Arlo (sci-fi romance - The Ember Quest Book 4)

by Arcadia Shield

  “Yes, we’re partners.” Arlo sat next to her on the edge of the bed and pulled something out of his pocket. “We look out for each other. We help each other out. We maybe even treat each other sometimes.” He placed a small bar of dark chocolate into her hand.

  Juniper’s eyes widened, and her mouth watered. “Are you kidding me? This is actually chocolate?”

  He grinned at her. “I didn’t know if you had a sweet tooth.”

  “I absolutely do.” She passed him her mug and ripped the paper off the chocolate. She lifted it to her nose and groaned. “It smells amazing.”

  “I bargained a new pair of boots with Juliet for that. She always has goodies stashed away in the canteen that she’s willing to trade for the right price.”

  Juniper looked down at Arlo’s scuffed black boots. “That’s an expensive trade.”

  He shrugged. “I love these boots. Besides, it takes ages to break in a new pair. I figured you need the chocolate more than I need new boots and blisters.”

  The chocolate was slightly warm and melting against the pads of her fingers. Juniper broke off a chunk and placed it between her teeth, letting them sink into the soft, warm, sweet, gooey mess. She closed her eyes and sucked in the chunk of chocolate, another groan escaping from her lips.

  She opened her eyes as Arlo lifted her hand. He took one of her chocolate-covered fingers and drew it into his mouth. She saw the lust in his eyes as his teeth grazed the delicate flesh of her finger. Holy dragons, he did weird things to her insides.

  After he’d sucked the chocolate clean from her finger, he smiled. “It tastes good.”

  Juniper felt her cheeks heat. “Would you like a piece?”

  “I’ve had my fill of chocolate.” His gaze drifted to Juniper’s mouth, and he leaned toward her.

  This was madness. They were in the middle of a living nightmare. She shouldn’t let her lustful thoughts about Arlo get in the way.

  “Maybe we should...” Her words trailed off. All she had to do was lean forward another inch, and she could lose herself in Arlo. Still, she resisted him. Juniper had lost so many people she cared about over the last year. If she fell for Arlo and anything bad happened to him, she didn’t know how she’d survive. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she would survive.

  “Arlo. We’re all in the briefing room. Ready when you are.” It was Heath over the comms.

  Arlo sat back and activated his wrist comm. “We’re on our way.” He looked down at the chocolate. “We’ll have to finish this later.”

  “I look forward to that.” A lustful tug hit Juniper’s stomach. She carefully wrapped the chocolate and placed it by the side of Arlo’s bed before following him out of his quarters to the briefing room.

  “Are you ready for this?” he asked her as they walked next to each other, their hands brushing together.

  “Not really. But people need to know what’s going on.”

  “They’ll be surprised. I’m still getting used to what you told me.”

  “You do believe me, though?”

  “Of course.” Arlo slowed and turned to look at Juniper. “Every word. There’s no reason for you to lie about this. You risked your life getting this information.”

  “I still don’t believe it myself,” said Juniper as they continued their journey. “The Dinnorms are vicious. Single-minded in their pursuit of what they want. Every single one of them will need to be destroyed if we’re going to succeed.”

  “Then that’s what will happen.” Arlo stopped outside the briefing room door and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “People will be on your side. Tell them everything.”

  When they went inside the room, she was surprised to see all of Arlo’s brothers there, as well as Brett, Ranger, Malachi, Sophia, and Clarissa. Danni stood at the end of the table, waiting patiently. It looked like everybody wanted to know what Juniper had discovered.

  She shuffled into a space and sat down, trying not to feel paranoid that everybody’s eyes were upon her.

  “I’ve brought everyone up to speed as to what happened out in the field,” said Heath.

  “And from all accounts,” said Danni, “the mission to blow up the tower has had an impact of sorts. Jude, what feedback have you collected?”

  “Communications have halved,” said Jude, a glum look on his face. “The State have sent a troop out to investigate the site. So far, the hypnotic suggestions are still in place. Taking out that single tower didn’t achieve what we wanted.”

