by Maia Starr
Then he scooped me up into his arms. I squealed with joy. He took off into the air and flew around the village. There were other weredragons flying around. This had become the normal sight in the village ever since the battle. The humans were embracing the weredragons now that they had proven they were essential at protecting the wall. The humans showed great gratitude and almost everyone was fascinated by our new allies. They loved watching the weredragons shift. They loved watching them fly around the sky. I didn't blame them. I was just as fascinated. But we had also been a village that was very bored for a long time living in a place where we were just surviving and not really living. The Veruka brought new life. It was like a whole new village. And a military installation was built in a field inside the walls. There was a lot going on.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I hope it is someplace that you will like very much. It is outside the walls,” he said.
I looked at him shocked.
“Don't worry. I have scouts posted in every direction. They will notify me if there is any activity at all in the way of Clenok cyborgs.”
“All right. I will go,” I said feeling scared but also excited to leave the perimeter walls.
“It is only a few miles outside the wall, and with my speed, we will be there in less than five minutes,” he said.
“Then full speed ahead,” I said.
He laughed. Then he took off very fast. I couldn't see anything passing us by. It was just a blur. It was so fast that the wind was actually harsh on my face. I tucked my face into his chest. I enjoyed being there. It was an excuse to be close to him.
Then he slowed down. What I saw took my breath away. It was a beautiful lake. I had heard about it before. I had heard that people had ventured outside the walls every now and then during the summer to go swimming, but I always thought it was a myth. Now that I was seeing it, I was captivated. The water was crystal clear. There was a gray cliff on one side. The sun was beating down on the banks of the lake begging anyone to jump in. Karik landed next to it and put me down on my feet.
“This is beautiful. I love it,” I said.
“I thought we could take a dip and cool off,” he said.
“I do not have a swimsuit. I have not had one in years,” I said.
“Swimsuit? You mean a suit for swimming?” he asked confused.
“Yes. That is exactly what it is. Though it is a lot less material than an entire suit,” I said laughing at him.
“We do not have such things on Tivoso. We swim completely naked. It is how it should be,” he said taking off his boots. I realized then that he wanted to skinny-dip with me. I was open to that. I took off my clothes while he did the same. Then we stood there naked. He put his arms around me and kissed me. I kissed him back. Then we stepped toward the water. He took my hand and together, we walked into the shallow water. It was cool and refreshing on my skin.
“This is wonderful,” I said.
“I thought you might like it,” he said. Then he dove into the water. I dove after him. We swim around all afternoon. We played in the water. We laid down on the sandy bank soaking in the sun. It was a wonderful day. It reminded me of being on the beach before the Clenok cyborgs invaded.
I felt very happy. My body felt calm, and I felt good. I didn't think that it could get any better. But then it did.
I heard some commotion. I looked up to see Karik fumbling with his belt. He opened a small compartment.
“What is it? Did something come over the radio?” I said scanning the horizon. I felt a little panicked. We were still outside of the walls, and even though scouts had not reported Clenok cyborgs, they could easily sneak up on you. Especially if it was not a full army and just a band of Clenok cyborgs.
“No. Everything is great,” he said. He came to lay down next to me once more. He put his hand on my chest, rubbing up and down from my belly up to my breasts.
“That feels wonderful,” I said leaning back into the sand feeling relaxed once more.
“Do you know when else would feel wonderful?” he asked.
“What?”
“If you would be my queen,” he said as he lifted a ring with an emerald to my eyes. I was frozen. Had he just asked me to marry him?
“Do you mean…”
“I want you to be my wife. Will you have me as your lifelong mate, Vanessa? Will you allow me to claim you? Will you be my one and only forever? Will you marry me?” he said with a big smile.
“Yes. Yes, I will marry you,” I said as I sat up and give him a big hug. He slid the ring on my finger.
“It is beautiful. I can't believe this. I was not expecting this at all,” I said.
“I know. That is why I did it out here. I wanted to be somewhere special. In this beautiful place,” he said.
“Well, it worked. This is a perfect proposal. We are lying here naked in the sun. There is nothing more perfect than that,” I said.
“You make me happy. I am happy that you said yes. You are going to be queen of a planet. I hope you know that it is a big responsibility. I am not trying to frighten you; I am just being honest,” he said.
“I understand. I think I am up for the challenge,” I said with a wink.
“Yes, I have no doubt in your abilities. You are the smartest and most courageous human female I have ever met. I love you so much,” he said.
