Azlo

by Maia Starr

“Rilark…” I reached up and touched the crack that scarred and trailed the wide set bridge of his nose and then cupped his face. “I’m pregnant.”

  He blinked and grabbed my hand urgently. We grew still at that moment as he searched me for answers he couldn’t seem to ask for. There was a hope in him that I’d never seen before as he calmly asked, “Mine?”

  “No.”

  He grew indignant. “How could you even know?”

  “Trust me,” I snapped.

  “A funny request, coming from you.”

  “That’s me. Funny, funny girl. Now get out.”

  The red dragon went to speak but lost his words. The breath seemed to be sucked out of him, and his eyes shot to me in that way one’s does when something is unmistakably wrong. The intensity of it frightened me.

  “What?” I asked.

  He set his jaw, and suddenly his wings curved back defensively. My heart raced. “What?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rilark

  “What?” came the demanding tone of the girl with the hazel eyes. The brunette followed my gaze and whipped her body around to see my brother standing just feet from us. From the look on his face, it seemed he’d been able to catch most of our show. There was a look of resignation on his face that I had difficulty believing and I set my wings back to prepare myself.

  She thought he was soft and gentle. I knew the real Galsthenn.

  “Galsthenn,” she said in a flurry of shock and shame.

  “I came back, as you asked,” he said quietly. He crossed his arms and stared down at the floor, unable to meet her eyes or her pleas. Then in an instant, his eyes flashed up to mine, and Rosalyn begged, “Let me explain.”

  “I’ve heard enough,” he said with anger. His tail whipped back and forth in short, quick strokes, showing his agitation. He clenched his fists and made quick strides toward her, grabbing her by the shoulders with a furious grip.

  “Then you heard enough to know she’s with child,” I said forcefully, grabbing his hand to pull him away from her.

  He bucked against my hand and, without removing his grip from her shoulder, he pushed me backward into the console table, causing its contents to spill loudly over the floor.

  “You’ve done enough!” he finally screamed, his eyes becoming animalist and lost as he stared me down. “I treated you like a brother, always, and this is how you repay my kindness?”

  His grip left Rosalyn, and she backed away, looking to me with a calculated glance, as though she were waiting for him to rip me apart. I spread my wings further apart and felt my body buzzing with adrenaline as he jolted toward me with tears flooding his eyes.

  “I have lived my whole life being told by my father that you shamed our family, that I should destroy you. But mother said you were special, that I should care for you as a brother and allow you to benefit from my good and privileged graces. And that is what I did,” he enunciated his words carefully through the emotion the cracked through his voice. “Because I loved you.”

  His eyes grew wide as he became lost in his own words. I felt a pulse of emotion fill my throat, but I swallowed it down. “And?” I said coldly.

  “And it turns out my father was right.”

  Our eyes chased each other as he took one step closer and set his hand on my throat, gently, never squeezing. I raised my chin and met his stare; I took in everything he had to get off his chest.

  He hurled out a great Weredragon's cry that shook the whole floor, glasses falling from the countertop and smashing wildly on the ground as he whipped his tail frantically.

  He gripped my neck with an asphyxiating pressure and narrowed his glare before tossing me hard into the wall.

  I lunged forward and drew my claws into his back before he jerked me to the floor with immeasurable force. I rolled my wings to steady myself with the wind before I hit the floor.

  I took a battle stance and he drew his great wing and smashed it into my side, knocking the air out of me.

  He was more powerful than I'd imagined. I was already winded, and he merely stood there watching to see what I would do next.

  I rammed into his side and once again he batted me away with his wing and let out a ferocious cry, his eyes becoming lost to the dragon within.

  I swung at him, and he grabbed my arm and flipped me over until I was on my back on the shining marble tile below me. He knelt and picked me up by my leathers, pounding his tightened fist onto my face over and over again until I could feel the blood and bones protruding from under my flesh. I groaned in pain and could feel hot liquid running down my face with a furious sting.

