Syfi Warriors Page 15

  Chapter 7

  Val stared up at the stars, wondering what it would be like to travel to a new world. This one had plenty to offer, but she found that she was restless—lonely. When she first came to Dragoon, Arizona, it was supposed to be a short stop over for her and her then-boyfriend, Roger. Roger had her quit her job and leave her apartment in Texas to take an adventure traveling across the country.

  It was fun and exciting, until Roger blasted through her savings. One night in Las Vegas, he lost all the money she’d spent years saving. They made it to the little town of Dragoon when her car broke down. With no money and no car, it seemed they would have to live and work in Dragoon until they could afford to leave. What she didn’t realize was that she would do all the working while Roger sat back and did nothing.

  She worked at the saloon and the local diner long hours, and one night after a long shift, she came home to the single-wide trailer they rented and found that Roger was gone. All the money she had kept in a jar on the fridge, about two thousand, was also gone. He abandoned her without a second thought, and now she couldn’t even afford to get her car fixed. Luckily, the people of Dragoon took her in. If she needed food, the diner let her eat a meal after each shift she worked. The lady who rented the single-wide reduced the rent for several months until she got back on her feet again. She grew to love the people in this town and they showed her love in return. Some showed a little too much love, though.

  A year ago, she had been in a lonely place and was vulnerable… and in walked Deputy Sheriff Jason James “JJ” Dawson. He showered her with attention, and for six months she loved the attention even though she didn’t love JJ. One of the things she didn’t like about him was his drinking, but it hadn’t been a real problem until his mother died. Then JJ seemed to unravel and used alcohol to hide his pain.

  He drank and then he became aggressive and a little on the mean side. He never hit her but sometimes he would say hurtful things. She remembered one in particular.

  “He,y babe, you could get some work done to your body. I wouldn’t mind,” he slurred his words as he took another swig of the beer.

  She glared at him. “My body is healthy and fine. I’m not too big or too little.”

  “Yeah, yeah, but you could have a pair of tits like Tina’s.”

  “I don’t need big breasts.”

  “Well, at least you have a nice fat ass… it balances it out.”

  One too many hurtful remarks, and then he cheated on her with a college girl traveling through town. She ended things four months ago and hadn’t regretted it at all. In fact, she hadn’t missed him one bit. That said a lot about what their relationship had been like. Unlike Roger, who left her and didn’t give her a second thought, JJ couldn’t seem to get it in his head that they were not meant to be. He kept calling or coming in when she worked the saloon or the diner to talk to her. She cared about JJ, just didn’t want to be with him again.

  Since ending things with JJ, she hadn’t felt the urge to date anyone except as a one-time thing for guys passing through. The memory of the sexy Markus in his form-fitting jeans popped up in her mind. Now, that was a man she wouldn’t mind spending some time with. He was also the type to leave her brokenhearted if she wasn’t careful.

  She sat at the cheap patio set she’d bought and placed right outside the door to her single-wide. There were small potted plants lining the steps and across the way, her nearest neighbor, Jeb Jacobs, had broken-down cars in his driveway that he worked on over the weekend. One of those cars was hers. One day, he might just fix it for her and then she could drive away from Dragoon, if she wanted.

  She had wrapped a quilt around her shoulders when she came out. Arizona could get up to the 90s in the daytime, but at night it could drop down as low as in the 30s. Right now it was a cool 56 degrees. A distant noise in the sky had her looking up at the stars. Was that some kind of bird? Blinking she thought she saw something large fly by but she couldn’t be for certain.

  Standing up she took a walk down the dirt road, careful to stick to the lighted pathway. She didn’t want to come in contact with a rattler out there. That same strange noise had her stopping and looking up again. What was that? Suddenly feeling alone and vulnerable, she turned to go back to her trailer. Nighttime was not the best time to go exploring, not in the desert. Whatever was flying out there would have to find another snack, she wasn’t interested in getting eaten by a wild creature.

  Chapter 8

  The Next Morning

  Markus told the others he was going into town to get some supplies and for them to be on the lookout for any answering calls from their people. He hadn’t lied about where he was going, only didn’t tell them that he was making a little stop on the way to town.

  Pulling onto the little dirt road, he drove up to the small lodging that he saw the female, Val, sitting next to last night. He shouldn’t have tracked her, but his dragon refused to turn back. He found her sitting alone outside, his dragon called out to her—which was ridiculous, she couldn’t answer him back. When she walked down the road, he followed, wanting nothing more than to go to her. His dragon almost did, dipping low intending to snatch her up in its claws.

  “No, leave her!”

  “Want her, mate her,” his dragon had insisted.

  “Not yet, she doesn’t understand what we are.”

  “I want her!”

  “I do too, we’ll scare her!”

  “I would not, she would like me.” His dragon did raise up his head, shifting away from the female.

  “We’ll come back in the morning and talk to her,” he promised his dragon.

