by Lili Zander
“I was going to this morning,” she mutters sullenly. “But then that guy showed up, and they took off.”
“What guy?”
“One of the Draekons,” she says. “I can’t keep track of their names.”
We’ve been here for three months. There are fourteen Draekons in camp. It’s not that difficult a task. Of course, that would involve Felicity caring about something other than herself.
“One of Olivia’s admirers,” she adds. “The skinny blond one.”
“Belfox?” Unease trickles down my spine. Luddux and Xanthox are nice guys, but crafty and manipulative they’re not. If Herrix and Belfox are up to something, they’ve now managed to entangle Felicity’s mates in it.
There’s not even a shadow of doubt in my mind. I’ve got to tell Zunix and Liorax about this.
17
Zunix:
There’s a knock on my door at the crack of dawn. It’s Olivia. “We might have a problem,” she says, her face grim.
“Let’s find Liorax.”
We walk north to his house. He hears us coming, and opens the door, his forehead creased. “What’s wrong?”
“Felicity came over last night,” she replies. “She was in a snit about her mates.”
“You’re not here about a lovers’ spat.”
She shakes her head. “No, of course not. She said something that struck me. The reason they’re fighting is because Luddux and Xanthox have barely been around, and,” she pauses for breath, “that they’re going away somewhere with Belfox.”
I sit up. “You think Luddux and Xanthox are mixed up in whatever Herrix is doing.”
She nods soberly. “Don’t you?”
“But what could it be?” Liorax asks intently. “Let’s start there. We don’t know where they’re going, but can we guess what they’re doing?”
Olivia cocks her head to one side. “When did they start sneaking away?”
“After you got here,” I reply. “You remember the day we shot at targets, trying to win the opportunity to court you first?”
“The day Dariux set up the contest?” Her voice is dry. “How can I forget?”
I smile at her disgruntled tone. I know Olivia well enough to realize that it must have rankled her to toe the line, to have Dariux dictate how she lives her life. And yet, to ensure the safety of the other women, she’d done it. “Do you remember how Herrix stomped away when he lost?”
She nods.
“They borrowed Dariux’s skimmer,” I tell her. “Dariux doesn’t lend it out very often, but they’ve been borrowing it a lot.”
“If they’re traveling east of Lake Tuli, they’re going into the desert, right? But wherever they’re going is too far to walk?” She chews on her lower lip. “Why that direction though?”
Then it hits me. All the signs have been there, right from the start. Fehrat 1 had deliberately crashed on the prison planet. Why would someone choose to maroon themselves here forever?
They wouldn’t.
“I’m a fool,” I say out loud. “I had tech, and so did Dariux. When we were exiled, we were able to pull some strings, enough for one drop.” I look up, my voice blazing with certainty. “Raiht’vi is Brunox’s daughter. Of course she’d have arranged tech.”
“Okay, but why wouldn’t they bring it back to camp?” Olivia leans forward with a frown. “You’ve been able to barter for the use of your syn. Dariux has bought power and influence with his med-kit. God knows Herrix and Belfox would be only too glad to lord it over everyone. So why haven’t they?”
“They don’t want to share.” I frown. “A weapon? Another skimmer?”
A light dawns on Olivia’s face. “No,” she says slowly. “I bet I know what it is. Herrix and Belfox talk about wanting to escape the prison planet all the time. It’s a spaceship.”
The moment she says it, I know she’s right. I stare at Olivia in shock. “It’s not possible,” I mutter under my breath. “The asteroid belt is impenetrable. Any ship will be smashed to pieces. And the Navy patrols…”
“Are you sure?” Liorax’s voice is quiet. “We’re Draekon. Better vision. Faster reflexes. Are you sure it can’t be done?”
“No.” I stare into space. “If Raiht’vi arranged a supply drop, then the ship would have been in pieces. It would need to be assembled. But Raiht’vi is a scientist. She wouldn’t have known how to do that.”
Olivia bites her lower lip. “Technicians have brown tattoos, right? That’s the convention? Mannix did, but he died in the crash.”
“Belfox is a technician,” Liorax interjects, his expression steely.
