“You’re a liability.”
It was harsh and made her flinch. She glanced about for a camera but saw none, remembering the security feeds and having never seen any feeding Reid’s rooms.
“What,” she swallowed, “do you mean?”Liability?
“You not only trespassed into a secure section, but you also tampered with the facility’s security, and into its most private data.”
“I didn’t read the data? I don’t understand. It was reports, numbers, and codes... and pictures. I saw pictures from your view. Of you.”
The lights around her flickered, making her jump.
“Are you trustworthy, Clara dear?” His voice was so cold. It froze the ice in her veins.
“Of course I am! Reid?” She stood up.
“You’re a fucking liar.”
“I’m not lying. I don’t care about whatever goes on here! But I saw the pictures of you during the war and of your... your other form. I know you’re a shifter, a dog, whatever that is being a Cyborg. I’m not lying, I saw it. I looked at the images and I don’t care.”
When he didn’t respond, she wondered if he had heard her. The vacuous, haunting noises of machinery powering down all around filled her ears. The space dimmed to near darkness before she rushed to the bedside table and slipped her hand over the tech until some of it powered on for light. A loud, groaning sound encapsulated her world, the facility’s last lingering breath of life.
“You see, Clara, there’s a reason I stay alone, live alone, prowl alone. Whenever I get close to someone they either betray me, disappoint me, or die. There hasn’t been a breeder here in years, at least not one who originated here, until you. I made a fucking mistake in letting you stay.”
“You’re being a real asshole!” she shot out into the shadows, her numbness fading and being replaced by confused anger. “I’m not the one who left me trapped in a room for hours with nothing to do but think and explore.”
“And prove that you’re just another meddlesome girl. Who do you think I’ll choose in the end? You or my brethren?”
“Fuck you, Reid.”
“Yes. Clara, fuck me.”
Something in her snapped, cracked, shattered into an ear-splitting screech of glass through her head. The panel door shot open, releasing her from her temporary prison, to a hallway lined with emergency lights. She didn’t waste any time heading to her room, to her mostly packed bag and grabbing her belongings before heading to the reception and the exit.
Reid’s office door was open, making her stop and peer in. She suddenly realized his collar still hung from her twisted fingers. Clara slammed it on his desk and walked away.
The early morning blast of the night chill swallowed her up and she hated it. Hated that it reminded her of how cold Reid really was. Hated that he chose to be cold with her.
A dark figure leaned against her flyer door, familiar and cocky, in that way she’d come to expect. Another vehicle was parked next to hers.
“I’m leaving.”
“I can tell.”
When he didn’t move, she rounded to the passenger side and threw it open, putting her bag in the back. She moved to crawl through but was stopped by his foot sinking into the driver’s seat. It only stopped for her for a second as she pretended to ignore him and fit her body around it, turning her flyer on and screaming in her head to get the memo.
He grabbed her arm and stopped her from maneuvering it into the air with him still half in it. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re not leaving.”
The piece of her that had broken, now stabbed at her sides and made her bleed. “I so fucking am, you have no idea. If you try and stop me, I think I might try and kill you.”
“You’re pregnant with my child,” his voice lowered and he tried to get her to look at him. Clara gritted her teeth and refused.
“Are you so certain? History says there’s a one-hundred percent failure rate at this facility.” He winced, and she bit down on her tongue.
“You don’t know?”
“I know enough.”
“What did you find out?” The hold on her arm loosened slightly.
