by Amelia Jade
The phone in his ear spewed sound again, reminding him that Rowe was still on the line.
“Say that again?” he interrupted, cutting his nominal superior off.
“I said you need to return to the base. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” he echoed. “Already?”
“Yes. While you’ve been out cavorting with the locals, Torran and I have come to our decision.”
He wanted to reach through the phone and throttle the other dragon. He wasn’t cavorting, he was trying to claim his mate! The idiot. “What did you decide upon?”
“We will be recommending to the council that the enclave not get involved with the human war with these Outsiders, as they call them. Just like you wanted.”
Palin slowly stood upright, his eyes staring through the western wall of the farmhouse, past the fields and to the mountains beyond. Though he couldn’t see them from here, he could picture the majestic peaks in his mind, soaring high into the sky. To any casual observer the mountains were beautiful, their rocky slopes covered in trees and even snow on the tallest.
It was what lay below that should leave them scared. Palin hadn’t given much thought to the idea of the Outsiders since arriving on the farm, but as he did now, he realized that he’d come to doubt the humans less. After all, why else would they be begging for aid unless they were worried they could not win?
Then there was the proximity of Sandy’s farm to the mountains. If the war did spill over, the farmland around the portal would become a warzone. His mind conjured up images of troops storming over the fields he’d worked so hard to maintain. The house, destroyed by marauding Outsiders and shellfire. A tank using it as cover until it too was overrun, ammunition exploding and leveling the ruins.
What about Sandy? If she refused to come with him, she would be caught in the crossfire. If the Outsiders were as powerful as he’d been told, they would spew forth from the portal and overwhelm the defenses there. In hours they would dot the countryside, stripping the life from the very earth itself. His mate wouldn’t have a chance.
Unless the Outsiders were stopped.
“We can’t do that,” he whispered.
“Can’t do what?” Rowe asked impatiently.
“Leave. Remain neutral. Any and all of it,” he said, his voice hardening as his conviction strengthened. This was the right decision. “We need to stay. And we need to fight.”
“Who?”
“All of us!” He covered his mouth as he cried out. “Every able-bodied dragon. We’re going to be needed, Rowe, and needed badly.”
He could hear the disbelief through the cellphone. “Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
“You were the first one to criticize them, and now you want to stay?”
Palin nodded, then remembered Rowe couldn’t see him. “Yes. There are good people out here, people with dragonblood in them. We can’t let them be sacrificed.”
Rowe snorted. “You’re still living with that delusion are you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Get back to base, Palin. That’s an order.”
“No. I’m staying. This has to happen.”
Rowe sighed. “Always wanting to do it the hard way.” Then the phone went dead.
“Well fuck you too,” he snarled, tossing the phone down on the couch.
He glanced at the bedroom before walking over and checking on Sandy. She was still fast asleep. Confident that she would remain that way, he slipped on his boots and left the house. The cool outdoor air washed over his flesh, goosebumps spreading in its wake. He ignored the temperature change. A scratching sound drew his attention back to the door. What the hell?
Opening it, he jumped back as Champ came charging outside.
“Hey boy,” he said, dropping one hand to his side as the dog nuzzled at him. “Okay, okay, you can come with me, but you have to stay on the paths. No going in the mud, or you sleep outside tonight, got it?”
Champ sniffed and then sneezed. He looked up at Palin, mouth wide and tongue lolling out to the side in what passed for a doggy grin.
“I’m not reassured by your answer.”
Champ just walked down the stairs, then paused to look back as if saying “are you coming?”
“Fine.” They walked off into the dark, keeping to the paths that wormed their way through the fields. Palin didn’t mean to stroll too far from the house, but his thoughts had a mind of their own, and before long he was circling around the edge of the property.
What was he going to do? The choices weren’t optimal. Disobey orders and stay with Sandy, which is where he needed to be, or stay and likely find himself cast out from his home.
“A rock and a hard place, Champ. That’s where I am. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.” The dog looked up at him, but there was no comprehension in his eyes. Just love.
Love.
It wasn’t a word he’d dared think about yet, because he knew if he opened those gates, there was no shutting them. Things with Sandy seemed to be on their strongest footing yet, but that didn’t mean much. They were rocky and could collapse at any time, though he was working to build the foundation as strong as possible. All he needed was more time.
Love took time. It was no surprise that after her past she would want to cut herself off from people. Coming back from years of imposed solitude was a big effort. Immediately throwing herself into a relationship that would last the rest of their lives had to be scary, even if she didn’t know the full truth of it all just yet. How was Palin supposed to blame her for being timid? He couldn’t, of course, and didn’t. Which was why he hadn’t bandied about the word love yet.
“Is love stronger than duty?” he asked softly.
Champ whined at him.
“I know, boy, I know. It’s not an easy answer.”
Champ whined again, but this time it was more like a whimper. A nervous whimper. Never knowing the dog to be afraid of anything, Palin focused on him. The big canine was looking behind him, over his shoulder. Its ears were flattened to its head and its tail curled between its back legs, even as he lowered himself toward the ground.
