ANDRENE NOVAN, AMBASSADOR REPRESENTATIVE
The sound of whistling pierced the air above me as I walked across the courtyard of the embassy located on the African continent on Earth.
"Watch out!" I heard someone shout. Everyone stopped and looked up into the air.
"Air raid!” Another person shouted. I knew exactly what this meant, but I could not believe that it was happening, not here.
I ran in my black, high-heel boots across the courtyard, ducking behind a wall when…
BOOM!
The ground shook and the loud explosion created a ringing in my ears. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as I peeked through my arms that were covering my face. I was folded into a ball on the ground. The ringing in my ears finally went away and the sound of building walls tumbling down and people shouting was clear. It was suddenly a catastrophic war zone where once there was a peaceful embassy full of government officials and the local people.
I looked across the courtyard toward my father’s apartment. It looked like it was a mile away instead of a few yards, with all the rubble on the ground and smoke in the air. I rose to a crouching position, ready to run across to it. I was angry with myself for wearing impractical shoes for the meeting I had earlier. As an ambassador representative, I was required to look polished at all times, when really I wanted to wear lace up combat boots and jeans—this was Africa, after all—but my father insisted that if I were to be an ambassador representative, then I would need to look the part, always.
I took a few slow steps realizing there was so much rubble on the ground around me, that this was going to take a long time. I felt a rush of wind surrounding me and realized that maybe a building was about to topple on top of me. I looked up and saw massive silver wings coming down at me; my eyes were wide and I was frightened. Holy crap, we were being invaded by the alien warrior weredragon race known as the Drackon. They were responsible for the bomb, and now they were invading.
The massive warrior landed in front of me and I turned on my heels to face the other way. I scampered and took a few steps trying to run when I felt strong arms embrace me. He grabbed me from behind.
"Don't! Let me go!” I shouted as I pushed my elbow back into his abdomen with all the force I could muster.
"Ow! Fuck!” I shouted as the searing pain shot from my elbow all the way up and down my arm. My elbow had struck against hard scales on his abdomen.
"Ambassador Novan, I'm here to help you! Stop fighting me! Your father sent me! I will take you to him now,” he shouted at me.
I barely had time to process all this information when suddenly, I was picked up off of my feet and flying through the air. I could not believe what the hell was happening.
"Hold on, Ambassador; you are safe with me,” the Drackon warrior shouted at me as he hugged me to the front of his body. I didn't even get a good look at his face; I only saw silver wings and silver scales. Now his strong, massive body was held against me as he flew amongst the smoke and falling rubble darting here and there with skill. But he was not flying toward my father's apartment and I began to panic even more. Then he swiftly swerved off to the right flying high and I knew where he was headed. He landed on top of a dome-shaped building that was built halfway into the ground, only the top half of the dome stuck out over land. He landed on the roof near an entrance and quickly typed in the code on the keypad. I looked at him for the first time since he had picked me up off the ground.
"How do you know the code?” I said as I looked at his chiseled face. I had only seen a few Drackon in my time, and it always impressed me how attractive they were, but I had never seen one this stunning. His short black hair was cut in shaggy locks, giving him a rugged appearance. His startling, light-blue eyes had the trademark Drackon vertical pupil down the center. His pale skin and full pink lips were in stark contrast with his raven black locks. The sun was shimmering off the scales that ran from his shoulder across his abdomen down to his hip in a diagonal line, making him look magical. Who the hell was he? And why had he saved me? Was this all a trick in this invasion of the Drackon?
"Your father gave me the code. I told you already that he sent me for you, pay attention. There is no time to answer your questions more than once,” he said in a very stern tone, as though he thought I was incompetent.
I narrowed my eyes at him, ready to give him a piece of my mind when the door opened and he aggressively grabbed me and pulled me inside with him. I had never been inside the emergency bunker before, and it didn't even cross my mind to try to make it this far after the bomb went off. It was just too far, and my father's apartment was closer, but as I would find out, he wasn't even there.
"Andrene. Good you are safe,” my father, Executive Ambassador Cavell Novan, said as he walked over to me and stood by my side, but he did not give me a hug. He wasn’t much for hugs.
"I am fine, father, just a few cuts and bruises. Are you all right?” I asked him.
"Yes, I'm fine. Luckily Kuvo Bane here was quick to find and rescue you," he said as he patted the Drackon on the arm.
"Father, what is going on out there? And who is this Drackon?” I said, trying to understand why this Drackon had rescued me and why no one was frantic about the bombing outside. The emergency bunker had officials and their staff roaming around, working the emergency lines.
"So far, it is not confirmed, but it looks like an attack from the Partaba Sect. We are working on confirmation now,” my father said.
"The Partaba? But they have been peaceful for years now,” I said, confused by the sudden violence of this peaceful set of people located eighty miles from the embassy.
"Yes, but the recent legislation has caused many tensions, as you know," my father said to me.
"Tension, yes, but not enough for violence. The land agreement is still in the works; why would they resort to violence now?” I said to him, knowing that I was right. The reason for the tension between the embassy and the Partaba had to do with a section of wildlife lands that belonged to them but that the embassy was trying to gain ownership of. The negotiation had been going on for months and there was not a finite decision yet. There should be no reason for violence, but I sided with the Partaba in this. I thought they should rightfully own the land, not the embassy.
"True, but we can never know what another culture is truly thinking. We are outsiders in their land; you cannot forget that as an ambassador representative, daughter,” he said to me in a stern voice, as he always did when trying to let me know that he knew more than I did. It was something he did often, and something that annoyed me greatly.
"And the Drackon?” I said, crossing my arms.
