Cerik (Dragons Of Kelon) (A Sci Fi Alien Weredragon Romance)

by Maia Starr

  She raised her brow, nonverbally alerting us that I wasn’t to pass her or cross her. I landed back down on the deck and exhaled shakily.

  “Who are you?” I demanded, setting Celeste down beside me and grabbed her hand, forcing her behind my back. “Are you the ruler here?”

  I must have been way off the map since the woman merely frowned and showed no small expression of disgust toward me. Not having much luck with the ladies, thus far.

  “This is my sea,” the creature said back, raising a seductive brow at me. “I’ve seen you before.”

  Celeste squeezed my hand at the woman’s recognition, and I shrugged with confusion.

  “I don’t think so,” I said confidently. “I would remember your face.”

  “I know your kind,” she said surely, her voice only vaguely female. It seemed double over itself like a smooth and sweet echo. “And you,” she said, extending a tentacle toward Celeste. The tentacle reached down and spiraled around and around until it pointed right at Celeste’s red hair.

  “I…” Celeste coughed and backed away from the tentacle. “Don’t think I’ve had the pleasure, actually.”

  The creature caught my gaze only briefly, long enough to see that my eyes were absolutely fixated on her. She smiled flirtatiously, a game suddenly afoot.

  Without warning, she breathed suddenly and grabbed me around my waist, slithering her spire skyward so I could face her. She pulled me close and hissed into my ear, “I didn’t think it’d be this easy to catch one of you.”

  “I’m usually a difficult man to get a hold of,” I said evenly, never struggling against her. “Though you haven’t entirely gone through with the ‘catching’ portion yet, seeing as how I could easily rip from your grasp, so I suppose neither of us should be jumping to conclusions.”

  “Don’t you want to know how I outmaneuvered you?” An odd smile formed on the creature, not one out of joy or lust, but a learned movement.

  I struggled against her grip and chuckled nervously. “Will I live long enough that it’ll make a difference?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet.” She looked me up and down hesitantly, and then her expression brightened. “You are Caridan,” she said with excitement.

  Turning my head, I looked down to Celeste and she raised her brows as if to tell me now was not the time to celebrate.

  “No, no,” I laughed nervously. “Not quite. But I’m a friend of his…”

  I could see Ikar and Vordamm circling us hesitantly, both unsure whether we should be attacking or exactly how that might work.

  She did something close to a frown and kept moving her head from side to side, inspecting me carefully as though I were, in fact, Caridan.

  “I am Ravayarus,” she said.

  “Sigisvult,” I said. “Why did you sink our ship?”

  “I felt you on my planet.”

  “Well,” I pressed my tongue firmly against the top of my mouth. “That’s one way to say hello. Can’t say it’s my preferred method, but, I can’t say I’m sorry to meet you, either.”

  The creature giggled and turned me to the side, bringing me closer to her form. She seemed shy all of the sudden as her black form took on a human shape, her breasts large and a curved waist protruding from the liquid behind her.

  “Why are you here?”

  I swallowed hard. “We’re looking for this Caridan you mentioned.”

  “I see,” she said curiously, absorbed in my words.

  “We need him to help us. Do you know where he is?”

  “I like you,” she smiled.

  I shifted my sight awkwardly and then raised my brow before the creature freed my wings from her grasp. “I like you,” I flirted back. “I’m looking for a group of people, like her,” I said, pointing to Celeste. “Do you know where they are?”

  Ravayarus gave a slight nod, and I could tell her eyes were following me. “In the green below,” she smiled.

  I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but the fact that she’d

  “I want you to stay with me,” she said and began to squeeze me, neared me in a wave of black water.

  I reached out and ran my finger along her cheek. “I will stay with you if you tell my friends where we can find Caridan.”

  The woman ran a tentacle across her lips and held it there, judging whether or not I was telling her truth. She laughed and pointed west, just as Ikar had instructed earlier.

