by Selena Kitt
“I can’t believe this,” she said, wiping her mouth. She took a long drink of water, and a deep breath. “Wow. I was so hungry. You can’t imagine how long it’s been since I had a good meal. We live out of the convenience store most of the time. I’m talking about M&Ms for breakfast, twinkies for lunch, that kind of thing.”
“Hmm, I believe I understand.”
“Thanks for this,” she said. “And, the clothes.”
“Do not mention it, beloved. Now, tell me about yourself, Lexi Garcia. I want to know all there is to know about my fated mate!”
She shook her head at the fated mate thing, and made a dismissive sound under her breath. “Well,” she said. “I grew up in south city Seattle. My Mom was a nurse and my Dad was an HVAC installer. My Mom died of cancer the year before the Draconians came. My Dad had been out of work for a while already, when my Mom was sick. Things were tough. I worked really hard in school and got a scholarship. My Dad took out some loans for new Draconian computers that would allow him to work as a data miner in the dark Internet. Then, he started taking these new Draconian drugs that allowed him to tap into the computers more, and stay hyper focused. His debts grew, and then this mafia asshole named Mario Rici started threatening the family. He’s got a thing for my little sister. She’s a real beauty—super sweet and sensitive. He wanted to take her away. So anyway, I decided to leave school to pay the debts. My Dad had other ideas, and that’s how I ended up here.” There, it’s all out now.
“What a minute, where are these drugs coming from?”
“I don’t know. It’s all underground, illegal shit. The mafia runs it. I think my Dad’s job is even illegal. It’s a total mess.”
“That isn’t right. We never approved such technologies for the human populace.”
“Whether you approved it or not, it’s there. The world has gone to hell since you arrived. Haven’t you noticed?” She couldn’t believe that his incredibly intelligent alien race couldn’t see what was happening right in front of them.
“It isn’t within our mission to oversee the human populace.”
Nash looked downcast. Her world was changing too fast. It was falling apart. People couldn’t handle it. There was too much corruption. The Draconian invasion had become a nightmare.
“It was never our intention for that to happen. We didn’t know the civilization had progressed so quickly. It is uncommon for a people to change so fast. When we were here five thousand years ago, you were far different. We were Gods to you, then. Females came to us willingly, and in great numbers. We hadn’t expected to give the humans new technology. It was part of a last ditch effort to avoid nuclear war and the loss of your gene pool, to propagate our race.”
“I get it,” Lexi said, putting her palm up in front of her and shrugging. “But, you have a responsibility to us now. You can’t just have our genes and have no further interest. What about the next time you come back? What if we end up blowing ourselves up because you interfered?”
“This concerns me a great deal. The illegal technology concerns me even more. The government back on Draconia must be notified about this immediately.”
He hit the table with his fist and stood. Lexi blinked up at him. She hadn’t expected him to be so angry about it. He seemed determined to do something.
“You should do that,” she said, eyeing a piece of chocolate cake. She scooped it onto a clean plate and took a bite. “This is really good,” she said, pointing at it with her fork.
After she’d eaten about five bites, she stopped and leaned back in her chair, gazing at Nash.
“Do you think it’s going to help get men like Mario off the streets?”
“I can only hope.”
Chapter Seven
Nash gazed down at his cute little bride as she continued to shove chocolate cake in her mouth. Everything about her was absolutely adorable, but he wished that things were moving more quickly between them. She still seemed resistant to accept him as her mate. This sort of thing had happened before in the fleet. The families of the girls, desperate for money, would pressure them into signing up. Usually though, the girl would be impressed with the lifestyle the Draconians were able to provide for them, and quickly submitted.
Nash, on the other hand, had a bride who seemed determined to resist him with every fiber of her being. It concerned him. But, he knew that eventually she would come around. He could see the pheromones in his semen already taking effect on her. With his dragon raging in his brain to mate, it couldn’t happen fast enough. He had to find a way to earn her trust.
First, he had to contact the government back on Draconia and tell them what his bride had revealed—there were unauthorized technologies in human hands.
If the Draconians came back in five thousand years, and their influence had brought about the destruction of the human race, it would be bad for everyone, including the Draconians.
He smiled at his bride and headed toward the door.
“Beloved bride. I must leave you now, briefly, to attend to these matters we have discussed. The government of Draconia must be informed that illegal technologies have leaked to the humans from this armada.” She looked up at him with searching eyes, as if she was heartily surprised by his concern for her race. His bride was highly intelligent—he could see that about her already, and he appreciated that his woman would have such a mind.
