That was assuming, of course, that Abby was the one chosen for the internship. But Stan would have been shocked if she wasn’t, after her performance today. Each of the students was talented, but Abby had outshone them all.
He reached his truck and hopped in, driving quickly through the streets of Torch Lake toward the Academy of Ancient Magic. Stan hadn’t lived in Torch Lake that long, but he loved the place deeply. The High Council here treated its citizens fairly, unlike the High Council of the last clan he’d been a part of. And all of the wizards and shifters here seemed to genuinely enjoy living in the same space. Life was good, and, if he got to work with Abby this summer, then life was about to get even better.
* * *
“You have got to be kidding me!” Abby had jumped to her feet, her arms crossed over her chest and a defiant look in her eyes. “I didn’t work this hard to get this internship just so I could be babysat by a dragon all summer.”
Stan almost laughed out loud at the irony of her statement, but he caught himself in time and bit his lip to hold back the chuckle he wanted to let out. He had been so angry at being assigned to “babysit” a wizard that it had never occurred to him that the wizard might not like being babysat, either. He’d gotten over his reservations quickly once he’d realized that Abby would be his partner for the summer, but, from the way Abby was glaring at him right now, he could tell she wasn’t going to get over things nearly as quickly. Her blue eyes flashed at him, which only made her look more attractive. Stan shifted his gaze to Barnabas, afraid that Abby would be able to see the desire in his eyes. Stan knew he needed to remain professional. Abby was a coworker, not a potential date. Besides, she didn’t seem to be impressed by the fact that he was a dragon shifter, like many women were. She was practically yelling at this point, and Barnabas stepped in to try to calm her down.
“Abby, I understand that you were expecting the internship to be full of solo missions, but having a dragon along actually makes more sense. In the real world, you will almost never be sent out on a mission alone. The High Council believes in the buddy system, and with good reason. No matter how talented of a wizard you are, or no matter how strong of a shifter you are, it’s never a bad thing to have another wizard or shifter on your side. You might as well get used to working in a team sooner rather than later.”
“This isn’t about working in a team. It’s about the High Council not trusting me because I’m still a ‘student.’ But I’m not some young girl barely in college. I earned my bachelor’s degree in magical defense several years ago, and have a lot of experience with taking care of myself. Now that I’m learning ancient magic, I’d be willing to bet that I’m the one of the best wizards in the city at magical defense, if not the best.”
Stan had to hold back another chuckle. She’s definitely not the most humble wizard, though.
“Abby!” Barnabas’ voice was suddenly sharp. He’d been calm throughout the meeting, seeming almost amused by Abby’s reluctance. But now she had crossed a line. “This internship is a high honor, and you are correct in saying that you’re one of Torch Lake’s most talented wizards when it comes to magical defense. But magical talent isn’t the only skill you’ll need to succeed. You need to understand teamwork, and you also need to understand that this is not the time or place to challenge the High Council. They have generously offered to mentor a student, and if, in their opinion, the missions they are sending you on require the assistance of a dragon, then you need to respect that.”
The tension in the air was as thick as it had been right before the final exams had started out in the woods. Abby lowered her eyes, realizing that she had gone too far with her complaints.
“Abby,” Sunny said, her voice gentler than Barnabas’ but still firm, “If you want the internship you have to agree to work with Stan. If that’s not acceptable to you, you may decline the internship with no hard feelings. We’ll easily find someone else to fill it.”
Abby’s eyes shot up, filled with alarm. “No, no. I will take the internship. I’m sorry for reacting the way I did. It was just…unexpected.”
Her eyes slid over to meet Stan’s, and they were still full of contempt, as though he had personally arranged for her to have to work with him. He wanted to throw his hands up in the air and tell her that he hadn’t been thrilled about the assignment at first, either, but given how angry Barnabas looked right now, Stan decided that the best course of action was to keep his mouth shut.
“Good,” Barnabas said. “I’m glad that’s settled, because the High Council would like you both to start right away.”
“Right away? As in right this minute?” Abby asked, looking concerned. That was when Stan noticed the exhaustion in her eyes. She must have been studying and practicing nonstop in the week or two leading up to the final exam, and she’d probably been looking forward to going home and getting a full night’s sleep tonight. Stan couldn’t blame her for that.
“You’re going to be given your mission briefing right this minute,” Barnabas replied. But you have until tomorrow evening to actually complete the mission. It’s a fairly straightforward assignment that shouldn’t take more than a few hours, so I’d recommend getting a good night’s sleep and getting up early tomorrow morning to complete the mission.”
Barnabas handed them each a folder. “These are your instructions, and you should read them carefully. But, in a nutshell, the mission requires you to track down some cursed objects deep in a nearby forest, and deactivate the curses.”
Abby frowned down at the folder, then looked up at Barnabas. “This seems even easier than the final exam I just took.”
“It probably is,” Barnabas replied. “The most time consuming part will be finding the cursed objects, and you probably won’t face much actual danger.”
“So why do I have to take a dragon bodyguard with me?” Abby huffed.
Stan silently noted that at least she called him a bodyguard this time instead of a babysitter. That was some improvement.
