02 Dragon - Capturing Cara (2 page)

Cara looked back again watching as Carmen said something that must have pissed Ariel off royally as Ariel’s face had turned red and she was standing there with her eyes closed. Cara grinned as she often seemed to have that effect on Ariel. At least it wasn’t her this time.

Carmen gave both of them a quick nod as she moved to the back of the jet and buckled in. She pulled out her cell phone and began quietly speaking.

Okay,
thought Cara,
obliviously there will be no communication with her this flight.
Cara stored her tool belt and backpack in the overhead compartments and sat down.
It is going to be a long flight,
she groaned silently praying she would be able to sleep through most of it. That was one reason she had stayed up so long. She was lucky to sleep four to five hours a night. She knew if she was awake for a seven or eight hour flight she would be climbing out the emergency door! She had a terrible time with being claustrophobic and knew sitting in a tiny tin-can would push her beyond what the exercises the therapist had taught her.

“Hi, I’m Abby.” A voice said from the doorway of the jet.

“Cara.” Cara replied with a huge grin. “I’m the mechanic.”

Abby grinned, “I’m the artist.”

Cara’s eyes were drawn to the delicate gold bracelets encircling Abby’s slender wrists. She could almost feel the power coming off of them! Most people would never see the delicate swirls moving within the gold, but Cara could not only see it, she could understand what it was trying to say. Unable to take her eyes off the gold bands, she reached out instinctively and touched first one, then the other.

“How you doing, little guys?” Cara murmured in a soft voice. “You taking good care of her? Now, aren’t you two the cutest little things I’ve ever seen.”

Cara could feel the warmth coming off of the bracelets and watched as the swirling patterns changed as she touched and talked to them. These were living, breathing creatures. She was positive of it. It was almost as if they were begging her to keep their secret.

“I know, baby. I know.” Cara whispered. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Abby looked at Cara strangely but Cara just smiled back. For some reason, she felt more at peace than she had in a long while. Cara buckled in as Ariel came over the intercom and asked everyone to make sure their personal belongings were stored securely and to please buckle up. The weather front had finally moved through and they had received clearance for take-off. Cara kept glancing at the bracelets on Abby’s wrists, giggling and winking as the swirls moved in and out of each other. Once they were in the air, Carmen conked out and Cara took the opportunity to check out the plane. Okay, Cara admitted to herself, she checked it out three or four times before she felt sure they were safe enough it wasn’t going to come apart in mid-air. That would really suck the not-so-positive side of herself thought.

By the time she was done, she had finished her super-sized coffee and despite all the caffeine, she felt the pull of exhaustion.
Seventy-two plus hours was her limit
, she thought drowsily, before she sank into dreams of little gold bracelets turning into birds.

A little over four hours later, Cara stretched out her arms and legs shooting the little gold symbiosis on Abby’s wrists a wink as she sat all the way up. Trish was announcing they would be landing shortly. Cara glanced at Carmen who had removed her sleep mask and was busying pulling a leather jacket out of her duffle bag before turning to look out of the small window of the jet.

“So, how long before we land?” Cara asked. “Cool, not a cloud in sight. Man, this is a little bitty place, isn’t it? Looks like the town I grew up in.”

Abby laughed in excitement. “Yes, it is small but its home.”

“Looks like you have a reason to be back. Is he cute? Does he have a brother?” Cara asked mischievously.

“Yes, he is and yes, he has four brothers.” Abby replied distractedly before she realized what she had just said.

Laughing, Cara stretched again. “Busted! Well, if they are cute point me in their direction. I’m always looking for a good time in a small town.”

Abby couldn’t help but laugh. Cara had the kind of personality that anyone couldn’t help but fall in love with. She was a ball of energy. Even sitting still she moved around.

Cara saw Abby’s amused smile and couldn’t help the rueful grin that curved her lips, “I’m a little ADHD. I couldn’t sit still if my life depended on it and only sleep about four hours a night if I’m lucky. Drives everyone nuts but I get a lot done. I have an IQ out the kazoo. Needless to say, most people and all men can’t stand being around me for more than five minutes. Oh, but I do love to drive them crazy first.”

Abby chuckled. “Well, you haven’t driven me crazy yet and I have thoroughly enjoyed your company.”

