Fenrir (Scifi Alien Dragon Romance) (Galactic Mates)

by Luna Hunter

  “Wow,” I say. “I like books, and history, but to spend your whole life in an archive?”

  “It’s a sacrifice, yes, but an important one. Scholars are held in extremely high esteem. Without them, we’d be lost.”

  “Interesting,” I say as I pull a random book from the shelf. It’s a heavy, leather-bound tome. On the Nature of Falurians. Not a light bed-time read, I suspect.

  “Where are the scholars now?”

  “Visiting the library of an allied clan, so don’t worry. We’re all alone here.”

  We’re all alone. Those little words rekindle the flames of desire inside of me.

  “I took you here because I wanted to show you that tradition is important to us Falur. Our history is important. We live in harmony with nature, and we look to it for guidance.”

  I nod. “I understand.”

  “You don’t. Not yet. Take a seat. This may be a lot take in.”

  I sit down on a wooden chair, bracing myself for whatever bomb Fenrir is about to drop.

  “The moment we met, there was a… spark. Did you feel it?”

  “Yes,” I say. “Sort of. Now that you mention it, there was definitely a… moment. I saw visions, but only for a brief second. So brief I thought I imagined it.”

  “You didn’t imagine anything. Are you having trouble sleeping? Strange dreams? Urges that are hard to control?”

  “Yes,” I admit. Fenrir is standing in front of me, a frown on his face, and I definitely am experiencing some urges that are hard to control, despite the gravity in his voice. My body still remembers the heat, the hardness, the comfort of being in his arms.

  “But… how do you know all of that?”

  “In my language, we’d say that you are my elska. My mate. We are bonded. Our fates are… entwined.”

  I scrunch my nose in disbelief. “What do you mean, entwined?”

  “I believe that in the human tongue, you call it love. An insatiable yearning, an overpowering desire to be together. Is that correct?”

  “Sometimes love can be like that, yes.”

  Though I’ve never been on the receiving end of that kind of love.

  “Can love kill?”

  “Sometimes, I suppose? Not as a rule, though.”

  “In our word, when two people fall for each other like that, we say that they are bonded. Fate itself has decided that two people should be together. Their lives and children are blessed. To resist the bonding is to invite disaster. It is said that it can drive a person insane.”

  I cross my hands over my chest. I can’t make any sense of what he’s saying.

  “So let me get this straight. You’re saying that we are bound together… by fate? Is that what you’ve been hinting at this whole time?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if either of us is to refuse this ‘bond’, we’re ‘inviting disaster’? Or even worse, we could go insane?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is by far the strangest way someone has ever asked me out before.”

  Fenrir frowns. “What?”

  “Look, you’re definitely… interesting, for lack of a better term.” Gorgeous, rugged and sexy also come to mind, but I don’t have to fluff his ego. “But this is all a little bit too much to take in. How do we even ‘accept’ this ‘bond?’

  “We mate,” Fenrir replies instantly.

  Heat rises to my cheeks. I came down here ready for an adventure, but not like this. This is starting to feel like a mind game, and I don’t like those.

  “If you want to be aliens-with-benefits, you could have just asked instead of threaten me some weird prophecy,” I say, my voice growing louder as anger takes a hold of me.

  “I’m doing no such thing,” Fenrir says. “I am warning you! You deserve to know!”

  “I deserve to know that fate made me your mate? Yeah, thanks for the heads up.”

  “I do not understand you,” Fenrir says, breathing smoke from his nose. Sometimes I forget he’s also a dragon – but that’s not stopping me now.

  “That’s clear now. Do you even like me or are you just chasing me because some prophecy said you should?”

  He hits the shelf with his fist, and books tumble out en masse. His red eyes turn yellow and dragon-like, like two menacing slits. He grows taller and broader, his wings spread wide.

  “Don’t ever question my feelings for you,” he growls angrily, his voice even lower than normal. The whole room feels like it’s rumbling due to his voice. “I am doing everything I can to protect you.”

