Noble Monster: A Scifi Alien Abduction Romance Standalone (Jannan Raiders Book 1)

by Zena Zion

  “You don't take your hands off my woman, and we're going to find out.”

  “That's not legal. You can't just destroy everything and murder everyone. You may be the High Commander, but you still have to obey the law.”

  The dragon hesitated, raising his head. Tobin's other men occupied the roof behind them, nervously pointing their rifles in the dragon's direction. He turned to her, and then nodded once. “Then I challenge you to a duel. The winner gains all of the loser’s holdings, and the woman as well. The loser dies.”

  Torvin stared at the dragon nervously, and then looked back up his men. They were nodding to each other, and immediately put up their rifles without his ordering it. “I….” he started, and then set his jaw. “Fine.”

  Locking the end of her leash to a loop set in the wall of the cabin, he strode forward toward the dragon. “I wouldn't advise using your fire breath here,” he said conversationally as his voice deepened into a growl.

  She saw fur sprout on his skin, and then a moment later he went down on all fours and shifted. “The human is right behind me. You'll likely cook her as well.”

  “I don't need fire to end the likes of you.” The dragon’s tail lashed as he awaited his opponent’s charge.

  Irina held her breath as the two closed on each other. On the roof, she could hear excited muttering. She wondered if the guards were as sick of him as everyone else seemed to be. Maybe they were hoping he would get killed.

  Dragon and lion leaped at each other and became a tangle of scales and fur. Growls and snarls shook the air as they tumbled over and over, snapping and clawing at each other.

  The lion held his own at first, using his rear claws to rake at Kaelon's belly, but fortunately it was as armored as the rest of him. Kaelon countered by digging his talons into his foe’s back and starting to crush him against his armored chest.

  Torvin squirmed free, tearing the skin of his back in the process, and leave the way, shaking himself. Droplets of blood flew into the air. He crouched quickly again, and leaped on the dragon before Kaelon could right himself, all four sets of claws out.

  A heavy thunk like a spear biting into flesh ended Torvin’s snarling suddenly. She looked past her lover's bulk, and saw that his spade-tipped tail had lashed out and driven itself all the way through Torvin's chest. Torvin gasped wetly around the impaling limb for a moment, and then went limp.

  Kaelon shook the corpse free of his tail with a snarl of disgust, and immediately shifted back to human form. He ripped off his white cloak as he walked over to her. “Are you alright?”

  “I will be now that you're here,” she replied with a smile that hurt the torn corner of her mouth.

  He wrapped her in the cloak, and then took hold of the collar around her neck and broke it off of her with sheer strength. Tossing it away with a heavy clatter, he pulled her into his arms. “I'm just glad that I found you in time.”

  “Me too, love,” she murmured as she tucked her head under his chin. “Me too.”

  Release

  Three weeks later, she stood with him in a crowd at one of his gatherings. The palace was abuzz with the latest news: the High Commander had released his breeding slave, uncollaring her and giving her a full-range translator bracelet.

  No human had ever been so honored. And there were other rumors as well: that he had offered his other slaves the opportunity to either return home to Earth, or serve him for a proper salary.

  As Irina stood there beside him, the skin of her neck rebelliously uncovered in the face of the staring beast-men of his court, she couldn't help but smile back at them a little mockingly. He stayed close to her all the time, attentive, protective.

  Every once in awhile, he would hold her hand in his huge one, comforting her and sending a fresh ripple of shocked whispers through the crowd. Finally, walking them to the center of the room, he raised his voice to get everyone’s attention.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of my court,” he spoke in a grave tone. “As you have recently heard, after the attempted kidnapping and rape of Irina three weeks ago, I killed Torvin in fair combat. This was witnessed by his men, who now work for me.”

  From under his cloak, he took her deactivated slave collar, which hung open in his hand. He held it up. “For two generations, we have used human breeding slaves to improve our genetic diversity.

  “As many of you know, Torvin was the loudest and most influential advocate for continuing the status quo of purchasing humans as breeding stock from the slavers.

  He has protected the slavers from any strong scrutiny with a combination of calling in political favors, and the strategic use of bribes. Now that he is dead, the veil that has concealed their activities is being lifted. I have verified since then the fact that the slavers have been lying to us all.”

  More shocked whispering. A tall, pale man with spiral horns sprouting from his temples raised a black-nailed hand. “High Commander, could you be more specific?”

  “We were told that humans were naturally tractable creatures who enjoyed captivity. We were told that their females are bred for obedience. None of this is in any way true.”

  “Then why do the humans obey so readily?”

  “Fear. Fear, trauma, and the desire to survive. Nothing more. Their behavior is quite similar to that of members of our own race that have been in captivity for extended lengths of time.

  “As it turns out, the ‘training’ that they undergo in the slave pens is nothing less than torture and intimidation. They usually use pain inducers in order to avoid leaving permanent marks, but because of their brutal nature, the slavers still beat the humans in their ‘care’ quite frequently.

  One of my operatives infiltrated the slave pens two weeks ago to gather intelligence on what is really going on within their walls. Images and recordings of what he discovered are being made available to you all.

