by Viola Grace
Who could sleep at a time like this? Not Opalite. She soon found herself in the large exercise room running the small track that surrounded it. After running two-hundred laps, she eyed the equipment before deciding it was time to think about the male she met and why he affected her so strangely.
As always, Sela waited for her. Opalite sighed. Why must they always have an escort? It wasn't as though Sela could stop her from leaving if that was her intent. The escorts never used to bother her, but the more missions she had, the more Opalite desired the unique feel of being able to go somewhere alone.
Once in her room after her shower, Opalite stared at Sela who merely stood waiting for her to share her experiences.
"Are you going to tell me why they have changed the routine?"
Sela nervously fingered the tablet she carried and sighed. "They said it's because three of the five in your pod have gone missing. Two of them with their gear. The excuse they're giving is that the things you carry with you aren't cheap."
"That's typical." Opalite snorted as she pulled out a chair at her small table and gestured to Sela to take a seat. "They care more for their equipment than they do for my sisters and me." The news may have really made her mad if her mother hadn't already told her that her sisters were alive and well with their mates.
"You know that's not true of all of us." Sela sat down and leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees. "Now tell me," she whispered. "Did you meet one while you were gone?"
"I'm not certain I know what you are talking about, Sela." Opalite carefully kept any inflection from her voice and her expression neutral. "You already know I met those whom I was sent to return."
"Come on, Opalite, you know you can tell me. The team you recovered told everyone about the two men. They even said they both had similar markings as you and your sisters. Don't tell me that isn't significant."
Opalite shrugged. "What is there to say? I shot the one holding the team captive with the tranquilizer, which works wonderfully, by the way. After that, I released the team from what was little better than an animal cage and the other from a torture chamber." She blinked. It was the only indication she would give that the male's situation bothered her in anyway. "I would have left him if not for the insistence of the women I sent back."
"Hmm… yeah, right." Sela stood and headed for the door. "Since you can't or won't tell me more, I guess I'll leave you for the night." She glanced down at her tablet. "You're scheduled for another retrieval tomorrow. Try to get some sleep, will you?"
Sleep? Who could sleep at a time like this? Opalite reached up and pressed her fingers to her lips. She had met two male dragons today. One, she could happily live the rest of her life without seeing again. The other…she felt her lips tingle as she remembered their kiss. The other was worth further investigation.
"Remember, your first objective is always to find your targets. Your secondary objective is to search for your sisters." Dr. Vasser almost seemed sad. It was as though he knew her sisters were never coming home. "You know as well as I do that if they are out there with their implants causing them distress, they may have gone mad." He paced away from her and shook his head. "I know how difficult this must be for you. I cannot imagine losing one sibling and you have lost three." He stopped to run his fingers through his hair.
Opalite kept her mouth shut and her expression intent.
"Take care of yourself, Opalite. That is an order." Dr. Vasser reached out and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.
She kept her inward grin to herself as she perused the statistics of the next retrieval. Two men, both dangerous, to be brought in dead or alive. She took the weapons that the tech handed her, glad that Janus was not on duty.
Opalite wasn't sure, but she had a suspicion that Janus would take any opportunity given to throw a wrench in the operations. There was a group of humans who despised the idea that their favorite method of transport and exploration was causing their world to collapse.
She was about to take a step toward the podium where she would launch into another dimension when a shout from a far station caught her attention.
The station was unmanned. It was Topaz's old launch site. A gate opened up and two men stumbled through, sliding to the ground as they cleared the dimensional gateway.
Opalite held up her scanner and it chirped confirmation. Those men were her assignment. "Dr. Vasser, my assignment has been completed for me. Those men are my targets."
Security was converging on the men and as they lay there, Opalite could see curls of smoldering vapor on the two returns.
The head of the facility followed security at a stately pace. He nodded his head to the tech and he turned to Opalite. "Please remove your gear. I guess your day out is cancelled."
She nodded and relinquished her scanner and dart guns. It took a few minutes to unbuckle all of the harnesses, but finally, she was ready to return to the off-duty quarters.
Opalite skipped the medical. She hadn't gone anywhere and there was nothing to compare her scans to. It was going to be a quiet day in the common room if they didn't regroup and give her another assignment.
She was watching another video featuring comic antics that ended in romance when Sela's pager beeped.
Sela straightened and smiled at Opalite. "They have a new assignment for you, something a little less violent than the last one."
Opalite turned the screen off and got to her feet, brushing crumbs from her breasts. "Well, it isn't as if I have anything better to do. Who is it this time?"
"A rich retiree who wanted to live out his years off world, you may even recognize his name from some of the history reels you had to watch. David Everhart."
Opalite stretched, scratched her ribs and walked to medical. "The name rings a bell, but I don't recall why."
Sela sighed. "Your education has been neglected. He was one of the greatest private donors to this project."
"It wasn't something that they concerned us with. We were stuck here, grown here and didn't really get to know why until we were in our late teens." She patted her hair as she opened the door to medical and then greeted the doctor with a smile.
