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Cynthia has known about Garo, the dragon shifter, since she joined the Alliance. Getting to him one thousand years in another world’s past is the easy part. Convincing him is a challenge.
Cynthia Norman knew that she was destined for a strange future…in the past…with a dragon. The only confusing thing was how to get her there. With a lifetime of struggle within a race not her own facing her, she took a deep breath, got into a shuttle and hopped a comet.
Garo had been dreaming of his yellow haired alien, but the reality of her presence is more than he was prepared for. A knee-jerk reaction on his part makes Cynthia seek out a suitable substitute and with a grim certainty, he has to claim her as his own. Will she accept his offer, or hold his initial rejection over his head?
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Interdict
Copyright © 2012 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-77111-076-1
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books
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Interdict
A Terran Times Tale
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
Cynthia Norman drummed her fingers on the table as she waited. She hated waiting, but it was her destiny to wait. Destiny sucks.
The Sector Guard was working behind the scenes to help her find the place and time she needed, but it was difficult. There was no way for her to know when the time was right and she was terrified that she would miss her moment.
Knowing that you were destined to enter a rip in time and to fall over one thousand years into the past to start a line that would continue to the current time was a heavy burden, but Cynthia was both queasy and eager to get started. She just had to wait.
She sipped at the hot tea she had ordered, perking up the moment that the three uniformed Guardsmen came through the door. When she saw the nature of the Guards who were on their way, a tear formed in her eye that she carefully flicked away.
She needn’t have worried, the female Drai in the center of the grouping was sniffling as well. Without hesitating, Cynthia got to her feet and gave Fury a hug. “It is so good to meet you, at long last.”
“Grandmother. I never imagined that I would meet you.” Fury grinned as tears sparked in her eyes.
“Call me Cynthia, because I think there are several greats in there and I don’t want you to get tired.”
“Livin.”
They all took a seat around the private dining table and Cynthia poured tea for all of them. “I can’t tell you how nice this is. I never expected to see you face to face.”
The woman with green hair smiled. “I apologize for my intrusion into your family reunion, but I believe that my talent can render some assistance.”
Livin’s partner, with his wings tightly held to his back, reached forward and extended a book to her. “This was given to us by Sivin, my mate’s mother. It has been passed down for generations and Livin has promised to keep it.”
Livin shook her head. “Pardon me. This is my husband, Vasu, and this is Alara, known as Echo in Time. She is here to assist in seeing your window.”
Cynthia smiled. “I will take all the help I can get.”
A server arrived and took their orders. Conversation went from basic information to what was contained within the book.
Livin smiled. “Since you are currently on Station 13, you and the book are safe. Read it and bring it back to me when you are done.”
“Have you read it?”
Livin smiled. “My mom read parts of it to me as I was growing up. I have a feeling that she skipped over some of the chapters.”
Alara looked at it curiously. “What is it?”
Cynthia smiled and stroked the worn leather. “It’s my diary. I have always kept a journal, but my current one is almost full. I am feeling hopeful that I will be moving on soon.”
Livin looked a little upset.
“What is it, punkin?” Cynthia took Livin’s hands and held them.
The words came out in a rush. “I had hoped to have you around a bit more. I have questions and I am sure that my mother would love to meet you.”
Cynthia opened the book and read the first passage. “Though I regret leaving my descendant, it was time for me to fall through time. I wish I could have spent more time with her, but she will be stronger for my going to my proper place. And I am tired of being alone knowing that there is someone for me who died generations before I was born.”
Livin frowned. “Is that true?”
Cynthia looked to Vasu and jerked her head.
He wrapped an arm around his mate’s shoulder at her not-so-subtle direction.
“Ask your mate how much fun it was waiting for you once he knew where you were but knew that the timing was wrong.”
Vasu’s dark features twisted in remembrance. “It was not a good thing at all.” His arm around his wife tightened and she looked up into his face.
Cynthia sat back and looked at the woman who carried the tail end of her genetics inside her. Her features were strong, bearing the marks of the Drai in every inch of her ears, nose and chin. The slightly pointed ears made Cynthia smile.
“What is your talent, Livin?” Something about this woman reminded her of someone she had known back on earth.
“I am an elemental. I bring the fury of nature in fire and wind.”
Cynthia wiped a sudden tear from her eyes.
“Cynthia, what is it?”
“My grandmother had a talent for weather and I can see her in you. Separated by over a thousand years and her genes still pop up. It is nice to see the continuity, is all.” She finished her snivelling and Alara suddenly sat up straight.
