Noble Monster: A Scifi Alien Abduction Romance Standalone (Jannan Raiders Book 1) (6 page)

Duel

Irina woke slowly in a small room that she had never seen before. Her arms were shackled in front of her and joined by a yard of chain, and she could see a chain leading from an ankle manacle to the steel frame of the cot that she was lying on. She sat up, chains clinking, and looked around warily.

She had been stripped bare. The only thing that her captors had left her with was the translator bud in her ear. She drew her knees up and crossed her arms over her breasts, suddenly aware that she was being watched.

Torvin sat in a chair across the room, shirt off, leering at her. She could see what looked like fresh claw marks crossing his hairy chest, striped in pink, shiny skin almost as wide as her hand in spots. Her lover’s doing; she was sure of it.
Too bad he didn’t cut any deeper, or I wouldn’t have this problem.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good. I had thought you would sleep the rest of the week. It seems you're bit vulnerable to the gas we used.”

She stared at him as his yellow eyes swept over her body, and felt a surge of nausea. What if he'd done something to her in her sleep? She had no way of knowing.
Better to assume that he waited until I woke, up so that he could make sure he had me good and scared.
But she wasn't good and scared. As she watched, his wide mouth stretched in a smirk, she felt herself getting good and pissed.

“I noticed that he took your collar off. What a sentimental fool. And so unfortunate, too. Now he can't track where you are.” He got up lazily and advanced on her. She quickly suppressed a surge of fear. She would need all of her adrenaline for rage, and the will to fight.

He was huge and powerful, but every man had vulnerabilities. This particular one’s pushed out the front of his breeches as he walked toward her. “That means I can have fun with you for as long as I want.”

“Don't bet your life on it, creep.”
Kaelon said he could sense me through the bond. I hope that that includes at a distance. I have to have faith in him. I can hold this guy off for a while even with the chains on, but I'm not going to be able to do it forever.

He hesitated slightly at the steel in her eyes, but then just laughed. “What can you do against me? I'm twice your size, and I'm a male. You're a mere female. You don't even have a shift form. What can you do? I'm going to make you service my cock until my balls shrivel up.”

“You are really disgusting. I wonder if your mother knows what she raised.”

“I killed my mother coming out of the womb,” he replied casually. “It's a problem in my family. As soon as I can, I'm going to make sure that I put a baby in your belly. One that'll kill you at
its
birth.”

I think you're a little late for that, asshole.
She hadn't wanted to tell Kaelon yet, but the truth was that she had missed her period, and she was starting to feel queasy in the mornings.

It was really too soon to tell unless she got a test done, and she didn't know anything about how the local physicians handled such things.

Besides, she hadn’t wanted to get his hopes up until she was more certain. But now, she was glad of the possibility that she was carrying his baby. It would prevent his rival from going through with his plans, even if Torvin managed to rape her.

He unbuckled his belt as he advanced on her, a gleam coming to his eyes that she wanted to snuff out with a bullet. “You'll live longer if you just give in,” he advised in a mocking tone. His breeches hit the floor, and she glanced briefly over his fat, stubby erection.

“But, I know you're a fighter, and that's what I'm counting on. I'm going to have a lot of fun with you.”

She drew her legs up under herself further, knowing it looked like a protective gesture. In fact, she was bracing herself. She held both of her hands together, gripping the chain that linked them in her fists.

He stepped up to the edge of the cot, reaching for her. His breath smelled rotten. He chuckled as he pulled her arms away from her breasts--and then gasped as she lashed a foot out straight into his swollen groin.

He let out a startled grunt, his face going white, and his grip on her wrists loosened. She pulled her arms free, and swung her manacles against the side of his head.

He reeled, eyes going blank, and she kicked him in the groin again. He doubled over, and she brought the manacles down on the back of his head as hard as she could.

He stumbled back, desperate to get away from her, and she went after him, going to the end of her leg chain as she struck him again and again. Pain jolted up her arms with each blow, but she didn't care. She knew that each strike hurt him much worse.

“You like that, you piece of shit? Here's what it feels like to get beaten up by someone tougher than you. Do you like it? You enjoy that? You want more?”

He staggered back away from her, running into the far wall, and then turning around to lean on it and stare at her in astonishment. “You...you're a human woman! You're not supposed to fight this hard! What is wrong with you?”

