by Mel Teshco
First Chapter of Baron, Dragons of Riddich
Baron Alsharma lay on his belly in the shadowed, front garden of a suburban home, sucking down the last half-mouthful of water from his hydration flask. He sighed as the deliciously cool liquid eased his parched throat, even as he mourned the fact this was the last of his world’s water.
The last link to his planet Riddich and its people.
Not that any Riddichians lived there anymore. If they weren’t already dead, killed by their Tantonic enemies who’d razed much of his world to the ground, they’d been captured and tortured ... a fate far worse than death.
He pushed away the gloomy thought and focused on the revelry across the road. Going by its noise and activity, the party was now in full swing.
Thanks to his five month journey to Earth with four other Riddich crew members, he’d soaked in everything he could about human behavior via their television programs and radio. He’d even learned about open parties here on Earth, where anyone and everyone were invited.
He smirked. Would they welcome an alien from Riddich on the run from other powerful alien enemies? Going by the partygoers stumbling in and out of the front door, they probably would.
Then again, the town of Clydecarrow, population 461—according to its faded welcome sign—probably welcomed anyone new with open arms.
But he’d stay concealed anyway. After all, caution was his middle name, or had been until the one time he’d thrown it all to the wind—as the humans were fond of saying—and fallen for the charms of his king’s lover.
He blew out a slow breath. Rhyhana had been as beautiful as she’d been devious. But in the end, despite her trying to give him up to the Tantonics to save her own skin, she’d been the one captured by the cruel and bloodthirsty enemy with their insatiable need to seize and harness every last particle of Riddich energy.
He’d long ago given up on Rhyhana being alive, and in fact hoped she’d had a quick and merciless passing. Rumor alleged their enemy had unique ways of torturing and extracting energy that made even the strongest Riddich pray for death.
His belly clenched. He was lucky to be alive and planned on keeping it way.
Now he just had to immerse himself in the Australian culture and learn their peculiar accented twang. Being invisible was imperative. He had to rely on the smallest details since his size made him all too memorable.
He refocused on the party. Inebriated humans would be less likely to notice his height—at six foot eight, he was big even for a Riddich native—and they’d be weaker, more open to him planting a suggestion. He wouldn’t draw attention to himself stealing food and water when he could as easily convince someone to give it to him.
A trio of males staggered to the front door, smoking cigarettes and laughing. One of them carried a carton of beer over his shoulder. Baron frowned as he scanned their short stature before they disappeared inside. Not one of those men would be close to even six foot tall.
Human clothes to fit his big frame would be hard to find. He needed something other than his webbed one-piece uniform if he hoped to blend in. He had to stay as anonymous as possible, and evade the bastard Tantonics before they killed or captured him.
His hands clenched. It went against all his warrior instincts to flee like a sissy, just as it did for his warrior comrades. But staying alive was the only way to ensure his species long term survival; to ensure not every Riddichian was wiped away like a smudge on some asshole Tantonic’s armor plating.
A small sedan pulled up on his side of the road, obscuring his vision of the party and pulling him out of his thoughts. The passenger door opened wide and a pair of shapely legs flashed, before being obscured by an ugly, checkered skirt that settled around the woman’s ankles.
He frowned. Why the hell would any woman hide such sexy pins?
“Oh, come on Piper, it’ll be fun! And you never have any fun!”
His frown deepened at hearing the wheedling tone of the female driver even before she climbed out of the car from the other side. Unnaturally big breasts almost spilled free of her lacy singlet, her thick lips pursed with irritation.
“Besides, I can’t turn up at this party alone. Bad enough everyone knows Jack dumped me.” The woman shivered with distaste, before flicking a long lock of fake blonde hair behind her shoulder. “I need another man to make me happy again, and this is the best place to find him.”
Baron mentally shook his head. The blonde wasn’t lying about wanting another man. He’d bet they’d flock to her tonight, but likely not because they wanted anything long term.
Dismissing any further thought of the driver, he craned his neck to get a better view of the dark-haired Piper. She shut the passenger door with obvious reluctance before she adjusted her cream, button-down shirt, which modestly covered all signs of her femininity. “I’m only staying for a little while, Rebecca. I’ll catch a taxi home—“
“Seriously, how many times have I told you to call me Beccs?” Rebecca said in a sharp voice, before she pushed what Baron assumed were keys into Piper’s hand. “And you can drive my car back to our apartment. I’m sure I won’t be going anywhere tonight except the nearest bedroom. You can pick me up in the morning.”
