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

Chapter 2

TWO

Cyprian

“What the fek am I supposed to do with this?” Cyprian Dek’lak’s wings flexed in annoyance as he gazed down at the small, miserable creature cowering in his receiving room. It was female, as far as he could tell, but not the type that would fit in at Erovik, the brothel he managed for the Axis on the space Hevatica Station. He glared at Glivar, his assistant. “How many times have I told you not to get females from auctions? Our clients will not want this creature.”

Glivar crossed his green arms. “Sorry, boss. The Falmic-5 auction had a group of Terians and they’re both rare and beautiful. Said they were rescued from a forced-breeding colony, but…” He gestured with a meaty hand. “ Look at her. I couldn’t leave her there. I just couldn’t.”

“We don’t acquire females we pity, Glivar.” Cyprian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This is a business, and the Axis demands an accounting for every credit. This is a house of pleasure, not a rescue organization.”

Glivar had the grace to wince. “Can you train her?”

“Rescuing” people did not end in rewards, as he’d learned the hard way when he’d made the same mistake a long time ago. The last female he’d tried to help was clearly traumatized—as this one was—and never acclimated to Erovik. She had remained terrified of all males, no matter what he’d done to try to calm her. Her story and life ended tragically, with her running away and ending up killed in a raider’s hive. He did not want to go through that again.

Cyprian tilted his head to get a better look at the small bundle on the floor. She was barefoot and curled into the smallest ball she could contort herself into. All he could see was a collection of bony limbs, a shock of pink hair, and a skinny, trembling form covered in a transparent shift that barely covered her ass. He wasn’t sure any amount of training would get this creature to become an enticing courtia . He snorted and shook his head. “ Fek . I don’t know. But I do know that you will not go on any more scouting trips. Our clients want experience and passion, not a terrified creature who won’t even show her face.”

Glivar hung his head. “There was nothing suitable at the usual spots. She is beautiful, I promise you that.”

Cyprian seriously doubted that, even though Glivar was usually a good judge of that vital quality. He sat on the edge of his desk and gazed at the shaking female with a sigh. He’d either get her to accept a suite and work at the brothel or, worst case, he’d have to cut her loose and absorb the loss. The second scenario would be a hassle, so he hoped to train her to be a courtia . Explaining to the Axis, the huge entity that owned Erovik, that he’d acquired an unsuitable female was not an activity he relished. The Axis did not like losses on the record. “Off you go, Glivar,” he said wearily. “Go to Viparia’s quarters before you leave. She is displeased with the air purifiers in her sitting room.”

Glivar snorted and rolled his large milky eyes. “Viparia is always displeased with something.”

“Perhaps, but she is a client favorite, so we make her happy.” Cyprian ran his fingers through his hair and wondered for the millionth time what he was doing here. This was the only job—the only life —he’d ever known. He’d been managing Erovik for as long as he could remember. He did a good job. The courtias were happy. Most were ex-mistresses of warlords and wealthy merchants, used to luxury and attention and skilled at the art of pleasure. After completing their contract, most stayed on. The brothel itself catered to only the wealthiest and most prominent clients. Cyprian had made it an exclusive and highly in demand establishment, but he didn’t cater to clients with darker inclinations. The last thing he would do was toss this female into a suite and send in a client.

He glanced at the Terian female who had not budged from her spot on the floor. Inexperienced and unwilling females were a liability. This was why he rarely acquired courtias from the auctions, and when he did, it was after learning her past and confirming that the female would be a good fit for Erovik. A quick conversation with this female would have revealed her inappropriateness for brothel life. On the other hand, her fate might have been worse had she been purchased by another.

“What is your name?” he asked, and sighed when he received no response. “I will not hurt you, but I need to know how to address you and find you quarters.” He cocked his head. “Do you speak the common language?”

The shaking paused and slowly— very slowly —she lifted her head from the nest of her arms. Her eyes widened and her full lips quivered as hope sparked in her expression. “Overseer?”

Cyprian heard her say something about an overseer, which he knew nothing about, but the instant he saw her, he knew why Glivar had bid on her. This female wasn’t just beautiful, she was stunningly gorgeous. Her face was a soft oval with large aqua eyes and and gold freckles dusted her forehead, disappearing into soft waves of pink hair. Tear-streaked cheeks were pale and sunken.

For a long moment, Cyprian stared at her, unable to do anything but take in the female before him. Everything just stopped, as if his entire world hit a pause button and froze. All he could hear was his pounding heart and her shallow breaths. He cleared his throat, forcing himself out of the trance. “Do you know where you are?” he asked in a gentle voice.

