by Laurie Roma
However, she hadn’t been his intended target.
The Reema had planned on killing one of the Krytos males who owned the sanctuary. He’d been successful with the deadly sneak attack on others in the past, but she hadn’t given him a chance to try it in her presence. In retrospect, she probably shouldn’t have blasted him into bloody dust, though, her reaction to the perceived threat had been too swift for her to halt since it had all happened in an instant.
Were all Dragon Warriors to be faulted for their quick reflexes?
She hadn’t felt the need to explain or rationalize her actions to the owners of the sanctuary, but she had felt offense when one of them dared to yell at her after she had saved his life...probably. It was never wise to lose her temper, and the situation had definitely riled her a little. Still, she hadn’t destroyed the entire bar, so she’d call it a win.
Amari and Eden had stayed in Asylum, but they’d made themselves invisible again in order to study those who had frequented the bar. It was always fascinating to observe people when they didn’t know anyone else was around, and they had learned a great deal about each race as they listened.
After hearing that there were other Dragon Warriors in the area, Eden had decided to travel straight to Tartarus to meet them, while Amari had wanted to observe more people from the Alliance. She had gone to New Vega since a number of people had said that the massive vessel owned by three Krytos brothers was a place to behold.
She’d felt slightly annoyed heading to another Krytos stronghold after the little mishap in the last one. In the end, it had been worth it, or it had been, briefly. Her study of the Krytos, Helios, D’Aire, Reema, and the human elites on New Vega had been cut short when she was drawn into the search for a war criminal.
Quilla Rego...bound to Amari by blood, yet, separated by several generations.
Known as Korsek to the network of slavers and mercenaries that worked for her, Quilla had ordered kidnappings, murders, and the enslavement of countless females. The illusory Korsek had kept the Tarins in a state of civil war, but all of Quilla’s plans had been thwarted when Dragon Warrior Katra Tesera had made her home on Tartarus with her mate, Lord Jaden Tor.
It was remarkable how a single event could change the history of an entire world.
Then again, Dragon Warriors had the ability to do that.
Jaden and Katra had discovered that Quilla was behind the slave trade on Tartarus. They had cut down her army, but she had fled the planet before they could capture her. Since Katra was carrying, she and Jaden hadn’t accompanied Malik Rego on his quest to track down his sister. Instead, Amari had joined Malik and the group tasked with finding the traitor, and she had forged relationships with some of her Tarin relatives and new friends while they had searched.
Their quest had taken them to space stations, and to the planets Vexar and Xenthian, two worlds on the far edge of Alliance-controlled territory. In the end, they had journeyed to Light City after they had been told that was where their prey was hiding. When they had arrived, they’d discovered that Quilla had devised a plan to take over Earth.
They had been too late to stop her from using the Genesis Project drug that she had stolen from the Alliance. After she’d released it, the drug had infected everyone in Light City, driving them to a killing rage. Krytos had changed to their battle forms, and the Helios had shifted to their cat forms while humans had been susceptible to any command.
In short, it had been a bloody mess...literally.
The people in the city had either joined in on the carnage, or they had been slaughtered, while those lucky enough to remain indoors had huddled together in safety until help arrived. Only the D’Aire had been immune to the drug’s influence, but those within the city confines had been overrun and outnumbered. Using their wings, the D’Aire had taken to the sky, trying to save those they could, but it hadn’t been enough to stop the massacre that had besieged the streets.
Quilla used the drug to try to take over Earth, and she’d been in the process of mass producing a synthetic version when they had found her. Amari had allowed Malik Rego and Reva Golaris to exact their vengeance on the female who had forsaken everything they stood for, though, she had found the traitor first. They’d deserved their revenge. Malik would live with his sister’s betrayal for many years, and Reva would always remember the female who had killed her mother and fathers.
Sometimes retribution was the only way to heal, though, fate had been kind enough to guide Malik and Reva together. Their love had been stronger than their pain, and the Tarin lord and Helios shifter had found happiness living in the palace that had once been shrouded in shadows and lies.
And yet, Amari wasn’t sure why Quilla still haunted her in dreams.
Over the centuries, she’d heard of and encountered a diverse array of conflicts, but Amari would never understand slavery. Perhaps it was the code that had been instilled in her throughout her life, or the birthright of power she had been given upon her making that made conquering a faction of people so futile and depraved. She enjoyed a good fight, and combat was inevitable at times, but war was useless when it led to massive destruction and loss.
All worlds experienced issues as they evolved, however, Amari believed that there were fundamental moralities that each race had to abide by in order to survive. Easy, simple things...such as do not annihilate the masses, or enslave people, or even destroy societies because they believe in something different.
And as she had learned on Ziturri all those years ago, there were people who just didn’t give a fuck about what was right.
Thinking about that, she huffed out twin plumes of smoke from her nostrils and gave into the urge to spew fire. Her primal nature was always closer to the surface when she was in dragon form, and breathing fire was an easy way to expel some of her irritation.