“To tell you the truth, it surprises me that you care so much,” Lexi said. “I didn’t think that you Draconians gave a crap about humanity. I thought that you were just here to take our women.”
“Well, we do want your women,” Nash said with a grin. His bride rolled her eyes and went back to eating.
“Farewell for now, beloved. I will be back to escort you in a tour of the ship before the end of the day. If you need anything, please contact me through the Com system, and I will pay attention to your needs with all haste.”
“Will do,” she said, scooping up a piece of pie. Nash tilted his head at her and made his exit through the sliding front door of their chambers, headed out into the hallway.
Stepping onto the command deck, his men rose and bowed their heads to him. Nash quickly ran through the status updates for the rest of the ships, asking questions of his officers as they gave their reports. Nash had to uncover where the technology leak was coming from. But, this with a delicate situation.
When they were done going through the reports, Nash left the command deck and went to his private communications chamber to call his government contact back on Draconia.
He sat in his communication chair and flipped through the holograms until he saw his government contact.
“Greetings, Vice Chancellor Zorron,” Nash said as the image of the stately, older Draconian came onto the screen. He was dressed in an intricately embroidered green taffeta robe that highlighted his green skin.
“What news have you from the mating armada?” the Vice Chancellor asked.
“I regret to inform you, Vice Chancellor, that we have unforeseen difficulties regarding the humans. There seems be some kind of technology leak—the humans have access to technology we never approved for their use. These technologies have entered their black markets, and are causing crime to escalate.”
“It is not our responsibility to oversee their society,” the Vice Chancellor said.
“Yes, I understand that. But, if we allow these technologies to destroy the human society, the next time we come back to Earth to use human DNA, there may not be a human race left. It would be a great tragedy if the technologies we provided them destroyed their species. That was the entire reason we chose to give them technology in the first place.”
“Yes, it was. I understand your concern. I will bring this information to the President, and will contact you again with an advised course of action.”
“Thank you, Vice Chancellor. I await our next communication.”
The image of the Vice Chancellor blipped off of the screen and Nash was left sitting in his chair, staring
at the blank space. He had hoped for more direct support from the Vice Chancellor. But, his reaction was as good as Nash could have expected. The Draconians resisted direct social involvement with the cultures with whom they bred.
With the wars back at home, they couldn’t extend any further resources. The mating armada was not equipped with an extensive armory. Its purpose was mostly the housing of Draconian brides, and the resulting children, in the years that the armada would be stationed in orbit around Earth. The crew of the fleet had little experience in diplomacy, or statesmanship—the fleet was populated by the males best suited for breeding the next generation of Draconians. Nash was the Commander of an army of husbands and fathers.
Half were warriors who would leave with their brides back to Draconia as soon as they were mated, to be replaced with another set of warriors. The other half was Draconians from every other level of society—technicians, healers, engineers, and builders.
The Draconians one purpose on Earth was to find women to breed, not to create a human utopia. Nash had hoped for better news for Lexi, more definitive action on the part of his government.
In the meantime, he would begin his own investigation into the leaked technology originating from his fleet. The idea that one of his men had betrayed the entire armada made anger boil in his gut.
He began looking through his starship logs, checking the comings and goings and communications systems used by each member of the fleet.
At first glance, absolutely nothing looked suspicious. But then, he found some irregular communications logs and transport coming from the waste-management ship. There seemed to be one cargo transport per week coming from the waste management ship, and going to Earth. Why would a transport from waste management go to Earth?
Chapter Eight
After Nash left Lexi alone in the apartment, she spent the time using a shipboard computer to access the regular Internet, and catch up with her friends back at school. She wished more than anything that she could complete her education. She had to shut the feeling deep down inside of her, otherwise it would eat her up and make it impossible for her to carry on.
About an hour later, Nash returned to the apartment looking sexier than ever. Lexi growled at herself for feeling so attracted to him.
When he found out she didn’t want to be there, he should have just let her go. That wasn’t something that she could easily forget. Even if he did look unbelievably hot in that skintight uniform. Even if he did make her wet every time his glowing yellow eyes focused on her curves.
“I would like to take you on a tour of the ship,” Nash said, coming to stand in front of her. She glanced up at him from where she sat on the couch, facing the TV.
With the way that he made her feel every time he was around, she was seriously considering letting him do things to her that she never would have considered before.
“That sounds great. I was getting bored sitting around here.” Liar.