  That had been the only thing that got his dragon to agree to leave the female. He had no idea what he would even say to her. Markus had been warned by the researchers on board the Zyon that humans didn’t truly believe in other species and thought any shapeshifters were just fictional characters in their books or movies.

  What he couldn’t figure out was, how did they even come up with the idea of shifters to begin with? The researchers had theorized that humans encountered his people, the Drakonians, years ago and couldn’t believe what they encountered so they explained it as fiction or fantasy. If there was fact behind the fiction, then his people had to be here, and it was possible that they could still be alive.

  Markus hoped that if his people didn’t answer that he could find a human or two that would be open to the idea of shifters and help them search. Having a member of the indigenous species guide them through the world they were in would be the best option and help keep them from issues that might arise.

  He parked the car and got out. There was a male bent under the hood of a vehicle across from Val’s domicile. He wondered if this male was someone she would bond with. His attention was pulled away when the female, Val, came out. She halted on the steps, looking at him in surprise.

  Smiling, he hoped that put her at ease. “Hello again, Valorie.” He liked the sound of her whole name.

  She smoothed her hair with her hands and smiled back. “Uh, hi. What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to thank you for advising us on the ranch. We have a cabin and it’s exactly what we needed.”

  “Well, you’re welcome. I was going for a run.”

  “Shall I go with you?”

  Valorie looked at him kind of funny but shrugged her shoulders. “If you can keep up.” Then she took off running down the road. Perhaps this was an alternate means of transportation. He didn’t see a car in her driveway, so this must be how she got around. He easily kept pace with her.

  “Are you going to town? I could drive you in my vehicle.”

  She didn’t look at him but kept running. “No, I work this afternoon at the diner but I can take my bike.”

  “If you have a vehicle, why do you run?” This activity fascinated him because he only ran while he was in training, but normally he flew in his dragon form so running was not as necessary.

  Valorie glanced over at him with an exp
ression that seemed confused. “I run to keep in shape.”

  “I see, you’re in training.”

  “I’m not training for a marathon or anything, I just like to run to keep fit. You look to be…in shape. What do you do to keep fit?”

  “Back on my ship, I would practice fighting with my fellow warriors. Since coming here, my companions and I lift bounders.”

  She stopped suddenly, breathing erratically, hands on her hips. The female looked delicious and he couldn’t help but lick his lips. His dragon made a rumbling sound in his chest, wanting to get closer to her.

  “I should have known you were in the military but it can’t be with the United States. We say soldiers, not warriors. Where did you come from?”

  “A far distant place called Drakonia. Are you tired? I could carry you back.”

  Blinking, she glanced behind them in the direction that they had come. “It’s about two miles. You couldn’t possibly carry me that far.”

  He bent and picked her up, walking back down the road that led to her dwelling. His dragon wanted to prove his strength and prowess so that she would agree to mate with them. Where in the stars had that thought come from? He couldn’t mate with her, she was human.

  “You can put me down, Markus.”

  Smiling down at her, he inhaled her scent. There was no trace of fear but her arousal was growing stronger. “I love how you say my name, Valorie.”

  Her face turned a little red and he worried about what caused that.

  “Are you okay? Your face is turning red. Do you need water?”

  Valorie struggled to get him to put her down but he refused. “I need to get you to a healer.”

  “I don’t need a damn doctor! I’m just not used to men carrying me around. Put me down, I’m too heavy.”

  “You are light as a feather.”

  Markus stopped just outside her domicile and let her slide down his body to stand on her own feet, but he kept his hands on her waist. He didn’t want her to fall and injure herself. Her shirt had ridden up and his fingers skimmed her skin. She was so soft, he wanted to explore all of her. His dragon rumbled in agreement.

  “What…are you growling at me?” Valorie pushed against his chest to get him to let her go.

  Sighing, he reluctantly released her. “I must go for now. I have to get supplies from town. Will you be working at the sa…loon?”

  “Yeah, my shift starts at nine tonight.”

  “I will see you then, Valorie.” He bent at the waist before turning to go to his vehicle.

  It had been a mistake coming to see her. Now that he had her scent—his dragon had her scent—he would not be able to leave her. It was clear to him now that Valorie Castle was his mate. This wasn’t what he’d planned and it complicated things greatly, especially since she was human and had no idea that dragon shifters existed. A mate, one he and his dragon could bond with, was a precious gift to be protected and treasured.

  It was going to be difficult to explain to his companions that they would have to keep searching for their people without him, because he wouldn’t leave his mate now that he had found her. They would protest, he expected that. The hardest thing was not their resistance. He had to somehow tell Valorie what and who he was and convince her to bond with him and his dragon.

  Chapter 9

  Val was still reeling from her encounter with Markus earlier. There was something off about him and the way he talked. After he left her, she had taken her bike down to the local library, which was Mrs. Baker’s house. She kept one room lined with bookshelves full of books and had a computer there. When Mrs. Baker died, she requested that her daughter Caroline live in the house but keep her personal library open to the town. Caroline, a few years younger than Val, greeted her when she walked in.