Added to that, it was just fucking fun.
Fire burst from her mouth in a steady stream, and she flew through the flames with her wings tucked tight against her body, letting the heat rush over the armored scales that covered her in dragon form.
Sure, she could regulate her temperature, but the warmth of the fire offset the cold from flying so high. Flapping her massive wings, she created a turbulent flow of smoke that curled around her before she left it behind. Upon reflection, she probably shouldn’t have indulged herself since she freaked the humans out whenever she played with fire.
It wasn’t like she was going to destroy their base...unless they deserved it.
Rhys loped down a path that was far from the Alliance outpost, but she chose to fly over it. Those stationed there were probably used to seeing dragons in the air now that there were almost a dozen on Tartarus. Humans were fascinated by all of the other races, yet, most of the elite soldiers were still wary of the Dragon Warriors...as they should be.
She had only encountered the humans from the outpost once so far. A few elites had flown out with hover-cycles when Amari and Eden had been building their castle. The elites had broken a rule when they had left the outpost without gaining permission from Malik, but the sisters hadn’t worried about that.
The elites had hurried over to protest where the Naziras were building the castle into the side of the mountain. The humans wanted to harvest the minerals the Alliance needed from all of the mountain ranges on the planet. They lived in hope that the Tarins would allow them to collect the minerals themselves, starting with the area around the Alliance base. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, and Amari predicted the humans would never be given unrestricted access on Tartarus.
The sisters had been ready for an argument, but the elites had been deferential and friendly after they had realized the Dragon Warriors had no intention of changing their plan. The humans had been afraid, but their curiosity about the sisters had been stronger than their fear.
The elites had asked many questions, and they’d admitted that most of the humans didn’t know much about the Dragon Warriors or Tarin, despite living on Tartarus. Mali
k hadn’t allowed the elites off the base unless they were escorted by his warriors, and even then, they weren’t permitted off Rego land without express permission.
The humans knew even less about the Dragon Warriors. They’d been afraid to interact with any of them, mostly due to their fear of the males. That had amused both Amari and Eden to no end since the females of their race were just as lethal. Furthermore, there was no one on Tartarus more dangerous than the two Nazira sisters.
The elites were sent back to their base when the conversation had started to wane, and the questions had gotten in the way of Amari and Eden’s work. It had been a mistake to let the humans stay as long as they had, but the sisters had wanted to learn more about the Alliance by asking a few questions of their own.
Despite that encounter, meeting with a few humans didn’t mean the others at the base weren’t terrified of the Dragon Warriors. Especially when they were in dragon form and breathing fire. Amari felt the elites on guard watching her whenever she was in the sky, and she could sense the weapons some of them trained on her. Maybe they were simply trying to get a closer look at her through their scopes, but she knew there were a few of them that perceived her as the threat she was.
It was small of her, but she flew over the base because she enjoyed messing with them.
She had to take her amusement where she could.
There were times that she fleetingly wished some senseless soul would try to take a shot at her with a blaster. She’d even settle for an arrow or two. A little scuffle would have livened things up, but she guessed she already had her fun for the day. Besides, she couldn’t go around damaging humans, even if they were stupid and deserved it.
She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t do that.
The elites had far too many bloody rules to follow.
That was another reason she had declared time to herself over the last few days. On the next eve, she would be leaving Tartarus to attend the Ministry of Nations meeting that the humans had put together. Once there, she would be smothered by rules and regulations. Not that she would follow them, but that wasn’t the point. It meant she would be living in a perpetual state of irritation for the duration of the meeting, which wasn’t good for anyone involved.
A chancellor from each race would attend to represent the interests of their people. Malik Rego had been chosen as the Tarin chancellor, while Alexis Volis Tesera had been the Dragon Warrior representative. Unfortunately, Amari had been asked to replace her after they had discovered that Alexis was pregnant...again.
Since Alexis had recently given birth to twin males, no one thought it was possible for her to have more younglings so soon. It was usually at least a hundred years between the birth of Dragon Warrior sets, but it was possible if the mother had been converted from another race. Alexis had been human before mating her males, and when she’d used her magic while wishing for more babies, she had somehow made it a reality.
The Nazira sisters had discovered Alexis was carrying twin females when she had come to them thinking she was sick. It had been during an experiment to determine which of Alexis’ four extremely protective mates would have the most difficulty staying away from her. Only two of the males would have attended the Ministry of Nations meeting with her, while the other two males remained on Tartarus with the younglings, Gideon and Kadan.
Since first hearing about the meeting, Amari had known that Alexis wouldn’t be able to separate herself from the twins or her mates. Beyond that, the younglings and two males left behind would have gone crazy without her. Nevertheless, it hadn’t been Amari’s place to tell the Volis Tesera family that. They’d had to discover it for themselves.
