by Viola Grace
Assigned as Inventory Master to the newest Sector Guard base on Teklan, Roxanne is sure only of one thing, if the seductive singing in her mind doesn't stop, she is going to go nuts. With a little investigation, she finds the source of the nocturnal music and tells it to shut up.
Esur is a tad taken aback, after all, as a Drai sleeper, he is a full shifting dragon looking for a mate and Roxy is it. The sharp-tongued Terran won't drive him away, but he may need all of his powers of persuasion to woo her while protecting her from her new job with the Sector Guard.
Finder and Frost make quite a team, in the guard and out of it.
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Dragon Summons
Copyright © 2010 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-55487-558-0
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Devine Destinies
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Dragon Summons
Sector Guard book 8
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
He was singing again.
Roxy groaned as she sat up. The tune in her head faded somewhat, but whomever it was that put out the telepathic song, they didn’t give up. The song kept going and it was making her life a series of short naps during daylight hours.
Checking her chronometer, she cursed. Another night wasted listening to the song of a man she had never met. She may as well get up and get moving. Work never complained when she got there early.
The shower helped burn off the bit of sleep still left in her mind and when she emerged, she was ready to face the day. Well, she was ready to face dawn, it was just peeking its nose over the horizon.
Her uniform was an uninspired grey that suited her perfectly. The steel-toed boots matched her mood. Roxanne Nelson always had her hair tightly braided down her back, the gold and brown mass under control at all times.
She had been an inventory manager back on earth and here on Teklan. With the newest Sector Guard base under construction, she was doing what she was designed to do—manage things that no one even noticed but everyone needed. Inventory.
She had travelled across galaxies to get her old job back. The irony was not lost on her.
However, she did love her new job. It took a peculiar kind of mind to find something that no one else noticed. That was her skill, the thing that had caught the attention of the Volunteer committee. Her attention to detail.
That attention was suffering by the nocturnal crooning that she was listening to while she slept. No one else on base could hear it and she had asked everyone that she worked with. Only the Drai family that had just moved in was outside her scope of conversation. They simply would not talk to anyone who was unworthy of their presence and she was simply the hired help. A manual labourer.
The family was living off base, a mother and father with a daughter physically about the same age as Roxy. She would have liked to be able to make another friend, but the social-class thing was the elephant in the room.
Walking out of her cottage and down the path to the great warehouse where all of the building supplies were being stored, she admired the silhouette of the new Guard station. It was graceful, stern and yet functional. A complicated combination.
Her first stop was the cafeteria. The night staff greeted her. “Couldn’t sleep again?”
“No. That damned song was in my head.”
Sama looked over and leaned in. “Ask the Drai. I heard the father asking the daughter if she heard the song yet. They may know more about it than they are letting on.”
“They won’t speak to me. I have tried to approach them through official channels and they are not receptive to meeting someone as low as me.”
“Low? Don’t they know you are an Inventory Master?”
“They don’t care. It isn’t like they have any use for building materials or food supplies. Oh, by the way, the next shipment should have some of the greens that you have been whining about. They will arrive in two days.”
Sama grinned. “See what I mean? You know where everything is and where it should be, when we are going to run out and when we are over stocked. It is a rare skill.”
“And yet, next to bloodlines that run on forever, it doesn’t matter to them. Go figure.” Roxy shrugged. Her own bloodlines were less pure than they had been when she left Earth. Before being brought to this facility, she had spent six weeks in a tank having her genetics scrambled into a mix that would supposedly make her a better mate to some unidentified species.
That species was still unknown to her and even the base doctor wouldn’t tell her what it was. The great mystery of who she was meant for was doomed to remain just that. A mystery.
“I will buzz you the next time they come in for a snack. You can ambush them and see if they know anything about the noise in your mind.”
“That would be great. They may hate me, but at least I will know if I am just going insane or if there is a reason to the rhymes.”
Sama handed her a snack bar and waved her off. “Off to work with you, I will keep an eye out for them.”
Roxy smiled. Sama had four eyes and two were always rotating independently near her temples, seeing everything. If anyone would be able to spot the Drai, it would be Sama.
Working through the day to prep the supplies for the structures was wonderful. A lovely blanking of her mind that allowed her to function on autopilot. She was too tired for anything that required more interaction.
Her crew could work without much supervision, so she was only called upon to make a few small decisions about the placement of new supplies. When her workday ended, she grabbed some dinner with co-workers and then started down the path back to her cottage.