  “You can start by protect me from yourself,” I say as I stand up and jab my finger into his broad chest. I run off with tears stinging my eyes. I run back through the iron gates… where I can’t leave without growing wings. Shit. There’s probably some tunnel that will also take me out of here, but I’m more likely to get lost and starve than find my way a mile up in the many unlit tunnels.

  I wait for Fenrir with my arms crossed over my chest, impatiently tapping my foot. He comes out after ten minutes, a scowl on his face. He spreads his wings without saying a word, and I climb into his lap. This time there’s no close cuddling. I let him carry me up, and that’s it.

  He flies me all the way out of the mountain and back down to the mining camp. The sun has started its descent, and the sky is a majestic purple, but I couldn’t care less about that right now.

  Fenrir drops me off in front of my home and flies off without a word. As I watch him go, the knot in my stomach tightens.

  Did I do the right thing?

  10

  FENRIR

  FUCK IT.

  Fuck it all.

  I trash my cave, my hands already shifted into claws, slashing right through my priceless oak desk, through chairs and tables. Where the fuck did I put my medallion? The proof that I am a Magni. Receiving that award was the last thing I did before I started fucking everything up.

  Instead of convincing Abigail of the true nature of my feelings, I pushed her away. Instead of seeing the gravity of the situation, she thought me a liar. I lost my temper, and it only strengthened her resolve.

  I can’t win. What do I have to do to prove to her that I’m being genuine?

  No matter. It’s too late now. My inner-dragon is lashing out like a wounded animal. I can barely contain it. If she sees me in this state, it’ll only confirm her beliefs that I’m a monster. A beast.

  I had my chance and I blew it.

  I’m leaving at the crack of dawn, for some faraway place on the horizon, where no one knows Clan Dagur. It’ll be tough, but there must be some jungle on the other side of the planet where a feral, wild dragon can spend his days in peace.

  “Calm yourself, child.”

  I turn, my chest heaving with every breath, my eyes turned to yellow slits, and find Karlina standing in the doorway, a pitiful look in her eyes.

  “Don’t look at me,” I growl. “Leave.”

  She closes the door behind her and sits down on the edge of my bed.

  “Come now, you think this is the first time I’ve seen a man driven crazy by love? Tut tut. It’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine,” I say. “I bring shame to the clan – I can’t control my anger, my jealousy, my disappointment any longer. My rage. I feel like a wild animal.”

  “It’ll pass. Abigail will come to her senses. I saw it in her eyes. She feels the same way.”

  “No. She is scared of me. I can’t force her to love me. I can’t change how she feels. I had my shot, and I blew it.”

  “That’s not the Fenrir I raised,” my aunt says. “You never surrender. Never.”

  “In war, no. This is love.”

  “What is love if not war? You must conquer her heart. When you two are together, you give of so much energy the whole room is warmed by it. A blind man could see you two are meant for each other. If she resists or refuses, for one reason or another, it is not the end. It is merely a chapter in your story.”

  “I wish I could believe that,” I say, “but you hav
e not seen the disappointment in her eyes, the sadness in her voice. I have made my decision. I leave at dawn.”

  11

  ABIGAIL

  “COME ON, let me in.”

  It’s Nathan. Again. He’s been pounding on my door all morning. He saw me come home last night with tears in my eyes, and he’s been bothering me ever since. Nathan’s a nice guy, but sometime I just need some space.

  “Go away!”

  “No,” he says resolutely. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what happened, and that’s final. Open the door or I’ll start singing!”

  I yank the door open and Nathan stumbles forward, landing at my feet.

  “Please don’t. I told you I just want to be alone today. Why can’t you just respect that?”

  “What kind of friend would I be if I did something as silly as that? Come now,” Nathan says as he climbs to his feet. “Look, I brought you a donut.”