  She moved even closer to me, feeling that our deal was done. I could see her faux breasts bouncing together, and I resisted the urge to cringe at the strange creature. I wondered if this was how terrifying I seemed to Celeste when she first met me, a strange creature with strange parts.

  “Ravayarus, that’s enough,” came a deep call from across the sky.

  My eyes darted north to the purple shifter in the distance. The membranes on his wings were transparent, reflecting a dark collection of colors in the shimmering patagium. Like a rainbow in an oil slick. Purples and deep greens swam together in the sheer skin.

  The shifter had a deep skin tone and fluorescent purple scales.

  He flew toward us with ease, and Ravayarus seemed instantly annoyed with his presence.

  “That’s enough,” he commanded again, and the dark creature released her grip on both me and our ship.

  I fluttered back down to the wooden beams below and looked up at Caridan, who flew with hesitant strides in circles around the creature. I picked up Celeste and flew next to him, the air freezing cold against my wings as I shadowed his movements.

  “Go away, Ravayarus,” he said in a strong tone. “We’ve had enough of you.”

  All at once the tar creature shrieked in terror and disappeared back into the sea, taking her slick spires and towers of water back with her, the implosion causing a loud splash as she made her way quickly back down into the waters.

  There was a great tidal wave that splashed over the black ground below, and then all at once, it looked like natural waters once more. Deep and blue.

  Celeste was shaking in my grasp, clinging desperately to my body. It was then I realized I’d never properly flown with her before. As if this… Ravayarus creature wasn’t terrifying enough, she was also hundreds of feet above the ground.

  I exhaled deeply and stared at Caridan. The legendary shifter, fire-breather, escapee, thief. I couldn’t help but be in awe of him as his wings gusted large breaths behind them.

  He didn’t speak to us. In fact, he only turned once to regard the white dragon we had brought along with us.

  The two stared at one another in a deep exchange, the message only perceptible only to one another.

  Then both took to the sky, racing one another as if there was some unspoken finish line.

  Chapter Eleven

  Celeste

  I shivered against the wind, once again finding myself drenched and freezing in Sigisvult’s company. I didn’t know what in the world we’d just encountered, but it terrified me. Half dragon men were hot, but murderous swamp ladies were, well, just unpleasant.

  I was happy, however, that we had found Caridan so easily.

  The flight back wasn’t too long before we were sitting in the company of those we’d been seeking for weeks.

  The view from the small camp was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. I stood in the mass of dust and rock and stared up into the deep above, planetary rings infecting the sky, large and shimmering like I’d never seen.

  Sigisvult came up beside me and grabbed my hand and looked down at me with a handsome smile as we approached the fire.

  A blonde woman stood by the raging flames. She wore a heavy cloak and had long masses of blonde curls falling forward. She looked over at Caridan with a familiar, sad smile and didn’t quite seem to know what to do with herself.

  Though a little older now, forties at least, from pictures I saw at her mother’s, I knew it was Ariella.

  Besides her there were other humans afoot, researchers from Riddell sent to populate an
d cultivate the land. I looked down at the crumbling soil beneath us and wondered exactly how bad a job they had been doing in the last 20 years.

  I breathed deeply and took a seat by the campfire, Sigisvult taking a seat next to me.

  “We meet again,” came the high tones of Ariella as she offered a pleading smile to Ikar.

  The white shifter nodded his hello to her, but refused to sit.

  For his part, Vordamm was already digging into a bowl of mystery meat one of the scientists handed him. If he cared about the dramatic events that had clearly once unfolded between Ikar and Caridan he didn’t show it.

  Those from Riddell were kind enough to give us space as we familiarized ourselves with those once banished from Udora, the lot of us sitting around the fire that raged near makeshift huts nearby. A small camp of colonists.

  “You have a nephew,” Ikar said suddenly, looking over at the blonde woman nearby.

  Ariella looked over at the white shifter and beamed, her eyes growing big and blue and endlessly pleased. “Meghan?” she smiled.

  Ikar nodded. “Poammenus, a red dragon.”

