Wyvern Protection Unit - Chapter 65: Chapter 65

That night, Daeja tossed and turned on the large, rectangular sleeping platform. The bed was much too soft. Not at all like the floating obelisks that lined the sleeping quarters on the ship.
Maybe it was the deafening quiet causing her unrest. Sharing a chamber with thirty plus females meant there was always some sort of chatter going on.
A noise captured her attention, and she peeked through the door to see Heliodore wandering to the galley, er, kitchen. Her mouth went dry at the sight of bare skin and rippling muscles.
Had she called him impressive? That was an understatement. So bland a word, really. He was much more than that.
Daeja bit back an appreciative sigh as he reached into the tall box where rations were kept cold and pulled out a bottle full of liquid. She couldn’t have moved if her life depended on it.
The light from the box danced across his massive pectorals. It highlighted the ripples of his abdominal muscles as well, all the way down to the v that disappeared beneath the black fabric covering his manhood.
He was quiet as a deadly pit viper. He tossed his head back, drinking right from the bottle. Daeja watched him carefully, studying the muscles in his throat as he swallowed down what she assumed was cool libation.
She could have stood there, just staring, all night, had he not stopped suddenly. Her scales pressed against her skin, her Drakein fluttered. Heliodore caught her staring, but Daeja did not move.
He allowed the refrigerator door to close. With it, the only light in the room went out, leaving them in darkness.
Daeja wasn’t afraid of the dark. At least, not anymore. Her stomach warmed and her heartbeat sped up. Yellow eyes glittered at her from across the room.
So beautiful, she thought.
He looks much like Elianna.
She was a Drakein. A leader of her Clan. Mated to the fallen Chief of the Flamebound. Elianna was the female whom Daeja very much suspected was the birth makein to the four males who called themselves Wyverns on this planet.
The knowledge weighed heavily on her heart. Daeja was uncertain what to do with it. Would the male want to hear about his possible makein when Daeja had no proof, not one iota of evidence?
“Are you thirsty?”
The deep bass of Heliodore’s voice cut through the night like a hot knife, but still she trembled at the intrusion. Daeja knew she could hide no longer.
She stepped out of the shadows from her doorway. Her feet were encased in thick cotton coverings, he told her were called socks. She wore loose pants and a tunic, but she had never felt so bare.
Her cheeks heated as she caught him watching her and wondered if she’d done something wrong.
“Your, uh,” Dor started, clearing his throat before he continued, “your buttons are all wrong.”
“What?”
She looked down at the long-sleeved article of clothing, but he was already there. Large and powerful, yet gentle, invading her space, warming her with his nearness.
Daeja gasped softly and sucked in a breath, tasting his flavors in the air separating them. She nearly swooned at the images his scent induced.
Flying over the snow-capped mountains of her home planet. Swimming in the ice rivers. Warming herself by the great fires on the shores of the Reneinan Sea.
Those were things she would never see again. Sadness tore at her happiness at finding her mate, but she bit back her sob.
It was time for new adventures. Time to take a chance.
“There,” he whispered, finishing with the buttons. Dor’s large hands lingered on the collar of her borrowed shirt.
One long finger brushed across her chin, and she shivered. Her body heated and throbbed, growing slick between her legs as his nearness acted like a drug on her nervous system.
Heliodore loosed a soft rumble that sent tendrils of excitement racing through her. He was so big, so physically enticing, and sublime in every way.
He tilted her face upwards, and Daeja whimpered in anticipation. More kisses? She sure as frek hoped so! It was unseemly for a female to be so wanton, but she could not help it.
The room, the past, her anxieties, her doubts—all of that and more fell away under the steady yellow stare of Heliodore.
Worthy male. Fierce Drakein prince. Sinfully sexy man. Mine. Mate.
“Who are you?” he whispered.
“I am Daeja,” she said.
“What are you, Daeja?” he repeated, somehow making her name sound sweeter than the call of a river phin. “How are you doing this?”
“What am I doing?”
“Making me feel this way,” his voice was hushed and soft, but it still had an edge.
Like sand on the shore, his tone was gravelly and hard. Even so, it cushioned and gave way under her steps. There to keep her safe and protected.
Mighty warrior. Honorable. Proud.
She’d spent a lot of time aboard their ship daydreaming about this very thing. Of finding a worthy male. But Heliodore was no fantasy.
He was real. Solid. A born protector. An anchor, grounding her when she would have floated to the heavens on the way he was watching her alone.
“How do I make you feel?” she asked, needing him to answer.
“Warm,” he said. “You make me feel warm and curious.”
