The look he gave her was so familiar. She had seen it so often from her own father. The dismissive, arrogant look. The one that said she was worth nothing in his eyes. Her tiger rose in fury, but she held it down. If there was one thing that was not happening today, it was losing control of her temper. As much as she’d like to beat this guy’s ass.
“I asked you a question, Colonel. Am I understood?”
Patrick broke his gaze and glared at the fighting men. “Yes, sir,” he responded sarcastically. “I’m so sorry, sir. I’ll remember my place, sir.”
If purposefully misgendering her was meant to get her upset, Fiona wasn’t going to let herself rise to the bait. She glanced at the men, who were still fighting in the techniques she’d shown them. Evan was definitely the most gifted with this. The rest of them? Very high levels of strength. Very fit. But not very flexible. Great. She was going to have to start yoga and Pilates with them. They needed flexibility if they were going to be able to use this form.
Right now, though, the biggest problem was Patrick. The rest of them liked her well enough but with Patrick’s attitude, either they were going to start disrespecting her to get in their CO’s good books, or it was going to develop into an abscess between them and their Colonel. The team had to be unified. There couldn’t be this sort of massive rift when dealing with something so important.
Not to mention that he was eroding both of their authority in the way he was acting.
“Alright.” Fiona turned and took up a fighting stance. “It’s your turn, Colonel. Show me what you’ve got.”
Patrick glared for a moment before he turned, sliding into his own stance. Before either of them could attack, though, there was a soft cry from the men, and Eugene bolted from where he’d been sparring Stephen.
“Major,” Patrick barked, but Eugene didn’t seem to hear him.
One of the Academy’s teachers, Clementine Brown, was walking by, absorbed in the book in her hand while she dragged a suitcase behind her. Fiona watched, her brow puckered, when Eugene stopped in front of her. Clementine ran right into him and bounced back. When she looked up, her expression went from surprise to embarrassment to longing to blank so quickly Fiona barely had time to process it all.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Patrick growled.
“Don’t use that word,” Fiona said, even though she knew that her insistence on something like that would only lower her in the Colonel’s esteem. Without waiting for his response, she trotted across the field, to where Eugene stood speaking urgently at Clementine. She was staring straight at him, stone-faced.
“Please,” Eugene murmured to her. “Just talk to me.”
“I have to get to my classroom,” Clementine snapped just as Fiona reached them.
Fiona stepped in close. “Is there a problem here?”
“No,” Clementine replied. “Eugene and I used to date and apparently he’s forgotten that I broke up with him.”
“That’s not fair,” he started but Clementine, huffing angrily, stepped around him.
“Don’t talk to me,” she snapped. “I am not going through that again.”
Fiona’s curiosity flared. What was the drama going on between the two of them? Had Eugene done something…? She didn’t know much about Clementine, but Eugene was one of the sweetest guys she had ever met. But as much as she wanted to know the story, she knew that it wasn’t her place to pry. Even as she opened her mouth to tell Eugene to return to the group, though, Patrick had planted himself on the other side.
“Get back into formation, Major,” he shouted, a vein sticking out in his forehead. “Forget about chasing skirts and do what you’re fucking told to.”
Clementine glanced back, her eyes wide with no small amount of fear in them. That was enough to set Fiona’s blood to boiling.
“Colonel, you and I need to talk.”
“Don’t even start,” Patrick started, but Fiona wasn’t about to let him finish.
“You’re the one who started this. You have done nothing but sulk and throw tantrums since I met you. You’re not used to taking orders from someone like me, fine. I get that. There is an adjustment that needs to happen. I didn’t think a man who was willing to completely change his career for this job would be so ready to throw it all away by being a goddamn bastard, though.”
“Sorry I can’t indulge your reverse-harem fantasies—”
Fiona struck, slamming her fist into his throat. She pulled back just in time to stop from doing any serious damage, though. Patrick’s eyes widened. He choked, stumbling back, as Fiona slid into a fighting stance. It was all the invitation he needed. He came at her like a charging bull.
She sidestepped him, letting out a bark of laughter as he blundered past her. He turned on a dime and swiped at her, faster than she was expecting. She barely avoided the blow, but Patrick was too angry to think clearly. Fiona avoided his punches for only a little while before she found an opening and took it. She slammed her stiffened fingers into the soft spots of his body, kicked out her feet and followed him down. She got his arm in a wristlock and grasped the back of his head, pressing his face into the dirt.
There were no cheers or catcalling from the men. They were silent, perhaps recognizing that this was not the time. Fiona held Patrick there, her heart racing unexpectedly. Her tiger snarled, and there was a burning sensation somewhere inside of her. Memories threatened to press up against her brain. With effort, she shoved them back down.
She backed off Patrick, letting him stand as she got to her feet. He glowered at her as she turned to the men, keeping her face stony from years of experience even though right now all she wanted to do was break down crying. “And that, gentlemen, is fighting like a girl. If you start fighting like girls, maybe this won’t be an exercise in futility.”
The five of them looked uncomfortable and glanced at each other with uncertainty. Fiona took a deep breath, calming herself, and then looked back at Patrick. There was a chagrinned look on his face, but the anger radiating off him hadn’t lessened at all.
