by Lili Zander
“Yes.”
“And more intense?”
“Oh yes.” I relax my grip on my mates, but they don’t let me go. If anything they clutch me tighter.
There’s water leaking down my leg. Did I just pee myself? Or… “Uh, guys? I think my water just broke.”
“Okay,” Sofia says, her voice calm and cheerful. “It looks like this baby is coming sooner than later. Time to get you to Healers Hall.”
I don’t need to walk. Xan scoops me up and strides off. Lud follows, still holding my hand. “Just breathe, Felicity,” he says. “You’re going to be alright.”
They look more nervous than I do. Sofia, who’s probably seen a million births, turns around and gives them a patient smile. “No need to worry, guys. She’s fine.”
Behind us, Olivia is announcing, “Looks like Santa’s delivering a baby under the Christmas tree.” She raises her glass in a toast. “To the best gift of all. To Felicity—soon to be a new momma!”
Their toasts ringing in my ears, I press my face against Xan’s neck and clutch my new necklace, focusing on my breathing and getting ready to welcome my baby into the world.
9
Bryce
The room is strewn with wrapping paper, streamers, and party hats. “We are not tidy people,” I mutter, leaning against Hurux’s shoulder. “We’ve destroyed the room.”
He chuckles. “You have,” he agrees, wrapping his arm around my waist. “Thank you for my present.”
What on Earth do you get a Draekon? I’d wracked my brains for days. I’d considered sex toys and see-through lingerie, but really, it didn’t seem fair to get myself pretty underwear and call it a present for Hurux and Cax.
Harper had suggested me getting a nipple piercing. “That’ll be a fun surprise,” she’d grinned.
Umm, no. I’m a wimp about needles.
I could have given them a deck of cards, but we’ve already played strip poker. I could have made them beer, but is it really a present if I use the synthesizer?
I could have sewn something, but my skills don’t extend to anything more complicated than the simple sleeveless shifts I’d made for Kaida. I didn’t want Hurux and Cax to have to pretend to like what I made for them.
If we were back on Earth, I would have gotten my mates a photo album with pictures of us. That’s a sentimental present, I know, but I’ve been in a sentimental mood for the last week.
Finally, I got a brain-wave when I saw a woman crafting a glass bowl in the main marketplace in Nixmi Tower.
Snow globes. Specifically, one hand-crafted snow globe, featuring two dragons, one silver, the other coppery-green, standing on the top of a hill, with skis strapped to their claws.
Slow globes—especially those made by hand—do not come cheap. Cax set me up with a bracelet, and there was plenty of money on it, of course, but I didn’t want to use the guys’ money to buy them a present.
So I set up a stall in the market. I’d made tacos—syn-made shells, but they were stuffed with real meat and real prison-planet vegetables.
And because everyone in Ashara is extremely curious about all things Earth, I sold out in an hour.
I kiss Hurux’s cheek. “You’re welcome.”
Hurux gave me a pair of anklets. Evidently, the jewelry is a customary betrothal gift to one’s bondmate. The pair I’m wearing is an heirloom; one that has been in his House for more than a thousand years. Hurux had actually sent for it, all the way from the Homeworld. I’m a little overwhelmed.
“My mother wants to meet you.”
I sit up. “What?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I think shocked is a better word.”
He chuckles at the expression on my face. “Why are you shocked, Bryce? You are my mate. Of course my mother is eager to welcome you to the family.”
“Is she?” Hurux transformed into a dragon when he saw me, setting into motion a chain of events that led to his mother fleeing her home to avoid being arrested by the High Empire. If I were Hurux’s mother, I’d be blaming me for the turmoil and chaos. “Are you sure? She had a perfectly untroubled life before you met me. What if she hates me?”
He brushes a kiss against my lips. “You do like to worry,” he says, amused. “My mother will love you because it is impossible to meet you and not love you.”
Aww. Heart. Melting.
