by Amelia Jade
“No, but if he were I might—”
“If you value our relationship you will not complete that sentence!”
Callan purposely scraped his foot on the uneven floor, warning them that he approached and hopefully sparing Kathryn any more awkwardness with her mother, though he found the elder woman’s enthusiasm to be part of her charm. The floor squeaked loudly under him, and he jumped to the side as it felt saggy.
“Oh that’s fine,” Kathryn’s mother told him with wave of her hand as he looked worriedly at the spot, not sure if he’d broken the floor. “It always makes that noise. Has for years.”
The frown on Kathryn’s face told him that wasn’t the complete truth, but he decided it was best not to get in the middle of any family problems. That wasn’t his job. And since when is being nanny to someone the job of a dragon either? He grimaced mentally. It felt somewhat demeaning to him, but at the same time he’d agreed to it knowing full well what it likely meant.
Callan came to a halt at the edge of the common room, looking back and forth between the two of them, wondering what the hell to do next. He had no training of this sort. All Colonel Mara had told him was to show up and help Kathryn out with whatever it was she needed doing, not including things like using the bathroom, showering, etcetera.
Thankfully Kathryn didn’t seem to enjoy the silence either and took charge by speaking up.
“Did they tell you what happened to me?”
“A car accident. That’s all.”
“No details of the injuries?”
He shook his head, moving to the side as Kathryn’s mother gave them both smiles and excused herself from the room, leaving the two of them there together. Callan glanced over his shoulder at her, but was more than content to be left alone. He leaned carefully against the wall, ensuring it would take his weight.
“Well, I destroyed my hips, they had to entirely replace my right knee, torn ligaments in both legs, and my left foot was almost crushed beyond repair. Several other fractures and a mild case of internal bleeding. All in all, not pleasant. But if you like pain and being unable to do things you’re used to for months upon months after it happens, then I definitely recommend it.”
It was probably supposed to be a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood, but by the time she finished speaking her voice had turned bitter and hard. He could see all the pain and frustration that she was keeping bottled up, and wondered just how much longer she would be able to cope without a full breakdown.
Maybe his services would be of help after all.
“That’s terrible.” He had no idea what else to say, suspecting that words of comfort or praise were not wanted at that moment.
“Yeah. It sucks. Big time.” She sighed heavily, shoulders drooping in weariness. “Although it has given me a whole new respect for those people who are permanently confined to wheelchairs or worse. They’re real champions.”
He nodded, unable to truly understand. As a dragon his body would heal from anything that wasn’t a mortal wound.
“Enough about that though.”
“Okay.” He shrugged. “Uh, what exactly do you need me to help you with today?”
“I’m feeling surprisingly energetic and refreshed. I think I want to take advantage of that while I can, and go out to the malls and apply for jobs.”
Callan stared at her blankly. “Okay. What do I need to do?”
The dimples returned as she smiled. “Do you drive?”
“No.”
The unimpressed twist to her face hit him harder than he’d expected. Callan knew all about cars; it was part of the orientation he’d undergone at Fort Stark, and finished at Fort Banner. But while he was aware of how they worked and had traveled in them before, learning to drive was not part of the courses.
He decided to tell Colonel Mara that she should probably amend those for the next dragons they were awakening, to make dealing with life in the modern era easier for everyone. After all, he’d received computer tutorials and was now at least able to text and browse the internet on his phone, another amazing invention. But driving a car? That was beyond him. Thankfully though, he was provided with resources to get around.
“I do have access to get us wherever we need,” he said, declining to explain further when she gave him a look asking for more information.
“Okay. Well, let’s go then, shall we?”
“Sure. Where are we going?”
“The mall?”
“Right.” Callan still had no idea what a mall was. He was hoping that she would give him something a little more specific to go on.
“Let’s try Clinton Heights mall first. It’s closer.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get the car organized.”
“I’ll get my resumes.”
He nodded. The car was still waiting outside, but now he’d bought himself time to furiously look up what a Clinton Heights mall was. It irked him to be an all-powerful dragon who had no idea what the hell he was doing.
And just what were resumes?
Chapter Five
Kathryn
Things with Callan were interesting.
It was obvious he was strong; the muscles had sort of given that away. Yet the way he’d helped her into the car and looked after her had been anything but rough. His touch had been light and his actions gentle on both the entry and exit of the vehicle that had taken them to the mall. She wasn’t sure what to make of that just yet, though it definitely surprised her.
“Interesting place,” he muttered, gently pushing her wheelchair from behind.
Kathryn was more than capable of doing it herself, but he’d simply come up and started doing so without asking. Now she was reluctant to tell him to stop, because she got the impression it made him feel good. As if it reinforced his reason for being her assistant in the first place. Which made her feel useless, but it also let her pause and think of where she wanted to go apply first.
“What is?”
“This place. The mall.”
She looked up behind her, confused. “You’ve never been to Clinton Heights mall before?”
“No,” he rumbled, sounding thoughtful.
