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

by Maia Starr

  “And here I thought I’d have nowhere to wear my cocktail dress. So, it’s like a party? I have to say, in all the years I’ve been to Udora, I’ve never attended a party.”

  “Something to cross off the bucket list.”

  “That reminds me,” he said, no shifting in his chair. “Zaphira will be attending. She’s your higher-up, is she not?”

  “Yes, and contrary to popular belief, she isn’t all powerful and full of doom and gloom.”

  “Ah, yes. As they say.”

  “She’s my boss,” I said flatly.

  “So that means you are required to jump to her defense?”

  “First of all, yes. And second of all, I would only be defending her if you were being critical of her. Were you?”

  He laughed, hard. “I was just asking a question.”

  I blinked several times as he continued to laugh at my reaction and then gave an audible sigh before downing the last of my wine like a teenager. “Sorry,” I said meekly. “Some people have a hard time with her. Her personality and all.”

  Haden raised his hand in dismissal and moved closer to me on the couch. “No need to explain. So long as she doesn’t give you a hard time, then she’s fine by me.”

  “She’s not as hard to work for as she is to negotiate with, if that’s what you mean.” I offered a smile.

  The truth was, I was quick to jump to Zaphira’s defense. Sure, she was harsh, but she knew what she wanted. She taught me everything I knew. While she didn’t exactly have the warmest personality, I’d seen her care for the girls she sent to Udora. I’d seen her cry in the privacy of her office. I’d seen the love she had for this project and this alliance – and that side of her was mine to keep.

  “Really,” I insisted. “She’s not that bad.”

  “If you say so then it must be true.”

  “You trust me already, huh?” I said, leaning closer to him and trying desperately to sound anywhere near flirtatious and change the uncomfortable subject.

  “You’re right, what am I thinking?” he said, slapping his forehead. “You are in politics, after all.”

  “She’s taught me a lot,” I said solemnly.

  He raised a brow and had a coy, blithe look about him. “And I’m supposed to find this comforting?”

  Chapter Four

  Haden

  I stared across at the lovely creature before me. She was dodging my questions regarding Zaphira and her work. I knew I didn’t want to push my inquiries too far, but my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

  “You can feel free to invite who you like, to the party, I mean,” I said, brushing the back of my hand up Sarra’s arm. She felt warm and amazing against my skin. “I know you mentioned you have a lot of friends at work.”

  “My brother?” she asked, perking up ever so gentle in her seat. I loved how when women became excited their voices went up an octave.

  “No,” I said with a breath. “Sorry. That was a bit of a tease, wasn’t it?” I said, now feeling embarrassed that I’d brought it up at all.

  “Oh,” she sunk back in her chair a moment before composing herself in a professional manner.

  “Sorry,” I repeated. “I’m sure you know that shifters aren’t fans of human males. I have no problem with them personally. It’s just all… bad blood from before.”

  Sarra offered me a put-on smile and a nod of acknowledgment. I could see the conversation had once again taken an awkward turn. Weredragons, in the days before the alliance with the Earth sphere, used to come and take women as we pleased. Human males often became casualties of this excursion.

  In shifters minds, men proved to be nothing more than in our way. I’d since met plenty of men whose company seemed perfectly fine, but I was the minority in that opinion.

  “I’m sure I can think of someone,” she smiled.

  I told her more of the party, and she seemed excited once again. I told her who would be there and what would be expected of her, though I had no doubt that she would have managed more than adequately without my help.

  Several glasses of wine later, I found myself with my arm wrapped around her and she leaned into me with ease. “What do you love?” I asked, genuinely curious about the little wonder who was now resting her raven hair on my shoulder.

  “In three words? Olives, nature hikes, mysteries.”

  “Ah, the writer emerges,” I nodded. She laughed and shrugged as though she wouldn’t argue my statement. I felt a rush of uncertainty at the thought that, not only was my chosen a member of Riddell, she had also been a reporter. If she liked mysteries, I thought, I had the perfect one to bend her ear with. But I would need to approach it with care.

