Billionaire Protector

by Kyanna Skye

  “I am sorry I frightened you before,” he said. “It was not my intention.”

  “You speak English?” Rayna asked.

  “Not exactly,” he replied. “I can communicate in a way that allows you to hear my language in your native tongue. And I hear yours the same way. My name is Kirin. What are you called?”

  “Rayna,” she said.

  “Nice to meet you, Rayna,” he said. His smile slowed her heartbeat to a thump.

  Rayna smiled back. She tried with all her might not to let her eyes stray downward to his manhood. While she wasn’t entirely successful in the effort, she hoped she at least was not obvious about it.

  Dr. Edwards showed her where she could get the supplies she needed for a blood draw. “I forgot to mention since he’s new we’ll also need to get a cheek swab for a DNA analysis.”

  Rayna listened carefully to his instructions. Once she had everything that she needed, he keyed in another code which let her into the enclosure with Kirin.

  “I won’t hurt you,” Kirin said gently. He looked into her eyes, and she was actually inclined to believe him. She felt a wave of calm flow over her. She knew he was influencing her somehow, but she couldn’t help it. At least, for now, his influence wasn’t interfering with her job. Who knew what this alien dragon was capable of? She worried that he might want to lull her into a sense of false security, only to do something that harmed her.

  “Let’s do the swab first,” she said. He opened his mouth and let her take the swab. He followed her every order, never taking those beautiful eyes off of her. She found herself daydreaming about those sensual lips on hers, his powerful arms wrapped around her. Her hands shook as she took the blood sample but she managed it anyway. She was relieved to see that his blood was actually red, even though she was sure it was composed of different stuff than human blood. It was very thick. She would have found it somehow more upsetting if his blood was green or blue, some other color she didn’t associate with life.

  “I was infuriated when I saw you before,” he whispered. “I have been separated from my men, my people. I don’t know what’s happened to them.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rayna said. “I didn’t know, but I can only imagine how upsetting that was.” She made a mental note to herself to be as kind as possible. Obviously, upset brought out the primal side of his nature. It wasn’t productive for either of them for him to be angry.

  Kirin smiled, seeming to understand her train of thought. “Thank you for the empathy,” he said. “It appears to be lacking here.”

  After she was done with Kirin, Poe was next. Rayna realized she felt better to those she could speak with. She could talk herself into believing Poe was actually a man in an ape suit, and she could even tell herself the beautiful dragon would not hurt her. The gelatinous goo (Mimi) and the octopus creature (Johnny) bothered her more. In fact, Johnny was the most difficult. He floated in the opposite direction whenever her hand came near him in the tank. By the time she got her sample from him, she was sweating.

  “Good job,” Dr. Edwards said when they were done. “Just so you know, your boss will be Dr. Sidell. I won’t mention today’s bit of confusion to him, but he’s very exacting. Mind your P’s and Q’s, because he would not have tolerated what happened. But this is a job like any other, I understand you have to learn. When you do samples tomorrow there may be added protocols, so make sure to check your email before you come in. Mind yourself around all of them. Especially our young dragon because he hasn’t been here long enough for us to know his behaviors yet.”

  It was a stressful day. Rayna showered as soon as she got home, put on pajamas and climbed into bed. The sun was still out, but she didn’t care. She was frazzled and worried about what the coming days and weeks held for her. She’d left home thinking she was starting work at a relatively normal job. Now, barely eight hours later, she was coming to grips with the realization that not only were humans not alone in the universe—but the cosmos was peopled with all kinds of sentient beings, with all kinds of powers…

  Even as she drifted to sleep, she thought of the beautiful Kirin, and how he captivated her. She could not understand the strange attraction she had to him. She only knew the way he looked at her created a surge of warmth beneath her skin. And though she knew the power of the dragon he could become, she wanted to know the man.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning, Rayna took Dr. Edward’s advice and logged into her work computer to find several long, detailed emails from her new boss, Dr. Sidell. She was surprised he was expecting her to take and prepare all the samples on her own, without anyone watching. She would have hoped someone would be in the room with her until she became more comfortable with the procedure. But that was not the case. To make the entire thing more challenging, there was an added list of procedures to be done on Kirin. The only explanation Sidell gave for this was Kirin’s profile was “limited” and they needed to gather further “pertinent information.”

  Rayna took this to mean they had never studied a being like Kirin before, and they needed him poked and prodded as much as possible in order to try and figure out what his species’ version of DNA looked like. Brilliant.

  She scribbled the long list of requested tests onto a notepad and sighed. It took nearly twenty minutes to procure the items she needed from the supply cabinet. Once she was done there, Rayna keyed herself into the room where Kirin was being kept.

  “Hello,” he said.

  The man was standing there, back against the wall, arms crossed, still naked. And though he didn’t seem to mind, it would have helped her concentration immensely if he had a pair of shorts like Poe’s. Seriously, she wouldn’t mind a shirt either. Maybe it would be worth it to buy him some herself. “If I brought you some clothes, would you wear them?”

