by Amelia Jade
Colonel Mara waved Kallore silent. “Thank you for coming,” she said, pointedly barbing the words in Kallore’s direction. “I know this wasn’t your fight, but I wanted to thank you for putting yourself in harm’s way yesterday without being asked.”
Kallore looked sullen at the reminder that Aric had been in the cavern fighting the Outsiders too. He stayed quiet though, having said his piece. Several other men standing around, all obviously dragons, shifted back and forth but said nothing.
Aric realized one of them was looking at him directly, and he swallowed nervously. It was the same man he’d punched while trying to get his dragon under control after kissing Kaitlyn. Although he recalled hearing about consequences, he’d not followed through on that threat yet.
Aric wished he could thank the man, to tell him that beating the piss out of him and forcing the medics to keep him in the infirmary for the rest of the day and night had done wonders to sort his dragon out. Something about the casual beating he’d administered had left Aric’s dragon weakened, or at least reluctant to try and escape. Now that he’d had sex with Kaitlyn it was content to just come along for the ride, even if they hadn’t truly mated yet.
“I’m a dragon,” he stated, realizing Colonel Mara was awaiting a response. “I can’t just stand by while others are in danger.” Especially if one of them is my mate.
The other dragons gave small nods of respect at his statement, easing the tension somewhat. Even Kallore calmed down a level.
“What’s the situation?” he asked. “How did it work out?”
“Five of them escaped,” Colonel Mara said without hesitation.
“I’ll help chase them down.” He spoke without thinking, without hesitation. The world was in danger, and his weapons were the strongest. None of the others were as strong with their powers as he. They had no other cobalt dragons at their disposal.
“No!” Colonel Mara spoke swiftly, almost shouting the denial.
“Why not? I can help. I’m strong. Ask them,” he said, pointing at the other shifters. “They know that my powers are the strongest, even if nobody likes to admit it.”
She sighed. “It’s not that. You saw them fight, correct?”
He nodded.
“So you saw how they kill then. How they can simply suck the life out of someone and move on.”
“Yes.”
“Well, you’re not suited to fight against that,” she said. “They are.”
He frowned. “What’s the difference?”
“We’re mated.” He didn’t recognize the tall man who spoke.
“What Cowl here is trying to say,” Colonel Mara continued, “is that a mated dragon has protection against this ability. We don’t really understand how, but the act of being mated, of forming that bond, gives them a protection against having their lifeforce stolen. The Outsiders literally cannot take it.”
“On top of that,” another man spoke up, his eyes the piercing green that could only belong to an Emerald dragon. “Our powers become stronger when directed against the Outsiders once we’re mated. I bet your lightning couldn’t penetrate their armor, could it?”
Aric was forced to admit the truth of that. “I had to exploit holes that others had made. If I could hit the wounds, they were toast. But you’re right, I couldn’t. Even with my strongest attack I only managed to shear off an arm that was probably already wounded.”
“Precisely.” Colonel Mara took over again. “Their weapons will work. Yours won’t, and it’s not a slight against you. We’re not sure how it actually works, but it does. Some of our dragons have seen it happen and experienced it in person.”
Aric ground his teeth together in impotent frustration. “What can I do to help then?”
Colonel Mara hesitated a moment. “I have four teams of dragons at my disposal. I’m sending them in pursuit of the Outsiders, to hunt them down and destroy them. To do so, however, will leave me unguarded here. I know you aren’t mated, but—”
“I’ll do it.” He didn’t hesitate. They needed him, and he would provide. Besides, Kaitlyn was here with him, and they were so close to being together, even after the events of the night before. If they could admit their feelings for each other…
“Are you sure? You and your associate were due to head home tomorrow. You’ll have to find a reason to tell her for the delay.”
Aric nodded. “I’ll think of something. Not sure what yet, but I will.” He thought furiously for a moment. “I can call in some reinforcements if you want? I have a few friends that will come help.”
“Are you sure? I know that your enclave has promised to support us, but I hadn’t intended to draw upon their resources so soon after signing our agreement.” She bit her lip unhappily. “Truthfully I’d hoped this would be over by now.”
“I’m sure,” he said forcefully, knowing exactly who he’d call. “But I need to know, how did this happen? I thought the far side of the portal was too radioactive for the Outsiders. Weren’t there plans to add more radioactive material to their end as well?”
“That would be my fault.”
Aric turned to regard a tall man with platinum hair down past his shoulders. He was wearing a white lab coat and looked for all the world like a tall human scientist. Except he was a dragon. There was no doubt about that in Aric’s mind.
“I’m Kyen,” he said, introducing himself. “This is Lianna, my, um, assistant. We’ve been working on the study of the portal for a while now, and we thought we could close it.”
“That’s what drew me out of the meeting,” Colonel Mara said, explaining. “Kyen told me that they were ready to try.”
“What went wrong?”
Kyen winced. “We miscalculated somewhere obviously. We didn’t close the portal, but instead its location, um, jumped, is the best word I can think of. We didn’t realize it at first until our first probe came back in from the other side, revealing that it was in a new location on the Outsider world. We prepared our emergency launch of radioactive isotopes, but they still got some forces through before we could cut off the supply, obviously.”
