Page 12 of Chosen By the Dragon Alien

Cyprian watched her closely. “And this overseer,” he said, his voice steady, “he looked like me?”

Fivra nodded. “He has wings like you, and his eyes are silver, too. But his scales are a deep purple, not reddish, like yours. He is…imposing.”

Cyprian’s wings twitched involuntarily at the description. It was strange to hear of another of his kind, especially one who held such power over others. “Did he ever mention where he came from? Or why the Axis chose him to oversee your settlement?”

“No,” Fivra replied fervently, shaking her head. “He rarely spoke to us directly, unless it was to deliver instructions or reprimands. We were told to never approach him.”

A heavy silence settled over the room as Cyprian processed this information. It was clear that Fivra’s overseer played a significant role in the lives of those on the settlement, yet he remained an enigma—a distant figure whose motives and origins were shrouded in mystery.

“Fivra,” Cyprian said, leaning forward with a troubled expression, “I need to know more about the Axis’ involvementwith your settlement.” He wasn’t ready to tell her that she had been a prisoner in a penal colony. At least, he assumed she wasn’t aware of it. She never described herself or the others there as anything but farmers or residents. One thing he’d learned from her was that this was a generational penal colony, which meant Fivra had committed no crime. She was serving a sentence of her ancestors. “Were there other beings working for the Axis?”

She frowned, her brow furrowing in thought. “The overseer’s the only one who lived there with us. He has a fortress on the mountain. We were taught to avoid the Axis’ agents when they came to collect the crops. My father spoke with them, though, when he loaded the crates onto the transports. He said there were rumors about the overseer.”

“Rumors?” he prompted, eager for any scrap of information that might shed light on his own past.

“My father said that the agents hinted that the overseer wasn’t the only one of his kind,” Fivra said hesitantly. “That there were others scattered elsewhere in the quadrant. But it was all hearsay. And it didn’t affect us, so we didn’t think much of it.”

Cyprian’s mind raced with the implications of her words. If there were more Zaruxians out there, working under the Axis’ command, it could mean that he was part of a larger plan—one that he had been ignorant of for far too long. “And did the overseer ever tell any of you why you had such a connection with the Axis?” he asked, trying to find out for sure whether the Terians knew they were prisoners.

Fivra shook her head. “No. Our lives were tied to their interests. We were taught to worship them. To see them as our protectors.” She snorted, a sound that was not verycourtia-like. “That is a lie, obviously. Theygaveus to those raiders. The way they demanded our crops, the way they controlled our lives… It was as if they were cultivatingus, just as we cultivated the land.”

Cyprian’s jaw tightened. Her assessment was incredibly accurate. The Axis’ reach was far and wide, but the notion that they were meddling with entire populations forgenerationswas unsettling. “Thank you, Fivra,” he said, his voice low. “I wish I could have met your overseer, but we don’t even know what planet you are from.”

Fivra looked up at him, her blue eyes reminding him of the waters of the station’s healingpetrelbath. “Do you think you may be related to him? Like I said, you have similar features.”

“I…don’t know,” Cyprian replied. “I am not aware of having any family. I was raised by the Axis, myself.”

“Raised by them?” Her face pinched. “How does that work?”

“Ah, I wish I could tell you, but I have very few memories of my youth. It’s as if they’re blurred out, somehow. Perhaps my kind doesn’t retain memories of their juvenile phase. When I was of a certain age, I was sent here to train under the previous director of Erovik. Now, I run it.”

A flicker of confusion crossed Fivra’s face. “That’s sad, Cyprian,” she said quietly. “I hope you find out about your family.”

“I’m not sure there’s much to learn about them.” No one had come looking forhim, that was for sure. Cyprian stood up, his wings unfurling slightly. He intended to move towards the door, but Fivra rose, too, and suddenly they were standing too close together. She was right in front of him. He could feel the warmth of her body. Her breath feathered against his chest and he shuddered.

Her brows knitted. “Are you cold?”

“No,” he murmured. “Just the opposite.” And before he could think it through and talk himself sensibly out of it, he dipped his head and brushed his lips to hers.

It was reckless, bold, and a terrible idea. And his entire body shook with the relief of it. Of finally tasting her.

Fivra didn’t back away. She didn’t move. Her mouth stayed where it was, under his. There was something tentative about the way she held her head just so—tilted and upturned, as if she was testing this out, seeing if she liked it.

Hedid. Very, very much.

He needed to think. He needed to get out of this suite and away from Fivra before he did something incredibly foolish and let this continue. With supreme effort, he straightened and stepped back, dragging air through his nostrils and not placing a hand on his rigid cock that screamed to be released from his pants. “I will leave you now,” he said, taking in the color in her cheeks and the rapid rise and fall of her chest. “Rest and relax, Fivra. I will see you at the party.”

She blinked and shook her head. “Keep your expectations low.”

He smiled, attempting a teasing tone. “That’snotwhat we tell clients.” It came out a touch harsh, because of the hunger pounding through him.

As expected, she didn’t get the humor. Her eyes went dark and inscrutable. “But you’re not a client. You’re…you.”

What thefekdid that mean?he wondered as he left her suite, finally alone—no one was in the corridor, thankfully—and rubbing a hand on his aching cock. He thought he understood females, after all these many, many mig-cycles of working at Erovik, but this one confounded him. This one had the power to undo him.

SEVEN

Fivra

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