’d finally come to accept was out there.

  But his search had come up empty, leaving Lex to consider whether he was just being paranoid. All the signs pointed to his suspicions being correct. The freakishly powerful storms. The way they were tethered to Surrey somehow, localizing on the town and ignoring the surrounding areas. The fact that there had been three of increasing power within a week, with absolutely no buildup before they descended on the hapless town. Missing people.

  There was just no way it was a coincidence. It was impossible; too many factors lined up to support his conclusion. But no matter how hard he’d hunted in the hills, he hadn’t discovered one solitary piece of evidence that backed him up. Now he was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sit down with Petal and recharge.

  Pushing open the door, he half-stumbled into the vehicle maintenance area. He needed food, and badly.

  “Lex?”

  He looked up to see David approaching. “Hey, Dave,” he said, waving at Vince’s number two. He was a good person, and in Lex’s estimation, should have been running the joint a long time ago. But corporate politics were what they were, and David just refused to play them, so he stayed where he was.

  “Lex, what’s wrong?”

  “Food. Need food.” He slid to the ground bonelessly, lungs heaving. Somehow he’d remembered to dress himself before reappearing amongst humans. That was a bonus. Besides, the concrete floor was cold enough as it was. It would have been worse if his bare ass had been pressed down on it.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Food. Meat. Bring me something. I’ll be better, I promise.” His vision was going unfocused. He’d used up too much of his energy stores in his search. As a werewolf he could build up massive amounts of energy and store it within him for months on end before it started to drain. But his run through the woods had occurred at speeds far beyond what any wolf could manage, and he’d burnt through those reserves in a matter of hours.

  All of that energy used…for nothing! No sign of her at all. She had to be there somewhere. But I couldn’t find a single hint of her.

  David returned with a plate full of office-quality sandwiches. Lex winced, but he started wolfing them down. By the time he was done with the fourth half-sandwich he could feel his body starting to recover, energy flooding into his exhausted muscles. His eyes stopped feeling like they weighed a thousand pounds each, and he could sit up straighter. By the sixth he felt recovered enough to stand if necessary.

  “Thank you,” he said, taking a breather while his stomach digested the food. There were still two more half-sandwiches on the plate, but he suspected David might say something if he were to eat them all.

  “What the hell happened to you? Where have you been? Petal said you came back to town with her, but then you disappeared.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. It’s a long story.” Pushing himself to his feet, he snagged half the remaining food on the plate and started chomping down on it. His brain was starting to fire again, the neurons connecting one thought to another.

  She was out there. There was absolutely no way around it. He wished it weren’t true, but the facts all said it was. The only question that remained was where was she? An idea started to percolate in his mind. When it didn’t immediately jump out at him he took the last sandwich and started chomping down on it while he slid past David and headed toward the command pit. He needed to see the map.

  “What, where are we going? Lex, should I get you to the hospital?”

  He shook off the question. “No, I’m fine. Was just hungry and exhausted. Good to go now.”

  “Go where?! What is going on?”

  “David,” he said, still walking. “Think about the storms, and where they’ve hit town. Has anywhere been spared? Have they seemingly purposefully missed any part of town?”

  “What? What kind of question is that?”

  “Just think about it.”

  “Umm.” David fell silent as they reached the pit. “Yeah, actually. I guess they’ve left the north part of town alone. Especially the outskirts and such. They’re basically untouched.”

  He nodded. She was there, then. Trying to play distraction. Interesting. Why though?

  “Okay, I need to head out there then.”

  “But Lex, we don’t have any lines down out there. Just some funky reports. Petal’s already out there checking up on it.”

  “What did you just say?” His voice was icy cold.

  “The readings are weird, but everything looks to be okay. Petal went to check it out. She wanted to help, but she really wasn’t needed here. I can handle all this. I told her she didn’t have to, but she knew it would help us out. I told her to stay on Highway 2, Lex. There was no need for her to take anything else. The highway will be in okay shape. She’ll be fine!”

  “I need to go.” He looked around, spied the table full of sandwiches that a low-level staffer had procured from somewhere, and walked over to it. Half the remaining ones went into a plastic bag, the contents all jumbling together. It wouldn’t be the best eating, but right then he needed sustenance more than taste if he was going to go up against what he thought was ou
t there.

  “Where are you going?” David asked, though he made no move to stop Lex.

  “To bring Petal back.”

  With that he was gone, leaving the befuddled David behind as he raced out to the garage, only to find it empty. Of course, they’d yet to replace the truck that had been destroyed the last time he and Petal went out. Which meant he was taking his own personal vehicle. The big quad-cab beauty roared to life as he double-tapped the remote start.

  Sliding in, he tossed the bag of jumbled sandwiches to the side, giving it a long look. Lex desperately wished now that he hadn’t used up so much of his energy on his search. What he’d packed would be enough. It had to be. What he was about to do would have been daunting enough with a full set of reserves. But on an empty stomach? That was suicide.

  Unless he’d missed his guess though, the Banshee had returned, and Petal was heading right into her clutches. The food might look unappetizing, but he was going to need every bit of it before this was over.

  The truck rumbled up the gravel driveway to the street. The instant tires touched pavement he stomped the accelerator down. Rubber squealed and the rear wheels slid sideways for a moment before getting a grip. He shot off at a breakneck pace.

  Please let me be in time…

  22. World v. Underworld

  Petal

  She slowed to a halt as she approached the area that had been indicated on the huge wall map. The drive had been surprisingly easy. In town the going had been slow as she tried to work her way north. Plenty of damaged buildings, trees, and fences were blown down all over the place.

  Eventually Petal had given up, taken a hard left, and gone all the way out of town before heading north. As it turned out, the western edges of Surrey had also been lightly hit, and once she left the outskirts themselves, it was almost impossible to tell there had been any storms, besides the sheer wetness of the land. But the roads were mostly clear and she made good time heading north and then back east.