The air grows cold, and I find myself shivering in the beast’s mouth, despite the dragon’s warm breath. I’m dressed in shorts and a white top, while the barbarians have themselves wrapped up in many warm hides.

Despite how bad they smell, I could go for one of those rags right about now.

We have been flying for hours, and I’m afraid to drift to sleep and fall right out to my death. Just when I think I can’t keep my eyes open for a second longer, we pass a mountain and a city looms up in the distance.

Well, city. Fortress is more like it. A wooden palisade surrounds a smattering of houses, and in the middle of this urban sprawl stands a giant statue of one of the green aliens, standing at least a hundred feet tall

The tall thing dominates the flat steppe, and I see flocks of dragons circling it.

I swallow the lump in my throat as the dragon starts its descent. It seems we’ve reached our destination.

The flying beast touches down on the head of the statue. I now see that the statue doubles as a palace, and the top is where the dragons take off. The beast releases me from its jaws, and I fall on the hard, rock surface with a nasty smack. Before I have a chance to rub my sore knees, I’m pulled up by my hair by the barbarian.

“Gift for General Vakgar,” he growls. “From Rider Bargulg!”

“We’ll see,” another ugly alien says. His eyes drift all over my body, and it makes me feel dirty. Dirtier than being in a dragon’s wet, warm mouth for hours. “I’ll deliver her.”

“No!” Bargulg says. “My gift!”

“You defy Master Zuhgan?” the alien says, as he pulls a thin, long knife from his waistband. “You risk death!”

Unlike the riders, who are dressed in hides, this alien is wearing metal armor. It’s very rough, with many jagged edges — in no way does he look like a knight. More like a metal monstrosity.

“My gift!” Bargulg says again. He pulls my hair again, and I scream out in pain. “My gift!”

He tries to push Zuhgan to the side, and a second later I feel something warm and wet splatter down on my face. I touch it, and to my horror my fingers are covered in blood so dark it looks black.

Rider Bargulg falls to the ground, gurgling, thrashing about, his hands trying desperately to stop the bleeding in his neck.

Zuhgan has a wry smile on his face. He grabs my wrist and wipes the knife clean on my white top. We are surrounded by other alien warriors, but no one lifts a finger to help their dying brethren.

“Yes,” he says. “You’ll make a fine gift for General Vakgar.”

What nightmare have I ended up in?

A chain is fastened around my neck, and I’m led deeper into the statue like a dog. The hallways are long and dark, only illuminated every so often by a torch. We travel deeper and deeper into the bowels of the palace, while I question my own sanity.

This can’t be real. I must have crashed my car and imagined the whole thing. There’s no other answer.

Or did that weird email have something to do with it?

After going down several flights of stairs I’m led into a large, circular room. A massive chair, decorated with swords, axes and halberds stands right in the middle.

One of the dark-green men sits in it. He’s got a big, round belly, and many scars cover his pockmarked face. He’s surrounded on all sides by women.

The women are not green orcs, but they’re definitely not human either. Their ears are too pointy, their bodies too slender. They are feeding him grapes, massaging his burly feet, pouring him wine.

“General Vakgar,” Master Zughan says. “I have brought you a gift.”

The general sits up right, waving the women away.

“Come closer,” he growls.

I’m too terrified to move. All the eyes in the room are on me.

“Don’t make him wait,” Zuhgan says. “The general is not a patient man.”

I inch closer to the disgusting alien man, looking for a way out from the corner of my eye, but I can’t find one.

I’m trapped, delivered into the hands of this filthy, alien general. A slave.

This is not what I meant when I said I wanted a change of scenery.

The general hops out of his chair and wobbles over towards me. He licks his thin lips, spittle dribbling down his chin as his eyes go wide.

“Yes,” he says as he grabs my hair and sniffs it.

His hands travel over my body, feeling me in places that are not his to touch. He pinches my cheeks, pries my mouth open and stares in it like he’s checking out a prize horse.

I’ve never felt so violated in my life.

When he roughly squeezes my breasts, I slap his face in a reflex. The women suck in their breath, but the general just smiles at me, showing me his rotting teeth.

“Feisty. You will make a fine breeder. I have never seen a woman so round, so soft before. Where are you from?”

“Fuck off,” is my answer.

He gives me another sickening smile.

“I’ll enjoy breaking you. Thank you, Master Zuhgan, for this gift. You will be handsomely rewarded. Now leave.”

Zuhgan nods and leaves, and I’m left alone in the hands of this brute.

“Sera!” the general growls. “Get her ready for the feast tonight!”

“Yes, master,” one of the women responds. Her hair is black as night while her skin is as pale as can be. She’s wearing a collar just like me, but in her radiant eyes I can see pride and defiance.

“Follow me,” she hisses as she walks past me.

I follow her down the hall and into a different room. She looks out into the hallway to make sure no one’s there before closing the door behind her.

“Have you lost your mind?” she asks as she whirls around. “Slapping the general?! I’ve seen people lose hands for that! You’re lucky he has a taste for you, otherwise you’d be down in the gallows, a gift to the soldiers!”

