by Maia Starr
“Hello,” Camilla said. I yanked on her arm to quiet her.
“Hello,” the blonde haired one stepped forward a step and smiled a dashing grin. He was looking directly at Camilla. I looked at Camilla, and she was smiling back. Was she crazy?
“I am called Commander Vrerkin Roan.”
“I am called Camilla,” she said.
“Camilla!” I yanked her hand again.
“What? I am just being friendly,” she whispered to me.
“Yes, friendly. That is what we are here for. To be friendly to you human females,” the captain said.
“Why do you keep saying that? Why are you referring to us as humans?” I asked him.
“Because that is what you are, are you not?” he said.
“Yes, we are. But what are you?” I asked. “Are you human?”
“Partly. We are hybrid. We are part human and part Draqua,” he said.
“What? Draqua? What is that?” I asked in complete shock of what I was hearing. Had we discovered some strange, isolated tribe in Mexico?
“Draqua; we are water dragons from the planet Kelon,” the captain said.
“Planet?” I said.
“Wait, so you are…” Camilla said.
“You are not from Earth?” I asked.
“No, we are from our planet Kelon. It is far from Earth,” the commander said.
Camilla began to breathe heavily. “Okay, Alexandra, I’m freaking out. This isn’t real. You were right. We are hallucinating. Maybe we were drugged back at the club. Those guys slipped us some psychedelics or mushrooms or Spanish fly! I don’t know! But this is not real. Those are not aliens!” she shouted.
“Look at me. Breathe. Just calm down,” I said grabbing her face. Then the two creatures flew straight up off the deck. Camilla and I looked up and watched as they flew in circles around the boat.
“Oh my God, are they going to kill us?” Camilla whispered to me.
“I honestly don’t know. Just stay calm,” I said. We moved further out onto the deck where they once stood to get a better look at them. We were looking up at them, and I was mesmerized. They were swooping and flying fast and were magnificent to look at. My marine biologist side wanted to know more. How were they flying? What did he mean by water dragons? Did he mean a real dragon? Or was it just a term, like a seahorse was not a real horse?
I had so many questions, and as we watched, we let go of each other. Then the dark-haired creature swooped down toward me. I moved back to give him space to land on the deck, but he was not landing at all. Out of nowhere, he wrapped his arms around me and scooped me up off the deck. One arm went under my knees and the other around my back. My side was flat against his body.
“Ah! Let go! What are you doing? Camilla!” I shouted. But it was too late. I was hovering high above the boat as he carried me. I looked down to see Camilla getting scooped up by the other. The height made me dizzy, and perhaps I was still a little drunk, but it frightened me. I did not want to fall from this height, and I instinctively threw my arms around his neck and held on tight. But I did not stay quiet.
“What are you doing? Put me back on the boat!” I shouted.
“You want to stay on a stranded boat? You will die,” he said.
“No, I guess… wait, how do you know we are stranded?” I said.
“We heard you say you ran out of fuel,” he said.
“What? How long were you watching?”
“Ready, Captain?” The commander was now hovering at our side. I looked at Camilla. She had fright in her eyes as she held on to the commander, just as I did.
“Yes, to the ship,” he said. Then they began to fly.
“Ship? What? Like a boat?” I said frantically. I looked to see the lights of the beach getting smaller and smaller. “Wait, you are going the wrong way. We need to go back to the beach, not out to sea,” I said.
“We are going the right way; now stop squirming, or I might accidentally drop you,” he said in a monotone voice. I quickly went rigid. I did not want to be dropped. At this height, it would not be a good fall. The ocean would be like concrete.
I did not know what was going on or why they were taking us to their boat. I was terrified and confused. But as I lay against his strong chest, I felt safe for some reason. It had been a long time since I’d felt a man’s touch. His scent was so masculine, and it overwhelmed me. I felt my body growing aroused. What the hell? I thought.
Then he stopped and hovered in place.
“Bring her up, Commander,” his thick voice said. I looked up into his face. His jaw was square, and I could see a bit of black stubble. His black hair was dry, and thick pieces of it were across his face. His lips were full, and his nose was long and narrow. His eyes looked brown; I could not tell in the darkness, but I could make out the thick black brows above them. He was a perfect specimen, and if he were a human man, I would guess his age to be around thirty or so.
“Bringing her up,” the commander responded.
“What? Where’s your boat?” I said.
“Alexandra…” Camilla said.
There was a loud sound of rushing water. Just in front of us in the dark, I could make out something coming out of the water. It looked like a whale surfacing, but it kept going until it was out of the water in full. Then I couldn’t see anything at all.
