by Maia Starr
"No! I only want that one! Make sure that you do not end communication until they have told you if she is mine," I said to her.
She was startled and then quickly moved into action, "Yes! Right away."
I was astonished at my own quickness to make a decision. I was usually very meticulous and took my time. Normally I would want to research this Adriana Adams even more, and perhaps do an interview over communication line, but something told me I could not wait that long. It was my intuition, and I trusted my intuition because I thought it came from my connection to the land. It was a sort of mysticism. I relaxed and moved my focus back to my work. I had an illegal cargo to deal with. But every time I tried to focus on work, I only saw Adriana’s face.
It was unbelievable! I had only seen and read about this human female and already she was occupying my mind and taking me away from my responsibilities. "Shit." I said to myself, knowing that this was why I had not picked a female mate yet. It was because I had too much to do and it required all of my concentration. So much was at risk if I made a mistake because of distraction. I pushed the file of human females off my desk and went to back to work. The king had entrusted me with capturing Mordikye and any time we incarcerated our own it was a big step to take. It was not something that the Drackon took lightly. We had very few betrayers in our time, but the most recent was the King’s own brother. Because of that experience he wanted every act of mutiny to be stopped in its tracks quickly and efficiently. Therefore Mordikye’s guilt was not in doubt. He was already seen as guilty and did not know it.
I cleared my mind and went to work making the arrangements for Mordikye’s arrest. Two hours went by before Luqan was once again in my office.
"Well, what did you find out about the human female? " I asked as I stood up and went to her side.
"I waited until the registration office replied to me. I am sorry sir, she has already been chosen by another. Perhaps next time you won't wait as long," she said to me smugly.
"There won't be a next time. I want that one. I want no other. There must be some way. As soon as we are done with this Mordikye business, find out who she has been matched too. It is too soon for her to have been shipped here to be married, so she must still be on Earth and there is something that we can do about it. For now let's concentrate on the matters at hand. I am heading to the docks to await the ship’s arrival," I said as I moved past her and out of my office. I was pissed off. She was right. I had waited too long. That woman could now be mine and all I would have had to do was wait for her to arrive after all the paperwork was done with. It was the fault of my stubbornness. But I wasn't going to give up. I had waited too long to find a real match, and now that I had finally found one and I was not going to let her get away. Surely someone in my position of power could make the arrangement for her to be my wife; after all, I was a trusted advisor to the king and was the Land Sentinel. But when I arrived at the docks there was a surprise.
"Sir, we have lost all contact with the Beti," the dock master said to me.
"When?" I asked.
"Just now sir," he replied.
"And where is the Beti now?" I asked.
"We do not know sir. She appears to have disappeared off tracking. We are trying to make contact and locate her coordinates as we speak."
I knew exactly what Mordikye was up to. He was trying to unload his illegal cargo and was going off course to either meet another party to unload the cargo, or he was going to unload it into the blackness of space.
"Launch five scout ships to search within a one thousand mile range of the last coordinates of the Beti. Tell them to stay in constant contact," I said to the dockmaster.
"Right away," he responded.
It didn't matter if we caught Mordikye in the act. He was already acting guilty for something we were already going to accuse him of. This would make it easier on our part to discharge him of his captain position and title. It would also make it easier to take his ship and his crew prisoner. They had violated the Drackon laws. I knew that the captain was scheduled to bring a batch of human female brides from Earth on this particular mission. I hoped that he was not putting those females in danger simply for his illegal cargo antics. It was uncalled for. If those females were in any danger it would create tension between Mooreah and Earth. Earth would no longer trust us to take females from their planet. It would be a disaster that was capable of launching an intergalactic war between the humans and the weredragons. It had to be stopped. Those scouts would force the Beti, including the human females, to return to Sala safely.
I went straight to my office and ordered open a communication line straight to King Jarith Rykor.
"King Jarith Rykor, it is just as I had thought. The ship captained by Mordikye has gone dark. All communication lines have been lost and its tracking has been turned off. I have launched five scout ships to find its location."
"Good work and quick thinking, Sentinel Vuna. It does seem that you were right about Mordikye. I am glad that you were handling this. You have my full permission to arrest him on site if he returns. Let us hope that he has not gone rogue with the cargo of human females. That would be a tragedy that we could not fix with the Earthlings."
"I do think that he shall return. He has no reason to think that he has been caught, unless we have a mole on our part. If someone is communicating to Mordikye our moves and suspicion of him, then he would have received information that I was now checking all cargo ships personally on Sala."
"You think there is a spy among us? That would make sense. After everything I went through with my brother I wouldn’t doubt it. Let us keep all information between the two of us and only inform others of your actions when it is absolutely necessary," King Jarith Rykor said.
"Yes your Highness. I understand," I said to him.
"Connect with me when Mordikye has been locked up. I will need a full report. Any suspicion as to what and for whom is the cargo that he is illegally carrying?" He asked.
