Mated to the Dragons

by Sara Fields

  The crowd roared.

  She expected the killing blow to come at any moment, but it never did.

  Bruddis squeezed her hand and she realized she’d been gripping the armrest for dear life. Draego chuckled beside her.

  “There is no honor in killing outside the battlefield on our planet, Jada. To waste life in a game is not our way,” Draego said with seriousness and she allowed herself to relax. The man with the blade to his throat knelt beside the victor and the crowd quieted.

  “I’m sorry, Princess. It is with great sadness that I will not honor you this day,” the man said.

  The crowd remained silent.

  “They’re waiting for you to say something,” Bruddis coaxed her and she frowned.

  “What would I say?”

  “Tell them that they fought valiantly and that the fates are with the victor,” Draego replied and she repeated the words to the crowd, although much louder.

  The audience broke out in mass applause and the two men left the arena. Jada sat back and folded her hands in her lap, excited to see how the day was going to proceed.

  The rest of the games passed quickly as matched pairs of warriors fought against each other, eliminating one after the other until only a handful of warriors were left. At that point, the games fell into a sort of intermission, as attendants set up the arena for the final event below.

  Jada took the time to excuse herself and wander to the restroom with the assistance of one of the servants who had brought her the food and drink. It was some ways away down a side hall, and she was thankful she had asked for assistance. She felt the lovely tingle of the wine in her veins and she grinned happily, excited to watch the end of the games.

  She entered into one of the stalls, happily surprised to find modern conveniences here as well. Draegira was a strange world, she thought. It was almost like it was a medieval planet, but hid its technology well, almost as if it was dishonorable to flaunt it. She’d have to ask the brothers when she returned.

  The door squeaked open and she stilled. The attendant had told her that this was a restroom reserved only for likes of her, royalty.

  Someone slapped open the first stall, followed by the second, the sound making a large boom that hurt her ears.

  Dropping to the floor, she crawled to the furthest stall and crept out from underneath, moving around a corner where the person couldn’t see her from their view. Her eyes took account of her surroundings, suddenly thankful for the circular design of the bathroom, with a lounge on one side and bathroom stalls on the other. Turning the corner, she ran around the lounge, reaching the door and trying to slip out the door unnoticed and as quietly as she could.

  Her head ripped backwards as a hand reached around and gripped her hair in a fist, pulling her back and causing an explosion of pain to bloom across the back of her scalp. She cried out as her back slammed against a tall, definitively male chest and went to scream before a hand clapped over her mouth.

  She struggled as best as she could, trying to kick the man on the shins, whatever she could do to break free. Screaming into his palm, she lurched her body back and forth until she felt the metal edge of a blade at her throat.

  She stilled instantly.

  “That’s a good girl. You wouldn’t want me to slit this pretty little throat of yours, now would you? Your husbands wouldn’t like that very much…”

  Jada trembled under the man’s fierce touch, her eyes racing back and forth as she tried to figure out who the hell this man was. She could see his arm and knew that he wasn’t Draegiran; his skin wasn’t marked by any dim red scales or anything, meaning that he was human. She hadn’t seen a single human since she’d arrived on the planet and the realization chilled her to the bone. How had he found her?

  “Scream, and you die,” he growled. Slowly, he removed his hand from her mouth. The knife pressed harder against her skin.

  “Who the fuck are you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and much more courageous than she thought she could muster.

  “President Ramsey sends his regards,” the man chuckled maliciously.

  She stilled. This man was an assassin. He’d come to make sure she died for the knowledge she had in her head. Struggling in earnest now, she yelped as the knife bit into her throat just a little.

  “He sends you to kill me now? Not enough to ruin my life, exile me from Earth, and marry me off to some aliens? Now he wants me dead too?”

  “Not quite, feisty,” he growled.

  “Well, what the fuck does he want then?” she pushed, trying her best not to let any quiver of fear edge into her voice.

  “You see, President Ramsey needs your help,” he started, and she laughed.

  “You really think I’d ever help that man? After everything he’s done? I refuse. Kill me, I don’t care. He’s already taken my entire life away. He doesn’t have anything left he can do to break me,” she challenged.

  “You’re mistaken, feisty. There’s plenty he can still do to hurt you. Remember your mother?” the man whispered, and her blood ran cold with fear.

  “He wouldn’t touch her. He has no reason to,” she whimpered.

  “Not yet, but he will… If you decide not to help him, he’ll torture both your mother and your father, kill them if he has to in order to make you comply,” he whispered.

  Jada was silent for a long moment and closed her eyes in order to hold back her tears. She had thought she would be free of Earth, had been beginning to accept that everything was going to be good again, that she’d found her happily ever after, but now Ramsey had reemerged to take it all away again.

  She hated the man. She wished he’d just drop dead.

  “What does he want from me,” she finally answered, and the man chuckled.

  “Knew you’d see reason after I explained what was at stake here, feisty,” he said, and she crinkled her nose, the smell of his rancid breath hitting her like a stack of bricks.

  “Remember that journalist that you were framed for murder for? Well, turns out someone found his notes and they’ve begun to call into question your trial and sentence. It’s all over the news and the president doesn’t like it,” he continued, and she snorted in amusement at the president’s demise.