  “Hi Val.”

  “Caroline, I just came to use the computer.”

  “No problem. No one’s come in today so far, but the school is sending the first grade to check out our children’s books. So, you’ll have the place to yourself for a couple of hours.”

  “Thank you.” Val sat down in front of the older computer to Google the place he said he was from, Drakonia—nothing. She searched for areas that referred to their soldiers as warriors—nada. She even tried to search for people with golden glowing eyes but came up with zero results. No search findings seemed to fit Markus at all. It made him an even bigger mystery. She liked a good mystery.

  Everything about him was just so different. His gold eyes seemed to glow at times, and the rumbling in his chest sounded like a bear growling. He smelled really good, too. When he picked her up to carry her back to her trailer, she couldn’t help but lean her head close to his neck and inhale. At first she thought he had a really nice cologne on, but then as his body rubbed against hers, his scent grew stronger. His scent was a rich, woodsy cedar-like smell and made her imagine making love with him under the stars.

  Her whole body responded to him and she even loved the feel of the rumbling. Her nipples hardened and she had to tighten her knees together for fear he would notice that she was getting wet between her thighs. She wanted him, but acting on those desires would lead to nothing but heartache. Markus would be leaving in a few days, leaving her behind like Roger had left her behind. She sighed. It didn’t feel right, comparing him to her ex. Roger had always been selfish and greedy. She chose to ignore the bad stuff because she wanted to be loved.

  Maybe her penchant for bad relationships stemmed from the fact that her childhood sucked. Her father left her and her mother when Val was just five years old. Her mother went from one boyfriend to another. Some of the boyfriends didn’t want the responsibility of raising someone else’s kid and would leave, and her mother would blame her for that.

  Then there were the creepy boyfriends that paid a little too much attention to Val, especially when she started to develop physically. Her mother would throw them out in fits of jealousy and she blamed Val for their behavior.

  By the time she graduated high school, her mother was ready for her to move out. She even had a bag packed for her the day she came home from getting her diploma. Val was okay with that; she had taken on a part time job her senior year and saved up to put a deposit on an apartment. She kissed her mother’s cheek, told her she loved her, and left. She hadn’t been back to see her mother since then, and didn’t think of her much. She’d found out that she was better off in the long run.

  After ten years living on her own, she was actually thriving. She’d moved to a new town, had gotten her associates degree online, and was planning to go to nursing school. Everything in her life was going well…except for her love life. She felt what she was missing was having someone to share her life with. It had become kind of lonely. That’s when she met Roger at a friend’s party.

  Roger was blond and blue-eyed, and looked like a California surfer. He flirted with her and she responded to the attention he was giving her. They dated six months before he moved in with her. It was wonderful the first three months of living together, then Roger lost his job.

  She would leave each morning to work and he would be at the table with the newspaper, planning on going out for interviews. Two weeks of that, then he simply said that he would be fine as a stay-at-home husband and father.

  He knew she would think that he was planning to ask her to marry him. It didn’t seem necessary to worry over him getting a job if this was how they would work their household out. She liked working. Unfortunately, Roger wasn’t a very good stay-at-home boyfriend. He was messy and spent her money carelessly. He always redirected her questions and anger by sweet-talking her and telling her how much he wanted to marry her.

  Then she came home from work to find that Roger had been selling all her furniture from the apartment. She lost it.

  “Roger, what the hell are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Remember how we were talking about going to Vegas to get married? Well, I figured we would sell all our stuff and just take a cross-country road trip,
see the rest of the United States.”

  “I didn’t agree to a cross-country trip. I have a job and responsibilities.”

  “You should quit your job. Besides, once we are done traveling, I will get a job and you’ll get to be the stay-at-home mom.”

  “I don’t want to quit.”

  “Come on, babe, I’ve given up so much for you. You don’t even like that job. Let’s have an adventure we can tell our children about.”

  Val stupidly believed everything he told her. She quit her job, pulled out all her money she had saved, and helped Roger load up their few meager possession into her car. They had gone to Vegas but before they could get married, Roger got caught up gambling and lost almost all their money in one night. They argued as they drove across the border from Nevada to Arizona. Her car broke down just outside of Dragoon. It didn’t take long after that for him to leave her.

  Looking back now, she could see that she had been lonely and vulnerable when she met Roger. She was looking for someone to fill the empty spaces in her heart and he seemed all too willing. She still felt that emptiness inside, but when she dated JJ she knew that he wasn’t the one for her, either.

  Markus was different from them. She should be scared about even thinking of spending more time with him, but she wasn’t. He excited her, and with the way he carried her and handled JJ, she knew instinctively that he would protect her. No one could predict the future and life was just too short to live cautiously all the time. Maybe she should enjoy him while she had him, it would give her plenty of memories to warm her for future lonely nights.

  Chapter 10

  Later That Night at the Local Saloon