by Maia Starr
“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 training. 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.
"A female officer? The things you humans allow," he said to the guys in suits standing next to him. They were top administrators of the task force and neither of them defended me. Instead, they sort of laughed amongst each other. One of them put his hand on the elevator doors to hold it open as the Drackon warrior looked at me and said, “Are you stepping out? Or is there a mystery to be solved inside of it, detective?"
The men laughe
d at his sarcastic remark. I narrowed my eyes at him as I squeezed out of the elevator beside him while saying, “Maybe if there wasn't a brick wall standing in front of me, I could step out, or do you think all females are invisible, enough to pass through walls?"
I heard the Drackon, as well as the men, laughing as I walked away from them toward my department. I was angry and my Latina feistiness was antagonizing me to turn around and slap him in the face, but I told myself, “Calm down, Melinda. You just got the promotion of a lifetime; you don't want to ruin that with a quick satisfying slap."
The Drackon warrior made my blood boil and had ruined the high I had from getting the promotion. Those damn Drackon warriors with their good looks, confidence, arrogance, and of course the mystical ability to shift into dragons, were annoying to me. They were one of the reasons why I wanted to join the Intergalactic Special Forces Agency.
At first when I had finally met the weredragon creatures, I was fascinated and turned on by them like any other Earth woman, but over time, meeting one arrogant jerk after another, I knew that I had acquired a skill that allowed me to not be seduced by them, which many human females were not able to do. I considered this special skill aiding my ability to investigate cases involving the Drackon without bias. I still saw their extremely hard physiques and eight-foot tall stature as attractive, but I didn't let it blind me. Just as in the case on the elevator, I was able to overlook that quality as soon as he opened his mouth and showed his true colors as a Drackon warrior, the race that treated women in a submissive position. “What a jerk," I said under my breath as I grabbed a box and set it on top of my desk.
"Who? Captain Smith? Melinda, did you just get fired?" Alfonso, my former partner, said to me.
"What? No, not him. Someone else. In fact, I have great news," I said with a big smile.
"Don't tell me! You got the promotion?!" he asked enthusiastically.
"I got it!" I shouted.
"Yes! Finally! Damn, chica! No one deserves this more than you. It's about time those idiots saw that you are better than anyone they have promoted," he said, giving me a high-five.
"Thank you, Alfonso. It's nice to know you are backing me up," I said as I grabbed my notebooks and put them in the box.
"Always got your back, chica, even when you are upstairs or out there in space… know that you can contact me for support on the ground floor," he said to me.
"You know, there is something already," I said to him quietly.
"Of course there is. You wouldn't be Detective Katiama if there wasn't. Lay it on me," he said as he sat on top of my desk, ready to lend an ear.
"Well, it was something that the captain said; it has been bothering me."
"That scumbag didn't make sexual favors part of your promotion, did he? I'll punch him in the face," he said to me.
"No, no, no. Nothing like that. You know that if he had, I wouldn't be here right now. I would be in handcuffs and the captain would be in the hospital," I said smiling.
"All right, what then?" he asked.
I looked around to see if anyone was listening in on our conversation before I continued. “He said that he had a case that could use a woman's perspective. It is the main reason for my promotion. Do you think it is what I think it is?" I whispered in his ear.
"About the kidnappings? The abductions?" Alfonso responded.
"Exactly," I said to him.
"Why do you think that?" Alfonso asked.
"It is just a feeling. You know how much I have tried to get in on that case. But because most of the females have been kidnapped in space…" I said to him.
Alfonso finished my sentence, “The I.S.F.A. won't let you touch it."
"Yes, but now I am part of the Intergalactic Special Forces Agency, so I should have access to those case files about the kidnappings. I should have clearance."
"Maybe. But don't start your new job by poking your nose in case files that you are not cleared to handle. That is a way to get fired."
"Yes, but you know my theory, and I think I am right."
"Yes, you think that the kidnappings are orchestrated here on Earth by humans before the women are even sent into space. But there is no proof," he sent to me.
"How do we know that? We have never been able to look at the evidence, or at least not more than just what is in the newspapers about the stolen women. Something is not right, I will tell you that," I said to him, putting the last of my belongings into the box.
"That's going to die," Alfonso said.
"What?" I asked him.
"Your plant. It is going to die when you are gone in space for months. Who is going to water that thing? I don't have clearance to be on the twelfth floor. Even your plant is going to miss me," he said with a smile.
"I think you are right. Here, keep it. It will need an Earthling to look after it," I said laughing.
"Melinda… are you sure? You love this plant," he said, grabbing it out of my hands.
"Yes, and I love our friendship. Think of it as a friendship gift. I should get going upstairs. I get my new assignment today and I'm not sure when," I said, picking up the box and walking towards the elevator.
"Good luck. You are going to crush it; I know it. Let me know if you need anything," he said to me as I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then walked to the elevator. I looked back at the department floor that was my home for years. Even though I would be seeing it again, it was no longer my workstation. A huge smile came over my face as I entered the elevator, ready to begin the job that I had worked for my entire life. It was all happening.
The elevator doors opened and Denise from human resource was standing there, waiting for me.
“Welcome to the Intergalactic Special Forces Agency, Detective Katiama. My name is Denise, and if you will follow me, I will get you set up with your badge and issued weapons, gear, and, of course, the fun paperwork. Follow me to your desk where you can lay down your personal items. You are in luck: the available space is near the window," she said as she pointed out a desk that was against the glass walls. It was an awesome view of the city from the twelfth floor.
I smiled and said, “This is awesome. Thank you." I placed my box on my desk and then followed her into a hallway.
"I already have an issued weapon,” I said as I grabbed my leather jacket and pulled it open, showing her my pistol in its holster.
Denise laughed and said, “That won't work in space. The I.S.F.A. requires you to carry a blaster gun that works in space. You did train with them before, did you not?" She stopped walking.
"Yes, I have. I just assumed they were issued before a mission in space," I said to her.
"That used to be the deal until one of our agents had to stow away on a ship in the heat of the moment. Of course, he was unprepared because a good detective does not wait around to get a weapon issued, so he went into space on an enemy ship without a blaster gun. After that case, the I.S.F.A. decided that all agents will carry a blaster gun at all times, just in case," she said as I followed her into a room.
"Right, of course," I said as I followed her into the human resource office.
"This pack of paperwork is yours. For now, just fill out these three forms and take the rest back to your desk, as it takes quite a while. But I need these three forms before we can continue," she said to me.
"I am supposed to get my assignment today. Did they tell you anything about that?" I said as I quickly signed the forms that would give me my gear and weapons.
"No, assignments are highly classified and only the captain and the higher ups know who gets assigned what. I just deal with the paperwork and gear," she said to me.
I continued filling out the forms and she continued talking about herself. She was a very girly girl with her red hair piled high on her head and a loose bun. She wore a very tight business suit consisting of a miniskirt and fitted blazer. She was elaborating on her duties as a human resource secretary when something she said caught my attention.
“But I wou
ld much rather be in guest relations than in human resource. Had I known that guest relations not only act as concierge to high profile clients, but also act as concierge to the Drackon warriors involved in cases, I would have definitely applied for a guest relations position. I am on a waiting list to be transferred," she said.
I looked up from my paperwork and said, “What do you mean act as concierge to the Drackon warriors?"
"You know… if a Drackon comes in to see the captain or any other detective, they need to be greeted and offered water, refreshments, food, and shown where to be seated and wait. The normal things that guest relations take care of for other clients that come in with a case, but this is obviously more exciting because… well, you know," she said.
"No, I don't," I said, arching an eyebrow at her.