"Today's assignment, take two." Opalite grinned and waited for the doc to confirm basic stats before climbing into her leathers.
Dr. Shivven was cheerful, a lovely contrast to the previous physicians who treated the young women like lab rats. "I just need final blood samples from you before you leave. The scans are current enough."
Opalite paused and extended her arm, the minute puncture took only a second and then she was zipping herself into her leather armor. "Did you really need two of them?"
The doctor whispered to her. "If I am re-using brain scans, it is important that the blood chemistry alters ever so slightly with your meals and is recorded. I can shift the brain scan to match."
"Ah. Thank you, doctor. Your attention to detail is always appreciated." Opalite ran her hands down her suit, checking for any wrinkles. It didn't really have a lot of give, but she liked to be neat when she took her place on the podium.
"And I appreciate what you and your sisters are doing. Ruby became a friend when I needed one and the least I can do is to offer the same courtesy to you. Now, have a nice trip and see you if you get back." The wink was given with her back to the cameras.
Opalite didn't respond with anything other than a short nod. She exited medical and walked down the hall to the dispatch area. While she and her sixteen remaining sisters could open a dimensional doorway anywhere, they preferred to not cause a riot when they reappeared.
The humans tended to get bent out of shape when they popped in and out of their world through energy gateways and as amusing as it was, the sisters had been raised to be polite and diffident toward their handlers. Freaking them out for fun was not on the menu.
She groaned internally when Janus stepped forward to arm her. He had been Ruby's dispatch tech, but since her sister had disappeared, he had floated from team to team, bringing his special brand
of condescending hostility to each assignment.
"Pay attention, agent!"
She blinked and based on the color on his face, he had been speaking to her for a while.
"Yes?"
"Your assignment is to reclaim David Everhart, one of the greatest men this planet has ever known."
"I am aware." Just for fun, she added, "Dead or alive?"
He choked and almost passed out. "Alive and unharmed. You are to treat him with the utmost respect."
Opalite nodded. "I will give him the same respect I have given to all of those I have been sent to retrieve. If he resists, I will be less polite."
She took the scanner but almost had to wrestle the tranquilizer guns from him. He fought her, but he lost as she pried them from his hands. "I am stronger than you, Janus, and I will not go on assignment unprotected. There are things out there you can't imagine and some that you only dream of."
She snapped her weapons into place, took a deep breath and opened the portal.
Chapter Three
Opalite staggered as she emerged on a paved road and checked her scanner, but it was showing nothing but static. She heard yelling and cursing as she gasped and looked around her.
As quickly as she could, she stumbled to the sidewalk where locals with a burnished red skin stared at her. Traffic slowly resumed and the hovering craft flowed by, their drivers staring at her.
She smiled weakly. "Hello. Have you seen a man named David Everhart?"
A man with a young family stepped toward her. "Who are you, stranger? Where did you come from?"
She straightened and put on her most official expression. "I am Agent Opalite DARE of the Dimensional, Arrest, Retrieval and Extraction project. I am assigned to retrieve humans and return them home to cease the rupture of dimensional space."
He blinked at her, the silver eyes wide. "I don't know him personally, but you can ask at the dragon consulate."
She almost grinned. "There is a dragon consulate?"
"Of course. We do a lot of business with them. If anyone knows details about another species here, it would be them." The man's wife was curled against his side, his son and daughter cuddled against their legs.
She gave the family a gentle smile that she had practiced in the mirror after seeing it on her romantic comedies. "Thank you. Which way would that be?"
He pointed down the street. "Down one block and over two. The building is shaped like a sleeping dragon."
"Thank you. That will narrow it down." She took a few steps in the direction he had pointed and had to stop, the street was blocked by folks staring at her. "I am here to obtain one human and return to my base. I don't wish to interact with you. I will do my job and go home."
She took a few more steps toward the gathered crowd and they parted for her. Two or three people touched her as she passed, but none went for her weapons, so she was fairly relaxed.
The city was similar to those that she had seen in the videos she was so fond of. People stopped to stare and the occasional collision of vehicles got her attention as she walked. They were either not used to seeing women in revealing clothing, or her facial markings and skin tone were catching their attention. Either way, it was both fun and distracting at the same time.
She shivered when she saw the dragon consulate. It was indeed a building shaped like a monstrous dragon and surprisingly hard to miss. She approached the gates and waved at the guards.
The guards snapped to attention the moment that she raised her chin to meet their challenging gazes. "I am looking for information on a foreigner."
"Please come this way, lady." The guards were the same red as the rest of the population, but they wore a small glyph between their eyes.
The gates swung open and she walked toward the open mouth of the sculpted dragon. Opalite had to admit, it was rather intimidating.
"I am looking for information on a human." She tried to get one of the guards to speak to her, but they shook their heads.
