“Your bunk is a disgrace.”
Again, Quinn didn’t reply, but this was the usual garbage a recruit went through with a new Drill Instructor. The DI would find something, even if was imaginary, and rag the recruit to break him down. Quinn expected this kind of testing. There wasn’t much that a DI respected except the soldier that didn’t crack under pressure. Unfortunately, a soldier that didn’t crack was a challenge to a DI whose main job was to destroy the man to find the Marine.
The DI stood nose to nose to him working to intimidate him, but this stuff didn't bother Quinn. Eventually the DI would run himself down and assign some bullshit punishment, laps or pushups. The DI didn’t disappoint. He ordered fifty push-ups that Quinn obliged him and then snapped a stiff order to Quinn to square his bunk.
As Quinn made the bunk, the other members of the platoon filed in dirty and sweaty from their long day. No one said anything and he might as well be invisible. But as the new guy he’d have to suffer new-guy-itis until the new guy shine wore off.
But aside from different faces, the routine was the same. Clean-up, square away the area, a march to the mess, scoffing down a meal so quickly you didn’t know what you ate and guard duty, for training purposes. He got second watch, so that meant sleeping, waking and sleeping again, a sure recipe for not being his best the next day.
But at least he was still in and not drummed out. That had to count for something. After breakfast and squaring away the squad bay, the platoon formed for assignments. The men stood in a line as DI inspected the platoon and dished out the usual line of insults and assignments for the day.
“Morgan!” shouted the Drill Instructor.
“Sir, yes, sir,” replied Quinn.
“Report to Dr. Hibley.”
This he knew, but the Marines were nothing if not redundant.
“Sir, yes, sir.”
“Before that, report to my office.”
Oh shit. No recruit wanted to report to the DI office.
“Sir, yes, sir.”
“The rest of you, form up on the parade ground.”
Quinn followed the DI back to the office, an inner sanctum that most Marines did not see. He stood at attention as the DI settled behind his desk and pulled out a file.
“So what is your problem, Morgan? A guy with your marks shouldn’t end up in this platoon.”
Quinn waited for the DI to indicate he wanted an answer.
“I’m waiting, Private.”
“Sir, yes sir. Pulled out for fighting, sir.”
“Problems with one of your team, or several?”
“Sir, no sir. I’m a hothead, sir.”
“Are you now? Says here you got a doctor’s waiver to join.”
“Sir, yes sir.”
“Does this have to do with being pulled for this special study Hibley is doing?”
The DI fishing for answers? Why?
“Sir-” Quinn stopped because he wasn’t sure to answer. Should he talk about this study? Hibley didn’t order him not to. If the DI didn’t know, there had to be reason for that.
“Sir, I think so, sir.”
“You think so?”
“They didn’t give me much information, sir.”
“I’ll tell you, Morgan, I find this damned irregular. The DI’s design the rehabilitation for those in this unit, but I’m told you are spending your days with Hibley and the research assistant.”
“Sir, that’s not a research assistant. Dr. McGarrity is heading the project.”
“Interesting.”
“They are performing a long-term study on PTSD, from training through field for the government.”
“And your part in this?”
“Guinea pig, sir.”
“Well, here, then,” said the DI pulling out a MRE box from a desk drawer. “They are taking you off base for tests for the day. So, here’s your lunch. Stay on assigned rations even if they offer you lunch off base.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Quinn took the box.
“And Morgan?”
“Sir, yes sir.”
“Don’t screw this up.”
Morgan suppressed a laugh because as serious as the DI was neither the DI nor Quinn had any idea of what was in store for him during the day.
“Sir, yes sir.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Dana
Dana caught her breath when she saw Pvt. Quinn Morgan walk in his digies, the regular woodland green camo uniform of the Marines, across the parking lot. His strong and confident stride fixated her gaze. He wore his sleeves rolled to the elbow, allowed during the spring and summer. He slung a smaller backpack off his shoulder, which Marines didn’t usually wear, but today was a different kind of day for the recruit.
It surprised her how much she learned in just a few days. On her first two days here Hibley and an assortment of non-commissioned officers filled her in on every detail of Marine life. Apparently, there was a reason or regulation for just about everything. During a Marine’s working day, a supervisor was near or around at nearly every task or training exercise. The rigorous training trimmed the waistlines of the recruits. But the DI’s, the Drill Instructors, lost as much or more than the recruits keeping track of their progress.
Dana took careful notes because she could see that the training itself, in a normal civilian context, considered abusive. She would observe recruits upon their first day indoctrination to the Marines. Clearly, she had a lot of work to do.
