by Amelia Jade
Carla stiffened as his fingers found hers. Against her will, she realized she wasn’t pulling away, but was instead letting him stay close.
What the hell? This was not part of the plan! Not part of the plan at all, Carla. Get your shit together, Corporal.
When she didn’t remove her hand from his right away, Thorne started forward slowly, resuming their walk, everything the same except for the fact they were holding hands.
Still stunned by the rapidity of the change between them, Carla fell alongside him, trying to figure everything out. This was not like her. Thorne was cute, sure, but holding his hand in public? That was a little romantic, not to mention something she never really did. With anyone.
So what was it about him that was so easily making its way past her defenses and getting her to let her guard down? He certainly wasn’t storming them, forcing his way into her confidence. He just…acted like it was how it was supposed to go, and part of her was accepting that.
Carla made a firm vow then and there that things would not go any further than hand-holding. No hugging, no kissing or heated touching. Nothing. He was still sleeping on the couch, and she was still sleeping in the bed. Alone. With the door closed. Whatever power he held over her, she was stopping it here. Already her arm was tingling from the warmth of his grip, and she could feel herself wanting to lean into him.
If her unit saw her now, acting all “civvy” on them, she would never live it down. They would bring up this moment for as long as she remained with them, any time they felt she needed to feel embarrassed or taken down a peg.
The thought of her unit jarred her memory as they walked, reminding her of what they would be going through tomorrow when she didn’t report for duty. Guilt settled firmly into her mind, erasing any feelings of joy she might have been experiencing during her walk with the giant shifter.
How could Carla justify spending her time like this, when humanity needed her to be at her absolute best when that day finally arrived? The answer was, she couldn’t. Yet here she was, flirting and holding hands with someone else who should be expending all their efforts toward being prepared for the fight. Both of them were shirking their duty, and by giving in, she was encouraging him along.
Abruptly she dropped his hand, the magic of the day gone.
“Can we get back to the apartment now?” she asked.
Thorne, likely caught completely off guard by her actions, paused for a moment. She could sense his searching gaze as he tried to read her body language, to understand what had gone wrong. She was shut off though, and in the end he accepted defeat.
“Of course. Let’s go now.”
Carla nodded and they set off, the gulf between them widening once again. She was perfectly okay with that though. It had been her against the world for as long as she could remember, and that was what she was comfortable with. It was back to the known for her. It bothered her she’d even let her guard down this much with him.
It wouldn’t happen again.
Chapter Seven
Thorne
He crept to the far side of the apartment, not wanting to wake Carla.
If she were like any of the other soldiers he’d met in his life, she’d learned to take sleep wherever she could get it, and to wake at the slightest noise as well. Moving as quietly as he could, which was actually quite silent for someone of his size, he punched in his code for the elevator and slapped a palm over the speaker. It dulled the chime somewhat, but it still echoed through the room.
Breathing a silent prayer that it didn’t wake her, he entered and punched the button for the roof. The elevator whisked upward, stopping after an extremely brief ride. He strode out almost at the exact moment the sun crested the mountains to the west.
Dialing a number he’d now managed to memorize into his phone, he connected with Fort Stark to the southeast. He knew Colonel Mara along with Kallore and several others managed the base that initially housed dragons upon waking.
Fort Banner was where Carla and her units were, as was the portal the Outsiders used to reach Earth, but Fort Stark was where he’d been awakened, and where he knew he had the best chance of reaching the colonel.
After several terse protests from the operators, he was finally connected to her office.
“Colonel Mara,” she said.
“Colonel Mara, it’s Thorne.”
“Hello Thorne, what do I owe this pleasure to today?”
“I’m here to ask a favor.”
There was a pause on the other end. “I’m listening.”
“I need you to send a chopper here for Corporal Giannone right away.”
“What for? Is she hurt? Take her to the local hospital; its resources are better than ours.”
“No, nothing like that,” he assured her, stepping back and forth on the asphalt of the helipad atop the building. “Nobody is hurt. It’s just…she needs to get back to her unit. They’re going to get punished if she’s not there for the inspection.”
“Carla is staying right where she is, Thorne. With you.” Colonel Mara sounded completely indifferent. “You two both know that.”
They did? He frowned. Why the hell would they know that? She’d never stated this was final or anything of the like.
“You two are there. Together. That’s the decision you made. I didn’t have anything to do with that, so you need to drop that supposed righteous anger I can tell you’re feeling right now.”
Thorne fumed as she anticipated him. What the hell was her problem?
“She needs to be back with her unit. That’s where she belongs, dammit. She’s a soldier, not a housewife!”
“I thought she needed to belong with you. As your mate, Thorne. That’s what you told me. I know when Kallore found me, there is no way in hell he would have sent me back into danger if he had his way.”
Thorne was well aware of what she implying, of the opening she was giving him. To admit that Carla wasn’t his mate. That he’d faked the whole thing so that he could get off base, to try and avoid having to fight. He ignored her challenge.
