Dragon's Frenemy (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 2) Read online

  There was something special about the way Adam frowned at her, though, like lingering behind his glare was the memory of when he’d walked in on her and Liam after making love.

  “Patrick wants to see you,” he said to Liam. “You’ve been cleared for missions again, and he’s got one he wants you on.”

  Liam nodded. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, then.”

  “He wants you now. The team is waiting.”

  Liam sighed. “Alright. I’m on my way. If that’s what the orders are.”

  Utopia sighed as well, disappointed. She had been looking forward to spending the day with Liam. He waited until Adam had started walking away before he whispered in her ear, “Of course, nobody can accuse me of always obeying orders.”

  A laugh broke through and Utopia grabbed his hand. “Only for a few minutes, though.”

  “Oh, alright. But let’s make those minutes count.” He tapped her nose and pulled away, running toward Aiden. “Tag! Mommy’s it!”

  As Aiden shrieked with laughter, Utopia bounded after them. Life was good.

  Epilogue

  Four Months Later

  Utopia twisted her hands nervously, everything that had been running through her mind since she decided to do this going blank. It was really happening. After all the time she had spent thinking that she needed to do this but not knowing if she was brave enough. Her mouth felt dry, her hands cold and clammy.

  The room was spacious. Two chairs, a couch. Nothing else. Liam had promised to stand outside the door the whole time. She was almost ashamed to admit that his promise was the only reason she had for not calling this whole thing off.

  This isn’t going to end well. Did I think it was going to give me closure?

  It was too late now… The door opened and a young woman stepped in. Twenty or twenty-one, with chestnut brown hair. She’d lost a lot of weight since Utopia had seen her, almost a year ago. When she was the one strapped to the examination table. When she was begging for Utopia not to do it, to let her go.

  Riley wrapped her arms around her waist, staring at Utopia with a mix of uncertainty and fear.

  Utopia swallowed dryly. “Hello, Riley. I, uh… I’m glad that you agreed to see me. I know this can’t have been easy for you.”

  “I…” Riley hunched inward, and Utopia wished she knew what to say or do to take away all the trauma she had caused this girl.

  But what was there to say? She remained quiet, hoping that Riley wouldn’t feel too intimidated.

  “Captain Liam told me why you did what you did. About your son. I wondered… I wondered if there was something. I remember, you said sorry once. You thought I was unconscious, but you said sorry.” Riley’s arms dropped, and her expression turned to a glare, though the grief remained strong all the same. “That doesn’t take back what you did.”

  “No,” Utopia agreed, “it doesn’t. I know what I did… I know that it can never be taken back. I know that it hurt you in ways that I don’t understand. And I know that no reason will ever be good enough for you. I just… I wanted to say that I was sorry. I wanted to tell you that.”

  Riley’s jaw tightened.

  “I tried to find ways to delay. I tried to stop it from hurting…”

  “It did hurt.”

  Utopia flinched. She dropped her gaze. “I know. I’m sorry. There isn’t anything I can do to undo that. But I am going to give my all into bringing the Pack down. Working with the Academy so that nobody else ever has to go through what you did.”

  Riley was silent for so long, Utopia was sure she was going to say that it wasn’t good enough. That it would never be good enough. Utopia wouldn’t blame her for that. She wouldn’t blame any of them. After all, it was miracle enough that Liam had forgiven her…

  Her other victims owed her nothing.

  A soft sniff made Utopia look up, startled. Tears ran down Riley’s face, and she had wrapped her arms around her torso again. “I know.”

  “You… know?”

  “Colonel Patrick and Dr. Fiona had a talk with all of us. Everybody who they rescued from… the Pack. They explained what you were doing and that you wanted to see each of us to apologize. Not everybody is going to be willing to let you, you know. Some of us don’t want to see you. Some of us want to see you so we can tell you that what you did, we can never forgive.”