“I wanted to show you something special today. I believe this will make you happy, and fill you with satisfaction. It is my greatest hope—it is my greatest pleasure to bring you pleasure,” he said with a shy smile on his face, and her stomach flip-flopped.
They went out into the hallway and into a small room that reminded her of the vessel that had brought her there. They sat down, were strapped into chairs, and were quickly propelled out into space.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
It only took a few moments before the vessel docked, and the doors slid open to a transport bay. Other transport vessels were docked and there was a great deal of activity, and comings and goings.
“This is our research vessel,” Nash said. “Many of the Draconian males aboard the armada are scientists. We maintain this vessel so that they may continue their work. I would like to show you our laboratories.”
“You have laboratories on your ships?”
“Indeed, we do. I believe that you could learn a great deal here, and perhaps even find occupation.”
“I don’t know anything about Draconian science,” she said, following him through the transport deck.
“It is my understanding that science is science,” he said, looking down at her with a spark in his eye.
“That’s true,” she conceded.
They found their way to the hallway of the science ship, and stopped at the laboratories, visiting each one in turn. They clearly were not human laboratories, and had very little resemblance to anything she recognized from her university.
However, the fact that there was scientific research happening on board the fleet gave her a tremendous amount of hope. Maybe she could learn something from the Draconians. With a little bit of effort, she could become a Draconian scientist in her own right.
Nash had said that they would be orbiting Earth for another decade. In that time, she was sure she could learn a great deal from the Draconians, and possibly even achieve the kinds of advancements she had always dreamed of—finding a cure for cancer, finding a way to protect the environment, feeding the poor.
When they arrived at the chemistry lab, the main technician took her on a tour and explained how everything worked. He knew enough about human science to converse with her in a way that she understood. Draconian chemistry was far beyond anything Lexi could’ve ever imagined, but that only excited her more.
Chapter Nine
By the time they arrived back at their apartment, Lexi couldn’t help but think about her family back at home. She was worried about them, especially Melody.
“Has the dowry been distributed to my family yet?” she asked Nash as they sat down at their dining table for an evening meal. The table was set with another feast, not quite as extensive as the first. But still, it was an impressive spread.
“They should have,” he said, dishing food onto his plate.
He poured Lexi a glass of wine, which she sipped between bites of the finest French cuisine. Her senses could barely believe how delicious it tasted.
“I’m really worried about my family,” she said, her voice shaking. There was no telling what Mario would do even if he received the money.
“Tell me more about this man who threatened your family,” he said, looking her directly in the eye.
“His name is Mario Rici. He used to be a smalltime gangster in Seattle, but now he is the leader of a new techno-mafia that keeps the entire neighborhood in fear.”
“I’ve spoken with my government contact back on Draconia, and he says he’ll bring the matter to the President. In the meantime, I’m investigating the matter.”
“Have you found anything?” she asked.
“I believe I have. I’ve seen some suspicious activity happening with the waste management ship.”
“Waste management ship? How could waste management be connected to illegal computer technology and addictive smart drugs?
“I intend to look into it right after dinner.”
“Why didn’t you look into it already?” she asked.
“My primary concern was spending time with you. I wanted to show you the laboratories. I understand that you are a student. I wanted you to know that you can still study—your education is of great importance. I want you to be happy, my beloved bride. Knowing that you are happy fills my heart with joy.” Why does he have to say such sweet things?
“I’d be happy if I knew that my family was safe.” She wasn’t going to forget about them just because she was living a life of luxury with her ‘mate’.
“Indeed, I understand.”
“I’d like to go see them, check on them.”
“It is against regulation for the bride to leave the ship until the complete claiming has taken place.”
“Complete claiming? What the heck does that even mean?” She leaned back in her chair and stared at him with exasperation and confusion.
“I must plant my seed inside you, fill you with my scent and bite your neck, filling you with my venom. The venom gives you a long lif
e. This is the only way that you will be truly mine. This will bond us together forever. It will also ease the roar of my dragon, who even now rages at the borders of my mind. Until we have become as one, you cannot leave the ship. It is our protocol.”
“So, to see my family again, I have to let you put that huge thing inside me, and bite me with venom?” Lexi could feel the fear bubbling in her chest. She knew eventually she was going to have to let him do it, but that didn’t make the prospect any less frightening. But, if she was honest with herself, the fear inside warred equally with lust and desire, and that scared her more than the idea of the mating ritual.
“We could do it now, if you would like,” he said matter-of-factly.