by Crystal Dawn
“I watched a movie once where prisoners, violent one, were given a chance to be soldiers on a secret mission. They risked their lives, but if they survived they would be free. I think most of them died. Some did live and disappeared. Those never got in trouble again. It’s all about picking the right ones.”
“Davy and your sisters are always talking about things they saw in movies. Perhaps we need a movie screen and we can have some of these movies sent here.”
“A good movie can be magical.”
She was leaving it up to him and why not? He knew she worked all the time. When would she watch a movie? They settled in and began to eat. Watching her in awe, he’d never seen any dragon put away so much. For such a little female, where did it all go? When they finished, she got up and put the tray by the door.
“Ready for bed?” He asked.
“I want to clean up first. It’s really hot in the kitchen by the stoves.”
It was something he’d not thought about since dragons liked heat, but she hadn’t changed yet. The change coming over her might have made her feel hotter than usual. Sweat beaded on her forehead which was unusual. He was a bad mate not to have noticed. Tomorrow, he’d ask Bree to hang out at the castle just in case.
“I wouldn’t mind getting clean either.” He admitted.
“Sounds like fun to me.”
He followed her to their room closing the door once they were through. Now they headed to the bathroom where he planned to have a hell of a good time. Standing back he watched his mate strip. There was no sight he found lovelier than his naked mate. His dragon rumbled. Now he stripped too as she watched.
“You are so handsome.” She admitted as she stared.
“We’d best get wet.”
“I already am.” Tomi winked playfully. Turning on the water, she stepped in.
When he followed her he realized the water was barely warm. Reaching out, he placed his hand on her forehead. She was running a fever. Her eyes were slightly red and her heart rate was faster like a dragon’s would be. He suspected she was near the middle of her change. Lushia would have to take charge tomorrow because Tomi probably would be unable to do a thing.
So far those in her family had been in pain and too tired to get around for a few days during the height of the change. The timing was not good since he would be leading the attack. If he got up early, he could contact Lushia and Bree to see that Tomi and her business was taken care of. There was really nothing else he could do.
Tomi pinched him. “Hey, what was that for?”
“I wanted you attention back on me!”
“You have it all, my love. Now what?”
“I’ll show you what.” She jumped up into his arms and her hand found his shaft. Once she positioned it, she sank down on him.
“Gods yes!” he yelled. He turned her to press her against the shower wall and began pumping in and out hard and fast.
“Faster.” Tomi chanted over and over so he obliged.
His orgasm loomed just out of reach but that was okay. He needed her to find hers first and he could tell she was so close. “Come, Baby.” He reached down to find her clit and pulled it.
Her orgasm hit like a tidal wave. It brought on his and he went wild. Later he worried that he’d hurt her but she said she was fine. They’d dried off and gone to bed naked, but she’d fallen asleep in seconds and it was unlikely she’d wake for some time.
Chapter 7
Changing
She woke up unsure how long she’d slept. Erak wasn’t next to her nor had he been as she’d tossed and turned. The flu? Maybe since she’d had aches and pains unusual for her and a fever that had raged. In her fuzzy memory she remembered Bree making her drink some kind of witches brew. Not that it had tasted bad or that she had anything against witches.
Her hobby was witchcraft even if she’d not pursued it much. It wasn’t like Betty’s pursuit of herbs. Whatever Betty had given her seemed to have helped since she didn’t feel like she was going to die anymore.
“Aw shit! I still feel bad.”
“But you feel better than you did if you can talk.” Bree said.
“Where are you?”
“I’m sitting in a chair right by your bed. I think you need a shower. Your mate will be back anytime.”
“The attack?”
“They left for it hours ago.”
“You don’t know anything?” She asked.
“Not a darn thing and my mate is there too. I hope they beat the hell out of those rogues or whatever the hell they are.”
“Me too. What about the cafeteria?”
“Erak put Lushia in charge.”
“Thank God.”
“No thank Erak. Here, take my hand.”
A hand appeared in front of her and she grabbed it. “Oh, my! That makes me sick.”
“Your change has been rough. Maybe because you’re a queen? I really don’t know.” Bree observed.
“Not fair.”
“Life often isn’t, Sis.”
She sat up looking around and waiting for the dizziness to go away. Feeling a tad better, she rolled so her legs would drop over the side of the bed. “I’m naked.”
“It’s how you went to bed, Sweetie.”
“How long?”
“Nearly a day.” Bree admitted.
“Hungry.”
“If you can manage a shower by yourself, I’ll go order food.”
Nodding, she stopped because it hurt. “Okay.”
Without the slightest sense of modesty, she stood up slowly and headed to the bathroom. She felt better now that she was moving. Heading straight to the shower, she stepped in without a thought and the water was cold as ice though not for long. A small scream came out of her until she smothered it. That wasn’t very queenly.
It was hard to believe she was a queen. Washing up, she hurried because now she was starved to death. Once she was dried and dressed, she hurried out to where Bree waited. The food had been delivered quickly. It looked like medium rare steak. Honestly she thought she could eat it rare, but that was alright.
