Whelon: Dragons of Preor Read online

  Whelon

  Dragons of Preor

  Celia Kyle

  Anne Hale

  Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  About the Authors

  Blurb

  Experiencing the Knowing is magical… until you have to deal with human in-laws…

  Local news celebrity Sasha Dane and her mother are fixated on one goal—leverage their media presence to make life supremely difficult for the invading Preor. They want the aliens gone from Earth and for their unnatural hold on human females to end. Permanently. That’s how Sasha found herself at Preor Choosing Station Tau attending a Preor Choosing. Her job? Gather as much dirt as possible. If only that had gone according to plan…

  Preor Healing Master Whelon never liked the human “cattle calls.” Where hordes of human females threw themselves at the attending Preor in hopes the Knowing would blossom. Nevertheless, he finds himself drawn to Choosing, pulled by an inexplicable force to attend. And that’s when it happened…

  The Knowing. Desire. Want. Need. Hope…

  Now, both Sasha and Whelon realize fate has a cruel streak. Sasha must contend with the differences between what she thought to be true—the Preor are an evil, women-stealing, vicious peoples—and reality… That the Preor cherish and love their mates and care for all human beings. Meanwhile, Whelon must realize that his fated mate has obstacles only she can fight.

  Will Sasha overcome her mother’s teachings and embrace her Preor mate? Or will she deny the Knowing—deny Whelon—and curse them both to death?

  Chapter One

  Sasha’s mother shouted about everything.

  Ev-ery-thing.

  From complaining about the weather and Sasha’s split-ends to Sasha’s amount of airtime—it was never ending. Which was why, when she heard her mother’s voice rise, Sasha didn’t bother paying attention to what the woman said. More than likely, it would be the same crap as always. What was the point of stressing about her momma’s drama-llama now? Pretty sure that her mother was on the phone, Sasha figured she was shouting about wanting more airtime and money. The managers at the local television station where Sasha worked were terrified of her mother.

  Which meant she’d probably get her way. As always.

  Sasha went over the schedule one of the production assistants had given her, and a quick scan revealed it would be a decent week—two morning spots and three in the afternoon. She was on almost every day and that was an improvement over the last few weeks. Ever since her mother had gotten Sasha’s contract changed to get them more money per appearance, the number of spots had decreased.

  Based on her mother’s continued raised voice, the number of TV slots might be going up even further soon.

  She sighed and tossed the schedule aside, unsure how to feel about her mom’s interference and what it’d mean for her career.

  It had taken Sasha a while to get onto mainstream TV. Initially, she had worked with her mother on a YouTube channel and presented her thoughts on fashion, makeup, and light news. The audience responded well, and she’d ended up with a couple million followers in the first month. Sasha had been content with that level of success. She’d loved her little show, Sasha Says.

  Her mother’s voice rose again, almost shrill, and Sasha glanced in her mother’s direction. Jenna was almost toe-to-toe with the station manager, arms folded and eyes hard. The woman knew enough about TV production by now to see that there wasn’t enough room for a regular light news reporter. Her bit was popular, but it wasn’t considered mainstream.

  Sasha sighed and returned her attention to the schedule quickly, not wanting to catch her mother’s eye or draw her attention. The woman was in attack mode and would lash out at anything with the viciousness of a rabid Teacup Yorkie. Rawr.

  The thought made Sasha smile, but she quickly smothered the expression before her mom caught sight of her hint of happiness. God forbid anyone be happy while Jenna Dane raged.

  Things had been simpler when she was “just” a YouTube star. Once the channel took off, Sasha’s mother contacted magazines and talk shows, setting up interviews and appearances. Even though there had only been a few in the beginning, her popularity grew until people begged the big stations to book her. Sasha had a lighthearted, honest manner that appealed to people in today’s age of lies and misinformation.

  The media storm soon transformed into small parts on sitcoms and commercials. Companies bid for her attention to get her endorsement on their products. For whatever reason, Sasha Dane was considered trustworthy by the public.

  Of course, things couldn’t remain the same forever.

  One day she’d been covering a charity benefit in the park. It had been a fabulous event with rides, junk food stalls, and a hand-crafted market. It’d been for disabled children and kids had been everywhere having their faces painted and screaming in joy as they frolicked and played.

  That’s when three Preor dragons arrived.

  Some promotions representative had invited them, and apparently they wanted to see the charity work up close. When the three huge dragons blocked out the sun on their flyover, Sasha had been so shocked she’d dropped her microphone and stared into the sky in horror.

  “Now, now!” her mother had hissed from her place behind the camera. Sasha nodded firmly and picked up her mic, staring into the camera with a stern expression on her face.

