Chapter Nine
Torran
He kicked at a rock on the ground, not bothering to rein in his strength. The fist-sized stone shot through the air, bounced off the ground, and then skimmed across the front of a vehicle coming up the driveway.
It wasn’t a motorcycle, so Torran didn’t pay it any attention. If it had been Damien though, he would have picked up the bike and its rider and hurled them back down the driveway as far as he could. With his dragon strength, that was quite a ways. He didn’t care.
The vehicle beeped at him. Torran kept walking. The horn sounded again, twice in quick succession.
“WHAT?” he roared, turning around, not bothering to hide the anger on his face.
Palin stared back at him from the driver’s seat. The only reaction he gave was the slight lift of his eyebrows.
“Perfect.” Torran turned and kept walking. The last thing he wanted to deal with now was the calm, pragmatic dragon Palin had become since he’d found Sandy.
The door to the pickup truck came to a halt, and he heard the door open and close. Not long after footsteps crunched through the frozen top layer of the ground as Palin jogged after him.
“Do you always kick stones at guests?” he quipped.
“Piss off.”
Palin raised his hands in the air. “Whoa. Easy there, what the hell did I do?”
“Nothing. Except bother me. I want to be left alone,” he grumped.
“That much is obvious. Which is exactly why you shouldn’t be. So tell me, what’s going on that’s got you in such a foul mood?”
Torran snorted derisively. How could he tell Palin and expect the other dragon to understand? Palin was smitten with a human already, and he didn’t have to deal with accepting that his mate had the spawn of a bastard within her.
It wasn’t the fact that she was pregnant that bothered him either. Torran wanted a big family. He remembered the big farmhouse he’d seen on their way back from the enclave. Ablaze with light during the evening, people filling the room together. It was unusual for dragons to want a big family.
So now he had found his mate, only to be told by her ex that she was carrying his child. A human child. Torran had thought he was okay. That he’d come to accept that this is just what fate had in store for him. There was no reason that Lilly couldn’t still be a good person. Humans could be good. She was just lacking the physical attributes of a dragon.
And the instant recognition of a mate.
That was the source of much of his bitterness. Torran knew what she was to him, but he had been rejected by her initially, because Lilly couldn’t understand what it was that drew her to him. She didn’t have another thing living inside her that could recognize it.
I guess she does have something living inside her now, he thought bitterly.
“Should I go talk to Lilly and get her to tell me what’s going on?”
“No,” he said, more sharply than intended.
Palin bit his tongue, but Torran could sense the other dragon was getting irritated by his attitude. Unfortunately for the newcomer, he just didn’t give a shit right then. He was busy moping around, taking his frustration out on anything that came near, alive or inanimate. It just didn’t matter to Torran.
Since Damien had left the afternoon before, he’d manage to stay completely away from Lilly. He’d snuck in late at night to grab food, but otherwise he’d stayed outside, even sleeping overnight in his dragon form in the middle of one of the fields.
“I brought the truck for you to use,” Palin said after a minute of walking in silence next to him. “Here.”
Torran took the offered keys with an appreciative grunt. He didn’t want to be too rude. Palin was allowing him to stay here and had now just loaned him a vehicle to use. But that didn’t mean he wanted him to stick around.
“I need the updated lists,” Palin added. “I had expected the first one by now from you, to be honest.”
“I’ll get to it.” He waved it off and tried to walk away, but Palin followed him.
“Not good enough, Torran. Cheryl will be here any day now, and I don’t want to be charged extra because you weren’t doing your job.”
“Who’s Cheryl?”
“She’s the controller from the company I hired to run this place. I told you about her.”
“Oh.”
Palin had mentioned that. Torran had just assumed it would be a male. Apparently he couldn’t get anything right lately.
“So about those lists. I don’t want to be an asshole about it, but I am letting you stay here for free. If you don’t want to help just say so and you can go back to the military base.”
Torran almost said yes. Anything to get him out of the hell he was in, but something quieted his voice before he could speak. A tiny spark, demanding that he stay.
“I’ll get it done,” he said instead, repeating himself.
“When?” Palin pushed.
“WHEN THEY’RE DONE!” he roared, losing his temper with the emerald dragon.
A closed fist came flying out of his peripheral vision, sending Torran bouncing off the ground until he landed on his back, the top layer of ice slowly melting and soaking through to his clothes.
“Don’t do it,” Palin warned, leveling a finger at him. “You brought that upon yourself by being a rude guest. You earned it.”
Torran was beyond giving a shit about stupid dragon customs about being a proper guest and how to behave. He got to his feet and lashed out at Palin with a blast of toxic gas.
“Did you just do that?” Palin snarled, closing on him. Green scales rippled into existence over his knuckles as he swung.
Torran dropped to one knee, taking out some of his anger on Palin’s side, driving his own jade-colored fist at his nominal friend. Palin crumpled to the side, but instead of losing his balance he rolled with the blow and came to his feet.
