Nabvan

by Celeste Raye

  So when I heard that the shifters were returning from their scouting mission, I couldn't help the energy that tingled in my toes and caused them to clench back and forth over and over with excitement.

  I waited impatiently with a host of other shifters as their ship landed. Khrelan, the beautiful bald dragon with the deep, dark skin was the first to emerge from the craft. He regarded the immense crowd and gave a single nod, causing the rest of the Weredragons to erupt into victorious cries.

  My heart leaped at the sentiment, the roars of achievement and pure bliss that exuded from their calls. Their mission must have been a success. That would mean they had found food, after all.

  I could barely contain my joy. I wanted to roar along with them but knew that I would look like a total idiot doing so.

  Plus, the probability of them being horrifically offended by the gesture was astronomically high.

  My eyes found Tredorphen's immediately as he exited the craft. I began walking toward him as though he would burst at any given moment. That the universe would still find a way to take it all away from me. Half believed that this was still a dream.

  He greeted me with a half-smile that somehow made me even more endeared to his handsome face. I stood before him, tilting my head up to match his eyes. He rubbed his palm idly and looked every bit astounded as I did.

  I beamed at him and wrapped my arms around him, uninterested in anyone who might have watched our embrace.

  “Was it a success?” I asked excitedly.

  I backed away to look at him and saw the leather straps that crossed at angles from both sides of his chest, forming an X pattern. Various weapons lined the straps, the only fabric covering his chest. This left me plenty of room to inspect his beautifully cut abs and strong physique.

  His pants were something like leather: thick and sturdy. Perfect for a warrior.

  A warrior.

  My heart lilted at the phrase, and I couldn’t help but beam with pride as the crowd continued to cheer.

  “Was it?” I repeated with a large smile.

  Tredorphen stared off into the crowd and flicked his wings with annoyance, his tail drumming against the makeshift tarmac. “Not by my standards, no,” he said.

  “Oh,” my face fell. “I’m sorry. I thought…” I looked off into the crowd of roaring shifters and shrugged helplessly. “Well, I bet I can think of one way to cheer you up,” I teased lightly.

  The shifter walked away from me, and my eyes followed his beautiful body in surprise. Comfort returned to my being as he turned briefly to me and gave a smirk, reaching his hand back to mine.

  “Coming?” he asked sweetly.

  Despite having told me that he had to check in with the King, Tredorphen flew me into the depths of Graynar’s vertical caves, and within the hour we were nestled back in his room.

  “I don’t want to keep you,” I giggled as the golden Weredragon began pulling my clothes from me, hungrily lapping at my breasts and moving his hand down the front of my pants. His body lurched dangerously close to mine, so I could feel the hard length of him against my stomach. I went to undo the front of my pants, but he barely moved his arm to allow me the room.

  “If you just give me a second,” I said with a laugh and batted his hand away.

  My movement was met with an eager breath as he watched my fingers intensely. I wasn’t moving fast enough for his tastes. I licked my lips and began pulling the creamy suit pants down, startled as he took over, pushing them hard down my legs.

  He leaned in and began kissing me while I stroked him, moving his tongue in rhythm with my hand’s movements. Our lips met for only a moment before he buried his face in my hair, my breast in one hand and his other warming itself between my legs. It was as though he wanted to get every possible sensation from one single moment.

  “I missed you,” I whispered into his ear.

  “Mm,” was all he said, barely wrapping his arm around me to turn me around.

  The rose-sheened shifter bent me over so that my hands laid flat against the wall, and he entered me, thrusting hard in unison with heavy grunts. I used one hand to balance myself and attempted to touch myself with the other, but from his sudden speed, I knew I wouldn’t be getting off this time.

  I could feel the pulsing of his body against mine and grew that much more excited and needy to be touched. He grabbed my hips as he bucked against me, letting out a small cry as his body slowed to a halt.