I’m still nervous as all hell, but my heart is goo. “Umm, okay,” I manage. “I’m going to get a drink. You want one?”
He shakes his head. I walk away, feeling his gaze on my back.
It is impossible to meet you and not love you. I can’t hide my smile. That might be the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.
An hour later, Sofia returns back to the party, her eyes shining. “Felicity had her baby,” she announces. “A little daughter. A nice, easy, uncomplicated delivery. Both mother and daughter are doing great.”
Cheers break out in the room. I tear up, and across the room, Cax notices, because that’s just like him. He breaks free of his conversation and comes over. “I’m happy for her,” I tell him before he starts worrying. “And for Luddux and Xanthox.”
“Did they name the baby yet, Sofia?” Ryanna calls out.
“Abigail.”
“Awww.” Paige, who’s standing next to me, looks misty-eyed. “Good for Felicity, that’s a great pick. Abigail’s an old Hebrew name.” Her smile is soft. “It means father’s joy.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. Luddux, because of his exile, wasn’t around to see his daughter Mar’vi grow up. Abigail is a gift, a second chance.
I lean on Cax’s shoulder, my arm around Hurux, and survey the room. Six months ago, these women were strangers. Now, they’re like the sisters I never had.
Viola’s saying something to Nyx, holding a blue drink in her hand. Every time she sips at it, she makes a face.
Next time I see her, she’ll have had her baby.
Harper’s got Kaida safely in her arms. Poor Harper. How do you keep an eye on a baby that can also turn into the most adorable dragon in the world? She’s going to have her hands full.
Sofia’s laughing along with her mates, her cheeks flushed. She’s now done something no doctor on Earth has ever done— she’s delivered two human-Draekon babies. And this is only the start. Sofia’s going to do great things.
May’s leaving in the morning to adopt two kids. She’s talking to Paige, her smile wide and excited.
Paige is going to train to become a TechMage. She didn’t tell us how her aptitude test went, but Babbuq did. “She tested in the ninety-eighth percentile,” he’d said, his voice awed. “Only Adrashians test better.”
Olivia’s talking to Zunix. No doubt, she’s plotting something. I shake my head wryly. I still remember the time I thought Olivia was the biggest ditz in the universe, and it turned out it was just a cover. She’s formidable, Olivia. The galaxy had better watch out.
Cax nuzzles my neck. “What are you thinking about, diya?”
“I’m going to miss everyone here.”
“We’ll be back soon enough,” he says philosophically. “The Senate wants in-person updates. Senator Ulle was quite insistent that she didn’t want me making any more unilateral decisions.” He rolls his eyes. “Ulle isn’t subtle.”
“Nope,” I agree. “Not even a little bit. Do we have time tomorrow morning to visit Abigail before we leave?”
“Of course, Bryce.” He kisses the top of my head. “Whatever you want.”
The evening’s slowly winding down. It’s late, well past our usual bedtimes, and May, Olivia, and I have early starts in the morning. Still, we linger, because the moment we leave here tonight, everything changes.
“This is a good holiday,” Arax pronounces, putting his arm around Viola. On her other side, Nyx wraps his arm around her waist.
Viola practically glows with happiness. “We should sing a song.”
“What song?” Olivia asks just as May launches into Auld Lang Syne in a
quavering alto. Ryanna and Sofia pick it up, and with Viola humming along, they make it to the chorus with only a few fumbled words.
“What is this song about?” Hurux asks me in a whisper.
“I don’t know,” I whisper back. “We sing it on New Year's’ Eve to bid farewell to the old year.”
Olivia picks up the chorus in a beautiful, clear soprano. Everyone’s mouth falls open.
I surreptitiously wipe the tears from my eyes. “It’s about... friendship and getting together and reminiscing and…” I wrack my brain as Olivia hits the second verse with Beyoncé-like flair. “It’s about endings and farewells.”
