by Lee Savino
I can’t attack him directly—his shield will ward off my fire. But all shields need external power sources. Where is his?
“And their perverse mating,” he spits out. “Two men mate with one woman, and only when the mating bond is complete can they transform? They are disgustingly weak.” He straightens his shoulders. “A thousand years have passed, Second, and our genetic line has been corrupted. The Draekons of this age are an abomination. They are diseased. They must be eliminated.”
I grow cold. “Eliminated. You’re talking about genocide.”
He looks indifferent at the prospect of mass murder. “We were the culmination of the scientists’ skill,” he said. “We were made to be perfect. These Draekons are weak. Inferior. Think of it as a necessary cleansing.”
He holds his hand out to me. “We haven’t always seen eye to eye, Second. But we are the last of our kind. We must stick together. It is up to the six of us to repopulate the Empire with the right genetics.”
“What did you do with Third?” I demand. “Did you lure him into a trap too? Is that why he hasn’t checked in?”
For an instant, First is surprised. Then he composes his emotions. “He was easy to capture,” he says. “As were you.”
No. That split-second of confusion has betrayed him. First doesn’t have Ruhan. Whatever my friend’s reason for failing to check in, it isn’t because he’s been held captive here. Or worse.
First is quite mad. I have to end this before more innocent people get hurt. I have to end this before he unleashes carnage upon every Draekon in the Empire.
“You are the abomination,” I say steadily. “You have massacred captive Draekons. You have killed innocents. You have lost your mind, First, if you think I will ever join you.”
He roars in fury and transforms. The shield drops, and he opens his mouth and throws fire in my direction.
I dive out of the way, hit the ground, and let my dragon emerge. The two of us take to the air with snarls of rage and jets of hot fire.
Only one of us will walk away from this fight.
First screams into the sky. The buzzfighters restart their assault. The high-pitched whine of lasers fills the air.
Should have known this wouldn’t be a fair fight.
Liorax and Zunix are being targeted too, not just me. I wing to the nearest ship and tear off its nose with my claws. It spins to the ground—I don’t stick around to watch. I’m already turning to the next one.
The world narrows to a pinpoint. We destroy ships. More appear. First stays out of range and watches us fight for our lives.
You will pay, First. I will win today. I will prevail, and I will return to my mate.
A cloak ship shimmers into view. Blood Heart has cloak ships now? Zunix must be losing his mind. I barely have time for that thought when it fires, right at Liorax.
He takes the hit and tumbles toward the ground. Both Zunix and I zoom to him. My entire focus is on the injured Draekon.
That’s when First attacks.
He dives toward me, exhaling fire. The heat sweeps over me in a rush, and I am drenched in pain. My scales bubble and pop. My skin blisters and burns. Agonizing heat fills my lungs, and I fall out of the sky, the ground rushing up to meet me. My right wing snaps as I crash, and I know I won’t be flying again today.
First lands near me, still in dragon form. His eyes are mocking. His emotions come through, loud and clear. He feels nothing but contempt for my desire to protect the Draekons he thinks of as inferior. He believes that I’m a fool.
My wing feels like it’s on fire. I shift back, stand up slowly. My vision is blurry, and the world is starting to fade at the edges.
I’m sorry, Alice. I wanted to come home to you.
Then, two familiar crimson dragons land on either side of me. Fourth and Sixth roar in rage when they see my injuries and scream a challenge at First.
He runs away.
First launches into the air. A cloakship shimmers into existence, intercepting him. He clings to it, his claws digging into the diarmod alloy, and then, both ship and dragon are gone.
I’m about to sink into welcome unconsciousness when I hear footsteps running toward me. Alice kneels next to me, her hair grazing my chest. “Kadir,” she whispers, her eyes filling with tears.
I keep the darkness at bay long enough to lace my hand in hers. My mate is here. Her tears splatter on my cheeks, and with every touch, she drives away the rathr, and her love heals me. Everything’s going to be fine.