  While Sasha recovered from her shock and horror, every single child at the fair took off to the opposite side of the park to greet the dragons. That’s when she’d apologized to her audience for the interruption and used the situation to push her—her mother’s—views.

  The Preor hypnotized people. They had humans under a spell. Their presence on Earth would destroy the human race. Just look how the humans flocked to the aliens while abandoning the charity fair.

  Of course, her mother had been thrilled by Sasha’s performance, but her popularity split dramatically. A lot of people loved the Preor and wouldn’t support Sasha if she was against the aliens. Other factions rose behind her and she suddenly found that her position was very political.

  Her mother loved every moment. There was nothing like a media storm to enhance someone’s popularity, and to her mother there was no such thing as bad press.

  Sasha hated the change. She didn’t like the hateful comments on her social media pages or how the other actors treated her after that recording aired. That didn’t mean she trusted the Preor—she was on her mother’s side completely—she just didn’t appreciate how her career hinged on one issue.

  The station manager’s voice rose, drawing her from the memory, and Sasha was forced to look in their direction. He protested that Sasha was too controversial for certain time slots and that was that. Her mother went very quiet, body drawn to her full height.<
br />
  Here we go…

  Her mother puffed up her chest, opened her mouth, and let out a blast of angry words, her face right at the station manager’s nose. Yeah, she didn’t need to listen to that hot mess unfold.

  Sasha turned away with another sigh, deeply concerned her entire media presence was now “controversial.” Even though she didn’t like the Preor or the changes they made to the planet—as well as the human race—she probably could have handled everything more delicately.

  People might actually listen if the subject was approached the right way. Her mother had no charisma and tended to just yell louder when people didn’t agree with her. The woman wound Sasha up so tightly she ended up spewing words at the camera with the delicacy of a meat grinder. No gentle coaxing, but a rapid-fire attack. Ugh.

  She needed more information about the Preor, that was for sure. She needed to interview one of these “mates” and do some careful editing to enhance this whole brainwashing angle. Rumors of the “Knowing” ran rampant around the world but no one really knew what it was.

  Sounds like brainwashing and programming to me.

  She couldn’t figure out how any self-respecting woman would allow herself to be overtaken by an alien so easily.

  The one thing she did know was that yelling wasn’t working. Sasha was losing followers and her mother’s solution was to yell even louder. She was simply cutting out a major chunk of her followers by not showing sympathy for their viewpoint.

  Instead of, “The Preor are evil. Hate them,” they should be saying, “How well do you really know the Preor?”

  Sasha glanced over at her mother again, but the situation hadn’t changed. With a shake of her head, she pulled out her phone, ready to book some charity work around her scheduled television spots. She worked for a few charities, and this week during the month she usually volunteered at the homeless shelter. She didn’t always take her camera crew along, and her mother hated the volunteering so much she generally didn’t bother to capture the footage of Sasha working.

  What her mother thought was a ridiculous waste of time, Sasha saw as a matter of life and death. If she was going to have a significant presence and several million followers, she wanted to inspire others to do good. So many people were in desperate need, and she just wanted to improve their lives any way possible.

  Since the Preor had arrived, the class split had become far worse. The Preor said they were helping, but Sasha couldn’t see evidence of their work. They seemed to strut or fly around with complete arrogance, sometimes destroying buildings, setting fire to parks and even killing people. They acted like they could do whatever they wanted without considering the impact on people’s lives.

  They had brought great wealth with them. And, as usual, the most prominent and wealthy people thrived. Meanwhile, the unwashed masses remained forgotten as they always had been.

  Sasha was angry enough with her train of thought when she went through her inbox. So, what she saw next sparked her temper until it bloomed into full-on rage.

  Several of her usual charities had rejected her services. They were loyal to the Preor, and her views were not appreciated. They did not want her support any longer.

  She stared at the phone screen, her fingers shaking.

  “The Preor then!” her mother snapped. Sasha jumped like she had been stung.

  “What about them?” the station manager asked warily.

  “If we get the scoop on them, all the dirty details, you’ll put her on every day?”

  The station manager nodded slowly. “That would be good for numbers, yes. But we need a balanced review. She can’t stand there and bad mouth them for an hour without proof.”

  “You’ll get it.” Her mother smiled cattily. The manager turned to Sasha and frowned, no doubt thinking not just of her controversial status but the few times Sasha had failed to show because she had partied too hard the night before.

