by 1
As far as Garo was aware, no contact with the Alliance had been made in the last five hundred years, so her education was even more of a mystery.
The cells were mostly unoccupied. Based on their scans, the woman did not require a guard. She didn’t seem to have any additional talents or abilities that they could detect.
“What does she look like?” The Councillor’s voice was low and calm, one of the reasons that Garo was glad he had been chosen for this investigation.
“She seems similar in looks to a Drai woman. A little smaller and paler than a Drai but very similar.” He didn’t add that he had been seeing her in his dreams. It would be too shocking for the councillor to know that a Drai shifter had the misfortune to see an alien as a mate. There were few-enough males with the transforming genome left.
They stopped in front of the cell containing the topic of their discussion. Without a comment, Garo palmed the lock open and the door swung wide.
* * * *
Cynthia sat at the table sipping at the tea that had been provided for her. Her time acclimating herself to the Drai palate had been well spent. She was able to sip at the bitter tea without making a face, grateful for the acids and caffeine.
As the door opened, she watched the two winged males enter her cell and the spacious quarters got a lot smaller. “Good afternoon, gentlemen.”
She stood and inclined her upper torso before resuming her seat and her cup of tea.
“Miss, we have a few questions to ask you.” The male who wasn’t Garo was polite, but there was a familiar set to his head.
“Please. I would offer both of you a seat, but I only have one.” She gestured to the other chair.
The male who had spoken smiled and took the chair. Garo was busy glaring at her with a mixture of emotions, but his companion was watching her every move with an analytical eye.
“Miss, why are you here?” The male with the dark hair and dark eyes folded his hands on the table in front of him.
“I crashed here. A comet swept me from the Saru system and it dropped me here. My ship was badly damaged and falling apart as I entered your atmosphere.”
“Are you aware that this is an interdicted world? We do not allow aliens to land on our surface. The penalty for landing on our surface is death or imprisonment.”
She blinked. “All right.”
He looked surprised. “You don’t want to beg for your life?”
She sighed deeply and rubbed the back of her neck. “What good will it do? I am on your world where no alien is supposed to be. I can speak Drai, a feat that few aliens ever bother to master. I have knowledge of your castes and the general organization of your government and there is only one thing for me to offer to keep myself alive and free.”
Garo leaned forward slightly, his massive arms crossed over his impressive chest.
The other male smiled and leaned back in his chair. “What could you offer in your defence?”
She smiled. “Well, there is one thing that the laws of your world have not yet considered.”
“What is that?”
“I never landed here. When my feet first touched the ground it was after I had been placed in this cell. By my own will, I have not entered Drai space or touched on Drai soil.”
The male looked at her and started to laugh.
Garo’s lips twitched and a grin eventually replaced his stoic frown.
“That is an excellent point. I will pass your argument on to the Council. They will rule in the morning. Wing Leader, I will meet you outside.” The man got to his feet and left them alone.
Cynthia looked into the dark gold eyes of the dragon she had been dreaming about for years. He stared into hers and she wondered what he saw in her green orbs. When he spoke, she fought the quiver of awareness that ran through her.
“Who are you and why are you here?”
There was desperation to his words that tore at her heart.
She got to her feet and approached him slowly. With one hand, she reached up and cupped his jaw. “I am Cynthia Norman of Terra and I am here because I dreamed of you.”
He flinched at her touch, his arms moving to stay straight at his sides and when she spoke, his hands curled into fists. With no more words between them, he turned and left her in her cell.
Closing her eyes against the ache in her soul, she returned to her chair and slowly sipped at her tea. Tomorrow was too far away to worry about and today would never end.
* * * *
Garo endured another night with his family until he could not take the enforced merriment anymore. He stalked out onto the deck and stared into the night sky.
Her words echoed in his head. I dreamed of you.
How could she know the Drai words that indicated a true match of souls? No one outside of their world was privy to the social customs and the psychic connection that was formed between mates. But, she did know. She had looked at him with the same recognition that he had felt when she was in his arms that first time.
Garo gripped the railing of the deck and dug his claws into the stone. How can I let my mate go to sentencing tomorrow? It was ridiculous to think that she was his destiny, but he couldn’t watch her eyes when they doomed her to life in a prison.
Councillor Hael was going to make the best report he could, but unless there was some kind of a psychic shift in the council, Cynthia was doomed to death or imprisonment.
“What is it, Garo?”
He tilted his head and watched his mother approach. For all her nagging ways, she had a sixth sense when it came to her children. Corleen Weelich was still an attractive woman, a miracle after her four children had done their best to wear her nerves while they were growing up.
“An incident yesterday has caused me unease.”
Corleen stood next to him and stared out at the stars, her profile clean and solemn. “The alien woman?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so concerned about her? She will simply be sentenced and the council will dispose of her as they choose.”