35
Alice
One of the Rebel Force—I think it’s Sixth—gently nudges me aside and injects the contents of a syringe into Kadir’s chest. “It’ll help him heal faster.”
“Thank you.” My eyes sting with fresh tears. “Will he…” I can’t bear to ask.
“Live? Of course he will. We’re Draekons, Alice Hernandez. We’re hard to kill.”
Fear still punches my heart. Kadir’s badly burned. His back is charred. His entire right side is red and raw. I’m an ER doctor, and I should be calm, but right now, I can’t seem to summon up any of my training. What if he dies? What if I lose him? “You idiot,” I whisper-yell, because if I don’t scream at him, I’m going to fall apart. “You took off without saying goodbye. If you ever pull a stunt like that again…”
He stares at me as if I’m the best thing since sliced bread, and all I want to do is bawl my eyes out.
“I know.” A smile ghosts over his lips. A tear escapes my eyes and rolls down my cheek. He reaches out with his unburned hand and rubs it away. “You’ll knee me in the groin. You say that a lot. I love that about you.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. Please be okay, Kadir. I don’t think I’d survive losing you.
“I love everything about you,” he says softly. His eyes flutter closed. “You’re my mate.” The words are so faint. “You’re the love of my life, the light of my heart. I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye. I didn’t want to influence your decision.”
“There was no decision to make.” I grip his hand as tightly as I can, as if I can anchor him to life that way. “I love you too. I’m never going to leave you, so you better not die.”
“I promise,” he says. “And Alice, I always keep my word.”
36
Alice
Two weeks later….
Draekons heal quickly. Thank heavens.
When I’d first seen Kadir’s injuries, I’d been absolutely convinced he was going to die. But three days after we returned to the rebel base, he was up and walking, bellowing at his trainee soldiers.
Ten days after the accident, he’s ready to fly. “I don’t know why the healers think I should wait,” he grumbles to me. “They’ve already cleared Liorax.” He pouts. “I feel fine. I know my body.”
I’m lying next to him, snuggled against his side. At his words, I stroke my way down to his cock. “You are a terrible patient,” I accuse him with a smile. Kadir isn’t used to being out of commission, and he’s grouchy and grumpy about it. The only way I can keep him in bed is to join him there. Poor me, right? “The healers know what they’re doing. Listen to them.”
“Even Sifax?” he asks slyly. Bad Draekon.
“Even Sifax,” I admit grudgingly. Strangely, Sifax has been less of an asshole in the last week. When I asked Kadir if he’d said something to the healer, he wouldn’t answer. Typically aggravating. But I can’t get too offended, because it’s so much nicer to show up at work when your boss is not a complete asshole.
“You’re not the only one who knows your body.” I slide down his side and take his cock in my mouth. He sucks in a sharp breath as he figures out what I intend to do, and then he lies back, a warmly appreciative smile curving his lips.
I wrap my fingers around his base and swirl my tongue around his head. Desire blazes on his face. Even after more than a month of near-constant sex, it’s still shocking to me how much he wants me. I’m a lucky, lucky woman. “Yes,” he hisses. “This is exactly the kind of h
ealing I need.”
Footsteps come running down the hallway, and someone bangs at our door. “Kadir,” Zunix yells out. “Come quick. Receiving Area.”
Grr. It takes a second for the lust to dissipate, and then alarm shoots through me. “Another attack?”
Kadir is already on his feet, pulling on his clothes. “Unlikely. He said Receiving Area.”
“Alien mailroom?” I’m a nervous wreck, but that still makes me smile. Advanced civilization or not, even Draekons need stuff. The synthesizers can’t make everything. The trade ships show up every week, and their arrival always causes a stir.
What could show up in the mail that would cause Zunix to freak out? Olivia’s mate is some kind of uber-spy. He almost never loses his cool.
We hurry to the Receiving Area. A crowd is gathered around a package. I see Commander Tarish, Zunix, Olivia, Raiht’vi, and Dariux. Kadir pushes his way to Tarish’s side, holding me close to him. “What happened?”
