Page 11 of Pursued by the Dragon Alien (Zarux Dragon Brides #4)

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.”

Krask narrowed his eyes but didn’t argue. He turned back to the console and relayed the command to the logistics team, his fingers moving swiftly over the controls. “Yes, Captain.”

Razion didn’t respond. His mind was already elsewhere—on the implications of what Hurik had said, on the danger it could bring to the ship, and on Lilas, who was watching him now with unreadable eyes.

The moment Krask turned his focus back to the transaction logs, she stepped closer and tossed back her hood. “Why did we leave so fast?”

Razion knew this was coming. Of course, she wanted answers. He would, too, if he were in her position. Still, he didn’t look at her right away. Instead, partially to stall, he pulled up a system diagnostic to make sure they were ready to launch as soon as clearance was granted.

“Hurik gave us what we needed,” he said finally.

“No, he didn’t,” Lilas said, crossing her arms. Frustration laced her tone. “You cut him off before he could say more.”

Razion turned to look at her. “Because whatever he said next would have been a lie.”

She scowled. “You don’t know that.”

“I do,” he said flatly. “Hurik sells information. That means he tells you what he thinks you want to hear, and he could turn around and sell whatever reaction we gave him.”

Lilas stared at him, jaw tightening. “You think he was lying about the colony? About the revolts?”

“No,” Razion admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “That was true. But if I’d pushed for more, he would have filled in gaps with whatever got him a profit. Half-truths at best. Misdirection at worst. The sale of information is a deceptive business.”

Lilas didn’t look entirely convinced, but she didn’t argue further. She was thinking, calculating. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

Krask, however, had caught enough of the conversation for his frown to deepen. “What exactly did Hurik tell you?” he asked.

Razion glanced at him, then at Lilas, who was still watching him expectantly. He exhaled. “He said there have been revolts of Axis properties. A penal colony was lost to the Axis in a full-scale uprising. The Slarik Arena was destroyed. A high-end brothel shut down. Zaruxians and Terians were involved in all three. Two locations happened to be where some of the other auctioned Terian females were sent to.”

Lilas went utterly still. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “My friends?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the accusation was razor-sharp. “You knew where they were and you didn’t tell me?”

Razion arched a brow, but inwardly braced himself. “Yes.”

“How long?” she snapped, stepping away from him. “How fekking long have you kept this from me?”

“Since Vedd ran a trace on the auction records.”

She let out a bitter, breathless laugh. Her eyes narrowed to slits of anger. “That was cycles ago.”

Razion didn’t look away, even though he hated to see the distrust in her eyes. “Yes, it was,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for hundreds of mig -cycles and I meant what I said earlier—more information isn’t always good information and sometimes it’s more dangerous than a blaster in the face.” He leaned in, took her chin in his fingers and held her there. She was so adorably defiant. So sure she was justified in her outrage. Maybe she was, but he was also sure that he’d made the right decision in waiting. “I had a gut feeling to wait to tell you about your friends. I followed it.”

“When were you going to tell me?” Her voice wavered.

“When my gut told me to.” He inclined his head, only vaguely aware of Krask standing nearby. “Which is now.”

Silence stretched between them, thick and tense.

“Would you have felt better knowing where your friends were?” he asked quietly. “Would it have put your mind at ease?”

“No, but—”

“But what?” he pressed. “It would have eaten you apart. You would have plotted to find a way to get to one of these death traps and gotten yourself killed.”

“It wasn’t for you to decide what I did with that information.”

“It was,” he snapped, releasing her chin, because touching her was distracting. “I care about you. I care about keeping you safe and I didn’t trust you to not do something foolish and impulsive.”

“And now?” she asked in a rasp.

“Now, I do.” It was as simple and as complicated as that, because Razion had no idea what to do with the feelings he had for her. He wanted to bundle her away in his quarters and shield her from the galaxy and its chaos. He wanted to show her every wonder that existed in the many worlds he’d explored. He did not know how to work those two urges into something that made sense.

“The Axis put something in motion when they allowed those raiders to take you and your friends,” he said, still trying to puzzle it all out in his head. “You are part of it.” He winced. “So am I, it seems.”

That seemed to mollify her enough to sap some of the fury from her expression. For now, at least. He wondered what part did it—telling her that he cared for her, or that he trusted her.

“Tell me everything,” she demanded, untucking one arm to poke him—not gently—in the chest. “And do not hide anything from me ever again or I’ll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life.”

Krask straightened and his expression darkened at her heated words. “Tread cautiously, Terian.”

“Oh, shut up,” she snapped at Krask, who visibly bristled. “Do you think I can actually hurt him?”

But Krask likely knew that she could hurt him. Not physically, but still.

