Thorne
He stood in the middle of the seating area for several minutes after the door closed behind his mate.
“That went over well,” he muttered quietly. “You idiot.”
Putting the coffee table back in place that he’d kicked aside during his mad dash to kiss her, he stood up. Now was the time to be absent. Wandering over to the elevator he punched the button for the floor above him, wondering if it would work.
Apparently it did, because seconds later the doors slid open and he was up another level.
“Hello?” he called out. This was weird. The elevator had meant to only ever go straight to this level, but as part of the renovations the military was carrying it out, stops had been included at every level now. The main elevator had been ripped out to make more room for space, but it had resulted in the new elevator opening right up into the apartments.
Odd, was all he could think.
“Who’s that?” a voice rumbled back, sounding like it was coming from above him. Recalling that it was a two-story penthouse, he realized that made sense.
“My name is Thorne, I’m—”
“An onyx dragon,” the same voice said, rounding the corner.
His eyebrows went up a fraction at the stealthiness of the newcomer. Tall, though more thickly built than he was, the other dragon shifter had a magnificent braid of midnight-black hair that fell just past his shoulders.
“I’m Vanek,” he said, introducing himself.
“Thorne.”
“Yes, I do recall having heard of your awakening. Come in, come in. I take it you’re here now?”
“Yeah, moved in right below you, sorry to tell you.”
Vanek laughed easily. “This is the new world, Thorne. No animosity between our kinds needs exist anymore. A fresh start for all of us means a clean slate, until you do something to earn otherwise.”
“Sounds wonderful to me,” he said, following his nominal host to the stairs and the upper floor.
“Here, let me introduce you to the others.”
Three other people were sitting in a comfortable living area, and they rose to greet him.
“This is Harlow, my mate.”
The subtle emphasis on the last two words were unnecessary; he’d seen the look Harlow had given Vanek upon his return from simply going downstairs, but it was rather adorable nonetheless. He shook the woman’s hand firmly, her crystal-blue eyes regarding him with a quiet intensity that foretold of considerable intelligence.
“This is Kylie, and her mate, Corde.”
Thorne gave the violet-eyed woman with hair down to the middle of her back a perfunctory handshake and pleasant smile before turning to the other dragon shifter, another red, he realized.
“Thorne,” he said, raising his voice loud enough for all to hear, even as he shook hands with the blond-haired giant. “I’m from downstairs.”
Vanek ushered him to a seat and he sat, feeling comfortable amidst the group of shifters and their mates. Although they were being polite now, he made a note to stay on their good sides. Red dragons were notoriously fickle and prone to anger, along with being some of the best fighters in the business. Thorne could likely outrun either of them, but a fight would be disastrous for both sides, pitching his speed and reflexes against their strength and experience.
Neither side was likely to appreciate the outcome.
With the introductions done and everyone settling in, Thorne noticed that Corde was looking at him rather intensely, eyes of graphite flinty and hard.
“Can I help you?” he asked warily, unsure of what it was he’d done to warrant such attention.
The other little side conversations ceased as others picked up on the situation.
“Corde, what’s wrong?” Kylie asked from next to him, shaking his leg, trying to get his attention.
“Have we met before?” Corde said suddenly, his voice a deep rumble.
Thorne looked around the room, wondering if he should be making himself scarce from here as well.
“I don’t think so?” he replied. Nothing about the other shifter had immediately stood out to him. Thorne hadn’t met all that many reds before he went to sleep. He figured he’d remember if Corde were one of them. “Reds and blacks have never been a popular combination,” he said jokingly, trying to thaw the ice in the air.
“Maybe,” Corde said, sitting back, still studying him.
While Vanek got Corde’s attention and told him to play nice, Thorne opened up his senses fully, testing the air as he tried to get Corde’s scent, separating it out from the others. As he did, he noticed that it was somewhat familiar. Nothing he could place though, which didn’t mean much. As a dragon he’d traveled the globe, and it wasn’t that rare to come across another’s scent. There were only so many mountain ranges out there.
It was likely he’d just come across his trail once before, or stayed in a cave that Corde had also used. He couldn’t place him, though his brain was trying to tell him something. The thought or memory wouldn’t form, and so he eventually dismissed it.
“So, Thorne. They sent you here to try and find your mate?” Harlow asked, taking over the conversation from the others.
Kylie leaned in, eager to hear about any hopeful budding romance.
“Ahhh, not quite,” he admitted awkwardly. “They sent me here because they thought I already had her.”
Confused looks greeted him all around, even from Corde, who was still looking as if he were trying to place Thorne, but for the moment had decided to let it slide. Breathing a sigh of relief about that dodged bullet, he recanted the story of his and Carla’s drunken escapades.
“You didn’t!” Vanek roared with laughter.
“Elin truly did put you through the grinder with that one,” Kylie said, giggling uncontrollably.
It was weird to hear Colonel Mara called by her first name, but he had to remind himself that she was friends with this group, and they knew her differently than he did.
“Put? She still is! I’m not sure if she somehow knew we actually were mates, or if she’s just doing this to drive home a point to me and any other dragons that are awoken, but what a ball-buster!”
Vanek grinned. “She is that, and more. No quit in that one. She has a mission, and she’ll do whatever it takes to accomplish it, even if it means forcing you to swallow your own bullshit until you choke on it. Though in your case it sounds like it’s going to work out for you and Carla.”
He snorted. “If I can convince her to give me a chance. She’s so hung up on getting back to her unit that I’m not sure she’s going to let me. Her sense of duty is strong.”
Harlow nodded. “I understand that. What you need to do is you need to figure out a way that you two can help her fight for the cause she believes in, while also being together. Come up with the answer to that, and you’ll be golden.”
Thorne nodded, leaning back into the chair, lost in thought. That was a good point indeed.
To his left Corde was drawn in to the conversation as it continued, but he kept glancing over at Thorne, his brain obviously still trying to figure out where he’d come across the onyx dragon before.
“Also, Thorne, you should try making some more romantic gestures,” Kylie said, snagging his attention as the conversation turned his way once more.
Harlow nodded. “Yeah, cook her dinner, maybe buy flowers too.”
“Well, maybe not flowers,” Kylie said thoughtfully. “If she’s in the military and as badass as you make her out to be, then that might not be the best gesture. She might think herself too tough for that.”
Harlow looked away at the mention of the military and badass, but a leg-squeeze from Vanek seemed to ease whatever was going on there.
“Show her affection, do sweet things. If you truly are mates, it will work. Eventually. Just be persistent; some of us are stubborn about that sort of thing, but we get it eventually.”
Harlow and Kylie shared a laugh over what was obviously a reference to their own courtships.
“Was it that bad?” he asked Vanek, wincing before he’d even heard the answer.
“Oh yeah. It was bad.” He put his hand around Harlow’s shoulders and drew her in close. “But oh so worth it in the end. Be persistent, Thorne. It’ll come, or it won’t.”
The conversation devolved from there, and though the next hour was thoroughly enjoyable, eventually he felt he needed to go.
“Thank you so much for having me,” he said, getting up. “Hopefully next time I come by I’ll have someone else in tow.”
The others smiled and wished him luck, even Corde, much to his surprise. As the elevator doors slid closed around him, the last thing Thorne saw was Corde’s face and the shock of blond hair that fell down his forehead, wavy and unkempt. It was thinner than his, which had a natural tendency to stick up more.
But it was the eyes. The steel-lined eyes that he couldn’t shake. Thorne had seen them before. Somewhere.
And as the elevator sped downward to the basement, he suddenly thought he knew from where.