Katra Tor was also pregnant, which meant she and Jaden couldn’t attend the meeting. He barely tolerated her leaving their palace without losing his mind. There was no way he would survive her leaving the planet, even if he was by her side. Besides, she would be having her twins at any moment, and no one wanted to risk their safety.
As the only unattached Dragon Warriors in the area, that left Amari or Eden to represent their race. Eden had bailed, claiming she had to remain on Tartarus to greet friends that were coming to visit soon. Amari could’ve argued, as the Vypers had been her friends for more years than Eden had been alive, but as the eldest, she had decided to take on the duty.
Despite her agreement, it seemed ridiculous for her to be attending the meeting on behalf of her home world. She couldn’t speak for her entire race. No Dragon Warrior could as there wasn’t a single ruler. Instead, they had separate royal houses and the people who lived under their protection. Some might think one of those leaders would have made a better chancellor than someone who didn’t live on their home world, but the families or individuals who lived amongst the stars had a better understanding of the other races involved.
For that reason alone, Amari was a better choice than many.
Any information that needed to be shared would be disseminated easily enough through her contacts, and Amari had to admit she was interested in learning more about the other races. The best way to do that was to spend more time interacting with them, but she was taking Alexis’ place for more than just her own curiosity. She’d already learned a few things about this area of space and its inhabitants that gave her pause, and by attending the Ministry of Nations meeting would give her a chance to study the motivations of each leader, and in turn, each race.
The Alliance seemed to be unifying worlds together through treaties and other agreements, but she suspected that it wouldn’t take long before the elites tried to make other worlds adhere to their regulations, by force if necessary. That was, the regulations the other races weren’t already following.
They did call this area Alliance-controlled space, after all.
Humans didn’t pose a real threat, yet, the Alliance’s technology and overinflated-sense of authority would surely lead them into trouble if they kept following the same path. Especially if they ever clashed with a world as powerful as Xenthian.
The Xenon she’d met had been friendly, even if they hadn’t been pleased she and Eden had suddenly appeared on their planet without warning. Xenthian seemed to desire peace, or they merely wanted to remain neutral amidst the other races. She couldn’t fault them for that as the Dragon Warriors wanted the same.
Amari had researched the information her people had compiled on Xenthian, but the database had been strangely limited of facts about the world that many had thought long gone. Her search for information hadn’t fared much better after touching base with her mother and fathers and some of her contacts.
Throughout their shared histories, there had been very few interactions between her race and the Xenon. Some considered the Xenon a dangerous, formidable adversary who would pose a challenge to defeat, while others believed Xenthian would make a mighty ally if needed. She expected that most of her people wouldn’t give it much thought beyond normal levels of curiosity and suspicion since there had been too much time and distance between their last meeting.
But they would damn well care if peace wasn’t what the Xenon wanted long term.
It had been eons since her entire home world had gone to war with another planet. There were stories passed down throughout the generations about times of great crisis in the universe when legions of Dragon Warriors had fought for a single cause. Sadly, those incidents had transpired way before Amari’s time, but it wasn’t difficult to imagine just how impressive their united power had been.
If one or two Dragon Warriors could kick some serious ass, a legion could obliterate a supercluster of galaxies. She could hope it never came to that, though, it would be pretty fucking awesome to experience an event like that once in her lifetime.
“Hey, where are you? And what is your damage?”
Amari sighed as she heard her sister’s voice in her mind. “Good rising to you, too. I am in the sky, and not damaged in any way.”
“It is simply an expression,” Eden clarified. “You need to brush up on t
he vernacular of this territory if you want to match my own brilliant linguistic skills. You know, make an effort to blend in with the natives, and adapt to our surroundings.”
Why in all the worlds would she want to do that?
“Clearly, you must be jesting. I have no need to blend with anyone. Besides, we are not on Earth, and the Tarins do not speak that way. Well, except for Lazio,” Amari conceded after a beat. “But he is an anomaly.”
“Aye, our young nephew does have a style all his own,” Eden agreed with a laugh. “Now, are you almost done stalling? I have been waiting for you in the throne room for hours. And what has you so irritated? I felt you pulse out such a heavy wave of anger earlier.”
Amari should have realized she had been projecting her emotions but hadn’t cared in the moment. Only her sister would have been able to sense her from that distance, which would save her from being questioned by the others.
During her flight, she had encountered a group of Tarins hiding out in the canyons to the south. The males were slave owners who had been lucky enough to evade capture...until now.
The Dragon Warriors had never paid much attention to the southern region of Tartarus since it was made up of nothing but lava beds, dry, cracked, rocky flatlands, and deep canyons cut into the base of the southern mountains, the largest of the ranges on the planet. There was little food or water to be found, except for in a lush valley hidden within the mountain terrain, but the group of Tarins hadn’t made it there. If their location in the canyons had been any indication, they wouldn’t have made it to the valley before they all starved to death.
“It was nothing. A minor inconvenience. Though, you and the others might want to keep an eye on the southern range while you are exploring. I found something interesting out there today.”