“Yeah, well, I don’t feel very lucky right now.”

I take a quick look around. The room we’re in is one fit for a princess. There are mirrors and fancy dresses everywhere. Some frilly, some tight, but all meant to expose a woman’s curves. Sera holds one of the dresses up to my frame and shakes her head. She pulls out a needle and thread and starts working on the garment.

She smiles at me. “Trust me, it may not feel like it, but you’re in the best position you can be in… for a female slave in Qroq society, that is.”

Her eyes are narrow slits, and they kind of remind of the dragons.

“Qroq?”

“The men. You know, the green, cruel, ugly ones. Hard to miss. You’re really not from here, are you?”

“You have no idea,” I answer. “Where the hell am I?”

“Well, you’re in the Qroq Fortress of Bones.”

“What do any of those words mean?!” I ask, as I claw at my collar. “I don’t have time to be some Qroq’s sex slave. I have things to do. I have to kick my ex-boyfriend out of my house, file for unemployment, call my sister. I don’t have time for this. Can I wake up already?!”

Those problems seem so far away already. One moment my world was crashing down around me, and I thought my life couldn’t get any worse… shows me how wrong I can be.

Can’t get much worse than being the sex slave of an alien barbarian. What did he call me, a ‘breeder’? I’ll jump off this damn statue before I give that creep a child.

“Onemploiment?” the woman asks. “Where are you from?”

“A little placed called Earth,” I answer. “Where there are no dragons, no Qroq, no Fortresses of Bones, and no long-haired, turquoise eyed hunks either.”

Sera freezes up.

“Turquoise eyed? What do you mean?”

“I mean that… where do I even begin?”

I explain to her what happened, the best I can.

The car ride, the email, the gate opening, the dragon attack. Everything. She has no idea what cars or emails are, but she jumps up excitedly when I mention the seven feet tall, mysterious hunk that saved my life and pulled me from the wreckage.

“You met Tau?! The girls won’t believe this!”

“Who is Tau?”

She throws up her hands. “Who is Tau?! He’s the leader of our people, that’s who! Our prince, the leader of the resistance! One day he’ll save us all. What did he say to you?”

This all too much information to take in at once. That hunk was called Tau… and he’s a prince, now, too?

“I, I don’t remember… I think he called me his ‘melethril’ or something?”

Sera’s eyes go wide. “No way,” she gasps. “No way. You’re his melethril?! You’re so lucky!”

She grabs my hand and jumps up excitedly, but then suddenly stops, as if she’s just remembered something.

“Wait, if you’re his melethril, but you’re here… no, this is bad, real bad!”

I furrow my brow. “Why is that?”

“A Thalanil can’t be without his melethril for too long,” she explains. “The saknar will drive him mad.”

There are too many new words to take in all at once. I do understand one important one, though.

“Mad? How mad are we talking about?”

“Feral,” she says grimly. “He won’t be able to control his dragon. And one as powerful as Tau… that spells disaster for all of us. Then again, if anyone is powerful enough to endure the saknar without going feral, it would be Tau.”

Wait.

Hold up.

Back that truck up one second.

Did I hear that right?

“His dragon?!”

“Yes,” she nods. “What do you not understand?”

“Uhh, pretty much everything.”

“Did you not see the dragons?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Did you happen to see a green-blue one?”

“For a brief moment, but…”

“That was Tau.”

This is just too much. The alien prince who is my ‘fated mate’ is also a freaking DRAGON now?

While I sit there with my mouth hanging open from pure shock, Sera explains the plight of her people. The Qroq have enslaved her Thalanil people. The women are kept as slaves, while the men are forced to shift into their dragon forms, and used as weapons against their own people.

“So now you see why Tau is so important,” she says. “He is our leader, our only remaining hope in these dark days. And we must get you to him.”

“How?” I ask. “As far as I can see, we’re both prisoners.”

“The Qroq may have chained us, but they will never break our spirits,” Sera says fiercely. “I have a plan. Return to the dorms, tonight, after dark.”

She finished touching up the dress so it fits my curvier frame better.

“What do you think?” she asks when she hands it to me.

“I can’t wear this,” I say. “I’m not sure I’ll fit.”

“That’s the point,” Sera says. “A tight fit will stop the Qroq from groping you too much. They won’t be able to worm their grubby hands into your dress if it won’t fit.”

“Oh god. Is that what’s awaiting me?”

She nods grimly. “There’s a meeting of the generals tonight. General Vakgar will no doubt want to flaunt you to the others. An off-worlder like you is a prized possession.”

A shiver runs down my back. I’m no one’s possession.

“Afterwards, he’ll take you up to his chambers and try to mate with you.”

My face turns a ghostly white. This is not helping with my anxiety.

“Don’t worry, I said try for a reason,” Sera continues. “The trick is to get him drunk. Keep feeding him wine. If he drinks enough, he won’t be able to get it up.”

I nod. “Get him drunk. Got it.”