Chapter 2
Before Aria could think of something clever to say, the lizard took hold of her hand and began to walk into the depths of the cave.
It was immediately apparent that the dragons had been doing some work to make the place hospitable for themselves.
As soon as she passed the first twist in the rocky wall, she felt a warmth begin to creep through her flight suit.
It shouldn’t have been warm. It should have been freezing cold.
It should have been too cold for the dragons at all. And yet, here they were.
They had burrowed through the rock to create what she could only describe as a dragon warren.
Narrow passages led into larger spaces, most of them unfurnished.
It was quite a work they had accomplished, but she was not surprised.
Aria had seen them use their powerful teeth and claws before; nothing man or earth made seemed to be able to withstand a dragon’s sheer earth-moving power.
“You are tired,” he observed. “So I will make this as quick as possible.”
“Make what as quick as possible?”
He did not answer her. Instead he led her into a large open area where the rock had been shaped into tiers of seats around the exterior of the space.
In the center was a slightly raised platform about eight feet in diameter.
It was surrounded by bars, which extended up to a stalactite of rock that created a cell roof.
There were shackles tethered at both the top and bottom of the rock.
It looked like a cell, but one designed for display.
“What the hell kind of sick shit is this?”
The dragon smiled at her, flashing those impossibly white teeth. “This is where I will show my men that humans can be broken to our will,” he said. “This is where I will tame you, my pet.”
Fuck. That. Aria didn’t know what he meant by taming her. She didn’t know why he kept calling her pet. All she knew was that she was going to resist him with everything she had.
“No!” She kicked him as hard as she could, catching him in the knee with a blow that would have made most men crumble. He didn’t even flinch. His grip on her remained strong as he wrapped her in his arms and carried her quite literally kicking and screaming up into the cell.
Once he had her inside the bars, and the door slammed closed behind them, he took to her flight suit with his teeth.
She watched in horror as his mouth descended near her collar and he took a bite of the heavy fabric then pulled back, tearing her clothing apart as easily as she could have shredded tissue paper.
Aria was reminded again that these dragons looked human in their human form, but they were anything but human.
The power this creature had at his disposal was frightening.
Her flight suit fell to the floor in tatters, looping around her boots.
He reached out, ran one finger down her squirming chest, and hooked it in the front of her bra.
One little tug sheared the garment from her body and let her full breasts hang free.
“Beautiful,” he murmured. “You humans are so stunning, but so very soft.”
He ran his palm over the sensitive curve of her flesh, cupping her breast. His touch was hot, his skin had a strange texture to it, as if it were much thicker and stronger. Closer to leather than skin.
Aria brought her knee up sharply. It made hard contact with his solar plexus, and if she had done that to a man, he would have bent double. This dragon barely registered her complaint. He put one hand on the back of her neck and held her firmly enough to make her gasp.
“Settle, pet,” he drawled. “You don’t want to be punished so soon, I can promise you that.”
His fingertip slid lightly over her stomach and found the hem of her panties. Blue silk with little purple hearts on them. Not exactly regulation, but Aria liked to feel a little bit feminine.
“Pretty,” he murmured. “But I think what is beneath them will be prettier still.”
He brought his finger down the middle of the panties and they fell away from it as if they had been seared. He was manipulating temperature somehow, and in very small locations. The result was an ability to go through almost anything. The silk of her panties was certainly no match for it.
They fell just like the rest of her clothing, ending up in a silken pool around her feet.
“Take the shoes off, pet,” he ordered. “I want to see you completely naked.”
“No!” Aria refused bravely. “I will not be complicit in your torture.”
“This is not torture,” he laughed. “This is preparation for your new life. I have been watching you humans for some time. You hide away when you are naked. Why? Because you are vulnerable. All of you. You are soft, and delicate, and even the thought of being seen for what you truly are is too difficult for you to bear.”
Aria was reduced to silence again. This lizard was smart. He was getting to know his prey, and he was learning fast.