  Sasha experienced a moment of panic as Jenna strode toward her. She didn’t like this plan and she knew her mother would have something risky in mind. When her mother grabbed her arm and rushed her out the door, Sasha realized she was once more being carried down a stream she didn’t choose. Her mother’s ambition was as relentless and violent as white-water rapids.

  All Sasha could do was hold on to the boat and hope to hell she didn’t drown.

  Chapter Two

  Whelon headed for the med bay, the ship full of activity, which slowed his progress through the metal halls. The last few months had become more and more disorganized as Preor warriors found their mates and abandoned their duties. He did not blame them, but it he would appreciate some order back on board.

  Whelon was amazed at how fast the military disintegrated when their officers were otherwise occupied. The Preor were known for their discipline, their dedication. Even though older recruits continued their regular training and duties without supervision, younger ones simply stopped reporting for duty.

  He tipped his head to a few groups of warriors who moved past, pleased to see they were in uniform and moving in formation as they hurried to their duties. He had never realized how much work Engineering Master Vende performed around the ship until he also fell under the spell of his mate. As engineering master, Vende was not supposed to be in charge of disciplining the warriors, but when the primary warrior and war master disappeared, Vende had “picked up the slack,” as humans said.

  It had taken Taulan approximately a week to realize what was happening on his ship. His baby girl, young Lorrasyh, had begun randomly setting fire to supporting structures wherever she traveled. No one could blame him for being distracted, but with warriors goo-fhing off and the ship being randomly set on fire, it was more than the third fleet could take.

  Penelope had taken to screaming in a loud, shrill tone every time Lorrasyh set something on fire. When the ship’s AI drenched the child with the sprinkler systems and made her cry, the child’s human mother, Lana, had argued with Penelope. Eventually the family headed down to Kouvai Nihon for good when Penelope began randomly setting off fire extinguishers whenever Lorrasyh was near essential systems.

  Whelon finally reached the med bay, the area quiet and nearly empty at this time of morning. He nodded to a couple of healing warriors, Preor who would hopefully be healing masters themselves one day. Some had been up all night tending the few patients left over from the scale pox incident, and Whelon was proud to see they treated the patients with utmost care, even if they themselves were exhausted.

  He sat at one of the ship’s terminals and began his inventory of the medicines currently being manufactured. With Dawn’s assistance in growing necessary plants, Grace and Carla had been working nonstop to process the medicines, only slowing over the last few weeks as their pregnancies became obvious. Grace and Carla were only a few months along, but they were taking it easy and he and Primary Healer Yazen were making sure they rested as needed.

  All the medicines in the world wouldn’t help the Preor if they compromised the mates or the dragonlets. Whelon felt a fierce satisfaction when he thought about Lana’s babies, even if Lorrasyh was a complete nightmare. The Preor would go on. Every hope they had pinned on the Earth breeding program would be realized.

  Just not for me.

  Like all Preor, he had hoped he would find a mate, almost certain of the eventuality. Yet, as days turned into months and he watched others find their matches, he realized his hope might be in vain. He didn’t mingle with the humans often enough, and he detested the what the humans called “cattle calls” at Preor Choosing Station Tau. He simply refused to attend them—any of them.

  A noisy group of Preor strode down the hall outside the med bay—visible through the windows—all carrying tools and obviously heading for the command deck to make needed repairs. He grinned and shook his head. It was incredible that three young warriors were needed to replace Vende. Two Preor warriors were on the work roster to replace War Master Taulan, and it was a similar story for all the other primary w
arriors and masters who had discovered their mates on Earth.

  The number of warriors necessary to man the integral positions was immaterial. All that mattered was that the ship ran smoothly once more. Whelon looked over his med bay to check everyone was working and waved to Yazen when he caught the male’s gaze. Yazen nodded in response and proceeded to care for his patients. There was a deep silence hiding between every movement and word, a comforting lull that existed in between the soft noises of Preor moving throughout the space. This was what the ship had been like before they arrived on Earth.

  Quiet, organized, and peaceful. It was how it should be. A bit of chaos and celebration was great, but every day? Unnecessary.

  “You go to the party and then you go home. You don’t live there,” he muttered the human saying.

  “What’s that Whelon?” Penelope said cheerfully.

  “I was enjoying the silence, Penelope.”

  “Well, like it or not, it’s going to get noisy.”

  “Why is that?” he asked in exasperation.

  “They require your presence at Preor Tower.”

  “Why?” He frowned, baffled by the request. “Isn’t Healing Master Chashan present?”

  “Yes, but he wants you to assist him. Melissa is almost full term and Jarek is a nightmare. Also, Delany and Ellie might have complications with their births because of their past physical issues.”