Contents
Title Page
About This Book
Copyright
1 - Amara
2 - Shidan
3 - Amara
4 - Shidan
5 - Amara
6- Shidan
7 - Amara
8 - Shidan
9 - Amara
10 - Shidan
11 - Amara
12 - Shidan
13 - Amara
14 - Shidan
15 - Amara
16 - Shidan
17 - Amara
18 - Shidan
19 - Amara
20 - Shidan
21 - Amara
22 - Shidan
23 - Amara
24 - Shidan
25 - Amara
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DRAGON'S LOVE
Red Planet Dragons of Tajss
Book 3
MIRANDA MARTIN
& JUNO WELLS
Hi! I'm Miranda Martin, and I wrote the book you are about to read with my friend Juno Wells. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you read the rest of our books!
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I guess I'm one of the last survivors of the human race and I'm stranded on this hell of a desert alien planet. Sucks to be me.
Our ship crashed months ago and those of us left are struggling to survive the boiling heat in barbaric living conditions. The only reason we're not all dead is one of my friends got knocked up by a native alien and he lets us live in his ruined city. We should be grateful but a lot of the humans hate the dragons and the girls who mate with them. Fools.
The natives are huge, seven foot tall dragon-men with wings and tails and scales. Surly and overly protective, who needs that? Not me. Alien baby fever is the new in thing, but I'm not falling for the hype. I've always survived being alone and I don't need anyone to change that. Try telling that to Shidan, the most annoyingly persistent alien male around.
Thanks to the primitive nature of the destroyed planet we have no idea what's happening when things go wrong with my friend's pregnancy. I'm sure I can salvage something from our crashed ship that will help, but to get there I'll have to leave the city's protection and go out in the sweltering heat where everything wants to kill me. The only way I'll survive is if Shidan comes too and he's made it clear he wants only one thing. Love.
Dragon's Love is a full length scifi novel with a happily ever after ending, plenty of steam, bloody battles and alien-human intrigue. It is standalone and co-written by Miranda Martin and one of the hottest science fiction romance authors out there, Juno Wells.
DRAGON'S LOVE is BOOK 3 of the RED PLANET DRAGONS OF TAJSS. You do not have to read them all in order to understand the plot, but the story will be much richer if you do!
Copyright © 2017 Miranda Martin & Juno Wells
All rights reserved.
Chapter One
Amara
Stubborn, stubborn machine! I just can't get this motor to run.
"Damn it!" I yell as the wrench slips and my knuckles scrape against metal.
I hate this, hate this place, hate my new job, I hate every damn thing about all of it. Seven months ago my friends and I crashed on this barren wasteland of a planet. It's totally hell even if we like to joke about it and argue if it's more like Star Wars or Star Trek. This place sucks. It's hot and sand gets in places I didn't even know I had.
We live in what was once a great city but now is little more than a ruin. The building we're in was maybe once the city's power source but now it's just a decaying jumble of machines and metal. It's big and smells old, like rust and mold. Light enough to work by streams in from rotted gaps in the high ceiling.
"Are you okay?" Inga asks over my shoulder.
"Do I look like I'm okay?" I snap. "God, I hate it when people ask that."
"I'm sorry, I…" she trails off.
Great, I'm being a total bitch to my friends again. I can't seem to stop.
"What is wrong my lyutik?" Shidan asks, coming around the corner.
Shidan is a Zmaj, the native inhabitant of this desert hell. He showed up two months ago and has been following me around ever since.
I don't know how long ago, but there was a war the Zmaj call the Devastation. Once this place had advanced technology, then the whole race died except a handful of men. Primal instinct drove them apart, now they live like barbarians. They're dragon-men, literal seven-foot tall, enormous dragon-men. Shidan is covered head to toe in scales that are a rusty brown color edged with red-blue. They're thicker along his backside and a lot lighter on the front. His face isn't really reptilian, just super sharp and sculpted and he likes to stare at me with his clear, amber eyes. He even has wings and a tail. His hotness doesn't mean I like him stalking me.
"Shut up," I snap in Zmaj.
Speaking of hotness, this city belongs to a Zmaj named Ladon. Through an act of fate or luck he fell in love with my friend Calista. She got pregnant and for her he deals with the rest of the human survivors taking up residence in his home. Who knew our two species would be compatible? Not my area of expertise. Neither is fixing motors, damn it. Back on the ship that was our home I hung out enough on the flight deck to pick up a few things from the real engineers, but none of them survived so I'm the best we've got.
"Why is he always so stalkerish?" I ask Inga, speaking Common and glancing at Shidan.
Calista found a machine that taught humans how to speak and understand the Zmaj language but so far none of the Zmaj have learned Common.
"He's helping, remember?"
I glare back. "I remember! You think I'm dumb? I was being rhetorical."
"Oh, sorry."
Sighing at myself, I shake my head.
"I'm a pilot, not an engineer," I mutter in my best Scotty impression, which sucks and I know it, but whatever.
"But you're great at it," Inga says.