  “A donut? Is that supposed to cheer me up?”

  “Hey, I fought for that donut with my life. You know how Big Joe loves his treats. If you’re not going to be grateful about it, I’ll eat it.”

  “…no, that’s okay, I’ll take it.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Nathan parks himself on my bed. My little container home at the base of this giant mountain contains little more than my bed and a chair. It’s functional, but little more than that.

  It’s fine for now. Any day now the miners will collect the samples they’re after and we’ll go back into deep space. I’ll never have to see Fenrir again.

  Why does my heart just break at that thought? Why is any of this so complicated? Why can’t I just find a normal guy, one who won’t cheat on me or has wings and who tells me fate is going to drive me mad…

  “How’s the digging going?”

  Nathan shrugs. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Aren’t you the chief mining engineer? Isn’t knowing how the dig is going sort of your entire job?”

  Nathan glances out the window, looking very uncomfortable all of a sudden. He shrugs again. “I don’t know. Something strange is going on, but that’s not why I’m here.”

  “What do you mean? What’s going on?”

  “Tell me how you’re doing and I’ll tell you how I’m doing.”

  “Fine,” I say. “But you better not be lying just to get me to talk.”

  “I’d never do something like that,” he says mockingly. “Okay, I totally would, but now is not one of those times. Now go.”

  Where do I even begin? I sit down on the chair, stuffing myself with the sugary sweet donut as I clear my thoughts.

  “Fenrir took me to some sort of… Falurian wedding. It was pretty nice, I suppose. There was a feast.”

  “Oh my god, you were feasting?! We’ve been eating instant-dreck for a week, and you’re feasting with alien royalty?”

  “Hey, I didn’t ask for it. But it was a welcome change of scenery, I’ll give you that. Afterwards he took me to a library deep underground, and he tried to explain some strange Falurian prophecy about ‘fate’ and ‘bonding’. Basically, he said that if I don’t sleep with him we’ll both go mad. Who says something like that?”

  “A Falurian warrior, apparently.”

  “Apparently, yeah. Is that all you have to say? Am I wrong in thinking that’s wildly inappropriate?”

  Nathan shrugs again, and it’s starting to get on my nerves. What if Fenrir was right and I am going mad? Sure feels like it…

  “I don’t know,” he says. “I really don’t. We’re not on Earth. They do things differently here. It sounds kinda skeevy, a little weird, yeah, sure. But… I mean, you like the guy, right?”

  “Not the point.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes. It’s clear he likes you, too. You’re only here for a short while, I say live a little, saddle up, do your thing, whatever you want to call it. It’s not every day you’ll get alien royalty on your tail, I’ll tell you that. This is your first mining operation and you’ve already landed a big fish. I’ve been mining for ten years and all I’ve caught are Numerian crabs.”

  “Gross,” I say. “Nathan! I didn’t need to know that!”

  “Neither did I, but it’s true all the same.”

  “I don’t know,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. I don’t like how Nathan is making me feel like a big fool for standing my ground. “I don’t think Fenrir wants a fling. He was really… intense. Serious.”

  “You could give it a shot. You left Earth because you wanted a change of scenery; doesn’t get much different than an alien planet like this.”

  “How are you so breezy about life altering decisions like this?! I’ve been on two sort-of dates with the guy. That’s not enough time to decide I want to move planets.”

  “It’s a leap of faith, sure, but what’s stopping you? What’s waiting for you back on Earth? What’s there you’re looking forward to? Sounds to me like you ran away as fast as you could. The way I see it, you just reached your destination, but you’re just too pigheaded to see it yet.”

  “You take that back!”

  “Never,” Nathan smirks. “I stand by every syllable. It’s not like life on the road is that glorious either. If I could leave this life, I would.”

  “So why don’t you?”

  “Can’t go back to Earth, because, you know, the mob is out for my head and such.”

  “There are other planets.”

