by Maia Starr
"I'm going to double back! We can get cover from an Earth ship!" Eral shouted.
"No! We want to lead them away from Earth. You must continue in this direction, deeper into space," Drin said.
"But we will have no cover," Eral said.
"We must sacrifice for the greater good," Drin said.
Eral punched it and we zipped forward at a fast speed with two purist ships on our tail. This was it. This was the end. I moved over to Drin and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it. He knew too. I looked at him, but he continued to look forward, remaining focused, but his hand was enough to let me know we were going to die together.
"What is that?! Up ahead," Eral shouted. I turned to look at the windshield. In front of us, several large battleships had emerged out of hyperspeed.
"It is the king! King Caspin Rykor!” There were cheers all around. And I watched as smaller ships emerged off of the larger battleships. Soon they were barreling toward us and taking out the purist ships behind us. Everyone cheered again. The fight was on. We were going to win. Fighter ships were all over the sky and there was excitement over the radio communication. The king’s fighters were skilled and swift. In an hour, the entire purist rebellion had been squashed. We would return to Earth in victory.
A week after the fighting, everything was almost back to normal. The king himself came to Earth and assured Earthlings that the Drackon had no ill will toward them and that the purist rebellion was an anomaly. Still, with the peace accord intact, all agreed to stop registration until the king could make sure that any remnants of the purist faction on Mooreah had been dealt with. There was a five-year holding on registration. All agreed.
Then, it was time for the king and his fleet to depart Earth and return to Mooreah. This meant one thing for me… Drin was leaving. He stood there in front of me in my living quarters, trying to make me understand, but I could not.
"Felicity, we both know it is safer for you here. I must return to Mooreah. There are still remnants of the purist faction there. All human females are in danger, especially those that are new and without offspring yet. You could be killed upon your arrival," he said to me. But I knew the real reason.
"You don't have to disguise your unwillingness to take a chance on us with the purist threat. I know the real reason why you did not want me to join you. It is your promise. The promise to your father: that is the real reason you do not want me to come with you. Now that you know you have a full life ahead of you, you are not so careless about your promise. Just don't try to lie to me about it."
He was silent as he looked at me. He moved my hair out of my face and let his hand caress my cheek. It was hard to feel his touch, knowing I would never feel it again. "I cannot deny that I feel guilty. I broke the promise to my father on his deathbed. It is unfair to my brother. I still have a responsibility. So yes, it is partly due to this guilt inside of me for breaking that promise, but I also do not lie about your safety. It is not safe for you on Mooreah."
"So stay here. It is safe for you here. Stay with me," I pleaded with him, even though it was against my pride to do so.
"I cannot. My duty lies with the Drackon on Mooreah. I am a captain. That has not changed, even if I have fallen in love with a human female. I must sacrifice all to the responsibility and duty of being a captain."
“You love me?” I asked.
He put his hand on my cheek and said, “You know that I do. I won’t deny that. I love you, Felicity.”
“And I love you, Drin.”
“But I am a captain…”
"Then go; do not drag out this pain for me any longer. Leave my sight. I have had enough of your torture," I said as I moved into my bedroom and closed the door behind me. Minutes later, the silence of my living quarters let me know that he was gone. My heart was broken.
A month went by. It was the longest month of my life. I referred to it as the dreary month. It was full of longing and sadness and I could barely concentrate on my work. I thought of Drin often, wondering if he had found a Drackon mate and fulfilled his father's wishes. It was a sickening thought. It was a thought that made my stomach turn and often sent me to the toilet to puke. The heartbreak was making me physically ill. You could die of a broken heart; that was a fact. The stress was too much for me and the longing to great.
But this last time that I found myself puking in the early morning hours, I realized that I had not been thinking about Drin. In fact, I had been sound asleep and my stomach turned all by itself.
"Shit. I am pregnant," I whispered to myself. How stupid of me. I was a doctor, after all, and I should've picked up on the signs, but I was so distracted by the heartbreak. I was so distracted by Drin’s strong will to not have an offspring with a human female that I thought it could not happen to me.
I quickly grabbed a pregnancy test and took it. It showed positive. I was definitely pregnant. I was pregnant with the offspring of a hybrid Drackon that did not want me. He did not want offspring with more human blood than Drackon blood; I had created a big mess for myself. But I smiled through all of it. Just because Drin did not want this offspring did not mean that I did not want it. I put my hands on my belly and whispered, "I will take great care of you. You are mine. You are my love. I am happy to be your mother."