I stare at her until I realize she's serious, then I feel awkward and mean. "Thanks," I reply, trying to smooth things over. She smiles and puts her attention back on the parts I have her cleaning.
Shidan stands close by watching and remaining silent. It's kind of creepy. He's always looking at me and if he was a guy, you know a normal human guy, I'd say he had puppy dog eyes. Like he's longing for me or something. Zmaj are weird that way. I've heard Ladon calling Calista his treasure. Then there's the other new guy Sverre who Jolie fell for and he does the same thing, being protective, looking out for her like she's too weak to do it on her own.
I don't need or want anyone 'looking' out for me. I've spent my entire life proving myself. I can out fly anyone. Shidan is in for a world of surprise if he thinks he will treat me like that. I'm not a delicate flower to set on a shelf and adore. Any man who wants to be with me has to treat me with respect.
"I'm glad he can't understand us. Why does he look at me like that all the time? Get a life lizard-boy."
"He likes you," Inga insists, drying a piston with a towel.
"Well he can keep h
is like to himself," I mutter, picking the wrench back up.
Shidan comes closer, grabbing my hand. I jerk away, snapping my eyes to his but I'm not fast enough. He pulls my hand up between us and inspects my scraped knuckles.
"You're injured," he observes.
"No shit, Sherlock," I say. "It's fine."
I try pulling my hand away again but I can't get out of his grip.
"Let me cleanse it."
He stares down at me. His eyes are a stunning, rich yellow color that looks like a star burst. Shidan is smaller than the other Zmaj but still massive next to me, his hand engulfs mine. The red-blue tinge of his scales is unique to him, I wonder if their colors mean something. The wings on his back rustle and his tail switches side to side. His mouth tightens into a hard line and for a moment I wonder what his lips taste like.
No. Push aside thoughts like that. I will not kiss him. I'm not getting caught up in the alien baby fever Calista started. It's fine for them but I can make it on my own.
"I said it's fine," I reply.
He tugs me along, gentle but insistent, taking me to the pails of water Inga is using as cleaning tubs. If I jerk my hand free, he'll let me go. I know because he's always doing things like this. Ever since he showed up outside the city's protective dome with that other Zmaj and fought tooth and nail over me. I think that's what pisses me off most about them, they're possessive as hell. It's weird and while the other guy has moved on, Shidan has made sure he's always close. I can't turn around without bumping into him.
It's annoying. And cute. But more on the annoying side. I don't need anyone and I'm not caught up in the fever. I'll keep telling myself that until it's true. No, shut up. I need no one. It's the only way to survive.
Shidan gently cleanses the scrape on my knuckles. He moves with deliberateness as he pours water, leans in and inspects, then pours more water. Taking a clean towel he dabs at the small wounds until they are dry. His warm breath passes over my skin and my core clenches. I jerk my hand free of his grip.
"I'm fine!" I yell in Common. He stares at me confused. "I'm fine," I repeat myself in Zmaj so he'll understand.
"Good," he says, cheerful as always.
That's the most annoying thing about him. He's always, and I mean always, cheerful. The other Zmaj are mostly dour, carrying the weight of being the last of their race on their shoulders. Shidan is different, he's always light-hearted with a smile on his face. He's the happiest damn Zmaj I've ever met.
"Do you think there will be a rescue?" Inga asks, giving me a welcome distraction.
"No."
"Oh." Her shoulders slump.
"Look," I continue. "I know it's the popular thing to hope for and there's the whole human first movement, or whatever stupid name they've come up with for their bigotry, but the fact is there's no one coming."
"How come?" she asks, tears forming in her eyes.
Shit. Now I feel bad. God damn it Inga, why do you have to be so damn… soft and sweet? I hate feeling bad, especially when I'm telling the truth. The truth hurts sometimes, deal. Except she can't and I'm the one who feels bad about it. When space pirates attacked our ship and caused it to crash, I helped save her from being raped. I didn't know her before but ever since then she's been delicate. She doesn't deal with reality well, retreating into a protective shell. God, I'm a bitch.
"We crashed almost eleven months ago. If a distress signal got out, which is doubtful, it has to reach Earth. Then Earth has to send a response team which will take more than our lifetime to arrive. We were the third generation on the ship that left Earth over one hundred years ago."
"Oh," she says, overwhelm heavy in her voice. Then tears start flowing and she looks down, letting her hair hang over her face.
Way to go Amara, I win the Bitch of the Year award. What do I do now? I'm a pilot pretending to be an engineer. What do I know about comforting someone? There's no crying in piloting!
Feeling awkward I walk over and hold my arms out. She steps into them so I pat her on the back and let her cry on my shoulder. Shidan watches with his head tilted to one side. He wouldn't have understood our conversation but his empathy is apparent.
"It's fine," Inga says, taking a shaky breath. "I'm fine. We should get to work, sorry."
She wipes at the tears and I step back. A sense of relief passes over me. I don't like being mean. I don't, but I don't know how to be any different. It always sounds fine in my head but when I say things someone's always getting butt-hurt about it. Then I end up in awkward situations like this one.
