by Maia Starr
"I am so glad you remembered. I am so scared. I don't know what's going on out there. Lily, it is like the end of the world."
"Yes, I know it is worse than you can imagine. The capital city is gone," I said to her.
"What?! "She said with tears in her eyes.
"Yes, there is a lot to talk about. But don't be scared. We are here now, and we are going to look after you, "I sent to her.
"We?" she asked. I turned behind me to Zian. She gasped.
"But Lily, he is one of them," she said with wide eyes.
"I know. But he is different. He helped me escape. He flew me here in his ship. He can be trusted," I said to her.
"If you say so, sister. I am just glad that you are here. Come, come inside before someone sees you," she said to both of us. We entered the small house and locked the doors behind us. We didn't know what to expect, and we were not prepared. But one thing was certain, I now had everyone that I loved in my life, my sister and Zian.
The battle that day was unlike anything I had ever seen. We lost almost every major city and millions of human and Corillion lives. It was a battle that wiped out resources for both humans and the Corillion. It left both sides crippled. It was a dumb battle in the end. It seemed like neither side won. There was no clear victor as each had fought equally and had defeated each other. It was almost like a tie. That did not do anyone any good. At least with a clear winner, there would be someone in charge. But instead, there was just complete chaos because no one had won. Now everything was in complete ruins, and we had to start from the ground up again. It was time to rebuild, and Zian and I had to keep our promise to be the ones to do it. We had survived for this.
"Do you want me to take him inside?” Adelaine asked me, as she held her hand out to my son, Earthane Crace.
"Yes please, this is going to take a while. Go with your aunt,” I said to him as I gave him a kiss. Earthane was born nine months after the battle, and he brought us great joy. It was terrifying to be pregnant in a postwar world, but our hybrid son was the future of the planet, and we were going to do whatever we could to make sure that it would be a good place for him.
“How far along are you on that project?” Zian asked, as I looked over the blueprints of a new registration system. It was the same bridal registration system that I had negotiated with him.
“I think I am half way there. Of course, once it is actually put into action I will know more about what needs to be done. Right now it is just a framework, but I think it will be a good one.”
“I know that it will be, because you are the one creating it,” he said.
We were sitting on the porch of the small house that we all shared: my son; my sister; and my husband, Zian Crace. We were still on the island in the middle of Lake Michigan, one of the few areas spared by the battle, mostly because the Corillion did not know that it existed. We were fortunate to have local food sources consisting of fruit trees and fish. But the rest of planet, and especially the cities, were not so lucky. Most had relocated from the city and began the simple life of farming.
"Have I apologized today?” Zian said to me.
"Yes, a hundred times already. I have told you over and over again that you do not need to do this,” I sent to him.
"But I do. It is all my fault. All of this. I am the one that set the plan in motion. I am the only one to blame for all of this,” he said to me. He had been taking the blame, and taking it hard ever since the battle.
"I will tell you what I have told you before. I am glad that it was you. A war like the one we had with the Corillion was going to lead to that massive battle one day. It was going to be someone else if it wasn't you. But I'm glad it was you because you changed, you've allowed yourself to change. If it had been anyone else, it would have been much worse. We would've never had the data on the formula to the solution that contaminated the water, and so we wouldn't have been able to come up with a cure to the water contamination. You are the one that gave that to me. No other Corillion would have done so. It was you for a reason. Even though it is a heavy burden to carry now, you were chosen."
"You truly believe that?” he asked me.
"With all my heart, because I could not love you if it weren't true,” I said to him. And it was true. Ever since that day we had never separated. He was right all along. We would need each other after all that we had been through. Now, the Earth needed the both of us. We were rebuilding, and we were rebuilding in a world where the Corillion and the humans had to coexist on one planet.
"There is no other Corillion that I would want by my side other than you. You have given me our son and saved me. You have saved me more than once. If you had not abducted me when you did, I would have died days later in the capital city at the embassy, since it was the first building to be bombed. That's where I would've been. I wouldn't be alive except for you. I wouldn't be here to help rebuild and to create the system that we need to be able to coexist. My sister wouldn't be alive if you did not have the heart to allow me to call her that day to tell her to get out of the city. You did that for me, and you did not have to.”
"You always see the better side of things,” he said to me.
"And you always see the darker side of things."
"I guess that is why we are good together. We balance each other out,” Zian said as he pulled me onto his lap. I gave him a kiss.
"Well, that and many other reasons,” I said with a smile.
"That is very true,” he said as he kissed me again. I was in love with him. I loved him more than I could ever imagine and it blew my mind that the ruler of the alien race that I had hated had become everything in my life. It was now centered around him and my son. I never ever thought I would be a Corillion wife, but it had to happen. Our union created a jumping off point for Earth and the Corillions to begin peace talks. It was a very important union, and I was glad that so much good could come out of our love and marriage.
