by Maia Starr
"Yes, he will bring joy to many people. Starting with us," I said to him. He kissed me on the forehead and then kissed our son. It was perfect. It was everything that I had not hoped for when I set out on this journey, yet now it was everything that I could possibly want in the entire world.
THE END (Flip the next page to read Book #2 “Terik-Drackon Mates!)
Terik (Drackon Mates)
By Maia Starr
Chapter 1
DR. ADRIANA ADAMS
Crash! I fell hard against the wall, as I was thrown about the Drackon spaceship known as the Beti.
“Strap yourself in, Adriana!” Mordikye, the weredragon warrior, shouted at me in anger.
“Don’t hurt him! Please! I beg you!” I shouted as I held onto the walls, trying to make my way over to Mordikye to plead with him not to fire on Terik’s ship.
“Strap her in!” Mordikye shouted to one of his crew warriors.
“Yes, Captain!” the warrior replied as he grabbed me forcibly by my arms and lifted me off the ground. I landed with a thud into the seat as the weredragon warrior loomed over me and buckled me in. Tears were flowing out of my eyes, making my vision blurry, as I stared out the windshield of the spacecraft. In front of our ship was another smaller but faster ship maneuvering wildly from side to side in evasive action.
“Get ready! Fire!” Mordikye shouted.
“No! No!” I shouted, as I unbuckled my belt and slid out of my seat onto the ground. I had to stop him.
I never thought I would be in this position. How did I go from treasure hunting geologist to being in a firefight in deep space between two weredragon aliens? I guess it all started with the Montana expedition…
...I had been digging for gems deep in the Montana ridges with my geology partner Richard Sanders for months now. We had an RV set up at the base of the mountains where we lived and had our lab. Every other week a few University students would come work with us and they would set up tents. At that moment Richard and I had been working alone for a few weeks and not expecting any company, so it was a surprise when Xander Black rolled up in an off-road jeep that day.
Richard and I were outside washing off our latest finds. “Adriana, do you ever get a little tired of this?”
“Of what, Richard?” I asked him as I scrubbed a beautiful white and purple geode that was sparkling in the sunlight. I was excited for my find.
“Of this… rocks. Just plain old rocks,” he said. I looked at him in surprise. “How can you say that? I love this. I love my work. It’s not just rocks and you know that. It’s the science of it. I love it and everyday is exciting for me. We never know what we’re going to find.”
“Yes we do. I mean, in general we do. All of the rocks on this planet have been found and classified. We are just looking for what has already been found. Don’t you wish we could find something new?” Richard asked.
“Yes of course. Are you talking about going spelunking? There might be some rocks that have not been found in caves,” I said to him, wondering where this was all coming from. Richard had a large passion for geology, just as I did. We had met in college and soon after became friends with benefits simply based off our love of geology. Now we were partners sharing a grant to dig in this area, and of course we still had that friends with benefits relationship, but nothing serious. So it was a shock to hear him talk like this.
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about rocks not from Earth.”
“Like meteors? I’m confused, Richard. Are you getting burnt out and want to change professions? What’s going on with you?” I said, putting down my geode and walking over to him. I put my arms around his neck, getting up on my tiptoes to reach him. He was very tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a perfect physique and reminded me of a Ken doll. He was very rugged and outdoorsy, which I liked a lot.
He put his hands on my arms and rubbed them up and down. His hands were large and at the moment very dirty. “No, I’m not burnt out. I love it. It’s just that the feeling of discovery is gone for me. What can we really discover now that all rocks have been discovered? Plus the pay is shit.”
“Pay? You’ve never cared about money before; otherwise, you wouldn’t have chosen a career that you have to beg for grant money just to have a crap salary,” I said wondering what the real culprit here was.
Richard looked at his watch and then looked at the road in the distance. “Right on time.”
“What? Who is that?” I said, looking in that direction, as Richard pulled my arms from his neck and walked toward our parked cars to wait for the jeep to pull up.
“It’s a new friend. His name is Xander Black and I think you’re going to like him. He has something to show us,” Richard said.
“What is it? Richard, what is going on here?” I asked walking after him.
“It’s out of this world,” he said as he turned and put his hand around my waist and pulled me toward him. He planted a firm kiss on my lips and then grinned. He was excited. I hadn’t seen him this excited in a long time. Then he pulled away from me just as the door opened to the jeep.
“Xander! Welcome to our little base camp!” Richard shouted happily as he walked fast toward the man in the suit who carried a briefcase.
“Good to see you again, Dr. Sanders,” the man said, shaking Richard’s hand.