"I am not aware of anything. But it must be of great value in order for the captain to put all that he has worked for in his career at risk. It must mean great wealth and power to him in order to risk imprisonment," I said to him.
"If it is of high enough value to convey great power and wealth then it must also be very dangerous. I expect you to get on top of this, Sentinel Vuna. Do all you can. Let nothing distract you. This is your number one priority. I will have others pick up the slack for maintaining land resources on Mooreah with regular scouting missions and expeditions. Do not worry about that, only focus on this and nothing more. Is that clear?" King Jarith Rykor said to me.
As soon as he said it I knew that I already had a distraction, and that her name was Adriana Adams. I wished that I had never looked inside that folder and kept putting it off like I had been. Now this human female was occupying space in my mind and becoming a distraction even while I was communicating with the king who should, by all rights, have my full attention. Yet all I could think about was her dark black hair and fiery brown eyes.
"Yes King Jarith Rykor, it is crystal clear. I shall give this my full attention and solve the mystery of the illegal cargo and who is behind it."
"I have no doubt that you will, Sentinel Vuna. Keep me informed," he said as the communication ended.
"Sentinel, the scouts have located the Beti and are escorting it back to Sala now," the dock master said to me as he moved into my office.
I stood up and ran out of the office with him to the docks "Where did they locate it?"
"When the scouts reached the coordinates that the Beti last communicated to us it was already returning to that point. We do not know where it was coming from. It still has not opened communication lines. Perhaps their communication radio is broken, but they are complying with the scouts and are on the flight path back to Sala."
"Good, make sure that there are three guards for every weredragon that is on the Beti. They will all be taken into custody!" I shouted.
"Sir y
es sir, guards are already placed on the docks waiting."
I arrived at the open port just as the Beti was hovering above the landing strip and the scout ships were hovering above it. The ship landed and the engine shut off. The door opened and two Drackon warriors stepped out followed by Captain Mordikye. They walked straight toward me and the captain had a grin on his face, one that would soon go away.
"Captain, we lost communication with your ship. Is everything alright?" I asked, giving him time to explain himself.
"Sentinel Vuna, good of you to come see me land in person. Our communications are down, and our navigation system failed us. It was some hours before we realized the path we were on was incorrect and then we made the adjustments manually. Thank you for sending scouts to help us get back to Sala," he said with a smile.
"That is unfortunate captain. And what of the cargo?" I asked him.
His smile faded and he said, "It is on board as it should be. All thirty human females are accounted for. You may see for yourself," he said as he turned toward the cargo bay. The door slowly opened into a ramp and thirty human females marched out escorted by the warriors. None of them seemed to panic and they all seemed in good spirits as they looked around at the planet Sala.
"You see Sentinel, all is well with my cargo," Mordikye said.
"Take the human females inside quickly!" I shouted to my guards. I scanned over the females searching for Adriana, even though I knew it was impossible for her to be on a shipment to Mooreah this soon. I could not stop my eyes from searching for her. It was almost involuntary. I looked back at the captain, satisfied that the females were almost inside the safety of the building. I knew the captain's temper and he would not be happy about what I was about to do.
"I was not speaking of that cargo, Captain Mordikye" I said, raising a brow at him wondering how long he was going to play stupid.
"Oh, do you mean my bride to be?" Mordikye said as he gestured behind him and another human female took a few steps out of the ship and stood just at the top of the ramp. I could not believe my eyes. It was Adriana Adams. As soon as I saw her the wind picked up her sweet scent and brought it straight towards me, where I inhaled deeply. It was overwhelming and nearly knocked me off my feet. I was not expecting that she would be in my presence or that she would be with the captain. Had I heard him right? He had picked her to be his bride? No wonder she had been picked up so quickly, he had a picked her while he was on Earth--making it impossible for anyone else to choose her. But now he would not have her. He was going to be even angrier now that he was about to lose this enchanting human female. I started to get angry as I wondered if he had already sampled her. They were in fact alone together on the ship in space for weeks. By the looks of it she was not held in the same cargo rooms as the other human females and had her own living quarters, or perhaps was living with the captain already. Maybe she was already impregnated with his offspring. My blood boiled the more that I thought about this. I had almost forgot that I had a mission as I let my personal passions and anger over take me. It was exactly as the king had told me not to do; I was letting my own personal problems get in the way of solving this mystery. I looked back at the captain and tried not to focus on the raven-haired beauty behind him.
"You know very well that I was speaking of the cargo you were illegally carrying and unloaded before you got to Sala." I said to him. Everyone tensed around us.
"Your accusations are false, Sentinel. I would be careful with my words if I were you," Mordikye growled at me.
