by Sadie Savage
The Hoth let out a petrifying scream that sounded like someone drowning. He was liquid and Albion was turning him into gas with his heat.
“Keandra,” Albion suddenly boomed down at her.
She stared up at his huge head. He looked the same and different at once. She was frightened of him, even though she knew that she should not be. She was glad that he was on her side.
“Leave this room. Go join the others. I will find you.”
Keandra did as she was told. She stayed on her hands and knees, rushing to the door before finally standing up. She ran to the room where the others normally slept. They had obviously all been disturbed by the violent sounds coming from Leeroi’s chamber.
She hid under the tables along with them, watching the door for any movement that showed it was over. The entire mine began to shake as the hallway lit up with Albion’s flames. He had torched the whole chamber.
Leeroi was toast.
When the door to the slaves’ room opened, Albion’s head appeared in the doorway. Actually, it was only his snout. That was all of him that could fit at the moment. Keandra had never been so happy to see a nose in her life.
“Keandra, hop on my back. It is time to leave,” he said, and then hissed like a snake. “The rest of you, get out of here any way you can. Go fast and be smart while the Hoths are distracted. Leave this place. Leave this planet. Go.”
There was no argument there. The slaves all started running in different directions, all of them going toward whichever exit they could think of.
Keandra hesitated. “Why should I go with you?” she asked him. “What makes you safer than all the others, when you lied to me and gave me to these beasts?”
Albion repositioned himself so his large, golden eye was all that could be seen in the doorway. Despite its size and the fact that a fierce dragon was attached to it, the eye was gentle and caring… and remorseful.
“It was foolish of me,” he said. “I will work every day to regain and keep your trust… But we can discuss this later. Please climb onto my back, Keandra. I will keep you safe because I love you.”
All of the wind was knocked out of her when she heard Albion say those words to her. She had not expected to hear him say that, especially not while he was a gargantuan dragon. Currently all she could see was one of his eyes. But somehow, that was enough.
Not wanting to ruin the moment by speaking and likely saying something stupid due to her emotions, Keandra simply gave a curt nod and went to the doorway. He graciously moved out of the way so she did not ask his eye to move. She climbed aboard his spikey back and wiped the tears from her eyes.
What a day she was having.
Once she was safely on his back, Albion swiftly scurried through the gaping chasms of the mine, not caring as his large body crashed through walls and ruined everything the Hoths had built in his path. What his head and broad shoulders did not break, his tail smashed. At last, they made it to the top of the mineshaft. They both felt like they could breathe again.
The Galactic Federation of Hoth was sitting up there in their throne room or whatever they wanted to call it. They were about to be cinders, Keandra guessed. But Albion did not set them on fire. He did not even grumble with smoke. He just narrowed his reptilian eyes at President Sluuurb, who cowered under his throne-like seat as if he did not expect a dragon shifter might possibly shift into a dragon when given power.
Really, this was all Sluurb’s fault. Keandra did not expect that he would be president – or alive – for much longer.
After scaring the Hoth leaders sufficiently, Albion flapped his great winged forearms and took to the sky – which meant that he took the roof off of the Hoths’ mining compound. The walls and roof fell all around Sluuurb and his constituents. Keandra held on tightly to Albion’s spikes. She hazarded a curious glance back as they flew ever upward. Sluuurb was not dead, but he was definitely pissed off.
* * *
After flying up high above Hoth, circling around until they were well enough away from the cluster of mining compounds, Albion finally landed roughly atop a rocky mountain top. Keandra slipped off of him as soon as she could, hugging herself as she watched Albion’s dragon shape languidly twist and contort back into his more humanoid form. There was no denying it; both as a dragon and as a blue-green human, Albion Pagoda was a sexy badass.
Keandra was not ready to just completely forgive him, however. It would take a lot more than sweet words at a tense moment to make her forget what Albion had done, had allowed to happen… He never struck her, but he might as well have.
There was a cave nearby atop that mountain, and as it started to rain thick, heavy, cold raindrops, Albion wordlessly ushered her inside of it, protecting her even still. Even though she had not responded to his love confession, or even thanked him.
Her resolve was firm. But her gray rags were basically nothing against the cold, so she took advantage of his warmth when he wrapped his arms around her and sat with her upon the cave floor.
“What are we doing here, Albion?” she asked him through shivers. “Why did you bring me here?”
He looked at her, slow blinking. Keandra felt a pang when she saw that damned lizard blink. Such a stupid thing to have missed. “I did not plan to come here,” he said calmly. “I just wanted to get you away from there… I suppose I did not have a plan at all, except to save you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him a little. “You’re not planning to hand me over to the next Hoth you see are you?”
Albion laughed slightly.
“Because, if so, your plan is pretty shitty.”
Albion stopped laughing and gazed at Keandra, petting her cheekbone slightly with the knuckles of his right hand. “I will never hand you over to anyone. Please believe me. I love you and I will do anything to keep you safe. It was an idiotic mistake driven by greed and a false sense of entitlement. As soon as you were taken from me, I knew it was a mistake. I worked hard to make sure that it was rectified. Please… Keandra.”
