by Lili Zander
Father,
All my life, I’ve felt alone and unwanted. I knew my mother died in childbirth, but nobody ever talked about you. I was left with the impression that you did not want me.
Now, I have family. Aunts and uncles and cousins. But even more importantly, I finally know the truth. I finally know why you never found me.
When I got your note, I cried for days. I wept for what was stolen from us. And then my sorrow changed to anger.
I refuse to live in a society where a man can be condemned to a lifetime of exile for failing the testing. I refuse to accept a system where a father can be torn from his daughter for no fault of his own.
A rebellion is brewing against these injustices. I intend to join it. I intend to fight back.
I won’t be able to talk to you again for a long time, Father, because my communications will be monitored. But it is the dearest wish of my heart that one day, we will be united.
Mar’vi und Luddux
I was bawling like a baby by the time he was done reading the note. She’d signed it with his name. She’d formally acknowledged him as her father.
The non-stop tears? I blame pregnancy hormones. Viola has decided that I’m worse than Harper. Poor Xan and Lud.
So here we are. The future is uncertain. Raiht’vi, the person responsible for all of this, is still missing. Any moment now, the Zorahn ships could find a way past the asteroid belts.
I can’t control any of that. I can’t control the future. All I can do is hold my mates tight and show them every day how much I love them.
A small group of us is sitting in one of the communal rooms one evening. Lud and Xan, Zunix, Liorax, and Olivia, Dariux, Bryce and me. “So,” Bryce says during a pause in the conversation. “Now that we’re here and settled, are you ever going to tell us what you were looking for, Dariux?” Her smile turns teasing. “You never know, we might help you find it.”
I don’t expect him to reply, but he does. “A really long time ago,” he says, “The scientists created the Draekons.”
Zunix, who has known Dariux a very long time, groans out loud. “Great,” he says. “A history lesson. Thank you for that, Bryce McFarland.”
Dariux shoots him a quelling look. “Things went badly, you already know that. Kannix, High Emperor, ordered the death of Wonacx, the head of the Council of Scientists, and he also ordered every bit of research the scientists had done to be destroyed. We lost thousands of years of knowledge as a result of Kannix’s decree.”
“And this relates to us because…?”
“Because Wonacx didn’t want his life’s work to be destroyed. He smuggled Draekons and scientists to a secret hideaway where Kannix couldn’t get to them, and then, he destroyed all signs of his crime.” He smiles slightly. “Well, almost all signs.”
“I’m assuming Dariux will get to his point before my baby is born,” I quip.
Everyone laughs, except Zunix, who’s staring at Dariux as if he knows where the other man’s going. When the mirth dies down, Dariux picks up his story. “To the best of my knowledge,” he says, “He sent the Draekons here.”
No fucking way.
“Wonacx wasn’t a fool. He knew it would be generations before the Draekons could be looked at as anything other than creatures of terror. He would have had to send enough of them so they could form a self-sustaining community. Live, mate, reproduce. Give rise to the next generation of Draekons. Always waiting, always watching. Until it was time to emerge out in the open again.”
He looks around at us. “It is my belief,” he says, “That somewhere on the prison planet, there’s an enclave of Draekons that have stayed hidden for more than a thousand years. I’ve been searching for the lost city of the Draekons.”
Draekon Rogue, the sixth book in the Dragons in Exile series, will release in Spring 2018. Sign up to Lili Zander’s email list to receive a notification when the book goes live. (Newsletter subscribers also get a special Draekon Mate bonus scene!)
The Dragons in Exile Series
Are you all caught up with the Draekons? Don’t miss any of the books.
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
Draekon Rogue - coming soon!
Subscribe to Lili Zander’s mailing list and be the first to find out when new Draekon books are released! As a special thank-you, subscribers will receive a free Draekon Mate bonus scene, guaranteed to steam up your e-reader!
The Draekons
The Fourteen Draekons of Exile Batch 5
Arax, Firstborn of Zoraht, and Nyx are mated to Viola Lewis.