He sighed, rubbing his forehead.
His mother stared at him as dawning surprise ran through her. “You dreamed of her, didn’t you?”
“I did. And do you know what is worse?”
“What?”
“She dreamed of me.”
Corleen nodded. Her surprise turned into a stubborn set of her chin that her entire family recognized.
Garo could almost see the thoughts flitting through her mind and he knew the moment that she made a decision.
“Well, if the only way you are going to get a mate is via a stranger to our world, I suppose it is in my best interest to make sure that she makes it out of her sentencing alive.”
Garo looked to his diminutive mother and smiled. “What are you going to do, Mama?”
She reached up and patted his cheek. “It is better that you don’t know, Garo. Consider it a surprise. Don’t worry. It will turn out all right, or I will take the councillors on one at a time.”
Looking down into his mother’s eyes, he had a sense that she would rip out the throats of anyone who stood between her and the possibility of a grandchild. Suddenly, he felt two things, optimism for the outcome of the hearing and pity for any of the councillors who stood in her way.
Chapter Four
Cynthia stood in front of the curious councillors. They had asked her for details on her landing, the comet and the chunks of her shuttle that had burned up on entry into the Drai atmosphere.
“I really don’t know. I am not a mechanic or an engineer. I received the shuttle while on assignment and it got maintenance at space stations whenever necessary. I just got in and flew.” She shrugged apologetically.
A female councillor gave her a penetrating glare. “What did you do for the Alliance?”
Cynthia smiled and told the truth. “I was a student. I learned lost and forgotten cultures and languages, yours included.”
“They allowed you to simply travel and to learn?”
/> She nodded. “I was given free rein to learn what I could. There are not a lot of my kind out and around in the Alliance or anywhere else for that matter. I had a talent for learning and a lot of potential, so they allowed me to use my mind to store bits and pieces of a dozen worlds.”
The woman tapped her nails on the table restlessly. “Including ours?”
“Yes, and the Admaryn, the Avari and several other races who have faded from the known worlds.” Cynthia didn’t name them. The other races were not locked in their own worlds yet. It was not their time.
“Councillor Hael has passed on your point that not only did you not intend to land on Drai but that you never did actually land.” The head of the council steepled his fingers in front of him.
She hid the jump of surprise at the mention of the last name of Hael. Livin’s birth name was Hael and what were the odds that this man was related to her granddaughter?
“That is correct. I fell out of my crumbling ship, into the sky and my feet didn’t touch the ground until I woke in the cell. I am a little fuzzy on the comet’s intervention in my path, as well as the damage to my ship via your satellites, but waking up occurred in the cell.”
The councillors nodded and murmured amongst themselves.
A woman broke free of the gallery and she wove her way gracefully to stand beside Cynthia. “Councillors, I would tender an option to imprisonment.”
The head councillor nodded, “We will hear you, Corleen Weelich.”
“I will take this woman into my house and my custody. She will be able to learn details of Drai life while she earns her keep. I will promise to keep the council apprised of anything that I learn regarding her origins and she will be offered the same freedoms as a Drai citizen.”
That last comment caused a stir in the watchers and in the councillors.
The head of the council shook his head. “She cannot be a citizen, but we will agree to a probationary period. She will be given into your charge and in three months, a full report as to her activities and learning aptitude will be required. This is serious, Corleen. We can’t have an alien woman with dubious morals running amok in our city.”
She nodded. “I understand, Viktor. Thank you, brother, for this opportunity.”
“Take her with you, but know that she doesn’t have shoes and none have been provided for her. You will be responsible for her from the skin outward. She comes with nothing and she has nothing.”
“I will take her on as my charge and we will go from there.” Corleen reached out and took Cynthia’s hand. “Now, do we have your permission to go?”
The councillor waved his hand, Councillor Hael smiled and the female councillor glared.
Cynthia took in this strange set of events and knew now why she wouldn’t write about it. Even she would never believe it.
Corleen was quiet as she piloted the small skimmer. “It was a quirk of nature that gifted our men with wings while the women have to rely on technology for flight.”
“So I have been given to understand.” Cynthia smiled.
“You aren’t very talkative. Do you know why I saved you from the council?”
She looked carefully at Corleen and dredged her memory. “For Garo.”
The woman nodded grimly. “Indeed. My eldest needs to find his mate and you are the one he dreams about.”
“I dream about him as well.”
“Do you think you can bear him a child? Are your genes compatible?”
Cynthia thought of all the medical procedures she had undergone just for this. “Yes, I am and I will have at least one daughter from whom will bloom all the psychic talents lying dormant in my genes.”
“How do you know this?”
“A friend of mine could see the future and her words participated in leading me here. I take seers very seriously.” She sat quietly on the bench in the skimmer and let Corleen steer them to a lovely home built into the side of a mountain.