  A solid weight sunk in Utopia’s stomach, but she nodded. “Of course. Of course. And you deserve that right. You all do.”

  Riley held up her hand. “But not all of us.”

  Utopia blinked in confusion.

  “I didn’t know what I was going to say when I agreed to see you. I didn’t know what I was going to feel or what I was going to think. This is very hard. I hate you. I need you to understand that.” Riley sucked in a shuddering breath. “But I don’t want to. I don’t want to be a hateful person. I don’t know if I’m ever going to forgive you for what you did, but I hate you a little less now…”

  Utopia’s throat felt tight as she nodded. “Thank you.”

  Riley’s brow furrowed. “I can’t condemn you. Not anymore. But I never want to see you again.”

  “I understand. Thank you for seeing me this time. I hope that whatever your future holds… it’s going to be good.”

  “And I hope that whatever your future holds, you are able to find some way to make peace with what you did.”

  Riley stared at her a moment longer before nodding. She walked back out the door. And as hard as some of that had been to hear and as much as Utopia wished she could just get rid of all the pain she had caused, there was still a weight that lifted. Because even if she couldn’t take back what she had done, at least she had been able to apologize.

  She sank into one of the chairs, wondering how she could be feeling such opposing emotions. It pressed against her eyes, and she started to cry. Softly, trying to hold it in at the same time as being grateful for the release.

  The door opened again, and Liam stepped in. He rushed to her side and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Sorry. I’m just a little emotional, it seems. But that went well. It went far better than I expected.”

  Liam frowned. “Then why are you crying?”

  “I don’t know. I guess maybe it’s the relief. Or maybe the dread that the next one won’t go well. I don’t know.” Utopia shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. “I just… I can see what I did to her. The lasting effects. And I hate it. I hate what I did, and I hate that I can’t undo it.”

  “Don’t,” Liam whispered. “You didn’t have a choice.”

  “I hate what I did,” Utopia repeated, a little softer this time. “But I don’t hate myself. Not anymore.”

  Liam smiled. “Good. Are you going to be okay?”

  “I’m okay right now. Not great, but I’m okay. Can we go home?” She put her arms around his neck. “Right now, I want to celebrate being alive.”

  “And by celebrate…” He waggled his brows suggestively. “Do you mean something a little exciting.”

  Utopia rolled her eyes but brushed her lips against his. “Actually, yes. That’s exactly what I’m meaning.”

  “You sure you’re up for it?”

  “Yes. And we only have a couple of hours before Aiden gets home from school, so—"

  She didn’t have to say anything else. Within a few minutes, they were back at their apartment. They tripped over the toys Aiden had left out on their way to the bedroom, hands all over each other while they devoured one another’s mouths. Utopia groaned in delight as all her senses came to life. She drank in Liam’s taste, his scent, the feel of his body.

  Liam slammed the door behind them once they got into the bedroom, just in case they had any unexpected guests. He pressed her against the wall, his body on hers. Utopia tore open his shirt, hands everywhere. He was already hardening, and she massaged him through his pants, wanting nothing more than to wrap her mouth around him until he was ready to enter between her legs.
>
  “God, Utopia,” Liam grunted as he pushed his hand into her pants to find her clit. “You know just how to touch me, don’t you?”

  “I ought to, after all this time.”

  Liam laughed and grunted as he rocked his hips. Utopia bit back a moan of pleasure as he caused fires to pool in her belly. She undid Liam’s pants, impatient, and took his long length in her hand. She matched the rhythm of his strokes and soon—almost too soon—they were both gasping and trembling.

  “We need to slow down,” Liam moaned. “Otherwise we’re not even going to make it to the bed.”

  “Then stop,” Utopia growled.

  “You stop, first.”

  “Not on your life.”

  Liam pressed a kiss to her mouth. Everything flamed to life and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe. It was only after Liam pulled away with a cry of triumph that she realized what he was doing—her hand had completely stilled. Even as she tried to protest his unfair tactics, though, he picked her up, spreading her legs to either side of him, and carried her to the bed.

