Page 28 of Pursued By the Dragon Alien

Lilas couldn’t miss the tightness in his voice. She did as he said and fell into step beside him. Her thoughts still raced from what she’d just heard and witnessed. He hadn’t needed her here for this sale—he could’ve done this alone, as he had many times before. But he’d wanted her here. Wanted her to see it, to be part of it,and, she now realized, had wanted to see if her presence provoked some reaction from the merchant they spoke to. It had.

She didn’t know what to do with that realization.

As they made their way back to the main trading stalls and toward the landing pads, Lilas finally found her voice. “Did you know about any of that?”

Razion shook his head once, stiffly. “No. And that concerns me.”

“Why?”

“Because that means we’re already behind. If Terians and Zaruxians are out there making moves big enough to catch the Axis’ attention, we should have known about it cycles ago.”

She looked at him skeptically. “You can’t turn into a dragon, can you?”

He gave her a sidelong look. “I haven’t, but I can.”

Lilas frowned, trying to imagine Razion’s body transforming into something else entirely, and failing. Her pulse thudded in her ears. “You think Axis agents are hunting the Terians?”

“Yes,” he said grimly. “And they are likely hunting you.”

“What about you?”

He smiled, but it was more of a grimace. “They’ve always been hunting me.”

The weight of it settled over her, thick and heavy. This wasn’t just about rebellion or scattered resistance—this was bigger. Coordinated. And if the Axis was reacting strongly enough to lose control of an entire penal colony, destroy a gladiator arena, and shut down a brothel, they weren’t just hunting these Terians and Zaruxians. They were afraid of them.

A chill ran down Lilas’ spine, but she forced herself to focus, to think. “If they were at Falmic-5, and we know at least some of them were sold there, then…” She trailed off, realizing exactly what this might mean.

Her friends.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so hard to find them, after all. But what else would she find, too?

ELEVEN

Razion

Razion moved fast, pulling Lilas through the trade station’s crowded corridors with a grip just firm enough to keep her close. His pulse pounded in his ears, drowning out the background buzz of clashing languages, bartering voices, and the steady hum of docking systems. Hurik’s words echoed in his mind like a warning siren—Terians causing revolts, a lost penal colony, Zaruxians turning into fire-breathing creatures.

None of it should have surprised him, but it did.

The Axis losing control of an entire colony wasn’t just a minor event. It was a fracture in their stranglehold on the quadrant. And if that revolt was tied to the Terians from Falmic-5…then Lilas’ friends were at the center of something much bigger than a simple escape.

As soon as they entered a relatively quiet section of the port, Razion tapped the communicator on his wrist, sending a sharp transmission to the rest of his crew still on Vexir Trade Station. “Conclude your trades and return to the ship immediately. No delays.”

A moment later, Vedd’s voice crackled through the comm. “That sounds urgent. Something explode?”

“No,” Razion said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Get back to the Darkslip. Now.”

There was a brief pause, then Vedd sighed. “Copy that.”

Razion cut the channel and quickened his pace. Lilas kept up, her hood still pulled over her dark hair. Her fuchsia eyes looked his way, brimming with questions he knew she wouldn’t wait long to ask.

When they reached the ship, he wasted no time leading her straight to the command deck. The doors slid open, revealing Krask already monitoring the systems from the central console. The first mate glanced up, brows furrowing at their abrupt entrance.

“Expedite the offload process,” Razion ordered. He didn’t slow his stride as he crossed the room, fingers flying over the control panel to bring up the ship’s external feed. “All goods already sold—finalize the transaction details and get the deliveries done now. I want to leave as soon as the crew is back on board.”

Krask blinked. His posture had gone rigid. “We only just docked. What’s the rush?”

Razion barely refrained from snapping. He dragged a hand through his hair, then exhaled harshly. “Just do it,” he said. “We’re moving out as soon as possible.”

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