Sarah cleared her throat. “Dr. Watkins. Sarah Watkins.”
“Nice to meet you. I understand you met our boy here when you were in the process of busting one of my civilians out of that lab. I’d like to thank you for your service to the species and for what you’re doing with John’s case.”
“You’re welcome.” What the hell else was she supposed to say? “Listen, if you could just—”
The King spoke right over her—which was better than getting beheaded, she decided. “You can’t stay in our world, however. I cannot allow you to do that—”
Murhder cut in. “There are humans all over your training center—”
“I know you did not just interrupt me,” the King bit out at Murhder. Then he refocused on Sarah. “Now, I realize you mean us no harm. I can scent you.” He touched the side of his noise. “You are without ulterior motive and you do not lie. But—”
“She’s in danger,” Murhder interrupted. “They already killed her fiancé for what he learned about the hidden lab. They’re going to do the same to her. She’s seeking asylum from that CEO—”
The male with the tattoos on his face turned his cell phone around. “That boy’s dead. Assuming you’re talking about Dr. Robert Kraiten, CEO of BioMed, he was found on the floor of his kitchen with a knife in his own hand and his lower intestines all over the place about two hours ago. So if that’s the threat you’re talking about, it’s been neutralized.”
“Goddamn it,” Murhder said under his breath.
Sarah blinked. “He killed himself?”
“Gutted, I believe is the term,” the vampire with the cell phone said. “And yup, did the handiwork all by his little lonesome.”
“Is there anyone else you can think of from that company who’d want to hurt you?” the King asked.
“Not that I know of.” Sarah shook her head. “But who can say for sure. I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not working there anymore.”
They weren’t going to want her anyway—
“No one’s going to be working there anymore.” The vampire with those tattoos shrugged and put his phone away. “The whole thing is closing down. That guy with the abdominal leak closed up everything yesterday. Shut the two campuses. Sent everyone home.”
Sarah could only blink as the ramifications of it all spun in her head.
“So I don’t need to worry about meeting with HR,” she muttered.
Shutting the whole corporation down? Made sense, and apparently, Kraiten wasn’t going to be doing anything in the future but pushing up daisies. Still, what if there were other labs around the country run by other people, doing the same thing?
As she fell silent, Murhder started to argue for her safety, and immediately, the tenor in the room got aggressive, male voices raising, male bodies leaning forward. It was all the same arguments, that other humans were allowed in the world, that she was helping John, that nobody wanted attention from Homo sapiens, but exceptions had been made; they’d been through all of it before.
“This is bullshit,” Murhder spat. “And it’s more to do with me than her, isn’t that right.”
The male with the tattoos spoke up over the debating. “Finally, you get it. You’re not sticking around here, big boy. So she’s not. It’s really just that simple.”
“I can take care of her—”
“You can’t take care of yourself—”
“Fuck you!”
“Stop it!” Sarah said in a loud bark. “Just stop.”
With her head pounding and her emotions on the brink, she took a couple of deep breaths in the silence that followed. All of the men—males—were focused on her. She stared at the King.
This was going absolutely nowhere. Even though they knew she had no ulterior motive, it was very clear that they would never trust Murhder, and it was for that reason she wasn’t going to be allowed to stay.
With a heavy heart, she thought about what he’d said in the car outside. That he didn’t want her to know what he was really like.
The problem was more that these males didn’t know who he was. But have fun trying to convince them otherwise.
“I don’t want any trouble,” she said to the King. “And it’s not for us to second-guess your decision. I’ll go back where I belong. I just—I promised Nate I would say goodbye before I left, and I want to hand over my idea about John’s treatment properly. Will you permit me to do both of those things before I leave?”