“With me, you will always be naked. So remove your foot coverings, my little human pet, and we will see you for what you are.”
Her resistance took the form of a sullen silence, a refusal to move at all.
The dragon solved that problem by lifting her arms up and attaching shackles to her wrists.
She found herself with her arms raised high above her head, her body stretched by the position, every part of it more exposed than it had been before.
“Beautiful,” he murmured again, running his warm, strong palm down the sway of her back and the flare of her hip. “You are so like us in our wingless form, and yet you are so very tender, so very soft. It is a wonder you have survived at all.”
He slapped her bottom lightly, then slid down her frame to remove her socks and her boots.
She would have kicked him in the face, but he was wise to her aggressive attempts to hurt him and he kept the remains of her flight suit around her feet, effectively hobbling her.
Once the last vestiges of clothing were gone, he closed the lower shackles around her feet.
They were heavy around her ankles, hardly comfortable, but that was likely the point.
The dragon kicked her clothing into a pile, took a deep breath, and snapped his fingers in front of his mouth.
The result was a plume of bright flame, much like the effect one might get from a lighter and a can of hairspray.
Her clothes caught alight immediately and were soon reduced to a smoldering heap at the edge of the cage.
“There,” he said, turning back to her. “Now you can no longer pretend that you are anything other than a soft human at the mercy of a much more powerful creature. The shackles will remind you of your place. They will tell you that you are owned when you try to tell yourself that you are free.”
“Asshole,” Aria hissed.
“Do not worry, pet,” he said in soft tones that utterly failed to soothe her. “Once you are domesticated, I will have no need of chains for you. You will know you are mine with every breath you take.”
“You’re an idiot,” she said. “And you don’t understand me, or humans as much as you think you do.”
“We will see, pet.”
She quivered in the chains, hoping he would release her from the position soon. It was not comfortable, but it was likely not meant to be. He was trying to break her. He had told her as much. She wouldn’t let him. No matter how much pain he put her through, she would not crumble.
“It just occurred to me that I haven’t introduced myself,” he purred. “My true name would be impossible for you to pronounce. An equivalent in your simple language would be General Vyktor. You may refer to me as Master.”
“I would prefer to refer to you as scum,” Aria hissed.
“Not a good idea,” he said. “I wonder at your commanders not instilling more respect in you.”
“I respect my commanders,” she said, knowing several of them would not keep a straight face if they heard her speaking those words. “But I don’t respect you.”
“Well,” he said with a smirk. “Let me see what I can do to change that.”
Aria had a cold feeling in the very pit of her belly as she looked into his oh so alien golden gaze and knew that she was in more trouble than she had ever conceived before.
He reached out and ran his hands over her body, tracing the curves of her breasts, stomach, hips, thighs, and bottom. He was surprisingly gentle, given his extreme strength.
“This isn’t going to work,” she promised him. “I will never submit to you.”
“Then you will be subjecting your species to a brutal annihilation.”
“What?” His words shocked her.
“You don’t understand,” he purred, letting his fingertips run lightly up and down her flanks in a touch that was quite soothing, the hard edges of his fingernails scratching over her skin.
“This is not merely an exercise in humiliation. This is to prove a point to my people. Many of our leaders believe that humans can only be subjugated by violence. They will tear Earth apart and leave it a smoldering wreck. I believe that you are not only possessed of some intelligence, but can be trained to please us. So, pet, the more quickly you become compliant, the more quickly you save your species.”
She stared at him, surprised by how ingenious his plan was. It was… almost brilliant. And it was almost humane as well. Aria was shocked that one of these lizards could scrape together enough empathy to want to save the people his kind were attacking. It was too good to be true.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe me or not, the results will be the same,” he said patiently, caressing her body as if he owned it. “My plans for you will work whether you comply or not. The only difference is how painful it will be.”
The mention of pain made her tense. “You can’t break me.”