Page 44 of Possessed By the Dragon Alien
“Zarux,” he said. “It’s our birthright. Our home.”
“Fek,” Cyprian murmured, straightening up. “You know where it is?”
Madrian nodded. “The location was at the end of a report Rien gave me.”
“Where is it, then?” Razion asked. “What are the coordinates?”
Madrian’s expression turned pained as he gritted his teeth. He looked down and flared his wings. “I’ve lived on it my entire life. It’s Axis Central.”
Nena’s breath caught in a gasp. No, she hadn’t gotten through the entire report. She hadn’t heard about that part. The Axis hadn’t just taken Zarux. They’d made it theirs.
“That means Teria is right there, too,” Nena said. “So close.”
He nodded as the room erupted in more questions, discussions, and shock. Many decisions would need to be made. So many hard choices. None of them were clear or easy or came with a guarantee that everything would work out fine.
In the midst of it all, Nena edged through the throng toward Madrian. Moving to him felt as natural as breathing. Nena reached up to cup his face in her hands, feeling the smooth warmth of his scales beneath her palms.
“Thank you,” she said softly, meant for him alone.
“For what?”
“For choosing us. For choosing to be who you were meant to be.”
His hands came up to cover hers, his touch gentle. “You make it sound easy.”
“Oh, it doesn’t look easy,” she said. “But it’sright.”
She stood on her toes then and kissed him. Soft and tender and full of promise. It was a public declaration. A claiming. A statement of faith in who he’d become.
When she pulled back, she could see the wonder in his eyes had deepened into something fiercer. Something that spoke of devotion and protection and a love that would burn down worlds to keep her safe.
“Go,” she said with a gentle smile. “Let your brothers get to know you. Show them who you really are.”
“And you?”
Nena glanced toward her friends. “I have some catching up to do,” she said. “But I’ll see you later.”
She squeezed his hands, then stepped back. As she moved toward her friends, she heard Cyprian’s voice behind her.
“Well,” the red-scaled Zaruxian said with obvious amusement. “I think we deserve a meal and some of Cozax’s spirits after that. Don’t you, brother?”
Nena smiled as Turi’s arm slipped around her shoulders. For the first time since leaving Settlement 112-1, she felt complete. Her friends were safe. Madrian would find his place among his brothers. She had to believe that they had a chance to win,despite the impossible odds. That there would come a time when they could carve out a future that belonged to them.
It was enough.Morethan enough.
It had to be.
TWENTY-ONE
The dining room felt intimate despite the size of its occupants. Seven Zaruxian males generated a lot of body heat, even in the temperature-controlled space. Madrian sat back in his chair, wings spread slightly for comfort, and observed his newly discovered family.
Five of these males were hisbrothers. The word still felt foreign in his mind.
The sixth was an elder Zaruxian who had somehow survived the Slarik Arena on his own, long enough to later be protected by Takkian, who had been transferred to the arena to fight for the amusement of others. The arena had been run by the Axis, of course. Madrian never had jurisdiction over the entertainment arm of Axis affairs, so his knowledge of the arena system was limited. Hardly mattered, though. The arena had been a brutal, sadistic end for many unruly subjects. It was destroyed, now, thanks to Takkian and his mate, Sevas, who was a powerful warrior in her own right.
Bruil’s bronze scales caught the light as the elder male lifted his cup. Unlike the others, his wings were ruined beyond repair, in a testament to battles won and lost. Madrian liked Bruil. Hewas honest, knowledgeable, and when he looked into the old male’s eyes, he saw no malice. No blame.
“Your mother was magnificent,” he said, his voice rough with memory. “Queen Aklian never backed down, even at the end. The Axis feared her power, and rightly so.”
