3013: MATED (3013: The Series) (3 page)

“No, this is Liaison Officer
Alexis Donovan. She is the attaché scheduled to be your guide while you’re on
Earth, but—”

“Alexis.” The way Thorn seemed to
purr her name made her entire body heat up with desire. He focused those
glowing golden eyes of his on her, and she felt like she was melting from the
warmth she saw there. “We are honored to have one as beautiful as you to show
us your world. I am sure we will be well cared for in your capable hands.”

“I…ah. Thank you. The honor is
all mine.” Alexis cleared her throat then tried to speak again without sounding
like an idiot. She looked around. “Where is your transpo?”

“We did not bring one. From the
coordinates you provided we were able to transport ourselves down. We were told
to arrive at Dock C, so here we are,” Brydan said with a smile that showed a
hint of his fangs.

Damn, even the sight of those
sharp teeth was arousing.

“Right then.”

Alexis had done extensive reading
about the Arcadian culture. They didn’t have much information on them, but what
was known she had been fascinated by reading. Her heartbeat sped up as all four
of them focused their glowing eyes on her again, and she struggled not to
fidget under their scrutiny.

These visitors were from a
far-off planet called Arcadia. She knew that long ago the males on their planet
used to all be born in trios, but over the last several hundred years that had
become very rare. Most males were now born as twins, while only a select
grouping of couples were gifted with a male and female twin set. Others gave
birth to a single female child, who was treasured greatly. 

Born of magic, these Dragon
Warriors were immortal shifters. Able to call forth their dragon spirit, they
could shift into their dragon form at will and were pretty much
indestructible.  There were a very few ways that a Dragon Warrior could be
killed. An example of that had been during the Alien Wars when they had come to
help Earth destroy the Xyphir invaders, although no one was exactly sure how
since anyone who had witnessed the event had probably died as well. The Dragon
Warriors had suffered losses, but only a fraction compared to the number of
human casualties that had been recorded.

Jax frowned down at her. “Are you
sure about this?”

Xavier’s glowing eyes flared with
heat. “I hope you are not suggesting your officer is not safe with us,
Commander Spartan,” he growled. “We vow no harm shall come to her while she is
in our care.”

Alexis straightened to her full
height and couldn’t help but narrow her eyes at the men surrounding her. She wasn’t
pleased that Jax had questioned her in front of the visitors, nor did she like
the way Xavier seemed to think they would be taking care of her when it was
supposed to be the other way around. “As the Liaison Officer in charge while
you’re visiting our planet, I promise you’ll be safe while in
my
care.”

All four males smiled at her
words, giving her a jittery feeling in her belly. She saw amusement flash in
their glowing eyes and was confused by the warmth she felt pouring from them
that seemed to directed toward her.

Christ, they were really, really
sexy for aliens…with fangs.

“Excellent,” Brydan said,
practically purring the word. “We would like for you to show us our living
quarters now.”

“Yes, of course,” Alexis said,
remembering her place as their guide. She checked her wrist unit and saw that
Jax’s aide had already forwarded her the itinerary for the Dragon Warriors’
stay, and the location of where they were to be staying. She looked over at
Officer Ryans with a grateful smile which he returned with a slight blush.

Feeling waves of anger coming
from the visitors, Alexis turned to look up at the giants to find all four of
them frowning at her. Thinking they were impatient to get to their quarters,
she hurried to explain, “Officer Ryans just sent me the location where you will
be staying. I can escort you there now.”

She was relieved when they smiled
at her again and the emotions pouring off of them seemed to calm. They were
more difficult to read than humans, but for a moment their anger had been palpable,
just as it had been when Jax had first introduced her. It confused her and
threw her off balance, but she couldn’t worry about that now. She had a job to
do.

Turning to Jax, she saluted him.
“Commander.”

He returned the gesture then
ordered, “You are to report in to me at the end of the day. Is that clear,
Officer Donovan?”