“And I love you,” I said. He leaned down and kissed me. His hard body rolled on top of mine. I opened my thighs, letting him rest between them. We made love for an hour in the sun on the sand. It was a perfect day. I had been very happy, and it was only getting better and better.
Two days later, the news of my engagement to an alien weredragon had spread throughout the village. I had many human females asking me so many questions. I did not want to give them too much information, but I did make it very enticing to be in a relationship with a Veruka weredragon.
I finally had time to go to my lab. As I unlocked the door, I heard a familiar voice that I was not expecting to hear. It brought chills down my spine.
“I guess I should be congratulating you,” Dr. Bradley Douglas said. I turned around to face him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I am very happy,” I said.
“Yes, I bet you are,” he said.
I rolled my eyes at him and turned it back to the door.
“In fact, I know exactly why you were very happy. I know a lot more than you think,” he said.
I turned back to him. I did not like the sound of this. “What do you mean by that?”
“I will tell you. But I am not going to tell you here. Meet me at my house in an hour, and I will show you the evidence,” he said.
“No. Leave me alone,” I said.
“You will, or I will tell everyone about the DNA,” he said.
My mouth fell open. How did he know? I was suddenly frightened.
“Yes, that is what I thought. And don't go running to your fiancé. That will only make things worse. Meet me in an hour and come alone,” he said.
He walked away. I opened the door to my lab and walked inside. I locked the door. I went to go find my old notebooks. I looked for the test results that I had run on Karik, as well as my results. I found them. I had the hardcopies. Did he really know what he was talking about or was he bluffing? Maybe he heard Azlo or Jex talking about it at some point. I didn't know what to think of it. I knew I should find Karik and tell him. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that if I showed up with Karik, it would only make Dr. Bradley Douglas angrier. He wouldn't tell me then what he knew. No, I needed to find out exactly what he knew and then take action afterward.
One hour later, I was knocking on his door. He opened the door with a smug look on his face. I wanted to slap it off of him.
"Come in, Vanessa,” he said. I hated it when he called me Vanessa and not Dr. Lopez. I walked in.
“What is it? What do you want to tell me?” I said.
“Would you like some water?”
“No. Get on with it,” I said.
Why was he acting like this was a regular social call? I wanted to get in and get out.
“You don't have to be so mean. I am doing you a courtesy by telling you first before I go public,” he said.
“Are you? Are you doing me a courtesy?” I asked.
“Come, I will show you,” he said walking into his living room. I followed him. He went to a desk and pulled out two long sheets of paper. I knew exactly what it was. It was the DNA test that I took of Karik. I looked at it. Which results were these?
“I thought it very interesting that this sheet showed both alien and human DNA,” he said.
“Where did you get this?” I asked.
“From the machine, of course. Did you not know that it saves results? After you were in the lab, I just went in and printed another set. You thought I didn't know what you were up to, but I knew. I knew there was more to it than just scientific fascination over this alien creature,” he said.
“What do you want?” I said.
“I thought it was very interesting that the first results show only alien DNA. After, the second results show human and alien. I thought it was very strange. Until I found your DNA results. Remember when I helped you set up the test to run on yourself? I had those results. I compared them. The human DNA that is in the alien DNA is yours. Do you want to tell me how that happened?”
“You can't figure it out yourself?” I said.
“I have my theories. All of them are violent. I only know that the humans of Haven Brook are not going to like this. They are going to know that you and this so-called king have been hiding something. You have been hiding something very big. I don't know what it is, but I know that after I tell everyone, there will be paranoia and suspicion. It will drive these aliens out of here once and for all,” he said.
“You wouldn't dare,” I said.
“Well, I could do you a favor and not say anything. But you would have to do me a favor in return,” he said.
I got a chill down my spine as soon as he said it. “What is that?” I said.
“I think you know what I want. It is what I have always wanted from you,” he said as he moved over to me and pushed my hair out of my face.
I slapped his hand away. “Never. I would never do that with you,” I said.
“Not even to save your fiancé’s army? Not even to save the paranoia that is going to happen when I release this information?” he said.
I did not know what to do. Of course, I did not want to sleep with him. It was the most disgusting thing. But I did not want all of the progress that Karik had made to be unraveled. He was right. Releasing this information would cause paranoia. The humans would no longer trust the Veruka. It wouldn't be good. But I couldn't do it. I was feeling frightened and very confused. My heart was racing. I would have to figure out a way to deal with this another way.
“My answer is no. Now leave me alone. Do what you want with the information,” I said as I turned my back to him. I walked away. But I felt him grab the back of my dress. He yanked it so hard that it tore. He threw me down on the couch. Before I knew it, he was on top of me. I was screaming at the top of my lungs.
