Fortunately for Loretta, Draconian commandos come to the rescue. And their leader, General Mylash Shin, might be intimidating--but he's also the sexiest male, human or alien, she's ever encountered.
Mylash is certain the curvy human is his mate, and urges her to take the DNA test to prove it. Loretta finds the seven-foot-tall warrior hard to resist ... but she doesn't want to leave her planet and her family. Can the general win his most important campaign ever, and persuade Loretta that he's worth it?
Chapter 1
Loretta Franklin stepped off the hover bus onto the busy streets of New York City. The smells and sounds of the city rose around her as she gazed up at the skyscrapers towering overhead. They didn’t have anything like Wall Street back in Alabama.
Loretta gripped the handle of her bag, moving swiftly down the sidewalk, her best pair of pumps clicking on the pavement. Her interview at the investment brokerage firm was in fifteen minutes, and she couldn’t be late. She had to nail this interview. It was her one big shot to make it in the city.
She checked the address on her cell phone, inspecting the buildings for the right one. People paced by, striding toward their destinations. When she found it, Loretta walked through the glass doors and hopped into the elevator going up.
As she stood in the elevator, her heart thumped in her chest and nervous energy coursed through her veins. Loretta had just graduated from Alabama State with an MBA. She’d been at the top of her class and could have gone to almost any college. Her grandmother needed help with her younger sister and brother, so Loretta stayed nearby. It was almost a miracle that the brokerage firm was willing to interview her in the first place.
The elevator stopped on her floor and she got out, taking a deep breath and letting it out. She stood in front of the lit wall that stated the name of the investment brokerage firm. She could see the place was luxuriously decorated in gold and cream with steely green accents.
I’ve got this, she told herself.
Even if she hadn’t gone to Harvard or Yale, Loretta had respectable credentials. She had to believe in herself. There were people at home counting on her to bring home the big money now that she was out in the workforce.
Loretta smoothed down her taupe skirt suit and ran her hand over her thick black hair. When she turned the corner into the reception area, she put a smile on her face and approached the receptionist. The girl behind the counter wore a dress that looked like it had cost as much as a month of Loretta’s rent.
The bleach blonde bombshell cast her bright blue eyes on Loretta. “Loretta Franklin. I have an interview with Charles Wilson at eleven,” Loretta said. Her tongue flicked over her full lips. She watched the woman look over at her computer screen and click the mouse with a French manicured fingertip. Loretta glanced at her own nails, painted an understated beige tone she’d done herself. The color brought out the caramel color of her dark skin. She wouldn’t let the receptionist’s big city glamor distract her from her goal.
“Mr. Wilson is ready for you, Ms. Franklin. Follow me.”
Loretta followed the receptionist through the front office and down a well-lit hall with abstract paintings on the walls to an open office door. The receptionist gestured for her to go inside and Loretta entered the office. The middle-aged man behind the desk stood to offer her his hand.
“Ms. Franklin. Good morning. Please have a seat,” he said.
She sat opposite his rich wood desk. There was a view of the city outside his window and Loretta tried not to stare, focusing on Charles Wilson.
“Your resume is impressive. You graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama. Paid internship and the largest brokerage firm in Montgomery. What makes you want to move to New York, Ms. Franklin?”
“The opportunity to work for this brokerage firm is exactly what I’ve been working toward.”
“Why did you choose University of Alabama?”
“It has a great business department. But to tell the truth, I wanted to stay close to my family.”
“What’s changed now?”
“Starting as a junior financial analyst for this brokerage firm is only the first step toward my goal. I want to be a broker. I can’t do the work I want to do back in Alabama.”
“Fair enough, Ms. Franklin.”
They spent another twenty minutes talking about her experience and her goals before Mr. Wilson shook her hand and told her he would let her know if she got the job by the end of the week. Feeling a little lightheaded but confident as she left the office, she rode down in the elevator.
Just as she stepped out into the first floor, the entire building quaked.
Chapter 2
A massive explosion shook the building all around Loretta. Alarms blared and the lights flickered off, leaving the entire building in darkness. There were screams of panic. Dust flew around the air and filled Loretta’s lungs. She hurried towards the front glass doors, seeing that several had been shattered in what appeared to be some kind of blast. Disoriented and terrified, Loretta didn’t notice when a group of men in black uniforms and distinctive all black face masks pushed into the building in front of her.
She smacked right into one of them before she realized what was going on. He grabbed her arm and pushed her backwards violently. Loretta lost her footing and fell onto the hard tiled floor. It was then that she realized the men were brandishing semi-automatic rifles. Her heart beating violently as she gasped for breath. They looked like some kind of military operation. What in God’s name is happening? One of the men shot a round of bullets into the ceiling and people screamed, running for cover at the back of the room.
