Involuntary

Chapter Eleven

By the time she returned home from work Elena was overall upset with how the day had gone. She wasn't able to reach Bill to apologize about Dmitrei's behavior. Or talk him out of suing the shelter, if he planned on it, which would be a complete disaster for everyone involved. She hated how she had gone off on Dmitrei. It was true, he had hurt her feelings, but he hadn't meant to, obviously. She could have addressed it better. She could have done everything better. Unfortunately, she, like anyone, had bad days and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Besides figure out how to make it right.

It was still light out when she arrived home. She parked in her driveway, got out of her car, and leaned against it for a moment, enjoying the evening glow on the tall hedge of bushes in front of her house. She saw something move in the corner of her eye, turning her head to see a man getting out of a parked car and walking toward her. She let out a breath when she realized it was Bill. Maybe he had gotten her messages and he came to talk to her. He always seemed like a reasonable, even friendly, person and she didn't want today to jeopardize their working relationship.

She knew Dmitrei would be offended, but long after he decided to do whatever he wanted, she would still be here, taking care of the shelter. Dmitrei never made her any forever promises. It was stupid after knowing each other such a short time. She sighed and walked toward Bill.

She frowned seeing the look on his face. A faint red, mercurial, his eyes glaring. He backed her up in the direction of her house and she was in front of her car again. He folded his arms as he stared down at her, appearing as he never had before, "Do you want to explain what happened today? What your boyfriend did?"

"He's not my boyfriend," she muttered. "He's an employee who happens to really care about the animals, and I don't know what upset him today. He's never like that." She gave him a polite smile, "But I'm really, really sorry and on behalf of the shelter, I would love to know if there is anything I could do to make it up to you."

He frowned, then a dark smile curled the corners of his lips, "What did you have in mind?"

Not whatever he seemed to be thinking. Ugh. Maybe he wasn't so nice after all. "I thought, maybe, a plaque on the wall that commends your donations. Or naming a room after you? Something that acknowledges everything you've done?"

He stalked forward backing her up to the car until her back hit it. He looked her up and down, making her skin crawl. Why, oh why had she chased Dmitrei away? He was turning out to be right about too many things. Still, why had none of this happened before?

"Why don't you acknowledge everything I've done?" Bill said creepily, curling his lips as he got even closer.

She put up a hand. "Look, I'm sure we can work something out." She tried to side-step around him, but he trapped her further with his huge bulk. She looked around the street for any sign of help but didn't see anything. "Not like this, though." She struggled against him, pushing on him as he began to pull her into his arms. "Stop!" She pulled back, fighting to keep his lips off her. "Help!"

The bushes behind them rustled and she looked up in shock to see Dmitrei standing there behind Bill, glaring down at him with ominous rage in his icy blue eyes. He grabbed Bill by the scruff of the neck, "Oh, you have done it now."

"I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it," Bill screeched, groveling as he dangled in Dmitrei's grip.

Dmitrei looked intimidatingly large and angry, but then she saw him take a huge breath in an effort to stay calm. He glanced over at her, his eyes noting every detail of what the other man had done. He turned back to Bill with fury in his stare, letting his hands tighten as the other man struggled, "You touch her again, you are fucking dead. You got it? Dead. Not able to think about torturing puppies. Not able to creep on shelter workers. All because you will be dead."