  We could both hear Rosalyn's screams and cries but paid her no mind. She was, after all, the reason we were both here. He knew that as well as I.

  Still secured in his grip, my brother widened his eyes toward me and said, "Had enough?"

  I spat in his face and pushed him back, charging him and smashing him into his perfectly arranged couches and smashing my tail down on his stomach until he lay limp.

  There was still fight in him, but he didn’t move.

  I wiped the blood from my lips with the back of my hand and stared down at the man, my brother, with hatred. I hated him for his status, for the obnoxious apartment he’d created to look like a human’s castle, for having all the world given to him and then taking Rosalyn on top of everything else.

  Galsthenn watched me for a moment to see if I would strike him back down. When I failed to react, he stood, rubbing his stomach gingerly with his palm.

  “I wanted to be like you,” he said with a swallow. “I trusted you with the one thing that was my own, and you betrayed me.” He breathed a confused, frustrated laugh that didn’t quite make it out and he raised a curious brow. He gave a half smile, genuinely perplexed as he whispered, “Why?”

  “You’ve taken everything from me,” I spat back.

  “So you’d take her from me,” he reasoned, eerily calm. “And did you?”

  My eyes consulted Rosalyn, and I could see the fear coursing through her body. Nothing in me was sure anymore. This was what I’d wanted. To hurt Galsthenn. To let him know that he couldn’t have everything. That I was the real man between us, but as I watched his face twist and fill with emotion, it seemed the farthest thing from the truth. Our fantasy had turned into a monster.

  “No,” was my response.

  “Well,” he quickly raised and lowered his brows while dusting off his suit. “I’m glad you’re not humoring me with excuses.”

  What did he want to hear? That she ended it or that I forced myself on her? I set my jaw and felt blood reemerge from my wounds. No, I wouldn’t be humoring him. Not now or ever.

  “Galsthenn,” came Rosalyn’s sudden, small voice. She had crouched in the corner during our fight to protect herself from the smashing furniture and glass shattered everywhere along the floor.

  “The glass,” Galsthenn protested, raising a hand in her direction but never looking at her. “Stay there.”

  “Galsthenn I’m so, so sorry,” she said as she racked her body, weeping and falling to the ground in a pile of ruffles and fabric. She cried into her hands, and her voice cracked through the tortured sobs. “It was a mistake.”

  My heart wrenched at the statement, and I winced back, my throbbing mouth twisting with displeasure at her words.

  “I gave you everything; I took you into my home, made you my wife, spoiled you, loved you, respected you,” he spat. “I welcomed you into my planet, and you want to talk to me about mistakes?”

  “It just happened,” she blurted out as though there were no other excuse to give. “I just wanted…”

  “What?!” my brother shouted and she looked up at him, startled.

  “I just wanted… to be with a shifter who wasn’t ashamed.”

  His face twisted and contorted somewhere between rage and incredulity. His jaw dropped, and he leaned down, incensed. “You think because I don’t stroll around with my wings constantly flared that I’m ashamed?!”
Galsthenn screamed the words. “It never occurred to you I didn’t want to scare you? That I wanted you to see me as a person instead of some fantasy?”

  She looked up at him with tears falling senselessly down her beautiful cheeks.

  There was an intensity in his eyes that I knew she saw. With her one hand on her heart still, she used the other to begin fixing her hair behind her ear. At important or scary moments, she’d told me she often felt the need to look presentable, like if somebody was going to hurt her feelings, she wanted to look good when it happened.

  I remembered thinking that was cute when she told me. Now the sight of it twisted my stomach around like a tornado.

  The pair sat silent for a moment before she asked, “Galsthenn, can you ever forgive me?”

  I watched as he stared at her with great intensity and felt conflicting emotions as she refused to look at me. We both knew he would say yes; we knew he loved her too much to let her go, especially now that she was with child.

