by Kate Rudolph
Mated to the Alien Dragon
Kate Rudolph
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More by Kate Rudolph
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Ruthless
Heartless
Faultless
Endless
Mated to the Alien Dragon © Kate Rudolph 2019.
Cover design by Kate Rudolph.
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied within critical reviews and articles.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Published by Kate Rudolph.
www.katerudolph.net
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
About Kate Rudolph
Chapter One
Kristen
I didn’t steal anything, but I do have shady friends. Not that the intimidating group of bruisers chasing me gave a damn about any of that. A few measly hundred dollars—or maybe thousands, I wasn’t too sure—went missing and suddenly it’s the girl who’s only been in town for a few months who’s left holding the bag. What the hell? I always thought I was a good judge of character, but the last few towns and the last dozen disasters were starting to make me question things.
My lungs burned like I’d swallowed embers and every breath I took only stoked the flames. I risked a glance behind me and saw that at least two of the guys were gaining on me. A small part of me was impressed; none of them seemed the type to take up long-distance running in their spare time. The rest of me wished they’d stuck to free weights.
I stumbled over some invisible barrier but managed to catch myself before I fell. I didn’t know this town very well, didn’t know where I could hide, and I didn’t trust my friends not to sell me out. Again. We’d all had plans to meet in that bar, but I was the only one who had shown. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I’d been sacrificed in the name of money.
What would happen if they got me? Bloodied nose? Broken legs? Sold into sexual slavery? Killed? I didn’t want to find out. From the way they were chasing me there was no way this ended pleasantly. I scanned around looking for something, anything, that might get me out of this mess. But the bar was in the shit end of town and all of the buildings around me were either warehouses or small shops that were shut up tight to keep miscreants and vandals at bay. Even the cars avoided the streets when they could, zooming overhead as if anti-grav technology could make poverty disappear.
So when the giant light appeared in front of me I acted more out of desperation than from any sense. It was stupid. All little kids were taught not to go towards mysterious lights, that some aliens used them to lure the unsuspecting and capture them for nefarious purposes. But given the option of the bruisers behind me and the portal in front of me, I’d take my chances on the unknown.
Broken bones really hurt.
I dived straight in and for a moment it was like being torn apart, all my molecules going off in every direction and trying to make sense of stepping off Earth between one second and the next. Not that I was certain of that at the time, but when my eyes opened and I was looking out at a star studded vista through a viewport on a space ship I knew I wasn’t in Oklahoma anymore.
It looked like I was in a control room of some kind. There were hundreds of buttons on a dashboard and two chairs facing all of it. The view was panoramic and I spun around trying to get an idea of where I was. All I saw were stars, no convenient planet in the distance, nothing to tell me just how far from home I was. And there was no sign of the portal that had brought me to the ship, but I was thankful for that. If those guys had followed me here…
I shuddered. No, thank you.
One of the screens above the dash shifted from the view of outside to a shrouded figure. “Kristen Mora?” it asked, with the tone of a teacher taking attendance.
“Who wants to know?” Maybe not the best response to the being that had saved me from certain pain, but more than two decades of habit didn’t die because of one tiny rescue.
The figure shifted, shadows moving around the hood, and I could almost make out the shape of whoever was talking to me. It wasn’t human, but that wasn’t exactly surprising, given the space ship. I’d never met an alien before, not that I could remember, but I’d heard fantastic stories, going all the way back to my days in the group home where I’d been raised. Hell, Earth had just fended off an alien attack with the help of some alien refugees who planned to call the planet home, so it wasn’t like all of them had nefarious plots for us. But it would be a lot more reassuring if I could see the being’s face.
“Who are you?” I pressed. That split second decision to step into the portal was seeming less and less smart.
“Scan complete.” That wasn’t the alien; it was a feminine computer voice that should have been giving me directions in my vehicle, not doing scans.
“What do you want?” I wasn’t panicking; panicking didn’t get you anywhere. Just because my voice had hitched up and my heart rate exceeded acceptable parameters and sweat made my shirt cling to me didn’t mean that I was—nope, definitely panicking. Where was that portal again? Those guys were probably gone by now. I could take my chances on Earth.
“Match confirmed,” concluded the robotic voice.
“Match? What match?” I sucked in a deep breath and tried to get my rollicking emotions under control. I didn’t know how to pilot a ship, but one of those buttons could probably do the job for me. That was if I was on a ship. It occurred to me that I was surrounded by view screens, not windows, so technically I could have been anywhere. Damn impulsiveness was going to kill me one day.
“Please remain calm,” the figure on the central viewscreen said. “I mean you no harm.”