Twenty minutes later, Cara stood up stretching her arms and legs. God, she was so happy they had finally landed. Luckily, she had gotten some much needed sleep and with a little caffeine, she would be almost ready for round two – as long as it didn’t mean a return flight that night. She was going to have to think up some type of excuse to get Ariel and Trisha to postpone the return trip until at least sometime tomorrow. Cara’s mind was running through a hundred different reasons when Ariel’s voice came on to say they would be at the gate in just a few minutes. When Ariel thanked everyone for flying Hamm Air, the only airline where pigs did fly. Cara couldn’t contain the laugh that burst out. She absolutely adored those two women who could make life so much fun.

The airport was dark except for the few lights on some of the nearby hangers, the airport terminal, and the blue running lights on the runway. Cara climbed down the steps of the jet as soon as the plane had stopped. Taking a deep breath of the cool, fresh night air, Cara felt the tension began to melt from her neck and shoulders.
You know,
Cara berated herself silently;
if you had picked a different career than being a jet mechanic you wouldn’t have to worry about flying in a tin can!
What was sad is Cara really loved to fly – she just didn’t like the claustrophobia that came with it. If she could live her life flying in a bi-plane or floating in a hot-air balloon she would be in heaven.

Cara turned to watch as Ariel and Trish climbed down out of the jet followed by Abby, who had grabbed her overnight bag. Carmen hadn’t come out yet as she was talking on her cell phone to someone. Cara had a feeling she didn’t want to have to spend any more time than necessary around any of them, especially Ariel. Abby was looking between the three of them with an expression like she was trying to get her nerve up to say something but wasn’t sure how too.

“It’s really late for you to head out tonight. Would you like to stay at my place for the night? It’s a little ways up the mountain but it is really beautiful. I have an extra bedroom if you don’t mind doubling up and an oversize couch that makes a great bed.” Abby said looking nervously back and forth between the three of them.

Cara let out a sigh of relief.
Yes,
she thought,
the perfect excuse!

“Sounds great to me!” Cara said stretching again in exaggeration. “I’d go bonkers if I had to get back in that tin can tonight. I’d love to meet your man. You said he had some brothers? Any chance of meeting them between tonight and tomorrow morning? I love meeting new guys. I’m trying to break my record of driving them off. I think the longest any have put up with me had been ten minutes.”

Trisha and Ariel laughed. “Ah Cara, I think that Danny guy lasted twelve. What do you think, Ariel?”

“Oh, at least twelve maybe even thirteen minutes.” Ariel said added.

Cara laughed out loud. She knew exactly who they were talking about; her last blind date the two of them had set her up with about a week ago. They had surprised her at dinner with a Physics Professor from the local university who lived across the hall from Trisha. It turned out the surprise had been on them when the guy had started puffing on his inhaler within about two minutes of meeting her. It might have been due to her recitation of Stephen Hawking’s theory of Black Holes (in exquisite detail) and how relationships could be correlated to it. “You two are nuts. You were so drunk,” Cara suspected that had played the biggest part in their kidnapping of the poor professor more than actually trying to find her a man, “you can’t even remember his name. It was Douglas. Not, Dougie.” Cara said in a perfect imitation of Douglas’ outraged, nasally voice. Of course, she
was
the one who had nicknamed him Dougie knowing it would irritate the up-tight scholarly ass who had looked at her like she didn’t have two cents to rub together for a brain.

Ariel, Trish, and Abby burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, good ole Dougie.” Trish said wiping her eyes. “How could we forget?”

Trish looked at Abby and smiled, “Unlike some people we know, Ariel and I both need at least eight hours of sleep more than once a month to survive. We would love to take you up on both of your offers.”

Abby frowned, “Both of my offers?”

“Yeah, bed and brothers.” Cara, Ariel, and Trish smirked.

“I appreciate the offer but I think I’ll skip. I had transportation delivered earlier. I think I’ll head out as I slept most of the trip.” Carmen said quietly as she came up as if out of nowhere.

Cara listened as Ariel tried to talk to her sister but it was obvious to her Carmen had already made up her mind. Cara felt bad for both of them. She didn’t know Carmen that well, only what Ariel had told her; but, she did know Ariel and didn’t like to see the pain in her friend’s eyes as she watched her sister walk away.