Vulrux and Dennox are mated to Harper Boyd.
Thrax and Zorux are mated to Ryanna Dickson.
Unmated Draekons in Exile Batch 5:
Rorix
Ferix
Strax
Odix
Haldax
Vaarix
Shamox
Dazix
The Fourteen remaining members of Exile Batch 4
Liorax and Zunix are mated to Olivia Buckner.
Rezzix and Magnux are mated to Paige Watkins.
Yasix and Thesix are mated to May Archer
Luddux and Xanthox are mated to Felicity Rollins
Belfox and Herrix stole a spaceship to try to escape the prison planet.
Unmated Draekons in Exile Batch 4:
Dariux
Bolox
Narix
Runnax
Who’s who among the Zorahn:
Lenox. Currently High Emperor. Son of Dravex, brother to Arax.
Brunox. Head of the Council of Scientists. Raiht’vi’s father.
Raiht’vi. Highborn Scientist. Trapped on the prison planet.
Surax. Formerly Spymaster of the High Empire. Deceased.
Ru’vi. Currently Spymaster of the High Empire.
Beirax. Scientist belonging to the rogue Order of the Crimson Night.
Mannix. Technician. Deceased.
Zlatin, Crothyr & their human mate Dorothy Pitts: One-click Draekon Rescue (part of Alien Alphas) to meet them!
About the Authors
Lili Zander is the sci-fi romance loving alter-ego of Tara Crescent. She lives in Toronto. She enjoys reading sci-fi and fantasy, and thinks a great romance makes every book better.
Find Lili/Tara at:
www.lilizander.com | www.taracrescent.com
www.facebook.com/authorlilizander | www.facebook.com/tara.crescent
Email her at [email protected] or [email protected]
Lee Savino is a USA today bestselling author. She’s also a mom and a choco-holic. She’s written a bunch of books—all of them are “smexy” romance. Smexy, as in “smart and sexy.”
Download a free book from www.leesavino.com.
Find Lee at:
www.leesavino.com
www.facebook.com/leesavinoauthor
A Preview of Night of the Shayde by Lili Zander
The Vampyrs of Shayde want more than just my blood…
The first night, I was bitten.
The second night, I was hunted.
The third night—the night I was marked for death—I attracted the attention of three Shayde enforcers, the dangerous and enigmatic Vampyrs, Saber, Zeke and Nero.
To earn my freedom, I just need to survive one more night. I need to make it through the ultimate trial. The tournament of warriors. The Night of the Shayde.
But the Vampyrs want me for their own.
...And everyone knows that whatever Vampyrs want, Vampyrs get.
Night of the Shayde is a stand-alone reverse harem romance. Adult situations. Snarky heroine who likes to swear from time to time. 18+.
CHAPTER ONE
Raven:
I’m having a really great dream. I’m flying a skimmer over the frozen wastes of Boarus 4 in the middle of the night. The s
ky is clear, and the three moons blaze bright, and my brand-new skimmer purrs like a s’kal cat. A man is sitting in the co-pilot chair, and as I take a tight corner, he’s thrown against me, his hard chest crushing my breasts, his hands on either side of my hips…
The banging on my pod door jerks me awake. “Open up by order of Overlord Zimmer,” a loud male voice shouts.
Trouble.
“Can’t even get laid in my dreams,” I grumble under my breath as I shimmy into a jumpsuit and quickly braid my hair. I press the button, and the thin plasteel door slides open. Sure enough, the man outside my door is Arnie Hento. Bitten human, blood-tax collector for Sector 23, and all-around dickwad.
“Good night, Director Hento.” I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. His braids are piled up at the top of his head in something that looks like a bush grub’s nest. Even before Arnie Hento was bitten, he’d copied the court styles of Starra slavishly, but this latest get-up—an aggressively striped green and purple jumpsuit that hurts my eyes—is a new level of ridiculousness. Boarus 4 is a dusty mining colony, almost four hundred parsecs away from the Shayde capital of Starra. Fashion isn’t a priority here. Survival is.
