Rai

by Maia Starr

  “Stop it,” Claudia said. I looked at her as we both leaned on the cement of the pool resting our heads on our arms as our feet kicked the water.

  “What?” I said.

  “I can tell that you are thinking about him. You have to stop,” she said.

  “It is that obvious?”

  “Yes, you get a little scowl on your face. It's cute, but it's going to give you wrinkles. Stop thinking about that jerk. He doesn't deserve you. He is a lying cheat, and you don't want someone like that. You don't want someone that can hold a secret for that long; such a liar,” she said.

  “Yes, you are right. I don't want him. It was just so shocking is all, and of course it hurts. But I will try to push it out of my mind. That skinny brat can have him. I am sure that he will eventually do the same thing that he did to me to her,” I said as I pushed off the wall and floated on my back looking up at the beautiful inky sky.

  “Exactly!” Claudia said.

  We swam around in silence for fifteen minutes or so. We had a good buzz going from the tequila, and the desert sun had made us very tired. It was nice to cool off with the moon coming up over the horizon.

  The next night we went into the small desert town to a dance hall. It was a very quaint country environment, and I liked it instantly. There was a small country band playing, and people were actually dancing. Claudia and I sat at the bar doing more shots of tequila.

  “Have some fun. Let’s get on the dance floor and dance,” she said.

  I looked at the dance floor. “It’s all couples. They are doing actual country dancing, like the two step and stuff. We need partners to go dance,” I said.

  “So we’ll get some gentlemen to ask us out. These are actual small town men. I am sure that they are courteous. Look how cute they are with their hats and boots,” she said looking over the men.

  “Yes, very cute and very different. It is refreshing,” I said.

  “Ahem…” Claudia coughed at me and directed her eyes to three guys that were taking the seats next to her. She smiled at me and lifted her brows up and down. They were cute. I laughed and shook my head at her. I really didn’t care if we danced with men or not. In fact, I did not want to be around men at all, but she had convinced me to come to this dance hall for a greasy burger and fries. I didn’t know there would be an actual bar-like atmosphere on a Tuesday night. Then the guys began to speak to each other, and we could hear them.

  “What about this one? They probably want to dance. They look like they’re from the city.”

  “Yeah, you know how women are on vacation: easy,” they whispered to each other.

  I looked at Claudia with wide eyes, and she was restraining a smile as we pretended not to pay attention.

  “Fine, I’m going to ask the one in the red dress to dance. I call dibs on that one,” one of the men said.

  “Oh great. So I get the fat one? I always get the fat one; not this time. You get the fat one, and I get the skinny one in the red dress,” the other guy whispered.

  My heart dropped. The smile on my face faded. I was mortified. I grabbed the glass full of tequila and shot it down. I looked at Claudia. I could tell that she was seething. She grabbed my arm and pulled me off the stool to leave. We both stood up.

  “Wait,” she said as she stopped.

  I looked at her confused. She took a few steps and grabbed the full beer glass in front of the obnoxious guy. Then she dumped it on his head.

  “There; maybe that will teach you some manners,” she said. The other two guys were laughing hard at him.

  “Let’s go,” Claudia said to me. I looked at the guy covered in beer and narrowed my eyes at him. I was not going to let his words get to me. He was a jerk, and he wasn’t exactly a looker. He was plain and had a beer belly himself. He was one of those men that expected women to be perfect but did not put any effort into making himself look good. He was a disgusting hypocrite.

  “Don’t let that guy ruin your night,” Claudia said as we got in the car.

  “I am not. He’s just a jerk like all the rest of them,” I said.

  “True. Come on we’ll go back to the house and take a swim and do some shots. It’s what we came out here for,” she said.

  “Yes, that sounds awesome,” I said. But I was quiet the whole way home while Claudia sang along to the radio. It was only a ten-minute drive, but it was enough to make me feel awful. That stranger’s words were getting to me. I didn’t enjoy hearing it, and it made me mad as hell. I wished I had been the one to throw beer on his head. Claudia was a good friend for doing it though.

  After the fiasco at the dance hall, we went back to our rented house and went for a night swim. It was nice to end the evening with nature instead of those jerks at the dance hall. Twenty minutes later, we went inside and had a lot more tequila, a junk food dinner, and then Claudia passed out. I was restless. It was almost midnight, and I was still in my bikini, so I walked out of the house to the pool patio. It was separated from the house by a good twenty yards or so. It was still very warm out, and I decided to go for a midnight swim. I dove into the water. I was still a little tipsy from all the tequila, but the swim felt good anyway. I didn’t know what I was expecting though. Was I really hoping that the desert air and pool water was going to wash away the stench of my ex-boyfriend Steven and what he did to me? I could hope, but I knew that I needed something way more drastic than that. I surfaced and swam to the edge of the pool and grabbed the side. It was then that I heard a strange humming sound. I looked around. Was it the pool filter kicking in? Maybe the house was running on a generator. I pulled myself up the side of the pool and got out. I reached for a towel and walked around the patio searching for the strange sound. Then suddenly there was a glow of light, a warm, subtle yellow light that seemed to flood the entire area.

