“Why are you being so nice to him?” Freda asked Lottie as she gazed through the peephole to make sure he'd gone.

“Why are you being so mean to him?” Lottie countered.

“I'm not being mean. I'm having a healthy dose of skepticism.”

“That's not what they call skepticism,” Lottie said. “That's what they call bitchy.”

“And to think that a week ago I was scraping you up off the floor,” Freda said.

“A lot happened in the last week. Everything's changed. The whole world is different now. After I realized that mom and dad were probably dead, I checked out. But the Draxos came to save us from the cyborgs. We don't have to be scared anymore. We can rely on them to help us. You understand that, don't you? They’re our friends.”

“You can believe whatever you want, Lottie. You always were gullible,” Freda said.

“I'm not gullible. The president is working with the Draxos. They're giving our world advanced technology. They're going to solve our energy problems, our population problem, and our hunger problem. There will probably be peace on Earth now. All thanks to them,” Lottie reasoned as Freda began moving the bags from the living room to their proper places.

“Yeah,” Freda muttered. “That's what everybody thinks. But I have yet to see it for myself. As far as I know, it's just a bunch of fancy words. I need to get back to work tomorrow in the real science and technology of the human race,” Freda said.

“Speaking of science and technology, Sysko told me his sister was a big scientist back in the Draxos system. Apparently, she's the one that discovered the human/dragon connection and what they call the transformation ritual,” Lottie said as Freda began to unpack her duffel bag.

They had used all the canned foods she'd brought with them after the attack, and then some. The last few days at the cabin had been spent dealing with the emotional roller coaster of finding out she was the fated mate of a Draxos.

“Am I supposed to be impressed by that?”

“There aren’t very many female dragons left in the galaxy and Sysko’s sister is one of the leading scientists for their race. She's even younger than you,” Lottie said.

“What are you trying to accomplish by telling me about this science prodigy dragon girl?” Freda asked.

“Well, I'm just saying that maybe you and she have something in common. That's all I mean. Besides her brother Sysko, that is.”

“I guess.”

“Sysko is awfully handsome, isn't he? Don't you like him even a little bit? He was so nice to bring us back to Boston.”

“He's just trying to get in my pants,” Freda said. Walking into the kitchen to start dinner.

“Of course he is. He's in a mating thrall. If he doesn't claim you, he will die.”

“I can't believe that you believe such hogwash. You know all of this could be a big ploy. We don't have any proof that any of it is true.”

“You're so cynical, Freda. I can't even talk to you right now,” Lottie said, throwing her hands in the air and leaving the room.

Freda groaned and finished making dinner. Lottie took her portion, plopped herself on the couch, and started watching Draxos informational videos on YouTube, completely ignoring Freda for the rest of the night. Freda took her food to her room and tried to catch up on her schoolwork. She was so distracted by Lottie's badgering that she could barely study.

There was nothing actually wrong with Sysko. In fact, he was incredibly handsome and if she was just taking his general demeanor into account, he was a decent enough person. But her suspicions about the Draxos wouldn't let her trust him. She had to protect her sister. She had to protect her species. It was everything that she stood for and everything that she was. Just because a beautiful and charming man walked into her life, wearing a tailored suit and driving a sports car that he promptly lent to her, didn't mean that she would just accept it at face value.

Maybe part of her did want to accept it as true. Wouldn't it be nice to have a man like Sysko? A powerful and influential man who was a legit dragon? His black, star-spangled body was a sight to behold. And when he had gone into his hyperdrive form while defending them from the cyborg ship, she had felt something so deep and compelling that she still had no words to describe it. She’d chocked that all up to anxiety and trauma, which she still was convinced was the case. But the overwhelming flood of emotion that had been sparked within her at the sight of Sysko's thrall form would not go away

Instead of studying, she opened her computer and did a search for “Draxos transformation ritual”. She opened the first search result and read a couple of lines. Her mouth dropped open in shock and disgust. The transformation worked on the principle of genetic regulation, activating the recessive dragonoid genes in the human body. The genes had to be activated by a specific protein and that protein was the semen of the fated mate. So, the way that Sysko intended to transform her into a dragon was by applying his semen to every part of her body? Inside and out. Gross.

“It just gets worse and worse,” she said.

She stood from her computer and looked out the window at the night sky line of Boston. She had a decent view since the building next door was shorter than hers and she was on a little bit of an elevation. She could see downtown and the lights twinkling in the skyscrapers of night. Her world was different now. Everything had changed while they were at the cabin. As much as she didn’t want to, she had to accept that. Nothing would ever be the same again. The introduction of her suitor was just part of it. In this new world, things like dragon transformation was reality. Like faster than light speed space travel, hovering vehicles, and free energy.

Maybe there was some hope for the future with the Draxos. Maybe there was some hope for her and Sysko. Maybe it was a nice dream to believe that a beautiful man would fall from the sky and want to take away all of her pain and help her save the world, but she still couldn't quite believe it. As she looked out into the night at the sparkling lights, she told herself that she would at least give Sysko a chance. Maybe he was what he said he was. If so, did she really want to pass up the chance to love someone who could love her in the way that he promised? She didn't think that she did, no matter how grumpy and cynical she might be on the outside.