Another sob wrenched out of her. This creature had been in so much distress. She’d been able to sense its fear and confusion through the shell of the egg. The pain ate into her as she continued to cuddle the dragon. She could still feel fragments of its distress tracing through her, circulating through her blood.
Juniper was yanked to her feet. Arlo stood in front of her, fury in his eyes. He looked into her arms and blinked several times. “Is that...”
“Yes. But it’s dead.” Her words came out hoarse. “I helped ease some of its pain.”
“I’m so sorry this happened. But we need to go. If we stay any longer, we’ll end up like this dragon.” Arlo’s fingers touched the wound on her arm, and she flinched.
Juniper looked at the shattered egg on the ground. Her heartbreak mixed with a blood-boiling anger that made her growl.
She didn’t protest as Arlo hurried them toward the waiting copter, Heath covering them as they ran.
Juniper climbed in to the copter, still holding the dragon. It was the least she could do, get it away from all this horror.
“Let me take the dragon.” Arlo gently eased her fingers open.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Put it somewhere safe.” Arlo unfolded a blanket as the copter rose and headed away into the night. “We can wrap it in this. We’ll take it back to base with us.”
Juniper was surprised by how reluctant she was to let the dragon go. She placed the baby on the blanket. Bellatrix, Malachi, Moira, Jahil, and Romesh gathered around the body and lowered their heads, all mourning the loss of a life that hadn’t even started.
She felt the same. This was as close as any of them would have come to an ancestor in almost two years.
Juniper felt Arlo’s hands on her shoulders and leaned back into his embrace, letting him hold her. He said nothing, but she was glad to have him there, always looking out for her. It made her feel stronger, more able to get through this nightmare.
She reached forward and covered the dragon before placing its small body on the bench. Moira sat next to the dragon and rested a hand on it. “We’ll make sure this baby knows it was loved.”
Juniper blinked back tears and pushed herself onto the bench next to Arlo. She needed him by her side. She couldn’t have done this without him.
Her attention went back to the dragon, and she was instantly choked up again. They’d discovered so much opportunity in that building, and it had been ripped away from her.
“Stop,” whispered Arlo.
She blinked up at him. “What do you mean?”
“Stop thinking about it.” He took hold of her face and kissed her on the lips.
She tried to pull back, but he held on tight, his firm, warm lips against hers.
Arlo broke the kiss and stared into her eyes. “I know this is killing you. I know how hard it is. We will not let the State win.” He kissed her again, and Juniper saw his passion and determination. Arlo understood her and the loss she felt. As she leaned into his kiss, she realized that he understood her completely.
Chapter 18
The copter ride back to the base had been quiet. Everyone was shocked by the discoveries inside the building. The presence of the dead baby dragon set a mournful tone.
After that kiss with Juniper, Arlo had wanted to stay with her and make sure she was okay. He’d felt her trembling throughout the whole journey. But as soon as they’d arrived at their base, she’d scooped up the dragon and left him, saying she needed time on her own.
He’d wanted to follow her, but Heath had suggested giving her space, letting her process what had just happened. As much as it hurt him to do so, Arlo forced himself to stay away from Juniper.
He’d grabbed a shower, had his injuries treated, gotten some sleep, and eaten and was now trying to focus on finishing a bomb in his workshop. Nothing could distract him from thinking about Juniper and wondering if she was okay. She was strong, but even the strongest of individuals had their weaknesses.
Losing the egg had devastated everyone. Danni had been repulsed and horrified when they’d debriefed her on the mutilated dragon and human remains they’d found. She’d ordered remote surveillance on the site to see what the Dinnorms’ next move would be.
Cursing, Arlo dropped his wire cutters on the workbench and ran a hand down his face.
“I need a coffee.” Mary sat opposite him, her gaze intent on the bomb in her hand.
He raised his eyebrows. “You know where the canteen is.”