“What the hell?” I whispered.
“Oh my God,” I heard Camilla say.
“Open the door,” the captain said.
“Yes, Captain,” the commander said.
Then out of thin air, something slid open. It was incredible. It was like a floating door, and inside of it, there was a bright light.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Our ship,” the captain said.
“Ship?” I said as he flew toward it with me in his arms. It was then that I realized he did not mean a boat. He meant a damn spaceship.
“Oh my… do you mean a freaking spaceship? Oh my God!” I shouted as he flew inside. Camilla and the commander followed and then the door was closed. He set me on my feet. My eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light. I could see blinking wall panels and gadgets. It was obviously a damn spaceship.
“Alexandra, what’s happening?” Camilla said with a shaky voice.
“I think we are being abducted by aliens, Camilla.”
CHAPTER FOUR
CAPTAIN INEQ SHUN
When I saw the human female, I knew that she was the one to be my mate. She had the right necessities. Her hips were ample for birthing a Draqua offspring, and she had courage. Two human females that were out to sea alone had to have some courage to do such a thing in the middle of the night, as well as a sense of adventure to run out of fuel doing it. They would both work for the commander and I, but the one with the darker hair seemed to be the one for me. She was not hysterical like the yellow-haired female, and that was what I needed in a mate. I needed her to be solid and easy to deal with. All that I required of her was to carry my offspring, give birth, and make a proper, easy-to-deal-with wife. It was easy enough, and it was necessary to keep our race going. She was good mate material. She would do nicely.
So as I held her against my body to fly her to my ship, I took the liberty of allowing my fingers to dig into her flesh just a little. Her legs were strong, and her back was straight. I was inspecting her, though I doubt she knew what I was doing. She smelled good, but of human liquor. She wore a small aqua dress that was short and reminded me of the color of the sea at home.
Now, we were standing inside my ship as the door closed behind us, and she was not being silent.
“What the hell is going on? You cannot just take us! Where are we going? Take us back to the beach; I demand it!” she shouted as she pushed on my chest. She was strong, but I did not even move an inch. I stepped directly in front of her, putting only an inch between us. She craned her neck back and looked at me with her brown eyes. They were full of fire and anger.
“We are going home. You are coming wi
th us. Now strap in and get ready for launch,” I said.
“What? Home? As in your home?” she shouted.
“Oh my God,” the yellow-haired one said.
“Shifting,” Commander Roan said as he stepped back away from the humans. He shifted out of dragon form.
“What the hell?” the human called Camilla whispered.
“Oh, my…” Alexandra said.
“Step back,” I said as I moved away and also shifted out of dragon form. The two humans stood there with their mouths opened. They seemed impressed. I did not care. We had no time for them. We had to get out of Earth’s atmosphere before we were noticed.
“Commander, prepare for launch,” I said turning away from the humans.
“No! You can’t do this. Let us go, right now! I command you to let us go!” she said, running in front of me to face me. I had to admit she was very brave to stand in front of a warrior twice her size.
“I don’t have time for you right now. Go and strap yourself in. The launch is quick, and you will be thrown about the cabin,” I said pushing her aside.
“Don’t you dare push me aside! You don’t have time for me? Make time. Stop! Stop all of this and take us to that damn beach,” she said getting in front of me again. I sighed. I put my hands on her arms and picked her up.
“Ah! Let me go, you damn brute!” she shouted.
I plopped her bottom down on a seat in the back. I looked at her and narrowed my eyes.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she whispered with trembling lips.
I leaned against her ear, brushing my lips against her, and whispered, “You should be.”
I could see down her dress as her breasts heaved up and down. She was breathing rapidly. I yanked on the strap and pulled it over her breasts allowing the back of my hand to graze them. She sucked in a small breath of air. I buckled her in with another strap across her lap. I looked at the yellow-haired human, and she quickly sat down and strapped in.
“We’re ready, Commander!” I shouted. I gave Alexandra a look that said to stay put. Then I moved to the front of the ship and sat in the chair.
“Launching in three, two, go,” Commander Roan counted down, and then the ship shot straight up into the air.
“I hate you! You stupid dragon things!” I heard Alexandra shout. Then she continued shouting at us. I sighed and looked over at Roan. “Do you think it will always be like this?”
He laughed. “It is possible.”
“I want a quiet, obedient wife, but I also want one with fire. Where’s the balance?” I said to him.
“I am sure that you will find it. I am partial to the one with gold hair myself,” he said.
“Yes, I have noticed. Mine will learn to obey me in time. She just needs to vent this anger and emotion. Then she will have to be mine. It is her destiny.”
