Dragon Heart

by Amelia Jade

  Oh shit. She’d been daydreaming of Rokk instead of doing her job.

  “Sorry, sir. I was zoned out thinking about something.”

  “Anything important?”

  “Not right now, sir, I’m sorry. What can I do for you?” She glanced at the clock. Thirty minutes and she was off-duty. Then all she had to do was race home, shower, change, a bit of makeup, and then off to dinner with Rokk. Her heart had been racing all day thinking about it.

  Von Kemp gave her an extra-long evaluating look before deciding that she was telling the truth. He was a good boss and she knew he would let the lapse slide as long as it didn’t become a regular thing.

  “We have a new project that I need you to work on.”

  “Of course, sir. Let me know and I’ll get right to it.”

  His expression turned compassionate. “I need a complete dossier on the following people.” He handed her a list. “There’s a review committee coming tomorrow.”

  She frowned. “A review committee? Why?”

  “Because, Sergeant, we let Outsiders escape. Four of which are still at large. We fucked up. You didn’t think the higher-ups were just going to ignore that, did you?”

  “No, sir. I just figured that since nobody else could have done a better job, that maybe they would let us do ours.”

  Major Von Kemp smiled. “I understand your feelings, Sergeant. But there are four alien monsters currently roaming around inside our country. They’ve been out for two weeks now, and we’ve only had the barest sightings of them. I think it’s fair to say our methods are going to be questioned.”

  She nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll get right on this.” Her eyes scanned the list. It had over twenty names on it. There was no way she was leaving the office anytime soon.

  I’m sorry, Rokk.

  “I know you’ll do a fantastic job as always, Sergeant. I need to go inform some of the other base staff and plan out how we’re going to approach this.” He nodded at her, the pair exchanging looks of two people who knew it was going to be a long night for both of them.

  Then he was gone, leaving her alone with her computer and the list of incoming personnel. With a sigh she looked at the first name on the list and pulled up the military database to start doing research. Most of the names on the list were civilian officials, elected personnel that had little information on them, besides their positions in government.

  The first was the local state governor. He was fairly well known, in the final year of his second term, so his dossier was fairly complete on background information. She would have to do some looking to find out how he felt about the military and his votes on the subject to see if he was likely to side with their efforts or not.

  As the list went on the invitees grew more random and in some cases were complete unknowns. Linny made notes while doing a preliminary search, adding what she already knew of certain people, while tagging others as needing more work to complete the dossiers. By the time she’d gone through all twenty-two names, she knew it was going to be an all-nighter.

  Her first instinct was to notify Rokk and apologize. That was simply the polite thing to do in this situation. Unfortunately, as her brain reminded her while pulling out her phone, she didn’t actually have any means to contact him just yet. They hadn’t exchanged numbers.

  “Nicely done.” She spoke under her breath, so that the other two occupants still in the office wouldn’t hear her. “I need some coffee.”

  The pot was still warm. “Was this you?” she asked Corporal Luce, the most junior aide.

  He nodded.

  “Bless you, Jordan,” she gushed. “This is just what I need right now.”

  “You’re not gonna make whatever it is you’ve got going on, are you, Sergeant?” He grinned knowingly.

  “I have no idea what you mean, Corporal,” she replied airily. “No idea.”

  “Right. Is that why you were packed up forty-five minutes early and were checking the clock incessantly until the major dropped his new project on you?”

  She eyed Jordan for several long seconds. “You know, Corporal, you’ve got far too much time on your hands if you’re spending it observing the other occupants of the office like that.” An idea came to her. “Which is why I have a project for you.”

  He groaned audibly.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not passing off the dossiers to you. I wouldn’t want to get in trouble over your shoddy work,” she teased. “No, I need you to go get me one of the dragon shifters.”

  Corporal Luce stared at her. “A dragon shifter?”

  “Yes. The one named Rokk. Tell him I’m here and that I need his help on this project.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Luce was looking at her strangely, but he still got up from his chair. “Um, any ideas where I should start looking?”

  She grinned. Linny knew exactly where he should start. She told him and the corporal left.

  Using her authority to send a junior to go and find her date was complete and total abuse, but part of her really didn’t care. The trio of aides still working had a great rapport, and Corporal Singler was in one of the other offices working on a presentation of some sort. She wouldn’t care, her door was closed, shutting her off from the outside world.

  It wasn’t quite the evening she’d imagined, but it was the best she could offer Rokk, and so hopefully that would do. Now she just had to wait and hope that when he showed up, he understood.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rokk

  It was nearly half an hour past the appointed time. Rokk’s pacing was beginning to wear on even him by then. It was time to accept the truth of the matter, despite the depressing conclusions it presented him with.

  Sergeant Cantor wasn’t coming to dinner. She’d stood him up.

  That hurt. His mate had decided she wasn’t interested in him after all. Part of him contemplated tracking down her quarters and demanding an answer, but he immediately shot that down. Not only did it not matter, it was also creepy and stalker-like. More so even than his aborted attempt to spy on her from the rafters.

