by Celeste Raye
I deadpanned. “What, Aurlauc?”
“I hate that I’m starving when the whole point of this ridiculous farce was to get food in the first place!”
Khrelan clapped his hands unenthusiastically at my friend and in a flat tone said, “Well done.”
“Shh,” I dismissed them both and then looked back to the broad, navy dragon. “Go tell the girl. The sister,” I insisted. “Athena. Make her warm up to you.”
“I thought that was my job!” Aurlauc whined.
I laughed. “You couldn’t cut it, though I’m not exactly surprised.”
“Why do I have to talk to her?” Khrelan asked skeptically.
“Because we’re trying to win their trust, if you hadn’t remembered. And this is the way to do it. Share information, but never too much. Be open, but not honest. Make them believe they have reason to need us and trust us. Then we can see if we can’t relocate. Now go!”
Khrelan set his jaw and flew over to the Athena. She was defiant: that I could see. Not like her sister. Her sister had watchful eyes that I admired. Eyes that I wanted to prove wrong, even with a lie.
The other two shifters with me still hadn’t transformed into their human-like forms. I was lost as to why. I thought I’d made myself clear that we were supposed to put these people at ease, and here they were with wings spread and scales that ran across their skin practically yelling, ‘Fear Me!’
I watched as Khrelan murmured something to the girl and she offered him a deep frown, gripping her rifle harder at her side. While I couldn’t hear the contents of their conversation, I could tell it wasn’t going well, especially when Khrelan made his way back to our party with a defeated expression.
Aurlauc and I laughed hard at his misfortune, but I was glad he at least informed the girl of the dangers the worms posed.
Khrelan didn’t talk much for the rest of the day.
We spent the day defending the scientists as they gathered their research samples. I bit my lip unsurely as they transported the sneaky, dangerous creatures back in hard, clear bins and brought them back into their spaceship.
The ship had been stale and cold feeling with bright white walls and fluorescent lighting that burned my eyes. But I was fascinated by their toys. Their foods and blankets and privileged items.
Weredragons had become well-accustomed to scavenging ship wreckage; we had come to learn how to make clothes and cook food based on our findings, but we’d never had the privilege of being in an operating vessel. It inspired me. Earth would be just as beautiful, I thought. Just as abundant.
All we had to do was see how fierce these human warriors really were. That would be the one tell.
I walked Marina back to her ship, doing the polite thing of escorting her home. My eyes trailed over her small waist and ample breasts that seemed almost unnervingly plump. It felt like every time I turned around I was staring at her. I wasn’t sure if I was doing it according to my plan, or if I was truly fascinated by her beauty.
As we approached the door, I began to walk into the ship, and the blonde put a weak hand on my chest.
“I don’t think so,” she snipped casually. “The ship is for humans only.”
“Then why do they get to come?” I asked playfully as my eyes darted toward their samples from the day.
“Ha-ha,” she mocked, tilting her head to the side. “Thank you, for today. I’m sorry you weren’t able to find any food.”
“It’s been a bit of a letdown, I’ll be honest,” I said and quickly caught myself. “The lack of food. Not meeting you,” I corrected, and she smiled. “You sure you want to call it a night?”
Her brows shot up, and she laughed out loud at the comment. “Yes! I’m fairly certain, but thanks for asking.” That, along with a simple ‘goodnight’ was all it took for the slender, yet powerful steel door to slide closed between us.
I made my way to the nearby encampment Khrelan and Aurlauc had established, a bright fire blazing on some kindling in-between the pair as they slept. I sat on a long cooler brought out by the humans and sat watching the fire for some time before I heard the ships door slide open once more.
With a long exhale, Marina took a seat next to me by the dimming fire; it was the only thing we had to light up the night. There were no moons surrounding Ceylara, only bright stars that shot by every so often and a sun that was too lazy to emerge.
I felt the cold creep over the land and moved in closer to the blazing fire, warming my hands by its flames.
“You decided to talk after all,” I said lowly.
All I had to do was get her to like me. Then we would be golden.
“What can I say?” she said seductively, stretching out before the blaze so that her fingertips nearly touched the heat. “I felt bad for leaving you out here. I wouldn’t want you to get scooped up by our strange little friends.”
“Funny,” I said slowly, “I thought we were your strange little friends.”
“Not little,” she laughed genuinely as she looked at my massive stature. “But sure. For now. You called it a truce, I believe. But friends, sure.”
She handed me a tray covered in a shimmering foil. I received the plate hesitantly before tossing the foil to the ground and reveling in the smell of warm, cooked meat that lay strewn before me.
It was all I could do not to leap up yelling in celebration. We hadn’t eaten in cycles now. “Thank you,” I breathed carefully: gratefully.
Now was the time.
“You know,” I began, “We’ve been searching these lands for cycles now.”
“Cycles?” she asked.
“Um,” I stammered, still not entirely familiar with human terms and phrases. “From… um… When the night sun sets to the–”
“Oh, days!” she interrupted. “We call those days. From when what we call the sun rises to when the moon appears. Or, really, how long you’re awake for. Though, I guess that’s not a good technical term for it…’
I laughed at her long-winded explanation. I enjoyed hearing the differences in our planets. If anything, it made me more excited to see the Earth.