  They fell together, bouncing on the mattress. Utopia shook her head as she tugged his pants off, while he pulled hers off as well.

  “You can’t keep throwing me on the bed. It’ll break.”

  “Let it break. We can always get a new one, and I like being able to throw you down and climb on after you. You have this stunned, excited smile on your face that always makes me harder than a—”

  “Spare me the details,” Utopia said, but it was a breathless protest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him down. She loved the way he looked when he climbed on top of her. The smug, triumphant smile, the lust in his eyes, the softness of his eyes as he took her in. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Liam settled against her. Their hands roamed each other gently as they calmed their earlier energy, content to be body to body, face to face, swapping soft kisses and gentle murmurs of love and affection.

  Utopia loved this. She loved having him with her, loved seeing the light in his eyes, loved knowing that nobody was going to take him from her. She loved him, so much that her heart felt like it was going to explode it was so full. She had never thought she could find this again, not after Adrian’s death. Liam had given her back so much. Hope. Love. An ability to see past herself, to see the world as a place that wasn’t so dark and scary after all.

  He started to stroke her again, quickly bringing her back to that point of trembling tension. He looked in her eyes as he entered her, his hard length fitting perfectly inside of her. Utopia held onto him, smiling and gasping in turns as fire pooled in her belly. Fireworks went through her body. She twined her fingers with Liam’s as she matched his rhythm, bringing him deeper inside of her with every thrust. Cries of pleasure tore from her. Liam grunted, kissed her, his touch showing her all the emotion he carried inside.

  They exploded together. Liquid fire moved down her legs, up her spine, down her arms. She could feel him in her arms, between her legs. His lips pressed into her neck. He trembled; she shook. Then they lay together, whole and completely in one another.

  It took several minutes before Utopia could speak. “That was… amazing.”

  “More amazing than normal?” Liam asked her, laughing. “Because you always say it’s amazing.”

  “No. Usually, I say great.” She stroked her fingers through the sweat on his back. “This was amazing. We should do it again sometime.”

  Liam laughed as he kissed her. “We should. But give me a few minutes, okay?”

  Utopia giggled into his mouth. “I think we can arrange that.”

  ***

  Utopia met with all the victims of the genetic experiments over the course of three weeks. It was a tough time for both of them. While the majority of people were similar to Riley, in that they weren’t yet at a place to forgive but they didn’t wish harm upon Utopia, there were a few that were very angry. Some of them said things that made Liam want to jump in there and pound their faces open with his fists.

  It was only because Utopia told him beforehand she didn’t want him getting violent for her sake that he didn’t.

  Even with the harshest of the people, though, Liam could see the change come over Utopia. With each person she saw and apologized to, she seemed to become younger. Her step was lighter, her laugh brighter. It was healing her; he could see that. And because of that, he was able to hold it together enough to hold her as she cried without trying to say it might be better if she didn’t do this.

  Liam smiled at her as they entered the cafeteria together. Today, she was bright, energetic and he was glad to have been able to convince her to take an hour break. He was also glad Patrick had agreed to give him an hour, too.

  “I don’t want Aiden to have a tablet. He’s too young; he can borrow the family one. He doesn’t need one of his own,” Utopia said as they gathered their food and headed for a place to sit.

  “I didn’t say he needs one, but things are different from when we grew up. Kids these days have to keep up with tech if they want to fit in.” Liam was distracted from the discussion at the sight of Eugene sitting in a corner by himself.

  He frowned and jerked his head toward his teammate. Utopia worried her lip between her teeth but nodded. Together, they headed over to Eugene. He stared down at his bowl of cold soup. When they put their trays down, he jumped, his head jerking up. A flush rose in his cheeks as he nodded to the two of them.

  “Hello,” he greeted.

