Chosen by the Dragon Alien (Zarux Dragon Brides #2)

Chapter 1

ONE

Fivra

Terian female 591-A, known as Fivra to the people of her settlement, had always held a positive outlook on things. Even as the crops produced less fruit every season, and punishments for infractions became more severe, and the people around her grew harder, colder, wearier, she held onto the belief that things would get better.

In one moment, that changed.

She sat with her friend Turi and their other friends—Sevas, Nena, Lilas, and Cerani—on Turi’s farm, weaving dry grasses into a headdress for Turi’s bondmating that would take place that evening. None of them wanted to be bonded. Each would be assigned by their father, a male they would be expected to serve and mate with. During the time leading up to the bonding ceremony, the male could choose to have hobbles put on his future mate’s ankles. The metal shackles prevented her from fleeing—which was sometimes attempted. The fact that Turi’s future bondmate chose to do this to her automatically made Fivra dislike him. The hobbles were a despicable device and could only be removed by the male bondmate after their bonding ceremony. Turi looked miserable, but also kind of detached as they sat together for the last time. By tomorrow, Turi would be living in settlement 112-2 with her new mate. Each of them was destined for the same fate. One of them, Nena, already had a bondmate, and judging by the bruises on her, he was as cruel as many of the males on the settlement had become.

Fivra’s father was not as cruel as some. He had promised to find Fivra a suitable mate, one who would treat her kindly and not force the hobbles on her. Who would not force anything on her. A male like that was becoming harder to find, though, and once she was given to a mate, there was nothing anyone could do about it if he turned out to treat her badly.

Her friend and neighbor, Sevas, pursed her lips and struggled to weave her grasses. Not only did Sevas think this a wholly asinine activity, she objected to being given to a bondmate entirely. “They say there are beasts living to the west,” she said, testily. “I’d rather live with them than here.”

“What’s trading one beast for another?” Lilas, who could string sarcasm together far better than her grasses, shrugged one bony shoulder. “ Fek them all. I’d rather live to the east, alone, in the shadowlands over the ridge.”

“The shadowlands are deadly,” Fivra said with a jolt of alarm. “The specters live there, and they eat living flesh.”

“Better to be eaten than…” Whatever Lilas may have said faded away as her gaze widened on something behind Fivra.

She turned and dragged in a stilted gasp. A starship , of all things, glided toward them. It was silver and sleek and as silent as the chill that nipped her fingers and toes in the cold season. This was not one of the transport ships sent by their supreme overlords, known as the Axis, to retrieve a shipment of the crops they grew.

“We need to leave,” Nena said. “Now.”

They got up, but before they could run, the ship lowered and slid to a halt in the clearing, blocking their escape back to the settlement. Fivra’s heart pounded and she looked back towards the very directions she, Lilas, and Sevas had been discussing—beasts to the west and specters to the east. The north was blocked by the mountain. They could run for it, though. If they scattered, the ship couldn’t collect them all, maybe. But Turi couldn’t run anywhere. Not with the hobbles, and Fivra would never abandon one of her friends. “Who is this?” she whispered. “What do they want?”

“Us,” said Turi. “For what, I don’t know.”

Fivra’s belly clenched into a tight ball as the ship lowered a ramp and five thickly built aliens emerged. They were clearly male, with thick armor on their pants and boots. They wore nothing over their gray torsos other than scars, patches of fur, and weapon holsters. Their snouts were filled with sharp teeth and their eyes were black and cold.

“Who the fek are you?” Sevas demanded, even though Fivra would have liked to shush her. These creatures didn’t look like the type you should challenge.

One of them snorted. “Keep calm and this will be much easier for you, little ones.” He gestured to the others in his group. “Round them up. Get them aboard quickly.”

Fivra felt Turi’s body tense beside her and the hobbled female grabbed Fivra’s wrist in a tight grip. “We’re not going with you.”

“Yes, you are. And we’ll get more credits for you if you’re uninjured, so be good little chits and come along without a fuss.”

More credits? Fivra knew little of commerce, but credits were the common currency of the quadrant. It sounded as if these snouted males intended to sell them. They charged up their weapons and moved in closer, making it clear who was in charge. It wasn’t them, the Terian females. Despite this being their home, their settlement, these beings intended to take them. The very thought made Fivra break out in a sweat. There had to be a way out. Any moment now, the settlement’s males would come to rescue them.

