by Leslie Chase
Your mate isn't going to judge you on the basis of your office, he told himself firmly as he sat down and waved Ashley to the visitor's chair. She certainly didn't look like she cared about it, throwing herself into the seat and crossing her arms as she glared at him across the desk. It was an expensive luxury, imported hardwood from Earth — a gift from one of the human corporations. Kosar didn't care that much about the material, no matter how rare or expensive. It was well made and served its purpose and the rest meant nothing to him.
For a long moment he and Ashley stared at each other. Looking away from her wasn't easy, and neither was speaking. Just being in Ashley's presence robbed him of his poise and made it hard to focus on anything other than her. Her powerful gaze, her soft lips, the hint of a blush on her cheeks, all of her seemed designed to throw him off his guard.
It was Ashley who eventually broke the silence. "Did you bring me here to talk to me or stare at me?"
Kosar felt his hands tighten at the challenge in her tone. But he couldn't deny that she made a fair point, and rather than growling at her, he forced himself to focus on what she needed to know. It wasn't easy to put his feelings aside, and he promised himself that he'd deal with them, but first he had to do his job.
A quick touch on the holographic screen above his desk brought up her file again. He'd read it before, of course, and not been impressed. It described Ashley Warren as a scavenger, making her living hunting and restoring technology in the ruins of Earth's fallen cities. An impressive scavenger, perhaps — according to the records she'd salvaged everything from twentieth-century automobiles to the remains of a supercomputer. That suggested that she was good at what she did.
But it was still scavenging in the ruins. Kosar didn't like the fact that this was what his people had to turn to in order to get their own technology working. Even getting human scientists involved was bad enough.
Now that the scientists were admitting defeat, though, all they were left with were desperate ideas.
The file also gave biometric markers to identify her by. Ashley Warren's retina scans were there, and a camera above his shoulder checked them discretely, confirming that she was the right human. He breathed a little easier at that — the mess it would have caused if Cooper had let the wrong person into the drive room would have been epic. Almost as bad as if his mate had turned out to be a thief trying to get in with stolen ID papers.
He'd seen that story a few times as a holodrama, and they made for fun viewing but he wouldn't want to live through it. Letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, Kosar launched into his briefing.
"The stardrive you're here to study is unique," he said. "Every other ship we've found has been too badly damaged to salvage. Fortunately for us, the Grace of Herendar was preserved under the polar ice and there is much we can learn from it. That doesn't mean it's easy. The ship's badly damaged and we have neither the repair manuals nor anyone with the relevant skills to fix it."
"Why not?" Ashley interrupted, breaking his flow. "You could have saved some of the technicians, surely?"
Kosar ground his teeth. That was a constant irritation to everyone at the Imperial Research Center, and he wished he had a better answer for her. "When Mars was attacked, we didn't know how bad the rebellion against the Empire was. All we knew was that the planet was falling, and our job as Dragon Guards was to save Prince Verikan. No one thought we'd have to rebuild our civilization from scratch after we woke, or that we'd be in suspended animation for a thousand years."
His jaw clenched at the memory, and he tried to breathe deeply. To keep himself under control. Remembering the frantic dash to save what they could as the rebels' bombardment took out the shields that kept a breathable atmosphere around the planet. The panic as he and the rest of the Dragon Guard looked for something, anything, they could do. And Askelon, the scientist with a mad plan to save the prince and his guards — but no time to save anyone else. Now even Askelon was dead, along with all the others who might have understood the technology of their people.
Almost everyone on the planet died in those terrible hours, leaving only a few hundred survivors in hibernation. And that sleep would have lasted forever if a human hadn't disturbed them. A thousand years passed with no one from the rest of the Empire coming to check on them, to rescue the prince.
That cold, vast expanse of time had to mean that the Empire had fallen. And that the rebels had failed to replace it, or they'd have come to check their handiwork. For all that the dragons of Mars knew, they were the only survivors of their species. They couldn't be sure, though. The only way to find out was to build their own ship and go looking, and for that they needed to understand the stardrive.
"Hello?" Ashley waved a hand in front of Kosar's face and he realized he'd let the pause go on far too long. With an effort he relaxed, his hands unclenching from his chair. The metal had twisted under his fingers, warped by his anger.
Covering his embarrassment with a snarl, he nodded quickly. "I'm fine. This isn't easy to talk about, that's all."
A shadow passed over her face, and he saw that she understood at least a little. No human could really grasp the enormity of his loss, but it looked like Ashley was willing to try. That was more than many humans would do. Kosar cleared his throat.
"Anyway, you're going to be working with one of the greatest treasures of the Dragon Empire, so you will need to be vetted carefully," he continued, trying to put his emotions behind him. They were a chaotic mess and he didn't have the time to separate them out. "Most of that has been done, of course, or you wouldn't be on the planet, let alone in the Center. But I need to make certain you understand the rules and will abide by them."
Ashley sat back and Kosar could see a tension in her. Fear showed in her eyes. It probably didn't mean anything — humans all tended to be intimidated by dragon shifters. Still, this time it stuck in his mind. Perhaps because she's my mate, he thought. I don't want her to be afraid of me.