“Raven Peace Unnuk. Your blood-tax is due today.”
“No, it’s not,” I reply immediately. “The law states that the monthly blood tax is due on SecondDay, not FirstDay.” Also, I don’t have any blood. I’ve still got twelve hours of backbreaking work in the mines before I get paid at dawn.
He scowls at me. “You think you’re a lawyer, Unnuk? If I were you, I’d watch that attitude. You wouldn’t want anyone reporting you to the Shayde enforcers. Given your family history, you’ll probably get a six-month sentence in the re-education camps. Minimum.”
Don’t let him goad you, Raven. Don’t think about the camps.
I clench my hands into fists behind my back and stay silent as he spins on his heel and walks down the hallway to the next pod.
Then I glance at the time and curse out loud. If the sun sets before I get to work, Overseer Thrip will dock my pay. Today, of all the days, I don’t need any more bad news.
“Today is the day, isn’t it?” Ana Begić’s whisper is muffled by the sound of pickaxes. “The day your parents were taken?”
I nod mutely. Fourteen years ago, my parents had been arrested on this day, FirstDay of FourthMonth. According to Ma Kaila, FirstDay of FourthMonth used to be a day of practical jokes on Old Earth, but their arrest had been no laughing matter. They’d swiftly been found guilty of plotting against the Shayde Empire and condemned to death, and I, their only child, was sent to a re-education camp in the middle of the Ice Deserts of Glacis.
Ten years in the camp, and now four years in the mines. If anything, my burning need to find the person that betrayed them to the Empire and avenge their deaths has just grown with the passage of time.
“You want to go out after this shift? Grab a drink? There’s a new bar in Sector 24. Drinks are cheap until sun-up. Just half-ounce each.”
“That is cheap.” Overseer Thrip glances in our direction, and we both bend our heads and turn our attention back to the rocks. Thrip isn’t a bad sort, and I don’t think he particularly cares if we talk to each other as long as we continue to work. But ten years ago, a mine collapsed, killing two hundred humans, and ever since then, every one of the overseers is paranoid that it could happen to them.
When I’m sure that his gaze is no longer on us, I slide up to her. “I can’t go tonight,” I whisper. “Next week?” Most of the miners are reluctant to form a friendship with someone from the camps, but Ana Begić has always been nice.
“Of course, Raven.”
Spaceflight would be almost impossible without boarium, and the only known deposits are located in the thirteen planets of the Courus system. The precious metal is too delicate to be extracted by machine. It’s hard, brutal work in the mines, and the pay is crap, but there’s always a steady stream of O-positive people willing to work here. It beats the alternative. When a human cannot pay the blood tax, they’re tossed into Overlord Zimmer’s dungeons.
I line up at the end of my shift with the other workers for my pay, Ana right behind me. “Where’s Ingrid?” I ask her, noticing that the tall, blonde girl is missing.
“You haven’t heard?” Ana’s eyes widen. “She undid her braids for a Shayde, and he bit her. Better, he’s keeping her. He’s set her up in a pod in Sector 7.”
Whoa. Ingrid becoming a mistress of one of the vampyrs doesn’t surprise me. She was beautiful, after all, tall and Shayde-pale, her hair woven in golden braids that cascaded down her back. But the Shayde don’t often bite humans, especially the O-positive ones. We’re too ordinary for the gift. “He bit her?”
Ana nods. “She’s delighted, of course.” She sighs. “Do you ever wish you’d get bitten, Raven?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” I ask dryly. I’m lying though. If the Shayde set Ingrid up as his mistress, he’ll feed from her. Too much and Ingrid will become a thrall, a pet possession of her Shayde master, unable to survive without him. When she starts aging, and the Shayde finds a younger replacement, she will wither away and die.
