Cerik (Dragons Of Kelon) (A Sci Fi Alien Weredragon Romance)

by Maia Starr

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have woken you up,” I said, wiping the tears off my face.

  Aloitus sat up, staring down at his shimmering finger. “Is this cry?”

  An involuntary bubble of laughter burst from me, and Aloitus looked over at me, his eyes wide.

  “I was crying, yes,” I said with a sigh.

  “Strange,” he mumbled, looking back at me. “What is it? Are you unhappy? Or exceptionally happy?”

  “Exceptionally unhappy,” I replied, standing up to touch his face. “I thought something terrible was going to happen to you.”

  Aloitus’ face darkened suddenly, and I was overwhelmed with presentiment.

  “Nothing terrible is going to happen to you, is it?” I demanded, stroking his dark hair away from his eyes.

  Aloitus was silent, brooding out into the darkness. At first, I thought he was just going to ignore the question, but he looked up at me, his purple eyes gleaming in the dim blue light.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It could.”

  “Why won’t you tell me what’s going on? I could help you. I would do anything…” I trailed off. It could be dangerous to show too much emotion to a man like this. A man who could use me and harm me at will. A man who thought nothing of kidnapping me and using me as a bargaining coin.

  “I’m afraid for you, all right?” Aloitus said, his voice strained. “There are things out there that are best left to powerful men to handle. It is my job to protect.”

  “I don’t want you to protect me,” I stated. “I want you to be honest with me. We can’t do this if you’re not honest.”

  Aloitus frowned down at his hands and finally took a deep breath.

  “The Vellreq are coming here. After you. King Korta and his strongest troops. There is going to be a war.”

  He stopped speaking suddenly, and I had a feeling there was more that he wanted to say. But I was too busy trying to process what he said.

  “A war? On Jenal’k?”

  Aloitus nodded. “The Vellreq are a threat to the universe. It is time for us to stand up and do something about it. But it will not be safe. You and the citizens of Jenal’k who are not trained for combat will have to be relocated briefly.”

  “And he is coming here…because of me…” I whispered.

  The Vellreq were going to attack, and possibly kill, the Thressl’n just because King Korta was going to be pissed off that they had stolen me away. I was going to be responsible for a mass slaughter. All because Aloitus had kidnapped me.

  “How could you do this?” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe this!”

  “Melinda, I—”

  But I couldn’t stand to hear anything else from Aloitus.

  “I’m not coming back with you. Just leave me here.”

  “I can’t do that,” Aloitus croaked, his eyes wide.

  “You’re going to have to,” I said. “I want to stay with the Old Ones!”

  “They’re not going to let you do that!” Aloitus exclaimed. “You are to come back to the palace with me at once!”

  “You don’t control me, Aloitus! You never have, and trying to is your biggest problem. Don’t you get that?”

  Aloitus opened and closed his mouth, attempting to formulate a response. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing he could say, and I stormed out of the room.

  “They won’t let you stay here!” Aloitus bellowed after me. “We are going home!”

  I turned to face him, fury deep in my chest. “No, Aloitus. I told you, I am not going anywhere with you.”

  “Young ones, what is the issue?” the leader of the Old Ones asked, walking quietly into the tunnel. “Your voices are carrying throughout the settlement. It is startling the children.”

  “Apologies to you, Old One,” Aloitus said through his gritted teeth. “But the human is being belligerent.”

  “Aloitus,” the Old One said, taking a deep breath. “The human deserves the best of you, not the worst. If she wants to stay, we shall allow it. She will be safer here with us anyway. You know that. If the Vellreq land, the palace is the first place they will come to look for her.”

  Aloitus looked surprised, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “No, you’ve been far too busy. That is one of the reasons we arranged a meeting with you. I am glad you finally saw sense. I don’t know why you were putting it off.”