“Please come over and meet my partner, Dr. Adriana Adams,” Richard gestured toward me. I smiled and wiped my dirty hands on the back of my high waist jeans. I wasn’t exactly dressed for company with my long black hair in a high ponytail and dirt smudged on my face. My blue and white plaid shirt was tied in front exposing a little bit of my belly because it was a hot day. Even my rugged lace up boots made me feel very underdressed as I looked at Xander’s polished shoes.
“Nice to meet you,” I said holding my hand out to him. He smiled and shook it.
“So did you bring it?” Richard asked him.
“Right here. Shall we take a look?” Xander said, as he patted the suitcase.
“Come into our lab,” Richard said, leading the man to our RV, which was part lab and part living space.
A few moments later we were standing around the small kitchen island as Xander laid the suitcase on it and opened it.
“It’s very rare so you have to be careful,” he said as he grabbed a velvet pouch from the suitcase and delicately pulled out a shiny orange rock. I had never seen anything like it.
“What is that? Has that been painted?” I asked, getting a closer look.
Richard laughed at my reaction and then moved in closer to the rock. “It is fascinating Xander just like you said. May I?” Richard said as he gestured to hold it.
“Yes, be my guest. That’s why I am here,” Xander said. Richard picked up the rock and looked it over. He handed it to me as he moved to the lab and set up the power microscope. I held the shiny orange object in my hand and knew that I had never seen anything like it. Not only was it something I had never seen, it was also something that was not known to the science community. It was beautiful. It was just as shiny as polished silver or gold but it was bright orange in color. It felt solid and heavy in my hand. I was mesmerized by it.
“Here, Adriana,” Richard said, motioning me over to the microscope. I placed the rock on the microscope.
“Unbelievable,” Richard said as he looked through the eyepiece. “This is just astonishing. It’s almost as if it’s alive.”
“Yes, exactly. The amount of energy that one small rock contains can power a whole city for five years,” Xander said.
Richard and I both turned to him with our mouths open. That was impossible and unheard of for any rock.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s called flagion by the Drackon. It comes from the planet of Mooreah.”
“This is an alien rock?” I said, suddenly feeling excited and suddenly knowing exactly why Richard had that pep talk with me earlier.
“Yes, Dr. Adams, it is,” Xander sa
id.
“This is the future of geology. Man, this is amazing!” Richard said happily. I smiled and took my turn looking at the flagion rock through the microscope. Richard was right. It was as if the rock was alive with energy. It was beautiful.
“Yes, and you and Dr. Adams can have exclusivity in studying it in our labs if you can help us secure more,” Xander said.
“But how can we do that? We search the Earth for rocks, not Mooreah?” I asked.
Xander looked at Richard in shock and said, “You didn’t tell her?”
“Tell me what?” I asked, confused and suddenly starting to question how these two knew each other in the first place.
“No, I was just about to when you rolled up,” Richard said to him.
“Tell me what? Richard, what is going on?” I asked, getting angry.
“Dr. Adams, we need a trained geologist to go to Mooreah and find a cache of flagion and report to us the exact location,” Xander said.
“What? How can any one of us do that? The Drackon don’t exactly let anyone go and scope out their land,” I said.
“Well, they do let women go to Mooreah. You are a woman, Dr. Adams--a single woman,” Xander said.
I gasped as I realized the full extent of what he was asking. “You want me to register?! But how? If I am married off to a Drackon I can’t exactly come back to Earth to study the flagion, now can I?”
“Yes, you will. We will take care of that. We will have a ship dig out and pick up the flagion from Mooreah, and I guarantee you will be on it when it returns to Earth.”
“But…” I couldn’t get the words out.
“Come on, Adriana. Just think about it. You don’t have to answer now. Just think, we will be the only two geologists that get to study this alien rock from deep space. It’s unlike anything. It’s exciting and new,” Richard said, getting in front of me and putting his arms on mine.
“I’ll need an answer in two weeks,” Xander said, as he picked up the flagion from the microscope and placed it back in his suitcase. Then he was walking out the door.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Richard said as he left with him. I was left in the R.V. with shock on my face. What the hell had just happened?
Two weeks later I found myself at a familiar place, the registration building in Billings, Montana. It wasn’t the first time I had showed up to this building expecting to be put on the registration list. A year before I had come, fully ready to register to be the wife of a Drackon--an alien weredragon warrior. I had grown tired of my life and it seemed that almost all the women on Earth were eager to sign up. I had convinced myself that I wanted a new adventure, and a husband I had never met. But when I showed up and stood in line, I panicked. I was almost to the head of the line when I left the building. After that I forced myself to accept my life as a geologist with a friends with benefits relationship. I mean Richard was hot as hell and he was someone to hang out with, mixing work with pleasure, so who was I to complain. But the fact was that I did not love him. I wanted more. I wanted passion and craziness and that feeling of being in awe. So now I had that feeling, but in a different way. I was in awe over this flagion rock and I was passionate about studying it and crazy enough to go after it by getting married to an alien. How’s that for career dedication? So that is why I stood in my best maroon dress and pink heels with my hair curled, outside the registration office in a long line that snaked around the building. I could not believe it. I wasn’t expecting this many women in line.