That was something they were going to have to talk about at some point. Soon. Kosar knew that he couldn't work near his mate if she didn't know what she meant to him. But first, the rules. That was what they were here for.
"You will not remove anything from the room," he told her. "All the work has to be done there. All the data and samples will stay there unless their removal is cleared by me and Dr. Cooper, or someone that we both approve. No records of any kind will leave the Center. To make certain of that, we block all communications in and out of the Center, and everyone leaving is scanned for unauthorized data storage. It's an inconvenience, I know, but a necessary one."
"Wouldn't this go quicker if we could share the research with other scientists?" Ashley asked. Kosar narrowed his eyes.
"Probably," he agreed reluctantly, "but those scientists would be on Earth, and they would work for human corporations. The starship we're building is a collaborative effort, and for that to work the Dragon Empire needs to maintain control of our secrets. This is a delicate balancing act; both the Empire and the Consortium need to profit from the research, or it will break down.
"Also, the technology is extremely dangerous. Stardrives, improperly used, are weapons of great power. We dragons may not have any scientists who understand the principles left amongst us, but we know more about the dangers than humans do."
He could see that Ashley didn't like his answer. None of the humans did, but that didn't — couldn't — matter. Mistakes with this technology had wrecked continents, and if he could do anything to prevent that happening to Earth he would.
Ashley didn't voice her objections, though. That was a relief, he'd had enough of that argument for ten lifetimes with the human scientists. Instead, she nodded reluctantly.
"Fine, so everything I do stays here," she said, pulling a face as though the words had a sour taste. "But how does that keep things safe, if the engine is that dangerous? You do understand I'm going to have to turn it on, right?"
"And when you do, I'll be standing right next
to you to make sure it goes well," Kosar assured her. "I won't risk anything bad happening to you."
Ashley's jaw tightened visibly, and she glowered at him. "I don't need your protection."
"Perhaps not," Kosar said. Trying to soothe her worries only seemed to annoy his mate, so he tried another tack. "The working stardrive isn't the problem, though since it's damaged there is a risk. But someone experimenting with the basic principles could do a lot of damage. The Empire put its shipyards on barren planets after the first accident we had with one."
He met her gaze, trying to impress on her the importance of keeping this secret here. It wouldn't be possible for long, he knew. Once they'd rediscovered the secret of making new stardrives, keeping it quiet would be impossible. The human corporations would get their hands on it one way or another — but that wasn't the issue. Working stardrives were dangerous but controllable. His job was to stop humans messing around with non-working ones.
If a human corporation got hold of the Center's research now, the temptation to forge ahead as fast as possible would be irresistible to them. Whoever had a starship first would get a jump on colonizing the galaxy, and that meant incredible profit. But only if they didn't destroy their planet doing the experiments needed to reinvent the technology. That was far too likely for Kosar's taste.
The deal between the Consortium and the Dragon Empire would get them all the answers at the same time, and that way no one would have an advantage. In theory that would keep anyone from any too-dangerous experiments.
Looking into Ashley's eyes, though, Kosar found all thoughts of safety protocols and security washed from his mind. The burning passion in her gaze, a mix of emotions that he couldn't quite identify, rocked him to his core. A flame of passion kindled in his heart, growing to a roaring inferno that made rational thought impossible. His dragon soul simply wanted to snatch her up and carry her off, to forget about science and secrets and spies for as long as they could.
"Hey! Back off, mister!" Ashley's voice was sharp, and he felt her hand on his chest. Without realizing it, he'd stood and walked around his desk to tower over her. She looked up at him and the feel of her skin on his made his heart race. The fear in her gaze wasn't fear of him. No, it was fear of herself, of what she might do if she gave in to her feelings.
I'm not going to push her, he told himself, over the roar of his dragon soul. She has to know that she's safe with me.
Mastering himself with difficulty, he took a step away from her and the loss of contact was almost painful. Taking a deep breath he forced control on himself, trying to keep himself at least vaguely professional.
"I do not mean to frighten you," he said slowly. "That is the last thing I would ever want to do to my mate."
5
Ashley
Blinking, Ashley stared at the big alien. It was hard to think with him so close, and her fingers still tingled from the touch of his skin. Smoother, softer than she'd expected, and hot like a stone left by the fire.
Hot in every sense, she thought, blushing as she lowered her hand. Putting up a barrier between them hadn't been easy, and she almost regretted doing it. Maybe I should have let him grab me and seen where that went?
Even thinking that made her melt and squirm with desire. It would be so easy to give in to those feelings, but she couldn't. Wouldn't.
"What do you mean, mate?" Ashley knew what the word meant on Mars, of course. Everyone talked about how the aliens could find their soulmates, the perfect women for them. That was why Mars had a human Empress, after all. But the idea that one of them would pick her, that was something she'd never considered.
It couldn't be right. She wouldn't let it be.
Kosar was talking, and she tried to pay attention. It wasn't easy to listen to the words rather than the deep sexy rumble of his voice which vibrated through her.
