Draekon Destiny_Exiled to the Prison Planet
Page 1
Table of Contents
Prologue
Epilogue
Draekon Destiny
The Lowlands and surrounding areas
Felicity
Xanthox
Luddux
The Dragons in Exile Series
The Draekons
About the Authors
A Preview of Night of the Shayde by Lili Zander
A Preview of Night of the Berserkers by Lee Savino
Books by Lili Zander
Books by Lee Savino
Draekon Destiny
Exiled to the Prison Planet
Lee Savino
Lili Zander
Copyright © 2018 by Tara Crescent, Lili Zander, Lee Savino.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Many thanks to Miranda for her sharp eyes.
Cover Design by Kasmit Covers
Contents
Draekon Destiny
The Lowlands and surrounding areas
Prologue
1. Felicity
2. Xanthox
3. Luddux
4. Felicity
5. Xanthox
6. Felicity
7. Felicity
8. Luddux
9. Felicity
10. Felicity
11. Xanthox
12. Felicity
13. Luddux
14. Xanthox
15. Felicity
16. Felicity
17. Luddux
18. Felicity
19. Luddux
20. Felicity
21. Xanthox
22. Felicity
23. Luddux
24. Felicity
25. Felicity
26. Xanthox
27. Felicity
28. Luddux
29. Felicity
30. Xanthox
Epilogue
The Dragons in Exile Series
The Draekons
About the Authors
A Preview of Night of the Shayde by Lili Zander
A Preview of Night of the Berserkers by Lee Savino
Books by Lili Zander
Books by Lee Savino
Draekon Destiny
It took less than ninety days for my happy ending to fall apart.
Stuck on an alien planet? I can deal.
Abducted by rogue prisoners? No problem.
Mated to two powerful, sexy Draekons? Let’s be real. It’s not a hardship.
After three months on the prison planet, I think I’m finally free of my demons. I’m far away from home. I can start over. Here, there’s no one to hold me back. No one to sabotage my happiness.
But my mates have been plotting to escape the prison planet.
Without me.
I thought I could trust them. I thought they loved me. I was wrong.
Can we heal our shattered bond?
Is a second chance in our destiny—or were we doomed from the start?
Draekon Destiny is the fifth book in the Dragons in Exile series. It’s a full-length, standalone science fiction dragon-shifter MFM menage second chance romance story featuring a heartbroken human female, and the two sexy aliens who are determined to win her back. No M/M) Happily-ever-after guaranteed!
The Lowlands and surrounding areas
Prologue
“You need to talk to us.” Xan stares at me, his eyes intense, his tone demanding.
No, I don’t.
“Tell us what you’re angry about, Felicity. Is it because we worked with Belfox and Herrix? Is it because we didn’t tell you about the ship? Because we yelled at you that morning? Tell us what’s wrong, and we will fix it.”
Even now, even when it’s too late, they aren’t telling me the truth. They’re still hiding it from me. Still trying to pretend it didn’t happen. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
Lud lifts his head. “You have to listen to us.”
“Or what?” I throw back at him. “Or you’ll make me? You’ll force me?”
He blanches, recoiling from me in shock. His expression turns hard. “I have never forced you,” he grinds out. “I have never asked you for anything. Except for that one time.”
My stomach churns.
I thought it’d be different here. I thought they were different. But they’re not.
My aunt and uncle used me for cheap labor; Lud and Xan used me to turn into dragons. All the dates, all the pretty things they said, it was all intended to seduce me for one purpose. They never said they loved me. They just brought me gifts and counted the days until I could give them what they wanted.
And once they got what they needed, they were going to leave. Forever.
I steel myself so they don’t know what the words cost me. They never cared about me. It was stupid of me to think they did. “There’s nothing you can say that will make this right.”
Our relationship is over.
1
Felicity
PRESENT…
Everybody, even us humans, has a role on the prison planet. Viola’s the unofficial leader of the nine of us. Harper’s the snarky, funny, and very pregnant one. Sofia, the resident doctor, is sweet and understanding. Ryanna’s handy and practical. Bryce is the adventurer.
I’m the catty bitch.
It’s been three weeks since we combined camps. The other exiles—I’ve been thinking of them as the New Draekons—live on top of a large mountain. They’re a strange mix of primitive and sophisticated. Their clothes are made from fur and a thin, silvery fabric that’s spun by the spider-like ahuma, but their houses have bathrooms, complete with bathtubs, running water and working toilets. After three months of squatting on the ground and bathing in the lake, I should be delighted.