But in regards to Private Morgan, things took a decidedly strange turn. Her request to take him to the local hospital for them to perform an MRI of his brain caused a small uproar. Hibley glared at her while he signed off on a flurry of forms and handed them to a corpsman. Then he grumbled about how he’d have to take time from his day to accompany them to the hospital.
He was resistant to this procedure, but she didn’t understand why. What did the captain think? He was a psychologist. The captain understood why baseline tests were important. She didn’t understand why Hibley insisted on coming.
But a quick call to her boss’ office last night confirmed that the terms of the study stated she had unrestricted access to all study participants.
Dana suspected Hibley wanted to impede this study. She didn’t know why he would as it would benefit all soldiers, eventually. His reaction was so irrational she became suspicious that once at the hospital Hibley would find a way to block the test. Dana came up with a plan to circumvent that, but it meant getting to the private before Hibley did. So she waited at her car to snag him before he saw Hibley.
It didn’t take long before she spotted him at the opposite end of the parking lot. She couldn’t help but to admire the easy stride of his step, the ripples of his muscles under his clothing and the square cut of his jaw. She wondered how his hard muscles or abs would feel as she stroked them.
Dana shook her head and scolded herself. These were not appropriate thoughts. Private Morgan was a subject in her study and it was her job to remain professional at all times. He was most certainly off limits.
Damn.
His strides brought him closer to her car, and she waved at him.
“Hello, Private.” He stopped and regarded her with caution but she could help but catch the stunning blue of his eyes, sapphires sparkling in the sun.
“Hello, Dr. McGarrity.”
“Please, call me Dana.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t do that.”
His face was emotionless, just as the Marines taught him, but she did not doubt the sincerity of his words.
“Okay, Private. Today we are going to the hospital to get an MRI.”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll just check in with Captain Hibley.”
“Oh, no need,” said Dana lightly. “He knows you are going with me. And we do need to get moving. The appointment is in half an hour.” Dana kicked herself for lying. There wasn’t a specific appointment, but she wanted to inject urgency into her words so that Morgan wouldn’t take the extra
step of talking with Hibley.
Dana waited on pins-and-needles while she waited for Morgan’s answer.
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Morgan and Dana inwardly sighed with relief.
“This your car?”
“My rental, but yes.”
Driving the long road to base's exit Dana got nervous again. What if Hibley alerted the men at the guard shack? The pentagon may have given her unrestricted access by Hibley might ignore that.
“Is there something wrong ma’am?” asked Quinn.
“No,” lied Dana. “Not at all.”
“You seem tense.”
“I didn’t get much rest. I guess I’m wound up from the trip and settling in.”
He nodded and stared ahead.
Her heart sped up when she spotted the guard shack but the gate was up and the guard waved them through. She sighed.
Morgan glanced at her once again with questions in his eyes but she ignored them pushed on to the hospital. Inside she talked to the lab personnel and walked with the lab tech to observe the procedure. A nurse led Morgan into the very large room that housed the MRI machine. Dana watched through the observation window in the room that housed the controls for the machine. A technician sat at the boards flipping switches to activate the machine.
“Any metal in your body?” the nurse asked Morgan.
“No ma’am.”
“In your clothes?”
“No ma’am.”
“And how are you feeling after the injection of the contrast material?”
“Just fine and good to go.”
“Okay, we’ll position you here on the table. While the test is running, you’ll need to remain absolutely still.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The nurse shook her head and smiled. “Soldier boys,” she said with a grin. “You training at Parris Island?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Quinn as the nurse positioned his legs and arms.
“How’s it going?”
“Almost done. One mod to go.”
“That’s great. I bet you are glad to be graduating.”
“Not there yet,” he said, “but I will.”
“I’m sure, soldier. Okay, when we say so, don’t move.”
“You got it,” said Quinn flashing a sexy smile at the nurse.
Jealousy stabbed Dana as the nurse spoke casually with Quinn. She checked her irrational thoughts at the door. She needed to remain impartial and disconnected from the subject of study. But an idea kept kicking at the back of her brain. Private Quinn Morgan was the handsomest man she’d ever met, and that included the very married Ryan Kaur.
Ryan Kaur. That’s who Quinn reminded her of. Not that they looked like twins, but he had that same bearing, the square of his shoulders and the same smirk when he smiled, almost as if they were brothers.
But that was impossible.
The technician spoke into her microphone. “Okay, stay absolutely still, Private. We are starting the test now.”
“You got it,” said Quinn.
The technician pressed buttons her control panel and the machine starting whirring.
“What is going on here?”
Dana turned to see Captain Hibley standing in the doorway and swallowed hard. His face twisted in contempt.
“Hello, Captain Hibley. We are just starting the MRI on Private Morgan.”
“I told you that I needed to present.”
Dana crossed her arms and turned toward the observation window.
