Saved by the Alien Dragon

by Stella Cassy

  “You only just received your first command,” he went on as Tarion glowered at me. “And yes, you managed to fulfill the parameters of your first mission, against the expectations of most of the fleet.”

  “But you had an Earther female help you do it,” Tarion thundered. “A little detail which will practically negate your success entirely once the admirals hear about it...and they will, as you well know. When they also learn that you've taken the female in question as a mate, you might be allowed to keep this command, or you might not. Personally, I highly doubt it, but that remains to be seen. But having offspring with her? That will almost certainly lead to a demotion, and you may never be trusted to command a vessel of your own again.”

  I shook my head. “If that's what has to happen, then that's what has to happen. But I tend to believe that the fleet will let me keep my command, given how thin their resources are spread right now. And these situations between Hielsrane and Earthers, although rare and certainly frowned upon in our society, are not unheard of or unprecedented.”

  “No, you're right, they're not,” Lehar nodded, “so let's take a look at that as well, shall we? You know full well how those sorts of half-breeds are treated in our culture. Because they have human DNA, they're seen as weak. Physically defective. If you choose to remain with her and allow her to go through with the pregnancy, your children will be scorned mercilessly, and denied opportunities in life that will be given to others. It would be cruel of you to allow that.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Natalie – and that is her name, by the way, not 'the Earther' or 'the human female' – is easily stronger, braver, and more fearless and resilient than any Hielsrane I've ever known, including everyone in this room. That is the DNA our children will carry. Whatever disadvantages or hardships life presents them with, I have every confidence that they will surmount them.”

  “But Dashel,” Lehar said reasonably, “she's from Earth. How long do you think it will be before she says she wants to return to her home planet?”

  “She's already made that request.”

  Tarion threw up his arms impatiently. “Of course she has. And naturally, you told her this was out of the question.”

  “I told her it was extremely complicated and would require special permission from the fleet.”

  “Surely you don't expect me to grant such permission?!” he roared.

  “I expect you to give the request you full consideration,” I replied evenly, “as you would for any other fleet captain who submitted it.”

  Tarion's shoulders slumped, and he sank into a seat opposite mine, shutting his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “You are simply impossible, Dashel.”

  “Tarion,” Lehar began quietly, “I just lost most of my fleet. Tomorrow, I'll be presiding over a memorial service for two hundred and seventeen crew members who trusted me with their lives – men who won't even receive a proper burial on our home world or its moons because there aren't any remains left to inter. To say nothing of the fact that as their commanding officer, it's my duty to inform all of their mates and families of this terrible loss, which is the most difficult and painful responsibility imaginable. So given the fact that Dashel has clearly given this a lot of thought and maintains that his position is intractable, perhaps we might simply wish him well and consider his newfound mate and her pregnancy reasons for celebration? After what we've all been through, I feel we could use it.”

  Tarion sat in silence for a long moment, then opened his eyes and stood, extending a hand to me. When he spoke, it was with great difficulty. “If this is truly what you want for yourself and you are unafraid of the consequences—if it makes you happy—then I am happy for you, Dashel, and I wish nothing but the best for you and Natalie.”

  I stood, clasping his hand in mine. “Thank you, Tarion. That means a lot to me.”

  “However,” he added, “you must remove her collar at once. If she is to be accepted as your mate, she can no longer wear the totem of the Pax.”

  “I'll see to it that it's removed at once. And her request to visit Earth?”

  He sighed heavily. “I cannot make any promises, except that I will bring it before the fleet admirals and make as strong a case as I can.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Lehar put a claw on my shoulder and squeezed, then left with Tarion in tow. My focus returned to the Gyygnar's two sections trading holographic blasts and bombs, and I wished for another bottle again – but this time, to celebrate.

  23

  Natalie

  “Hold still, please. This might take a few cleks, especially since we'll only have one shot to get it right.”

  The engineering assistant's name was Grenek, and he was a Junior Grade Lieutenant. He worked slowly and carefully, using a delicate set of picks and mini-lasers on the locking mechanism of my collar. The look of intense concentration on his reptilian face reminded me of the way Daniel used to look when he was poring over a complicated engineering problem – eyes squinted, tongue poking out the side of his mouth, nose twitching slightly.

  I tried to picture Daniel with yellow eyes, scales on his skin, and a forked tongue. It was difficult not to laugh at the mental image, but I knew I had to remain as motionless as possible during the procedure.

  “Why only one shot?” Dashel was standing in the corner of the outer engine core chamber, watching Grenek closely.

  Grenek snickered. “Because if the first shot doesn't succeed, we won't need to fiddle with the lock anymore – we'll be able to simply slide the collar off her neck, since her head will have exploded.”

  “That's quite the bedside manner you have there, lieutenant,” Dashel commented dryly.

  “Dammit, captain, I'm an engineer, not a doctor,” Grenek smirked in response. “Besides, I doubt you'd get anything more comforting out of Stal if he were here instead.”

  “That's a fair point,” Dashel laughed. “I'm surprised the Pax would put so much effort into booby-trapping a slave collar, though.”