  Why do I feel like if I went to Pyne or Aric that they would recommend I go after her…

  In hindsight neither of them had been giving him good advice, but he didn’t care anymore. After all, what did it matter if his mate had already rejected him? Besides, he knew where she trained, so he could always confront her there and figure out what he’d done wrong. Was he moving too fast? Did she need to just slow things down? Whatever it was, he’d do it.

  Maybe she was just running late still? It wouldn’t be the first time in the history of women for that to be the case. It wouldn’t even be the first time in the dating history of Rokk that I’ve had to wait this long.

  He resumed pacing, deciding to give her another fifteen minutes before he headed home. That would be enough time for her to arrive. If she did show up, he was going to get her cell number so that a situation like this wouldn’t happen again. Not without her being able to inform him at least.

  The new deadline came and went, however, and reluctantly Rokk forced himself to abandon his post out front of the officer’s mess hall. She wasn’t coming. As a military officer, being on time should be in her nature.

  It was time for him to go back to his quarters. Then he could get changed and go eat with the enlisted men, instead of having to act all proper amongst the officers and their fancy club. Upscale dining was not something he enjoyed, but he’d figured it was a good way to impress Linny.

  Pushing off from the wall with his last pace he headed back up the concrete path toward the elevator building. He would descend into the underground portion of the base, where he and the other dragons were housed.

  It was late and the sky was dim but the lights hadn’t yet come on either, meaning he was walking mostly in shadow.

  A soldier went jogging by. Rokk moved to the side of the path out of politeness, giving him room to pass.

  “Thanks,” he said in time with his stride.

  “No problem
,” he said, nodding his head in acknowledgment.

  Then the runner was gone and he put him out of his head. Long strides covered the ground swiftly, despite the darkness filling his head. Rokk wasn’t prone to depressive mood swings, but he was hurting a little. Being rejected didn’t get easier even after a century of living. It was doubly so knowing it was his mate who had inflicted the pain on him.

  So lost was he in these thoughts, wondering where he’d gone wrong or what she didn’t like about him that he didn’t hear the soldier coming up from behind him. Only when they started walking in time with him did Rokk look up from his self-imposed misery.

  “Can I help you?” he growled none too politely, not in the mood to be gawked at and asked “Hey aren’t you one of those new dragons?” He’d had enough of that already.

  “Are you Rokk?”

  “Yes. Do I know you?” He was trying to make it very clear that he wished to be left alone, but the soldier was insistent.

  “No, but I’m an aide to Major Von Kemp. I work with Sergeant Cantor.”

  Rokk immediately dropped his aggressive attitude. Maybe the soldier had a message from Linny. “What can I do for you, soldier?”

  “Sergeant Cantor is working late, and she requests that you meet her in the major’s office to help her with her project.”

  The soldier did an admirable job of stating his case in a neutral voice, though it was obvious he didn’t believe for a second that Linny wanted to see him for help on whatever project it was that had kept her from their rendezvous.

  He grinned. His mate was creative. With no way to contact him directly, she’d found an “official” loophole to send someone looking for him. All his previous thoughts had gone out the window as he understood the truth of the situation.

  “Very well, soldier. I shall be there shortly.”

  “Yes, sir. This way.” The soldier gestured to lead him.

  “I know the office. I can find my way there. I have to make a pit stop first though. You go on ahead.”

  The soldier gave him an odd look, but then he shrugged. “Yes, sir.”

  Rokk waited until he was gone before turning around and heading back the way he had come. If Linny was working late, she was going to be hungry.

  Maybe they were going to get their dinner date after all.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, a large bag in one hand, he entered the administrative offices, including the section given over to Major Von Kemp and his aides. He didn’t have to buzz for access; the dragons were given free rein to all but personal areas on the base. For instance, he couldn’t actually access the major’s personal office, but his waiting area? Not a problem.

  “Rokk! Corporal Luce found you I see.”

  The sight of Linny’s face lighting up when she recognized him was something he would never forget. Her smile was as big as ever, showing him all of her teeth as she happily came over to him. He went to hug her but stopped himself. She was on duty and he had no idea if anyone else was around. Where had the soldier who fetched him gone off to, he wondered? Better to be safe for now.

  “I heard that you had been unavoidably detained,” he said, stepping over to her desk, bag still in hand. “I wasn’t about to let you avoid me that easily, so instead of bringing you to dinner, I decided to bring dinner here.” He set the bag down on the table.

  “That’s a lot of food,” she observed cautiously.

  “Oh that’s for me,” he said seriously. “If you want any you’re going to have to chip in.”

  He looked around the office quickly, letting his advanced senses tell him that it was empty. Corporal Luce, as he’d learned was the soldier’s name, had been here recently, but wasn’t currently. There was another scent, but he traced the owner to a female behind a closed door. They couldn’t see anything. It was safe.

  “Chip in? I thought you were taking me to dinner. Now I have to pay?”

  “You ditched me,” he pointed out.

  Linny’s jaw dropped. “I got something dropped on me by the major. You know I couldn’t just tell him no, even if I wanted to.”

  He was laughing now; it was too easy to egg her on. “Still, you’re going to have to pitch in,” he pushed.