I raise my beer in a silent toast and drink, so no one asks me to sing. I don’t mind singing, really. It’s just that when I do, I sound like the anguished bellowing of a dying dwal. Not good.
“But this isn’t just an ending, Bryce,” Hurux says, his eyes perceptive. “It’s also a beginning.”
Tonight’s been a night of miracles. Kaida flying. Abigail’s birth.
I wrap my arms around my mates. Hurux is right, though I can’t tell him that; he’ll get smug. Tonight might be an ending of sorts, but when the sun rises tomorrow, it’ll be the start of something new. Something miraculous and magical.
I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Thank you for reading Draekon Holiday! I hope you enjoyed this catch-up with everyone as much as we enjoyed writing it.
While we’re done with the prison planet (for the moment, at least!), we’re definitely not done with the Draekons! The adventures continue in DRAEKON WARRIOR. Keep reading for a preview, or click here to purchase it.
Captured in space. Imprisoned. Sold to the highest bidder. But my biggest problem is the bossy, aggravating, impossible, alien who’s supposed to rescue me.
The bossy alien I kissed.
That might have been a mistake.
Kadir is dangerous. I’ve seen him fight and his body is littered with scars. He’s a soldier. A warrior. And when he loses control, he turns into a big scary dragon and breathes fire.
Everyone’s terrified of him. I’m not. No, call me the biggest fool in the galaxy, because I’m attracted to the big jerk.
When I first met the small human I was sent to rescue, she punched me in the jaw.
And broke her wrist in the process. Irrational woman.
Then she insists that the two of us set out immediately to find her missing friend.
No, what I have to do is get Alice Hernandez to safety.
She’s soft, yet she’s strong.
Fragile, yet so brave.
She’s everything I’ve never known I wanted.
Everything I can’t let myself have.
When the scientists tortured me, they broke me. And when Alice finds out the truth about the fearsome, raging dragon inside me, I will lose her.
One-click DRAEKON WARRIOR now!
Are you all caught up with the Draekons? Don’t miss any of the books.
DRAGONS IN EXILE
Draekon Mate - Viola’s story
Draekon Fire - Harper’s story
Draekon Heart - Ryanna’s story
Draekon Abduction - Olivia’s story
Draekon Destiny - Felicity’s story
Daughter of Draekons - Harper’s birth story
Draekon Fever - Sofia’s story
Draekon Rogue - Bryce’s story
Draekon Holiday - A holiday story
REBEL FORCE
Draekon Warrior - Alice & Kadir
Draekon Conquerer - Lani & Ruhan
Draekon Pirate - Diana & Mirak
Draekon Warlord - Naomi & Fifth - coming soon!
Draekon Guardian - coming soon!
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A Preview of Draekon Warrior
CHAPTER ONE
Alice:
When you’re dropped into the deep pits of hell, here’s how you survive.
You stick to a routine. Every morning, when the bell sounds, I get out of bed, and I make a mark on the wall. So far, I’ve made two hundred and six marks. Almost seven months in this prison. Soon, I’m going to run out of wall space.
You remember who you are. Call it words of affirmation; call it a stubborn refusal to forget myself. Once I’ve marked the day, I have a litany I say aloud. It goes like this: My name is Alice Hernandez. I graduated at the top of my class from Johns Hopkins. I could have chosen any specialization, but instead, I honored a promise I’d made myself when I was fourteen and became an emergency room doctor. I live in Chicago; I work at Northwestern Memorial.
I like cats, but I’ve never had one because I’m allergic to their dander. To unwind, I knit long scarves and shapeless sweaters. I prefer beer over wine. I sing in the shower. I always tell myself I should read more, but at the end of a long shift, I zone out with Netflix. Right now, I’m halfway through a Turkish show about a guy who discovers he has magic powers.
I remind myself that my mother loved me. I remind myself that I save lives. My patients are grateful for my skill. I matter.