The creak of something mighty was all the warning he got. Palin threw himself over the dog, willing his dragon to the surface. Scales of deep emerald green blossomed along his back as he made every effort to protect Sandy’s pet.
Chapter Twenty-One
Palin
The ground jumped up at him twice in quick succession, nearly pitching him off to the side. He braced himself for an attack, but nothing came.
“Relax. We’re not here to attack you.”
Palin stood and turned. “Rowe.”
“Palin.”
Champ whined again and retreated to a safe distance. Palin watched the dog go, his fury growing at the sight of the poor animal, who couldn’t know what was going on.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he snarled at the massive jade-colored dragon. “You’re crushing the crops.”
A yellow cat-like orb eyed him uncaringly. Asshole.
A second dragon shook its wings in irritation before curling them back along its sides. Palin ignored the viridian-hued creature. Torran wasn’t his primary problem just then.
“I told you, it’s time to come home. The decision has been made. We will advise the Council.”
“You flew all this way out here and risked being discovered just to tell me what you said over the phone? I’m flattered.”
“Enough with the sarcasm. We are departing.”
“No. I’m staying, I told you this.”
Rowe’s eyes flicked in irritation, his tail thrashing from side to side. Torran huffed, an odd sound coming from the snouted beast. “I told you he wouldn’t come.”
“He will,” Rowe said forcefully.
“Who are you trying to convince of that? Me or yourself? I’m staying.”
“That is enough!” Rowe’s voice cracked like a whip. “You will stop gallivanting with this human an
d return home at once.”
Palin stiffened. “She is not a human, she is my mate!” he roared.
Champ whimpered and backed away some more.
“You are delusional, Palin. She is a human, and nothing more. You must know this on some level. If one is born to a dragon pairing, they become a dragon. It matters not whether the mother or father was the dragon half. That is the way it goes. She therefore is not your mate, and thus you shall leave her and return with us.”
Palin snarled, but didn’t say anything. Was he lying to himself? Had he known the truth all along?
He thought back to the awakened dragons. Kallore and the reds, Thorne and the blacks. Even Caine and the whites. All of them had found their mates in women who were not dragons. Were they right in saying that their mates were completely human? That there was no dragonblood within them?
How could that be though? A human and a dragon shifter, mated? It had never happened before…had it? Truthfully he didn’t know. He’d only ever seen dragons mated with other dragons.
Because your enclave has done nothing but remove itself from humanity as much as possible. It was only natural. But now humans need you. They need the help of dragons kind to win the war. You know that now.
It made sense that if fate was pushing them back together again, it would find ways to help bind the gap that had developed. A gap that the dragons had done their best to enhance, systematically destroying any and all mention of their kind outside of books of myth and legend. They had fostered the disbelief in humans over the centuries. Their work had been thorough, and the efforts had paid off in the end, though he doubted any of the elders believed it would work as well as it had.
Palin didn’t bother going down the other path. There was simply no point in examining whether or not Sandy was his mate. He knew it, he could feel it, and his dragon was in vehement agreement with him. Not once had his confidence in that wavered; if anything it had increased as time went on.
Which meant that his belief she had dragon DNA in her must be wrong. It bothered him to know that Sandy was a normal human. For his entire life he’d been raised to believe that they were lower class, below the dragons who were the true scions of the world. He knew that if he continued to think of the world as having that sort of hierarchy, he would eventually come to resent being mated to her.
No, if he was going to make this work, Palin was going to have to reevaluate his beliefs about humans. That…wasn’t going to be easy. Thankfully he had a good reason, and an even better teacher.
“Good. I can see comprehension in your eyes. You accept that she is human.”
“I do,” he said solemnly. “You are right, there are no half-blood dragons in the world. But you are wrong as well, Rowe.”
The dragon’s head reared back on its long neck. Rowe was unaccustomed to being called wrong. “Do go on,” he encouraged with a very humanlike snort.
“She is my mate. Human or not, of this there can be no doubt.”
“No, you are mistaken.”
Palin stood his ground, staring up at the giant green-scaled lizard, noting the horns running down its back, and the way its massive paws sank deep into the ground.
“That is enough from you,” Rowe pronounced. “Now come with us.” He spread his wings wide.
Palin clenched his fists in frustration and closed his eyes, letting his dragon flow through him, the power infusing his body, changing it. In the blink of an eye he shifted, now able to look at Rowe evenly.
“I am staying,” he ground out, spreading his wings wide in defiance.
“You dare to disobey a direct order?”
Palin snorted. “You’re three years older than me and four older than Torran. Quit acting like you’re some sort of superior being, Rowe, and go away. This is my home now, and I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.”
“Traitor,” the other dragon hissed, and lunged forward, teeth flashing as he opened his mouth, attempting to take a chunk from Palin’s neck.
The shift from angry words to attack took him by surprise, but his trained instincts kicked in and he responded swiftly. Ducking his head, he came at Rowe from underneath, teeth worrying at the softer flesh there, puncturing scales and staining the ones below it with the dark flow of blood colored black in the midnight air.
