Prison Moon - Dragon Fire: An Alien Abduction Sci Fi Romance

by Lily Graison

  She dropped his hand and stepped into the hoard pile on the floor. The air smelled of dirt and mold but above all that, the faint scent that clung to Toren’s skin. He’d definitely been here. The entire day she and Marcy had spent here, Toren was down here, watching her. A shiver raced up her spine. She looked at him, naked and beautiful. “How long were you down here?” Knowing he didn’t understand her, she pointed to him, then the chamber then did it again.

  He nodded. “Yes, I was here.”

  He didn’t understand. She held up her hand and ticked off days with her fingers and then shrugged.

  “Counting?”

  She smiled. “Yes, counting.” She pointed at him, then the chamber, and ticked off days again with her fingers, then pointed at him. The game lasted until she was able to get him to think of her fingers as days by gesturing to the sky and the sun rising and setting. With narrowed eyes, he watched her as if she was crazy, then suddenly straightened.

  “How long was I here?”

  “Yes!” She nodded and laughed. “How long were you here?”

  His smile was short lived. “I don’t know exactly. After the war, most of my people were hunted and slaughtered for no other reason than we were Draegon and capable of fighting back but we weren’t prepared to fight machines that fired streams of light hot enough to burn flesh and sever limbs. I was spotted but was able to hide in the jungle in this form. When I found the temple, I came down here. I didn’t think anyone would look for me and those that did didn’t last long. I only ventured out once to eat and many things looked different, more so when I followed you out.” He looked around the chamber and shrugged. “If I had to guess, I’d say a few centuries.”

  “Centuries?” The word rattled in her head repeatedly as she looked at him. “You’ve been alive for centuries?” When he said nothing, she pointed at him, then to her fingers, ticking off days again. He understood what she meant that time.

  “I hid here in my two hundredth year. I’m not sure how many have passed since then.”

  Her knees buckled. Toren caught her as she went down. “You’re over two hundred years old!”

  “What is it, Sarra? Why do you look so surprised?”

  She shook her head. “I had no idea you were that old. How long does your kind live?”

  He smoothed her hair from her face, settling into the hoard pile to sit beside her. “I wish I could understand you.” He brushed the back of one finger against her jaw. “If I were to guess, I’d say I’ve been down here a few centuries so best guess would be four hundred. Maybe, five. It’s hard to tell.”

  She was gaping at him, she knew she was, but she couldn’t get her mouth to close. He didn’t look a day over thirty-five, if even that, so thinking of him as hundreds of years old was just—

  “I am young for one of my people. Neetrius, our wisest elder was closing in on his twelve-hundredth year when the war started.”

  Sara stared at him but finally managed to close her mouth. Dragon’s lived to be a thousand years old? The moment the thought entered her head, she stared at Toren and wondered if he’d be able to understand her charades hand language if she tried to tell him she wouldn’t live nearly that long. Somehow, she didn’t think so. The thought was a bit depressing, too. He’d told her he’d given up hopes of finding a mate. He’d been over two hundred years old when he came down here and before then, in all those years, he’d not found any girl dragons to set up house with?

  He was watching her as he usually did. His attention to her made more sense now. He’d been alone when he found her and now, he’d get nothing more than a good twenty to thirty years with her before she’d start getting old and wrinkly. Yeah, their situation was definitely depressing.

  He moved over to the wall, braced his back against it, and held out his arms. She slid closer to him and crawled into his lap, then snuggled in best she could. The muted amber light in the cavern made her current mood a bit more somber. They were on borrowed time because one day, she’d be gone and Toren would be alone again.

  Tucking her head up under his chin, they sat in the silence until she dozed off. She didn’t know how long she slept, or what woke her up, but blinking to try and clear her vision, she noticed the light in the chamber was a lot dimmer than it had been before. The sun must have been setting.

  The refracted light cast weird shadows along the walls and had she not still been in Toren’s lap, his arms draped loosely around her, she might have been startled enough to be scared. She’d never been a fan of the dark. Being on this alien planet? The dark was terrifying. The noises alone were enough to send chills up your spine. Not knowing what might be out there making those noises nearly paralyzed her with fear. Had she still been alone, she’d probably be dead by now.

  She closed her eyes again until she heard what sounded like a coin hitting rock. Her eyes snapped opened the same moment a rattling growl rumbled in Toren’s chest. His arms tightened around her a second later. The shadows she thought she’d seen earlier moved again, the sound of feet shuffling against stone floors loud in the stillness.

  Toren twisted, laying her on her back so quick, her head swam as she saw him jump to his feet. That low growl turned into something so fierce it echoed off the stone walls.

  As if they materialized out of thin air, three hulking shapes appeared at the rear of the chamber. The shadows were heavy along that back wall but she could see enough to know they were at least humanoid in shape. Had she not known better, she would have thought they were human men. The one in the middle stepped forward, the light from one of the disks refracting light glinting off something shiny on his body. The others stepped forward and as one, all reached for something at their side and lifted it. If she had to guess, she’d say it was a weapon of some kind.