Olivia takes a deep breath. “What do we do?” She looks up at us, her expression uncertain. “You want to leave, don’t you?”
“Not without you.” I grasp her hand in mine. “Never without you. And I know you won’t leave without the other human women.”
Liorax frowns. “It won’t be a big ship,” he warns. “The smaller it is, the easier it will be to maneuver around the asteroids.”
“You could go without me,” she says, not meeting either of our eyes.
“Olivia. Look at me.”
She does as I ask.
“You are a part of me, Olivia. A part of us. Leaving is meaningless if you’re not there with us. You trusted me enough to tell me what you found. Trust me enough to know that I’m telling you the truth now.”
She stares at me, then the corners of her eyes crinkle as she smiles. “You’re just saying nice things so we get to third base again.”
What was the phrase she’d used last night? “Actually,” I murmur. “I’m hoping we could get a run.”
She giggles. “A home run,” she corrects. She chews on her lower lip again, no doubt remembering all the reasons we shouldn’t complete the mating bond.
“We’ll do as you ask,” Liorax says. “We won’t claim you together, but Olivia,” his smile is strained, “I ache to sink into you.”
“There’s nothing we can do right away about the ship,” I add. “We have the entire month to find it. And since we’re not in a hurry…” I smile at her. “Take off your clothes, little human.”
Olivia:
“Bossy,” I chide with a grin.
“I’m not hearing a protest, little human,” Zunix says implacably, his stern tone softened by the twinkle in his eyes.
Laughing, I put my hand on his chest. “Why don’t you sit down?” I give him a playful shove, and he willingly falls to the couch. I strut in front of him, getting close as I whip my shirt over my head. “You want me naked?” A smile curls on my face as his eyes blaze with heat. “Like this?”
When his hands reach for me, I swat them away. “Not yet.” I whirl around and peel my pants off slowly, bending at the waist and wriggling my ass to give him a little show.
The big Draekon growls. I turn and straddle him on the couch, sliding my arms around his broad shoulders and dipping my head for a kiss.
He pulls me against him with an eager growl. His hands knead my ass, his lips on mine driving me wild. I grip his short hair, grinding frantically against him. Nobody has ever made me lose control like these Draekons. Nobody.
Zunix devours me with his eyes as I kiss down his chest, coming to my knees in front of him.
“Take these off,” I order, tugging at his pants. When he complies, I waste no time closing my mouth over his cock. He groans, hands fisting in my hair, but I have all the control. He’s too big to take all the way—my deep throating fantasies are going to have to remain unfulfilled—but I lick him up and down, watching his restraint shatter as I squeeze my lips around his cock.
Liorax moves behind me. His fingers trail down my spine, squeezing my ass, and sliding between my legs. My breathing catches as he strokes my pussy. “So wet,” he murmurs. “So irresistible.”
Zunix watches me, his eyes hooded. A wicked idea strikes me. I lean forward, holding my breasts, and squeeze his big dick between them, moving up and down until a groan is torn from his throat. “
Little human,” he rasps, a shudder running through his body, “What are you doing?”
Blowing your mind, baby. That’s what I’m doing. Whenever the crown of his cock appears between my breasts, I lick it for good measure. “I want your cum,” I tell him boldly. “Give it to me.”
“So demanding.” Zunix’s breath comes in gasps, his gaze divided equally between my chest and my face. I smile at him, licking my lips, and his head falls back with a groan. A final thrust and his cock erupts. I throw back my head and let him paint my chest with his cum.
“Olivia,” he rasps, tugging me up to kiss him.
“You’re not done, little human.” Liorax rubs his thumb over my clitoris, and I gasp at the sudden burst of sensation that floods through me. His fingers attack my core, stroking and teasing, and in a matter of minutes, I’m panting, my muscles trembling as he strokes me to orgasm. My fingers dig into Zunix’s muscular shoulders in an effort to stay upright.
“Cum for us,” Zunix orders, and his command pushes me over the edge. Before I can collapse, Liorax catches me with an arm around my waist and draws me to the couch. I straddle him like I did Zunix, kissing him and running my fingers through his long hair. But when I start to go down on him, he stops me.
