“When our sun began to die, it caused the birth rate of female dragons to dwindle. Right before the final cataclysm, there was only one female dragon left. The elders forbade us to leave, stating that we would be cursed for eternity if we did. The dragons with the courage to defy the elders left the planet right before the sun went dark.
“We searched across the galaxy and finally found Earth. At the time, the inhabitants of this planet were primitive but had promise. We seeded earth with the souls of our ancestors—our ancient dragon DNA—in hopes that, someday, Dragon Souls would be born on this world, capable of mating with us. When we awoke, we found Dragon Souls did indeed live among the humans. The four members of the House of Flames have already found their mates."
"What is a Dragon Soul?”
"A Dragon Soul is a human who has dragon DNA from the original seeding. We estimate that approximately point one percent of humans are Dragon Souls. But we have also concluded that the dragon seeding is partially responsible for human evolutionary development.”
"That is truly fascinating," Krista mused as the story began to make sense. She wasn't a philosopher or a student of anthropology, but she had often wondered where humans had evolved from. And now she felt she had an answer. "What about the vampires? Why are they here?”
"The scientists from the House of Flames have concluded that the vampires, left unchecked in our home system, would have devoured the other species living in that quadrant within a thousand years without dragon intervention. They then would have had to find a new home. Our current estimate is that the vampires arrived on Earth roughly ten thousand years ago. We don't know where they were between those times. And it's all really a hypothesis. But the vampires we knew back on Dragonia were physically stronger. But they now have stronger magic, which makes them so fast we are unable to make contact with them unless we have special buffers. However, their physical weakness has made it almost impossible for them to injure dragons.
"The awakened dragons have sworn to protect humanity from the vampires. Vampires feed on human blood, but they prefer the blood of Dragon Souls for the extra power it gives them."
"And how am I involved in all of this?"
"You are a Dragon Soul and the mate of Yuki, Ragnar, and me."
"What do you mean by mate?"
She understood most of the story and could accept that it could possibly be true. Crazy and strange, yes, but it made a lot of sense and explained many of the questions she'd already had about life.
"Dragons only have one special person they can mate with, someone who is perfectly suited for them in every way—much like what humans call a soul mate. But dragons are only genetically capable of reproducing viable young with a fated one, except for a prime, which is another story. We use what is called the mating analysis to confirm that two dragons are matched. It has been confirmed that you are the mate of the three of us, which is a rare occurrence.”
"I am supposedly perfect for you, Yuki, and Ragnar?" She wrinkled her eyebrows. "That's why you all wanted to date me and were all okay with it.”
"Exactly."
"What happens if I only choose one of you, since you can only mate with your fated one?"
"That is an issue." He leaned back in his chair and threaded his fingers together. He looked pensive and stayed silent for several moments.
"I need to know."
"If a dragon cannot claim his fated one, the mating impulse will slowly drive him mad, and eventually, his dragon will devour him from the inside out."
"So basically, if I don't choose all three of you, those I don't choose will die."
"That is correct, and I am sorry to have to tell you.”
"This is a lot to think about."
"I know it is. We had hoped to present you with this information in a more comfortable environment. But when the vampires attacked, we had no choice but to intervene. If they had taken you, it could have been fatal. We can't take any chances."
"These vampires want to drink my blood because I’m a Dragon Soul? I’ll never be safe again."
"At first, that was what we believed, but now we know that once a Dragon Soul is mated, their blood becomes poisonous to vampires."
"Well…that’s a consolation." Krista took a long drink of iced tea. "Why should I believe any of this? Maybe those shadow men were just more of your gang, and you're trying to trick me into some strange mating ritual. Maybe you want to suck my blood."
"These are reasonable suspicions. And frankly, I respect you for having them. I'm not sure how to put your mind at ease. There is no reason for you to believe we don’t have nefarious intentions. I only hope that in your dealings with us, you have come to know who we are as men and will rely on your intuition to guide you."
"That's fair enough," she said, his words ringing true in her mind. “I appreciate your candor, Akash, and if your story is true, I understand why you didn't tell me initially. Can I ask you one question though?"
"Absolutely." He leaned forward.
"Did you know I was your fated one before you hired me to find you a house?"
"No. We realized it when we met you the first time. Each of us felt the mating impulse, signaling you were our fated one.”
"You hired me, got a mating impulse, somehow got some of my DNA, and then ran an analysis?"
"That is correct. We used a strand of hair that Yuki found on the ground. I hope you don't mind. We had to confirm it. We all felt the drive to be with you the moment we met. For us, there was no other choice but to run the test."
"This is a lot to process. I would like to go home."
"Absolutely understandable. I will take you now."
"I’d like to drive if that's possible. The flight here is not something I want to repeat."
"Of course. I will drive you back to the city myself. But you must understand that we will continue to watch over you to protect you from vampires."
"Yeah, I get it."
