Billionaire Protector

by Kyanna Skye

  “Thanks Mimi, I’ll try not to frown at you,” Rayna said. She placed her palm against the glass.

  Mimi shook, making a sound. Rayna had been told this was the creature’s pleasurable response; akin to a cat’s purr when it was pleased. The sound was a gentle sloshing as Mimi moved along the glass. Rayna hoped that was true, and not some sort of fear response. She didn’t think so. But lately, she was questioning many things she might not have taken the time to notice before.

  Johnny gave her the usual trouble, scooting frantically around his tank to avoid her before she caught him. She had grown so accustomed to it that it didn’t bother her anymore. She was able to get what she needed from him with very little effort.

  This left her with three hours to fill before her lunch break. She went back to her office to kill time. After entering her latest test results, she looked around the company website, trying to find tidbits of information about the other Dynamic Tech locations. The four closest ones to her office were each about a hundred miles from each other. It was far away enough for Kirin not to sense his men, but only a few hours’ drive in either direction.

  At 11:30, Rayna couldn’t stand the waiting any longer. She clocked out for lunch and got into her car.

  Traffic heading across town was thick. It took almost thirty minutes before she was able to exit the freeway. All things considered, it didn’t take as long she feared it would. She had been taking long lunch breaks for the last couple of weeks or so, which she more than made up for by staying late. Since this was her usual pattern, she could only hope no one would think it was odd for her to be away from the office. It was a risk she had to take.

  Crowded surface streets soon gave way to the tree-lined avenues of the suburbs. Rayna swallowed over a lump in her throat. She hadn’t been here in a long while. The sight of the white house with its red roof and shutters always elicited sadness. She parked a few houses down the block. She looked over her shoulder and didn’t notice anyone paying attention to her movements. Unless her father had recently changed the locks, her key should still work.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when her key opened the door. This was the house she grew up in but she still felt like an intruder. She went directly to the back of the house.

  Father’s office had not changed. He had an old-fashioned mahogany desk which took up most of the back all. The monstrosity was as wide as a sedan. On the top of the desk was a computer, a closed laptop, a paper tray and a cup filled with pens. She had always known her Dad to keep a lot of sensitive information on his home computer, despite the fact it was against protocol. She had no access to the security level she needed to get answers at work, but she hoped to be able to find something here.

  The password to the computer was Belinda: Rayna’s mother’s name.

  Rayna took a seat. She bit one of her nails as she looked back through his emails. He copied all of his work emails to his personal email address, supposedly so he could work on items on his agenda at home. This had been a habit with Ashton as far back as she could remember. She made quick work of the ones she needed to see. It was easy to backtrack and see the succession of events, following the time stamps between conversations. All she had to do was follow the path to the logical conclusions.

  She jotted a few quick notes into the notepad function on her cell phone. It was nearly one o’clock. If she hurried, she could get back to the office within the half hour. She logged off of the computer, stuck her phone in her pocket, and headed out of the house. As she drove back towards work, she dabbed tears from her eyes. Ashton could be greedy and cruel, but she had not expected the lengths he would go to for money. Her brief search told her things she never knew. Rayna could only hope it wasn’t too late to reverse the damage he’d wrought.

  Chapter 9

  “Rayna, I need to speak with you.”

  Ashton was standing in the lobby, leaning against the reception desk much the same way he did on the first day she came to work at Dynamic Tech. She swallowed over the lump in her throat and took a deep breath to calm her erratic heartbeat.

  “I do have a lot of work to do today. Could we meet an hour from now?”

  It was a bold request. He was the CEO after all. But she didn’t trust that he hadn’t somehow found her out, and there were some things he should be willing to grant her as his daughter. A few minutes to get her wits together before he disciplined or fired her shouldn’t be too much to ask.

  “No, this conversation has taken far too long as it is. Come with me, please.”

  Instead of taking the elevator up to his office, he ushered her into one of the empty conference rooms on the first floor. This is a very bad sign, she thought. No one from Human Resources was present. But maybe he’d decided to reserve the satisfaction of firing her all for himself.