Once she was at the small table, she began to eat like a dragon. She wiped her plate out in mere minutes and looked for more. Grinning, when she saw Bree present another plate. “You’re the best sister ever.” When the second plate was empty, she felt much better.
“What do you want to do now?” Bree asked.
About that time yells were heard from the lower floors. “Looks like that’s been decided for us. I believe we’re under attack.” They headed to the hallway.
“I think I can fit in this hallway when I change.” Bree mentioned. I wish we knew if you could.”
“My dragon says she can.”
“She’s talking to you already?”
“Unless I’m going crazy she is.” She admitted.
“If we can change in the hallway, we can burn them to toast. With a partial shift, they’ll not be able to hurt a fully shifted dragon.”
“Shouldn’t we go to different hallways?”
“I hate to leave you on your own especially newly shifted.” Bree admitted.
“My dragon says she’s a queen and can handle it.”
“I guess you’re in charge. Just don’t get yourself killed.” They split up going to different hallways and she shifted for the first time.
These hallways were planned so male dragons couldn’t shift, but they hadn’t thought about females. She shifted and it was a close fit, but she could still move. The enemy came around the corner and they were all rogues.
“Looky here what we have. A baby dragon. I’d heard the Earther females could shift. I bet they aren’t tough though.” The male sneered.
You’ll eat those words. She tried to say it, but it only sounded in her mind. Her dragon took over and fire flew down the hall. The smell of burning flesh made her sick, but her dragon wasn’t affected. This wasn’t a pretty way to die. But she knew they were killing her people and they didn’t care. Someone had to stop them an
d that someone was her and her sister.
Horrific screams came from one hall over. Bree was at work too. She hated this, but it was only self-defense. An hour later, she was dizzy and needed to eat and sleep. There didn’t seem to be any more rogues coming down the hall, but she’d bet there were more of them hiding in rooms or downstairs. Walking to the end of the hall, she looked around.
It was risky, changing to human. Instead, she decided to find Bree. And find her she did. Her sister was caught by a rogue with his arm around her throat. “Come closer and I’ll kill her.” He threatened.
Now she had no choice but to shift to human. “So?”
“What?”
“Did you know she’s adopted? It’s okay. Do what you have to but I’ll have to slow roast you. My mother likes her. You understand, right? I know it’s a nasty way to go, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“You humans are crazy.”
“Yes, yes we are. It seems to work well here.” She admitted. He let Bree go and turned to run away falling down over and over.
“I’m adopted?”
“Hey, it worked. We need to get some weapons and sweep the castle and you need to watch your back. I think my heart stopped beating for a while.”
“You did a good job of acting like you didn’t care.” Bree sniffed.
“That was the only way to keep you alive.”
“Okay, but you owe me something.”
“Fine. But let’s find some weapons and get to work.”
They walked back through the hall where she’d been before. “You made an awful mess. It smells horrible.”
“I’m not cleaning it up. Here, Erak has a collection of mixed weapons.” She grabbed a sword and a gun of some kind.
Bree took a sword and throwing knife. “Let’s go.”
They made a sweep of the rooms on their floor finding them empty even of those people that should be there. They were almost done with the floor below when soldiers rushed in. The males were in uniform but she and Bree were both nervous until they saw Jarel.
“Thank God it’s you!” Tomi said.
“My queen! We caught them fleeing and captured most of them. A blubbering fool said to keep you away from him or you would slow roast him?”
“He tried to kill my sister.”
“I understand. What happened to the others?”
“The other enemies are dead. I don’t know where our guards went.” She admitted.
Jarel began to give orders and soon everyone was gone but him. “How did you do it?”
“The halls are too small for male dragons, but not the smaller female versions.”
“Thank the goddess for that.”
“Bree came up with the plan.”
“It was a good plan and kept you alive until we got back.” Jarel noted. A loud roar, no, two loud roars were heard from outside. “Your mates have made it back.”
Erak would be upset, but they’d had no choice. It was a do or die situation. They waited knowing their mates approached. Romo came around the corner first with Erak on his tail. Each of them caught them in their arms looking for any wounds.
“Dear goddess. I can’t believe I never thought they’d attack the castle.” Erak admitted.
“Bet they don’t again.” Jarel whispered.
“What happened?” Erak demanded.”
“It was good you sent me and a few squads ahead. As we arrived, the rogues were fleeing. Some of them were terrified which made no sense. We’ve not found our guards yet. Never mind. They’ve been found trussed up in the dungeon. They were overwhelmed with large numbers. Once they had the guards tied up, they went after the queen and Bree. It didn’t work well for them.”
“How could they hold off dozens of rogues?” Erak asked.
“Apparently Bree had the idea of them to each take a hallway and shift to dragon. They used their fire to burn dozens of rogues to ashes.” Jarel explained.
“I had the idea to shift, Tomi wanted us to take different hallways. I was a bit worried about a newly changed dragon on her own, but she made a believer out of me.” Bree admitted.