“This is what the High Council wants,” Barnabas said, the sharp edge returning to his voice. “And it’s better for you to get used to working with Stan on an easy mission. That way, when you get to the harder missions, you’ll already know each other well.”
Abby glared at Stan as though he had been the one to suggest she needed a dragon to accompany her on this mission. He gave her a small smile, but she didn’t soften her expression at all. “Fine. I’m going to go home and review this file. Stan, I’ll meet you at the front entrance of the Academy tomorrow at six a.m.”
There was a challenge in her voice, as though she expected Stan to protest that six was too early in the morning. But Stan just gave her a sugary sweet smile. “Sounds good,” he said. If this girl thought she was going to scare him off with an early wake-up call, then she had a lot to learn about dragons.
Abby huffed again then stood and turned to leave the room. As she put her hand on the door handle, Barnabas spoke up, his voice weary.
“Oh, and Abby?”
She turned to look at him, her eyes daring him to reprimand her again for complaining about the dragon bodyguard. But Barnabas just smiled and said, “Congratulations on the internship. It is a great honor, and you did a fantastic job on your finals today. I meant it when I said I was impressed.”
A sheepish look crossed Abby’s face. She seemed to realize that she’d been a little too ungrateful for the internship she’d been offered.
“Thank you. I promise I’ll represent the Academy well.”
And then, she was gone. Stan turned to look at Barnabas and Sunny, not sure whether he should feel amused or offended by the cool reception he’d gotten from Abby.
“She’s really a good girl,” Sunny said. “She’s just violently opposed to taking help from someone else. It’s her biggest flaw.”
Barnabas nodded. “She’s going to have to get over that if she ever wants to be a truly great wizard. But that’s not your problem, Stan. You just worry about yourself. Do th
e best you can to protect her and help on the missions this summer. Hopefully she’ll warm up to you with time.”
Hopefully so, Stan thought. He wasn’t sure what, exactly to think of Abby, but he knew one thing for sure: he was happy to be seeing more of her. She might not like the idea of hanging out with a dragon all summer, but he liked the idea of hanging out with a beautiful wizard. She could roll her eyes at him all she wanted, but she was stuck with him. If Stan had to “babysit,” he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather be tasked with watching than the most beautiful, talented wizard that the Academy of Ancient Magic had to offer.
This was going to be an interesting summer.
Chapter Three
A good night’s sleep had apparently done nothing to break down Abby’s resistance to Stan. She barely spoke a word to him when he showed up at the front entrance of the Academy the next morning. She looked him up and down with a disapproving glare, although he had no idea what she was actually disapproving of. He was wearing a standard issue Torch Lake military uniform—black pants and a long-sleeved black shirt with the Torch Lake emblem embroidered onto the left chest using gold thread. The uniforms didn’t look anything like the military uniforms normal human armies used. They reminded Stan more of a uniform a Star Trek character might wear, and they weren’t exactly good for camouflaging yourself in the forest. But they were comfortable and functional, and besides, Stan didn’t care so much if they got ruined while he shifted. Whenever he was on a mission, there was always a possibility that he’d have to shift, which meant whatever clothing he was wearing would be ruined. Stan had ruined too many of his own favorite outfits to count, so he wore uniforms whenever he could.
In addition to Stan’s uniform, he wore a large backpack with food, water, and first aid supplies. The backpack also contained blankets, and an extra set of clothes for him in case he did ruin his current clothes while shifting. He knew that the supplies he’d packed were a bit of overkill for the short mission they were on today, but if there’s anything the years of war had taught him, it was that it was always better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.
“You realize we’re only going to be gone for a few hours?” Abby said. She was tightening the belt on her own military uniform, and staring at his backpack with disdain. Stan sighed. So that was what she disapproved of. He was tempted to give her a lecture on the merits of never underestimating what a mission might require of you, but he thought better of it at the last second. Better to let her get used to having him around first, before he started lecturing her. He had a feeling that any advice he tried to give now would fall on deaf ears. So he shrugged and gave her what he hoped looked like a genuine smile.
“Better safe than sorry. Should we review our mission plan before we take off?”
“I guess. There’s not much to review, though.” She gave him a sour look, and he almost wanted to laugh. He’d never met anyone so unhappy to be working in a team. He wondered if there was a story there. Had she been burned on group projects one too many times? Whatever the case, she needed an attitude adjustment. He wasn’t going to try to give her one, though. Let the High Council members or Barnabas and Sunny deal with her. Stan was just here to do the simple job of keeping Abby safe. It shouldn’t be too hard today.
“The cursed objects are located in the Black Pines Forest, about a two hour flight from here by broomstick,” Stan said, repeating from memory the instructions from the mission file. “The High Council wants me to ride on the back of your broomstick instead of shifting into dragon form to fly, because there is some risk of full humans seeing us, and it’s easier to keep an invisibility shield over a single broomstick than an entire dragon.”
Abby yawned. Stan wasn’t sure if she intended the yawn as an insult, or if she really was just yawning because of the early hour, so he let it go.
“Once we reach the Black Pines Forest,” he continued, “We need to locate a magically charged river that should be in the forest’s southeastern quadrant. There will be a cave along that river, which we should find by following the magical charge to its strongest point.”
