STONE DRAGON: A Prison Moon Series Romance Novel

by Marell, Alexandra

  His arm tightened around her, almost crushing the breath from her lungs. He loosened his hold when he heard her small gasp of inhaled breath, his expression masked in concern. His scrutiny made the ember flare and burn a little hotter. Whatever this thing was inside of her, it was definitely getting interested.

  Memories tangled with dreams. Realities merged. Doors were opening and locks turning. Something big coming. Something she might be unable to stop.

  Tharius’s grating voice rolled over her, the words coming in staccato snatches as she tumbled over the edge and into sleep.

  “If what I sense in you is true, the gods have a task for us both. Fear not, little Claudia, though we are worlds apart, we were meant to be together.”

  “Yes,” she murmured, and thought of home, the endless nights on this prison moon wishing for a miracle, a rescue from the nightmare that would magically teleport her back to her apartment, to her old life.

  A year ago she wouldn’t have hesitated. Now, lying safe in a half-shifted dragon-man’s arms, she couldn’t think of a place she’d rather be.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The eyes followed with such determination, Tharius almost revised his plan to make all speed to his lair. Two orb-shaped objects, and one larger, more angular box, herded and watched, no doubt sending intelligence back to base.

  He remembered from experience how difficult they were to evade, and the advantage they lent the enemy invaders. Claudia yawned in his embrace, eyes flickering as she awoke.

  He was not a dragon given to wasting time on frivolous activities like smiling, yet he could not control the twitching of his lips as he remembered something else from the days before the wars.

  A cock-stand happened naturally when he held her. It did not make for swift travel. Neither did the thoughts accompanying the arousal make for rational judgement.

  Sternly, he lengthened his stride and willed it away, diverting his attention to the tactical manual of standard attack which all young ensigns were required to learn by rote. Once learned, they were deemed worthy to embark upon the Chatra trials and earn their badges of honour.

  The whole of his male torso bore the marks proclaiming him an Exultant of the highest honour. And still, his thoughts returned to the soft weight pressing against his belly and chest. The small sighs the female made in sleep, the way she burrowed into him as if seeking solace and protection.

  He should be ashamed of feeling this salacious desire for one seeking his protection. For allowing himself to be distracted by thoughts of rutting and glorious release when facing mortal danger.

  Don’t beat yourself up, Tharius. It is a perfectly natural thing.

  Claudia pushed against his chest, asking to be released. He let her down with an annoying flash of relief as the blood returned to this tired muscles. Carrying such a slight being with one arm should not have fatigued him like this.

  But then, his greedy cock seemed intent on stealing every scrap of the valuable energy needed to evade the eyes.

  “You’ll get stronger, Tharius. Be patient.” Claudia adjusted her gown, and he thought her gaze dipped briefly to his groin. But she averted her eyes and looked around. “Where are we?”

  He heard the question in her voice. Guessed the location was unfamiliar to her.

  “The Drae’lar valley.” Just saying the word brought a strange tightness to his throat. Home. They were nearly home, and the primal urge to take this female to his lair and bury himself inside of her as an act of claiming threatened to override all his good sense. Once they discovered his base, the invaders would send in their weapons and destroy everything he held dear.

  If they hadn’t already.

  “It’s beautiful.” Her voice held the raspy croak of sleep, but he noted the slight upturn of her lips. Noted the small surge of joy as she took in the lush vegetation, awoken now from its winter sleep and well on the way to its showy glory before the season of high sun dried and leached out the tints and hues. Blazes of colour made a patchwork between great trees trailing vines and tumbling streams catching shards of evening light.

  Claudia turned to him. Her hair, flattened on one side from contact with his chest, the sleepy cast to her eyes, put him in mind of bodies awakening together after a night of coupling. She’d gaze at him and smile in remembrance. Push that pale hair from her face. Or perhaps he’d do that for her.

  Did he ever do that for Ekala? Unless his memory played him false, he thought not.

