Drakan (Scifi Alien Romance) (Galactic Mates) Read online

  “Does this thing have any weapons?!” I growl.

  “No,” Hannah replies, “but I can do this.”

  She pushes down on the stick and takes the Lance down low, barreling right towards the surface of the metal giant.

  “Watch out!”

  “I’ve got this,” she murmurs. “I’ve got this!”

  At the very last second, right before we’re about to crash into the Dreadnaught, she pulls back with all her strength, and the Lance makes an L-turn. We glide past the surface of the Zoran ship, a few inches the only thing separating us from the Dreadnaught. She turns the ship sideways and with one if the wings clips the Ygg right before its strike lands.

  Yes!

  I grab Hannah’s shoulders in celebration. What piloting!

  “Ahhh!”

  A scream from below deck makes my blood run cold, stopping my celebration dead in its tracks.

  “Evelyn!” Hannah says.

  A light flashes rapidly on the dashboard.

  “The hull has been breached!”

  I’m already halfway down the steps, pulling my axe from its holster. Blasters are pointless against these creatures, with their thick armored plating. Only a placed, skilled strike on their soft underbellies can end their miserable lives.

  I rush down to find Evelyn in the engine room, scrambling on the floor as a Ygg advances towards her, its many claws clicking on the metal door while it snaps its pincers. The beast raises its head — it’s about to strike.

  A Ygg’s pincers are among the sharpest things in the galaxy. More than enough to decapitate any alien, let alone the soft, vulnerable humans.

  It’s too late for me to kill it with a single blow. Saving Evelyn’s life is the only thing I can do.

  I drop my axe on the floor and leap forward, climbing on its back in two quick steps. From behind I grab the beast’s pincers with my hands, right before it’s about to shut them around Evelyn’s neck.

  The sharp blade cuts deeply into my hands, blood gushing down my fingers as I exert all of my strength. I manage to stop the beast from closing its pincers around Evelyn’s neck, but I can’t hold on for much longer.

  “The axe!” I growl. “Use it! Now!”

  The blades cut deeper with every passing second. Any moment now, the Ygg will sever my hands entirely.

  Evelyn crawls towards my axe, whirls around, and begins hammering it into the beasts soft underbelly like a woman possessed. The beast bursts open like a balloon, its green acid spilling out.

  “Watch out! That’s poisonous!”

  Evelyn rolls away just in time, and I jump off the monster’s back as it thrashes around in the throes of death. I lift Evelyn to her feet, biting through the sharp pain it causes, and hurry her out of the engine room.

  “Space the room!” I say

  She taps a button and the doors shut instantly. Through a small window I see that a hatch open and the alien is sent hurtling into space before it’s acid can bite through the ship.

  With Evelyn safe I rush back up to see Hannah and the ongoing battle. If it wasn’t for her skill as a pilot, the encounter may have gone very differently for the Dreadnaught. Janko, Nenad, Orbren — they would all have died it hadn’t been for the human female’s quick thinking.

  I underestimated her greatly. I’m not sure if I would have been able to steer this craft so closely past the capital ship.

  “Drakan!”

  Hannah comes rushing towards me — but slips on a leftover bit of chocolate on the floor and tumbles backwards.

  I leap forward and catch her before she crashes into the metal flooring, sliding my lower arm around her neck. I lean over her and she looks up at me with those enchanting, sapphire eyes of hers.

  Her lips are only an inch from mine, and I can feel her warm breath on my face. An electric current moves through my body, my skin prickling with heat all of a sudden.

  For the first time in my life, a strange feeling takes hold of me, like I want to make this female mine. Like I want to crush her lips with mine, or feel her body wrapped around mine, or make her throw her head back in ecstasy as we mate without abandon.

  I am a warrior, a general, a born leader. I was taken from my family as a young boy, as soon my battle prowess became clear, and I was raised with a singular purpose: War. I have never mated. I have never kissed. I have never touched a female. I have dedicated my entire life to my art, my craft, my skills. I have perfected my techniques and crafted my own body into the greatest fighting machine in the entire universe.

