Dragon's Mate: A Scifi Alien Romance (Red Planet Dragons of Tajss Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  About This Book

  Copyright

  1 Jolie

  2 Sverre

  3 Jolie

  4 Sverre

  5 Jolie

  6 Sverre

  7 Jolie

  8 Sverre

  9 Jolie

  10 Sverre

  11 Jolie

  12 Sverre

  13 Jolie

  14 Sverre

  15 Jolie

  16 Sverre

  17 Jolie

  18 Jolie

  19 Sverre

  20 Jolie

  21 Jolie

  More To Read

  Full Copyright

  Join Miranda Martin's Sexy Aliens List

  DRAGON'S MATE

  Red Planet Dragons of Tajss

  Book 2

  MIRANDA MARTIN

  & JUNO WELLS

  Hi! I'm Miranda Martin, and I wrote the book you are about to read with my friend Juno Wells. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you read the rest of our books!

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  Copyright © 2016 Miranda Martin & Juno Wells

  All rights reserved.

  1 JOLIE

  Four weeks. It's been four weeks since life was turned upside down. Four hot, long, dry weeks since the only home I ever knew crash landed on this forsaken desert hell.

  Stupid space pirates.

  Seriously, can't they find anything better to do than attack generational colony ships?

  But anyway, here we are. That's the beauty of being a human, we survive, even on a planet like this. The debate finally settled on calling it Vulcan. The war between Star Trek and Star Wars continues but apparently more Trekkies survived the crash than Star Wars fans.

  It's hot, so damn hot. I grab a bottle of water and down it.

  "You know," I say to Calista as I return to studying a sample of local vegetation through a microscope. "This place really looks like Gallifrey."

  I wait for her response adjusting the magnification but Calista doesn't answer.

  "Gallifrey, especially if we get the dome working," I repeat.

  "I kn-" she says but then she's running for a bucket and getting sick.

  I jump up and grab some napkins and do what any BFF does, I hold her hair back and make soothing noises while she hurls. When she's done I hand her the napkins and she wipes her mouth. She's pale and there's sweat on her brow and lip.

  "Are you okay?" I ask.

  "Uh, yeah, random that," she says. "Maybe something I ate."

  I look her up and down trying to see if she's really okay. We're on a strange planet eating foreign food with god knows what microbes and bacteria. Having digestive issues would be no surprise but as I look my friend over I notice something else. Is she bloated? Calista is the savior of our people, more or less. After we crashed she was out looking for edible vegetation when she was kidnapped by one of the indigenous aliens, Ladon. Alien but humanoid enough to be compatible because the two of them fell for each other, hard.

  How can she be the one that gets so lucky? On the ship there were thousands of potential mates. All of them human too. Now that we've crashed on a devastated planet only a small percentage of us seem to have survived. And the only resident male is already spoken for. The selection of eligible bachelors went from really great to non-existent and she took one of those off the market.

  She's a beautiful girl if you like a book chick. We've been best friend since I can remember and I love her dearly but I can admit, if only to myself, that I'm jealous. I always thought I'd be the one to settle down first. Calista wasn't the dating type and rarely took an interest in men.

  "What?" she asks as I continue looking her over.

  "Nothing," I say, turning away. "So yeah, Gallifrey, you know Doctor Who?"

  "You're not getting off that easy, what?"

  "Nothing, seriously."

  "It's not nothing and it's not Doctor Who. What is it?"

  "Well, it's just…" I trail off and try to come up with some way of getting out of the hole I've dug. "Have you put on some weight?"

  "What? No! I mean, no!" Her face flushes and I'm in deep. Her hands go to her stomach and flatten against it. "Maybe I'm a little bloated."

  "Uh huh," I say, not taking my attention off the microscope.

  "Okay, give, what?" she asks again.

  "It's just… look I'm just asking but when did you last have your period?"

  "My what? Uhm," she purses her lips thinking. "Before the crash."

  "Which was almost a month ago by ship time."

  "No, that can't be, I mean, it's just stress right? All the stress of living here, surviving, pressure can do that to a girl."

  "Sure, it could be," I agree. "Do you think that's all it is?"

  "It has to be! I mean the only guy I've been with is Ladon and…" she trails off.

  "Uh-huh," I say and smile my best reassuring smile.

  "Oh my god," she says, her voice dropping to a whisper. She grabs the chair next to me then plops down.

  I take her hands in mine. "Yes! This is so exciting!"

  "No, it's not," she says and I can see the fear in her eyes. "I don't know… what if… how does his race…"

  "Bah! We'll figure it out. You're brilliant and so am I. Cross that bridge when we get there."

  "Easy for you to say," she whispers, tears welling in her eyes, so I pull her into a tight hug.

  "It's fine," I say softly while stroking her hair. "We got this."

  "Yeah, it's just, scary you know?"

  "Yeah, sure, but it's fine. We got this. Besides, he dotes on you! Hell I'm jealous. I want a guy who looks at me like he does you."

  "Yeah, he does doesn't he?" she says, smiling at last.

