Cerik (Dragons Of Kelon) (A Sci Fi Alien Weredragon Romance)

by Maia Starr

  “I’ve missed that sound,” he said. But his voice was very loud and clear. I opened my eyes and couldn’t tell if I was still dreaming. Kasian was lingering above me. His hand moved my hair off my forehead.

  “Kasian?”

  “Yes, I’m here. I’ve returned.”

  I sat up in bed and looked around. It wasn’t a dream. I threw my arms around him. “I was so worried I was never going to see you again.”

  “No need to worry. I am a very strong warrior.”

  “I am so happy that you are here. I know that you can never forgive me, but please do not shut me out, not now,” I said to him.

  “I have come to terms with what happened. Time has helped to heal that rage. My brother admitted to me that he went after you on purpose. He held a grudge against me for stealing a female Drackon he loved when we were fifteen.”

  “He did?” I said, wide eyed and filled with relief.

  “Yes, he did, and he has been captured. He is on his way to a prison on Sala. He can never bother us again.”

  I sighed and threw my arms around him. He rubbed my back up and down and said, “I’m so sorry for everything I put you through. It was wrong of me.”

  “No, I apologize for being so reckless while I was here in the city before meeting you. I really thought I was just having my own, private bachelorette party and now I ruined everything.”

  “No, you did not. We have this child,” he said putting his hand on my belly.

  “But Kasian, I do not know,” I said feeling sad.

  “I know, but it does not matter. I will raise it as my own. My brother is not a good Drackon warrior; he could never be a good father. If this offspring is his, we will still raise it together as a family.”

  “A family? You mean…”

  “Yes, if you will have me. I still want you to be my wife,” he said seriously.

  “Yes! Yes, Kasian, I want you. I will be your wife,” I said.

  “Good, get dressed. We will go now. There is a councilmember that can marry us today. He is waiting on the fifth floor for us,” he said smiling.

  “What? Now? Are you joking or are you being serious?” I asked.

  “Oh, I am not joking. I will not be letting anything get in the way of our marriage ever again, and the sooner we do it, the sooner we will be married before you clumsily fall into some trouble,” he said playfully.

  “Kasian!” I said. Then I kissed him hard and fast. Before I knew it, we were ravaging each other. So much longing and desire had been held back for so long. I pulled away from him and said, “Do you think that the councilmember can wait another hour or two?” I said breathlessly.

  “He is going to have to,” he said as he kissed me and pushed me back on the bed. Then he made love to me. This time, with all the animosity between us gone. It was beautiful and sensual as he took his time savoring every inch of me, and took my time enjoying his every touch. Tears rolled down my face as I had finally had what I wanted since I first saw his photo: his love.

  After two hours of making love, we forced ourselves out of bed, but only for an hour. We went down to the fifth floor and were quickly married in a brief and simple ceremony. It was perfect. Then it was only an elevator ride back to the room, which we would make our honeymoon suite for a week. We never left the bed.

  When the time came, our hybrid Drackonian son was born. He was perfect and the Drackon test proved that he was Kasian’s child. His blond locks and blue eyes left no doubt in my mind anyway. We named him Kild. It was a mixture of the wild from the forest that we loved, and the initial of our names: Kasian and Kelly. And although we started our family on Earth, we eventually moved to Kasian’s home on Mooreah. If I had known that Mooreah was something out of a medieval fairy tale, I would have wanted to move there sooner. It was stunning, and it was perfect for our perfect family.

  The End(flip next page for me bonus books!)

  Aloitus: Aliens Of Jenalk

  (A Sci-Fi Alien Abduction Romance)

  By Maia Starr

  Chapter 1

  Melinda Jefferson (Daughter of the Prime Minister)

  “A recent string of disappearances leaves police investigators looking to the sky. Chemical trails found leaving Earth’s atmosphere—”

  I clicked the television set off with a sigh. My father had done a lot of stupid things in his time, but buddying up with the Vellreq when they came to our planet was the worst of them.

  “My lady, you’ve been summoned.”

  I cringed at the grating sound of the voice of the Vellreq servant that King Korta had assigned me.

  “All right,” I sighed, standing and following her to Korta’s quarters.

  “Your father hasn’t gotten back to me yet,” Korta said darkly, without greeting me.

  “About what?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. I want you to get in touch with him.”

  “If you can’t get in touch, what makes you think that I can?” I asked, glowering.

  My father had always treated his political career as the most important thing in either of our lives, and now that he had forced me into marrying the King of the Vellreq to gain his favor, it felt like my life was a constant tug of war between the two of them.

  Korta turned his black eyes to me, and I shivered as a cold chill went down my spine.

  “Just get him in here, or you will regret it.”

  I bowed rigidly at him, forcing myself to bite back my angered words. They would get me nowhere. I had crossed Korta once before, and it hadn’t ended in my favor. There was not a good enough reason to willingly cross the King of the Vellreq.