Piper didn’t move for a moment, it was as if her attention had gone someplace else as she did a quick, seemingly compulsory check around her. She stiffened, a faint tremble in her hand as she brushed a piece of shoulder length, glossy dark hair behind an ear. “Fine. But your real name is Rebecca, and that is what I’ll call you.”
Whatever ‘Beccs’ had to say was lost on Baron. He was too focused on Piper as she walked across the road with her so called friend. But while Rebecca’s attention was likely focused ahead on the party, Piper took further note of her surroundings with an alertness that was almost unnerving.
She glanced back, and his exceptional eyesight noted her furrowed brow as her stare brushed over him. His breath shuddered. Had she seen him? Her human eyesight was surely incapable of such a feat, but perhaps she’d sensed him there somehow? Hell, was she as attuned to him as he was to her?
The parked vehicle cut off any further view, but he knew exactly where they were when the front door opened with a blast of music and drunken laughter. The door shut and the music and laughter once again became muted.
His jaw tightened. He wasn’t going to wait any longer, he needed to act now so he could keep on the move. And though he’d bet Earth water was a crap substitute for the pure liquid of his own world, he had no choice. Yesterday he’d also eaten from the last of his desiccated nourishment pouches.
He didn’t plan on squandering energy anytime soon by shifting into his secondary dragon form, but he mightn’t have a choice once a full moon rose in the night sky. He’d need copious amounts of calories then.
He stoppered his hydration flask and pushed it into an internal pocket of his uniform, alongside his downscaled scorch gun. There was no more time to waste. Pushing to his feet, he skirted the sedan and strode across the road, trying to look as unobtrusive as possible. He was only glad it was dark. No one tried to stop him as he walked up the path and opened the front door.
He ducked his head through the doorway and blinked as he focused on the inside of the house. Cigarette smoke and some kind of fog filled the lounge room and competed with dazzling strobe lights. But otherwise the interior was blessedly dark. A pity the screeching music wasn’t also a little dimmer.
He stepped further inside, and like radar his stare zeroed in on Piper. She stood in a corner on her own, watching as her blonde friend gyrated against a man on the makeshift dance floor, where a dozen other couples danced.
Baron raised a brow. Rebecca hadn’t wasted any time, but who was he to judge? His attention had barely once strayed from Piper.
He scraped a hand over his face. What was it about her that drew him so blindly to her? She was a fish out of water, an oddity the men here seemed to avoid. Yet he saw only her incandescence, an attraction he couldn’t ignore.
<
br /> He could only be thankful she wasn’t a flame-haired breeder, because goddess only knew she was distraction enough without adding an inbuilt need to claim her as his own.
Piper’s eyes lifted, meeting his across the darkened room. She froze, her gaze widening even as her mouth pressed together. A second later she turned and bolted down a short hallway.
He frowned. Despite his size and his foreign uniform he still looked human. Was it truly possible she’d sensed him earlier and realized he wasn’t from Earth?
He stalked forward. He shouldn’t follow her, shouldn’t be doing anything to draw attention. But he found himself going after her anyway; found he gave a shit when all his motivation should remain solely on his survival.
In twelve months’ time he’d return to where he and his Riddich comrades had crash landed. He only hoped King Asher and his sister, Princess Dahlia, along with fellow soldiers, Wyatt and Valor, would survive the year out and evade the Tantonics.
He pushed past a heavily inked man with a Mohawk spray of pink hair. The man turned around and curled his pierced lip at him. When he realized Baron’s size and don’t fuck with me demeanor, the coward quickly stepped aside.
Baron didn’t waste energy thinking about the man. Stopping in the doorway of what the humans called a kitchen, he barely even noticed its grubbiness. Piper might be oblivious to him now, with all her attention directed at unrolling a sticker from a soda bottle, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
The piece of sticky paper came loose and she tilted her head to the side and held the paper up to the weak kitchen light, peering at the back of it as though deciphering some kind of secret code or text.
He stopped himself from leaning toward her; though his hands itched to touch her and his already hot body climbed a couple more degrees. But if his reaction toward this woman was abnormal, he was almost certain she didn’t act like a typical Earth woman. Not if all the television shows and movies he’d watched was any indication.
Somehow it made him even more intrigued.
His every cell vibrated with a need to know more about her, a rush of blood heading straight toward the part of his anatomy that’d been left idle far too long already.
She blinked up at the curl of paper, her brow furrowed. Only when someone’s nasal laughter broke out in the party room behind him did she become aware of her surroundings, and of him. She spun around with a sharp gasp, her already pale face going chalk white.