  “For fifty years, ever since the genetic bottleneck that might have otherwise doomed us was discovered, we have kept breeding-slaves of intelligent beings who crave freedom just as much as we do, and have simply been terrorized into obeying.”

  Gasps of shock and horror; more muttering. The horned one spoke up again. “If this is true, then the slavers have been antagonizing another intelligent, space-faring race, who might decide at some point to make war on us for the sake of their captives.”

  “That is absolutely true. And that is why I will be releasing the results of a deeper investigation within a month. If I determine, and I am certain that I will, that the slavers have committed crimes that might lead our entire civilization into war once again, I will propose the banning of the entire practice on this world.”

  “But what about our need for human breeding stock?”

  “We have the opportunity still to undo what the slavers have done, and create an equitable treaty between our two peoples. As it turns out, humans are compatible enough with us that members of our race have begun recognizing their true mates among them.” He settled his hand on Irina's shoulder.

  “As I have.”

  More gasps and mutterings of surprise. Kaelon smiled.

  “To save our people, and to ensure that more of us discover our true mates, we must seek a treaty and trade agreements. This will force us to give up profiting from slave labor. However, the ultimate gains will more than repay any temporary losses.”

  Irina looked around at them as they stared at her, and felt the weight lifting off of her heart. They seemed more shocked than anything at the news that their exploitation of humanity had caused far more harm than the slavers had told them. Perhaps they weren't all monsters. Perhaps they could learn to approach humans peacefully.

  The horned man turned his gaze to her suddenly, and asked, “I was at the celebration where Torvin tried to rape you first. I remember how you cursed us all. You called us savages. Now I realize that you were right to do so. I can't speak for everyone, but I will be looking very carefully at this evidence. I must ask you--was your experience like what the High
Commander is describing?”

  She blinked at him. This whole time, the only members of his race who had ever bothered to directly address her could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Before now, most of them had never even looked her in the eye. “My name is Dr. Irina Evans,” she replied.

  “I am a biologist with a specialty in healing herbs. I was on a mission to gather medical specimens to assist my people. Four months before I became a member of the high Commander's household, I was kidnapped from Earth spacing lanes and forced into the camps.”

  She looked around. The entire crowd had gone quiet, and was listening to her every word intently. She swallowed dryness from her mouth and went on.

  “During that time, I was starved, beaten, terrorized, tortured by nerve induction, and had to fend off several attempts at rape. During that time, I witnessed several women break under the conditioning. Some developed an insanity which made them tractable. Most learned to obey out of fear. And many died. I am willing to estimate that at least half of the women who are captured by the slavers do not survive their ‘training’.” She looked up at the horned man.

  “Nothing that they did to me, and nothing that I saw done to others, inspired me to become obedient. It inspired me to fear you. It inspired me to hate you. The only reason that none of you knew this before is that it was in your best interests not to know.”

  Tears ran down her cheeks, and Kaelon put an arm around her. With his support, she found the strength to go on.

  “If Kaelon and I had not found each other, I would have died by now. I would have done so quite deliberately, goading one of you into pressing the execution button on my collar. You have been told that humans thrive when deprived of their freedom. I am here to tell you that the opposite is true. Most of us would rather die than live as slaves.”

  The horned man paled, and nodded. “Then, I for one am very glad that the two of you did find each other. It may shock you to discover that relatively few of us would knowingly live with such an atrocity.”

  She smiled through her tears. “It is easier now for me to believe that. We humans also have a habit of looking the other way when something terrible is happening. I think it is an affliction shared by many thinking beings. But things don't have to be that way. Your race doesn't have to die out, and we don't have to end up your enemies.”

  Kaelon spoke up again. “Anyone who is interested in witnessing the results of the final investigation, please contact my head of security. We will have the records in your hands by the end of this month.”

  Later that night, they sat together in his dining hall, enjoying a dessert of fruit and chilled drinks: sweet wine for him, some kind of fruit juice for her. Setting his goblet down, Kaelon's spoke.

  “Miriam is returning to Earth at the end of this month. She has been an excellent servant to me, but given the reality of what I have discovered, I can no longer refuse any of my servants who request to return home. I have done what I can to compensate her for her years of service. She will have more than enough gold to ensure a comfortable retirement back on Earth.”

  “I am glad. She never expected to see her home again.” Irina felt a pang of sadness at the irony of it all. In the end, Miriam had been right. Things had actually gotten better. But they had only gotten better because she, and then Kaelon, were willing to fight for a better world. “I should make sure to spend some more time with her before she goes.”

  He hesitated. But finally, he turned to her and cleared his throat. “I know that this world has been terrible to you. I know that you have said how much you wished to be free. Even now, there are those who will fight against the changes I am seeking to implement. Even now, there are those on this world who would try to treat you like a slave in spite of the fact that you are my mate. Because of these and many other things, I can no longer in good conscience keep you here.”

  She blinked in shock and set down her own wine goblet. “Kaelon….”

  “I don't know how I will live without you,” he said with a sad little smile. ” I suppose that I shall endure, as I always have. But I would rather think of you free and happy somewhere, then stuck on a world that you can't stand.”

