She pulled into the small town. There was one stoplight along the highway. On one side of the street was a restaurant with a bar, and the other side had a hotel and gas station. Perfect. She pulled up to the hotel and parked the bike. Sauntering inside the office under the fluorescent buzzing lights, she could already tell this place was a dump. It had mismatched carpet on the floor and some kind of strange moldy, rotten smell she couldn’t place. Gross.
The old man behind the counter looked up at her with dark eyes and darker gaps in his teeth. After she rented the room, she decided the weird-ass smell must be coming from the man. He handed her a key and called her sweetheart. She gave him a smirk and winked at him.
Right… Sweetheart…
Tabby hadn’t been a sweetheart in a good long time, and she didn’t have any expectations of ever being one again. She’d seen too much and been pushed too far. She took the key and parked her motorcycle in the furthest, darkest corner of the parking lot and found her room.
She spotted it on the second floor, but decided to get something to eat first. She went across the street to the restaurant and sat at the bar. It was a local dive-greasy spoon combo.
Tabby sat at the bar with her beer and burger and surveyed the establishment. There were a couple families in the booths in the restaurant on the other side of the room from the bar. She felt a ting of sadness when she looked at them. That kind of life just wasn’t for her. It never had been. She’d be on the run forever if she didn’t figure out what to do with herself now.
She put her bottle down on the counter, put a bill under it, and walked out. A few orange street lights glowed on the pavement as she walked across the highway to the hotel. The big sky of the desert stretched overhead, brilliant with stars, even in town. Tabby trotted up the stairs to her room and shoved the key in her door. Inside, it was cold and musty. She shut the door and dropped onto the bed, fatigue setting in.
She couldn’t sleep now. She was too riled up to rest. Angry, she clicked on the TV and began to aggressively change channels. Everything was stupid. Tabby threw the remote across the room and groaned as she flopped down onto the bed.
The TV chattered and Tabby laid there, staring at the ceiling.
You, too, can live a life of luxury. All you have to do is enter the Draconian Mating Lottery for your chance to win a delicious Draconian mate. Why stay on the ground when you can live in the sky?
Tabby sat up straight and stared at the TV. What? She’d heard about the Draconians like everyone else. The dragon-shifting aliens from Draconia had come to Earth five years ago. In exchange for women, they’d given humans advanced technology. In the process, they also kind of messed up the Earth’s economy. Even the techno-drugs that Leo dealt had originated with the Draconians.
She’d never thought of entering the lottery. She’d been too young when it had started a few years ago. Seeing the commercial now was like a light going off in her head. If she matched up genetically with a Draconian male, she could have all that stuff they offered on the commercial. The luxury apartment aboard the ship. The designer clothes. And five hundred grand for anyone she chose on Earth.
That didn’t seem like such a bad idea. She thought for a moment. Maybe this could be her new life goal. Part of it anyway. She always knew she deserved better than what she’d had on Earth. Screw this shit hole. Why not have a better life in the stars?
She hurried to the desk and pulled out a pen and paper from the drawer, quickly writing down the information. The nearest Draconian consulate was in Phoenix. That was Leo’s territory. Screw it. She was going to enter that damn lottery, and Leo wasn’t going to stop her.
Chapter 2
In the morning, Tabby showered and changed her clothes. She kept telling herself that she would be matched with a Draconian. Having a genetic match wasn’t some kind of guarantee. There weren’t all that many Draconian males available on their armada because they were fighting some war back on their home planet.
She didn’t understand it all. They’d been tight-lipped in the PR department until recently, when they started killing terrorists and taking down corporations.
The world might be changing, but Tabby didn’t want to stick around and see it happen. For better or worse, her new goal was to get the hell off Earth. She went downstairs to her motorcycle and drove out of town.
Approaching Phoenix, apprehension tugged at her gut. Leo could find her so easily here. The place was crawling with techno-drug addicts. The stuff that hooked people into the new dark internet. It wasn’t just the data miners who were enslaved. The drugs and technology allowed people to immerse themselves in the environment at the expense of their real lives.
Tabby could spot some addicts crossing the street when she stopped at an intersection approaching the consulate. They looked like zombies, staring into their computer lenses and plodding along. At least these ones were still walking around with mobile devices. She knew of whole buildings where they laid around, connected to computer terminals, virtually dead to the world.
She’d tried the techno-drugs once, but it wasn’t for her. She liked to live in the flesh and blood more than the virtual world. She liked to feel alive. Even life with Leo was better than no life at all.
Pulling up to the consulate, she bit her lip and frowned. She sat on the parked motorcycle and gripped the handlebars. Did she really want to be some alien shifter’s woman? She’d seen the pictures of the Draconians. Those dudes were fine. A lot of girls she knew had tried to get matched. None of them had won the lottery.
Tabby took a deep breath and let it out. Now or never. She got off the bike and hurried up the stairs of the classic Greek building to the front door. Inside, there was a big, round room, empty except for one desk. She walked toward it and stood before the big man she knew must be a Draconian.
“Greetings. Have you come to join the lottery?”