Her gaze darted around the room before landing back on him. Confusion clouded her remarkable eyes. “Do you know the overseer?”

“The who? ” he asked, getting his bearings.

“You look like him,” she replied softly, swallowing hard. “The overseer who looks over our settlement. He’s big, like you, with wings like that. B-but he has purple scales. Not red, like you. And your hair…” She shook her head. “You look like him,” she said again with a dejected sigh. “But you’re not him.”

Cyprian’s pulse pounded. Another being that looked like him? He’d never seen another Zaruxian. Not once in his life. Certainly, none had come through the doors of Erovik. But this female had been hopeful that he was this overseer. It was unmistakable. “You say there was a Zaruxian where you used to live?”

“I don’t know that he was called that, but I would swear you were brothers.” Her lips compressed to a line. “I thought he protected us, but he allowed those aliens to abduct us from my friend’s farm. The Axis allowed it.”

Cyprian’s head spun with this new information, which he didn’t how to process. What did this unique female have to do with the Axis? What was another Zaruxian doing on her planet? His scales crawled with the dark coincidence. “What is your name?” he snapped, needing to get off this topic. He would be doing some digging into this female’s past.

“Fivra,” she breathed. “They call me Fivra, but my designation is 591-A.” She tilted her head, allowing him to see where those symbols glowed blue beneath her ear.

Cyprian’s blood ran cold. Those looked like the marks of inmates held in Axis penal colonies. What the fek was a prisoner doing in the Falmic-5 auction? Forced-breeding colony. What a lie.

“W-what are you going to do to me?” she asked in a small voice.

“Nothing.” The tremble in her voice was pitiful, but the knot in his gut was tight. He could not imagine what this delicate little female had done to find herself incarcerated in one of the Axis’ many horrendous prisons, but it explained her thin, ragged appearance. “No one will hurt you here. I promise.”

She didn’t look reassured. If anything, she shrank further against the wall. “Who are you?”

“How impolite of me.” He pressed his shoulders back and flared his wings. “I am Cyprian, director of Erovik, the brothel in which you currently reside.”

“Brothel?” Her face folded in horror as she comprehended the word. “No. Please, no. Don’t make me—”

He held out his hands. “Calm down. You won’t be working here until you’re ready. We don’t force females into bed with clients.”

She dropped her head back into her arms and shook it. “I’ll never be ready for that.”

At this point, Cyprian had no idea what to make of her, but he had to at least process her into the brothel and hope for the best. “For now, let’s get you settled. You need food, a bath, and some rest. Come with me.” He held out a hand to help her up.

Her head rose again, but this time, the look on her face was defiant. “If I go with you, how do I know you won’t make me… you know .”

Fek it all, she couldn’t even utter the words. He let out an exasperated sigh. “I won’t force myself or anyone else on you, Fivra. You’ll have to trust me.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Well, you can’t stay on the floor of my office,” he said, reasonably, although he was losing patience. “I’ll bring you to a room where you may eat and rest undisturbed. You are hungry, aren’t you?”

Ah, that was a soft spot in her armor. Her eyes shifted and her face pinched with longing. This female wasn’t just hungry, she was starving. She reluctantly nodded.

He held out his hand again. “Come, then. You’ll have any kind of food, and as much as you want.”

Her eyes widened at that, and he knew he had her there. She let out a shaky sigh and reached one thin arm out to place her hand in his. It was surprisingly strong, with thick calluses that contrasted with the narrowness of it. “Okay.”

Finally . He helped her up and at last, got a look at the rest of her. There was nothing to miss with the transparent shift the auction managers put on her. Once again, he understood Glivar’s choice in snapping Fivra up. The female was too thin, of course, but the curves were there and would only become lusher and more alluring as her diet improved. Her legs were long and those golden flecks sprinkled down her back, straight into her nicely shaped ass. From there, they went underneath and around to splay out over the apex of her thighs and highlight her sex.

Cyprian rarely noticed the females of Erovik in a sexual manner. They were his employees. He treated them well— too well, some said. If a courtia objected to a client, he didn’t force them on her. The Axis didn’t care how he ran the brothel as long as it brought in credits and stayed clear of scandal. Which it did, on both counts. But this female sent a warm curl through his gut and a hot pulse through his cock that yanked him from his role and reminded him he was a male . A male with needs of his own that had been suppressed and pushed away for a very long time.