  “I'm not,” I said, trying to keep my head as stationary as possible. “The Pax overseers in the mines were big on spectacle – sending messages, making examples of people, all to keep the others in line. And remember, this wasn't the same kind of collar they slapped on all of their workers. The others had minor traps installed too —spikes or blades that would pop out if they were tampered with, for example. But nothing that would kill the one who tried to remove it. Just enough to teach them a lesson not to try it again.”

  “Then why the explosive charges in this one?” Dashel sounded genuinely curious.

  “Because I'd been promoted to a higher level than the others – trusted with greater responsibility. They wanted to show that that trust could just as easily be revoked at the first sign of disobedience or attempted escape, so I wouldn't overestimate my own importance to them. There's a reason they used an element as rare as durabilium to fashion this collar. Due to its hardness, it allows the shaped charges to detonate inward, effectively vaporizing my skull in a big enough blast to let the others know they meant business.”

  “They're big on psychological terrorism, aren't they, those Pax?” Grenek mumbled, rotating one of the lockpicks gently. “They're scalpels in a galaxy of broadswords. If they weren't such monsters, one could almost admire them. And with those little hands and fingers of theirs, they're capable of designing and building much cleverer and more miniaturized technology than we dragons are. Sometimes, I'm surprised our strength and savagery has been enough to keep the playing field even. Otherwise, we'd just be one more species in their infernal Alliance, taking our orders from a bunch of Vence and Mosets.”

  “Perhaps you'd be better off focusing on the task at hand than engaging in this sort of morbid speculation.” Dashel fidgeted uncomfortably, no doubt at the prospect of life under Pax rule. As someone who'd experienced it firsthand, I couldn't blame him.

  “No worries, I'm talented enough to do both at the same time,” Grenek chuckled. “Now hold your b
reath and pray to any Earth gods you're inclined to, because we're almost...there.”

  There was a series of faint blips, and the collar unlatched, tumbling to the floor.

  My hand instinctively went to my neck, feeling the area where the collar had been for years. The skin that had been beneath it was raw and chafed, and there were lots of flaky dead skin cells, since I'd never been able to properly wash there.

  It had been a part of me for so long. I'd even been proud of it, for God's sake. It had defined my entire identity, in a strange way. It had set me apart from all the other humans in the galaxy who'd been abducted.

  Now it was just...gone. And I was just another Earther female on an alien planet, like a thousand others.

  “Better?” Dashel asked.

  “It'll definitely take some getting used to.” I turned to Grenek. “Thank you. You're exceptionally skilled, just like another engineer I used to know.”

  “But far more handsome, no doubt,” he replied cheekily. “You may want to have Stal look at that area on your neck, so he can treat the chafing. Or you might want to simply endure it, in order to spare yourself the pleasure of his company. Either way, I have other duties to attend to, so captain, if I may take my leave...”

  “Of course. Dismissed. Good work, lieutenant.”

  Grenek nodded, marching off briskly. Dashel took my hand, leading me back to his cabin.

  “You seem apprehensive for someone who's just been relieved of an ugly and uncomfortable symbol of oppression,” Dashel observed as the door slid shut behind us. “Is something troubling you?”

  “Without that collar, I'm just like everyone else,” I answered, my voice trembling slightly.

  Dashel took my face in his hands tenderly. “Natalie, trust me when I tell you that there's no one else in the galaxy like you.”

  “That's very sweet of you, but that's not what I meant. Dashel, if you had to describe me to someone – physically, I mean – what would you say?”

  He thought it over for a moment. “Long reddish-blonde hair, I suppose...large blue eyes...a small nose, but with a long, aquiline bridge...full lips...relatively short as Earthers go, with a frame that's deceptively thin and narrow, but quite powerful. Why do you ask?”

  “Because you've just described hundreds of human female slaves and fugitives in this galaxy. And even if you supplemented your description with a holo-image of me, I'm betting that the Drakon are a lot like my own race and most others, in that they have difficulty differentiating members of the same species from each other. Am I right?”

  He frowned, confused. “Perhaps, but I still don't understand what you're saying.”

  “I'm saying that collar was the only real way to identify me. It was the only one of its kind, which made me the only one of my kind. With it, you could say, 'She wore a durabilium security collar of Pax design,' and it would be easy to find me. Without it, I could effectively slip away and disappear among my own kind. And I could even take your offspring with me when I do.”

  “Are you saying—is that what you intend to do, Natalie?”

  “I'm saying you don't know, Dashel,” I told him insistently.

  Dashel shook his head. “But I do know. You would never do that. You could, of course – you're certainly smart and resourceful enough to escape, if that were your true intention. For that matter, you could probably blast anyone who tried to stop you out of the sky, even if it were half the Hielsrane fleet and a squadron of Pax for good measure. But you wouldn't. I've come to know you very well. And to trust you.”

  “Why? For God's sake, why would you trust me that much?”

  “Because I love you. And because I know you love me.”

  The knowledge of his trust washed through me like a warm wave. Since my abduction from Earth, trust had been such a rare commodity. Daniel had trusted me, but then he died. The Pax had learned to trust me, but that trust had been conditional on how well I followed orders and ran the mines for them. I'd had to learn an extreme and immediate distrust for every other living creature I'd encountered – even members of my own species. I'd had to be prepared for them to lie to me, try to cheat me or steal from me, even kill me the moment my back was turned.

