by Maia Starr
“Wow. That’s kind of like a weird survival of the fittest,” I shrugged.
Carolina laughed and grabbed my hand; she could tell through my sarcasm that I was upset. “Something like that. I think they either want us to get the fear and shock out of our systems before we meet them in person or they want to get our panties wet.”
“Uh, right,” I said awkwardly, hoping desperately that my face didn’t betray how disgusted I was with her phrasing.
I wasn’t a prude, exactly. But as I looked her over—finger-waves of ice-blonde hair, bright blue eyes, lashes for miles and a respectable blue dress that covered her perfect body—I just couldn’t imagine that someone who looked so respectable would say something like that without so much as a flinch.
“So, are they?” she asked, leaning into my face with a devilish grin.
I blinked, choked. “Wet?”
She giggled under her breath and shook her head, getting a pointed stare of reprimand from Amelia.
“Scary,” she corrected, though I suspected she really did mean wet.
“No,” I raised my brows and inhaled slowly. “On both counts.”
That’s what I’d said anyway, but the truth was the shifters were an absolute source of fascination for me and had been ever since I’d hit my teens. They were so built: well chiseled and each so unique to their dragon species. I read that their different colors represented different specialties. I’d also heard that they could tell which human they would bond with based solely on whether their scales glowed when they approached her.
Were they scary? Sure. Were they handsome? Yes.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be close to one. I’d never seen one before and the idea that not only would I be interacting with him on a daily basis, but also sleeping with him quite immediately left me flabbergasted, excited, fearful, and full of anticipation.
Carolina stared at me, hard, as we walked. Finally, her lips curled up into a secret grin, and she nearly laughed as she whispered, “Liar.”
My face flushed red, and I offered her a playful wink. I’d connected with Carolina most of all during my time at Riddell, though I couldn’t fathom why. She was nearly my exact opposite. She was fiercely sexual, outspoken to the point of obnoxious, and she had studied political science for space relations.
I’d taken art and nursing in college. I’d studied them both and, despite my part-time position at a local hospital, I didn’t have a diploma for either. My sister would say I was diverse. My parents would say I was fickle.
My sister Mara died five years ago from the flu. I remember hearing the news and thinking… who dies from the flu? The shock allowed me to laugh at the comment, but everything after that moment came in waves of shattering emotions. She had always been the fire that I was lacking; my biggest supporter in everything. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to Carolina. She was that same kind of outspoken-yet-sweet girl that Mara was.
The girls all headed out into the early evening light, the sun casting warmth around everything in sight. As we aligned ourselves in one uniform row before the shifters, the air suddenly began to change. There was electricity and a sexual energy that somehow managed to fill even the massive space station.
As if signaled by an invisible cue, the elegant shifters with beautiful scales began to depart from their stations and make contact with the women who would be their mates.
There was a flood of wind as their wings forced them to rush to the girls and, one by one, there became fewer girls on the tarmac. Carolina was chosen by an orange shaded shifter with oval scales and shimmering wings with see-through patagium. He looked fierce and strong and picked her up, playfully spinning her before taking her back to his standing.
I stared down at my white heels and crossed one foot over the other, maintaining my balance as a flush started to creep up my face. Nobody likes being chosen last, and now I didn’t even have girls close enough to me to make awkward conversation with.
I knew that there were two fewer girls than there were dragons. These scientists would be escorted back to Udora with the rest of us, but as researchers, not breeders. This was a different kind of honor; to go and study a new planet and see what this new world had to offer planet Earth. But, it wasn’t exactly what the women who signed up for this were hoping for.
A sudden burst of wind interrupted my thoughts, and I looked up to find a beautiful white dragon standing before me. He was pale and exotic looking, with narrow shoulders and long white hair coming down his back and through the crest of his wings.
I felt my heart jump to my throat as he offered me a smile. His eyes were a pale blue, the same tone that reflected in his nearly transparent scales.
I felt a rush of goosebumps run up my spine and I offered the man a genuine smile.
“Hello,” I said shyly, allowing him to take my hand in his.
“Hello,” he responded with a nod. “My name is Galsthenn, the white dragon.”
“I see that,” I giggled and he kissed my hand. “Rosalyn Westfall,” I offered.
“Rosalyn,” he stood, towering up an intimidating six and a half feet. I stood a mere five foot three. Boy, were we going to be a funny looking pair. “I love your name,” he said and tucked my hand on his bicep, looping our arms through one another.
I smiled.
I looked back over and saw the program's director, Zaphira, appear before the crowd and greet one of the Weredragon diplomats before exchanging what appeared to be very formal words. They shook hands, and Zaphira regarded the rest of us, congratulating us on our new mates and the unimaginable joy that our new lives would bring once we reached Udora.
That’s when it hit me: this was real.
I looked up again at the Weredragon beside me once more and felt his cold skin against mine. I brushed my thumb back and forth against the scales on his hand absentmindedly, and he jerked his hand but never let go of mine.
I never make good impressions.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “I’m sure I’ll get this you-me thing down soon. I hope you’re not disappointed.”
