The Panoians can shapeshift into any form, take the likeness of any being. No one knows their true form. Some of them take two-legged, humanoid forms while others prefer having tentacles and talons.
Many make the mistake of thinking that Pano is home to a whole host of different races and species. The Panoians constantly change their shape and color just for the heck of it.
But appearances deceive. Pano is a homogeneous society. Assuming diverse forms is simply a diversionary and survival tactic.
The Panoians don't have an army. They are a peace-loving, open people, extremely enterprising and entrepreneurial. They can shapeshift into any form, but they prefer to use their abilities to make money, not war.
All over the universe, sex is a frequently used currency for information, goods, valuable technology and services. The sex trade is a lucrative one. And the Panoians use their special abilities to profit from it. There are more brothels on Pano than on any other planet, and the Panoians can fulfill all your darkest, weirdest, kinkiest fantasies.
My men have used their services before. Since storm dragons can only mate in our human forms, there are very, very few races on the nearby planets that are sexually compatible with us. We have needs, and the Panoians were quick to meet that need. The price was always agreed on beforehand so there would be no dispute and no hard feelings.
I have not set foot on Pano for quite some time now. Rutting with a creature who could be male, female or both and not knowing the creature's true form was an experience I didn't want to repeat again.
Sex with the Panoians wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't real.
We were just buying an illusion. Everyone was. It was a fair, legitimate transaction. Willing buyer, willing seller.
I know my men still visit Pano once in a while. They stop over at Pano to refuel and release some pent-up tension and stress after completing a mission.
The news of the attack on the Panoians came as a shock. The Panoians don't have any enemies. Pano is a neutral marketplace, and the Panoians are more interested in profit than politics. They don't take sides in any wars and conflicts, and they stay out of other people's business. It was always strictly business with them. They don't get personal with their clients and customers, and they conduct their businesses fairly. No returns, no refunds, and no misrepresentations. You simply got what you paid for, nothing more, nothing less.
We don't owe the Panoians anything, but it was one of the Panoians who told me about Earth. She mentioned that the inhabitants on Earth were mostly humanoid, so it might be worth our while to travel across the galaxy and check out this faraway planet.
That piece of information allowed me to find my mate. For this, I will forever be grateful to the Panoians.
Pano is a few billion miles from Svaata, and even at hyperspeed, it takes us several hours to reach Pano.
Our radar picks up the small, greenish planet but there is no sign of life on it. Rhekk, Xon and Wazzri swear under their breaths as we bring our ship nearer to Pano.
The scene of destruction and devastation is horribly familiar. Pano has been ravaged and razed.
We can see thick, dark smoke filling the atmosphere, and fires continue to burn. When we bring our ship closer to the surface, we see that the ground is covered with ash, blood and body parts.
“The Panoians are dead,” Xon says through gritted teeth. “We won't find anyone alive here.”
I know he is right but I give the order to land.
We have seen this scene before. A long time ago. On another planet.
Our home planet.
Rhekk shakes his head but remains silent. Wazzri lets out a string of curses as he and Xon pilot the ship to an open area for a landing.
We sweep our radar across the land as we descend and it confirms our suspicions. The whole planet is a dead place. The entire, small population of Pano has been wiped out.
The door of our ship hisses open and we brace ourselves for the overwhelming stench of death.
Grimly, we step out of the ship and walk through the eerily silent land. Rhekk walks carefully around a tentacle and a long, two-toed leg. Half-eaten body parts and organs are strewn all over the place. Everywhere is stained with the dark, obsidian blood of the Panoians.
I see a headless body that has been torn open lying next to a broken wall. The organs and entrails are gone, leaving just a hollow shell.
“The Panoians aren't fighters, they never stood a chance,” Xon spits.
I nod once. The Panoians had a favorite saying: We make love, we make money, we make everything but war.
My Commlink beeps.
“Yes,” I snap.
“Commander.” Kazran's voice crackles over my Commlink. His voice sounds unnaturally loud and harsh in the silence. “Brogaan...was attacked.”
The men freeze beside me as they listen to Kazran's urgent, angry report.
“Brogaan was attacked and left for dead. I was hunting with him. We separated for a while. When I found him, he was unconscious, lying in a pool of his own blood. I carried him back...”
“Who or what attacked him?” I bark.
There is a pause and I can hear Kazran swearing.
“Speak up,” I order.
“Yes sir! It's Cassie.”
I make an incoherent sound and repeat my question.
“Your mate attacked Brogaan, sir.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Cassie
I open my eyes and immediately turn on my side and retch. My body convulses violently as I heave and throw up the meager contents of my stomach. I feel even worse after vomiting. My throat feels raw and sore, and my head feels much too heavy for my poor, abused neck.
Shakily, I lift my hand to my throat. My fingers make out a few puncture wounds and my own dried blood on my neck.
Puncture wounds? Blood?
My eyes widen and I try to push myself up. Big mistake. Immediately, the ground tilts and my head hits a hard surface. The impact rattles my brain and makes the pain a hundred times worse. The pain explodes through my skull, shooting between my eyes and down my face.