  Aloitus looked at me, a lingering look tinged with a helplessness that made my heart pang painfully for him despite my burning anger. I suddenly wanted to stay with him, to go back to the palace and forget everything that had happened that day.

  “I’ll go back,” I said desperately, but I knew it was too late. Aloitus had already chosen to honor my wishes. I never should have opened my mouth.

  “The Old Ones will keep you safer than I could, Melinda,” Aloitus finally said with a heavy sigh. “You are not happy with me, and there is much work I must do. It will serve me well to be rid of the distraction.”

  He looked away from me, and a new wave of anger crashed over me. How could he just dismiss me like that?

  “Am I just a distraction to you?” I demanded, walking toward him, anger in my voice.

  “Mind yourself, human,” Aloitus said darkly, rising from the bed. He towered powerfully above me and looked down, his eyes hard and difficult to read. “I cannot afford to lose any more time to you.”

  Aloitus stalked out of the caverns, and I watched him go, my chest tight with anger and desperation. Why couldn’t things ever just work out between us? What had I been thinking, letting myself fall for this insufferable man?

  “It is for the best of all, human,” the leader of the Old Ones said, leading me away from the room where Aloitus had been laying. “We will look after you. The war is on the horizon, and you are safest here. It is as Fate would decree. Perhaps in time, you will see.”

  I was too tired and frustrated to argue and allowed the Old One to guide me deep into the underground settlement, holding the little blue lantern tightly as I did my best not to think about how much I wanted to be beside Aloitus in his hovercraft right that moment.

  ***

  “Human?!”

  I smiled despite myself as a group of children surrounded me, all of them brimming with questions and reaching out to touch me, then laughing and pulling their hands away quickly once they had.

  “Hello,” I said. “I am Melinda.”

  “Melinda!”

  The children began chanting my name and laughing, dancing around me until a middle-aged woman rang a bell.

  “Come now,” she said in a kind but stern voice. “Leave the human alone. It is meal time.”

  The children giggled and gathered at a table far at the end of the room. My little blue light wouldn’t shine that far, so they disappeared from sight.

  “Come, human; please sit with us.”

  I looked over my shoulder at the Old One who was speaking to me, surprised to see a woman about my own age.

  “Hello,” I said, sitting tentatively.

  “My name is G’larah,” she said, smiling. She was extremely beautiful, with long dark hair decorated with intricate golden fixtures.

  “My name is Melinda,” I replied.

  “I heard,” she said, laughing. It was a bright musical sound. “Are you all right?”

  I frowned, unsure how to answer that question. Apparently, the Old Ones would know if I was lying.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m very confused.”

  “About Aloitus, right?” she asked, nodding knowingly. “He is quite tempestuous.”

  “You know him?” I asked, surprised.

  “Oh, of course. All Supreme Leaders in training spend time in the caverns here.”

  “I see…”

  “But he is a kind man,” G’larah said, smiling kindly at me. “He can be quite tender-hearted. It is his training to show hardness to everybody else. Being a leader is difficult without hardening yours
elf to criticism and the demands of others.”

  “I really thought we were getting somewhere,” I said with a sigh. “But he doesn’t tell me anything. He keeps secrets and never allows me a chance to get closer to him. We had one moment where I felt as if all was right, but then I got scared…”

  “You’re afraid you drove him away?” G’larah asked. “Because of the way you felt?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, my eyes pooling with tears. “And there’s something else…”

  “What is it?” G’larah asked gently, although I was beginning to get the feeling that the Old Ones were somehow psychic and I was wasting my breath speaking my experiences out loud.

  “I have a friend who followed me here. He is convinced that he is going to rescue me.”

  “Ah, that’s who he is,” G’larah said.

  “What?”

  “A human male came charging through here not long after Aloitus left. He was sure Aloitus had left you here to die.”

  I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. “Damn it, Kirk.”

  “Who is Kirk?” G’larah prompted.

  “A close friend who wants to be with me. But…”

  G’larah raised her brow at me.

