by Maia Starr
"Can you help me? I am lost. I have been separated from my master,” I said to them with tears in my eyes.
"Do not worry, human female, we will help you,” they said to me as they gave each other a look. I know exactly what was going to happen. This was all according to my plan.
Of course, they did not help me and instead they pushed me into a dark cell; that is where I saw Katie and the other five women. I gave them a quick plan on how to get to the hill with the star temple that I knew would be Eniv’s first place when looking for me. They were so grateful and burst into tears when I told them that we were here to rescue them. Now it was all up to me. I waited closer to the late morning when I knew the auction was going to happen. It is then that I pulled out my gadgets from my boots and unlocked the cells. I had quietly led the girls out of the cell and just outside the building when one of the warriors caught us.
"Go! I will hold him off," I said as I stayed back and got into a fight with the warrior, which I quickly lost but bought enough time for the women to disappear. I only hope they would make it to the hill. So far, my plan had gone according to what I wanted to happen, but I was not expecting to be locked up in the prison cell by myself. The warriors had searched me and taken my weapons and gadgets, I was now barefoot in my shredded dress. But I felt a sense of accomplishment. I had rescued the women and that was what I was sent here to do. I had solved the crime and let Eniv know that Captain Smith was behind it; he could go back to Earth and make sure that the captain was arrested and put a stop to this crime ring. I had done everything that I had hoped to accomplish and if I had to sacrifice becoming a human slave in the process, then I guessed that is what would have to happen.
But I was not expecting for Eniv to swoop down from the sky and rescue me the way he did. I was in awe of his bravery, flying into a middle of many warriors and criminals. He was doing it all to rescue me; it brought tears to my eyes.
Now, on the ship, I saw just how much Eniv was taken. He was very much engaged to this woman that we had just rescued. I could not watch them be together, so I took the women into the common room to get them food, water, and rest. It was a small ship, so they would have to sleep on makeshift beds. I was glad for the work and I got to it quickly. I needed the distraction and Katie and Eniv needed to be alone. Minutes later, they both walked into the common room and Katie hugged the other women and sat with them to eat and drink. Eniv was staring at me, but there was not the guilt and his eyes like there usually was. Instead, he almost looked happy. What the hell was he thinking? Was he excited that he had two women on board the ship now? I don't think so.
"Detective Katiama, will you join me on the flight deck to speak to the pilot?” he said to me. He turned and walked out of the common room and I followed.
"Look, I'm sorry I did what I did, but I knew it was the only way. I had to get myself kidnapped by those warriors in order to free the women,” I said to him. He turned to me with his mouth wide-open as we stood in the hallway.
"You mean you got caught on purpose?"
"Yes, it was the only way. I hope you see that,” I said to him ready for him to start yelling at me.
"The only thing I see is a very, very brave woman in front of me. I can't believe you did that, risking your own life in that way. You could've been a female slave, forever subjected to many horrors.
"No, I'm sure I would've escaped eventually,” I said with a slight smile.
"You're not going to believe this, but Katie has asked me to break off the engagement. She no longer wants to marry me and she wants to live on Earth forever,” he said to me so fast that I almost did not catch the meaning.
"What?!”
"Yes, can you believe it? She does not want to marry me. Truth be told, I am relieved. I do not want to marry her either. I'm in love with someone else. My true match in all ways” he said to me.
"Oh really? Do I know her?” I said playfully.
"I don't know. She is a feisty woman with a big mouth on her, always ready with a fiery statement to spit back at me. She's really sexy, with full lips and beautiful brown eyes. She is very strong, the strongest female I have ever known. There is no one like her in the universe,” he said to me.
"She sounds like she's too good for you,” I said as I stepped toward him.
"She is, she really is. I am a lucky Drackon weredragon,” he said as he pulled me against his chest and planted a firm kiss on me. I kissed him back and that felt good; it was a damn good kiss. It was the first kiss we shared that was not full of guilt. It was a kiss free of obligation and one that we could enjoy simply because we really wanted each other and now nothing stood in our way.
When we arrived back on Earth, Eniv and I were heroes; we reported immediately, not to the captain but, to the Earth Council before anyone knew what we had found out. We told the Earth Council about John Houston and I had Alfonso at my side who said he followed Michael Spencer, the guard who was at the scene of the crime when the women went missing. The guard had been meeting a couple of times with Captain Smith when Alfonso followed him. The women were able to back up the fact that the guard seemed to allow them to be taken without a fight. It had all come together. The captain was arrested and once he was taken into custody, we heard his testimony.
"It is all their fault. These damn Drackon warriors. They took my daughter from me. They deserve to be exiled from Earth. They should not have relations with our human females. That is why I did it. That is why I helped John Houston with the human female abductions, in order to make it seem like it was the Drackon warriors behind it. I thought if they were caught, it would make it look like this is what they were really doing with our females, not marrying them, but selling them. They took my daughter from me and I will never forgive it. They all deserve to stay on Mooreah and not be on Earth,” he said.