  I am always in control, of my body and my mind. To love is to make yourself vulnerable. To love is to surrender a part of yourself.

  A fool’s gambit.

  Yet, as I stare into Hannah’s bright, blue eyes, I question everything I know, all the rules I have always lived by, for I feel the uncontrollable urge to throw it all away for her.

  Or it could simply be the massive amount of blood I’m losing.

  10

  Hannah

  For a brief moment I thought the battle was lost.

  The sky swarmed with Ygg, more than I could count, appearing out of nowhere, as if they entered through a wormhole or something. The Lance, while fast, is not equipped with weapons. I can dodge and race with the best of them, but fighting space battles if not my forte.

  I wonder what Evelyn would have thought. She was talking up the glory of space combat only a short while ago. However, there was nothing glorious about the frenzied battle, the devastation, or the death that I saw.

  An entire army of cruisers rose up from Exon Prime’s surface just in time, and the nimble ships laid waste to the invading Ygg. The moment the coast was clear I rose from my seat and ran down the hall, towards Evelyn and Drakan, worried sick about them.

  The Zoran warrior met me halfway and caught me right as I slipped.

  That’s how I find myself staring deeply into his sunflower-colored eyes, his thick, kissable lips only inches from mine.

  His eyes are different. They’re no longer filled with anger, but with something else entirely. Warmth. Admiration.

  Arousal.

  My hearts beats quickly and I’m afraid to move, to even breathe, because any movement might break the spell.

  A splash of red in the corner of my eye catches my attention. My eyes widen when I see it’s bright-red blood pouring out of Drakan’s hands at an alarming rate.

  “Your hand!” I cry out instinctively.

  His eyes close, his knees wobble and the large Zoran stumbles. Luckily Evelyn comes rushing up from the engine room just in time to help me catch him before he crashes to the ground. I wouldn’t have been able to catch his broad frame by myself!

  I quickly grab a med-kit and bandage his hands up, trying to stop the bleeding.

  “What happened?” I ask Evelyn.

  Her brown eyes are still wide as if she’s still in shock.

  “He saved my life,” she stammers. “I thought I was… I thought it was over.”

  “One of those Ygg monsters?”

  She nods. “Its fangs were so big, so sharp… Drakan stopped it from biting my head off, with his bare hands.”

  I manage to stop the bleeding, but the blood is everywhere. “We should get him cleaned up,” I say. “Let’s carry him to my quarters.”

  “Carry a seven-foot-tall Zoran? Have you lost your marbles?”

  “Just put your back into it, come on!”

  Mustering all the strength we have, we manage to carry the wounded warrior to my personal quarters. My bed is way too small for him, but it’ll have to do.

  “Hail the Zorans and tell them what happened,” I tell Evelyn, “and pick up the cargo bay I detached. I’ll clean Drakan’s wounds.”

  She nods. “Then can we go home?”

  “Hopefully,” I answer.”

  I don’t have the heart to tell my best friend we’re stick in this war zone because I had a nightmare about some big old alien brain. Especially not right after some alien monster nearly
killed her.

  Drakan’s bleeding has stopped, but his armor is covered in blood. It seems to have seeped under it as well. I feel around for a button or a clasp, anything to loosen the protective gear, but I don’t feel a thing.

  Well, that’s not entirely true. I feel a lot of things. Like his hard, sculpted muscles, for example. His obsidian armor is razor thin, hugging every inch of his body perfectly. My breath quickens, but I remind myself that I’m just doing this to help him.

  My fingers stumble across a secret fastening and the armor springs open, revealing his broad, naked chest. I can’t help but suck in a big breath.

  All I can say is wow.

  Every muscle in his body is perfectly defined. He looks like a titan; like the pinnacle of evolution. I didn’t think it was possible for any man to look this good.

  His skin is a beautiful deep red, and I can’t tear my eyes away from him. Intricate tattoos cover his shoulders and upper chest, adding to his mystique.

  I grab a wet sponge and clean the blood of his hands, arms and chest with warm water.

