by Maia Starr
She laughed and then threw her arms around my neck. I scooped her up into my arms, cradling her. Then I ran and flew off of the balcony into the forest.
The moon was full and bright. It was lighting the way perfectly for us as I zoomed over the treetops. I knew exactly where I wanted to take her. It was not far from the cabin and it was perfect for a moonlit night with only an hour to spare. I flew fast and furiously, high in the sky. It was not something that I would do on Mooreah being alone, because when you flew at that height it made it very easy for any other Drackons to spot you. But we were all alone out here in the wilderness, except for my team, so I had nothing to worry about.
I finally found the spot and I set us down in the middle of the field.
"What is this place? It is absolutely beautiful,” she said as she jumped out of my arms and ran toward the edge of a crystal-clear pond.
"I found it the first time I flew around this area. It is a perfect spot. A clear field and a beautiful pond for swimming," I said to her.
"I love swimming! If only we had more time, I would make us swim together naked under the moonlight,” she said with a devious grin.
"You should definitely take her up on that. She is stunning naked!" my brother’s voice boomed from across the field.
I turned around in a circle searching for him while holding my hand out to Kelly. She ran to me quickly. My brother Orik emerged from out of the shadows. I was about to say something to him when Kelly interrupted.
"You? What are you doing here?” she said to him.
My heart fell to my stomach as I heard and processed her words. She knew my brother, Orik. How did she know my brother? This could not be good.
Chapter 7
KELLY PERKINS
I had been the luckiest girl in the world. My husband-to-be rescued me from the dark forest in the most romantic heroic act. Him doing this act only made me fall in love with him quicker. He was everything that I had hoped for him to be. He was perfect in every way. Not only was he extremely attractive and rugged in his appearance, he was also an alien weredragon warrior. He was smart and strong and as soon as he knew that I was missing from the cabin, he looked in the forest for me. It made me feel safe that he came to look for me on his own.
Then we spent time getting to know each other after he had made sure that I had comfort and was warm after my experience in the forest. He was funny. He was sensitive. He was absolutely perfect in every way. I had been expecting a very dominant and brute warrior. But instead I got the strong, masculine appearance on the outside with a very strong heart on the inside. What more could a girl ask for? He showed interest in me and allowed me into his life very quickly.
It was all so perfect, like a fairytale. I didn't think that anything could ever come between us. I felt love at first sight, and he explained to me that he felt the same way. He knew that I had picked him and only him on my registration form, and that should've embarrassed me, but for some reason, I liked him knowing. I wanted him to know just how real this was for me, that I had no doubts about how I felt about him. It was a very fast fall into love, but I trusted it. It was everything to me. So when he told me that he would be going away, I knew that I could wait for him. I didn't want anyone else. I would wait as long as it took and I was even more enamored with him for being so loyal to his king and to his duties.
But then it all broke apart into a million pieces as my actions caught up to me. They would end up having very dire consequences, something that I could not have foreseen.
"You? What are you doing here?" I said to the man that I had met in New York. The mysterious stranger Drackon warrior that I had a one-night stand with at the hotel was now standing in front of us. I was completely shocked. Had he followed me here? Was he dangerous? Was he going to do something harmful to me or to Kasian? My mind was racing with questions and my heart was beating very fast as I hung onto Kasian’s arm.
"You know him?” Kasian said as he turned to me. His face frightened me. My loving husband to be, who always had a smile for me, or look of tenderness on his face, had twisted his expression into a very angry and frightening scowl.
I was shaking with fear suddenly. My dear Kasian knew this Drackon warrior, and something told me that the reason I was attracted to them both was because they were related. My heart sank to my stomach as I realized this.
"I met him in New York before I came here," I said shaking so badly that the words barely came out of my mouth.
"Oh come on, Kelly! We did more than that. We fucked! We fucked so good, you would not believe it, brother. But I assume you have sampled her yourself by now and know exactly what I'm talking about. Those rosy nipples are perfect for sucking!"
Shit. This was Kasian's brother Orik! This was the worst possible thing that could ever happen. Kasian was staring straight at his brother and was breathing so hard and had a look of murder on his face. This was not going to end well and my heart broke in half as I realized that I had messed up a true love with reckless behavior. I had lost Kasian forever, before I even fully had him. I felt extreme sorrow so great that I felt sick to my stomach. I felt my dinner coming back up and I put my hands on my belly.
"Aaaagh!" Kasian let out a very loud growl that shook the entire forest. It was frightening and I stepped away from him as he flew into the air, straight at his brother.
Bam! He slammed straight into Orik and they both tumbled across the forest ground. Wings of silver were gleaming in the moonlight in the chaos as they rolled over the grass. I could hear growling and punching, bones cracking. It was extremely frightening and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn't know what else to do. I was scared that his brother would kill him and would then take me away. This beautiful fairy tale that we had been living had turned into the worst nightmare possible. It was unreal.