He dropped her hand and looked away from her with a tight jaw and a swirl of confusing feelings racing through him. He didn’t mate with the courtias . Doing so would give the impression of favoritism and give him so many headaches, a dalliance wouldn’t be worth it. He hadn’t even been seriously tempted before today. Something about this Terian lit him up inside. As if he needed more reasons to keep his hands off her. Her story was far too unusual to ignore. Prison marks on a female who, by all appearances, didn’t seem to be aware she was a prisoner. And she knew another of his kind…

“This way,” he said stiffly as he led her from his office to the hall beyond. A lift took them up to a floor of suites. There were two unoccupied ones there, and he led Fivra to the more lavish of the two. If she was going to be a courtia in Erovik, she should experience the luxury the position granted her.

As expected, her eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise as she stepped inside the sumptuous suite. Her toes disappeared into the soft, thick carpet, which she pedaled her feet on as she gaped at the room. The courtias received the best of everything, from the fine, tertik linens on their beds to custom food and drink from top-notch replicators capable of creating any dish in the quadrant. When she slept, the bed would scan and transmit her measurements to the main computer and the wardrobe would generate a collection of garments for her that would be available by the next wake cycle. In the meantime, she needed something other than that transparent shift that she clearly found uncomfortable. There had been no missing her efforts at covering herself in the lift. Or perhaps she was just cold. She had done a lot of shivering.

“I’m…staying here?” she whispered in a scandalized voice, as if just being in this space was an act of trespassing.

“Yes,” he replied, enjoying her reaction. “These are your quarters. Yours alone. Only I and the maid I will assign to you will be allowed to come in here.”

She turned to him with suspicion. “No males?”

“You don’t consider me a male?” He smirked, testing out a teasing line on her. “Last I checked, I was one.”

Bright color flushed her face as her brow dropped in a frown. “No other males?”

“No other males.” He took her response as a good sign. Perhaps in time she’d trust him. The other courtias did. “Not until you’re ready, that is.”

Her expression shut down. “And if I’m never ready?”

“We’ll deal with that possibility if it arises,” he replied. “But I urge you to keep an open mind. Speak with the other females here. Life in Erovik isn’t bad. The courtias who live here are practically worshipped by their clients. Lavished with gifts and treasured.”

“I don’t need to be worshipped,” she hissed. “I just want to go home.”

He stepped close and tipped her chin up with his finger to gauge her reaction to his words, but switched it to a caress. His thumb slid over the soft curve of her jaw. She was…impossibly appealing. So much so, that he wondered how he’d be around her without giving in to the urge to touch her. “Your previous life could not have been a pleasant one. You may like this one better.”

Her brows snapped together as she jerked her chin from his touch. “I was a farmer. And it wasn’t pleasant, but…” She trailed off with a grimace.

Farmer? That was vastly different information than what both Glivar and the evidence stamped on her neck had told him. The Falmic-5 auction was not known to be humane, but they were usually honest about the origins of what—and who—was sold there.

His fingers curled into a fist, as if trying to hold on to the warm tingle that touching her had produced. He’d find out the truth of Fivra’s farming claim. His curiosity about her was intense and concerning. “Whatever you were, you are here now. I expect you to take advantage of all the luxuries afforded here. I will have some clothing brought to you and your maid will show you how to use the replicator and the bathing chamber. We expect cleanliness at Erovik. And you will receive a full medical exam tomorrow, to make sure you haven’t brought any diseases with you from your…farm.”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Will it hurt?”

“The exam?” What sort of barbaric place had she come from where a medical exam was cause for worry? “No, the medical technician will scan you and take a sample of your blood—also not painful—to ensure your health and treat you for anything you may have contracted.” He cocked his head. “Haven’t you been examined before?”

“They did…on the ship that took us.” She shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut. “It was unpleasant. Invasive. But not before that. We had little technology on our settlement.”

Again with the “settlement.” Fek . Someone had lied about this female’s life. “You are not in your settlement any longer. This is Hevatica Station, your new home.” He swept an arm toward the huge windows that looked out on the center of the station. It was a fantastic view, showing the glimmering spectacle of the countless lights from the gleaming silver and onyx structures that made up the massive base. As a center of commerce and life for thousands, it was always alive. Like a giant organism, Hevatica buzzed with activity, movement, and color.

She looked away from it with fear in her eyes. “This is not my home.”

“It would serve you to begin thinking of it that way.” He crossed his arms, ignoring the pity he felt for her and the urge to draw her into his arms and say something soothing. He was her manager and she was his employee. “Whether you like it or not, this is your home, now.”