  “Hey,” Liam said. “What’s got your face so long?”

  “Oh, I’m just feeling sorry for myself and very angry with Clementine. Thinking I’m never going to find another woman who I can actually fall in love with.”

  Liam’s eyes widened. Did that mean what he thought it meant?

  “I didn’t know you were in love with Clementine,” Utopia gasped. “When did that happen? I didn’t think that she even like—” She cut herself off, blushing as she ducked her head.

  Liam understood. He was in shock, too, and probably would have blurted it out if she hadn’t beaten him to the punch. As Eugene continued to glare at his soup, he struggled to find the right words. There had to be something he could say, right?

  “If you want to talk about it,” he said slowly, “we’re here. Or I am. You helped me a lot this past year, I want to be able to repay you for that. But if you don’t want to talk or if you’re not in a place where you can talk about it yet, I—we—understand. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  Utopia nodded as Eugene glanced up.

  The Major let out a heavy sigh. “I want to talk about it. I’m afraid if I don’t, I’m going to just keep everything bottled up inside until I explode. But I don’t know…”

  “Well…” Utopia glanced at Liam for help. “What if you just told us how you fell in love with her?”

  Eugene shrugged. “I was sixteen. She was fourteen. I thought she was the most beautiful woman ever. We dated for a year; I was in love… I was certain she was the only one for me. So, I did what any stupid, dream-headed kid in high school would do. I went out and bought her a diamond. I didn’t even know what the law was with marriage. I didn’t tell my parents. I just proposed to her. Only to find out that she’d been trying to break up with me for two months.”

  Liam flinched.

  “Joined up with the military that month. Never thought I’d see her again, only to find out she was the head of the medical… stuff. Ward. Hospital. Whatever.” Eugene rubbed his eyes, tension in his jaw. “And I realized I never stopped loving her. Hell, all these years and I still felt like a kid when I saw her for the first time. I was an idiot, started to think maybe karma had brought us back together.”

  “Shit. That’s heavy,” Liam said, shaking his head. After all those years, though, he couldn’t help but think that Eugene might be more in love with the idea of Clementine than Clementine herself.

  “But she didn’t feel the same, did she?” Utopia asked qu
ietly.

  “Apparently not. And even if she did, how can I possibly want her now?” Eugene laughed bitterly. “She betrayed us all. You want to know the most fucked-up thing, though? I do still want her. Like I’m a fucking creep that’s been stalking her for the past year. I haven’t! I’ve tried to avoid her; I’ve tried to give her distance. And now… she’s a traitor.”

  Liam patted his shoulder sympathetically. “I’m sorry, man. But at least she didn’t reel you in, right? Take advantage.”

  Eugene shrugged. “Yeah. I guess. There’s something for that. I just… don’t get why she did it.”

  “None of us do.”

  “The kid I knew in high school, she would never have done this.” Eugene’s brow furrowed. “She always wanted to help people. There was this one time, there was a kid getting picked on. She started sitting with them, sharing projects with them, and when she became a target, too, she got up in assembly and called everyone out for it, even the teachers for not stopping the bullying.”

  Liam chuckled.

  Eugene’s fond smile disappeared, and he sighed. “I guess people change, though. Because she did it. She helped the Pack. Cooper uncovered more evidence… she hand-picked the people used in the splicing experiments.”

  At that, Utopia flinched. She gasped sharply.

  “Shit,” Eugene muttered. “I wasn’t actually supposed to tell anybody that.”

  “It’s okay,” Liam quickly assured him. “We’re not going to tell anybody. And as for Clementine… we were all shocked. All betrayed. People don’t always turn out the way you thought they would.”

  At that, he glanced at Utopia. She had turned out to be very different than he thought she would. And he was so very glad she was, and that he had given her the chance to prove who she was. He didn’t know where he’d be without her. Without waking every morning in her arms, seeing her fierce determination in everything she did, learning that there were more than two sides to every story…