The package is approximately six feet long, four feet wide, and four feet deep.
“This showed up on a drone ship,” Tarish replies. “It’s addressed to you. We scanned it, of course.”
To make sure it wasn’t a bomb. “And?” Kadir asks.
“Show him,” Tarish says to an underling, his voice grim. His order is obeyed. The outer metal case is opened, and inside it is…
A human woman in a stasis unit.
I inhale sharply. “I know her. That’s Nicole. She was one of the passengers on the Sevril V. Is she alive?”
“Yes, her vitals are stable.”
There’s a small canister attached to the stasis unit. Kadir opens it and pulls out a note. “It’s from Ruhan.” Relief saturates his voice. “Thank Caeron, he’s still alive.”
“What does it say?”
He reads the note out loud. It’s very short.
This is one of the humans I was sent to find. The other has been taken by Okaki pirates. I’m going after her.
The moment he says Okaki pirates, all the Draekons react. Tarish’s expression hardens. Raiht’vi inhales sharply. Dariux turns grim.
“What are Okaki pirates?” I’m already pulling out my tablet to search for the answer. “Are they going to…” Fuck. Is the missing woman going to become a sex slave for a horny alien pirate?
Kadir answers me at the same time as the tablet supplies an image. The Okaki on the screen looks like a cross between Jabba the Hutt and an octopus. It looks terrifying. “They’re an old sentient race,” he replies. “They reproduce asexually. The pirates have a reputation for collecting exotic sentient species.”
“Why?”
He hesitates for a split second, and then he answers.
“To eat them.”
Epilogue
Lani
At first, our spaceship landed on an alien planet, and we were auctioned off, and that was bad.
Then we were experimented on by mad scientists in a strange alien lab, and that was worse.
But the real kicker? The cherry on top of this shit-sundae? Ending up on the Okaki pirate ship.
I’m locked in a cage. Every single evening, Gervil, the pirate leader, inserts a slimy tentacle into my prison and feels me up. “Fat enough to eat,” he says. “You will be a delicacy, human.” Gross drool leaks from the corners of his mouth. “Maybe tomorrow. Tonight, tell me a story.”
They’re good engineers, the Okaki. The day they’d captured me in a raid, they’d found the translator in my ear and hacked it. Then they’d hooked me up to a freaky alien machine that sent agonizing pain shooting through my head. Whatever they did, I now understand both their native language, Oka, as well as Zor, and they understand English.
Gervil understanding my words has been the key to my survival.
For a thousand and one nights, Scheherazade told stories to save her life. So far, I’ve survived ninety. Just three months. I’ve told the Okaki pirate the story of Beauty and the Beast. I’ve told him the story of Excalibur, the mythical sword from Arthurian legend, about how the wizard Merlin guided Arthur, the true heir of Uther Pendragon, to pull the sword from the stone, and be crowned King of England.
Bilbo Baggins setting out for an adventure and stumbling upon the One Ring. Harry Potter discovering he’s a wizard. I’ve told all the stories.
Every dawn, before I fall asleep, I try frantically to prepare for the next night. I end each and every story on a cliff-hanger, just like Scheherazade had done. Every dawn, I face the possibility that I haven’t been interesting enough.
If I can’t keep Gervil’s attention, I die.
There are Zorahn crew members on Gervil’s ship. Do they realize I’m sentient? Do they know Gervil is planning on eating me? I’m sure they do. I don’t think they care. Gervil is their boss, and they know better than to rock the boat.
I haven’t slept properly in months, terrified of being killed in my sleep. All night, I stay awake, telling my stories. Was this what Scheherazade had felt? Constant, pervasive fear?
A tall, muscled man strides in front of me. Zorahn, from the looks of it, though his head isn’t shaved, and he doesn’t have any facial tattoos. Has he come to leer at Gervil’s pet human?