  She had no idea if there was enough room for Toren to shift with her so close so she shuffled back toward the stairs. Whoever these men were, they weren’t here for a lovely chat. With the weapons they were pointing in their direction, she’d say those orbs she thought they’d outrun had found them anyway and from the growls filling the chamber, things were about to get ugly.

  Three wyvern in their weaker form were at the back of the chamber pointing something at them. A weapon of some kind if Toren had to guess. The fact they were here was enough to bring the dragon to the surface. He could feel it under his skin clawing to be set free. If Sarra weren’t so close, he’d let it out and destroy them in a blink of an eye. Steady thumps of multiple heartbeats left him disoriented. He couldn’t tell how many were here or where they all were. All he saw was the three in front of him and he didn’t want to chance looking away to see if any others lingered nearby.

  The wyvern in the middle shifted on his feet, the other two flanking him still as death. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t heard them enter the ruins but the fact they did made him wonder if his senses weren’t as keen as they should be. Sarra inhaled a deep breath behind him. Maybe she was the reason. He was so focused on her most of the time, it was possible he’d not paid close enough attention. That mistake would cost them. There were only three wyvern here now but he wasn’t fool enough to think there weren’t more outside.

  He could hear Sarra’s quick intake of breath behind him, the sour odor of fear dripping from her pores. His first instinct was to attack those who endangered his mate but common sense told him to grab her and flee. That as long as she was in his arms, he could protect her, that he’d protect her with his life if he had to. One way or another, he’d leave this place with Sarra or not at all.

  The thought had barely entered his mind when Sarra screamed. He spun on his heel, reaching out to grab her when something slammed into his chest. The air was knocked from his lungs, his legs flew out from under him, and every nerve in his body fired at once, his muscles contracting to bow his back, his limbs locking into place as a scream was ripped from his throat.

  Sarra was still screaming, the sound a dull echo in his head. Movement around him grew cloudy, shapes moving
in and out of focus as every nerve in his body pulsed in pain. Sarra was in front of him the next moment, the wyvern holding her arms smiling down at him, his lips moving as he spoke. He heard nothing but Sarra crying as they started to drag her away and all he could do was lay there and watch.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The twin moons were lit brightly when the alien holding her dragged her over the crumbling wall of the ruins and into the darkened jungle. She could see three others waiting under a cluster of trees.

  The largest of the three stepped forward when he spotted them. “Did you get him?”

  “Yes. He went down screaming.”

  The other two laughed. Sara watched them, confused. Were these guys prisoners? What did they want? A commotion behind her had them all turning. The others that had been down in the chamber with them were dragging Toren from the doorway. His arms were clamped behind his back by wide silver cuffs. They matched the one around his neck except that collar was thicker and small red lights blinked in three different places around the circumference of it.

  His head was tipped forward, his feet dragging the ground. Whatever they’d hit him with knocked him out cold, which meant she was on her own. Her big blue dragon wouldn’t be swooping in to save her this time.

  The alien who’d asked about Toren said something and the words, “does not translate,” rang inside her head. He moved away from the others, out from under the trees. The buttery yellow glow of the largest moon lit the area enough to see him. He was anything but human. Scales covered a portion of his face. Elongated teeth that extended past his bottom lip and fingers tipped with claws said he was alien. He wore nothing but pants—which he was currently removing. Her heart slammed against her ribcage. With a quick glance around, she counted at least seven hulking aliens. Were they going to—

  Fear made her suddenly nauseous, her knees weak enough, had the brute behind her not been holding her so tight, she would have hit the ground.

  The alien removing his pants made a noise and drew her attention. She regretted looking. He was as naked as Toren and her throat went dry as he looked at her and grinned. Then—his body began to shake.

  Utan had told her the enforcers were wyvern, which were similar to the dragons except they stood upright, only had two legs and wings. He failed to mention they were also shape-shifters. As if by magic, the alien grew, his legs growing thicker, longer. His arms lengthened, widened until wings were stirring the air as he moved them, his torso enlarging as his mass increased and strained against the nearby trees. When he opened his mouth and roared, she waited for the blast of fire, but it never came.

  It lowered its head, red eyes locked on her. She had no idea what they wanted or why and started struggling to free herself from the hold of the one at her back. Those holding Toren dragged him past her and tossed him at the wyvern’s massive feet. The beast’s wings lifted and lowered, the creatures massive body rising from the ground. Her breath caught when his sharp claws spread wide, his foot hovering over Toren seconds before clamping around him and picking him up.

  The alien behind her jerked her forward. Air disturbed by the wyvern’s wings carried the scent of rotting flesh and a cloying musk that reminded her of snakes. She tried to hold her breath but gasped when she was tossed to the ground. The wyvern wrapped a clawed foot around her and as he’d done to Toren, lifted her off the ground. She barely grabbed hold of its foot before it shot into the air, her scream drowned by the sound of beating wings, the moon-washed planet falling away below her.