  If he were to say he couldn’t forgive her, that would mean his father was right and everything he so firmly believed in about life and love and human nature was wrong. That my mother was wrong and there was no love to cover sin.

  “I think you’ve been a fool,” he confirmed, and she cried. But then he reached his hand down to hers and sighed as he relented, “You’re just lucky I’m fond of you.”

  “I wish it never happened. I just wish he was gone and I would never have to see him again.”

  Galsthenn swallowed and seemed stuck there for a moment, his hands settling and a sudden calm filling his mind. He paced the room for some time with his hands clasped together behind his back before looking over at me. Marching back to her he said, “I can’t make that happen.”

  “I’ll do anything,” she breathed and brushed the white stands of hair out from his eyes.

  “Galsthenn,” I began, but he cut me off, blinded by shock.

  “You should go. Really t-this,” he stammered in frustration. “This doesn’t concern you anymore. It concerns me and Rosalyn.”

  My eyes flicked back and forth from his, and I gave a slow nod, turning for the door before something stopped me in my tracks. “What of my fate?” I asked, my hand on the doorknob.

  “That will be left solely up to you. You stay, and I tell my father; I watch him slay you and condemn you and break our mother’s heart… Or you go. Go be with your rebels or flee to Earth. Whatever you do, I want it done tonight.”

  I looked at Rosalyn, but I knew her decision was already made. After all, what could I give her? Galsthenn also knew he’d won, though the sadness in his eyes reminded me he was hardly the victor.

  He stared me down and then relented to his kind eyes and weakly dismissed, “Goodnight, brother.”

  I looked over at Rosalyn, her hazel eyes staring back at me with intensity, and somehow I knew that was the last moment I would ever see her.

  “Goodnight, brother,” I repeated.

  Epilogue

  Rosalyn

  Weeks had passed since the debacle at the apartment, and the memory of Rilark seemed farther and farther away now. I hoped one day I could look back and feel this was a brief blip in our history; that the love between Galsthenn and I grew stronger because of our imperfections.

  Our nights were spent as they always were: reading to one another and learning each other’s like’s and loves. It was on one of these not-so-special occasions that I realized I never really knew Rilark. I didn’t know how he felt about Galsthenn or his mother or what he intended to do with me if we were to run off together. I didn’t know if he really had been a rebel or if it really was as he’d said: just busywork for a friend.

  But it didn’t matter, not anymore. Rilark had disappeared after our night together, never to be heard from again. While I suspected his mother knew of his whereabouts, she never led us to believe that was the case.

  Today was the day my mate would become leader of the Koth. My heart swelled with pride, and I tried to show my joy in spades to let him know how proud I was.

  The coronation was a celebration a nation on the brink of war desperately needed. Something to congratulate themselves for. Something that said they had someone looking out for them: a leader who wanted to create a better future for anyone who had the courage to ask for it.

  I walked down the ivory and teal marble floors on the arm of a man I loved. He smiled at me with genuine eyes and whispered, “It’s time.”

  We stepped into the light of Udora’s beautiful spring skies and stood on a balcony high above the crowd. They awaited the announcement of their new ruler with baited breath in much the same way I waited for our love to blossom once again: the way it had before.

  I wanted to move on so badly, and with each passing day, Galsthenn made it easier and easier to do. To be held by him and to be assured that everything would be alright and to be worthy of his love were all steps he made sure happened in the most genuine way possible.

  I wished and prayed for the day when I wouldn’t see Rilark’s face when I closed my eyes and didn’t wish for him when Galsthenn and I made love.

  I’d reasoned it out a thousand times, but the more Galsthenn earned my devotion, the harder my heart held onto a romanticized mistake. Now he was gone, and this time I did the hurting. I’d repeated a pattern that had scarred a family, and I could only hope my love would find a way to forgive me.

  Maybe it wasn’t as easy as letting go.