  With a breath, I turned around and gave a polite laugh. “Looks like you missed me too,” I teased and reached down for my pants.

  “Come here,” he said and pulled me close to him.

  There was an intensity to the embrace that made me feel warm and needed and then suddenly uneasy. I backed away from him curiously and wrinkled my nose at him, waiting for the joy to come forth, but he looked empty.

  “I realized something when you were gone,” I said proudly, smiling.

  He returned the smile in part and grazed the bangs that dampened to my forehead. “What's that?”

  “I love you,” I said profoundly, his face dangerously close to mine as I pressed my hand against his cut chest. My eyes flicked back and forth from his, expecting some sort of reciprocation. I wasn't the best with men, but this time I was sure of it. I was sure my feelings wouldn't be left to hang.

  When he didn't respond, I swallowed and began twirling my fingers around the straps and bandages that covered his muscular chest. “See, on Earth when two people are completely connected, they feel this strong pull toward one another and... well, basically it's the strongest and most sincere form of, you know, um, bonding.”

  “I see,” he said in a small, calculating tone.

  “Right...” I felt all the moisture drain from my mouth. “Maybe it's sort of, like... when you say you've claimed me. Maybe you could explain that to me, and we can mix and match our cultures,” I gushed unsurely.

  He ran his hand down my arm softly but never met my eyes.

  Suddenly I felt like such an idiot.

  “It means you are mine,” he explained tersely, as though I were arguing his point.

  “Right,” I nodded. “But how do you feel about me?”

  He looked down, and his hand stopped moving. “I feel that you belong to me,” he repeated sternly, as though I should have accepted the explanation the first time.

  Just days ago I thought that was the most romantic phrase in the world... but that seemed so far away now. Now it almost felt like a threat.” You are mine”. The words hung in the air as our eyes met.

  “What happened out there?” I squinted at him and felt a chill crawl across my body, raised skin marking its ghostly path.

  His eyes flicked to mine with such intensity that it made me sick.

  The wild shifter set his warm hands overtop mine and then slid his palms up to my shoulders, settling there. “You don’t ask me that,” he said evenly.

  “Tredorphen,” I said firmly. “Talk to me.”

  In an instant of rage, the shifter slammed me against the wall behind us so that I felt a shock rush through my core. I shook under his grip and looked up at him in terror. “I said don’t!” He shouted, an echo of a roar coating over his deep voice.

  He immediately released me, and he set his jaw with embarrassment.

  “Marina, I am sorry,” he said in a low, sincere tone, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  Immediately, he turned and made his way to the door.

  I froze as he left me there, pressed against the stone wall behind me. His aloofness struck me with the force of a hand but even more painful. I felt too stunned to move and too angry to go after him. This must have been what past boyfriends felt like when I raced out the door after an argument.

  Only this time, I didn't know what we were arguing about.

  My mind screamed for me to do or say anything to keep him from going, but as the oversized wooden barricade slammed shut, I knew it was too late. My body ached at the thought of being away from him, but
obviously, he didn't feel the same way. Not anymore.

  Maybe Athena was right. I had become my worst fear: a stupid girl. I'd given my body to a stranger when what I should have been doing was focusing on my mission. I'd fallen in love with the idea of this protector, when in truth, I wasn't sure if I knew anything about Tredorphen. Not really. A single tear slid down my cheek, despite myself.

  I had to speak with my sister.

  I steeled myself, pushing away from the wall, and grabbed my things before heading out the door with a familiar slam.

  Chapter 12:

  Marina

  I marched up to our makeshift research center and cursed the fact that Dobromia didn't have a transportation system. Made irrelevant by the fact that their planet's inhabitants had wings. Lucky them.

  I shot a breath up through O-shaped lips to blow my bangs off of my forehead. I brightened only when I caught sight of Athena bustling hurriedly outside of the cave. Her soldiers were close by, as well as Peter.

  "Athena!" I called, stopping her in her tracks before she rushed off with gun in hand.