“Yes. Tabby… Tabitha Wilson. I’m twenty-two. Fertile and all that.”
“Very good. I’ll need a small DNA sample. I can take a swab from the inside of your cheek.”
He handed her a long swab, and she rubbed it inside her mouth for a moment before giving it back to him. A circle opened up on his desk, and he dropped the swab inside. He flicked a holographic screen.
“How long will it take? Should I come back?”
“You’ve been matched with one Lieutenant Oro Nix.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Tabby stood back and folded her arms. It had worked. Just like that.
“When do I get to meet him?”
Chapter 3
Lieutenant Oro Nix glided down the hallway of the command ship of the Draconian Mating Armada. He’d come to Earth with an elite fighting force, handpicked by the President of Draconia to deal with the Earth crisis. This was one of the Draconian’s mating planets.
Because Draconian DNA favored males, it was crucial to their survival that they mate with other species once every thousand years. Earth humans were on a five-thousand-year rotation. The last time the Draconians had visited Earth, humans had been an undeveloped species who worshiped the Draconians as gods. This time, Earth humans were much different.
To prevent humans from blowing themselves up with their own weapons, and to salvage the poorly planned mission, Draconians had offered humans technology in exchange for the Earthlings’ cooperation. There wasn’t much else they could do with their attention divided by the war with the Mulgor back at home.
The technology the Draconians had given humanity had corrupted them and worsened an already bad social structure at a vulnerable time in their development. That was why Oro’s commando squad was called in. Oro’s crew were the most skilled warriors in the Draconian military.
While his general’s mate bought the human corporations out of business, the rest of the crew continued to fight violent threats. The Draconians were no longer taking a passive stance on the human situation. They’d come to give them a better way to live.
They had to take responsibility now.
Today, Oro’s general had asked him to come down to his briefing room for a special operation of urgent importance. Oro loved his job. It gave him great glory to work for the good of Draconia and their race. Even helping these Earthlings gave him satisfaction.
He slid into the room with General Shin. The general smiled at him from across the room, showing his sharp teeth. Oro stepped forward and stood before his general and friend.
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Oro said, preparing himself for his mission. The human problem had not been without its dangers. Even as a powerful dragon shifter, the humans could still pose a threat to his life.
“I have a new mission for you. There is a man who is at the center of the techno-drug market in North America. He needs to be taken out with stealth. If he sees you coming, he could use the addicts against you. The drugs allow him to control the addicts’ minds with a special computer code. My intel says he is the only one who knows the code. The original programmer is dead. You can’t give him a chance to use it or it could mean death and war for millions.”
“Thank you for trusting me with this mission, General Shin.”
“You are the best man for the job. With your stealth assassin abilities, I couldn’t have chosen a better man.”
General Shin gave Oro the details of his mission and transferred the information to Oro’s private database. Oro checked the information on his communication device on the wrist of his uniform.
Oro excused himself from the general and hurried to the transport bay. Just as he stepped into his vessel, his wrist device pinged with a message. Oro flicked his wrist, but there were no details. Strange. He wondered if it was part of his mission. He climbed into a transport vessel from the docking bay and jettisoned off into space.
He sliced through the atmosphere, barreling toward Earth. When he reached his destination city, the ship eased onto the landing pad behind the consulate. After disembarking, he strode through the sliding doors into the main consulate room.
The doors whooshed behind him and he checked his wrist device again, checking the information he’d downloaded from General Shin. When he looked up, the secretary of the consulate stood before him. Beside the secretary stood a beautiful human woman.
He nodded once at the secretary and the gorgeous, curvy woman with glowing dark skin and long curly hair. Their eyes met as he passed, and something about her stopped him in his tracks.
The woman licked her full, pink lips and Oro felt weak in the knees. His inner dragon bolted. As a fighter, Oro and his dragon were a well-oiled machine. To have his dragon scream inside his mind was highly unusual.
“Lieutenant Nix, I hailed you through your wrist device.”
“Yes. What is it Secretary Noro?”
“This woman is your mate. She entered the lottery and her DNA matches yours.”
“What? I never entered into the system. How is this possible?”
“As far as I know, all the commandos were entered by General Shin and Commander Or. Everyone is to be mated, sir.”
Oro’s penetrating gaze fixed on the woman. She looked nervous, but her confidence was palpable. He liked her looks. And her smell. His inner dragon hissed and growled, gnashing at his brain.
His mating impulse. It would drive him mad if he didn’t claim this woman as his mate. In the haze of his own mind’s rebellion, Oro was momentarily immobilized. For a warrior of his caliber and skill, this weakness was unacceptable.
He gathered himself up and focused on the matter at hand.
“What is your name?” he asked the woman.
“Tabitha Wilson. But you can call me Tabby. Everyone does. When do we go to the ship?”
“I don’t have time for that now. I’m on a mission.”
“But I won the lottery. Our DNA matches. I’m supposed to get a luxury apartment. And Gucci.” She frowned prettily and crossed her arms under her substantial breasts, squeezing them together.
Oro stared down at the curve of her breasts. The low-cut top under her leather jacket showed off her ample cleavage. His body responded to the sight of her flesh, and he stiffened.