Over the past year, we had come up with many new plans, new plans that allowed both of our peoples to flourish. Only we would have been able to produce the results we had, because of who we were and our experience from both sides, Earth and the Corillion. It had taken us to create a new system, and it took all of our energy. But it was worth it; it was worth all our work so that our son could grow up in a place where he was accepted. Through our marriage came peace. Through our minds came a new system. And through our hearts came a new love. We were happy, even though we were living in a dystopian version of the Earth that I used to know. I was happy to have Zian at my side with my family. It was a new beginning. It was a new everything
THE END (P.S. See next page for more bonus books!)
Drackon Mates BOX SET(1-6)
By Maia Starr
Jarith (Drackon Mates)
By Maia Starr
Chapter 1
MARISSA VOLANDER
Being CEO of the biotech company Gladonetics meant my schedule was always overbooked. So even as I ran across the front courtyard toward the doors of the glass skyscraper that housed Gladonetics, I was already running late for yet another meeting.
It was a blustery day out and I wished that I had pulled my long, brown hair into a tight bun instead of letting it loose with wild curls. I wished that I had worn a straight pencil skirt that was tightly fitted instead of the pleated, black skirt I wore that was riding the wind like it was surfing. It was hard to keep it down since I had digital tablet files in my arms as I scurried in my black heels. My hair was blowing in my face practically blocking my view in my flustered state when… BAM! I ran into a wall and fell backwards, flat on my back.
The tablets went everywhere, my hair was in my face, and my skirt was up to my waist, showing red panties and black, thigh-high stockings with a garter belt. I was mortified and hoped that no one had seen this catastrophe, but that notion was crushed as soon as I heard a voice.
“Allow me, human,” the deep, reverberating voice said.
“What?” I whispered while I was on
the floor.
Through my strands of hair covering my face like a mask, I saw a large figure looming over me.
“Who are you?” I tried to ask.
Before I knew it, his hands had grasped my body like nothing and he helped me to my feet, holding me firmly against his body. I looked up into the face of a Drackon warrior. His long, dark-black hair was in tendrils down to his shoulders and his perfectly square jaw was adorned with full, pinkish lips. His eyes were a stark, sea green but with a long, vertical pupil, like the eyes of a cat. He was over seven feet tall, almost eight feet, and his thick, broad body was so hard that it was the reason I thought I had ran into a wall. But that was not the case: I had run into him.
Now I was in a precarious and ridiculous position with my head arched all the way back in order to look up at his face while his massive arm encircled my lower back, pulling me to him to steady me, or so I thought. But I could feel his hard member pressing against my stomach and my eyes grew wide as I realized just how big it must be. He must have known what I was thinking in that moment because he smiled at my response.
“You should watch where you are going, human. There are many that would prey upon your small, delicate size,” he said as he inhaled sharply, as though inhaling my pheromones—and he was.
This was what the Drackon did. They were a race of alien shifters with many abilities. The Drackon were a patriarchal, male-dominated society of warriors with a special ability to shift into part animal. It was this part animal that allowed them to sniff out pheromones in such a way. And although they looked like a larger and stronger version of males on Earth, they were vastly different in that they were able to shift into dragons.
This was not a complete dragon shift; it was a partial shift. When they did shift, large wings sprouted on their backs and shiny, colorful scale armor sprouted in various places on their bodies, but not into a full dragon. I had not seen it in person, but I had seen recordings of it. It was impressive.
Now one of these Drackon male warriors was holding me up and pressing his hard cock against me. A part of me wished that he was fully shifted at the moment, but he was not. In fact, he was well adorned and in regal dress.
He wore black leggings that were made of an unknown material with calf-high boots. His embroidered shirt was white and fit him in a snug manner, leaving little to the imagination. I had never seen a Drackon dressed so well. His face looked familiar to me, but I think I just wanted him to be familiar because he was so damn sexy. If I had met him at a bar later, I would definitely take him home for a one-night stand, but nothing else. But for now, I would have to put my oversized libido aside and remember that I was late for a meeting.
I placed my hands on the large beast of an alien’s chest and pushed myself away as I said, “Yes, thank you. I will remember that. If you will excuse me, I am late for a meeting.”
“Yes, I sometimes forget that the female humans are allowed to conduct meetings, just like the males. It is not so on my planet, and it never will be,” he said as he picked up my tablets that were thrown about the ground.
His words inspired an immediate rage reaction inside of me. I yanked the tablets from his hands as I said, “Yes, everyone knows that. That is why you come here and take human females from Earth: the Drackon treat their females so badly, there are hardly any left. It wouldn’t surprise me if they all ran away from you.”
