Elin
“Did you sneak me off the base just to get me drunk?” he accused her as she pushed open the wooden door. Above a whitewashed signed read Stark House Pub & Grill. “Because that would be really amazing.”
She smiled at his comment, and he walked into a table, spilling the contents all over the floor because he was too busy staring. Covering up a laugh, she watched him try to recover.
Don’t encourage him. Just because you’re off base doesn’t mean you’re off duty, Major! Keep it professional.
“Uh, shit.” He bent over and started picking it all up but a woman in a black shirt with the establishment’s name emblazoned on it came over and shooed him off.
“It’s okay, I’ve got it. Don’t worry about it.”
He stood up. “Thank you.”
The tiny woman looked up at him and smiled broadly, her eyes shamelessly wandering along his frame. He swallowed and turned to look at Elin, but she just watched the proceedings with an amused look on her face. Letting the jealousy she felt inside show would not be good for any of them at all.
“Shall we get a table?” she asked him.
He nodded. “Yes, that would be fantastic. Preferably one better anchored to the floor.”
Elin gave a tiny, unfeminine snort as she pointed to a table in the corner. “Come on, let’s go.”
They settled in and the same waitress came over. Elin ordered for both of them, since she doubted Kallore had much experience with beer. Not the modern versions at least. She got him a smooth lager to start, though it would probably take some experimenting before he found his preferred taste.
Their glasses arrived, she showed him what cheers meant, and then they drank. She took a sip, setting her glass down. Kallore, meanwhile, drained his, eyes opening wide as he drank.
“That was fantastic,” he said in awe. “I’ve never tasted anything so delicious!’
Before she could react he leaned over the table and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you,” he said softly into her ear before sitting back.
Elin was still trying to figure out what had just happened when the waitress came over with a refill for him. They’d rarely engaged in more than playful banter with each other, and she’d felt comfortable with her ability to keep him at a distance on the base. Now, five minutes into their first journey outside the border, and he was escalating things.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” she said at last, trying hard to ignore the way his lips had felt against her skin, or how the soft whisper of his voice in her ear had made the hairs on her neck stand on end. “This is going to lead to trouble.”
Across from her Kallore sat up straight, his eyes instantly aware. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
Something already has. It’s what got me posted here in the first place. Now it’s happening all over again, like a nightmare. Except this time I don’t want to say no. I want to say yes. But I can’t.
He reached over to the nearby table while she watched and grabbed a coaster. Apparently in her awe of Kallore’s physical traits the waitress had neglected to bring him one. Finding herself admiring his tight posterior in a most unprofessional manner, Elin buried her eyes in her drink, trying to force away the idea that maybe he might just have true buns of steel.
“So why did you bring me here?” he asked, sipping more cautiously at his second beverage. “Is this an attempt to befriend me at last? After keeping such a distance between us at first?”
The question hit a little too close to home for her. Elin had worked damn hard to maintain nothing but professional courtesy with Kallore. Each day had been harder than the previous. His easy-going attitude and keen intellect had begun to win her over, especially when she was forced to stare into those striking eyes of the most gorgeous pale-blue she’d ever seen.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to,” Elin sighed. “It’s just…complicated.”
Kallore watched her for several moments, likely trying to discern just what she meant by that. “Oh?” he prompted.
“Yes. Complicated.” She bit the word off harshly.
The dragon shifter nodded and looked away, taking a long pull of his drink.
“I’m sorry,” she said, relenting on him. “It’s just… I didn’t want this posting in the first place.”
The hurt was visible on his face.
“I don’t mean it like that,” she added. “I wasn’t planning on working with someone who hasn’t been awake in centuries. Hell, I didn’t even realize it was possible to live that long. Or that you’re…what you are.” She dropped her voice, realizing that others could possibly overhear them.
“No one heard you,” Kallore said, his eyes scanning the room to see if anyone had been paying attention.
“You know this is impossible,” she added. “How I’ve managed to handle this so far is…astonishing. I think it’s because I haven’t let myself believe it yet. I’m probably going to have a breakdown and go crazy at some point. Just a warning.” She laughed, the sound tight and almost hysterical.
He smiled at her, showing her that he’d taken no insult to her calling him imaginary. “You’ll be fine.”
“How can you know that? I might lose it at any time, and yet they’ve made me base commander!”
“I just do. Trust me on this one. You can handle the fact that my kind are real.” He raised his glass and then finished it off. “You’re stronger than you know.”
Elin blushed, looking away yet again, trying to unscramble the fried remains he’d just made of her brain with the compliment.
“I’ll be back,” Kallore said abruptly, rising from his seat, the metal underneath groaning as he lifted his mass clear of it.
She nodded, turning to watch as he disappeared into the restroom. As soon as the door closed behind him she suddenly felt very aware of the slightly dank, seediness of the bar around them. It wasn’t the classiest of joints, but it was one where they hopefully wouldn’t be recognized. She’d put on a T-shirt and jeans under her uniform, changing in the car so as to hopefully blend in.
