A knock on the door distracted Elijah from his mental calculations. “Yes?”
“I have a call from a Dr. Pierson Grathers of Dendric Research. Shall I put him through?”
Elijah nodded, and a moment later a high-pitched, nasal voice came through the speakerphone.
“Chairman Woodard, I’m glad to finally be able to speak with you. I’ve only had the pleasure of communicating with your predecessor, Oceanus.”
Elijah pushed up his black glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. Oceanus had presided over the Council for two hundred-fifty years. His tenure had been far too long. The dragons, and everyone else, needed to prepare for a change.
“Yes, well I look forward to working with you. How can I help you today?”
“We were wondering if you had an estimated date for us to begin the collection of mere at the Arctic Sea habitat.”
A small smile crossed Elijah’s lips. Perhaps it was a side effect of having grown up in the human world, but he much preferred dealing with businesses than governments. The Dragon Council operated on the basis of centuries. In the business world time was money. He had no doubt the Dendric humans would act in a heartbeat once he gave his go-ahead.
“It’ll be two or three weeks before we’re ready for you to begin taking subjects.” He estimated how long the buffoon Kai would need to secure the mere’s trust. “After that you need to complete your work in the area within a five-day window. You can take as many as you can catch, but once dragon takeover is complete, you’ll need to cease.”
Dr. Grathers paused. “Five days is a very narrow window. Perhaps if your coup drags longer than you imagine you could allow my men more time?” The nasal pitch rose into a grating whine.
Eager to get the scientist off the phone, Elijah acquiesced. “Alright. But we’ll have to keep in close communication over this. Once my soldiers arrive the kidnappings have to stop. Otherwise the public won’t support the takeover.”
Grathers’ cloying giggle echoed over the line. “Of course, Chairman. I certainly appreciate your willingness to work with us on this matter.”
* * * *
Gracie Kisera awoke alone aboard the Dendric One. It had been over a month since Karon had spent the night or even so much as looked at her. Despite his absence she still saw signs of him around her tiny berth. His thick leather jacket still rested on the back of her single chair. Every once in a while she found one of his blonde or gray hairs in a pillow or sheet, or on a sweater she hadn’t washed.
He’d told her to disembark after the incident near Key Sirena, but she hadn’t. And as was typical, he didn’t force her to obey. She didn’t know which hurt more, that he still cared enough to keep her close, or that she’d damaged him so badly that he didn’t have the strength to make her leave.
She’d had other male companionship in the past month. As a succubus, Gracie had no choice. However, she tried to only seduce visiting Dendric staff, not Karon’s crew. The only regular visitor, though, was Dr. Grathers, and nothing would make her desperate enough to sleep with that monster.
She drifted through the ship's painted metal passageways, her hand occasionally running along the cool damp walls. There were so few places to go that Karon didn’t frequent, the downside of living at sea. The ship was one hundred sixty feet long, which sounded quite large unless one had to live on it.
She turned into the kitchen area to get some breakfast, only to find the captain curled over a bowl of Corn Flakes. Her voice came out flat in her greeting. “Good morning, Captain Karon.”
Normally he ignored her, but this morning something about his demeanor was different. A red-hot anger simmered just beneath the surface. “What? I’m not John to you anymore?” His clipped, angry voice felt like a slap.
Tears rushed to her nose and eyes, but she stretched taller so that her head almost reached the low ceiling. “I’m sorry, John.” She paused, wondering how to make him understand. Her next words came out softer. “You know I’m sorry.”
Once again, Gracie reminded herself that no serious harm had come from her actions on Key Sirena. Sure, Karon had lost his mermaid catches, but in truth that was not her fault. John hadn’t lost his job. No one ever found out that he overlooked her spying or that he’d disobeyed orders because of her.
No, the greatest damage she’d done to Captain John Karon had been to his heart, not his career.
“Why are you still here, Gracie? If you think I’m going to let you get away with the shit you pulled before…Well, you’re fucking wrong,” he said in a harsh whisper.
“I didn’t want to leave you. I…” Wetness filled her eyes again. How had she come to care for this bastard? After a hundred years of draining men of their life force and six months as a guinea pig in a Dendric Research facility, she would have thought her capacity to care for anyone would have long passed. “I love you.”
His red-rimmed eyes rose to meet hers. Now that she looked him full in the face for the first time in weeks, she saw that deep lines marred his handsome features. Sunken muscles hung off his broad frame. Despite his skin being brown and weathered from years on the ocean, she saw the latent vampire lurking hungrily below the surface.
“Well, I don’t even like you.” He stood and threw his bowl toward the sink, scattering milk and cereal along the wall. Then the captain ducked under the doorway and strode away.
* * * *
Alara’s hands shook as she pulled documents from her wall of filing cabinets. Her father was an idiot for allowing dragons access to their military’s information. An idiot! She’d tried to impress upon her father a number of times how depleted her forces had become. As she rifled through paperwork and clicked on her computer screen to verify, her mind kept dashing back to her lack of troops. The glory of being a soldier had faded now that wartime was over. She tried her best to recruit young mere, but the mine offered better pay and safer working conditions.
A quiet knock on her door signaled her father’s presence. She knew him by the sound of his footsteps, by the catch in his breath.