I retch again but nothing comes up this time. Nothing but bile.
Slowly, my mind gains controls and orders my arms and legs to move.
I squeeze my eyes shut to keep the nausea at bay and somehow manage to sit upright.
Taking a painful breath, I hold myself absolutely still and open my eyes.
The first thing I see are bars. Straight, vertical rusty bars.
I gasp and drag my eyes around the tiny space I am in. Dark, stone walls seem to close in on me, and I press a hand to my mouth to stifle a cry.
I am in a cell.
I'm in a prison cell? What am I, a captive, a prisoner? Why?
I try to tamp down my spiking anger and panic. Who captured and imprisoned me? Where the fuck am I?
My memory comes in tattered fragments. As the images flash through my mind, I clutch my head in both hands and make a sound of frustration. I can't even make sense of my memories!
I remember seeing that strange, shapeshifting male in the forest. That shapeshifter who took Brogaan's shape, then mine.
I blink rapidly as my mind sharpens. I remember he grabbed me and bit me.
The bite hurt like a bitch. I'm a wuss for passing out but I have never, ever felt such horrible, burning pain before.
What did he do to me?
I ball my fists and continue sifting through my memories, trying to formulate some kind of survival and escape plan.
I remember waking up on a spaceship. It was a small spaceship, and I was stuffed inside a cage at the corner. I saw the backs of two large males at the controls. One of them was my captor, and he smirked at me when he caught my eye. His ugly, smirking face was the last thing I saw before my eyes watered and closed.
And now, I'm in this dank prison cell.
I tense when I hear male voices and footsteps. The footsteps are coming nearer and nearer. My ears prick up when I hear the men speaking.
They are speaking in Vorik's language.
I press myself into the far corner of my cell as soldiers appear behind those rusty bars.
There are a dozen odd soldiers standing in front of my cell.
They all have red, slitted eyes and fangs. I know what they are. They are red dragons, Vorik's enemies. These are the monsters who killed and devoured Vorik's people.
Gulping, I meet their stares defiantly, refusing to show fear. They continue to stand outside my cell and study me in silence.
Then one by one, the soldiers shift into...me.
My bravado crumbles and I let out a broken cry of alarm, confusion and rage.
“Stop,” I whisper as I stare at the nightmarish versions of myself. “Stop this...”
“Stop this,” they mimic me in their male voices.
I swallow, feeling a ridiculous sense of relief at hearing their voices. These creatures can only change their appearances, but not their voices.
They can look like me, but they can't talk like me. They can't deceive anyone for long.
They blink and I see the hideous red glow return to their eyes.
I exhale slowly.
Their eyes will betray them.
I freeze when they snap suddenly to attention and shout in unison, “Captain Morc.”
I grit my teeth and stare at Captain Morc, the bastard who caught me and drank my blood. He smiles when he sees how well his soldiers have taken my form. Nodding in approval, he dismisses his soldiers, and I see them shift back into their true shape and march away.
Morc watches me through the bars for a long moment before speaking, “Your blood holds promise. You are a fertile female.”
I recoil and press myself further into the corner. Fertile? That can only mean one thing.
“I have a mate,” I growl.
“I know.” Morc laughs. “Only the storm dragons will respect the mate mark and claim of another storm dragon. To any other race, you are fair game.”
“No...” I shake my head rapidly. “No! You are murderers, monsters! What you did to the storm dragons…”
“What did we do to them?” Morc taunts. “We let them go. They ran away like cowards, and cowards are not worth our while. We have taken what we wanted, and those cowards present no threat. In fact, they have proven that they can be useful.” He leers at me. “They found us a ripe, fertile female to breed.”
“I won't let you touch me,” I snarl.
“Oh I won't touch you. You are a present for my alpha. Our alpha will breed you.”
“Alpha?” I whisper. I know that animal packs have alphas, and the realization that these red dragons function more like animals in a pack than members of an ordered society fills me with dread and horror.
“Only our alpha can breed,” Morc says. “The rest of us are soldiers.”
Morc stares at me with a glint in his eye. “I will be richly rewarded for bringing a fertile female to our alpha. No other team has succeeded in this mission. But—before I take you to our alpha, there is another use for you.”
“Go to hell,” I hiss.
He laughs. “That's where the storm dragons are going. The storm dragons will finally be wiped out—” Morc gives a smug, satisfied smile and leans forward. “And you will be the one to end them. Ah yes, my alpha will be well pleased with me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Vorik
I slam the button to open the door even as Rhekk is navigating our ship into the landing bay. The door doesn't open even though I hammer it with my fist. It is a safety feature to ensure that the door of the ship remains locked until the ship is stationary.
The door finally opens and I race down the steps and run with a group of my men towards the medical bay at the back of the cave. Someone updates me on Brogaan's condition as we run. He is still in critical condition, but he has regained consciousness.
“He's lucid and he still says it's Cassie,” Kazran yells as we exit the landing bay. “No mistake.”
“We looked everywhere for her,” Lhoki interjects. “No one can find her.”
