by Amelia Jade
Irritated, she clamped down on her natural response. Engaging in his banter is exactly what she wanted, and if Elin wanted to keep what was left of her already ragged reputation intact, she needed to deal with him in completely professional manner, with exactly zero slipups. She couldn’t afford to screw it up. Not again.
“Are you ready?” She asked the question while walking up to his cell.
“Of course.”
The response came from right near the front of it and startled her. He was standing calmly less than a foot from the bars, towering over her. She hadn’t heard him move. She was at a disadvantage, since he topped her by nearly a foot and out-massed her by double. At least.
“You don’t even know what you’re going to do.”
He shrugged, shoulders nearly as broad as a doorway rising and lowering. “Doesn’t matter.” His deep voice was filled with confidence and a certainty that he couldn’t be wrong.
Trying to ignore the testosterone that rolled off him like waves of heat from concrete on a hot summer day, she opened the door and gestured for him to follow her as she led him out to the courtyard.
“You’re positive that you can do this,” she remarked as they exited into the sunlight, both of them blinking as their eyes adjusted.
His eyes stopped squinting first, she noticed with irritation.
“Yes.”
“Why? You don’t even know what it is you’re going to be doing.”
Kallore shrugged. “Does it matter? I will do it. You wish me to fight for you, against something you won’t tell me. Therefore you need to know that I am up to the challenge. Thus, you seek to test my physical abilities.” Another rise and fall of the mountainous shoulders, his new shirt stretched to the limits across the taut muscle of them and his upper arms.
Elin resolutely ignored the way the olive-green fabric fit so tight that it may as well have been painted on. Letting herself ogle the hired help was definitely not allowed. Even if he was a stunning specimen.
Enough. Focus. You have a job to do, soldier, and you’re going to do it. He’s not the first meathead that’s crossed your radar. You’ve ignored them all; you can ignore him too.
“It seems like the smart thing to do,” she countered.
“Maybe. But it is pointless.”
She snorted. They would see about that. “This is called an obstacle course. You are to move through it with as much speed as possible. We will be timing you.”
Kallore looked down at her, but instead of the disdain she expected, he was smiling. Not matter what she did, he always seemed to be smiling at her. It would have been infuriating if the way his face lit up didn’t make her want to melt into his arms.
“Do you know what you are to do?” she pushed, trying to focus on the job at hand instead of his hands and the way they made anything they gripped seem small in comparison.
“Yes.”
He didn’t wait for anything else, including confirmation. He just peeled off his shirt, tossed it at her, and jogged over to the start of the obstacle course. Elin rolled her eyes and hit the Start button on her stopwatch. This should be entertaining, watching him use muscles that hadn’t been exercised in a long, long time. He wasn’t going to get very far before his body gave out on him.
He started with the netting climb, a personal choice for her. Elin absolutely hated it, her smaller stature making it difficult to move up quickly. Kallore, unfortunately, seemed to have no difficulty with it. He swarmed up the net, easily moved across the pipe-trench, a fifteen-foot-long segment composed of two vertical walls over the top of a crash cushion. Each wall was filled with holes. At the start of each side was a peg. The goal was to move yourself to the far end by yanking the peg out on one side, moving it farther along, and then repeating on the opposite side. The whole time your body was hanging. It was a grueling test of upper-body strength.
Or it was supposed to be. She watched as Kallore breezed through it with ease. He dropped to the ground, disdaining the safety line. It was a ten-foot drop, but his legs barely flexed as he landed.
Next he slipped under the razor wire and crawled through the mud, not seeming to be slowed by anything. Eventually he arrived at the final obstacle, a vertical wall with a rope. By this point his arms should be killing him, and his legs turned to Jell-O. That was the plan anyway.
Instead Elin watched as he bent his legs and jumped, fingers grabbing the top of the wall and pulling him over. He landed lightly on the far side and was shown to the outdoor shower by the private who had been waiting at the end just in case. She walked up to him as he rinsed mud and dirt from his body, not bothering to glance at her stopwatch. He didn’t need the ego boost.
“Anything else?” he asked, stepping out of the water and grabbing the shirt from her.
Elin closed her eyes as he pulled it on, not needing to see just how his body moved and flexed as he tugged the garment on. It quickly adhered to his skin worse than before with the addition of the moisture. Elin gritted her jaw. This was not nearly as easy as she’d hoped it would be.
“Dry yourself off,” she instructed, trying to keep her voice cold but failing miserably. “Since it’s obvious your body is in fine working order, we’ll switch to your brain.”
He grinned at her. “Oh, you noticed, did you?”
Of course she’d noticed. How could anyone not notice the giant with light ash-blond hair standing in their midst? The pale blue and green undertones highlighted the white of his skin and matched up perfectly with his eyes. Gorgeous deep-set electric-blue eyes that had been striving to tear down the walls in her eyes since the very first day she’d laid eyes upon him and asked him just what he would fight for.