“I'm fed up with your shit,” she replied in a deadpan tone. “Maybe you should have bothered to learn about human women before you went and decided what we were all like.”

He stared at her a moment longer, his chest heaving, and then pushed himself back up to his feet. The astonishment and fear in his face was converting to outrage as she watched. She braced herself for a counterattack.

He stood up and went for her, both hands out, blind rage in his eyes. She ducked aside, having gotten plenty of practice dodging beatings in this horrible planet’s slave pens, and swung the chain into his face.

As he reeled, she ran around him, very aware of the length of the chain attached to her ankle. If she miscalculated, she would trip, and he would be on her in a second. Before he could straighten, she jumped on his back.

She threw the length of chain around his neck, and used the manacles like a garrote, pulling back on it with all the strength in her arms and legs. He gagged and turned in a circle, thrashing, trying to shake her off, and she wrapped her legs around him from behind to hang on tight. She pulled back as hard as she could on the chain, hoping to crush his throat before he could get a hand in between it and his skin.

“You should have kept your distance, asshole,” she hissed in his ear. “Hey, you were the one who encouraged me to fight. You said it would be more fun. I guess you're one of those guys who likes getting his ass kicked--”

Unfortunately for her, he had been in more fights than she had ever even witnessed. Snarling in rage or fear, she couldn't tell which, he ran blindly forward, across the room, until the chain on her ankle went painfully taut, and pulled her off of his back.

She saw blood and pulled-out hairs fly as the chain scraped over his scalp. Then she landed hard on her back, just shy of the cot.

Maybe she hit her head harder than she thought, because for a moment, she could have sworn that she heard the flap of leathery wings outside. But even as he threw himself over her and struggled to force her legs apart, and even as she kicked him with the one leg that wasn't pinned under him, she
sensed
something.

It was almost as if she had just caught a whiff of Kaelon's cologne, but even subtler. She knew in that instant that he had found her.

Hope gave her strength to keep fighting. Torvin kept trying to pin her down, even as he rubbed his groin grotesquely to try and regain his erection. Finally, he gave up and punched her in the face twice.

Her head bounced off the floor and she saw stars, going temporarily limp. “Finally,” he growled in exasperation. “That was too much fun to even be fun. You have no idea how to please a man.”

She spat blood in his face, and then smiled up at him as he sat back rubbing his eyes. “I don't see any men here. Just an animal that learned to talk.”

He snarled and raised his fist to slam into her face again. But before he could, they both heard an explosion outside.

Torvin raised his head in alarm. He sniffed twice, and his eyes widened. “How under the sun did he find us?”

Irina’s heart leaped, even as she recovered from his blows.
I'm okay. I'm okay. He didn't rape me, he didn't break anything, and he didn't hit me in the mid-section. I'll be fine. Kaelon's here.
“I think you're in deep trouble now, asshole.”

“
TORVIN!”
Kaelon’s dragon-voice was an ear-bending roar of outrage.

“...Now what did I just say?” She grinned up at him through sore teeth as he hastily started yanking his breeches back on.

Minutes later, he dragged her out of what turned out to be a small cabin, and into the clearing in front. Her lover stood there in dragon form, the corpses of four of Torvin's guards lying at his feet. He snarled low in his throat as he saw her nude, battered form.

The steel collar around her neck chafed hard as Torvin yanked her forward. “Back off or I will kill the girl.”

The dragon snaked his head forward until it was just a few feet away from them. “
Let her go or I will kill all of your lousy servants, and reduce this place to rubble. Then, I will take three days to kill you.”

“You think you'll actually manage that?” He pulled back on her chain so that he could press up close behind her, using her as a meat shield again. He tried to put his hand on her breast, but a sharp elbow in his ribs made him back off slightly.

“
You don't take your hands off my woman, and we're going to find out.”

“That's not legal. You can't just destroy everything and murder everyone. You may be the High Commander, but you still have to obey the law.”

The dragon hesitated, raising his head. Tobin's other men occupied the roof behind them, nervously pointing their rifles in the dragon's direction. He turned to her, and then nodded once.
“Then I challenge you to a duel. The winner gains all of the loser’s holdings, and the woman as well. The loser dies.”

Torvin stared at the dragon nervously, and then looked back up his men. They were nodding to each other, and immediately put up their rifles without his ordering it. “I….” he started, and then set his jaw. “Fine.”