Inside the maw of the dragon, a small male sat at a desk, the same glyph between his eyes. He kept his eyes on his paperwork until one of the guards cleared his throat. With a heavy sigh, the small man looked up, only to pale dramatically when he took in her features. "Lady! I was not told to expect you."
She smirked. "I was not expecting to be here. I am seeking a human named David Everhart and I was told that someone here may be able to assist me. My scanner gets nothing but static."
"Yes, lady. Of course, lady. Please, come with me and I will make you comfortable while we retrieve the human." He scrambled from around the desk and waved the guards off. "Please, come this way."
"I am a little confused as to what is going on here. Where am I?"
"Dihmal. We are one of the primary suppliers of energy crystals for the dragon domiciles. How do you not know this?"
"I don't spend a lot of time with my own kind." She noticed that while the guards were almost as tall as she was, the secretary was barely to her shoulder. "Is there a lot of variety in height amongst your people?"
"We grow with age, lady. This is my first real job." He grinned up at her and she saw the youth in that moment.
"Congratulations, but why do you call me lady?"
"All dragons are lords, all dragon swans are ladies. We are taught etiquette before we are allowed to work with the dragons. They tend to have bad tempers for those who disrespect them. Ah, here we are."
He opened a door and she was ushered into a chamber that had a balcony overlooking the city. By her estimation, she was between the wings of the dragon.
"Please remain here, lady. David Everhart will be brought to you." He bowed and closed the door behind him.
She blinked in surprise and looked at the room around her. It was a conversational room. There were a set of couches, some chairs, a video screen and a low table. Opalite turned to the door when it opened and to her amusement, a small female came in with a tray of food and beverages.
"Good day, lady. What will you drink? We have water or fruit juice." The young woman had a bright, nervous smile.
"Fruit juice. Why am I here in this room?"
"I don't know, lady. I was simply told to keep you comfortable."
Opalite reached for the glass and paused. A heavy beat came from just outside the balcony. She watched a dragon sweep toward her and shift into a male that was peculiarly familiar.
"How in the name of peculiar coincidence can you be here, Kros?"
He grinned and bowed. His bruising was still evident, but he was moving more easily than when she had freed him.
The serving woman left with a short curtsy.
"I asked all of the consulates to keep an eye out for you, Opalite. You cannot know how happy I am that I didn't have to wait for you to make an appearance." He walked toward her and she held her breath.
He passed by her and got a glass from the tray, filling it with water and taking a healthy gulp.
"I don't understand. What is a dragon consulate and how could they be looking for me? All of my sisters look just like me."
He put his glass down and pressed his cool hand to her cheek. "None of them have your eyes, Opalite."
She met his gaze with a smile. "I thought you were going to wait for me on that world."
He grinned. "I became impatient and sent a request to the consulates in case you turned up on one of our worlds before I could claim you. I didn't want you to fall prey to another before I could press my suit."
She stared into his dark pewter eyes and smiled. "That sure of my response to you?"
"That sure of the interest your blundering through the dimensions is gaining. Dragons are stirring around the universe at the thought of claiming a daughter of Eiwyn and Draven."
"So I have heard." She smiled. It was one of the warnings that her mother had begun to broadcast.
His hand was rapidly warming on her skin. She swallowed nervously.
"You seem to have healed well."
"Galen did a good job on me but le
ft a few marks so that I would engender pity when I met you. If I was perfectly healed, you may not have recognized me."
She laughed lightly and moved her face out of his light grip, scooting away and heading to the table with the snacks. Opalite took a seat on one of the couches and started picking through the foreign foods.
"So, which human are you seeking here?"
"A man named David Everhart. He will probably not want to go, but I really don't care. He will return home whether he wants it or not." She tried to put some steel in her tone, but when he sat next to her, she fought the urge to scoot away.
He was radiating a lot of heat and she couldn't decide if moving away or cuddling closer would be the best course of action.
"Your dragon is the same color as your eyes."
He nodded. "It is the usual coloration combination."
"Really. What can you tell me about our people? And why the hell do we have consulates?"
He settled back. "That will be quite a tale. If you wish to know all there is to know, I am afraid the price is a kiss."
She frowned. "A kiss for information?"
"That is the typical exchange. It is either that or I fly you across the skies until you wrap your arms and legs around me and won't let go."
She narrowed her eyes and turned to face him. "Let's settle for a kiss."
Chapter Four
She leaned forward, but he didn't meet her halfway. "Why aren't you…"
"You need to give me a kiss. I don't need to take one."
She sighed and assessed her options. Throwing decorum to the wind and shocking him into immobility, she sat across his lap and pulled his head down to hers.
At first, the kiss was awkward, an impact more than a pressing of lips. Forcing herself to relax, her mouth caressed his softly and when he responded, a thrill of triumph rippled through her.
She pulled her head away and attempted to control her breathing. His hands were holding her waist and the monitor on her wrist started chirping madly. That sound sent her off his lap and toward the door just in time to greet the human who was being prodded in by another dragon.