  Rayna took a seat at the table. There was a minibar beneath the counter at the front of the room. Without asking, Ashton pulled out two bottles of water and gave her one. She opened hers and took a long drink. Under normal circumstances, she would have thanked him. But she was pretty sure he was about to tell her something unpleasant.

  Ashton did the same. He looked worried. It seemed he was trying to weigh his words before he spoke. This was something Rayna found highly uncharacteristic of him.

  “I want to apologize for the argument we had last week, Rayna. No matter how angry I got, it should never have come to blows. I am ashamed of myself for my behavior. “

  She was floored.

  “Dad. I appreciate that had to be hard for you to say, but I am not looking for apologies so much as I’d like to see a change in your actions.”

  Ashton sighed. “If this is about the Dragon, I am not changing my stance about him. There are protocols, and there are reasons we’re keeping him here. I am aware of your… fondness for him. I’ve made changed to his living arrangements to make him more comfortable. I don’t know what you expect me to do.”

  “Let him go!” Rayna cried in exasperation. “His people are going to raise all hell if they find him imprisoned here.”

  “Let’s say I believe the fairy tale this man has told you, which sounds to me as if it were tailor-made to gain your sympathy,” Ashton said. “How do we know we’re not in danger anyhow? Certainly, all of the aliens aren’t going to be like him? When have you ever heard of any species in nature that is most comfortable being at peace? What species will not kill, or war, and do whatever is necessary to ensure their own survival? As a biologist, I know you’re aware such a thing does not exist.”

  “You’re talking about lower animals,” Rayna said. “Dragons are an intelligent species. They could be reasoned with. Just like we can, supposedly, when we're not absolutely stubborn for no reason.”

  Ashton sat back in his chair. And he laughed. A long, shuddering laugh that shook his shoulders. Rayna stared at him, fuming.

  “I have been wondering what it is, all this bravado that’s come out of you all of a sudden. You’re really very much like your mother. Sweet and retiring until she was pissed off about something. You’re more like her every day.”

  Rayna knew how much he loved her mother. She sometimes believed he never got over losing her. His coldness, his single-minded determination to have more money and success than those around him was the pursuit he used to fill the emptiness he felt. While she would always have sympathy for him, she could not condone his actions.

  Before she could tell him what was in her heart and mind to say, an alarm went off.

  They both stood up as several men burst into the room. One of them held a machine gun, pointed directly at Ashton. He put his hands in the air.

  “This is their leader, and his daughter,” one of them said. “Take them both.”

  ***

  The men pushed them past empty offices and down the elevator to the basement. There were four men in all. Rayna, though terrified, tried to speak with them. “Are you Kirin’s men?” she asked. “I am his friend. He told me all about you.”

  It
was only a guess, but she knew she had hit pay dirt when one of them men turned and gave her a suspicious glare.

  “Which one of you is Tarik? His Co-Commander?”

  “I am,” a soldier turned to her, a brown-skinned man with a shaved head. “Did he tell you these things after your people tortured him?”

  “No! I am his friend.”

  The door opened. Rayna and Ashton were shoved forward into the dim basement, ending chances for a conversation with their captors. Rayna was shocked to see coworkers and staff had been bound and gagged. They sat silently, eyes pleading, backs against the walls. No wonder the offices upstairs had been empty. Somehow, the men had managed to get into the building and subdue all of these people. At first guess, Rayna estimated there were thirty people: scientists, clinical staff, and administrative personnel. There couldn’t be too many others left in the building, except security.

  “Pol. I don’t really care about these others, but him,” the youngest of Kirin’s men motioned towards Ashton. “We should do him. He’s the one responsible.”

  “We’re waiting until we know about Kirin,” Tarik said. “We wait until we know for sure.”

  “Please, no!” Rayna cried. “My father is the only family I have.”