“Yes, sir.” She barely held back
the urge to roll her eyes at him, but she could tell he knew what she was
thinking when his lip curled in a slight smirk. She knew he just wanted to
check in with her later to make sure she was okay, and she couldn’t be
irritated at him for being a good friend. Turning back to the four male
warriors she would be spending the next few weeks with, she made sure she had
her game face on. “If you would please follow me…”

“Wherever you lead, my lady,”
Thorn said low enough that she wasn’t sure if she heard him correctly.

Heading out of the landing bay,
Alexis was acutely aware of the four large males that seemed to surround her
like her own personal wall of protection as she led them out into the fresh,
open air. The day was nearly perfect, with brilliant blue skies and puffy white
clouds. She put on her sunshades and noted how all four males frowned at her as
she did.

“You will be staying at one of
the suites in that building there,” she said, pointing to a tall tower of glass
and steel across the large courtyard from them as they exited the building
where the landing bays were located. As they walked, she noticed many of the
citizens and soldiers gawking at the Dragon Warriors by her side. “I apologize
in advance if people stare at you. You are bigger than the men on our planet—”

“We can see that. Have no fear,
Lexie. You have nothing to apologize for. We are big…and we know it,” Brydan
said with a wink.

She couldn’t help when her body
flushed under his attention and she had to force her gaze not to stray below
his belt. Yeah, she bet they were big all over. Clearing her throat, she
focused on walking without tripping on something. The four of them were putting
off some potent sexual vibes and it was clouding her head with lust.

“Things have changed greatly
since we were last here,” Galan murmured softly as he looked around. “I forgot
how pleasing your blue sky is to look at.”

Alexis looked over at him in
surprise. “You’ve been to Earth before?”

“Aye. During what you call the
alien wars.”

She slowed down and came to a
stop as she gaped at him. “But that was…”

Brydan smiled down at her, his
gold eyes glowing with amusement. “We are almost two hundred years old, beauty.
We fought in your war against the Zyphir and lost many friends in the years it
took to defeat the invaders.”

“Oh, wow,” she whispered
reverently. Impressed beyond belief, she couldn’t believe she was the liaison
for real life heroes…living legends. These males were warriors who had come to
Earth’s aid, and they had never asked for anything in return. It was a
privilege to host them and she wouldn’t do anything to screw up this
assignment. “On behalf of our planet, I would like to thank you for everything
you did for us.”

“No need. Truly. We always
appreciate a good battle,” Brydan said jovially. “And we were pleased to be of
service…especially if it meant you survived.”

That was a strange way of putting
it, and Alexis couldn’t help but think there was more to what he had said.

“Those were dark days,” Thorn
commented as he looked around. “But your people have come back from the ashes
of the destruction and have risen again.”

“We have,” Alexis agreed proudly
as she started to walk again. She noticed that all four males kept their
attention on her, even as they noted everything around them, including the
number of people that watched them pass. “I’ve read about your race. Well, as
much as I could, I guess. There isn’t a lot on file about you. I know you like
to be called Dragon Warriors since you are travelers instead of Arcadians,
right?”

“Aye, it is easier to be known
throughout the universe as such,” Galan explained, making Alexis smile. “It
allows other cultures to know what we are, which can stop them from starting
unnecessary trouble with us and cuts down on explanations.”

“It also shows the distinction of
who we are to our own people,” Xavier added. “Arcadians are those who live on
our home world of Arcadia. As Dragon Warriors, although we may visit, our home
is amongst the stars aboard our vessel,
the Odyssey
.”

“You must love it, traveling to
other worlds,” Alexis said wistfully.

“We do, but it can be lonely. You
have a desire to travel?” Thorn asked, his voice serious.

“I do, but I can’t. My eyes are
very sensitive and the harsh lighting on most space vessels hurts me.”

“But if the light did not hurt
you, would you want to travel?” Thorn insisted with an intensity she didn’t
understand.

