Karik (Weredragons Of Tuviso) (A Sci Fi Alien Weredragon Romance)

by Maia Starr

  “That seems dangerous, does it not?” Aloitus said, by way of reprimanding me.

  “Sir, with all due respect, I designed the camps with this possibility in mind,” General Rog L’ankast interjected. “It seems that human resistance would be an inevitability. It has nothing to do with Commander Wyl’es’ judgment.”

  “Was it not Captain Zod who suggested keeping the human females drugged until their arrival to Earth?” Aloitus said sweetly. “Does it not appear that this suggestion was ultimately the one acted upon in the best interests of Thressl’n and human alike?”

  “It was I,” Zod said quickly, fixing a smug look on me.

  “Commander Wyl’es, you insisted on doing things your own way, and it nearly cost us human females.”

  “Sir, as I said, it would not have cost any females. The camps were designed to—”

  “Silence, Rog! Before I have you thrown in the holding chamber!”

  Rog paled and sat back in his seat, casting an apologetic glance at me. I nodded, as imperceptibly as possible, in forgiveness. I appreciated Rog stepping in. It was clear he didn’t think highly of Supreme Leader Aloitus and his relationship with Captain Zod.

  “The holding chamber seems more like Chaz’z’s place, if you ask me,” Zod said, grinning. He was loving the drama. Zod’s smug expression made me even angrier than being interrogated by Aloitus.

  “I didn’t ask you, Zod,” Supreme Leader Aloitus said coldly. The smug smile fell from Zod’s face, and he grew quiet. It was nice to know that Aloitus still had some grasp of the real rank here.

  “I apologize for my actions, Supreme Leader,” I said. “I saw to it that all the females were relocated and assigned to a higher security camp than their peers.”

  My memory of the beautiful female I had literally stumbled upon invaded my memories again. There was something about her that spoke to the loneliness deep inside of me. I wanted to protect her. Maybe even to claim her. Still, it seemed strange to me that upon relocating her, all traces of our initial connection had gone.

  “That’s all I needed to hear,” Aloitus said, his horrific attempt at a smile returning to his face. “Now I wanted to announce that I am still working on assigning females to Thressl’n men. Mostly nobility and a few men who were chosen in a lottery, to give homage to Fate, of course. What many of you may be wondering, especially after seeing these exotic little beauties for yourselves, is whether or not my elite fleet will be allowed to get their dirty little hands on these Earth females. Am I right?”

  Aloitus grinned, and I felt sick to my stomach. Why did he have to word it in such a base way?

  “I would like my female as soon as possible,” Zod said, without waiting to hear an answer. “When may I pick her up?”

  Aloitus didn’t acknowledge him.

  “I want each of you to pick the female of your choice. Of course, I know one or two of us who have already gotten the pick of the litter.”

  Aloituz winked at Commander Arkti, who squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

  “You can choose your females from any of the camps,” Aloitus continued. “And bring her to your homes immediately. The rest of the Thressl’n will have to be more patient and undergo the grueling process of learning how to woo their mates and get them in the mood to breed. Without breeding consent, we are the same as beasts. But I know I can trust the five of you.”

  We were quiet for a moment as Aloitus cleared his throat and finally stood.

  “You are dismissed.”

  Zod shot through the doors, and I frowned. Something wasn’t right with that man. But I quickly forgot his strange actions as my thoughts returned to the female from the day before. A dull excitement began mounting in my breast. The way she had looked at me had replayed in my mind again and again as I attempted to sleep off the excitement the night before. If I had to choose a female, I might as well choose the one I couldn’t get out of my mind.

  ***

  “Right this way,” a stern Thressl’n woman said, leading me deep into Camp 6. “Nobody has shown an interest in any of the females in this camp. They are all defiant. Why would you choose to have a defiant female as a mate?”

