All I know is that the sound of her laugh, the feel of her legs wrapped around me, the trust she has shown me…
I want more.
For once, we are not enemies. She is not my captive, planning her escape. And I am not the wicked creature refusing to allow her to leave.
Charlie gasps behind me.
“There it is,” she says, and I glance down. “Can we get closer?”
I angle down, circling until the metal is clear through the trees.
“How did this happen?” I ask.
A long silence. Her legs tighten further, as if the thought is one that scares her, and my blood heats once again.
“I was living my life on Earth. We all were. Then I woke up on a ship. We were taken to a strange planet, where aliens bid on us like we were objects. Once we were sold, we were loaded on that ship. But the ship crashed, and the Voildi said they would help us. A group of massive guys jumped out at us, and I went looking for water. Then you found me.”
Her voice is sad.
“The Voildi…these are the yellow ones?”
“Yes.”
“They were not helping you. They prefer their meat to be able to talk.”
Charlie growls again behind me. “Those assholes were going to eat us?”
“Yes.”
“Well, shit. Oh my God. What if the other women have been eaten?”
“The other males. What did they look like?”
“Um. I didn’t pay much attention. They were huge though. They had long hair—like yours but darker. And they carried swords.”
“Braxians.” My voice is a hiss of rage, and Charlie jolts behind me as I search for a place to land.
“Is that bad? Do you think they hurt the other women?”
“No,” I admit. “They likely will be hoping to mate with them.”
“Oh God.”
Charlie trembles against me. I choose not to tell her that the Braxians are unlikely to mate with her friends without permission. They may be barbarians, but they have their own code of honor.
A code of honor that didn’t apply to my people.
I bare my teeth at the thought. Charlie is safer with me than with the traitorous Braxians. Let her believe that they would harm her if it makes her appreciate the safety she finds in my lair.
I land and help Charlie dismount. She glances up at me and then takes a step toward the twisted metal in front of us.
Her eyes scan our surroundings, and I can sense her disappointment. Ah. The other females. She was hoping that they would be here.
I grit my teeth as I transform into my two-leg form.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“If you are planning to go inside, I must be in this form to go with you.”
She stares at the ship, and for the first time in days, I can smell the reek of her terror.
I didn’t notice when Charlie no longer smelled of fear and anxiety. Now she is trembling once more, and I mentally curse myself for bringing her back here.
She takes a few steps closer and then freezes, shaking her head.
“No,” she says. “I’m not.”
We’re mostly silent on the way back, and I swoop down occasionally to hunt along the way. Now that I am changing between forms, I need more fuel than I can ever remember needing before.
I can feel Charlie flinch as I pick off a beast from the back of its herd.
“What is the matter?”
“Nothing. I was just remembering following the Voildi with the other women. I was the sick, injured human at the back of the herd. I kept thinking that it was only a matter of time before I was picked off by a predator.”
I flinch internally at that. I was the predator who took her.
“Charlie—”
“It’s okay, Dragix. It’s the way the universe works. The weak are always the first to die. It’s for the good of the herd. If predators targeted the healthiest animals or the youngest, whole species would die out.”
I turn my head to see her staring down at her hands, at where they’re clenched tight around two of my horns.
“I didn’t take you because you were the weakest. I took you because you smelled like something I hadn’t smelled in centuries.”
She looks up at that, meeting my eyes, and I return my attention to our flight, angling us back toward the mountain.
“What did I smell like?”
I’m silent for a long moment. “You smelled like home.”
She says nothing until I land and shift into my two-leg form. Now that I have seen how much Charlie has enjoyed the heated water in my lair, I have decided to try it myself.
“Dragix?”
“Yes?”
She chews on her lip, and I have a sudden, strange desire to replace her teeth with mine, nipping at her soft mouth and soothing with my tongue.
I step away.
“Do you think the other women are okay?”
I study her face. I could lie to her now. Could tell her that the other female two-legs are likely scared. Perhaps even hurt. I could let her think that she was the lucky one. That I am her light in the darkness. That on a planet full of monsters, she was taken by the one least likely to kill her.
But her anxiety is still wafting toward me, and she has a line between her eyes as she gazes toward the ship. If I lie to her and allow her to believe that her friends are in grave peril, I will be the worst type of monster.
“No,” I grit out. “Braxian males do not hurt females.”
Her eyes widen, the anxiety replaced with a hint of hope. I like this scent better, I decide. I like her eyes on me, large and trusting. Even if it means that she will likely be more determined to return to those females.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Nothing has changed. She may wish to leave, but she cannot leave me. Strangely, the thought does not soothe me as I stalk away to bathe.
Chapter Six
Charlie
I fly with Dragix almost every day. Sometimes, he points out different types of animals or tells me a little about the history