When I looked into the matter, I found out that the captain’s daughter was indeed happily married to a Drackon warrior. She lived on Mooreah and she communicated with friends and family on Earth regularly. She had fallen in love with a Drackon and married him against her father's wishes. This of course made him filled with rage against the entire Drackon race. That's what started it all.
"I am very impressed with you, Detective Katiama,” Lieutenant Kendall said to me.
"Thank you, Lieutenant Kendall,” I said with a big smile.
"You were set up by the captain. He admitted that he sent you on the mission because he thought you would fail. I guess you showed him, didn't you?” the lieutenant said to me.
"I’d like to think so,” I said in return.
"Now you are one of our most highly decorated agents. I hope that you will enjoy a long career here and go on to solve many cases," he said.
"I hope so too,” I said to the lieutenant as he nodded and left me in the conference room with Eniv.
"What are you going to do now?” I asked him.
"What do you want me to do? I can see how much this position at the agency means to you, so I would not to even think about asking you to come back with me to Mooreah,” he said to me with a bit of sorrow in his eyes.
"You are right. I have worked all my life to get this position, and now I am actually proving myself. I can't give that up just to go be someone's wife and give them offspring,” I said truthfully, even though it hurt to say something that could break us apart.
"Well, I do really enjoy flying around Earth. It is really beautiful. Do you think now that I have shown myself to this agency, they might hire me? Maybe they know some agent that needs a partner?” he asked playfully.
"Really? Eniv, are you being serious or are you playing with me? You know you shouldn't play with me. I can get really feisty,” I said as I moved toward him.
"Oh, I know you can. I would never play with you in that way. But what do you say? Do you want me to stay? Or do you want me to leave?” he asked me.
"I want you to stay. Please, I really want you to stay. I want to try to see where this goes. I really do love you.
I never thought I would say that to you after the first time I met you, but I see the real you, and I love it.”
"Good, then it is settled. I am staying. I am staying to be your partner,” he said to me.
I pushed my arms around his neck and pushed my fingers into his long hair and pulled him toward me. He planted his full lips on mine and kissed me. I was so relieved. I was so happy. I had it all. I had the career and I had proven myself. I had a sensual, romantic Drackon warrior as a lover, and a partner. This was only the beginning of many adventures in cases that we would solve together. It was one hell of a ride.
THE END (Flip the next page to read Book #5 “Kuvo-Dracon Mates!)
BOOK #5: Kuvo-Drackon Mates
(Drackon Mates)
By Maia Starr
Chapter 1
ANDRENE NOVAN, AMBASSADOR REPRESENTATIVE
The sound of whistling pierced the air above me as I walked across the courtyard of the embassy located on the African continent on Earth.
"Watch out!" I heard someone shout. Everyone stopped and looked up into the air.
"Air raid!” Another person shouted. I knew exactly what this meant, but I could not believe that it was happening, not here.
I ran in my black, high-heel boots across the courtyard, ducking behind a wall when…
BOOM!
The ground shook and the loud explosion created a ringing in my ears. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as I peeked through my arms that were covering my face. I was folded into a ball on the ground. The ringing in my ears finally went away and the sound of building walls tumbling down and people shouting was clear. It was suddenly a catastrophic war zone where once there was a peaceful embassy full of government officials and the local people.
I looked across the courtyard toward my father’s apartment. It looked like it was a mile away instead of a few yards, with all the rubble on the ground and smoke in the air. I rose to a crouching position, ready to run across to it. I was angry with myself for wearing impractical shoes for the meeting I had earlier. As an ambassador representative, I was required to look polished at all times, when really I wanted to wear lace up combat boots and jeans—this was Africa, after all—but my father insisted that if I were to be an ambassador representative, then I would need to look the part, always.
I took a few slow steps realizing there was so much rubble on the ground around me, that this was going to take a long time. I felt a rush of wind surrounding me and realized that maybe a building was about to topple on top of me. I looked up and saw massive silver wings coming down at me; my eyes were wide and I was frightened. Holy crap, we were being invaded by the alien warrior weredragon race known as the Drackon. They were responsible for the bomb, and now they were invading.
The massive warrior landed in front of me and I turned on my heels to face the other way. I scampered and took a few steps trying to run when I felt strong arms embrace me. He grabbed me from behind.
"Don't! Let me go!” I shouted as I pushed my elbow back into his abdomen with all the force I could muster.
"Ow! Fuck!” I shouted as the searing pain shot from my elbow all the way up and down my arm. My elbow had struck against hard scales on his abdomen.