He’s gorgeous. Tall. Ripped. Short chestnut brown hair, sparkling green eyes. Straight nose, high cheekbones. Full lips. The Zorahn are a physically beautiful race, but mostly, they do nothing for me. They remind me of waxwork figures. Perfectly formed, but dead inside.
Not this man. His skin gleams with an undertone of gold, and the light in his eyes reminds me of a blazing fire in a warm cabin on a cold winter night.
An Okaki guard slithers into view. “You, there,” he snaps, addressing the stranger. “Who are you?”
Gervil undulates into the antechamber. “This is our new mechanic, Ruhan,” he says coldly to the guard. “Take care how you address him. He is more valuable than you. Ruhan, what do you need?”
The man’s gaze runs over me, and I feel it like a touch. “There is an anomaly in the engine room,” he says, his voice deep and smoky. “You should see it.” He politely follows Gervil out.
I watch them leave. The chime sounds for the evening meal, and I mentally brace myself. Another night, another storytelling session, all to spare my life.
The gold-toned stranger is almost at the door. And then he turns back. His eyes find mine.
He winks at me.
Thank you for reading Draekon Warrior!
The Rebel Force adventures continue in Draekon Conquerer, Lani and Ruhan’s story. Click here for more information and to purchase it.
Are you all caught up with the Draekons? Don’t miss any of the books.
DRAGONS IN EXILE
Draekon Mate - Viola’s story
Draekon Fire - Harper’s story
Draekon Heart - Ryanna’s story
Draekon Abduction - Olivia’s story
Draekon Destiny - Felicity’s story
Daughter of Draekons - Harper’s birth story
Draekon Fever - Sofia’s story
Draekon Rogue - Bryce’s story
Draekon Holiday - A holiday story
REBEL FORCE
Draekon Warrior - Alice & Kadir
Draekon Conquerer - Lani & Ruhan
More coming soon!
The Must Love Draekons newsletter is your source for all things Draekon. Subscribe today and receive a free copy of Draekon Rescue, a special Draekon story not available for sale.
A Preview of Draekon Mate
Crashed spaceship. Prison planet. Snarling, lethal predators. Two big, hulking, bronzed aliens who turn into dragons. The best part? The dragons insist I’m their mate.
The Zorahn wanted women for some kind of super-secret science experiment, and I volunteered. Dumb move, right? But they promised we’d be safe, and they offered a lot of money. Money I needed desperately.
Of course, everything went wrong.
Our spaceship has crashed on a prison planet, one where the Zorahn exile their most dangerous cri
minals. My friends are injured. I’m all alone on a jungle planet where everything is designed to kill me.
Then I run into the Draekons. When they see me, they change into dragons and burn the predators threatening me to a crisp. They feed me and care for me, and they keep me safe.
But there’s a catch. The Draekons insist that I’m their mate. And the only way they can shift into dragons again to save my friends? Both of them need to mate with me. At the same time.
This isn't the space vacation I thought it would be.
CHAPTER ONE
Viola:
I thought it’d be bigger.
This is the first thought I have when I enter the gleaming golden spaceship of the Zorahn.
That’s what she said. I hide my grin at my stupid little joke. I always joke when I’m nervous, and it turns out stepping onto an alien craft to be carried off to a planet several light years away is about a thousand times more nerve-wracking than giving a dissertation to a panel of world-renowned botanists. About several thousand times more nerve-wracking.
It took countless pep talks from my dad and a slug of whiskey to get me over that last hurdle to my Ph.D. It’s going to take a few bottles to get me comfortable on this alien ship. The Zorahn craft isn’t even as large as a commercial airliner. It’s ten feet across, and forty feet long, and the insides gleam with the same golden hue as the exterior. Even more worryingly, there are no seats to be seen.
This is not going to be a comfortable trip.
Then the reality sinks in. There is life out there in the universe—we are not alone. Aliens exist. I’m on a real, live spaceship, heading to the planet of Zoraht, home of the Zorahn. I won’t see Earth again for six months.