His forehead creased and he chuckled, almost confused, as he stared down at me. “I chose you,” he stated, as though that should clear everything up between us. “I could never be disappointed.”
I raised my brows matter-of-factly and smiled his way. “Get back to me once we hit Udora and I’ll ask you again.”
I felt an immediate power being in the presence of him. I was in awe in a way that I hoped wouldn’t show on my face. I didn’t know if he would consider my fascination with his appearance to be rude or preferred.
Rude or not… it was true what they all said about shifters. They were enchantingly handsome. I could feel the sex appeal from the other shifters as they came and went, but this one seemed so refined in his immediate seduction. I wanted to say ‘and you chose me?’ and ask him what possessed him to take my hand out of the line of other beautiful women, but instead, I just said: “Thank you.”
Chapter Two
Galsthenn
From the moment I saw her, I knew she’d be mine. Rosalyn. What a striking name for a woman. My eyes followed her curves from the tarmac back onto the shuttle. The ride back to Udora took weeks, the latter half of which Rosalyn, along with the other women on board the shuttle, were put into a cryogenic deep freeze.
The cryo chamber was kept dark, as to not disturb the women’s eyes when they awoke. The room was curated for a peaceful atmosphere, something I thought they’d done a spectacular job with. The only light found in the sea of beds were the somber glowstones that shone their blue hue. These heavy stones were found in the deepest parts of Udora’s waters, and humans were said to be so taken with them that they began using them to light everything.
Attacks on human females caused the cryo room to be under tight lock and key, which was fine by me. I was ready to get back home and be with my new mate.
The government of Udora was called the Koth. The Koth had always been made up of 10 shi
fters and 12 advisors. This structure worked for decades until recently. A rebel organization had sprouted from under our highest ranks and forced us to cut them down in recent years. Now there were only 3 shifters and 5 advisors. Only those whom we could trust implicitly.
My father was Bromis, a gray dragon. He had massive wings that never retracted and was overloaded with thick, long scales across his body. He was the oldest shifter on Udora and the unspoken head of the Koth. While thought to be a democracy by onlookers, what my father said was law. What he believed was how the council would vote. Soon he would be stepping down and handing his position to me.
This was a great honor that immediately gained me the respect of the shifters around me, even those who had once professed to be my enemies.
The weeks went by in slow agony, me waiting for my chosen one and fighting the overwhelming itch to touch her and make her mine. We landed on Udora, and the weather was unsurprisingly cool. Snowflakes fell heavily from the sky but never made it to the ground as snow. Instead, ice covered everything in a thick layer, causing the entire planet to glisten.
Snow would turn to green grass. These were the only two seasons on Udora. It never got hot like it did on Earth, nor would we have a period of autumn. Ice sheets and marvelous spring were all we knew.
I took Rosalyn to my high-rise in the city center. I loved Udora’s architecture. We used to live in stone cities on the outskirts of the mossy fields that we now mined for resources. But, after the humans came, we began living like kings.
Though some shifters resented human presence on our planet, I was never of such an opinion. I enjoyed the food, the energy, and the buildings. Oh, the buildings. My apartment took up the top floor of the glassy, blue building and overlooked the shimmering lights of the city. We stepped into the building and left my guards at the door behind us. I locked the entrance tightly and rolled my eyes slightly at the company.
“Does it make you crazy?” Rosalyn asked in her beautiful, sweet tones; obviously noting the irritation on my face at the sight of my guards.
“Yes,” I said quickly and then immediately retracted, “No… I don’t know.” I laughed. “I guess I’m so used to it.”
“They were all over the ship, too,” she quipped as she removed her tall heels at my front door and stepped into the living room.
The fireplace raged with heat, and she found her way to it like a ship to a beacon. Rubbing her pale hands against the blaze, she turned to me and offered an unsure smile.
“They would be all over the ship if I were there or not. Security also accompanies shifters to Earth. For your protection and ours, though I don’t know what they’d think you could do to us.” I blanched. “No offense.”
She laughed into her warming hands and waved my statement off. “Please, I couldn’t even carry my bag of shoes onto the shuttle by myself.”
“And would this shoe bag be a travel specific item, or is this what you’re carrying around all the time?”
“Hey, I’m not that crazy, yet.” She giggled once more and stared at me in the same way I was staring at her: charmed.
“I’m afraid you may have to get used to it, as well. Security is sort of a given on this planet.”
She gave a slight nod but said nothing. She set both of her hands on the glass wall that took up the majority of the living space and peered at the vast city below. The night had quickly overtaken the day. I told her tomorrow we would be meeting my parents for a private dinner and then she would be led into the city for a great parade to be held in our honor.
My mate seemed immediately excited as I explained how grand the celebration would be. I loved that about her already; she was so… feminine. I’d encountered other choosing participants, and some seemed brash and ready to be combative. We’d had Zaphira, the head of the Riddell organization, and her second in command had married one of our Koth advisors ten years ago now. She’d come to the planet and stirred up quite a mess.