Wham! Kasian punched Orik across the jaw. Orik lay there in silence. Kasian got up to his feet and shouted at him, “Never touch her again! I will kill you if you touch her!”
I was in so much pain at the rage in his voice. I didn’t know what I had done. Kasian turned to look at me as I stood at a distance crying. He looked at me with anger. He grabbed his wrists and was about to say something into it when – Bam!
Orik kicked his leg out of under him. I screamed. Orik got to his feet as he loomed over his brother. “Don’t tell me what to do, brother. You do not own me the way the king owns you,” he spat the words at him. Then he looked at me and grinned before bursting into flight. I watched him fly to make sure he wasn’t just circling and coming back for more. He went out of sight into the darkness and I could no longer stay away from Kasian.
I ran over to Kasian’s side as he laid growling in pain.
"Kasian! Are you hurt?” I shouted as I crouched down beside him in the grass.
"Don't touch me!” he growled at me. I was taken aback by his anger and animalistic voice, the voice of a dragon. He grabbed his wrist and pressed a button on it as he spoke into it, “Assistance needed at the pond field. Orik is here! He has just flown away! Scout team in the air, now! Flying south by south east. Security at the plant and at my cabin stand ground, keep your eyes open,” he said as he sat up.
I sat there on my knees, staring at him. I had lost him. He hated me. What would he do with me? He was breathing heavily and he finally pulled himself up to his feet, but he quickly sat back down and groaned.
"You are hurt. Let me see,” I said to him as I noticed that his leg was injured.
"Do not touch me," he growled again. He looked at me with murderous anger in his eyes.
"But you might be badly injured.”
"Is it true? Is it true what he said about you?” He sneered out the question.
I was breathing harder and harder and could barely catch my breath as the panic in me built to a strenuous degree.
"It's not what you think. I didn't know who he was. He was a mysterious stranger in the hotel. I was just celebrating my last night of freedom. I got very drunk. He came up to me.
He seduced me. I had no way of knowing that he was your brother. How was I to know?” I said, crying a very hard cry knowing that it did not justify my behavior. I had betrayed him before I even knew him. It was wrong, it was very wrong. We both knew it.
"You have destroyed everything. Clearly you are not who I thought you to be,” he said to me.
"No, that is not true. I am the same Kelly from earlier today,” I pleaded with him.
"No, not in my eyes you are not,” he said to me.
I was about to protest when I heard the rushing wind above us. Two Drackon warriors were landing and Kasian called out to them. It was his security.
"Commander Kasian Jade! You are injured! Grab him and take him back to the cabin! I will get the girl,” the voice commanded. In seconds I was picked up into the arms of a Drackon warrior. The Drackon in front of us was carrying a very limp Kasian. He looked defeated, and it was my fault.
When we arrived at the cabin, I heard Kasian yell at his security to keep me locked up in my room. He told them it was for my own security away from his brother, but I knew it was because he could not stand to look at me. I wanted to be the one nursing his wounded leg, instead he wanted me nowhere near him. Could I blame him? How could I? I had done something that crushed him. He would hate me forever. We would never get married now. This would all be a distant memory.
I cried into my bed for hours. His evil brother, who clearly knew who I was when I was at the hotel, had tricked me. He had hunted me. I was nothing but a pawn in the game between him and his brother, and I had allowed him to play me. I was disgusted with the thought of being with his brother.
When I woke up, the sun was coming up. I was still in my clothes and had cried on top of the bed, not under the covers. I stirred awake. Everything came flooding back to me about what had happened. I had lost the one true love of my life because of my mistakes of being reckless in my last night of being single.
I poured myself a glass of water and looked out onto the deck outside my room. There were two guards posted, pacing back-and-forth. Clearly Kasian did not trust me. It hurt me to the core. What could I do now? I would be sent away and go back to my life in Los Angeles. I would have no other choice.
The door opened, and to my surprise, Kasian walked in. He was limping. My heart went out to him.
"Are you all right? Is your leg hurt badly?” I asked him as I ran to him.
"Do not act as if you care for me. I know who you really are now. You are to be detained in this room. How did he do it? How did he steal the power receptors? Was it when you were keeping me occupied?” He sneered out the questions at me in a loud voice.
I was shocked and confused by his questions. I had no idea what he was talking about. But he seemed to have it all figured out the way he was looking at me with rage, and angrily limping about the room.
"What are you talking about, Kasian?” I said to him.
"You will not call me Kasian. You will call me Commander Kasian Jade. Now tell me how he did it! Tell me where he is now! Where do you plan to meet up with him?” he asked me.
"What are you talking about? You are starting to scare me,” I said to him, backing up against the table.