I might be stuck in the mines, but I’m free.
The sky is lightening as I walk back to my pod. A cold wind knifes into me, bringing the ice of the frozen wastes with it. I keep my head down and my hood up and lengthen my stride. My skin prickles with nerves. The outer sectors are butted up against the ice deserts of Glacis. Nobody hangs out here if they can help it, especially not this close to daybreak. At night, the looters might be broken up by the Shayde enforcers, but the Shayde will not venture out in full sunlight, and the thugs know it.
Most of the walk from Sector 20 to Sector 23 is above ground, but there’s a section that goes through a tunnel. Gangs of stray humans have taken to hanging out by the entrance and the exit, ready to ambush the unwary. I can fight—Spirit knows we learned to survive in Glacis—but I’d rather not. Nobody on Boarus 4—not even the gangs—wants to attract the attention of our Shayde masters.
There’s no one hanging about the entrance. I take a deep breath and tighten my hold on the stick I carry for protection, saying a brief prayer to the Great Spirit in the Sky before plunging into the passage.
It’s when I reach the exit that I see someone stumble toward me, his gait lurched, as if he’s spent too much time and blood in the taverns. I almost raise my weapon, but then he nears enough that I can see his bruised, swollen face.
Vampyr.
Immediately, I drop my stick and fall to my knees, my forehead touching the icy ground. “My Lord Shayde,” I whisper through dry lips. Who has hurt him? The gangs wouldn’t be foolish enough to attack one of the Shayde, would they? Overlord Zimmer has burned entire sectors for far less provocation.
If the cameras spotted me… if they think I had anything to do with this…
“Human.” His voice is hoarse and strained, his eyes red-tinged, glittering with madness, but his voice is overlaid with compulsion. “Come here.”
Everything instinct is telling me to flee, but I’m not strong enough to fight the compulsion and not foolish enough to try. My pulse racing, I approach the stranger. Something is wrong. His clothing is ragged, and he smells like piss and sweat. He’s bleeding from several open wounds. He looks on the verge of passing out. This isn’t the result of too much drinking; vampyrs aren’t affected by alcohol the way humans are.
“Yessss. Stay.” He wraps one hand around my neck, drawing me closer, and my mouth goes dry. Great Spirit in the Sky, he means to bite me, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
His fangs elongate. I gasp as they sink into my throat, hot fire filling my body as the Shayde takes blood from me. My vision goes blurry, and my head spins. “Good,” the Shayde whispers. “Now drink from me.” I watch, limp and placid, as he brings up his bleeding wrist to my lips. “Drink,” he repeats, this time with compulsion. Obediently, I open my mouth and allow the warm blood to pour down my throa
t.
He makes me drink at least a pint before he’s satisfied. Then he looks at me. “They will hunt you now,” he says, his voice clear for the first time. “If they find out you drank from me, they will kill you. Don’t let that happen, human.”
His words should alarm me, but the bite has made me lazy, languid. My body feels boneless, satiated. “Your species knows how to survive,” he continues harshly. “Do that now. Run fast and run hard.” He pulls me close once again. “You will not thank me for this gift, but it is the only way,” he whispers, his breath hot against my skin. “Get to Starra. Find Ivar Karlsson. He will protect you.”
He tilts his head to one side, and his eyes fill with alarm. “They’re here,” he says tensely. “Run. I’ll buy you safe passage.”
He pushes me away from him and takes off toward the ice deserts, running due west. No, I want to scream after him. Nobody can survive Glacis, not even a Shayde, and the west is especially dangerous. To go west is to die. But before I can chase him and pull him back to safety, I hear the thump-thump-thump of the choppers.
The enforcers are here.
I draw back into the tunnel. I should hide, but something compels me to stay where I am and watch.
Three sleek spacecrafts approach from the inner city. I see the vampyr running as fast as he can, but the ice deserts are treacherous, and he slips and falls. Before he can scramble to his feet, the choppers are firing their weapons.