“There’s no reason we both cannot be stationed there,” he said, trying a different tactic. “You have Kallore with you at Fort Stark. Why not deploy me to Fort Banner in the same capacity? It wouldn’t hurt to have a dragon on hand there anyway.”
“Your idea has merit, Thorne.”
He smiled. There, he had it! The last thing he wanted was to put himself as the first dragon exposed to any potential Outsider attack coming out of the portal, but if it got Carla back to her unit, then he could work on another exit plan after that. He would do it for her.
“Which is exactly why there are two dragons there now, guarding the base while they learn just what it is we’re up against, and why we’re asking them to fight.”
“What?”
“Two more of your kin have finished their orientation and have been sent to Fort Banner while they make up their minds about whether or not to fight.”
Frustration was evident in Colonel Mara’s voice now, and he realized it was because the others must not have chosen to fight right away either, just like him. Take that! We’re not big dumb beasts that you can control at your whim. We have thoughts and opinions too.
“I’m sorry Thorne, but you aren’t needed there.”
“Well that hurts,” he snapped. “If I’m not needed, why do you care so much about my decision?”
He could sense the eyeroll, even though he couldn’t see it.
“Thorne, go back to your mate.”
“But—”
“No buts! Unless…”
Here it came. The “decision.” He’d known she would toss it out at some point, and now he was obligated to ask.
“Unless what?”
“Well, I mean, she is your mate, right, Thorne? You do want to get back to her, don’t you? After all, you wouldn’t have done something as crazy as having her fake being your mate just so that you could get out from the base and try to run away, would you?” Colonel M
ara laughed, the tone obviously false. “I know you wouldn’t do anything like that, would you?”
The patronizing tone grated against everything he held dear about himself, about standing up for what he believed in. It just pushed him to own up, to admit that yes, it had been a lie all along.
It would be easy to. If he admitted that, Carla would get punished, but in the end she would go back to her unit, which was what she really wanted. He could do that for her, provide that sort of closure to this whole thing. All he needed to do was admit the truth and accept his consequences.
But being put back to sleep now that he’d been awakened wasn’t really an option that Thorne was willing to accept. He liked this new world, even if he’d not been able to escape his past one entirely. It still haunted him, the memories sneaking up on him at unsuspecting moments, but the advancement of technology had provided him with so many ways to try and forget his guilt. He didn’t want to go back into the long sleep.
Although it galled him to admit, Thorne’s selfishness where his own desires were concerned won out. He didn’t want to go back under.
And he didn’t want to let Carla leave either.
The sudden comprehension of that emotion left him stunned and speechless.
“Thorne? Are you there?”
Numbly he ended the phone call, barely aware of himself, his movements hardly registering in his brain as he sank to the ground, the breeze tugging gently at his hair.
He didn’t want Carla to go.
Reversing that meant he wanted her to stay. With him.
Revelations rocked his brain as he started to think of her as more than just someone whom he’d wronged. Until then, he’d only ever felt guilt over dragging her into his practical joke gone wrong. Could it be? Could all this time his mate have been right under his nose, but he was too blind to see it?
Thorne had always thought her to be pretty, true. Flirting with her was also fun, though truthfully he hadn’t expected it to lead anywhere. After she’d stopped holding his hands yesterday and wanted to come back, Thorne had written off any possibilities with Carla. Now though, as his mind shook off the blinders and looked at the situation from a different angle, he knew that giving up so easily was not an option.
All this time his mate had been here in front of him, and he’d been too afraid to see it! Thorne had to stay awake now, and he needed to win her over, a task that would have been daunting if he’d started out in her favor. Now he was working from a hole, and one that was about to get a whole hell of a lot bigger.
Because Carla was going to absolutely hate him when he had to tell her she wasn’t going back to her unit anytime soon.
Chapter Eight
Carla
The sun was setting over the western mountains, the high slopes turning almost purple as the haze of clouds distorted the light. It was a magnificent sight, and one she was most grateful to be watching. A sunset like this was not something that came around often, and their building provided the perfect vantage point for watching the boiling ball of orange-yellow flame disappear below the massive upraised points of land.
Carla lay lengthwise on a couch, several large cushions propped up behind her so that she could lean back comfortably without having to move. Thorne had set it up for her after their evening meal, a delicious steak and potato dish that he’d whipped up from somewhere.
Her eyes narrowed in thought. Something had changed within him. All day he’d been almost…well, the only word she could describe was doting. Not overbearing or fawning, which she would have considered obnoxious, but definitely putting forth an attempt to make her happy.
It irked her to admit his efforts were succeeding. Despite her abrupt end to the day before, he still seemed destined to do his absolute best for putting her in this position. To her, he’d gone far and away above anything that was necessary. As he’d called her out, this was half her fault as well. She could call up Colonel Mara and admit the truth at any point, but she was stubborn, just like Thorne. They certainly had that in common, among other things.