  I left Korta’s quarters, my heart hammering angrily in my chest as I grabbed my jacket from the hooks. It was a Vellreq design; one I frankly found hideously ugly. But Korta had insisted I stay up to date on all of the latest fashion trends for Vellreq nobility, and I was forced to do everything wearing uncomfortable clothes that always felt a little bit too starchy.

  “Where to, my lady?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I told you not to call me that, Kirk. The Vellreq aren’t in the car. It’s not like they can hear you.”

  “Still,” Kirk said nervously, rolling our windows up and putting the car in drive. “I don’t want them to overhear and think that I’m disrespecting their new queen.”

  “I’m not the queen yet,” I said. And thank the stars for small miracles. “The ceremony won’t take place until Korta and my father finally agree on the terms.”

  Kirk sighed, driving me to the end of the long, winding property where we had to await permission at the gate. “They’re back to treating women like cattle huh?”

  “Are you surprised? The Vellreq look like something that walked straight out of the dark ages. I’d be more surprised if they actually respected me.”

  Kirk shrugged mildly and asked, again, “So, where to?”

  “Korta wants me to talk to my father. Again. He’s hemming and hawing about the latest change to the contract. Before Korta announces me queen, they have to agree on all terms and my father is making it very difficult.”

  “With all due respect,” Kirk said, “your father has always struck me as a little bit hungry for power. I know you shouldn’t say that about your own Prime Minister, but…”

  “It’s all right, Kirk. I could never be offended by you.”

  Kirk and I had grown up together on the estate before the Vellreq had come to Earth and claimed it for their own. They had somehow concluded that my father was the most powerful man on the planet, probably due to the immense media coverage he received worldwide (and not for being a generous, caring leader either, mind you). In fact, they were so convinced of his superior status that I was immediately listed as a marriage prospect, offering much in the way of glittering goods to my father, who wanted to be seen as being responsible for heralding in a new age of evolution for humanity and our technology.

  The only small catch was that his daughter was to be put in the hands of the ugliest, most c
old-hearted man in all the galaxy; at least he was as far as I was concerned. King Korta Kl’ortus.

  Kirk grinned, and I warmed at the familiar sight. He had always been one of my closest friends. I couldn’t imagine life without him.

  “How does your father like the island, anyway?” he asked, changing the subject. Kirk had always been sensitive to my opinion and didn’t tread very long in controversial opinions near me. It was somewhat maddening at times, but I understood his desire to look good in front of me. I had long suspected him of a crush, but I hoped that wasn’t the case. It would be far too strange to date him. He was more like a friend and a brother than a boyfriend.

  “He loves it. Apparently it’s like his own private getaway,” I said, glowering out the window.

  “I thought he might enjoy it,” Kirk chuckled. “The Vellreq have him living in one of their ships. I don’t think he realizes he’s under constant surveillance in there.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t mind. He’s in love with the technology. He thinks being diplomatic with them is going to put him in the history books. As if it’s his skill and knowledge that put him in this position and not blind luck.”

  Kirk grinned again, and we turned down the road leading to the docks where we would take a ship together to the island where my father was being held. In my mind, he was more like a prisoner to the Vellreq than an indispensable tool in the creation of a great new world. If he crossed the line, all they had to do was get rid of him. Nobody would be any the wiser.

  Except for Kirk and me. But nobody would listen to us anyway. The Vellreq had the ball in their court, and they had been playing the game much, much longer than we had. It would take nothing to conquer a race of willfully ignorant people, and it would just put me in danger to try to say anything about it.

  I was torn about what to do, but if even my father believed in the Vellreq, as far as I was concerned, all hope was lost.

  ***

  “Melinda, what are you doing here?” my father asked, surprised when I walked through the doorway. King Korta had a tendency to change the code to the doors of the ship where my father was living so that we could get in but he couldn’t get out unless instructed. Still, somehow he felt he had a special relationship with the Vellreq and that being their prisoner was some kind of honor.

  “Korta is demanding an answer,” I said with a sigh. My father raised his eyebrow at me.

  “Is that the way I taught you to treat nobility?” he scolded.

  “Sorry. King Korta. Why have you been ignoring him?”

  “Can’t a man have some time to think?” my father exclaimed, throwing his hands dramatically in the air. “There is so much to consider. You are my only daughter after all…”

  I was almost touched by the sentiment, but of course, my father had to continue speaking.

  “…you would think that he would consider that aspect of it when negotiating terms. I feel like he’s trying to get the better end of the deal when it should clearly be mutually beneficial. I should profit as much as King Korta would from the union!”

  I didn’t know why I let myself try to believe my father would ever say a nice or selfless thing and genuinely mean it without putting himself first. He was clearly incapable. But I always tried to hope for the best. Who didn’t want to hear their dad say something caring?

  “I am doing humanity a favor here! Being on speaking terms with the Vellreq is an honor that is not for the faint of heart. They are going to change the world we live in!”

  “And line your pockets and those of the other officials who are willing to help them while they’re at it, right?” I said, staring at him dully. He continued to speak as if I weren’t in the room.

  “I guess what I’m trying to say is…no. No, I will not be having any daughters in the future. The Vellreq are just going to have to look to another fantastic gene pool for their mates. You can tell that to your husband.”