He stepped into the kitchen, grabbing a handful of what he vaguely recalled were peanuts—he’d watched many reality television cooking shows—from a platter and shoved them into his mouth. He chewed on the hard, crunchy pieces, before selecting some slices of cold meats, which looked like they’d seen better days, and putting them in his mouth too.
Her eyes rounded at his presence, and no doubt at his lack of eating manners too. “What ... what do you want? Why are you following me?”
How did he answer when he wasn’t entirely sure himself? He frowned even as he turned on the tap at the battered kitchen sink and the dull brown water spurted free. He waited until the color became a little clearer, before he filled his hydration flask.
The whole time he felt her stare on him, he absorbed her attention as though it was oxygen for his starved lungs. Fuck. He really needed to get laid, and soon. Not even Rhyhana had affected him this badly.
Stoppering his flask and pushing into his internal pocket, he turned to her and said, “I want you.” She gasped and he added softly, “Does that scare you?”
She swallowed, her pale throat looking all too delicate. But then her chin lifted and her eyes flashed. “Nothing much scares me these days. Not even a terrorizing giant.”
A terrorizing giant?
He might have been offended if she hadn’t already backpedalled, then turned and ran. “Wait!” he called out, but she’d already disappeared through the back door.
He knew exactly where she was headed. He spun on his heels and headed toward the front of the house, where the music screamed louder than ever and the revelry appeared to be escalating.
He was almost at the door when a brunette with big, glazed eyes and frizzy hair stepped in front of him, and shouted over the music, “My, aren’t you a big one!” She swept an appreciative gaze over his body-hugging uniform. “I love your outfit.”
It took a nanosecond for his stare to automatically sweep over her barely-there outfit. Holy shit. Did she realize her pussy lips protruded from beneath her bunched up micro-skirt? He blinked. She might as well be naked.
Perhaps Piper’s outfit wasn’t so bad after all? At least her drab skirt and blouse hadn’t taken away all the guesswork.
“You’re lady bits are showing,” he said brusquely, before he strode past her. She screamed something vile at him—great way to stay under the radar—but his attention had already moved on. He burst through the front door, sprinted along the footpath and across the road toward the sedan.
Piper was already in the driver’s seat and fumbling with the keys. His heart jackknifed at seeing her insert the key fully into the ignition. He leaped across the hood, one hand skimming the metal. Landing on the ground, he lunged toward the passenger door simultaneously to the sedan roaring into life.
Jerking open the door, he threw himself into the car even as the tires peeled rubber down the road. She gasped as he tucked his big form into the front seat, but she didn’t slow down.
“What do you want?” she choked out.
I want you.
His head hit the sedan’s roof, knocking some sense into him. He wouldn’t be telling her anything that specific. She’d be traumatized. Instead he hunched lower in the seat and rasped, “I want you to keep driving.”
She stared straight ahead, her hands clenched on the steering wheel. “I ... I don’t have anything of value.”
His lips twisted. “Don’t you?”
She really had no clue how valuable she was, at least to him. And he refused to let her go until he’d explored the reasons behind his damn fixation.
But then she looked at him and said, “I know you’re not human. Just ... tell me what you are.”
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About the Author
As a rather quiet, introverted child, Mel Teshco would never have believed it possible she’d one day be making a living writing hot, erotic stories and meeting so many other wonderful writers. She can most often be found at her computer, giving into her children and/or cats demands and occasionally/often drinking home brew, which brings out her sociable (i.e. loud) side. Her long-suffering husband is still waiting for retirement.
Dragons of Riddich series order:
Kadin (book 1: prequel)
Asher (book 2)
Baron (book 3)
Dahlia (book 4)
Wyatt (book 5)
Valor (book 6)
Also by Mel Teshco
The VIP Desire Agency:
Lady in Red
High Class
Exclusive (coming soon)
Winged & Dangerous:
Stone Cold Lover (free)
Ice Cold Lover
Red Hot Lover
Winged & Dangerous Box Set
Box sets with authors Christina Phillips & Cathleen Ross:
Taken by the Sheikh
Taken by the Billionaire
Taken by the Desert Sheikh (coming soon)
Standalone longer length titles:
Parallel Roads
Believe (with Kylie Sheaffe)
Standalone novellas and short stories:
Moon Thrall
Carnal Moon
Stripped
Clarissa
Camilla
Selena’s Bodyguard (also part of the Christmas Assortment Box)