Page 14 of Hunted By the Dragon Alien

Bruil snorted. His leathery wings shifted as he leaned back against the cell wall. “I admire your spirit, but I’ll tell you this—plans fall apart in here. Faster than abakknifewith bad welds.”

Takkian straightened. “She knows the risks,” he said, his voice low but sharp. “And so do I.” His silver eyes flicked back to Sevas with a hard expression. “We have to plan carefully. There will be no room for mistakes.”

Sevas nodded. Her heartbeat still thundered in her ears, but she felt steadier now, more grounded. The pieces weren’t clear yet, but a picture was forming in her mind—a path. Rough, uncertain, and dangerous, but a path nonetheless.

Takkian stepped back, his gaze locked on her as he folded his arms. “We’ll figure out the details later. Right now, you need to rest and I need to think.”

“And Ulo?” Sevas’ voice softened for the first time since the conversation started. She hated the edge of worry she couldn’t quite smother.

Takkian paused, his claws twitching faintly against his forearm. “If he’s strong, he’ll survive,” he said, blunt as ever. “We do nothing for him by throwing ourselves into a fight we can’t win. Let him prove something today.”

Sevas didn’t like it, but she knew he was right. That didn’t stop the knot of fear from tightening in her stomach, nor the helplessness that tried to squeeze off the air to her lungs. Taking a deep breath, she pushed those feelings down and focused on what she could control. “Then we make sure he has something to come back to.” Her voice was steadier now, threaded with determination. Her eyes didn’t waver from Takkian’s, silentlywilling him to see the resolve burning behind them. She would not let Ulo’s bravery be for nothing.

Takkian nodded almost imperceptibly, as if he understood the burden they now carried. “Rest while you can. You’ll need your strength.”

For once, Sevas didn’t argue. She climbed back up to Takkian’s bunk, wincing slightly as her bruises protested. As she settled into the mattress, she caught Takkian stealing one last glance at her before moving out of her view.

The sound of the mechs had faded, but in her mind, they still loomed like the haunting sound of inevitability. She closed her eyes. Ulo’s trembling voice and his fleeting smile were etched into her memory. He had found his courage. Now it was her turn to muster some of her own.

EIGHT

Takkian

Takkian leaned against the far wall, arms crossed over his broad chest, gaze locked on the door. The cell was quiet now; the energy drained after Sevas had lain down. Her breathing had slowed enough to suggest she might actually rest. Bruil, always the opportunist, had resumed his place on his cot, sharpening some dull implement like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Of course, it very well might be.

Still, Takkian’s wings twitched behind him, restless despite the quiet. The air in the cell felt thick, charged with tension neither he nor Bruil cared to voice. And as much as he hated to admit it, Sevas was the reason for it. Her words—a vow, really—had stuck with him, stirred something in him he couldn’t quite name.Escape. Hope. Madness. Whatever it was, it felt dangerous and, inexplicably, exhilarating. He searched for the crack in her logic, for a reason to dismiss her impossible determination, but instead, he found himself…drawn. Her spark wasn’t just reckless. It touched something deep in him. Something he’d buried under layers of survival and numbness.

His claws drummed faintly against his forearm in a slow rhythm, a habit he tried to keep subtle. He didn’t like this kind of thinking. His pulse quickened when his gaze shifted to the top bunk where Sevas lay. Her yellow hair spilled over the thin mattress like sunlight cutting through shadows. She was a fighter, he reminded himself—a stubborn, reckless survivor like the rest of them. But something about her rattled him in ways he wasn’t ready to confront. The way she looked at him earlier with her dark crimson eyes burning had stirred a heat under his scales that hadn’t cooled since.

His body was very much aware of her. His cock, which had lain dormant along with every other unnecessary feeling and emotion, had likewise awoken and decided it liked her, stiffening at the most inconvenient moments. Given the utter lack of privacy in the cell, there was no way to inquire if she had feelings for him as well. And how would he evendothat? His experience with females was useless. The only references to them in his stunted memory were the female opponents he’d been set against in the arena. How did a beast like him engage with a female he didnotwant to knock unconscious?

The sound of mechs pulled him from his spiraling thoughts. He straightened from the wall with a subtle, predatory shift. Bruil’s sharpening stilled. The rasp of metal against stone silenced. Sevas stirred. A soft sound escaped her lips as her eyelids opened. Her presence pulled at his awareness, drawing his attention like some uncontrollable orbit.

The heavy clang of the cell door unlocking came next and Takkian’s muscles coiled in readiness. One never knew what the mechs had in mind when they came down the cell block. The door slid open with a familiar metallic scrape. A hulking shadow filled the frame. Relief loosened the tight tension in Takkian’s chest, but his sharp gaze remained critical as Ulo stepped into the cell, entirely unharmed.

The juvenile looked…fine. More than fine. His rocky plates gleamed under the muted light, unmarred by so much as a crack. His broad shoulders, which had been hunched in fear when he’d left, now lifted proudly. His chest puffed slightly as he walked taller. The nervous tremors in his hands were gone. There was something…different about him, a quiet shift in his demeanor that hadn’t been there before.

“I’m back,” Ulo rumbled. He sounded surprised and excited as he took in a deep, steadying breath. His black eyes darted nervously between them, as though waiting for someone to speak.

Sevas pushed herself up on one elbow in the bunk. “Ulo.” She reached toward the Dokkol, hand extended. “You’re okay? You’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine. Not a scratch.” Ulo sounded almost baffled as he carefully took her small hand in his massive one. “None of it hurt… It was weird.”

Takkian shifted away from the shadows he’d been leaning in and narrowed his eyes. “Weird how?”

Ulo hesitated, blinking rapidly as he searched for the words. “The fighter was small,” he said finally, his tone low but steady. “Skinny. Not like you, Takkian, but he was fast, and he had all these sharp weapons. He kept hitting me, but it didn’t… It did nothing. Not even a little. It was like being hit by leaves.”

“Who was your opponent?” Takkian asked, because he’d gone up against almost everyone in the arena at some point. If they didn’t get out of there soon, he’d likely have to fight Ulo, himself.

“His name was Briksap. Or Berksup,” Ulo replied. “Something like that. It was very noisy in there.”

Bruil barked out an abrupt laugh from his cot. “Birksip. They put you up against the fluffy one, huh?” He grinned in genuineamusement. “Guess the crowd didn’t want to see their shiny new Dokkol smashed to bits too soon.”

Ulo’s massive hands curled loosely into fists. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, making the floor beneath him groan faintly. “They all wanted him to win. They threw rocks and taunted me when I hit him and he didn’t get up. I didn’t mean to hurt him,” he said quickly, glancing between Bruil, Takkian, and then Sevas. His rocky shoulders slumped slightly, and his voice wavered with guilt. “It happened so fast. I just swung once, and then…down he went. That was it.”

Takkian folded his arms over his broad chest as he leaned toward Ulo ever so slightly. “One hit?”

Ulo nodded solemnly, his gaze dropping to the floor. “Yeah. Just one. The mech waited, but then came and dragged him off.” His voice grew quieter. “I didn’t mean to hit him that hard. I just wanted him to stop hittingme.”

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