People worried for the longest time that she came to turn the Koth against one another or sought to control them somehow, much in the same way that Zaphira had frequently tried to, but in time, she became one of us.
“Eighteenth century,” Rosalyn said whimsically as she fingered through the furniture in my apartment, breaking me from my thoughts.
“I saw it in a magazine,” I shrugged and watched her move through my space with captivation.
“It’s a beautiful choice. I always loved that era. There’s something timelessly classic and refined about that period. The gilded gold on everything. The use of whites and all of these curved lines.
I nodded. “I wanted it to seem like a castle,” I laughed bashfully. “I’ve been to France, and I was absolutely taken away.”
“Too bad you couldn’t just fly one here, right?” she teased as she spun on her heel.
“I don’t think Earth would like that much.”
“I don’t think your shuttle driver would like it very much!” She giggled. “A bit of an awkward item for hauling through space, wouldn’t you say?”
I smirked and sat across from her on an embellished sofa. “I guess I’ll have to stick with my apartment.”
“I guess you have to,” she repeated somewhat flirtatiously as she made her way next to me. She sat down, her thick legs crossing gently and seductively as her thigh grazed mine.
A flush of heat traveled through my body, and I felt the need to take her then and there… but I didn’t want to be that shifter. So many aggressive dragons took their women into their beds the moment they arrived, and I’d seen it become the downfall of the relationship. Women don’t want to be treated like property. My mother has whispered it in my ear since I was a boy and I guess it stuck.
I looked over the light brown hair that cascaded down her face and far down her back, ending just above her backside. I loved her long hair. There was something so natural about her appearance. It made the blue in my scales flash, and I felt a hot throbbing course through my body.
She stared at me in wonder and set her hands unsurely on my arms, feeling my scales as she had at the space station. The way her fingertips carefully caressed my scales felt as though she were trying to get them to light up once more.
“I want to give you everything,” I offered sincerely. I wanted this to be the perfect union. I didn’t want her to be a breeder. I wanted her to be my wife. I could already feel our connection in my being. I knew she was the one who would stand by my side and make me happy. All I wanted was to be that for her in return.
“Like a kiss?” she asked brazenly.
“Like…” I laughed, stumbling over my thoughts. “Like a life that you will be proud of.”
“Here I thought I was a wife of obligation.”
A frown creased deeply between my brows, and I watched her eyes turn from flirtatious to horror as she studied my expression. She knew I was taking a seat with the Koth. This was similar to taking a throne or presidency on Earth. This was the reason my parents had encouraged me to attend a choosing, but I didn’t want her to think that was the only reason she was now at my side.
“Don’t say that,” I said gently. “There’s no obligation to me. I chose you because my soul needed you.”
“There’s no obligation to me, either,” she said sweetly and leaned in, fixing long white hairs behind my ear and getting close enough to me that I could feel her breath.
Maybe I’d read her all wrong. Maybe she didn’t want to go slow.
I nodded, hoping I didn’t look like too much of a confused idiot as she took my hands and put them on her breasts. It was easy to feel the shape of them through her silky shirt. I used a soft touch to explore her hills before leaning in to kiss her beautiful face. She smelled like strawberries.
My lips curved instinctively around hers, and she breathed heavily into my face. I kissed her slowly, dipping my tongue into her mouth and teasing the lust out of her. I could tell now how badly she had wanted this. Maybe more than I did.
Our kis
ses never broke, even as I began to unbutton her yellow shirt and watched as her breasts spilled out willingly.
“They don’t like shirts,” she said of her breasts with a hushed laugh as she continued invading my mouth with her wet, slippery tongue.
Unable to marry my need to be a gentleman and to ravage her, I gave in to the latter. I picked her up from the couch and lay her down in front of the crackling fire. I removed my clothes and watched as she eagerly did the same.
I stepped back as I hovered above her to see her human body in its entirety. I explored the different areas of her body with my mouth, kissing every inch of her and licked and nipped at her most private parts until I knew she was ready for me.
Rosalyn’s hazel eyes were thick with lust as I mounted her, pushing deep into her and feeling the sparks of fire land on my wings. She felt warm and silky against my throbbing hardness. I tried to go slow for, determined to send her over the edge, but she seemed more fascinated with my form than making love.
I fixed my hands in her curtains of hair and grabbed her chin, kissing her with a soft yet hungry passion as I thrust in and out of her. I buried my face in her breasts and teased her nipples until they became hard buds under my tongue. The actions made her moan quietly through her heavy breaths, but still, I could see her gaze was fixated on my scales and the large scars that showered my body.
She reached behind me in a vain effort to feel my wings. I felt connected to her in a way that was unexplainable to me and my mind, yet there was something about the gesture that made me feel like a specimen on a table.
I shifted my wings away from her touch and felt myself slip deeper into her, causing a loud noise to bubble forth from her lips. The longer the interaction went on, the more I wanted it to be over. It wasn’t that it felt bad. It felt amazing. But I wasn’t quite sure if she had climaxed or how long it was supposed to go on for.