After a moment, she gestured at the men. “Get back to sparring. Colonel, I want you with Evan. You need to learn more flexibility, and he needs to learn strength.”
She thought he was going to argue, but after a moment, Patrick repeated the order to his men, and they broke off into groups. Fiona watched them, wishing she knew how to change this—because one thing was certain, it was not working.
Chapter Three
The door hit Patrick’s back as he stopped in the doorway. Two weeks after this whole nightmare started and the Blaze Ops were called for a briefing. But now when he stepped into the room? All he saw was Fiona waiting for him. He would have thought it was a setup, only she looked as surprised to see him as he was to see her. She was at a computer, wearing a suit that emphasized her curves in all the right ways.
“I wasn’t expecting anybody to show up this early,” she said as she glanced at the clock.
Patrick followed her gaze to find he had arrived a whole hour early. His fires burned a little hotter in embarrassment, but that was hardly the most embarrassing thing that had happened over the past two weeks. He cleared his throat as he set his attaché case on the table. He’d been acting like a real ass. Fighting like a girl? He never said things like that. What was it about Fiona that got under his skin?
Was it because she was a civilian, a non-shifter? Was that what made him so angry about the situation? It didn’t help that every time they’d fought, she had handed him his ass. She was fucking feral. Maybe it was her insistence that he not swear, like a little prude. She seemed determined to butt heads with him at every turn…
Although, he did have something he might be able to use to level the playing field a bit. He let out a sigh as she continued messing with the computer. It wasn’t good for the team for them to be so hostile toward each other. And once she had an attitude adjustment, he’d be much more pleasant. Right?
“I need to apologize,” he started slowly. She
wasn’t going to do it, that was certain, and they did need to have some sort of lull before he revealed what he knew. Otherwise she was just going to unsheathe those claws of hers and not let him blackmail her. “I have been acting… pretty terribly since we started this thing.”
Fiona looked up, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“I know that it’s been hurting my command among the men,” he continued. “They seem to like you more than me.”
Fiona snorted. “Maybe because I don’t start swearing at them the moment they mess up. You’re supposed to unify them, not beat them into the wrong shapes. They were chosen for their skills.”
“I know that.” His fires flared briefly, but he brought them back under control. “I helped pick them, remember? Things haven’t been going as well as they should be and I’m willing to own up to my part in that.”
Fiona studied him a moment longer before she nodded. “Alright, then. I accept your apology. I hope that this isn’t going to be just words, though. I’ve learned that you can say sorry all you want but it means jack shit if you don’t back it up with action.”
For the first time, Patrick wondered about that. There was a sad tone to her voice, like she was talking about something too painful to think about. He frowned as she turned back to her work. Perhaps he shouldn’t just spring what he knew about her out there in the open… This whole thing might be easier than he thought, if he was not quite so abrasive with her.
“I’ve never enjoyed these tactics with training,” Patrick said slowly. “The shouting and swearing, I mean.”
Fiona snorted. “Then why do it?”
Why do it indeed? Patrick considered for a minute. Maybe it was because she was taking his usual tact, being encouraging, explaining things, being all friendly with the men. Maybe he was jealous that they liked her better than him. Maybe it was because he caught the looks the men gave her when she walked away or bent over and wanted them to stop being so distracted.
“Not sure,” he hedged. “Maybe we could go out for drinks sometime and talk it over?”
“What?” Fiona turned to him again, incredulous. “Did you just ask me out?”
“I said drinks, not—”
“Is this some sort of bet?” Her eyes flashed.
“Bet?”
Fiona glowered at him. “I’m well aware that men like to play games with women, especially the women they feel threatened by. Did someone make a bet with you, see if you could seduce me? Because I assure you, I am not easily seduced.”
“There’s no bet!”
“Sure. Well, I don’t drink, anyway.”
Patrick felt that familiar sneer rising on his face. Before he could stop himself, he’d shot out, “Of course, you don’t.”
He would have continued but Fiona slammed her palms against the table, startling him. “You know, when Maura asked me to do this, I knew there would be trouble. I just didn’t think it would come from you. I’ve studied your record; I’ve talked to people you’ve worked with. I didn’t count on you being a misogynistic asshole.”
Patrick flinched, far too aware of the truth of what she was saying to continue on his path. He didn’t even know what he wanted to do with this now…
Did he continue trying to blackmail her, or did he recognize his own part in the conflict between them and try to resolve it the logical way? Figure out why she affected him like she did and then figure out how to stop acting like a complete idiot around her?
“Look,” he said slowly, knowing that if anything, he had to clear that up. “I know that some of the things I’ve said have been… bad. Really bad. But that’s not what is happening. I don’t have a problem with you because you’re a woman. I don’t mean half of what I say. I’m not even sure why I say it.”
Fiona only frowned at him.
“It’s unfair to you to act like that’s my problem,” he continued, surprised at his own honesty. But this was the first time he felt like himself since he’d started this whole thing. His shoulders slumped and he sagged in his chair, suddenly exhausted with the whole thing. “I don’t even know where all this anger is coming from. You are more than qualified, and I should have been able to accept that things weren’t going quite as I expected when Maura told me we’d have a civilian trainer.”