Locking the end of her leash to a loop set in the wall of the cabin, he strode forward toward the dragon. “I wouldn't advise using your fire breath here,” he said conversationally as his voice deepened into a growl.

She saw fur sprout on his skin, and then a moment later he went down on all fours and shifted. “
The human is right behind me. You'll likely cook her as well.”

“
I don't need fire to end the likes of you.”
The dragon’s tail lashed as he awaited his opponent’s charge.

Irina held her breath as the two closed on each other. On the roof, she could hear excited muttering. She wondered if the guards were as sick of him as everyone else seemed to be. Maybe they were hoping he would get killed.

Dragon and lion leaped at each other and became a tangle of scales and fur. Growls and snarls shook the air as they tumbled over and over, snapping and clawing at each other.

The lion held his own at first, using his rear claws to rake at Kaelon's belly, but fortunately it was as armored as the rest of him. Kaelon countered by digging his talons into his foe’s back and starting to crush him against his armored chest.

Torvin squirmed free, tearing the skin of his back in the process, and leave the way, shaking himself. Droplets of blood flew into the air. He crouched quickly again, and leaped on the dragon before Kaelon could right himself, all four sets of claws out.

A heavy thunk like a spear biting into flesh ended Torvin’s snarling suddenly. She looked past her lover's bulk, and saw that his spade-tipped tail had lashed out and driven itself all the way through Torvin's chest. Torvin gasped wetly around the impaling limb for a moment, and then went limp.

Kaelon shook the corpse free of his tail with a snarl of disgust, and immediately shifted back to human form. He ripped off his white cloak as he walked over to her. “Are you alright?”

“I will be now that you're here,” she replied with a smile that hurt the torn corner of her mouth.

He wrapped her in the cloak, and then took hold of the collar around her neck and broke it off of her with sheer strength. Tossing it away with a heavy clatter, he pulled her into his arms. “I'm just glad that I found you in time.”

“Me too, love,” she murmured as she tucked her head under his chin. “Me too.”

Release

Three weeks later, she stood with him in a crowd at one of his gatherings. The palace was abuzz with the latest news: the High Commander had released his breeding slave, uncollaring her and giving her a full-range translator bracelet.

No human had ever been so honored. And there were other rumors as well: that he had offered his other slaves the opportunity to either return home to Earth, or serve him for a proper salary.

As Irina stood there beside him, the skin of her neck rebelliously uncovered in the face of the staring beast-men of his court, she couldn't help but smile back at them a little mockingly. He stayed close to her all the time, attentive, protective.

Every once in awhile, he would hold her hand in his huge one, comforting her and sending a fresh ripple of shocked whispers through the crowd. Finally, walking them to the center of the room, he raised his voice to get everyone’s attention.

“Ladies and gentlemen of my court,” he spoke in a grave tone. “As you have recently heard, after the attempted kidnapping and rape of Irina three weeks ago, I killed Torvin in fair combat. This was witnessed by his men, who now work for me.”

From under his cloak, he took her deactivated slave collar, which hung open in his hand. He held it up. “For two generations, we have used human breeding slaves to improve our genetic diversity.

“As many of you know, Torvin was the loudest and most influential advocate for continuing the status quo of purchasing humans as breeding stock from the slavers.

He has protected the slavers from any strong scrutiny with a combination of calling in political favors, and the strategic use of bribes. Now that he is dead, the veil that has concealed their activities is being lifted. I have verified since then the fact that the slavers have been lying to us all.”

More shocked whispering. A tall, pale man with spiral horns sprouting from his temples raised a black-nailed hand. “High Commander, could you be more specific?”

“We were told that humans were naturally tractable creatures who enjoyed captivity. We were told that their females are bred for obedience. None of this is in any way true.”

“Then why do the humans obey so readily?”

“Fear. Fear, trauma, and the desire to survive. Nothing more. Their behavior is quite similar to that of members of our own race that have been in captivity for extended lengths of time.

“As it turns out, the ‘training’ that they undergo in the slave pens is nothing less than torture and intimidation. They usually use pain inducers in order to avoid leaving permanent marks, but because of their brutal nature, the slavers still beat the humans in their ‘care’ quite frequently.

