Chapter Five
Rosalyn
I walked in the familiar company of Rilark, the red dragon. We stood outside the embassy that now rested in the outskirts of Udora’s biggest city.
Earth had contested some decisions made by the Koth and eventually got their own embassy put up on Udora. It was outside the city and crawling with military personnel. The shifters greatly protested the presence of military, but Earth insisted it was a necessity.
The shifters also protested the presences of males on their planet, but these requests also went ignored. The Koth claimed it would be a problem if the women started sleeping with the human males instead; that it could jeopardize the breeding program, but Zaphira said it wouldn’t make a lick of difference.
Along with the military, Riddell had made sure they brought myriads of high-powered weapons with them. It would be hard to fight a shifter, they said, and should any human soldiers run into a rebel looking to fight, they needed to be prepared.
Whoever overlooked the fact that the rebels may just steal from us were definitely in need of firing.
I arrived for my monthly check-in. This was a new implementation ordered by Zaphira, the head of the Riddell organization. The participants in a choosing would now check in monthly with the embassy to ensure the match was going well.
“Ridiculous,” Rilark scorned as he leaned against the wall behind my computer screen. I rolled my eyes at his attitude; my general reaction to him on a daily basis.
He’d spent weeks now following me around even during the most mundane tasks. I thought I’d soon come to know him as a friend or at the very least come to think of him as invisible, but his cocky, arrogant demeanor couldn’t be silenced in our interactions. I cringed as he continued to rant and rave about the unfair treatment of shifters by Earth.
I raised my fingers up in a silent plea for him to shut the hell up and took a deep breath.
“Rilark, please,” I sighed. “Are you really this stupid?”
He cocked a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The Koth are the ones who wanted these stupid check-ins done.”
“No,” he drew out his word. “Earth did. Thus why we’re in an Earth embassy. See?” He pointed to the overly large sign to the right of us that read: EARTH EMBASSY and crossed his arms smugly. “Earth!”
“Yeah, and there’s good reasons for both sides wanting a check in. Get it?”
“Which would be?”
“First of all, it makes sure that the women are doing okay and that they’re not being mistreated,” I said; ignoring his ignorant laughter at the sentiment. “Second, this way the Koth can be sure that nothing fishy is going on, like, you know, rebels and humans working together.”
“So, you’re saying you’re happy with your monthly interrogation?”
“I’m saying it’s necessary, and if it keeps me with Galsthenn, then it’s completely worth it.”
His eyes rolled back. “How sweet.”
Ignoring him, I put in a call to Zaphira’s line and was met with Sarra Hayes, her second in command. The raven haired woman smiled on the other end of the video and brushed her blunt-cut bangs from her eyes. She was the leading diplomat between Earth and Udora.
It wasn’t anyone who got to check in with someone of such high station, I reminded myself. It was only because I was the chosen one of a soon-to-be-Koth that I had such a privilege. Sarra was also married to an ex-advisor of the Koth. The two of them split their time between Udora and Earth.
She asked her first few questions with a warm smile on her face: how safe I feel, how happy I am, what I’ve been doing with my time. She was interrupted only once by the handsome shifter behind her, his black scales shimmering in the daylight of Earth as he leaned down and whispered to her.
“I’m working,” she whispered back, and he smiled, their hands clasping and releasing as he walked out of view. “Sorry about that,” she flushed. “Leave him alone with our son for two seconds and he starts to worry.”
“Congratulations,” I said sincerely at her family.
“Oh,” she made a ‘pfft’ noise with her front teeth and waved me off with a chuckle. “He’s five. Trust me, they never stop being absolutely clueless about kids. Get ready for that.”
“Oh, well,” I fumbled awkwardly. “Thanks.”
“So, how’s your mating progress coming along?” she asked nonchalantly as she consulted the silver tablet in her hand, ready to input my information. “Gotta get that baby maker going,” she said as she snapped her fingers playfully.
“Good, good,” I shifted and glanced up at Rilark, who was now listening intently.
“You’re having sex?” she asked casually. “How many times a week, roughly?”
“Uh,” I scratched my arm uncomfortably. I wasn’t a prude, really, but it wasn’t my dream conversation to be having in front of my security officer. I licked my lips uneasily and my expression landed at an embarrassed smile.