  And now here was a captain in the Hielsrane fleet, a savage dragon warrior, looking into my eyes and telling me that he trusted me. That he loved me.

  I felt a single tear run down my cheek. “I do love you,” I said.

  “Then show me.”

  He took me in his arms, kissing me.

  24

  Dashel

  After a long and passionate kiss, I pulled away from her just long enough to delicately wipe the tears from her cheeks with my claws. She sniffled, then pulled me close again, our lips meeting gently but firmly. Her breath tasted so sweet, and her tongue softly caressed the split at the end of mine.

  I felt her fingertips lightly brushing the nape of my neck, then taking hold more decisively. She didn't say a word, but her body said it all: She wanted me to hang onto her forever, to never let her go.

  My hands and body spoke too, reassuring her, telling her there was no need to worry – that I wasn't going anywhere, that I'd protect her, that I'd never let her be alone again.

  Her nails traced patterns over the scales on my back, a series of codes and symbols that felt like a secret language all our own. Her hips pressed against mine insistently, and she held me tighter, tighter, until I almost couldn't breathe. Once again, I marveled at the hidden reserves of strength that her compact body held. There were times when the ferocity of her nature made me wonder if she was perhaps part dragon herself.

  I unlatched her space suit, sliding it down to expose her lovely shoulders and kissing them tenderly. She arched her neck, her soft moan wordlessly begging me to continue.

  As though I would stop. As though I even could.

  My mouth moved down slowly, my fangs briefly nibbling at her exquisitely shaped collarbone before my lips settled on her right breast. I carefully took her nipple between my teeth, feeling it harden into a pebble against my tongue. Natalie inhaled, a sharp hiss as pleasure and pain intermingled.

  I pulled her space suit down until it crumpled to the floor around her feet in a shiny heap. Her nude form was glorious, a work of art, her skin as pale and sculpted as the finest marble.

  I sank to the floor, pulling her down into my embrace. Her trembling fingers undid the latches on my suit until I was bare as well. How strange, to remember we'd started as captor and captive. We were every bit each other's equal now – I was deeply in her thrall, under her spell just as she was under mine.

  Now it was her turn to plant her kisses on my shoulders and chest, her fingers still stroking my back in ways that made my scales shudder with delight. My cock jutted upward, swaying and quivering almost imperceptibly, like the stalk of a hungry flower seeking out rays of sunlight.

  She glanced down at it, smiled, and pulled her hands away from my back, folding them around my eager shaft instead. She stopped to stroke and tickle every ridge on it, as though committing their shapes and patterns to memory.

  My breath came in ragged rasps. Every part of my body felt hot and damp, covered in glistening beads of sweat, as though I'd been standing in a tropical arboretum for hours on end. I was delirious with desire, and I knew she sensed my need, my longing for her. It glowed fiercely in her eyes.

  She shifted her position, and for a moment, I thought she would attempt to mount me again – to prove her dominance once more, to demonstrate that she was no one's slave or prisoner, and never would be again. She had long since earned that right.

  But no.

  Instead, Natalie leaned backward until her back was against the floor, spreading her legs. Offering herself to me. Showing me that she was mine, willingly and voluntarily. She was so wet for me that her juices were already pooling beneath her.

  I loomed over her, looking deep into her eyes as our hips collided. She called my name, once, twice, then over and over, invoking it with ever
y new thrust. She put her hands over her head, inviting me to hold onto her wrists, to possess her as fully and completely as I could. I did, holding her down, lowering my chest against hers until our bodies felt inseparably joined.

  There was no stillness this time. I couldn't exercise any control or restraint. I could only give in to my ravenous hunger for her, plunging into her so deeply that her cries rose in pitch to become wordless screams of pure passion. Her buttocks left the floor again and again, her pelvis crashing and grinding against mine.

  I felt light-headed, the room swirling around us dizzyingly. There was a surge of power which burst through my whole being like a geyser. I felt my muscles expand and contract savagely beneath my skin. Was I losing control? Would I burst forth into my full dragon form without being able to help it? The thought scared me, but it exhilarated me too.

  Then our mutual climax sizzled through us both, like a pair of laser blasts meeting in midair and erupting in a shower of sparks.

  We remained like that for a while, clutching each other and gasping for air between kisses.

  Then she pulled away, giving me a saucy wink. “Wow, you sure do know how to make a girl work up an appetite! Do you think the mess hall will be open?”

  We peeled ourselves off the floor, shrugged our space suits back on, and went to the mess hall holding hands. I can't remember how many times we stopped to steal a kiss.

  In truth, I lost count.

  25

  Natalie

  The doors of the mess hall slid open before us, revealing the senior officers of the Gyygnar, the Wyvern, and the other remaining Hielsrane vessels. Tarion sat at the head of the table, with Lehar and Lara to his right. To his left was a thin blonde woman with pale skin and large, intense eyes. When she looked up and saw me, those eyes widened even more, as though she thought she recognized me from somewhere but couldn't quite be sure.