At home, she changed clothes, loving the feel of jeans and a t-shirt, ran through a few chores and was thinking about trying to sleep when her phone went off.
“Sama? What is it?”
“They just came in. You have about half an hour.”
“On my way.”
With no time to waste, she sprinted down the path and made a beeline for the commissary. The family was indeed there having a meal and with no decorum at all, Roxy skidded to the side of their table.
“Greetings, I am Roxanne Nelson, Inventory Master of this station and I realize it is rude, but I need to ask a question.”
Taken aback, the father spoke, “I am Retingar, this is my mate, Ashla, and our daughter, Minara. What is the question that you would ask?”
She nodded her head to each as the introduction was given. “What is the significance of the song in the night?”
The three Drai blinked at her and the male raised his wings slightly in surprise. “Where did you hear of the song?”
“It doesn’t matter. What is it?”
Minara grimace
d. “The song of an ancient Drai calling to his mate. That is why we are here. There is a dragon sleeping on this world and he is about to wake. When he wakes, he will start the song and I will go to him.”
“So, if you hear the song, he is calling you?” She was having trouble dodging the crux of her problem.
“That is the history. I have not heard it yet and we have been here for some weeks.” Minara shrugged.
“Thank you for the answer. I am sorry to have disrupted your meal.” She started to turn and leave, but then had to ask, “What if he is waking, but he is calling someone else?”
Minara blinked, so her father filled in, “Then we will simply leave. There is none who should stand between a dragon and his true mate. It would be an insult that might cost a life.”
“Ah. Well. Good luck then.”
She was almost to the door when Ashla called out, “How long has it been going on then?” Her tone was amused. She had heard what Roxy had not been saying.
Roxy turned her head and said over her shoulder. “A month.”
“Then I would go in search of him soon, or he will come to you. If that is the situation, then the entire base may be in jeopardy. The shifters were said to be patient only to a limit before they take their mate hunt into their own hands.” She was chuckling.
Roxy hazarded a quick look at the table where they sat. Retingar was shocked, Ashla amused and Minara relieved. She gave them a quick nod and left the commissary.
She sprinted to her house and closed her eyes the instant that she lay down. She was fully clothed. If she needed to follow his song to find him and shut him up, she would do it.
She desperately needed a good night’s sleep.
Chapter Two
She was so tense that it took her close to an hour to fall asleep. When the song invaded her mind, she was ready for him.
What the hell do you think you are doing?
His voice stopped the song and he answered her. Summoning you, my mate, as the Drai have for millennia. How do you not know this?
I am not Drai.
Ah. That would explain it. I greet you formally then. My name is Esur. Will you come to speak with me?
That depends. Will you stop singing so that I can get some sleep? My life has become a little dangerous now that I am in danger of nodding off due to sleep deprivation.
Will you come to me?
I will after I get some sleep. I will arrange transport for myself tomorrow. Will that be soon enough?
It will. This is where I am. A stream of images flowed between them, through mountain passes and into a pool of ice. He was located in the ice.
I won’t be able to follow you into the ice.
Do not worry, once you are close, I will come to you.
I will see you tomorrow then. Goodnight.
Goodnight, maiden.
Roxanne, my name is Roxanne.
Her mind was silent and she sighed in her sleep. Time for a night of nothing.
A pounding knock on her door brought her upright the next morning. When the knock sounded again, she stomped to the door and opened it. The base commander was standing there with an impatient look on his Dhemon face.
“Ah, good. I thought you had been injured.”
Birds were singing in the trees outside and the sun was high. She had slept in. She never slept in.
“Commander Narvi. Thank you for coming to check on me. I am sorry, I just slept in.”
“You have not been able to sleep for weeks. Has something changed?”
She stepped aside and gestured for him to come in. “It is a long story. May I make you some tea?”
“Thank you. I would love a cup.”
It wasn’t tea the same way she thought of tea back on Earth, but it was a lovely shot of morning stimulant in herbal form. A planet in the vastness of space did nothing but produce these leaves and it was a standard infusion that was consumed across the stars.
Roxy glanced down and sighed in relief. She was fully clothed and only a little rumpled. As she prepared the tea, Narvi took a seat on the kitchen bench near the counter that separated the kitchen and dining room.
While the tea steeped, she retrieved the cups and saucers as well as some sweetener and a touch of citric acid. The standard implements of tea in the Alliance.