“Ballpark,” she encouraged.
“Two… three times a week?”
“Okay,” she nodded and wrote something down. “That’s good! You have all of your data about ovulation and the like?”
“Yes.”
“Good. That’s important to keep track of, especially as a breeder.”
I blanched at the term, blinking it off. I knew they had to make titles for their missions but… calling us breeders seemed a little brash. I liked to think what Galsthenn and I had was a little deeper than that. In fact, I knew it was. Still, I wasn’t prepared when she asked: “You in love yet?” She grinned as she leaned into the screen, her green eyes sparkling with girlish glee at the thought. I knew she was just making conversation now, but as I saw Rilark’s expression turn bored, I wished she’d stop.
“Getting there,” I smiled politely.
“Alright girly,” she said warmly. “Just one more left. We just wanted to know…” she gave pause and looked passed the camera and then back to me. “If you’ve heard anything, any rumblings about the rebels or danger in the area. We know rumors are just rumors, believe me, but I have to ask just to make sure you’re being kept safe and secure.”
“Oh, they assigned me security, actually,” I teased.
Sarra couldn’t see Rilark on her screen, as he was standing behind the monitor, facing me, but it gave me no small amount of joy to bug him.
“So no rumors?” Sarra repeated, sounding somewhat humorless now.
“Um,” I frowned. “I guess just…” In my peripheral, I saw Rilark sneer and his face crease with frustration. My jaw nearly dropped. Of all the things for him to get annoyed about, I didn’t think public safety would be one of them, considering his line of work. “Not really,” I finally confirmed. “Some people seemed to think there was going to be an attack or something at the welcome ball, but nothing happened. And actually,” I wrung my hands together. “Nobody actually confirmed that for me.”
“Alright, Miss Westfall,” she said with a nod of her head, “Just keep us up to date about anything. Rumors, pregnancies, party invites,” she winked.
With that, our conversation was over. I stood from the leather stool, allowing the next breeder to check in with the headquarters and began walking back toward the elevators.
Rilark followed behind and kept his hand firmly on his pistol. We walked in silence and reached the mirrored elevator. I caught his reflection in the doors and quickly looked down at the ground.
It was just the two of us, going down six floors and heading home to my beloved. He’d been working every day this week. On what, he wouldn’t concern me with, but his secrecy didn’t bother me. I was sure that whatever he was dealing with was intense and that when the moment was right, I would be brought into that part of his life.
Rilark was watching me intensely with that stupid look on his face again: a condescending smile mixed with the most infuriating arrogance I’d ever seen. I wanted to scream at him, ‘Have you ever looked at yourself?!’ but I held back and tried to remain ladylike, cupping my hands together and staring up at the ceiling.
His arrogance made me crazy. He was like some wild animal; his red hair was a mess of spikes that fell down his shoulders; his wings were always ready for flight; and he had the most peculiar red stripe across his face: a skin discoloration. Plus, his nose was quite literally bent out of shape.
Plus…
“Why do you have horns?” I snapped like I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
The black and brown horns protruded from his head like a great dragon’s. When I’d mentioned them to Galsthenn, he said some dragons had them, if they were descendants of one of the first Weredragons. He said they couldn’t retract, but it was rare.
“Why do you have breasts?” he scoffed.
“Um. Because I’m a woman?”
“Then I guess I have them because I’m a Weredragon.”
I raised my brows in an annoyed dismissal and an awkward silence filled the room once more. We both stared at the buttons in the elevator and realized we hadn’t gone down a floor in about a minute.
I huffed in frustration and pressed the button for the bottom floor twice more, the number lighting up and going dark again each time I hit it.
“Yep, that’s helping,” Rilark yawned.
“Would you just shut up?”
The room fell silent once more until the red shifter leaned back against the wall, shifting the entire weight of the room. “So,” he began slowly, scornfully. “Only twice a week, huh?”
“Excuse me?”
“You and the big guy. You’re only going down twice a week?” He breathed in sharply and laughed. “Must be a long week.”
