Page 19 of Between Imminent Fates

It was a good sign.

His door was open, and the light was on. Faint tapping indicated a flurry of words being typed. Immediately, her gut twisted itself in knots. The sudden urge to jump into the nearest conference room and compose herself was nearly overpowering, as was the wish to simply turn around and locate the nearest exit.

But Derek was counting on her, whether he knew it or not. Lucy took a breath and stepped into his office.

Everything was strangely the same. The same clutter-free desktop, lined with precisely one stack of business cards and the obligatory expensive pen twisting toward the ceiling in its holder. His credenza was decorated with one calendar featuring a mind-numbingly boring still life painting and the same fake plant she’d gifted him all those years ago.

Even Derek himself was eerily similar.

His mousy hair was gelled the exact same way, the habitually tired expression still on his features. Scruff dotted over his masculine jaw, the only halfway redeemable feature about him being his ability to keep a full beard.

As soon as she entered the office, he looked up lethargically. Blinking as if to clear his eyes from the vision before him, Derek paled.

“Lucy.” His voice was a perplexing combination of confusion, intrigue, and possessiveness. “You’ve escaped them.”

“No.” She allowed the thread of anger to tighten her features. “I escaped you.”

Bewilderment sprawled across his face in the seconds that followed. Silence hung between them, each of them waiting for what the other would do, until Derek couldn’t delay any longer.

“Why are you here?”

“To save your life.”

He scoffed outright. “To savemylife? Don’t be ridiculous. You could no more save my life than a mouse could save a wolf.”

“That doesn’t change the truth of it, Derek.”

She strode closer, maintaining eye contact easily. Unlike before, he no longer scared her. She’d grown since then, maturing both in her Elemental abilities and emotionally. She was no longer the mouse he accused her of being.

“My life isn’t in danger. We’re sitting here, inmyoffice, where you came to find me.” A snide laugh. “How exactly is my life in danger?”

“Get up. We’re leaving.”

Derek took great pleasure in casually leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head. “No.”

Unsurprised by his behavior, Lucy simply raised an eyebrow at the challenge. Then, as if the answer was as clear as day, her power sank into the earth below them. With a single thought, the earth trembled, shaking the walls around them and jolting Derek upright as the first flickers of fear drew his eyebrows together.

It gave her the edge.

Lucy walked up to his desk, staring down at him with a haughty look. “You’re going to walk out of here with me because it’s the only way you stay alive, Derek. You’re going to listen to what I say because every second you don’t, every second you refuse to heed my warning, is another second that ticks away at the clock they’ve given you. I won’t repeat it again: I’m here to save your life.”

Swallowing, Derek asked, “What clock?”

“The clock that counts down to when your heart stops beating. If you don’t walk out that door with me—right now—they’re going to decide you’re too much trouble.”

“Who’s they?”

Lucy had to consciously unclench her jaw to respond. “The people you pissed off. The people theCitizenstargeted.”

Chapter Seven

Zia

Zia breathed a sighof relief as soon as Lucy was in sight again, dragging theCitizens’second in command along with her. Like an obedient puppy, the man trailed behind her, but his features betrayed his fear. With every step, Derek’s eyes darted around them, clearly attempting to decipher Lucy’s intent.

If only he knew.

Aidan’s wolf growled long and low in his chest, the primitive warning shooting ice up Zia’s spine. Though she’d been around plenty of wolves and her sovereign’s panther before, Aidan’s alpha beast was far more dominant—and far more aggressive—than any she’d met before.

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