Kallore
Elin threw her arms out wide. “You wanted to see the city, here you are. Thoughts?”
“It’s big.”
The words felt inaccurate as he tried to take in everything going on around him. Cars zoomed by relentlessly, every now and then a horn blaring at some perceived slight against the driver. A truck backed up to a nearby building, a loud beeping noise emitting from it at regular intervals. People walked by on all sides, lost in themselves, in their phones, or in the rare case a conversation with someone next to them.
Overhead a helicopter flew by, heading off on some unforeseen errand. The door to a nearby shop dinged as people headed in or out of it.
“And loud.”
Elin grinned. “This is a midsize city. Less than a million people. You should see some of the big ones. Millions of people packed into the same space. It’s crazy; I can’t handle it.”
Kallore nodded, looking around with a bit of unease. “I can understand why. That’s a lot of people in a small area. How do they not feel claustrophobic? I already feel like it’s pressing in on me from all sides.”
His head jerked around as tires squealed on pavement, the noise causing his heart to beat just a little faster. A bird called out as it flew past near his head and he whipped around, his hand snatching out to grab it.
“Wait!” Elin dashed forward, preventing him from killing the irritating creature. “Kal, let it go.”
“Why?”
“Because, we don’t kill birds on a whim.” Her adorable nose crinkled up. “Even if they are pigeons, okay?”
“Okay.” He tossed it into the air and it was gone a moment later.
“Thank you.”
He shrugged, trying to force himself to relax. “So many customs I don’t know about yet. We used to pay the homeless kids to travel around the castles and kill the useless birds, did you know that? They were much better at it than the cats. Their specialty was mice.”
Elin grimaced and he realized she had no interest in the gruesome details of day-to-day life during his growing up. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Come on, let’s walk.” She reached out to motion him forward, but stopped short of taking his hand or arm.
It had been like that ever since he’d pressured her into talking about her past. They’d continued to interact, to work side by side as they brought him up to speed on modern civilization, but a wall had formed between them. Technically it was only one-directional, from Elin to him, but Kal respected her decision. Despite the flaming urge to take her hand, pull her close, and reveal that her troubles were at an end, he resisted. She needed time. Time to accept that they were fated to be together, and that it was a bond she couldn’t fight against for much longer.
He was so close to having his mate, there was no way he was going to lose her now. Not after he’d waited this long to finally feel her in his arms. He could wait a little longer, savoring every breath that brought him her smell, the sweet aroma of flowers glistening in the sunlight on a mountain ledge, of spring runoff making its way through the last remaining icy flows of winter. It was intoxicating, a potent mix that threatened to leave him lightheaded if he dove in too deep.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Nowhere in particular, Kallore the dragon,” she teased gently. “I can see what you see, but I want you to see things how I do.”
He frowned, wondering how she expected him to do anything with this much traffic and people surrounding them. They had to be in the exact heart of the city now.
“What do you see?”
Pondering the question didn’t reveal to him the hidden meaning he was positive was there, so instead of delay, he answered.
“Noise. I see and hear the noise. People everywhere. Cars, trucks. The air is thick and hard to breathe. You plaster the landscape with these huge buildings, removing all but the faintest traces of anything natural and green.”
Elin smiled sadly. “And you aren’t wrong. But do you know what I see?”
He shook his head in the negative.
“I see life. Pure and unbound. Over there, that man is buying ice cream for his wife, who is pregnant. And there, a grandfather educates his granddaughter on the intricacies of chess. A family is getting on the bus, the father is blind so the son helps him navigate his way. A man and his four-legged best friend are bonding, becoming even closer as they navigate the streets together.”
Kallore turned with each point of her hand, seeing the scenes Elin pointed out, noting how what he’d classified as noise and activity could be boiled down to its innermost essence if one but took the time to look. Life. It was a beautiful thing, a powerful thing. He should know; dragons were blessed with more of it than any human. Their strength and powers were enough to give it away. But at some point he’d lost sight of the fact that humans lived too.
Not just doing the minimum to get by. They strived for more, creating more life around them as they interacted with each other. It took the edge off of all the negatives he listed, forcing him to relax and take it all in stride with each other.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
Her eyes glowed as she spoke, amber irises visible even across the space that now engulfed them. Without thinking Kallore stepped forward.
“It is, isn’t it,” he agreed in a whisper. But his eyes were not for the world around them, but instead focused on the one single thing in front of him. The life that mattered most in this world. The life he would protect with all his ferocity and power if anything were to challenge it.
Elin looked at him and in that moment he knew it was time. Leaning in, he cupped the back of her head, pulling her close. Their bodies pressed together as the world sped by around them, two lovers lost in a dance as ancient as time itself. Joy filled his soul as his mate opened herself to him, joining them at last in—
His eyes flew open as she pulled away. “Elin?”
“You kissed me.”
Horror entered his mind as the gravity of what he’d just done slammed home like a meteorite. He had kissed her. His dragon had gotten the better of him, meddling his mind, making it seem like it was a good idea, that it was something she was okay with. Both of them knew that she wanted it, but Elin had made it clear, verbally and non-verbally, that she wasn’t ready for such a situation. Kallore then had just gone and ignored everything, kissing her anyway.
“Elin,” he started again. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“You didn’t mean to what?” she asked harshly, the betrayal writ all across her face, in the pain that filled her eyes and the tightening of her brow. “To kiss me? Because that was no accident, Kallore. That was purposeful action.”
“I’m sorry. I tried.” He felt defeated. All of his efforts to respect her choice and her distance even as he subtly worked to bring them closer together had been for naught. In the end he’d failed her, like he failed everyone else who’d counted on him. “I tried.”
She appeared on the verge of tears, but her stern military persona overcame her and she straightened up, shoulders back and eyes narrowing. “It’s time to return to base.” The voice of honeyed silk had unsheathed the steel it contained, using it against him for the first time.
That, perhaps, was worse than anything else he was feeling. A verbal confirmation that he was no longer “Kallore,” but instead just another soldier that she commanded. He opened his mouth to plead his case once more, but it was pointless, and the glint in her eye told him that arguing would not be winning him any points.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said dully.
Kallore had never felt more alone than during the walk back to the car. Silence reigned supreme, and neither of them was willing to do anything to break it. Black clouds circled over his soul, darker than the skin of the Outsiders, but threatening to suck the life from his just the same. He’d been astoundingly lucky to find his mate upon waking, but now his haste had ripped her away from him.
The worst part of it was that it was his own damn fault.