  "Hell yes! He's over the moon for you and you know it. You see the way his eyes light up as soon as he sees you?"

  "I've got to tell him!" she exclaims.

  "Yes you do!" I say in my most enthusiastic voice. She hugs me tight then runs off leaving me alone.

  Slumping into my chair I sigh. It's not fair. The empty ache in my core yawns threatening to swallow me whole. I want what she has so much but now I'm here. On this planet with a handful of survivors. The odds of finding what I want are astronomical, twenty four point two trillion to one to be exact. The odds that a rescue ship will arrive in my lifetime. So yeah, this sucks. Yet, I'm happy for her. Jealous, yes, but happy. I can be both, right? Sure I can. I'm doing it right now.

  I need to get my mind off this and onto something else. Anything else. I'll go back to the barracks. Maybe some of the other girls will be there. That will cheer me up. Standing up I kill the power to the lab and walk out. Our energy generation is limited and can't be wasted. Hopefully Amara is making headway on that problem. And the dome, the dome is most important of all I guess.

  We got lucky, depending on how you look at things. If we had to crash land on an alien planet that was not our destination at least it's one that isn't filled with hostile aliens. Snorting I laugh out loud. This planet is hostile but the only intelligent alien we've met is nice. Sexy, h
ot, big and massively manly in every way imaginable and I can only imagine how good he is in bed but he's so taken. The rest of the planet has been working to kill us off as fast as possible. Like we're an invading bacteria that it wants cleansed from itself. Heat, unbearable heat, animals that kill anything and everything, and even the damn plants are likely to kill you.

  Yeah, this place is rough. That's why we have to get the shields up on this ruin of a city. It will lock out the roaming monsters. Two people were killed yesterday by a roaming pack of guster. Nasty pack creatures that seem to be the top of the local food chain. A guster is a large, razor-mawed reptile with four legs with wide webbed feet and hulking mounds across its back. Spines stick out at various points along the hard leather skin to help ward off any predators. Super scary, thinking about them makes me shudder.

  Before I leave the lab building I take time at the door to stare around carefully and make sure it's safe to exit. The sun is low and the buildings cast long shadows across empty, ruined streets. Stepping outside sweat pours from me in an instant. It's so damn hot here. My mouth and throat are dry but I don't want to take time to drink so I run down the street towards the barracks. This city was probably beautiful once, decades ago, before the planet was devastated. The skyscraper tall buildings show decay. The material the road was made of has pockmarks and plants are growing in every crack. Slowly nature is reclaiming what is hers. Red sand drifts through the streets and heat assaults everything.

  Calista found videos that tell the history of this place. It was once a thriving galaxy with highly advanced technology. This planet, Tajss as Ladon calls it, was the only place that epis grew. Epis is a local plant that has amazing traits including the extension of life. It changes you when you take it on a DNA level. Eventually a war broke out for some reason among the planets of this galaxy apparently over epis and in the end the planet was bombed and almost all life was destroyed.

  Ladon survived. He says, according to Calista since she's the only one who can talk to him, that there are others. All this happened decades ago. Maybe more, Ladon doesn't remember very well.

  I reach the barracks without incident and step out of the heat into the cool darkness with great relief. Taking a long drink from my water bottle I fasten the cap back on then head towards the sound of voices. When I enter the dining room several of my friends are gathered around the table, eating.

  "Jolie!" Inga says smiling.

  Inga is looking better now that we've gotten shelter from the direct sun. Her fair skin and red hair isn't burnt like it was. Her smile is bright and cheery. There's a quiet toughness to her despite the fact she's the smallest of all us girls.

  "Hey," I say, returning her smile.

  Mei and Amara wave and greet me around mouthfuls of food.

  "Anyone else here?" I ask, grabbing a plate and helping myself.

  "Not yet," Mei says.

  Mei is so beautiful it hurts. When she's in the room it makes me feel plain and boring. Her beauty is so easy. Even here in our rough surroundings, crashed on an alien planet, she still looks perfect. Her white gold hair has body and shine, her skin is flawless, her eyes are bright and her teeth are perfect. Gah, if she wasn't so nice I'd have to contemplate killing her. Okay not really, I could never do that but she is just too much.

  "How's the generator project Amara?" I ask.

  "Shit," she says swallowing. "Absolute, total shit."

  "Uh, not good?"

  "Yeah," Amara says.

  "What's wrong with them?" I ask.

  "You mean besides the fact that they've sat unused forever? They're locked up. I'm going to have to tear them apart, clean each part, then hope to hell I can put them back together correctly. The technology is different than ours by far and I'm not familiar with most of it."

  "That sounds not fun," I say, putting my plate on the long table and taking a seat.

  "Yeah," she agrees. "Kind of like this food. How's your project? Any progress towards growing us some chocolate or something?"

  "It's not that fast," I say looking at my plate.

  She's right. We're living on rations that survived the wreck of the ship which isn't much. We didn't need long term food supplies as we grew everything we needed. Our ship was a generational colony ship designed for five generations to live and die on before reaching our ultimate destination. We were the fourth generation when the pirates attacked and damaged it leading to our crash here.