Aric nodded slowly, digesting that information. “Unfortunate, but I understand the need to try.”
“Yes,” Kyen agreed. “Next time we’ll be ready though, and we won’t hesitate to launch if it doesn’t work. We’ll also have more dragons here and ready to fight. We got arrogant. Never again.”
“Okay, I have things I need to organize. Aric, I’ll leave your associate and any reinforcements in your hands. Thank you for the offer.” She turned and headed off, the other dragons going with her while she barked orders for them to gather their teams and go after the Outsiders.
Aric stayed rooted to the spot for a few minutes, wrestling with his own problem. The negotiations had been going well, and they’d been about ready to sign the agreement. How was he now supposed to tell her they were delayed indefinitely, without her asking too many questions?
He was going to have to come up with something, and fast.
Chapter Seventeen
Kaitlyn
The way she’d sent Aric off that morning wasn’t the nicest, but Kaitlyn had desperately needed the time alone to think
. It was tough to consider him objectively when he was in the room. His presence commanded her attention, and she always seemed to consider him in a different light when he was there next to her.
Her mind was going crazy, and she needed to figure out what to do. It was past time she stopped dithering and made a decision on the issue of her child and informing Aric about it. She either needed to tell him, and hope that he didn’t freak out or return to the person he’d been before their trip, or she needed to stay silent and end things with him.
Both options presented her with scenarios she did not want to deal with. The difference was, in not telling him she was absolutely confronted with that event. If she kept the news to herself and broke things off with him, she would have to hurt him, and herself. There was no way anyone truly won. Yes, she
would be able to raise her child her way, but would that be benefitting anyone?
The alternative was to reveal to him the truth. That she was pregnant and it was his. In the ideal world, he would jump for joy and remain who he was. Together they would learn how to co-parent, or maybe even simply be “parents,” if the budding romance between them continued to blossom.
“Of course he might flip out and reveal that this whole trip has been nothing more than an act to get in my pants. Which would be really unfortunate and make for one hell of an awkward plane ride back. Dammit, what do I do!” Tossing her hands in the air in frustration she finished getting dressed, still no closer to figuring out what to do.
Tell him.
The words came unbidden. Kaitlyn looked around, trying to figure out where they’d come from. Was her subconscious trying to speak to her? Or was she hearing something? Whatever it was it didn’t repeat itself.
“Weird.”
She couldn’t shake the memory of it, and with a sigh Kaitlyn realized that wherever the words had come from, they were right. It didn’t matter if Aric turned into an asshole, or things didn’t work out between them. If she was choosing to keep the baby—and she’d never had an inkling of doubt other than a blind moment of panic after first taking the test—then he needed to know.
Together they had done the most remarkable thing in the world. They had created new life. Soon her body would change and she would help a child grow inside of her, until it was ready to be brought into the world. It was a miracle, and he deserved to know, and to have the chance to participate. It wasn’t her right to deny him that.
It might mean she didn’t get a payday from this trip, since nothing was written in stone. If he flipped out and lost his temper, she’d not see a cent, but she would deal with that then. She would tell him today, after they signed the deal for the battlesuit technology.
Waiting until after was a bit of a sleazy move on her part. There was every chance that Aric might mention her profits from the deal first, essentially forcing him to live up it. Kaitlyn knew that she was doing it for that reason, but the money would go a long way to ensuring her child grew up well-funded and without debt. Even in Europe it was still more expensive, and truthfully, she had always wanted to move Stateside. This might allow her to do just that.
Her phone chimed, an alarm telling her it was time to head to the meeting. After a quick trip to the bathroom to ensure she looked presentable, she swept out of her room, a false smile covering up the fear. One way or another, her life was going to change drastically today. Who knows, by the end of it all she may even be looking for a new job.
By now she knew the path to the meeting room by heart, and arrived with time to spare. Aric hadn’t been seen since she forced him out of her place earlier, and she reached for the handle nervously, unsure of how she was going to react. The meeting would hopefully go quickly, so she didn’t need to spend forever acting calm and reserved.
The door opened to reveal a dark and empty room.
“What the hell?” A quick flip of the light switch revealed no surprise waiting for her either. There was simply nobody home.
Kaitlyn waited the two minutes until the time had come and passed before she texted Aric, trying to figure out where he was, or what might be going on. He didn’t reply, and a visit back to his quarters didn’t yield an answer to his door either. She walked all the way back to the room once more, but it was still empty.
“Fine.” She was getting irritated, and decided that the best way to calm down would be some sunlight. The lack of natural light had been getting to her, and now seemed as good a time as any to rectify that, considering no one had seen fit to tell her that the meeting had been postponed or moved.
Miffed at the lack of respect, and even a little hurt, she rode the elevator up, tapping her foot with impatience.
