Ambushing Ariel (21 page)

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.*

Ariel murmured in her sleep. She was a little chilled and wiggled closer to the warmth of the huge body next to her. Something nudged her again and she mumbled in irritation at whatever was trying to wake her up. The next nudge was a little harder and Ariel did what she normally did when her alarm clocks went off before she was ready to get up… she smacked it.

“Ouch!”
The deep voice next to her yelped in pain.

“What?”
Ariel said jerking her head up and smacking the chin leaning over her.
“Ouch! That hurt!”

“Yes, my little savage, it did,”
Mandra groaned as he rolled over onto his side.

Ariel looked wide-eyed at the huge dragon that was rubbing the tip of his nose with the end of one of his wings. His scales were shimmering and sparkling in the early morning light as it streamed down through the thin cloud covering. Ariel looked around the meadow where they were at in wonder. The knee-high purple grass swayed back and forth as a cool, gentle breeze blew through it. There was a small river to the far right and huge trees surrounded the meadow acting like a wall.

“Where are we?”
Ariel asked swinging her head back around and bumping into Mandra again.
“I’m still a dragon!”
She said startled.

Mandra affectionately reached out and ran his tongue along Ariel’s jaw.
“Yes, you are. Are you always so difficult… and painful… to wake in the mornings? I have noticed you do not enjoy waking early but this is the first time I woke you before dawn,”
Mandra chuckled.

“Be thankful I didn’t have my baseball bat next to me. I go through at least two alarm clocks a week,”
Ariel responded sheepishly.

“If a ‘baseball bat’ is a type of club, your tail is sufficient enough,”
Mandra laughed with a quick lick to his mate’s lips.
“My dragon wants his mate again.”

“Again? He took her… me… her like a hundred times last night!”
Ariel whispered sleepily.
“Tell him to go take a cold bath in the river, I want to sleep some more.”

Mandra’s dragon growled softly as he nuzzled his mate. She was his and he loved her, grouchy and all. Mandra rose up to look around the meadow. He raised his head, tilting it to one side and listened. A deep, dark menacing growl exploded out of him.

“Get behind me!”
Mandra snarled dangerously.
“Now, Ariel! Get behind me and prepare to flee if I tell you to.”

Ariel rolled to her feet unsteadily and moved behind Mandra who stood up on his hind legs and opened his huge wings. He was looking up and back toward the palace. A movement in the sky above her startled a small squeak out of Ariel as a sleek black dragon came in fast. Only when he landed did Mandra sink back down onto his front legs and lower his wings.

“Creon, what is it?”
Mandra growled out annoyed.

“Curizan skimmers have been sighted,”
Creon growled back.
“I have not been able to contact Trelon. He and his mate are missing.”

Mandra swung around to Ariel.
“We must return to the palace, mi elila. It is too dangerous here for you.”

Ariel nodded looking at Mandra with worried eyes. She felt her dragon’s response to her mate’s protective tone. Something very bad happened.

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.*

Ariel closed her eyes and wept in relief. It had taken over a month for Cara to recover but she was going to be alright. That afternoon, Cara had finally come back to them. Her little friend and surrogate sister had been trapped for three days in a cave before she was found and rescued. For Cara, that was essentially the same as burying her alive considering her fear of enclosed places. Cara had withdrawn so far into her dragon-form that there were doubts that she and Trelon would survive. It had been Morian who was able to finally get through to Cara. Ariel didn’t know what Mandra’s mom said but she would always be thankful for it.

“
Mi elila,
why do you cry?” Mandra asked huskily as he pulled her up into his arms. “Why are you sad?”

“I… I’m… not sad,” Ariel sniffled. “I’m crying because I’m happy Cara is going to be alright and I’m going to be an aunt. I was just so worried about her.”

Mandra brushed Ariel’s long, blonde hair back from her face tenderly and kissed her lightly. “I was worried as well. I have a surprise for you. We must journey to the Curizan star system. I am needed there. You will go with me.”

Ariel jerked back in shock. “We’re going to another star system? In a spaceship? To meet other aliens?”