When she served him and set out the set, she waited for him to take a sip. The instant that he had, she was able to speak. The rules of serving tea were very strict.
“Commander, were you aware that there was a sleeping Drai on this planet?”
“Of course. That is why the Drai government has sent a likely candidate to be his mate.” He drank his tea and waited for her to fix her own. “How are you aware of his presence?”
“You know the singing that I have been hearing at night? It’s him.”
The Dhemon’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “You aren’t serious.”
“Oh, I am. He has been trying to call me for weeks, but no one here was able to tell me what was going on.”
“How did you find out?”
She blushed a little as he looked down his aquiline nose at her. “I ambushed the Drai family at the commissary last night. They were most helpful once I asked the right question.”
“Didn’t I ask you to leave them alone?”
“Yes. But they were overheard discussing a song that was supposed to be heard by their daughter. The only song I know about is the one in my head every night.”
He nodded. “I can understand your urge to find the answer. What was the result?”
“I spoke with him last night. His name is Esur and he wants me to meet him in the mountains.” She sipped at her cup and met his gaze over the steam.
He sighed. “What do you need?”
“A skimmer and some cold-weather gear. I am flying to the mountains today.”
“Do you require a pilot?”
She looked at him and smiled. “No. I am checked out on all small craft for atmospheric flight. You haven’t read my file, have you?”
He shook his head, the horns shining a bright silver against the reddish green of his skin. “No. I haven’t bothered to look into the support staff.”
“You might want to. There are some fairly strong talents in the ranks. Do you know what I am?” This was too funny. Why wasn’t he more on the ball? He was going to be in charge of the Sector Guard base for pity’s sake.
“I am only here on temporary assignment during construction. There will be a new commander on base in the next week or so.”
“Why?” It was a rude question, but he answered it anyway.
“This is not my preferred post. I wish to travel more and not spend my time bound to a base.”
“But what about when the Guard starts to go on assignments? You could join them on assignment and see the galaxy that way.”
“I have neither the patience nor the inclination to deal with talents of that nature. This facility is going to be the investigations branch of the Sector Guard and I am not suited to it.”
He wasn’t saying something and in an instant, she knew what it was. He didn’t like working with freaks.
“Ah. Not everyone is suited for this line of work and I wish you luck in your future endeavours. Do you know who your replacement will be?”
“Another of my species, General Brodin. He has communication and interpersonal skills that I lack. He is giddy at the prospect of working with the Sector Guard.”
“Really? Why didn’t he come here for the construction of the base then?”
Narvi calmly poured himself another cup of tea. “He has to wrap up some family obligations. His parents were attempting to arrange a match for him and he has to reject all of the women on the list politely and in person.”
“Of course. For your people, manners take precedence.”
“As it should be.”
“Of course. So, may I take some time off to find the dragon and get him out of my head?”
He laughed—a strange expression on his no
rmally dour face. “If he wants you, are you sure that you will have the willpower to say no? I have heard that Terrans are a little frivolous in the romantic arena.”
She wanted to be outraged, but it was a biological imperative, even back on Earth. You wanted to mate with someone as different as possible from you. Whether women admitted it or not, scent was a definite factor in mate selection as well and some of the new races smelled good.
“The bed hopping comes and goes. I have not bothered to fling myself at the nearest male since I left my home world. But if he wants me, he will have to court me. There is a certain protocol to maintain and I am going to insist on it.”
A slight flicker of respect ran through Narvi’s eyes. “Are you aware of the Drai traditions?”
“Not all of them, but I am going to read first-meeting protocol before I get on the glider. After I get home, I will look up more of the basics. Are you prepared for taking on personnel?”
“I will make arrangements. By the way, what is your talent? I know you are an Inventory Master, but I did not know that there is a talent that could compliment the job.”
“Ah. I sense patterns, disturbances, as well as have an eidetic memory. While there is always a chance for theft, I have never had a successful theft in any facility that I have run. I always find the stolen materials. It is part of the pattern.”
“What do you do when items are disbursed?”
“I remove them from the pattern. It is complicated, but the best description that I can come up with.” She shrugged and finished her tea. “Like the extra sweetener that you put in the bottom of the cup, but are not drinking. The ability for observation is the key to my talent.”
He laughed and turned the cup toward her. The powder was sitting in the almost-dry cup. “Perhaps I am missing out on not being here for the advent of the Guard base. With talents like yours, it will be an interesting place to be.”
“Oh, I am not a Guardsman. I just know inventory.”