“Is it because I’m a civilian?”
Patrick shrugged. “That might be part of it. It might also be because I was expecting to train my own men. And I’ve never seen the purpose of yoga.”
“Just because I don’t use a gun doesn’t mean I can’t be killed by one.” Fiona folded her arms. Her gaze was softer than normal but there was still a hardness to her, a look like she wasn’t at all pleased with anything he was saying. Was that what was bugging him about her? “It’s the same with everything. When you use a weapon, the chances of a bystander being caught in the crossfire increases. I’m not stupid, I know that the team is going to have to use weapons. That you’re going to have to use your shifting abilities. That’s why you were chosen. My purposes are to give you tools to use so that shooting people or burning them up aren’t the only options you have. If you bothered to pay attention, you’d know that.”
“Hard to pay attention when you’re always knocking me to the ground.”
“It’d be harder to knock you down if you realized I can actually fight.”
“I’ll give you that one,” Patrick muttered. It surprised him every time he saw her fight how strong and fluid she was. It was so much like dance, he got caught up in watching her without studying her movements.
Fiona smirked. “Do you know anything about computers? Evan told me how to set this up, but I don’t think he was even speaking English.”
Patrick laughed. That sounded like Evan and his computer. He rounded the table and helped Fiona with setting the stuff up, pleasantly surprised that he was actually enjoying her company. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t brought up what he knew of her dark past… Maybe all they needed to do was have a little bit of communication after all.
“So why did you join the Academy?” he asked her when the large screen successfully displayed the presentation Fiona wanted to discuss. “Are you supposed to be a teacher or were you brought in just for us?”
“I’m a professor here, yes. I’ve trained most of our covert ops. The Shadow Ops was the one that gave me the most trouble until you came along. Maura asked me to join because she knows about my history. My doctorate gives me a good reason to be here. Nobody’s going to think that a dance instructor is training covert military operatives.”
“That’s true.”
She smelled like honey. A familiar burning moved through Patrick’s body. Rather than reading it as anger, though, he was shocked to realize that it was… attraction. Was that what had been making him act like an utter idiot these past two weeks? Fiona was hot, all curves. Soft over her strong muscles. He cleared his throat and looked away.
“I just want to make the world a better place,” Fiona continued softly, her expression turning to one of sorrow. “Seems like the least I can do.”
Patrick didn’t know what it was; if he was moved by his sudden realization that he found her attractive, or if there was something in her voice or eyes that drew him in. Maybe it was the sudden flaring of his flames.
It wasn’t until his arms were wrapped around Fiona, bending her slightly back, her hand around his neck while her eyes went wide, that he realized what he was doing. By then, the draw was too great. He pressed his lips to hers, firmly, insistently. His fires went wild, burning all the way through his body. Her lips were soft and warm, like the rest of her. He pulled her tighter into his arms as she drew him in as well. With a moan she parted her lips, lifting one of her legs up over his hip—
The door banged open.
Patrick righted her, and they sprang apart. Fiona’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright. There was a dazed look to her expression, one that Patrick felt on his own face. He didn’t even look to see who had entered, too entranced st
ill by the lingering taste of her kiss.
“Cooper, Erica,” Fiona greeted, her voice reaching a high pitch. “You’re early.”
Patrick finally broke his gaze from her. He turned to see two people enter the room. Cooper was the head of the Shadow Ops, a lion shifter with an ego that was definitely compensating for something. Erica was a doctor, though what kind Patrick didn’t know. She gave him a disapproving look while Cooper smirked. The knowing grin made Patrick want to punch him in the face.
She’s a civilian, there aren’t any rules against it, he wanted to say, but he wasn’t entirely certain what had happened, really. He rounded the table and took his spot.
“We wanted to come early,” Cooper drawled as he took his own spot, “because Erica’s a bit confused as to what’s happening with this training mission. The Shadow’s keeping her captive and the Blaze is trying to get her out, right?”
“Right,” Fiona replied, her cheeks still flushed.
“And why my team?” Cooper rose a brow. “It’s not like the dragons are ready to take us on yet.”
Patrick would have liked to snap at that, but the fact was, he didn’t entirely disagree. The Shadow Ops were apparently the first covert group to be trained here at the academy. They were established and would be a formidable opponent.
“Everything will be explained in the briefing,” Fiona replied coolly. “And get your feet off the table.”
Patrick grinned as Cooper scowled. They might be underqualified to take on the Shadow Ops right now… but Patrick was still going to enjoy this.
Chapter Four
Kisses were not supposed to be like that.
Fiona swallowed dryly, distracted from the idle chatter around her as that moment from before the briefing played over and over in her mind. Patrick finally being a half decent person toward her. That grin that had made her stomach squeeze in an unexpected way. The feeling of his arms sliding around her. The taste of his lips. The surprise of it muted by the heat that flowered in her core. The way her tiger had snarled when he pulled away, wanting more.
Dragon’s Mission (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 1) Page 2