Cynthia fought the urge to ask the woman if Timmy was in the well and looked at the Guardsman. “What do you see?”
“Tomorrow. You will leave this station tomorrow and fly toward the Keyharrin system. A rift will open, light will spike and wrap around you and you need to keep your course steady.” Alara shuddered and her gaze focussed on Cynthia. “Did you get that?”
“Yes. I think I need to head to the quartermaster.” She put her teacup aside and got to her feet.
Livin was at her side in an instant. “Why?”
“Because you are going to inherit all of my old journals and I am going to need a new one.” She wrapped an arm around the last of her bloodline and gave her a squeeze. “Come on, I will show you everything I have. You can pass it along to your kids if you choose to have any.”
Livin’s hand went to her abdomen in reflex and Cynthia got another tear in her eye. “You are already…”
“We think so. The doctors haven’t had time to do the examination. Vasu is sure, but I only have my suspicions.”
Vasu grumped behind them and Alara snickered.
Cynthia had been consulting on the Sector Guard project since t
he first base had been up and running. All of the support staff had been run through her empathy scans for suitability for the base involved.
Empathy was only one of the items in her psychic bag of tricks. She could mildly influence weather, hear the thoughts of folks in panic and lift objects at a distance when she was upset.
According to the specialists who had examined her, she had the seeds of dozens of psychic talents within her and her genes would carry them to the next generation and, apparently, several after that.
When she first found out that she was going to zip through a rip in time and end up on an interdicted world in the past, she had thought it a ridiculous supposition. When the Alliance archivist took her aside and showed her all the history that her descendants had created, going back to her arrival on the Drai home world, her daughter Coral and all the daughters in a long, straight line right up to Livin.
None of her girls had it easy, but they all achieved a family with males who had dreamed of a life with their mixed blood and unusual talents.
Garo was her mate’s name and he was waiting for her sometime in the past. She just had to find a way to connect her present to his past, creating a joint future.
It shouldn’t be a problem.
She spent a night of visiting with Livin and Vasu as well as staying up reading her own spidery handwriting, learning about her first year in the wilds of the Drai home world. Her eyes widened at some of what she had written and she winced at others. Cynthia felt wave after wave of unease. She was going to have quite a time of it before she managed to settle in. Cynthia hoped that she could pretend surprise when she entered those stressful moments. A nervous giggle would not be appropriate while being dangled off a cliff.
Before she got a few hours’ sleep, she left all of her possessions in a case within her quarters. An instruction to send them to Fury at Morganti Base was her final bit of hand writing in this timeline.
When she woke, it would be time to fly and if everything went the way it had the first time, she would be falling through the skies of Drai within the week.
Chapter Two
Flying out to an unoccupied area of the Saru system with an honour guard was the oddest feeling. Star Breaker was on one side with Stellar Storm on the other.
Cynthia kept her small shuttle steady as they approached the site that Echo in Time had pinpointed.
As she stilled her engines at the proper coordinates, the two women paced her as she glided forward. Stellar Storm sent a double click through the com system.
Cynthia knew what she was asking. She responded through her com. “Yes, I want to do this. For better or worse, I have been waiting for this moment. At least I will go out in a swirl of energy and fire.”
The comet that they were waiting for was right on schedule.
Echo hadn’t mentioned it until they were getting into the shuttle and there was no written word in Cynthia’s old journal to tell her what the magical missing ingredient had been.
Cynthia shrugged to herself. She wouldn’t write it in this time either. If she had known, she would have sought out the comet to speed things along and that would have put her in the right place at the wrong time. Patience might be a virtue, but it was not her strong suit.
The comet approached and her glide took a path that would put her squarely in the tail.
Star Breaker flew by with a thumbs-up and a wreathing of power began around the exterior of her suit. Stellar Storm did the same and the moment that the shuttle alerts started shrieking about proximity, a writhing ball of energy surrounded her.
Her ship skewed sideways and directly into the tail of the comet when Star Breaker let her power fly. Energy sluiced around her and it was the final burst that ripped the hole in the universe and threw Cynthia through it.
Everything went bright and then everything went dark.
* * * *
Garo Weelich was on a patrol flight when the comet passed his world. His wings scooped the air as he watched the progress of the comet with one eye and his trajectory with the other.
Garo, how long are you going to be out here?
Garo watched his brother Mercuros approach.
I have two hours left on duty. Why?
Mother is trying to get our agreement to attend next week’s Introduction. She is getting downright desperate to get one of us mated off, brother.