The rest of the month was happier. Though I did not have Drin by my side, I now had to be optimistic and happy for the offspring that I carried. It was my responsibility. I actually felt grateful that Drin had denied me the chance to go to Mooreah with him. This child would be safer here on Earth where the radical thinking of the purists could not touch him. It would take a year or more in order to seek out the remnants of that faction on Mooreah and Sala. That was more than enough time for anyone to find out about my pregnancy and try to eliminate it, or kill me. Not going with Drin turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
One night, I fell asleep on my sofa in the living room. I was having sweet dreams about Drin. I dreamt of the time that we made love on the floor, the very first time together. It was a deep dream and I almost did not hear the ringing of my communication line. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and made my way to the console.
I answered the line and was shocked to see Drin on the other end. "Drin? How are you on my line? This communication is not equipped for long range calls," I asked him in surprise.
"When I was in your living quarters, I made a few adjustments to your communications. I thought it needed it," he said, smiling. As soon as I saw that beautiful smile, my heart ached for him. I longed to touch him and kiss him, and it was torture.
"Where are you?"
"I am on a Mooreah. I have been assigned by the king to seek out all remaining members of the purist faction. It is a delicate job, one that keeps me busy. One that keeps me distracted, but even with all the distraction, I can never stop thinking of you."
His words made me happy, but he was so far from me. I knew that I had to tell him. I knew that I would never get another chance and it was unfair to keep this a secret from him. I did not expect that he would be happy about it and it would probably drive him crazy with guilt because of the promise to his father but I had to.
"Drin, I am pregnant. I am pregnant with your offspring," I said to him. He was silent and in shock. He said nothing, but just stared at me. So I interrupted his shock and said, "I do not expect anything from you. I will raise this offspring as my own and no one ever has to know it belongs to you. I just thought I owed you the truth. You may keep your promise to your father. This offspring is mine, and mine alone. I will raise it here on Earth, where it will be safe."
"Like hell you will," he said to me. His angry words shocked me.
"What the hell do you mean by that?" I said in anger.
"You cannot raise a Drackon offspring alone. Who will teach it to shift? Who will be there to answer all those questions about what it is to be a Drackon, a weredragon. You are not a weredragon and there are certain things that an offspring needs to know directly from a Drackon father."
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"Well, what if it is a female? Only the males shift; is that not true?" I asked, knowing it was the truth.
"It won't be a female. It is a male. I can feel it," he said.
We were both quiet for a very long time and then I finally said, "What will you do?"
"I do not know, Felicity. I must go now," he said.
"Wait! What do you mean…" I shouted at the screen, but he was gone. I was in fear. I now had no idea what he would do, if anything.
But two weeks later, I had my answer.
BEEP. BEEP. My door rang. I opened it and was surprised to see Eral standing there.
“Eral! What are you doing here? How are you—”
“Are you going to invite me in?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes, I’m sorry. Please come in.”
“Felicity, it is good to see you. I came because I owe you an apology. It was not you that I was angry at. I was angry at my father for putting such a hard promise on us. We, like anyone else, deserve to fall in love with anyone we choose. My brother has been racked with guilt and it is consuming him. I know that my father would not want that for him, or for me. You showed me that you are a strong human female. I am glad that you are having my brother’s offspring.”
My mouth fell open. “He told you?”
“Yes, he told me and he told the king. The king insisted he come straight to Earth and be with you.”
“He did? Then where…” I looked back at my door. There, leaning casually against the door with a grin on his face, was Drin.
“He also said that I should stay here and raise the offspring on Earth with you, because of the remaining threat of the purist,” Drin said.
“And what did you say to that?” I said as my eyes filled with tears of joy.
“I said I always obey the orders of my king,” Drin said as he took a step in.
“I’ll be down at the base having a cold one. Congratulations, you two,” Eral said as he snuck out of my living quarters.
“Do you really mean it, Drin?” I asked him.
“Does this look like I really mean it?” he said as he opened a box and revealed a ring with a bright, silver stone. “Will you marry me and be the mother of my offspring, Dr. Felicity Maltra?”
“Yes! Yes, Drin! I will!” I said as I ran to him and hugged him tight. He kissed me hard and deep. We would never be parted again.
Eight months later, I gave birth to a hybrid weredragon male that we named Maltra Ky-Vesa. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We were a happy family, even though all odds had been against us. Drin and Eral both took positions on the Earth battalion as special defensive forces. They had insight into how a Drackon terrorist cell would attack better than anyone, so the Earth Council used their expertise wisely. I continued practicing medicine and became head of the new emergency field portable hospital. It was set up for times of disaster and could be up and running in less than hour anywhere in the city. It was my project that I was very proud of.
“I never thought I would be living on Earth permanently with the most beautiful human female bride,” Drin said to me as we watched the sun set with our child in our arms.
“I never thought I would be married to a roguish Drackon weredragon who is such a pain in my ass,” I said to him playfully.