"I assume our date is off for tonight?" He guided her toward the exit.
Krista let out a deep sigh and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He’d been so gracious and accommodating. She’d been scared witless when she’d arrived, but after speaking with Akash, she felt much more comfortable with everything.
Krista was a reasonable, well-educated, intelligent woman. She had her suspicions about these men and their story, but at the same time, she felt that Akash was telling the truth. In her time as a real estate broker, she had learned to use her gut instincts to read people, a necessity whenever anyone worked in sales. Her gut told her Akash was telling the truth. However, Krista decided she would reserve her judgment until a later date.
"I suppose our date could still be on." She followed him out to a Range Rover that sat in the driveway. He opened the door, and she climbed inside.
"Nice car."
"You like it? It's new." He gave her a happy grin.
Chapter 12
Akash dropped Krista off at home and went back to the hotel to get ready for their date. Yuki stood watch over Krista while Ragnar remained at the mansion, trying to convince Hanish and Zephyr to turn the observatory into a gym. As Akash dressed in his tailored gray suit and red tie, he thought about his conversation with Krista earlier that day.
She had taken his explanation about dragons and vampires better than he had anticipated. Krista was an intelligent woman, and her reasonable reaction to his story made him respect her even more. Yet he feared the possibility of ever truly being with her was further away than ever. Trying to remain hopeful, Akash bought a bouquet of red roses in the lobby of his hotel and made his way across the street to Krista's door. When she opened it, he found her dressed in a curve-hugging white dress cinched with a slender black belt.
"Good evening, Akash." She smiled, opening the door for him.
He offered her the flowers. Krista smiled as she accepted the fragrant red blooms and invited Akash inside while she put them in water. Placing the vase on the table beside two other bouq
uets he assumed were from Yuki and Ragnar, she admired her collection.
"What is it like for you having three suitors?"
"The better question would be, what is it like having three alien suitors?" she said with an ironic laugh.
"I suppose that is the better question," he said as Krista grabbed her things. They left her condo and slipped into the elevator just before the doors shut.
"I'm getting used to the idea. For a while today, I thought maybe I was hallucinating all of it, but then I convinced myself that it’s real and perfectly explainable. I still don't know how much I trust any of you, but I’m remaining open minded.”
"That’s a pragmatic attitude."
"I'm nothing if not pragmatic." The elevator doors swung open on the ground floor. They strolled through the lobby of her building and climbed into the Range Rover parked on the sidewalk outside.
"I'm taking you to an exhibition at the museum. It's opening night."
Once they arrived at the museum, they entered the Human Evolution exhibition, which featured a collection of prehistoric artifacts and ancient humanoid bones.
They walked through the exhibition, observing humankind’s evolutionary process.
"Are any of these creatures the ones you encountered when you first arrived on this planet?"
"These earliest specimens are similar. In fact, observe this illustration.” He pointed to a small, furry creature walking on two legs. "This species is almost identical to what we observed on Earth a million years ago.”
"And then the evolution branches. Do you believe it was because of the seeding?"
"Our scientists and computers have hypothesized that the Dragon Soul seeding did create an evolutionary branch for humans."
"In effect, dragons are our true creators then?" She gave him a pointed look.
"Possibly, in a very indirect way."
They continued through the gallery, observing the evolution of human ancestry through the later Paleolithic Period, when tools became more similar to what modern indigenous cultures used today.
"If you’d never seeded the planet, maybe none of us would even exist.”
“We had no idea if the seeding would work or not. Our scientists ran many simulations before the seeding. We hoped it would work, but we were prepared for failure.”
"Don't dragons have policies of noninterference? I think I saw that on Star Trek."
"What is Star Trek?"
"It's a TV show. Anyway, one of their prime directives was noninterference with native life. Seeding our planet would go against that."
"We didn't see it as interference. We saw it as an evolutionary nudge. For genetic engineering, it was extremely hands off. We slept for a million years, hoping the seeding would work. And we had decided that if the seeding failed, we would emerge from our stasis pods and try to go on with our remaining population. There were a few girls born to the dragoness prime. That might have been enough to carry on our species, especially in a new star system with a young sun."
Krista's expression changed from questioning to pensive. She gazed at him sympathetically and touched his arm.
"It must have been really hard to watch your home planet die.”
"It was quite heart-wrenching, but the dragons who were willing to defy the elders and leave took a stand for our kind. My prince, Captain Hanish, was one of them, and I am grateful every day that he was willing to stand against the elders and their superstitious nonsense."
"Are you glad that you made that choice?"
"I’ve had my doubts. We searched for months for a new home. And when we found Earth, it was so primitive. We could have lived here, carrying on our society, but we chose to go into stasis instead. The possibility that Dragon Souls would be born here would make our race much stronger. It was a chance that the vast majority of us were willing to take. We had already lost so much. We hadn’t projected such a lengthy stasis, but now that we are awake, it seems as if things are working out."
