Thorne
The mottled green and brown military SUV dropped them off in the underground parking of the apartment building. It was well lit, clean, and he’d noticed several human security guards posted at various checkpoints as they’d descended the levels of parking to the bottom, where the elevator waited.
“Shall we?” he asked as calmly as possible.
She glared at him, hoisted her single bag over her shoulder, and sarcastically pointed at the elevator. “Lead the way.”
He sighed. This was not what he expected to happen. It was supposed to be a fun little joke. Why did Colonel Mara have to take it so far, threatening to get the MPs involved? That left the corporal between a rock and a hard place, and while in his mind she’d made the smart choice, it didn’t mean that he was off the hook either.
Deciding against arguing further, he simply did as she said and led the way over to the elevator. A keypad accepted the code he’d been given and the stainless steel doors slid open silently to admit them. The pair entered, waited for the doors to close again, and then shuffled awkwardly as it sped upward, keeping them confined.
He nearly sighed with relief when it opened again to reveal a newly renovated luxury suite near the top of the apartment building. From what he’d gathered, the military had bought the building and was converting it over into suites like this for the various dragons it intended to wake up. The penthouse suite was two floors above him. That was where Corde and Vanek lived. Right above them was the suite Colonel Mara and her mate Kallore inhabited, the trio of red dragons preferring to stay near each other when they were all in town.
After that, Thorne.
“Well, at least it’s not a dump,” the corporal remarked, striding out of the elevator and admiring the open-concept floorplan. The south part was all blocked off with what he assumed were the bedrooms, shower, bathroom and such. The other three sides were all glass, giving them a beautiful view of not only Barton City to the north and east, but the mountains to the west from where they had come. He couldn’t quite see Fort Banner, even with his eyesight, but he knew it wasn’t far.
Taking up his stuff without a word, he walked into an open door where he saw a bed.
“I don’t think so.”
He spun to see the corporal standing in the doorway. “What?”
“We are not sharing a bedroom.”
“Take another one,” he snapped, losing a bit of his own patience with her.
“I would, if there were another one. We’re supposed to be mated, remember? One bed only.”
Thorne worked his jaw. Of course. Why would they need a second bedroom if they were madly in love? His teeth ground together. What was Colonel Mara trying to prove with this little stunt? It had to be obvious they were lying, so why did she allow it to happen?
“So then make yourself at home. We’re mated, I suppose we may as well share.”
She hissed angrily. “First off, we’re not actually mated. Secondly, I’m not sharing a bed with someone who doesn’t even know my name!”
Thorne opened his mouth to respond, to assure her that he did in fact know her name, but a warning glance snapped his mouth shut. Didn’t he?
“And in case you were wondering, no, my name is not Corporal, thank you very much. That’s my rank.”
He nodded begrudgingly, playing out every conversation he’d had with her. The truth was, he quickly realized, he didn’t know a single thing about her besides her rank and that she was part of the advanced infantry battlesuit division deployed to Fort Banner. It was hoped that the augmented humans could stand up to the Outsiders, providing support to the dragons, or even taking one on themselves if they had the numbers.
Plucking his bag from the bed, he nodded in acceptance. “Thorne,” he said, sticking his hand out as he approached her, trying to make a peace offering, so that perhaps they could at least work together to figure out a way out of the situation they were in. “I’ll grab the couch.”
She hadn’t seemed interested in taking his hand, but the lack of argument about the bed seemed to sway her. “Carla. Carla Giannone.”
“Sorry about not doing that earlier, Carla. I actually truly thought I had already found out your name.” He shrugged and eased past her. “I’ll try to do better.”
“See that you do,” she said, but there was no malice in her voice.
He tossed his bags down on the floor and flopped down on the couch. Resting his head on the one arm, his legs hung off the far side almost to his knees. It clearly was not built for people his size to be sleeping on.
“Don’t get too sour,” Carla assured him. “You can have the bed after I leave tomorrow.”
He sat up. “Leave? What? Why are you leaving?”
Carla stared at him, her eyes striking and hard, the gunmetal blue-gray aspect of them staring him down. It was those eyes that had caused him to call out to her in the first place when she’d walked into the bar, something in him attracted to them like a magnet. Now though, he was the victim of their intense glare, and he wondered if perhaps he’d made a mistake. She could be intimidating when she wanted for a human, and he almost took an involuntary step backward.
“Why? Maybe because I’m not your mate or whatever, and that I have a unit to get back to?” She paced back and forth across the thick planks of dark hardwood that covered the floor. “We have a general inspection on Monday. My leave ends tomorrow. I need to get back, or I’m going to be in big shit and my unit will fail. I can’t allow that to happen. I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am.”
Thorne mulled her words over. “They mean a lot to you, don’t they?”
“Yes. They’re my family.”
“And you, you pilot one of those robots?”
“Battlesuits,” she corrected. “And yes. I’m one of the best. I’ve been training for this opportunity for years.” Her eyes glinted coldly. “I’m going to kill any of those Outsiders who even tries to get through. Nothing is going to hurt innocent civilians while I still draw breath.”
Her ferocity and fierceness were impressive and attractive, though Thorne had his personal doubts about how effective the suits would actually be in combat against an Outsider.
“Interesting.”
Carla raised her eyebrows in challenge. “Got a problem with that?”
“What? No.” He shook his head emphatically. “Not at all. The other humans on the base hold your unit in high regard. I just admit to being curious. They make you out to be pretty badass, if I understand the term correctly.”
A brief frown crossed her face, but then she smiled, lifting her chin. “We are badass,” she stated. “The Steel Scythes are the best battlesuit operators in the entire military. Period.”
“Maybe you could show me sometime,” he said, trying to get on her good side.
“Maybe.” Carla grinned. “Though after we beat you senseless, you might regret asking for an invitation into the thing.”
Thorne couldn’t help himself, he matched her grin. Damn but she had a fiery spirit! If he could just get her to stop hating him, maybe they could emerge from this as friends. Not many humans had her attitude, he’d learned, and it made everything just a little more bearable.
The elevator slid open without warning, and Colonel Mara emerged from its confines.
“Um, aren’t you supposed to knock?” he growled. “A little privacy would be nice from time to time.”
Another hulking figure emerged from within the elevator, the whites of his blue eyes so bright they nearly overwhelmed the color. The thickly muscled male had a shock of ash-blond hair on his head, and slabs of muscle riveted to his frame.
Kallore glared at Thorne, who returned the look. The reds always thought they were the best. They might be bigger in dragon form, but they were slower too, and he knew how to exploit that ruthlessly if necessary. No, the fight between them would be too close to tell, and Kallore would never want to risk it in front of his mate. He was perfectly safe and unwilling to take the glare directed his way.
“I figured since you two had barely arrived you’d still be getting comfortable. Besides, Kallore and I weren’t planning to be here, but he insisted that we come visit his friends. So here we are, on my day off, bringing you two a message in person.”
Thorne’s stomach gave way at her tone. Whatever she was about to say, it wasn’t going to be good news. Bracing himself for the worst, he listened as she began to speak.