Chapter One
Earth – Present Day
She was a ghost. A wraith that walked the silent and gloomy halls of the Convent dressed in her white habit. Born with albinism, Ella Stewart had stark white skin and silver-white hair that made her an outcast.
The night was eerily silent as she stood at the small window of her room staring out at the night sky. Sleep evaded her. Almost all of the girls had left for summer holidays, gone home to their families. Except her. Nobody came to pick her up. Nobody called. She was alone and nobody cared. She still remembered the day her aunt had decided to send her there. Her aunt’s words still rang in her ears, cold as ice. She was only nine... And she had stood at the top landing of the stairs, frozen, listening to her aunt and uncle’s conversation.
“I can’t take care of her anymore. She’s already having problems at school with other kids,” her aunt Nora had said. “She would be better off at the Convent.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” her husband said. Within the next few days, she was sent packing here.
Tears blurred her vision until she took off her glasses and wiped them off her face at the bitter memory. She thought she would be free when she came of age. She thought she would leave the Convent and go out into the world, but fate had decided otherwise. She was forced to take the vows when she turned eighteen. Her aunt thought she would be better off as a nun since her “condition” would not allow her to do any other job. She began teaching at the convent’s senior school. Since then, her life hadn’t become any better, losing a little more color every day.
She put on her glasses and stared outside. Old sister Margaret, her dorm warden, was taking the final rounds across the yard, back bent as she walked with flashlight in hand. Ella suddenly saw herself years from now. She winced as loneliness gnawed at her heart, wondering if she would grow old in that same gray building, ever more bitter and resentful as the years rolled by.
She turned off her lamp and the room drowned in darkness. Today was her birthday. She had turned twenty-three and her aunt hadn’t even called. Sighing, she was about to turn when her eye caught a strange gleam of light radiating from the trees right outside the back garden. It was past midnight, and she wondered who could be out there at this hour. Then, she saw sister Margaret heading out the back toward the light.
Where was the old woman going? Ella’s curiosity got the better of her, and she picked up her flashlight. Still in her nightgown, she tiptoed downstairs, her pumps not making a sound. Passing through the kitchen door, she quietly made her way outside to the backyard and across the garden toward the back wall. The door in the wall was open as she stepped outside.
There was a full moon that night, so she decided not to turn the flashlight on. Slowly, she followed Sister Margaret’s path into the thicket. She could still make out the faint light coming from the other side of the trees. Carefully stepping over bushes and brambles, she made her way toward the end. When she reached the opening, she gasped.
In the dim light of the moon, Sister Margaret’s body lay sprawled upon the ground in the trees a few feet away. Splashes of red smeared her white habit. She had never been fond of the old woman, who had always treated her coldly – like she wasn’t worthy. Yet, the sight of her body mired in blood was still disturbing.
Staggering, she took a few steps back into the shadows. Two strong hands grabbed her from behind, and her scream was lost on her lips as a hand closed in on her mouth. She felt herself being dragged back towards the trees. Her captor suddenly turned her in his arms and pinned her back to a tree, his body against hers. Her breathing became labored. There was no way she could escape. He was tall, she noticed, towering over her. His hand still on her mouth, she saw the man’s face in the dim moonlight. His chalk white face was half hidden by his hood, but it was his piercing sapphire blue eyes that caught her attention.
***
Prince Darilth looked at the woman he had pinned to the tree. He had managed to prevent her from entering the force field he had placed around the area. The old woman had trespassed it, and was badly injured by the blow of the force field. He couldn’t heal her even if he wanted to, so he had no choice but to kill her.
He put the translator in the woman’s ear. “Do not make a sound,” he said in a deep voice as he gazed into her pale blue eyes. He caught her scent and his chest constricted. It was intoxicating.
She nodded and he slowly moved his hand away. He pulled back his hood so she could take a good look at him. He heard her gasp.
“P-please don’t kill me,” she implored, tears streaming down her face.
He held her, ignoring her pleas. He tried reading her mind telepathically, but something was wrong. He couldn’t seem to get into her mind.
Prince Darilth gazed at her for some time. Why couldn’t he read her thoughts? That had never happened before. This woman was unusual. He carefully took off her glasses.
“No... please don’t... I-I can’t...” she stammered, blinking rapidly and lowering her eyes.
“Look at me,” he said, ignoring her protests as he cupped her chin with one hand. Her breathing was labored, he noticed. She was even more beautiful up close, he thought. And very much frightened.
She looked up and gazed at him, and he could see she expected him to kill her.
Then, it happened. The silver band with the big blue stone he wore on his wrist began to glow. His chest constricted and he felt a tug in his heart. He was certain of it now. The bond was there. It was a force as strong as any – something he had never felt before.
She is the one! His inner dragon, Mekarth, exclaimed. The Draco’s Eye senses it. Claim her now!
He couldn’t believe his luck. The Draco’s Eye had responded to the woman. For centuries, the stone’s magic had been dormant and many of his ancestors’ mates couldn’t awaken it. Yet, this woman had done it. It was incredible.
“What do they call you, woman?” he asked her in his deep, demanding tone.
“El-Ella,” she stuttered.
“Ella,” he echoed.
Slowly, he placed both of his hands on her cheeks and wiped away her tears. Then, he placed two fingers of each of his hands at her temples as he gazed into her blue eyes.
The next few minutes were the strangest that Ella had ever experienced. With his fingertips on her temples, she felt her vision coming into focus. She blinked again, wondering what he was doing to her as she struggled to maintain eye contact with the stranger. And within the next few seconds, she could see. He had healed her.
“How did you...?” she whispered gazing at him as her fear turned to wonder.
“You won’t be needing these anymore,” he said matter-of-factly, throwing her glasses away. He could feel his healing powers improving. The Eye had responded and now he only needed to claim her to fully awaken his powers.
***
Ella knew he wasn’t human the moment she had looked into those cold blue eyes. And now she couldn’t stop staring at the subtle scales around the bone of his brow and temples. His long, silver-white hair was similar to hers, she thought.
She felt a pull toward him. The way he gazed at her, his voice, and his scent. Something about his features was so alluring.
Suddenly, guilt rose inside her. What was wrong with her? Her mind was full of sinful thoughts. Her body was behaving in a way she had never known before as something deep and low filled her belly, making her squirm. Then, she noticed his eyes. His pupils had turned to slits, the sapphire blue irises much darker.
He immediately sensed her arousal and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. The women of his race had never responded to him this way. This was a first for him. In one swift movement, he cupped her chin, tipping her head back. His lips were upon hers with a passion that took her breath away. His tongue invaded her mouth as if claiming her as his own. Long after he pulled away, she had that dazed look in her eyes – the look of a woman who had just experienced her first kiss. She struggled to catch her breath.
“Who are you?” she asked him, dazed.
He simply gazed back at her, taking out a small cylindrical device from his pocket and pressing it against her neck.
Something hot seared her neck. Before she could react, her vision blurred once more and darkness engulfed her. Her head fell forward onto his chest as she went into a deep slumber.
He picked her up, her body light as a feather, and carried her out into the clearing. The moon was waning as he tapped the small panel on his wrist and unlocked the cloaking field. A hulking spacecraft now stood in the vast clearing beyond the trees where nothing was visible to the human eye before. He took her inside and secured her in a sleep capsule. She would be in hyper-sleep all throughout the journey. In the next few hours, his men finished fixing the ship and left Earth’s atmosphere. Once it was deep in space, the captain set the course for Iovis and the ship went into warp speed, racing across the universe.