  She looked at Toren. His body lay limp in the wyvern’s grasp. Those blissful days of laying around with him were over. She knew what was to become of her. She’d been put here to be an alien’s plaything while the entire galaxy watched. Although she’d been caught, Toren had treated her as if she were precious. Loved. It didn’t take a genius to realize that’s not the sort of entertainment these beings desired. They wanted blood, sex, and fear. They’d get it, too. Already her heart was pounding, her stomach rolling as anxiety locked every muscle down tight. But what of Toren? What did they want with him?

  She was afraid the answer would be too much to bear.

  As long as she’d been on Prison Moon One she’d seen nothing but jungles, forests, mountains and very few people—aliens. What she was seeing now took her breath.

  A small shantytown sat sprawled amongst the trees below. Ramshackle buildings of crude wood lined a dirt street that led to a massive ringed structure. Small clusters of buildings butted up next to it and as the wyvern slowly started to descend and head for it, she could see some sort of lowlying wooden seats or bleachers lining the inside circumference. The wyvern set her and Toren down in the center of the ring then settled at one end next to a raised wooden platform with three steps leading up to the top. It reminded her a bit of a stage. With the seats lining the wall, it might have been.

  Sara sat up and crawled to where Toren lay, lifting his head to her lap. He was still unconscious. The collar around his neck was cold and she was barely able to get a finger underneath it. She wasn’t sure of its purpose but those blinking red lights made her think there was some sort of current running through it. Was it a shock collar of some kind? Or was it nothing more than a way to prevent him from shifting?

  The moons bathed the world here in light bright enough to see cells on one side of the ring. There was movement inside them and hushed whispers. A half dozen scenarios played inside her mind’s eye and none of them ended well for them. Not being able to see what was staring back at them caused the nausea she’d finally been able to get rid of to hit again tenfold. Her hold on Toren tightened.

  Whatever this place was, it was well used. The ground was hard, packed dirt. The smell of rot, piss, and feces was strong. That fear she was sure they wanted her to feel seemed to rush through her body and left her shivering. She grabbed Toren under his shoulders and pulled him closer. “Toren, wake up.” She gave him a slight shake, then a harder one when he never moved.

  She had no idea how much time passed as she sat there trying to wake Toren but the wyvern who’d brought them here never moved from his perch at the far end of the ring. He did nothing but sit there, those bright red eyes watching every move she made. The ever-present orbs that tracked the movement of everything here were hovering nearby, watching as always. When one swooped down to eye level, she threw up a hand and raised her middle finger for whoever was watching, a silent, fuck you, to the universe.

  She was beginning to think they would sit there all night when a bright light flashed in the sky above them. She’d seen enough movies to know that glowing circle was a spaceship. It hovered over them for long minutes before a brighter light flared and what looked like a smaller light began to descend.

  The small craft that landed at the opposite end of the ring from the wyvern was about the size of a car. Bright lights ringed it on all sides and lit the entire area. Now, able to see all those darkened cells, she stared wide-eyed at the women staring back at her. Mostly human, from what she could tell but a few were definitely alien.

  What was this place? The moment the question whispered through her mind, she knew. The Arena. The Big Heads had told them when they dropped them off that part of the game was staged in the arena. Fights between aliens in order to win a female. As she looked at the faces of those staring back at her, women who were waiting to be fought over and awarded as a prize to some foul creature willing to kill for her, that sick feeling in her stomach grew until she thought she’d puke.

  The front of the small craft opened and two beings stepped out and crossed to where she sat. They were female and both dressed in skin-tight, one-piece jumpers. They had no hair and their heads were a bit oddly shaped. Not exactly pointed but not round either.

  The one on the right glanced at Toren before turning her attention back to her. “You’re a very difficult human to get ahold of. Our previous attempts were all unsuccessful.”

  Previous attempts? The moment the words whispered inside her head,
she knew what she meant. They’d sent the tree monster and the thing that had come into the cave and grabbed her. When those failed, they’d sent a wyvern and once again, Toren had rescued her. The only reason they had her now was the fact they’d ambushed them. There had been no less than eight wyverns at the ruins and with those odds, no one would have been able to get away.

  “My name is Kalethra,” the female who seemed to be in charge said. “I am emissary for those living on Prison Moon One. This,” she motioned to the other female with a small tilt of her head, “is Talryn. She is our human liaison in charge of the care and well-being of the women here.”

  Sara snorted a laugh. At Talryn’s raised eyebrow, she said, “You’re failing miserably. Humans are treated like animals. We’re hunted for sport and ratings.”

  Talryn rolled her eyes toward Kalethra before returning her attention to her. “And some are well cared for.”

  “Really? What luxury hotel did you put them up in because so far, I’ve only seen them chased and killed?”

  “The inhabitants of Prison Moon One are much like those on other worlds. There are some who thrive and control their sectors with firm grips. There are also those who are too weak to do much more than follow the orders of the Warlords they’ve pledged fealty to. Those Warlords, although the strongest here on Prison Moon One, are also known to be gentle with their slaves.”

  “Slaves?” Sara sputtered, then gawked.

  Kalethra shot a look Talryn’s way. “The word liaison Talryn meant to say was, captive. Some of the females are treated quite well here.”