  The truth was there were disruptions happening within the Koth, and I was making it my personal mission to ensure the Earth sphere didn’t get wind of it. There were whispers of a rebel organization looking to take down the Koth.

  “If you love a good mystery,” I said, my mind reeling, “I think I have one for you.”

  “Aren’t we supposed to be focused on mating?” she said with a wry smirk.

  “We can certainly do that, too,” I said, trying not to be too distracted by her sudden offer. “There’s a shifter locked up in the old country. There’s a secret jail there.”

  Her flirtatious air suddenly disappeared, and her ears perked up. “What? We have no record of that.”

  “Thus the ‘secret’ bit,” I said in a whisper. Humans, as per our deal, were allowed to look into some of our prisoners in order to keep an account of how safe Udora was for their scientists and breeders. No doubt the lack of this knowledge would infuriate them.

  “Right,” she breathed. “Why is he there? Who’s being held?”

  “His name is Rerdig. We don’t know why, exactly. But, it’s rumored that he had a dispute with the Koth.”

  I played coy, but I knew exactly what had happened between the orange dragon and his captors. But if this was going to come out, it would come out in the way that I saw fit.

  “Off the record, of course,” I added; forgetting myself.

  “Well, you never actually said that,” she snorted.

  I raised my finger to her to give air to the severity of what I’d just shared with her. “For your safety and mine. It’s off the record,” I warned lightly.

  She stared at me for a moment, her green eyes darting back and forth with the excited rush that comes from learning of a conspiracy. Finally, she said, “Why tell me this?”

  “Because I like you,” I shrugged. It was true. “And I guess I don’t want you to think there are no more mysteries left for you here.”

  “Of that, I have no doubt.” She smiled, and I took this as an invitation to lean in. I moved closer to her and brushed the dark hair from her face, cupping her sharp jawline in my hand. I leaned in and kissed her thin lips. Happily, she kissed back.

  Our kiss was shy at first, and then the intensity rose. I could taste the tart grapes on her tongue as it brazenly entered my mouth. She dipped her tongue in and out and flicked it against mine. I felt my body respond to her and suddenly it was hard to control myself. I pulled away to look at her, lips red from our sudden passion.

  Her green eyes looked at me, hungry for more. She climbed into my lap so that her legs straddled either side of my thighs and our lips met once more. I kept my hands nervously lingering near her waist, careful not to offend her or to give in to my baser, primal instincts.

  Sarra pressed into my pelvis so I could feel the full weight of her on me. She let out a drawn out, breathy moan as she continued to kiss me and I lowered my hands down her sides.

  With that one movement, she broke our kiss and moved off of me.

  “Thanks,” she said quickly; breathlessly.

  “Yep, no problem,” I quipped back. “That is the service I provide here.”

  “Wine and kisses,” she exclaimed in a both playful and nervous fashion.

  “And amazing views.”

  A thought suddenly crept over her
face, and her expression changed from glazed over with lust to innocent flirtation once more. She stood from the alcove we had made in a bed of cushions and shuffled toward the hall. Turning back to look at me, she said, “I should… get to bed. I assume an important shifter, such as yourself, will have a perfectly luxurious guest bedroom?”

  I felt a deep crease form between my brows, and I blinked in surprise. “You won’t sleep with me?” She blanched at the sentiment, and I laughed. “Not like… Not like that. You know what I mean. In my bed,” I clarified.

  “No,” she said with a small grin.

  “That’s it, just… no?”

  “Look,” she breathed. “In the brief time I’ve spent with you, I can confirm that you are, indeed, charming and very, very sexy.”

  “Well hey,” I brushed my shoulder with mock ego and raised a seductive brow to her. “Thanks.”

  “But, I try and make it a rule not to sleep with somebody I just met.”

  She noted the annoyed look on my face as I processed her words and then seemed offended herself. “Because I am more than just a body,” she enunciated firmly.