"— brought together by fate," he said. "We belong together, and nothing will keep us apart."
Ashley shivered at his words. She couldn't deny that they sounded right, that she wanted to believe him. But it was impossible. She was here to do a job, and she wasn't going to pair up with the chief of security at the place she was robbing. It would be an awful thing to do to him, aside from anything else, and she didn't want to be that kind of person.
Soon I'll be safe back on Earth, she told herself, trying to ignore the pang of pain that thought sent through her. I'll leave all this behind and be safe. Get enough money to retire to the Protected Zones and bring my brother with me.
That had been the dream for so long that Ashley could almost taste success. They could finally, finally, be safe, and all it would take was this one job.
All it would take was stealing from Kosar. Damn it.
"I don't believe in your superstition," she said, as coldly as she could manage. "There's no such thing as mates, not the way you mean it."
"It isn't superstition," Kosar replied fiercely, taking a half step forward only to catch himself before he reached out for her. Ashley fought the urge to go to him, to touch him, as he continued. "Our implants know when we are with our mates, they're designed to detect them. And you can feel it too. I know you can."
"I can't feel anything," Ashley lied. She tried to keep her tone cold and hard. "Look, I'm here to work and I don't mix work and pleasure, okay? Maybe after I'm done, if you still think that you want me."
Half of that had the virtue of being true. After one disastrous attempt at dating another scavenger, she wasn't keen to make that mistake again. And once she was done here, Ashley was pretty sure that Kosar wouldn't be interested in her anymore. At least not to date.
He might be looking for her to capture or kill once she'd stolen the secret of the stardrive. That wasn't something that she looked forward to, but it wasn't something she could avoid either. One problem at a time.
Kosar snarled something in his own language and shook his head. Ashley held her ground, glaring at him as coldly as she could manage. After a moment he threw up his hands, his wings spreading behind him.
"You humans can be ridiculous," he said. "But I will still want you, Ashley. Nothing about my feelings towards you will change between now and my dying day. If you insist on waiting, then I can wait a little while."
Ashley relaxed, just slightly. It didn't fix anything, at best it put the problem off. At worst, well, now the head of security would be paying attention to her, making everything that much harder. But at least she had a chance to get her work done.
All she'd have to do was keep her hands off Kosar until she left. That couldn't be too hard... could it?
Working on the stardrive engine was like nothing that Ashley had ever done before. In many ways it was easier than the work she was used to on Earth: back there she'd often been stuck in a half-collapsed building trying to get a broken, flooded machine to function.
Instead, she was in a clean and well-supplied chamber, with all the resources she could ask for. But the machine she was working on... it wasn't just damaged, she didn't know what the various parts of it even did.
For the first week she barely touched the engine itself. There was too much to read up on — reports from Dr. Cooper's own investigation, to start with. Then she moved on to the descriptions of the engine as written by those dragons who'd seen one in action. It gave her a headache. The alien computers could translate their language into English almost flawlessly, but the alien viewpoints could still be hard to grasp.
Fortunately, whenever she had a question she only had to ask Kosar. Unfortunately, that was easy because he was always there. A ready distraction from her work, and an eye looking over her shoulder. Ashley found it intensely frustrating. How am I going to get this data out of here without him seeing me copy it? And how am I meant to concentrate with him in the room?
Whenever she looked up, he was watching her. His powerful violet gaze seemed to pierce into her soul and Ashley's breath caught at the feel of his gaze on her. She couldn't afford to let him get to her, though. She needed a c
lear head. It just wasn't easy to keep one when she was alone in a room with Kosar, feeling the strange pull of his presence. Her body responded to him in a way that she'd never felt with any human man.
"For God's sake, Ashley, get a grip," she told herself under her breath. But apparently dragon shifters had excellent hearing, because on the far side of the room Kosar straightened up.
"What was that?" he asked, and Ashley felt her cheeks heat. Now he's caught me talking to myself. That's just great. Way to look crazy.
Pushing her hair back from her face she looked up at him, trying to ignore his distractingly attractive physique. It wasn't easy, not when he had muscles like that and chose not to cover them.
"I was just, um, trying to understand these notes," she said, trying to cover her slip-up. It was true, at least. She had plenty of questions. Picking one at random, she continued. "What the hell is a 'hirvu'? Apparently, a stardrive should sound like one when it's warming up."
Kosar frowned, then laughed. "It's a kind of bird, I think. A flying predator big enough to challenge a dragon anyway. I've never been on the same planet as one, though, and I've no idea what it sounds like. Is that important?"
"Probably not," Ashley admitted. "But the notes are full of things like that, and I've got no idea what half of it means. It might be the key, somehow, and at least it would be handy to know if that's like a high-pitched shriek or a growl or what."
Kosar stood from his desk and made his way across to hers, and every step closer made Ashley's heart race faster. The mix of fear and desire his presence brought with him was exhilarating, intoxicating, and the problem she was trying to investigate was driven from her mind. It almost seemed like she could feel his touch, and she imagined him sweeping her off her feet into his strong arms and carrying her off.