You always fight back. When the second alarm goes off, we’re supposed to line up at our cell door, meekly awaiting whatever fresh hellish torture the Zorahn scientists have devised for the morning. If we don’t, they punish us.
I get punished daily. The male scientist, Kravex, takes a special joy in stabbing me with a prong, sending an agonizing jolt of electricity through me. At the start, my cellmate Tanya used to ask me why I didn’t just obey. I don’t think I have a good explanation for my behavior, really. But doing what the scientists want feels like giving up, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to do that.
I resist at every turn. I swear at the scientists, using every Zor curse I’ve picked up. I kick at them. I scratch and bite. I am defiant and profane.
They beat me for my resistance. They break bones, then heal them, and then break them again. But they won’t kill me. The pain they administer is finely calibrated. I’m a human, a rare and valuable lab animal. The scientists paid a lot of money for us. Killing me would be wasteful.
You never give up hope. I’m going to find a way out of here. Yes, I’m on an alien planet, one with purple skies and three green moons. I’m surrounded on every side by a vast desert. Every day, when the blood-red sun rises, heat suffocates us.
There doesn’t appear to be a way out, but I will find one. I will watch for an opportunity, and I will act. I will get back home. I will finish watching my Turkish soap opera, and I will find out if the magic guy ever avenged his parents’ murders.
I am not a lab animal. I am more than that. They can torture me. They can flood my body with agony and pain. They can beat me and break my bones, but they will not change who I am. I will survive, I will endure, and I will prevail.
The second bell sounds. I deliberately settle myself back on the bed and lace my hands behind my head.
Time for the morning beating.
The scientists will be watching me on their monitors. Kravex and Fal’vi will squabble about whose turn it is to punish me. One of them will reach for the prod.
The punishments have been getting harsher. The scientists are frustrated. They’ve been tinkering with our DNA for seven months, and they’re not making progress. Tempers are running high. If I had any sense, I’d follow Tanya’s lead, and obediently move to the prescribed spot on the floor.
Never. To obey them is to surrender.
“What’s your favorite breakfast?” I ask Tanya, trying to draw her out in conversation. “Me, I was always partial to chocolate-chip and banana pancakes. My mom used to make them for me every Sunday.”
She doesn’t reply. She hasn’t talked in over two weeks. She doesn’t cry out when the scientists hurt us. When they inject us with our afternoon dosage of a drug designed to fill us with a sense of well-being and contentment—all the better to control us—sh
e writhes in silent ecstasy. Every trace of the chatty, vivacious, pretty cheerleader from Dallas is gone, and all that is left is this hollow shell of a human being.
I won’t let them do that to me.
When our alien ship had landed on a dusty, disused port in the middle of nowhere, we’d begun to suspect that something was wrong. When a crowd of Zorahn scientists had bid on us like we were cattle at an auction, we’d realized the brutal truth.
We weren’t the honored guests of the High Emperor. We weren’t to be housed on the Zorahn homeworld. We were lab animals, destined for cages. We would never know freedom again. We would never return to Earth.
Tanya had broken down that day, as had most of the women. Not me. Not because I was stupidly brave—hell no. Like everyone else, I was freaking out. But I’d shed my last tear nine years ago on the day when my mother, who’d been shopping for Christmas presents, had been killed by a gunman who’d opened fire in a crowded mall.
No sign of the scientists. They should be here by now, waving their prods threateningly in my direction. I wonder what’s keeping them.
Tanya’s a huge football fan. If I’ve kept track of time accurately, it’s January back on Earth. Playoff time. “I don’t think the Bears would have won their division,” I speculate, even though the little I know about football would fit into a thimble with room left over. “Do you think the Cowboys made it?”
Back at the hastily created NASA training camp, my cellmate would drone on about her football team for hours on end. I’d start to edge away once she got going. But that was then. Now, not even a mention of Tanya’s beloved Dallas Cowboys gets me a reply.