“He’s been busy,” I stuttered, pulling my heavy jacket closed and tightening my scarf as though even talking about such things might cause an indecency. “And furthermore, I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation.”
“Nope.”
“And… it’s really not your business anyway.”
“Definitely not.”
My eyes widened and flicked back and forth from his indignantly. “So… case closed.”
“Guess you’re not into it, huh? Geez. I thought girls were supposed to love going at it with a shifter.”
I pressed my lips together awkwardly. I wanted to say that I had thought that too, but instead, I kept quiet. “Personally, I’ve had girls who can’t get out of bed once they discover me.”
“Not really interested in hearing about your lobotomy victims, Rilark.”
“Ouch! Hey, if you’re ever looking to see how it’s really done, my door’s always open.” The shifter laughed, and I looked at him with disgust. His laughter quickly died, and he rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, that was a joke.”
“Whatever,” I breathed.
“Hey, I’m just looking out for my baby bro.”
My heart skipped, and my eyes narrowed toward the soldier standing across from me. “What did you say?”
He stared at me seriously for a moment, and I wasn’t sure I had heard him right. His baby brother? He went to speak, but suddenly he turned his head to the side so that his lips sat against his shoulder. “Shh…” he hushed and slowly walked the perimeter of the tiny encasement.
The armored guard put his arm around me, and I tried to slap him away before he forced me down into a crouched position. “I said be quiet,” he instructed, and his eyes furtively searched the room. “There’s rebels in here.”
“What?” I whispered in shock. “How can you tell?”
“I can hear them. Listen.”
I did as instructed and could hear a barrage of planes overhead; I could hear screams coming from the floor beneath us. I began to shake wildly as I imagined a stream of fire flooding the building; I saw the same victims I’d operated on weeks earlier and feared becoming one of them.
Rilark opened the hatch above us and pulled me up into the elevator shaft. Claws surged forth from his fingertips, and he cut the cord for the elevator, his wings flapping as the elevator plummeted beneath us. I didn’t know what shocked me more: the sudden crash or the fact that we were flying. He let his wings glide us back toward the bottom.
He took us back down into the elevator box and pried the doors open with his claws. He dragged me out into the lobby that was now flooded with both human and shifter soldiers.
There were rebel shuttles overhead, and while no shots had been fired yet, we were all instructed to get low to the ground.
The lobby was overcome with panic and shouting as the soldiers repeated their instructions for us to get down. I knew they were trying to protect us, but the formality of the crisis sent my anxiety running. I prostrated myself and put my hands over my head as instructed, shaking with fear as Rilark placed a heavy wing over my body.
A bomb sounded outside, and the ground shook beneath us as though a great earthquake had been let loose. The surface below me bounced and broke in two, causing me to lurch backward and scramble against the hundreds of bodies that filled the room.
The screams filled the room in echoes mixed with the loud crashes of whatever was happening outside. I could barely hear, my ears screeching with a high-pitched drone that made me feel faint. I watched my feet atop the surface, watched how they shook wildly beneath me; I had no control.
Rilark was calm. He hovered above the ground as it broke and cracked, his eyes looking around the room with calculation. He dropped to his feet and walked up to me, saying something that I couldn’t make out.
“Down, down, down!” the guards screamed at the red shifter, aiming their guns at him, but he was beyond listening.
“Get up,” he said firmly and grabbed my arm.
He took hold of me and took to the air once more with me in his arms. He pushed through the soldiers and drew his laser pistol, finally able to get us outside. The sky was an eerie orange and filled with smoke. Fires could be seen 50 feet away from the embassy, a bomb having been set off near the shuttles.
Rilark grit his teeth and grabbed my scarf, pulling it up over my nose until I took it from him, holding it there as he instructed. The smoke was thick and quickly coated my lungs even through the barrier I’d created.
Riots of people surrounded the area, desperately trying to put out the fire. Their bodies moved in blurs of swimming motions that screamed and swelled through the streets. I heard shouts and cries and officials yelling commands, but I never spotted the rebels until a swarm of ships flew by overhead at intoxicating speeds.
I thought I had a firm grip on Rilark, but the myriads of people flooded us, dragging me far from him and leaving me searching for his familiar horns in a stream of barely conscious panic.