Page 1 of Fake Dating a Human 101

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Lily Baker and the Thing that Happened Before Shayne Left

One Month Ago

On a glassy moonlit night, a young police officer moved from shadow to shadow. The cool wind kissed her cheeks and fluttered her blonde hair while starlight glimmered down the ink on her arms that told her life story in carefully woven pictures. She glanced over her shoulder every time a car passed on the road or a small animal scurried by. When she got to the back door of Desmount Tech Industries, she pulled her key card from her pocket and made her way inside.

Most of the halls were unlit, only flashing on via sensors when she entered them. She passed two people on her way to the stairs—overachievers who never went home, likely. Desmount Tech’s hardest workers. She probably owed them half the credit for bringing her inventions to life. She trotted up the stairs, the patters of her shoes echoing through the empty, wide-open space in the lobby. When she came around the bend to her lab, she saw someone waiting for her in the hall.

Gabe Desmount looked up from the file in his hands. He slapped it shut and cast her a charming, boyish smile. The kid was fresh out of high school, but he was probably the most powerful person—well, human anyway—that Lily knew. Definitely the richest. It showed in his tailored suit and how his hair was perfectly styled even in the middle of the night.

“Did it work?” Lily asked as Gabe handed her the file.

“We’ve only tested it against the fae blood samples we had. Obviously it’s difficult to shoot atrealfae for our tests. But the bullets pulled left or right toward the targets and released our paralyzing toxin upon impact. One hit with our bullets, and any fae will tumble to the ground unable to move.” Gabe opened the lab door and led the way inside. He lifted a gun from a pedestal on the centre table, and he handed it to Lily. “This one is different though—our newest one. This one targets to kill. It releases a fast-working poison capsule once the bullet hits a body.”

Lily studied the gun, rolling it over in her hands. She lifted it as if she meant to fire. Then she lowered it to look it over again. “It feels nice. It’s not as heavy as my normal gun,” she said.

Gabe nodded. “We could make smaller versions of these and arm people across the country. Women could keep them in their purses. The goal is to make them so they’ll do minimal-to-no damage to us humans, even if fired by accident, so it wouldn’t be a safety concern. But people will be able to defend themselves if fairies try to kidnap them like with what happened to your friend last Christmas.”

Lily handed the gun back, but Gabe shook his head. “You keep it. You’re the one in the company of fae, Baker.”

Lily chuckled. “My fairies aren’t the ones we need to worry about.”

The edge of Gabe’s mouth tugged like he wanted to disagree. He turned for the table though and picked up a stack of papers. “You can look over the design if you’d like. I don’t need these back.” He offered them to her, and Lily tucked them under her arm along with the new weapon.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said. She turned to leave when Gabe spoke again.

“Isn’t it getting hard?” he asked, stopping her at the door.

There was something in his voice that made Lily not want to ask what he meant, but she did anyway. “Is what getting hard?” she said over her shoulder.

“All the sneaking around? Working a full day at the station, and then coming here to work more in the evenings? Hiding the truth from the fae in your midst?” he clarified. Gabe slid his hands into his pockets. “You could quit being a cop and come work for me full time. You know I could use your expertise on all this specialty tech. And you could help me test the gear for the Canadian police forces, too.”

Lily glanced at the museum of weaponry on the walls. Things she’d help build. Designs she’d thought of all on her own. Desmount Tech would probably pay better than the force. But…

“I have siblings to protect,” she said. “I need to be a cop.”

Gabe nodded and folded his arms. “Well, my offer stands now or later if you change your mind. Get home safe, Baker.”

Lily waved as she left, closing the door quietly behind her.

She moved through the halls and tapped her way back down the lobby staircase. No one was around anymore when she made her way through the back halls. The gun and papers slipped when she reached for the back door, so she pulled them from beneath her arm as she pushed her way outside.

She came to a halt. The door slammed shut behind her. Wind prickled her ears as a strange, warm sensation dragged over her back like a finger running along her skin.Or, like someone’s heated, magical gaze was sizing her up.

She spun and raised the gun, dropping her papers. The sheets of information and diagrams flew into the wind and dispersed as she took in a tall, annoying, admittedly handsome fairy watching her, his white hair ruffling in the breeze, his t-shirt flapping against his body. Shayne was barefoot on the cold sidewalk on top of being completely unwelcome. Lily’s papers glided down around him, then rolled away in too many directions for her to chase.

She moved to lower her gun, but Shayne grabbed it. He held it there. Aimed at him.

“What are you planning to do with this fairy killer, ugly Human?” he asked. His smile was taunting, but there was a thinness to his lips that made Lily think he was mad. She looked right then left as she tried to come up with an answer he’d buy. “Fine,” he said first. “I’ll go destroy everything I just saw up in that room, then.” He nodded toward the building behind her.

“What room?” Lily asked, her mouth going dry. His dramatic, slow blinking told her exactly what room he spoke of. That he knew. He’d seen. “Don’t touch anything,” she warned, thinking of the months of work she had hiding away inthatroom.

Shayne yanked her gun, pulling her hand with it. He pressed the barrel against his beating heart—right where one single shot would end him. “Are you going to shoot me, Human?” he asked.

“Are you crazy, Shayne?” Lily rasped. She tried to jerk the gun back, but he didn’t let go. In fact, he slid his other hand around hers, wrapping his thumb over her forefinger and placing a dangerous amount of pressure on the trigger. “Shayne!” she scolded. “This will kill you!” But when her eyes flashed up from the gun, she found he wasn’t smiling anymore. She rarely saw Shayne serious; it made her words catch in the back of her throat.

“Never talk about killing a fairy to a fairy,” he articulated. “Andespecially…” Shayne tugged the gun away, forcing Lily to lose her grip and stumble forward into his chest. In the same motion, he caught her waist and swung her around, pinning her against the wall of Desmount Tech. An eruption of butterflies spilled into her stomach when their faces came inches apart and his lipsalmostbumped into hers. “...never aim a weapon at one unless you’re prepared to shoot it,” he finished. Lily pulled her mouth closed and forced her gaze up to his eyes where it belonged.

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