by Maia Starr
"You? What are you doing here?" I said to the man that I had met in New York. The mysterious stranger Drackon warrior that I had a one-night stand with at the hotel was now standing in front of us. I was completely shocked. Had he followed me here? Was he dangerous? Was he going to do something harmful to me or to Kasian? My mind was racing with questions and my heart was beating very fast as I hung onto Kasian’s arm.
"You know him?” Kasian said as he turned to me. His face frightened me. My loving husband to be, who always had a smile for me, or look of tenderness on his face, had twisted his expression into a very angry and frightening scowl.
I was shaking with fear suddenly. My dear Kasian knew this Drackon warrior, and something told me that the reason I was attracted to them both was because they were related. My heart sank to my stomach as I realized this.
"I met him in New York before I came here," I said shaking so badly that the words barely came out of my mouth.
"Oh come on, Kelly! We did more than that. We fucked! We fucked so good, you would not believe it, brother. But I assume you have sampled her yourself by now and know exactly what I'm talking about. Those rosy nipples are perfect for sucking!"
Shit. This was Kasian's brother Orik! This was the worst possible thing that could ever happen. Kasian was staring straight at his brother and was breathing so hard and had a look of murder on his face. This was not going to end well and my heart broke in half as I realized that I had messed up a true love with reckless behavior. I had lost Kasian forever, before I even fully had him. I felt extreme sorrow so great that I felt sick to my stomach. I felt my dinner coming back up and I put my hands on my belly.
"Aaaagh!" Kasian let out a very loud growl that shook the entire forest. It was frightening and I stepped away from him as he flew into the air, straight at his brother.
Bam! He slammed straight into Orik and they both tumbled across the forest ground. Wings of silver were gleaming in the moonlight in the chaos as they rolled over the grass. I could hear growling and punching, bones cracking. It was extremely frightening and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn't know what else to do. I was scared that his brother would kill him and would then take me away. This beautiful fairy tale that we had been living had turned into the worst nightmare possible. It was unreal.
Wham! Kasian punched Orik across the jaw. Orik lay there in silence. Kasian got up to his feet and shouted at him, “Never touch her again! I will kill you if you touch her!”
I was in so much pain at the rage in his voice. I didn’t know what I had done. Kasian turned to look at me as I stood at a distance crying. He looked at me with anger. He grabbed his wrists and was about to say something into it when – Bam!
Orik kicked his leg out of under him. I screamed. Orik got to his feet as he loomed over his brother. “Don’t tell me what to do, brother. You do not own me the way the king owns you,” he spat the words at him. Then he looked at me and grinned before bursting into flight. I watched him fly to make sure he wasn’t just circling and coming back for more. He went out of sight into the darkness and I could no longer stay away from Kasian.
I ran over to Kasian’s side as he laid growling in pain.
"Kasian! Are you hurt?” I shouted as I crouched down beside him in the grass.
"Don't touch me!” he growled at me. I was taken aback by his anger and animalistic voice, the voice of a dragon. He grabbed his wrist and pressed a button on it as he spoke into it, “Assistance needed at the pond field. Orik is here! He has just flown away! Scout team in the air, now! Flying south by south east. Security at the plant and at my cabin stand ground, keep your eyes open,” he said as he sat up.
I sat there on my knees, staring at him. I had lost him. He hated me. What would he do with me? He was breathing heavily and he finally pulled himself up to his feet, but he quickly sat back down and groaned.
"You are hurt. Let me see,” I said to him as I noticed that his leg was injured.
"Do not touch me," he growled again. He looked at me with murderous anger in his eyes.
"But you might be badly injured.”
"Is it true? Is it true what he said about you?” He sneered out the question.
I was breathing harder and harder and could barely catch my breath as the panic in me built to a strenuous degree.
"It's not what you think. I didn't know who he was. He was a mysterious stranger in the hotel. I was just celebrating my last night of freedom. I got very drunk. He came up to me. He seduced me. I had no way of knowing that he was your brother. How was I to know?” I said, crying a very hard cry knowing that it did not justify my behavior. I had betrayed him before I even knew him. It was wrong, it was very wrong. We both knew it.
"You have destroyed everything. Clearly you are not who I thought you to be,” he said to me.
"No, that is not true. I am the same Kelly from earlier today,” I pleaded with him.
"No, not in my eyes you are not,” he said to me.
I was about to protest when I heard the rushing wind above us. Two Drackon warriors were landing and Kasian called out to them. It was his security.
"Commander Kasian Jade! You are injured! Grab him and take him back to the cabin! I will get the girl,” the voice commanded. In seconds I was picked up into the arms of a Drackon warrior. The Drackon in front of us was carrying a very limp Kasian. He looked defeated, and it was my fault.
When we arrived at the cabin, I heard Kasian yell at his security to keep me locked up in my room. He told them it was for my own security away from his brother, but I knew it was because he could not stand to look at me. I wanted to be the one nursing his wounded leg, instead he wanted me nowhere near him. Could I blame him? How could I? I had done something that crushed him. He would hate me forever. We would never get married now. This would all be a distant memory.
