Page 41 of Selected By the Dragon Alien
Then, with a low growl, he turned his attention back to Turi. He forced out another word, even though it hurt to make thesesounds. “Weapon,” he growled out, looking meaningfully at the blaster on the enforcer’s waist.
Understanding shown in her eyes as she plucked the unwieldy weapon from the dead male and pointed it toward the guards. “Drop them,” she ordered. “Now.”
Ellion knew Turi had no idea how to use that weapon, and he hoped she kept her finger off the trigger so she wouldn’t accidentally hit something. The Axis’ guards were not as intimidated, however. They held their ground.
“I’d do as she says,” said a familiar voice. Yuric came around from the back of the Riests’ building, holding a blaster of his own. A mass of Hecron warriors followed, surrounding the guards.
They did as she said. Yuric relieved the guards of their weapons, then gave Ellion a long, hard look. “Glad you never changed intothiswhen we sparred.”
Ellion, unable to laugh, snorted out some smoke. But he wasn’t done. There were still several Axis ships in the sky that were, presumably, waiting for orders on whether to attack. With the array destroyed and the enforcer dead, they were likely in a holding pattern.
“Be careful,” Turi murmured to him. She’d felt his muscles tense and his gaze turn skyward.
He nuzzled her with his snout and rose to the sky. The other ships were not looking for a fight, either. They offered some resistance, but Ellion was only able to disable two of the ships before the rest took off for space. He watched them depart, feeling the dragon fire dampen and the urge to return to his regular form sink into his bones. He wanted to hold Turi. To feel her in his arms and take in her scent. His brave, powerful female.
He all but crashed to the square, where Turi rushed over to greet him. The transformation hit the instant his body felt solid ground. He shifted back to his common form, wishingthere wasn’t an audience for this—and there was. The whole settlement crept out to watch his body contort and twist itself back into its original shape. He closed his eyes and concentrated onnotfalling flat on his face. He focused on the feeling of Turi’s soft hands on his back. Of her gentle voice whispering sweet words into his ear. His chest heaved as he looked up at her, sweat pouring down him, exhaustion making his limbs tremble. Vulnerable. Utterly exposed. “Turi,” he breathed before darkness took him. “My love.”
TWENTY-NINE
As the final remnants of the Axis’ artificial storm cleared away, revealing a brilliant emerald sky, Ellion stood in the shadow of the mountain and his smoking fortress. Turi stood beside him, small in comparison to his non-dragon form. She was in this field the night he first saw her rescue thecibratfamily, surrounded bysogfrutplants that rustled softly in the breeze.
“Look,” Turi said, turning a leaf over in her fingers. “The crops will grow well now that the sky is clear. They only ever got a few hours of direct light.”
He nodded, his chest still aching from the exertion of shifting back. “Without the Axis taking all of it, your people will thrive,” he replied, his voice still rough from shooting out so much fire.
They stood in silence for a moment, enjoying the peace that had finally come to their home. It was a feeling that Ellion never thought he would experience.
“Do you think they’ll come back?” she asked in a small voice.
“The Axis have retreated from the planet,” Ellion said finally, breaking the silence. “Yuric sent the remaining guards back to the Axis with a message—‘tell your client their contract is fulfilled and canceled.’”
“They’ll agree to that?”
“I believe so.” Ellion let out a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. “They lost control over the settlements. All four know the Axis held them as prisoners, now. Getting them back in line and on the track of slow degradation would be impossible. Plus, the Hecrons took the ships and weapons that could be salvaged and added it to their own arsenal. When the fortress is operational, the Axis would have a challenge to reclaim the colony.” Just saying the words were strange and foreign. He never imagined he’d be free of the Axis’ control, but here they were. Free.
“Good,” she said, looking out over the field. “I hope they never come back.” Turi wrapped her arms around Ellion’s waist, her head resting against his chest. “We did it, Ellion,” she whispered. “We’re finally free.”
Ellion allowed himself a small smile as he held Turi close, soaking in the warmth of her body against his. Hewasrelieved that the Axis were gone, but he couldn’t shake a lingering feeling of unease. His thoughts kept drifting to the brothers he barely remembered—some pieces of his memory had returned, and were still returning—but his childhood was still lost to him. All he had was a brief mental image of standing in a line with five other Zaruxian youths. They were in a cold, dark room. Afraid. Shaking. He wanted to find them and learn the parts they played in the Axis’ prison conglomerate. Were they overseers like himself? Had they fallen completely under the control of the Axis, like Enforcer 258, subset D?
“We will begin repairs on the fortress when we return home,” he said, his voice a low rumble in Turi’s ear, then made a mental stumble. “That is, if you still consider the fortress your home. Things are different here. I would understand if—”
Turi turned to him and placed a finger over his lips, her brow creasing in concern. “You are my home, Ellion. And so is the fortress. If you think I’d leave you now, you’re mad.”
He smiled and bent to kiss her, but noticed two figures walking toward them. Turi’s parents walked slowly, even though her mother no longer wore hobbles. Her father’s face was somber, but he offered Ellion a nod of respect. Turi’s mother, on the other hand, looked relieved and grateful.
“Thank you, Ellion,” she said, taking his hand in hers. “You’ve saved my daughter and the rest of the Terians on this planet. You are a son to me now. You must call me Aila.”
Ellion dropped his gaze, feeling a rush of emotion at someone calling him “son.” What happened to his own mother was a mystery he hoped to one day solve. “I only did what needed to be done,” he muttered.
Turi’s father cleared his throat, pulling him from his thoughts. “Ellion, I apologize for my treatment of you.”
Ellion looked at him, surprise written on his face. “It is not I who deserves an apology,” he said, standing straighter. “It is Turi. And Aila. And every female you helped send off to mates who treated them badly.”
Tregit’s shoulders sagged and he rubbed a hand over his face. The weight of the years and hardships pulled down on his bony shoulders. “I should have treated you better, Turi. You, your sisters, and your mother. Your mate is right. I—all of us—fell into the Axis’ plan, but we arenotbeasts. We are Terians, and we have a society to rebuild.”
“You do,” Turi said, expression unreadable. “And I hope you do, for the sake of every Terian. All of our people—females and males—should choose their mates and their lives.”
Turi’s mother glanced at her bondmate with an unreadable expression, making Ellion wonder if she planned to give the Terian male a chance to redeem himself. Only time would tell. Time would also tell if Turi and Tregit could mend their relationship. One thing he did know was that it would take many generations for the scars of this time period to fade.