  “What the hell?” I whispered. I looked up to see that the entire sky on top of me was obscured, as though I were still in the water with my eyes open. I rubbed my eyes. It must be the tequila, I thought. “You are way drunker than you thought you were, Maria,” I said. But as I stared at the bent sky, an object began to appear. It was as if it were invisible and suddenly becoming visible. It was a silver tear-drop shaped large object hovering above.

  “No freaking way,” I said. “That can’t be a spaceship. It can’t be. You have got to pull yourself together, Maria. You are hallucinating in the desert without drugs,” I whispered to myself. I panicked and ran out of the gated patio toward the house. I could hear the humming getting louder and then heard a distinct sound, as though it landed. I was not going to look back. I had to get inside the house.

  “Claudia! Claudia!” I shouted.

  Whoosh. A gust of wind hit me. Out of nowhere, a figure landed five yards in front of me with large wings spread out.

  “Oh my god! Claudia! Claudia!” I shouted as I stopped in my tracks. This thing was now between myself and the house. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know if this was real or some sort of tequila and desert hallucination. Maybe there was one of those trippy worms in that tequila, and I didn’t know it. That’s it! I am on a mescaline trip! It must be.

  “You are not real. I am just tripping balls!” I said as I began to march straight toward it. “I am going to march right through you!”

  “You can march on top of me. I would prefer that,” a deep voice emerged from the figure. It was husky and full of arrogance. I could see white teeth glimmer in the dark.

  I gasped. “You talk? But I didn’t make you talk. If this is my trip, then I don’t want you to talk. I demand that you shut up. I demand that you disappear,” I said as I closed my eyes and willed this hallucination to go away. I would have to remind myself to be angry with Claudia for the damn tequila trip. I would never drink with her again.

  I opened my eyes. The figure was gone. “Good,” I sighed. I took a few steps toward the house.

  Boom! The figure came down from the sky directly in front of me.

  “Aagh!” I screamed.
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  “Don’t be frightened. I am not going to hurt you. In fact, it is opposite. I am going to make you feel good. I am going to make you scream in pleasure. It will be unlike anything you have ever experienced on this planet,” he said with arrogance once more.

  At this close proximity I could see him a little more closely, even though it was dim. I could not believe what I fucking saw. “What the hell? What are you?” I said. Then I took a moment to process what he said. “Wait, what do you mean you are going to make me feel good?”

  He laughed. His white teeth were surrounded by full lips and a square, masculine jaw. He had long black hair that hit his shoulders and made him look rugged and dangerous. He looked like a human male, but I knew that he was not. First of all, he was almost nine-feet-tall and towering over me. He had a scale-like pattern tattooed into his skin, down his shoulder and arm. He was not wearing a shirt, only a loin cloth like material around his waist down to his strong thick muscular thighs. His physique consisted of toned six-pack abs and hard chest with broad shoulders. But the most astonishing thing was the massive wings that spread out behind him. In all honesty, he looked like a dragon mixed with a man, but that was not possible. Was it?

  “You will see. I am going to make you feel good, and you are going to like it. No, you are going to beg me for it,” he said as he folded his wings behind his back and then began to walk around me in a circle.

  “Claudia!” I shouted. I didn’t know what else to do.

  “You are unlike any human female I have seen before.” I felt a finger poke at my hip.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” I shouted as I slapped his hand away.

  “You are unlike the other human females. You are not skin and bones. You jiggle when you move. I like that. It will be a lot for my eyes to enjoy when my cock is inside of you, pounding you. Your flesh will move. It will be delicious to watch,” he said.

  I gasped. I was shocked. I had never heard any male talk about my figure like that. He was speaking as though he liked it. I was very aware of the fact that I was practically naked. There was nothing to hide. He was seeing me as I was, and he was praising it. A heat rose inside of me at his words. I felt desirable and feminine. He was saying filthy things to me, and he was attractive, whatever he was.

  “Wait, when your cock is inside of me? I don’t think so! Whoever you are, and whatever you are, that is not going to happen. Now leave me alone!” I said as I mustered my courage and put my hand on my hip and pointed a finger of shame at him. I was not going to let him talk to me that way.

  He laughed again, a deep and sexy laugh, then said, “And you are full of fire. I like that too.”

  “I don’t care what you like,” I hissed at him.

  “I am Commander Cerik Hade. I am a Draqua. I am from the planet Kelon,” he said as he stood in front of me again and gave me a bow.

  “So, you’re an alien?” I arched my brow at him as I heard how ridiculous I sounded in asking that.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “And what are you doing here? What do you want, and what do you want with me?” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hide my cleavage as he was staring right at it.