  Maybe Rilark and I would always be in love somewhere in the past; that it would haunt us both forever…

  But Galsthenn was my future, and as I looked over at his bright smile and felt the warmth of his beautiful heart next to me, I knew I’d chosen the right one.

  Book 4: Sigisvult

  (Dragons Of Udora)

  By Maia Starr

  Chapter One

  Celeste

  There was a rush in the air as we all stood in line, waiting to be chosen by a pack of gorgeous Weredragons. I’d been waiting for weeks to slip my hand into the scaled claws of one of the rugged men who were lined up in front of me, and now the day was finally here.

  Only, it seemed my Weredragon choice wasn’t as fond of me as I was of him.

  “Pleased to meet you,” I said, extending my hand to his as he looked down at it with little expression. I offered him a wry grin; people told me I was endlessly charming, and I foolishly thought it would help me in this situation.

  “Sigisvult,” the alien shifter introduced as he shook my hand.

  I was the second girl chosen in a line of girls who had pledged their allegiance to Riddell, an Earth organization that had unified with planet Udora. Part of this peaceful unification involved women pledging themselves yearly to the Weredragons to be chosen at mates to help repopulate their planet.

  I was more than willing to participate.

  “So,” I said clumsily and all but batted my eyes. “Welcome to life as my partner. I hate to be presumptuous, but I think it’s safe to say you’re going to enjoy living with me.”

  He blinked and cocked a brow. “Is that so?”

  “That is so,” I enunciated, feeling pretty confident that I was looking pretty adorable by now. I had no issues with confidence. I adorned my small body in a white lace dress that stopped just below my knees. I wore a crystal sash, and my hair was in a mess of red curls, a crystal headband tied carefully across my forehead. I wanted this to be just like a wedding day.

  “Hm,” was all he said and his eyes quickly

  “Not happy on this here, your faux wedding day?”

  “Weredragons don’t have weddings,” he snapped.

  “Yeah,” I shrugged. “But this has gotta be a close second. Besides, I’m a girl. So, you basically have to give me this one. Otherwise, I might never have a wedding and… Just, no.”

  “Who’s to say you won’t be married at some point?”

  “Uh.” I blinked. “Well, this whole arrangement is pretty much guaranteeing that, I thought.”


  He shrugged and flashed me a perfect smile, his fangs bared and making me feel oh so attracted to his unique features. But, then he spoke again.

  “Maybe you’ll get married once we’re done.”

  “To you?”

  He glared at me as if I were an idiot and shook his head.

  “Why would I do that?” I laughed nervously.

  “Well, once you bare a couple of my children I can release you if you like. If it’s that important to you.”

  I raised my brows in utter shock and couldn’t help my jaw from nearly falling to the floor. “I thought…” I bit my lip. “I thought Weredragons mated for life.”

  He raised his brows in surprise at the statement and then let out a casual chuckle. I frowned. Perhaps not exactly what I was expecting. I couldn’t deny that he was everything I was promised: tall, muscular, broad shoulders. He had dark, curly hair that fell to his neck and dark scruff covered his face and traced the cleft in his chin. I stared into his dark hazel eyes and saw the curve of his wide nose bridge.

  He was just perfect… to look at, anyway.

  Manners and charm could use some upgrading.

  Still, I took my spot next to him and exchanged giddy glances with the girls who slowly piled into my row with their new shifter mates. We’d all been so excited to go to this new planet, to become mothers and mates to the sexual beings beside us. I’d pretty much wanted to sleep with a Weredragon since puberty. They were so rugged and enticing, so strange and different.

  Even though it was a contract, of sorts, I couldn’t help but get a rush when I thought of how I might be treated on Udora. I wanted to be treated like a queen, a savior of their race.

  “Sign me up for some of that,” a blonde participant said to me as she took her place beside me. Her name was Adalynn and we’d both been crushing on our potential mates for months now. “Is it bad that I want to get this pregnancy going as soon as possible?”

  “The pregnancy or the process?” I teased.