I cried into my bed for hours. His evil brother, who clearly knew who I was when I was at the hotel, had tricked me. He had hunted me. I was nothing but a pawn in the game between him and his brother, and I had allowed him to play me. I was disgusted with the thought of being with his brother.
When I woke up, the sun was coming up. I was still in my clothes and had cried on top of the bed, not under the covers. I stirred awake. Everything came flooding back to me about what had happened. I had lost the one true love of my life because of my mistakes of being reckless in my last night of being single.
I poured myself a glass of water and looked out onto the deck outside my room. There were two guards posted, pacing back-and-forth. Clearly Kasian did not trust me. It hurt me to the core. What could I do now? I would be sent away and go back to my life in Los Angeles. I would have no other choice.
The door opened, and to my surprise, Kasian walked in. He was limping. My heart went out to him.
"Are you all right? Is your leg hurt badly?” I asked him as I ran to him.
"Do not act as if you care for me. I know who you really are now. You are to be detained in this room. How did he do it? How did he steal the power receptors? Was it when you were keeping me occupied?” He sneered out the questions at me in a loud voice.
I was shocked and confused by his questions. I had no idea what he was talking about. But he seemed to have it all figured out the way he was looking at me with rage, and angrily limping about the room.
"What are you talking about, Kasian?” I said to him.
"You will not call me Kasian. You will call me Commander Kasian Jade. Now tell me how he did it! Tell me where he is now! Where do you plan to meet up with him?” he asked me.
"What are you talking about? You are starting to scare me,” I said to him, backing up against the table.
"I know that you are helping Orik. He put you up to this. He put you into my path, and fixed it with registration. I don't know how. But my security has tracked down the fact that you both stayed at the same hotel in New York, the hotel that I booked for you. You must've told him where to find you and for him to book a room one door down. You have bot
h been planning this from the beginning. You have played me for a fool!" he shouted at me.
"No!" I screamed out. I thought that this could not get any worse after I realized that the mysterious stranger that I had a one night stand with was in fact the brother of my husband to be, but it just did. It got so much worse. Now Kasian was under the impression that I had something to do with his brother’s antics. He thought that I knew his brother very well and that we had planned something together. Clearly his brother had stolen something from him and Kasian thought that I set it up that way. He thought that I was working with his brother. It was getting worse, so much worse.
"I swear to you on my life that I had not seen your brother before that night at the hotel. It was nothing but sex and then he was gone. I have not spoken to him since and I had not spoken to him before that night. You must believe me!” I shouted at him.
"No! You lie! When I took you to see the air filter project yesterday, you had a lot of questions. You had too many questions and knew way more than any typical human female would know about the science of engineering. You asked all the questions that would be questions that my brother would have told you to ask. Then last night, the power receptors go missing! That is too much of a coincidence. There is no way that you could know to ask those questions. I was a fool to think that you were simply a smart female, someone that could be my match… my equal. You blinded me with your beauty. I will never forgive you,” he sneered at me.
His chest was heaving up and down in anger. He was so angry, I thought at any moment he was going to pick up a chair and smash it on the floor. His anger scared me. What's more is that he had already made up his mind up about me. His paranoia was high and he was putting these false ideas about me into his own mind. What could I do? There was nothing that I could do. So I angrily snapped back at him. There was no point in trying to save what we had together; it was already destroyed.
"Listen, you paranoid asshole! I don't know what the hell you are talking about! It seems that your brother has really gotten to you in the best way he knows how. I am the one that should be mad at you!”
He looked at me confused. “What?! You mad at me?!” he shouted.
"You have an evil brother that you say does things of bad character. Yet you allowed me to stay in a hotel alone and unattended when you already knew that he was in the area. You knew he was out there. Did you not think he would come after me? How did he even know that I existed? How did he know what I look like? How did he know where I was staying? You must have left that information unattended and unprotected, even though you knew he was out there. It is you that has failed us, this marriage. You allowed him to use me as a pawn in this sick game of rivalry that you two have. You are the one that failed, and instead of admitting that, you are trying to cover it up with this paranoia that I must be working with your brother. That is nonsense! Now if you are going to arrest me, or kick me out, then do it. Get it over with. I will not stand here and take any more of your punishment!” I shouted at him.
He glared at me. He was silent. He knew that I was right, but he was not going to admit it. Instead, he limped toward the French doors and slammed them behind him.
As he walked onto the balcony he shifted into dragon form. He flew into the air, and then a small army flew up from the ground, an army of Drackon warriors. They followed his lead, flying off into the distance. It was an awesome sight. He was obviously going to go hunt his brother Orik.