  “Yeah, but very little human communities. And the Terulians have a long arm. A really, really long one. Afraid that if I settle down, they’ll come to settle the score one day, you know? Safer to be on the move.”

  “You could go to Exon Prime, the Zoran homeworld.”

  “Ha! Now that’s a good one. Nah, that’s not my style at all. You can’t go from living with a rough-riding mining crew for a decade to living with those strict and uptight giants. I’d probably break some kind of unwritten rule on the first day and they’d break my face the next. No thank you.”

  I roll my eyes. “You hand-wave my problems away, yet when I try to solve yours you just keep coming up with excuses. I think you just like working for Calloway Corps.”

  “Oh, you got me. That’s right. Mining is in my blood. Nothing gets me harder than blowing up pieces of rock. A day where you don’t break stones is a day not worth living, I always say.”

  “You always say that, hm?”

  “Yeah. Real quiet like. When I’m alone.”

  “Right. I think you’re purposely going off-topic because you’re hiding something. What’s going on that’s so strange?”

  Nathan’s entire demeanor changes. His wide smile fades, and is replaced by a grim stare.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t told you because I didn’t want you to worry needlessly, but to be honest, I just don’t know anymore.”

  “Just start at the beginning.”

  “Okay,” he says with a deep sigh. He rubs the palms of his hands together for a second. “Okay. Here it goes. So, I thought this contract was a little fishy from the start. According to our boss, we were hired by the Federation to do sample-research on Audur. That in itself raises flags.”

  “It does?”

  “When you’ve been a smuggler for as long as I have, yes. Oh yeah, we’re also smugglers by the way. And seeing as you served on the Rusty Weasel with us, I suppose that makes you an accomplice. All the more reason to move in with Fenrir, I suppose. But I digress.”

  “I’d like to un-digress and talk about the part where you’re implying I’m a wanted criminal by association!” I say.

  “Too late for that. You’ve seen our crew – all rough people with sordid pasts. Not the kind of dudes you would send on a politically sensitive mission like, say, mining for samples on an alien homeworld. You get what I’m saying? There’s far more reputable organizations for that kind of work. Not a Calloway Corps rag-tag bunch of misfits. Anyway, I just figured it was a cover-up for smuggling some wares onto or from the Observer or
Audur. Standard fare, really.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this stuff sooner?” I say, the pitch of my voice rising. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Be honest with me: This is the kind of stuff you’d rather hear on your last day of work, rather than the first. Now, back on topic. So we started digging here, for real, and I’m a little surprised, but okay. Figures boss really wants to sell the story to the Falurians. Oh yeah, before I forget, there’s a lot of new faces on board, too. I’ve ran with this crew for a decade, I know almost everyone, but there’s a slew of fresh meat. Not just you. Anyway, so the boss wants us to dig… and dig… and dig. I’m taking hundreds of yards down. Deep enough to take plenty of samples, if that’s what were after, if you ask me. Now, I’m starting to get cold feet, so I approach Boris and ask him what’s the deal.”

  “And?” I ask, hanging on his every word.

  “He didn’t take too kindly to my so-called meddling. He made it very clear to me, in both word and gesture, that he wants me to ‘fuck off’. Told me to stay in my container if I knew what was good for me. Looked serious about it, too. So, that’s why I’ve had time to hang out with you the last couple of days. That’s the long and short of it.”

  I can barely believe what I’m hearing. According to Nathan, this whole mining operation a sham, and the company I signed on for is just a front for a criminal organization? Just my rotten luck…

  “Please tell me you’re pulling my leg or something,” I say, as I try to keep my voice from shaking. “If what you’re saying is true, that’s bad news. Really bad news.”

  “I wish I could,” Nathan answers while he runs his hand through his hair. “I really wish I could. I have enough aliens who want me dead already, and I don’t want to add the Falurians to that list. I can justify smuggling some alien booze to myself, but I don’t know what Boris has planned… but I have a bad feeling about this.”