Mary tutted. “Someone of my advanced years should not be forced to get her own coffee. I am working for you for free. An occasional coffee is to be expected.”
“You work here because you love it,” said Arlo. “I have to force you to go home some evenings.”
“I only stay because you do.”
Arlo scrubbed the stubble on his chin. That was partly true. Mary mothered him far more than his actual mother had done. He didn’t mind. It was nice to have someone around looking out for him. He still missed his own mother checking in on him, making sure he was eating properly and following his captain’s orders.
“I do need to see Kade,” said Arlo. “I can get us coffee on my way back.”
“You only spoke to Kade half an hour ago,” said Mary. “He hadn’t cracked the data then. He said he’d let you know when he’d made progress.”
When the team had arrived back at the base, Ranger had handed over the data he’d downloaded. Data that might reveal the location of more dragon eggs.
“Sometimes, Kade needs a fire under his butt,” said Arlo. “He’s got so many projects on the go. Something new takes his eye and he forgets what he’s supposed to be doing.”
Mary shook her head. “Kade knows how important this data is. We all want to find out where the rest of those sites are and if there are any more eggs. And more importantly, if there are any more baby dragons who need rescuing.” A flash of pain crossed her face.
Arlo realized she must be upset too. All the dragon hybrids in the base who knew about the dead baby had been shocked. He reached over and patted her hand. “I need to stretch my legs anyway. I’ll go and have a word with Kade and then get you your coffee. I don’t want you falling asleep and accidentally blowing this place up.”
Mary smiled at him. “You might like to go and see how your girl is doing as well.”
Arlo let out a sigh. “I’d like to, but she wants time on her own.”
“We’ve all been through a lot,” said Mary. “It makes it easier if you aren’t alone. Juniper is just used to that. She’s used to not having others around her she can rely upon. You need to show her that need not be the case. She can rely on you.”
Arlo’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t think I’ve not been trying. But she’s...” He didn’t know how to describe her. Terrible at following orders? Always willing to put her life on the line for others? Stubborn and headstrong? Someone who had the ability to make his heart jump out of rhythm every time she smiled at him?
Mary’s smile widened. “Might I suggest a date night.”
“A what?”
“I used to do it with my husband. It was a great way of keeping things fresh. The same night every week, we’d set it aside. It didn’t need to be anything fancy or expensive. Sometimes we’d just go for a long walk in the woods or go see a movie. Or I’d make him a nice dinner and we’d sit and talk about our next holiday. But it was just the two of us. It kept the relationship strong and helped us to connect.”
“You think I should ask Juniper on a date?” Arlo shook his head. “That’s the last thing she wants. Her head is a mess. Me interfering will only make things worse.”
“You wouldn’t be interfering. You’d be helping her. She needs a friend.”
Arlo looked at the ground. That was the trouble. He wanted much more than friendship from Juniper. He couldn’t have made it much clearer. That kiss on the copter wasn’t one you gave a friend. He’d wanted her to know how much she meant to him. But she�
��d retreated into herself again. Maybe he’d made a mistake, and it wasn’t what she wanted. He could have just made things extremely awkward between them. If she didn’t want him, he’d take the friendship. He’d learn to ignore his feelings. Ignore the way her touch sent shivers through him and made him want to grab her, shut the door, and spend the rest of his life getting to know everything about her and exploring every inch of her incredible body.
“You don’t think she’s a little... young for me?” Arlo glanced at Mary.
“The age gap isn’t so great,” said Mary. “My husband was ten years older than me, and we barely noticed. Juniper has also lived through a lot. It makes you more mature. I think you’re suited to each other.”
“I will not push anything on her,” said Arlo. “Not now. Not when she’s grieving after losing the dragon.”
“Now is a good time to push. Sharing grief is the best thing.” Mary stared in a calm silence at Arlo. “Are you going to get me that coffee, or did I imagine you making that offer?”