Advancing on him, Torran totally missed the green fireworks that sprouted at his feet, exploding in puffs of gas. He gestured violently with his right hand and a tornado of green swirled up around him, stopping just short of his eyes so that he could see. It spun wildly, the air movement quickly dissipating anything Palin hurled his way.
Except for his body. Torran danced to the side as Palin came charging through the barrier, ignoring the burns it caused to his body as the slightly different composition of Torran’s gas to his own abraded his skin.
The pair traded punches, all traces of gas disappearing as they just whaled upon one another.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Both Palin and Torran turned as a new voice spoke, one neither of them recognized. It was filled with a mixture of disgust and command, that last bit speaking powerfully to the dragons hidden within.
They both turned to stare at a short strawberry-blonde firecracker. She stood in front of a little blue vehicle that just screamed “eco-friendly.” Her hands were planted firmly on her thick hips and she was glaring at both of them with a set of blue-green eyes that demanded respect.
Torran’s first thought was that he didn’t want to mess with her. It was only after that he remembered she was human.
He still didn’t want to mess with her.
“Well? Anyone going to speak up?”
Exchanging a wary glance with Palin, Torran took the lead. “Nothing,” he said calmly.
“Nothing my ass. How the hell do you expect to get work done if you’re always beating up on each other? Now let me make this very clear. You two are done acting like that while I’m around, or else you can pack your things and find another place to work. Am I clear?”
Torran’s neck swiveled to look at Palin so fast something popped in it.
The minor pain was absolutely worth the stunned look on the other shifter’s face. This was the man who had hired her, and she was treating him like he was a lowly farmhand.
She turned her fiery gaze on him when he snickered. “Something funny you want to share?” she snapped.
“Not yet.”
One eyebrow lifted incrementally, but that was her only reaction. “Fine. Now which one of you two can point me to Palin?”
Torran’s hand came up like a blur to point.
“He can?”
Palin finally got himself under control. “Hi, I’m Palin. You must be Cheryl.”
Torran watched the other woman’s eyes. Already wide to begin with, they seemed to bulge out of her face as she realized what she’d just done. “Oh my God.”
By this point he was trying not to howl with laughter, because he knew the other woman had meant well, and he liked her attitude.
“He’ll come talk to you inside,” he told her, taking pity on the woman. “Just give us a few minutes to chat here.”
“Right. Of course. I’ll be inside, trying not to die of embarrassment.”
Palin nodded and let her go. At the same time Torran stopped trying to contain his laughter, though he felt bad that his howling only drove Cheryl to move her feet faster. Oh well, that was priceless.
“You in a better mood now?” Palin growled, though he too was smiling.
“Somewhat.”
“Care to talk?”
So he told him. About Damien and the baby. How he wasn’t sure he could raise a human infant, especially one with her ex as the father. The idea of Damien being around and involved in the child’s life infuriated him beyond reasoning.
“Have you told Lilly any of this?” Palin asked as soon as he was done talking.
“No. How could I? She just wants to be friends. I agreed to that. Now I’m supposed to tell her I can’t be her friend because I’m her mate, and that’s why I can’t accept Damien’s child.”
Palin rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot sometimes.”
“What do you mean?” he growled, ready to throw another punch.
“Calm down. What I mean is that you’re so focused on Damien. Damien this, Damien that. Damien’s child. Damien, Damien, Damien. Torran my friend, have you forgotten about Lilly herself?”
Torran missed his next step and twisted his ankle trying to recover his balance. Somehow he had forgotten her. Not literally, but he’d been so angry that he’d started to only think of Damien, and not that she was the one having to go through everything.
“Go talk to her,” Palin urged. “Stop being a blind fool and talk to her as a person. Human, dragon, wolf, bear. They’re all fifty percent human at a minimum. Talk to that side of her. If she’s your mate she’s going to need your support through all of this. Remember, she also has to deal with carrying his child. Unlike you though, she’s the one actually pregnant.”
Palin clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m going to go on in there now before Cheryl tries to tear a new one off Rowe.”
“Rowe’s not here,” he mumbled.
“Whatever, I’m going to go try not to laugh as she apologizes. Poor gal. Go be a better person than you were being,” Palin urged, heading off.
Go be a better person than you were being.
That really was the heart of it. Wasn’t it? Torran had gotten so wrapped up in himself and Damien that he’d completely forgotten about the most important person of all. Lilly! She must be completely distraught by now, having lost the only friend she had around besides Sandy. Now was the time Torran was supposed to be there for her the most! Not ignoring her and acting like he was pissed at her.
“Thank you, my friend,” he said quietly to Palin’s retreating back. “I needed that.”
Now all he had to do was find Lilly. He circled around the back of the ranch. She enjoyed sitting on the chairs in the enclosed porch area there, watching the sun set, he knew that much. It was as good a place to start as any.
On his way over, he hoped he could figure out just what the fuck he was going to say.