  “It’s a start,” said Danni. “And a good one. It also led us to capture a commander. What are the State saying about that?”

  “They’re saying he’s been taken prisoner,” said Jude. “Naturally, they’re blaming us.”

  “And in this instance, they’d be correct to,” said Danni. Her gaze shifted to Juniper. “So, I understand you found out something of interest when you went into the interrogation room.”

  Juniper swallowed. “That’s right.” She glanced around to see everyone watching her. “I implanted a suggestion into the commander’s head so he would tell me about their plans.”

  “It’s more than that,” said Arlo. “Juniper’s found out who the State really are.”

  There were several loud inhalations of breath from around the room.

  “Is this true?” Danni rested her hands on the table.

  Juniper nodded. “They’re Dinnorms.”

  A short silence was followed by people all talking over each other. The noise made Juniper’s headache worse. She cringed against Arlo.

  Danni held up a hand. The voices died down. “What do they want?”

  “They want to rule,” said Juniper. “And they want to rule the dragons. Their plans are advanced, more so than ours. They’ve created the perfect growing conditions for a dragon. Their initial plans were to rule the planet alone. They figured they could control the environment without the dragons’ involvement. Now they realize they’ll need a tame dragon to do their bidding. Without one, their ambitions to rule will be for nothing. The planet will explode, and they’ll be nothing left.”

  Lincoln tapped a finger on the table. “For everyone in the room who hasn’t read extensively on Dinnorms, is there any chance you could give us a brief history of what they’re all about? I know they’re a type of dragon, but everything else is a little hazy.”

  Heath shook his head and grinned at his older brother. “You never studied.”

  “I studied. Well, I read the interesting bits. I mainly liked the pictures.”

  “Heath, for the uninitiated among us, a brief history would be welcome,” said Danni.

  “Dinnorms are wingless dragons. In their natural form, they have a body more like a serpent. They can take the form of different animals, including human. They’re hard to kill. Harder than dragons. Despite their lack of wings, they have magical flight and strong regeneration abilities. Many of them use fire as well.”

  “It’s not just their abilities we need to worry about,” said Juniper. “Their nature is cruel. They like to destroy those they see as weak and remove powers from those they consider a threat. In the Dinnorms’ eyes, we’re not worthy of sharing the planet with them. They plan to use us as slaves for now, but when we’ve served our use, they’ll get rid of us all, humans and dragon hybrids.”

  “So, they removed the dragons so they could claim ownership of the planet,” said Heath.

  “From what I understood of the commander’s thoughts, their initial plans were to take over and rule, using humans as a massive slave force, working them to death until they had their strongholds and resources in place. Then they could wipe everyone out.”

  “Most likely by eating us,” muttered Lincoln.

  “It’s a possibility,” said Juniper.

  “Their plans have changed,” said Danni. “They’re not as superior as they thought they were.”

  Juniper nodded. “They’re bringing back a small number of dragons. They’ve been experimenting for months, using similar techniques to yo
urs. They have a breeding program in place. I didn’t get a clear answer from the commander, but I don’t think they’ve been successful yet. But they’re not far off. He felt confident they would soon have their own tame dragon. And when they do, we’ll be in trouble.”

  “We need to get the egg they’ve created,” said Arlo. “We can’t let them breed their own dragon. I hate to think of the torture they’ll inflict upon the creature as they break its will and force it to work for them.”

  Juniper and Malachi both growled, their dragon sides appalled by the thought of any of their kind being forced into slavery by the Dinnorms.

  “With their communications damaged thanks to the destruction of the tower, the State are scrambling. Now is a good time to grab the egg. They’re struggling to hold things together.” Danni looked around the room at everyone. “Heath, we need everything we have on the Dinnorms, their powers, weaknesses, and their motives. Anything you can get on them will be useful.”

