Page 6 of Blazing Reactions

The samples waited exactly where she’d left them. Her computer was still running analysis programs, screens filled with data that shouldn’t be possible. As she pulled up the latest results, a notification flashed:

SECURITY ALERT: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED CLEARANCE LEVEL INSUFFICIENT FOR CLASSIFIED MATERIALS PLEASE CONTACT SUPERVISOR

“What the hell?” Asher tried to override the alert, but more kept popping up. Her previously unlimited access to the lab systems seemed to be shutting down.

The lab phone started ringing. Dr. Bennett’s name flashed on the display. She ignored it.

“Warning,” the building’s security system announced overhead. “Unauthorized protocol detected in Lab 7. Please cease all experimental procedures immediately.”

The phone rang again. Lori this time.

The lab doors suddenly locked with a heavy click.

“Final warning,” the system announced. “Security team has been notified. Please step away from all equipment.”

The miraculous serum she’d created earlier gleamed golden under the fluorescent lights. All her calculations showed it should work. The cellular repair capabilities she’d witnessed could be the key to stopping her genetic deterioration. Everyone was trying to protect her, but they didn’t understand – she was protecting herself.

The phone rang once more. Kaylee.

She prepped the syringe, squirting a drop from the needle’s tip. “For science,” she whispered and injected the serum before anyone could stop her.

Heat exploded through her veins like liquid fire. The lab equipment flickered and sparked around her as energy coursed through her body.

“Security breach detected,” the system announced calmly. “Containment protocols initiated.”

But Asher was already beyond hearing announcements. Her world had narrowed to pain and fire.

The lights flashed red as multiple alarms began blaring. Dr. Bennett rushed through the lab door, phone to his ear: “Mr. Draker? We have a problem.”

Her last coherent thought was that she probably should have listened to her friends.

FOUR

For the hundredth time that evening, Talon Draker caught himself tracking Asher Andrews’s scent through the building. He’d developed an embarrassing talent for it over the past six months since she started working for his company - catching traces of brilliant mind and fierce determination mixed with something uniquelyherthat made his dragon stir every time she came within fifty feet of his office.

Which was exactly why he’d started taking the far stairs whenever she approached. Eight hundred years of perfect control meant nothing when it came to Dr. Asher Andrews and her infuriating habit of challenging his decisions in board meetings while looking at him with those sharp, intelligent eyes.

His dragon had known the moment she walked into her first budget meeting.Mate. The recognition had hit so hard, he’d cracked the conference table’s edge. He’d spent the next six months burying that knowledge deep, exercising iron control while she systematically dismantled his financial projections with devastating accuracy.

Now, watching her through the security feed enter her lab at 11:47 PM, that control was about to snap completely.

“Mr. Draker? We have a problem.”

Dr. Bennett’s panicked call came too late. Talon had already watched Asher ignore multiple calls from her friends and family and seen her prepare the injection with steady hands that betrayed none of the fear he could scent even through the video feed.

Two months ago, his mother had warned him: “Keep an eye on Dr. Andrews’s research. She’s working on something that could change everything.” He’d dismissed it as his mother’s usual cryptic meddling, though his dragon had been suspiciously alert ever since.

The moment the needle pierced her skin, his world imploded. His dragon, after months of increasingly vocal protests about avoiding their mate, roared to full consciousness with such force that Talon’s carefully maintained control shattered.

The realization he’d been fighting crashed through every barrier he’d built: Not just his mate—but hisdyingmate. He’d seen her medical files, tracked her deteriorating condition that she hid so carefully beneath sharp wit and brilliant work. She wasn’t being reckless; she was fighting for her life.

His phone buzzed. “What?” he snapped, already moving toward the executive elevator.

“Your mate is terrifying,” Levi blurted. “I mean, Dr. Andrews is—wait, did you feel that? The energy spike when she—oh, shit.”

“Security center. Now.”

Talon ended the call, his focus entirely on reaching Asher. The building hummed with residual energy from her experiment, but all he could sense was her fading consciousness three floors below. For the first time in centuries, he let his dragon push him faster, harder.

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