“You snatched me off the street!” I took half a step towards the screen, as if punching the glass would do more than break my own hand.
“You walked through my portal yourself,” the figure shot back, mild annoyance in its tone. “I’d be happy to send you home.” A bright light flashed behind me and I caught a clear view of the alley I’d jumped out of, now crawling with the men who’d been chasing me, at least two of whom were holding blasters.
I swallowed hard. “What do you want?”
The portal seemed to shimmer in front of me and when I looked again it was no longer gazing out at the alley I’d stumbled from but onto a green field surrounded by trees and covered
by a vast blue sky. It was the kind of vista I’d seen in ancient paintings. I’d been a city girl all my life and never seen anything like that in person.
“If you wish to escape your pursuers, simply go to the keep and tell them that Celestial Mates sent you,” the figure said. A logo flashed on its screen, as if that would make it easier to understand.
“M-mates?” I bit my lip to keep from stuttering any more. I was no one’s mate and I didn’t want to sell myself just to escape some unpleasantness. But those guys had looked mad, and I couldn’t guarantee that I’d survive the night if they found me. I thought that my so-called friends had only taken some money, but it was possible it was even worse. And it wasn’t like I had to actually mate with anyone. I just had to say that Celestial Mates sent me. Surely whatever alien was using a dating service would immediately see that I wasn’t a proper match and would send me packing. This would basically just be a weird vacation.
I could do this. It didn’t even reach the top ten list of the riskiest things I’d done. It would be fine.
I turned to face the portal fully and couldn’t make my feet take that final step. There was nothing intimidating about the sight ahead of me, but I was seized by the thought that if I went to this keep, everything would change. No one cared about some orphan from Earth, a girl who’d never been wanted by any set of parents that claimed her, who had too much anger and poor impulse control. No one back home would ever notice I was gone, and whatever I was walking towards was sure to be another rejection. I knew how to handle it; I’d been handling it for twenty-five years. But I couldn’t take that step.
Wind whipped up behind me and punched into my back, sending me sprawling forward through the portal where I landed on wet grass. I rolled over just in time to see the portal disappear behind me, the mysterious figure and its Celestial Mates logo gone as quickly as they’d appeared.
The air tasted of greenery and freshness, something hard to come by in the harsh cities I’d called home. Earth wasn’t exactly a wasteland, but life in the green areas was expensive and I’d only seen dense forests on school trips. Scraggly little trees dotted the cities, cleaning the air and livening up the place, but they were tiny things, nothing like the giant flora all around me now. I pushed myself up from the ground and batted off some of the dirt and grass that I’d picked up.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was still on Earth. Was that even possible? Maybe a green oasis like this existed, but it was so quiet around me that I couldn’t believe I was on the same planet that I’d just escaped. Or been abducted from. Did it count as an abduction if I’d jumped through the portal of my own free will?
I approached the nearest tree and placed my hand on the thick brown bark. It was tougher than I imagined and I wanted to pick some of it off as a souvenir of this strange place, but something stayed my hand. The tree was far too thick for me to wrap my arms around and it climbed high into the sky, taller than ten of me.
Where the hell was I?
The figure had told me to head for the keep and a reflexively defiant part of me wanted to go anywhere else, but wandering around on a strange planet hoping that the kindness of strangers would see me cared for and fed wasn’t exactly the smartest move. At the keep they were expecting someone, and surely they’d find a way to send me home if I wasn’t what they wanted. When I wasn’t what they wanted.
A shadow passed over the forest and I tipped my head up to see what it was, but the canopy of leaves overhead obstructed my view of the sky. I took a few steps away and squinted, and at first I didn’t understand what I was seeing. And once I did, I wished I’d never looked.
What kind of planet had dragons?
***
Finding the keep was easier said than done, especially since the thought of moving back out from the cover of the trees was the last thing I wanted to do. See a dragon, hide. That was basic human instinct. Medieval peasants understood that shit, and no matter how many centuries had passed, it turned out the urge still held true. But I’d only seen the one dragon, so maybe I was safe. And it wasn’t like I’d seen the thing breathe fire. Maybe that was just a myth.
Oh, wait, dragons were a myth. But I’d just seen one with my own two eyes. Aliens, I could accept. The universe was so vast it would be hard to imagine that humans were the only intelligent species out there. But dragons? Dragons? DRAGONS! Yeah, no. I wanted to curl up into a ball and squeeze my eyes shut. Hopefully when I woke up I’d be back in one of the group homes I’d been raised in, still a kid with a manageable number of worries left in the world. Neglect I could deal with. I didn’t know how to manage not getting burned to a crisp or eaten by a monster.
