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“Meet me in the park?” Stan suggested, and Kayla cringed. They had met in the park a hundred times before, finding a quiet spot to sit on the good days and arguing like, well, cats and dogs on their bad.
“Fine,” Kayla ground the words out through gritted teeth. “I'll—”
She never got the chance to finish her words because the office door behind her suddenly burst open.
“You!” Lance roared, his eyes locking onto Stan immediately. Kayla felt small and insignificant as Lance charged across the room.
“Lance, please! Don't!” Kayla cried out as he grabbed hold of Stan by the throat.
The lion shifter's eyes looked like they were going to pop right out of his head as Lance dragged him toward the hall.
Even as they disappeared through the doors, Kayla could hear her boss. “You are leaving now, and Kayla willnotbe meeting you, now or ever. You will stay away from her or you will havemeto deal with. Am I understood?”
The only response Kayla heard from Stan was a half-choked, half-grumbled sound that was completely indecipherable.
Footsteps continued to march through the building, the sound of dragging feet overlapping it.
Then, finally, a door was shoved open and slammed shut before Lance came marching right back.
It was only when he loomed over her that Kayla realized she had slumped back down into her chair. “You will not be meeting him, Kayla, now or ever,” he repeated.
He glowered down at Kayla, a hard yet protective look in his eye.
All she could do was softly nod her head. The hard lump in her throat left her speechless. And before she could come up with anything to say, Lance added, “And I will be escorting you home this evening.”
His tone left little room for argument, and before Kayla could even open her mouth to try, Lance turned and stormed back into his office. He slammed the door behind him with such force that it sent a shiver down Kayla's spine.
Chapter 8 - Lance
Never in his life had Lance felt such an urge to punch someone's lights out. It had taken everything in him not to snap Stan's scrawny little neck. For a shifter, the man was pretty weak and repulsive. Lance had met his fair share of shifters—lions, bears, tigers, even a dragon or two over the years, but Stan was by far the most pathetic.
And somehow, that only made Lance angrier. Why should he waste his time on someone so insignificant?
For Kayla.That was all the encouragement he needed. And so, the moment the end of the day came, he grabbed his jacket and headed for Kayla's desk.
“Come on, let's get you home,” he said. He hadn't meant for his words to sound cold, but he was certain that they did, especially when he saw the discomfort in Kayla's gaze. A little more softly, he added, “Let me take that for you.”
Before she could protest, he took her laptop bag from her and slung it over his shoulder, gesturing for her to lead the way out.
“Everything alright?” Lewis asked from the doorway of his own office. Having been out on a house call during the Stan incident, he had missed the whole thing.
“Fine,” Lance grunted and continued on. He was in no mood for his son's questions.
Holding the door open for Kayla, he slipped out after her and said, “We'll be taking my truck.”
“There really is no need for this,” Kayla protested as they made their way for the side door of the building that led to the parking lot. “I am perfectly capable of walking myself home.”
“I might have agreed with you until I learned that fuckwit in the alleyway last night was your damn ex!” Lance snapped back at her, his fury growing threefold. “Why didn't you tell me?”
Kayla blushed, averting her gaze. She adjusted her handbag on her shoulder and Lance saw the way she gulped. “I was worried you might overreact, what with—”
She didn't get the chance to finish. She didn't need to. Lance knew all too well what she was going to say.
“How could I possibly overreact? That guy attacked you last night. He wouldn't leave you alone afterward, and then he has the balls to show up at your work inside a damn security firm run by werewolves? He's insane, Kayla. You need to stay away from him.”
“I intend to.”
There was very little Lance could say to that and so he simply held open the door again.