“Are you from around here?”
He shook his head, her eyes barely catching the motion as she was already turning back around.
“Where’s home for you?”
“Jungle. Mountains.”
That was an odd answer, but she played it off. Plenty of people were private these days about where they lived or where they were from, and far be it from her to judge someone for wanting privacy. If only the government would be as respectful of it as others, they would all be much happier.
“Where do you want to go now?” he asked as they made it through the doors, the automated function having taken him a moment to figure out.
There were a few oddities about her assistant besides his outrageous size, but Kathryn brushed them aside as just him being a recluse. Maybe signing up to help her out was his way of trying to gain more social interaction or something. He seemed nice, and the government wouldn’t have sent him if they hadn’t vetted him completely, criminal check, that sort of thing.
“Let’s start with the big box stores and department stores,” she said. “They have greeters there often. Maybe they’ll consider taking me on for that, knowing as I get better they can transition me into something else.”
It pained her to have to consider donning a blue vest, but what else was she supposed to do? She hadn’t worked in a long time now. It was going to be quite a while before she would again, at least in any sort of permanent, full-time capacity that wasn’t a retail greeter.
Her mom was the perfect type for them to hire, but if Kathryn was going to become independent, living without support from her mother or the government, she would need something that paid better.
After a moment she realized they were no longer moving. She took control of the chair herself and spun it halfway back toward him. “Everything okay?”
Callan was looking arou
nd awkwardly. “Yes.” The single word was spoken in a deep, distracted voice, a tone she hadn’t heard from him yet. It had the strength and weight of voice that she might expect from someone of his size, and it was sexy as all hell with the rolling gravelly bass to it.
Get it together. He’s gorgeous and absolutely shredded. He’s not going to want a girl who can barely stand for a few minutes at a time before she collapses with exhaustion.
Properly chastised, she jerked her head at him, indicating he should come along. “Let’s go then. I want to make use of this unexpected burst of energy before it fades, because once it does I’ll be couch-ridden all evening.”
He nodded and stepped up alongside her as they wandered through the mall to her first stop.
“Okay, hold on here.” They were inside the first store now, hidden around a corner from the customer service desk where she had been directed to turn in her resume. Kathryn wanted to make a good first impression.
She put the brakes on the chair, and held out a sheaf of papers to Callan. “Hold these?”
He took them without a word. Kathryn placed both hands on the arms of the chair, and with a deep breath, slowly pushed herself to her feet. Almost immediately muscles began to protest the movement, especially as she put more and more weight onto her weak legs, forcing them to shoulder the load the chair normally did.
But she was standing. On her own. And though her muscles were unhappy, they weren’t shaking. Taking a few tentative steps she nodded, and reached out to Callan. “Top piece of paper please.”
He gently handed it to her, and then started to walk forward behind and slightly to her right.
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m going to do this on my own. Without anyone’s help.”
The giant stopped in his tracks, eying her legs, and then nodded. “Yes, I believe you are.”
Buoyed by his faith in her Kathryn marched—or walked unsteadily, as the case may be—around the corner and right up to the desk. Placing one hand down on the counter she eased some of the weight from her legs. Not enough to make it obvious, but enough to give herself extra stamina before the muscles gave out.
Both the slim men with overly large glasses, long hair, and beards that needed a serious trimming behind the counter were busy. She took a moment to wonder about the most recent fashion trends and to whisper a prayer for the women that age, so that they would be strong enough to put up with the craziness until it fizzled out.
Her legs were beginning to scream with pain by the time one of them got to her, and his slow demeanor and general distaste for his job didn’t speed the process up either. Eventually though he did take her resume, though he made the remark several times that most applications were processed online these days.
Once he’d taken the paper and effectively dismissed her, promising to pass it on to the person in charge of hiring, she pushed off the counter and whispered a soft prayer as she began the long journey back to her wheelchair.
Her eyes immediately spied Callan, who had crept up to the end of the aisle to watch. Irritation was wrought on his face, probably from having been kept waiting and unable to do anything while she applied for a job.
Tough luck, bud. We’ve got more places to go after this. Better suck it up.
By the time she made it to the aisle he had, however, moved her wheelchair right to the front. It saved her five feet or so of walking, for which she was grateful. Kathryn sank into the chair, and almost immediately her legs blossomed in relief. She inhaled and then exhaled slowly, controlling her breathing as the Jell-O-like feeling left her lower limbs. It faded faster than she’d expected, leaving a little smile on her face.
Maybe she was making progress after all.
After a moment she nodded, her energy level spiking slightly, enough to get her moving on to the next place. Callan followed her as they went from store to store. She’d used up the last money on her library card to print twenty-three copies of her resume, and didn’t plan on leaving until she’d given them all out. Big box stores. Boutiques. Mall kiosks. Anywhere and everywhere she could, she pushed the piece of paper into someone’s hands until they finally accepted, ignoring the repeated phrase about “online applications only please.” She didn’t have a computer, so that wasn’t an option.