He smiled at her. “If I remember correctly, you cajoled me into it. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Arlo left the workshop and hurried to Kade’s computer room. As he entered, the warm waft of heat from the powerful wetware computers Kade ran drifted over him.
Kade was hunched over a keyboard, staring at the screen in front of him. On the other side of the room were two of his new trainees, Katie Wood and Harry Greenburg. After Honor’s insistence that Kade was working too hard, he’d grudgingly taken on two new trainees to help with the coding work. It meant Honor got more quality time with Kade, and he got to realize there was more to life than computing.
“How’s it going?” Arlo sat in the empty seat next to Kade.
Kade pushed his shoulder-length hair off his face. “Much the same as the last time you asked. There are more sites and signs there are more eggs at these locations.”
“What’s stopping you from cracking the data?”
“Too many annoying questions from my younger brother.” Kade shot him a sideways glare. “I do know what I’m doing. Decoding this file is taking time. I’ve got other things to focus on.”
“You need to focus on this.” Arlo sat forward in his seat. “If there are other eggs out there, then we need them.”
“I’m aware of that,” said Kade. “Perhaps you’d like to take this new hacking job off my hands? Or there’s the DNA code synthesizer that’s broken. You could run through its programming and see what’s damaged. That will stop Dmitri asking me every hour when it will be repaired.”
“Maybe we can help?” Harry looked up from his computer screen. His normally messy strawberry blond hair was tied in a knot on top of his head. He smiled at Arlo. “I can take a look. You never know, I might spot a pattern Kade hasn’t seen.”
Kade snorted as he pulled out the data stick. “I’d like to see you try.”
Arlo grabbed the data stick and walked over to Harry and Katie.
Katie grinned at him as he approached. She was petite, with close-cropped blonde hair and an almost permanent look of surprise on her narrow features. “What have you got for us?”
“We found this at the building we investigated,” said Arlo. “Ranger pulled it off the mainframe there. We think it has something to do with other locations that have dragon eggs.”
Katie’s grin faded. “We heard about that. I still can’t believe what the State are up to.”
Arlo pulled over a chair and settled next to Harry. He didn’t know either of them well. They’d joined the base two months ago, refugees from a small Scottish island that had become a target of the State. They had similar soft Scottish accents, the kind of voices that made you relax just by listening to them talk.
“We’ll figure out where they’re hiding the eggs.” Harry slipped the data stick into his console. “It’s gutting what happened to the one you found.”
Arlo nodded as a flashback hit him. The memory of seeing Juniper so determined as she rolled the egg to the copter. She’d been lucky. She’d left herself completely exposed. Any of the laser fire could have hit her. Instead, she had a deep laceration on her arm and a broken heart. That was bad enough.
Harry was looking at him, a curious expression on his face. “I guess seeing it up close and personal was a bit different from reading information on the screen.”
“Sure. But if you weren’t here to decode the information we get, we wouldn’t be half as successful.”
“Brains and brawn are equally important,” said Katie softly. “It’s good we’re working together. We’re glad we found this place.”
“How did you know to come here?” asked Arlo, as he watched Harry scan through the data.
“We get recordings of Flame radio from the dark web,” said Katie. “Octavia uploads her shows every night. In one of the shows, she mentioned this place.”
“She gave you exact coordinates?”
“No, but enough information to send us in the right direction,” said Harry. “Octavia is smart like that. Our island was under threat, and we figured it was time to go. The State had been poking around for a while, making noises about looking for a new offshore location, somewhere with plenty of high places.”
“We left just before they arrived,” said Katie. “We made a couple of stops along the way. But we’d heard about the work Kade did and wanted to see if we could help out.”
“Aren’t I the lucky one,” muttered Kade.
Arlo grinned at his brother. “Ignore him. He just needs a decent mug of coffee and some chocolate.”
“Isn’t that always the case?” asked Kade. “I haven’t had a decent cup of coffee since we came down here.”