  “He’s not the one I love. I love someone else…”

  “Aloitus,” G’larah said, nodding seriously.

  I sighed and shook my head. “This is stupid. Where is Kirk now?”

  G’larah laughed. “We put him somewhere safe. He is going to get us all killed if he isn’t careful.”

  “Can I speak with him?”

  “Of course,” G’larah said. She rose from the table and walked me down a long, winding corridor until we reached a room with a deep crevice in the wall that was lined with walls. At first, I didn’t see anybody, but I quickly realized that Kirk was in a dark prison cell.

  “Why is he locked up?” I exclaimed.

  “He was trespassing,” G’larah said simply. “And not just in our tunnels. You are lucky harsher action has not been taken against him.”

  I sighed and shook my head.

  “Did you hear that, Kirk? You’re getting yourself into all of this trouble.”

  Kirk ignored my question and ran to the bars, holding them tightly. “You’re all right!”

  “Of course I’m all right!” I exclaimed. “Aloitus has never harmed me.”

  Kirk’s face fell. “You say that like you like him.”

  I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Does it matter what I feel to you? Really?”

  Kirk was surprised and looked up at me, his eyes wide. “Of course!”

  “Are you sure?” I demanded. “You pushed me out of the way so that you could escape when Aloitus abducted me. And you told me all about your feelings for me without ever asking me how I felt. You just…you just took advantage of my being vulnerable the first chance you got!”

  Kirk gaped at me, anger beginning to set in his features.

  “That’s not…of course I…why are you acting like this?” Kirk demanded.

  “Because I’m just not comfortable with all of this!” I exclaimed. “You come in here and disrespect these people, and you make all these assumptions about me when the only reason I’m here in the first place is because you decided to save your own ass first? I don’t need that, Kirk. And I don’t need you.”

  “Melinda—”

  “Can you take me out of here?” I asked G’larah with a heavy sigh. “This isn’t working for me. I need some time alone.”

  “Of course,” G’larah said, turning to face Kirk. His obnoxious pleading was silenced by her glare, and I felt a surge of relief course through me. As comfortable as it had seemed to rely on Kirk in my moment of need, the fact remained that he was, and always had been, selfish.

  Sure, there were those great times when he was sweet and caring, but his affection for me blinded him to my own feelings, and I couldn’t live like that. At least with Aloitus, he had seemed to care what I felt. At least at first.

  Once Kirk was quiet, G’larah led me to a comfortable room that was lit with a golden glow. I was able to set the little blue lantern on a table by the bedside and see everything in the room clearly.

  “You may stay here,” G’larah said with a deep bow to me. “We will see to it that you and your friend are safe, despite the dangers approaching. Do not fret. We will take care of you.”

  “Thanks to you,” I said shakily, trying to speak in the same peculiar dialect that the Thressl’n and the Old Ones seemed to share. This brightened G’larah’s face, and I felt warmed by her kindness.

  “If you should need anything, just call. We have extraordinary hearing.”

  “Okay,” I said, feeling somewhat embarrassed about my conversation with Aloitus. Just how much did they know about us?

  I laid down on the bed, my chest heavy. Everything felt like it was a huge mess. I wished that none of it had ever happened. It almost felt better to be engaged to King Korta than to have this hot-and-cold relationship with the leader of the Thressl’n. Why couldn’t anything just be easy for once?

  Chapter 10

  Aloitus Cloch’h (Supreme Leader of the Thressl’n)

  “Supreme Leader Aloitus!” Zerk’k Arkti’s voice said urgently from my communications device. “The Vellreq’s ships were spotted heading this way. Commander Wyl’es is setting up the first strike as we speak.”

  “Gods,” I exclaimed, standing rigidly from my desk. It was time to evacuate the people.

  “Get the innocents loaded on the ships. The drills have been going successfully. Then go see if Commander Wyl’es needs help.”

  “Yes, sir,” Zerk’k said.