"Ambassador Novan, I'm here to help you! Stop fighting me! Your father sent me! I will take you to him now,” he shouted at me.
I barely had time to process all this information when suddenly, I was picked up off of my feet and flying through the air. I could not believe what the hell was happening.
"Hold on, Ambassador; you are safe with me,” the Drackon warrior shouted at me as he hugged me to the front of his body. I didn't even get a good look at his face; I only saw silver wings and silver scales. Now his strong, massive body was held against me as he flew amongst the smoke and falling rubble darting here and there with skill. But he was not flying toward my father's apartment and I began to panic even more. Then he swiftly swerved off to the right flying high and I knew where he was headed. He landed on top of a dome-shaped building that was built halfway into the ground, only the top half of the dome stuck out over land. He landed on the roof near an entrance and quickly typed in the code on the keypad. I looked at him for the first time since he had picked me up off the ground.
"How do you know the code?” I said as I looked at his chiseled face. I had only seen a few Drackon in my time, and it always impressed me how attractive they were, but I had never seen one this stunning. His short black hair was cut in shaggy locks, giving him a rugged appearance. His startling, light-blue eyes had the trademark Drackon vertical pupil down the center. His pale skin and full pink lips were in stark contrast with his raven black locks. The sun was shimmering off the scales that ran from his shoulder across his abdomen down to his hip in a diagonal line, making him look magical. Who the hell was he? And why had he saved me? Was this all a trick in this invasion of the Drackon?
"Your father gave me the code. I told you already that he sent me for you, pay attention. There is no time to answer your questions more than once,” he said in a very stern tone, as though he thought I was incompetent.
I narrowed my eyes at him, ready to give him a piece of my mind when the door opened and he aggressively grabbed me and pulled me inside with him. I had never been inside the emergency bunker before, and it didn't even cross my mind to try to make it this far after the bomb went off. It was just too far, and my father's apartment was closer, but as I would find out, he wasn't even there.
"Andrene. Good you are safe,” my father, Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan, said as he walked over to me and stood by my side, but he did not give me a hug. He wasn’t much for hugs.
"I am fine, father, just a few cuts and bruises. Are you all right?” I asked him.
"Yes, I'm fine. Luckily Kuvo Bane here was quick to find and rescue you," he said as he patted the Drackon on the arm.
"Father, what is going on out there? And who is this Drackon?” I said, trying to understand why this Drackon had rescued me and why no one was frantic about the bombing outside. The emergency bunker had officials and their staff roaming around, working the emergency lines.
"So far, it is not confirmed, but it looks like an attack from the Partaba Sect. We are working on confirmation now,” my father said.
"The Partaba? But they have been peaceful for years now,” I said, confused by the sudden violence of this peaceful set of people located eighty miles from the embassy.
"Yes, but the recent legislation has caused many tensions, as you know," my father said to me.
"Tension, yes, but not enough for violence. The land agreement is still in the works; why would they resort to violence now?” I said to him, knowing that I was right. The reason for the tension between the embassy and the Partaba had to do with a section of wildlife lands that belonged to them but that the embassy was trying to gain ownership of. The negotiation had been going on for months and there was not a finite decision yet. There should be no reason for violence, but I sided with the Partaba in this. I thought they should rightfully own the land, not the embassy.
"True, but we can never know what another culture is truly thinking. We are outsiders in their land; you cannot forget that as an ambassador representative, daughter,” he said to me in a stern voice, as he always did when trying to let me know that he knew more than I did. It was something he did often, and something that annoyed me greatly.
"And the Drackon?” I said, crossing my arms.
"Oh, yes. Andrene, meet Security Specialist Special Ops Squad Leader Kuvo Bane."
"A Drackon? You hired a Drackon as head of security? Why? What is wrong with our own men and our own guards?” I said confused.
"They can't fly. They can't shift into a strong creature. If it weren't for his flying capabilities, you wouldn't have been rescued so quickly. You should be grateful that I am hiring from other worlds. I only want the best,” my father said to me.
I looked at the tall and strong Drackon who was standing at attention with his wings fol
ded behind his back, listening to everything my father and I said. This must look like a father and daughter spat and ridiculous to him. I knew about the women on his planet of Mooreah and how they never questioned anything and were very obedient and submissive. He probably thought it strange that I was questioning my father's motives and decisions.
"Well, you could have let me know that. I thought I was being abducted by a Drackon and that they were responsible for this chaos outside,” I said to my father.
"I meant to let you know in the briefing this afternoon, but since that obviously had not happened yet, I had to send him for you without formally introducing you first. Now if you will stop giving me these petty questions, I need to get to work; you should too. We will need to send out reports to the Earth Council about this mess. We need emergency services in action to help the wounded. There is much to be done. Stop standing around, daughter,” my father said as he walked away from me.