I am aware of it, but none of the women I have met so far has matched my dreams. Garo was going to go into further detail, but a streak of light caught his eye. Debris from the comet was entering the atmosphere. Time for me to get to work, brother. I will see you later at our parents’ home.
That neither of her sons had yet to choose a mate was a matter of despair for Corleen. Garrik Weelich did not care. He knew that the women in his sons’ dreams would appear in time. There was no sense rushing a Drai courtship, because no woman would agree to wed a male who had not prepared an appropriate home for her.
Garo’s home was almost done, but Merc had yet to begin his preparation. They both were in the wing guard, some of the last of their race who could shift into their ancestral forms. The interdiction of Drai had kept all other races from even attempting a blending of genes, so the Draikyn were pure blooded and fading fast.
Bringing his mind back to the matter at hand, he aimed for the bright speck drawing nearer with every second. He blinked his draconian eyes as it slowed and began to break into pieces as he watched.
As he drew close enough for a detailed examination, he noted that the falling object was a ship. Apparently, it had run afoul of their defensive satellites and was surrendering damaged parts with every second.
When the pilot jumped out, Garo was shocked. It seemed that the being was similar to Draikyn on the exterior, but the streaming cascade of rich blonde hair was not one he had ever seen on a woman of his kind.
He examined her as she fell. Her eyes closed and face pale. An image of her features on a pillow next to his flashed in his mind and he shook his head.
Garo realized that his daydreaming had brought them dangerously close to the ground and he surged toward her, shifting into a more manoeuvrable form as he approached. He took on his bipedal form, his wings belling out as he slowed his descent while taking the woman into his arms.
Her scent hardened his cock and he stared at his unconscious burden in shock. She was alien, that was certain, but she was also the woman in his dreams and that was a huge problem. If the interdict was enforced, his little falling star would be dead before she woke.
* * * *
The hangovers incurred just after high school were nothing compared to the pain in her head when she woke after the rip through time.
A voice speaking formal Drai came to her. “Who are you and where are you from?”
She smiled and rehearsed her speech. “I am a Terran, a new species being considered by the Alliance. I was stuck in the comet’s tail and it dragged me to your atmosphere. The orbital defence system made quick work of my shields.”
“You speak Drai?” That surprised the speaker more than any of the sentences.
“Yes. It was an option to study languages and my people had so many myths and legends about dragons that it seemed the most sensible course of study.”
“Your people know about dragons?” The voice was coming from a speaker in the wall.
“Yes, but just enough myth to make the idea of an entire language kinda fun. Where am I?”
“You are in a holding facility in the Drai capitol of Nev. One of our patrols found you and he saved your life. He requested that you at least be questioned before the sentencing begins.”
She closed her eyes. This hadn’t been in her notes either. It seemed she was shifty when it came to dealing with herself. “Sentencing?”
“Drai is an interdicted world. No aliens arrive or leave. You landed illegally.”
“I didn’t land, I crashed. My ship dropped through a hole in space and then fell apart. I remember something huge coming at me and then
nothing.”
The voice laughed. “That huge thing was Wing Leader Garo Weelich. He caught you and brought you here for examination and treatment.”
“And sentencing.”
There was a distinct pause. “Yes, but his primary concern was for your health and safety.”
“Does that change when I am sentenced?”
The woman paused again. “I…I don’t know.”
At least she was honest.
Whoever had checked her over had dressed her in a long tunic slashed up the sides and loose trousers underneath. Her feet were bare, but the tiles on the floor were not excessively cool. Cynthia looked around her and took in the sparse cell. Her bed was a narrow but comfortable bunk and there was a small table with two chairs, the narrow back indicative of the Draikyn wing accommodation.
“When will I be questioned?” She raised her hands to her hair and tried to finger comb it into a less-wild mass. The blonde strands fought her, but she kept working until she had a loose braid to keep it out of her face.
“Wing Leader Garo is on his way with a councillor. They will question you in detail and then present their findings to the Council.”
“When they arrive, can I get something to eat or drink? It was a long flight.” She chuckled at her lack of exaggeration. Over a thousand years in a matter of minutes.
Time didn’t just fly, it ripped open and dumped her exactly where she was supposed to be.
Convincing Garo might be the hardest part of her entire journey.
Chapter Three
Garo walked down the hall with Councillor Hael. His fallen alien was awake and speaking with the matron. She spoke high Drai, which was odd enough, but her knowledge of their traditions was the most puzzling part.