  My father waved his hand dismissively at me and turned his back, bowing his head as if lost in thought.

  I gaped at my father as he continued to pace about the bunker, mumbling incoherently as he did so. Not only was I shocked by the thought of the Vellreq demanding to know whether or not my father was planning on reproducing any other human offspring they could have their way with, but I was disgusted and hurt by my father’s seeming lack of consideration for the implications of that.

  “He is not my husband yet,” I said darkly. “I will not be queen until the ceremony. And even then, I will not call him my husband. He will always just be Korta, King of the Vellreq to me.”

  I stared hard at my father, but he was still in his own little world. I sighed and left the bunker, where Kirk was waiting for me outside.

  “Did everything go okay?” Kirk asked, his eyes filled with concern.

  “Let’s just get the hell out of here,” I sighed. “You were right. All he cares about is himself.”

  Kirk laid a kind hand on my shoulder and we walked to the docks together. I sat in the boat staring out over the water. Was there any way to get out of this horrible situation? I didn’t know what Korta had planned for me on our wedding night, but I would have rather died right then and there than found out.

  ***

  “This isn’t the palace,” I said, opening my eyes and blinking hard. I had fallen asleep on the ride home, and now that I had woken up, I was puzzled. Kirk had driven me far out of the way of the estate where Korta was still awaiting my father’s answer. “Where are we?”

  Kirk smiled at me from the driver’s seat.

  “Look out the window.”

  I did, and my heart pounded in excitement and pain.

  “Funworld?!”

  Kirk grinned and got out of the car, opening my door and bowing melodramatically. “My lady.”

  “Stop it,” I said, shoving him away with a laugh. “What are we doing here? We could get in trouble!”

  “Well, it wasn’t too far from the island,” Kirk said. “I figure Korta won’t miss you for a little while. Besides, you looked like you could use some fun after what happened back there.”

  My heart panged in sadness, and I smiled at Kirk, trying not to let my emotions show through my actions. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me, just get in here before the security guards make their rounds.”

  “You really think they would arrest King Korta’s bride-to-be?” I asked with a laugh.

  “No, but they would definitely lock her lowly driver in the dungeon and throw away the key,” Kirk said. “So come on.”

  I shook my head and followed Kirk through the rusted gates of the abandoned amusement park where we had spent countless hours of fun as children. Although it had been shut down years ago, it had remained a special place in our hearts. Every once in a while, Kirk and I would escape to the comfortable inner walls of our childhood together. I hadn’t even thought of Funland since the Vellreq had come to Earth. In fact, it had been impossible to bring my thoughts to anything positive at all.

  “I can’t believe I’m here,” I whispered, following Kirk through the deserted sidewalks.

  “I thought you could use a break,” he said, climbing onto an empty carousel. The paint on the horses was chipping, but I could still remember fondly the days when they were in pristine condition, and Kirk and I could ride them for hours.

  “I think I needed it,” I said, climbing up with him.

  We sat in pleasant silence for a few moments as I looked around the old place, remembering all of the happiness Kirk and I had shared. When I turned my gaze onto Kirk, I was surprised by how serious his expression had grown.

  “I don’t want you to marry the Vellreq king,” Kirk said, his eyes fixed on the rusting metal bolt in between us.

  “Well trust me, if I had any choice in the matter, I wouldn’t do it.”

  “Run away with me,” Kirk said, looking up, his eyes pleading. “We can get out of here. You don’t have to—”

  Kirk’s words were cut off by a
sudden gust of wind that blew the sand around the carousel up and into our eyes. We coughed as a dark cloud hovered over us.

  “It’s not supposed to rain,” I whispered.

  I looked over at my friend, squinting through the pain of the sand. Kirk’s eyes were wide, and he was looking up into the sky. At first, I had no idea what he was looking at, but soon, I saw it.

  A beautiful being, no, more like a man than a creature, was hovering down majestically from beneath a dark shadow that was unmoving in the sky. I was mesmerized; his fluttering capes were glittering with beautiful colors I had never before seen, and his teal skin shone almost iridescently in the sunlight.

  “Run!” Kirk urged me. He nudged my shoulder before getting to his feet and disappearing around the other side of the carousel.

  But I was entranced. A peace filled me as I watched the man descend, my heart pounding hard as he drew nearer and nearer to me. Even through the thin fabric of his clothing, I could tell he was well-muscled – an abdomen that men on Earth would work a lifetime to get. A confusing surge of desire electrified me. Who was he?

  When he finally landed, he turned his startling purple eyes onto me. I was frozen, locked in this man’s gaze, unable to do anything but stare in wonder at the flecks of gold and blue in his metallic eyes. I had never seen a being so lovely in all my life, and when he reached his hand out to me, I did the only thing that I could. I took it.

  ***

  “Welcome.”

  I was shocked by the contrast in this man’s voice compared to the growling, gravelly sound of the cruel Vellreq king. It was pleasant and lyrical as opposed to dark and menacing.