AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ONE
SARAH
“Holy mother of shit,” Sarah breathed aloud as her self-driving taxi disc-craft approached her new home.
It was a beautiful gothic house, or at least that was what she would have called it back on Earth. She wasn’t sure what they called this style on Drakonia. Maybe it was the norm here. She hadn’t seen enough yet to learn Drakonian architectural tastes.
She’d gotten here about twenty minutes ago. All that she knew about this planet were the stories she’d been told about the fierce and mysterious Drakonians, but they were just that. Stories. She had no idea what was true or not, but she figured it was better to be on the safe side of things and assume all of it was. The galaxy might not know a lot about the Drakonians, but it collectively agreed they weren’t to be fucked with.
Thankfully, Sarah had been to her share of planets, so she hoped this would be no different than adapting to other alien cultures. Still, the stories kept creeping into her mind, telling her that she was probably in over her head being on such an assertive, disciplinary planet.
It had come as no surprise to her that her employer was in the military. It seemed as if most Drakonians on the planet worked for the military.
Sarah thought it might be good for her. She wanted to not let people walk all over her, and this was her first step … taking this job no matter what others thought. Maybe she might learn something from the strict species. That’s why she applied with the nanny agency that had eventually placed her here.
Sarah glanced at the papers she gripped tightly in her hand. She had them memorized, but the nerves were setting in, so she read them again. She couldn’t and wouldn’t mess this up.
Captain Kael. Highly decorated military official of the Drakonian Armed Forces. Widowed. Left in charge of nine-year-old daughter, Suki. Nanny duties will be for her, and service will be full-time live-in.
She glanced at the lines over and over again as if she could extract more information from them. There was nothing on what had happened to his wife or how long ago she had passed. Sarah wasn’t morbidly curious. She only wanted the information to help her prepare for Suki.
Sarah had lost her mother herself a long time ago. As terrible as it had been, Sarah felt her loss could help her connect with the Captain’s daughter. She might even help guide Suki through the grief of not having a mother.
“Turn a negative into a positive. That’s all you can do,” Sarah told herself as the distant mansion-like home loomed over her. It had become her motto to help her get through the tough spots in her life. It helped her hold on to hope that there was an end to the loneliness she’d felt since her mom had died so long ago.
The yellow disc-craft slowed to a stop. “You have arrived. Thank you for choosing Rollin’s Taxi Service. Good day,” the AI vehicle spoke in the Drakonian tongue. Sarah had to read the screen that had translated it into English for her.
She grabbed her bottomless luggage pack and turned to face her future.
The house was more intimidating up close than it had been when it had first come into view. She took in the overwhelming architecture and marble-like stone that appeared to make up most of the house. It was beautiful, set against the vibrant violet sky of the planet.
The taxi flew off, and Sarah took one step forward. Before she could take another, a shout sounded from around the house. Naturally, she froze and looked for who had commanded her to halt.
It was a Drakonian with a commanding presence and an urgency to his walk. As he drew closer to her, Sarah noticed the intricate ink-like symbols that covered his body like all his kind. She had always thought that the reddish tracings on their fair-toned skin were beautiful on the rare times she had encountered Drakonians at filling stations here and there.
This one’s marks were a deep crimson red. The intensity of the color matched his demeanor as he marched to her. She couldn’t tell if it was the half-moon glasses that made him look like an irritated librarian waiting to shush her or if that was just his face. He was an incredibly attractive male, almost unbelievably so. He seemed to be carved from rock, evidenced by his tight muscles. Unfortunately, he had that same stony appearance in his expression, and there it was less than becoming.
If he didn’t look so stern and foreboding, though, he might have taken her breath away.
“Can I assume you are Ms. Meericino?”
“You can. And you are?”
Instead of answering, he looked her up and down, not shy at all about what he was doing. Sarah grew hot in the face while standing there waiting for him to be done. Customs everywhere were so different that she only knew Earth’s for sure. So, she waited until his examination of her was finished. She was starting to assume that this must be the right hand of her new boss.
“You’re late,” he finally responded once he was through with his tedious look-over.
“Uh, yes. It took me longer than I thought to find an available craft…”
“You look clean. And you’re ready to go, according to my intel.” He pulled off his spectacles, pressed a concealed button on the frame, and folded them neatly away.
Clean?
He narrowed his golden eyes in thought as if he were making a decision. Sarah hoped her boss wasn’t as cold as his assistant.
“May I see Captain Kael? He’s expecting me.” She wasn’t trying to be rude, but this man was putting her on edge.
The Drakonian stuck out his hand. It was just as stiff as the rest of his stature. “Captain Kael.”