With Kallore nearby she’d not bothered to worry about the reputation of the establishment. Now though, she sensed the other patrons eyeing her. One was even leering at her from his seat. She was figuring he would be the troublesome one, but just then the door opened and another walked in, looking all around. Even before his eyes landed on her she knew it was going to be trouble.
Don’t do it, she pleaded mentally. It didn’t work.
He started walking toward her. Elin had picked a table that had sat the two of them so they faced the sides of the bar, both of them having a fairly unobstructed view of the entrance. Old habits died hard after all. Now though, she had full view of the alcoholic male who came over to her table, smiling through yellow tobacco-stained teeth, ratty beard dangling off his chin streaked with gray hairs.
“Hello pretty lady,” he said masterfully, proud of his attempted pickup line. “This seat taken?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks for reserving it for me.”
She shook her head at her own mistake. Saying “yes” to anything was a bad, bad idea. Never give them an opening of any sort. Behind the drunk there was motion, and Elin sighed. Things were going to get bad in a hurry if she couldn’t get rid of him.
“You need to go,” she snapped, then when he didn’t move, said, “Now.”
“Oh come now. Let me buy you a drink.” He grinned and she tried not to vomit at the sight of his teeth, one of which was starting to turn black.
“That won’t be necessary,” a deep voice said from behind the alcoholic, a dark rumble like the precursor to a storm rolling out. “She is already taken care of.”
The drunk turned in his seat. “Listen, pal, I just wanted to—”
Whatever else he was going to say was caught up in a yelp as Kallore grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hauled him from the seat. Elin watched with casual satisfaction as he dragged the unfortunate male to the door, pushed it open, and tossed him through as casually as one might throw a bag of garbage.
“I think we should leave now,” he said upon return.
“Yeah, me too.” Elin had noticed the dark looks the other patrons were giving them. While she felt safe with Kallore next to her, she didn’t want to cause enough trouble that the military might come down on them. Tossing some bills on the table, she took his offered arm and let him escort her from the bar.
“Are you all right?”
She looked up at him. “Yes, I’m perfectly fine. You realize I had that, right?”
“It looked like it.” His reply was dripping with sarcasm.
“At no point was I worried for my own safety. I’m trained in hand-to-hand combat. If he’d tried anything, I would have been fine.”
“And his drinking partner,” Kallore challenged her. “The one that was sitting behind you, watching you and waiting for an opening? Did you have him too?”
She jerked her head up and down. “Of course.” Truthfully she hadn’t even known he was there, but Kallore didn’t need to know that. He was already slipping into protective-male mode, and she didn’t want him to think that she needed that every second of the day, even if knowing he was there was a nice security blanket.
“I’m sure you did,” he murmured, keeping the smile off his face, though she saw his lips twitch once or twice. “Do you truly have such a hard time believing I am a dragon?”
The question was such a complete deviation from their previous conversation that it took Elin a moment to reorder her brain before she could answer.
“I…I don’t know.”
“You’ve seen the way I am. How I woke up stronger, smarter, and faster than any human?” He looked straight ahead. “I’ve yet to truly stretch myself either. Nothing you have has tested me. But none of that seems real to you?”
“I just thought it was experiments,” she answered truthfully.
“Trust me when I tell you it was no experiment. I’m a completely natural dragon,” he announced. “You have awoken me, and now you have to deal with me.” She noticed him open his mouth as if to continue speaking, but then closed it.
“What?”
He glanced down at her, ash-blond hair bouncing with the sharp movement. Elin tried to match his stare, but his striking gaze overpowered her and she felt herself start to get lost in it as they moved down the sidewalk. Her arm, she noticed, was still linked in his. She let it drop, struggling to resume the professional distance between them. A distance, she feared, that had been permanently diminished based on her actions this afternoon.
“I wish to know something,” he said at last.
“Such as? I’m not at liberty to reveal to you our secrets.”
Kallore didn’t even acknowledge that. “Why was I really awakened?”
Elin paused, looking up into blue orbs laced with streaks of white lightning. This time she had no problems meeting his stare and holding it. It was her turn to evaluate him, and that gave her the advantage as she tried to decide whether he was truly on their side or not and what damage revealing the enemy could have. Elin had her orders, and they stated she was to train Kallore and get him ready to fight. Anything that might prevent that from happening was to be avoided at all costs.
The decision on when to tell him what he faced was some of the highest responsibility the army had ever handed her, and she had been determined to do it correctly, in such a way that nobody could misinterpret it this time. She wouldn’t go through that. Not again. The first time had nearly been too much.
But Kallore was everything she didn’t need in a fighter. His supreme confidence in himself and his abilities were going to be a danger, to both himself and everyone around him. Which happened to include one Major Elin Mara. Perhaps if she showed him the truth, he could at last realize the gravity of the situation.
“Come with me,” she said, decision made.
It was time to show him just what he was going up against.