“Right. Days,” I tested the word out. “Well, I’m not sure what you were searching for, but there’s nothing here except for the two creatures you’ve run into already, and some plant life.”
She blinked, and I watched as the orange from the flames washed over her visage. Her golden hair fell in front of her face with thick bangs and curls. She had large, expressive, almond-shaped eyes that flicked toward me and made me feel a pang of distress deep in the pit of my stomach.
There was something calculated there. Something knowing.
“Regardless,” I dismissed. “When the darkness comes, it takes cycles for the suns to return, even by Ceylara standards. Unless you have adequate light, you’re going to be doing a lot of waiting around.”
“Well,” she shrugged. “Even if there’s nothing else to find… which could be true. Could be very true, actually. We still need to fix our ship. That’s going to take some time.”
I smiled and offered an indifferent shrug. “We’ll stay with you as long as you keep feeding us, but I can’t promise it’s going to be interesting.”
She laughed again. “Oh, I think you’ve kept it pretty interesting so far. It’s not every day you get to meet a Weredragon. And such a gentleman, too.”
“Want to know a secret?” I asked playfully, pressing my fingers into a steeple.
A shy grin crawled up the corner of her mouth, and she said, “Always.”
“I believe Khrelan is enamored with your sister.”
Her eyes darted toward the sleeping shifter and then widened in surprise back to me. She giggled into her hands and shook her head sternly. “Never gonna happen,” she said positively. “She’s… not… Just no.”
“She’s been claimed already?”
She stared at me and cocked an intrigued brow. “No,” she said, still shaking her head. “But she would never trust you.”
“You said
she jumps in with her heart and not her head.” I narrowed my eyes curiously. “Why not now?”
“I don’t know,” she said playfully. “She just… she’s wild, yeah, but she takes time to warm up to people.”
I gave a nod but I wasn’t sure I really understood. “And how about you?”
“Do I take a while to warm up to people?”
“Do you, Marina?” I said in my most seductive tone. She let air out of her nose in a bemused breath. Blinking with no real answer, she finally said, “Not really.”
“Good to know.” I stretched, extending my feet toward the fire. Part of me wished I could spend the entire night flying, but I knew it would be impossible. I was already worn out from battling all day. Instead, it seemed I would be spending an uneasy night worrying about being shot with acid.
From a worm, of all things.
I looked over at Marina and somehow felt instantly better. Perhaps, because I knew there was a mission to be had in all of this. A purpose. Sooner than later, I was going to get her to come with me. As quickly as possible, I was intent on taking them away. To Dobromia.
Chapter 5:
Marina
We had been on Ceylara for exactly one week and it seemed that my new friend, Tredorphen, was right. There was nothing more to find than harrowing danger.
The golden alien shifter seemed to make it his mission to get close to me. They wanted our food, obviously. I wasn’t sure whether I respected or hated the fact that he wouldn’t just ask for it. Instead, he had to try and pry his way into my quarters every night. Which had been met with a long string of denial.
The good news, however, was that once our ship was fixed, I had convinced our captain to take us to Dobromia. Whenever that might be.
There was a knock at my stateroom door, and I opened it slowly. It was Peter.
I could tell that Peter had just heard the news about our departure from Ceylara because he was making his way toward me with the most disconcerting frown I’d ever seen on his usually cheerful face.
He took a seat at the desk next to my bed in the small room, and I closed the door behind me, stepping back over to him. I sat on the bed and crossed my legs casually, holding my chin in my hands as I peered over at him.
“Marina,” he started slowly. He ran a hand through his thin red locks and looked about as tired as I felt. Deep bags hung under his eyes: a dark, hollow gray color that aged him by at least a couple years.
“Yes?” I responded with a sultry look, trying to tempt him into not lecturing me by use of flirtation.
“Spare me,” he said, calling me on it. “Marina, what are you thinking? We can’t go back with these people.”
“We came to study,” I said, cocking my head to the side. “We’re not going back to Earth with an acid eating worm to show for our time here.”
“Well, why not?” he complained with some humor. “We don’t have those on Earth, that’s for sure! Could make someone a great keychain one day. Maybe it’ll be the new lucky rabbit’s foot?”
“No,” I laughed. “I want to see Dobromia. Besides, they’ve been good to us so far. They haven’t even ransacked the ship.”
“Do you hear yourself?” he mocked, “‘oh, well, gee, Petey, they haven’t murdered us yet so they must be safe!’ Is that seriously your defense?”
“I didn’t know I was making one,” I said through controlled laughter. “Peter, they are starving. Stomachs grumbling, bodies weakening: starving. We should at least try to help them.”
“I know one who isn’t,” he argued lightly, spinning in my chair uncomfortably before meeting my eyes. “I see you bring him meals at the end of the night.”
“Yes,” I said, my tone getting firmer. “I want them to trust us.”
