by Maia Starr
“What about amends?” I said quietly, barely audible.
Ikar glanced over my wounds and then back out at the field. “Two lie dead by your hand. Tell me, Caridan, what could possibly make up for that?”
“A gesture–”
“Would cost far more than what you are willing to give. You speak of punishment. Do you want to be thrown into the street for the mobs to do as they please?”
“I didn’t have something so… archaic in mind, but sure, punishment.”
He shook his head. “No, you want redemption. And that’s exactly what you’re going to get. I intend to clean up this mess you’ve made, Caridan, but you need to leave. Do you understand?”
I blinked in surprise and felt my throat tighten; my eyes glistened with moisture. I looked to Ariella and thought of a joke I could make about not being in the fittest form for travel. I thought about the kindness I was being shown. My second chance to make things right. To live the life I have always dreamed of with the woman I had come to adore.
There was so much I wanted to thank the white dragon for, but as my mind searched for words, I found there was nothing I could say except, “I understand.”
Epilogue
Ariella
Ikar had helped Caridan with his shift back into human form, and immediately we went to work on his wounds. We’d been hiding in secret for days now, with the Koth still seeking its revenge for the deaths we’d caused.
The white dragon had been every bit as noble as a leader should be in dealing with us, and I babbled my thanks to him incessantly during Caridan’s surgery. The blood loss had been intense, and with such a small staff of nurses sworn to secrecy, I wondered more than once if he was going to make it.
We talked together as I shared his hospital bed and we looked out the window every night wondering what would become of us, of our unintended love and our small child that we had created together.
Ikar gave little insight as to what would happen next or what his great plan would be. I’d started a private joke between Caridan and me that Ikar had no actual plan and that he would be seeking his revenge by making the two of us be his personal slaves for the next year, or as long as he could push his luck.
My theory was proven wrong, however, when the morning Caridan was able to stand on his own, Ikar was rushing us away from Udora and down to a secluded spaceport in the Northern Mountains.
We hadn’t spoken of Targeg since the great battle. My heart had broken that night right alongside my love’s, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I knew Caridan was hurt. I knew he felt guilty. There was no point in me telling him he did what had to be done or to remind him of how much Targeg loved him.
If we never said it, I thought, then it didn’t have to be true. There would be no timeline of before and after. Instead, we could still think of Targeg alive somewhere, and there would be no moments to compare or look back on to try and remember him. Instead, he would be off somewhere being his jovial self.
We walked down the hall of the miniscule spaceport, Caridan’s arm wrapped around my shoulder for support, and suddenly I heard a voice I hadn’t thought of in months.
“How did I know you two were going to give me trouble?” came the familiar low tones of Zaphira Reneau, my program coordinator.
The woman tucked a lock of her short brown hair behind her ear and raised her brow from beneath her blunt-cut bangs. She walked toward us, her clicking heels taking their time as though we weren’t standing on the edge of a precipice. We stared down the hallway in shock. Caridan looked on with hesitation and suspicion, as was his way, but I ran to her as a child would to its mother, wrapping my arms around her desperately.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Caridan and I looked to one another in surprise, and my heart suddenly found a steady beat once more.
“Saving you, apparently.”
“Who… who told you?” I asked.
She gave a chuckle and began ushering us down the hall toward the ramp of the shuttle that was waiting nearby. “Meg,” she said quietly.
“Here I thought I was in her bad books.”
“So that means she’s alive?” Caridan asked suddenly. A look of relief washed over his face.
“Alive and well,” Zaphira confirmed. “Which I almost couldn’t say for you, Caridan.” She eyed his bruises and bandages up and down just once, and a terse smile crossed her lips. “Making friends like always, I see.”
“What did she say?” I insisted.
“She called me as soon as you told her your… predicament. She seemed to think you were in danger, and low and behold, she was right.”
“She’s always been pretty good at evaluating a risky situation.”
“I wouldn’t give her too much credit.” Zaphira raised her brow and turned to me, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “I think the dead dragons may also have been a tip off.”
“Always keeping things classy,” Caridan said with annoyance.
We reached the front of the ship, and she opened the door as if we were to get in with no questions asked. I made my way into the shuttle, but Caridan wouldn’t budge from the entry ramp.
“Where are we going?” he asked. “Earth?”
She shook her head and tapped her heel against the cement below. “Not that lucky, I’m afraid. You’re heading to a new planet some distance from here. We want you safe and hidden. We’ve been working on cultivating this planet for some time now, but it’s been a highly classified project.”
Zaphira gave pause and looked to Caridan. There was an energy between them, but I couldn’t fathom what was behind it or what they had shared together.
“The good news is that my research team will meet you there,” she continued. “It’s a small unit working there, but you won’t be alone. The bad news is you’ll be working for me from now on.” She gave an honest laugh and looked between us. “But you’ll be well hidden, that’s for sure.”
“That sounds perfect,” I said breathlessly, looking over my shoulder at Caridan to catch his approval.