  My sister looked over at me with her careful, structured jaw and I could tell she was clenching her teeth. Her thick brows furrowed as I approached.

  "I was coming looking for advice but..." I stammered. "Looks like you're having a pretty rough day."

  She swallowed hard and licked her bottom lip, carefully choosing her words. I could see from the damp skin around her eyes and the bloodshot lines that swam from her gray irises that she had been crying.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, reaching my hand to her arm. She didn’t respond, and I turned to follow her eyes, both of us watching as Peter approached.

  “Hello, handsome,” I greeted him as I usually did, a touch of flirtation lingering in the air until I caught sight of his expression.

  If he felt anything warm or kind toward me, he wasn’t about to express it. He gave me a cold stare, fury washing over his face as he looked at me. He was fully dressed in his thick armor and equipped with a handful of different laser weapons.

  "What's going on?" I asked again, now looking between the two cautiously.

  "It's the ship," Athena said weakly, desperately trying to stay angry. "We got a call last night."

  "What is it?" I asked with deeper concern. "What happened?"

  "It's you and your damned decisions, Marina. It's this whole damned place," Peter spat, approaching me without any of the fondness I'd grown used to from him.

  "What happened?" I repeated, now growing furious as I took a step back from him. "As your commander, I order you to tell me."

  "That's rich," Peter scoffed.

  I looked back and forth between them, and they exchanged a look that asked whether they should let me in on their secret. Their silent communication sent a shiver down my back. "What?"

  My sister gave Peter pleading eyes, and she shook her head so slightly I nearly missed it. "They're dead," Peter spat, tossing the tablet roughly in my direction. “Our entire crew.”

  “Impossible,” I stated coolly. “What happened?”

  I stared down at the tablet, swiping through the video footage. We had made sure to keep in contact with them through a portable security system to let them know where we were and how the mission was going on Dobromia. Just as they would inform us of their progress on Ceylara.

  My mouth fell open in shock as I played the video, security footage recorded after an emergency call came in from Dominic, one of our longest serving soldiers. The dialogue was muted, but I watched as the screen depicted the shifters invading our ship and thrashing their way through our resources.

  Tredorphen among them.

  I swallowed and the screen shrunk into four different cameras throughout the ship. I watched as the shifters flew through the rooms, grabbing our men and whipping them against the walls, shouting things to them.

  My brows rose as I watched the video of Khrelan questioning our captain with such hatred before driving his claws through the man's stomach.

  I nearly wretched. I pressed my eyes closed in disgust as the video continued to play and stared back down only briefly.

  "No," I said with a breath.

  The video continued on the same way: the endless slaughter of our crew and the final robbery of our food and ships resources. I watched Tredorphen's beautiful form as he rifled through luggage and person effects from the crew.

  My stomach turned with repulsion as I imagined him taking the items back to his grotto. The beautiful cave I gave my body to him in, surrounded by treasures. He had said he found them in wreckage sites... I set my jaw in fury. He was a killer.

  Our crew, the men and women I had known for years, were wiped out in the matter of one hour. For what? Food?

  Goosebumps riddled my body with no end to their tingles, and I felt as though I could float up above my body and watch myself through different eyes. See the dim expression on my stupid face. My insipid walls of trust as they crashed down and stabbed me in the face with their shards. My punishment for being so foolish.

  It had all been a set-up.

  I held the monitor out toward Peter and shook my head numbly. "I can't watch this."

  "Well," the redhead scoffed, "maybe if you were actually leading your team instead of spreading your legs, our men wouldn't be dead right now."

  I raised a brow to Athena and grit my teeth. I winced until I could feel the creases below my eyes and a sob crawled up to my throat but never released.

  "You told him?” my voice barely registered.

  "I had to," she said firmly, whipping her hair out of her face with a single flick of her head. "One of us had to start taking this seriously, and I knew it wasn't going to be you."