  She’d have liked that. Claudia’s thoughts again, tinged with a little sadness. She spoke the truth, he would admit that now.

  Tharius halted his walked, almost falling forward as the thick hide of his bare soles gripped the spongy soil. He’d reacted to her words without pause. Not only heard Claudia’s thoughts, he understood them. Suddenly, her words were as clear as if she spoke in his own tongue.

  “It’s like paradise.” Hell, Tharius, do you even realise what a sexy beast you are? Even like that, in half-shift? Oh, thank God he can’t understand me. She yawned and then eyed him suspiciously.

  What? Did you understand that?

  I did. Why does my mind suddenly hear you now?

  You were thinking about my hair, Tharius. What you’d like to do to it. This is amazing. It may be a way to actually speak to each other. Can you hear me now?

  His first instinct was to step away from her. What time had they for tender caresses? And then he realised she wanted more than his hands on her hair. Something about this charged state, the arousal zinging between them, enabled her to communicate with him.

  Is it the arousal, Claudia?

  It might be. A rosy blush tinted her cheeks, but she stood firm in her challenge. Let me know we can talk to each other without the cameras listening in. Think of it as…strategy, she said, couching it in terms that spoke directly to the soldier in him.

  The eyes will see me as a fool, falling under your spell. He raised his good hand, wishing he had benefit of both that he might hold her as a male should hold a female. The pale strands, so different from his own clan colour of blue-black, slipped through his fingers like spun threads from plants so rare they were reserved only for the comfort of their illustrious rulers. Driven more by lust than any military strategy, he wound his fingers into the strands, catching fine hairs in his hooked claws, and gently combed it away from her face.

  All the better to throw them off your scent.

  I am a proud dragon, Claudia. I would not have them think me weak.

  Claudia leaned a little into his touch, rubbing her scalp to his rough palm. Do it again. When he tried to pull back, thinking they’d made their point, indulged these soft feelings enough, she took his hand and bid him repeat the gesture with actions, not words.

  “You like this?” He spoke aloud because she understood him, and he saw no reason to waste the energy needed for this mental conversation. He cared not that the eye listened in when they plainly saw her preening under his touch.

  He was well versed with the scent of sexual energy between male and female. No different between his species and hers, it seemed. Or was it that ember singing its alluring song, sending messages to his cock that she wanted him and would not deny his advance?

  Claudia’s tiny smile said yes, but he sensed more. She cast the eyes an anxious glance.

  Yes, I like that. But don’t give anything away. Keep this communication between us.

  Walk then. I was taking us to my lair, but we must find a way to lose the eyes, first.

  I want you to kiss me, Tharius. No, ignore that. Claudia fell in step with him, shaking her head. Oh hell, seems around you, I can’t control my thoughts. This is going to get complicated.

  You desire me? Wish my lips on yours? Tharius tempered his stride in deference to her shorter legs. Though he would have gladly spent every last drop of energy lifting her and running to his lair. Thoughts of duty and offspring were rapidly giving way to an insatiable need for blissful relief.

  You nearly died, Tharius. I ne
arly died. And you ripped that creature back there apart. We nearly both died all over again.

  And in death, we seek life. We seek to leave our marks upon the world in the most basic way. Yes, this he understood, though General Tharius never indulged in the bloodlust of battle. Or the shameful aftermath of looting and violation. He prided himself on restraint, on taking only those spoils he’d earned.

  I cannot kiss that mouth of yours with these rough lips, these dragon teeth. I would hurt you. Overhead, a flock of long-necked arils flew north in a swishing pulse of wings that easily spanned his own height. Good eating on those creatures, and easy to bring down in dragon flight, or with a carefully aimed slingshot. As male, he must take the role of provider and ensure this female did not hunger or thirst. Or take ill from a chill.

  At least the days grew warmer as the moon moved towards the season of high sun, so they could push that concern aside for now.

  She does so little complaining for a female. That is truly strange.