“Well, it’d better be, because at this point it’s more like a permanent vacation rather than a romantic getaway. You guys do this…” Zaphira looked to Caridan, her eyes conveying the gravity of her words. “You do this, and there’s no going back. Not unless you’re happy without a head.”
“Can’t say that’d be a good look for me,” Caridan said, raising his brow smugly.
“Imagine that,” Zaphira said with a smug smile and she ushered him into the ship. Caridan stepped forward, but something seemed to pull him back.
I took his hand to welcome him onto the ship, but he was immovable as he stood in the entryway to the shuttle. I walked up beside him, and we both stared out at Udora and her beautiful mountainous spires with their snowcapped peaks and the moss that seemed to creep over the earth and fill the air with the most beautiful scent. I’d come to love this planet, too.
He stared into the distance and then up at the vast sky. Then he closed his eyes, and I knew he’d said his goodbyes.
Finally, he stepped into the shuttle, and the doors closed briskly behind us. Within mere minutes, we were already in the air. We took our seats in a common lounge and stared out the immense blackness of stars and space that was now visible out the window.
Our time on Udora was brief, and I hadn’t gotten to finish my work, but in truth, I was glad to leave it all behind. I couldn’t think of a better life to start, or a better person to start it with than the man at my side. It turned out I was about to get it all. A beautiful new planet to research, a child made from love, and my perfect partner – the shifter who had chosen me against my will and made me fall hopelessly in love with him.
I looked up at him in the soft, still moment and he traced his fingers down my nose and lips. This ship was much smaller than the one I’d arrived on, but it was filled with so much more love.
“Here we are again,” I said with a smile.
“Here we a
re again.”
“You, me, a spaceship.” I stared out the window and then back to my love.
“Ah, but there’s three of us this time,” he said as he glanced down at my small, protruding belly. He set his hands on me and placed his thumb over my chin, taking my face into his hand. He closed his eyes and kissed me softly.
When our lips parted, I backed away to get a better look at him and offered up a wry grin as I said, “Anything you can think to do to pass the time?”
He grinned. “I have a few ideas.”
Book 2: Haden
(Dragons Of Udora)
By Maia Starr
Chapter One
Sarra
Everything was going swimmingly. Which, for me, probably meant something was about to go wrong.
That was life’s inevitable curse on me. I studied to become a reporter, and I ended up in diplomatic relations. I was finally making enough money to take care of my father, then he passed away. Such is life.
The good luck I was referencing this day was the choosing ceremony. Each year, partial alien shifters called WereDragons would come to Earth to claim female mates. This used to be a more savage practice until Earth’s government decided to make a trade. They would line up the best possible breeders for the men to choose from, and in return, we could send scientists and research teams back to their planet Udora on year-long expeditions.
It was a mutually beneficial partnership between their government, “The Koth,” and Earth. I work for Riddell, a space station and organization in charge of unifying Earth and Udora. I worked directly under their chief director, Zaphira Reneau. We operated not only the choosing ceremonies, but diplomatic visits to Udora to retain our preferred conditions of peace.
Today, though, I was on the other side of the process. Today, I was chosen.
“You are going to lose your mind,” came the squeaky voice of Anita Conlin. She was the chief agent for sending couples back to Udora after the choosing ceremonies. Basically, this was just a fancy title for passport control. Also, she was my best friend.
“You’re going to be out of control for the first time ever, and it’s going to make you crazy,” she reiterated as she leaned against the check-in counter, swiping identity cards along with no interest as excited couples approached the partition.
She looked over at me with her light brown hair and large brown eyes. She had the darkest, most enviable eyelashes I had ever seen. Her hair was crafted into an intricate bun, and her wide lips smiled with a chiding grin as she continued, “Admit it!”
“Oh stop,” I grumbled with a half-hearted smile as I watched her work with little enthusiasm. I twirled my lanyard around my fingers and lost eye contact with her for just a moment. “It’s going to be fine.”
“And you get to keep your job then, or is this it? Should I just say my goodbyes now and call it quits for this friendship?”
A white dragon with long, elegant wings and deep black eyes stood at the counter with a gorgeous nurse on his muscular arm. He had spots of black and gold throughout his coloring, which was an unusual sight. He had just claimed the woman next to him an hour earlier. She had a blunt pixie cut and couldn’t seem to keep her hands off the shifter. She whispered in his ear and ran her hand down his body as he looked on with growing impatience with Anita.
He held his official documents out in front of him, but Anita didn’t notice.
“Good to know I’m that easy to forget!” I laughed.
“That’s five years down the drain, I hope you know,” she chattered with mock indignity.
“Shh,” I instructed in a whisper. “I’m keeping my job, okay? I’ll probably be back in a month or two.”
“Whew!” She wiped her hand along her forehead.
The white dragon huffed loudly and dropped his papers on the counter before turning back to glance at the growing line of couples, all anxious to get back on the shuttle and do some… coupling.
“Anita,” I lectured and darted my eyes toward the queue.
The couple behind the blonde pixie and her white dragon had gone from light pecking to full on petting and groping.
