Shifting the Night Away (40 page)

The last day of their trip was a whirlwind of tourist attractions. Linc wanted to show her everything there and see how she liked it before ever revealing that it was still the place he considered home. In the early evening, as they packed to go back, he asked her, "So Katie, how do you like it here?"

"It's wonderful. The people are all so nice, the weather is perfect, and there is so much to do - even if it's just a walk on the beach."

Linc couldn't help but smile when he heard that. "I'm glad you like it Katie."

Their conversation was light and filled with laughter on their way back to the city, only briefly touching upon the troubles of her Mother.

"Has there been any change?" he asked her, already determined on what he'd be doing Monday morning.

"Very little. My sister is trying to see about a home equity loan and I've really got nothing to sell or leverage so I'm just going to ask for extra shifts at work and send the money to her."

"That's very noble. It shows your heart."

"It's not noble at all. It's what any child would do for their parent." She said quietly.

Linc tried not to remember how he acted when his father became ill. The nights he spent ignoring the calls. The pride overriding the compassion.

Chapter Eight

Monday arrived and Linc called another meeting to discuss his findings. He also set his other plan in motion by asked Ms. Baker to phone the organization that is providing Katie's mother care and set up a trust for future expenses. If all went well, Katie and her sister wouldn't get a single bill while their Mother received her long-term care.
 

At the meeting he'd address core issues he found as well as items he wanted to implement to improve morale. He knew it would not go over well with corporate; men well into their retirement years that believed heavily in the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" method. Well the company may not have been broke financially, but Linc believed it was a broken vessel in need of a fix.

The one hour meeting turned into three as Linc addressed everything he saw throughout the week. He told them the good he saw and how workers were keeping their nose to the grindstone at all times. He also told him the bad and how the hours were long and the pay was dismal.
 

"But Linc that keeps our profit margins at..." the elder gentlemen across from him started.

"I don't care about that. These workers are being worked to the bone for a company they don't even believe in. We need to correct that and it starts with a higher wage, we're not going to go broke giving them a little more. Better benefits and a real vacation schedule are in the pipeline too, boys."

By the end of the meeting, Linc had not made any friends on the board, but he'd hoped he'd make a few in the warehouse.

The weeks went by and the changes Linc had suggested behind closed doors were slowly implemented in the plant. Katie and he continued to see each other and grow close.

She'd contacted him immediately after John had let her know that everyone would be getting raises. He'd never heard her so happy. "And apparently the facility where Mother is found some sort of grant and we're off the hook for any charges. It's been a wonderful chain of events, Linc."

"I'm glad it's helped you Katie. You deserve all good things."
 

"Can we have dinner this Saturday? There are a few things I'd like to tell you."

"Of course, I'd love that."
 

"It's a date then." He said as he smiled, hoping she'd take the news of him lying under consideration for what it was for. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost her.

There were so many things that he wanted to say to her, but didn't know how to approach. The lie about how they met was only one of them. How was he to bring up being a wolf shifter? While they were slowly gaining more and more acceptance in the community, no one knew that part about him that was still alive. It had only been his parents as he kept it shielded from everyone he'd ever known since.
Would Katie accept me? Will she love me despite it?

He'd know Saturday.

Katie woke in one of the best moods she'd ever been in to head to work. The morale at the warehouse had never been higher. John even smiled more.

"And to think that Linc could get those changes done so quickly for us" John said before realizing.

"Linc? What did Linc have to do with this? He was fired." Katie was confused and more than that, there was that seen of dread that formed in her.

"Shit, Katie. I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to say anything and that just slipped out."

"Tell me John."
 

"Linc wasn't a trainee; he's CEO of the company and was here to pump workers for information so that he could see how we were."

"He was undercover?"

"Yea. He just needed people to think he was just like them so they'd tell him the good and the bad. I didn't think anything would actually come of it, though."

Katie couldn't breathe for a moment. So the whole thing was a lie. Was she part of it? Was he still "pumping her" for information? She felt a fool and deceived.