  Claudia shoved at his arm, telling him she heard that. “You call a mattress a luxury, and then you wonder why your mate complained?” Claudia tripped over a tangle of low branches. He steadied her, feeling the gentle, chastising heat of her words.

  Tharius, speak out loud to me occasionally, or the cameras will start to suspect something. The Corporation knows about my powers, they’ll be reading our expressions. Will realise what we’re doing if we stay silent for too long.

  Wise thinking.

  “My mate often looked at me with an expression I did not understand. A high-born Draegon maiden respects protocol at all times.” Those expressions were the only ammunition Ekala dared use, in the face of his stern glares. No wonder he thought her a sad creature. But looking back, he remembered her laughter when she met and talked of female concerns with the other Draegon mates. Remembered the swift sobering, the way her eyes lost all their light as he approached.

  Tharius, what’s done is done. You can’t go back. Tell me, is this Dra’lera? Claudia’s fingers sifted through knee-high grasses and meadow flowers, releasing sweet, remembered scents into the air. The connection between them faltered. As if Claudia had used up her current energy stock. “The Corporation seek it in vain.”

  “As did the invaders.” The raw meat he’d ripped from the felled creature’s thigh did little to fill the pit of hunger left by two hundred years in stasis. And this female seemed able to subsist on air itself. Tharius sniffed, seeking out a water source, abundant in this valley before the hot season dried up the shallower springs. To his sensitive ears, a cacophony of small creatures and birds crept and slithered in the undergrowth. Was it the same for her, too?

  And then there remained the problem of their followers. One eye he might take down. Three following, but more likely lurked, ready to take their place. He remembered how quickly they learned the dragon’s strategy, their movements and intents. They wouldn’t allow him near them again unless they became careless.

  Claudia nodded, a slight movement of her head, as if she approved that thought.

  “They will be sending troops after me, am I right?”

  Not…more…soldiers. Felons. The words came through, but just barely, heavy with frustration. He should not tax her further in this weakened state.

  Think naughty thoughts, Tharius. Easier that way.

  He lifted her over a fallen tree trunk, his arm about her waist, and felt again the erotic charge of their mutual touch, the line where their bodies joined.

  He’d been given grimmer orders than to indulge in carnal thoughts in order to facilitate communication with a beautiful female. At his elevated level of Draegon society, formality, and a plethora of ancient rules, governed interactions between the sexes. From what he’d learned of her, Claudia’s species seemed altogether more relaxed about such conventions.

  Send me more and I’ll give you the abridged version of events.

  I am not versed in pretty speeches and odes to love, Claudia. I do not have the words.

  I don’t need words. Only for you to feel whatever it is that’s opening this channel for you.

  How well your body fitted to mine when I lifted you. I want you, Claudia. But I’m too big, too rough, for one such as you.

  His words caused a curious shimmering movement, like a ghost hand skimming along her skin, then reaching out to him in supplication.

  She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  Now you’re getting it. Listen, there is no more war, Tharius. No more soldiers. Only the Corporation and their games.

  The cursed Corporation? Tharius spat and made the sign of the zshe, a clawed fist punched upwards into the air. First there were many, and then they joined and the one grew more powerful than the rest. When the wyverns turned tail and collaborated with them, it became a fight to the end. But we vowed to soldier on. “Stop, Claudia. We must plan our next move.”

  “Yes.” Tharius, listen. I’m being followed. By the warlord who took me, and a wyvern I…upset. Oh, and there’s a mad seer named Serllia who hates me and wants me dead.

  The strongest will be ever envied by the weak. I will kill them for you, for the glory of my home world and my lost brothers in arms. And most of all for the slaughter of our defenceless females.

  “Okay, I need a breather.” Claudia lowered herself to a boulder, lifting one foot to inspect the blood-spotted sole. She rotated her ankle, groaning as if it might pain her, and then slid a curved palm the length of her calf to her knee. His imagination continued the action, lifting the hem of her gown, revealing her thigh.

