Alien Dragon's Mate: Braxan (Science Fiction Alien/BBW Romance) (20 page)

“No, I had no idea. It's been there for so long the ground is just thick organic dirt, like in jungles on Earth. Old trees and leaves and things like that for many feet down. There's even little streams and ponds.”

Amelia looked up. Only one silver dragon had fallen out of the sky, but the light show was still going on. It looked like it was much closer now, as if the battling dragons had been working their way down towards the surface.

“That looks like it's getting a little more urgent,” Jean said. “At this rate, they will be down here in just a few minutes. We should probably speed up. I'd prefer not to be in the middle of that fight.”

“I think you're right.” As Amelia watched, a large, white flame engulfed several silver dragons and she saw a golden dragon come zooming down.

And then he was there, hovering in the air in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat. He was a little overwhelming, still.

My love.
His muzzle just touched her nose, as gently as a caress, and she extended her arms and held around the large dragon head. It was hot and hard, not at all like his human skin. His wings were blackened and singed, and he had burns along the sides.

She closed her eyes and felt the life and power in him. It was filling her, too. “Uh-huh.”

The Imperial Guards are gaining the advantage. If we don't disengage, they might kill us. When will you reach the forest?

She looked down the side of the crater. The first colonists were only about a third down. “It will be an hour or more. It's a difficult descent. And there are children among us.”

That will be too late.

She understood. They hadn't won yet. She kissed his muzzle and he soared up in the air and dived down to the first colonists, grabbed four of them with his claws as he flew past them and then dropped them by the edge of the jungle two seconds later. Then he returned and did the same with four more and then another four, and by then the colonists stopped climbing down and just waited for him to lift them and carry them down.

“You realize he'll have to do that a hundred and fifty times,” Jean pointed out.

Amelia smiled at the sight. He was saving them all for the second time that day. “Yeah, but it only takes him a couple of seconds each turn. He'll be done in no time at all.”

The huge golden dragon was just a blur as he picked up the Earthlings and set them down at the edge of the jungle.

Jean watched in wonder. “He's
fast
. I get the feeling dragons are different from what we thought.”

Amelia nodded slowly. “Oh, you have
no
idea.”

Then she watched as Braxan picked up Daria, Jean and Hanson and set them down by the jungle's edge. And then, finally, he slowed down and flew up to her on strong wings. He placed his large, sleek head beside her and she looked right into his intensely yellow eyes.

She reached out and touched his cheek. “You're unbelievably great and I love you so much it hurts.”

I am an Ultra Draco. My love, I will not carry you in my claws.

He stretched his neck out, and she got the point. His scales were smooth and hard, and it wasn't easy to gain purchase with her fingers, but he helped, and soon she was sitting on his back, holding around his long neck with both hands. “What do I hold on to here?”

I will not let you fall.

And suddenly they were fifty feet in the air, and Amelia squealed from fear and exhilaration. She clung to his scales with her fingers and felt even her toes curl in a subconscious attempt to hold on. But he was right – he would never let her fall.

Scorching hot air passed by her as he breathed his white fire at a silver dragon that had gotten too close, and the smaller dragon tumbled to the ground, scorched black on one side.

But another one was close by, and that one feinted and veered off to one side without attacking. It was clear even to Amelia what it was doing – it was waiting for its friends. And they were coming, too – a whole lot of silver dragons were shooting straight for them through the air.

I will tell my flight to get away. Then we will join your friends in the alien spaceship. I would much prefer to use my own ship, but I fear it has been taken from me.

Amelia clung on as they zoomed higher in the air. “You know, I like this. But it also scares the pants off me. Let's please not go any faster.”

Very well, my love.

Before she knew it they were approaching the battle, where it was now obvious that three large dragons were in a pretty desperate fight against a chaos of silver. It looked like three sharks being attacked by a mass of smaller, vicious fish.

Suddenly a deep hum filled the air, and Braxan dived back towards the ground.

I gave the order. Now we have to go just a little faster. You're completely safe.