“We are the Human Liberation Coalition. We insist the Draconians meet our demands. They must leave our planet now. For every hour they ignore our demands, another fertile female will die.”
Loretta scrambled backwards, hiding behind a security desk. The security guard lay unconscious on the floor, having been hit on the head with falling debris. The explosion had sounded like some kind of bomb had gone off on the upper floors.
Loretta had heard the rumors of terrorist groups who opposed the Draconian involvement on earth, but she had never imagined that they would do something so dramatic.
When the Draconians had come five years ago, they had asked for women to voluntarily mate with them and bear their young. Much to humanity’s surprise, the Draconians had been on earth before, five thousand years ago. They’d mated with Earth humans then, just as they wanted to now. Their species favored male young and every thousand years the Draconians had to breed with another species to keep their own species alive. They were on their Earth rotation.
This time around, they hadn’t expected humans to be so socially and technologically advanced. Humanity had refused to simply mate with the dragon shifting aliens, so the Draconians offered the human race advanced technology in exchange for their cooperation.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t given humans any guidance on how to deal with the quickly changing social environment that the new technology had created. There were those who opposed the Draconians in every way. To Loretta’s knowledge, this was the first time that anyone had taken such dramatic action.
“What’s wrong with you?” an older woman screamed across the room. “You threaten your own kind to get rid of the aliens?”
The lead terrorist stared at her, his face covered by the face mask. “It’s young fertile women the Draconians want. They would threaten our entire way of life for a chance to mate with our women. Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”
Loretta could hear people crying around her and a tear slid down her own cheeks. At twenty-six years old, Loretta was definitely a young fertile woman and the terrorists would certainly put her on the chopping block. If something happened to her, her grandmother and younger brother and sister would be destitute.
Beyond the shattered glass window, she could see police cars and news vans crowding the street outside. She prayed that someone would be able to help her.
>
Chapter 3
General Mylash Shin, leader of the Draconian commandos, walked onto the command deck of the Draconian mating armada and faced Commander Nash Or. Mylash had traveled thousands of light-years from Draconia to help humans deal with the problems Draconian technology had created on their planet. Taken away from war with the Mulgor, Mylash didn’t appreciate being given this assignment. The Mulgor were the Draconians’ ancient enemies and needed to be dealt with. The economic problems of a mating planet did not take priority over defending Draconia from a scourge like the Mulgor. However, the president of Draconia had ordered Mylash and his commandos to go to Earth and bring order to the chaos. This was his assignment, and he would do what it took to bring the human race into some semblance of order.
“General Shin, so good to see you,” Commander Or said. The two men clasped each other’s forearms in the traditional Draconian greeting, and pressed their foreheads together for a brief moment before standing back.
“It is good to see you as well, Commander,” Mylash said.
“How was the trip over from Draconia?”
“As to be expected. Long. Bad food. That sort of thing. Fill me in on what is happening on this Earth planet?”
“The Earthlings are not adapting to advanced technology particularly well. Because of the problems in their native social system, the new technology has created tremendous economic strain. Particularly among the poor. You and your commandos have been tasked with helping them find a better way to distribute the wealth the new technology has brought to them.”
“I understand what I’m here for. My concern is whether or not the humans will accept our help. It seems that these creatures enjoy living with disparity between the rich and poor. My fighting force has its work cut out for it. As there are only twenty of us, we will each focus on a different aspect of the human problem.”
“Sir,” a technician said from behind a computer screen. “There is a disturbance in an Earth city called New York. It appears some humans have bombed one of their own buildings and are holding human hostages. They demand Draconians leave the planet or they will execute a fertile female every hour until we do.”
“How is it that we found this race to be an appropriate match for our DNA?” Mylash asked. The fact that they would kill their own people to get rid of an enemy proved to Mylash that humans were inherently stupid.
“Human DNA is an excellent match for Draconian DNA. I already have a mate of my own and couldn’t be happier,” said Commander Or.
“Congratulations, Commander. However, these humans are barbaric. Even with their advanced civilization and technology, they aren’t the kind of species we should be dealing with in the first place.”
“It is too late to back out now. We are mating with humans for the next decade. With the war back on Draconia, we don’t have the resources or time to arrange another mating mission,” Commander Or said, folding his arms. Mylash’s old friend looked thoughtful. If it had been up to Mylash, he would have turned the entire armada around and found a less self-destructive race to mate with somewhere else in the universe.
The entire mission had been a last minute fiasco when the Mulgor attacked Draconia. Many believed that the mating mission should be canceled, but the President sent Commander Or and his ships to Earth anyway.
“You’ll understand when you see the Earth females,” Commander Or said. “They are curvy and luscious and beautiful. I haven’t seen any more exquisite women in the entire galaxy. Trust me. We’ll put your DNA into the lottery and get you a mate of your own.”
“No, no, no. I don’t need a human mate. I don’t need to be mixing with these barbarians. If I remain a bachelor for the rest of my life, that will be just fine with me.”