They’ve also been really accommodating. It’s crowded here. Originally designed for fourteen Draekons, the camp first grew when Viola, Harper, Ryanna, and Sofia got there. Now, there are thirteen new additions, and everyone’s been working overtime, building houses, hunting and gathering food, and settling in.
We’re so busy that I’ve had very little time to face the truth. To admit to myself that things are probably over between Luddux, Xanthox, and I.
I’m sitting in the dining area by myself, cleaning a pile of fish that one of the Draekons, Rorix, had caught this morning. “Can you do it?” Olivia had asked me dubiously when I’d volunteered for the task. “I mean, we don’t want to waste any food. Maybe you should wait for Bryce.”
I’ve been working in my aunt’s seafood restaurant since I was nine, yet somehow, Bryce is the expert of the group. Whatever. “I can manage.”
Harper waddles over when I’m almost done, with a plate heaped with fries in her hands. I glance at it and then look away. It’s funny. I can clean fish alright, but the smell of deep-fried food takes me back to Maine, and not in a good way.
“Before you can lecture me about eating junk food,” she snaps defensively, “Save your breath. I already ate my daily quota of green vegetables.”
Sigh. Once—just once—I’d asked Harper if she was concerned about the baby getting enough nutrition. I wasn’t being the mommy police, just wondering if the plants on this world conta
ined the necessary nutrients, but of course, Olivia had immediately taken it the wrong way, and jumped down my throat, telling me that Harper was worried enough about the baby without my unwanted commentary, thankyouverymuch.
I’d thought about explaining, but I hadn’t. Why bother? She’s got me pegged as the catty bitch. Not without reason. Olivia’s rubbed me the wrong way from the start. She looks exactly like Chloe, same red hair, same big boobs, same bossy know-it-all attitude, and because of that, I’ve said more than my fair share of mean and snarky things about her.
Most of the human women dislike me, and yeah, that’s my fault. I’ve made a lot of mistakes so far. I’m probably still making them.
Why not stop, you ask? It’s like binging on a full pint of Haagen-Dazs. You know you shouldn’t eat the entire container, and you know it’s a bad idea, but let’s be honest, has that really ever stopped you?
Even now, there’s probably something I could say to Harper that’d make her feel better, but it’s easier to ignore her.
She sits down and eats her food in silence. I lapse back into thought as I continue preparing my fish, cleaning the scales, salting and seasoning the meat, and then smoking them dry.
My mates and I sleep in separate rooms now. It’s been a little over three weeks since we had sex. Back in the old camp, Lud and Xan had tried to heal the rift between us, but they don't anymore.
If we were back on Earth, I'd have moved out into my own apartment, and we’d be officially separated, starting divorce proceedings.
But I'm not on Earth. I'm stuck on the prison planet, and I’m useless here. I don't know how to hunt for myself. I don't know how to grow crops, or mend roofs, or do any of these survivor-type things that the other women seem to be able to do so readily. All I can do is cook.
For three weeks, I’ve been in limbo, letting things drag out, being quietly miserable without doing anything about it. Until this morning, when everything changed.
I track things obsessively. I know exactly how many things I own, how many days I’ve been here, and, perhaps most importantly, how long it’s been since my last period.
I’m three days late. For most people, that wouldn’t be anything to worry about, but I’ve always been as regular as clockwork.
I'm pretty sure I’m pregnant, and I have to make a choice. Stay or go?
“You’re quite good at that.” I’m wrapping the fish in leaves and carefully counting how many packets we have—forty-four today, and three hundred and twenty-three overall—when Harper’s voice startles me.
“I cooked in a seafood restaurant in Maine,” I mutter.
“I didn’t know that,” she replies. She’s trying to be friendly, but I have no idea why. “Do you miss it?”
Let’s see. Do I miss being an indentured servant to my aunt, uncle, and cousin? Do I miss being told daily how worthless I am, and how much I owe them for giving me a home? Do I miss working long hours in front of a hot stove, only to see my meager wages being taken away for room and board?
“Not really.”
She eyes me curiously. “Are you happy here, Felicity?”
No. I’m freaking out. I’m pregnant, my mates are barely talking to me, and I have no idea what I’m going to do.
I’m about to reply with something bland and non-committal when there’s a commotion in the clearing. A large dragon touches down, and he’s carrying something in his claws.
No. Someone.
Everyone comes running out of their homes as Thrax, one of Ryanna’s mates, shimmers back to his human form. Except he’s not human; he’s Draekon. Two-legged form, I guess. Whatever. I’m more interested in the man slumped on the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds.
