Octavia screeched out of the parking lot and sped all the way to the consulate, where she hastily parked and ran up the front steps of the building. Inside, the same smug secretary sat at his desk. He looked up at her with a smile.
“Are you here to enter the mating lottery?” he asked.
“I’m here to speak with whomever is responsible for these designs,” she said, slapping the blueprint down on the desk in front of the secretary’s face.
“That would be the grand architect, Joss Noro. He arrived yesterday from Draconia. It is such an honor to have him here. He was sent directly by the president himself.”
“How long have you been on this planet?”
“I’ve been here since the mating armada arrived six years ago,” he said.
“And in all that time have you seen a single human city that looked anything like this?”
The secretary looked down at the blueprints and frowned. “No. But I’m sure the grand architect knows what he’s doing.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Draconians respect their experts. We defer to their greater knowledge and skill. It is our custom. It is the reason we have survived for so many millions of years. Our society functions. Unlike yours.”
“Our society functioned just fine before you assholes arrived and ruined it,” she snapped.
“I apologize. We did interfere with a species at an inappropriate stage in your development. It was wrong, and we are committed to reparations. I will take your concern to my superior officer.”
“I want to speak to this Joss Noro guy myself,” she said, crossing her arms. She didn’t intend to leave until she got what she was asking for.
“That’s impossible. Grand Architect Noro does not take meetings with humans.”
“Is there any way that I could see this guy?”
“Perhaps if you are mated with a local Draconian on the civilian crew, you might see him socially. But the odds of that are…”
“So you’re saying the only way that I can talk to your grand architect is to enter the mating lottery and be mated with a local Draconian?” she asked sarcastically.
When she first said the words, it was because the idea was crazy. As soon as the words left her lips, she realized that if she was going to save her city from those ridiculous plans, she would have to enter the mating lottery. It was the only chance she had to convince this Joss Noro guy that his plans were all wrong.
“Yes. But there is no guarantee that you would ever have any interaction with the grand architect,” he said.
“But I would be mated with a Draconian. And you guys do talk to each other, right?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Sign me up.”
“Miss, I can’t guarantee you that you will ever speak with Joss Noro. As soon as you provide me with your DNA, you will be obligated to take a Draconian as your mate. As soon as the computer identifies your mate, it will activate the male’s mating impulse. That impulse will become stronger and stronger until he claims you. If he is unable to claim his mate, he will eventually lose his mind. We Draconians consider this extremely sensitive, and we will not allow you to run away from your responsibility. You will be mated if you are matched. Do you understand?” His words were almost threatening, and she didn’t like his tone.
She met his intense stare with her own and crossed her arms over her chest, daring him to question her or threaten her more.
“I understand. I’m willing to put myself into this position just for the off chance that I can convince your idiot architect that this is not the way that humans are supposed to live. We’ve been through too much. It is about damn time that you Draconians started listening to us. Do you understand?”
“Have it your way. Please rub this swab on the inside of your cheek, and I will enter your DNA into the system. It will only take a moment to know if you are matched to any of the males in our database. If you are matched, you will be sent to your male immediately. If you are not matched, I ask that you leave the consulate and not return.”
She yanked the swab out of his hand and rubbed it on the inside of her cheek. When she was done, she thrust it into his face. He took the swab and put it into an open spot on the desk. It closed up and the swab disappeared. He hit a few spots on his holographic computer screen, his face unchanged. A moment later, he frowned and sat back in his chair, shaking his head.
“What?” she asked, tapping her foot and crossing her arms more tightly over her chest.
He looked up at her, still frowning. He leaned forward and rubbed his chin.
“This must be a mistake,” he said.
“Oh, so your advanced computers make mistakes?” she mocked.
“No. Never. It’s just…” He took a deep breath. “You’ve been matched with Joss Noro, the Grand Architect of Draconia.”
Chapter 5
So… Let me get this straight. I’ve been matched with the very asshole who made these ridiculous blueprints?”
It had been a silly impulse to enter the mating lottery in the first place. She hadn’t really believed that she would be matched with anyone. Over the last six years, she’d known lots of girls who had entered the lottery, and only one of them had ever been matched. She’d only done it to wipe the smug look off of the Draconian secretary’s face.
“It appears that way, yes,” he said, his expression dumbfounded.
“Well, shit.” She turned around as if to walk out the door.
“You will not leave the consulate, human female.” She turned back to him and glared. Was he threatening her again? No one threatened Octavia Reynolds.
“Are you threatening me?” she asked, leaning over the desk and giving him her strongest bitchface glare.
The Draconian stood and stared her down. The guy was too damn tall. Octavia was average height for a human female. Not only was the secretary obscenely tall, he was probably twice as wide as she was. He was all muscle, packed into a skintight uniform that left little to the imagination. She looked him up and down and took a step backwards.