"Captain Mordikye, you are now under investigation by his majesty King Jarith Rykor. You are to be taken into custody to the prison cells. Your ship is permanently grounded, and all actions and affairs of yours are frozen until this is resolved. That includes business and property affairs, meaning you cannot claim the human female as property and marry her. You must wait until your estate has been unfrozen, and even then it will be up to the king to grant such a marriage, as it is not in our treaty with earth to allow a human female to marry a Drackon criminal," I said to him in the most official manner that I could muster while keeping control over the situation as all of the warriors around us were completely tense.
“Grrrrr!” Mordikye growled as he shifted into dragon form. His wings spread out from his back and he lifted in the air and leapt at me. Before I knew it his hands were on my arms and he picked me up and threw me across the landing area. I rebounded quickly and shifted at the same time that I came up to my feet. Mordikye leapt at me once more and I flew straight toward him. Crash! Our bodies collided in the air as we fought. I threw a right hook and hit him in the jaw with my fist. His fist hit me in the ribs knocking the air out of me. I punched him back directly in the head. We wrestled in the air as my guards took his warriors into custody. They did not put up a fight. I did not expect them too; they were just following their captain’s orders. Most of them would be exonerated. Mordikye and I continued to fight. As we fought and I tried to maintain some control over his rage, I caught the scent. It was Adriana’s scent and it awoke a monster inside of me.
My passion took over me as I thought about Mordikye possessing Adriana. Suddenly this fight was not for official reasons; it was for my own passions. I charged him with all of my fury and crashed directly into his ribs and he tumbled to the ground. I straddled him, punching him with my right, then left over and over. His wings were pinned down around him as mine flapped wildly in the air.
"Sentinel! Sentinel!" My guards shouted.
"Pull him off! He's going to kill him!" Another guy shouted. They successfully pulled us apart. Mordikye was bloody, but still conscious. He looked at me with anger.
"Take them to the prison!" I shouted. He was escorted off to the prison by the guards.
"Search the ship! Analyze the navigation and radio communication systems for any foul play!" I gave orders. Then I moved away from everyone and shifted back to male form. I made my way up the ramp ready to investigate and look for any trace of the illegal cargo, even though I had no idea what I was looking for. As I got to the top of the ramp, I saw her. Adriana Adams was standing there with wide brown eyes. She must be very confused. As I got closer to her the pheromones she was emitting were driving me insane. Her scent was so thick I felt like I was swimming in a soup of it. But I didn't know who she was. She could be the enemy. She could be Mordikye’s partner in this illegal cargo scheme that he had going. He would in fact need someone from Earth in order to make it happen.
"Dr. Adriana Adams, I am… "
"Land Sentinel Vuna," she said to me.
"How do you know who I am? I asked her suspiciously."
Chapter 4
DR. ADRIANA ADAMS
I couldn't believe it. I was really here. I had made it all the way to the planet Sala. But I was not expecting the greeting that Captain Mordikye and his crew were given when we arrived. There was something very wrong going on here, but even in the face of danger I was not expecting to see him. There, face-to-face with my husband to be, Captain Mordikye, was the Drackon weredragon that I had chosen as my number one choice to be the wife of. It was Land Sentinel Vuna. I recognized him from his photo; the photo that I could not stop thinking about ever since I had saw it. He looked exactly like he did in his photo with his long black hair just to his jawline and his rugged good looks. He was tall and his physique was hard and broad. He was standing there with his guards having words with Captain Mordikye and I was in complete awe of him. His power was obviously great and he was at odds with Captain Mordikye for some reason. I remembered on the ship when Captain Mordikye’s Lieutenant informed him that the Sentinel would be searching cargo for himself, it was after that that I did not see the captain again. I did notice that it took us longer than expected to arrive on Sala, which meant we had taken a detour. It must be this detour that Captain Mordikye was in trouble for. I stood there watching the two weredragons exchange heated remarks but when the captain gestured to me, the Land Sentinel’s face changed. He looked at me as though h
e knew me. But how could that be? Did he know that I had picked him as my number one choice for husband? I did not think that my choices had even been sent, considering that Captain Mordikye had claimed me fairly fast after I was registered. But the way the Land Sentinel was looking at me made me feel like he did know me, but perhaps it was because I was not with the other group of human females that were escorted off the ship? My mouth watered as I looked at him, and I was angry with myself that I had said yes to Captain Mordikye. Now that I saw Sentinel Vuna in person, I wanted him. Even though I would only be with him for a short time because of my mission, I wanted that time to be with the Sentinel, not the captain.
I was quickly pulled out of my daze of lust and desire when Captain Mordikye growled loudly and did something I had never seen before. He shifted into dragon form!
"Holy shit," I whispered as I saw it happen right before my eyes. Captain Mordikye jumped up in the air and instantaneously silver wings extended from his back. They were very long, almost seven feet in length from one tip to the other. They were metallic silver and shiny and almost beautiful and delicate. At the same time, shiny silvery scales appeared on his body on various places, like his shoulder, diagonally across his abdomen down to his hip. It was like jewelry and armor in one.