“This is my fifth time coming. I haven’t been matched yet so I just keep trying. How many times have you come?” the woman behind me said. I suddenly realized that she was talking to me.
“Oh, um, hello. This is my first time,” I said a little nervous.
“Oh honey! Congrats on making that decision. It’s a big step to take. But don’t be too nervous. Some women go through the matching cycle for years so, just think of this first time as practice,” she said.
“Oh, okay. What’s the matching cycle?” I asked, realizing that I really didn’t know much about what I was doing.
“I’ll tell ya. I’m practically an expert. So after you do all your boring paperwork, the fun part happens. The registration office will let you scroll through the photos of all the registered Drackon,” she said.
“Scroll though? How many are there? I mean, registered Drackon?” I asked.
“Thousands. I usually stop at one hundred and pick my five from that,” she said.
“Your five?” I asked.
“Yes, you get to pick five Drackon and place them in order. You know - first choice, second choice, and so on of which you prefer to have as your husband. Then you will be photographed and your photo and information will be sent to the five that you chose. Then a couple of weeks later the office will contact you and let you know which of your five have chosen you in return, and you have a match! But if none of them chose you, or even responded, then you have to wait a few months and go through the match cycle again.”
“Oh, that’s a lot of work. I didn’t realize it would take so long. I sort of thought you just showed up and was matched on the spot and shipped off the next day,” I said, realizing that waiting months would put our research behind.
The woman laughed at me and said, “No, it’s a crap shoot really.”
“Forms! Registration forms!” a woman shouted as she walked down the line. “If this is your first time here then you need to fill this out!”
“Right here! Right here!” the woman behind me shouted as she pointed at me. I felt embarrassed.
“I’m already in the system but this is her first time here,” the woman behind me said. The lady with the forms handed me a thick stack of forms. I was astonished at the amount of paperwork. “Fill these out and keep them with you.”
“Thank you,” I said as she continued down the line, handing out forms. Then a loud roar of an engine cut through the noise of chattering women. A large truck pulled up, followed by two more. They were military vehicles. The doors opened and out stepped six Drackon warriors. All the women in line began to swoon over them. I had never seen one in real life before but I had seen them in photos and in video. I was shocked by their size. They were very tall, almost eight feet. They were muscular and toned. I was sort of disappointed that they weren’t shifted into dragon form at the moment, but they were still very impressive. One stood taller and stronger than the others and he walked ahead of them as though leading them. He had long blonde hair down to his shoulders and his startling sea green eyes could be seen from a distance. Even the cat like vertical pupil was obvious in his eyes. His tight pants and boots hugged his lower body and his form-fitting top reminded me of a scuba suit. He grinned an impressive smile as he turned to look at the women in line. The women seemed to collectively let out a sigh as he did so. I was also awestruck by this Drackon and my grip on my stack of papers loosened. A few of them caught on the breeze and flew out of my hand.
“Oh no. Crap!” I moved after the pages as they fluttered across the courtyard toward the building door. I felt like such an idiot. I was not this clumsy, yet here I was chasing pages. I reached down to grab one as I caught up with it, just to have it snatched away from me by a very large hand.
“Lose something, human?” a voice said. I looked up and into the face of the blonde Drackon. He was holding both pages that I had been chasing.
“Yes. That’s mine. The breeze pulled it from my hand,” I said, gesturing for him to hand them back.
He let out a little laugh and looked at his warriors behind him and said, “This one is beautiful but obviously weak.” Then he pushed the papers back in my hand.
I gasped at his remark. “How dare you! I am not weak. I will have you know that I am a strong able woman. I am a geologist.” I said it with all the anger and courage inside of me.
He furrowed his brows at me. Obviously he did not know what a geologist was or that I worked outside in a rugged fashion, but I didn’t care. Then he motio
ned to his warriors and they kept walking inside. I was left feeling really dumb, angry, and a bit turned on by the encounter. I turned and found my place back in line.
“Holy crap! What did he say to you? I can’t believe that just happened. He’s a captain and very powerful!” said the woman in line to me, as soon as I took my place.
“He called me weak,” I said, pouting.
“Oh. That’s not good. You see, they are known for wanting strong women to birth their offspring. Sorry, bad luck,” she said.
“No, it’s good luck. Now I know not to pick him if he’s such an arrogant ass,” I said to her. I angrily filled out the paperwork as I moved slowly forward in line. I was totally pissed off by the encounter, but I could not stop thinking about him, this Drackon captain.