Krask bared his teeth at Lilas, then turned away from her, facing Razion. “You said Hurik mentioned Zaruxians.”

Razion’s jaw tightened. “Yes.” He hesitated, then added, “He said they could shift into full dragon forms.”

Krask let out a slow breath. “That’s rare for your kind.”

“It’s unheard of,” Razion agreed. “There are very few of my kind left, but still. It was so outrageous sounding that Hurik thought it was an exaggeration.”

Lilas cut in. “He said they were fighting the Axis,” she said, urgently. “If that’s true, and my friends are with them…we need to know where they are.”

Razion’s gaze snapped to her. She was looking at him with something close to desperation, though she tried to mask it with determination. He knew what she was thinking. If her friends had been part of the revolt, if they had helped take down those Axis strongholds, then they were still out there and they were not lost.

Razion exhaled sharply, rubbing his fingers over his jaw. “First, we confirm what’s fact and what’s not,” he said. “Then we decide our next move.”

Krask frowned but nodded. “I’ll start gathering some Axis intel. Might eat into the profits some, to buy access to the information we need.”

“That’s fine. We need to know what’s going on.” Razion turned back to Lilas. “We’ll find out what happened. I promise.”

Lilas held his gaze. Slowly, she nodded, but the tension in her shoulders didn’t ease.

Razion understood. They were closer to answers now than they’d been since she stepped onto his ship. But he had the sinking feeling that the truth, when they finally found it, would be bigger—and more dangerous—than any of them had anticipated. “Come with me,” he said. “We will oversee the offloading of the cargo. There are some things you should know.”

She didn’t argue. Instead, she nodded and walked beside him with her head high.

Razion stood at the edge of the cargo hold, his palm resting lightly on Lilas’ waist as he watched the last of the salvage being offloaded. Crew members moved quickly, finalizing trades, shifting crates, securing transactions and payments before departure. The hum of activity and the steady ping of outgoing data confirmed what he had ordered—everything was being wrapped up.

Lilas remained tense under his touch, her body coiled with pent-up energy. He understood why. She wanted answers, wanted to move now. But this wasn’t the moment for impulse. This was the moment for strategy.

“You know there are other Zaruxians out there,” he said, keeping his voice measured, low enough that only she could hear.

He felt the sharp inhale of her breath before she spoke. “Obviously. One of them oversaw my settlement, remember?”

“Yes.” Razion’s fingers pressed just slightly against her waist, grounding both of them. “He was among those that the Axis raised.”

Lilas’ head turned. Her fuchsia eyes pinned him with quiet demand. “What do you mean?”

He exhaled slowly, his gaze shifting over the crew one last time before turning his full attention to her. “When my home world, Zarux, fell to Axis forces, they didn’t just take the planet. They effectively eradicated my people. Some escaped, but most were killed. However, there was a handful of hatchlings who were taken, separated, and raised by high-ranking members of the Axis. Conditioned. Molded.” His jaw tightened. “They weren’t just prisoners. They became weapons.”

“You were one of them.” Lilas’ breath hitched. “Were they your family?”

Razion gave a slow nod, the weight of the truth settling heavily between them. “My brothers. I didn’t remember them by the time raiders pulled me off an Axis transport.”

Her brows furrowed. “Raiders?”

He couldn’t help but smile. Being taken by them had been overwhelming and terrifying, but it was also the best thing that could have happened to him. “They thought I’d make a good ransom. Took one look at my wings, my genetics, and saw profit. But when they realized I could be more valuable as one of their crew, they made the choice to keep me around.”

Lilas studied him, her lips pressing together. “I don’t know which was worse—raised by the Axis or by raiders.”

Razion grinned, remembering his wild, raucous childhood. “The raiders were good to me. Treated me like family and trained me in their ways. They gave me purpose. And when I learned what had been done to my home, I went my own way and got my own ship and crew. I took that purpose and turned it against the Axis.” His voice was low, steady, but there was no mistaking the edge beneath it. “I made it my mission to unravel them from the inside out. Every raid, every stolen credit, every ship we salvage—it’s all to undercut their power.”

Lilas’ fuchsia eyes searched his face, like she was deciphering some hidden meaning beneath his words. “And your brothers?” she asked. “You never tried to find them?”

Razion exhaled, his fingers flexing slightly on her waist before he pulled back. He shouldn’t touch her like this. Not when his blood still ran hot. Not when the past was creeping up on him with sharp teeth.

Instead, he rested his hand on his belt, looking toward the far end of the cargo hold where the final containers were being moved out. “The raiders warned me not to go looking.” He let out a humorless chuckle. “Told me the brothers I would have had were gone. That they had been raised as loyal warriors of the Axis, and that if I ever found them, they wouldn’t see me as family.” His jaw tightened. “They would see me as an enemy.”