“Get off of me! Help! Get off of me!” I shouted over and over as I slapped and hit him.
“Stop. Just don't move. You want this, Vanessa. I know you do,” he said as he mauled me.
“No! I don't. Get the fuck off of me!” I said as I kicked him. He doubled over. I got to my feet and began to run toward the door. But I felt something grab me. He had his hand on my ankle, and I fell to the ground. I fell on my belly. I was terrified. I could feel him crawling out of my body. He was pushing my dress up to my waist. I wiggled and squirmed, trying to get away from him, but he had his entire body weight on top of me, holding me down. I was terrified. I closed my eyes and called out to Karik. I don't know why I did it. But it was all that I could think to do in the moment of desperation. I was terrified. There was no way in hell that I was going to let this happen. I was going to fight every second.
“Help! Someone help me!” I shouted.
“What is going on here?” I heard a voice say. But it wasn't Karik. It was Jessica. She was standing in shock in the living room. Then I heard a loud boom.
Chapter 24
King Karik Korinth
I went to the lab to look for my fiancée, Vanessa. I was so happy that she had said yes to my proposal. She had made me extremely happy by having sex with me. Now she was going to make me even happier by being my queen. And I wanted her at my side always.
The lab was locked. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I thought it was strange because she was supposed to be in the lab all day. I walked in the direction of our home.
“Have you seen Vanessa?” I asked her student that was on the way to the lab to meet her.
“Yes, I saw her walking earlier. She told me she was going to be late because Dr. Douglas had requested a meeting with her. I believe she went in the direction of his home.”
“Thank you,” I said. I began to walk in that direction. But as I did, I had an overwhelming sense of fear. I wasn't scared of anything. It was coming from another source. I felt Vanessa. I could feel her fright. Something was wrong. That was obvious to me. I quickly shifted and flew directly toward the home of Dr. Bradley Douglas. As I flew overhead, I could hear her screaming. I bolted in a flash and boom kicked open the door.
I saw Vanessa facedown on the floor with the doctor on top of her. She was crying and within a split second I had him in the air and threw him against the wall. His head hit the mantle. He fell unconscious to the floor. I moved back to Vanessa. The woman Jessica was helping her.
“What happened? Are you all right?” Did he hurt you?” I asked.
“He was trying to rape her. I was walking by and heard her screaming. I came in a split second before you did,” Jessica said.
“She's right. He was trying to rape me,” Vanessa said trembling.
“I will kill him,” I said looking back in his direction.
“I think it is already done,” Jessica said. Blood was coming out of his head. It seemed that I had hit him very hard when I threw him against the mantle. Vanessa looked in shock.
“Come, let's get you out of here. I will take you home,” I said.
“I will go get help,” Jessica said.
“Thank you,” I said to her.
I picked Vanessa up and flew back to our home. I put her in a hot bath. She was still shaken.
“I am so sorry that I was not there sooner,” I said feeling extreme regret. “I should have done away with that creep long ago.”
“It's all right. You came in time. Jessica came in time. A few more seconds and…” But she did not finish the sentence.
“I know. I know. He can never hurt you again,” I said.
“How did you know? How did you know where to find me?”
“I ran into your student, and she told me about your meeting with him. But then I had a feeling. I could sense that you were in trouble. I don't know how, but I knew.”
“That is fascinating,” she said, perking up. Her mind was working. Her scientific mind.
“What are you thinking?” I said.
“It could be because we bonded. Our DNA is intertwined. Perhaps you can feel when I am feeling extreme emotion. Like extreme fear,” she said.
“It certainly did feel that way. That is how I knew where to find you and to get to you quickly,” I said.
“I am glad that you did.”
“What were you doing there anyway?” I asked.
"He figured it out. Not all of it, but he figured out that my DNA bonded with yours. He was threatening to tell everyone. I came to find out exactly what he knew. Then he told me. He didn't know about the blackness. But he said that he was going to tell everyone unless I slept with him. Of course, I said no, and I tried to leave. That is when he attacked me,” she said.
“The motherfucker. How dare he threa
ten you with something like that. It is nothing. It is nothing to worry about,” I said.
“It isn't? I don't want everyone to grow suspicious if they were to find that out. We have worked so hard. You have worked so hard, coming across galaxies to find a cure for this illness that is killing your planet. If Haven Brook found out, it wouldn't be long before other villages did. And we need you. We need the Veruka to help fight the Clenok. It is important. I was very nervous that he knew. I was going to go find you to figure out how to deal with it.”