They tore through the air, going straight down and accelerating much faster than if they had just fallen. Amelia used all her strength to hold on, and Braxan's neck protected her from the force of the air.

Then he leveled off at the same height as the treetops.

Amelia looked behind her. The three larger dragons were nowhere to be seen, but she and Braxan were being followed by a solid mass consisting of hundreds of silver ones. “Can we escape them?”

We can. And we will. Are your friends safe?

He dived down between the trees right at the edge of the jungle, and Amelia spotted Commander Hanson, standing by something that looked like an uprooted tree, but which she then realized was a hatch to the inside of the alien spaceship Marqatzo. He waved at her, and she waved back.

“He's waiting for me. Will you come, too?”

If they're safe, then I will not enter. I will draw the Imperial Guards away from you and them. If the Guards have to choose between me and you, they will pursue me without a second thought. They have no interest in humans.

“Think again, dragon boy. I'm not letting go of you again.”

Very well.

Amelia looked around and took in Braxan's scorched body and his singed wings. “Can you outrun them? In the state you're in now?”

Yes.

Braxan changed shape just a little, becoming sleeker and extending his wings further.

Remember, I will not let you fall. Not now and not ever.

The deep voice resonated through her mind, and she knew it was true. “Let's go.”

Immediately he shot straight up, and kept going faster and faster, calmly beating his huge wings. And before Amelia knew it, she could see that they were about to leave the atmosphere.

“Are we going much higher? Looks like we're about to go into space.”

You will come to no harm. I am shielding you.

“Well, it's not shielding I need, exactly. It's air. To breathe?”

I am shielding you from all that is space,
he assured her.

It got darker around them, and Amelia noticed that she could no longer hear the beating of the wings. She looked back. Ah. They were no longer moving, but folded back into a new position. And something seriously weird was going on around the tips of the wings. They were blurred and had ghostly blades coming out of them, and the blades appeared to be stretching infinitely far out into space in every direction, shining in all the colors of the rainbow while at the same time being obviously black, and they passed in and out of existence very fast ...

She looked away. That was not something she could keep staring at and expect to stay sane.

But it wasn't important right now. She squeezed him, hard, and placed her cheek on his skin. She could breathe just fine.

Braxan leveled off.
It will take the Guards a long time to get this high.

The planet Belzon was under them, and Amelia saw the crater and the jungle beside it, a dark red and green oval against the yellow and brown rock and sand around it.

“Where are your friends?”

They have left this planet for now and are attempting to regain control of my old spaceship. I suspect they will fail.

“Is there something wrong with it?”

In a sense. It was taken over by our Emperor. The ship and everything in it.

“Sounds pretty bad.”

I was happy to pay that price. I received a hundredfold in return. My love, something is going on with our jungle.

Amelia turned her head and saw a most remarkable thing. The whole forest was ...
detaching
itself from the planet. She could see it casting a shadow on the ground underneath it, and it looked like that whole gigantic thing was rising slowly into the air.

“Looks like the spaceship Marqatzo can fly after all. You know, Braxan, I've seen a whole lot of weird things these past few days. But
that
– yeah, that has to top the list.”

It looked like an entire continent hovering in the air. The whole jungle was still attached to the top of Marqatzo's oval hull, like a green/red fur, and it rose higher and higher. The shadow it cast on the planet's surface grew blurry at the edges.

Believe it or not, my sweet, but it tops mine too.

They watched in silence as the immense spaceship came up towards them. It was so humongous that it looked like it was rising slowly, but Amelia realized that it was moving at a terrific speed, straight upwards.

Let's meet them.

Braxan dived down, and it felt like plummeting towards the ground. But Amelia was getting used to his moves and the speeds and the height, and now she only felt exhilaration. She had once been on the back of a motorcycle going at a hundred and thirty miles an hour while weaving among cars driving much slower. That had been both extremely frightening and totally cool at the same time, but it was child's play compared to riding on the back of an actual dragon swooping down towards a spaceship the size of a country.