  “That really isn’t your concern,” I said darkly, my eyes scanning the rows of beds. Many were empty. Camp 6 had been constructed as an area for the trouble-makers. It seemed likely that anybody who ended up in this high-security camp would make a terrible mate. The Thressl’n highly valued cooperation and subordination in the females on Jenal’k. Defiant Earth women seemed unsuitable.

  “I understand. Apologies to you.”

  We continued down the rows in silence, until my eyes finally settled upon the beautiful woman from the night before. She looked a little different than I remembered her in my memories, and I thought that maybe I had simply contorted her image in my mind from conjuring it up so many times.

  Still, the powerful energy that had been shared between us couldn’t be forged by a simple misremembrance. Whether she looked the same as in my memory or not, this was the woman I would bring to my home.

  “It’s your lucky day,” the Thressl’n woman said, removing the gag from the woman’s mouth and releasing her hands and feet from their confines. “Commander Wyl’es has come to take you home.”

  “To Earth?” the woman asked, sitting up with wide eyes.

  “No, I’m afraid she means back to my home. In the Red Desert.”

  “Seriously?!” the woman threw herself back against her pillow and glowered at me. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here!”

  “You will go where I tell you to go,” I growled, grabbing her by the arm and helping her to her feet. “You’ve caused enough trouble already. And by the looks of it, I’ll be doing everyone here a favor by taking you off their hands.”

  “What are you going to do to me?” she asked, her clear eyes wide. I gazed into them for a moment, desperate to find any trace of the spark that had been there initially. I was agitated when I found myself disappointed.

  “I guess we’re both going to find out.”

  ***

  “You don’t seriously expect me to stay in here, do you?” the human said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

  “What’s wrong with it?” I exclaimed.

  “It’s so small! And it smells funny. Do you have anything bigger?”

  “No, unless you feel like sharing my bedroom.”

  “Ew. No. This will just have to do, I guess.”

  I pursed my lips and retreated from the room.

  “I expect you to listen and obey the rules of the house,” I called as I headed to the kitchen. “I have a keeper of house and home who comes by every afternoon, and she has promised to look after you while I’m away.”

  “Are you gone a lot?” the human said hopefully.

  I didn’t dignify it with an answer, and soon she came out from the bedroom I had assigned to her. Sure, it was a little cluttered, but I didn’t know what she meant about a smell. Were all humans this offensive?

  “I’m hungry,” she said with a pout. “Since I’m basically your pet now, do you plan to feed and water me too?”

  Pet?

  “I don’t understand what you mean,” I said. “But I will prepare a meal now. I am also hungry.”

  She sat down at the table glumly and I began to work in silence.

  “Ew, what’s that?” she exclaimed when I opened a jar of O’klati.

  “It’s good for you,” I said with a sigh. I had a feeling that I had made a huge mistake in choosing this human. And now we were stuck with each other for the rest of our lives. I didn’t even know her name.

  “It smells weird.”

  “Does everything smell weird to you?”

  “No…don’t you guys have like, pizza or something?”

  Everybody throughout the galaxy was vaguely aware of the pizza phenomenon that had taken over Earth. The food that humans willingly ate was poison, pure and simple, and yet they consumed it gleefully. Didn’t humans care about the t
ruth? Did they even care about themselves? What had Commander Arkti been thinking when he chose to bring these self-destructive creatures here?

  “We do not have pizza, and you are lucky that you don’t have it anymore either.” The human pouted, but I ignored it. “What’s your name, anyway?”

  She was silent for a moment, and then halted herself before she spoke. It was strange, as if she were hoping to hide something.

  “Sa…So, my name is Alexa,” she said, batting her eyes falsely at me. “When will the food be ready?”

  “Now,” I sighed, and served Alexa the first meal we would share in my home.

  ***

  “I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Zod was saying. “There’s something off about her. I just don’t like my human!”

  I tried to tune him out as we stood in line together for tickets to the celebration that night. It was customary to thank the gods for the safe return of Thressl’n ships from space, and Supreme Leader Aloitus had chosen to move the festivities up earlier to coincide with Captain Zod’s delivery of the second batch of humans.