One of my operatives infiltrated the slave pens two weeks ago to gather intelligence on what is really going on within their walls. Images and recordings of what he discovered are being made available to you all.

“For fifty years, ever since the genetic bottleneck that might have otherwise doomed us was discovered, we have kept breeding-slaves of intelligent beings who crave freedom just as much as we do, and have simply been terrorized into obeying.”

Gasps of shock and horror; more muttering. The horned one spoke up again. “If this is true, then the slavers have been antagonizing another intelligent, space-faring race, who might decide at some point to make war on us for the sake of their captives.”

“That is absolutely true. And that is why I will be releasing the results of a deeper investigation within a month. If I determine, and I am certain that I will, that the slavers have committed crimes that might lead our entire civilization into war once again, I will propose the banning of the entire practice on this world.”

“But what about our need for human breeding stock?”

“We have the opportunity still to undo what the slavers have done, and create an equitable treaty between our two peoples. As it turns out, humans are compatible enough with us that members of our race have begun recognizing their true mates among them.” He settled his hand on Irina's shoulder.

“As I have.”

More gasps and mutterings of surprise. Kaelon smiled.

“To save our people, and to ensure that more of us discover our true mates, we must seek a treaty and trade agreements. This will force us to give up profiting from slave labor. However, the ultimate gains will more than repay any temporary losses.”

Irina looked around at them as they stared at her, and felt the weight lifting off of her heart. They seemed more shocked than anything at the news that their exploitation of humanity had caused far more harm than the slavers had told them. Perhaps they weren't all monsters. Perhaps they could learn to approach humans peacefully.

The horned man turned his gaze to her suddenly, and asked, “I was at the celebration where Torvin tried to rape you first. I remember how you cursed us all. You called us savages. Now I realize that you were right to do so. I can't speak for everyone, but I will be looking very carefully at this evidence. I must ask you--was your experience like what the High Commander is describing?”

She blinked at him. This whole time, the only members of his race who had ever bothered to directly address her could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Before now, most of them had never even looked her in the eye. “My name is Dr. Irina Evans,” she replied.

“I am a biologist with a specialty in healing herbs. I was on a mission to gather medical specimens to assist my people. Four months before I became a member of the high Commander's household, I was kidnapped from Earth spacing lanes and forced into the camps.”

She looked around. The entire crowd had gone quiet, and was listening to her every word intently. She swallowed dryness from her mouth and went on.

“During that time, I was starved, beaten, terrorized, tortured by nerve induction, and had to fend off several attempts at rape. During that time, I witnessed several women break under the conditioning. Some developed an insanity which made them tractable. Most learned to obey out of fear. And many died. I am willing to estimate that at least half of the women who are captured by the slavers do not survive their ‘training’.” She looked up at the horned man.

“Nothing that they did to me, and nothing that I saw done to others, inspired me to become obedient. It inspired me to fear you. It inspired me to hate you. The only reason that none of you knew this before is that it was in your best interests not to know.”

Tears ran down her cheeks, and Kaelon put an arm around her. With his support, she found the strength to go on.

“If Kaelon and I had not found each other, I would have died by now. I would have done so quite deliberately, goading one of you into pressing the execution button on my collar. You have been told that humans thrive when deprived of their freedom. I am here to tell you that the opposite is true. Most of us would rather die than live as slaves.”

The horned man paled, and nodded. “Then, I for one am very glad that the two of you did find each other. It may shock you to discover that relatively few of us would knowingly live with such an atrocity.”

She smiled through her tears. “It is easier now for me to believe that. We humans also have a habit of looking the other way when something terrible is happening. I think it is an affliction shared by many thinking beings. But things don't have to be that way. Your race doesn't have to die out, and we don't have to end up your enemies.”

Kaelon spoke up again. “Anyone who is interested in witnessing the results of the final investigation, please contact my head of security. We will have the records in your hands by the end of this month.”

Later that night, they sat together in his dining hall, enjoying a dessert of fruit and chilled drinks: sweet wine for him, some kind of fruit juice for her. Setting his goblet down, Kaelon's spoke.

“Miriam is returning to Earth at the end of this month. She has been an excellent servant to me, but given the reality of what I have discovered, I can no longer refuse any of my servants who request to return home. I have done what I can to compensate her for her years of service. She will have more than enough gold to ensure a comfortable retirement back on Earth.”

