Garath
This was just like Colonel Mara.
He seethed silently on the inside as the driver dropped him off in front of the officers’ mess hall.
“She’s inside, sir,” the baby-faced private said helpfully. “Do you know your way around?”
“Yes.”
The force and hostility in his voice drained the blood from the young soldier’s face.
Garath was blind to that though, his anger at the situation leaving him focused solely on Colonel Mara. How could she know that he wanted nothing more than to avoid the officers’ club and Marie? And then to bring him here anyway? It was just one more reason for him to be rid of the entire situation and strike out on his own.
His resolve to follow through no matter what grew firmer, and he marched inside with a purpose, the Jeep’s driver gunning the engine and racing away from him as fast as possible. A wise move. Being around Garath just then was not the place to be if one valued their safety. He was pissed, and a ticked-off dragon was not exactly known for its restraint.
Barging into the seating area, he located Colonel Mara and made a beeline for her. All eyes focused on him, guest and worker alike. His size, demeanor, and the sheer power radiating from him were unavoidable. Colonel Mara saw him coming. He saw surprise register on her face for a moment, though it was swiftly replaced with a cool, assessing gaze as he closed.
“Why did you—”
“Sit.”
The steel in Colonel Mara’s voice stopped him flat. His nostrils flared with anger, but the other person seated with her prevented him from doing little more than glaring. Kallore, the crimson dragon mated to Colonel Mara, stared up at him, a false smile on his face. Garath may have been irate, but he wasn’t about to take on someone like Kallore. Not when it was obvious the other dragon was ready for it.
“I don’t have to take orders from you,” he spat. “Why would you bring me here?”
“Are you and Miss Proctor not an item?” she asked. “I figured you would want to spend time here to perhaps see her.”
Garath glared. “For your information, no, we are not.”
“I see. Sit.” Colonel Mara all but ignored his statement and gestured at a chair.
“I’d rather stand, thank you.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck. Sit your ass down in the chair, you rude sonofabitch.”
Kallore just smiled wider, and Garath decided maybe he should sit down.
“Fine.” He pulled out the chair and sat down.
“Better. Now before you say whatever little speech it is you’ve obviously thought about in your head, let me tell you something. I am not some piece of shit you can walk all over, okay? I didn’t do a damn thing to you, so you’re going to relax and show me some respect and decency, otherwise I’m going to tell Kallore here to take you out back and beat it into you. Am I understood?”
Kallore’s grin turned wicked.
“He wouldn’t enjoy that,” Garath said calmly, his tone frigid. “But very well. If you say you brought me here out of courtesy and not spite, then I shall accept that. Good enough?”
Colonel Mara seemed ready to argue some more, but in the end declined. “Good enough.”
Garath relaxed ever so slightly. Kallore looked disappointed.
“Now, tell me why you wanted to see me.”
“I’m leaving.” Like she’d guessed, he’d had a little speech rehearsed, but Garath decided to dispense with it. Perhaps the blunt approach would work better.
“Leaving where?”
“Here. The program. Everything. I’m done with it and with the other dragons. I won’t be around them any longer. If I’m going to fight, it will be on my own terms, in my own way, without you or anyone else interfering or telling me what to do or how.”
Colonel Mara shook her head. “No. We need you here, Garath. We need to fight together, as a team. The Steel Scales could use someone like you, with your experience and prowess. Vanek is a good leader, and the human volunteers are among our best. There’s no better place to make a difference.”
“No.” Was she insane? Stay here and fight in a unit composed of dragons? The Steel Scales were an interesting unit, he didn’t deny that. Dragons fighting with armored humans mounted above them like cavalry of old.
Couldn’t she see though? That dragons were untrustworthy and to be avoided? He’d just relearned that lesson firsthand. It wasn’t like he was going to just jump back into it. They would just try to steal and swindle him, like Liam and Marie had tried.
It wasn’t like he had any treasure left anyway. Liam had taken that all from him the first time. Garath had tried to figure out what it was they were after, but he didn’t know. Maybe it was his dignity? First Liam had taken his wealth, now they were trying to take from him his pride and the will to live? By setting him up with a woman he’d thought was his mate, and then revealing to him that all along it was little more than a setup. He wasn’t sure how, but it felt right.
After all, with the loss of his treasure he’d lost his will to live. It was what eventually drove him into the long sleep of dragons, trying to avoid the pain it caused him. Now that he’d been given a second chance, and even thought he’d found a reason to stay awake this time, they were out to deceive him. His reason for living had been stripped away from him again, this time it was a lie in the form of a short, curvy woman with beautiful red-brown hair and ice-blue eyes that mesmerized him with their depths.
The same woman that had just come barging out of the kitchen doors and was storming across the distance between him.
“You!” she snapped, not even halfway there. “Where the hell have you been? And what are you doing just waltzing into my work like this? Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?”
It was a good act. That was his first thought. She was playing it up well, doing a great job of pretending like she still cared about him in an attempt to get him back. But Garath wasn’t fooled. Not anymore. His blinders had been lifted.
Across the table from him Colonel Mara was looking back and forth between him and Marie, her face thoroughly unimpressed. He got it. Marie was creating a scene, something that Colonel Mara didn’t want to be involved in. It would be best if he brought it to a close swiftly, so that perhaps he could get into her good books and leave without the military coming after him when he departed. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, just to be left alone.
“Well, are you going to give me an answer?”
She was well trained. The hurt sounded real.
Almost as real as the hurt he felt at how she’d betrayed him, lying to him while the whole time she was engaged to the same dragon who had swindled him, robbed him of all his treasure. Well, Garath was done being hurt, done letting anyone get close to him. He was done trusting anyone.
“You want an answer?” he growled, still sitting down, refusing to even grant her that bit of respect.
“Yes.”
“I’m on to you. Your tricks. Everything. Your plan is a bust, because I’m done and I’m not coming back.”
“What?” She looked bewildered, but the confusion was a poor mask as he dropped the other end.
“I saw the pictures. Of you and him. You’re engaged to him. I saw the ring.” His eyes were going black with anger he was sure, but Garath didn’t care. “I know all about your plan.”