  “I’ll get the Hives working on that,” said Heath. “Juniper, I want you assisting them. Since you’ve had an insider look at the activities of the State, we’ll be able to refine the information we get, pick the most useful bits that will help us.”

  She nodded, a sense of relief flooding through her at how easily everyone had believed her. They were on her side. She was a part of their team. “I can do that.”

  “The State have done a great job of wiping all information,” said Kade. “I’ll work with Honor and see if we can retrieve deleted files. There’s usually a ghost copy floating around. The State aren’t as good at hiding their data as they think they are.”

  “Once we have the information we need, we’ll need to pinpoint the location of this egg and retrieve it,” said Danni. She turned again to Juniper. “Were you able to get a location lock?”

  “Close enough,” said Juniper. “I can narrow it down. I saw the facility they’re using. I’ll need to look at the buildings in the location to be sure, but we’ll get there.”

  “You’ve done enough fieldwork,” said Arlo.

  “You need me out there,” protested Juniper. “I want to help get the egg.”

  “You’re still recovering from your last mission,” said Arlo.

  “You’ll need dragon hybrids to help against the Dinnorms,” said Juniper. “Now that I know what they are, I can sense them. I’ve felt it before, but I didn’t have a clue what I was experiencing. Malachi, Clarissa, you must have sensed them too?”

  Malachi nodded, his dark eyes serious. “I’ve never been up close and personal with any of the higher-ups in the State, but have had a few brushes with them. I get this weird queasy sensation in my stomach.”

  “I’m the same,” said Clarissa. “It feels like my blood is cooling. Is that what you mean?”

  “Exactly that.” Juniper looked at Arlo. “You need be there so I can tell you when I’m detecting Dinnorms.”

  “You’re not the only dragon hybrid on the base,” said Arlo. “Malachi has been training a group of dragon hybrids. They’re ready to go, aren’t they?”

  Malachi tilted his head from side to side. “They’ve had basic training. I wouldn’t say they were completely ready.”

  “There’s always Clarissa,” said Arlo.

  Clarissa raised her eyebrows. “I’m not that skilled in the field.”

  “Clarissa isn’t a fighter.” Juniper dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. “And don’t even suggest the hybrid women you rescued from the breeding facility. They won’t leave the infants.”

  “I wasn’t going to,” muttered Arlo.

  “I’m in the best position to do this.” Juniper looked at Danni as she spoke. “I’m going.”

  Chapter 13

  “This has to be the place,” said Arlo. He was crammed around the table in the briefing room with Heath, Lincoln, and Jude. Brett, Ranger, Malachi, and the four dragon hybrids he was training—Bellatrix, Moira, Jahil, and Romesh——were also there, along with Danni and Juniper.

  “It fits with the images I got from the commander,” said Juniper.

  They were studying a building controlled by the State. It was located in Alpha Zone five. They called it the Dark Cavern because of all the shady activity the State were rumored to undertake there. Having pieced together the strands of intel they’d gathered, this site stood out from all the rest.

  “That building gets regular shipments sent to it.” Jude sat next to Arlo. “I partially unscrambled a message from that location. I couldn’t make sense of most of it, but there was the word dragon in there.”

  “It’s an hour’s ride away by copter,” said Lincoln. “It’s doable. We’ll need people in the copter who can take out drones that spot our movements. I’m an ace shot, but I’ll need to keep my attention on the flying, not the fighting.”

  “We can handle that,” said Heath. “We’ll keep the drones out of the way.”

  “In addition to Jude, we can use the Hives’ resources to monitor militia movements,” said Danni. “We’ll need extra ears listening in to State comms so we know if they’ve discovered what we’re attempting.”

  “I can ask Octavia for help,” said Jude. “She always help when she can.”

  Arlo nudged his brother. “Are you ever going to ask her out?”

  “I will if I ever meet her,” said Jude.

  “You never know, this might be the first time you get to meet. Maybe she won’t be able to stay away from you when she realizes what a hero you are.”

  “I’m only listening in. You guys will be the ones getting shot at.”