While he waited for an answer, the dragon shifter pushed a hand through his hair, moving the wet mop back off his forehead, revealing his facial features for all to see. Strong lines, without harsh edges, strong and yet gentle at the same time. His jaw was well defined without being too large, and always clean of stubble, which spoke highly to her military training. And his hands…
“Noticed what?”
Kallore’s grin compressed slightly, but it never went away. “You noticed.” This time it was a statement.
To her surprise Elin laughed. “Let’s go, Hulk. There’s one muscle of yours we haven’t tested yet. Let’s see if it’s as quick as the rest of you to recover.”
She looked back at the slightly strangled noise that came out of his throat and arched an eyebrow. “Is there a problem with us seeing how your brain is doing? Or is that too much for the big bad dragon?”
Brilliant white teeth flashed in the sunlight. “I think I can manage a good showing for you.” He winked.
Elin turned back, hopefully before he could register the blush spreading across her face. She hadn’t intended to leave her comment open to misinterpretation. Especially not from him. The last thing she needed, or even wanted, was to make things with Kallore sexual. That was a strict no-go in her books. Not if she wanted to avoid ruining her reputation.
Again.
“Come on,” she said gruffly. “It’s time to give you a crash course on cell phones and computers, so that we can begin bringing you up to speed on all the history you’ve missed.”
Perhaps realizing that he’d overstepped his bounds, Kallore fell in step on her right without another word, following her back into the base. She’d had a room prepared ahead of time for this lesson, and they headed there now.
“All right hotshot, know what any of these are?” She pointed to a table filled with tech goodies.
“No.”
The word came reluctantly, and Elin scored a mental point for herself. “This is a cell phone,” she began, picking up the matte black rectangular object. “It can do…a hell of a lot of really cool shit.”
***
“Okay, what next?”
Major Mara shook her head. She didn’t have anything else planned. They’d breezed through the first two days of her technology training in an afternoon. The sp
eed with which the light-haired giant picked up things wasn’t just amazing, it was scary. By the end of the first hour they’d been through the basics of cell phones and computers. Now he could browse the internet, send messages, emails, and was even beginning to tinker with customizing the phone she’d assigned to him as “his.” She’d come back from a washroom break to find him installing a new app on his phone that he’d decided on his own would be helpful.
“I have nothing else planned,” she admitted. “I hadn’t expected to move this fast.”
Kallore gave her a tight smile, and to her surprise she thought he might have even blushed a little at the compliment. “You’re a good teacher.”
Just when she’d begun to think he was too full of himself, arrogant and cocksure beyond belief, he came out with a compliment that sounded completely genuine.
“Thank you.” Elin needed to be wary, however, of not falling into the trap of comfort around his easy-going nature. It would be far too simple to allow that to happen. Already she’d had to stop herself from fiddling with her hair when he looked at her.
This was a job, she reminded herself, nothing more.
“Does this mean it’s back to my cell?”
“For now. We’ll get you transferred to an actual room tomorrow. Until then, sit tight and get some rest. Now that you know how to use technology, we’re just about ready to start on the fun part.”
Kallore frowned, getting swiftly to his feet as she began to rise. Elin had noticed he had a few antiquated notions about proper decorum around a woman. She didn’t mind it herself. Ever since she’d donned the uniform, acts of chivalry had become few and far between for her while she was on base. General politeness was still a thing of course, but his efforts to run ahead to open the door for her, or how he stood until she was seated, or rose first out of respect to her, those were appreciated.
Still, she was careful not to let it show too much. The last thing Kallore needed was another boost to his confidence that he was making her feel appreciated not just as an officer, but as a woman. That would be a slippery slope that she absolutely was not willing to start down. Too many bad things happened that way. She should know.
“The guards will see you back,” she said as they exited the room, motioning to the pair of soldiers clad in black uniforms.
“Will they tuck me in too?” he asked, heading in one direction while she went the other.
“If we could find a blanket big enough for your ego, I’m sure they would try. Though I didn’t realize they were your type.” Elin turned and walked away, her eyes wide.
She had just flirted with him! After everything she’d told herself not to do, she’d gone and done it anyway.
Kallore’s booming laughter filled the hallway, seeming to chase after her as she fled. There was no way to frame it otherwise; she was fleeing the scene, unwilling to stick around to deal with the aftermath of what her comment had brought forth. One thing was certain, however, little as she wished to admit it.
The next few days were going to be interesting.
Chapter Five
Kallore
He leapt from bed as the alarm on his phone went off, instantly awake even as he brushed his thumb against the screen to cease the noise. The lights were still off, which he was perfectly fine with. It allowed him to go through a routine of stretching and poses designed to invigorate his body without having him focus on anything else.
Not that the dark posed much of a problem to him. The light of his phone was enough for him to see with ease, if absolutely necessary. But the peacefulness of it, that was what he truly relished. Light made everything feel more quick and rushed, but in the dark? In the dark he could move slowly and without a sense of urgency.
As he stretched his body, his mind worked as well, the lessons of the past few days cascading back into his conscious. Language, technology, history. He’d been learning it all, understanding everything that he’d missed since putting himself into the deep sleep. He suspected that was going to be a long learning process. With Elin to teach him though, he knew he would master it all in time.