“That’s not what my employer, or the Pentagon, says.”
Dana’s mouth went dry. She wasn’t used to talking back to people, especially authority figures, but it was necessary. Her mind strayed to psychological studies that demonstrated that many people reacted submissively to people who projected authority, so she had to remain firm. It was her study and Hibley would not interfere.
“And did I not tell you that I’m to be present for all testing?” The frost in his voice would glaze a window instantly.
“That’s not what my employer says,” said Dana.
“Stop the test,” he ordered.
The technician’s hands strayed over the control panel.
“Continue with the test,” said Dana mustering all the authority she could. It annoyed her the captain wanted to engage in a pissing match.
The rapid-fire thuds of the MRI machine tapped out its first cycle.
“Dr. McGarrity,” started Hibley in a warning voice. But as he did Morgan groaned and thrashed on the table.
“It’s hot, it burns!” he yelled.
“Fuck,” said Hibley. “Stop the machine.”
“Do it,” snapped Dana. “Damn it. I thought the nurse confirmed he had no metal in his body.”
“That’s not it,” said the confused technician.
As she spoke Morgan threw his body off the table and scrambled to his feet. His eyes were wide and wild looking.
And they glowed.
Dana stared in shock as his body shimmered and grew, ripping his uniform to shreds done even to his boots. His face morphed, growing long, forming a long jaw and a triangular head.
“A dragon!” shrieked the technician. She tore from her chair and ran out of the room screaming.
“God damn it,” spit Hibley.
Dana whirled to the captain.
“You knew about this?” she snapped.
“We have to get him out of here,” said Hibley. “The repercussions of this-”
“Repercussions my ass. If you knew you should have told me.”
“Get in there and lead him out. I’ll clear the way.”
“What the hell?”
“We don’t have time for discussions. The shit has hit the fan and now I have to clean up your mess.”
CHAPTER SIX
Quinn
As soon as the MRI banged tat, tat, tat, like a M27 automatic rifle, searing fire surged through every nerve in his body. He thrashed in pain as his heart rattled in his chest in terror.
“It’s hot! It burns!” he screamed. Quinn flung his body off the table, landing on his feet. And then things got weird.
His skin popped and his body expanded. It was too strange and oddly familiar.
His mind flashed to that time when he was eight and he exploded out of a wooden box buried in the ground. Of the long talons on hands that became claws. Of the black scales that shined in moonlight.
Quinn’s hands were claws now and his skin as black as night. But it had scales.
“What the fuck?” he sputtered, but it came out a roar. What the hell was happening to him?
“Private,” said a soft voice. A familiar scent wafted to his nostrils. Quinn whipped his head to Dana McGarrity.
“Quinn?”
He huffed a great hollow sound from his nostrils.
“Can you change back now?”
Change? How was he supposed to do that? He shook his head.
Dana edged forward and reached out to touch his transformed arm. Unexpectedly her hand comforted and calmed him.
“Okay. But we have to go. It would be easier if you were human.”
He chuffed.
This sucks.
It does, Private. But you’ve spent a large part of your life living as a human.
Wait. You heard that?
Shock covered her face.
“Um, Yes. The literature says dragons can communicate telepathically.”
Dragon? Is that what I am?
“Yes.”
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
“I don’t know, Quinn. Maybe you can concentrate on your human body?”
Quinn shook his head as panic shook him. His body had grown to take up most of the room. His tail—his tail? It bashed against the machine.
“Okay, Quinn. It's a lot of pressure. But security will be here any minute and we’re in danger.”
Danger. He understood that. The doctor was in danger and he had to protect her. That wasn't possible in this small room with no room move. He'
d work better as a soldier.
His talons shrunk, and his skin shimmered until it was flesh-colored again.
The doctor sighed with relief and he smiled.
Then realized he was naked.
“Oh, damn, sorry,” he said turning away from her.
“Here,” she said handing him a stack of scrubs. “Don’t worry. I’m a doctor. I’ve seen it all.”
“Yeah?” he said with doubt in his voice.
“Well, no. It seemed the right thing to say."
“Where did you get these?”
“A cart in the hallway.”
“Theft, huh?” he said as he pulled on the pants and shirt.
“A judicial use of resources. That or you go naked.”
Would that be so bad?
Oops. From Dana’s shocked face that thought didn’t go over so well.
No. This was her thought—Dana’s.
He smiled at her and she blushed. The pink in her cheeks highlighted her prominent cheeks. Damn, she was gorgeous.
“Okay you two,” said Hibley standing at the door. “I’ve calmed the situation down. Let’s get out of here before someone asks more questions.”
Adored by The Dragon: (The Dragon Lord - Book 3) (The Dragon Lords) Page 3