  “Fine. How much?”

  “Not money, Sergeant. I don’t need your money. I want something else.”

  “Rokk…”

  “I want a kiss.”

  Linny went beet red in an instant, much to his surprise. “Rokk, I’m on duty! I can’t do that.”

  He pointedly looked around the empty office. “The only person here is in a closed office with no windows. Where’s the harm?”

  “The harm is it’s against regulations.”

  “If you’re sure,” he said with a shrug, opening up one of the boxes and letting the smell of chicken fried rice waft up to them.

  The gurgle from his mate’s stomach was loud enough that he swore it echoed in the silence.

  “Fine, but a quick one,” she hissed.

  Rokk stepped forward and kissed her without hesitation, holding her tight for several seconds after she tried to pull away.

  “I hope you enjoyed yourself,” she said with false grumpiness.

  “I did, thank you.” He licked his lips with exaggerated slowness.

  “Oh my goodness. Now what is going on with all this food?” She laughed, resting a hand on his shoulder.

  “I didn’t know what you liked, so I got you a bunch of different things. Hopefully you aren’t that picky.”

  She giggled. “I’m a soldier, Rokk. Anything from the officer’s side of things is going to be like heaven for me.”

  “Well then, eat up,” he laughed, moving the food to a nearby desk where they could spread it out. “And tell me what came up that’s got you stuck here.”

  They settled in and around bites of chicken fried rice, fresh pasta and meatballs, and a dessert of homemade-style blueberry pie she filled him in.

  “That’s bullshit,” he stated. “You did nothing wrong.”

  “You can’t say that, Rokk. The experiment that Kyen and Lianna conducted on the portal was highly volatile. We just assumed that it would work, or that it wouldn’t. We had one team of dragons on alert. One. Something of that magnitude we probably should have had all four on site and ready for the worst. Then we could have stopped this before it started. How many lives have been lost because of this? They’re right to evaluate us.”

  He hated the implication that his mate had been a part of something like that, but he couldn’t fault her logic. They had gotten complacent as the numbers of dragons grew, it seemed, and now they were paying the price. Hopefully the government wasn’t as shortsighted as he’d heard about.

  “This is delicious, by the way. Thank you for taking us there. Sort of.”

  He stroked her wrist in response. “I had to. After what Aric did, there was no way I wasn’t going to let us dine in style.”

  Linny frowned. “What did Aric do?”

  His smile broadened. He enjoyed telling this story. “During his courtship of his mate Kaitlyn, he took her out on a picnic. But he was new to the base still, learning his way around. He had no idea that the officers’ mess even existed. So when she showed up, all he had was plastic-wrapped food taken from one of the enlisted mess halls!”

  They both howled with laughter, falling into one another at the image of the mighty dragon trying to woo his mate with day-old sandwiches that had been stuck under a lamp.

  “He hates when I tell people that, but it’s too funny not to.”

  “Yeah. It worked though. She stayed with him.”

  Rokk nodded. “I know. But she was new to the base as well. You had better believe that when she found out about the officers’ food she made him take her there first thing. She was quite adamant about it.”

  His mate laughed some more, her lovely twitter making his insides dance in response. She was absolutely perfect for him. There was no way a better mate existed, even if he were to design one h
imself. Linny was the one he wanted. The one he needed to have.

  After they put the remnants away and shared them with the other two—Corporal Luce magically reappeared forty minutes or so after Rokk showed up—he actually did help her with her project. It was almost two in the morning, and his mate was yawning with tiredness.

  “Let me walk you to your quarters,” he suggested, helping her out of the chair.

  The rest of the office was dark, the others having departed some time ago. Rokk had maintained proper decorum, however, keeping his hands to himself and his attention on the project, so that they could finish it sooner rather than later.

  “Okay,” Linny said sleepily. “Company would be nice.”

  They left the office walking side by side but without touching. Once they were outside however, he reached out and took Linny’s hand. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her shoulders rise as she took in a sudden breath, her head shifting slightly to look down between them, but she didn’t flinch away. After a moment her fingers relaxed and she curled them around his, holding tight.

  He wondered how long they would stay that way.

  Chapter Twelve

  Linny

  Although she’d let him hold her hand, she was still filled with doubt.

  They were walking back to her quarters. It was night out, and she was now off-duty. What was Rokk expecting to happen when they got there? He probably was hoping for the best and expecting nothing, if he was anything like the man she’d gotten a read off of so far. This was the time where men changed, however, where their baser urges took over and ruled their personalities.

  Everything she’d heard about dragon shifters so far told her she didn’t have anything to worry about. The same went for her own instincts as far as he was concerned. Having him know where her quarters were likely wouldn’t pose any trouble. If she told him to stop, he would, she believed.

  Do I want him to stop though?

  All thoughts of being tired had been banished the instant his warm hand engulfed hers. Instead of looking forward to sleep, she was now wondering ahead to her bed. Who would occupy it tonight? Would she fall down face-first and pass out, or would Rokk take her to it, lowering her gently onto her back while they stripped out of their clothing? Which path did she want?