  "Well this food sucks. You're our only hope Jolie-wan," Inga says, imitating Princess Leia's voice and we all laugh.

  "Yeah," I agree, taking a spoonful of processed, vitamin-enriched protein slop.

  "Soylent Green is made of people," Mei says.

  "Oh gross!" Inga says looking horrified.

  "What, you didn't watch the old sci-fi collection?" Mei asks innocently.

  "What's cooking?" Lana walks in and asks.

  Lana is brunette, curvy, and screams her sexuality in every move. The wear and tear of living on a hell hole of a planet has somehow made her even sexier, which shouldn't be possible. Her skin tight pants are torn in what would appear to be strategic places and her low cut shirt has rips and tears that tease without revealing too much.

  "Same crap as always," Amara grumbles.

  "Joy," Lana replies, grabbing a plate for herself.

  "I'm working on it," I insist.

  "So who's taking the epis?" Mei asks in her soft voice.

  Everyone stares at their plate instead of answering. The room is so quiet the click of the spoon against Lana's plate as she dips her food is the only sound.

  The epis. Take it and the heat and hell of the planet become bearable. Don't take it and it remains a burning hell that slowly dehydrates your body no matter how much you drink. The only problem is, take it and you can never leave. Ever. You're stuck on this planet for the rest of your life.

  That's the decision point each of us is facing. Do we hold out and hope for rescue? Do we accept the fate of being here and take the epis? No one can decide for anyone else and the survivors have been split on the decision.

  "Let's change the subject," Amara says.

  "I haven't," I say and everyone looks at me.

  "Why not?" Mei asks.

  Pursing my lips I debate what to say. I can't tell them the truth, at least not all of it.

  "Well, I'm waiting," I say. "I don't think the heat is that bad myself. I want to make the most of it and I'm worried it might slow my ability to tan."

  They laugh and I smile. Surrounded by friends and inside I'm alone. I can't open up with the truth to any of them. I'm hoping for rescue. Hoping for a knight in shining armor to come and sweep me off my feet. Steal my heart and use my body. Fill the empty ache in both my soul and my girly bits.

  "So you're not going to take it at all?" Mei asks.

  "No, not yet, maybe later. It's too… permanent. I'm thinking a rescue ship will be along in a bit and then we'd be stuck here. Besides the supply is so limited I figure let the others have it first. I can always try later."

  "You know you won't survive here without it?" Lana says.

  "I'm fine, for now," I say.

  "Does Calista know?" Inga asks.

  "No and please don't tell her," I say. "She's got enough on her mind and I'm fine."

  Like having an alien baby with one of the only eligible bachelors on the entire planet. The sharp stab of jealousy cramps in my gut. Ugh, I hate being happy and jealous at the same time.

  "I have to talk to Rosalind again," Amara says.

  "Why?" I ask.

  "I've got to get her to agree to mount an expedition outside the city limits," she replies.

  "Outside? Like it's not dangerous enough inside?" I ask.

  "Yeah, well if we want those generators working it's going to have to happen," she says.

  "I'd go," I say. "What's out there you need?"

  "I'm tracing the power conduits and they all lead to something on the outside. I'm not sure how it works but I need to ta
ke a look at whatever is there. If I'm right there will be a switch or lever. Activate that and it will open up the conduit that activates the solar panels."

  "Seems sensible," I say.

  "Yeah, well get Rosalind to agree to it and we'll all be winning."

  "What's her issue?" I ask.

  "Too dangerous, doesn't want to risk the man power or the bullets."

  "But without the dome we can't secure the city," Lana says.

  "Exactly," Amara replies.

  "Damn," Lana says.

  "I'll push her, she'll see sense, eventually," Amara says.

  The conversation turns to small talk as we finish our dinner.

  "I'm heading for my bunk," I say, standing up and going to rinse my dish.

  They wish me good night and I wander deeper into the building to the small room I've claimed as my own. A few blankets on the floor, a small solar powered torch light, and a bowl with water to wash in. Home isn't much. Floor to ceiling windows allow me to stare out across the city and watch as the sun slowly drops below the horizon casting long. red-black shadows across empty streets. The jagged tops of buildings stab up into the sky like rotting teeth. It's sad looking out at what once was a thriving world, knowing that despite its capacity for a million or more it's now home to only a few hundred humans.

  Survivors. We're all survivors. Castaways from a generation ship that was the only home any of us ever knew. Can I be homesick for a place that wasn't really a planet?

  Something moves in the distance on top of one of the tall buildings. I'm on the fourth floor looking up so I'm not sure if I saw something or not but I think I did. It's probably Ladon and Calista. That's the building they're living in, up above the lab she and I commandeered.

  Calista is so lucky. Damn, there I go again being jealous. A baby! How can I not be jealous? I was the one who was interested in settling down, finding the right man and starting a life together. Calista was more interested in books and work with little attention for time for dating. Ladon found her first though. What if it'd been me? Would we have fallen for each other?