Elin. He grinned in the dark as he thought of her. The beautiful military officer with her beautiful butterscotch hair and softly rounded face. Oh how he adored her. She was an excellent teacher, and more than once he’d thought about asking if she’d ever thought of doing that, instead of joining the army. But she’d kept him at a very professional distance ever since their first meeting, and he suspected a question like that would be a little too personal.
Only twice had she let herself slip up, and he intended to respect that for as long as he could. Kallore knew his willpower was nothing when compared to the pull of his mate, and eventually he would do something in an attempt to break the ice between them. Hopefully it wouldn’t be disastrous when it came, but he was prepared for the worst.
The lights flicked on down the hallway, slowly turning on row by row until they reached his cell and then kept going.
“Good morning, sunshine!” he called to the guard down the hallway. “Thanks for keeping an eye on me all night. Hopefully you enjoyed the show.”
He’d slept naked the past two nights.
“I would have if it didn’t always end prematurely.”
Kallore raised his eyes. He’d thought the guard was male. Apparently he was wrong. Oops. He made a mental note to keep his clothes on from then on. Not that he minded, but Elin was his mate, and he didn’t want her hearing any stories from the other women on the base. He was hers, and only hers.
The door clanked as it unlocked. He pushed it open and strolled down the hallway to the guard post. The promised change of sleeping quarters hadn’t arrived yet, but he didn’t care. Elin was here, which meant he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Morning, Spencer,” he said calmly, inclining his head toward the regular dayshift guard.
The return greeting was just as uninterested. “Kal.”
“She waiting for me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thanks.”
He received a grunt as a reply as he continued past him. The second he was out of sight of the guard post he broke into a run, rushing through the corridors to the room where Elin and he had been spending their days. The door was still closed when he arrived and Kallore pumped his fist in exultation. He’d won! Finally he’d gotten here ahead of her.
It had become a little game between them. Now, five days into his training, he had finally managed to beat her here! He slowed to a regular pace, reached out and pushed the door open.
“Good morning, Kallore.”
He jumped as she greeted him from inside the room. Shit. Not only had she gotten the drop on him, but in his haste to get inside first, he hadn’t even noticed her scent in the hallway, and she’d caught him by surprise!
“I’ll bet you’re proud of yourself for that one,” he grumbled, moving inside and taking a seat opposite her.
“I just wish I had it on video,” she teased. “That shit would have gone viral!”
He grinned. His mate had an excellent sense of humor, and he deeply relished the few times she let it show. Their relationship was likely going to be filled with all sorts of pranks and jokes, he suspected.
First things first though, he needed to get her to drop her guard. Several attempts to get her to do so had failed, forcing a complete rethinking of his strategy. After thinking it over, and over, and over, he was positive he’d finally come to the realization of what was keeping her so rigid.
It was being on the base itself. He’d found out by accident that not only was Elin his mentor, but she was also the base commander. Now, there wasn’t exactly a major base to command, but it was still a full-time position. Something she couldn’t just put aside while they were surrounded by her responsibilities.
Which is why he’d decided that he needed to get her away from the base. Kallore figured the farther the distance there was from the base, the less distance there would be between them.
He
hoped.
“I think we need to change things up,” he announced, not bothering to sit down.
Major Mara eyed him sidelong for several moments before finally indicating he should continue.
“I’ve had enough classroom. I think it’s time we do some real-world education.”
“Meaning what, exactly?”
Skepticism and doubt were written plainly all across her face. She didn’t know what he had planned, but whatever it was, she wasn’t going to like it. Kallore smiled, hoping to disarm her suspicions. After all, they were going to have to let him out into the world eventually, especially if they hoped to have him fight for it against their mysterious enemies. That was another question for another day, however, and not one he was ready to tackle just yet. First things first, win over his mate, then focus on the external problem.
He glanced over at her now, pondering how she would take his suggestion.
“I think we should head to the city.” There, he’d said it. Now to just hope that she would be on board with the idea, and the two of them could—
Elin started laughing. Not a little thing either, but full-blown belly-busting howls of laughter. She tossed her head back, hands clamped around her sides as she broke down.
“That…is not the reaction I expected,” he admitted as she began to calm.
“You want to go out in the city? You can’t be serious! We’re staying right here where we are. You have lessons you need to finish.”
Kallore scoffed. “Really? You want me to study your military today. What more do I need to know about it? I get it. You people kill each other all the time for stupid reasons. Tens of thousands of you, hundreds of thousands. The oceans should run red with the blood that you’ve shed amongst each other. You’re butchers, and you’ve become damn good at it. Bigger guns. Bigger bombs. Tanks, airplanes. Nuclear weapons. It’s a shock you haven’t killed the entire planet with your arrogance.”
He paused for a breath. In preparation for his request he’d stayed up late researching things on his own, so that he could prove he knew the basis of military arms and tactics of the modern day.