Troy will do whatever is necessary to earn his freedom from solitary confinement on the penal colony of Xanto, even assassinate a princess of Incendium. Being a MindBender, he has a serious advantage as a predator and thinks the princess in question doesn’t have a chance. Only one of them can survive and Troy knows who it will be—until he meets Drakina.
Royal dragon shifter Drakina has a quest of her own, to seduce her destined mate and conceive the crown prince of Incendium. Her father will free her from all other responsibilities if she completes this one task. Drakina craves her independence enough to seduce the unattractive Terran who is the Carrier of the Seed. She’s sure it will be a quick seduction—until she meets Troy.
Worlds collide when Troy and Drakina meet, and passion flares. The attraction is so powerful that they both choose to put their goals aside for one night of passion together. When their respective secrets are revealed, will the truth turn one against the other? Or will destiny allow this star-crossed pair to save each other and their unborn son?
“WYVERN’S MATE is a quick read; a fast paced novella length story of romance and love; duty and honor; magic and dragons…The premise is entertaining-almost science fiction is its presentation; the characters are colorful and animated; the romance is a quick build to a happily ever after. A wonderful start to a new series.”
—The Reading Cafe
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An excerpt from Wyvern’s Mate:
Drakina teleported after her mate, impatient to have her quest completed. She’d done her research on the planet Terra and added more local languages to her interpretor. Kraw had only loaded Mandarin but Drakina had found more possibilities. She’d rather have too much information than too little.
Kraw wouldn’t be the one facing trouble if Drakina arrived unprepared.
The planet circled a distant sun, rotating as it did so, which resulted in a familiar suite of time divisions, which the Terrans called “day,” “night,” and “year”’ The actual amount of time differed from Incendium, and Kraw’s choice of conversion engine for relative time was excellent. Even having been warned of the scientific backwardness, Drakina had been shocked by her research. It would not be unlike a visit to Sylvawyld, the planet in their system that the kings of Incendium chose to keep unspoiled, to better preserve the hunting.
Drakina was further surprised that Terrans did not acknowledge the existence of shape shifters, although many of their cultures told stories of them. They called these myths and folk tales. It was most curious to tell stories of beings then deny their existence, if not delusional, but there was no accounting for regional differences. She simply had to accommodate them.
Terrans also did not believe that dragons were real. There was a startling fact. In fact, it was a kind of a joke with them, for they wrote “Here Be Dragons” on their maps in the unknown and unexplored corners of the world. Their language was filled with references to dragons, although they denied the existence of such a superior culture. Drakina found this completely irrational.
Her destined mate was Terran so clearly he could not be the Carrier because of his intellect.
She already knew it wasn’t because of his appearance.
That he should be the Carrier of the Seed was a puzzle. What genetic benefit would he bring to their union? Perhaps he was particularly robust.
Perhaps she should not quibble with destiny and simply complete what had to be done with all haste. The prospect of being free of her father’s dictates was more than enough incentive.
She used Kraw’s coordinates and her teleport dropped her into an open area outside a settlement. To any Terran observer, she would have suddenly appeared behind a cluster of rocks. Of course, there were no observers. She’d checked. Beside the rocks was a spiked being of the slower metabolic type that Terrans called “plants.” She greeted it using the galactic protocol but it didn’t reply.
There was no sign, in fact, that it was aware of her or her greeting.
Was it rude, shy, or stupid? There was no way to know.
Drakina hoped her mate was a better communicator.
She hoped she was home very soon.
Drakina was in her human form, an obvious choice as a result of her research, and wore something called a “dress” with “sandals.” It was shocking to her to wear a garment that left her legs exposed below the knee, but evidently this kind of lewd display was considered normal by Terrans. Drakina would have preferred to have exposed her breasts, but evidently that would have drawn attention in this curious place. Only a mate should see the thighs of a Wyvern princess, unless she chose to shift to her dragon form.
Drakina couldn’t let her discomfort affect her hunt. It certainly encouraged her to hurry and have the mating behind her. She felt bold and provocative, like one of the sirens of Incendium’s marketplace, and was glad her father couldn’t see her like this.
Perhaps the Carrier would find the view enticing.
Drakina inhaled deeply and caught the trace of the Carrier’s scent. Yes, she could smell the Seed within him. It almost beckoned to her, as if it knew its fate—as the Carrier might not.
Drakina did not care about his views. She emerged from behind the rocks and strode toward the lights of a town. His scent emanated from there. Darkness was falling and she heard night creatures on all sides. A sound emitted from the settlement, a rhythmic sound with a steady beat. It wasn’t a style of music that was familiar to her, but it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it made her want to move in rhythm with it. The music became louder as she approached the town, and she heard laughter as well. Perhaps some festivity was being celebrated.
Perhaps there would be food.