"How many have awakened so far?"
"Only the House of Storms and House of Flames. Our AIs awakened us when the souls of our mates were living on this planet and our presence was most needed. It was disturbing to find the vampires here after all this time, but fate has a way of bringing us both the good and the bad."
They walked around the corner to the early civilization section of the exhibition and observed the clay pots and baskets from ancient Egypt.
"This is about the time when the vampires arrived?" Krista asked.
"That is our running theory. They would have seemed like gods to early humans. Somehow, they began to lose their power. Eventually, they diminished and had to live as humans. But that is all just conjecture. We cannot know for sure, and we haven't had many discussions with the vampires about the subject."
"What is your relationship with the vampires now?"
"We are at war, but it is a covert war. That is the one thing we seem to agree on: keep our existence secret from the humans."
"Why do vampires want to keep their existence secret?"
"My guess is that they have fewer numbers and less strength than they would like to let on. Humans knowing about them would be a threat to their existence. They have to operate covertly, taking their food here and there. I suspect the majority of unresolved missing persons cases are caused by vampires. I have heard many stories from the House of Flames about their voracious appetites and their relentless pursuit of Dragon Souls."
They came to the end of the exhibition. Krista had a faraway look in her eyes that he couldn't read. He was concerned about her, knowing all of this would be difficult to process.
"I have dinner plans at the top of the Space Needle. It's supposed to be quite an experience." He guided her out of the museum, moving toward the parking lot where he'd left the car.
"Oh, how fun. I haven't been up there in years.”
Akash could tell that Krista was troubled by the history lesson. He knew enough about humans to recognize that she had no basis for understanding other than fictional stories from television, movies, and books. Krista had no actual experience with anything outside the mundane history she’d been taught, but she seemed to take it all in stride.
His inner dragon growled and grumbled for his mate, but Akash was more concerned about her well-being than his own. If she walked away from all of them, he was willing to allow his dragon to consume him. Life was not worth living without her. He had come across time and space to find her, and just knowing her for this brief time would be enough.
He’d only ever had a slim hope of meeting his mate, and she was better than he ever could have imagined. He longed to kiss her, to hold her, to make love to her in so many ways. But if that never happened, he would be satisfied, even if his raging inner dragon would not.
Chapter 13
Krista couldn't help having a lovely time with Akash. He was gracious and gentlemanly and had spent most of the evening continuing his explanation about this new world of dragons, Dragon Souls, and vampires she’d stepped into. She appreciated his candor and his empathy toward her. She also understood her true relationship with him and the others. If she chose not to be with them, it could mean their death.
She had already grown to care for them all and would hate to be the reason they lost their minds and their lives. It was a gruesome possibility that Krista had a hard time fully comprehending. She trusted her intuition and had ceased to believe they were lying to her. These men weren't liars. They had no real reason to be.
Krista and Akash took the elevator up to the elegant, five-star restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. The entire restaurant revolved slowly, allowing for diners to view three hundred and sixty degrees of the Seattle skyline. They were seated at a table by the window, and Akash ordered a bottle of vintage merlot.
"A girl could get used to all this pampering."
She sipped her wine and watched Akash across the table as the twinkling lights revolved behind him. His handsome face was open and warm, and she
felt a flush of affection for him. He asked her questions about her life, her business, and her childhood. She told him the stories of her past, how she’d chosen to go into real estate by chance but had ended up loving it. About the time she’d fallen off her bike and broken her arm going over a rickety jump she’d constructed with the neighbor kids when she was ten—how her parents and brother had all moved away, and she no longer had family in the area.
They ordered Northwest delicacies and continued chatting as they waited for their meals to arrive.
"What would I do with myself if we became mates? You all need to carry on your race. Would you want me barefoot and pregnant at home?"
"That would be entirely up to you. Once we are mated, you will have greater control over your physiology, and if you choose to become pregnant, you can. You can also choose not to become pregnant.”
"That sounds like the best birth control method ever." Krista laughed.
"The others seem to agree."
"You wouldn't be in a big hurry to knock me up?" She took another sip of wine.
"We all definitely want children. But once you become mated, you will become stronger, more resilient, and have a longer life. You’ll have more time, physiologically, for such things.”
"I can wait until I’m fifty to have babies?" She grew even more interested in the prospect.
"I can't give you exact numbers, but potentially, yes."
"This just becomes more and more interesting."
"We already have the first dragonkin to be conceived on Earth on the way. The prince of the House of Flames was the first to be mated, and his mate is now carrying their daughter. Everly's baby will be due in a few months, and we are all extremely excited for her arrival.”
“It sounds like you’re all very close.”
"We are more so now than we were. The houses used to stick to themselves. But being on a new planet, we need to form a strong community. The House of Flames has been invaluable in helping us settle in. We’ve learned a tremendous amount from them.”
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