“That is unbelievable. The hallways are sized to prevent shifting.” Romo observed.
“Only for full sized males. Females are smaller and we were lucky that was the case.” She pointed out. “Oh, my God! I need to check on my people in the cafeteria.”
“They are fine. I gave them the day off because only a few guards were left behind.” Erak explained.
“Thank you. It would be hard to take if any of them were harmed.” She admitted.
“We’d best get everyone somewhere safe while we wait for everyone to check in.” Jarel suggested.
“You’re right. Come, Tomi.” Erak urged. Romo and Bree followed with Jarel and some guards behind them.
Everyone’s eyes were wide as they walked through the ash covered hallway. It was upsetting that she and Bree had been forced to kill so many to save themselves. She didn’t understand the rogues and she was sure she never would. Erak opened the throne room door and she led the way inside. A guard took the door from him and he followed her.
Erak put a finger to his lips while Jarel searched for bugs. This time they would be tracked back to where they came from, but regardless of what they found, they would never be back in here. Her mate would be pleased because he hated them around.
“Okay, we are bug free.” Jarel said.
“You and Bree were amazing.” Erak declared. “The two of you took out a fourth of their people. We took out another fourth. Their numbers have to be low. No one seems to know any of these rogues anymore.”
“Maybe you should have a doctor examine their bodies. Maybe they are not from your planet?” Tomi advised.
“How would they do that?” Erak asked.
“I don’t know what they do, but they do it on Earth all the time. We have coroners who examine the dead to make sure they weren’t killed by unnatural causes.” Tomi said. “You need to get some of our TV shows.”
“They show this on TV?” Jarel asked.
“They show a simulation.” Bree explained. She was wiggling out of Romo’s grip. Overprotective, just like Erak.
“I promised Bree a reward for helping me.” Tomi mentioned.
“I would be pleased to get you one. What do you want?” Erak asked.
“I’d like to add to my sword collection.” Bree said.
“I’ll find you something.”
“Thank you.” Bree said.
“We need to get someone to clean the ashes.” She mentioned.
“It might be best to leave them for a while. The enemy seems fearful of them.” Jarel explained.
“I can see why.” Romo agreed.
“It would probably be best. Just for a while.” Erak added.
She sighed heavily. “I suppose you guys know best. So how did the attack go?”
“When we got there we noticed right away the numbers were depleted. The thought that they were at the desert came to mind, but we had them under surveillance and that wasn’t the case.” Erak admitted. “They had sent a large group here, to attack you and the usual castle personnel. It didn’t occur to us right away. When it did, I sent Jarel to check on you.”
“Thank goodness you did.”
“Why? All he caught was fleeing enemy.” Erak said clearly disgusted with himself.
“They needed to be caught. Those that are put away, won’t fight against us again. Every rogue dealt with is one less to battle us.”
“I love the way you say that. You’re right, but I hated you and Bree being in danger.” Erak admitted.
“You need to get used to it if you plan to get larger numbers of females in the military.” She pointed out.
“I wish we didn’t have to.”
“At least they are volunteers. Not all the males had a choice.”
“I know you’re right. It’s just not the way we were raised to believe. Has anyone checked in with you?” He looked at Jarel.
“Several
. Almost all the guards were found alive. They must have had a purpose planned for them.” Jarel guessed. “Davy is looking at the tapes. The rebels simply marched on the castle with bigger numbers and attacked. Only a few escaped with their lives.”
“Maybe this will teach them a lesson?” Erak questioned.
“I think the problem is the leaders aren’t risking anything. They are sending in those that have no value to them. On Earth we call them cannon fodder. It teaches them nothing if they don’t care about them.” She explained.
“So we need to get to the head of this monster.” Erak said.
“Exactly, but first you need to find out who that is.”
“They hide well.” Jarel admitted.
“There has to be a way to get to them.” She speculated.
“Right now Davy is tracking the bugs. Maybe we’ll get lucky.” Jarel hoped.
“For now, I believe Bree and Tomi need to eat and rest before they fall down.” Erak observed. He called in an order. “I called in an order for Bree too. You can pick it up in town on your way home.”
“Food. That would be so cool if I can stay awake long enough.” Tomi declared.
“You should go clean up. Once you’ve eaten, you’ll need to sleep.” Erak directed.
As she walked away she heard Jarel say, “Two fire dragons. That is amazing.”
She’d forgotten that not all dragons were fire dragons. Fire dragons could blow the hottest flames. Most dragons had some fire, only a few could only blow smoke. But what she and Bree had done, they incinerated other dragons. Few could get their flames that hot.
Making her way to their bathroom, she was glad to strip off the clothes she’d put on. She never wanted to see them again. Regardless of how necessary what she and Bree had done was, she felt a deep sense of loss. Part of her innocence was gone and would never return. Before this, she’d never even seriously hurt anyone.
There was no one she’d wished more than a bad day on. To kill someone, no, to utterly destroy them, that was nothing she’d even wanted to do. Maybe that was why she’d never wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. She’d known deep inside how this would feel and it was bad. Very bad.