by Amelia Jade
“Well, it’s going to be tough when I’m not here,” she said unhappily.
“You aren’t leaving,” he insisted, going against his own thoughts.
“Kal, I’m still in the military for now. I have to do what they tell me.”
He frowned. “For now? Are you leaving it?” His heart soared at the idea. If she left, then they could just go. Leave this place and move to the other side of the planet. Far away from this mess with the Outsiders. Perhaps then he could keep her safe.
“I don’t know.” She sat back onto him, throwing her hands in the air, frustrated.
Flexing his stomach, he sat up and pulled her in tight. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.”
She squeezed gently. “Kallore—”
Whatever else she was going to say was interrupted by someone rapping smartly against the door to her quarters.
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Hold that thought.”
Slipping out from under the covers, he pulled on his jeans, forgetting about a shirt for the moment. Halfway to the door he paused as a series of clicks reached his ears. Turning back, he put up a hand to stop Elin from leaving the little closed-off area that was her bedroom. “Go back inside. Close the door.”
In hindsight, he should have known that giving her a command like that would be ignored. Thankfully she must have picked up on some of the worry in his voice and known that he wasn’t just being ultra-protective for no reason. So she simply stayed put at the entrance, neither going nor coming further. He could handle that.
“Who is it?” he asked calmly, moving to the side of the door rather than stand right in front of it.
“Colonel Cutprice. I told you that it wouldn’t last, Kallore. The general wishes to see the two of you immediately.”
He glanced back at Elin. She had gone rigid at the name.
“You know him?”
She nodded. “He was the other aide to my assaulter.”
Kallore stared at her for a long moment, noting the way she reacted, the pain in her voice, and, possibly unbeknownst to her, the fear as well. Whatever this colonel represented to her, it wasn’t something he was willing to put up with. He faced the door once more and then unlatched it and hit the open button.
“Hello again, Kallore,” Cutprice said smugly.
Of course he would sound like that. Any human would with the gang of thugs behind him in the hallway. Kallore stared down the two dozen men, all of them armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked angrily.
“That depends,” Cutprice replied with an ugly sneer. “If you come peacefully, then they are simply an escort.”
“And if I don’t?”
Twenty-four weapons were simultaneously leveled in his direction.
“Then we’ll put you back to sleep.”
Kallore laughed heartily at the threat. He was awake and fully recharged. At this point there was little that they could do to him that would send him back to sleep. Certainly not the sort of sleep he was in. That was something only dragons could do to themselves; it couldn’t be induced.
As his laugh tapered off he lowered his head. Flames jumped into his eyes as he prepared to summon his weapons and armor. It was time the humans truly understood just who they were dealing with. Obviously they had no respect for his strength, but there was more to him than just that.
His body began to warm. The soldiers outside shuffled slightly as they realized this wasn’t going to end peacefully. Kallore grinned at their nervousness.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, his voice taking on a deeper timbre, rolling and booming out into the corridor beyond Elin’s door. “That was a very, very bad idea.”
Many of the soldiers took a step back this time.
“Enough.”
He jerked as Elin slipped past him. Kallore froze, unsure of what to do. She was now between him and the dozens of automatic weapons, and she lacked his natural defenses. Every instinct within him screamed at him to move. To get out there and put his body between her and harm’s way. Those bullets and whatever other instruments they intended to use should be aimed at him, not his mate! Kallore felt himself leaning forward, preparing to scoop her up and haul her back into the room before they could kill her.
STOP! Kal, don’t do it!
He paused, evaluating the situation. All of the men with guns were nervous to begin with. If he moved toward them, they would open fire, even if he wasn’t actually endangering any of their lives. No matter how fast he was, the bullets were faster. There was no scenario that he could see that let him get to Elin in time.
She’d also never forgive you. Remember, this is her home base. She’s in the military, and she’s been fighting this asshole and his higher-ranking cronies for a decade now. Trust her, she knows what she’s doing.
The dual arguments for letting her continue were cohesive, and so despite the protests from his instincts, Kallore kept himself rooted to the spot. Of course, he kept his powers harnessed and ready to unleash in a moment’s notice. If any of them made the mistake of hurting Elin he would turn them all into ash without hesitation.
“We’ll go along with you.” Elin turned around to look at him. “Peacefully,” she added.
He started to growl in defiance, but it died when she winked at him and mouthed some words to him.
Trust me. I have a plan.
“Fine,” he said, giving Cutprice a gaze before he stepped back inside the room, Elin’s hand on his chest pushing him inside.
“I’ll be right out, Colonel. Just let me put my uniform on.”
Cutprice stepped forward and put his boot in front of the door. “I’ll just stay here,” he announced. “So that you don’t try any funny business.”
Kallore rolled his eyes and followed her into the bedroom, stopping at the doorway to it. He knew Cutprice would enter the room if he disappeared, so instead he stopped in plain sight.
“I have a plan,” she said quietly. “Go along with it. When it’s time to act, you’ll know it. But don’t jump the gun, okay?”