He’d told her the conditions of entering the lottery. And she’d accepted them. She knew that this one Draconian could break her in half, let alone if the entire Draconian military were sent to find her. It was something she certainly didn’t want to mess with, even though mating with a Draconian was the absolute last thing she really wanted to do.
Great. Dammit.
Octavia knew that she had some impulse control problems and some anger issues, especially since the Mulgor invasion. She hadn’t been able to keep her temper under wraps. Now look where it had gotten her. At the same time, she had been mated with exactly the man she wanted to talk to.
Score one, Octavia.
“Fine. I’ll meet with this Joss Noro dude. That’s why I came here. I’m the grand architect’s new bitch,” she said sarcastically.
“Such expressions are unnecessary, human woman,” the secretary said, sitting back down. “Your transportation will be arriving in less than two minutes outside the front doors of the consulate. I will escort you out to ensure that you are properly taken care of.”
“I’m not going to run away,” she said.
Although, part of her definitely did want to run away. She had seen what the Draconian secretary had between his legs, and it was not something to be trifled with. How did these dudes manage to mate with human women?
She knew it definitely happened. Before the Mulgor invasion, there were interviews on talk shows with the Draconian brides all the time. They told everyone how fantastic it was to live in space, in the lap of luxury, with all the awesome things the Draconians provided.
Some of the ladies even had babies, and they showed them off on TV. Octavia had never been impressed. She had plenty of money and resources of her own back then. She’d gone straight to college and never bothered entering the lottery.
Oh, how things changed.
“Your transport has arrived.”
The secretary escorted her out o
f the consulate to a hover craft like nothing she’d ever seen that sat beside Dan’s old pickup.
Crap. Dan’s truck.
“I need to get this truck back to my friend,” she said.
“I can make arrangements for this vehicle to be returned to the refugee camp. What is the name of the friend who owns this vehicle?”
“Dan Smith.” She handed the secretary the keys, growing more nervous with each passing second. The wind picked up and blew cold across her face, chilling her to the bone. She shivered under her heavy down coat. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
She walked slowly down the steps of the consulate and the door to the hover craft opened. The thing look like a freaking flying saucer, and it had a door that opened like the DeLorean from Back To The Future. There was a Draconian sitting opposite the door inside the craft.
“Are you Joss Noro?” she asked.
“No,” the Draconian said, seeming both appalled and complimented. “I’m simply a driver. Please get inside.”
Octavia climbed into the craft, and the door closed behind her. What would Ashley think when she found out what she’d done? She’d probably think that Octavia had gone off halfcocked. She was right. Octavia had gotten herself into some serious hot water. But at least now she would be able to speak directly with the man responsible for the blueprints.
If she could protect her city from being reconstructed in such a way, she was willing to make the sacrifice. She didn’t want to think about the fact that she was going to have to actually have sex with the Draconian and then have his babies. She would just save that horrible thought for another time.
The craft flew across town, lifted up over the ruins, then landed in front of one of the ugly Draconian cellblocks that looked exactly like what was in the blueprints.
“Do you live like this on Draconia?” she asked.
“This is typical of colonial structures.”
“You like it?”
“It’s satisfactory.”
“Clearly, humans and Draconians have different standards.”
“I couldn’t say. I’m not an expert on the subject.”
“Well, I’m an expert on urban planning for human cities. You can take my word for it,” she said, climbing out of the flying saucer.
“Oh…” she heard him say as she walked away from the craft.
“I will bring you to the grand architect,” the driver said, reverence in his voice.
“Does everyone have a hard-on for this guy?”
“Hard-on?”
“Never mind. Bring me to your leader,” she said, moving towards the ugly ass building.
It was stark white with a completely flat exterior except for the many windows that looked out over Central Park. At least the place had a view. She couldn’t say much for what it looked like on the outside.
From what she’d seen in the blueprints, the interior apartments had plenty of square footage, but they were stacked up on top of each other. There were no common areas. It was just a big block of apartments and nothing else.
If the buildings in the blueprints had been interspersed with other types of buildings, recreational areas, parks, common areas, shopping districts—anything—it would’ve been okay. They were just sort of ultramodern, ultra-boring buildings. But in the plans, none of the necessary accommodations for enjoyable human life were present.
People were just stacked up on top of each other like sardines. They planned to demolish Central Park. It was insult to injury after the Mulgor invasion had destroyed New York. She couldn’t let it stand.
“The grand architect is not our leader. Commander General Vlosh Torr is our leader here on Earth. The president is the leader back on Draconia.”
“Never mind, God… Just take me to my new mate,” she said. She never expected to hear herself say that. My new mate. Her Draconian mate. She had to stay angry, otherwise she was going to have a complete mental breakdown.