Mandra laughed at Ariel’s awe look. “Yes. We are going to travel in a warship, to other worlds, and meet more aliens.”

“Oh my!” Ariel said raising a hand to her throat. “Will it be safe? How long will it take?”

“We will be gone several months. We have several stops to make before we meet up with Adalard. He is one of Ha’ven’s younger brothers. We will be picking him up at one of the Spaceports along the way,” Mandra said pushing the strap on Ariel’s top to one side to kiss her bare shoulder.

He moved slowly up her neck. He was about to nuzzle his mark on her neck when he felt something breathing in his ear. Closing his eyes, he inhaled in deeply. Ariel had found another rodent to save. This one was a Kapu. The creature was long and narrow, covered in dark gray fur, had short legs, and liked to climb. Right now, it was climbing up the back of the chair he was sitting in and breathing in his ear. Mandra flinched.

No, right now it was licking him in his ear,
he thought in disgust.

“You have a new pet,” Mandra muttered in resignation as Ariel looked over his shoulder with a happy smile.

“Isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? He was on the balcony earlier. He was wet, dirty, and scared. I don’t know how he got there but after a nice bath, warm milk, and some fruit peels he has been happy as a lark.”

Mandra shot his symbiot a nasty glare. He knew exactly where the damn thing and all the other creatures that kept ‘appearing’ were coming from! It was his fault, really. He started it back at his mountain home. How was he to know his symbiot would take it to heart? He thought if he found a few animals in need and brought them home to his mate, she would forgive him. Since then, his symbiot made several trips a day looking for creatures to bring back. So far, they had six Maratts, one Grombot, the Dagu, eight Agouti, the Kapu and three Degus. That was in his palace living quarters alone. He gave up trying to keep the damn things out of everything. He found one of the Degus in the shower with him yesterday and woke with the Grombot curled up on his chest this morning.

“What about all the little ones?” Ariel asked as she petted the Kapu who was busy cleaning the inside of his ear.

“I will have them sent to Asim,” Mandra said darkly.

His friend deserved it since it had been his idea in the first place to start bringing the damn things to Ariel. He could take care of them and protect them while they were gone. It only seemed fitting for the mess Mandra was now finding his life in.

“Can I take some with us?” Ariel asked hesitantly looking at Mandra with pleading eyes. “I’ll take good care of them.”

Mandra shook his head. “They would not be happy confined to the warship. Let Asim care for them. They will be much happier there,” Mandra replied, brushing a soft kiss across Ariel’s lips in apology.

And so will I,
he thought with a hint of relief.

A part of him wished he could see Asim’s face when the new additions were delivered. He bet his long-time friend would not be so smug about his clever idea the next time he saw him. He wondered if he should warn him he was going to need more cages before he dismissed the idea with a grin.

Yes,
Mandra thought gleefully
, payback could be a bitch sometimes.

“Okay,” Ariel sighed in regret looking at the small creature diligently cleaning Mandra’s ear.
Who knows,
she thought as she kissed Mandra,
I might find some new ones on our trip.

“When can we get off the ship? Can I check out the markets Zebulon told me about?” Ariel asked excitedly as she walked into the conference room off the bridge of the
D’stroyer
almost a month later.

“When were you talking with Zebulon?” Mandra growled out pulling Ariel closer when she went to walk by him to sit down at the table.

“What…? Oh, in the training room. I’ve been gaining weight and needed to work out. Zebulon was curious about what I was doing. I told him I was practicing different types of self-defense moves I had learned back on Earth and he wanted to learn so we’ve been meeting every day since we left Valdier to work out together,” Ariel said wrapping her arms around Mandra’s neck and laying her head on his chest.

Mandra bit back a jealous snarl as Zebulon, his head of security, looked at him with a cheeky grin on his face. That son-of a dragon-shifter was about to learn some ancient Valdier self-defense if he didn’t get that damn smile off his face. Mandra cursed the amount of time he was taken away from Ariel on the trip. This was their third stop and they would be picking up Adalard at this spaceport.

