by Mikayla Lane
Lara let out an uncharacteristic squeal of delight and clapped her hands together before heading off to the west. “Let’s go!”
Drago looked around the area, trying to see how Lara knew what direction to go, when he saw the very faint, golden sparkles that were blinking randomly in the air. He held his hand out to the suspended, shimmering lights and was surprised that they blinked out and disappeared as they were walking past them. He looked ahead and could easily see the faint sparkles of energy guiding them forward and was a little awestruck at the beautiful display.
His oldest brother, Dread, slapped him on the shoulder and Drago turned to him as Dread spoke. “It’s pretty damn amazing, isn’t it? This planet gets more interesting every day.”
Drago immediately thought of Devon Sinclair and smiled. “Yes brother, it does indeed.”
They followed the faint trail of golden light, easily dodging the park service security personnel, until they ended up standing in front of a very large pool, where the golden lights were dancing in the air. Right in the middle of it.
Lara looked around and threw her hands in the air. “What the hell!?”
Viper, Drago’s youngest brother and mate to Lara, stood near the edge of the pool and looked out into the freezing water and shook his head. “I don’t understand. Wasn’t it supposed to lead us to a Prime?” He asked, turning to his mate with a confused frown.
Lara sighed. “It did,” she replied as she stood next him, leaning over as far as she could, to look in the ice covered water.
Drago looked out at the pool curiously, knowing that there wasn’t a body, containing a Prime in the partially frozen water. With the dozens of security personnel that they had weaved past, there was no way a body would have gone unnoticed. He and his brothers looked to Lara to explain what was going on.
Without a word, Lara grabbed Viper’s hand and leaned out as far as she could, over the pool. Reaching out her other hand towards the sparkling lights in the water, she closed her eyes and mumbled something under her breath that Drago didn’t quite hear.
He and his brothers watched in surprise as the dancing golden lights swirled in the air above the water for a few moments before heading towards them. Unafraid of the swirling, golden vortex of energy, they stood where they were and watched as it barely kissed Lara’s hand before completely disappearing.
Looking out over the water, Drago could see that the golden lights were now gone. He couldn’t detect a trace of them anywhere, except in Lara’s hand, which was now pulsing with a soft, golden light.
“What…,” Dread began, unsure what was going on or what he had actually seen.
The brothers watched as Lara opened her hand, the golden light slowly diminishing until it was only a small speck in her hand. Each of the brothers moved closer to look at what was in her hand, as Lara explained it to them.
“It’s still in its primal state. It hasn’t been found and integrated with a host. We need to get out of here, before one of the security personnel comes by.”
Drago looked at the small, glowing speck in Lara’s hand and felt an urge to touch it. He hadn’t realized that he had reached his hand out to do so, until Lara closed her hand and the light winked out. He shook his head to clear it and wondered what the hell he’d been thinking.
Drago followed the others out to the parking lot and got back inside the vehicle. It was freezing outside and they waited a few minutes to let the vehicle warm up, each wrapped in their own thoughts.
Viper turned to his mate, who was sitting in the passenger seat. “What are you supposed to do with that?” He asked, nodding towards her still closed hand.
Lara shook her head with a confused look on her face. “I have no damn idea. I don’t know that this has ever happened before. It’s the laustio I was hoping for… just not one we can use in its current state.”
Dread leaned forward slightly. “What do we do now? Should we try sending out another call and hope we get a live, preferably usable person this time?”
Lara shook her head. “Let’s go back for tonight. I need to think about this before we end up collecting a bunch of Prime pods and no hosts. I didn’t know it could even respond to the call without a host, so I need to figure out how to modify the energy call we’re making to avoid this from happening again.”
Drago didn’t pay too much attention to the rest of the conversation, once he had heard that they would be going back to the house. His thoughts immediately turned to Devon Sinclair and he wondered if she would still be awake at this hour of the night. He hoped she was because he was desperate to learn more about his new mate and to hold her again.
*****
Devon paced her second floor bedroom with the phone in her hand. She had ignored the first phone call when she arrived home and had been putting off listening to the messages, knowing that the angry voice would do nothing to change what had already been done. But she knew she couldn’t keep putting off the inevitable.
She looked out her window for what felt like the hundredth time, searching for any large shadow that would indicate that her gorgeous hero was back. Devon sighed and sat on the edge of her bed and looked at her phone. She couldn’t keep putting this off, she thought as she hit the speed dial button. She barely had the phone to her ear before it was picked up mid-ring and the yelling began. She cringed, hoping this part would be over soon.
“I told you what I wanted done! It was simple! You still couldn’t get such a simple thing accomplished! What the fuck is your problem lately, Devon? Everything you touch is unraveling before my eyes! Answer me!”
Devon took a deep breath, ignoring the anger that bubbled up at the way he was speaking to her. She should be used to it by now, but it still rankled. Keeping her voice as calm as she could, she explained what had gone wrong.