  Usually the celebrations didn’t happen until about a week after everybody had settled in, safe and sound. Apparently, it only mattered if Zod was settled in. The fact that I had arrived first was more of a fluke.

  “Aren’t they supposed to serve us? They are here to save the Thressl’n race, after all. You would think that they would show us some respect!”

  “Yeah,” I agreed begrudgingly. The human I had selected had spent the entire night acting like every single thing I did to make her comfortable in my home was the biggest inconvenience that she could ever endure. “Humans are rude.”

  “They’re more than just rude!” Zod exclaimed. “They are pure savages! Do you know the first thing my human said to me after I brought her home and tried to get her to sleep in my bed?”

  “No,” I said noncommittally, disturbed by the idea that Zod would try to force his human to move so quickly. That was in poor taste, in my opinion. Still, even if she wanted to, I wasn’t sure I would let the human in my home share my bed after the night I’d had with her.

  “She said that I was the most repulsive creature she had ever seen, and that she would rather die than be my mate. You know what else she said? She said that she felt sorry for me for thinking that everything worthwhile in life could be stolen!”

  I pursed my lips in a strong effort not to laugh. The idea of anybody having the nerve to say things like that to Zod, of all people, who had been spoiled beyond repair and always cheated to get what he wanted, was frankly delightful.

  “That human’s going to regret her choice of words though, by the time I’m through with her,” Zod said with a grin. “She spent the night in the cellar. Maybe I’ll starve her until she learns some respect.”

  “Zod, I don’t think—”

  But I was cut off by the Thressl’n man in charge of the ticket booth, and Zod tuned me out as he collected his tickets to the banquet.

  “I had been thinking of taking her with me to celebrate,” Zod said, walking away from me and shaking his head. “But she can forget that!”

  I dissolved into silent laughter once Zod was safely at a distance, and exchanged a knowing look with the man behind the ticket counter. Zod was well-known for his hot temper and poor attitude. Nobody could fathom why the Supreme Leader had taken such a liking to him. In fact, it was alarming, and as much as I tried to stay positive, the truth seemed impossible to ignore. Corruption was in the air.

  Unfortunately, I was Commander of the Fleet, and if anything did end up happening to shift the power in the Thressl’n government, chances were that my position would be highly compromised.

  Not only was I already being stationed to lead the Thressl’n troops involved in the conflict at the far end of the C’loggh galaxy, but with overt tolerance of the Vellreq, my job would turn very dangerous.

  The Thressl’n thought that we were fighting the Vellreq, but more and more it seemed that we were helping them to take over Kalron. Unfortunately, the Vellreq were winning in their quest for dominance, and their influence was spreading darkly throughout the universe.

  I could only hope that somehow, we would stop the Vellreq in time, before any lasting damage could be done that might put an end to Thressl’n society once and for all.

  Chapter 3

  Alexa Thomas (Investigative Journalist)

  I woke up shivering on the floor of the cold cellar where Zod had deposited me. He had completely lost his mind after I refused to sleep with him. At first, I was afraid he might force me to do it anyway, but instead, he went off on a rant about how nobody respected him and how he would give everybody what they deserved one of these days.

  When he was finished yelling, he struck me hard, and then studied my face gleefully before he did it again. I was powerless against his strength, and he showed no intention of holding back. By the time Zod dragged me to the cellar, my head was aching. I had never encountered a more violent, tempestuous man before in all my life, and hoped to never again.

  But he was bound to return. This was his home, after all. What was I going to do?

  My heart pounded in fear when I heard the hissing of the doorway. Zod’s heavy footsteps padded across the floor, and I closed my eyes, wishing with everything I had that he would just forget I was there and leave me alone.

  The cellar door creaked open, and I squeezed my eyes closed. I couldn’t take much more of this man’s cruelty. My head was aching, and I was pretty sure that I was in need of some kind of medical attention.

  “Human, come here.”