“Or to fall so deeply in love with one that you would give him everything, and in return, get the world.”
“Yes, that is true. I am happier than I have ever been, Drin. I hope that one day, Maltra can see his father’s planet.”
“He will. When it is safe again. But we have time. For the first time, we have time,” he said as he kissed me on the lips and I pushed my fingers into his hair.
THE END (Flip the next page to read Book #4 “Eniv-Dracon Mates!)
BOOK #4: Eniv-Drackon Mates
(Drackon Mates)
By Maia Starr
Chapter 1
DETECTIVE MELINDA KATIAMA
Being one of few female detectives on a mostly male detective team wasn't easy for an Earth woman like me. Not only was I good at my job, I was also strong and deserved to be given the promotion that I had been working for over the last four years. Now it was all coming down to this one meeting with my captain, Captain Smith.
He was never on my side, or so it seemed, and I was anxious for the meeting knowing that he was once again going to deny me what I really wanted, a position on the Intergalactic Special Forces Agency as a field agent. The position was everything to me. It was something that I had trained for since I’d joined the police force ten years before. Now I wanted to be transferred from Earth investigations to intergalactic investigations. These cases were limited to an elite task force and I had undergone all the training necessary, including space travel training and intergalactic diplomacy policies. I was the best woman for the job, but something told me the captain would end up picking a lesser man, as he always did anytime an open slot came up in the task force.
"Detective Melinda Katiama, please, sit down," he said to me as I walked into his twelfth floor office.
"Thank you, Captain Smith," I said as I took a seat in front of him in my jeans, boots, a black leather jacket that hid my gun holster, a button up shirt, and my long black hair pulled into a ponytail high on my head.
"How many times, Melinda, have you applied for this promotion?" he said with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. His beady eyes squinted at me and his office smelled like cigars.
"Three time before; this is my fourth time, Captain," I said to him.
"And each time you have been passed up, and yet you still continue to try. Why is that?" he asked.
"This is what I've always wanted. Doing detective work in space is the reason I joined the police force in the first place. I will never stop trying," I said to him.
He was quiet for a long time and then he said, “Intergalactic space cases are nothing like they are on Earth. Trust me, I know. The crime bosses and space pirates do not abide by any rules but their own. There is no SWAT team for us to send in to save you in a moment of trouble; the only thing you have is your partner and your wits, and yes… it is harder for a woman," he said to me.
I narrowed my almond-shaped, brown eyes at him in anger and said, “That is merely perspective, Captain," I replied.
"No, it is fact. There are many alien races that do not think a female, no matter what race, deserves the respect and equality that human females are shown. Because of that, it is more dangerous for a human female than a human male in space; there is no working around that."
"Well I've worked around the treatment here on Earth; I'm sure I could work around it in space," I said.
Captain Smith laughed and said, “That is true, Melinda. In all honesty, I have called you in because of a unique intergalactic case that could use the perspective of a female to solve it."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying, Captain?" I said anxiously as my heart began to pound and I realized that he was inching towards giving me the position. Could it really be? After all these years of trying, it was finally coming true. I held my breath, waiting for him to respond. It seemed like years instead of seconds before he finally uttered the words that I had longed to hear for so damn long.
"Detective Katiama, the position is yours. Welcome to the Intergalactic Special Forces Agency."
I jumped up from my seat to my feet excited. I pushed my hand out for him to shake. “Thank you so much, Captain Smith. You will not be disappointed. I am married to this new position," I said enthusiastically. “I promise to throw everything I have into this case and my new promotion. I simply can’t believe it is finally happening. I will not let you down, sir.”
"Clear out your desk on the first floor and come up to the twelfth floor. You will be issued your assignment today. Now get out of here," he said with a nod of his head toward the door.
I was grinning from ear to ear. It had finally happened for me, after all those years and so much train
ing. I barely had a life outside of work because I was completely devoted to making sure I became part of the Intergalactic Special Forces Agency. It was all that I ever wanted, and now it was mine.
All of this is what I had sacrificed so much for and the reward felt great. I was in a daze as I stepped into the elevator going back down to the first floor to clear out my desk. How envious my colleagues would be. I could not stop smiling.
Ding! The elevator rang as the doors opened on the first floor; I started to step out before stopping cold. I was not expecting a giant wall to be standing in front of me. I stared straight ahead into a strong torso with six-pack abs that rippled underneath a very tight, gray material. I knew before I tilted my head up, passing a broad chest to a thick neck up to a square jaw into eyes with a vertical pupil, that it was a Drackon warrior. As my eyes met his light-gray eyes with a black vertical pupil, his eyes moved down toward my chest. But he wasn't looking at me indecently; instead, his eyes were on my badge.