  I remind myself that I’m doing this to help him. To thank him for saving my friend’s life. But, that wouldn’t be the full truth.

  I’m getting something out of it.

  As I clean his strong, powerful arms, my fingers can’t help but brush across his naked skin. The touch sends a jolt through my entire body, straight down to my core.

  What am I doing?

  I hate this man. He has effectively kidnapped me. He’s forcing me to stay by his side and he’s stealing my ship.

  Yet here I am, running a wet sponge over his broad, naked chest, watching the droplets of water trickle down his sculpted abs as my tongue wets my lips.

  My eyes grow as wide as flying saucers when I see the sheets bulge. Heat rises to my cheeks instantly.

  I can’t, I shouldn’t, but I want to.

  I need to see if he’s the same color red all over.

  Just a little peek. That’s okay, right?

  With my hands trembling I slowly lift the sheets. My heart skips a beat when I see his perfectly shaped, brightly colored penis.

  It’s not red — it’s yellow! The same radiant color as his eyes, in fact. His cock is already the biggest one I’ve ever seen, and it’s still growing.

  I stare at it unapologetically, completely mesmerized by his pulsing, throbbing tool.

  From the corner of my eyes I can see the general blinking, rousing me from my wanton thoughts. I drop the sheet as if I just touched a hot stove, jumping back.

  “W-welcome back,” I stammer.

  Drakan sits up straight instantly, but I place my palm on his naked chest.

  “Calm down,” I say. “It’s safe.”

  “Where am I?” he growls. “The attack!”

  “You’re in my personal quarters,” I say. “The attack was averted.”

  “I need to assume my post!”

  “You need to rest!” I say. “You lost a lot of blood.”

  “What about the Dreadnaught, the fleet?”

  “They’re all still here. They’re not going anywhere. Rest for a second, please. Evelyn is hailing them as we speak.”

  He leans back, resting his head on my pillow. He’s way too tall for my bed, and my blanket leaves his massive chest exposed.

  Not that I’m complaining.

  Drakan glances at his bandaged hands, and then his eyes move to his naked body.

  “My armor?!”

  “I had to remove it to clean up the blood.”

  He frowns.

  “Unnecessary,” he says.

  I shrug, trying to play it cool, acting like my heart isn’t beating like a jackhammer and my stomach isn’t fluttering incessantly. The bulge in the sheets is still standing up fiercely, and it takes all the effort in the world not to glance down.

  “Thank you for saving Evelyn’s life,” I say, quickly changing the subject. “That was very brave.”

  “No, thank you for saving my crew. Where did you learn to fly so well?”

  I struggle to suppress a smile. “I wasn’t always a trucker, you know. I used to race cruisers, back in the day.”

  “Really?” Drakan says. “You, a racer?”

  “Uh huh. I won the Catonia Run, did it in 4.5 parlocks. In the youth category, that is. My parents were rather well of. My father was a high-ranking diplomat with the Federation, which is how he could afford a speed cruiser for his ten year old daughter.”

  “You speak of him in the past tense.”

  “Yeah,” I say, the smile leaving my face. “They had an accident. Hover-car malfunction. Nothing to be done.”

  I stare off into the distance.

  “Then, the vultures came. They had a lot of friends when things were going well, but no one wanted to take care of me and my baby brother. We both got shuffled into the foster system, while a lawyer managed our parents wealth until I turned 18. Not a single credit was left when I did, of course.”

  “How did you end up with the Lance then?”

  “This baby? I kinda sorta… stole it. Though it really belongs to me! In fact, this is the same ship I used to race in. With a decade’s worth of modifications, of course.”

  Drakan raises his eyebrows.

  “You stole it?”

  “It rightfully belonged to me, anyways. I saw the will. My parents left everything to me and Brock, but seeing as I was still a minor, a lawyer managed the fund. He stole everything. I just took back what’s mine.”

  “I’m surprised,” he says.

  “You don’t know me,” I answer.

  “Apparently.”