Lilas’ expression shifted. Something close to understanding flickered behind her sharp gaze. Maybe because she knew exactly what it was like to have your own life dictated by forces outside your control. To be told who you were. Who you were supposed to be.

“That’s why you’ve been doing this,” she said. “Why you’ve spent your life cutting down the Axis bit by bit.”

Razion nodded once. “I couldn’t save Zarux. I couldn’t save my brothers.” His voice was rough. “But I can make the Axis pay.”

Lilas watched him, her arms folding over her chest like she was holding back words. Then, quietly, she asked, “And if your brothers are no longer under Axis control? What then?”

Razion’s throat went tight. That was the question, wasn’t it? The one that would haunt him, now, every time he closed his eyes. If his brothers were alive—if they had spent their lives under the rule of the very people he had spent his life fighting—and had turned against the Axis? What would he do when and if they met?

Razion flexed his hands, the tension in his shoulders tightening like coiled wire. “I don’t know,” he admitted. The words tasted bitter on his tongue. “But I’ll find out.”

Lilas studied him with something he couldn’t quite name. It wasn’t pity, and he was grateful for that.

For a long moment, they just stood there. The hum of the ship’s systems and the distant voices of the crew filled the silence between them. Then she exhaled slowly, crossing her arms. “So,” she said, tilting her head. “You think Hurik’s right? That your brothers are these dragon-shifting Zaruxians?”

Razion met her gaze. “If they are, then they’ve already started what I’ve spent my life trying to do.”

Something flickered in Lilas’ expression. “Undermining the Axis.”

He nodded. “And if that’s true…” His wings tensed, the old instinct to shield, to defend, pressing against his spine. “Then I need to find them before the Axis does.”

Lilas was silent for a beat, then—so quiet he almost didn’t hear her—she said, “And I need to find my friends.”

Razion inhaled slowly. “Then I guess we have the same goal.”

A slow, determined smile pulled at Lilas’ lips. “Looks like it.”

Razion didn’t know what lay ahead, what truths they’d dig up, or what dangers they’d be walking into. But as he looked at Lilas, standing there with that fire in her eyes, he knew one thing for certain.

No matter what they found, neither of them would face it alone.

Razion exhaled sharply, his pulse hammering from the weight of what they had uncovered. He reached out instinctively. His fingers brushed the back of Lilas’ hand just as she was reaching for his. She tensed for half a breath, then turned her palm to his, their fingers sliding together in a slow, deliberate movement.

“You’re trembling,” he murmured, his thumb tracing small circles against her skin.

Her fuchsia eyes met his, bright with something raw, something unguarded. “So are you,” she whispered.

She wasn’t wrong. His pulse had been hammering since they left Hurik. A restless fire burned through him—not just from the revelation about Zaruxians and Terians, but from her. From the way her fingers curled against his, anchoring him in a way nothing else ever had.

She was looking at him like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Like she carried the same heat he did. Like the same need hummed beneath her skin. Fek . He wasn’t sure if he had the strength to ignore it this time.

Lilas exhaled slowly, glancing down at their joined hands before tilting her head. “I’m done talking about this right now,” she said, her voice steady but quiet. “In fact, I’m done talking, period.”

Razion’s chest tightened as he absorbed her meaning, as the heavy implication of what she said settled between them.

Her fingers tightened in his. “Take me to your room.”

A slow, dangerous pulse of heat rolled through him, stealing his breath. He searched her face, looking for hesitation, for uncertainty. There was none. There was only resolve, mirrored desire, and something softer beneath it—something hesitant, like she wasn’t sure how to ask for this but was asking anyway.

His control, already frayed from the time he spent trying to distance himself from her, snapped. He tugged her closer, until there was barely any space between them, until he could feel the warmth radiating from her skin. “If we go there,” he said, voice rough. Never before had he known such a powerful wave of possession and desire. “I will have you. Your body will be mine. You will be mine.”

Lilas sucked in a breath but didn’t pull away. “I want to be yours.”

Fekking stars . Razion clenched his jaw. A battle raged inside him—one that he was losing with every passing second. But this wasn’t just about him, about how badly he wanted to feel every curve of her body pressed against his. It was about her. About whether she truly understood what she was inviting.

“I need you to be sure, Lilas,” he rasped, his forehead tipping down to press lightly against hers.

Her fingers moved up his arm, slow and deliberate, curling around his bicep. When she spoke, her voice was soft but steadfast. “I’m sure.”

That was it. That was all he needed.

Razion didn’t wait another second. He touched his communicator and snapped out an order to Krask to depart and head for a quiet sector of space, then shut off the device. He turned, still gripping her wrist, and pulled her toward the corridor. Toward his quarters.