He sounded like she was not the only one who had been wounded on this crummy planet. She looked him in the eyes and then realized that she had forgotten all about her vow to never look him in the eyes again. Ever since his return, she had been suppressing her feelings for him. She had secretly longed for his touch, and that was only enhanced knowing his baby was growing inside her. That was not the action of someone who was never going to forgive him. That was the action of someone who still cared deeply for him.
“I was not myself,” Albion went on, trying to explain himself so that she might understand. “I was mind controlled by the Hoths for years. Ever since I came here, working for the Resistance… Ever since they captured me and made me work for them as their dragon slave. It was love that broke their control, Keandra. It was my love for you that set me free from my mental shackles.”
Saying that reminded him that she still wore shackles on her wrists and ankles. Using his tremendous strength, he set her free. Bringing his lips to hers, he set her spirits free.
CHAPTER FOUR
Feeling delirious from her rescue still, Keandra eagerly kissed Albion. He hungrily moved his tongue around her mouth as though every last inch needed to be felt, tasted, and explored. She could feel his sharp teeth against the tip of her tongue and it caused her panties to become wet. Such a man could not really be her hero. Such a man could not really love her. Not really. Right?
The more they made out, the hornier he became. His erect cock nudged against her leg, and he pushed her legs apart. They fell back together onto the floor and he lay atop her, humping her slowly and sensually through their clothing. In one quick, fluid movement he had her shirt off of her, letting it fall somewhere in the corner of their cave.
“I’m not attached to that,” she gasped between kisses.
He smirked and removed her shorts and panties, tossing them in the same direction.
“I’m not attached to those either,” Keandra said, inviting him to continue by undoing his
pants and pulling out his cock.
Albion, to her surprise, moved away from her hands and mouth. “I am not going to fuck you like that piece of shit wanted to,” he said. “You deserve better than that… You deserve this.”
Suddenly, he took hold of her waist and slammed his cock into her. She let out a yelp and then gasped, combing her fingers through his thick, dark green hair. Albion held her still and undid her bra with one hand, letting it fall somewhere in the darkness beside them. He kicked his pants off and then she grabbed ahold of his shirt, liking the feel of it in her hands as he continued to thrust himself inside of her in big, shattering movements.
“Ahhhh, god, Albion,” Keandra shouted, throwing her head back a little and letting it brush against the cold cave floor. “I forgive you. I forgive you!”
“Yeah?” he growled, fondling her breasts. He seemed to notice as well as she that they had grown since last they made love. He tilted his head a little but he did not ask about it. Possibly he did not want to embarrass or anger her by asking. She appreciated him even more for that.
“You like this more than Leeroi?” he asked her, grunting as he fucked her, clamping his eyes shut and starting to sweat.
Keandra felt her body reaching orgasm. She felt like she might explode. “Yes!” she screamed, making the cave echo with sounds of her lust and pleasure. “Better! Ahhhh, this is better!!”
Smirking, Albion licked his thumb and then brought it to her clit, where he stroked and pressed his thumb against her most sensitive spot. Keandra opened her mouth in a silent scream as she came against him, wrapping his big cock in her tightness as the walls of her pussy expanded and contracted around him.
Albion thrust faster and faster until he came inside her, filling her up again with the warm, tingly feelings that she had so enjoyed before when they made love on his spaceship. Before her world went to shit, or the Galactic Federation just resumed its operations as usual, whichever way one wanted to look at it.
He pulled out of her and cuddled her a moment on the cave floor, kissing her and petting her cinnamon hair. She stroked his forest of green chest hair and gazed lovingly into his eyes.
“I love you,” Keandra confessed. She could not deny it or be angry at him any longer. He had saved her life twice. Surely that could cancel out one deception. “I’m sorry I did not say it sooner; it’s just that you betrayed me.”
Albion kissed her deeply. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers. “It does not matter that you took your time. As long as it is true. I cannot blame you for being uncertain and wanting to wait.”
She shook her head and then nodded, laughing a little at her apparent indecisiveness. “It matters to me. I should not have waited. I forgive you, Albi.” She stroked his green beard on his pointed chin. “What matters now is that you corrected your mistake, and you won’t ever do it again.”
He nodded, smiling at her as he gazed into her large green eyes. He was so smitten with her that the word Smitten was practically written there on his face. “As I promised, I will spend the rest of my life protecting you and loving you.”
Keandra beamed at him, and then she shook her head a bit. “Not just me.” She took one of his hands and brought it down to her lower belly, where the little dragon-like baby was swimming around. Albion felt its movements and his gold eyes widened. His mouth fell open and she laughed and kissed him for it. “Surprise!”
* * *
They made out for a while longer, enjoying each other on the floor of the cave without even caring about how uncomfortable it was. Once they were feeling hungry and uncomfortable enough to want to move, Albion got up and, taking her hands, pulled Keandra up with him.
“What is there to eat around here?” she asked him. “I’ve patrolled around here a lot, but I can’t say I’ve ever been in the mountain caves of Hoth.”
Albion thought about it. “I have flown around here enough to know that there is a stream around here. There are some lifeforms in it that are pleasing to taste.”
Keandra smiled wryly at him.
“What?”