  “Repurposing my speeder into a freighter hurt, of course. The Lance should be free to fly, to turn, to barrel-roll. It wasn’t built for hauling tons of cargo around… but by doing so, the port police would be less likely to realize that they’re in fact dealing with a stolen speeder. Also, it means I’m outside Federation jurisdiction most of the time, which doesn’t hurt either.”

  To my surprise, Drakan is hanging on my every word. He seems genuinely interested in hearing my story.

  “What is it you’re working towards, then?” he asks. “You sound determined.”

  “Taking care of Brock, my little brother, is my number one priority. He needs a place to call his own. Stability. Unfortunately, I can’t give him that right now, but I’m saving. As soon as I have enough credits I’ll buy ourselves a home, and he’ll be able to attend a school for the gifted. He… he took the loss of our parents rather heavily. He can get really angry out of nowhere. Only I can calm him down, but I’m not always around.”

  I avoid Drakan’s inquisitive eyes, my heart feeling heavy.

  “Not that it matters. I’m stuck here for now.”

  Drakan reaches out and grabs my hand. My fingers touch his bandages as he squeezes my hand.

  “You’ll get back home.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “It’s a guarantee.”

  I glance up to see Drakan’s yellow eyes are twinkling, his broad chest glistening with drops of water, and my heart skips a beat. I feel like I’m floating, like I should lean over and plant my lips firmly on his, and surrender myself completely to the naked, gorgeous warlord.

  Heavy footsteps echo down the hall, and a whole squadron of heavily-armed Zoran burst into the room a moment later.

  “General!” the blue one in the front bellows.

  He takes in Drakan’s wounds, and his eyes narrow on me.

  “What did you do, human?!” he growls.

  Oh boy.

  11

  Drakan

  “Stand down, Janko.”

  My second-in-command stares at Hannah with anger burning in his eyes.

  “But genera—”

  “Stand down!”

  He reluctantly holsters his blaster.

  “We secured the vessel,” he says. “There is a Tyk’ix in the cargo hold, and we arrested another human female.”

  Evelyn.

 
“By Zora, they are our guests, not our prisoners! Release her right this instant, Janko.”

  “Yes, sir,” he growls. “What happened to your hands? Your armor?”

  “A little Ygg, nothing to worry about. What’s the situation?”

  “All is quiet, for now. The Ygg came out of nowhere, but they have been dealt with swiftly. The king is about to arrive.”

  “Good.”

  I turn to Hannah, who is leaning into me, away from my second-in-command.

  “Set a course for the palace, down on the surface. Let’s see if our king is more receptive to your story than I have been.”

  “The k-king?” she stammers, her face losing a bit of color.

  “That one, yeah. Janko, the command of the Dreadnaught is yours. I will accompany our guests to King Vinz.”

  “Yes, sir,” Janko says, snapping to attention.

  “Leave us be.”

  If Hannah’s visions are true, and I’m starting to believe that they are, then I’m not needed on my spaceship, fighting a never-ending wave of Tyk’ix. If what she says is true, and they are truly going to target our sun, then we have to evacuate Exon Prime as soon as possible.

  A tactical retreat.

  My soldiers leave, their boots echoing down the hall, and Hannah breathes a sigh of relief.

  “I apologize for that,” I say.

  I completely underestimated the human female. I thought her nothing more than a trucker, but her waters run deep. Her piloting skills are unparalleled. The way she controlled the ship was pure poetry in motion.

  I also feel a tinge of shame for keeping her by my side while she has a family that she’s taking care of.

  “I will make sure you are rewarded for your efforts. You’ll travel home with a brand new ship and more credits than you’ll ever need.”

  “I don’t want a brand new ship. I want my Lance.”

  “Then we will repair this ship. You’ll travel home looking better than ever.”

  “If we ever travel home,” she murmurs.

  “We will. I guarantee it with my life.”

  I was hoping to see the human female smile, but instead she gets up and leaves my side. Watching her walk away makes my stomach feel weak, in a way it has never done before. I’ve never lived for anyone else but myself. I’ve always prided myself on my strength, my self-reliance.