“You need to know the right people to bargain with,” said Arlo.
“I’ll bear that in mind the next time I’m in caffeine withdrawal.” Kade looked over at Harry. “Have you got any insight into the data yet?”
Harry looked up from his screen. “There is something here. Katie, I’ll send this to your console. Have a look at the eighth and fifteenth line of code. Do you see any similarities?”
Katie stared at her screen for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip, a line of concentration furrowing her forehead. “There’s something here.”
Arlo hurried around to her screen. Although there were patches of information still coded, he could see a map and coordinates. “Is this another site?”
“It looks like it,” said Harry. “I’ve got a few more words to decode before I can be sure.”
Kade walked over and looked at the screen. “I think you’re onto something.”
Arlo raised his eyebrows. “It looks like you’re not the only one who can decrypt complicated files.”
Kade shrugged. “I taught them everything they know.”
Harry exchanged a grin with Katie. “Let me run it through this decryption software.”
Arlo struggled to hide his impatience, tapping his fingers against his arm. He watched as the data scrolled across the screen. The screen went blank and when it reappeared, the gibberish code suddenly made sense.
“Yes! This has to be another site,” said Harry.
Arlo looked over at Kade. If it was, they needed to investigate. They had to stop the State from breeding a dragon to exploit.
“You need to let Heath know,” said Kade.
“I will.” Arlo’s thoughts immediately went to Juniper. She’d want to know about this. He took a step toward the door but then stopped. She’d been through too much already. She needed more time to rest and process what she’d been through.
“Is everything okay?” asked Harry, looking over at Arlo.
“Everything’s fine.” Arlo couldn’t stop himself. He needed to be with Juniper. “Kade, can you let Heath and Danni know what’s going on? There’s somewhere I need to be.”
Kade smiled. “Say hi to Juniper for me.”
Arlo was already out the door and racing toward her quarters before Kade had finished speaking. He should give her more time, but he
couldn’t keep away. If he kept this information from her and she found out, she wouldn’t be happy.
He knew that was an excuse. He was doing this to fulfill his own selfish motives. Arlo needed to be with her. He wanted to be the one to take away her pain and make her smile again. He’d seen how much she was hurting. Nothing he did erased the grief she felt. Arlo would keep on trying, though. He’d make sure he was by Juniper’s side until she let him in. She didn’t have to be alone anymore.
Stopping by her door, he was surprised to see the green light outside, signaling it was unlocked. He waved his hand over the motion sensor to open the door. The room inside was a mess. Bed linen had been torn from the bed and was in a heap on the floor. In the middle of the pile sat Juniper, an untouched mug of hot chocolate by her side.
She raised her head and stared at him, her eyes red and bloodshot.
Taking a steadying breath, Arlo nodded at her. “Mind if I come in?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he strode in and sat beside her on the floor.
Juniper rubbed her hand across her cheek and looked down at the mug of hot chocolate. “Annie said this would make me feel better.”
“And did it?”
She shook her head. “I feel numb. Broken.” The last word came out choked.
Arlo felt his heart break as he saw her pain. “You did everything you could. There were just too many militia. If that blast from the laser hadn’t hit the egg, it would have hit you.”
“Maybe it should have.”
“No way!” There was no way she was going to give up like this. He shifted toward her, spreading his legs until she sat in between his. He grabbed hold of her elbows and yanked her closer. His fingers wiped the tears from her hot cheeks. “We couldn’t have saved that dragon even if we’d got the egg back here. It was too sick and weak. You know that.”
She glanced over to the corner of the room where a small bundle lay. “I still have the dragon.”
“I figured you did.” Arlo looked at the dragon. “I know you will not want to hear this, but Sophia would like to take a look. That dragon could give us valuable insight into where we’re going wrong in our own attempts to bring back dragons. It could give us the upper hand against the State.”
Arlo (sci-fi romance - The Ember Quest Book 4) Page 17