  “No, I know that,” I tried to say softly. “It’s just…”

  “It’s just what?”

  I shrugged, puzzled. “You signed up to be chosen. That’s sort of like being married in your culture, isn’t it?”

  “Well no, not really,” she corrected. “In a marriage, you have already taken time to get to know one another. To admire and respect one another’s qualities.”

  “Still,” I said, not arguing her points so much as showing her a different opinion. “You did sign up for this knowing you would be a breeder.”

  A look of shock swept over her delicate features, and I could see her hidden democratic fury come out. “Yes,” she said slowly; her jaw set. “I also thought, given our stations, this would also be a marriage of unification. Also, that I could at least get to know you a little better before doing something like that.”

  “So, you’ve never done that before?”

  Her face flushed and she burst into frustrated laughter. “What I do with my body–”

  “That’s a yes,” I teased. “Look, I wasn’t really expecting, I mean… I hoped, but… It was you who hopped into my lap, let’s not forget.”

  She paused, and her brows shot up. Her expression was unreadable. “Right. And now I’m hopping off.”

  With that, she made her way down the hall and found her way into the guest room with no trouble. The last thing I heard that night was the sound of the door locking behind her.

  Chapter Five

  Sarra

  The next evening, after our physical encounter left me reeling. I was so taken with him, I’d almost jumped into bed with him after just a few hours. But Anita’s words kept running through my mind. Nobody that has sex on the first date ever ends up happy.

  Even though the night had ended on a slightly awkward note, we had a lovely morning together and spent the days in meetings exchanging flirtatious glances and stolen gazes reserved for those deep in the throes of a first crush. A few nights later, he informed me that a ball held in honor of our match would be in exactly one week and I was to dress in my finest.

  I decided to go the coupley route and dress to match him. He wore a fetching suit tailored to fit his impressively muscular physique and a black tie. In turn, I wore a long lace evening gown that cupped into a sweetheart neckline at my bust. If I knew a thing or two about impressive shifters, I knew to show a little cleavage.

  My dress was black, to match the beautiful scaling that trailed down Haden’s face and body. He took my hand, and within just a couple hours, we were whisked deep into the city at an oversized mansion reserved for only the highest members of society.

  Haden walked into the building with me, a large glass dome situated in the city center. The sky above was dark already, and you could see snow fleeing wildly in the air through the glass like we were in our own personal snow globe.

  The process of being chosen may not have been like a marriage, but the party certainly was.

  The hall was modern and sophisticated in a way I hadn’t thought of Weredragons before. They’d always been all business to me, sure, but I’d never imagined them in suits and ties shaking hands and waltzing on a marble dance floor.

  Soft music played in the background, and I began to feel more and more like royalty with every step we took into the building. Glowstones illuminated the entire arena, adding to the surreal quality of our night together.

  There was always something so primal about them that made me feel like they were untamed and waiting to return to their wild ways. Or, maybe it was the lack of women that made me feel like nobody kept them in line. I snickered out loud at my own thought, and Haden looked down at me, his blue eyes piercingly curious as they followed my gaze across the room.

  “They know how to hold a celebration, that’s for certain,” he said absent-mindedly as he looked around the room with a sigh.

  “Is that right?” I teased, and he gestured to a fountain in the far corner of the venue by a table of appetizers. The fountain was blue and gold and intricately decorated with carvings of dragons. It also spouted wine.

  “Is that…?”

  He nodded. “Wine.”

  “Not a bad idea, if you ask me,” I said with a smile, and we began walking over to it. Haden grabbed two wine glasses and began filling them up with the deep-red liquid. “Poor choice of color, perhaps,” I added as I took the glass from him.

  “Oxblood sprouting from a fountain doesn’t get your taste buds roaring?” he grinned.

  “Not exactly.” I took a sip. “But I’m not complaining!”