“I think you’ll change your mind as soon as you see them,” the commander said, throwing his head back in a hearty laugh.
“A race of people who kills their own kind? I think not.”
Chapter 4
After coordinating with his men, Mylash decided to take on the terrorist attack on the New York building by himself. As the leader of the Draconian commandos, he would be the first to take on a challenging human problem. They all took transport vessels down to the planet surface. Mylash landed at the Draconian consulate in New York City and had a debriefing with the Draconian contact there. After getting more information on the particulars of the terrorist attack, he headed down to the street where the standoff was taking place.
Until now, the Draconians and the human government had not been working together on anything except the exchange of technology and the organization of the mating lottery. Now that the president of Draconia was taking an interest in the human society, and the preservation of the human race, the Draconians would be working in conjunction with human governments. They would even take control of those governments if necessary.
Mylash was prepared for that inevitability, but he wanted to avoid it if at all possible. Taking control of human civilization was not something he was looking forward to doing.
He approached the police line, his Draconian uniform giving away his identity. The police officer in charge of the situation looked him up and down with a questioning expression on his face.
“What is a Draconian doing here?” the police officer said.
“This is a Draconian issue. These terrorists demand we leave the planet or they will kill human women. We will now take a more active role in your society. I an Mylash Shin, leader of the Draconian commandos. I will bring the situation to an end immediately.”
“You have no jurisdiction here,” the police officer said.
“I’m afraid I do. I have ultimate jurisdiction here. Do you know why?”
The police officer shook his head no.
“Because I could take out every single person on this street before you had a chance to pull your weapon. The only reason Draconians have not shown force in the past is because we didn’t want humans to kill themselves. However, it seems that you can’t help doing that, no matter how much room we give you. We will no longer allow you to kill yourselves. Step aside, the grown-ups are here.”
The police officer’s mouth dropped open with astonishment, but Mylash simply brushed past him. He was going to deal with these terrorists immediately, and he didn’t care what the human police officer had to say about it. Mylash was already tired of talking with these people. They obviously had no control of their own species or their own passions. It was below him to even speak with the creature in the first place.
Mylash stepped into his dragon form and charged forward. Screams rose all around as he shot a bolt of super-hot fire at the wall. The wall melted in drips of molten lava. The terrorists shot at him, but their bullets had no effect on his dragon hide. All at once, the black uniformed men threw themselves at Mylash, triggering explosive devices within their uniforms.
A dozen men exploded against Mylash, sending him hurling backward several paces. Humans screamed all around and the sound of exploding human bodies pierced his ears. When the chaos calmed, Mylash found himself surrounded by the broken bodies of the terrorists, bloody and disfigured on the ground. All dead. Stupidity.
With a growl, Mylash shifted back into his human form, flicked his uniform back on using the button at his throat, and strode into the building. He blinked into the dusty darkness, slowly taking in the figures crowded on the floor.
“Everyone get out,” he said. “They’re all dead. This building isn’t safe for you. Now go.”
The humans seemed as frightened of him as they had been of the terrorists who had threatened to kill them all. They hesitated, but finally began to stir from their hiding places. They hurried out of the building. Mylash inspected his surroundings, glancing at the humans as they ran by. His gaze settled on the form of a huddling female in a taupe colored suit. Her curvaceous form and caramel brown skin caught his eye, and he couldn’t look away.
He stepped toward her and offered her his hand. She looked up at him with the most br
illiant brown colored eyes he had ever seen. Her hand slipped into his, the skin smooth and soft to the touch. A spark of desire shot from her hand and into his. It coursed through his body and centered at the base of his brain before sinking into his heart. He helped her stand, but she was missing a shoe. One leg was bent at the knee while she stood barefoot on the other.
“You seem to be missing appropriate footwear,” Mylash said. The feelings inside his heart and mind were spiraling with such violent passion he had no idea how to process it all. The scent of the woman hit him like a ton of space debris, sending his mind hurling through the atmosphere.
“You saved us,” the woman said.
“That is my job. Draconians will no longer allow humans to self-destruct.”
“Self-destruct?”
“Killing yourselves seems to be a favorite pastime of yours,” he said, pulling his hand away and crossing his arms over his thick chest. The tingle running through his body that had started when he touched her became even more intense. He had no idea what was happening to him. It was disturbing and thrilling at the same time. He had to get a hold of himself quickly or this could spell disaster.
As a man who was driven by self-control, ambition, and determination, being struck with this kind of emotional unbalance was extremely unsettling for Mylash. He had never felt anything like it before. With the desire and anxiety coursing through his veins, it slowly became clear to him why his body had taken on a mind of its own.
“Killing ourselves?”
“How many human wars are occurring right now on this planet?” he asked her, barely able to keep himself standing straight on his weakening knees.