There was nothing like a teleport to make Drakina hungry.
Well, except sex. The princesses of Incendium were renowned for their appetites, after all.
After her journey, Drakina was hungry enough to eat an entire cervus, if not two. The prospect of food and sex, not necessarily in that order, quickened her steps, and made her wish she could have just shifted and flown to town.
But she could not challenge Terran assumptions. It would be irresponsible to do as much, and a violation of galactic code, on such a primitive planet as this. Sadly, restraint was not the strongest of Drakina’s talents.
Surely she could keep a low profile long enough to seduce the Carrier.
Drakina followed his scent, moving with such purpose that she did draw attention. Few residents of St. Anthony had ever seen a beautiful woman stride out of the desert in high heels, much less one charging toward the bar in the Grand Hotel. If Drakina had realized how many people were watching her with curiosity, she would not have cared.
The Carrier was her target and the claiming of the Seed her goal.
* * *
There was a band playing in the bar at the Grand Hotel on Friday night and the place was comparatively busy. Troy was glad that he didn’t know anyone—they wouldn’t have recognized him, but he might have tripped up. The crowd was young, maybe even the children of the people he’d gone to school with, and that simplified the challenge a lot.
The lights were turned down and the music was loud. Locals crowded into the bar, buying drinks and greeting old friends. It seemed that many were celebrating the success of the recent meteor festival, which had been the biggest yet.
Troy had bought some clothes at the emporium earlier in the day. He’d visited Old Man Wilcox and bought his beloved Harley back as if he were a stranger. To Old Man Wilcox’s credit, he hadn’t wanted to part with the bike and insisted the rightful owner might come back.
His loyalty struck Troy in the heart.
So did the care the older man had lavished on the bike.
Finally, they struck a deal. Troy had pretended to ride out of town, but had circled back and parked the bike behind the hotel, then taken a room. It felt wrong to deceive the old man, but the truth wouldn’t have been believed.
He wouldn’t have believed it, if he hadn’t lived it.
The mood in the bar was familiar and welcoming, enough to make Troy relax just a little. He’d missed the society of others, especially in solitary confinement, and though he was wary of relaxing too much too soon, there was something beguiling about the familiarity of this place. He liked watched the townspeople enjoying themselves, oblivious to other matters in the universe.
But then, that was how it should be, by galactic law.
A part of him wished that he was still as innocent, and he felt resentment that he should have been snatched away, against his will, and his life changed forever. He’d been pretty much alone even before his arrest, given the jobs he’d been given.
Troy wasn’t going to indulge in regrets, though. Not now. The band was in the middle of a popular song, the crowd on their feet, dancing and singing along when a woman opened the door to the bar.
Drakina.
She couldn’t have been anyone else.
When Troy had first seen Drakina’s hologram, he’d been sure she was the most gorgeous woman in the galaxy. He’d assumed the hologram had been tricked up a bit, to make her look more beautiful than she was. The truth was that real life put any representation to shame. Not only was she beautiful, but she moved like a goddess. There was fire in her eyes that no representation could capture. The sight of her stole his breath away and sent a wave of astonishment through the bar.
Troy wasn’t the only one who stared.
She was tall, almost as tall as him, and tanned. Her figure was slender and athletic, but there was nothing boyish about the look of her. Her breasts were lushly curved, and her waist was slim. Her hair was long and dark red, hanging past her hips in thick waves. Her eyes tilted up at the outer corners, giving her an exotic air, and her lips were full and red.
She wore a green dress that clung to her curves then fluttered at the hem, making her look gloriously feminine and sexy. Her sandals were strappy with heels that arched her feet high. There was sand on them and he wondered how far she’d walked in them. He felt the vitality emanating from her and knew there was little that would stop her.
Her eyes glittered with intelligence and he sensed the dragon restrained within her. When her gaze locked with his, it seemed particularly foolish to have a plan to deceive her much less any expectation of surviving that feat. Troy’s heart skipped more than one beat.
Her beauty widened that crack in the stone of Troy’s heart and sent hot blood rushing through him. He had been in solitary confinement for what seemed like half an eternity.
How long since he had been with a woman?
How long since he had been with a beautiful woman?
But then, he was making assumptions. Her beauty might make it impossible for him to get her alone. Would she be repulsed by the look of him? The High Priestess of Nimue had certainly increased the challenge, but he refused to be daunted.
Troy strode toward Drakina with purpose, as if there could be no doubt that she belonged with him. He halfway thought she would flinch, or turn aside, maybe run, but he’d underestimated this dragon princess.
Drakina surveyed him and smiled.
In fact, her eyes lit with fire, a sight that sent a thrill through him to his toes.
Maybe her demise could be delayed a little bit.
Excerpt from Wyvern’s Mate
Copyright © 2016 Deborah A. Cooke
Deborah Cooke: Author 