  He cocked his head in her direction, seeming to listen to something more than the handful of words which were spoken. “On my home world, the climate is generally warm, and we don’t feel the need for clothing, except for certain occasions. It gets ruined when we phase into our other form. But since it’s local custom, and more so, to make sure you’re comfortable, I wouldn’t mind it. I was wearing clothes when they captured me. I assume they were destroyed.”

  “You read minds,” Rayna said.

  “When it suits me,” Kirin’s amber eyes sparkled.

  “Clever,” Rayna replied. She couldn’t help but smile.

  What was worse, she wasn’t sure; letting her eyes roam his body or looking into those eyes, which made her body go still while her heart beat frantically. She was sure that when the ancient Greeks chiseled their statues, this man would have been the prototype for their gods. Knowing he could hear her inappropriate thoughts didn’t help her cause. She blushed, and he smiled knowingly. I must be stroking his ego right about now.

  Either way, she wasn't productive by just standing there, staring. She rolled a tray with wheels into his space so she could lay out all the objects the samples she needed to take.

  “I’m afraid they want me to do a battery of tests, different than the ones I performed yesterday. Some of these will hurt.”

  “We should get it over then,” he said.

  Rayna thought it best to get the easier of the testing done first. Two more cheek swabs were requested, along with more blood. She had to clip a bit of his hair as a sample.

  “I’m surprised they don’t ask you to take these samples after I have phased into my dragon,” Kirin said. “Might be interesting to see you remove a scale or two.”

  Rayna raised an eyebrow. “Please don’t give them any ideas.”

  He chuckled.

  “You find me amusing?” she asked.

  “Yes and no.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “I find you intriguing,” he said softly.

  Rather than get into what that meant, Rayna tried to focus. He was distracting enough without being charming on top of it. She feared he was amused by her inner thoughts, which was all about
how hot he was. She had no control over it. She blushed.

  “These next few are going to hurt,” Rayna said.

  He only nodded this time. Dr. Sidell wanted skin samples, and these were not the regular. She was instructed to actually cut a bit of skin away. She decided to take the skin from his back.

  He groaned when she cut him the first time. He bit down on his lip. She also took skin samples from his arm and leg.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. She found herself patting his shoulder to comfort him.

  “It’s not your fault,” he grimaced. “But your superiors and all of the people in this place are going to be sorry when my people get here.”

  Rayna took a step back from him, placing his sample into a vial. “What do you mean?”

  “My unit and I were sent here on a mission, to find a new planet to live on. Our own was destroyed when our sun imploded. We set out across the universe to find similar planets. And we found yours. The plan was to locate a few specific regions on the planet where we could make settlements, and live in secret. Earth is very similar in climate. There aren’t many which would support us, at least not without traveling many more light years. We didn’t want to interfere with your people. There are groups of us here scattered around the world. In a few weeks’ time, the rest will come down on our ships. If they don’t find us free and safe, they will fight to extricate us. There will be carnage. At this point, I don’t even know where my unit is, or if my men are still alive.”

  Rayna didn’t know what to say. “You can’t hear them, wherever they are?” she asked.

  “Not if they’re far from me,” Kirin replied. “They’re not in this building. That much I know. I wouldn’t begin to know where to look for them.”

  Rayna felt sorry for him. But what could she do? She had barely even started working at this job, she couldn’t concern herself with trying to help him. The best she could do was keep her head down and do her work. If an opportunity presented itself, maybe she would consider appealing to someone else. Except for the first time she met him, Kirin had controlled himself. Maybe he and his people deserved a chance to find somewhere safe to live on Earth.

  She couldn’t imagine the government allowing dragons to live freely without some kind of process to make sure they didn’t endanger humans. And though Kirin seemed calm and surprisingly gentle, she didn’t know what his other people were like. What if they weren’t all to be trusted?

  Rayna packed up her equipment and left him, somehow feeling sadder than before she saw him. His amber eyes lit upon her, and though he was no doubt missing those he left behind, he attempted a smile for her.

  Chapter 5

  The first week of Rayna’s job was bad enough, but the second was far worse.

  Rayna got called into the office by her father. She was hoping he just wanted to chat and catch up with her. The moment she saw his serious expression she knew it was all business.

  “Close the door behind you, and have a seat,” he said.

  Rayna did as she was told. “What’s wrong?”

  “Dr. Sidell is very unhappy. I just got off the phone with him after a very long and unpleasant conversation.”

  “Does he ever meet with anyone in person? I have yet to see him. I wouldn’t know who he is if I bumped into him in the hallway.”

  “Well you might not if things continue this way,” he snapped. “Are you unclear about the channels I had to go through to get you this position?”

  Rayna shook her head. “You’ve made it abundantly clear, Dad. What’s the problem?”

  Ashton sighed at her. “Rayna. He’s saying that after reviewing the samples you took last week, all of them need to be redone. He told me you’re so bad he can’t fathom how you graduated.”