“And do you trust them?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t entirely certain how to answer that question. I knew my sister didn’t, though for the sake of our crew she pretended otherwise when she was in view, but she was a poor actress. I’d heard her have a semi-genuine laugh while talking to Aurlauc, but that was the only one who seemed to crack her up. Even then, it was in a passing comment and not in an actual conversation with the shifter.
“I’m less and less wary of them, if that’s an answer,” I teased.
“It’s not,” he deadpanned. “Marina, I’m serious. I’m worried. We should at least be patching this through to headquarters, in case they send another crew here or in case something happens.”
“Peter,” I said simply, reaching a hand out to his leg. “I’m not.”
The boy stared down at my hand for some quiet, solemn moments and looked as though he was backing down before he suddenly snapped. “You know he likes you.” It was more of a statement than a question. He clarified, “Tredorphen.”
I shrugged. “He wants us to trust him. He’s overly friendly. I hardly see him falling for me.”
Peter’s eyes grew large for a moment as he examined me and then something in him seemed to break. “Oh,” he said as though he had just deflated.
With that, he stood from my room and took towards the door.
“Peter!” I laughed, calling him back to me as though he were being overly-sensitive. “Pete, come here!”
“Goodnight, Marina,” he said sadly as he left my room, the sliding door zipping shut behind him.
I wasn’t sure what had just transpired between us, but something told me it was important. My stomach flipped as I replayed the interaction and something in me told me to go seek him out, but I didn’t. I had other thoughts flooding my mind.
Not about Tredorphen. Though, I had to admit, at least to myself, it was flattering if the man really did like me. I knew I was attractive to many men, but not quite on the same level. Sure, he had the whole half beast thing pumping up the rugged levels some, but he was gorgeous all on his own.
We’d spent quite a few hours combined over the last week talking about Ceylara and our mission, along with what we were hoping to find. The brunette shifter seemed taken aback when I told him we didn’t know what we were sent to find. I knew he thought I was lying, but it was the truth.
While nothing sexual had ever happened between us, there was a chemistry that hovered between our bodies and seemed to sizzle and spark unspoken. We both knew we were playing the long game. Be polite, be likable, and be just trusting enough to get some real information.
I was fine with the game. Happy with it, actually. As long as I got exactly what I wanted from him: Samples.
He assured me that his father was the D’Karr of Dobromia, and because of this we would be able to get access to the deepest areas of their planet: see their kingdom and get to know their people. He told me they were having problems that perhaps we could help with.
I wasn’t sure if that was a lure or a genuine cry for help, but whichever turned out to be true, I was game to find out.
Tredorphen met me at the entrance of the ship at first light, which happened to be two days later.
I opened the door for him to come aboard the ship, finally. I thought he would jump at the chance, but my offer was met with uncharacteristic hesitation.
“What?” I asked with a chuckle. “I thought you’d be delighted to come aboard and see how the other half lives.”
It was meant as a tease, but the dragon didn’t react.
“Oh,” he said, thumbing over his cleft chin and scratching through his thick stubble. “I thought you would be ready to go.”
“I…” I stammered; taken aback. “Well, our ship isn’t fixed yet, and we can’t sprout wings yet.” I snapped my fingers in jest, and he tilted his head back.
“It’s no problem, really.”
“No, see,” I grinned as though he didn’t understand. I began doing that thing I hated when people did when speaking to foreign people. Shouting louder, as though enunciating might make them somehow speak your language. “We can’t take the Vulcana,” I articulated dumbly. “So, how are we supposed to get there?”
He raised an am
used brow to me and said, “We have a ship.”
I nearly fell from the staircase. I flushed and couldn’t help the annoyance that crept up in my face for him having never mentioned this before. “So you do know how to pilot,” I said.
Of course, he smirked arrogantly. “You don’t think we flew through the galaxy with our wings, do you?”
We stared at each other for a moment before bursting into communal laughter. Loud expressions that came from deep within the backs of our throats. I didn’t know why I assumed they did. It sounded insane upon reflection.
“If you have a ship,” I dared, “then why have you been sleeping by the fire every night?”
He stared at me as though the answer should have been obvious and said, “We promised to protect you.”
I raised and lowered my brows quickly. Right… Integrity. I ran the situation through my mind and then gave a nod. I was game. “Alright, I’ll tell everybody.”
“Oh,” he hesitated. “I wasn’t aware you wanted to take your whole crew.”
“Sorry, I thought this was sort of an open invitation type of thing.”
“No,” he said unsurely. “I should have been clearer. My people won’t like so many of you there. It will make them nervous. I’m sure you can understand.”
“Right,” I said calmly, but inside I was completely thrown. His reasoning made sense but there was just something about it I wasn’t sure of. “How many can we take?”
“Thirty,” he said.
I bit my lip. That was more than half our crew. The number put me at ease and then immediately unnerved me. If he was willing to accept that many without distress, then…
“And how many of you are there?” I asked.
He smiled. “A lot.”
“Right, right,” I mumbled absent-mindedly. “A lot. All as friendly and handsome as you, I assume?”