He grinned with excitement and anticipation. There was going to be a fight after all! It had been too long since he’d been able to cut loose. This should be fun.
“You have my word.”
“Good. Now let’s go wipe that smirk off his face.”
Gods he was in love! His mate was feisty and full of fire in her own way. She hated bullies and never liked to back down until she was forced. The spirit of a dragon resided in her, he decided.
***
The walk to the command center didn’t take long. The base was, after all, rather small. The entire thing felt cramped with all the gunmen following them, but Kallore did his best to feel unencumbered by it all.
The door hissed open and Cutprice ushered them inside.
“General, I have Major Mara and the dragon Kallore.”
He politely ignored the hesitation before Cutprice said “dragon.” Clearly he was in the camp that thought the videos had been doctored or even outright faked. Or perhaps he hadn’t seen them at all. That, Kallore decided, would be more like the arrogant asshole. Assuming he knew everything based on a few written reports? Yeah, that fit the bill.
A short figure, barely an inch or so taller than Elin stood up from where he had been bent over a screen.
Beside him Kallore heard Elin hiss. Her hand found his and tightened down harder than anything he’d thought her capable of. It didn’t hurt, but it told him something very bad was going on.
“Ah, excellent. Hello again, Elin.”
“They made you a general?”
“Watch your tone, Major!” Colonel Cutprice barked from off to the side.
Kallore fixed him with a glare, letting the impertinent officer know that if he spoke to Elin like that once more, he would severely regret it. Cutprice didn’t back down, but neither did he say anything further. But his eyes did dart to either side of Kallore before
the left side of his mouth twitched upward in a triumphant smile.
It was obvious what he was trying to point out. Kallore had noticed it already. The armed men had spread out around the room around him. Their arrangement gave them all clear firing lines on him if he decided to challenge what was going on between Elin and the general. Kallore had his suspicions, but he didn’t want to speak up to confirm them.
“Brigadier general, yes.”
“I’ll be damned,” his mate said in surprise. “This is more fucked up than I ever believed possible. So, what do you want, Moore?”
Kallore’s eyes swung away from Cutprice and locked on to the general’s with the precision of a targeting system. Moore. He knew that name. It was the name of the former colonel who had tried to take advantage of his mate when she was younger and more junior. The man who had ruined her love of the military.
One command entered his brain above all others. One mission. Kallore was going to kill him.
He stepped forward, extending his left hand down and away in preparation of the fight to come.
Chapter Fifteen
Elin
Her hand swung out to the side to stop the dragon shifter. Although he hadn’t announced his intentions, the set of his shoulders told both her and all the gunmen in the room what he was planning to do.
“Not yet,” she said softly, speaking out of the corner of her mouth.
Elin couldn’t tear her eyes away from the portly man standing on the other side of the display from them.
The room itself was small and limited in size. It was roughly oval in shape, with two stations each to the left and right at the far ends of the oval. In the center of the room was the main operations table, a computer built into the horizontal screen. Beneath them was metal grating covering the floor, beneath which ran all manner of cables and cords.
Overhead white neon lighting was strung from front to back, at odds with the rest of the room’s layout. Elin knew it well, because until the day before, this had been her command center. The heart of her base, that she commanded.
Now it had been turned over to one Brigadier General Rick Moore. A man she’d thought had left the military nearly two years ago. Now she was finding out that not only was he still enlisted, but he’d been promoted. On top of that, in what was surely a poorly designed plan to twist the knife in her back as she finally quit, they’d sent him to take over for her. All of the success she’d achieved with Kallore would be credited to him.
Unless of course you just let Kal break his neck.
It was a tempting option, so much so that the hand holding him back wavered and dropped several inches.
Moore must have had some inkling of what was going on, because his face paled slightly when Kallore pushed gently at the blocking arm, though he didn’t force his way through it. She could just imagine the scorching look the general was receiving from the man who had proclaimed her his mate.
His drive to protect her, to rid her of Moore forever, was endearing as it was tantalizing. But the rational part of her mind knew that killing Moore wouldn’t solve a damn thing. It would be a temporary satisfaction, but in the end the fallout from it would haunt her quite likely for the rest of her life. No, Elin needed to try her way first. If that failed, then she would unleash her not-so-secret weapon. Maybe.
“You will give the general the respect owed to him!” Cutprice snapped from the side.
Kallore’s hand flicked out without warning. Elin tensed, ready to duck out of the way of the bullets, but when nobody fired it became clear to her that the dragon shifter hadn’t thrown anything.
“What are you doing?” Cutprice asked as Kallore repeated the motion.
“Getting the distance right,” he rumbled with a savage grin.
“Right for what?”
“For when you speak up for the last time.”
Everyone in the room inhaled at the naked threat. Cutprice seemed ready to blow at the seams, but a motion from General Moore—she still couldn’t believe that!—silenced the fuming officer. What a sycophant. Defending the general’s honor! It made her want to vomit. Preferably on Moore’s perfectly shined shoes.