I slam into the treatment room and stride up to Brogaan's bedside. Our medics, Miik and Owaan, step aside and say quickly, “He's stable now, but he can't talk for long.”
Brogaan's eyes are closed, and his body is heavily bandaged. “He's lucky,” Miik mutters. “There are stab wounds all over his body but they all missed his vital organs.”
“Brogaan.” I touch his shoulder.
Brogaan's eyelids flutter and he struggles to open his eyes. I fire off my questions. If he can't speak, he just needs to nod or shake his head.
“Did Cassie attack you?” I ask.
Brogaan grimaces and nods once.
“Are you sure it was Cassie?”
“Yes,” he croaks.
“Did you fight back?”
Brogaan hesitates, then nods. I understand. He was reluctant to hurt Cassie, but he was forced to defend himself from the attack.
“Did she attack you alone?”
Brogaan nods.
“You couldn't overpower her?” I say, my frown deepening.
“N-no.”
“Did she say anything?”
Brogaan shakes his head.
“You shouted for her to stop and tried to disarm her, but still she continued attacking you.”
Brogaan winces. “She was...very strong and fast,” he manages to whisper.
I nod and straighten up. “It's not her,” I say tersely.
“But Brogaan...”
“Someone attacked Brogaan, but it's not Cassie,” I repeat.
“There was no one else around. Brogaan saw her,” Kazran snaps. “She tried to kill him. He wouldn't accuse her...”
I hold up my hand. The men have accepted Cassie as my mate, but Cassie is still an alien female to them. They can't predict or understand her behavior and actions. They believe Brogaan when he said Cassie attacked him. They have no reason to doubt Brogaan's word.
I don't blame them and I don't blame Brogaan. Brogaan is simply telling us what he saw. But what he saw isn't the truth.
I am about to bark out an order when my mind connects suddenly with Cassie's.
My mate has opened her mind to me.
And I see...everything. All her thoughts, memories and fears come to me in a rush.
I am pulled deep into the whirlpool of her memories, and those dark, painful images crush me like a dead weight. I see Cassie as a little girl, barely older than Kaynna. But while Kaynna has twenty of us, twenty-one including her brother, to protect her, Cassie has no one.
I see the abuse, the hurt and the loneliness that Cassie has endured through the years. I see how those adults who were supposed to take care of her preyed on her instead. And I see how they closed ranks to discredit the words of a frightened, defenseless child.
No one believed her, and she could trust no one. She learned to defend herself, to be on her guard at all times.
Then I see her most recent memory. I see her staring at a replica of herself in the middle of the forest. I see those glowing red eyes staring out at me from Cassie's face. And I know. I know that monster.
I emerge from Cassie's mind with a gasp. The men are staring at me worriedly.
“Vorik? You okay?”
“You kind of just spaced out.”
“You look like you've seen a phantasm...”
The medics come rushing up to me but I swat them away angrily. “The red dragons,” I snarl. “They attacked Brogaan and took Cassie.”
Kazran glares at me and challenges, “None of us saw any red dragons. Are you saying that Brogaan and I are lying...”
“No. You and Brogaan told the truth as you know it. Brogaan told us what he saw. But the person Brogaan saw wasn't Cassie. It was a red dragon,” I say.
The men stare at me in shock. “What?”
“We have just returned from Pano. The rumors are true. Pano is completely destroyed. The mutilated, half-eaten bodies of the Panoians are strewn all over the land
. The Panoians have been brutally, savagely killed and devoured. When we landed on Pano, it looked like...” I stop. There is no need for me to go on.
From their expressions, I know that the men are seeing the same scene in their minds. It's a scene we will never forget. Our planet, our home awash in blood and flames.
“The red dragons slaughtered the Panoians,” Brogaan whispers from his bed.
I turn to him. “Yes. They devoured the Panoians, and now, they have the power of the Panoians to shapeshift into any form.”
“So the one who attacked Brogaan...” Miik says.
“...is a fucking red dragon!” Kazran snarls. “The red dragon took Cassie's shape and attacked Brogaan. And then went back and attacked Cassie!”
“Ready our battle ships,” I command. “We leave now.”
I give orders for Miik to stay behind with Brogaan. The rest of the men will leave with me.
They separate quickly into their teams and disperse. I tell Rhekk to get Pol and Kaynna to the medical bay. The twins will be locked in the cave with Miik and Brogaan. Miik is a competent soldier and medic. He will be able to get them out in case of an emergency, but no one can get into the cave while we are away.
Brogaan grabs my hand as I turn to leave and stammers, “I'm sorry...I failed...”
I shake my head. “The red dragons deceived you. It could have happened to any one of us. You didn't fight back because you thought it was Cassie, and you almost got yourself killed.”
I lower my face to his and say, “You should have fought back and killed the monster.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Vorik
Our ships head towards one of the inhospitable planets at the edge of our planetary system. The gases and clouds in the atmosphere are too dense for light to pass through so it is always night on that planet.
We land on the rocky surface of the planet and move swiftly out of our ships. I can sense that Cassie is in one of those numerous caves in the distance.
Vorik: A Scifi Storm Dragon Romance Page 9