Callan trailed along behind her the entire time. Though she only managed to get up and walk for the first half-dozen stores, that was four more than she’d expected. Kathryn was feeling rather happy about the entire development, despite the lack of response from a single person when handing in her resume.
Callan, on the other hand, grew more and more irritated as the day went on. He was probably frustrated by the fact that all he did was follow her from one store to the other and held her wheelchair when she forced herself to stand up. For someone like him, who was probably used to being so much more useful, being relegated to escort level was probably humiliating. But for Kathryn it was a great day.
“Is that the last of them?” he rumbled as she pushed her way out of a travel center, a tiny little storefront compared to the much larger clothing and department stores.
“Yes,” she said, waving both hands, indicating they were empty. “All the resumes I could afford to print off have been handed out. We can go home now.”
“I’ll get the car,” he said, walking a short distance away. The face that had once shown signs of so much joy when she first saw him was now permanently twisted in anger.
Had she really been that bad to him? It didn’t seem like much to have asked. But maybe she’d offended him somehow by dragging him along for such a menial job. She didn’t know the parameters of the program, or what it was he was supposed to be helping her with. Perhaps she was treating him entirely wrong, and he was too polite to speak up?
Maybe tomorrow would be better.
Chapter Six
Callan
“Wait here,” he told the driver as they pulled up in front of Kathryn’s house.
The outside was in worse shape than the inside, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before the weather started to make itself felt on the inside. The shingles on the roof were in terrible condition, and he was stunned they didn’t have perennial leaks every time it rained.
Or maybe they did, he didn’t know. It irked him that someone as kind as Kathryn and her mom should be confined to such a place, but from the limited glimpse into their life that he’d gotten, they seemed rather attached to it.
Grabbing the letter-sized envelope from the seat next to him, he slipped out of the SUV. He’d been very careful in organizing with the cab company that drove the various dragons around Barton City to ensure that he got the type of SUV he needed.
Marching up to the front door, he made a promise to himself then and there that when they went out to the other two malls of decent size in town, that he was going to accompany her into the stores. He’d grown angry at the constant rejection and harassment she got from trying to simply get a job to help support her mother, and by the end of the day he could no longer take it.
They treated her like dirt, and he wanted nothing more than to throttle the assholes who pushed her like she was lesser just because she was unable to walk. That offended his sense of nobility and general decency, to the point he’d gone home to the apartment tower where the various dragons now living in Barton City were housed and asked for help. He’d then looked up what malls were, where others were in town, gotten some help from the human mates of the dragons, and scanned and reprinted a hundred copies of the resume he’d stolen when she wasn’t looking.
Now he knocked on the door, prepared to tell Kathryn just what they were doing for the day, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. The way she pushed herself to walk into as many stores as she did was admirable, even if she was aided slightly without knowing it. Her drive was strong, and so was her desire to help, however small her role might be. She would be a fantastic worker, and any of the businesses they’d visited would have been very happy if they’d hired her.
> This time it was Kathryn who answered the door
“Hi.”
“Hello.” He stuck out his hand, shaking hers.
Then he made a very obvious show of inspecting it for any peanut butter.
Kathryn groaned, but it had the intended effect of making her smile, and he basked in the radiant joy. Her dimples were visible and her eyes glowed brightly despite the tinge of red in her cheeks from the embarrassing reminder.
“I promise, I washed my hands before you arrived this time,” she said dryly, motioning for him to come on in.
“Glad to hear it.” He didn’t move.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
“Only if you aren’t ready.”
Kathryn, her chair already half-turned back into the house, paused and slowly spun the wheels in opposite directions until she was facing him once more. The entire time her eyes scanned his face. “Ready for what?” she asked cautiously.
“To go job-hunting.”
“I wasn’t aware we were going job-hunting,” she said slowly.
“We are. Here.” He stuck his other hand out swiftly, the beige-colored envelope bending slightly where he grabbed it from the weight of the papers within.
“What is this?”
Callan smiled. “It’s open.”
She peeked in through the end, quickly picking up on what it is. “Callan, you didn’t have to do this,” she said, looking at the stack of resumes.
“I’m well aware of that.” He wanted to tell her how he thought she was worthy of plenty more than a hundred pieces of paper, but he didn’t. Kathryn wasn’t in need of pity and compliments just then. She was in need of something to do, something that would make her feel useful.
Callan was more than willing to help her achieve that. It was clear it frustrated her to take charity from him—and likely from anyone—but it was better than him just dumping a pile of gold from his treasure in her lap.
Treasure that was still stolen, he thought angrily, realizing he couldn’t even do that just now.
“What’s wrong, Callan?”
Kathryn was looking at him in confusion. He must have been letting his anger about the military stealing his treasure seep through. Forcing himself to relax, Callan smoothed out the lines on his face. He would get his treasure back; they weren’t going to get away that easily, but for now he wasn’t sure how to go about it without doing something drastic, like kidnapping General Knefferson.