They walked through the front door of the building and into a narrow entrance. Hallways spread out in three directions and there was a row of elevators in front of her. It was just as boring on the inside as it was on the outside.
“Does he know I’m coming?”
“That’s not my job.”
“Great…”
“I will send him a communication, and he should come down for you.”
The driver ran two fingers down the inside of the wrist of his uniform sleeve. The motion turned on a computer device. He flicked a few buttons and a Draconian male’s face came onto the screen.
“Grand Architect Noro,” the driver said with reverence in his voice. This guy totally had a man crush on the grand architect. “Your mate is waiting for you in the lobby,” he said.
“I don’t have a mate,” Joss said.
“You are not informed?” the driver said, appalled.
“I have been resting after my long trip from Draconia and turned off my communications systems.”
“You were matched with a human female only moments ago. The human female is now here.”
“I do not wish to have a human female mate. Send her back.”
“But sir,” the Draconian driver whispered into his communication device. “What about your mating impulse?”
“I did not ask to be entered into the mating lottery. I will not have an impulse.”
“No one can withstand it,” the driver whispered.
Octavia heard Joss growl loudly into the communication device. The sound of it made her shudder. Not only was her mate an oblivious asshole, he was also kind of scary.
“Send her up,” he growled. “I’m not going downstairs for a human.”
Octavia gasped angrily and was about to tell the guy off, but the driver flipped off his communication device.
“What a serious fucking asshole,” she said. “I don’t want to be with him either. Sorry, I’m out of here.”
She turned to go, but the Draconian grabbed her arm and turned her back around.
“I’m sorry, but I cannot let you leave. The mating impulse will drive the grand architect mad if he does not claim you within an appropriate time frame. We take the mating impulse very seriously. You are obligated to mate with him. Our customs and cultures might be different, but you did agree to enter the mating lottery and abide by all of its rules.”
“Yeah, but I just did it to mess with the secretary. I didn’t think that it would actually work.”
“Regardless, human female, I cannot allow you to leave. You will be claimed by the grand architect.”
Octavia growled this time. She had to concede. She had to be brave. She’d entered the lottery to mess with a smug secretary. But she’d also done it on the off chance that she could talk with Joss Noro.
She had been mated with the very man that she wanted to speak with. The odds were staggering, and she had to admit there was some kind of divine intervention thing going on. Or was it fate?
Chapter 6
Octavia followed the driver into the elevator. The doors swished closed, and the elevator propelled upward to the top floor of the ugly building. When the doors slid open again, she followed the driver into another nondescript hallway and all the way to the end.
The driver flicked a few buttons on a holographic computer pad next to a door. A second later, there was a soft beep, click, and the door opened. Octavia felt her heart slam hard against her chest. She took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The driver stayed in the doorway, and she turned to him with a frown. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked.
“I have no business entering the grand architect’s quarters. Good luck, human female.”
The driver put his hand on his heart and bowed slightly. Octavia turned back toward the empty room. The furnishings were simple geometric shapes. Everything was white. White walls, white furniture, white floors. The only variation was the view outside the window.
“Hello?” she said, peering into the room. There was no one there. Had her snobby “ma
te” decided to make a run for it?
“Yes,” came a response from a room off to the side.
Joss Noro walked in and stared her down. Octavia’s mouth dropped open. He was so amazingly good looking, she almost couldn’t breathe. His full lips pressed into a tight line and his almond shaped, wide brown eyes narrowed over his chiseled cheekbones.
He had a shock of white-blond hair that hung down to his impossibly broad shoulders. This guy wasn’t a military type, he was an architect, but he was built like a bull.
His nostrils flared as he stared at her. Octavia felt like a matador in the ring with an angry animal. She took a step back, feeling like bait. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she tried to get a hold of herself.
Octavia’s entire nervous system seemed to come to full attention, sending sparks of fear and desire from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
“Octavia Reynolds?” he asked.
“Yes,” she stammered. “You’re Joss Noro. The so-called Grand Architect of Draconia?” It was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. Why was he so damned hot?
This is going to be harder than I thought.
“I am.”
He didn’t say anything else or make a single move. Octavia reached out to the back of a strange looking chair and gripped the foamy material. Surprised at the texture and the way it gave under her hand, she pulled her grip away.
The momentary distraction only made her heart leap higher when she met his gaze again. Why was she so overwhelmed? She’d come here for a reason, and she didn’t intend to let the opportunity pass her by just because this asshole was the sexiest man she’d ever seen.
“So… You’re the idiot who is in charge of designing the reconstruction of New York City?”
“Idiot,” he said, seeming to chew on the world like a bite of rancid meat.
“You think humans can live in these boring ass buildings with no streets, no transportation, no parks. You plan to build over the one last good place in the city. Yes. I think you’re an idiot.”
Desired By Dragons Page 35