"Um, okay," I say, turning back to the motor. I remember to switch to Zmaj when I address Shidan, "You going to help or what?"
"Of course my lyutik," he smiles. "What is it you wish?"
"Grab that thingy over there and see if it turns or not," I say, pointing at a part of the motor that looks like it should turn.
Shidan does as I ask and we all focus on the work to hand. This is better. Work I understand. It makes sense, work doesn't have emotions or feelings or get upset about things. Shidan works hard, I'll give him that. And he smells nice. There's something exotic about his scent. Almost spicy, like spicy dark chocolate. Hmm, chocolate, damn I miss chocolate.
Even the most random thoughts lead back to everything we've lost. Sure we're surviving and I'm grateful for it but I miss home. I miss the camaraderie of the flight deck. I miss my old life. Live and die on the generation ship while we fly to some new world and colonize it. Well my great-great grandkids or something would colonize it. I'm not even sure, never cared. I knew my life, I worked hard to get where I was.
Girls weren't supposed to be pilots. It didn't happen, but I made it and not a damn person could ever doubt I earned it. Sometimes a new guy would transfer in to our deck and assume I was some token pilot. A nod to gender equality. The rest of the guys would smile and go along until they could arrange for him to fly against me in a training mission. Once I'd mock splattered his ass all over the blackness of space they were singing a new tune. No one was as good as me. Only by being the best was I able to keep my post. They couldn't see me as soft or weak or a girl. I wasn't a girl I was a pilot. That's what mattered.
Except it's all gone. What I told Inga is true too. It's over and I'll never again have it back. Now I'm a half-ass engineer working on alien technology I wouldn't understand even if I was a real engineer. If this was a Stinger, we'd all be in business. I always worked on my Stinger along with the assigned flight engineer. If you want to know your ship, take it apart and put it back together. When you know every single nut and bolt in it, you know a ship.
None of that translates to getting this city's power grid working. That I've got it working at all is more of a miracle than I want everyone to know. They're counting on me and I'm the best we've got. Which isn't saying much.
"Can you lift this?" I ask Shidan.
"Of course," he smiles.
I roll my eyes and step back. He bends his knees and lifts the end of the generator. His muscles ripple and flex as he straightens with only the slightest of groans. Damn if he isn't strong. And sexy. No, damn it, he's not sexy, he's an annoying alien who stares at me with those fiery eyes that smolder just too much to be true puppy dog eyes. Stop it Amara! I'm no one's treasure and that's all he wants. A Zmaj doesn't understand how to treat a woman as an equal. He's not for me.
"Thanks," I say, kneeling and reaching under to adjust the gauge I hope will increase the power output.
"Of course my lyutik," he replies.
He always calls me that. I don't know what it means as it doesn't seem to translate into Common. I'm sure it's some misogynistic term meaning I'm his treasure or some crap. I'm not a flower, damn it. Once the gauge turns I slide clear and Shidan lowers the motor to the ground.
"Why do you call me that?" I ask.
He tilts his head to one side. "What?" he asks, like he doesn't have a clue.
"Lyutik," I repeat it slowly, the word feeling strange on my tongue.
He sm
iles and shrugs instead of answering.
"Well quit it."
"As you wish." He smiles before turning his back on me.
Inga chuckles from where she's working and I sigh, climbing to my feet to inspect the machine.
"Damn it," I mutter.
"You will figure it out," Shidan insists.
"Sure," I agree half-heartedly.
I take a seat on an old crate and stare. Shidan stands to my left quietly watching. The sound of the motor's humming and Inga cleaning parts is soothing. I let my eyes wander over the machines, hoping for some kind of inspiration.
"I must go to my patrol," Shidan says, breaking into my musing.
"Oh, sure," I say.
Sverre spotted a ship full of space pirates a while back and we've kept regular patrols of the city perimeter since then. They're the same ones who brought down our ship. Turns out they're slavers with a long, unfriendly history between them and the Zmaj.
"I will see you tomorrow," he says, waving as he leaves.
I watch him go and the room seems a little emptier when he's not in it.
"You two should go on a date," Inga says once he's gone.
"A date? Seriously? And do what? It's not like we have any movies to go to or someplace to go out to dinner."
"That just means it cuts down on the in-between. Skip the boring and go straight to the good stuff." She grins and I roll my eyes.
"I don't have the alien fever," I say as she laughs.
Footsteps clang musically on the metal stairs leading to the sub-basement. Inga and I jump, turning towards the sound. Mei glides into view, moving in a hurry.
"What's up Mei?"
"Calista's in trouble, we need you," she exhales.
"What kind of trouble?" Inga asks before I can.
"The baby."
Shit. Am I supposed to be a doctor now, too? Everyone's looking at me like a bunch of green pilots unsure how to fasten their safety harnesses.
Dragon's Love: A SciFi Alien Baby Romance (Red Planet Dragons of Tajss Book 3) Page 1