  “You see, you’ve always claimed innocence. He needs you to return to Earth and confess. Tell the world that all that information about him bribing and fixing the election was made up. You can do that, right? Be a good little girl?”

  “Doesn’t everyone think I’m dead?”

  “No. Your trial was made public after you were gone. Your parents were so proud…”

  “You all are a bunch of miserable fuckers, you know that?” Jada growled, furious. It would have been better for her family if they thought her dead, not the murderer she had been made out to be. Tears clouded her vision as she thought of her mother and her father and what they must have gone through, the sadness and anger that must have felt when their only daughter was labeled a vicious killer.

  Despite her fury, a choking sob noise escaped her throat.

  “Why would he do that to them? I was sent away from Earth forever, he didn’t need to do that to them. They didn’t deserve it,” she cried softly.

  “You’ll need to know only what you need to know. Now you’re coming with me, feisty, whether you like it or not,” he growled.

  “I have a name, asshole,” she said boldly, and his grip tightened, the blade biting her skin fiercely.

  Feeling numb, she didn’t struggle as he led her out of the restroom and down a series of dark halls and stairwells into an alley. He continued to hold the knife against her raw skin, as he maneuvered her toward a large object covered with a really large tarp.

  He ripped it off, revealing a small spaceship that he quickly forced her into. Before she knew it, she was stuffed into a small cage and the ship rocketed off the ground, taking her and her dreams of a happy future into the dark, deep beyond.

  Chapter Ten

  Bruddis looked behind the throne
chair as the intermission music came to an end. Draego sat beside him, starting to look equally as concerned. Jada had been gone a good twenty minutes, if not longer and he was getting worried. When the attendant returned with more food for the three of them, he grabbed the woman’s wrist.

  “Where’s Princess Jada?” he growled, and the young girl bowed her head.

  “Restroom, your majesty. Should I go get her?” the girl asked.

  “No, I’ll go check myself,” Bruddis replied. Draego rose beside him.

  The two of them took off down the hall and slammed the ladies’ bathroom door open so hard that its hinges rattled.

  Not a single sound met his ears. Not one.

  “Jada?” he called out and his ears strained for the sound of her breath, a gasp, movement, anything really.

  Nothing.

  The two of them opened every stall, looked in the lounge until Draego pointed out the trash can. It had been knocked over. Upon closer inspection, he found scuff marks on the tile floor. Signs of a struggle.

  Someone had taken his woman.

  His fury grew by the second. His princess, his bride. Someone had taken her. It was more than clear that she hadn’t gone willingly.

  He roared as he emerged from the restroom, screaming orders to nearby servants, telling them to announce to the audience that the end games were temporarily delayed until the princess was found. Draegirans bowed to his wrath, tamed by his alpha blood, their own blood forcing them to submit to his power.

  In seconds, the crowd began to dissipate. Draegirans began the search for their princess, each of them as terrified and afraid as he was for her sake.

  Bruddis burst into the stairwell, rushing down stairs and outdoors, searching the ground for a single sign of his woman, but finding nothing but tossed dirt from the thousands of feet attending the Warrior Games. He circled around the coliseum until he found what looked like a scuffle and knelt down. He traced what looked to be her leather slipper in the dirt and looked up into the sky, hearing the blast of a rocket engine.

  He narrowed his eyes, focusing on the metal object flying between the clouds and recognized it for what it was.

  With an angry roar, he shifted into his dragon form, uncaring that his clothes drifted torn and tattered to the ground. He flew up into the sky after the ship and screamed with frustration as it broke out of Draegira’s atmosphere and into space.

  He tore back down to the ground and shifted back into human form, grabbing what remained of his pants off the ground and pulling them up over his hips.

  “To the travel hangar. It’s time to take out the best ship we have. Now. Stat,” he growled as Draego followed. In their culture, they had access to the latest technology, but in many cases, it was looked down upon to use, other than with issues of basic sanitation and health. He didn’t care this time. He’d use whatever he needed to find Jada, his fated mate.

  “What did you see?” Draego pressed.

  “Earthen in origin, the planet Jada is originally from. For some reason, they took her back from us, but I aim to capture whoever the fuck it was and find out exactly the reason,” Bruddis roared.

  “Don’t worry, brother,” Draego said as he gripped Bruddis’ forearm. “We’ll find her and destroy whoever has taken our bride.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Handcuffed and thrown in a cage meant for a large dog, Jada tried to move and situate herself enough so that she was comfortable for what was looking to be an incredibly long journey, but no position was restful for her. Her wrists rubbed against the tough metal, no doubt bruised from the cuffs. She wondered how long it would take the bruises to fade.

  Her once gorgeous white dress was filthy, muddied by the dirt outside the coliseum, when she had tried to prevent herself from being forced into the spaceship. The man had thrown her to the ground, pinned her, stuffed a rag into her mouth, and bound her hands. He’d thrown her over his shoulder and carried her onto the ship, not caring if she kicked and struggled against him.

  Once inside, she’d been confined to this oversized dog crate and only allowed to use the restroom three times a day. It was torture and her body screamed in pain every time the ship jolted a little.