With his body betraying him, Oro gritted his teeth and rubbed his temples. He was known for his ability to make fluid decisions in the field. He would have to do that now if he wanted to succeed in his mission.
“Come with me,” he said, taking her by the hand.
“Aren’t we going to the ship?”
“No.”
“But I won.”
He pulled her outside to the parking lot of the consulate and opened the door of a hover sports car. It was black inside and out and could speed through the city in total silence.
Tabby gasped when she saw it and did a little dance with her hands pressed over her lips. Watching her move with all that excited energy made his cock press against his uniform. He growled. This kind of distraction would not help with the mission.
There was nothing to be done about it now. He would take the woman with him and claim her while he completed his mission. Like most Draconians, he had little experience with woman. These tactical variables were less than ideal.
He opened the door of the car for her. “Get in,” he said in a low, flat voice.
She slid into the black interior and Oro closed the door. He got in the driver’s side and checked his wrist device. Oro was after a man named Juan Norte who ran the techno-drug cartel. The illicit drugs were enslaving over a million people in North America alone. The worst part was that they had been hybridized from leaked Draconian technology. Now people like Juan Norte were using human weakness as a means of control. It had to stop. Oro was determined to fulfill his mission and bring this planet one step closer to peace.
He pulled out onto the highway and sped over the pavement. Juan Norte had a compound about an hour south of Phoenix. Oro’s assignment was to spy on him from a resort nearby. With his high powered Draconian technology, he could watch Juan’s movements and find the best time to strike.
“Where are we going?” Tabby asked. He looked over at her. She wore tight fitting jeans that hugged her hips and thighs. Her hands were grasped in her lap, resting against her luscious curves. Oro’s mouth watered. He wanted to bite into her flesh and taste her. He growled. That would have to wait, for now.
“Desert Palms Resort. South of here.”
“Holy crap. No way. I’ve heard of that place. It’s five-star all the way”
“Five-star?”
“It’s a really nice place. Is this like our honeymoon or something?”
“Honeymoon?”
“You know, when two people get married and then they go on a fancy vacation.”
“Sure. It’s our honeymoon.”
Oro knew the words married and vacation in English. But he didn’t know what either had to do with honey or the moon. He decided to go along with it. Whatever the woman needed to stay happy and content while he completed his mission was fine with him. Oro had never expected to be matched with a woman. He’d come to Earth on a mission and had been laser focused on accomplishing it. He’d had no idea he was even entered into the lottery.
Here he was on an important mission for his general, with a curvy, cute human woman by his side. He had no idea what to do with her. Well, he did have ideas about what to do with her, but those weren’t helping right now. His dragon showed him images inside his mind of taking the woman roughly from behind on the hood of the car. He saw himself sink his sharp teeth into her soft neck to claim her as his thick cock pushed inside her womb.
He squeezed his eyes closed for a brief second and looked back at the road. They would be in the Desert Palms soon. The resort was close to Juan Norte’s compound. All the more reason for them to be careful. General Shin had made it clear that this man needed to be taken out with stealth. Alerting the criminals to his presence could jeopardize the mission. Not to mention the lives of all those poor souls addicted to Juan’s drugs.
Chapter 4
&n
bsp; They pulled up to the front of the Desert Palms Resort and the valet took their car as they stepped up the stairs and into the front door of the resort. Tabby couldn’t stop looking around in amazement. She’d been into some nice hotels with Leo, but this one took the cake. Every item, every detail of the entrance lobby to the resort, was luxurious. She watched her new so-called mate charge up to the front desk and give a fake name. A few moments later, they had the keys to their room and were taking an elevator up to the third floor.
When Oro opened the door into the hotel room, Tabby gasped and put her hand over her open mouth. The place was fantastic. The first thing she noticed were the big windows that opened out over the swimming pool with a view of red mesas and desert beyond.
The big, deep azure blue sky spread out over head, creating a contrast of vivid red and blue. The hotel room itself was decorated in shades of mocha cream and dark brown, a contrast with the vibrant colors outdoors, creating a peaceful and tranquil environment.
There were big, fluffy couches around a fireplace on one side, and on the other there was a big screen TV. The hotel suite even had a full kitchen with a bar. Through the double doors off to one side, Tabby saw a huge king size bed with a dark wood headboard and a mocha cream-colored comforter that was so fluffy and soft it looked like it was stuffed with feathers from angels’ wings.
“This is a lot nicer than the hotel I stayed in last night, that’s for sure. Choosing to enter the alien mating lottery was the best decision of my life!”
“I’m happy it pleases you,” Oro said, opening up his bag. He pulled out strange looking equipment that Tabby didn’t recognize and set it on the coffee table in the living room.
“What is that? Some kind of strange alien sex toys?” She giggled but she was also a little nervous that she might be right. She could see the kind of package Oro was working with through his skintight uniform. That in itself could make a girl afraid for her life. If he was going to add weird sex toys to the mix, she might have to reconsider, even with all this luxury.
Draconians: Complete Series (BWW Dragon Shifter Scifi Romance) Page 15