“You are slime! You filthy pigs!” she shouted.
“She is probably going to need some water soon,” Roan said to me.
“Yes. Her throat will be rough soon, and she smelled of the human liquor. I am sure they have not had water for hours on that drifting boat we found them on.”
“Yes, the gold-haired one, Camilla, also smelled of liquor,” Roan said.
“We shall give them food and nourishment once we are an hour out from Earth. Then we are in a safe zone before we reach Tiok. We need them to be calm by then. Who knows what we will encounter in the village of Pacu. We will need to be focused, and these two look like distractions.”
“I will have mine calm by then. I assure you,” Roan said.
Hours later, we were in the safe zone and could put the ship on autopilot with radar alarm for anything that would come within a three-mile radius of us.
“Autopilot and radar are set,” Commander Roan said.
“Good. Let us release the humans,” I said standing up. We walked to the back of the ship where the two humans were seated with angry eyes.
“You may unstrap those belts now,” I said. “You will want water and nourishment; come,” I said.
“Let me help you,” Commander Roan said as he unstrapped Camilla.
“Thank you,” she said.
Alexandra unstrapped herself and stood up. She crossed her arms and stared at me. I smiled. Her silent fury was amusing to me. “This way.” I led them to a small room in the ship where we kept food and water. “You will find everything you need here. Help yourself.” I walked back to the front of the ship and heard Commander Roan say, “Here, I will show you,” as I walked away. He was always better with others. He was ready to please others, especially females. I was just there to give the necessary information.
I stood in front of the windshield and then heard a gasp. I turned to see Alexandra with a cup of water in her hand. She was staring at the windshield.
“Yes, I guess you have never seen space before,” I said.
“Holy shit. We are really in space. I can’t believe it,” she said staring in shock.
“Yes, it is beautiful. I am glad that you can appreciate its beauty.”
“I appreciate all the beauty nature has to offer, but this is almost unbelievable,” she said still mesmerized.
“You can take a seat here if you like,” I said pointing to a seat as I sat in the pilot’s chair She looked at me surprised.
“Thank you,” she said as she took the offer and sat down. She turned toward the back of the ship after a minute.
“Maybe I should check on Camilla,” she said.
“If you’d like. But do not worry. Commander Roan is an honorable warrior. He is hard in battle but gentle when it comes to females. She is in good hands with him.”
“Warrior? What do you mean by that? Like soldiers?” she asked.
“Yes, we are a race of dragon warriors,” I said.
“Do you mean actual dragons? I don’t think it means the same thing that it means on Earth. Dragons are mythical creatures and—”
“Fly, have wings, breathe fire? Yes, that is exactly what I mean. We are a race of dragon shifters. We can shift back and forth between our form as you see me now and into full dragons, or we used to. There are those that are the elders that can shift into full dragons and the small amount of full-blooded Draqua that are still born every year, but mostly now it is half Draqua and half human. That is the normal, like me. As you saw when I shifted, I was only partially dragon, with wings and scales, but mostly man.”
“And the fire? You can breathe fire?” she asked quietly.
“Yes. One day I will show you,” I said.
She was silent for a second. I could tell that she was thinking. Then she took a deep breath and asked a long-winded question.
“I don’t understand. What is all of this? What do you mean one day you will show me? That means we will never get back to Earth? That means that this is it? I am to go to your planet never to return, and if so, why? Why did you take us from Earth? What did we ever do to you? Are you going to kill us? I demand some answers,” she said.
“You say that a lot. You say “demand.” You can demand nothing. You have no power. Yet you keep assuming that you do. I find it charming,” I smiled at her.
“Charming? Charming! Ugh! You are so infuriating! Tell me then. Tell me what is going on here,” she said.
“I will tell you, but not because you demand it, but so that you will stop asking me these silly questions.”
We are Draqua. Decades ago, our females stopped producing offspring. They had become barren. It was not all of the females, but the majority of them. To this day we do not know why it has happened. But after years of trying to fix it, we learned that if we wanted to continue our existence, we would have to look to other females from other species. That was when we found human females. We bred with them, and it was successful and produced a hybrid offspring. I am hybrid. My mother is human. My father is full Draqua. There are many hybrids like myself now on Kelon.”
“Breed? Where have these human females been coming from?” she said.
“From Earth, of course. Just in the same way you are.”
“Are you serious? This abduction nonsense has been going on for decades? Wait, so that’s why you took Camilla and me? We are going to be bred like cows!” she shouted.
“Yes.”
“What? You can’t force us to just be baby-making machines to strangers! This is absurd. Take us back!”