  Soon, I heard the alarms going off in the town and crowds of elderly Thressl’n females and males were being herded to the ships that had been parked nearby. The young children were helping them to the ships, as calm and collected as they had been during the drills. It made my hearts soar with pride to see my people reacting calmly in the face of disaster.

  But it had all been planned, from bottom to top. Everything but my complicated feelings for the Earth female.

  Soon, the ships had launched successfully, heading straight to the Kalron’s territory in the galaxy, and I headed straight for the weapons chamber to get into my fighter.

  “Laike,” I exclaimed. “What is the status on our weapon?”

  There was silence from the other end of my communications device for a moment before Laike’s voice finally replied. “I am working on making it fully operational, sir.”

  That wasn’t the news I had wanted to hear.

  “The Vellreq are on their way,” I said as calmly as I could. “Please, do your best.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I powered up my fighter and rose from the field, my hearts pounding hard. I could already hear the ravages of war in the sky above me, and headed high, holding my breath through the turbulence of Jenal’k’s atmosphere. This might well be the last time I saw my people, my planet. But I couldn’t let that deter me. There was so much at stake.

  It didn’t take me long to see the huge Vellreq ship leading the masses of ships toward Jenal’k. The ugly symbol, a jagged gray world sliced in half, was held high as a crest on the flags as the ship made its slow progression toward Jenal’k.

  The Commander of the Fleet had been instructed to let the Vellreq ship pass into Jenal’k, to be dealt with by myself and myself alone. I wanted to ensure the safety of my crew. If the fight was to be brought to Jenal’k and the worst case scenario was to happen, there would be no survivors.

  “Welcome to Jenal’k!” I said sarcastically into the intercom. The Vellreq would certainly pick up the frequency. I led them deep into the area of the Red Desert that had been prepared for the ultimate strike. The Kalron had volunteered their services for ground combat, along with many hardy Thressl’n men. But I couldn’t risk losing my most valuable men, and had instructed them to flee if they were in undue danger.

  Soon, the sky was alight with different colored laser bea
ms, their frequencies making the air around my ship crackle. I expertly dodged them as the Vellreq ship lazily made its way to the field, completely undeterred by the amount of fire it had walked into.

  “You will pay for this, Aloitus, Leader of the Thressl’n.”

  I was chilled by the sound of Korta’s voice through my communications bangle. Somehow, they had tapped into the frequency.

  But I couldn’t let it shake me.

  “Ready yourselves!” I shouted, abandoning use of my communications bangle and shouting loudly. “Do exactly as we practiced!”

  More loud booms filled the sky, and I gasped as an explosion of sparks rained over the field. I closed my eyes, begging the Fates to spare my men.

  The doorways of the Vellreq ships began to open, deploying organized groups of the large, cruel looking creatures. Their ugly, bark-like skin was painted with bright white symbols, and soon they began charging.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted, raising my fighter ship into the air and releasing fire upon the Vellreq.

  I managed a few casualties, but the shields they were using were unbelievably powerful. Once the foot troops had been deployed, fighters like mine were released, and I held my breath.

  “Steady!” I shouted.

  “The shield is up!” Laike exclaimed through my communications bangle. Through my tension, a tendril of relief surged through.

  “Great!” I told him. “I trust your discretion!”

  “Of course,” Laike said, cutting out once again.

  A sudden rumble shook the whole of Jenal’k, and everybody looked up at the sky, eyes wide with curiosity as a clear surge of energy began to crackle above our heads. Another explosion in the sky rained sparks below, but the shield stopped them short of falling onto us. It was an incredible sight.

  “It’s working!” I told Laike.

  “I know,” Laike replied. A sudden blue streak of light ripped a line through the sky. “Everything is operational.”

  A powerful explosion burst forward from the blue light, and several Vellreq ships fell from the sky and clattered against the shield, slipping down it and ricocheting back into space.