“Sometimes you sound like an alien. It makes me remember that you can be shaped like me and you can speak English like me, but that doesn’t mean you are in fact like me.”
Albion blinked at her slowly.
She let out a laugh. “Just go and get some of these lifeforms. …Please.”
When he went away to hunt, Keandra huddled into a corner of the cave, doing her best to take up the least amount of space and so warm herself. She could hear as his insanely long wings took flight, flapping like a thunder clap as he rose higher and higher, flying away.
Keandra’s stomach growled. She could tell that her baby dragon was hungry as well, because he was extra restless. Thankfully, Albion was correct about the stream and he arrived back at their cave within the hour, holding two large fish-like creatures in his hands. They were not moving any more. She was tremendously grateful for that.
They ate together in silence, mainly because they were too hungry and the food was too delicious for words. Albion had taken it upon himself to cook the creatures with his fire breath. Keandra kept finding new reasons to want to keep him around. “If you can do that whenever you want, then we should be nice and toasty in here tonight,” she remarked, licking her fingertips as soon as her creature was in her belly to be appreciated by Albion’s spawn next.
He smiled at her as he gulped down the last of his meal. “And so we shall,” he said.
They cuddled each other in the spot in the cave that Keandra had picked out and sure enough they did not need a blanket. Albion kept them both warm and cozy.
* * *
The next morning, they were awakened by footsteps. A Hoth in its more humanoid appearance stepped into the cave. He had clearly not been expecting what he found and quickly pulled out his communicator to alert his compatriots in the area.
“Earthling and Gekkota spotted in a cave! Send reinforcements! Gekkota is—”
Albion smacked the communicator out of his hands with his long tail as he grew and grew into his dragon form. Keandra ran from him, toward the Hoth. She jumped onto him and her fists started flying.
The Hoth fought back, grabbing onto her arms and attempting to sting her with his poison appendage. She nearly got stung a few times, but Keandra was too tough and too pissed off to give this bastard the chance. She was too fast for him and kept clobbering him in the face. But Albion was uncomfortable seeing her in a precarious position no matter how fierce she was.
Chuckling after a few moments of letting her have her fun, Albion picked her up with a claw and placed her gently onto his back. “That’s enough now. Let me handle this.” With one puff of flame from his scaly lips, the Hoth was nothing but a charred stain on the stone floor.
“His friends aren’t going to find anything here,” Albion said to her in a low growl. “Not even him.”
With that, he left the cave at a run, growing ever larger now that he was not confined to any space. He took off and was soon up in the air.
“Now what do we do?” she asked him, hugging herself with her arms and holding on tightly to him with her legs. She was down to just her panties and bra after electing to sleep in them instead of naked. She was quite glad she was not naked.
“Now we look for the Resistance,” Albion said calmly. “They will be able to help us. And we can start with getting you a new, better uniform.”
Albion flew around high in the air above Hoth while Keandra sat atop him, marveling at the harsh planet’s prettier aspects. She had no idea that Hoth had things like waterfalls and forests. She supposed she never had a chance to look when she was secretly surveying the area for spies and other such enemies.
Finally, she spotted a small encampment near the foothills of some mountains. “There! There!” she cried, pointing.
Albion craned his neck toward her somewhat and then looked in the direction she was indicating. He began his descent, careful to go
down there slowly so as not to arouse suspicion from either the Hoths or the people down below who surely did not know that the dragon was on their side.
If it was, indeed, the Resistance.
A cluster of people came out of the tents and pointed up in awe as Albion came down to meet them. They seemed scared instead of hostile. They were wearing the white and blue uniforms worn by the Resistance. Two of them, the apparent leaders, wore shining blue stars on their chests. One was male, one was female. Both were humanoid, though the female was clearly not from Earth. Her hair was purple and her skin was chartreuse.
As soon as they landed, Keandra slid off of Albion’s back and he shifted back into his humanoid form to greet the strangers who were their friends. “Greetings,” he said. “I am Albion Pagoda and this Earthling here is Keandra Calhoun.”
“Staff Sergeant Calhoun,” she corrected with a smile. “I work with the Earth taskforce that has been assigned to monitor activities to and from Hoth.”
The chartreuse woman stepped forward and offered her hand to Keandra. “I am Dehneese Dravrez from Bortho,” she said. She had kind, black eyes. “And this is Ggregg Underwhood from Plythar.”
Ggregg stepped forward and shook her hand. “I lived on Earth for many years,” he said with a wink. He had sandy, dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Three of them. Keandra could practically hear Albion’s jealousy. It amused her that merely talking to another alien gentleman incited such annoyance and unease in him. She thought it was cute for the moment, but she would not let it fly if it continued and caused him to be rude.
No hero of hers would be a rude asshole to their friends.
Fortunately, Albion was not like other guys she had been with – duh. That was an understatement.
He proved himself to be worthy of her continued love and adoration when he greeted them in turn. “It is wonderful to meet you at last,” he said, shaking each of their hands and offering them a genuine smile. “Like the Staff Sergeant here, I worked as a patrol officer, but I recently fell into a bit of trouble and was held captive by the Hoths. They had me under mind control.”