  Ashton’s eyes filled with tears at the terror in his daughter’s voice. He did not speak but looked at his captors beseechingly.

  “Oh don’t worry about it,” Pol snapped. He was a burly man with blond hair and thick arms. “We’re not getting rid of him without dispatching his next of kin.”

  “I say we get it over with,” the young soldier said, pointing the tip of his gun at Ashton’s head. Rayna searched her mind for the name Kirin had mentioned. Fenn. Kirin said he was given to emotionalism and unwise choices.

  “Fenn, please,” she muttered.

  “Bitch, how do you know my name?” he turned the gun on Rayna. The dragon’s eyes glowed red with anger.

  “Stand down soldier!” a voice from behind them boomed. “Don’t make me tell you again.”

  Rayna breathed a sigh of relief. Kirin approached them from the stairwell, followed by another group of men. When he reached Rayna, he wrapped a protective arm around her waist. “She’s with us! None of you will harm her for any reason.”

  “Yes sir,” Fenn lowered his weapon.

  “What about her father then?” Tarik asked.

  Kirin never had a chance to answer his question. A loud boom shook the building. One entire wall of the basement disintegrated, leaving a gaping hole which let in the sunlight. In the blaze of light and sound, military security pushed their way into the building with guns and tear gas.

  Kirin took one of the first shots in the volley of gunfire.

  He fell to the floor, and she crouched beside him. “Can you stand?” she asked, pressing her lips against his ear. She had one hand on his leg, trying to stem the flow of blood. He nodded.

  The smoke and chaos around them were their only protection as she helped pull Kirin to safety.

  Chapter 10

  Rayna sat quietly, listening to the sounds above. Things had gone partially quiet, after hours of reverberating gunshots, screaming, and the sound of heavy machinery circling the building. She was fairly sure she even heard the sound of helicopters at one point. The conflagration spilled out of the building. The dragons were expecting a fight, and they had not given in easily. How far things had gone, and if the public had knowledge of the events at Dynamic Tech, was another issue. Even if people caught video of fire-breathing dragons, anyone who saw it would most likely believe it was a movie being filmed. Anyone brave enough to say they’d seen real dragons would get laughed at.

  Rayna was one of only a handful of people who knew about the bomb shelter which they were hiding in, another one being Ashton. It was constructed in the 1950’s when Cold War paranoia assured that every science research facility, Army installation, and some homes had a shelter to protect workers and dwellers from the threat nuclear bombs from the Soviet Union. When the military smashed in, Rayna and Kirin were standing thirty feet away from the trap door that leads downwards to safety. In the smoke and chaos, Rayna was laser focused, pulling him with her.

  The room was stocked with food, blankets, and first aid supplies. She cleaned and wrapped his wound. Fortunately, the bullet wound had been through and through and had not hit a vital artery in his leg. He would need at least a day or so to recover. They could only hope no one would find them in the meantime.

  Rayna sat on a bunk with Kirin. He laid his head in her lap. Both were stock still. Now that the confusion had lapsed into quiet, she was afraid of what would come next.

  “What do you think has happened?” she whispered.

  “Heavy casualties on both sides,” he replied. “I felt my brothers out there. Some were shot before they could turn, others phased into their dragon. I wish it would not have come to this.”

  “I know,” Rayna soothed. She ran her hand through his dark hair.

  The first hours after he was wounded were the most frightening; the fighting raged above, while Kirin slipped in and out of consciousness. He was feverish and delirious for a while. Hours had passed before he was awake. Once fully conscious the fever broke. He was clear-eyed and aware. Rayna had suffered all sorts of horrors in her imagining in between. What if Kirin died? What was going to happen to her father? What if this was truly the end of the world, and she and Kirin were among the people fated to see it happen? Perhaps the dragon’s fire and the arsenal of human weaponry were all that was needed to finish humankind.