  A day had passed and the small ship hurtled through the stars at hyper speed. The man had said that Earth was still over a week away. She didn’t know how she’d survive. Her stomach growled angrily, loud enough that the man heard it and tossed her a protein bar. She looked at it both in disgust and with interest, but finally managed to nibble a few bites despite the sick feeling in her stomach.

  The man finally unlocked the cuffs from her wrists and she cried out from the sheer pain of the blood returning to her fingers, of her shoulders creaking back into place and the stiffness in her back. She rubbed her wrists, noting the dark bruises that were already beginning to develop beneath her pale skin.

  Tears prickled at the edges of her eyes when the man tossed her another protein bar and slammed the cage door shut. Lying down on her side, she cried silently at the pain still racking her body and wished that everything was different.

  But if she had never worked for the president, she would have never been sent to the detainment center, would have never been match to Bruddis and Draego.

  She missed them. Wanted their caring touch, their arms wrapped around her body, their palms spanking her naughty backside. She missed everything about them. She hadn’t even had a chance to really learn about their world, to learn what their dragon forms were capable of, to figure out what it meant to be a queen.

  Rolling on her back, she stared at the ceiling of the tiny spacecraft, counting the numbers of screws that secured each metal plate.

  Eight.

  She passed the time by counting higher, rounds of eight until she closed her eyes and dreamed of better days.

  When she woke, she nearly screamed out loud, finding herself still enclosed in the cage with the strange man at the helm. He barely spoke to her, hadn’t even told her his name. He just stared at the computer at the helm of the ship, studying the map of the stars and bitching every now and then about a strange blip on the radar behind them.

  She ignored him for the most part. She didn’t recognize him from her life back on Earth, prior to all of this. He was of average height, muddy brown hair and brown eyes. A long scar dragged from his left eye to the corner of his lips, making him a foreboding sight. His voice was gravelly and vulgar and he had little manners to speak of, leaving much to be desired. And he stank, literally. The more she watched him, the more she came to realize that he had not even one attractive feature.

  Glaring in his direction, she observed as he murmured something about being only hours away from Earth and the blip that had been tailing them had seemingly begun to lose speed, edging on and off the radar. He seemed to be in better spirits now that Earth was in his sights. She sighed and closed her eyes again, listening as he made remote calls to people back on her home planet, including President Ramsey.

  Fucking bastard.

  She listened to the president’s voice and chewed her lip with anger. That was the man who had fucking ruined everything. He deserved to be taken down and destroyed. The world deserved to know the truth about him, how he’d lied his way into the presidency and killed a man to keep his secret from getting out. Biting her cheek, she vowed to destroy him, whatever it took, no matter the cost. She just had to make sure her family was safe first and then she’d kill the asshole. The world would know everything then.

  Several hours passed and she felt the ship’s speed increase as they entered Earth’s atmosphere, her stomach dropping at the forces involved. Had she eaten anything other than the tiny, bland protein bars he’d given her, she probably would have thrown up.

  Curling up, she moaned as the ship slowed its descent, landing gear screaming as it emerged from its hull. The spacecraft hurtled across a landing pad and ground to a screeching halt, leaving her head reeling and her stomach rolling. Groaning, she pressed her fingers to her forehead
and lifted her eyes to see the door swish open and guns pointed at her face.

  An armed guard of SWAT units was waiting for her and the man that had flown the ship greeted them warmly.

  “Jada Rivers. Fresh, signed, alive, and delivered as promised,” he said, and she growled in his direction.

  “Shut up, feisty. You’re Ramsey’s now.” He laughed and kicked her cage, causing her to cry out.

  “Fuck you, jackass,” she retorted as the SWAT team swarmed around her, lifting the crate into the air and carrying her off. They shoved her in the back of a van and it tore off into night.

  No one said a word to her or even acknowledged her presence. They were silent as the grave, even though she tried to ask where they were going or what was going to happen to her. Eventually she gave up and just sat in her cage, waiting for whatever doom that was to befall her to come and take her.

  The car ride was bearably short and the SWAT team took her cage and carried her down a dark hallway into a room with a heavy metal door. Once inside they unlocked her cage and left her, slamming the door behind them.

  All alone, she ventured out into the dimly lit room. She nearly moaned with relief at seeing a cot with a blanket and a private bathroom off the side of the room. On the cot was a tray of food that included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, and a bag of chips. She devoured the meal within moments and instantly regretted it, remembering that it could have been drugged or poisoned.

  After some thought, she realized it was incredibly unlikely. She knew Ramsey didn’t want her dead. He needed her for something, whatever it was.

  She curled up on the cot and drew the covers up around her body, grateful to be able to stretch out and get warm and perhaps get the most restful night’s sleep she’d had in a while.

  She drew her wrists up near her face and was pleased to see that the bruises were beginning to change color, indicating that she was healing and that they would hopefully be gone soon. Wondering how Bruddis and Draego were doing, she bit her lip. How long had it taken them to realize she was gone? What could they do since they had no evidence of her whereabouts, no clue that she’d been taken by insane people back on Earth.