I was chatting with Aaron and Mathias with Fox wrapped around my midsection, holding me up, when a woman and her young daughter walked up, “Excuse me,” the woman shyly said, gently touching my arm. I turned to her and she held out a photo, “My mate has been missing for several months. I know he’s passed,” she pulled her shirt aside so I could see her sunken mark, “but I would like to give him a proper burial. Can you help me?”
I gave her a sad smile, taking the photo from her. I took a photo of it with my phone and quickly sent it in an email to Lyosha. “I’ll try my hardest to, at the very least, get you answers. I can’t promise anything though.”
“Thank you so much, your majesty.”
“Please call me Amaya, and this is my mate Fox. What are your names?”
“I’m Rebecca, or Beck,” she sniffled as if she were about to burst into tears, “Um, and this is my daughter, Suzanne.” I squatted down, leaning against Fox’s legs and stuck out my hand for Suzanne to shake, causing her to hide behind Beck’s leg. Beck squatted down too, grabbing hold of Suzanne, “sweetie, shake her majesty’s hand.”
Suzanne hesitantly offered her hand, “It’s very nice to meet you Suzanne. You can call me Amaya.”
“It’s nice to meet you Amaya,” Suzanne said in a quiet voice before hiding behind Beck’s leg again.
I felt my phone vibrating. I saw Lyosha’s number when I looked down, “If you guys will excuse me. I need to take this.” I stepped away, with Fox still clinging to my side, “Lyosha?”
“Hey boss. I got a hit on the photo you sent me. It looks like he was killed by the Northcotts in July. He was one of thirty supers killed in Northern Oklahoma before we closed them down.”
“What happened to his body?”
I heard the keys of his keyboard click as he looked for my answer, “It looks like the lightning dragon clan buried him after posting to the file we set up.”
“Was he ever identified? His mate wasn’t notified.”
“It doesn’t look like anyone could ID him. Yessi has been working nonstop to help with the reconstructions of those that couldn’t be identified. We’re hoping to get sketches out to the clans and packs on those that couldn’t be identified soon though so hopefully we can get more people answers.”
“Thanks Lyosha, and tell Yessi I said thank you too please.”
“Will do. See you later, boss.”
“See you,” I said, disconnecting. I blew out a breath before walking over to Garrett, “Garrett, can we talk?”
“Of course,” the dragon he was speaking with excused herself, “What can I do for you?”
“You had a hunter problem in July,” he nodded, “I understand your clan buried the unidentifiable.”
“Yes. We gave them a proper dragon burial.”
I nodded my understanding, “As you know Storm Industries has been working to identify those who couldn’t be upon first discovery. We got a hit on one you buried in July. Would you mind speaking to his mate? Let her know he was buried properly?”
“Of course,” he responded.
We walked back to where Beck and her daughter were standing. “Beck, this is King Garrett of the Lightning Dragon Clan. He has information about your mate.”
As Garrett shook her hand, I excused myself from the conversation. “How are you feeling, my love?” Fox asked quietly in my ear.
I turned around and settled my head into his chest, “I’m exhausted mentally and physically.”
His hands moved up and down on my back. “Let’s go home.”
-two weeks later-
“Take it easy,” Daniel snapped as I fell to the floor for the fifth time.
“I’m fine. Let me try it again.”
“No. We’re done training. Your body isn’t ready for this.”
“I can do this. Just-”
“No. Amaya, you aren’t ready,” he put his hands on my shoulders, “It’s just going to take time for your body to fully recover.”
I let out a frustrated grunt, “Fine. I’m going for a run.”
“How many miles have you run today?” He asked before I could escape.
“Five,” I answered, trying to leave the gym again.
“How many did you run yesterday?”
I sighed, knowing what he was going to say, “Three.”
“You’re pushing yourself too hard. You’re done for today. No more training and no more running.” I couldn’t stop the frustrated groan that slipped out, “No. You’re done for the day.”
“But I-”
“No. You’re done for the day,” he said.
I let out a sigh, “Fine.”
I didn’t give him a chance to respond, instead I walked to my office. “No shifting either,” Daniel linked.
I rolled my eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. I didn’t get a chance to wallow before Lavi’s voice entered my head, “Do you have a minute?”
“I have nothing but minutes. What’s up?”
“I’ve hit a wall on the Walton file, and Lyosha is too busy with Mav,” she said as she entered the room with her laptop in hand.
“How is Mav doing?” I asked as I ran my eyes over the intel and the lines of code Lavi was using to gather more information for the client.
“He’s doing well, but we started working on getting in and out without leaving a trace, which is difficult for anyone but especially someone just starting out.”
I singled out six lines of code, “This is what’s throwing.” I quickly corrected the error and ran the program to test the fix. “I think that fixed it.”
Lavi looked over the program, “I can’t believe I missed that.”
I hummed, “Mav is rubbing off on you.”
“We’re all entitled to a mistake every now and then,” she said unconvincingly, taking the laptop.
“Thanks for checking on me, Lavi,” I said before she could walk out of my office.
She gave me a warm smile, “You can come work in our office if you want.” I returned her smile before she left the room.
I looked over the paperwork that had piled up on my desk. The biggest pile was people wanting to join Storm Industries. I had flipped through several files when my phone began buzzing. “I was hoping you would call,” I said with a smile on my face.
Author: Kailan Counahan 