“And did you mention this to the council?”
“From my research, the Drai are not very accepting of psychic talents. To tell them that one led me here would not really be a great idea.”
Corleen chuckled. “Probably not. Despite the science-defying presence of shapeshifters among us, our folk do not really believe in those who can use their minds for things other than disapproving.”
Cynthia didn’t have to respond to that. They landed on a wide deck and Corleen immediately was at her side, waiting for her to come along.
When Cynthia followed the Drai woman, she stopped for a moment to admire the huge home that Corleen’s mate had provided.
“So, you promise me a granddaughter?”
Cynthia blushed. “It depends on Garo. He doesn’t seem to like the idea of an alien in his bed.”
Corleen looked her up and down. “I am sure that with a little stimulation, he will get over it. He is a sensible male and his thoughts have been troubled of late.”
She couldn’t respond to that either. “Thank you for saving me from incarceration, Madam Weelich.”
“Corleen, please. Come along now, we need to get working on dinner. The boys are all out for the afternoon and Garrik is on duty until sunset. Can you cook?” Corleen raised an eyebrow.
Cynthia inclined her head, “Let’s find out.”
Corleen nodded. “I think you are up to the challenge.”
They entered the huge house, large enough for this woman to have raised four sons with her husband and not have killed any of them. The kitchen was well laid out and after a few false starts, they fell into a rhythm. Knives flew, dishes entered the oven and meat sizzled. By the time the sky began to suffer from the stain of sunset, everything was done and in a warming oven.
Corleen poured two glasses of wine and sat at the counter, gesturing for Cynthia to join her. “Now, what do you want me to tell the men? Garo will know what is going on, but he won’t mention anything to his brothers if he can help it.”
The baritone that answered her comment made them both jump. “You have that right, Mother. What do you think you are doing?” Garo’s glare could have peeled paint.
Corleen calmly sipped at her wine. “I am welcoming this guest to our home.”
Cynthia took in the breadth of his shoulders, the narrowing of his hips and the flex of his arms and then her gaze returned to the irritated look in his face. “Good afternoon, Wing Leader Garo.”
He remembered his manners and gave her a short bow, his wings flaring out and framing his body in a dark halo. “Miss Norman. Welcome to Drai.”
Chapter Five
Dinner was more of an inquisition than the previous few days and Corleen’s family were masters at getting information from their guest.
“So, how many languages have you studied?” Garo’s youngest brother, Vikkar, was genuinely curious.
“More than six, less than twelve.” She shrugged.
“Do you have a mate back home?” Neral, the second youngest, was looking at her with a speculative gaze.
“No, I do not. When I left my world, it was understood that I would never be allowed to join with another of my kind and out here, it seems very unlikely to find another Terran.”
Garo asked, “Would you want to?”
She shook her head. “No. Sometimes you just know when you need more than your own race has to offer.” Her pointed look in his direction caused a darkening of the skin along his cheekbones.
Corleen took her mate’s hand in hers and he lifted it to his lips in a loving reflex. “What matters is that you knew that your own kind were not for you.”
“That is true. Even as an adolescent, I knew that something about the boys nearby wasn’t quite right. It was a relief to leave.” She finished her meal and waited for the men to go through their third helpings. Her touch in the kitchen hadn’t screwed anything up, so that was a mark in her favour.
When Corleen and Garrik finished their meal, the others stood and started clearing the table.
Garo got to his feet and
pulled her chair out for her. “Cynthia, may I have a word with you?”
She swallowed. That didn’t sound good. “Of course.”
He offered her his arm and she walked with him to the huge outer balcony that overlooked the mountains behind the house.
Away from prying eyes, he moved suddenly and lifted her, taking her mouth in an eating kiss that left her in no doubt as to his interest in her. She reached for him and he broke the contact, putting her back on her feet and releasing her abruptly.
He turned his back to her and faced the night sky.
She finally understood the comment that she had written to herself. “You don’t want me.”
He groaned, “What I want is a normal Drai woman who will dream of me and I of her and a life of blessed normalcy. What I am getting is a raging hard-on every time I hear your voice or smell your scent. I have dreamed of you, but this can’t be right. You are an alien for pity’s sake.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “I see. I understand. I will keep my distance.”
He groaned again. “I have hurt your feelings.”
“That is one way to think of it. I have known one thing my entire adult life and that is that I was destined for you. If you don’t want me, I am afraid that I will have to rethink everything that I know and work from there. How does one remove the dreams?”
He turned back to her and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. I don’t know of any couples who have fought the dream state.”
She smiled brightly, ignoring the tears tracking down her cheeks. “Then I suppose we will be the first, though we are hardly a couple.”
Garo’s frown at her comment gave her hope. He might pretend indifference, but his face was showing irritation at her denial of their connection.