“But I already showed you my Drakein,” she said, leaning into his touch as he traced a line from her brow to her chin.
“You did. And she’s beautiful. But I’m curious for more. I want to know if you taste like strawberries all over, or if it’s just your sweet mouth, rosebud,” he inched closer.
Her heart thundered inside her chest. Was it possible for one to survive such a heady assault on one’s cardiovascular system? She would have to ask her apakein.
Apakein.
Her heart stuttered at the thought of her grandfather. Even now there was no telling what Commander Viper had in store for the gentle Drakein who had raised her.
“I must retire,” she whispered, hating herself for keeping things from him.
She would not risk his life by confessing all her secrets this night. He was too good for that. Daeja had more to protect now than just her grandfather and shipmates.
She knew without a doubt what Heliodore would do if she told him of Commander Viper’s proposition and her refusal. If she confessed her real mission, the actual order she’d received from that vile male.
Locate the four stasis pods using Drakein tracking tech. Destroy the Flamebound princes within and deliver their corpses to the ship in exchange for her apakein.
Frek.
How was she supposed to save the gentle male now? Now that Daeja had found her revolko, there was nothing she would not do to keep him safe. She would give her life to keep Dor and his family far away from Cass Viper and all his venom.
“Daeja?” Heliodore’s gaze burned her, but she could not stay there.
Not when she was shaking with the effort it took to hide the truth hidden from him. She turned on her heel and walked back the way she came.
Cass Viper had to be stopped before he unleashed the Drakein under his command to attack this planet. The havoc and chaos they would rain down on the somewhat peaceful Earth was unthinkable. It would ruin her peoples’ chances of settling and making new homes among the humans and supernaturals who lived in secret here.
Where was Jennifer Dylluan? It was time to keep her end of their deal. She had to rescue her apakein. To free those stuck back on the ship under Cass Viper’s command.
Only after all that would Daeja come back to Heliodore. She would confess everything and if he was still wanting, she would claim him as mate.
Mine.
The DPCA must adhere to their agreement. Daeja must find the female Owl Shifter—but wait, didn’t Dor say she was missing along with his brother Zircon? Frek!
She needed to find out. Only then she could claim Heliodore Wessex as her treasured revolko. He deserved to know her entire truth before she succumbed to desire.
On her home planet, many females had been trapped into unhappy pairings because of lust and heat cycles messing with what should have been the natural progression of their relationships.
Dor deserved better than that. She did, too. If Daeja wanted to build a new home, a new life on Earth, she had to begin it the right way.
Yes, whispered her Drakein.
She would simply have to keep her distance. Already, she felt the steady thrum of her heat cycle stirring beneath her scales. Should that happen, no force on the planet would stop her claiming him.
She took a steadying breath and settled back down on the overly large rectangular bed and forced her eyes closed. Daeja had not been trained as a warrior, but she was a certified medic. Discipline was at the heart of all her studies. She could do this.
“Calm,” she whispered to herself, easing the burning within by doing a few meditative breathing exercises.
Her heat was close to the surface. Daeja hated she could not allow herself the joy news of her cycle would naturally bring were she back home. To find one’s mate and to engage in coupling to seal their bond was traditionally a joyous occasion.
Finding a fated mate was rare, but it was also celebrated. How could she feel joy when her truth was a threat to her mate’s very existence?
With fingers that shook, Daeja picked up the transmitter she’d taken off her silver suit and crushed the grain-sized device between her fingers.
Jennifer had taken her communication device from her, but she’d not known about this small bit of technology. Daeja hardly remembered it till now.
The mystery of Jennifer’s whereabouts worried Daeja. She wondered for a moment if Cass Viper was not behind it, though it seemed unlikely.
Still, she should not put it past him. He would stoop to many lows to achieve his endgame. In this case, that was two-fold. He wanted to hurt Daeja for refusing his advances. The Commander also wanted to destroy anyone who challenged his right to lead.
But how could she stop his progress? Her mission to find the Flamebound princes was both success and failure. They were here, alright. But they were no longer in stasis. The males were fully grown—not the defenseless infants Cass Viper sought.
Daeja knew in her heart these were the males Cass Viper sought. There was so much on the line now. How could one female possibly know what to do next? Her heart squeezed inside her chest.
Daeja was caught between a rock and a hard place. She wanted to claim her mate. To tell him the truth. To keep her secrets in order to protect him. To rescue her apakein. To kill Cass Viper. To free the remaining Drakein. Make a life. Build a family. Live in peace.
She wanted all this and more. She just did not know how to go about it.