ChapterFour: Discriminatory Lay-off

March 2156

At the same time, Cassie was nearing the end of the shift for the day at Formero21. Since it was Spring Break Week, there was a large influx of customers, mainly coming from the Native cities. Based on the history books of the Natives, they seem to observe some kind of a holiday coming up, similar to Easter. Their religions varied, but their main one was one similar to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Despite what the books recorded, there didn't seem to be any evidence of their bible. If there was one, the copies were back in the Native cities.

At this point, Cassie was tired from working almost every day, but she couldn't request, at least, one day off for the week. It was her duty to work and attend school if she wanted to stay on GH569. She even applied to several universities in both Parisian and New Yorkshire. She was mainly aiming to get into the University of Parisian just so she could be closer to Damon. She knew he had plans on to going to college eventually, but he needed to find the truth about his origins first.

After ringing up the last customer of her shift, she was replaced by the next shift employee. She was allowed to clock out. As soon as she did that, the managers that were working that day walked up to her. They asked her to sit down.

One of them, a Gen-Mod woman whose hair was comparable to one of the biggest female pop acts back on Earth, sat in front of her. She asked Cassie, "I know we don't really talk much, but based on what the other managers were saying, you're mated to a Native. Is that correct?"

That surprised Cassie. What manager would even ask her that type of question? She made sure to block her mind-feed from the both managers and employees concerning her love life. Sure some of the employees who were her friends knew she was with Damon, but she never shared the information about to everyone.

Blocking her mind-feed, she asked, "I never said I was mated to a Native, let alone dating anyone."

The manager pressed on, "Miss Cassandra, other employees have seen you act very friendly towards a particularly frequent customer. Deductions told me that he is your mate. He looked like a Normal, but on the days that I was working, I noticed his fingernails looked slightly longer than usual. It was like he was a Native. Now answer me again. Are you dating a Native?"

This was angering Cassie even more. It wasn't any of anyone's business if she was dating a Native. Why act bothered by this when the majority of their customers are Natives from the Native cities?

Cassie sighed, and said sternly, "It's no one's business what species my mate is. It shouldn't matter if he's a Native or not."

"So he is a Native."

"Actually, no. He's from Earth, but he's a Hunter. That's what they're called. Are you happy?"

The manager stood up, and gave a smarmy smirk. She told her, "Reject him, or you're fired."

Cassie's eyes widened. She couldn't believe they were treating her like this! Suddenly, the managers, including the smarmy general manager, noticed something that surprised them. Cassie, ignoring their expressions, told them, "I refuse to allow you to discriminate me and Damon. We're all Gen-Mods. We have faced generations of racial slurs and discrimination from the Normals and possibly Hunters. You three, including you Holly, are no better than the Normals. I. Quit."

With that, Cassie grabbed her favorite leather jacket and her purse. She then stormed out of the stockroom. She marched up to her car, and sped away in anger. She kept driving, feeling her anger driving in her veins. The managers, especially Holly, had no right to put her job in danger just for dating a Hunter. They shouldn't have made her choose between her job and Damon. She knew in her heart she made the right choice.

She arrived near the Parisian fence. It was evening, but the sun wasn't to set until close to 8o'clock. Cassie just wanted to sit in her car while staring at the forests beyond the fence. She heard that the military wants to begin constructing roads to connect the cities, but everyone knew the Central Government won't allow that. Still, Cassie has become more curious about the forests, especially after seeing the Forest Natives. They seemed wild, but the mother just found her little boy, and was protective of him. She did notice their eyes though. The boy's eyes were a normal hazel, but the mother's? It was like she was bordering between Hunter mode and her host mode. It was strange, but was interesting and different compared to what she saw back in the Halloween masquerade party.

As she was looking out at the forest, her phone went off. She answer immediately, "Yes?"

A recognizable male voice spoke warmly, "Cassie!"

She smiled, "Damon! How's everything?"

Damon replied, "Good. I'm rooming with James and this French guy named Finn. I met David Guttenberg the Younger, also known as a Duke. He was quite the troublemaker back in the German State. There was always some type of scandal involving him."

Cassie giggled when she heard that. Suddenly she overheard another voice in a German accent in the background to Damon, "Shut up, nerd!"

She asked Damon, "Is that Duke?"

Damon sighed, "Yeah, it's Duke. He just found my small book collection in my bag, and he heard me telling you about his life back in the German State."

"Hey, you're not a nerd just for reading books. It's a good thing."

He smiled, "Thanks, Cassie. Look, I have to go now. I'm about to go to the medical facility. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Damon."

"Bye, Cass."

With that, Cassie hung up. She could've told him that she quit her job, but at the same time she didn't want to be sent home. She didn't want to be away from her mate. She needed to get something quick.

As she kept looking at the forests, a military officer walks up to her. She ordered, "What are you doing here? No civilians are allowed to be here."

Cassie took out her wallet, and showed her military ID to show lived on the base. Suddenly an idea popped into her. She asked the officer, "Is the Historical Accuracy Division recruiting Gen-Mods?"

Just as the officer was about to ask why, her eyes widened she looked at Cassie.

The sun had finally set. Cassie arrived at her house. She saw Breyden on his tablet while watching his twin daughters. As she was about to go into her room, Breyden stopped her by asking her this: "You're really going to join HAD, aren't you?"

Cassie sighed, "The Gen-Mods will act as guardians for the Hunters within HAD. Why not take that opportunity?"

"You're only doing this so you can stay on GH569, and be with Damon when possible. You left your job due to the managers discriminating you and him. It's understandable."

Breyden faced Cassie, and as like everyone else, he had a shocked expression on his face. Cassie noticed this, so she asked, "Why is everyone looking at me weirdly?"

He told her, "Look in the mirror."

She raised an eyebrow, and walked to the nearest mirror. She was also surprised by what she saw. Her usual brown eyes were now golden, like a wolf's eyes. Breyden walked up to her, and said, "Your Alpha is emerging. You need to get into training as soon as possible."