"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 bouquets 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.”
She thought about what it would be like to be part of the dragons’ community. Krista had no complaints about her childhood or her family. She’d spent most of her adult life working and had her colleagues and a few friends. Her parents had retired to Arizona, and her brother lived in the Midwest with this family. Since she and Deacon broke up, she’d come to realize how lonely she truly felt. "It must be nice to have someone to rely on."
"It is. The crew of the House of Storms are like brothers to me. We have fought many battles together and have become as close as six men can be. Now that we are here on earth and are raising Hanish's son, we are truly a family.”
“I didn't meet the baby while I was there at the house."
"When Ragnar brought you, you were screaming. Ragnar is a good man, but he isn't known for his diplomacy. I sent instructions ahead to Hanish to give you some privacy in order to reduce your stress.”
"I feel bad now for screaming at Ragnar like that. I think he was really distraught by the time we made it to the mansion.”
> “Ragnar will be fine."
"I hope so, but Ragnar is more sensitive than he lets on." Krista thought about the big, soft-spoken warrior.
"You may be right about that."
"I'm sorry. This is supposed to be our date."
"I don't resent Ragnar and Yuki sharing your attention. We are all equally fated. Jealousy would be counterproductive.”
"I can't believe you're all being so mature about it."
"None of us ever expected to find a mate back on our home world. Being with you changes everything. It was a challenge at first, but we worked it out fairly quickly.”
When they were done with dinner, they ordered dessert. Krista thoroughly enjoyed the sweet chocolate confection she spooned into her mouth. Spending time with Akash was like being with someone she could see herself spending the rest of her life with—not that she was any less attracted to Yuki or Ragnar. They each had their own qualities.
Ragnar was intense and aggressive and tried so hard to be a gentleman. Yuki was fun and adventurous and made her feel young and free-spirited. Akash had a subtlety and thoughtfulness that she greatly admired. She couldn't believe she could have all three men and didn't have to choose. As much as she liked them all and wanted to believe everything they said was true, part of her simply couldn't fathom it. It was so fantastical and outside of her understanding of reality. She was going to need more time to process it all.
After dinner, Akash paid the bill, and they strolled on the deck outside the restaurant. They strolled all the way around, arm in arm, looking out at the nighttime skyline. The skyscrapers twinkled in the distance, and the boats bobbed up and down on the water. A chill breeze kissed her skin, and Akash put his arm around her shoulder. He pulled her close and brushed his lips over hers, his kiss tender and true. It was their first kiss, but the elation that flared inside her was definitely worth waiting for.
Chapter 14
Krista led Akash into her condo and went to the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of wine. She poured two glasses and handed one to him. He accepted it, watching her move gracefully through her home. He loved everything about her. He was so head over heels for this woman, he didn't even know who he had been before he’d met her. Whatever she needed, whatever she wanted, he would give it to her. If that meant she wanted one of the others, or none of them, he would accept it. She was beautiful, intelligent, and bold. Her pragmatism was so beyond sexy, he didn't know what to do with himself.
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