Turning, Cara was relieved when she heard Abby say she was going to get her truck. “Sounds great.” Cara said with relief. She headed for the jet calling out over her shoulder. “It won’t take me but a minute.” Less, thought Cara, if she would manage it. God! She hated closed in spaces, she thought again, as she climbed into the jet. Grabbing her tool belt and backpack, she counted twenty-three seconds. Yup, nothing like a little claustrophobia to get her butt in gear.

“I’ll catch up with Abby and see you guys in a few minutes.” Cara said as she jumped down off the steps of the jet.

“Okay. It’ll take us about ten minutes or so to close everything up.” Trish said glancing worriedly at Ariel who was silently watching Carmen walk away into the darkness.

Cara touched Ariel’s arm gently as she walked by her in silent support. Ariel gave Cara a sad smile before she turned around and followed Trish into the jet. Cara decided she needed to give Ariel something else to think about. Maybe if the brothers Abby knew were any fun they could distract Ariel for a while. Hell, maybe if the brothers were any fun they could distract
her
for a while. It wasn’t as if they were going to be around long enough to fall in love with any of the guys and there wasn’t any harm in having some fun, even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Cara grinned as she hurried to catch up with Abby. The idea of maybe doing some heavy petting cheered Cara up. She might not want to go all the way with a guy, at least none of the ones she knew, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like to cuddle and kiss. The way she looked at it, it was like watching the Circuit de Monaco. You enjoy the looks and sounds, appreciate the performance, but could call it quits if you didn’t like how it was going.
Yup
, thought Cara,
I could handle a little excitement tonight!

Trelon growled under his breath as he held his bleeding knuckles out to his symbiosis. It was the second time in as many minutes that he needed to be healed. At the rate he was going he was never going to get the modifications to the engines done on the crystal drive he was working on.

“Thanks, my friend.” Trelon said with a deep affection in his voice. The relationship between the Valdire warrior, his dragon, and his symbiosis was so deep one could not be separated from the others. The golden shape of a huge cat swirled with colors at the affection it heard in Trelon’s voice. Within seconds, small bands of gold separated to encase his hand in a mesh of gold metal forming a flexible glove.

Trelon laughed, “Getting tired of healing me so soon, my friend? Thank you again for your assistance.” The huge golden cat shimmered with an array of colors before settling down beside Trelon to study what he was doing.

Trelon tried to focus on the job at hand. He was working on some modifications to the engines that combined the energy from the symbiosis on board and the crystals they were using to power their vessel. So far, he had cut several days off their journey to the primitive planet his older brother, Zoran, had found refuge on. Trelon had buried his fear from his other brothers when he had first heard Zoran’s call for help. He had been afraid his new defense system had malfunctioned. The Valdire had been at peace with the Sarafin warriors for the past hundred or so years but that did not mean it would last. The peace was kept only because of a promise that the first born daughter of the King of Valdire would be given in marriage to the first born son of the King of Sarafin. Unfortunately for the Sarafin, Trelon’s father neglected to inform them that females were few and far between. In fact, no daughters had been born to the ruling family of Valdire in centuries. Trelon grimaced, if the Valdire had been truthful to the Sarafin they would have admitted that the population of females was steadily declining. Their scientists were not sure exactly why, but they believed it was due to the symbiotic relationship the males had between their symbiosis, their dragon, and their person. There had been a time of great wars between the Curizans, the Valdire, and the Sarafin. Because of the wars, more males were needed. Over time, the females began breeding more and more warriors. The problems became critical when the wars ended. The females continued to produce warriors and over time, the difference between the population of males and females reached a turning point – there were more males than females. This discrepancy in numbers finally forced the Valdire to look outside their own galaxy about three hundred years ago in a desperate search for females. Unfortunately, they encountered another problem, their symbiosis, and often times their dragon, refused to true mate with the females. While the males could enjoy sexual release and some pleasure, they never achieved the full fulfillment of a true mate – acceptance from all three parts of themselves. Only with a true mate could the dragon fire take hold and a male find total satisfaction of sexual hunger.