  I scrambled to my feet at the sound of Zod’s voice, and although I was reluctant to go toward him willingly, I was more afraid of what would happen to me if I didn’t.

  “Good. Would you like to join me for an event tonight?” Zod asked, his cold metallic eyes boring into mine. My heart dropped in my stomach, but I had to stay strong.

  “What kind of an event?” I asked coyly. “I don’t have anything to wear but what I have on right now.”

  I glanced down at my top, which was stained with dried blood.

  “Well don’t you worry about that,” Zod said with a bright smile. I recoiled but managed to compose myself before he looked back into my eyes. “I’ve got just the thing.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” I said, choking the words out. It was the way he had instructed I greet him, and I figured I’d better oblige if I didn’t want another beating.

  “I think you’re going to be just the prettiest little thing in this dress,” Zod said, turning around to rummage in a bag I hadn’t noticed he had sat down behind himself. He pulled out a beautiful gown, rippling with colors I had never before seen on Earth. It was breathtaking. “Why don’t you try it on?”

  “Yes, my lord,” I said, avoiding his eyes as he offered the dress to me. “Thank you.”

  I could feel his gaze burning into my back as I disappeared into his washing room to put on the gown. How could things possibly get any more bizarre?

  ***

  Zod was quiet as he drove his hovercraft through the air, and I took the chance to take in my surroundings. Nothing could possibly look fun and magical now, not after my horrible experience at the mercy of Zod. Still, the planet Jenal’k was rife with beauty, and the gown Zod had given me protected me from the suffocating heat of the planet’s three overbearing suns. Zod’s voice suddenly broke into my thoughts.

  “You will need to be on your best behavior when attending the event tonight. There are going to be some very important people there. Many of them don’t have a human of their own yet, so you’d better behave yourself. When I ask you a question, you better answer me without any hesitation. When I ask you to do something, you had better do it. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, my lord,” I said, trying to keep the sigh out of my voice. How the hell had I gotten into a situation like this? I was an independent woman. I had worked hard my whole life to excel at my career and become one of th
e most prominent investigative journalists of our time. Everybody knew my work, even if they didn’t know my name.

  I had spoken time and again about the dangers of negative attitudes toward women and the men who treated them as servile objects. How had I found myself right in the middle of such a situation? What had I done to deserve this?

  ***

  “Welcome, Captain Zod. And…”

  “This is my human,” Zod said quickly. He hadn’t bothered to ask my name, or anything else about me. All that seemed to matter to him was that I was his.

  “Welcome, human. We sincerely hope you enjoy the festivities of the night.”

  The man who greeted us stared at me, his rust-colored eyes flashing with curiosity. It was almost as if he had never seen a woman before. Well, maybe he hadn’t. At least not a woman from Earth.

  An unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke from behind me in Thressl’n, and my translation device worked lazily to translate for me.

  “Greetings, Zod! Welcome!”

  “Supreme Leader Aloitus! What an honor. Everything looks amazing!”

  It was true. We had walked into the entrance of a lush garden covered by a marquee. The lighting under the tents was ethereal and golden, giving everybody a glow that almost made the race of strange extraterrestrials look beautiful. Tables and tables filled to the brim with delicious smelling foods lined the walls, and my stomach grumbled involuntarily.

  “Don’t you feed that thing, Zod?” Supreme Leader Aloitus joked.

  Zod glared down at me, but laughed a little too hard at the Supreme Leader’s joke.

  “Of course. But it’s been a few hours between meals. You know how busy my schedule has been. And humans couldn’t find their way around a Thressl’n kitchen if Yulso’n Vetch himself were there!”

  Supreme Leader Aloitus laughed boisterously, and I glowered, feeling a bit insulted on behalf of my people. But if it meant I would get to taste one of the foods emitting such a delicious aroma, I would stay quiet.

  “I placed you and your guest closest to the stage,” Supreme Leader Aloitus said, holding his arm out to usher us to the table. “I hope you enjoy the evening.”