  “What’s he comparing the samples to? That’s the question I’d like answered. These are extra-terrestrial beings. Nothing we get from them is going to chart in the range of what we consider normal. And you’re the CEO so don’t pretend like this is information you’re shocked to hear from me.”

  Rayna didn’t usually stand up to her father, but she was just too angry not to. Her father had been the one who encouraged her to go into science so she could work for the company one day. Now that she had made it through school she refused to be talked down to. When he stared at her in surprise, Rayna continued.

  “If anything, the company has put me in a position working with some dangerous species. I can handle myself, but a little slack on my first week doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.”

  “Be that as it may, even a CEO has to answer to a board,” he snapped. “The last thing I need is my daughter making me look bad in front of people I admire.”

  “Oh, you mean because you admire them, but you don’t respect my opinion? If Dr. Sidell is upset about my performance then maybe he could have spent a moment to at least meet me and make sure I understand exactly what his preferred protocols are.”

  “Dr. Sidell has other responsibilities. He doesn’t have time to babysit you! If you don’t show marked improvement by the end of the week, then you’ll have to leave the company. That includes re-doing the samples from last week and staying on top of those ordered for this week.”

  ***

  After the unpleasant meeting with her father, the next business for the day was to go over the old lab results and see that Dr. Sidell was upset about. There were a couple which came back with skewed levels for Poe, but the ones for Kirin were a total loss. She was surprised to find that Johnny and Mimi’s results were fine. No one told her that. If she hadn’t double checked she’d have ended up doing their tests again too.

  Rayna’s theory was that Poe’s results were being tested against a regular earth primate and a pattern of his own old tests. The ape-like creature’s records went back seven years. So what were Kirin’s results compared to? Was there was another dragon in Dynamic Tech’s keeping? She didn’t have the kind of clearance she would need to find out but it was food for thought.

  Rayna didn’t have time to mull over that mystery. There was other work to be done. Working late into the evening, she decided to take Poe’s samples first, and then go in to see Kirin. As much as she looked forward to seeing him, she felt bad because she needed to extract another painful skin sample. She decided it was best to delay his discomfort.

  She had a hard time remembering that Poe was indeed an ape and not a man in a suit. He asked how she was and commented that she looked tired. Noticing this demanded an amount of emotional intelligence she would not have expected from the primate. After she took what she needed from him, she closed the door and paid attention to checking off items on her chart.

  Rayna felt a whoosh of movement from behind. She was almost on her tenth hour of work, and she hadn’t taken a break. If she had been thinking straight, she would have realized what she’d just done; she closed the door on Poe’s cage but had forgotten to secure the lock.

  Rayna was pushed to the ground. She fell face down. Poe grabbed her by the ponytail and smashed her face against the floor. She tried to crawl away, but he pulled her backward and turned her on her back. She clawed at his face but it did no good. His hands were at her throat, strangling her. Looking towards the ceiling, she felt her body grow numb. She stopped struggling against him. She couldn’t breathe anymore, and everything was going blurry. This is not good, she thought, trying to summon up the energy to fight back. Her arms went slack and fell to her sides with a thump.

  There was a booming noise that shook the entire building. Rayna thought of an earthquake, but the movement wasn’t beneath them. It was coming from the opposite wall. Poe looked over his shoulder. He cussed. If she had any air left in her lungs, she would have laughed. One of her predecessors at the lab had taught him to swear along with his obsessive memorization of his namesake’s works.

  This is how it ends, Rayna thought as her vision began to shrink. As she slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing she was aware of was a rattling noise and the feeling of heat.
<
br />   Chapter 6

  Rayna woke to the blaring of alarms. She was lying on the floor. Coughing, she rolled onto her side. She put a hand to her throat, which still burned. She bled from a gash above her right eyebrow. She had to move slowly because she was nauseous. She tried to sit up and found that for the moment it was no use. The room was filled with smoke.

  She saw a pair of bare feet approaching her through the gloom.

  “Rayna, don’t get up yet,” Kirin said. “I shouldn’t have moved you in the first place, but I had no choice,” he bent near her. He dabbed at her forehead with bandages retrieved from her cart. It was a few feet away, overturned. Tears came to her eyes when she realized all the samples she had taken were very likely destroyed.

  Not far from the cart was a burned, smoldering heap in the form of a body. Then she remembered. Poe had tried to kill her. The smoking mess of cinder was all that remained of him.

  “You saved me!” Rayna turned to Kirin. “How did you get out of your cage?”

  “I could have gotten out anytime I wanted,” he replied. “But it’s a question of how many people I’d have to kill to leave this place. I heard you were in trouble, and I came. I only wish I had known sooner what he was planning to do. Poe’s brainwaves are not the same as a human’s, or those of my race. I couldn’t read him, but I heard you cry out the moment he hit you.”

  Rayna saw the concern in his eyes. He bent over her, wiping her blood away. Through the smoke, she could only see half his body. She was still aware of his nudity, his closeness, and the quickening of her pulse. She was so embarrassed to know he could hear her thoughts and she still couldn’t stop the flow of them. “Thank you for helping me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.