“I guess I’d better get this moving before it starts getting X-rated in here,” she said and quickly grabbed the papers off the desk. She looked the documents over before hammering a digital stamp down on the papers and sending the couple on their way, proving once again how efficient she was at her job. When she paid attention.
Anita stamped the next couple’s papers, but they didn’t seem to notice. Embroiled in their passions, Anita slammed the stamp down again and cleared her throat. “Honey!” she called out firmly. “Either give us a peep show or move along!”
The couple, embarrassed, shuffled off while the rest of the room filled with hushed laughter at their expense.
“Sluts,” she whispered with a roll of her eyes. “That’s so gonna be you, by the way.”
“Hey!”
“Hey, what? Oh, and have we mentioned that this is like a match made in heaven? You work with the space station, and he is a dignitary!”
“I know.” I chuckled. “And here I thought my trips to Udora would always be full of meetings and check-ins.”
She looked down at my match’s papers, already waiting at the desk for her to stamp through. Dignitaries got special treatment like that. She held his photo up and looked absolutely beguiled. “Does it bother you that he can’t show you around now?”
“Around Udora?” I clarified and felt increasingly puzzled by the question. “No, why should it?”
“That’s part of the fun!” she insisted. “Fun for him and for you. They love showing the ladies all the moss and the mountains, you know, as though we’ve never seen a blade of grass before. Then we swoon, and they feel proud,” she said with embellished gestures.
“Hopefully that’s not all he wants to show me,” I said suggestively with a quick raise of my brows.
“Or all you’ll be swooning about!” she added and we both burst into laughter usually reserved for women who were sharing a dirty secret.
“It’s all very manly,” she continued. “Gets their tails wagging, if you know what I mean?”
“You seem to have a lot of authority on this subject for someone who’s never actually been in a choosing ceremony.”
“I’m with Christopher!” she said, incensed. “Besides, just because I’ve never been chosen doesn’t mean I’ve never jumped between the sheets with a shifter.” She snickered and my face flushed at the sentiment. Then she looked horrified. “Please don’t tell Zaphira,” she said through gritted teeth; her eyes wide. “She would kill me. Figuratively. Maybe.”
I giggled and waved her off. “No worries. Speaking of Zaphira, though, she really didn’t seem too jazzed about all this.”
“Does she ever? Zaphira was the one who started this whole thing to begin with, so she’ll really have a lot of nerve saying anything about it.”
“She’s down on the whole process, all the time, every time,” I snapped. “Do you know she actually took me aside and told me not to take my ‘reporters cap’ off?”
Anita gave me a blank stare before her brows furrowed up into confusion. “What does that mean?”
“Who knows?”
“She’s probably just scared you’ll fall madly in love with sexy shifter Haden and spill all her dirty little secrets.”
I backed against the counter behind me and hoisted myself on top of the desk. She wasn’t wrong. I’d been accompanying Zaphira on meetings to Udora for six years now, ever since my 22nd birthday. I knew firsthand the relationship between Earth and the Koth. I knew the struggles they’d overcome to make the choosing ceremonies continue; the scandals.
I would have thought of myself as her confidant, of sorts, if Zaphira was the type to confide. Still, I knew how she liked her coffee and eventually knew how to run her operation just the way she liked it.
It was Zaphira’s job as the ambassador of Riddell, the organization put in place to maintain p
eace with Udora, to ensure everything ran smoothly between our planets. It was my job to do frequent journeys and monthly call-ins with the Koth to make sure Udora was still a safe space for humans to breed.
Funny. I’d used that term hundreds of times in the past. ‘Breeders.' That expression seemed so cold now that I was considered one of the breeders.
“So, are you coming with?” I asked, now desperate to change the subject.
“To your lovemaking swoon fest?” She winked. “I’ll pass.”
“No, idiot, to Udora.”
“Oh thaaat,” she said while drawing out her vowels. “Yes dear, of course. Why?” she asked suddenly, rushing my bag through security and then tossing it back over to me. “You itching for a chaperone?”
“Oh yes, that is me.”
“So, you ever met prince charming before?”
I shook my head. I’d met enough dignitaries by now to have forged a few friendship on the mountainous planet, but never Haden.
I’d been a reporter before Zaphira brought me into Riddell. She’d read several of my pieces regarding a different planet and its geopolitical drama and decided to scoop me up into her fold. I’d gladly accepted, of course. I wasn’t the only woman, nor reporter, who wanted to jump at the chance to meet the Koth.
There had even been several occasions where I’d flirted with the higher ups in passing. Partially to stroke my ego, partially to pass the time, and partially because they were so incredibly sexy.
“Seriously, though,” Anita huffed, jostling me away from my thoughts as she spun in her black leather office chair. “Please don’t be one of those girls who runs off and sleeps with the shifter on the first day. Those couples are never happy.”
“I think it’s kind of romantic,” I said.
“It’s not,” she responded bluntly, stamping the last couple through and pointing them to the nearest exit to the shuttle platform. “It’s just trashy.”
“Aww, they’re just excited.”