Page 29 of Facade

Jace shrugged. “No problem. I’d be checking the basement under my own dorm anyway, and the same for Clark with the powered students. If we see any unauthorized activity, we’ll notify the department heads. Don’t worry about Mitch and Ray. At the rate they’re going, neither of them will last the year.”

Heath crossed the first two fingers on his right hand, and held them up. “Here’s hoping,” he said. “It sounds shitty to want someone to be fired, but the casters can’t stand Ray. They feel like they don’t even have a monitor, which offends me. He’s worthless.”

“If they lose their jobs, it will be because they don’t perform satisfactorily,” Jace said bluntly. “That’s on them. There’s nothing wrong with you wanting the casters to have a responsible monitor who is invested in the students. These kids deserve someone who gives a shit, especially the underage boys. If Mitch and Ray would put the same amount of effort into their students that they do harassing Clark, no one would have an issue with them. Both of those idiots are on my last nerve.”

“They are still blaming Clark for their shortcomings?” Heath asked.

“Yeah,” Jace said. “I think Mitch is taking it further than insults, but Clark hasn’t discussed it with me.”

“That’s so petty. Hopefully, it will all sort out soon,” Heath said. “But back to the mouse problem, there is a colony of feral cats near my house. I had most of them fixed, and have been leaving food out for them. We could put them in the basement.”

“Good idea,” Jace said. “They’ll be sheltered from the elements, and solve the rodent problem. I’ll work on making a couple of cat houses with beds and feeding stations. Let me know when you want to do this.”

“Will do. I’ll donate some building supplies and cat beds.”

They spent the rest of lunch chatting about the upcoming football season. It was pleasant, but something about Jace’s casual demeanor seemed forced.

“This was nice. We should try to do this more often,” Jace said as he stood to leave.

“I agree. See you at the game on Friday.”

Heath was still very curious about whatever was going on with Jace, but positive that he had nothing to do with the missing graduates. Maybe working together to get cats in the basement would provide more clues.

Jace

Fuck, fuck, fuck. It had never crossed his mind that Heath would have set alarms notifying him of activity in the basement. Jace knew that he hadn’t controlled his reaction to that news as well as he would have liked. This could complicate everything.

Hopefully, Heath had bought his partial truths about their reason for exploring the tunnels. The last thing they needed was for Heath to get curious, and start nosing around. He was smart enough to potentially discover Clarke’s identity and reason for being here with sufficient clues.

Heath Halston was a good guy, who Jace considered trustworthy. It was doubtful he had anything to do with Charlie’s kidnapping. Currently, however, everyone was a suspect.

Keeping Clarke’s secrets were paramount. It would probably be best to avoid the tunnel for a couple of days until he was confident that Heath had removed the spell. Risking exposure could jeopardize everything.

He and Clarke had just found a private place to meet, where they could nurture the bond without risk. Jace wasn’t about to give that up. They both needed that outlet from stress, and the security of the connection.

The worry for Charlie was bad enough. Keeping up the pretense of only being coworkers was more difficult every day. His wolverine struggled with the distance, needing to be close to his mate. Jace was moody, restless, and eating less than usual.

Sexual desire was a component, but it was togetherness and routine that the animal craved most. He needed the soothing structure and emotional security of shared meals, sleeping next to each other, and their scents mingled in one living space.

Clarke knew he was feeling the strain of being unable to feed the bond. She felt guilty for no reason. Clarke was also suffering, and hadn’t created the untenable circumstances they were caught in.

Jace’s parents checked in every day. Their unconditional support and calming influence made the distance from Clarke bearable. They understood the demands of his animal side, and that keeping distance from his mate would be akin to torture.

The love and staunch support of his parents helped a great deal. Still, he didn’t know how long he’d be able to play this game without having the refuge that the tunnel offered.

When they were able to touch freely away from prying eyes, Jace felt like he could actually breathe. There was comfort in simply being able to talk without watching every word, or wondering who might be able to hear them.

At least making habitats for feral cats would give them a viable excuse for being down there for more than a few minutes at a time, even if Heath forgot to cancel the alert immediately. Clarke was also an animal lover, and would help regardless. She and Charlie had donated both time and money to animal rescues in their area.

On his way back to the training center, Jace texted Clarke to meet him behind the dorms in their usual spot after classes. She replied that she would see him then.

As students began to arrive for the last class of the day, Jace had a notification from admin that Dean Stanhope was calling a staff meeting the following afternoon. This was not the regularly-scheduled monthly meeting, which would take place in two weeks. Jace idly wondered what prompted that, but he would find out the next day.

Clarke was standing in the shade of an elm tree when Jace reached the meeting spot.

“Is everything ok?” Clarke asked. “You look irritated.”

“We need to avoid the basement for at least a day, possibly two. That makes me cranky,” Jace said. “It’s our spot, and we just found it.”