My mouth fell open as I watched them fly in unison, like a flock of birds, but this was a flock of dragons. Their silver wings gleamed in the sunshine as they moved up and down, getting them higher and higher into the sky. It was a Drackon army and I had never seen one before. Chills ran up my arms and goose bumps appeared as I thought about the fact that I was now a possible target of this army, that they thought I was an enemy. They thought I was a spy for his brother Orik, and nothing could be farther from the truth.
I moved over to the bed and sat down with my arms crossing my chest. I was so damn angry. How dare he! Then the anger turned to sorrow. We had spent almost two days together, beautiful, blissful, love-at-first-sight days. Now, my heart was broken and there was nothing that I could do about it. Kasian had already made up his mind about me. I didn't know what was to be done. Everything hurt; even my body felt sore.
Then there was a tap at my door. I was surprised by it. I opened the door and saw that there was a tray of food and drinks on the hall table outside the door. I stepped out the door to see a guard posted at the top of the stairway, his back was too me. I wondered if they all thought I was some sort of ridiculous spy.
I grabbed the tray and took it into my room. There were two boiled eggs, toast with a small jar of strawberry preserves, a pot of coffee, and a salad of freshly picked greens. Obviously thrown together by one of the security. I wished that I could at least be in the kitchen. Cooking would get my mind off of things, but they would probably think I was trying to poison Kasian. I rolled my eyes at the thought and turned on the radio to some calming classical music. I ate the meager breakfast and then grabbed a book off the shelf. It was going to be a long day.
Hours later, Kasian still had not returned. I wondered if he was even on Earth anymore. What if he had gone back to Mooreah? I could not stand being in the room anymore. I opened the French door onto the balcony; the guards gave me a look. “I just need some fresh air,” I said. The guard nodded yes, but said nothing. I took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. I figured they would be more at ease if I weren’t on my feet. What did they think I was going to do? Jump over the rail?
After a while, the sun was beginning to set. I grew very sad as I realized that Kasian was not returning. I might as well take a bath and go to sleep. I moved inside and closed the French doors. I opened the main door to find a lunch tray and a dinner tray waiting on the hallway table. I laughed as I realized that I had not even noticed them knocking. I grabbed them both and took them into my room. The lunch tray had two sandwiches on it with fruit. The dinner plate also had two sandwiches on it, with a salad. I frowned at them both. I took the lunch tray out onto the balcony. “Hungry?” I said as I set it down for the guards. I did not wait for them to answer. Instead I walked back in. I ate the dinner and then retired to a long bath in the only room where I had some real privacy.
Sinking into the tub, I let the tension wash off of me. I had to change the way I was thinking of this disaster or my heart would not be able to handle it anymore. I had to think that my love with the alien weredragon Kasian was completely over. There was nothing that was going to change his hate for me now. I deserved this after the way I behaved at the hotel in New York. I took a Drackon stranger into my room and had sex with him. It was a room that my betrothed had paid for, on the night before I was going to meet him, and that was very wrong. No amount of trying to convince myself that I was drunk was going to make me feel better. If it were the other way around and Kasian had fucked my sister, if I had one, I would be very angry and brokenhearted as well. Would I be able to marry him after that? Probably not.
Bam! The bathroom door slammed open. I was startled and shot up in the tub.
“Kasian!” I said.
“Get out of the tub,” he said angrily as his eyes moved down over my body. Then he moved into the room. I could hear the drapes being pulled across the French doors. I rubbed a towel on me quickly and then grabbed a long silk slip and pulled it on. I wasn’t exactly dry and the silk stuck to my wet body. I walked into the bedroom, drying my hair in the towel. I gave him a mean look. I wasn’t going to let him bully me, or scare me anymore. This was all over, as far as I was concerned.
“What is this? Am I a prisoner now? I want to go home,” I said to him.
“Why him? Why did it have to be him?” he said smashing a vase on the floor. My eyes grew wide at his anger.
“I didn’t know who he was. I can tell you a million times and you won’t hear me,” I shouted back. He paced back and forth and I could tell tha
t he was still injured. “Just let me go. You have made up your mind to hate me forever. Let me leave this place and you,” I said as tears began to form in my eyes.
He looked at me startled and said, “Is that what you want?”
“No,” I said faster than I knew what I was saying.
He stomped toward me and pressed a hard kiss on my lips. I needed him. I knew that he hated me for what I had done with his brother, but somewhere deep inside him, he loved me. Those first two nights together before he found out what I had done with Orik, there was true love there. I wanted to get back there. I knew that this moment of hate and passion mixed together was all that he could give me at the moment, and I was going to allow it.
"You belong to me,” he said as he picked me up off the ground like I was as light as a feather. His hands grabbed the back of my thighs as I wrapped my legs around him.
"You will be with no one else. You are mine, Kelly.” He said this over and over. It hurt me deeply to hear him have to say it over and over, as though validating that I was his. As though putting it into words would make it real, that his brother could never ever touch me again. I knew it hurt him to the core to imagine me with his brother. I didn't know what I could do more in order to let him know that I truly was his and no one else's. I was already his captive and allowing it. What more could I do to make him see that I was devoted to him?