“A job you won’t be any help with,” Abby interjected.
Stan shrugged. “Fair enough. I’ll keep a lookout for danger while you search for the magical charge.”
Abby only frowned in response, so Stan continued. “In the cave, the High Council believes we will find cursed objects that are causing the magical charge in the river. They want you to neutralize the curses and bring the objects back to Torch Lake for analysis.”
Abby gave him a bored look. “Uh-huh. Super simple mission. Should be done in a few hours, tops. I could do it even faster if you weren’t tagging along.”
Stan sighed. “Look, Abby. It’s no secret that you aren’t happy about having company. But both of us are sworn to obey the orders of the High Council, and they’ve ordered us to do this mission together. So let’s just make the most of it, okay?”
For a fleeting moment, Abby looked mildly apologetic. But then her face hardened into an angry frown again. “It’s not even going to be dangerous. The mission file said there’s almost no chance of us meeting any Dark Warriors today. I don’t understand why they’re making me take you along.”
“They want us to get to know each other without the pressure of fighting for our lives. Just go with it. I promise I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible.”
“That’s going to be hard to do when you have a giant-ass backpack on.”
Stan didn’t bother to answer that. There was no point in defending his backpack of emergency supplies to her. She would continue to make fun of it unless they ended up needing it. He hoped they wouldn’t need it, but if they did she’d be eating her words.
“Let’s just get going, alright?”
She grunted in response, but went to get her broomstick, which was leaning up against the wall. Stan hoped that her resistance to him would break down a little bit as the day wore on. He didn’t want to have to deal with an entire day of her being this obnoxious. She was beautiful, but she was a handful.
“Yup, this is gonna be interesting,” he whispered to himself as he watched her cast a flying spell on her broomstick. If she kept up this much of an attitude all summer long, he was going to be quite angry by the end of the summer. But he had a feeling she’d simmer down eventually.
He hoped.
She hopped onto the broomstick and motioned for him to get on behind her. Her movements and expressions were all impatient, as though Stan was doing something wrong just by breathing. He smiled at her anyway. The weather was beautiful this morning, and he wasn’t going to let her get to him. He would enjoy the flight and enjoy watching a talented wizard work her magic, and he would ignore her snide little comments.
One thing he wasn’t going to ignore was how wonderful she looked. She had her blonde hair pulled up into a tight ponytail, and her face had no makeup on it as far as he could tell. He liked this natural look better than the made-up look she’d sported at the final exam yesterday. Her skin glowed in the early morning light, and he had the crazy urge to reach out and caress it with his finger. An urge which he held back, of course.
Luckily for him, he had an excuse to wrap his arms around her waist, even though he couldn’t get away with touching her face. He hopped onto the broomstick and held on tight, perhaps even a little tighter than he really had to. Who could blame him? Abby might be a strong personality to deal with, but at least he could enjoy looking at her.
As the broomstick rose into the air under Stan’s careful guidance, he thought about how strange it was that he was here, in Torch Lake and working with a beautiful, talented woman like Abby. A few months ago, he’d been trapped in a clan known as the Lost Garden Clan, where the High Council had been so rude and oppressive that they made Abby’s sharp comments look like compliments in comparison. Stan had thought that he would be trapped in that clan forever. After all, many people after the war were lucky to even have a clan to go to. It wasn’
t easy to find somewhere new to start over. Still, he had wondered at times whether he might be better off with no clan than with staying in the oppressive Lost Garden Clan.
Everything had changed, though, when the Torch Lake High Council had come to Lost Garden to rescue one of their dragons. In the process, they had offered a place in Torch Lake to anyone looking for a new clan. Stan had jumped at the chance, and it had been the best decision of his life. Now, he had a great group of dragon shifter friends, and he got to work with a High Council that appreciated him instead of putting him down. He had time and energy to actually think about things like finding a woman and starting a family. Before, he had been merely surviving. He hadn’t had the willpower to plan for the future, and, besides, what future could he have offered to a lifemate in Lost Garden? Things there had been so horrible. Now, though, he had a bright future, and his thoughts had turned to finding a mate and having a family.
He had to laugh as Abby rose higher and higher into the air above Torch Lake. If she knew he was thinking about lifemates and family, she’d be even more annoyed than she was now. He had a feeling she wasn’t interested in that sort of thing. And, really, he didn’t think that Abby was his lifemate. Stan figured that once he found his lifemate, there would be more of an instant connection. Sure, he felt attracted to Abby, but she didn’t seem that attracted to him. She was a nice reminder that beautiful, smart women were out there, though. Stan would find just the right one when the time was right. And, in the meantime, he’d spend this summer admiring Abby’s body and brains, and doing his best to ignore her sharp tongue.
The flight to Black Pines Forest went even quicker than expected, and the weather remained beautiful the entire time. Abby didn’t say much, which was fine with Stan. He was content to take in the scenery and breathe in the fresh, crisp air of the higher altitudes. And, of course, he was enjoying having his arms around Abby, although he had a feeling she would have been happy to get that part of the mission over with sooner rather than later.
Dragon Guarding Page 2