  That’s what they want. The Corporation want you to kill. To see what you’re capable of. We must keep that part of you secret.

  “Rest, shelter and food,” she said, and followed his thoughts, curving her fingers above her knees. Her expression one of supreme innocence. Tharius, there are more than the controllers watching us behind those cameras. No use pretending they haven’t seen us. Unless we give them something worth watching, the viewers will grow bored, and call in the war-band following me. Sooner or later, they’ll want blood.

  He knelt, beside her. Taking her foot, he removed the moccasin and dipped his head to sniff for signs of infection. Nothing yet to concern him.

  Claudia sighed and touched a hand to the flowing hair that had continued to grow in stasis. Heat, a tingling charge, flowed from her gentle fingers.

  The macho male in him wanted to rebel and roar out against this show of weakness in front of the eyes. Instead, he found himself lifting a little to her touch, greedily taking what she so generously gave. Would her skin taste of desire? He wished to test that thought.

  Dio, that’s good, Tharius. Do it again. This is something we can give the viewers without revealing your skills, or your growing strength. Once they see you in action, they’ll take you for their games, and you won’t be able to stop them.

  They felled me once. It will not happen again.

  They’re a lot stronger now, with far more sinister motives than stealing your treasure with a clean kill.

  Who are these beings you claim are watching us? Where are they?

  Behind the eyes, Tharius. Claudia’s voice took on a melancholy tone. As if she really didn’t want to be the one to tell him this. From the stars above our heads, beings on other planets watch life and death on Prison Moon One for their pleasure and entertainment.

  I have never seen the entertainment in watching others live and die.

  Oh, Tharius, you’re just too noble for your own good. One kiss, and I guarantee our ratings will go through the roof and we’ll earn rewards. You don’t understand what’s happened to your moon, but trust me, I do.

  The eyes looked as they always did. Orbs, angular, sometimes the size of a shifted dragon, they hung in the sky, watching and waiting. Someone must be controlling them. That much his brain understood. They gathered intelligence in order to best the Draegon in battle. But now they operated for the sole purpose that others could watch the progress of the war and
cheer?

  A jest of the gods, surely?

  He raised his face to her, showing his confusion. War was not fought for the entertainment of others. While he slept, his beloved moon had surely moved from madness to insanity.

  Blood or sex, Tharius. We’ll give them one or the other, perhaps both, before this story ends. It’s the only way to survive this place.

  Tharius gave in to the urge to touch his lips to her smooth flesh, taking care not to nick her with his curved, dragon teeth, barbed with razors at each edge. The spiral of languid warmth uncoiling deep in his belly took him by surprise. No mere pressing of lips, this kiss touched him to his very core. Gripped him with the urge to hide this treasure from sight of the millions of decadent eyes Claudia claimed watched them.

  He kissed her again, another rare smile tilting his lips. They were nothing to him, but if giving them this earned them some respite to plan and fight back, then it was no hardship. Claudia rose a little, offering her lips in what might have been a silent plea. Or did she merely put on a show for the ever watching eyes?

  Tharius stepped away, glaring at the hovering camera.

  Is there any place for honour on this moon I have returned to? I would not share you with them. He spat out the last word, filling it with the cold venom congealing in his gut for the past two hundred years.

  Claudia stared at the camera, a finger wiping slowly at her lips. Then she spoke, as if addressing a chamber full of untried ensigns, trembling and awaiting orders for their first attack.

  “See what I have here, Mario? How this beast kneels at my command? But how long before he becomes my master? I’ll give you more than you ever dreamed, but for now we’re calling the rules. Keep our pursuers at bay, and we’ll give you something to make your ratings explode.”

  She was talking to the eyes? What did you tell them? What did you promise? For there was certainly a promise in that speech. Tharius pulled Claudia upright, flush with his body. A gesture that should have proved no problem in overpowering her with his will. She kissed the hand trapped between them and laid her cheek to his chest.