If any place on this planet was going to be safe, it would have to be the keep, right? That was a kind of castle, and knights lived in castles. Knights hunted dragons. Relying on half-remembered Earth legends wasn’t likely to help me in the long run on this planet, but I was barely clinging to sanity and if all I had was a hope that someone could keep me safe from a fire breathing beast, I’d hold tight to it.
At least the guys I’d been running from couldn’t breathe fire. I should have taken my chances.
No, that kind of thought was for losers, and while I couldn’t exactly call myself a winner, I was definitely a survivor. I leaned out from under the canopy and risked a glance at the sky. No dragons in sight. I didn’t know how fast they could move, but I’d have to chance it. Besides, maybe they were just like birds back home, usually a bit of a nuisance but not exactly violent.
Except for grackles. I hoped dragons were nothing like those assholes.
Okay. I could do this. Stepping out from the trees was a little easier than trying to step through the portal and onto this planet, maybe because a part of me knew that there was no mysterious figure to make me do it. I could only rely on myself here and that was reassuring in its own way. I knew how to rely on myself, I could trust myself. I was the only person who’d never let me down. Well, that part was a lie, but whatever let downs I’d given myself, I’d had to forgive. How else was I supposed to go on?
I couldn’t see the keep from where I was standing, but from the way the trees rose around me, I was pretty sure I was in a valley. I needed to get to higher ground. If I was a bit more dexterous, I might have considered climbing one of the trees and trying to look out from there, but the last thing I wanted to do was get stuck. Walking it was.
I’d say I chose a direction at random, but really I just walked the opposite way the dragon had gone. I didn’t know if they were violent or not, but I wasn’t going to risk it.
As I trudged, a terrible thought occurred to me. What if the alien that wanted to mate with me was the dragon? That couldn’t be possible. Anatomically that just wouldn’t work. There was no way. And why would a man-dragon want a human? No, it couldn’t work. I shuddered at the thought.
There had to be other aliens here, ones that were a bit more humanoid, a bit more anatomically compatible. Not that I was actually planning to mate with one of them, but a girl had to have her standards. Besides, if worse came to worst, I didn’t want to consider fighting off a dragon. I knew every place to hit on a dude to make him cringe and cry. I had no idea what the equivalent of a ball kick was on a dragon.
After a good bit of walking, enough to make my feet hurt and my throat dusty, I came to a road and let out a sigh of relief. It looked sort of like pavement back home, but it was a dark green rather than the black and gray of asphalt I was used to seeing. There were no cars in sight, but a road like this suggested some level of advanced technology. Unless it was natural. But given the way it was set in the ground, a straight line that seemed to cut the world in two, I didn’t think it had sprouted up like that.
I hoped.
My calves ached as I continued on and I finally came to the top of a hill, sweat pouring down my forehead and muscles crying out for relief. It was a harsh reminder that I hadn’t exercised a lot in the last month or year, but given the circumstances, the lack of g
ym time was the least of my worries.
And there in the distance I spotted it. The keep. I couldn’t make out much and it had to be miles away, but I was going in the right direction and if I kept it up I’d be there by nightfall.
A shadow passed over me again and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming. I couldn’t tell if it was the same dragon as before, but this one was heading in the direction of the keep. I wanted to hide, but I was too far from the trees to take cover; besides, the thing didn’t pay any attention to me.
It was just like a bird. But that reassurance rang hollow.
Freaking dragons. Could this day get any worse?
Chapter Two
Drikal
A split second of pain as I flashed between forms grounded me as I absorbed and compressed my dragon and took the form of a man. The day’s flight had been a waste of time, but with the wyvern incursions over the last months it was foolish to let the people grow complacent. If they did not trust that their alpha was looking out for them, they might grow tired of my leadership. And if they lost faith in me, a challenge was sure to follow. I would give my life for my people, but without their respect there was no way to protect them.
My dragon stretched for a moment before settling inside me, but my skin felt pulled taut and I wanted to launch myself back into the sky and taste the freedom that only wings and scales afforded me. A snort sent a wisp of smoke into the air and it was a reminder to all around me of just what power I wielded. Calling up dragon flames in this form was no easy task, and only an alpha had the control it took to summon a steady fire.
The courtyard of the keep was empty of anyone, but that wouldn’t last. They cleared out to allow me enough room to land safely, but they would only be kept from their duties for so long. Already I could see a servant peeking her head through a window to see if I was gone. The previous alpha, Trogan, had commanded that servants stay out of sight under most circumstances. He’d been an able commander, but a terrible alpha. Four years was not enough to forget the stink of the horrors he’d brought to the keep, and I couldn’t spend my days coddling emotions.