  Tredorphen. This was why he was being so distant. My hands began to tremble violently as I stared at the tablet that was still in my hand before dropping it to the soft flora below.

  "It gets worse," Athena said lowly, her eyes finally showing some mercy to my torment. "A lot worse, actually."

  I stared numbly, and my eyes barely met her gaze; I was a fool.

  “They’ve taken the girls,” Athena began to cry, tears spilling hastily down her soldier’s visage as her face crumbled into despair.

  I could barely feel a thing.

  “They’re locked up in some tower,” she sobbed. “The shifters said they’ve claimed us as their own. They’re not letting us go until we tell them how to get to the Earth.”

  “If they let them go,” Peter added, cursing profusely as he kicked against the ground. “What are we supposed to do now? We have no means to get back! Our people are captured and who knows what they did to our ship back on Ceylara.”

  I swallowed and stared with a glaze over my eyes.

  Athena stared at me as though she were desperate to say something. She pressed her lips thin. “I stole their ship,” she said eagerly. “We have to get the hell out of here. Come with us.”

  I shook my head. “Not without the rest of us.”

  Peter and my sister exchanged a grave expression. They wanted to object, I could feel it. But they knew I was right.

  “You guys will hide near the rock walls overlooking the Serpent Sea. You know where it is?” I asked.

  My sister, chin quivering, nodded, and Peter set his arm around her.

  “I can get access to the girls,” I said shakily. “Tredorphen has told me about the tower. He has access to the lock.

  “Let me go with you,” Athena begged. “I have a plan. Let me go in with the girls and protect them.”

  “No!” I spat.

  “Let me go in there, please. Then if, you know, no offense, but if it doesn’t work, then at least I will be there to look out for them.”

  “Athena, no,” I said forcefully. “I got us into this, and I’ll be damned if my little sister is going to clean up after me. If I can pretend I don’t know what’s happening, I can grab a magnet that unlocks the doors after he falls asleep and I can let the girls out. Then we can meet you by the
ship.”

  Athena set her hand against her forehead, and Peter let out a shaky sigh. Neither said a word, but I knew they heard me. Without another word, I took off running in the opposite direction.

  “Marina!” Peter called, and I turned back hastily, my breath heaving in the night air in plumes of yellow.

  He raised the handle of a rifle to me and gestured it in my direction.

  “No,” I shook my head. “It’ll look too suspicious.”

  “Are you sure?” my sister asked, and I nodded.

  “Marina,” Peter asked, softly now. “You’re just pretending, right?”

  I didn’t know if he said the words just to hurt me or if he truly questioned my allegiance. I took his hands into mine and looked him in the eyes as I said, “I swear to you.”

  His gaze flicked back and forth from my eyes, and he nodded. With one swift movement, he leaned in and kissed me, his firm lips pressing into mine with an unusual familiarity. Like it was always meant to be like this.

  My eyes filled with tears as his lips parted from mine.

  “Be careful,” he said.

  My heart raced as I made my way back down the steep caves, the hundreds of stairs it took to reach the bottom. I faced the stares of the hungry Weredragons who looked at my curves as though they were something to be wrecked: devoured in one hungry bite.

  I waited in Tredorphen's unit and sat on the bed impatiently for hours, my heart never ceasing to pound and beat out of my chest as my body ticked and flinched at every noise.

  My voice ached to scream and cry and curse myself for being such a fool, but my mind kept me calm. Collected on the outside.

  As I heard Tredorphen enter the room, I had to steel myself to act the way I had when we first met. To use charm and excitement and let it wash over the incredible feelings of rage that I felt as I saw his face.

  I replayed the scenes in my mind like a section of a movie: the way his hands crushed around the necks of my friends. The way he disposed of them without a second thought. He was truly a beast.

  Yet, as he approached me with a soft tone and silky, sad eyes, I couldn't help but crumble ever so slightly. Surely the man in front of me now couldn't have been the same monster destroying the Vulcana.