  We made our way through the party and I saw a plethora of familiar faces. It felt odd, in a way, to have seen them strictly through official meetings and tours and to now be standing in front of them with my breasts half exposed in cocktail attire.

  I thought it might be overwhelmingly awkward, but instead, they made me feel welcomed. Adding to this was the sight of Anita and Zaphira on the upper level of the grand foyer.

  “There’s a brave soul,” Haden said as his eyes cast over Anita’s boyfriend, Christopher. It figured she would be the one to break the rules and bring a human male to a den full of dragons who would be all too eager to rip him apart and steal her away, hypothetically.

  Christopher worked in security for the Riddell organization, though was rarely seen by the Weredragons. Mostly he worked in artillery that surrounding the choosing platform to make sure no dragon went out of turn. He was a funny guy. He had deep chocolate skin and welcoming hazel eyes. He was tall; built.

  The man always made the office a pleasant place to work and had a knack for putting the girls in the choosings at ease. Opposite of my usual opinion of him, I felt a pinch of nerves explode within me as I saw a laser weapon hanging loosely from the holster around his waist. Way to be polite, Chris.

  “At least he came prepared,” Haden chuckled as he too spotted the gun. “Not that it would do him any good.”

  Clearly, the dark dragon knew he’d made me uncomfortable because he began to look around the venue awkwardly and couldn’t seem to meet my eyes again. “Sorry,” he offered lamely. “Your brother… I shouldn’t say, you know…”

  “No, it’s okay,” I said as I pulled my shawl closer to my body. “My brother isn’t here, so there’s really no reason to feel bad. He would have hated a party like this anyhow. You know, the whole dragon mating thing freaks him out.”

  “Well,” he raised a brow. “I promise we wouldn’t have mated with him personally.”

  I batted him on the arm, the movement forceful enough to jostle my drink. “You know what I mean!”

  Despite the joke, Haden still acted as though I were uneasy with the topic. I tried to keep my tone light, trying to convince him the subject matter was alright to talk about. Cathartic even. In truth, I actually liked talking to Haden about my family. I’d told him about my father’s passi
ng years ago and how I never knew my mother. If we were going to be a real couple, then I wanted him to get to know the real me.

  “You know, when we were little, my brother and I would play pretend and act as though we were dragons.”

  Haden’s eyes went wide with surprise and he stifled a laugh. “You don’t say?”

  “Yes, and he always wanted to be a blue one and I would always pretend to be a pink one that shot ice.”

  “We don’t shoot ice,” he corrected coyly.

  “I guess that’s what made me special then, isn’t it?”

  “Well played.” He gave a nod and took my hand, raising it into the air so all the dignitaries could watch us.

  They all began to cheer as we walked in a large circle, our hands still raised as though we were the spectacle of the evening. “When did the dragon fantasy become more of a fear than a delight?” he asked curiously; never breaking his smile as his eyes fixated on me.

  “I guess once I started working there. Close proximity sort of takes the fantasy away.”

  A smile slid up his face and seemed to settle there as he looked me up and down and proudly said, “Not always.”

  My eyes sparkled with delight at the comment, and I looked up at Zaphira from the ballroom floor. She stood on the balcony in a deep plum skirt suit and stared down into my soul. It was the rare moment that I couldn’t read her eyes, but tonight something seemed to shift.

  I turned back to Haden and leaned my head on his arm. Within moments, one of the Koth approached us with his small tail waving behind him regally.

  The Weredragon nodded his head in my direction and welcomed me warmly before regarding Haden in the same, excited manner.

  “What a perfect pairing we have here. The Koth hasn’t been so energized by a choosing ceremony in decades.”

  “I know,” I said happily. “I saw some even attended! This is a very special occasion for everyone.”

  “Any sign of a child yet?” came the enthusiastic, if not frank, questioning from Tharos, a well-respect member of the Koth. He was a green dragon with a long face and tiny wings that draped deep emerald tendrils along their high points. I’d never seen this feature on a dragon until I met him.