"I know that you are helping Orik. He put you up to this. He put you into my path, and fixed it with registration. I don't know how. But my security has tracked down the fact that you both stayed at the same hotel in New York, the hotel that I booked for you. You must've told him where to find you and for him to book a room one door down. You have both been planning this from the beginning. You have played me for a fool!" he shouted at me.
"No!" I screamed out. I thought that this could not get any worse after I realized that the mysterious stranger that I had a one night stand with was in fact the brother of my husband to be, but it just did. It got so much worse. Now Kasian was under the impression that I had something to do with his brother’s antics. He thought that I knew his brother very well and that we had planned something together. Clearly his brother had stolen something from him and Kasian thought that I set it up that way. He thought that I was working with his brother. It was getting worse, so much worse.
"I swear to you on my life that I had not seen your brother before that night at the hotel. It was nothing but sex and then he was gone. I have not spoken to him since and I had not spoken to him before that night. You must believe me!” I shouted at him.
"No! You lie! When I took you to see the air filter project yesterday, you had a lot of questions. You had too many questions and knew way more than any typical human female would know about the science of engineering. You asked all the questions that would be questions that my brother would have told you to ask. Then last night, the power receptors go missing! That is too much of a coincidence. There is no way that you could know to ask those questions. I was a fool to think that you were simply a smart female, someone that could be my match… my equal. You blinded me with your beauty. I will never forgive you,” he sneered at me.
His chest was heaving up and down in anger. He was so angry, I thought at any moment he was going to pick up a chair and smash it on the floor. His anger scared me. What's more is that he had already made up his mind up about me. His paranoia was high and he was putting these false ideas about me into his own mind. What could I do? There was nothing that I could do. So I angrily snapped back at him. There was no point in trying to save what we had together; it was already destroyed.
"Listen, you paranoid asshole! I don't know what the hell you are talking about! It seems that your brother has really gotten to you in the best way he knows how. I am the one that should be mad at you!”
He looked at me confused. “What?! You mad at me?!” he shouted.
"You have an evil brother that you say does things of bad character. Yet you allowed me to stay in a hotel alone and unattended when you already knew that he was in the area. You knew he was out there. Did you not think he would come after me? How did he even know that I existed? How did he know what I look like? How did he know where I was staying? You must have left that information unattended and unprotected, even though you knew he was out there. It is you that has failed us, this marriage. You allowed him to use me as a pawn in this sick game of rivalry that you two have. You are the one that failed, and instead of admitting that, you are trying to cover it up with this paranoia that I must be working with your brother. That is nonsense! Now if you are going to arrest me, or kick me out, then do it. Get it over with. I will not stand here and take any more of your punishment!” I shouted at him.
He glared at me. He was silent. He knew that I was right, but he was not going to admit it. Instead, he limped toward the French doors and slammed them behind him.
As he walked onto the balcony he shifted into dragon form. He flew into the air, and then a small army flew up from the ground, an army of Drackon warriors. They followed his lead, flying off into the distance. It was an awesome sight. He was obviously going to go hunt his brother Orik.
My mouth fell open as I watched them fly in unison, like a flock of birds, but this was a flock of dragons. Their silver wings gleamed in the sunshine as they moved up and down, getting them higher and higher into the sky. It was a Drackon army and I had never seen one before. Chills ran up my arms and goose bumps appeared as I thought about the fact that I was now a possible target of this army, that they thought I was an enemy. They thought I was a spy for his brother Orik, and nothing could be farther from the truth.
I moved over to the bed and sat down with my arms crossing my chest. I was so damn angry. How dare he! Then the anger turned to sorrow. We had spent almost two days together, beautiful, blissful, love-at-first-sight days. Now, my heart was broken and there was nothing that I could do about it. Kasian had already made up his mind about me. I didn't know what was to be done. Everything hurt; even my body felt sore.
Then there was a tap at my door. I was surprised by it. I opened the door and saw that there was a tray of food and drinks on the hall table outside the door. I s
tepped out the door to see a guard posted at the top of the stairway, his back was too me. I wondered if they all thought I was some sort of ridiculous spy.
I grabbed the tray and took it into my room. There were two boiled eggs, toast with a small jar of strawberry preserves, a pot of coffee, and a salad of freshly picked greens. Obviously thrown together by one of the security. I wished that I could at least be in the kitchen. Cooking would get my mind off of things, but they would probably think I was trying to poison Kasian. I rolled my eyes at the thought and turned on the radio to some calming classical music. I ate the meager breakfast and then grabbed a book off the shelf. It was going to be a long day.
Hours later, Kasian still had not returned. I wondered if he was even on Earth anymore. What if he had gone back to Mooreah? I could not stand being in the room anymore. I opened the French door onto the balcony; the guards gave me a look. “I just need some fresh air,” I said. The guard nodded yes, but said nothing. I took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. I figured they would be more at ease if I weren’t on my feet. What did they think I was going to do? Jump over the rail?