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 Mara 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.