“I told you that he couldn’t be trusted and that we should have controlled him better. The humans that are so easily bought to be traitors can’t be trusted. You know that. We count on it in order to accomplish our goals.”
When it sounded like he would interrupt, Devon rushed on. “I was speaking to him at his office when you called,” she lied easily, hoping he didn’t know she had been home at the time of his call.
“And I have ensured that he is now going to follow your plans to the letter. In the future, I again, strongly recommend that harsher incentive is given at the time the instructions are given in order to prevent these problems from happening again.”
“The only thing people like that understand is violence or a major financial loss. It’s the only thing that scares them enough to do what they are told to do without deviating, when they think they can make a quick buck on the side.” Devon sighed and waited for the angry reply that she knew would be coming and was surprised when she heard a chuckle instead.
“Ah, my poor Devon. I’m sure it takes a toll on you to deal with those barely evolved human pigs every day. I arrived back in your country a few days ago. While I am here, I will expect to see you at some point and would like to consider your opinions on a different tactic. One that you may find more fitting to your blood thirsty nature.” The deep laugh that followed sent a shiver up Devon’s spine, but she recovered quickly and feigned happiness.
“Of course! I will have your staff get your home opened and ready for you immediately,” Devon said, struggling to keep the string of curses from erupting from her mouth.
“I have already seen to it. I will let you know when to arrive at the estate for our meeting,” he said before the phone clicked and Devon knew he had hung up on her.
She barely pressed the ‘end’ button before Devon allowed the curses to flow easily from her mouth while she punched the air around her in frustration. Things were not going her way. Not at all. And the last thing she needed right now was for her murderous, soulless, alien boss to jump into the crap bag of problems she had going on.
Devon screamed, threw herself on the large bed and kicked and punched the mattress before forcing herself to calm
down. This was going to completely screw up all of her plans. Long before she was ready for that to happen. She had too many things going on at one time that would all crash and burn, epically, if she didn’t do something to head it off. Fast.
Devon stood and paced in front of the window again, hoping to come up with a way to salvage everything. It was on her fifth pass that she glanced outside and noticed the large shadow that wasn’t the least bit concealed, under the tree by the sidewalk outside.
*****
Drago knew the moment that Devon had seen him. He could feel the air crackle around him from the attraction of their energies. He fought the urge to storm her door and take her into his arms, visualizing his feet rooted to the ground to keep himself from actually doing it.
Viper had barely pulled into the driveway earlier when Drago had opened the door and jumped out. Ignoring the strange looks of his family, he had headed down the street, back the way they had come. He yelled back that he would return later and quickly strode to the lights that he had seen on when they had passed Devon’s home, on their way back from the reflection pool.
He had arrived in time to hear the very last part of her phone conversation, his heightened hearing easily picking up the deep voice on the other end from where he was standing below her window.
Her reaction to the phone call let him know that whoever the man was on the other end of the phone, he was not someone that his mate liked very much at all. His curiosity was more than peaked. Not only about his mate, but the man on the phone who could elicit such jumbled emotions from her. What surprised him most, was the hatred he had felt pouring from her in waves as she spoke.
Although he didn’t know her at all, he felt that hatred was not a normal emotion for her. Drago watched her disappear from her window and he tamped down the urge to pound on her door and demand who the man was that she had been speaking to.
All thoughts of her phone call fled when Drago saw her in her doorway. She had obviously changed for bed, the thin material of the long nightgown and robe was rendered completely see-through by the lights on in the house behind her and he stared open-mouthed at the enticing silhouette of her body.
It wasn’t until a car drove by and honked its horn that Drago snapped out of it and moved with quick strides to her door. In seconds he was standing in front of her, blocking her from any more appreciative eyes, but his own.
Devon crossed her arms over her chest protectively when she saw the look on Drago’s face as he came into the light of her porch. He looked… she wasn’t sure, but she knew how she felt and she was no longer sure that letting him in or seeing him again was a good idea.
Not because she feared that he would hurt her, but because she was terrified that if anything happened between them that everything she’d worked for her whole life would be for nothing and it would collapse like a house of cards around her.
She shivered, unsure if it was from the cold or the heat she saw in Drago’s eyes as he seemed to look at every inch of her at once. She took a step back when he got to the first step and without a word he walked into her home and shut the door behind him.
Devon just stared while he took his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders. She moaned from the heat of his body that still permeated every inch of the jacket. She hadn’t realized just how cold she’d been, standing in the doorway, until she felt his warmth around her.
Luckily the heat loosened her tongue. “Thank you. What are you doing out this late? And in front of my house? My neighbors might think you are stalking me,” Devon said with a small chuckle, trying to ease some of her suspicions about why the man was outside of her house after midnight.
Drago looked leisurely around the entryway of the home and seeing what looked like a couch, in the next room, he placed a hand at the small of her back and gently led her into the room. He sat her down on a chair, closest to the door, before standing in front of the couch.