Alexis thought fleetingly about
her dream to travel the stars and smiled. “Yes, I suppose I would.”

She led them onto the glide that
took them up to the entrance of their temporary residence. “We use an implant
similar to your own technology that converts languages so most citizens in the
cities will be able to understand you. But if you run into anyone who doesn’t,
please just let me know and I can translate for you.”

At their nod, she turned to face
forward on the glide. Grateful for the momentary respite from their intense
gazes, she froze in place as she felt a gentle touch as if one of the men
behind her had run his hand over her ponytail. The weight was gone before she
could turn and she figured she must have imagined it.

Closing her eyes, she tried to
regain control of her body when all she wanted to do was turn around and throw
herself in the arms of one of them. Hell, it didn’t matter which one. She was
extremely attracted to all four, and that unnerved her. They were pure
temptation with their gorgeous, big bodies and handsome faces. It was going to
kill her not to give into the lust raging through her body, but she had to keep
herself in check.

Since meeting the four alien
warriors she had become one big mass of hormones. Never had she been so
instantly attracted to anyone, let alone four men at once. They were forbidden,
totally off limits. She had a personal rule not to get involved with anyone she
was working with, plus it would go against every professional standard of her
rank, as well as causing potential intergalactic implications if she gave into
her urges.

She knew she should probably hand
this assignment over to someone else, and had been fully prepared to do
so…until she saw them. After she saw them she knew she wouldn’t be handing the
assignment over to anyone else. Something about the strong warriors drew her,
making her want to spend more time with them, even if it was torture for her self-control.

No, these males were not for her,
but damned if she couldn’t appreciate the eye candy.

Stepping off the glide, she used
the code that had been given to her to gain entry into the building. She led
them onto the lift and pressed in another series of numbers on the panel that
would take them directly to the suite that had been prepared for their use.

Being surrounded by the four
massive bodies in the elevator made it impossible for Alexis to ignore their
potent appeal. Thankfully, it only took a matter of seconds to rise up the floors,
and when the doors opened she walked out into the spacious suite that was well
suited for such large males.

This particular suite had been
enlarged with higher ceilings than usual and sturdier furnishings to suit
visitors like the Dragon Warriors. The suite ran the entire floor of the
building and had eight full bedrooms and a large central gathering area with a
full kitchen off to the side. This particular suite also had a large garden out
on the balcony as well as a small pool for them to enjoy.

She took off her sunshades and
surveyed the room, pleased that everything was in order. She always loved
staying at one of the visitor suites since they were so much nicer than her own
living quarters. Still, some of the visitors she had hosted had made it almost
impossible to enjoy her time in the suites, but she had a feeling these four
wouldn’t give her that kind of problem.

Christ, with the way she was
feeling, she was more likely to lock the doors…with them inside the suite with
her. Mentally scolding herself again, she reminded herself to do her job.
“Well, here are your temporary living quarters. I hope it’s—”

Her words were cut off as she
turned to find Xavier standing right behind her, his glowing silver eyes
piercing into her as she tilted her head back. She was frozen in place as he
slowly reached out and took the sunshades from her shaking hand.

“You fear me?”

“I…no, I don’t. It’s just that I
didn’t expect you to be standing behind me.” Yeah, fear was definitely not what
she was feeling with him so close to her.

He seemed to study her and her
eyes widened as he reached up and gently pushed a strand of her hair off of her
face that had come loose from her ponytail. “I do not like these,” he said
holding up her sunshades.

Confusion had her brow furrowing.
“You don’t?”

“Nay, they hide your beautiful
eyes from our view, but I understand they protect you so I will not destroy
them.”

She frowned at that. Taking them
back, she slipped her sunshades into her pocket to protect them in case he
changed his mind. No fucking way was she going to let him destroy her
sunshades. She was ready to blast him with censure, but was distracted when he
smiled down at her, flashing his fangs as he did.