Katie whipped out her phone and texted Linc. There was no way she wanted to see him and watch him continue to lie to her for the good of the company.

I don't think I'll be there Saturday. I don't think we should see each other any more at all, actually.

Her phone immediately started to ring, but Katie didn't answer. She couldn't answer. She knew as soon as she heard that voice she'd melt into his arms again and she needed time to not be so vulnerable around him. He knew how she felt about people lying to her, and he looked her in the eye and did it anyway.

Chapter Nine

It took two weeks. Two weeks of Katie not answering her phone before Linc's wolf burst out. It tore through the rooms of his city home, ripping apart everything in its path. It cried out in pain and couldn't be tamed.
 

Linc was unsettled.
 

I can't be here in this city without her. I'm going home.

It took a few signed documents to take a leave of absence from the company, documents that postponed his departure by days. His bags sat packed by the door, waiting.

Soon he was there, back home in the sand. He spent his days watching the surf and spent his nights running the dunes. He was home again and able to breathe. He still had moments when a vision of them entangled on the beach would strike, but it wasn't nearly as painful as being in the city. At least here there was some comfort to be found.

The weeks ticked by as he wondered what had happened to make her react that way? Did she find out about the trust for her Mother and was too proud to continue to be with him? Did she find out about the undercover work at the company? In retrospect, he could see all the deception that he had woven around their relationship. When he couldn't figure out which lie caused the downfall, he admitted it was for the best.

He missed her horribly in the interim.

Katie had put in for two weeks of vacation, needing a break. After the paperwork cleared, it was then she realized she had no where to go. There was still an ache where Linc had been in her life, so she packed a bag and headed to that same strip of coastline that they had went to for that one perfect weekend. As she passed palm trees and started to smell the salt in the air, something wrapped her up in a feeling of total bliss. Whether she was with Linc or without, there was something about this area that felt comfortable.

She pulled in to the parking lot next to the same area where they'd walked before. She strolled down to the water's edge, feeling its gentle pull. She made it just in time for the sun to go down, but found a few lights to guide her.

She'd taken a seat on an abandoned beach chair when she heard a rustle in the distance. Gold eyes glared at her and its teeth caught the streetlamp's light. The scream burst out of her before she could think and she ran straight for the cabin where she and Linc had stayed. She knocked and clawed at the door, knowing the chances of anyone being in the cabin now were slim. She held out hope that another renter had taken it and she'd have some refuge. After all, there was that red Mustang she saw in the lot next door.

Next time I'll rent a room before going to the beach
, she thought to herself, trying to calm down from whatever it was on the beach.

Chapter Ten

Linc knew he had frightened her but he wasn't expecting visitors and his wolf wanted to run. He cursed himself for it, even knowing there was nothing he could have done differently. As soon as he saw her there in the sandy chair he took off behind the dunes and went to the cabin. He had made it to the back door of the house moments before she knocked on the door.

When he came to the door, he knew she wasn't expecting him to still be there.

"Katie, what's the matter?" he asked

"There's something out there. Can I come in? What are you even still doing here?"

He could hear the twisting confusion in her voice, not knowing what to grasp onto first to talk about.

"Well I took leave of the company and came back home. There was little there for me when you called our relationship off."

"I called it off because you lied to me. Did we even have a relationship or was it part of your experiment? Did you get enough information out of me, or did you need another fuck or two?" The last question was raw, even for her when pained, and she immediately regretted it.

"Katie, you're going to want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you. I'm not going to lie to you and it will probably make you leave me, again, but at least this time you'll leave because of the truth and not because of a lie."

Wary, she sat in the far corner of the room, waiting on him to start. He paced the floor and wrung his hands, trying to find the words. She could see the difficulty it caused him to say whatever he was going to say to her. Her mind was already trying to think of what could be worse than the lie at the company.

He finally came to her and dropped to his knees in front of her. There he recounted the reasons for the week of undercover work, how it had started as a plan to show corporate that he belonged there. How it had morphed to just doing the right thing for his workers and then implementing those ideals whether the company wanted to or not. He told her he lied to her about being fired so that they could continue seeing each other.