“Alara, I need to talk to you.” He entered with a resigned look on his face. “I know you’re angry. But I have good reason for what I did.”
His eyes willed her to trust him, but Alara couldn’t. “You know the dragons don’t offer ‘help’ out of the goodness of their hearts. They’ll expect something—money, influence, a cut of the mine’s profits.”
Her father’s eyes softened. “Of course they will. But we have plenty of profits to spare. And you must realize that a nation as small as ours needs strong allies.” He moved close, reaching for her shoulder, but she pulled away.
“Allies or patrons? You want to be colonized again? We can take care of ourselves!”
His expression conveyed far too much understanding. It pissed her off. “Know this, my daughter, as much as I resented their treatment, I would never have wanted them to leave us as they did.”
Alara returned to shuffling her papers and clicking through screens on her computer, ignoring her father. He stood next to her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes, as if his tenacity alone could change her opinion. After a moment he appeared to resign himself to her anger, and left.
She sighed at the numbers her research revealed. She had sixty-seven full time soldiers and another eighty-nine on reserve. That was a hell of a lot for an island nation of three thousand, but far from what she needed. Her patrols ran at about half the frequency they should.
If the Dragon Council found out, they’d argue for a full-time presence on the island. Heck, if her brothers found out they could use the information to remove her from her position. She didn’t want to forge documents, but she had little choice. A little creative bookkeeping might go a long way to providing the right image to her enemies—all of them.
She labored over her desk well into the night, building an improvised portfolio for the visiting reptile. By the time she staggered through the broad hallways to her room, unwanted thoughts of him bombarded her. Her hand pressed against the warm wood of her door, and she imagined it was his muscled chest she touched.
Opening the door to her bedroom, she glanced around. The furnishings were simple and all solid wood, remnants of the heyday of the lumber industry on the mainland. Of course, the dragons gained most of the advantage from that resource as well. They cut down the forests and employed mere as young as seven in their factories.
She settled into a wide, high-backed chair. It pressed firm and unyielding against her tired shoulders. She couldn’t help wondering if settling against the dragon would feel the same way. Certainly his demeanor was stiff as timber.
Why couldn’t she be this attracted to a male who wasn’t an enemy of the mere? Cleary it was the novelty that made her so curious. In such a small community, all males eventually resembled a brother. Yeah, that was it. He was new, not to mention a fine piece of forbidden fruit. She just needed to screw him at some point and get it out of her system.
With a wicked smile, she undressed and launched herself onto her bed.
Why wait?
The velvet of her duvet tickled her skin, and she peered into the special drawer next to her bed. For a moment she paused. Maybe one of her fuck buddies would come over and help her work off some steam. She discarded the thought as fast as it came. She’d rather be alone with her fantasy.
She selected her largest toy from the side table, then closed her eyes and imagined the dragon naked, tied to her bed, at her complete mercy. She’d make him beg for it, and boy would that be a good time! His muscles would bunch up. Those bright white teeth would grind together in tortured enjoyment. He’d walk funny the next day, and she’d know it was because of her. Gods, the image made her smile.
* * * *
Kai paced his room in dragon form. Lying, manipulating, having to spend weeks on end human—it was pathetic! He needed war, or at least a battle, an opportunity to do brave and heroic deeds.
For seventy years he’d trained and struggled to gain his rank, besting older, larger and stronger soldiers. And for what? To take by negotiation what they could as easily take by force.
The lush, royal blue room contrasted strongly with his barren cave back home and proved too confining for his long body. His talons caught on the rug’s many tassels. The spines of his tail kept scraping against the furnishings. Once again he growled that he couldn’t just go outside and wander in his true form. The cold night air would make movement almost impossible, would cause him to automatically hibernate. Maybe he should head to the water and swim. It was late, though, and he desperately needed to rest.
Certainly the rush of frozen water would shock him out of the insanity wrought by that mere female. Kai’s teeth ground in irritation as he reluctantly shifted into human form. The shape was unmanageable under the best of circumstances, but with Princess Alara wandering around half dressed and throwing that intoxicating fragrance all over, his time on two legs would be nearly unbearable.
The movement of air against his bare skin caused the hairs on his arms and legs to stand straight. He began to search the room’s many dressers for some type of clothing appropriate for sleep.
As he opened the cabinets his gaze scanned downward to rest at the shaft of purpled flesh curving up from between his legs to point at his belly. Ever since he caught the scent of that female his blasted body had proven as rebellious as her. His warm human blood pulsed even as he thought of her. The sensation of fullness throbbed, and he noticed a bead of moisture collecting at the tip.
All dragons learned care and maintenance of their other form, and Kai certainly knew what needed to be done. He’d never stooped this low before or been forced to do something so degenerate. His teeth ground in anger. After this assignment he would never willingly take human form again.
He settled himself on the bed, closed his eyes, and wrapped his fingers around the thick sword. The touch sent a violent spasm through his body, and he gripped hard, determined to get this over with. His hand travelled up and down in efficient strokes, and he focused on the beautiful female dragons at court. He’d never seen one in heat, the way mere and human females seemed to be constantly, but he imagined that it was a thing of great importance and beauty. Someday soon, the council would assign him a dragoness, and he would know what it was to be mated.