Champ yelped and took off for the house, but Palin could spare him no mind. He had his hands full—figuratively speaking now—with a pair of irritated emerald dragons.
“Rowe!” Torran bellowed and tried to move around to help his fellow dragon out. The mud was thick from the rains however, and his monstrous dragon form was sucked deep into the soft earth, each footstep forcing him to yank his clawed foot out from the mud with a squelch.
Palin, keeping to the less muddy path, turned and launched his tail at Rowe’s head while simultaneously breathing a cloud of toxic gas in Torran’s direction. Although they were all the same breed of dragon, the gas spewed by every dragon was just a little different, so that no one but them were immune to it. Torran quickly backed away from the cloud, forced to move even farther out into the fields to get around it.
The momentary distraction was enough for Rowe, however, and the big green monster slammed into Palin’s side, rolling him over and lunging at his belly with wicked sharp teeth. Palin yelped and lashed out with his foreleg, catching Rowe in the neck. Scales rained down on the muddy path. Rowe pulled back, bellowing in pain.
Palin swung his spike-studded tail at the shifter’s side, puncturing through the scales and causing pain, but doing no real damage. It did give him enough time to get to his feet, but all that meant was he received the full brunt of Torran’s attack. He shielded himself as best he could with his wing, attempting to diffuse the gas into the atmosphere. The mighty membrane vibrated as pain shot up its length, the membrane falling away under the noxious gas, holes appearing up and down its length.
He charged forward at Rowe, hoping that if he got in close it would make Torran think twice about using his breath weapon once again. The two struck again and again, opening great gaping wounds with their legs, while Palin blasted a particularly thick cloud of gas right into Rowe’s face.
The bigger dragon backed up and Palin smiled triumphantly as he saw the wound he’d inflicted on the slightly-older shifter. It was a bad one.
Agony sent him tumbling to the ground as a huge cloud of corrosive gas erupted against his flank, searing his body with blazing spikes of pain. Palin fell and rolled over in the mud, trying to cover the wound and staunch the gaseous fumes. Fuck, it hurt. He tried to breathe but even that was too much.
“Leave him,” Rowe said, his voice also thick with pain and slurred from the temporary disfigurement on his face. He would heal, but it would be painful until he did. “If he wishes to abandon his kind for humans, so be it. He’s the only one who will suffer.”
Palin tried to conjure up a witty comeback, but the pain was too great, and he just slumped to the ground as the pair of dragons spread their wings and launched themselves back into the sky. As they flew away, he knew so too did any chance of ever returning to the enclave.
He’d given that up for the opportunity to win his mate over. Even that wasn’t a sure thing anymore. After all, if she were human, then she couldn’t sense the bond between them like a dragon could. She may decide she didn’t want him.
There was every possibility that Palin had just consigned himself to a life of loneliness.
Groaning in pain he tried to rise, but his limbs shook violently and gave out, splashing him back down into the mud. With the last of his energy he forced himself back into his human form. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, not until he recovered. The left side of his body was a mangled ruin courtesy of Torran, and he needed to sleep. It would likely be sunup before he woke, and the last thing he needed was someone stumbling across a massive green dragon passed out in a field. Not ideal.
His mind drifted to Sandy, and she filled his mind as the darkness rose up to swallow him. The fi
nal image in his mind was of her pink hair swaying from side to side as she shook her head at him, unable to fully conceal a smile. He didn’t know what memory it was, but he knew it was one he would treasure for the rest of his life.
Content, he succumbed to the pain at last, unconsciousness finally claiming him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sandy
She stirred in her sleep.
“Nnaannn, g’wy.” Her hand flicked, trying to get whoever was making the racket to stop. All she wanted to do was sleep. The evening with Palin had left her completely drained. Not only was he proficient in bed, but he was always ready to go again. It had taken some time, but eventually she’d found herself beyond sated. Over-sated really. Like eating too much of a good meal, she’d overdone it, and it had been all she could do to let him know before she passed out.
Now something was dragging her from the peaceful depths of sleep, and she hated them for it, whoever they were. Couldn’t they tell she needed like, eighty more hours of sleep? A full six days plus time to lounge around in bed should just about do it.
If only.
The noise didn’t stop, eventually forcing her to come awake enough to identify what it was. Sandy blinked several times, clearing sleep from her eyes. What was that sound? Her brain caught up to the rest of her and she lunged away as it became clear.
Champ.
Her dog was barking up a racket. From outside. What the hell was he doing outside? She stumbled from bed, halfway to the door before she remembered that Palin was there too.
“Palin?”
There was no response. She flicked on the light, but the bed was empty. Where the hell was Palin? Why was he letting the dog bark like this without letting him in? Throwing on a sweatshirt and pants, she went the rest of the way downstairs and headed for the front door. Her hand was on the lock before she remembered what had happened with Rusty’s men before. Snatching up the shotgun, she checked it was loaded, racked it, and then pulled the door open, standing back as Champ came barreling inside.