“I am glad. She never expected to see her home again.” Irina felt a pang of sadness at the irony of it all. In the end, Miriam had been right. Things had actually gotten better. But they had only gotten better because she, and then Kaelon, were willing to fight for a better world. “I should make sure to spend some more time with her before she goes.”

He hesitated. But finally, he turned to her and cleared his throat. “I know that this world has been terrible to you. I know that you have said how much you wished to be free. Even now, there are those who will fight against the changes I am seeking to implement. Even now, there are those on this world who would try to treat you like a slave in spite of the fact that you are my mate. Because of these and many other things, I can no longer in good conscience keep you here.”

She blinked in shock and set down her own wine goblet. “Kaelon….”

“I don't know how I will live without you,” he said with a sad little smile. ” I suppose that I shall endure, as I always have. But I would rather think of you free and happy somewhere, then stuck on a world that you can't stand.”

She took a deep breath. She had already made her decision. But making her decision and announcing it to him were two different animals, and she had to force herself to speak.

“It's true, just a few months ago I would have jumped at the offer. But things have happened which have changed that.” She reached over and put a hand on his arm, feeling it tense with anticipation of her answer.

“I don't want to leave you behind. And I know that you have to stay here. And even if I didn't care that I was about to leave behind the only person in this damn galaxy that loves me… I don't want his daughter growing up without a dad.”

He stared at her in astonishment. “You...you are pregnant? You are certain of this?”

“Miriam took me to your staff physician earlier this week.” she smiled up at him as he continued to gape.

“She confirmed it. But you were in meetings this whole time almost, and I didn't want to break your concentration with huge news like this.”

“Break my concentration? Who says that such news would break my concentration?” he stammered out--a moment before accidentally knocking over his wine goblet with a shaky hand.

She pressed a hand over her lips to stifle a giggle. He was so cute when he was flustered. “Oh, I don't know….” She grabbed him a napkin to soak up the mess, unable to stop smiling.

Miriam stayed an extra month when she found out that Irina and Kaelon were to be married. She offered her blessing, and a small gift of a needlepoint dragon to adorn the baby's bedroom.

Those few moments with Miriam were part of an overwhelming blur of events that marked Irina’s wedding day, and one of the few that she could remember clearly by the time that the celebrants started to go home.

Still resplendent in his heavily decorated wedding robes, Kaelon came to her as she was poking through the gifts on the table, trying to figure out what about half of them were. “Are you well, my wife?” He slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

“I'm exhausted, but happy. You know, I don't even know what half this stuff is? Most of the technology looks nothing like the devices I’m used to from home. I think I'm going to need you to help me out here. Otherwise I might just mistake a communications device for a toaster or something.”

He laughed. “And here I thought you were a scientist!”

“I'm a biologist, not an electronic engineer.” She lifted a silver cube from its nest of paper and peered at it, turning it in her hand.

He reached past her and took it out of her hand gently, setting it back on the table. “Well, for the record, that was the toaster.”

“Okay then. Um, where does it plug in?”

That got her another laugh. “You have an awful lot to learn,” he said affectionately. “And I'm going to very much enjoy teaching you.”

A little while later, he offered one such lesson, this one in the seraglio. Bending over a padded bench, she whimpered as he ran his tongue and up and down her bare back while kneading her buttocks. They were both nude, wedding clothes in a pile near the door, where they had eagerly undressed each other.

His hands slid around to cup and knead her breasts as he pushed against her from behind. She felt his cock slide against her thigh, and then let out a little gasp as his teeth grazed her neck.

One of his hands slid around to start kneading and caressing her sex even as he kept running his mouth over the top of her spine. She trembled, butting herself back against him as he growled and rubbed lasciviously against her ass.

In their weeks together, he had learned the trick of teasing her into frenzy before he entered, giving her the chance to take his enormous size comfortably. Now, she gasped and then let out a little purr as he entered, pushing eagerly back against him.

He kept caressing her as he thrust; bracing his weight against the bed she leaned on with one strong arm. She heard him hiss with pleasure through his teeth as his hips slapped audibly against her rump.

He started slow, his fingers busy at her groin as he slid in and out. But as her pleasure rose and drove her into a frenzy, she started rocking back against him rhythmically, encouraging him to speed up.