Page 5 of Selected By the Dragon Alien
He’d have to formulate an explanation that would pacify the Terians. As Ellion carried the female back to his fortress, his mind worked through possibilities of how to explain the disappearances without throwing the settlements into chaos. Order, sometimes, was held together by mere threads.
“W-where are you taking me?” Turi asked. She trembled in his arms and he realized it was not from fear, but from the cold. He’d carried her too high without protection. His aim had been to get a look around at a high vantage point. Perhaps the Rasharks were looking to abduct more females, or maybe there were other ships looking to do the same, but the horizon appeared clear. The Rashark ship had followed perfect protocol by flying low until it was out of sight of all four settlements before ascending to space. A glance down revealed his mistake. The female’s lips were bluish and quivering. Ice-cold hands gripped his forearms.
“My home,” he said, flying lower, directly toward the massive black structure that perched on the mountains that effectively walled off Settlement 112-1 to the north.
“Will you return me to my settlement?”
This was not the time for a conversation about her fate. He kept silent until he brought them both gently down on the courtyard that led to the lower entrance. Gusty winds generated by the heavy flap of his wings made her curl against him. The rapid beat of her heart against his chest made his ribs tighten with some odd emotion. His arms felt very comfortable around this female, for whom he’d watched over four years now.
He folded his wings and placed her on her feet. Her shoes were worn, frayed around the thin soles. Her brown dress was ill-fitting and also worn. Turi had a pretty face, although he’d never seen it without smudges of mud or streaked with dust. She had sharp green eyes like her mother and a stubborn chin, like her father. Her nose was straight and a little long, which he liked. Only her hair was clean and smooth and styled, andthatwas likely only because she was to have been given to a bondmate later today.
She wavered on her feet before finding her bearings and glared up at him with arms crossed. “Why did you bring me here?”
Ellion peered down at the small female and ran his fingers though his hair. Behind his ear was a flat, smooth metal implant that the Axis had put in to correct an injury he couldn’t remember. It was familiar to his touch, and a constant reminder that he was not free to make his own choices. He was an overseer for the Axis. Most Terians would be afraid, but there was no fear in her eyes now. Only outrage and the unmistakable metallic scent of overwhelm. “This is where you will live.”
“For how long?” she wanted to know.
“For the rest of your days.” He mirrored her stance and crossed his arms. “You cannot return to your settlement. The laws of the Axis forbid anyone residing in a settlement to remain there if they witness an off-world ship or being.”
“Yes, I heard that part back in the field,” she said. “I’d never heard that rule before. Not once.”
“There are rules that are for me to enforce.” Ellion cocked his head. “Would you want to go back? You’d be bondmated to 384-8—Thraip. He’s…” He trailed off, unable to find a word to describe the male that wasn’t vulgar. “Not for you.”
“Thank you for your assessment.” Her tone was acerbic. “If he was so bad, you could have stepped in before my father finalized our bond.”
To an outsider, this would be a strange scene—a huge Zaruxian male standing over a small, ragged Terian female as she scolded him for a mate bond he was forbidden from interfering with. Her appearance was a jarring contrast to the empty, gleaming black courtyard that was as barren and devoid of life as he felt.
“It would serve you well to set aside your life at the settlement,” he said. “Your life is here, now.”
She looked around with an expression of bafflement. “I’m really going to live here? Withyou?” That last bit sounded incredulous.
He nodded slowly. “I’m afraid so.” He didn’t miss the distinct draining of color from her face. “But the fortress is large and my duties are many. I won’t disturb you.”
Her gaze moved to the massive double doors that led inside. To Ellion, it was a refuge. It was his home. But to Turi, those doors would be dark and forbidding. They would be every bit of a prison as her settlement. Little did she know that she truly was moving from one cell to another. There was no escape for her or her people.
“Come,” he said when she just stared at the door. “Let me show you inside. It’s very easy to navigate once you understand the layout.”
She swallowed hard and looked back in the direction of her settlement. There was no longing in her eyes as she did so, just worry. Ellion was under no delusion that Turi missed her old home, or looked forward to the one she would have traveled to tonight. “What about the Axis?”
“What about it?” he asked, unsure what she meant.
She pointed up at the sky, where the swirling darkness always hovered and stretched far. “It’s up there, watching. What will it think of this?”
“Thatis not the Axis,” he corrected. This was common thinking among the Terians. They believed the dark swirl that blocked most of the light was the Axis itself, that it was the entity watching them like a huge judgmental eye. “That is a communications array put there by the Axis. Itdoesscan the settlements for bioelectrical signals, but it’s not watching or listening to everything that goes on.”
She looked skeptical of his explanation, but nodded slowly. “And what about my friends?”
“What about them?” The brightest star was edging toward the horizon. Her bonding ceremony would have been beginning soon. He knew she was aware of the panic that had to be happening in Settlement 112-1 at that very moment. Not just for her, but for five other females who either had a bondmate or would have soon become one.
“What will happen to them?” She turned turbulent eyes to him. “You seemed to know what they were talking about.”
Ellion turned away. “I’m no longer responsible for their fate.”
A small but strong hand gripped his elbow. “You’re our overseer. Tell me what will become of my friends.”
He sighed and went with the truth, as unpleasant as it was. “They will be brought to the commerce space station Falmic-5, where they will be sold at auction to the highest bidder,” he said flatly. “From there, I truly don’t know. Perhaps some will end up in harems, or brothels, or…”
“Or?” she prompted.