  She took a deep breath. She had already made her decision. But making her decision and announcing it to him were two different animals, and she had to force herself to speak.

  “It's true, just a few months ago I would have jumped at the offer. But things have happened which have changed that.” She reached over and put a hand on his arm, feeling it tense with anticipation of her answer.

  “I don't want to leave you behind. And I know that you have to stay here. And even if I didn't care that I was about to leave behind the only person in this damn galaxy that loves me… I don't want his daughter growing up without a dad.”

  He stared at her in astonishment. “You...you are pregnant? You are certain of this?”

  “Miriam took me to your staff physician earlier this week.” she smiled up at him as he continued to gape.

  “She confirmed it. But you were in meetings this whole time almost, and I didn't want to break your concentration with huge news like this.”

  “Break my concentration? Who says that such news would break my concentration?” he stammered out--a moment before accidentally knocking over his wine goblet with a shaky hand.

  She pressed a hand over her lips to stifle a giggle. He was so cute when he was flustered. “Oh, I don't know….” She grabbed him a napkin to soak up the mess, unable to stop smiling.

  Miriam stayed an extra month when she found out that Irina and Kaelon were to be married. She offered her blessing, and a small gift of a needlepoint dragon to adorn the baby's bedroom.

  Those few moments with Miriam were part of an overwhelming blur of events that marked Irina’s wedding day, and one of the few that she could remember clearly by the time that the celebrants started to go home.

  Still resplendent in his heavily decorated wedding robes, Kaelon came to her as she was poking through the gifts on the table, trying to figure out what about half of them were. “Are you well, my wife?” He slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I'm exhausted, but happy. You know, I don't even know what half this stuff is? Most of the technology looks nothing like the devices I’m used to from home. I think I'm going to need you to help me out here. Otherwise I might just mistake a communications device for a toaster or something.”

  He laughed. “And here I thought you were a scientist!”

  “I'm a biologist, not an electronic engineer.” She lifted a silver cube from its nest of paper and peered at it, turning it in her hand.

  He reached past her and took it out of her hand gently, setting it back on the table. “Well, for the record, that was the toaster.”

  “Okay then. Um, where does it plug in?”

  That got her another laugh. “You have an awful lot to learn,” he said affectionately. “And I'm going to very much enjoy teaching you.”

  A little while later, he offered one such lesson, this one in the seraglio. Bending over a padded bench, she whimpered as he ran his tongue and up and down her bare back while kneading her buttocks. They were both nude, wedding clothes in a pile near the door, where they had eagerly undressed each other.

  His hands slid around to cup and knead her breasts as he pushed against her from behind. She felt his cock slide against her thigh, and then let out a little gasp as his teeth grazed her neck.

  One of his hands slid around to start kneading and caressing her sex even as he kept running his mouth over the top of her spine. She trembled, butting herself back against him as he growled and rubbed lasciviously against her ass.

  In their weeks together, he had learned the trick of teasing her into frenzy before he entered, giving her the chance to take his enormous size comfortably. Now, she gasped and then let out a little purr as he entered, pushing eagerly back against him.

  He kept caressing her as he thrust; bracing his weight against the bed
she leaned on with one strong arm. She heard him hiss with pleasure through his teeth as his hips slapped audibly against her rump.

  He started slow, his fingers busy at her groin as he slid in and out. But as her pleasure rose and drove her into a frenzy, she started rocking back against him rhythmically, encouraging him to speed up.

  Gradually he did, gritting his teeth as he struggled to prolong the encounter. Faster, harder, his hand steady as it caressed her but the rest of him trembling and panting as he pounded away at her. She felt herself tighten around him--and then cried out with delight as the work of his hands finally brought her to climax.

  He kept his hand moving, even as he started to shout in time with his thrusts. Moments later, he pushed into her as deep as he could, nearly knocking her flat over the bench as he roared with pleasure.

  “You know, we might actually want to think about baby names at some point,” she murmured a while later as they curled up together beside the bench.

  He let out a sleepy grunt and raised his head from her shoulder. “How far along are you?”

  “The doctor says a little over three Earth months. That means I have about six months to go.” She rolled over to face him, giving him a soft kiss.

  “That's a long time to wait for my first born. But you were right. We must plan. That little girl is going to have the future of two worlds riding on her shoulders, after all.”

  She smiled a bit. “Well, it's a little early to be putting that on her. But with everything there's still left to do in reforming Jannan law, I'll be glad of the extra help when the time comes.”

  He smiled and snuggled against her, his arms going around her. “So will I.”

  ***

  PREVIEW OF ‘SOLD TO THE WARRIOR’

  BY

  ZENA ZION

  Chapter 1

  Eliana Paxton awoke with a jolt as the spaceship landed. The force of impact sent her body sliding across the metallic floor though her wrists remained firmly in the manacles attached to the wall. She glanced around at the other captive females who were contained in the cargo hold as some tried to regain their footing. Their numbers had been increasing steadily for the past two days. Eliana estimated that their captors had collected nearly fifty women, of at least thirty species, on their interplanetary abduction operation.