  Ariella raised her brows in small recognition and then looked to her mate. Caridan’s eyes shifted toward his chosen and then quickly to the ground at the mention.

  “It’s Brenem’s,” Ikar confirmed.

  “I don’t suppose you came all this way to tell us that,” Caridan said tersely, crossing his arms and leaning back against one of the huts nearest to the fire.

  “You know, there’s a legend about you,” Vordamm suddenly interjected through slurps of his stew. “You guys, I should say,” he corrected, pointing wildly between the two.

  “Is that so?” Caridan said skeptically with a slight raise of his brow.

  “Rebels say your kid’s gonna come and kill us all, the Koth district. Retake Udora,” the orange dragon clarified, but it was clear that the couple had no idea what he was talking about.

  “What do you mean retake?” the purple shifter asked, concern washing over his tone as he looked to Ariella.

  Ikar raised a hand to Vordamm in annoyance and sighed into his hands before closing his claws into a steeple. “Rebels have broken out in Udora. They’ve been killing us for years… attacking our lands. Legend goes that a child will be brought back from a human and a Weredragon. A female.”

  Caridan flinched, and Ariella immediately stood, making her way to him protectively.

  “The girl will come back and rage fire on the land. The rebels believe she’ll pave the way as the new leader and take over. And we happen to know…” he raised his brows unsurely, “that you have a girl.”

  Ariella suddenly let out an insincere laugh and placed her hand on Caridan’s shoulder. “And you have an interest in bringing our child back as your leader?”

  “I have no interest in that,” Ikar said honestly.

  “I do,” I piped up, rubbing my hands together for warmth in front of the fire.

  “No,” Ikar snapped at me. “In fact, Bromis’ son took over.”

  Caridan raised his brows in recognition but said nothing.

  “I’m interested in you,” the white shifter said. “And only you.”

  “You were the one who banished me,” Caridan enunciated through a snarl. “Do you remember that?”

  “Do you remember why?” Ikar seethed back, the hairs near in his tail rising up in anger.

  “I’m sorry you came all this way,” Ariella interjected slowly, looking around the group of us unsurely. “But we have no female.”

  Ikar met her eyes in some sort of showdown, and I suddenly felt wildly uncomfortable. I looked at Sigisvult, who was also looking agitated, and then over to the blonde woman.

  “You sure about that?” I pressed.

  The blonde gave me a look I’d only ever seen replicated by my mother, a look that said I was truly in trouble. She seemed to scathe at my words and set her jaw angrily. “Pretty sure, yeah.”

  “Because,” I tapped my nose and thought for a moment. “I’m pretty sure you do.”

  “We do,” Caridan spat. “Two.”

  “See!” I cheered. “That wasn’t so hard!”

  Ikar looked over at the shifter in surprise and looked around the camp uncomfortably. “Twins?” he asked, and Caridan gave a nod in return. “Both breathe fire?”

  Caridan huffed his acknowledgment and then snapped, “But you’re not getting them.”

  “I’ve heard enough,” Sigisvult suddenly quipped, annoyed as ever. “You’re not willing to come back and help your own people from annihilation? Then I say let you and your wife rot in this blackened deathtrap of a planet.”

  “Hey!” I scolded, frowning deeply at the shifter. “Raise your hand if you’re not helping.”

  “Sigisvult!” I shouted, causing the shifter to stand and tower over me. “Shut up!”

  “Do you know what we’ve done to find you? How far we’ve come?” the blue shifter yelled.

  “Do I know?!” Caridan yelled back, jolting toward my chosen and roaring in anger. “Of course I know! I’ve known the exact distance from the day they banished me here!”

  “You shamed your people,” Sigisvult spat, literally. “And you won’t come back to redeem yourself.”

  “That’s right,” Caridan seethed. “I won’t.”

  “Hey!” I yelled again, stepping up between them. The blue shifter stormed off into one of the nearby huts. I awkwardly followed Sigisvult into his makeshift home, a small hut in the midst of a curious city on a new planet, and gave him a piece of my mind.