He gestured toward it with his hand. “May I?”
Devon felt a little shell shocked over his courtesy. Hell, even the most basic of common courtesies were almost non-existent these days, she thought as she looked at him curiously. If she looked close enough at the little things, she could see how out of place he seemed. Feeling a little sorry for him, because she knew how hard it was to be in a new place that you didn’t know, she gave him a bright smile and nodded for him to sit.
Drago sat on the plain beige leather couch and felt like kicking himself when he realized that the jacket he had given her to cover herself with, was also blocking his view of her body. With a sigh he gave up on looking for another glimpse of her and instead decided to ease her mind over his presence at such a late hour of the night.
“As I said earlier, I am staying just down the street with my family. We were returning late from visiting several of your monuments when I saw your lights on. I did not get a chance to see if the thief was still there as we passed by and didn’t think your neighbor would like to find the man frozen on his doorstep in the morning. So I was coming by to check on him when I saw you in front of your window,” Drago explained, twisting the truth only slightly.
He had looked for the thief as he passed the home where they had left him, but he hadn’t thought about the neighbor finding the guy. He had been more concerned about interrogating the man. The more he thought about what had happened earlier, the more he was concerned that the robbery might not have been random at all.
Devon looked at him curiously, unable to see any of the normal tell-tale signs that someone was lying, but her mind was screaming at her to remain vigilant. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but she knew something wasn’t quite right about Drago fle’ te’ Trugh. Something besides his unnatural good looks and hot body, she thought as she tried to keep her eyes on his face.
Drago could feel the confused energy pouring off of Devon. But as he sifted through it, he realized that fear was not among her energy. Figuring that she was occupied with her own thoughts, he decided to press things and find out more about her. And her situation.
“That explains what I am doing out so late. But what are you doing awake at such an hour? Does your job take that much of your time?” Drago asked, trying to sound casual. He wasn’t sure if he blew it or if he had hit a nerve, but he could clearly see her energy tighten around her as her defenses came up.
Before she could react, Drago caught her off guard and laughed. “You must think me a fool. I have to admit that I am truly fascinated by you and after checking on the thief and seeing he was gone, I found myself in front of your home. I am curious about you. Everything about you. And that was my really bad attempt to try and learn more about you.”
Drago stood and gave her a small smile. “I am unfamiliar with your customs and should have known not to bother you at so late an hour. I apologize.”
Devon had melted the moment she had heard his deep laugh and without thinking, she stood to stop him from leaving. She grabbed his arm and was a little stunned at the intensity of the static electricity that hit her.
She jerked her hand back quickly and rubbed at it for a moment, even though it didn’t hurt at all. It had only startled her. She looked at Drago’s curious expression and laughed a little shakily.
“Static… anyway… you don’t have to go. If you don’t want to… do you want a drink? I could use a drink…,” Devon said as she turned and headed into the kitchen.
For such a large guy, he was certainly quiet, she thought as she headed to the sink and the well-stocked liquor underneath. She couldn’t hear him behind her, but she could feel him. Which was really strange. It felt like they were both charged with static and their bodies were just waiting to touch for it to ignite. Like it did earlier, Devon thought as she absently rubbed her hand again.
Forcing her thoughts back to the moment, she opened the cabinet and grabbed the first bottle she saw and held it up to him. “Vodka ok?” She asked.
At his nod she grabbed two glasses from the cabinet beside t
he sink and filled both of them halfway with the clear liquor. Still feeling oddly from their last touch, Devon slid his glass down the counter toward him, instead of handing it to him. She didn’t think that she wanted to try touching him again since she was beginning to feel as if she were way out of her depth right now.
Drago grinned slightly before covering it by taking a sip of the liquor. He watched as Devon took a step back from him before raising her glass and taking a small sip. His sharp gaze didn’t miss the slight tremble in her hand and he needed to distract her from the jumbled thoughts and emotions that he could feel in her energy.
He took a step back from her to give them some distance to ease her mind. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her and he wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. In the process of sifting her energy he had discovered the one thing that would make this more difficult for him. His mate was human. Fully human.
Unlike Lara, Devon wasn’t a lost soul. She wasn’t a hybrid of any kind either. She was a regular human. But, it didn’t dull his attraction to her in the least. And even though he had no idea how to proceed, he wasn’t going to give up on his beautiful mate.
Drago cleared his throat. “Maybe we should try this again?”
Thinking of the cover story that Grai had made for him, he recited for her the basic stats that should ease her mind a little.
“My name is Drago fle’ te’ Trugh. I am forty years old and work for an international private security firm. I have never been married and have no children. I have two brothers and a sister, who is my brother’s wife.”
“My parents are back home, in the place where we grew up. My brother’s work for the same company that I do and we are here for business. We are unsure how long we will be here. But, while we are, I would like the opportunity to get to know you better.”