I can't land on the jungle. An invisible field is keeping me out.

They flew around the underside of the alien ship, and immediately a large hatch opened.

“I think we're invited,” Amelia said.

I'm certain you are. But I get a feeling he's not too enamored with my kind.

“We'll try. If he wants to kick you out, he'll have to kick me out, too.”

Braxan slowed down. Beyond the hatch there was a brightly lit hall, and they flew into it and landed on a deck that was covered in a rubbery kind of fabric.

“Welcome, Amelia,” Marqatzo said, and this time Amelia was sure he was using some kind of loudspeaker and not just projecting into her mind. “Upon consideration, I decided I'm still spaceworthy.”

Amelia slowly got down from Braxan's back. There was no one else in this gigantic hall. “You look pretty spectacular. And I notice you still have the jungle on top.”

“Indeed. I have not been idle while I was stranded on the planet. I devised a shield that would allow me to travel in space with the forest attached. I just couldn't bear leaving it behind with all its lifeforms.”

When she turned back around, Braxan had Changed back to his humanoid form. And of course he was naked. He looked almost more imposing like that, because he carried himself with the confidence of a ruler of the universe, and that manhood of his was spectacular in any state.

Amelia took three steps and was finally in his arms.

He squeezed her hard. “My love,” he said, and he placed his lips on hers and kissed her deeply.

He took her hand, and then she was clutching something hard and small.

“You don't need it anymore?”

He looked at her with mild eyes. “It healed me.
You
healed me.”

“Well, you saved me first. So we're even. More or less.”

“Between a husband and a wife, no one is counting. We're one.”

“Damn right we are. Let's have the wedding soon, okay?”

Braxan nodded. “As soon as possible.”

“Marqatzo,” Amelia said. “After we meet the others ... if you have the jungle up there still, maybe there's a nice, clear pond too? In a clearing? With a nice beach and a little stream? Without too many dangerous animals around? Maybe a bush of some kind? I'm not completely guessing here.”

The spaceship's voice boomed through the hall. “I might be able to help you with that.”

“Also, before we see the guys – umm, do you have some clothes for Braxan? I mean, I'm not wearing any jeans under my pants anymore ...”

- A
melia -

“Ohmigod, he's
totally
dreamy,” Daria said so loudly it was obvious she wanted Braxan to hear it, too. “When he came flying like a damn meteorite and just took out those Pirgks down there ... I thought I'd faint on the spot. And you're going to
marry
him?”

Amelia shrugged. “What else do you do with a shapeshifter dragon who saves your life about fifty times and then saves all your friends from certain death and then takes you into space on his damn back? I just have trouble imagining any other guy topping that, even if they had a fast motorcycle. Oh, and I've been in love with him for a good while.”

Marqatzo had found some sheets or fabric, and Amelia had helped her fiancé fashion it into a kind of a kilt. His upper body was bare, mostly because she thought he looked good like that.

Daria openly ogled the Ultra Draco. “No kidding. But I know he has some friends of the same kind.”

Braxan was talking with Carl the chief medic, mostly because no one else had the nerve to talk to the dragon now that they knew who he was. Well, he and his friends had killed six colonists during the first attack. But in Amelia's book, they had atoned for that now. By a pretty big margin.

“He does. They're sort of busy right now, I think. But if you want to be introduced to one, I'll ask him.”

Daria grinned. “That would be pretty cool. So, did you do it yet?”

Amelia played innocent. “Do what?”

Daria punched her shoulder. “Oh, you know.
It.
I mean, you
were
alone with him there for a while. In the jungle. I mean, sure he was injured, but still ... I'm not sure I could have resisted the temptation to just jump his bones.”

Amelia felt an enigmatic smile playing on her lips. “We did a bunch of things.”

Daria's eyes shone. “Ohmigod, you did! With a
dragon!
” She leaned in closer, whispering conspiratorially. “Was it good? Like, great? It pretty much has to be, right?”