“I don’t want your mouth.” With a wicked glint in his eyes, he sets me on his thick cock. One snap of his hips, and he’s inside me. I moan, body turning liquid as he surges inside me, hot and hard and huge.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I chant, digging my nails into his broad shoulders as every nerve ending in my core blazes to life. For a split-second, I hesitate, but then the need takes over. They’re not claiming me at the same time, I reason. As long as I hold off on that final step, I won’t upset the status quo.
“Is this what you need?” he asks, his hands on my hips, slamming me back and forth on his cock. “Is this a home run?”
I bite my lip as he fills me again and again. My mind is soaring, but he’s too in control if he’s making sports metaphors. Squeezing my inner muscles, I pulse against his cock until he jerks and curses. I cup my breasts and pluck my nipples. Holding Liorax’s eyes, I raise my sticky fingers—courtesy Zunix—and lick them clean.
“Mmmm, sweet.” I bat my eyelashes. “Draekon cum is amazing.”
Liorax curses under his breath and loses his rhythm. I grin triumphantly. That’s more like it.
Zunix moves behind me, rubbing his still hard cock on my back, squeezing my bottom. He smacks one cheek and then another, and I blush at how hot it gets me. Then his finger finds my puckered anus. It’s my turn to moan and curse. He’s stretching me, and it feels wrong, but oh, so right.
“One day we will claim you here,” he promises, his breath warm against my ear. “Soon.” He stretches my tight hole as Liorax moves under me, sawing in and out of my slick pussy. “We will fill your mouth, your pussy, your ass until you cry out our names.”
Sounds pretty damn good to me. I close my eyes and picture it, picture both their hard cocks thrusting into me at the same time, and it pushes me over the edge. I explode, Zunix’s finger in my ass, Liorax ramming into my pussy. The long-haired Draekon loses control soon after, his cock spurting inside me as my muscles twitch and pulse around him.
Boneless and sated, I fall off his cock, sprawling on the couch to catch my breath.
The next thing I know, Zunix is kneeling beside me, squeezing out a wet cloth. He hands one to Liorax, who sits between my legs. My heart stutters as both men gently wipe me clean, murmuring how beautiful I am, how perfect, and finishing with a soft kiss that leaves me breathless.
You’re a lucky girl, Liv.
I’m ready to jump them all over again—gotta be fair to Zunix, right?—when shouts drift across the water. Liorax and Zunix have better hearing than me, and their expressions turn tense, and they jump to their feet. “Someone’s been killed,” Liorax says tightly.
Killed?
Things are about to get very ugly.
18
Liorax:
We hurry to the main clearing. Herrix and Belfox are standing in the middle of the woods, and at their side is a body. People are crowded around them. “Someone is attacking us,” Herrix says loudly. “Someone has already killed one of us.”
The other Draekons part as we approach. I close in until I can see the dead man’s face. It’s Jorix. I haven’t seen him in years, not since he left camp after his fight with Dariux. Time has not been kind to him. His clothes are tattered and torn, and his body is gaunt. Blue blood is crusted around a gaping wound in his throat.
At my side, Olivia makes a small sound of distress. I turn to her in concern. Her face is pale, and her grip on my hand tightens, but she nods resolutely. “I’m fine,” she tells me before I ask.
Swearing softly, Zunix kneels next to the dead man. “Where did you find him?” he asks Herrix and Belfox.
Belfox answers. “We were on the eastern bank of Lake Tuli,” he says. “We found a small treehouse nearby. Jorix must have been living there. Until this happened.”
A pang of regret cuts through me. We should have looked for the others. Both Zunix and Dariux have excellent tracking skills. I should have insisted. But I’d reasoned that the men that left the camp knew where we were. They could return any time they chose. If they preferred to be alone, I respected that.
But now Jorix is dead. Someone killed him. Who could do such a thing, and why?
The air around us is tense. Everyone is nervous and angry. The human women look frightened, and their mates flank them protectively. Zunix’s sharp eyes take it all in. “I do not have a good feeling about this,” he says to me, his voice pitched low. “Where’s Dariux?”