The sound of flapping wings diverted attention from the weapons and the males holding them. Fivra let out a breath of relief at the sight of the overseer flying toward them. He was a huge male with enormous wings that glinted dark purple in the afternoon light. Although terrifying in his size and power, he had a handsome face that held warmth at the corners of his silver eyes. No one had ever seen the overseer lose his temper. He was always in control.

He would save them. He would send these males away. The Terians may have been raised to fear the overseer, but he protected them, too. He’d put a mark of protection on Turi’s family farm—property they were on.

“Release these females and leave,” the overseer said in his deep voice. “You have no claim over them.”

The male who had addressed them seemed to shrug that off. “Ease off, Zaruxian. We have no dispute with you. The Axis granted us permission to take a clutch of females as payment for services rendered. I can show you the contract.”

The overseer’s claws lengthened in a dangerous warning. “Whatever your arrangement is with the Axis, you may take your ‘payment’ from another settlement. These lands are under my personal protection.”

Well, that wasn’t what Fivra had expected. There were four settlements combined to make up one large group. Each operated independently, but shared information and, of course, females for breeding. That the overseer was telling them to go elsewhere, but not leave, made her frown in confusion.

The alien in charge appeared patient, yet undeterred. “Now, now. I respect your jurisdiction here. There’s no need for us to squabble.”

“You’ve already caused problems,” said the overseer. “These people are to have no contact with off-worlders. It’s Directive Four, issued by the Axis.”

Fivra had never heard of such a directive. Then again, there were different rules for the overseer than for the Terians. The snouted alien male smiled. “Well, if the damage is already done, let’s work out a deal. Are all of these females from this land you protect?”

The overseer didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he looked over them as one would a crate of sogfrut , before his gaze fell on Turi and stayed there. This was not good. Not what Fivra thought he would do at all. The overseer was their one conduit with the Axis, who controlled everything on the settlements. But if the Axis was allowing these beings to take six Terian females, then the overseer would have no power to stop them.

“Let me see that contract,” the overseer said.

The male handed him a datascreen like the ones used by the Axis crop collectors. “See for yourself.”

The overseer clearly didn’t like what he saw. “This is unprecedented. I was not informed of this arrangement.”

“It’s a recent development. The Axis wasn’t able to procure our requested payment,” the male said with the tone of someone who knew he had won. “As you can see, the contract is authentic.”

The overseer’s face darkened. A shadow of dismay moved over his features. “Will they be harmed?”

The male laughed. “The fek if I know. They’re to be sold at the next auction on Falmic-5. Terian females fetch high credits.”

The overseer turned his gaze to Turi again. He pointed at her. “That one.”

The brute blinked. “What about her?”

“That female belongs to the land I protect.” His bright silver gaze shone with a metallic glint. “She stays.”

And that was when Fivra’s panic set in and the rest of the discussion turned into mush and noise to the roaring in her ears. They would not be saved. They were going to be sold, of all horrible things. Turi was ripped away from them, despite everyone trying desperately to hold onto her. Sevas cursed viciously as they were herded toward the alien ship.

Nena, whose silvery-green hair was in Fivra’s face, snarled at the nearest male. “I have a bondmate.”

“Not anymore,” he replied. “Your incarceration here is over. You’re our property, now.”

Incarceration? What did that mean? They were hardly prisoners. Just farmers.

It was Lilas’ expression, her friend who was typically indifferent to everything unless she had some sharp-witted thing to say, that chilled Fivra’s blood. Her friend’s typically bland expression was lit up with fear. Her unusual fuchsia eyes were wide and her nostrils flared in panic. She met Fivra’s gaze with terror.

“We’ll be okay.” Fivra tried to be reassuring, even though fear clawed up her throat.

“Not this time, Fiv,” Lilas said hoarsely. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

That was the fear, at the heart of it. For their entire lives, the females of settlement 112-1 knew what their lives held in store for them. There were no surprises. Everyone’s path was identical—work on the family farm until you become of breeding age, be given to a bondmate, bear children and work on your bondmate’s farm until you die. That was it, and the males didn’t see any variation, either. But now…

Their future was not only unknown, but it was most certainly not going to be okay. Being sold at an auction was the last thing Fivra had expected to experience in her sheltered but difficult life. But as they crowded into the ship and were strapped into seats, the foreign smells of the cluttered starship and the creatures who’d abducted them filled her senses. A tear rolled down her cheek as the ship lifted off, taking them from the only world they’d known.