Markus heard the whispers as he entered a room with a long table. Four of the five kings that came to Earth were seated at the table, while warriors lined the walls. Most of these males he had not seen since he had been a young and upcoming warrior. They recognized him immediately, even though for them they hadn’t seen him for hundreds of years. They looked about the same, with only a few signs of aging.

King Reichardt motioned for Markus, Sonar, and Roan to take the empty seats across from them. Markus was in charge of the team so he answered most of the questions.

“When did you leave Drakonia?” King Niko, once king of the Drakonians in the northeast region, asked.

“We left ten years ago on the last battle cruiser to escape the complete destruction of our homeworld.”

“How is it possible? We have been here hundreds of years,” Queen Arena asked. She took over the reign when her king died and now ruled over the Drakonians that lived in China.

“I was given coordinates to the two planets the refugees had been sent. The coordinates took us through several wormholes, which sped up our travel time.”

“We were sent to Earth in a primitive time, yet you have arrived just ten years after we left,” King Malachi, who now ruled the Drakonians in Scotland, stated.

“I don’t know the exact why of it, that would have to be answered by one of the mages.”

King Reichardt asked, “Did any mages travel with you?”

“No. Craggen had been severely injured when we left. He said he had to make sure the portals were completely destroyed so that the enemy could not follow.”

King Niko looked at the Sonar and Roan. “Is all of this true?”

“Yes, my king.”

“Yes, sir.”

“King Reichardt says that there is no way for us to go back to Drakonia,” Queen Arena said.

“There’s absolutely nothing left but a continuous flow of lava…and there is no oxygen. All animal and plant life was destroyed,” Markus confirmed sadly.

“It doesn’t matter, we can take the ship and leave this planet.” King Niko folded his arms over his chest as if the matter were decided.

“Why would you do that?” Markus asked, confused, looking around the room. “It took us ten years to get here. In all that time, we only found one or two planets that could sustain the life that was indigenous to the planet. The lifeforms there were primitive, with no advancements. It may have taken hundreds of years, but it seems as if Earth is finally starting to catch up to where Drakonia had once been.”

“Those can’t be the only planets out there with life.”

“If you found another planet with intelligent life, what would you do? Kick them from their home so you can take over? That’s what King Dyson wants to do to this planet. He wants to use Drakonian technology and firepower from the battle cruiser to rule the people here. Is that what we have come to?”

Several warriors growled in anger at Markus’s outburst but King Reichardt only cleared his throat. “No, that is not what we have come to.”

“At least we could use the battle cruiser to search for mates, find a way to breed so that our people don’t die out,” Queen Arena added her thoughts.

“I found my mate right here on Earth within days of arriving.” Markus couldn’t help but feel pride.

“With a human?” Niko spit like it was the most disgusting thought. “That’s forbidden. The female needs to be disposed of and you will be punished for breaking the laws we set here.”

He stiffened his back and glared at the other male. He might have been a king on Drakonia, but they were not on Drakonia and Niko had never been his king.

“My mating is complete. We are fully bonded and Valorie has accepted my dragon fire. It is against Drakonian law for any to interfere with a fully bonded pair. Our souls are tied.”

“That hasn’t happened in…” The queen was clearly shocked.

“At least the past one hundred years,” Reichardt finished for Arena.

“Why? Why has this happened now?” King Malachi asked. “We’ve tried to mate with humans before to no avail.” He was one of the ones that tried to mate a human, but the dragon fire killed her.

“We don’t know, but since both Markus and his human mate are here, we have time to study and find the answers. It gives us hope that this planet may once more be the answer to our prayers. That’s enough for now, we’ll let everyone rest then have a huge banquet where we can have some of our people from the battle cruiser come down for. We’ll discuss more later.” With that, King Reichardt ended the meeting.

Markus was grateful it was over. All he wanted to do was to get to his mate. He was experiencing pain and sadness. What happened to make her feel these things?