  “Without you, we wouldn’t be here. Someone would have snuck up on us by now if you weren’t watching our backs. Octavia will know that.” Arlo detected hope in his brother’s eyes. He’d been crushing on this woman for so long, yet they’d never even shared a mug of coffee. Well, maybe they had, but in different parts of the country, sipping over the airwaves. Not exactly the same thing as a face-to-face encounter.

  “If Octavia will help us, then she’s welcome to assist,” said Danni.

  “I’ll go and message her now.” Jude left the room.

  “It will be dark enough to fly in half an hour,” said Danni. “I want you to move out then.”

  The briefing ended, and Arlo walked alongside Heath toward the weapons room. Juniper followed behind them with Bellatrix, a dragon hybrid with skin toxic to the touch if you were human.

  Arlo still didn’t want Juniper on this mission. He knew why she wanted to be involved, but she was still recovering from her manipulation of the commander. But there was no point in trying to reason with her.

  They all grabbed weapons, strapped on pulse laser protection vests, and headed to the copter.

  Lincoln was already there, running through the final checks before departure. Malachi and the rest of his squad joined them, along with Brett and Ranger.

  Everyone activated their comms as they grouped around the copter.

  “I want three separate groups on the ground,” said Heath. “Ranger, I want you with Bellatrix, Moira, and Jahil.”

  “It will be my pleasure,” said Ranger. “It’s always good to have a bit of fire and ice on your side. And, not forgetting your lovely poison.” He winked at Bellatrix.

  “Brett, I want you, Arlo, and Juniper to work together, alongside Romesh.”

  Arlo nodded in agreement. He would not let Juniper out of his sight.

  “I’ll go with Lincoln and Malachi,” said Heath.

  “The copter’s ready when you want to move out,” said Lincoln.

  Heath looked at the group. “The building we’re going into is an old communications outpost. We focus on locating and removing the dragon’s egg. If we get the opportunity to, we want to remove any data from the site and destroy the communications equipment. Our first priority is to find out what the State are doing with these eggs and take any we can.”

  Lincoln slid the door open on the copter. “Your carriage awaits.”

  Everyone climbed in
and settled on the benches inside. Lincoln hopped in the front and started the copter. The roof overhead slid open, revealing a dark, cloud-filled sky.

  “Have you ever been in one of these?” Arlo leaned over and spoke quietly to Juniper who sat next to him.

  “Can’t say I have,” said Juniper. “So long as it gets us there, that’s all I care about.”

  “Lincoln hasn’t crashed yet,” said Arlo.

  “I heard that,” called Lincoln from the pilot seat. “If you keep being mean, I won’t put Flame radio on. I know how much you love your rock music.”

  Arlo opened a comm to the base as the copter lifted out of the opening. “Jude, any word from Octavia? Is she able to help us?”

  “No word yet,” said Jude. “It might take a while for her to see the message, though. She’s a one-woman band when it comes to Flame.”

  “Keep listening out to see if she’s online and able to help,” said Arlo.

  “If his girl can’t help us, we’re here as backup.” It was Zane Blanchard from Hive One. “We’re keeping watch and monitoring State airwaves. We’ll cover your backsides and warn you if the State come creeping out of the shadows.”

  “Octavia will come good,” said Jude.

  “Someone’s got it bad,” said Zane. “You two set a wedding date yet?”

  “They probably need to meet a time or two first,” said Arlo. “She might not be quite the goddess Jude has made her out to be.”

  “This takes it to a whole other level,” said Zane. “Jude falling for someone from the sound of her voice. Maybe we’ve just invented a new type of online dating. We can call it Voice Mate.”

  “I said nothing about falling for Octavia. I just think she’s... nice.”

  “Cut the chatter,” said Heath. “Unless you really want to make Lincoln crash by distracting him.”

  “It will take more than these gum balls messing around to distract me,” said Lincoln. He changed the radio frequency, and the sound of heavy metal blasted through the copter.