He laughed. It was a loud, boisterous laugh that shocked me, as that was not the effect I was going for with my insult.
Then he said, “You speak as though the women are being forced to be mates of the Drackon. They willingly give themselves to us. They all register and there is a waiting list. You females WANT us, badly.”
I huffed in anger at his response. He was right. He was one hundred percent right. Ever since the Drackon opened lines of communication for finding human female mates to take back with them to their planet over twenty years ago, the waiting list had become famously over populated. Every female wanted a Drackon warrior to claim her as his mate.
I was never on that list, nor would I ever be. I was too much of a tomboy to be claimed by a male of any species. Still, I did not want to admit this to him moment because I wanted to win this argument, if it was in fact an argument that we were having.
“Not all of us want you badly!” I said as I stomped off toward the door. I lied. I wanted him. I wanted him badly, but not for a life-long mate: just for endless sensual and lustful encounters.
As I entered the door, I looked back over my shoulder at him. He was still staring at me and I took this opportunity to take all of him in. I looked immediately at his crotch and realized that the tight-fitted, wet-suit like tights were there with good reason. He was hard, and I could see his long, thick bulge. If the pants were not made of such thick material, it would have created more than just a bulge in his pants.
I looked to see that he was smiling at me. I quickly looked away. I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that he had seen me practically half naked with my skirt up around my waist and embarrassed that he had caught me checking him out. The Drackon were the epitome of male dominance and I was too dominant to like their way of life.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Ms. Volander,” Archer Payne said as I walked into the board meeting. This was the meeting that I was late for, and a very important one. It was a meeting with the board of Gladonetics, and the seven men that sat around the conference table were all my bosses. They made all the decisions about the company and I oversaw making sure those decisions were implemented successfully.
“Apologies, gentlemen; my plate is full today. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” I said, taking a seat, not wanting to have to cater to apologizing to these men.
“Yes, we have news. We have been in quiet relations with the Drackon species for two years now, as you know,” Archer Payne said.
As soon as he said it, my stomach began to feel nervous. Was it just a coincidence that this meeting was about the Drackon and I had just run into one right outside the door of our business? That did not sound coincidental to me. I shifted in my seat waiting to hear what he was going to say. News of the Drackon dealings was not anything new. As Archer Payne said, it had been two, quiet years of dealing with them. We were a biotech company, after all, and their abilities to shift were of great interest to us. So the company had acquired small things from the Drackon, like DNA samples in the form of spit in test tubes. This was a great scientific advancement and we had an entire department devoted to analyzing the small samples the Drackon gave us. So we had in fact been in business with the alien race for some time. But it seemed that now there was a something new.
"Yes, we have, " I said in response to Archer Payne’s introduction to this meeting.
"We have been chosen by King Hanu Rykor of the Drackon to meet with his son, Prince Jarith Rykor, to further advance our agreement with them. The king wants to enter negotiations for a more open trade of biotechnology with Gladonetics.”
"That is unbelievable," I said, excited for the opportunity. I took my job very seriously. In fact, it was the only thing I took seriously; I did not have any outside life beyond work whatsoever. I did not date. I made it a point to use men for sex only. Romance only got in the way of my career goals, therefore I did not pursue it. To be chosen as the sole company to enter into such a drastic deal with the Drackon was a very important career opportunity.
"Yes, it is," Archer Payne said. "We want you to lead this project. It just so happens that prince Jarith was here on other business when we got this last-minute communication from the king earlier today."
"The prince is here?" I asked, already knowing that it was why the Drackon that I ran into looked so familiar to me; of course I had seen his face, and he was the prince.
"Yes, he is already here on Earth and in the city. You will meet with him in two hours. We expect you to use that time to prepare for the meeting."
I tried not to panic. After what had happened only moments
before with the prince, I probably was not the best person to meet with him. He had already seen my panties; how would he ever take me seriously? I was in for a challenge. But I was not going to let it deter me from the biggest career opportunity of my life.
"You have my word; I will be ready."
"Excellent. We know we can count on you. You are a pit bull in the business arena. We want a fair deal where the Drackon are not taking advantage of us, but also not so hostile that we do not get what we want," Archer Payne said.
I nodded my head in agreement. I knew what we wanted. We had been after it since we had discovered that the Drackon existed. But we did not speak of it. It was our corporate secret that would cause a scandal and hostilities if anyone knew.
"You have my word, Mr. Archer Payne," I said, standing up and shaking the hands of every man in the room with a firm grip. I always had to be more masculine than feminine in these meetings, even though I knew my looks were extremely feminine and sexy.