“Why are you here, General?” she asked again, this time giving in to her military background. She could respect the rank, just not the man behind it in this case.
He tried to smooth his uniform over his protruding belly before responding. “To relieve you. I thought that had been made clear already.”
Grating her teeth, she nodded. “It was. But the why behind it was not. What did I do wrong?”
“Wrong?” Moore brushed aside the word with a hand. “Nothing at all. But it was felt that with the success of the program to date, that a finer, gentler hand was needed, along with someone who had the rank to ensure that everything went smoothly.”
She snorted. “In other words, you weaseled your way in here to claim all the credit for my success. Which, by the way, isn’t even mine. There would be no success if Kallore hadn’t chosen otherwise.”
General Moore smiled. “Which is precisely why I am here. To ensure that the subject is treated properly and not alienated.”
Kallore stiffened next to her at being referred to as a subject. Elin silently urged him to stay calm for just a little longer. She still had one last card to play.
“I’d like to see written orders.”
Cutprice fished something out of his pocket under the wrathful gaze of Kallore before handing them to one of the armed men. The soldier, dressed in all black, stepped forward uncertainly and thrust the papers at Elin before retreating swiftly as she took them. A quick glance showed them to be perfectly legitimate.
“Very well. I wish to speak to Lieutenant General Knefferson, to formally dispute and protest this action. I cite the well-being of the base and all our potential new allies as reason.”
General Moore’s faced clouded up with rage as she spoke. The protest was also perfectly legitimate, but it was rarely used. If this were any other situation, Elin would likely have simply gone along with her original orders. But this was different. The outcome of her actions here could dictate the entire scope of the war with the Outsiders. With Kallore and others of his kind at their side, it was entirely feasible that the humans had a chance. That maybe they could even win the battle without horrendous loss of life.
But if General Moore took over, she knew that none of the others would help out. Kallore would talk any dragon they woke out of it, if Moore didn’t alienate them all on his own, which was possibility enough. Elin was backed into a corner, and she had to do whatever it took to emerge, even if it was spitting in the face of a superior, no matter how much he may deserve it.
“Very well,” Moore hissed furiously. He punched some buttons on the display in front of him and then stood aside, gesturing to the screen on the wall behind him. It took nearly a minute, but eventually the face of Lieutenant General Knefferson appeared.
“What is it, Rick? I’m busy here.”
“I know, General, I apologize for the interruption. Major Mara has formally protested her orders and requested to speak to you over their contents.”
The ebony-colored general on the screen swiveled his gaze until he was staring at her. “Very well, Major,” he said, stressing her rank. “This had better be damn good.”
“Yes, sir. It is, sir. I need you to know that by doing this, you are breaking up a well-functioning team that would be better suited for helping to onboard any new recruits to the program far better than anything General Moore could come up with. It is something Kallore and I have—”
She fell silent as General Knefferson raised a hand. “Major Mara. You had better have a better reason for protesting this order than wanting to stay near your lover.”
Elin’s face burned with shame at the comment. She could just hear all her naysayers in the army whispering about her behind her back. How all these years she’d lied about General Moore, that it was she who tried to blackmail him after all. It broke her heart, b
ut she knew she couldn’t afford to show weakness. Not now. Not at this critical point. She would do everything she could to resolve this horrific mistake, before it got a lot of people killed.
“Absolutely, General. Even if I were out of the picture, Kallore would still be a better representative to have around to help acclimatize new recruits.”
“Kallore is not going anywhere,” General Knefferson told her, a look of mild confusion on his face.
There it was. His opening. Elin just hoped he saw it.
Kallore moved closer to her side, and even a step in front of her.
“I go with Major Mara.” He enunciated each individual word with force, making it clear to the video screen and everyone present in the room that there would be no arguing that statement. “If you remove her, I leave as well.”
Knefferson shook his head. “Kallore, you will stay there and do as you are told. Is that understood?”
Elin gaped at the complete disrespect for the dragon shifter. Did they not realize that Kallore stayed here not because he felt obligated to the military, but because he wished to? The dragon could leave any time he wanted, but he hadn’t, because he wanted to be near her. There was no way they were going to keep him here against his wishes, and treating him like he was a mere soldier was going to do the complete opposite.
“Kallore,” she started, but the dragon shifter was done listening to her now. He stepped forward, his skin darkening. She realized he still wasn’t wearing a shirt. The paleness was fading, replaced with a sandy, tan-colored hue.
“I am not your pet, General,” he said angrily. “Nor am I an experiment of yours.”
Around the room men brought their guns up to their shoulders.
“I am not a recruit nor a contractor for you to order around.” His voice was escalating now, until it reached a tremendous bellow that rocked her back on her feet.
She ducked out of the way and ran for the exit to the room as he lost his temper at last. Reaching the hopeful safety, she turned in time to see some of the men rush him. He beckoned them on, a wild grin on his face as he waited for her to get out of the way.