The doors opened, revealing the interior of the building that housed a bank of elevators. She walked straight ahead and out into the sunlight, immediately basking in the warmth of it against her skin. It was only ten in the morning and if it kept up, it would be a rather warm day based on the current temperature. She breathed in the fresh air, her mood already improving just by being on the surface. Living underground like this was absolutely not for her. How anyone could do it boggled her mind.
Inhaling deeply she looked around, taking in the sights of the base. Lines creased her forehead. There was activity on the base. A lot of activity. Fresh weapons installations identifiable even to her civilian brain were being erected. A lot of battlesuits were out and about. A lot of them. She stopped counting after she hit fifty.
Something else tugged at her brain. Something she couldn’t identify at first, but it had to do with the weapons installations. There was something about them that just seemed wrong to her brain. Kaitlyn focused, looking at the various holes, the locations of the weapons and the battlesuits that were inside them, pointing in all directions.
No, she realized. Not all directions. Only two. One side pointed toward the perimeter. The other side, however, pointed deeper into the base. She looked in the direction they pointed, her eyes arriving on the massive tunnel opening. There was no doubt about it; the weapons were aimed right at it.
What the hell was that all about?
A soldier dashed by and she waved him down, having to step into his path to get him to stop. “Hey, what’s going on here?” she asked, pointing at the battlesuits and the bunkers.
“Um.” He glanced at her breasts.
Kaitlyn almost flipped out at him before she realized he was looking at her for identification purposes. He’d not looked at where her cleavage would be, but where an ID card would be pinned to judge what he could tell her.
“It’s a drill,” he said, coming to rest and standing straight up but not saluting her.
“A drill,” she repeated.
“Yes.”
“Thank you.” She stepped out of his way.
A drill. That made sense. Soldiers drilled all the time. It must be a military thing to put weapons on both sides of bunkers. Maybe it was a tactic—if the enemy got by them, they could fire into the rear? That would make sense she figured.
Her ideas were interrupted by a familiar figure.
“Kaitlyn.”
“Aric,” she said coolly.
The big man frowned. “What did I do?”
She blinked rapidly. “Seriously? Again you’re acting like you don’t know?”
“Again?”
“The portfolio! You need to stop making assumptions. What time is it?”
“Ten thirty,” he said, rounding up based on her last check of the time.
“Right. And where are we supposed to be at ten every morning? Where have we been every day at ten since we got here?”
He nodded. “The negotiation room.”
“The negotiation room,” she echoed. “I was there today. I was the only one there today. Which meant that everyone but me knew it wasn’t happening. Now, who do you think should have been the one to tell me about that?” Her voice was terse. Angry.
“I’m sorry. They’re postponed. I forgot to tell you.”
“Postponed. Why?”
“Unsure.”
“Okay. Why are they postponed?”
Aric looked away, his eyes moving around but not locking onto anything, especially not her. “We need a better price.”
“A better price.” She felt like a broken record, repeating the same things over and over again. “You remember that we actually got a better price from them than we were originally hoping would be our lowball initial offer. Tell me you didn’t forget that.”
“I didn’t,” he said stubbornly. “Bu we need a better deal.”
“Right. And now you’re playing hardball, but you just so conveniently forgot to tell me this?”
He winced. “I’m sorry.”
“Right. Well, how did Colonel Mara take it?”
“Not well,” he admitted.
“Unsurp
rising. I wouldn’t be taking it well if I were her either. Hell, I’m not taking it well anyway!”
She was furious. They had come so close to signing.
“Why are you becoming a penny pincher now? What’s in it for you if we get it for less?” Even before she’d finished asking the question the answer came to her.
“What?” he asked when she snorted and rolled her eyes skyward.
“I can’t believe you. You penny-pinching asshole! You want a lower price because you get more money from it. This is all to get you a bigger payday!”
Just when she’d thought he was turning a corner, he goes and does this. Unbelievable. Kaitlyn stepped to the side and walked away, leaving Aric sputtering behind her, trying to recover. He called her name, but she ignored it, walking away. She had no idea where she was going, other than as far away from him as possible.
What a greedy pig. That was probably it for her payday too. If he was trying to force a lower price to enrich himself, he sure wasn’t going to give any of it to her. That meant she’d have to find another way to raise money for her child.
Her child.
She was more determined than ever now not to tell him. There was no way that a conniving rat like that was going to be a part of her child’s life. It had all changed so quickly, but deep down inside Kaitlyn wasn’t surprised. This is the sort of action she’d been expecting all along. If anything it was good to get it out of the way, so she could stop wondering when the fairy tale would come to an end. That time was now. It was over and her decision was made almost for her.
This was her child, and Aric would have no part in its life until the child was old enough to make their own decision.
Chapter Eighteen
Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn wandered aimlessly through the base. She’d taken the ID card from her pocket and clipped it on, like she was supposed to have done at all times. The clearance level was one of the highest, and this meant she had access to basically anywhere she felt like.
Although it wasn’t her intention to snoop, eventually she found herself wandering over to the metal hangar-like buildings that housed the majority of the battlesuit division assigned to Fort Banner. This was what all the fuss was, and why she’d made a trip thousands of miles across the world. At the very least she should get an up close and personal look at them.