  Once Kirin was awake, Rayna was able to breathe again. It was with a heavy heart that she listened to him tell how some of the people above had died, that he felt some of his brethren slip away. Rayna wondered what the world would be like if humans felt such bonds between each other, mourning collectively in death and rejoicing in life. If humans could feel that way, maybe they would not be so quick to go to war.

  “I don’t trust this quiet,” Kirin said. “When dark falls, we should go out. My people are waiting for us in the desert, with a ship, to take all of us who can make it to the meeting point. I was able to reach out with my mind to them while I slept. They are sixty miles north of us.”

  “The Mojave?” Rayna asked.

  “Yes,” Kirin said.

  “You’re still groggy, aren’t you?”

  “I am better than I was,” he said, sitting up. “How are you?”

  “I wish I could tell you all the things I am feeling right now,” Rayna admitted.

  He smoothed her hair back with a gentle touch if his hand. “You know, when we were out there, being fired upon, and then later, after you got me to safety, I felt every emotion inside of you. Your fear, and your love,” he said.

  Rayna felt her breath hitch in her chest. Tears came to her eyes. It was hard enough to admit her feelings to herself and having her tender emotions exposed to him this way was unexpected. She hadn’t had time to think that he would know, especially in all the commotion around them.

  “My people are not like yours,” he said gently. “Where I come from, you would be loved simply for who you are. You would be accepted,” he took her hand and squeezed it. “Darling, look at me.”

  Rayna had been staring at her feet. Her eyes were filled with tears. It was painful thinking about him leaving her. She would feel truly alone without him. How would she ever go back to the world as she saw it before, knowing what she did now about herself and the world? Extra-terrestrial, intelligent life did exist, and she was here to watch the first new species come into contact with man. The government conspiracy to cover up proof of intelligent life had gone on for many years; it had involved her father since Rayna was a child.

  On a personal level, Kirin taught Rayna a valuable lesson about how deeply she was capable of loving. Never having fallen in love before, she feared that maybe she wouldn’t recognize it when it happened. Every part of her longed for Kirin, in ways she wouldn’t have believed possible a few weeks a
go.

  “Come with me,” Kirin said. “I want us to be together. I love you.”

  He kissed her mouth. Rayna gave over to his warm embrace, reaching up to run her hands through his hair.

  “I don’t know if I can,” she whispered. “To leave everything behind. Literally, everything I have ever known.”

  “Don’t make a decision now,” he said. “But know the invitation is waiting for you. Will you come with me to the ship?”

  “Yes, that much I can do.”

  He kissed her again, with an urgency that made a tingle move up her spine. She kissed back, barely able to keep up with him. When he touched, there was always a slow building heat flowing through her whole body. He traced every part of her skin.

  Standing, she pulled away from him long enough to pull her dress over her head. He pulled her to him and kissed her belly button. Rayna could remember always being shy about her body in front of other men, but not Kirin. She felt adored in his arms. His amber eyes followed her. Even as he kissed, he looked up at her. As Rayna eased down onto the small bed beside him, Kirin took off his clothes. They lay facing each other, chests pressed together, arms locked around each other. Pressing his lips against her breasts, his hands wandered down to cup her derrière.

  “The best thing about coming here has been finding you,” he said. “And loving you.”

  It was such a sweet thing to say that Rayna was speechless. But words weren’t needed.

  It was hard to negotiate such a small space, but somehow they did; her leg above his hip, his body pressed into her own. As their bodies moved together, she closed her eyes. Rayna bit her lip the moment he entered her. She had never experienced anything quite like him. His heat made her warm, but it also calmed her, made her body feel more one with his. As he thrust into her, she moved with him like a tide drawn in by the force of the moon.

  She moaned against his neck, let her hands caress his back. As he moved deeper, harder, she bit into his shoulder.

  “Ah, darling,” Kirin groaned. His hands twined through her hair. She looked into his eyes and saw his focus, his need. All of this time she had been worried about what was in her own head. He had never really tried to hide his attraction for her. Though they had made love before, something was different this time. The connection was deeper. Their desire for each other was amplified by each touch.