Cascade, WA

Title: Cascade, WA
Series: Guide Search
Author: Saydria Wolfe
Pairing: John Sheppard/Ronon Dex
Summary: A series of mind games, what-ifs and roads not taken from other projects I am working on. All in the same universe. It’ll be fun!

 

John Sheppard is not your typical Guide and he knows it. He’s stoic. Emotionally detached. Unreachable, according to his instructors long ago in Guide School.

He likes it that way.

How can he be the center of someone’s storm if he’s panicking and crying all the time? Why wait for a rescue if you can do it yourself?

He’s ‘not a nurturer’ and really? that is so much bullshit. Yea, he’s a soldier. Yea, he’s killed people but aren’t Sentinels supposed to be the ultimate soldiers? What soldier doesn’t want a partner? Especially one that can fly or drive practically everything?

All of them according to the Sentinel/Guide Center.

He wouldn’t even be here if the Sentinel in question hadn’t insisted his guide had to be military. And if this wasn’t the sentinel’s third Guide Search. Rumor has it the guy’s a SEAL. That he came online when a mission went wrong. That he’s older than most new sentinels.

John took a deep breath and stomped on his hopes with both feet. Rumors were never right.

He watched the hopeful crowd at the door. Didn’t they know the statistical likelihood of one of them bonding this guy were infinitely small? That didn’t stop John from keeping his distance so it felt less like rejection when he went home alone and one of them didn’t.

The door opened and Jim Ellison stood in the entry way. His gaze was intense and its effect on the room immediate. Every conversation stopped. All the room’s occupants stood, silent and waiting.

James Ellison was fire; hot and intense. He was danger, like a gun with no safety, full auto and of large caliber.

Mundanes complained that Ellison was too wild, too feral. More jungle cat than man. A Spirit Animal in a human suit. They acted like Alpha Sentinel of two continents was an elected position. It wasn’t. You fought for it. Four years ago when the Alpha Pair that had been on top since the 70’s decided to retire every alpha in North and South America converged on Vancouver, Canada. Challenges were fought, not to the death but until the veneer of civilization fell away and true dominance shined.

Jim Ellison hadn’t fought. He walked into the challenge hall with only his Beta at his back and the fighting stopped. Two weeks later Cascade, Washington was the Sentinel Capital of the Western Hemisphere.

Jim Ellison moved further into the room, followed quickly by his bonded guide. Blair Sandburg is just as intense but in a different way. Water to Jim’s fire. Warm water to sooth the body. Cool water to nourish. Demanding but forgiving. Mentally fluid, agile and fast.

“Thank you for coming. The sentinel you are about to meet is a Jaguar Sentinel. He has been in the Navy approximately 15 years and is an active duty SEAL. He came online in a feral situation but is not considered fragile so, so far, we have foregone genetic testing. Allow me to introduce Chief Petty Officer Ronon Dex.”

The man that stepped through the door is a tornado. Ronon was air. Wind. Constant motion. Unbridled freedom. The energy to shape mountains and the fury to tear them down.

The Sentinel’s eyes landed on John like a blow, shocking and strangely intimate. His regard was total as if no one else existed.

Ronon started making his way over.

John should say something. Some personal statistic. Name. Date of birth. Social Security number. ‘Hi, I’m John and I like Ferris Wheels.’ Anything.

“I don’t want a platonic bond.” Not that!

The sentinel smirked. He fucking smirked! “Good.”