“After I dropped off food for Beirax, I flew south-east,” he explains. “And I came across a shipwreck.” His expression is grim. “Six people. Only one was still alive.”
Arax folds his arms over his chest. “From the High Empire?”
Thrax nods, and Arax’s expression tightens. “And so it begins.”
Vulrux is kneeling next to the man Thrax rescued. “He’s not going to make it,” he says tensely. “He’s losing too much blood. My herbs and potions aren’t going to work. At best, I can keep him alive for the next day or two.”
Lud steps up. Even now, even after everything, my heartbeat quickens when I look at his curly brown hair, his sapphire blue eyes, his tightly-muscled body. “Dariux’s med-kit,” he says. “I’ll fetch it.”
“Will Dariux cooperate?” Arax asks, turning to Olivia’s mate Zunix. “You know him best.”
“Who can tell?” Zunix shrugs his shoulders. “It’s worth a try. He might be hard to find. Both of you should go.”
Xan nods, his golden-caramel hair glinting in the sun. “It might take us a few days,” he warns. He looks at me, his eyes hooded. “I suppose you’re going to want to stay here, Felicity?”
He might as well have stabbed me through the heart.
I don’t fix things. I never do. That would involve making myself vulnerable. That would involve facing the cold, hard truth. Admitting that the only reason they ever wanted me was because of a mating instinct, because of biology, because they wanted to be dragons. Admitting I’ve always loved them more than they loved me.
But there’s a baby involved now. I grew up without parents. I can’t repeat the cycle. My child, at least, deserves better.
I take a deep breath. “Actually,” I say quietly. “I’d like to come.”
2
Xanthox
PRESENT…
We built Felicity a house in our old camp. A little south of Lake Ang, we’d constructed a three-roomed structure with large windows. A portion of the roof was flat. Felicity had enjoyed lying there, naked, feeling the sun’s rays caress her skin. So many days, we’d climb up the ladder and find her there, her glossy brown hair partially covering her perfectly-formed breasts. She’d smile at us and beckon us forward, and in that small platform, hidden by the tree’s thick foliage, we’d make love.
How far away we are from that place now. Both physically and emotionally.
Most of my belongings are still in that house. Felicity, on the other hand, had packed everything she owned into a bag when she came here.
“Just give me a few minutes to get my stuff,” she says now, her voice vibrating with some hidden emotion.
I follow her to Dennox’s house, where we’re staying. The others are staying back to talk about the ship. Especially Luddux, who undoubtedly wants to know if Thrax found a communicator in the wreckage. He’s desperate to make contact with the outside world. “Do you need help?”
“No thanks,” she says stiffly.
I sigh inwardly. We caused this, Luddux and I. We should have been truthful with her from the start, but we’d held off on telling her what we were doing.
And it seems to have destroyed something between us.
Or maybe it was all only in my imagination. Maybe I’d wanted to be loved so badly, maybe I’d wanted a mate and a family of my own so much that I ignored the truth. Maybe there had never been anything there at all.
She pulls out her suitcase from under the bed. “Is that your luggage from the Fehrat 1?” I ask. I know that Arax and Nyx had retrieved the women’s belongings from the ship, but this is the first time I’ve seen the torn and faded box.
“Yes.” She unzips it. There are two pairs of pants—the human women call them jeans—and a few shirts. It doesn’t seem like a lot for what was originally planned to be a six-month mission.
“Is that all you had?”
Her eyes move away from me. “Yes.”
There’s a stiffness in her body as she moves to the small cupboard in the room and starts pulling clothes out of it. I see a flash of blue.
It’s a shirt, the first thing I gave her. Three months, three weeks and three days ago…
PAST…
Liorax and Zunix have been gone a very long time. The two men are restless by nature, always eager to explore t
his unknown planet that we’ve been imprisoned on.
I’m not as curious as they are, or maybe I’m still bitter about being torn away from my home and my estate. My family had been wealthy. We’d run the largest diarmod mining operation in Alvi. Two sectors from the homeworld, the testing had been something of a formality. No one in generations had tested positive for the mutation. It was just one of the rituals of the High Empire that every male Zorahn participated in, whether we understood it or not.
Until I’d tested positive.
Liorax and Zunix still have hope. I admire them for it. I don’t think I do. My days are routine. Wake up, hunt and fish, scavenge for leaves and berries. If I need anything that I can’t make, Zunix has a syn, and he’s usually willing to trade favors for access to it. After sixty-five years, there’s not much I need though.
We gather in the clearing. They’ll have news about their travels, and their stories will break the monotony of the prison planet for a day or two.