So far, everything was going as planned. He had met with two of their informants who were strategically placed in his uncle Raffvin’s inter-circle. They told him Raffvin was behind the abduction of the Sarafin king and two of his top men. Raffvin had sold the king and his men to a mining operation run by the Antrox, a stick-like species that used numbers as names and were renowned for their ability to turn a profit. Mandra had to bite back a grin at the idea of Vox being held captive by them. He was sure that was going to go over well. Vox was not known for his sweet temper or his willingness to follow directions.

“You can go but you must stay close. Either myself or Zebulon will be with you,” Mandra explained with a grimace at the thought of Zebulon being alone with Ariel any more than necessary.

His mate had not been happy that she had been confined to the warship their last two stops. He did not want to draw attention to his meetings and his mate drew attention wherever they went. The men on the
D’stroyer
had flocked to her as soon as she arrived on board. They were fascinated by the dragon’s mark on her neck and how his symbiot seldom left her side. Most of the men only knew a few couples who were fortunate enough to have found their true mate and none from another species. He found it was getting harder and harder to field the men’s questions and requests to be allowed to go to Earth to look for a female of their own. He would need to talk with Zoran when he returned. After finding his own mate, it was difficult for him to deny others a chance at finding happiness as well.

Ariel sighed looking at Mandra. He seemed to have a perpetual frown on his face lately. She reached up and fanned his cheeks with her hands to get his attention. Over the past four weeks, she had seen little of him since he came to bed late and left early.

“I promise I will stay close to either you or Zebulon,” Ariel said looking up into his flaming gold eyes. “Will I have Precious with me as well or is she going with you? And Mandra, you don’t need to worry. I only have eyes for you.”

Mandra sighed deeply and rested his forehead against hers. “I am sorry I have not had more time to spend with you,
mi elila
. I hope our return trip will not be so time-consuming.”

“I know what is going on. I was in the military and was trained in the art of warfare. You don’t need to apologize. Your world and your people must come first,” Ariel whispered in understanding.

“Never,” Mandra muttered softly. “You will always come first. I am thankful for your understanding. I do not like to think of you being a warrior on your world.”

Ariel just shook her head and laughed. “Come on, big guy. I may be a warrior but I am a woman first. There is shopping calling my name and I will not be denied!” Ariel said with glee pulling out of Mandra’s arms and twirling around in a circle.

Several of the men laughed at Ariel’s look of excitement. She was unaware that a number of the men had volunteered to serve as her bodyguards, including Zebulon. All of the men had fallen in love with their commander’s mate and would do whatever was necessary to keep her happy and safe.

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.*

Ariel stared in awe at the spaceport. It was like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. A clear dome covered the top portion of what was obviously a huge asteroid that had been converted into an island paradise for space travelers. Creatures of all types and descriptions moved freely. Some were large, small were small, some hairy, some bald, some just flat out too weird to even describe. Mandra had to turn Ariel around more than once when she saw a huge blue creature that looked like a giant bowl of blue Jell-O slithering by them or a tiny, two-headed green lizard one with multiple arms. He gently put a finger under her chin to close her mouth on several occasions.

When she first saw the asteroid, she had thought it would be small and not much to it. The
D’stroyer
had docked at one of the airlocks on a lower level. There was a long, brightly lit tunnel with dark rock walls that shimmered as the light hit it. The tunnel led to a lift that held a good thirty people. It reminded Ariel of an extra-large service elevator. Once inside, the lift moved rapidly upward forcing Ariel to have to pop her eardrums as the pressure built.

It was when the doors opened that she gasped in amazement. She moved out of the elevator, stepping into the brightly lit dome city of the Iduna Spaceport. Colorful shops lined the narrow walkways that wound up to the top of the dome. Ariel could see other spaceships docked above the dome. What looked like apartments or living quarters of different sizes and types were mixed in with the shops. In a way, it reminded Ariel of Paris back on Earth with the little flower boxes and apartments mixed with businesses. There were even statues and fountains sprinkled on the different levels and on the buildings.