Dariux is nowhere to be seen, and neither is the human woman, Bryce McFarland. I stifle a curse. They must have gone on another foraging trip. I have no love for Dariux, but the man is coldly logical, and right now, that’s exactly what we need. We need to stay calm.
Unfortunately, Herrix seems intent on whipping everyone into a frenzy. “We are about to leave to find the other women, and we’re attacked,” he shouts, his voice carrying through the clearing. “Is this a coincidence?” He stares at each one of the assembled Draekons. “I don’t think so.”
“What are you saying, Herrix?” someone calls out. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that the other exile batch must have killed him,” he says flatly. His expression is hard, his eyes angry. “We have done them no harm, and they have attacked us.” He pauses for an instant. “I don’t have to tell you why. You already know.”
“They’re coming for our mates,” Luddux yells. Extremely convenient timing. Olivia’s right. Luddux and Xanthox are allying themselves with Belfox and Herrix. “The four humans with them must have told them about our women, and they are coming to claim them.”
Zunix exchanges a glance with me. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he snaps. “You don’t know who killed Jorix.” He looks around at the assembled Draekons. “It could be one of us.”
“No, Zunix.” Herrix’s expression is triumphant. “We are all innocent in this.” He pulls a knife from his pack and holds it up in the air. “I found this blade near Jorix’s body. Take a look. Tell me if you’ve ever seen this metal before.”
Zunix takes it from him and examines it carefully, his face growing bleak. “You’re right,” he says finally. “This knife isn’t one of ours. Our weapons are syn-made, and this,” he sighs, “isn’t.”
“Exactly.” Herrix surveys the assembled Draekons. “They’re not coming here to talk to us. They’re not coming to join up with us. They’re coming to kill us and take our mates.” He raises his voice. “Are we going to let that happen?”
A wave of angry sound fills the clearing. “No.”
We’re losing control. The men have become a mob now. They’re not thinking clearly. Blood is running hot in their veins. I can feel their rage, their anger, their determination to protect their human mates.
“Is it a plant?” Olivia whispers. “Do you
think Herrix killed that guy?”
Zunix shakes his head. “I don’t know what he’s doing,” he says softly. “I don’t know if I should stop this or not. I don’t even know if I can.”
“They think they can attack us and steal our women,” Herrix shouts. “They think we are going to stand aside and watch, passive and afraid. Are we going to let that happen?”
“No,” everyone shouts again.
Every instinct tells me that Herrix is up to something, but like Zunix, I don’t know what to do. Jorix is dead. Someone killed him. Who? Why?
“We must set guards around the perimeter of our camp,” Belfox says. “We must patrol the skies. If they have transformed, they will be able to rain fire down on us.”
“Never,” Luddux screams. “We will burn them first.”
Just then, Bolox points to the sky. “Look,” he exclaims. “There, coming in from the east. Do you see something?”
I follow his gaze, and I see it. Two dots on the horizon, growing larger as they approach rapidly toward our camp.
Two dragons.
One crimson red, and the other as black as night.
Six Draekons in our camp can transform at will, and they are all here. These dragons aren’t ours. They have to be from the other exile batch.
Snarls of rage fill the clearing. The ground shakes beneath our feet as one by one, each of the six Draekons shifts into his dragon and unfurls his wings. “Attack,” Herrix screams. “Kill them.”
I can only watch, frozen with horror, as the six dragons take to the skies. They surround the two Draekons, and someone—it’s Luddux, impulsive and hotheaded as ever—opens his jaw wide and exhales a stream of fire.
The dragon trapped inside me roars in rage at the senseless violence. There are six of us and only two of them. We have them surrounded. There’s no need to burn them; the two outsiders cannot go anywhere.
But the others follow Luddux’s lead. The sky fills with flame and smoke.
“Oh no,” Olivia puts a hand over her mouth as the black dragon’s wing catches on fire. The crimson dragon dives in front of his companion, but it’s too late to protect him. The injury is too great, and the black dragon starts to fall, tumbling, wheeling and gathering speed as he hurtles toward the ground.
