Palin
He didn’t want to leave the bed, but the incessant buzzing from the table next to the couch was driving him insane.
Finally he caved and slipped out of the sheets, gently lowering Sandy onto the pillow. She barely registered the change, far too tired to wake up. Palin crept out into the main room, stirred the coals of the fire gently, and then grabbed his phone.
Thirty-seven missed calls.
Sixty-four text messages.
The phone went off again and this time he picked it up. “What the hell do you want?” he hissed, trying to keep his voice down so it wouldn’t disturb Sandy.
“Palin, why haven’t you been answering your phone?” Rowe’s voice was caustic, on the brink of a furious rage. He didn’t like being ignored.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because I’ve been busy?” That and he didn’t want to take the calls.
It surprised Palin how much he was enjoying working the farm with Sandy. If he’d been asked before meeting her about the possibility of becoming a farmer, he would have scoffed and loudly stated to any who would listen about how that was beneath him and his skills. That it wasn’t worthy of someone like him.
That was before he’d met Sandy, and before he’d realized he had fun working with his hands in ways that didn’t involve killing people, or training to. Now he took great pride in his ability to work in the field, and to learn new skills. He’d spent several hours each night on his phone, learning more about farming, preparing for the spring and how the two of them might go about making the most efficient use of the land and their time.
Not because of the money—it was no longer about that—though Sandy still wasn’t aware. Palin simply wanted to prove to himself that they could do it, that they could make things work and be successful at what they did. That sort of pride had never been something he’d sought outside of his martial skills before, but spending time with Sandy was changing that.
The phone in his ear spewed sound again, reminding him that Rowe was still on the line.
“Say that again?” he interrupted, cutting his nominal superior off.
“I said you need to return to the base. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” he echoed. “Already?”
“Yes. While you’ve been out cavorting with the locals, Torran and I have come to our decision.”
He wanted to reach through the phone and throttle the other dragon. He wasn’t cavorting, he was trying to claim his mate! The idiot. “What did you decide upon?”
“We will be recommending to the council that the enclave not get involved with the human war with these Outsiders, as they call them. Just like you wanted.”
Palin slowly stood upright, his eyes staring through the western wall of the farmhouse, past the fields and to the mountains beyond. Though he couldn’t see them from here, he could picture the majestic peaks in his mind, soaring high into the sky. To any casual observer the mountains were beautiful, their rocky slopes covered in trees and even snow on the tallest.
It was what lay below that should leave them scared. Palin hadn’t given much thought to the idea of the Outsiders since arriving on the farm, but as he did now, he realized that he’d come to doubt the humans less. After all, why else would they be begging for aid unless they were worried they could not win?
Then there was the proximity of Sandy’s farm to the mountains. If the war did spill over, the farmland around the portal would become a warzone. His mind conjured up images of troops storming over the fields he’d worked so hard to maintain. The house, destroyed by marauding Outsiders and shellfire. A tank using it as cover until it too was overrun, ammunition exploding and leveling the ruins.
What about Sandy? If she refused to come with him, she would be caught in the crossfire. If the Outsiders were as powerful as he’d been told, they would spew forth from the portal and overwhelm the defenses there. In hours they would dot the countryside, stripping the life from the very earth itself. His mate wouldn’t have a chance.
Unless the Outsiders were stopped.
“We can’t do that,” he whispered.
“Can’t do what?” Rowe asked impatiently.
“Leave. Remain neutral. Any and all of it,” he said, his voice hardening as his conviction strengthened. This was the right decision. “We need to stay. And we need to fight.”
“Who?”
“All of us!” He covered his mouth as he cried out. “Every able-bodied dragon. We’re going to be needed, Rowe, and needed badly.”
He could hear the disbelief through the cellphone. “Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
“You were the first one to criticize them, and now you want to stay?”
Palin nodded, then remembered Rowe couldn’t see him. “Yes. There are good people out here, people with dragonblood in them. We can’t let them be sacrificed.”
Rowe snorted. “You’re still living with that delusion are you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Get back to base, Palin. That’s an order.”
“No. I’m staying. This has to happen.”
Rowe sighed. “Always wanting to do it the hard way.” Then the phone went dead.
“Well fuck you too,” he snarled, tossing the phone down on the couch.
He glanced at the bedroom before walking over and checking on Sandy. She was still fast asleep. Confident that she would remain that way, he slipped on his boots and left the house. The cool outdoor air washed over his flesh, goosebumps spreading in its wake. He ignored the temperature change. A scratching sound drew his attention back to the door. What the hell?
Opening it, he jumped back as Champ came charging outside.
“Hey boy,” he said, dropping one hand to his side as the dog nuzzled at him. “Okay, okay, you can come with me, but you have to stay on the paths. No going in the mud, or you sleep outside tonight, got it?”
Champ sniffed and then sneezed. He looked up at Palin, mouth wide and tongue lolling out to the side in what passed for a doggy grin.
“I’m not reassured by your answer.”
Champ just walked down the stairs, then paused to look back as if saying “are you coming?”
“Fine.” They walked off into the dark, keeping to the paths that wormed their way through the fields. Palin didn’t mean to stroll too far from the house, but his thoughts had a mind of their own, and before long he was circling around the edge of the property.
What was he going to do? The choices weren’t optimal. Disobey orders and stay with Sandy, which is where he needed to be, or stay and likely find himself cast out from his home.
“A rock and a hard place, Champ. That’s where I am. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.” The dog looked up at him, but there was no comprehension in his eyes. Just love.
Love.
It wasn’t a word he’d dared think about yet, because he knew if he opened those gates, there was no shutting them. Things with Sandy seemed to be on their strongest footing yet, but that didn’t mean much. They were rocky and could collapse at any time, though he was working to build the foundation as strong as possible. All he needed was more time.
Love took time. It was no surprise that after her past she would want to cut herself off from people. Coming back from years of imposed solitude was a big effort. Immediately throwing herself into a relationship that would last the rest of their lives had to be scary, even if she didn’t know the full truth of it all just yet. How was Palin supposed to blame her for being timid? He couldn’t, of course, and didn’t. Which was why he hadn’t bandied about the word love yet.
“Is love stronger than duty?” he asked softly.
Champ whined at him.
“I know, boy, I know. It’s not an easy answer.”
Champ whined again, but this time it was more like a whimper. A nervous whimper. Never knowing the dog to be afraid of anything, Palin focused on him. The big canine was looking behind him, over his shoulder. Its ears were flattened to its head and its tail curled between its back legs, even as he lowered himself toward the ground.
The creak of something mighty was all the warning he got. Palin threw himself over the dog, willing his dragon to the surface. Scales of deep emerald green blossomed along his back as he made every effort to protect Sandy’s pet.