"Oh, yes. Andrene, meet Security Specialist Special Ops Squad Leader Kuvo Bane."
"A Drackon? You hired a Drackon as head of security? Why? What is wrong with our own men and our own guards?” I said confused.
"They can't fly. They can't shift into a strong creature. If it weren't for his flying capabilities, you wouldn't have been rescued so quickly. You should be grateful that I am hiring from other worlds. I only want the best,” my father said to me.
I looked at the tall and strong Drackon who was standing at attention with his wings folded behind his back, listening to everything my father and I said. This must look like a father and daughter spat and ridiculous to him. I knew about the women on his planet of Mooreah and how they never questioned anything and were very obedient and submissive. He probably thought it strange that I was questioning my father's motives and decisions.
"Well, you could have let me know that. I thought I was being abducted by a Drackon and that they were responsible for this chaos outside,” I said to my father.
"I meant to let you know in the briefing this afternoon, but since that obviously had not happened yet, I had to send him for you without formally introducing you first. Now if you will stop giving me these petty questions, I need to get to work; you should too. We will need to send out reports to the Earth Council about this mess. We need emergency services in action to help the wounded. There is much to be done. Stop standing around, daughter,” my father said as he walked away from me.
I sighed, feeling like the little girl in trouble, as I always felt in his presence. I looked at the strong Drackon while he was standing at attention; there was a smirk on his face. I couldn't believe it. The nerve of him! He was laughing at me for being scolded by my father. I wanted to slap that grin off his face, but my father was right: there was much to do and I took my job as ambassador representative very seriously.
I quickly moved to a workstation and began to check on the status of emergency services. In no time at all, I was in full swing, doing my job and doing it well. I had five years of experience working as an ambassador representative but had only been transferred with my father to Africa two years before. This had been my life, traveling the world from one embassy to another since I was a child. Being an only child and having lost my mother at an early age, my father raised me as though I were a government colleague. So it was only natural for me to take a position at the embassy as a representative when I was done with my training.
But now that I was much older, I wanted to live my own life. My father was very oppressive, and his way of showing love wasn't exactly fatherly. I was more like a possession to him than an actual daughter. He had millions stored away in accounts and he managed my finances as well. I was given an allowance of sorts that was part of my wages anyway. It was absolutely ridiculous and no amount of arguing over it let him see that I was a woman that could manage my own finances and live my own life. That was fine when I was eighteen, but now at twenty-five it was damn smothering. I couldn't handle it anymore and I spent the last few months planning my escape from him and saving as much money as possible.
But I never knew if I truly could go through with it. The only way to get out of my father's oppressive control was to disappear from his life altogether. Maybe after a couple of years I would return, and only then would he realize I could survive perfectly on my own. It was either that or get married, and I wasn't about to take a husband to replace my father in a controlling position. I needed my own life and to be myself, to be free to do what I really wanted to do.
That is why I had the suspicion about why he hired a Drackon warrior to be a special guard. Did he mean he hired him to be guard for our family unit? That would not surprise me. We’d had special security guards assigned to my family many times before. My father, as executive ambassador, was a man of great power and wealth, making him a target for terrorists and criminals alike. Therefore we always had our own security detail, but never once was it a Drackon warrior. This was very suspicious and I wondered if my father knew that I had planned to pull away from him. To run away, and that is why he hired this Drackon to keep an eye on me.
I looked over at the Drackon suspiciously. He was now standing in the corner of the room and he was still in dragon form, waiting at attention. He was waiting for any command from my father. Looking at him at almost eight feet tall, without a shirt on and tight pants leaving nothing to the imagination suddenly gave me a stir. It was a reminder that I had not had any romantic companionship since a summer abroad where I had a quick fling with a hot, young Greek fisherman. But that was almost 3 years ago, and I was dying for the embrace of a man. So looking at this Drackon warrior was causing my body to respond in ways that I did not want it to. My eyes moved down his shiny scales on his strong chest and six-pack abs, down to his crotch. There was a large bulge there and my mouth fell open.
"Ahem." The clearing of a throat pulled me out of my gaze. I looked up and into the eyes of the Drackon. His smirk was sideways as he looked at me. I had been caught. I quickly turned back to my screen and began to type. My face flushed red and I was completely embarrassed that he had busted me.
"Kuvo Bane,” I heard my father's voice say. I immediately turned around and saw my father tell him something. Kuvo Bane saluted my father and moved quickly to the exit. Then he was gone.
"Father, what is it?” I asked him as I moved over to his side.
"Emergency assistance needed just outside the gate. Representative Carmichael is in trouble,” he said quickly before moving away from me.
I ran back to my work station and pulled up surveillance from the gates of the embassy. There was still a lot of smoke, but I could see a black car turned over completely. Then I saw it: legs sticking out from under the car. I gasped. Someone must be trapped under the car. Then I saw a shadow on the ground, and soon after, Kuvo Bane was landing near the car. He moved quickly to the person stuck under the car then he put his hands under the car and lifted it just enough so that another person could pull the injured person out from underneath.
"Holy crap,” I whispered to myself as I watched the Drackon warrior complete an unbelievable feat of strength. It was miraculous. It was amazing. It was badass. I could not believe that he was that strong. My body responded again; I felt my nipples grow hard under my black suit. I felt my panties getting wet. What the hell was wrong with me? I must have been very thirsty for sexual contact if watching a Drackon was doing this to me.
But who was he really? What kind of Drackon warrior would leave his own race to come work for a wealthy human like my father? What was he running from? And more importantly, would I still be able to go through with my plans to leave my father’s control with him constantly watching me?