  “You’re not helping!” I yelled, shoving him.

  “He’s not helping!” he corrected. “Why did we even come here? I thought this guy was looking for some kind of salvation. And what about his kids? He won’t even let us talk to them or see them. Hell, we don’t even know if any of them can really shoot fire!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Look, at the very least, he saved us from that crazy swamp lady, and he deserves a little respect!”

  We continued to argue this way for some time until I walked out.

  By the time I reached the fire again, everyone from my crew had left.

  The weather was even-keeled, with just a hint of humidity lingering in the air from the ceaseless fog. We sat by the fire, kept awake by the sounds of creatures nestling in trees and insects burrowing and chirping across the island.

  I walked back out to the fire and saw Ariella and Caridan were the only ones left, huddled together and talking. I watched his features, still unreadable, but softer and more disappointed than they were a while ago.

  Two shifters emerged from the shadows, both purple Weredragons, hiding near the shabby huts that the scientists had made their homes.

  The male looked like Caridan, dark hair and purple scutes and scales. The girl, though, was white in color. She had natural blonde, curly hair, like her mother. The kind of hair that was so blonde it was almost white, her brows disappearing into her deeply tanned skin.

  It was almost jarring to see a female Weredragon. I’d never heard of one before. But maybe the legend was true. Maybe she was ready to come and save Udora… or save the Rebels.

  Both looked around 20 or so, somewhere around my age. The boy seemed shy and reserved, held back. He didn’t know the competitive nature of Udora, didn’t know the arrogance and strength he should have been parading around. I stared deeply at him and then thought on Sigisvult.

  Maybe it was better this way.

  Maybe Caridan was right and bringing his children back to Udora would breed nothing but contempt.

  But then, I looked at the girl.

  She was regal and ethereal as she took long strides over to her father. The silver of her scales reflected against the firelight, and she knelt down in front of Caridan on both knees, taking her hand into hers.

  They exchanged a look, her slender wings never retracting even as she sat, allowing half of their mass to lay on the strange, crumbling ground beneath us.

  She craned he
r neck to look at me. “What happens if we don’t come?” she asked in a deeper voice than I was expecting.

  “Fhalanae,” Caridan scolded firmly, the anger building in his countenance.

  “I, uh,” I stammered, suddenly confused as to how I became the person to ask such things. “I guess they die. The alliance with Earth will be severed and…” I shrugged helplessly. “Maybe they go back to taking women from Earth and slaughtering our men.”

  “Maybe?”

  “Most likely,” I nodded. “That means women like your mother won’t have a choice. They’ll just be taken and used.”

  The young shifter stared at me direly for a moment and then looked back up to her father.

  “My life” he paused and looked over at me, “has come down to a series of moments.”

  Ariella watched the purple shifter as he nervously wrung his hands. He looked at me, bewildered and suddenly lost in thought.

  The minutes dragged on in a comfortable silence before he continued, “Moments of regret, anger, hurt,” he explained casually, counting his fingers as he did so, “Moments where I’ve changed everything, where I’ve ruined everything, where I’ve saved everything. We’re all made up of moments. You want to make sure they’re good ones.”

  Fhalanae nodded at his statement and smiled weakly as she said, “We can change everything.”

  Caridan brushed his hand against his daughter’s shoulder. “And this is what you want me to change?”

  Fhalanae didn’t relent. Her hands were pale, and her breath ghosted in the air. “It’s the only thing worth changing.”

  Caridan’s face turned to a pained expression, and he blinked hard. “Some would say that love is stronger than war.” He trailed off. “That to keep your family alive, safe, content. That is what is worth doing.”

  “It isn’t,” I piped up. “It isn’t the only thing worth doing.”

  “I’ve made a lot of mistakes; the outcome of my actions ended lives and forced others to live with the scars.”

  I nodded, but he didn’t know me. I was the kind of girl who had her mind set on something and would never relent. If I didn’t want to do something I didn’t do it, regardless of the consequences, and if I had her mind bent on a course or action there was no changing it.