“I’m going to have a glass of wine,” he announced suddenly, rising from the reclining chair on the other side of the coffee table from her.
The shattering of the quiet that had been in place for the past hour or so forced her to return to the present.
“I’ll take one too, actually,” she decided on a whim. “If you don’t mind.”
“Absolutely not! I think they stocked us with both a red and a white. Do you have a preference?”
“No. Whatever you’re drinking is fine. No sense in wasting anything.”
“Are you sure?” he pressed. “I don’t mind opening the other bottle for you, really. It’s not a big deal.”
She smiled at his insistence. “I’m positive, Thorne. I’m a big girl. If I had a preference, I wouldn’t be afraid to tell you.”
She could almost sense him wilting just a little at the reminder that she could fend for herself. What has gotten into him lately?
“What are you hiding?” she asked when he returned.
“What?” His brown eyes went wide, the gold tones shining through clearly as he set the glass down in her hand.
It was, she noted, only a little over a third full of the dark full-bodied red liquid, as was his. No attempt to get her drunk there. Smart man, she conceded. Getting drunk with him again seemed like a recipe for complete disaster. If she did, she’d probably end up pregnant or something else ridiculous.
That thought brought about unbidden images of Thorne as a father. To her surprise, he actually seemed to fit the mold rather well.
What are you doing, girl? Stop it!
“You’re hiding something. Something you don’t want to tell me. I’m assuming because I’m not going to like it.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, it came to her what it had to be about. “You finally talked to Colonel Mara, didn’t you?”
Thorne paused with his wine glass halfway to his mouth. Topaz eyes flicked over to her, and paused there for a moment. Then the glass continued in an upward motion, and he drained the entire thing in one go.
For whatever reason Carla found that funny, and she ended up laughing. The jovial sound turned bitter as it all coalesced in her mind, and by the time she fell silent, neither of them thought her to be in a particularly happy mood.
“She isn’t letting me go back anytime soon.” It wasn’t much of a question.
Thorne shook his head. “She’s not letting you go back anytime soon.”
“What the fuck!” She snarled the final word, tossing back a sip of wine violently. “This makes no sense! What the hell is her purpose in keeping us here? I don’t understand.”
Thorne was halfway standing up when she fixed her stare on him. “Do you have any ideas?”
He froze, half-crouched, once more looking like a deer caught in headlights.
“What did she tell you, Thorne?”
Licking his lips nervously, Thorne glanced around the apartment. “I’m going to refill my glass,” he announced, and before she could object he was back in the kitchen, popping the cork and filling his glass. To the brim.
“It’s really not good news, is it?” she asked sourly.
“Uhh, I mean. I don’t think it’s bad news,” he said.
“So she did tell you something.”
He paused to think. “No, not really. It’s more that I realized something I’d been blinded to, and suddenly it all makes a lot more sense.”
Carla sat up. “Which is what, exactly?”
“Ahh.” Thorne looked away.
“Tell me,” she said, her temper getting the better of her.
Her words got his attention, but when he looked back at her, Carla felt the full weight of his stare, and it was immense. For the first time since she’d met him, she suddenly saw the dragon side of him. She’d always heard of people having “old-eyes.” eyes that had seen a lot, and suddenly she understood all those sayings.
Although she wasn’t sure o
n his exact age, she knew it was longer than any human, not including his time spent asleep.
“Are you sure you want to know?” he asked, his voice somehow deeper, more ancient.
“I…” She tried to swallow, the lump in her throat making it uncomfortable.
Then all at once the Thorne she knew was back. “I’m not sure you’re ready, Carla. Even if I did tell you, you wouldn’t believe me. You’d call me full of shit, thinking I was only saying it for one reason, things like that.”
“What the hell was that?” she asked, referring to his little personality switch.
“That was me.” He shrugged. “Mixed with my other half. I don’t take well to being yelled at.”
“No fucking kidding,” she breathed. “That was some powerful stuff.”
“I may look like you right now, Carla, but I’m not. You know my true nature. What I am. What do your legends tell you about dragons?”
“That they’re finicky, have big egos, and are quick to anger when disturbed.”
Thorne grinned. “Got it in one. You missed two things though.”
“Oh right, treasure! Right? Dragons love their treasure. I read that book when I was younger. The one with the bobbits!”
Thorne looked confused.
“Never mind,” she said. “You wouldn’t know.”
“What is a bobbit?”
“Little thing. Small-sized human, but not a dwarf.”
“I see.” Thorne shook his head. “Yes, treasure is one thing. The other…” he paused again, looking away.
She watched his broad chest rise and fall as he took several deep breaths. What the hell was bothering someone like him so much that it made him nervous to speak? Carla was proud of her achievements, of her training. She could defend herself from most people. But compared to a dragon? He shouldn’t feel threatened by her in the slightest.
So why the hell was he so nervous?