  “I want what all Draqua want with human females: to make you my mate.”

  My eyes widened in shock. “Claudia! Claudia!” I shouted as ran away from him and toward the house. This was so messed up! But then my feet were suddenly off the ground. I was flying in the air. I could feel strong arms around my waist. I knew that the alien had picked me up.

  “Put me down, you bastard!” I shouted. “Claudia!” Why the hell was she not waking up? She must be so damn drunk!

  “Don’t squirm or I might drop you,” he said. I gasped. I looked down. We were very high up. He was flying fast toward the silver object. Was I being abducted? Holy shit. I was being abducted by an alien.

  “No, no, this is not happening to me,” I whispered.

  “I am afraid it is, human female. I have chosen you,” he said.

  “I don’t want this. I don’t want to go with you. Please take me back,” I begged.

  “Impossible,” he said. He stopped and hovered in the air. A door opened on the silver object. He flew inside of it and set me down on my feet. It was brightly lit inside the room that I stood in.

  “Oh my god. This really is a spaceship,” I said as I looked around at all the blinking lights on the wall panels and the unusual looking benches and gadgets. But then my gaze fell onto the dragon man in front of me. His strong chest was aligned with my face. I swallowed hard.

  “Like what you see?” he said. I titled my head up and looked at his face. I nearly gasped at his appearance. He was the most attractive male I had ever seen. In the light of the room, I could now see his raven locks of hair, messy and rugged. His eyes were a soft brown and were framed by dark black and thick eyebrows. He had a bit of a five o’clock shadow on his cheeks, and it only made him look more dangerous.

  “I am not sure what I see,” I said.

  “That’s because you have never seen my kind before. I am a Draqua, a water dragon hybrid. You will see. You will learn once we get to my planet.”

  “What? Once we what? No! Absolutely not. I am not going to your planet!” I shouted.

  CHAPTER TWO

  COMMANDER CERIK HADE

  “Ravinn, any news?” I said as I entered the barracks of our warrior training grounds on my home planet of Kelon.

  “Commander Cerik Hade, no nothing new, sir. Just the same,” Ravinn said.

  “That is good. If things stay the same, then my plan will be more successful. I won't have to change things.”

  “It is a very dangerous mission that you have come up with. Will you not let me accompany you? No one knows Ephane better than I do. I am the reason that he joined the opposition in the first place,” Ravinn said.

  “No, I have to go alone. You especially cannot join me. Since you have a history with Ephane, his rage for you personally can make things more complicated. He might kill you on sight. He does not know me at all. Because of that, I have a better chance of finding out what he is up to. I have to go alone. It is what the King has granted, and it is what shall be done,” I said.

  “I understand.”

  “Stay with your human, Amelia; she is with child again, and she and your offspring need you. The entire Draqua race counts on it.”

  Ravinn grinned, “Yes, Amelia would have my head if I went on another mission. I only just arrived back from Tiok last week. She does not like to worry, and I do not enjoy making her worry, especially in her condition.”

  “Yes, good point. I leave in twenty-four hours. I am off to get some much-needed sleep. I leave you to prepare my ship and the ship artillery. We need to make this look real, or the plan will not work.”

  “I understand, Commander. Go to your home and get some rest. I will make sure that all preparations are in order for your take off from Kelon to Earth.”

  “Thank you, Ravinn,” I said as he saluted me and I left the barracks to go to my hut and get some sleep. Ravinn was, a loyal and good warrior. He knew Ephane from a few years before. Ephane had caused some problems for Ravinn and his now wife, Amelia. After that, Ephane disappeared, and sometime later we found out that he joined our enemies, the opposition. Even though Ephane was a hybrid like myself and Ravinn, he joined the opposition out of spite. He was the most dangerous member of the opposition for us because of one reason: he had been working in the governmental systems on our planet. He knew a lot about the structures that we used in the village. He knew the ins and outs of the king and the warriors. He brought extensive knowledge to the opposition. So when we got word that he was planning a big project with the opposition, the king put several stealth missions into action to find out what he was up to. I was one of these missions; each one was to be done alone. There was a mission on Pacu, there were some out in space, and I was going to Earth. I was more than happy to go on this mission. I was a commander, after all, a damn good one. This was wha
t I lived for. I enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, and as a single hybrid Draqua, I did not have offspring or a wife to think about when choosing to go on this mission. I had spent my entire warrior career fighting the opposition. I had come in contact with many of their leaders, and even got rid of a few personally. I was always victorious on my missions and never ever failed. I was one that the other younger hybrids looked up to. I was the best of the best. I was going to stop Ephane no matter what it took. I was willing to put my life on the line as well as that of a human. Whatever was necessary to get this mission done, it was bigger than anyone of us. If it was just as detrimental as we thought it to be, Ephane's plan needed to be stopped at all costs.